Argh, moving...

The movers arrived on Thursday to pack and then Friday, they loaded up all our stuff onto the truck.  Our items will arrive at our new apartment next week.  Our Fort Lee house is now completely empty!  For the next week, we'll be living with the 2 essentials in life: bed and internet.

All we need is a bed and the internet to live happily, ha ha ha.

Our bed... Livy seems to like it ;0)

Band Hero!

Last weekend, we had some friends over and they brought over Band Hero so we could all play.  We were hooked, so yesterday, Jimmy and I went out and bought it!  Our band is called "The Snouts" and Jimmy and I played until the wee hours of the morning last night.  We are looking forward to having our friends over, so our band can be complete.

Lucy Snout eating the Band Hero box

Lucy Snout planning a sneak attack on the other cats

Jimmy singing and drumming to a Taylor Swift song

Ha ha ha ha... I LOVE the headset!  I was rolling on the floor laughing when he put it on.

Jimmy, again, with the headset and guitar.

Saying farewell to the laboratory

The lab threw Jimmy a nice going away dinner a few weeks ago at his favorite BBQ restaurant, Q BBQ.  In addition, on his last day of work, the lab had a special breakfast for him as well.  He was presented with a custom t-shirt with all of his known nicknames printed on it.  It was very cute.  I know everyone at the laboratory will miss him.

Here are some pics with some of the folks from the laboratory:

Jimmy and his BFF Diana

Jimmy was inducted into the "Lab Hall of Fame"

The Army's newest Medical Officer!

On November 18, 2009, Jimmy became the Army's newest Medical Officer.  He is now officially a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and will be the Chief of Client Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  I am so proud of him!

Here's are some pics from his commissioning ceremony:

Saying the oath

It's pinning time!

Jimmy's Speech

Since our moms couldn't be at the event, Judy and Karen said they were crying for our moms back in Washington.

Our ACS family

Cat pics

Rudy checking her Facebook


Olivia's new holiday sweater


Lucy and the turkey


WTF?


Nap with Olivia

DJ Hero

DJ Jam Master Jimbo


Mar-Mix-A-Lot


Mar-Mix-A-Lot featuring Rudy-Likes-To-Eat

Our DC Apartment

The apartment hunt is over! We'll technically be living in Maryland, just 2 miles North of DC Proper and less than 10 miles away from the White House. It has 1250 sq ft, which includes 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a den.

The place we found is on the same block as the Wheaton Metro Station. We just walk outside the complex and the Metro Station is right there! DC is going to be very accessible to us now, so we're excited! Walter Reed is only 3 Metro stops from our location, so Jimmy's commute will be very easy.

We like the location because everything is within walking distance. There's a mall, Target, grocery store, and gym (and a whole bunch of other stuff) within a block of our building. There are also tons of restaurants nearby as well. In addition, we can pretty much go anywhere in the city using the Metro.

We'll be downsizing to one car and will get a storage unit for some of our furniture. Since we are moving to an apartment, there are lots of things we currently have that we won't need anymore (i.e. washer, dryer, fridge, grill, leaf blower, etc.).

The apartment won't be available until December 8th, so I'll be here at Fort Lee until then. Jimmy has to report to the hospital by November 23rd, so he'll be staying in a hotel and with friends in DC from that time until December 8th. This is a terrible time of year to move and we're not sure what we're doing for Thanksgiving and I'm not even sure we'll put up the Christmas decorations this year.

The Army gives us an extra $2400 monthly for housing costs and we found this apartment for $1750, so we're pretty excited. The left over money will be put to good use for the extra monthly pet and parking fees, utilities, and a storage unit. We will have some extra money left over, but we're sure that because the cost of living is so high up there, the extra money will be appreciated.

Here's the floor plan... it's so small! Living in an apartment will be an adjustment ;0)



Here's the website if you want more info:

http://www.archstoneapartments.com/Apartments/Maryland/Montgomery_County/Archstone_Wheaton_Station/default.htm

Moving to DC!

We found out last week that not only are we moving to Washington DC, but we have to be there in 3 weeks! We are very excited, but still in shock. Jimmy's first day of work will be 23 Nov. It's hard to believe we will be living in DC before Thanksgiving!

We got orders to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Jimmy will be working in the laboratory of the main hospital. Since we've heard nightmares about traffic and commuting, we have decided to (*gasp*) live in the city.

We want to live within 1-2 blocks from a Metro Station, so that the city will be easily accessible to us. Walter Reed has a Metro stop within walking distance, so Jimmy doesn't have to drive to work. We've narrowed our search to apartments on the Red Line near Wheaton, Silver Springs, and Rockville. We're taking the day off tomorrow to go apartment hunting.

As for me, I'm on the hunt for a job again. I hope that I can stay with ACS and get a similar position in DC. I have a few leads, but the job market is not so good, so it may take me a while to find a job.

It's going to be a big change from Fort Lee and we hope that we'll enjoy living in the city. I never thought we would ever have to live in an apartment again, but I know it will be totally worth it. If you know Jimmy, he hates traffic and I hate driving in general ;0)

Our hope is that maybe more people will visit us! Though it's only 2 hours north from where we are now, more cities in the Northeast will be more accessible. I will add that we were initially disappointed because we were hoping to get closer to home. I guess the Army had other plans for us! Hopefully, SOMEDAY we'll end up somewhere in the West, but for now please come visit us in DC ;0)

Army 10-Miler

I decided sometime in January that I would run the Army 10-miler with Jimmy. I'm not a runner, but Jimmy has a passion for running, so I wanted to experience it for myself.

My goals were to complete the race without walking and to finish in less than 2 hours. Jimmy was nice enough to run with me and kept me motivated to keep going... I know I couldn't have done it without him. The first 8 miles were great; we were at about a 10 minute mile pace and Jimmy and I were talking, enjoying the scenery, and joking around. At mile 8, I started to slow down and was having a hard time. I was especially struggling during the last mile because it was uphill! I finished in 1 hour and 50 minutes and met both my goals, so I'm happy.

What I didn't expect from the race was how emotional I got. The emotions didn't come from the race itself, but from the people. We were running alongside people who were amputees, veterans (including a WWII vet!), and people running "in memory of" Soldiers who have died in the war. We even saw a couple running for SIDS and they had a picture of their baby who just passed away in August.

I nearly lost it when were were passing an amputee with his spouse by his side. She was shouting cadence to him so he could use his crutches to push forward. His leg was not yet amputated, meaning his wounds were fresh, but he had something attached to his knee, so he could walk. It was very inspiring and nearly moved me to tears while I was running.

Overall, it was a good experience though I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon ;0)

Before the run




Not my best picture, but you get the idea






Crossing the finish line



Still smiling after 10 miles ;0)

Celebrating 30 with the Caps

Jimmy turned 30 last week! To bring in the BIG 30, Jimmy decided to celebrate by going to a hockey game in Washington DC. We were able to get great seats to the opening game of the Washington Capitals, AKA "the Caps." We were right behind the penalty box and had a blast! Hockey fans are INSANE, loud, loyal, crazy, and very dedicated!



Our seats were right behind the penalty box!


We were secretly excited when Alex was put in the penalty box since that's Jimmy's favorite player!






The goalie stretching