Philly/NJ

We finally did get some real snow.  That's our apartment building off to the right.  It has been bitterly cold though.  Tom stopped and got a shot of the ice on the Potomac.

We had plans to meet Tom's siblings in NJ to finally lay his mom's remains to rest and see the headstone.  We decided to stop in Philadelphia on the way and see if we could find his grandparent's graves at a Catholic Cemetery just out of the city.

Tom got the information from the caretaker and we found his grandmother's marker but were unable to find his grandfather's even after going up and down the rows of headstones.  We went back and it turns out his remains are buried on top of her (and there are two other family plots underneath them) but his grandfather's name was not put on the headstone.  There's not really room to add his to her stone so the family needs to look at getting him his own stone.

It was an interesting cemetery as it was filled with Italian names.  No Smiths & Petersons like in Utah!

We stopped and bought subs for dinner to take to Marie's.  Yeah, healthy eating gets put on the back burner every time we head to Jersey!  Turns out it was Victor's birthday and Marie asked Tom to help put some photos together for the surprise party they were having Saturday night.  So of course Tom can't do anything the easy way and put together a really nice piece with photos, music, special effects and such.  But it also took the entire evening so Marie and I sat and watched some of her favorite shows…..Duck Dynasty and some show about a guy who builds fancy adult tree houses!

We met Joe and Karen at 9:30 the next morning at the cemetery.  Denny couldn't come because it had snowed all week and he had to take advantage of the clear day to catch up on some jobs.  The guy who had dug the spot for the case was there and had everything set up.  Tom went over to take a look at it and Eleanor's name is mis-spelled on the headstone!  Ugh!  The guy said he had noticed that it was different than what he had on the paperwork.  So Tom had to deal with getting that fixed this week.  He contacted the mortuary and the guy sent back a letter of apology.  Honestly, the comedy of errors regarding this poor woman laid comfortably and notably in the ground has been an adventure.  Anyway, it was very low key.  A couple of prayers were said then we left so the guy could finish his job.  We went and had breakfast at a diner then headed back to Marie's so Tom could finish the photos for Victor and burn copies while Marie went to the museum to help some of his friends get it decorated for the party.  Again, it took a couple of more hours but we were finally able to get on the road.  Marie wanted us to stay for the party but we still had things to do to get ready for a Superbowl Party we were having the next day so excused ourselves.

Snow Day II

So we were warned that a giant storm was yet again on it's way.  More snow than the capital region had seen in years and bitter cold that would keep it around for the entire week.

Sure enough, the following morning the phone rang before 6 AM with the recording saying all the schools in VA, MD and DC along with the entire federal govt. would be shut down.  So, we headed across the parking lot to the gym and got our morning work out out of the way.  Then I headed to the local Redbox to grab a couple of movies for us to settle in with.  Side note: we always try to see as many of the Oscar nominated movies as possible and it just so happened 2 of them were being released that morning.  Yippee!

Pretty early on my brother Jeff sent a mocking text message to us both calling out the DC region for being a bunch of wimps.  We actually had to agree but Tom wanted to take photos of us out snow hunting to send back to him.

 We bundled up, headed out into the treacherous elements…..(in all fairness, it was now 11 AM and there were some light flurries) and took hilarious photos of ourselves in our awesome hats, umbrellas and flashlights hunting for snow.  I know.  This is how we entertain ourselves.

But we did spend the rest of the day (we got about 3 inches of snow and yes, it got very, very cold) watching our movies, reading and staying cozy in our warm apartment.  The next morning was another 2 hour delay day at work but Tom went in at the regular time to get caught up on stuff.  Wondering how many snow days we'll get this winter!

Uncle Bill

Monday we took Tom's Uncle Bill to lunch.  He lives in Annandale and we tried to do this once before.  We had called to see if we could take him to lunch but he said he would rather go to dinner because he volunteers a couple of hours a day at his ex-wife's dry cleaner.  So we drove there, killed some time (as we were early) at Barnes & Noble then got out to the car to go pick him up and there was a message that he'd sent earlier in the day that he couldn't go after all.  Apparently, Tom didn't get that message.  

So, attempt number two.  Tom had an eye appt. near there Monday so he called Uncle Bill Sunday afternoon to see if he could go to breakfast after Tom's appt.  He said yes, told us where he wanted to go, called and checked on the place near him where they served breakfast and told us to pick him up at 10 am.  Sunday evening at 6:30 pm he called to find out why we weren't there.  Tom went over the plans again, reminding him we were picking him up at 10 am for breakfast the next morning.

