Getting Warmer...

Now that our house has been "warmed" by a smattering of our favorite people in D.C. (during a hurricane no less!) (no offense to those of our favorites who did not brave the elements to join us, by the way), I am pleased to drop in with a couple of before and after shots of what we have accomplished. We are by no means finished with this place, but it feels a lot more like home...

I'll start with our entryway and living room, which seems only natural:

ENTRYWAY BEFORE:

ENTRYWAY AFTER:



FORMAL LIVING ROOM BEFORE:


FORMAL LIVING ROOM AFTER - new (but still light colored) paint, new furniture, new window dressings:

We are pretty happy with the results, if we do say so ourselves! Our big "thing" has been that we don't want to go out and just furnish the whole place just to have it furnished. We want to find things that we like, and that fit into what we want our house to be. There's more we want to do (i.e., rip out the carpet on the stairs, freshen up the fireplace and hearth), but we are in a place where we can sit back and relax for now. Which is good for our bank account, and for our weekends.

Where to Begin...

Seriously. I don't know where to begin with this post, in which I plan to introduce you to our new home and summarize our first SIX WEEKS of homeownership. And in doing so, I should tell you that the most common thought that we had in our first days and weeks as a homeowner was "Where do we BEGIN??!!" So, only fitting…

I'll start at the beginning and make this story short. We finished with closing by 2:30 p.m. on April 13th and were moved in with all of our belongings by 6:30 p.m. on April 14th. We had an enormous, unexpected, wonderful amount of help from our friends the evening that we closed - we were able to get a jump on the paid movers by getting more boxes than we'd imagined to the new place in exchange for a crock pot meal of French Dip sandwiches (easy and always a crowd pleaser!). After everyone got the tour and left, Bret and I commenced our first DIY project: removing the master bedroom carpet.

Before:

After:

Haha! There is no after picture. Imagine it without carpet - replace the carpet with shiny, nearly perfect hardwood floors that needed no refinishing. We are SO. LUCKY. And you can imagine away the horrid window valances, and imagine a light kit added to the fan. But you can leave the pepto pink walls in place. Because that is still what we see when we awake each day. No “after” picture until I get around to the full transformation. (* Since I started working on this post 3 stinking weeks ago, we HAVE in fact painted. Still no pictures yet thought!)

On our first night in our new house, when the movers had left, we celebrated homeownership with a bottle of champagne that we brought back from France. A vintage bottle. A 1996 bottle. It was full of little fast bubbles and delicious. And we used it to wash down a Tombstone pizza. A touch of the life we could have kept as renters with expendable income, with a pepperoni-speckled glimpse of what we've gotten ourselves into.

The next day, I spent alllll day unpacking the kitchen, most of it with Bret's help. That should clue you in to something - it took two people a full day to unpack our kitchen. Luckily, there are a lot of cupboards.





We've even got built-in shelves for our cookbooks and pretty things! One of my (many) favorite things about our new kitchen...

Sneak Peak, on the Eve of Our Homeownership...

Welcome, Friends...

At 1:00 tomorrow afternoon, we'll be signing up a storm! Stay tuned for more "before" pictures, after we get the keys!

"Ummmm Babe... We're buying a HOUSE..."

As I am sure that anyone who has ever bought a house - particularly a not-exactly-new house - already knows, there is a dip in excitement in the homebuyer timeline between having a ratified contract and, well, having a ratified contract that takes into account all of the little things that the home inspector pointed out. Things that make the Perfect House seem a little bit less Perfect.

That's the part of the timeline where we sat for the better part of this week, following our inspection last Saturday.

However, after some compromises on our end with regard to what we could do ourselves (let's be clear that "ourselves" = me and Bret and both sets of parents) and what we should/could ask the sellers to do, and after some waiting to find out what the sellers WOULD do... we now have a ratified contract and a ratified contract addendum.

We are pretty pleased with the results of our negotiations, and we are hopeful that we are in the home stretch towards closing on April 13th!! That leaves six weekends to:
- Pack
- Look for furniture to furnish at least twice our current living space
- Pick out paint
- Pack
- Purchase wallpaper remover
- Buy a lawnmower
- Read up on fence building (so that our new neighbors aren't introduced to Elsa and Otter with us chasing after them frantically)
- Paaaaaack....

And oh so much more. Things that we are excited to do, and things that are tedious, like figuring out who our new utility providers will be and making those calls (this is for Bret.... NOT IT!).

