Atlases don't lie, do they?

May I present: the Clark Tobler family theme song.   

Amazing.  I can't believe the views have nearly doubled in the last two weeks. I love up-and-comers. Fingers crossed we can see them at the Electric Factory in early August.  But their show will be right in the midst of my studying for finals...what to do, what to do.


Today we were supposed to go on a bike ride along the Schuylkill River, but that didn't happen.  So we went on a walk around University City instead.  And we ended up in Barnes and Noble so Clark could wash his sticky hands off in the restroom.  The ice cream cookie he got from WaWa retaliated on him.  We ended up in the discount book section as per usual, and as I perused the world atlas I found the following photos:


Oh MY GOSH.  We have the fraternal twin to this photo.  Cause in ours, the boat is heading in the opposite direction, back to the terminal.

See!?  I think ours is actually better, and it's not because I'm at all biased.

And here we have a picture of a lake in Canada.  The caption describes exactly where it is, who took the photo, etc.

And here is a photo of colorful houses in Denmark.  Only the atlas wants you to believe otherwise.  Read the caption.

On our walk, we saw several of these public pianos.  It's a pretty awesome project, which sadly ends today.

And that, my friends, is how we spent part of our Saturday.  

Hot Shorts

Clark is in desperate need of running shorts.

He has one lonely pair which does not get washed regularly since I refuse to spend $3 to wash a single pair of shorts (or even a small load for that matter).  I'm not just cheap, I'm economical.  What a waste of electricity and water that would be. 

So Clark told me I needed to find him some more running shorts for less than what he paid at Dick's Sporting Goods.  

GLADLY.  Clark is a dude and has no idea how to shop for a good deal.  To Amazon I went, and I'm pretty sure I found the shorts that will help him achieve all his running goals:

Dang, Clark's gonna be getting cat calls from men and women alike if I order these.

The only question is: blue or red?

Petticoat Experiment: complete!

The breakdown of the Petticoat Experiment:

# of days a skirt/dress worn: 29

# of days nice pants (i.e. NOT jeans) worn: 2

# of habits almost formed: 1

# of times my skirt almost flew over my face while riding a bike to/from school: 6

Justification for wearing pants: I'm doing my women's health rotation at a community clinic which serves a lot of women with STDs and HIV.  Let's just say I feel more comfortable having my legs completely covered on days that I know I'm going to be exposed to vagina juices. The speculum has dripped on my pants once already....ewwww.

 Yes, I said vagina on the blog.  If you are female, then you have one, so don't be so shocked.  And if you're male, you most likely love someone with a vagina, so you shouldn't be shocked either.

ANYWAY

I consider this experiment a success, and I don't think I'm going to stop wearing dresses and skirts on a daily basis.  I've almost formed a habit of leaving the house looking semi-nice, so I want to keep it up.  I do love my jeans, but I'll try to keep those stored away until fall.

An Appropriately spent Memorial Day...

In Valley Forge. 

I'm so grateful to all the past, present and future men and woman who serve to protect this great nation of ours.  You make it possible for us to visit wonderful sights like this.

Lazy Sunday

Last Sunday we decided to take a stroll through the cemetery near our house.  It's the same cemetery I love running through.  It really is so gorgeous, and as Clark stated, "They sure don't make them like they used to."

I'm getting into a bad habit of only taking pictures on my camera rather than lugging our DSLR around.  Though these photos are less than crisp, it's so nice to not have to try hard to be artistic. Instagram is basically programmed to do it for you.

Guess who broke out her wedding jewelry and is now going to make a more conscious effort to wear it more often!?? (It's me, just in case you really are stumped.)

After our leisure stroll through the charming Woodland Cemetery, we took a drive out on highway 1, realized we were almost out of gas, and turned around before we even left NE Philly.  Dang it.  Next time we'll make it further.

Uncovered Art

So last week we were in our psuedo-office, organizing important documents and shredding outdated, no-longer-important documents (because this is what we do for funsies nowadays).   I came across this folder and thought to myself: we haven't had Sprint as our cell phone carrier for years.  Why have we not thrown this out already? 

So I opened this folder, only to find:

A drawing of a smiling stick figure holding a star. There weren't any Sprint documents, just this cute little drawing by my husband, and several blank sheets of printer paper.  He doesn't remember doing this.  Oh, how I love his silliness.  

It gave us a good laugh, anyway.  And for the record, Clark does have advanced, artistic abilities beyond that of a six year old.  

D.C. Temple and birthday celebration

Clark and I finally paid a visit to the Washington D.C. Temple.  It's so lovely and much bigger than I expected. Aren't the gold spires just awesome?

Afterward we drove over to the Eastern Market specifically to have dinner at the Tortilla Cafe.  I saw it on an episode of Diners, Drive- ins, and Dives and my mouth literally watered when this restaurant was featured.  As for the Eastern Market: super lame.  It's probably better on the weekend but it still doesn't compare to the Reading Terminal Market in Philly.

We shared a pupusa platter and a tamale platter.  I had never had a pupusa and let me tell you, I am sold.  They were delish.  Everything was really tasty.  I also tried a plantain for the first time.  Where have I been all this time?

Scott and Dagmara were able to join us for dinner since she was able to get off of work early. The benefits of having a nice boss :)  Since Scott's birthday was the following day, we decided to make this a celebration and treat them to dinner.  

After dinner we made a stop at Krispy Kreme.  Scott decided that he would rather have donuts than a cake for his birthday.  To each his own.

On Scott's birthday we toured Arlington National Cemetery and witnessed the changing of the guard.  I remember when Clark and I watched this same ceremony five years ago when we toured the cemetery with Kyle and Kim.  It's such a humbling and beautiful ceremony.

From the cemetery we walked to the reflection pool, which is still under construction (it was under construction back in November).  Funny thing is, Clark and I have yet to see the Washington Monument reflect off the water in the pool.  Five years ago we visited and the pool wasn't filled with water. Guhhhh.

We were so happy we were able to make a quick trip down to D.C. to visit the Temple and see Scott and Dagmara, and celebrate Scott's birthday!  Thank you guys for letting us stay with you on such short notice. Hopefully next time we visit, the reflection pool will be filled!

Rowing on the Reservoir

Who would believe that a beautiful reservoir might exist right out side of Baltimore?

Last weekend we spent a day with the Kyle Tobler family, rowing boats around part of the Loch Raven Reservoir.  It was so, so much fun.  The day was beautiful and I think Charlie and Greta really enjoyed their time spent on the water. Charlie was initially was a little wary of the  movement of the rowboat on water, and was afraid of tipping over.  But he got used to the motion of being on water, and even ended up doing a little rowing!

Charlie giving the camera some attitude.  This photo screams please loosen the strap that runs between this poor child's legs.  The strap was, shortly after this photograph was captured, loosened.

My very capable rower.

In between episodes of anxiety.  

Switching children.

Immediately post-swap Greta offered me some of her peanut butter sandwich.  Such a sweetie.

Family photo attempt # 2 or 3.  

Attempt #4: success!

Pregnant Kim shoving their rowboat off.  

Greta again offering me some of her sandwich. 

 Charlie got in on the rowing action.

Greta assisting me with an oar.

You do not want to share a water bottle with her.  Peanut butter sandwich + drinking water as documented = opaque liquid with hundreds of particles of food.  

She sure is a cutie.

What an awesome reservoir.  I'd love to go back and spend the all day on the water.  

After the rowboat excursion we headed back to the house for an amazing candlelit dinner of steak, Caesar salad and Texas toast.

Well, it turned into a candlelit dinner once it got dark.

Thanks for a great time Kyle and Kim!  Let's do it again soon!