weekend update

Last week was a wash. Work was great; a project I’ve been working hard on came to much-better-than-expected fruition. On the other hand, Jason was gone for four days. I wrote a blog post of things that are terrible about being home alone (and there are many such things), but it seemed whiny so I deleted it. I’m just really happy to have him back.

Also last week I:
- went to YW for the first time since I graduated from high school. I think the YW have just as much energy as my former primary class.
- read a lot.
- cheered on Adam and Grant from afar in their respective tennis tournaments.
They each took second place (first singles) in high school and junior high regions, respectively, a feat I never thought possible for a Pullan athlete.
- made many smoothies.
- ran in oppressive heat more than once, and attended my first gym fitness class in a while. It was intense, but good intense.

Saturday we:
- did our grocery shopping
- had chocolate-frosted donuts for breakfast.
- discovered the baking part of our oven was broken when we tried to make hashbrown patties. Management sent over a maintenance worker within the hour who diagnosed the problem as a broken igniter. The new part should be here on Tuesday.
- returned 2/3 of the swim suits I ordered online. Love the remaining 1/3 very much!
- went to a barbecue with some of Jason’s friends and brought a mango quinoa salad.
- made our biannual trip to Target.

Sunday we:
- slept in.
- read the newspaper.
- made dinner in the crock pot and had angel food cake instead of lasagna and strawberry shortcakes, thanks to the aforementioned oven issues.
- had friends over for supper.
- talked to the Frosts.

This coming week is the first of four <5 day work weeks. I'm very excited. Summer has arrived, and I've got my sandals on to prove it!

work/play

This weekend ended up being a full one. We got together with friends at Chef Geoff’s on Friday night. Saturday morning we put in a little run, then did our Safeway grocery shopping, and took our car to the YW camp fundraiser car wash. I think the girls were happy to see our clean, small, child-free car after a long line of minivans.

We had pizza for lunch, then headed to Great Falls Park with the Evanses.

The weather was ideal: seventy degrees and no humidity. We watched a kayaker go through the falls and hiked to the loch ruins. The park was busy but not insane like it was when I visited in November.

I enjoyed getting away for a bit and am definitely looking forward to summer. I need to find me some reasonable-length shorts.

We did our Trader Joe’s shopping (their cereal bars and produce are just so much better than Safeway’s) and watched two West Wing episodes before bed.

On Sunday, we had fruit smoothies and hashbrowns for breakfast while reading the paper. Jason had early meetings, so I walked to church again. When it’s not hot, I don’t mind the walk at all, though my hair does get a little frizzy. Primary was interesting; I think the lesson was called “Emma Smith Compiles Hymns Of The Restoration”, which doesn’t make for the same thrilling storytelling as most Book of Mormon stories. Jason saved the lesson. Unfortunately, he didn’t come with me to sharing time where the kids had a lot of energy.

After church, we had dinner at the Carter’s house. They made ham and funeral holiday potatoes (hashbrown casserole, in Kentucky parlance) and green beans. We brought strawberry shortcakes. We played Ticket to Ride after dinner, which is a game I always forget that I like a lot (despite my last-place finish).

We went home and video chatted with our families and made Monday lunches. Sometimes the weekends go too fast.

20 hours with Laura

Our good friend Laura was in town for a work conference and elected (to our elation) to spend some time with us afterward. We met up on Saturday afternoon at Pacer’s in Alexandria where Jason was running shoe shopping. He found a great pair (and broke them in on a run with me on Monday morning). We enjoyed a stellar Middle Eastern lunch at The Pita House, then drove out to the Leesburg Outlets.

Laura was a really good sport, considering she’d just come from a busy conference. We found some great stuff, including two polos and swim trunks for Jason and a skirt, t-shirt, and dress for me. On the way home, we got in touch with Grant to wish him a happy fourteenth birthday (not possible) and Laura took a little nap.

The three of us made stuffed peppers for supper, after which we played Settlers and ate the first strawberry shortcakes of summer.

We stayed up late laughing and playing what was definitely my most frustrating game ever (I was plagued by too many sheep).

