Goodbye Ridgewood

Well, after 6 years in the condo for CJ, and 5 years in the condo for me, it was time to make a break to bigger and better digs.  Mostly just bigger digs.  We had been looking for 2 years, me more me than CJ, and had seen a house a couple of years ago that we loved.  The house was out of our price range then, but with the financial times, we finally were able to own it.  This meant getting the condo ready to rent, as the market was not favorable enough to sell at this time.  We enlisted the help of my parents to help get things touched up before the new renters moved in.  Here is Piglet, doing the edging.  She said she was really good, but mostly she took breaks!

My dad insisted on climbing up on the ledge to finish the ceiling.  We have determined that he is a perfectionist and will not quit until the job is done.  Guess that is why he is great at what he does.  
  

And finally, this is the last shot of the condo before we did the final move out.  We love the new place, but are missing the bustle of the uptown area a bit.  Pix of the new place are to come, so keep coming back for more.  

PS.  Good news...  We have new renters that just moved into the condo as of July 3rd.  Some of the stress is now relieved and we are ready to settle into the new place!

Prom of your Dreams 2009

In May, we held our annual Christmas/Work party.  We decided to have a "Prom Of Your Dreams" party and it turned out awesome.  CJ and I were on the party planning committee and we had a great time.  Here I am with a couple of my favorite work peeps with their 80's prom attire.  Mine is actually a real throw back from my prom 1995.  

Here are CJ and I posing for our authentic prom photo.  I appear to be straddling the first 0 in 2009.  Just more evidence that a great time was had by us.  

The Godfather

In April, Chris and I took at trip to Miami.  Chris was asked by his "besties" to be the "Godfather" for their son, Alejandro.  Below is the view from our hotel on South Beach.

One night, Chris and I and Terry and Jorge hit the clubs.  Here is Chris and I sitting on an outdoor bed.  It was about 11 seconds before the waitress came over to tell us the bed minimum was $250.  Yep, we got up really quick and headed to a cheaper place to have a drink.

And finally, here is a pix of CJ with his new godson, Alejandro.  The party afterwards was great with authentic Cuban food.  We had a blast and I am already thinking about our next trip to Miami.  PS.  This is the way CJ thinks all kids should be held.  It's obvious to the "parent"  that he has no child of his own.

Washington DC

At the end of April, we went to visit Chris's mom, Karen to view the cherry blossoms.  They were at their peak when we were there.  This picture was taken in a neighborhood in D.C. that seems to go on forever with all of the cherry blossom trees they have planted.  There were tons of people and cars lined up to drive through the fancy hood.

This was a blossoming cherry tree in a park we went to in the middle of Georgetown.  It was amazing and they also had a hidden grove of cherry trees.  

This was a picture of Karen and I at the tidal basin in Washington DC.  It was beautiful, but also PACKED with people.

  

Welcome back!

Thanks for coming back to see us.  I just checked and it has been almost 3 months exactly since we have updated the blog.  That doesn't mean we haven't been busy, in fact we have been VERY busy.  It just means that we haven't downloaded the camera in 3 months.  After digging out the downloading cord, we are back in business.  After a trip to Washington DC to see Chris's mom and the cherry blossoms in April, we followed up with a move to Plymouth and a cruise to Alaska.  In the next couple of weeks, I'll try to do some pix uploads for you to check out.  This picture was taken just after we found out our final offer on the new house had been accepted.  We were stressed, but also super excited.  

Happy Birthday Grandma!

This past weekend we ventured up to Alexandria to celebrate my Grandma's 79th (really 80th-she's in denial) birthday.  Here she is coming in to the loudly decorated kitchen and living room area.

Here we are...  Three generations of women.  I don't think we look too bad.  
Here is Grandma with her birthday flowers.  She loves lime green, so we made sure they had plenty of her color.
And, once again, here are the best friends.  With my dad not having much work to do over the winter, he and his best friend had a lot of breakfasts together.  
After a great birthday dinner of steaks on the grill, we had a rousing game of bingo from the new bingo ball purchased at Fleet Farm.  Happy Birthday Grandma.  Hope you had as much fun as we did.  

Hello Birds!

The porch has been used for many good times in both the winter and the summer.  With the recent snow fall, our bird feeders have been packed and we even have 3 pigeons out there eating.  As you can see, this has brought on many sleepless mornings and afternoons while the kittens figure out how to get out at those birds.  This is Milo standing on his hinds taking a look.

After howling for 30 minutes, the kit cats get their way and head outside.  This is their bird watching station on the window ledge.  They still can't figure out why the birds don't fly into the feeders when they are out there.  Doesn't mean they want to go outside everyday to see if there has been a change.  I'll be happy when spring and summer come again.