i had such a blast this weekend. it started with strawberry picking at larriland farm with whitney, jacob, peter and hattie. married couples club! i had never been strawberry picking before so it made it that much more fun. there are few things in life that will top eating a warm, ripe strawberry right off the plant. it was incredible. we also did some spinach picking. and, oh man, i could not believe how cheap everything came out to be!

after a quick stop in the market we traveled for what seemed like forever to find the local starbucks. though we had a gps we just couldn't find it, so we ended up stopping at a delicious greek restaurant instead. i hadn't eaten greek food in a really long time so i was glad we got kind of lost. the ride home was the best because the area was really hilly and it felt like riding a rollercoaster.

later on we met back up at peter's house for a bbq in his backyard. since i was watching desi for the weekend (desi is my boss luci's dog) i brought him over to have a play date with kinley, whitney's dog. while we watched the dogs chase each other, we ate sausages with peppers, potatoes and onions, lots of chips, and drank fresh lemonade and mint juleps. whitney brought over an angel food cake that we later topped with fresh whipped cream and strawberry sauce. it was absolute heaven.

on sunday cory went out and played softball with the same gang but i had to stay inside because my new allergies were out of control. i ended up using an entire toilet paper roll to soak up my snot! after sleeping in a little late i felt better enough to make a huge stack of banana pancakes with chunks of strawberries thrown in. we've still been eating them for breakfast. i also cleaned up the apartment a little bit and finished up just in time to meet up with everyone at the charles village pub for drinks and dinner. we ended the night by heading to landmark theaters to see "the hangover," but since it was sold out we settled on "up." cory and i had already seen it but i still cried just as much as i did the first time around. i love that movie.

we've almost used up the last of the strawberries, and now i'm trying to figure out ways to use up almost a pound of spinach. so far i have spinach stuffed chicken breasts, spinach strawberry salad, and creamy spinach soup in mind. i might also make a spinach quiche or omelette on saturday.

This indulgent ritual begins with a traditional moisturizing body scrub to remove dry and damaged skin cells, while nourishing the deeper layers of healthy skin. Once your skin is polished to perfection, you will be guided into deep relaxation with a soothing massage. Next, a mask of herbs, spices, and essential oils will be applied to your entire body, followed by an aromatic skin moisturizing treatment.

last week i got a really cute house sent to my inbox by remax's weekly email updates for the hamilton area, but when i called to find out some more info about it i found out it was already under contract! i was a teeny bit sad about that, but it did help us realize that we need to start taking this house hunting business a little more seriously.

since we were both taking off of work on tuesday to do some wedding stuff, i scheduled an appointment to speak to a wells fargo lender that the realtor referred to us. we spoke with jason for about an hour and learned sooo much. i even got to see my credit report and score for the first time ever. thanks to my mom, i have an amazing credit score of 780! but since we learned that since our best bet is probably an fha loan, the credit scores don't even matter much. and even though we thought we should be aiming for that magin number of 20% down (which i wish we could do), we're allowed to put down a lot less than that. he also gave us a good ballpark range of the houses we should be looking at. it was great. we would love to find our house before november to take advantage of the $8,000 home buyer tax credit, but finding it before june, which is when our lease is over, would be even better. it's time to pinch pennies and save more than ever before. i'm even considering getting another job for weekend mornings since i waste time and sleep in anyway. we'll see...

after the talk at the lender and after taking care of a few more wedding errands, cory dropped me off at the dermatologist. it was my first time ever seeing one and i needed to take action and figure out what to do about my slight acne once and for all. i've had it come in and out of my life (mostly in) for about ten years now and tried all kinds of crap to keep it under control. nothing helped so i knew i had to see a professional. i started getting a ton of dry, itchy patches on my upper arms anyway, so i figured i'd find out what the hell that was, too.

i always thought i may have had it, but she confirmed it for me: a mild case of rosacea is one of the main issues i have going on with my skin. one of my cheeks has permanently been a little more red than my other cheek, and she said that was the tell-tale sign. she also took a good look at my arms and concluded it was a mild form of eczema, which is what i also thought it was after doing some research online. so in the end, i was prescribed tetracycline pills for the acne/rosacea, differin to use as a topical cream on my face along with taking the pills, and told to use cetaphil on my dry arms. after i thanked her she surprised me with full box of differin and cetaphil samples so that i wouldn't have to go out and buy them! it was extremely sweet and caring of her. if you're in baltimore and you're looking for a dermatologist, i recommend regina anderson on charles street. so yeah, i can't wait to start seeing results. i should document it to get a better idea of the changes.

have you been reading our wedding blog? i've posted about some big things that i finally get to check off my to-do list. go check it out if it's been awhile since you last visited (i had to tie in the wedding invitation picture at the top of this post somehow).

the wine tasting at chung's was really great. i learned SO much about wine, had a ton of fun, and hung out with some new people. it was a much-needed refreshing experience. chung's house was beautiful and it got me really excited to find a house soon. (hopefully before the end of november because of that $8,000 homebuyer tax credit!) on top of that, i got to try chicken rico's famous rotisserie chicken while enjoying a rousing game of wise and otherwise that went on until 2 am.

we saw slumdog millionaire a couple weeks ago when coraline 3d was sold out. after all of the hype i'd heard about it i was expecting something incredible. it was pretty good, but it wasn't the mind-blowing experience i thought i was getting myself into. boo.