In the morning, Laura gave me the most wonderful file folders in the world, which she picked up at Paper Source. I love them so very much.

We headed to the airport bright and early. This was a quick trip, but it’s always wonderful to have good friends stop by. It meant a lot that Laura chose to stick around and spend the day with us. I vote next time we meet her in Lexington!

saturday, briefly

- celebratory lunch (Jason’s very thoughtful idea) at Lebanese Taverna. Really wish I could cook Lebanese food, especially the kibbeh appetizer: a lamb and beef fritter with bulgur, almonds, and pine nuts.

- window shopping at the temple of conspicuous consumption that is Tysons Galleria.

- French pastries from Paul (a pâtisserie at the aforementioned Galleria). I had a chocolate eclair and Jason had a lemon meringue tart. Both were delectable.

- crazy Russian woman at the Clinique counter informed me I have rough peasant skin and should definitely exfoliate more often. This is (one of many reasons) why I don’t shop at Neiman Marcus.

- afternoon spent reading and grocery shopping and napping and cooking before picking up Roni.

no snow for us

Jason wanted to take some cookies to his coworkers for his birthday, so I whipped up a batch on Thursday night. I’ll wager they were my best chocolate chip cookies to date. I didn’t taste any of the finished product that night because I had eaten approximately four cookies-worth of dough, but Jason did save one for me on Friday, which I happily used to spoil my appetite before we went out to dinner.

I know I’ve been singing the praises of Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips for some time now, but Jason suggested branching out with Guittard when Safeway was out of Ghiradelli and I loved them (both plain and in cookies). There are no more chocolate chips in our apartment.

The rest of the twenty-seventh birthday celebrations went off without a hitch. I got up early that morning and trekked out in the freezing cold to get Dunkin’ Donuts and an ice cream cake and Jason woke up and thought I had left him, but I returned in peace and safety and we had a most delicious–if not nutritious–breakfast together before work. I had a meeting on main campus first thing in the morning, which meant a nice walk through my favorite neighborhoods in the rain.

We went to Pasa Thai for dinner with the Oswalds and generally had a nice evening. The ice cream cake did not disappoint.

On Saturday, Jason took the car in for its annual safety check and I did my little workout DVD and ate breakfast. We ate pizza and eventually did our grocery shopping and read and watched The Sum of All Fears while we ate dinner. Sunday was more of the usual: Jason had morning meetings and I read the NYT Magazine until it was (past) time to get ready for church. The primary children were reasonably well-behaved. We came home to crock pot chicken tikka masala, which we ate with jasmine rice and (Safeway-purchased but still pretty delicious) naan bread.

We did not get any snow this weekend, though Jason’s parents got almost three feet. I’m secretly hoping for one big work-cancelled snow storm before the season is out, since it has been 730+ days since the DC area had more than two inches of snow and I’m unaccustomed to winters this warm.

Yesterday was our getting-engaged-aversary. Four years ago Jason was taking a History of Jazz test with the most perfect engagement ring in his pocket. (He picked it out because I never wanted to pick out my own engagement ring. He did a mighty fine job.) I waited at my apartment for him to come back so we could go get post-test ice cream. We got engaged instead (though there was ice cream afterward, before we told anyone). To celebrate the occasion, Jason brought home Ferrero Rocher, which we ate happily while watching Sunday’s two-hour-long Downton Abbey.

The sky last night was stunning. Photo credit to Jason en route to Safeway.

things that happened*

*I find it increasingly difficult to come up with new titles that mean “Random stuff that is going on in the life of the Frosts” but don’t sound as dismal as “The Frost Weekend Depository”, which is what I almost called this post.

- We had gorgeous weather a couple days last week. Now it’s just cold.

- I had a nice phone conversation with Grant while I was waiting for the shuttle on Thursday night. On Friday I found this picture on my dad’s Facebook.

It’s tiny and I should really get ahold of the original, but it perfectly captures the quintessential Grant. He’s always been content and chill while the chaos of the Pullan family goes on in the background. When he was really little, my dad worried that he never got a chance to talk (which was true), so Dad would (try to) make us all be quiet so Grant could get a word in. It’s weird that he’s not a little baby anymore.