We had been holding back on starting any of this until we got past the inspection stage. Now it feels as though the flood gates have opened. Every so often, we catch ourselves turning to each other, wide-eyed, and saying...

UMMMM... WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!!

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Well, folks, get ready. This is about to be a Cheap Eats blog. A "Best Flavor of Hamburger Helper" blog. Maybe even a Couponing blog if Heather Steele has anything to do with it.

A "Renovation and Redecoration on a Budget" blog.

Because while we've been away from our blog, we've been getting new jobs and moving on up and saving up pennies. And finally, for the past month, HOUSE HUNTING.

And yesterday, some kind people accepted our offer to buy a house. A great big, awesome, beautiful house in the suburbs, with more rooms than we know what to do with, for the time being (and the foreseeable future...don't be getting any ideas, Parents). A house with a great big yard with grass for which we do not yet own a lawnmower. A well-cared for house with pink walls and blue carpet and Oh. So much WALLPAPER.

I outright refuse to post a link or an address or any identifying characteristics, lest I jinx us. After all, there's still an inspection to worry about. And they still will want that check that empties out our savings account.

For now we are excited and anxious and stressed and happy.

So stay tuned. When I started this blog, we were away from friends and family and doing interesting things in our Colorado Life that warranted pictures and stories across the miles. When we moved back to D.C., I fell off of the blogging wagon because life got, well...less interesting. But soon, (pending appraisal and inspection and finance contingencies) we will be Homeowners. God help us...

Summer is Moving Along Like a Freight Train...

This summer is moving SO fast that I am already dreading the cold of winter, even though it was 100 degrees today (and will be for the next few). Lest you think I am complaining, let me remind you that I, Jaimy, have spent the last two summers studying for bar exams. If I am complaining about this summer, it is because as the weeks tick past, I wish it could last forever. Labor Day will come all too soon - definitely before I am resigned to Fall. As much as we often wish we could click our heels together and be anywhere-but-D.C., I have to admit that summer is the BEST time to live in Northern Virginia, especially since we have a new back patio that is like a little oasis:

Even when we are home, we are "busy," cooking up a storm and/or whiling away the hours outside over brunch just-the-two-of-us or dinner with friends.

Summertime recipes enjoyed by the Lewises:

Seared Mahi with Green Gaspacho

Perfect No Cook Strawberry Ice Cream

Blueberry & Nectarine Cobbler

Grilling whatever we can...

We've tried new restaurants all over the District and Arlington, and I swear I have wanted to tell you all about them... but I was too busy enjoying the sunshine! Hope you are all doing the same!

One Extreme to Another...

So Good to be Out of the City!

Here's a link to pictures of our visit last weekend to Orange County, VA, with our good friends Meredith and Cord. Another (food-related!) post to come...

Snowed In

OK, I just wrote a big long post about how we have been snowed in....and then blogger ate it. I think blogger ate it to get back at me for not posting for the past six months, so I have decided to just accept my punishment, instead of tempting further retribution by trying to recreate the clever things I said before.

So without further ado, here are some shots of the members of our family who have been quite pleased to have Mommy and Daddy stuck at home for the past SIX DAYS, and who really do not mind the three feet of snow in their backyard. In fact, they really quite enjoy it...

Otter digging a snow cave on his 1st birthday (Feb. 6th)

Bret tossing snowballs for the pups

Elsa enjoying the cold

Attack stance (This was early on in the snow fall,

when you could still see the bushes over the snow)

Done. (Again.)

I'm going to act as if the little readership of this blog has been chomping at the bit for an update, as if it is not made up almost entirely of people I talk to on a daily basis. It's OK. Just let me think that. (And if you are evidence that it isn't true, drop me a comment and let me know!)

Anyway, today is Day Two of Post-Bar Exam Bliss, and T-Minus ONE day until I turn 29. After the last few weeks of stressing and cramming and generally exhausting myself, I'm tempted to make a few last minute additions to my birthday list. Namely, a walker, some orthopedic shoes, some Ben Gay, and an industrial sized bottle of ibuprofen. Don't get worked up -- I am not saying I AM old, I am saying that I FEEL old. As in, decrepit. I tried to do two days of coffee detox in an attempt to "reset" my system, but that lasted one day, and that is only if you don't count the fact that I had three cups of Earl Grey tea yesterday. Oh well.

