the robinsons

shenandoah

A few weekends ago we went on a little trip up to Shenandoah with our friends Cary and Lauren Ning (an explanation of our relation to the Nings). It was sooooooo cold up there, you could see a line of brown about half way up the mountain showing springs progession, it was pretty rad.
Spring here is definitely not Arizona spring (duh, kelcie)! I never thoughts I'd miss the orange blossoms that I'm so allergic to. Turns out I'm twice as allergic to EVERYTHING out here, no joke! Like, I layer my allergy meds, I'm taking 3 different kinds right now, at the same time, errrrrr day. (nice little tangent there).
Taylor is officially done with his first year of his MBA! One down, one to go! I could not be more proud of him! He's so focused and motivated and it's super sexy!

FYI: I know, I just told you how cold it was on our little day trip up to the mountains, yet you will notice Taylor is indeed wearing a beach towel. NO, we did not go swimming is the waterfall behind us.
As you may (or may not) know, Kelcie is tiny. Tiny people, if you weren't aware, do not typically have as much muscle or fat to keep them warm. Also, Kelcie didn't check the weather and was wearing her gym clothes and a light sweater, thus she needed extra warmth, in the form of the only thing available in the Ning's trunk...a beach towel. Now, this beach towel was originally wrapped around Kelcie's shoulder's, HOWEVER, about a mile or so into the couple's treacherous (not really) hike Kelcie's pumping blood and burning calories warmed her up. No longer needing the towel for warmth, her sweet and caring husband offered to carry it for her. Thank you, sweet, kind, caring, hunky husband!
We were actually asked more than once if we were swimming, people thought we were in-sane in the mem-brane. Also, people here hike in their everyday jeans, it was really weird.
I would like to ask you all to pause for a moment and appreciate Taylor's rippling muscles, he's rockin'. That is all.

capitol tour and a lot of nonsense

Hey Hey! So, I guess it's about time to play catch up again! Bear with me!

The past few months have been busy busy busy! Taylor is wrapping up his first year MBA and I've been working some interesting jobs, including, but not limited to: The White House (okay, okay, that was literally the only interesting job I had...and mostly because I saw why nothing is getting done around here ((and by here I mean, America)) empty hallways, empty offices, people...the probably is the empty-ness of it all)

The Cherry Blossoms were GORGEOUS this year! As I'm sure they are every year, something I wouldn't really know, but I can't imagine they have ever NOT been gorgeous! Our street, apparently, is spilling over with cherry trees! The blossoms appeared out of nowhere early one morning, stayed for about a week, then snowed down for several days...then we got to live all over again immediately afterwards, as a whole street in our neighborhood was a late bloomer (much like myself, haha, punny).

*funny story: Taylor and I decided because there were SO MANY blossoms, the trees could spare a few clippings so we could enjoy them in our home as well as outside of it. Well, one of our neighbors wasn't thrilled and proceeded to tap menacingly on his/her window at as during our clipping adventure. I just ignored her. I know, suh rude. Her view was no less gorgeous because of us taking a few clusters of blossoms, so she (or he) can suck it! Plus, they made our little place smell lovely!
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5560819/?claim=7q5vhcpavs5">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Several Saturday's ago we met our friends Ellen and Gabe Bush at Eastern Market for some brunch and browsing. We had never been, and I had been wanting to since we moved here. It was fantastic! I wish we lived closer to a metro, I would literally be there always. No, really.

Two Saturday's ago (everything happens on Saturday around these parts, although, it would be nice if everything happened on Tuesday, because traffic is TERRIBLE on Saturdays.) Taylor and I went on a tour of the Capitol Building. I really just wanted to see the Apotheosis of George Washington (shame on you if you don't know what that is, google it.). It was a fun (quick) tour, and we spent the rest of the day wandering around the Capitol grounds and checking out the visitor's center for the Library of Congress, which we loved SUH MUCH we went straight over and got ourselves library cards for the Library of Congress! It was ten times more amazing than the Capitol, FYI, so if you ever come to DC, go there please!! I'm about to upload a plethora of photos, but most people just look at blogs for the photos, right?

working on a little somethin' somethin'

I've realized that it's awkward for me to advertise my thoughts and feelings on a blog that is supposed to be about "us", meaning Taylor and I. I wanted this blog to represent our little family and our life together, but I also wanted a place where I can express my deepest darkest thoughts, journal style, where I wouldn't feel like I was tainting Taylor's good name (haha)...Thus a new, more kelcie-fied blog for your entertainment and reading enjoyment!

I'll probably work on my photography skills, or lack thereof, on there. Or possibly do some d.i.y. project (don't get your hopes too high though)...we'll see! So...read, comment, do what you will...

this new blog of mine will quite possibly be under construction for a week or so until I can find the time to finish it up...so I'll totally post the link up on here and see what happens when it's ready, so look for that in the next little while...mmmkay?

xo, kelcie

it's february...

So, as you may have noticed, I'm turrible {as my good friend Charles Barkley would say} at updating this blog. I have a lot of good excuses for this:

1. I don't really have a focus with this blog, it's kind of just a modge podge of stuff that happens, but doesn't have much clarity or organization.

