When I'm a billionaire

I'll get Britt custom made Ferrari station wagons, just like the sultan of Brunai bought for his wife.

five? 'kay!

Today was my big race! I didn't sleep very well last night, but woke up right at 7 to get ready. Joe was very supportive and drove me over and waited patiently for me to finish. The course was a little harder than what I'm used to; (a track a no-hill jogging trail) there were a few hills. But I jogged the whole time and paced myself really well. I felt awesome after the run, but may have overdone it by running a ton of errands today. I'm pretty sore tonight. But it was lots of fun! I'm really glad I did it, and look forward to jogging some more. UPDATE: I just got my official time from active.com (boo, active sucks) 35:59.

Tying this thing on my shoe that tracked my time.

My classic "I don't know what I'm doing; why are you taking a picture and not helping me?" Face.

With my friend Katie from work. She's been very supportive of my Couch-to-5k efforts, and strongly encouraged (forced) me to commit and sign up for a race so I had a goal to work towards. Thanks Katie!

Visitor!

Benjy was in town last week for work, so after school/work Joe and I hopped on the blue line to meet him for dinner. We LOVE visitors! Oh, also I ate Thai food. Yes, that is blog-worthy because I don't really branch out too much. I liked it 'cause it was chicken and not spicy...so people who love Thai food probably think that doesn't count.

Go Cougs!

It's weird being so far away from BYU Football games now. I kind of got used to going to the stadium or trying not to go anywhere near I-15/University Parkway/University Avenue around gametime. So it was fun last weekend to get together with other fans @ BYU's Barlow Center to watch part of the 59-0 blowout against UCLA. We had fun taking photos of ourselves.

Where we get our decorating inspiration

Joe just found this awesome Youtube video; some realtor took a tour of a condo in our building with the same layout as ours. For all we know, these people live right above us. It's worth the watch, even if it's just for the soundtrack.

So Crafty

I'm always inspired by my friend Molly, who makes cool things. It's not just that; she has a very creative mind and I run a lot of my decorating ideas past her. Anyway, here are 2 things I did on my very own:

Many of you may remember that in Orem, Joe insisted on putting a rug on the coffee table. I thought this was really dumb. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any coasters we liked for our side table, so I made one giant coaster out of FLOR samples. Same concept; much classier.


I made this shade in my bathroom to replace the gross doily-type that was in there when we got here. A total privacy shade isn't necessary since we're on the 2nd level, so I took the leftover material from our hem-them-yourself Ikea drapes, cut the fabric into strips, and hung them on a suspension rod. I kind of dig it.

My dad would be proud

When I got in the car tonight to go to Trader Joe's (I know, I'm so awesome,) I noticed that the gas tank was almost 3/4 of the way full...so when I got home, I had to look at our bank account to see that the last time we put gas in our car was August 23. 18 days, and we still have enough gas for like a million trips to Costco. My dad would be so proud!

This almost-ran-out-of-gas fiasco occurred during our Thanksgiving roadtrip. I think we filled the tank with 1/10 gallon to spare. Joe has obviously been a very bad influence on me.

I was kind of (a lot) spoiled to get 2 cars from my parents in high school (not at the same time, of course). I was required to get a job to pay for gas and the occasional speeding ticket. Beyond that, I had two obligations:
1) Always keep the gas tank at least half-full I'm still not sure exactly why my dad demanded this; I think that a.) it kept me from running out of gas, and b.) if there was ever an emergency, and we needed to get out of Lincoln City, we could always make it to Grandma's house 'cause she had the food storage.
2) Keep my car clean, inside and out. This would include times when my dad would passive-aggressively get his own vehicles out to wash in the driveway...sometimes on Saturday mornings. I would eventually make it outside in my pajamas and half-heartedly help.

Luckily, there was no "Don't sit on your car" rule, because apparently I liked to do that.

It's just funny that after all this time, I'm still very aware of the gas in the tank and the cleanliness of the car. Joe can't really appreciate this, so I thought I would tell all our readers.

Wedding Reception-Photos for Lew

Bye Bye Hanna

Hurricane Hanna came through yesterday. I have to admit that it wasn't much different than a lot of the storms I remember in Oregon. But for a few hours it was REALLY rainy, kind of windy, and just overall yucky. We had standing plans with Matt Orr to go out to lunch, so we all braved the weather and had a good time.

Date Night

One of the best things about working (me) and going to school (Joe) at GW is that we're already downtown. So if after work and/or school we want to do something in DC, it's like hey, we're already there!

After work last weekend we went to the E Street Cinema; they specialize in independent films, foreign-language films, and documentaries. Those first two types of movies don't usually catch my attention, but I LOVE a well-made documentary. We saw Man on Wire, the story about a French acrobat who walked across a high wire between the Twin Towers in 1974. The story was fascinating; this guy saw a photo in a newspaper of the Towers being built and said he just knew he wanted to pull this off. Years later, and with the help of friends, he snuck into one of the buildings, set up the wires overnight, and then walked back and forth on the wire for 45 minutes. I think what really struck me was this guy's passion for life, and I love that he wasn't protesting a war or bringing attention to a cause--he just wanted to walk on a wire between the Twin Towers because he could. Anyway, it was a great movie.
Oh, and the theater has Italian soda...so we are definitely going back :)

Thanks for your patience...

