spazy story: at the Exxon Station 9-27-06

Last night I had a spazy episode. I stopped at an Exxon station to get gas, put the pump in my car's tank opening, swiped my debit card, but nothing happened. I went inside, and of course there was a long line. So I waited and when it was my turn I prepaid for a tank of gas. I then went back outside, but it still wouldn't work. (At this point I was fighting the urge to become frustrated.) I took a couple of deep cleansing breaths and went back inside (where there was still a long line). The attendant told me to go to another pump, pump number twelve. I said thank you and ventured back outside. Right as I walked past pump # 12, another car pulled up to it. Annoyed, I got in my car, turned on the ignition, and started to back up when I heard a loud HONK. "You still have the hose in your car!" the woman yelled from her car behind me. I started laughing. Before I could get out of the car, a man came over and said, "Here, I'll get it for you." "Thanks so much," was all I could say through my embarassed laughter. (I had my convertible top down, so it was easy to communicate.) I pulled up to pump number 11, and finally was able to pump some gas into my car. Twenty minutes and a full tank later, I pulled out of the Exxon Station, still laughing.

Baltimore Aquarium: 9-22-06

This past Friday I drove up to B-more to hang out with Meghan. We took advantage of a super-cheap deal and got to go to the infamous Baltimore Aquarium for only $4! We were stoked about each saving $18, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the amazing underwater creatures. If you're ever in Baltimore, check out the aquarium...it's worth the trip.



Meghan in front of the fake background...we were supposed to feel like we were visiting Australia's Coral Reef.



Can you find the two fish in this photo? We stared at the tank for awhile before we noticed eyeballs and gills moving. They're well-camouflaged, but not too attractive. Meghan said, "They look like pieces of poo!" :)



Kids were everywhere, and their comments and excitement made the trip even more fun. Anytime they saw a Tiger Fish, they shouted "NEMO!" I guess they thought they're multiple Nemos at the Baltimore Aquarium. :)



Did you know that Coral is an animal? I learned that when I taught my 3rd-graders about animals last year. ;)

View more photos in the "fall 06" album here.

blast from the past: reunion with andrea kohl!

andrea kohl and i first met in 1988 in europe. her parents and my grandparents worked for the same missions organization in germany and twice a year we'd get together for conferences: once in the summer (in lauterbrunen, switzerland) and once in the winter (in beatenburg, switzerland). it was during these week-long conferences that andrea and i cultivated our friendship and went on many adventures. some of our stories include getting lost in a small mountain town, wading in ice-cold creeks, and our sledding episode where we flipped over a fence (you'll have to hear the story in-person).

when i moved from germany to virginia in 1991, i had to say goodbye to andrea, but we've kept in touch and have been able to see each other again a couple times over the years. our first reunion took place in kansas in 1994 and our second reunion took place in virginia just a couple weeks ago! it was so great to see her again and laugh over our crazy stories from childhood. here are some photos that capture our metamorphasis into adulthood. :)

circa 1989, switzerland

circa 1994, kansas

circa 2006, virginia

photo: dan the man

this is my youngest brother, daniel. he's in his 3rd year at west point (military academy). he's twenty years old, smart, athletic, hilarious, and likes to take long walks on the beach. :) in his own words, this photo is a "shameless model pose." When I saw it, I deemed it blog-worthy. Don't be surprised if you see it in the 2007 USMA calendar. ;)

trip to NYC: 9/9-9/10

this past weekend a group of us ventured north to new jersey (ben's parents' house) and NYC. we left NoVA saturday afternoon, stayed at the amos 5-star hotel that night :), greyhounded into the city sunday morning, went to a church service in times square, ate lunch at the stardust diner (where the servers are singers too!), went to see "the lion king" (more on that later), walked around rockerfeller center and st. pat's cathedral, bussed back to NJ, ate another amazing dinner (thanks to mrs. amos) and got back home late sunday night. whew, what a great trip! and ben did an awesome job organizing and leading it. view all the trip photos by clicking here and then on the "sept 06" album.


here's our group: megan, sarah, elizabeth, robbie, matt, meg, bill, me, kelly, and ben

random funny story: driving up to NJ, we caravaned in 3 separate cars. megan and i drove in her car. we somehow got separated from the other 2 cars... everything was fine until we crossed the delaware bridge and got on the NJ turnpike instead of 295. i was driving, we're chatting and singing and eating our candy from CVS when we get a call from ben. "we're here...where are you guys?" it was about 5pm and we told him we'd be there soon. after we hung up, we realized that we'd missed the exit (or so we thought). so we passed the Cherry Hill water tower on our left (important detail), got off at exit 4, paid our $1.35, did a u-turn and got back on the turnpike, this time heading south. "the directions say take exit 1B," said megan. so we passed the Cherry Hill water tower on our right and looked for exit 1B. but there wasn't one. 20 minutes later we were exiting the turnpike, paying another $1.35, and calling ben for help. we then got on 295 north (what we were originally supposed to do). about 15 minutes later, we saw the Cherry Hill water tower on our right. "wait a second...that's the 3rd time we've passed that tower. 295 must run parallel to the turnpike!" by this time we're really laughing at our mistake. we finally arrived at the amos house around 6:50pm and when we told them our route they laughed and said, "you got off at exit 4 on the turnpike? you were so close!" so basically we went north 20 minutes, south 20 minutes, and north again 20 minutes. we just wanted to see all there is to see in new jersey. :)


here we are about to see the show (we're supposed to be lions :)


sarah & me inside the theater...what a great view of times square.

okay now more on the show: it was AMAZING to say the least. one quote read that it's "gasp-inducing," and i must agree. i think my jaw hung open for most of it. :) everything was suberb, the acting, the singing, the dancing, the costumes...i enjoyed the creativity in the use of puppets and costumes to make the african savanna come alive on stage. if you ever have the chance to see this show, please take it!


bill at the u.s. open...well, kinda of. they had this thing set up where you could see how fast you can hit the ball. he hit it at about 100 mph!

Megan, Rebecca, and Sarah

here i am interrupting Ben's boundaries on the bus ride back to NJ. he was trying to learn about "when to say yes and when to say no" (to take control of his life). :)

Matt & Meg are engaged!

Congrats to Matt & Meg on their engagement! :) What an awesome story...Click here to read about it.

The Roberts conquer Jazzercise!

Matt & Katy Roberts came to my J-cise class last night, and they did an AWESOME job! To quote Shakira, "I didn't know that [they] could dance like that..." Seriously, Matt Roberts can bust a move! And Katy had a smile on her face the whole time. :)



This photo was taken after class; as you can see, we're all a little sweaty.

Now, you all have heard me rant and rave about J-cise, so I thought I'd let someone else do it for a change. Everyone looks up to Matt Roberts, so here's his official quote as spoken to me after class:

"Wow, what a workout! I didn't realize how much it would work my muscles! And the time passed by quickly because I was having so much fun!"

Doesn't that make you want to come? :) Once again, here's the website for times, directions, costs, etc. just in case you ever want to stop by and give it a try. :)

funny story: power outage at the GIANT

here in NoVA, we're currently experiencing the effects of Hurricane Ernesto: high winds, rain, and flash flooding. This evening after work I stopped by GIANT to get some groceries. about 5 mins after I entered the store, the power went out! It was so eerie...it was so dark and so quiet. the cash registers were still working (i suppose they have some kind of generator or another form of back-up), but that was all that worked.

has this ever happened to you?