Thursday, October 23, 2008
Politics Schmolitics
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ramblin post on Renaissance Fair
Growing up as a poor disadvantaged kid in Southeast D.C., one of the few days I had to look forward to each year was the Maryland Renaissance Fair. Every year from August to October, they recreate a Midieval village in Annapolis. They have food, archery, music, jugglers, and live jousting. According to Wikipedia its the 2nd largest Renaissance fair in the country. I loved it as a kid, but I was afraid it wouldn't hold up 15 years later. After all this time, it was still awesome.
They still had the same sword swallower I remembered, and I even remembered his jokes (Of course Johnnie Fox is my stage name. My real name is John Fox. ) We brought Matt and Ashley (in town from NY ) and had a real fun time. There was a band in from Scotland, called Hack and Slash that pounded on drums and played the bagpipes. I threw ninja stars with Matt, and got to meet a wizard! We ran into matt's brother John, who fit right in with the long hair crew. Also we got to see two friends from high school who ended up marrying each other.
The people-watching at these things is off the charts. Its like a star trek convention but for fantasy geeks. There is always a weird "gun shop / citizen militia of montana / aryan nation " vibe at these things. So many white people gathered around listening to scottish music kind of but not really thinking to themselves "things were better back in the motherland." At one point, when we were surrounded by large crowd of drunk white people in kilts and corsets, I looked around, and turned to Matt and said, "Yeah, probably not a lot of Obama voters here."
more pictures as always on the Flickr Page.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Parental Visit
My parents came to visit this weekend; we had so much fun! They flew in Wednesday around midnight, and we left for the airport at six this morning...so we only had a few days to squeeze in all our sightseeing. All our photos are here
Day 1: Mom, Dad and I took the Metro into the city and stopped by work to say hi to everyone. Then we did "the loop"; saw the White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial.
Day 2: We toned it down a little this day. Joe joined us for a trip to a few Smithsonian museums, and then we introduced the parents to the goodness that is Five Guys.
Day 3: Between Marta (GPS) and Google Map directions, we had an easy drive to the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, and the Pentagon Memorial. Joe also drove us by his old house and schools.
We also had tons of fun playing card/dice games, watching Jeopardy, and looking up exciting facts on Wikipedia. The weather was amazing all weekend, and the parents were great sports learning how to ride the metro and walking everywhere. We miss them already! Love you guys!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Non - Partisan
I'm joe cramer, and I approve this message.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Proving Me Wrong
So today we were getting ready for church, and a conversation similar to the following takes place:
Joe: You can just drive to Church. I'm going to eat a little, and then it only takes like 5 minutes to walk there, so I'll meet up with you.
Britt: 5 minutes? Are you kidding me? It would take way longer than that!
Joe: No it wouldn't.
Britt: Yes it would!
And so on...
We paid close attention to the odometer on the way to Church; it's exactly one mile away. So during Sacrament Meeting, (yes we mostly paid attention) Joe decides he could run home in less than 15 minutes. I was highly skeptical.
This is Joe stretching before his big run.
This is Joe running through someone's yard.
Guess who walked through the door 14:59 later? In his church clothes and shoes? Having run through yards and small sidewalks and up hills? My hubby, who would go to great lengths to prove me wrong. I accepted my defeat gracefully, and willingly took my first Halo lesson tonight (Joe's "prize").
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Just Trying to Help the Economy...
Joe has recently jumped on the "making our condo look nice is a fun thing to do" bandwagon. It's been fun to have him help me pick out rugs and a bookshelf. Also, when I say something like "Do you think this will match in the dining room? You know, 'cause the wall is kinda this color and the rug is kinda that color..." he will actually give me a thoughtful response instead of "You can decide."
So on Friday we made a trip to Potomac Mills. I was so excited! We got to go to Ikea, Costco, Best Buy and Walmart all in one trip. These stores were all less than a mile apart from each other, and SO empty. It was an amazing experience. Someday I will go back for all the outlet stores, but I'll need to rest up!
Once we got home, we went to work. Our biggest task was trying to hide the wires from our wall-mounted TV and the various electronics it needs to be attached to. We drilled holes in walls (after using the stud detector and hoping gas lines weren't nearby...they weren't,) and in our bookshelf. Then we had to guide the wires through these holes. Easier said than done. Luckily, I had impulsively bought decorative sticks to put in a pot in our dining room...and guess what we used to guide those wires! How convenient!
Joe was Superman, and figured out which wires went where. I was around for all the rest, but mainly tried to make things look good.
I am thrilled with the finished product! We took the photos at nights, so they're a little dark...but I was too excited to wait.
All the cords ready to be hooked into the TV.
Guiding wires through the wall!
My idea! I took apart a cheap shelving unit, flattened this wire basket, and attached it to the wall so we can have easy access to our surge protector.
A big mess of wires behind the bookshelf...
...now mostly hidden by an Ikea magazine holder-turned remote controls holder/wire hider.
More yucky wires...
...hidden behind a (dirty) mirror and a makeshift stick decoration. I took a cardboard tube, hot glued leftover drape fabric to it, and put the sticks inside!
Ta da!
The other side...and Halloween decorations.
Joe, to give you an idea of the size of our furniture.
We also got a new rug for the living room. At least we're keeping all our condo rules :)
Dining room updates: new rug, table with the leaf in it, centerpiece, and sticks in the corner. I want to switch out the lighting at some point, but we're pretty happy with the overall look.
So I guess now we're "that couple" that does all their decorating and home projects on the weekend. We don't really have a choice since the only other time we're together during the weekdays is after 9. I had a lot of fun doing these projects with Joe, and if you couldn't tell we're kind of proud of ourselves.
An "efficient" sightseeing tour
I was so excited to find out my friend Andrea was coming to town! It's great to see people from back home (like WAY, Lincoln City, back home), and fun to play tour guide. When I got home and told Joe all the things we saw in a few hours, he called our trip "efficient." I would have to agree.
We met at the Metro Center station, and did the following: saw the White House; walked down one side of the Reflection Pool; saw the WWII Memorial; saw the Lincoln Memorial; saw the Vietnam Memorial; walked down the other side and saw the Monument. Then we hit up the Natural History Museum, the National Archives, ate lunch in Chinatown, then parted on separate sides of the Metro tracks.
It was so fun to catch up! And I was glad to see a few sites; I actually haven't been since we moved out here because I didn't feel like I knew my way around. I'm pretty confident in my directions now :)
This is us in front of the White House. Notice my awesome bandaid under my necklace...it's hiding a gnarly curling iron burn. Yep, feels pretty good.
Representing Utah at the WWII Memorial.
From the Lincoln Memorial...the Reflection Pool, Monument and Capitol peaking out in the background.