karly's 23rd birthday was on friday. cory and i ate beforehand so that we wouldn't be tempted to drop so much money on their delicious pizza, but i did allow myself to enjoy two rounds of beer and a free shot while catching up with karly and meeting her friends. happy belated birthday, girl!

i started replaying the ocarina of time, one of my favorite games. listening to the opening title sequence music makes my heart flutter. it reminds me of being about 14 years old, having a blast while scouring through my nintendo power magazines for hints about how the hell to beat that damn water temple. oh, does anyone else remember when that girl posted pictures of her tv when she (supposedly) found the triforce? i remembered it completely as soon as i started playing so i did some research and found it! i thought it was so cool at the time and was crushed when i found out it was all fake. it was like the biggest game rumor ever. anyway, i'm only as far as dodongo's cavern right now and i can't wait to keep going! unfortunately i have this really bad habit of getting to the last boss or temple in a game and then quitting because i hate finishing games that i love. i did it with super metroid, twilight princess...it's dumb.

last saturday cory and i attended whit and jacob's chocolate tasting party for valentine's day. we got to taste five different kinds of chocolates and then rate them on scorecards. it turns out i love generic milky chocolates and dislike pressed organic chocolates. the pressed ones had this weird grainy texture to them i just couldn't get past. this seemed to be the general consensus amongst everyone at the tasting. anyway, the party was super awesome. in addition to the chocolates, whitney baked dozens of cupcakes and cookies served up with a variety of delicious teas. she even made a raspberry almond tart which i think was my favorite part. i brought along my fancy food for the month to the party: coconut macaroons half-dipped in chocolate.



it was especially fancy for me since it was my first time separating an egg. can you believe that? me neither. it was stupid easy.

cory and i ended up staying at her place until late into the evening with two other couples (peter/hattie and chung/alex). we decided to skip out on our original valentine's day plans (make steaks at home and watch coraline at the charles) to drink lots of wine and play risk with them. i'm trying harder to meet new people these days since i've been feeling like a huge loner lately, so this was an opportunity i couldn't skip out on. before he left with alex on their sushi date together, chung invited cory and i to his wine tasting and board game night happening tomorrow. sweet. i'm so damn excited.

seeing obama was pretty cool. and by cool, i mean absolutely freezing. but yeah, the other cool, too.

cory, jacob (whit's husband) and i stood in near-arctic temperatures for about five hours just to see this guy. while standing in what i think was the longest line i've ever been in, i got to enjoy the sights and sounds of people selling obama merch: buttons, keychains, flags, hats, gloves, shirts, posters, newspapers, inauguration ticket replicas, obama oil (don't ask 'cause i don't know)...you name it, it was probably there. when we got closer and closer to being let in, we started seeing official signs posted that said no signs or banners were allowed, so i had to toss the one i made. i felt bad until i saw the huge pile of fold-up chairs and strollers that other people had to get rid of. damn. we had to pass through metal detectors and get pat down by the secret service as our last stop, but after all that, we were finally in, and close, too!

waiting in line for about two hours wasn't it, though. we had to stand for three more hours just to wait for the man to appear. an aerobics guy and his troupe were the first to appear on stage. they got the crowd riled up with fun music and had us all doing exercises to keep us warm. all the while, he shouted, "drink more water! eat more vegetables!" every other speaker that was introduced to the stage was greeted with groans and moans since it wasn't obama being introduced, but finally, when biden and obama were called to the stage, the crowd exploded and went wild. it was surreal to see someone in real life that you've only seen in pictures and videos up until then. it still didn't seem real even as i laid my very own eyes on him and listened to him speak, but i had to tell myself it was. it was sweet. and to top it off, it was michelle obama's birthday! i'm not sure who else i would have braved 16˚F weather for, but it felt great to do it for obama and be a part of history.

kat, our new intern chris, myself and other friends of kat's are going down to fells point to watch the inauguration at the waterfront hotel tomorrow. can't wait!

my fancy meal for this month was thai steamed mussels served over linguine. it was surprisingly simple. the laborious part was carefully scrubbing and debearding (cute!) the mussels one by one under running water, and yet i still managed to munch on a grain of sand or two. if i didn't have to do that kind of prep work (or if i just have a helping hand next time), i would definitely make this again.

now i'm making vanilla bread pudding with some leftover bread i had laying around. i thought it had already gone moldy but luckily it was still okay, albeit completely stale. we'll see how that turns out...

i got bored so painted a sign for obama's speech tomorrow. maybe i'll be able to pick myself out from photographs once they've been published. or you can look for me on tv (if it's even being shown on tv)! the sign was inspired by stickers that jacob's boss/art director rick designed and printed.



i'm making a big list of songs that have counting in them. the songs that inspired me to start doing this were feist - 1234, black kids - i'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you, justice - d.a.n.c.e. and los campesinos! - broken heartbeats sound like breakbeats. i'm up to about 50 now, so maybe i'll cut it down to songs that are more indie-ish or fun or something (for example, i have type-o negative in my current list, so that might get cut later). i'd do songs with clapping or whistling too, but those lists seem to be more prevalent. yeah, i'm thinking too hard about this. i'll probably be over it by next week.