Here is the point where I sing the praises of my amazing husband, who has now seen me through two bar exams. The mere fact that I was able to take the exam instead of being admitted to the hospital for lack of nutrients is a testament to his devotion to keeping me fed and watered and generally moving in the right direction. This time was definitely harder than last. I "quit" at least 3 times a week, only to be encouraged and gently guided back to rational thought. Then, in those last few days, when the going got really tough, I came home to a "care package"- a new Vera Bradley bag filled with chocolate and gummy bears and advil and chamomile tea and a sleepy-time CD. He offered to drive me there ("there" being Roanoke, 4 hours away) and back, only to come pick me up two days later (which I turned down because, while the offer was tempting, it would be a little ridiculous). And PEOPLE, he had our house cleaned while I was gone. I left a certifiable mess behind and came back to sparkly cleanness. The moral of this story is: I am the luckiest girl on the planet.

And now our "summer" begins. Birthday celebrations lead into Anniversary celebrations. We've got tickets to the Legg Mason Tennis Tournament here in D.C. And my little brother is coming on his first solo trip to visit us. These next few weeks were my motivation through the last few... the light at the end of my tunnel, the cherry on top, etc. Bring on the happy stuff!

Happy Place.

Virtual Graduation.

If you had asked me months ago, or a year ago, I would have told you that you could hardly pay me to don a cap and gown and go through the graduation hullabaloo one more time for my LL.M.

I have had the "piece of paper" for months -- they handed it over immediately after I completed my very last Final Exam on December 5th. It's been right here, rolled up in a cardboard tube next to my desk ever since. I thought all along that it was just the piece of paper I wanted, and that even if we had stayed in Denver, I would have no urge or intention to endure another graduation ceremony (as if the ceremony was an extension of the pain of earning the degree in the first place).

:Sigh:

I think I was wrong. Right now, with me far away in rainy D.C. and my graduation set to occur in 2 hours and 15 minutes at the University of Denver, I have to admit that I am a little bit sad.

So I am taking a break from the droning of a Criminal Law lecture to throw myself a little blog party -- a virtual graduation, if you will. A little photographic recycling and VOILA:

Me. In a cap and gown, dressed and ready to cross the stage...

Now, lest anyone buy too far into my self-pity, my change in heart could have more to do with wishing I was in Denver (as opposed to D.C.....did I mention it's raining? AGAIN/Still?) than wishing I could cross the stage. But still...

Thanks, Grandma! XOXO, Otter

Time Waits for No One...

In retrospect, May was a busy month... I can hardly remember why, but all I know is that I just wrote our June rent check and I don't feel like we got our money's worth for May rent because we just weren't here. Too bad life doesn't work that way.

We've seen a lot of what life has to offer in the past month. Funerals. Weddings. The tendency that each has to pull people together or cause chasms between them. We've experienced in ourselves and in others around us both utter loneliness and complete togetherness. I know this is a little bit more philosophical than the usual fare here on our blog, but May 2009 was a little more... eventful than the usual month of our lives. The month of May has left us drained and looking forward to the opportunity to relax in the sunshine this summer (it has to stop raining eventually right?) and enjoy one another and our pups.

Unfortunately, relaxation isn't on the schedule for June either, and July could be dicey, but I'll pencil it in for August... 2010.

Suffice it to say that I haven't been out on any photographic safaris recently, and in all of the events of the past few weeks, we haven't had a moment or the proper words to express the goings-on here.

A bit of explanation: Around this time last year, I started this blog to give me a healthy dose of distraction from studying for the Bar Exam. Since then we've traveled around Colorado, witnessed history, made life-changing decisions...which resulted in moving cross-country....then Bret took the Bar and passed... And now here I am. Using this blog to procrastinate as I face down another two months of studying FOR THE BAR. Methinks I am a glutton for punishment...

This makes three straight bar exams in which one of the Lewises have made an appearance. Have we been doomed to a lifetime of perpetual stress? I hope this is the last one. And the only way that is going to happen is if I actually start studying...

The Perfect Weekend....

....Begins with the unexpectedly early news that BRET PASSED THE VIRGINIA BAR EXAM! Woo hoo! Hence our back porch celebration on Friday evening:

There is hardly a better excuse for breaking into our cache of champagne from last year's trip to France!

Look at those well-behaved pups!

