30. It's kind of a big deal.

Charlie turned 30 on November 3rd and I took it upon myself to make a big deal out of it. His gift is a trip to go see the Yankees during Spring Training in Florida this spring. We went out to dinner and celebrated with the special homemade "strawberry long cake" I make for him each year.

I also surprised him with a party on November 14th. Which I was sure he had some clue was going to happen.

Nope.

It was awesome. He was totally surprised, had no idea I was planning something. Sometimes it's nice to have an obvious husband. ;)

The party was baseball themed and we all chowed down on ball park food such as hot dogs, nachos and buffalo chicken dip.

I also made a video with pictures throughout Charlie's 30 years, which I've uploaded below. Wasn't he just the cutest little boy ever? I think so.



So my darling hubs is now 30 and likes to brag that he "robbed the cradle". 2 and half more years and I'll leave my 20s as well. But I'm not wishing for that to come fast.

~KC

A mishap

Last night we had a slight mishap. It kind of exemplifies the way life has been going these days- not as expected.

We were heading home from small group, trying to make it to Target before it closed so I could pick up the new Sugarland CD (woohoo!). To truly appreciate what happened next, we need to flash back to the night before when we were on our way over to a friend's house for dinner.

Katie (driving): Oh, the car's basically on E. You'll have to get gas on your way to work tomorrow.

Charlie: Ugh. I can just get it on my way home.

Katie: (sideways look issued to Charlie which translates as "why do you put things off?!")

Charlie: (sees look. ignores.) Or! We can get it at the 7-11 on the way to small group tomorrow- it's always cheaper there! (Slight smirk as he knows he has Katie now)

Katie: Gah. Fine.

Charlie: I know how to appeal to you.

Flash forward to Tuesday night as we are (surprise!) running late to small group and have to forgo getting gas until afterwards.

So. Driving to Target from our friend's house where small group is held. This drive is less than two miles. As we crest the hill to Target, the car sputters. I (Katie) am driving again and exclaim, "the car is out of gas, the car is out of gas!". Luckily, I have the presence of mind to pull into the approaching left turn lane as it leads to the aforementioned "cheap" 7-11. We stall out in the turn lane, directly at the point where a car that had gas would have stopped to wait to turn.

Dirty looks are thrown.

We sit for a second both somewhat amazed that a 27 and soon to be 30 year old could let a car run out of gas. Charlie gets out and pushes the car across the intersection as I yell "faster!" just to give him some extra motivation. He pushes the car till it is coasting down the small hill into the gas station. Which is great. Except that the power steering and power brakes are not working, hence I am stomping on the brakes and turning the wheel with all my might to get it into a spot next to a pump. Which was luckily available and I didn't have to maneuver around anyone. That would have been awkward to have to stop, get out and explain to another driver that no, I could not back up as I have no gas.

When I get out to pump the gas, I can't help but burst out laughing. It was so ridiculous. Charlie heard me laughing as he was walking down the hill and started laughing as well. The other people at the pumps probably thought I was off my meds as I cackled away. At least Charlie joined me eventually so that gave more credibility to my insane laughs.

After we filled the car up with gas, Charlie thanked me for laughing and not blowing a gasket that we ran out of gas. Not sure why he would think I would do that- I'm always so calm and collected.

So, this story illustrates that things have been "popping up" in our life lately that are not totally expected. We replaced our dishwasher (yeah!) but in the process, had water leak into our basement. As soon as we signed the receipt on the dishwasher, our ailing computer went critical and has all but waved the white flag of surrender on life. So, a new computer purchase is in our future. We're looking forward to having a computer that runs on a new-fangled processor instead of hamsters so that hopefully things like posting pictures and writing blogs will be significantly less time consuming.

Hope this made you laugh as much as it made us. Here's to the unexpected (both good and not so good)!

~KC

Sister Hazel in Annapolis

At the end of June we went to another concert- Sister Hazel was playing in Annapolis. First we went and ate crabs on the water and then we headed over to Ram's Head Live for the show.

Which was awesome.