- On Saturday morning I made pancakes and Jason helped our friends move out of the ward. Lame. Afterward we took naps and read and watched some basketball and waited until it started snowing to do our grocery shopping.

- We celebrated Groundhog Day in the usual Pullan fashion by watching Groundhog Day. We did not make a groundhog cake, partly out of laziness and partly because it is someone’s birthday this week and there may be ice cream cake (or so I’m told). I love Groundhog Day.

- We placed our first ever online glasses order. I tried on all the tester pairs, including Jason’s.

Jason pointed out that not one of these pictures shows the glasses I actually purchased. Hint: they are similar.

- Jason didn’t have meetings on Sunday until noon, so we slept in and read the paper. It was nice.

- After church, we made minestrone soup and Grandma Pullan’s French bread. Both = culinary wins. The bread recipe makes three loaves, so I cut it in half and made two (what I thought would be) smaller loaves. They were still massive, which is good because the bread was awesome and we will eat it all.

2.25 day weekend

Friday afternoon was quiet at work, except for the hordes of pro-life rallyers in matching scarves clogging the sidewalks. If I were the rallying kind, I think I’d pick a warmer day, perhaps sometime in April.

We had a quiet Friday night, with our usual homemade pizza and reading. I’m in the midst of Steve Jobs and it is awesome. Granted, he’s crazy and I can’t give it my wholehearted endorsement thanks to some less-than-savory language, but the story itself is fascinating. I’ve always thought of Apple as its post-1997 cool kid persona and that apparently wasn’t always the case.

Saturday morning Jason scraped the newly-fallen snow off the car like he always does while I sat inside all toasty warm. This chivalry has been going on since we became friends and is wonderful because scraping the windows is something I really don’t like doing.

We headed to Tysons for some post-Christmas gift card spending. We did especially well at Barnes and Noble, where we came away with Julius Caesar, Simon Bolivar: A Life, Sacred Hunger, and The Brothers Karamazov . (Can you guess who picked which? Also, I used to always confuse Simon Bolivar and Simone de Beauvoir. So embarrassing…or it would have been if I’d ever had a conversation about either one.) Browsing bookstores with Jason is one of my favorite things in the whole world.

Post-shopping we headed to La Sandia for lunch and churros, then home by way of the auto parts store for transmission fluid! Adulthood is so exciting. In the afternoon we read and I napped (almost always the result of me reading on the couch). Jason went to the stake conference priesthood sesion and we had pizza for dinner.

We woke up early on Sunday morning and made a breakfast feast: pancakes, hashbrowns, and sausage links. Then we headed over to stake conference almost an hour early and were still on hard chairs mid-cultural hall. The program was good and we were especially glad we didn’t get called up for an impromptu musical number, as one couple in the stake did. Another reason to be grateful we fly under the radar stake-wise. Post-church we ate chips and salsa and built a lasagna bolognese for dinner and were visited by our home teachers.

We had laughable but delicious breadsticks and salad to accompany our earlyish supper.

On Monday morning, my alarm went off at 5:26 as it usually does and I ignored it for a while as I usually do. Then I (as do forty percent of all smart phone users) checked my email in bed. I was pleased to discover that work was on a two hour delay thanks to freezing rain. Lucky duck Jason was on a three hour delay. I reset my alarm for a more reasonable hour and drifted back to sleep. The gym was also closed, so I did a quick DVD workout at home when I woke up, showered, and was out the door by 10:00 AM. A good night’s rest and warmer weather perfectly bookended our 2.25 day weekend.

all the newseum that’s fit to print

I felt worlds better on Saturday morning, so we headed out to the Newseum. It’s one of the few DC museums we haven’t hit yet, mostly because of the (kind of steep) admission price. We secured some complimentary tickets, though, which had to be used by the end of the year.