After our lovely back porch celebration, we continued on to a lovely dinner with our friend Tamar, one of our all-around favorite people back here in NoVA, who is always willing to pick up and celebrate with us when the occasion strikes.

Saturday, we lazed around the apartment in the morning before heading out for some quick errands to the Apple House Garden Center and the grocery store. You see, a heat wave struck us this weekend. After months of rainy, cold grayness (with not-nearly-enough Spring sprinkled in), we have had sunshine and warmth! For days on end! And so our weekend plan took shape: we will work in the yard and make yummy summer meals, all the while enjoying one another and the pups in the glorious hot sun.

Yummy "welcome sunshine! we've missed you!" meal #1 can be found here-- Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups. I first saw this recipe about four years ago, and have periodically considered making it since. It turns out that I was totally depriving us of deliciousness by putting it off! It was, in the words of Giada herself, "sooo good."

After a nice visit with our friends Liz and Dan, who popped over to visit (and fall in love with) our little Otter, we started in on yummy "welcome sunshine! we've missed you!" meal #2: Baby back ribs with parsley fried onion rings and grilled corn on the cob. Sorry for the lack of pictures. We were apparently too hungry for a photo shoot. But feel free to imagine the deliciousness. It was only our third or fourth foray into ribs, and we have a lot of changes to make in the recipe, but what a meal to enjoy the fortuitous weather!

Sunday after church, we headed straight to Home Depot, along with everyone else in NoVA. Determined to make our little back yard an oasis for the enjoyment of summer evenings, we purchased paving stones, plants, planters, and dirt. Since the projects are as yet unfinished, I won't share the photos, but I will show you what cute, helpful doggies we have:

Mama's pulling weeds and I helped!

I'll just sit here in the shade and look pretty.

And finally, after a scorching hot day of hard work in the hard, we've come to yummy "welcome sunshine! we've missed you!" meal #3: snow crab legs, steamed potatoes, and more corn on the cob, along with some super cool and fresh cucumber salad (sliced and deseeded cucumber, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, couple pinches of sugar), by candlelight (citronella!).

Snow crab tip: When you can catch it on sale, like we did, it is SO EASY, thanks to my dad's super secret (oops! not any more!) cooking method: Rinse off any ice from the clusters, pat dry, and throw into a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with melted butter. This is one of my all-time favorite meals, and on a hot evening on the porch, it reminds me of home.

Meet Otter.

Hello from Puppydom. Meet the newest member of our family, Otter:



He is a 9 1/2 week old chocolate lab and he is just the sweetest thing, which is lucky for him as we progress through the trials and tribulations of house-training. Elsa is not yet a full-fledged member of his fan club, but she seems to like him more and more everyday, despite the amount of attention he requires.

EatBurger < HellBurger

Now that my photography class is over, I feel the urge to get back to the reason we started this blog in the first place: FOOD. Food was unsurprisingly close to the top of the list of "pros" when we were considering moving back to D.C. from Denver, and there have been moments where reacquainting ourselves with the food scene here has been one of the few things that has kept us from getting in the car with a "Denver or Bust" mentality.

Let me preface this discussion with the fact that I, Jaimy, am not generally a burger person. It's not that I don't like a good burger, but I rarely CRAVE one. That is, I rarely craved one...until I went to Ray's HellBurger.

HellBurger is associated with Ray's the Steaks, one of Bret's most favorite steakhouses here in Arlington. HellBurger opened up a few doors down in the same plaza and with the same minimalist attitude toward menu and decor. They do a few things, but they do them very, very well. The burgers are made from the same ground up meat they use for the steaks....10 ounces of it per burger, to be exact. It's counter service, a la carte, and sometimes a challenge to find a table before your food comes. But despite all of the hassle, that first bite of burger is worth it. Lightly seasoned and grilled to medium rare (recommended temp) perfection, I have never experienced a juicier piece of meat. While Bret experiments with the extensive list of toppings, I stick to American cheese and pickles, because the burger itself tastes SO good that I don't want to cover it up. Add a mug of their locally brewed root beer, and a side of cheesy tater puffs, and I would choose HellBurger over many steaks I have had in my life (except my dad's steaks, and Bret's, and maybe Ruth's Chris).

So when I returned from a weekend out of town and Bret said a friend liked the EatBurger, which recently won a burger contest in D.C., at Tallulah/Eat Bar more than HellBurger, I was intrigued. We went there last night to conduct a formal investigation.