We go to Tom's appt. then have about 90 minutes to kill so we grabbed a donut & decaf to hold us over and read in a parking lot till time to pick him up.  We pull up at 10 am and he's just coming out the door for his morning walk.  "I thought you were coming at 11!" he says.  No, that would be 10 AM.  Well, he wants to take his walk which is 2 times around the block and he says 1 3/4 miles.  He invites me to wait at the house but Tom assures him I'm up for the challenge.  We do the walk in approx. 20 minutes or so.  And no, it was much shorter than 1 3/4 miles.  So then he invites us in the house to visit.  I'm starting to think we're not actually going to breakfast.  So we sit and visit a bit and then he says…."Oh, we're going to lunch!"  So we get in the car and drive to what we think is his favorite eating joint and discover they don't actually open until 11 AM.  

So now, we kill some more time window shopping at this strip mall then we find a small 2nd hand shop to browse before finally making our way to the now open restaurant.  Turns out Uncle Bill has never been to this place…no, they don't serve breakfast…..only on weekends.  So we settled for lunch, had a lovely conversation and I only hope that my family will be as patient with me when I am his age.

56th Birthday

 Had a great day with my friend Dalliss.  We met at Union Station and hunted down a healthy eating spot in the food court as we're both doing a Vegan fast.  Ended up with indian food….rice, chick pea and spinach, a couple of other sides that escape me, and water!  Doesn't sound great I know, but it was actually full of yummy spices and was filling and delicious.  As usual, our conversation got out of hand so 90 minutes later we decided to hit the road and just stop to see whatever sparked our fancy.  Turns out it was such a gorgeous sunny day we just wanted to be outside and enjoy the weather so we walked to the Capitol, turned and walked the length of the national mall to see the Lincoln Memorial, cut across to the Korean and MLK memorials, then around the outside of the tidal basin to the Jefferson memorial.

 6.5 miles and I'm not sure how many hours later we headed back to the Smithsonian Metro to say good-bye.  I headed to Waterfront to meet up with Tom.  We metro'd to Eastern Market and decided to have dinner at Chipolte.  Veggie in a bowl for me and Sofritas (tofu) in a bowl for him and both were yummy.  They even gave us two free coupons for Sofritas next time we come in!  We have a class we're taking for 3 consecutive Monday nights at NCC called The Story which is chronological walk through the bible.  We were a little early so we strolled down the street and stopped in some of the shops along the way.  This place is a pet shop called Howl To The Chief and I thought all these doggy desserts looked awesome!

Our class was great, though we were both really tired and still had to metro home.  Got to have mom, dad and Sharon sing to me over the phone & got to read over a hundred Facebook wishes before a hot bath and crashing into bed.  It was a good birthday!

2nd Saturday

 National Community Church sponsors service projects the 2nd Saturday of every month.  We meet at Ebenezer's Coffee House for fellowship then they offer 4 or 5 places that need help that day.  Things like making lunches for the homeless, interacting with at-risk youth at a center, visiting and doing crafts at a retirement home, etc.  We've been a few times and this was our second time helping out at The Southeast White House.  It's called that because it's on Pennsylvania Avenue and has similar architecture to THE white house but it's in a pocket of town that is poverty stricken.  The medium income of this working poor, African American neighborhood is $17,000 per year per family, with three-fourths of the children coming from single parent homes and over one third of the families qualifying for public assistance.
This is a safe place, "a house for all people" where youth can come for mentoring, arts and crafts, food, and other after school programs.  NCC has a strong presence there and is also in the planning stages of building a new adjacent property next door.

Tom helped put away Christmas decorations and he and I spent a couple of hours cleaning windows along side others who were deep cleaning the place after the holidays.  Others went out in the pouring rain and walked the streets picking up trash and visiting with neighbors they come in contact with.  It's always a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Once we finished there we headed to Georgetown for the Welcome Back Luncheon for the international students.  Most of them either traveled home or went on awesome trips over the holidays.  Tom's student, Zimo, went to Miami to meet up with his girlfriend who goes to school there and then went to China to visit his family.  Alexis went to Peru, Brazil and about 3 other places then ended up in NYC.  That girl is taking advantage of everything she possibly can!

