Mele Kalikimaka 2009!

Whirlwind trip after returning from Key West on Monday. We avoided the snow delays at the airports in Charlotte and Philadephia, but our Amtrak to DC was delayed a few hours. Jeff went into work on Tuesday around 6:30 after we made it in at 1 in the morning.

The drive to NC on Wednesday was a bit miserable, as we hit holiday traffic before we even left Northern Virginia. We stopped at Leslie's Mom's (Sue) place for a chance to hang out with Sue, John, Leslie, and Scott. We then kept moving to Jess's parents to hang out with the familiy for a few days.

No defined plans yet for the New Year, although it will likely be low-key. We both go back to school on January 11, but Jeff continues to work through the weeks. Speaking of school, Jess pulled all A's and a B+ this semester, while Jeff got 2 A's and a B, so we did fairly well despite the heavy academic loads. We've every intention of keeping up the good grades through the next several days.

- j&j

Happy Hannukah from Jeffrey

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Duvall street flood

Today was awesome in an unconventional way. After biking downtown, we got torential rains that flooded the main drag and kept us indoors for awhile, but we still managed to swim back to the lodge.

--j&j









- Posted using BlogPress frommy iPhone

On the way to Key West

It was very cold in Philadelphia this morning. This is us waiting for the airport shuttle.

--j&j

The scary effects of too much catnip

It may be time for an intervention.

--jess

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Technology!

We had to get me a PDA for my pharmocology class next semester, which was a good excuse to get an iPhone.

We will be able to take pictures and post directly from Key West, which is pretty awesome. We also purchased an underwater digital camera today. We did not use it to take this picture of Zoe.

--jess

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

This is our fourth Thanksgiving in four different places since we got married - 2006 on with Jeff's parents on a ship in Hawaii, 2007 at our place with our Hawaii friends, 2008 with Jason and Kelly in Fort Belvoir, VA and 2009 in Philadelphia. Jeff hasn't had Thanksgiving in the same place twice since 1997, so we're building a bit of a tradition. We're making a very small dinner for the two of us with a crock pot turkey breast, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, and three varieties of mini pies that are probably two slices each. We are thankful we can be together for the holiday; Jeff has a ton of papers due and Jess still has eight exams in the last three weeks of the semester.

The picture at the left was from Jeff's dining out in DC in early November. There was roast beef and a lot of toasts. Not the bread kind of toasts, more like you start eating your beef and you stick a bite in your mouth and someone toasts something, so you stand up and pretend you're not chewing while your roast beef gets cold, - kind of toast.

For those of you we haven't told, we're going to Key West right before Christmas! We are spending the actual holiday in NC and have no idea what our other plans are - hopefully will take care of that over this holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

--j&j

Body Worlds 2 and Terror Behind the Walls

Jeff made a trip to Philadelphia last weekend for a couple of nights. Saturday was incredibly busy with a trip to The Franklin Institute in order to see Body Worlds 2. While the exhibit would have been interesting enough, it was even more so with Jess able to point out obscure anatomy that she is familiar with from school.

After lunch at Machismo Burrito Bar, we napped away a rainy afternoon in preparation for Terror Behind the Walls at the Eastern State Penitentiary. Although we had to wait for an hour in order to catch a bus to the building, then another hour to get into the show, it was very worth the wait; the atmosphere of a deteriorating prison makes for a great haunted house. The majority of the tour isn't haunted so much as startling, and includes five sections: intake, lock down, the infirmary, the experiment, and night watch. The staff gives out flashlights for night watch, and you navigate through the halls with no ambient light, although lock down was the most disturbing section. We'll totally go back next year.
- j&j

Labor Day Weekend Delights

Jeff had a four-day Labor Day weekend; Jess had three days off. Due to the time off, Jess took the Amtrak down from Philadelphia to DC for a weekend away from studying and kitty-cats (they were fine upon return home).

Through a whirlwind-weekend, we visited the US Capitol Building (rotunda, right) and the Library of Congress, (left) both of which are within walking distance of Jeff's new apartment, on Saturday morning. Although the architecture and history behind the Capitol are interesting, the LOC is almost overwhelming in detail; we know there are books somewhere, but the Great Hall only has a few (including a Gutenberg Bible). We soon decided, however interesting books are, lunch was much desired, and walked over to Bullfeathers for burgers, fries and beer.

After a lazy (due to gluttony) Saturday night, we met up with Jason, Kelly, Danielle, and Jason's friend Byron on Sunday for Champagne Brunch at the Fort Belvoir Officer's Club. After stuffing ourselves full of delicious meats, fruits and pastries, who would have imagined that we would ever get hungry again! However, at least one more meal was on order, and we walked down to eat a late Mediterranean dinner at Cava Mezze, which has fantastic whipped feta with jalapeno (called Crazy feta) and asparagus large enough to prompted several minutes of discussion - why can't we get such great-quality asparagus delivered to the home?

Closing with one of the two statues Hawaii contributed to the Capitol building; it is the heaviest out of all 100 of the statues from the fifty states.

--j & j

Not dead (yet)

Hello from Philadelphia!

My schedule in PA school is a bit insane right now - sorry to people who've called that I haven't been able to get back to. The pace is extremely fast; we just started school on the 27th and have already had 24 lectures. There is a lot of information to manage, and needless to say everyone is a bit frenzied. We actually only have about 40 hours less class time than medical students; they just have more breaks. I almost think medical school would be easier!

Kitties are doing fine - Zeke was allergic to a spice in a piece of fish I gave him, so his lower lip swelled up for a few days, and it looked like he was pouting. Zoe likes to nibble on my hair while I am studying. Other than that, no kitty adventures to report.

Jeff's coming up this weekend; hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can do something fun.

--jess