Joy Dare: Day 1

If you have a pulse, you've probably heard about the book/blog/challenge of One Thous*nd Gifts. I love the concept and really want to read the book. I have wanted to start my list of 1,000 things, but have found it a little overwhelming, so I've never started. Which is silly because I just need to start with one thing; that's not overwhelming, I can do that. So, I will. I will start with the February challenge found here:

http://www.aholyexperience.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/FebruaryJoyDare.pdf

Today is February 1st. Surely there are 3 things I am thankful for today...

A gift found at 11:30, 2:30 and 6:30. go.

1. 11:30...1st birthday card of the year received from a family I am working with as they get so close to completing the marathon called adoption.

2. 2:30...turning the lights off in our office and working by lamplight. Its almost 70 degrees today and our office is confused. and really hot, but its 70 degrees in February!

3. 6:30...driving from work to Tr*der Joes, talking to my dad about what's for dinner. him: leftovers. me: whichever microwavable creation from TJ's strikes my fancy. lovemydad.

I think I'm hooked. Starting was the hardest part; now only 997 to go. This is easy. See you tomorrow!

31 days

Well kids, this is it. The end of the 31 days of blogging. I'll be back for sure, but I don't know if it will continue in quite the same frequency. I have enjoyed the challenge and it honestly flew by! It has been fun to document the little things that happen each day that usually slip by...as well as the BIG things that probably and hopefully are a once in a lifetime event...like an earthquake and hurricane in the same week. No big deal.

If you've followed along, thank you! If just one person was encouraged, inspired, laughing or relating to some piece of the random posts along the way, I consider it a success!

And now...

I'm done.

Queens of Dessert

Amy and I are the best/worst pair. We MUST end each meal with something sweet. So after our delicious pizza, we went straight to Georgetown where we visited S.e.r.e.n.d.i.p.i.t.y.

We sat at the cupcake bar; which if you know us, it is beyond perfect.

We had their specialty, frozen hot chocolate. I love when a dessert is topped with equally as much whipped cream...

This picture is an optical illusion. Despite how this appears, there is not a straw sticking out of my neck.

Another fun Aimye Adventure for sure!

2 Amy's

Oh what a splendid day! On Sunday, Amy and I took full advantage of the beautiful day outside because inside there was no electricity. We had been wanting to visit a very special restaurant in D.C., so we jumped in the car and found our way through the post-hurricane streets...

I will let the pictures below speak for themselves as to why we thought this would be such an appropriate locations for us to try...

The pizza's are baked for just a few minutes in this fiery brick oven and they come out perfectly...

Our pizza had zucchini, mozzarella and pine nuts. I could probably eat it every day.

We also had these: I don't remember what they were called, but they were equally delicious.

creamy risotto balls, filled with mozzarella, rolled in bread crumbs and fried...I need to find who invented these because I'm pretty sure we could be BFFs...

We were our server's first table of 2 Aimye's. How could that be? Don't groups of Aimye's flock to this place?

We sure got excited about it!

And this was just the start of our fun day!

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

that is all I can say in place of my August 28th post. I made it 27 days in a row and then a stupid hurricane had to rip through and steel my power and internet. Now it is imperfect and I will have to start over. I don't like it.

Walking in the Rain

There is something about feeling like I have to stay inside that makes me really want to leave the house. Plenty of weekends have been spent in PJ's hanging out inside and I've thought nothing of it, but today a walk in the rain never sounded better. So that is what we did.

We ventured out while it was still a "gentle" rain with only a gust of wind here and there. Its been a weird feeling all day not knowing what the weather was going to do. I haven't exactly been in the path of a hurricane before. So we got our fresh air and Tr*der Joe's fix and got a better look at the sky. Yep, it was raining.

The rest of Amy & my day was filled with sleeping way too late, pancakes, coffee, mindless internet surfing, we*ther.com obsessing, dinner, chocolate cake, a chick flick, chatting, a game and a perfectly unscheduled day.

Gotta run...time to check the weather.

1st an earthquake...

now a hurricane. And all in one week. Dare I ask, what next? I gave into the pressure and went to the grocery store and bought water. 2 cases. Along with a bunch of other storm-inspired junk. Then this weird guy helped me load the water into my cart. Few creepy vibes, but mostly he was annoyed that I was blocking the self-check out. He thought I was just being slow, but the lady in the computer was insisting, "help is on the way," which wasn't happening any time soon because all of Northern Virginia was at the grocery store needing assistance. So Mr. Nice Guy took it upon himself to hunt down "help." She came, set me free from the computer check out jail and I was out of there.

The shelves were looking a little sparse and the parking lot. Lets just say that's why I have car insurance. People are insane. I love my car and all, but don't you think if you were driving a car worth more than my life, you'd look both ways first? Apparently not.

I've got my pre-storm shopping fix and I'm prepared should I be forced to expand my natural disaster repertoire. Here's to hoping Irene drives like the people in the grocery store parking lot and takes a sharp turn to the right back out into the middle of the ocean where she can wreak havoc until her heart's content.

Now if you'll excuse me, my storm-ration ice cream is calling my name.