And another blog post begins. First, let's start with the not-so-hot new that has happened since we've blogged last:

Joe is no longer employed. Our "hey our lives are pretty awesome" streak ran it's course...we figured the whole law school/condo/my job/Joe's job situation was too good to be true, and we were right. It was completely unexpected, but we feel very fortunate that we were not left in a total financial crisis. We are just starting to recognize the effects of a single-income lifestyle, but I think it will be okay. Joe is going to focus on law school for the time being, and we will see what happens. Gosh that sounds delightfully optimistic, doesn't it? :)

Well, now that that's out of the way, let's focus on the super awesome and fun things that have been going on:

I got a new computer at work. It's kind of awesome. I only use about 3% of the features on it, but it works and doesn't freeze up (like my old computer did,) and I look pretty cool using it.

We found the best burger ever. One day Joe met up with me after work, and we were determined to be spontaneous and walk into Georgetown and find a hip place to eat, etc. Unfortunately, about 5 blocks from work it started pouring and we had to run for cover. Luckily, we were right next to the Westend at the Ritz. Joe had just read an article about the chef there and his quest to build the perfect burger. Destiny? Yes. Deliciousness!

I'm making friends at work. Some fun-tastic activities have included: watching the Roller Derby in Baltimore, decorating the office for engagements and birthdays, and currently tin-foiling our boss' office while he is on vacation.

We have had visitors! Some have even stayed over! Ben & Shauna, Marcus, JJ, Abbie & Scott & Ella, and Steve & EB have all seen the new place. It's been so awesome to see familiar faces.

We are taking advantage of our surroundings. DC is full of fun and interesting things. I decided to include an awkward photo of us with comedian Brian Posehn and a car we saw outside of Best Buy. Concerts, restaurants, super-duper liberal people...these are all things we couldn't find in Utah. Well, we could find them, but not so readily. Joe would probably add to this list that we see really cool, expensive cars all the time too :) Every day there is something new and exciting going on out here; you can never get bored.

I'm finally running a 5k. I fell off the wogging wagon for a bit, but am back on track and ready to run a 5k on September 20. Unfortunately, I had to use Joe's OLD employer to sign up for the race, so I'm a little bitter that they get a cut of my registration fee. Oh, well. I decided to include a picture of pre-wogging Brittney; you can't really tell...but that's me taking a nap, in the 2nd bedroom, with a body pillow over my head to drown out any distractions. I've mostly replaced my naps with wogging. Go me!

Joe is an awesome husband. Since our schedules overlap, (lame) I come home to an empty house...an empty, CLEAN house: the beds are made, the sink is empty, and I love it! Joe is 4 days into law school, and working really hard. He's going to do awesome.

One last trip Post

Somewhere in the midwest, we came across another silver 2005 malibu lsv6 that was packed to the top as well. They followed us for a hundred miles or so, and we were buddies. Then we split up, never to see each other again.

Other Notes on the Trip

We left at 4:30pm on Monday, and got in at 6:30AM on Friday. Not bad time, considering we got a late start pretty much every day. Three favorite pictures from the trip: The bugs on the front bumper. The Dale Earnheardt sticker that let us know that Iowa is a special place, and a very ugly piece of artwork at Notre Dame. Oh, and in Pittsburgh, we saw a limousine made out of a Pontiac. Why not?

Home at Last

Finally we got home! Britt did a great job with the condo, and Marcus earned a lifetime pass for driving with me, and saving us with the changing of the tire. We drove about 2,200 miles, spent about $400 on gas, got good mileage, saw friends and family, and had a lot of fun. Mostly, we got to see how cool America is, and how lucky we are to live here.

Flat Tire

After Pittsburgh, we drove a few miles and we were home! Just kidding, we blew out a tire, in the middle of nowhere at 2 in the morning. Luckily Marcus was able to put on our spare, and the spare was good for 3,000 miles, according to the owner's manual. So we drove 60 the rest of the way home.

Pittsburgh

We decided to stop in Pittsburgh on our way home. I was really impressed with Pittsburgh, it seems like a really cool city. The baseball stadium was amazing.

Indiana

After Iowa, we went to Indiana, where we got to see Notre Dame, see Jacob Smith, and see where Marcus lived on his mission.

Iowa

The next stop on out trip was Iowa, where we got to stay with Greg, Tiffany, and Jakob! We also got to get our fix of Halo and Fuddrucker's, two of the cornerstones for a healthy life. Thanks to the Welches for having us!

Nebrasksa

I am not making this up: Western Nebraska smells just like the inside of a Coldstone Creamery. I have no idea why a whole half of a state would smell like an ice cream store, but it does. In Nebraska we stopped in Lincoln, in honor of Grandfather Cramer, and saw the state capitol and massive football stadium.

First Stop, Denver

Good to see Wray and Natalie, and their soon to be baby. Many thanks for letting us stay at your place.