Happy 40th Birthday Starbucks!

As a proud shareholder of Starbucks for 18 years now I am thrilled they are doing so much to celebrat the 40th anniversary. Keep it up Starbucks!!
Go into a Starbucks and you will see the 40th Anniversary Tribute coffee, it is delicious. Between this brew and their Pike Place Roast they have turned out some pretty fabulous new blends!

Ryan Lochte~this will make you smile!

So I'm back...kind of

On Sunday I competed in my first swim meet since short course Nationals in May of 2007 and all in all it went pretty well. I admit I was a bit of a crazy person the entire week leading up to this meet. But in my defense Brad was in California and there was a snow storm so I wasn't totally nuts just because I had my first swim meet in a while. If you ask Brad though, I became less crazy as the swim meet went on, literally each event I swam I calmed down. I would hope the next meet I am back to my regular swim meet self.


The results were five wins, three individuals and two relays. Margaret Gale is the person that really pushed me to compete again. I have been wanting to get back into it but haven't had that push, until Margaret moved back to town. She found a great workout at 12:30 on Tuesday and Thursdays and Alicia and I have been able to attend on a regular basis. So, I have been consistently swimming twice a week, with my girlfriends and here I am swimming in a meet again. I am still a long ways away from my old times and mind set. But, one meet at a time and I get a little more focused every practice.
See how relaxed both Margaret and I looked going into the third swim of the day? It was our medley relay, went well and I am sure it will go even better at zones in April. My next meet is in a month and I plan to swim the 100 free and 100 fly and probably the 50 fly and free as well. I guess part of dipping my toe back into the competition pool at this point is the direct result of Piper going to Kindergarten full time. I have the time to train and think about me a bit more (no comments about me thinking of myself more, all y'all know what I mean). Plus, at this point, I need this, so here I am, I'm back...kind of.

Happy 15th Birthday Myles

Many of you know Cool Dog Myles, but for those who don't Myles is my black lab and I knew he was mine when he was 5 weeks old and brought him home when he was 8 weeks old. He was born in Monterey, CA. and had 7 other siblings. His mother was a pure bred show lab who had a thing for the 3/4 lab 1/4 Australian Shepard next door. Five of his litter were black with a white spot somewhere like Myles and three were gray and black spotted. The picture is of Myles at 12 weeks old.

January 18 is his 15th Birthday and I want to wish him the very best. This year hasn't been easy (he has two episodes of Vestibular Disease)but he has adjusted and has continued to be a loving caring part of this family despite it all. He is still the best watch dog ever. He totally scared the the pizza delivery guy today. I think having Myles in our lives has been a blessing every day. Seeing his happy smile and wagging tail when we wake up is awesome. Watching him with Piper is wonderful. He has allowed her, from the start, to crawl all over him and pet him even when he is asleep. He has moved so gracefully into every phase of his life. Even now, as he has reached senior citizen status he has relaxed and allowed more dog friends into his circle. Here is Myles and Piper when she was 18 months old laying in the grass. He had just finished playing a good 15 minutes of ball and was beat.

Christmas in DC

I have been a bit slack, as a few followers pointed out. I am thrilled I have followers and yet stressed because I guess I should produce more. I plan to blog about my baby dog Myles later this week, but for now how about I share our Christmas pictures with the kids. Piper was very sweet in the above picture one morning. She was just sitting there admiring all the ornaments up on the tree, I got lucky with that shot.

Piper, Brian and me went to the Botanical Gardens and enjoyed an afternoon of looking at the decorations and hanging out. Piper 'allowed' up to take her picture with Brian. She was quite the fashionista that day in her glasses, skinny jeans and uggs. After we toured the gardens we headed over to the Eclipse and saw the trees from each state decorated by school children.





Piper and I had breakfast with the Grinch at the Gaylord in National Harbor. It was kind of cool. They had good food and showed the original Grinch movie on the big television screens.



Before we knew it Christmas Eve was here and we found ourselves at the Washington Navy Yard for Christmas Eve Mass. Piper got to carry baby Jesus up and put him in the manger. Last year she carried a lamb and Mary. It was very sweet. Here Piper is with her brother Brian and sister Kaitlyn at mass. She loves having her older brother and sister around.





On Christmas morning Piper woke up to find herself in a sea of pink...a pink sheer canopy above her bed. She has been fascinated with a canopy since Brad stayed in a hotel in Albany earlier in the summer that had one. Then she came downstairs to find her girls in their new trundle bed, from Santa! The rest of us were pretty excited with our gifts as well. Brian realized that he is now really 21 and got his first gift of liquor in the form of mini liquor bottles in his stocking. I thought maybe he should try the higher end vodkas. I surprised Brad by getting him a full box of Mark Schlereth's stinkin' good green chili. It is delicious and I think we need to order more. He ate a tub of it the first day!




