Lessons Learned

15 Things I've Learned in the Past Year

1. I'm seriously lacking in the motivation department. Where can I get a new shipment of the "goods?"
2. Owning a home isn't as glamorous as it seems. Sure you can paint the walls whatever color you want, but then there's that ever occuring monthly payment attached. Being a kid was so much easier.
3. I can hang in a recreational soccer league.
4. I married a comic genius who can never fail to make me laugh.
5. Bangs aren't a nuisance. Perhaps it's because I've not played sports in a while...
6. Seeing someone you love suffer is harder than I ever imagined.
7. I'm a nagger.
8. When choosing a major; always choose money over enjoyment.
9. Beagles are hyper.
10. I enjoy watching TV every night.
11. I can't manage working full time and keeping a clean house. I believe this links back to my first lesson learned.
12. Pregnant ladies get a lot of attention, sometimes unwanted attention.
13. Jury duty isn't so bad.
14. Using coupons is an art. I've tried my hand a few times at it, but still have yet to learn the secret to making it more simple.
15. It's ok to toot infront of the one you love.

March Madness- pardon the cliche

March was a busy month for us. Casey's parents took us to DC for a week long vacation touring our nation's capitol. It was our last hoorah before little Maddie comes. I lived in VA for a few years, so I'd been to DC a lot, but we still did so much that I hadn't seen or done before. We had a little private tour of the Supreme Court building, which was so very interesting. Our guide took us into the actual courtroom and gave a little lecture explaining how hearings worked and who sat where and so on. Other sites and activites: most every monument, zoo, a couple Smithsonians, America Indian musuem, China town for a killer lunch, and I'm sure there's so much more that I'm not remembering.

We also rented a car and took a trip down to the school I went to, Southern Virginia University. We stayed with my old softball coach and enjoyed a day of relaxing and just visiting the campus. Then we headed to Charlottsville and did a little shopping then visited Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. We ended our trip with a day in Baltimore, doing a little shopping and eating and wandering around until our flight. It was a great trip.

We got back to the Valley and celebrated our 1 year anniversary the next day. We didn't have much planning time for anything special, so we just went to breakfast at the same place we went the day after we got married- Cracker and Co. Sooooo good- eat there- soon. Then I was a bad wife and had to leave my husband for quite a while to do some bridesmaid dress shopping with my friend who was in town for the weekend. We ended the day with some Papa Johns pizza and a movie- we're so romantic, I know. But the next weekend we did go out and have a nice dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant then went to the symphony.

Also in this busy month, my sister Tasha threw me a baby shower. It was way cute- with a french countryside theme. We had brunch, complete with crepes, bacon, fruit, muffins, juice and cupcakes. It was so good to see friends and family, and we got a lot of cute and much needed baby items.

My husband the All Star

I'm usually a faithful supporter of Casey's soccer games, but last night he had a late game, it was a little chilly, I had to attend Young Women's until 8:30, and I needed to get the house somewhat cleaned before we leave on our trip Friday. So I decided to just stay in.

He got home a little after 10 (this picture isn't from his game last night), and I first ask him how his ankles are doing. I bought him some new cleats for his birthday, which have been rubbing his heels raw. He turned around to show me his bloody socks, and optimistically said, "I don't think they grew in size; they just opened up again."

I then ask him how he did, and he casually says, "I had one assist and a hat trick." Of course he did! The one time I decide not to go to his game he's the freaking all star of the game. What miserable luck.

Holy Crap I'm 26.

So I know there's a lot of people out there who are older than 26; this is no attack on their age. It's just crazy to see your life fly by so fast. I remember going to some presentation on fitness (I don't know why I was there) and the speaker showed a chart on "peak ages" for men and women. A woman's peak is at 25, so I guess it's all down hill from here. I kept telling Casey to enjoy me in my prime because after 25 I'm just going to let myself go.
Ok, so it's really not that dramatic for me to be 26, and it was a great day. Casey got up early and made me a breakfast sandwich and cut up fruit, and surprised me with a new bike for my present! I was very excited, and will hopefully get much use out of it doing triathalons and cross country bike rides....or cruises around the neighborhood like we did this morning.
After work we ordered some Papa Johns and watched some Wheel of Fortune. I had some friends over later in the evening to eat cake and watch LOST; it was a very enjoyable and relaxing evening. Thanks to all for the phone calls and birthday wishes. Life is good at 26.