2. I literally leave for work at 6:30 in the morning, and often I don't get home until after 9. When exactly am I supposed to blog? Every MINUTE that I am home I would really like to spend with Taylor...you know?

3. I'm not a photographer, I don't take beautiful photos...I'm working on it, promise

4. As an interpreter I have to wear a lot of solid colors, no pink, no yellow, no patterns, no jeans. Professional dress, but comfortable enough that I walk several miles a day {meaning I take it easy on the heels these days...and I literally only have, like, 3 pairs of flats, so who wants to show those off? not I}. What I'm trying to say here, is that I don't find my work attire very fashionable, nor do I care to go spend money on cute professional, fashionable clothing, because let's face it, as an interpreter one of the requirements is to basically be invisible. Thus, this cannot be a fashion blog.

5. I don't have any littles. Otherwise, believe you me, this blog would be packed with thousands upon thousands of baby photos. I guaran.damn.tee it.

6. I kind of suck at writing anyways, and no one reads this blog...so yeah.

Rant Complete

Now, lets play catch up...without photos :)

Christmas ROCKED this year. Phoenix was perfect, and we had so much fun with both families! I met my niece Oakleigh and about died, cause she's that cute. We ate RITOS! oh man, I miss that place.

Now that we're home, it's nice to sleep in our own bed and have our puppies back from the kennel, Taylor is back to the grindstone, and I'm working my tail off so we can put money in savings {muay importante}.

Last month we took a trip to Lancaster county with Savanna and Kigan, had a fun little Superbowl party {with Savanna and Kigan}, and {I} watched P.S. I Love You with Savanna {Not Kigan}.

This month has been a lot of work, a lot of school, Taylor had a real estate competition in NC, Brent and Christy came for a conference and spend a couple days with us {they are favorites around these parts} and that brings us to today! With nothing exciting to report.

catch me if you can

I realize I haven't really posted anything since the beginning of October. Which is a shame, because a LOT has happened! So I guess now I'm playing catch up. Mostly because this blog is the closest thing to a journal I keep right now. AND I want everyone to see how well my pixie cut has grown out. Because it's finally starting to look more like hair, and less like something died on my head, which is nice.

October brought General Conference [Fantastic], Puppies [work work work], Hurricane Sandy [in DC it just rained a little and a tree fell down, that's all], Adventures [yay!] , Pumpkin Carving [duh], and Halloween.
We happen to get the puppies Conference weekend, so they were able to get some spiritual enlightenment as well, lucky pups.

Since we had puppies that needed walking it got us out of the house a little more than usual, together, which was nice. We explored the forest between our house and Taylor's school, where in we found where all the homeless people live...good thing no one was home when we dropped in

Hurricane Sandy came and went, leaving a few trees blocking the street around the city, but not much more than that. We made the puppies ponchos out of trash bags and Indy's acted like a parachute in the wind, which caused his tail to go straight between his legs, poor fella.
We were definitely lucky [blessed] that it didn't hit DC harder.
Halloween just happens to be my VERY favorite! I broke out my decorations, we carved pumpkins with our friends Lauren and Tyler Kent, and hit up a Halloween party and a haunted house with our friends Savanna and Kigan Martineau. We went with the Gatsby theme this year, I was Daisy and Taylor was Jay Gatsby. Probably not the most pure love story, or greatest role models...but we don't have kids yet, and our dogs have never read the book.

FYI if you haven't noticed yet...this is going to be a pretty long post. LUCKY YOU! :)

November was fan-freakin-tabulous! We were more used to the puppies, which was nice. I dyed my hair back to [closer to] its natural color [love it dark!] We also had our good friends Christy Smith come stay with us for a few days! We love her and her family SO MUCH and were so happy to have her here! Unfortunately I don't have any photos of that weekend :(
We had two celebrations in November, first Thanksgiving, which we celebrate with Savanna and Kigan [duh]
Me and Savanna cooked, and it was SO fun! We made the BEST turkey [recipe courtesy of Christy], mashed potatoes, yams, creamed corn, green bean casserole, my mother-in-laws rolls, stuffing, raspberry-cranberry jello salad, and pumkin, pecan, peach and chocolate cream pies!
needless to say we had plenty of leftovers

The same weekend as Thanksgiving Kigan had a birthday! We celebrated at Dave and Busters [guess what, we like the Martineau's...like a lot, bet you couldn't tell]

We let Kigan win every game...because it was his birthday..haha jay kay, jay kay

Which brings us to December, which has gone by rather quickly.

We [meaning I] bought a Christmas tree asap, of course.

We made homemade toffee, went to the symphony, saw Les Mis [my first time! loved it!], and helped place wreaths on the graves at Arlington Cemetery. I went Riley a special 12 Days of Christmas package, had to wear a mask at work [you try interpreting sign language, which happens to use a LOT of facial expressions, with a mask on!], made tiny paper cranes with the husband, saw Jenny Oaks Baker perform at the DC Temple Visitor's Center with my lady friends, and found a tiny mouse in our house :) he was pretty cute, but we couldn't keep him...he had diseases.