This activity was a Southern celebration with fried chicken, dirty rice, coleslaw, sweet potatoes and apple pie.  Sweet tea and biscuits as well.  There was a power point that showed them which states are really considered the south, cultural examples and of course an overview of slavery.  They also tied it in to Martin Luther King's birthday which they'll have a day off school for next week.

They also had a great professional "caller" who taught us a line dance then several square dances.  He was a great teacher and I think the students had a blast!

Post Holidays

We were on U Street last week at The Lincoln Theatre which is right next door to historic Ben's Chili Bowl.  It's been there since 1958 and is famous in the city.  We sat at the counter and there's a sign up that says everyone has to pay except Bill Cosby and members of the Obama family.  A very mixed clientele  and the employees (tons of them!) were incredibly friendly.  As for the food….it was good….I'm not sure how you can screw up a chili dog, though the flavor of chili sauce was much more prevalent in these than regular ones I've had before.

New Year's Eve we had some friends over for a quiet dinner.  We wrapped up around 9:30 and Tom and I just kicked back.  We're not big partiers so this is the perfect way to celebrate for us.  I was starting to feel like I was coming down with something and sure enough the next couple of days I was down for the count.  As soon as I started feeling a little better, Tom came down with it.  It did however give us some good quiet time to go over our 2014 and beyond goals and to check out some good documentaries on Netflix between football games.  After being confined to the apartment for several days we decided to get some fresh air and drive about an hour away to Fredericksburg, VA on Saturday.

 We went to check out something specific but decided to walk around town a bit.  Watched a little video about the history of the town at the visitor's center then checked out some shops.

Thought this was a GREAT name!

Great little shops, antiques, galleries, boutiques, book shops and lots of eateries.  We had already eater so didn't stop of any of those but we'd definitely like to go back some time!

NYC Overnighter

Tom had cataract surgery in Bethesda the morning of the 26th which went well.  We hadn't eaten so after he was finished we found a funky little diner that looked good so we stopped in for breakfast.  It was yummy as expected.  Nothing like a Mom and Pop diner!

So we had a few gifts for Taylor (including a camera we didn't want to mail) so we headed to NYC on the 27th after Tom had to check in for a follow up appt. in Virginia.   We decided to try a different route to NYC as the one we usually take costs us $70 in toll fees.  It was a lovely day as we drove through Gettysburg and Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Arrived in NYC and checked in our hotel before hopping the subway to go see Taylor at his new job.

 He's running this coffee kiosk at this new Harley Davidson on Broadway that just opened a couple of weeks ago.

 Mariah is visiting from UT for the week (they made those plans before he got this job) so we took her out to do a little site seeing.  We wandered Broadway and headed to Chinatown.  Found a cute Scholastic Store that would be an awesome place to work.  Surrounded by kid's books!

 After Taylor got off work we headed to Times Square and Rockefeller Center.  I'm pretty sure we couldn't have picked a busier Friday night to try and see the city.  Honestly, I could go on for 3 pages about how much I hate crowds but let's just say it didn't take long for us to decide that after trying to find a place to have dinner here……we were better off going back to Brooklyn.

We did find a lovely, small place for dinner.  I didn't take nearly enough photos as I was tired and cold and really just looking forward to going home.  After dinner we walked over to our hotel so Taylor could open his gifts.  No close subway and we didn't want to lose our parking place so they hopped a cab to go back to his place.

The next morning Taylor had to work so we checked out of our hotel and drove to Taylor's to pick up Mariah.  We started out to find the subway to head into Manhattan and got completely lost.  After about 45 minutes of walking around in Brooklyn we took a break at a bakery.  Had a snack and re-grouped.  Found the subway and stopped in to say hi to Taylor before heading to the 9/11 Memorial.  Again, there were a bazillion people people in line and none of us wanted to see it enough to endure the crowds so we just walked over and saw the new World Trade Center building and stopped in St. Paul's which is across the street.

Now none of that sounds like it would take very long but as everything is a hassle in this city it was past lunch time by the time we got back to Taylor.  We opted to get them each a tour bus pass good for 4 days that would take them all over the city and if they felt like hopping off they could.  It was also something Mariah could do on her own while Taylor worked as she wasn't really keen about heading out by herself on foot in the city.  We grabbed a 99 cent slice of pizza for all of us then Tom and I hit the subway to get back to the car and headed home.  Again, we opted for a non-toll way home but our phone GPS took us a completely different way through Trenton NJ, Delaware and who knows where else as it was dark.  We were both pretty grumpy and decided this is the last time we're doing a 24 trip to New York.