The Random 7

The Random 7

I was just tagged by Koe on this. We'll see how it goes.

Here's the rules:

Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Post 7 random or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag 7 people and link to them.
Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Seven Random or Weird Facts About Me: (Jessie)
1. I wish I were an accountant. I would love to go back to school, but there's a baby in my tummy and we're poor.
2. I rarely wear socks, so my feet/shoes almost always smell bad.
3. I cannot do a real pushup. Girls pushups, no problem.
4. I only shave on Sundays, and that's not every Sunday.
5. I just got rollerblades but can't use them since I'm pregnant and fear a horrible fall. And my husband also bought a skateboard so we can someday have fun trips in the park.
6. I'm horribly sad because Raheem got bit by a big dog at the dog park and now has 4 stitches with a huge drainage tube in his side. It hurt him too much to move last night, and he wet himself on the recliner. When we finally noticed and put him on the patio, he sat in the corner in shame. Big sniff.
7. I have consumed a Capri Sun daily for the past 2 weeks.

I don't tag anyone because I don't have friends yet. I'll have to figure that out soon.

Raheem III

This is our beagle Raheem III. Everytime someone learns the name of our dog, there appears a puzzled look on his face. Following is the story of our dear dog's name:

Before we were married, Casey decided to take a "manny" position in England. (Manny= male nanny). It was the perfect opportunity for me to visit jolly ol' England, so I went out for 2 weeks. On our list of sites to see was Paris. But in order to get to Paris we first had to take a train/bus/taxi to London, then from there take the train to Paris.

Casey bought our non-refundable tickets, and we planned our two day trip. As the day of our departure arrived, he assured me we had plenty of time to make it to the train station, so we occupied our time with activities other than packing. Finally, at 10 pm, we wheeled our luggage to an empty, dark train station. As we sat, hopefully awaiting a train, we finally saw one in the distance headed our way. We stood up, gathered our bags, and waited. Zoom, there goes the train. We decided to try a bus. Again we wheeled our luggage to another stop only to find the bus schedule ended at 10. Ok, let's try a taxi. We then proceeded to waste away all our change at a pay phone trying to reach a cab company.

In desperation, we started walking. Our train from London to Paris left at 4am. By this time it was well past midnight and we still had over 20 miles to walk. In the rare occasion that a car past, we waved and held up our thumbs and tried any means to stop them for a ride. Finally, after an hour and half of walking, a young man pulled over. He had seen us walking on his way into town, and took pity when he saw us again on his way out. His name was Raheem.

So why is our dog named Raheem III? We soon encountered another Raheem. In London we stayed in a hostel where we shared a room with a 40 something year old man, named....Raheem. He was from Iran and was looking to start a new life. He was so friendly and so excitable that we immediately took a liking to him. It was then we decided that Raheem was a name to be honored.

Lewis Family First Halloween Celebration:

Casey had such a great idea for our Halloween costumes; the only problem is we didn't act until the day of Halloween. Initially we were going to buy Casey a powder wig, get him all decked out in green clothing, then he would wear his cardboard head gear. I was going to find a brown/gold hoodie/cape and carry a baby doll in the hood, then wear my appropriate cardboard head gear. Get it, Casey's a dollar bill and I'm a Sacajawea dollar coin. Instead we have very quickly drawn cardboard cutouts. We went to Kiwana's Park for the Halloween festival with hopes of winning an awesome prize in the costume contest. We entered the family category. (We brought Raheem; he was a penny). We were sorely disappointed with our loss to a family of Peter Pan characters and a couple dressed as Batman and.... Batman. Ours was definitely the most clever AND it was homemade. We're winners in our own eyes.