Hello? Anyone there?

Hello? Anyone there?

Yes, we are still here! As you probably noticed by the lack-of-new-posts going on here, our Washington life has been just a smidge hectic. I have not even had a chance to come up with a paragraph for a post, just ideas listed in "drafts." I figured though, that since this blog is about our life, that I should probably share with you all what we've been up to and just haven't gotten around to writing about . . .

• If you follow national weather, you might remember that the weekend after DC's earth-shattering earthquake (pun intended), the DC area was also hit by hurricane tropical storm Irene. While our power never went out, we quickly learned that our roof was leaking. Right into our office. Sadface.

Ergh water damage.

• Of course we contacted our homeowner's insurance to file a claim, but while the rainy season in the Midwest might be the spring, the fall seems more like rainy season in these parts because the rain kept coming. And coming. Soon, the drywall and insulation from the office ceiling started to *plop" onto the floor. And, then it molded. Yuck. (Don't worry, I quarantined that room so the kids wouldn't play in it!)
• But, it kept raining. It kept raining to the point where our second-floor skylight decided it couldn't stand it anymore either and it started leaking too. Let's just say I walked into a puddley-mess in the dark one evening. Boo.

Stupid skylight.

• So, we've had a couple of roofers come out and look at all of it, and, if you didn't guess it already, we need an entirely new roof. ERGH. Apparently a distant past owner of our house decided to put a new roof on top of the 90-year-old original roof. Nope, they didn't take off the original, just put it on top. So, we are going to have to take off the original and the replacement and then put down a whole new roof. That is, unless we like soggy drywall molding and puddles on our wood floors....
• On top of the water drama at home, remember how I said that my office building was old, but that it somehow managed to be damage-free after the earthquake? Well, I spoke to soon. A structural engineer determined that our building needed to be vacated for at least a few months to repair damages in one wing. I spent an exhausting, and of course rainy, week moving our offices to a new space on campus. Now, we are learning to share space with another department on campus. Things are cozy.
• But, thank goodness both Chris and I had some travel planned during those weeks to escape the natural disasters here. Chris went on a Bachelor Party weekend back to St. Louis (and, as you can guess, didn't take any pictures) and I went down to Punta Gorda/Sarasota, Florida to visit one of my bestest friends, Kelsey.

Kelsey and I at the Siesta Key Beach Drum Circle.

•  We also traveled to Milwaukee, WI for a friend's wedding. Not only did we have gorgeous non-rainy weather, but we met a lot of great people, ate great food, and had an amazing time. The bride and groom did a great job planning everything - a trolley for the wedding party, a photobooth with props during the reception, bratwursts and fried cheese curds as a late night snack, and phenomenal music. Chris has such a great time that he let a new friend "kidnap" him (and his glass of beer from the bar) for a 2am boat ride to Lake Michigan .  . . Congrats to the Bride and Groom!

On the trolley! Well-before being "kidnapped".

•  While the traveling was fun and a good distraction from the worries at home, we did have to come back to reality at some point, which is what we have been trying to do for the last two weeks. Work is kicking my butt, while school work is kicking Chris' butt. To top it off, a road bike that Chris bought less than two months ago to ride around the city on got stolen from the bike rack on campus while he was in class last night. Yup, the thief just snipped the cable.
• Two weeks from tomorrow though we will be escaping reality again to go on our "honeymoon" and I. cannot. wait. Until then, there is still a LOT to be accomplished (and hopefully I'll find some time to share that with you all soon!).

By the way, I just thought you should know that it is raining as I write this. Nothing perks me up more than water these days. . . (where's the sarcasm font when you need it.)