Sister Hazel is Shelley's favorite band and she had made me a CD of their music the week before we went so I'd know more than their two big hits (all for you, change your mind). However, it was such a good show that you didn't even need to know their music to enjoy it. They were hilarious and the venue was very small so we felt part of the show. You'll see from the pictures we were really close to the stage!

I love Annapolis, it's so cute and charming and reminds me of the sailing vacations I'd take with a childhood friend on the Bay. It was a lovely day!

Mmmm.. hush puppies. Complete with honey butter.

Hello crabs!


The view from the restaurant

The view from my seat at the table- Charlie and Jarrod

Have mallet. Will eat.

Shells and I by some pretty flowers

Annapolis at sunset

Sister Hazel!

Hazaah! Three for three!

~KC

Harry Connick Jr. Serenades Our Picnic

Also back in June, we went to see Harry Connick Jr. at Wolf Trap, an convienant, outdoor venue in our area. From where we choose to sit on the lawn, you couldn't actually see him, but you could hear him just fine (swoon!). We went with a group of our friends from our small group and had a lovely, relaxing evening full of yummy food and great music.

Jeremy and Leah enjoying our lawn seats (note Leah's adorable anchor shorts!)

That's Harry- I promise.

Us and our bag o'pita chips

Jarrod and Shelley

Woohoo- I'm 2 for 2 on the posting goal! :)

~KC

Playing Catch Up: Dog Friendly Winery

I have no more excuses. I'm not in school anymore. I work from home most days. But I still can't keep up with the blog. Ok, well I have one excuse to offer: our old computer that is on it's last legs, takes 400 years to do anything and that wouldn't be replaced until we save the money for it. That's my (lame) excuse. So, a series of posts about our fun summer is a'comin. Maybe if I commit to one a day I can have it updated soon. Maybe.

Well.

Back in June (why does this seem so long ago now?!) Charlie and I went to an ultra dog friendly winery about an hour away. A number of wineries in our area allow dogs on the property but this one calls itself "dog-centric". The name even creates the acronym BOW; as in bow wow. We had a fun time but it was ridiculously hot so we couldn't really lounge outside and enjoy like we had hoped. Oh well, there's always the fall!

Paisley and I by the tasting counter

The view outside

They even had a dog etched into the dog. So cute!

~KC

5K-Check!

On June 6th, Charlie and I ran the Herndon Festival 5K with our friends, Joy, Jarrod, Chris, Kristine and Melanie. Now, let me state right here that I am not a "runner". I have a love/hate relationship with the activity. I love that its cheap, quick, that you can do it anywhere, and how good I feel when I've done it. I hate how 5 bajillion different things can determine if I feel awesome or supremely crappy when I run (weather, attire, what I ate that day, etc). Sometimes I feel like superwoman when I run. But most of the time: I feel "eh" and do it because I want to stay healthy and it's convenient.

That said, running a 5K was on my "bucket list" and when our friends suggested it, I wasn't totally opposed. It did take some convincing but I'm so glad I did it. Though it was hot as Hades the day we ran, it felt awesome crossing the finish line (and knowing I wasn't the last one!). Charlie, Joy and Jarrod stayed with me and though Jarrod will tell you I "set the pace", he's lying. All three of them run faster than I do and have competed in various 10 mile races and relay races and other endurance running nonsense. ;) But they were so nice to run with me and made me feel great. We ran the race in 33 minutes and 50 seconds which is a 10:55 mile. I know that may sound slow to some but it was my best time out of all my training runs so I was happy. I was also happy because I finished 17th out of 39 in my age group (20-29). Which, incidentally, didn't include any of my running friends except Charlie but he was in the "male" category (obviously) and he turns 30 in November so he barely made it in the "youngin" category with me.

Joy and I before the race

Charlie, me, Joy and Jarrod before the race

Chris (it was his birthday and he was feeling sick and STILL ran the race, it was his first 5K too!), Kristine and Melanie as we wait to start running

This man is waaaay to happy about running 3.1 miles

At the beginning of the race when I mumbled "Honey, please STOP taking my picture" as this was picture 7 and we had run about .2 miles. P.S. did not know until I looked at these pictures that you could see my sports bra right through my shirt. I spared you the more "obvious" ones.