We normally (every day, if your name is Amanda) metro into the city, but there was a ton of track work going on so we decided to drive and park at Georgetown. I embarrassed myself more than a little bit when I couldn’t figure out the ID card swiper and we had to go around the block and re-enter the structure, but all worked out and we parked successfully and walked the

Our Newseum experience began with the 4-D movie (apparently the fourth dimension is moving seats) about the history of news and an FBI exhibit, after which we headed to the top floor and worked our way down.

The view from the sixth floor was phenomenal.

“I can see Russia from my house.”

Both of us were impressed with the scope of the museum. We could have spent hours in any one exhibit, except maybe the presidential pets. We especially enjoyed Tim Russert’s office and the presidential photography hall, but I think the 9/11 section was the overall favorite.

Social media interactive station. How web 2.0 are we?

Right before leaving we saw the eight sections of the Berlin Wall and East German guard tower and the (unpictured) fallen Lenin statue. Very cool.

Overall, the Newseum rocks and made me secretly long to be a journalist a la His Girl Friday (or maybe All the President’s Men).

homecoming weekend

Life is good in the Frost household. We had a great weekend and are looking forward to the upcoming 4.5 day weekend and all its Thanksgiving accoutrements!My Saturday was moderately productive. I got up early and worked out and tried to go to the temple. The parking lot and the visitor’s center parking lot and the adjacent stake center parking lot were all full. I drove around for half an hour (along with twenty or so other disgruntled would-be-parkers), but was about to run out of gas (or oil in my lamp? I’m feeling a great testimony meeting metaphor here!), so I went to BP, fueled up, and came back to continue my hunt. I gave up a few minutes later and headed home. As I pulled around the side of the temple grounds, I saw a huge buck deer crossing the street; I tried to snap a picture from the car, but failed miserably.When I got home, I cleaned and made myself a quesadilla for lunch and accidentally took a nap on the couch. A phone call from Mariel woke me up, after which I went grocery shopping and vacuumed and watched the clock until it was time to pick up Jason.

We went straight from the airport to the mall to procure our new phones, then went home to dinner and reruns of missed Thursday night television and opened presents.

Jason brought back a nativity, three Christmas ornaments and a picture for his office (not pictured):
There’s one more present, but I don’t get to open it until Christmas!

Jason had early meetings on Sunday, but I got to sleep in a little bit before church. The rest of the day was lazy and pleasant and concluded with spaghetti and Grandma Frost’s meatballs and talking to our families.

Glad we’re back together and life is back to normal.

in which i go exploring

I think the first rule of living in the greater DC metropolitan area (well, second rule, after the “stand on the right, walk on the left” commandment of escalator ascension) is to escape periodically to the non-city and clear your head.

Today I woke up at 6 AM despite not setting an alarm and sleeping through a 6:30 alarm four out of five mornings this workweek. I don’t mind that my brain wants me to enjoy every moment of the weekend, but I was still tired so I slept in until 8 AM. After strawberry banana oatmeal and a quick work-out, I headed to the primary program practice. The practice was a little bit of a zoo, but I’m confident that the program tomorrow will be adequately adorable.

I had lunch and cleaned up and decided to get out of town–albeit not far–to Great Falls State Park. The drive was gorgeous, even with lots of the colored leaves gone after our hurricane two weeks ago.

Apparently Great Falls is where the Potomac builds up speed and force a flows into Mather Gorge. Who knew?

Upon arrival I was pleasantly surprised to find that park entrance is free on Veterans Day weekend. The falls are pretty awesome and sometime when I have more time and warmer weather and a husband hiking partner I’ll do the rest of the trails.

I walked to the overlook and was tasked with photographing a family of fellow waterfall enthusiasts and they repaid the favor by taking my picture.

My brief escape was cathartic and refreshing and reminded me
of a (slightly pretentious) quote I used to like in my idealistic college days (yeah, 2.5 years ago): “To the desert go prophets and hermits; through the deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic ad spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality.” Thank you, Paul Shepard. Though not a religious leader or a prophet or hermit or exile or pilgrim, I do vouch for the therapeutic value of retreat.

I stayed until dusk and drove home to the soothing tones of Lord Huron, the (current) soundtrack of my November. Best possible afternoon.