Happy Birthday Mom!

Tonight we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday. 2008 marks a big year for my parents; they both turned 60 this month and they'll celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary this year. My mom wanted to celebrate her birthday with one of her children and seeing as I am the closest, they came down to Annapolis for the weekend. I like to think it's because I'm the favorite, but I'm not so sure. Brad and I cooked a very nice dinner for my parents and my mom's cousin and her husband came over. My mom, her cousin Nina and my dad all went to high school together and my dad and Nina claimed the title of smiling seniors... I'm sure those of you who know my dad are not surprised!

After dinner we gave my parents their long awaited gift. Our entire family chipped in and got them a trip for 2 nights in June to the Inn at Perry Cabin over on the eastern shore of MD with spa and dinner reservations. This is where the wedding scene was filmed in the movie "Wedding Crashers." Although they are excited about their bday trip, I think finding out my brother is finally moving back to the east coast this summer for good topped the list! We're looking forward to Dave bringing the good times with him back east.

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday!

Food for Thought.....

I had dinner tonight with a group of friends and the discussion about how early Easter is this year came up. My friend Erica's sister in law was talking about the below tid bit of information that someone had sent her. I thought it was really interesting and wanted to share.

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008

As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March22) but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!

Here's the facts:
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year2228 (220 years from now).

The last time it was this early was 1913(so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now).

The last time it was on March 22 was1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Last DINKS Standing

It has become quite apparent to me lately that the DINK (Double Income No Kids) population in our social circle is shrinking rather quickly when I realized I could count on one hand the number of our couple friends left who are both working and have no children. While both Brad and I are ecstatic about starting a family hopefully some day soon, we are enjoying being footloose and fancy free to the fullest while we can. Here are a few of the things I am really appreciating as a DINK:

1. Taking off on Sunday on a whim and going to the vineyards in Virginia, drinking wine all day and paying $8 for a dog walker opposed to $84 for a babysitter (7 hours x $12 an hour, as this is what I was making when I stopped nannying in 2001 when I graduated, so it's probably more now!)
2. Being hungover at 7pm on a Sunday from drinking wine all day and only having to take care of myself and put myself to bed!
3. Having friends over for dinner this weekend with their furry friend and putting the dogs outside when they start to act up and annoy us all. I'm pretty sure we can not do this with children without receiving a visit from social services.
4. Instead of converting one of our extra rooms in our finished basement to a playroom, I am converting it into a full on craft room. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure in due time it will be a playroom, but until then, it's my "playroom!" Now, I need to convince my dad to build me the amazing craft table that is in the PB catalogue listed for over $1000! Even I realize that that is a bit much!

We had an awesome time visiting a few wineries and vineyards in Virginia on Sunday with some of our friends who also can pick up on a whim for an adventurous day out!

After warm weather this weekend, spring cleaning the garage and taking a visit to the local dump this weekend to rid of our old kitchen countertops, I have a severe case of Spring Fever! I am pretty certain I am driving B crazy with reorganizing and cleaning out everything! But I know deep down he loves it, right B!

Congratulations Jesper and Cilla!

Brad and I just received an email last night from two of our very good Danish friends, Jesper and Cilla announcing that after 5 1/2 years of dating and living together, they will be getting married on August 16th of this year. Seeing as they live in Copenhagen, this is where the wedding will be held and I am absolutely over the moon to be heading back there this summer! Something tells me there will be a big boost in the Danish economy in the August time frame :-)

Unfortunately, we have a minor conflict with the date of the wedding. Brad is sailing in the J22 Worlds this year and they start on August 19th..... so we haven't figured out all of the logistics yet, but I am determined to make it happen!

Lizette - if you are reading this, start making a list of any Rosendahl you need!!!

Kitchen Before and After

We are done.... almost! The ceiling needs to be sanded and repainted, but other than that the project is complete. Here are some before and after pics so those of you who haven't been here can really appreciate the difference!

This is my second favorite addition to the kitchen (after the pantry of course). We now have a place for purses, computer bags, mail and thanks to Pottery Barn, a chargining station (top shelf) for all of our gadgets which hides all of the cords! We're going to wait a while before we complete the kitchen with a tile backsplash, mainly because we can't agree on anything together :-)

Stay tuned for Brad Villa's next project: Hard Wood floors in the liv room, dining room, stairs and upstairs hallway. I may need to move out for this one, as he plans to do this on his own.