National Botanical Gardens

You may remember some pictures of the National Botanical Gardens from when Mom and Dad visted (on her blog, because I had forgotten my camera that day)... however, I strolled on down this afternoon to see their decorations for Christmas. Mostly they had placed poinsettias EVERYWHERE, so there wasn't much extra for Christmas... but, they have started a little train village which was fun to look at.
On my way towards the Botanical Gardens, I couldn't resist this gorgeous shot of the Capitol. T'was a beautiful day.
These miniature sculptures are my favorite part... They are made entirely of bark, leaves, nuts, etc. And the details are SO intricate!
Close-up of the dome on the Capitol.
Santa's elf quarters... cute. :)
More elf quarters... I love the pine cones on this one!
A scary moss troll guarding the bridge.
The Smithsonian visitors center
Lincoln Memorial... see him inside? Pretty amazing!
They had some ornaments hanging from the ceiling that were pretty neato too...
Plants outside
One more close up of the Capitol to show you the progress of the scaffolding they are building for the Presidential Inauguration...
Another day in the life of a DC resident... come visit so we can show you around! Peter's neice comes tomorrow for the night... we're looking forward to that!

Someone took pity on us!

Nate and Lisa were sweet to invite us over for Christmas dinner with them. So nice that Jared was there too! He taught us how to play Casino - quite fun, but requires a brain... you can imagine how well that went for me.

Hostess & Host. And delicious cooks. Not that they taste delicious... their food does. :)
Usn's - Apologies for the hair in the face... I did that to divert attention to my sweet, handsome hubby. Clever, huh?Special thanks to L&N for having us over... I miss being with family for the holidays, but spending it with friends is the next best thing!

Christmas midday stroll

Christmas afternoon Peter and I took an afternoon stroll, and ran across this pretty sun-scape.

Whoops!

I forgot to post this!
Last Sunday, on our way home from Special Meeting in Winchester, VA we stopped for dinner with Liesl, Ken, Ben and Anna...
Here's our group mugshot. Thanks to Anna for the photo, and everyone involved in our great time together that evening. :)

Gingerbread house decorating festivities!

Monday evening we had a Gingerbread house/tree decorating party! This was originally intended to be at Bobbi and Troys, but both Bobbi and baby B got sick, so we changed the location.
We started by filling our bellies on pizza, then went to town decorating our Gingerbread.
Ken & Liesl putting theirs together
Tess securing her roof
Baby M looking adorable!
Anna and Ben (friends from Australia)
I had this bright idea while at Wal-Mart. They were selling Gingerbread TREE kits instead of houses, and in the interest of being unique & original, I thought Peter and I would decorate a tree instead of a house... Probably won't do that again! The other couples had WAY more fun being creative with their houses!
Bah Humbug! I was such a scrooge about this tree... Live and learn I guess?!
All done!
Dozer, clearly very happy that his house is inhabited with frosting and candy covered people!
Anna's adorably artistic gingerbread people!
Peter and I, and the imfamous self portrait... we're making it a tradition, everywhere we go/everything we do! :-)
Candles in the windows and a wreath on that wall! So cute!
I love the flowerbox and holly in the window!
Finally finished...
Ken & Liesl with their new home...
Anna and Ben showing off their creation...
And my favorite part... the melted snowman! Ken said this is what artists call a "good mistake". :) His snowman toppled over, so he added a bit of frosting here and there & voila! A melted snowman!
Our group minus Tess & baby M (had to go home to put baby to bed) and Bobbi, Troy and baby B. We missed them!
T'was a very fun evening. We stayed up until wee hours playing Rook after our houses (and tree) were finished... I'm ready for a nap today!
(P.S.: The girls won rook) :-)

Freezing...

...but NO snow?! What's up with this?

We wake up to sunny, clear, 15 degree mornings. Bah. What fun is the cold without any snow?!

Williamsburg, VA

Last weekend (19th & 20th) Bobbi, Troy & Brooklyn invited us to stay with them at a resort in Williamsburg, VA. It was about 2.5 hrs South from where we are. The resort was quite nice, although our weather was bitter cold! However, we had a great time & enjoyed touring Colonial Williamsburg on Saturday.
I didn't catch an photos of the resort itself, but you can see it here.
Our room - We even had a pillow-top mattress. We've never had a comfy bed when we're away from home... this was a nice surprise!Bobbi, Troy & bundled up baby B. Poor Troy didn't have a coat! :(
I can't remember the exact numbers, but there are a few hundred restored and reconstructed buildings in the colonial section of Williamsburg. Of those few hundred, around 80 are original structures. There's a nice read on Colonial Williamsburg here.
These really aren't as bad as one would think. :) (although you couldn't tell that from the wretched look on my face!)Peter's much happier being locked up than I am!
All the folks that work in the town dress, act & talk like they're living in the 1600's. Quite neat.
I was so eneamored with all the creative wreaths that adorned each door! Please forgive the next few pictures if they bore you... I know Mom will enjoy them. :)
This one was my favorite... How original to use an old rake for the base. And cotton too? Brilliant!
Each wreath bore some significance to the building it was on. For example, if the building was the cooks house, the wreath would be made of fruit & so on.
Sleeping baby B. Darling.
I love this doorway!
Pretty berry vine climbing the brick wall.
Peter and I... cold and wind blown!
Back at the resort... B enjoying her bread and juice.
B wasn't really in the mood to eat, so to encourage her we started clapping if she would take a bite... She thought this was pretty neat, and clapped along - so proud of herself! :)
Saturday night we meandered on home... Sunday we spent at Special Meeting in Winchester, VA.

Tagged

I've been tagged twice now! So here goes...

Here are the rules of being tagged:

• Link to the person that tagged you (Chels & Sarah), and post the rules on your blog.
  
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
  
• Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I realize most of this isn't "new" (or interesting!) to any of our blog readers... I guess I'm just not a very weird person... right? Right!?!! :-) Bear with me!

1. I have an irrational fear of the plastic portion on tanning beds (the part you lay on) shattering and me burning my back on the hot bulbs. Thankfully they now have stand-up tanning beds...
   
2. I enjoy decorating; picturing things in their places... how shapes and colors look together, and I can't wait to have a house to do it in out here!
3. (gross/weird one...) I used to chew my toe nails. *I can't believe I just wrote that on my blog.* Gross.
   
4. I'm happy living on the East Coast, but miss my CA/OR/WA/ID friends and family!
   
5. I love cats... Especially the king of our house, Dozer. He's my full time job right now... :)
   
6. My favorite song in the 5th grade was "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. I still know all the words & still love the song... (yeah, not much of an accomplishment, but it's random, right?!)
   
7. I LOVE spending time with my hubby... he's my best friend!

I tag: Mom, Cara, Cuz'n Cathi, Lorinda, Cuz'n Shauna, Aunt Sandra, Aunt Sherlene & Lisa.

Odds n' ends

Yesterday I had the fortune of discovering Linen's n' things is going out of business! Everything in the store is at least 40% off... :)
I found these awesome "wall paint" stickers on sale, and decided to try them out... It looks like the words are really painted on the wall! I love it!
Here's what the package looks like in case you're interested. They have many other sayings, some for the kitchen, some for children, etc. They are all quite cute. I bought another quote for when we buy a house out here. It says "may all who enter as guests, leave as friends."
Dozer was quite interested in the picture process...
I made some of Peter's favorite cookies tonight - oatmeal. :) Yum.
And aren't these guys festive? They're for our potluck on Sunday... if they're not gone before then!