Then Kaitlyn gave Piper a super gift, it was Shrek Operation, talk about a hit, Piper loves it. I laugh every time Piper is playing and hits a side and it goes 'zith' you should see her jump! So, what about my Christmas? It was great! Brad gave me a total surprise and got a TRX suspension training system. I am still learning how it works and getting used to the exercises but so far so good. I also received some wonderful Raiders gifts from Myles. He is the best shopper. I got a new hat, pj bottoms and of course the 'spirit' gloves you see in the picture. Ahh yes and Brad totally spoiled me with a Tiffany box as well. He is a great shopper. Finally here is Piper with her new cash register. For those of you not fortunate enough to shop at her 'shop' in the kitchen...you can purchase anything on her table, and it's a wide assortment of stuff. Then you can own these items for 4 days, and then they must be returned and she will sell them again. The cash register is great, I can either give her cash or use the credit card and anything with a bar code can be scanned. The best part is, no matter how much money I give her, she always gives me change back! I love her shop.







At the end of the holidays we went to ICE!
I always love doing a Christmas time outing with the Salamone's! It was cold but really colorful and fun to see 12 scenes from the Grinch that Stole Christmas.


New Year's was spent with the Healy's and Salamone's. Happy 2011!

The 111th Army-Navy Football Game

I love this football game; it encompasses all I love about college football. It's a big ol' dose of God Bless America and a good old fashioned football grudge match where all the bragging rights are up for grabs. For many players on both teams this is it, there is no pro contract waiting after graduation, no agent greeting you after a game or scouts watching you play. There are a few Admirals and Generals, Secretary of the Navy and Army and occasionally the President, but in essence they all work for the same company you are soon to join. When these football players walk off the field, they put their uniforms back on, maybe have the night off in Philadelphia and then it's back to school, finals are the following week. This year it was a bit different, both schools are headed to Bowl games. Navy plays San Diego State on December 23 in the Poinsettia Bowl and Army will play SMU in Dallas at the Armed Forces Bowl. (Seems to me that the two bowl games Army and Navy are playing in are more home games for the opposing teams). But first, let's talk about getting to the game. We drive up Friday afternoon before the game and stay with our friends, the Arcaro's. Here is a great shot of Buddy Arcaro(Den dad of 29th Company), Ralph, Tom Williamson (just back from a three year tour as Naval Attache in Poland) and Brad. Brad and Ralph were Naval Academy roommates, and quite frankly watching the two of them hang out together is hilarious. Luckily for me, Ralph married Amy and I love her. You might remember Ralph and Amy from an earlier blog about our trip to Citizen Bank Park and the Phillies baseball game. As luck would have it, this trip also involved a trip to 'the Bank' since the VIP Tailgating party was on the Club Level. After enjoying some delicious food and drink we headed over to 'the Linc' as in Lincoln Financial Field, which is across the street. Since we had regular security (i.e. no presidents) we got in and were able to see the Leapfrogs and the Black Knights do their jumps as well as the players run on the field and fly overs. I will say the Navy has a much better fly over with jets than the Army with their Apache Attack Helicopters. The game itself was great this year; Navy had a little turnover in the opening drive, but then Army turned it back over and next thing you knew Navy was on the board with a field goal. Navy's quarterback, Ricky Dobbs did not have his best outing but in the end it was another Navy Victory. The funny thing about the Army Navy Game is not always what happens on the field as much as during the game, in the stands and after the game. We all have our stories so here are a few of mine from this year. The first is this, we sit down and I chat with the guy next to me, turns out he is there with his good friend, who happened to have gone to the Naval Academy. "No kidding" I say my husband went there too. The next question of course is 'what year?' Turns out the magic year is '85. I am constantly surprised at who we meet and run into during that weekend, every year. During half time we went out and met my cousin, Gary Oakland. He's in his second year at West Point. Piper was thrilled to see him, since he had missed the cookie bake in Bellevue over Thanksgiving. Then the game ends, and I talk a Mid into giving me his beanie hat with a yellow N* on it. (USAA swag bag gift in each Mid and Cadet's seat), although I did have to talk him out of a trade for my fur hat! Finally, the best part of every game but especially the Army-Navy Game, the singing of the Navy Blue and Gold! It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it sung.

Something New That I Like~ Minus 5

The Las Vegas trip was a lot of fun, this time there was one new place I wanted to visit. It was Minus 5 Ice Bar in the Monte Carlo Hotel and so we did! It is only open in the evenings until 1 AM and you have to buy either a $25, $50 or $75 package and that includes a long parka, gloves, and a drink. If you upgrade you get to wear a fur coat, fur hat, you get more drinks, and free pictures.
We stopped by the desk before we bought a package and were given extra coupons for free shots. So here we are sitting in the ice bar with our drinks. Oh here is the other catch, you can't bring anything in with you, no phone, camera, video, nothing. Thus, I did have to buy these pictures. Here is one with our new Penguin friend we met in the Ice Bar. Quite a character that penguin!


Finally, here is a cute picture of Julie and me. We had so much fun together on our yearly trip to Vegas...with Brad. Although this picture is us with the friendly penguin, Brad didn't really hit it off with the Ice Bar host, ha ha.

I think Minus 5 is pretty fun. We stayed in there about 30 minutes and had 2 fruity vodka drinks. Brad could compare Minus 5 to the actual Absolut Ice Bar in Stockholm...there is no comparison. But for Vegas, worth it.