Almost to the finish line, hence the concentration and seriousness on my face. Charlie and Jarrod, again, both way to happy.

The four of us after the race- NOW I smile. :)

Before we ran I vowed to Charlie that I would never do one again. However, once we finished, I was already talking about signing up for one in the fall. What can I say- I'm fickle.

California Love

Right after I graduated, we left for vacation for a week in California. We both had frequent flyer miles that were going to expire soon and decided back in February that we wanted to use them to take a trip after I graduated for some much needed reconnection. Not only was I done with school but Charlie finished his horrible constantly rotating schedule at the Pentagon in April. We decided to go to California because, in Charlie's words: "Lets go as far as possible and get our money's worth on the frequent flyer miles". That and there were things we wanted to see and experience together.

We started the trip in San Francisco where we had two full days. We were super-blessed to have my sister let us use some of her "$50-a-night" perks at a Kimpton in the city. If you've never stayed in a Kimpton before- it's amazing! I stayed in one for work before Meg got her job and was THRILLED when she started working for them! In San Fran we went to Fisherman's Wharf, toured Alcatraz, rode a cable car, went to an Oakland Athletics game (the Giants weren't in town) and saw the "crooked street". On our 2nd day in San Fran, we ventured out to Sonoma for some wine tasting. This was one of my favorite things we did. It was so beautiful, the people were so nice and the wine was so good.

After leaving San Fran we drove down Highway 1 (known as the Pacific Coast Highway or PCH) to Monterey and went to the Aquarium. Another beautiful spot. We left Monterey and drove a bit further down to the Big Sur coast and took in some spectacular views hiking around Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. We had dinner in the (tiny) town of Big Sur at a restaurant recommended to me by my work friend Alison who went to grad school in Monterey. After we ate we hit the road for what was supposed to be a 3 hourish drive to Atascadaro (a town outside of San Luis Obispo where I could get a room for $30 a night from my Holiday Inn points). The drive took longer because it was dark, the PCH is thisclose to the cliffs and very wind-y. Actually, come to think of it- I believe Alison said "it's beautiful- but don't do it in the dark". Yeah she was right.

The next morning we got up and drove about 3 hours south to Los Angeles. We met my friend Amanda there and saw the Walk of Fame (the stars), Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Kodak Theater (where the Academy Awards are held) and the Hollywood sign. Amanda was a wonderful tour guide and answered many of my questions. (I know very little about Hollywood and usually rely on my friend Tina for all the moviestar gossip). We said goodbye to Amanda and met up with Charlie's friend Becca for some drinks downtown. Then we went to a Dodgers game. You might be noticing a theme here. If you know Charlie, you're not surprised. The man L-O-V-E-S baseball and has a dream to visit all the major league baseball parks. Lucky me, right?! ;) He wanted to go to all 5 parks in California but I made a deal and said I could only do 2. Luckily we did the As first and the Dodgers second because the As game was horrible and the Dodger game was fun! We sat in the "all you can eat" section which I didn't think was a good deal but Charlie was determined to make it a good deal and consumed his body weight in hot dogs and nachos. (I jest- but he did have 3 foot-long hot dogs!).

After the Dodger's game we drove to my Aunt Bean's house outside of San Diego to spend our last two and half days. While in San Diego we went to La Jolla and hiked Torrey Pines State Park, saw the seals (I LOVE seals!), went to the Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma (you can see the whole city), visited an In-N-Out Burger and saw the first mission built in California. We had been to San Diego together before a couple years ago so we took a more relaxed pace to this part of the vacation. We also had some great food! One night we went out with Aunt Bean and her friends Vann, Harold and Fred and had some yummy Caribbean food, followed by some See's chocolate! The next night Charlie, Aunt Bean and I went to a little "mom & pop" Mexican place in Encinitas. It was A-MAZING. I'd fly back to California for one of the enchiladas I had. And I don't like to fly. (Then why do I have some many frequent flyer miles you ask? That's another blog).

The vacation was an awesome time to just hang out together without worrying about school, work, etc. Of course, we missed our Paisy pups and brought her back a little doggy treat from Sonoma.

Thanks to Aunt Bean and Meg for providing us with free/cheap places to stay!