While you avoid the counter service hassle at Eat Bar, our experience last night was that the service was not much better for it. I ordered the same burger that I get at Ray's, for the sake of accurate comparison. My burger was slightly overcooked, but I was starving and not willing to wait for another one, and it looked surprisingly juicy despite the fact that it was closer to medium well than medium rare. The key to the EatBurger is that it is seasoned with onion and herbs and saturated with butter to produce a burger that is bursting with flavor and uber-juicy. I admit, it was pretty tasty....

But my vote is for HellBurger, all the way. I can see where one could prefer the herb flavor of the EatBurger, especially if you (gasp!) enjoy your burger a little closer to well done than we do, but that is a cop out to me. Ray's burger is all about the quality of the meat, and you can't get around that.

Voila.

My Two Best Photos of the Past Eight Weeks, Matted & Ready for Framing!

Last Shoot

This will be brief because, well, I don't have much to say about last week's shoot-- our last official shoot for the class. The assignment was to shoot either (1) "Secrets of the Night", or (2) Energy. Combine shooting at night with my hatred of flash, throw in the fact that I've yet to purchase a tripod and you get a bunch of blurry photos. In some cases, blur can be artistic. I'm not sure I got there. I shot most of these at the Circus last weekend, and a few on a stroll through Old Town. First shot is the class favorite for this batch.

So, that's that. I'm sort of sad to have run out of assignments. I can, of course, take pictures whenever I want to. But you look at things differently when you are looking to meet a goal. This class may not have given me the mastery of our camera that I had hoped for, but it did challenge my creativity, which was on a dusty shelf in my mind for 4 years.

Name that Pup

As nearly everyone knows, we will be welcoming a new Lewis of the canine variety over Easter weekend-- a male chocolate lab pup. We are picking him up from my grandpa's (Beaver Creek Kennels of Champion, Ohio) during our holiday visit, which is FAST approaching. (This is partly why we've been trying to enjoy our time out on the town as much as possible these days!)

The problem is that we cannot decide on a name for him! We have ideas, but I thought I would put it out there and see if anyone else has a good suggestion. We are thinking Rugby, Finnegan, or Otter. What do you think??

Date Night Under the Big Top & Sunny Brunch at a Bistro

On Saturday night, Bret and I spent a lovely date night in Chinatown. I had spontaneously picked up tickets for the Circus at Verizon Center while downtown on Friday morning, and we decided to make a night of it. We started at Proof for appetizers and a glass of wine. We had the bresaola, roasted beet salad, veal sweetbreads and mixed olives. It was a perfectly delicious start to the night. Oddly enough, I thought the olives were the best part. We eat a LOT of olives and the citrus twist to the marinade here was refreshing and just a little something different.

After a quick bite at Proof, we waded through the PETA protesters (Note: I have it on good authority from inside the Circus personnel that the elephants are not abused in any way, and in fact are revered as the core of the Circus brand image. See this for more.) and small children to get to the Circus. We actually had a great time! Neither of us had been since we were kids, and it was something different to do. Having just read Water For Elephants, and filed it in my list of FAVORITE books ever, I think I got an extra layer of enjoyment. We also enjoyed trying to capture the movement and sparkle of the performances by experimenting with the camera, but you'll have to wait for more pictures until I put out this week's Photography blog.

After the Circus, we wandered around and followed our grumbling tummies to Matchbox, where we split a buffalo mozza and basil pizza. Nice atmosphere, but definitely not our favorite wood-fired pizza in the area.

Sunday afternoon, we came out of church to an absolutely gorgeous day in the District. I mean PERFECT-- sunny, cloudless skies, and just enough chill in the air to remind you that it's Spring. We headed over to Eastern Market and found ourselves sitting on the patio at Montmartre, watching passers-by, basking in the sunshine, drinking coffee and finding it difficult to decide which of the delicious-looking menu items to order. Since we were in Paris precisely a year before, we lingered a little more than usual, reminiscing and wishing we could teleport back. I had the croque monsieur (which I loved, except for the mustard vinaegrette, which was not my favorite even in Paris) and Bret had the endive and apple salad and pate. I suspect we will return for dinner in the not-so-distant future.

Topping off the general happiness of the weekend, we had the Whitneys in town from Denver. While they were here to visit Mark's dad, we were glad to be able to steal them away a few times and catch up with the goings-on in Denver.