Winter Rose

Ian and I went for a walk today past this one house that has all rose bushes out in front along a white picket fence. All the bushes still had roses in bloom on it! I bet my grandma would just about kill to have her roses last that long. I hope it stays nice like this for a little while longer. I will have to admit though, I am looking forward to coming home in the hopes of snow or just some good old fashioned cold weather, the kind where you have to stay inside all day because its dangerous to be outside.....thats cold.

Banished

I have been officially scorned by my immediate family, namely my brother for buying a fake Christmas tree. Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally for fake trees, and I don't plan to always have one, but come on, $16.99 and no needles to clean is pretty tempting. Especially since I'll be home to visit my whole family for Christmas and not here taking care of my Christmas tree. I'm just trying to make my argument for being reinstated back into the family.

First Thanksgiving dinner!

We made it through cooking the first entire thanksgiving dinner! Nothing burned, nothing was inedible! Aaaaand, the greatest news of all, I got my FIRST 10/10 from Ian for cooking! I have been waiting 2 1/2 years for a 10! I am pretty proud of myself!! Now, on to Christmas! :) Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, we can't wait to come home for Christmas!

Squishy

Ok, I am finally ready to talk about my recent tragedy. I had my first car accident last weekend. It wasn't bad, but I was kinda upset and it was apparently my fault. Anyway, I am sparing you the gore of a picture of my car, but I thought I needed to share my car's new name, hence the title. We had recently taken collision insurance off both our cars due to the insurance being horrendously expensive and our cars being old, sooooo, needless to stay, squishy will stay the way he/she is until he/she is officially retired, which won't be for awhile. Thankfully, Squishy is still in working order, just a little cosmetically squishy as I call it.

Please feed me

Ian took these pics on sunday, just some of the really good ones we got. That squirrel was literally at Ian's feet; I was convinced it was rabid. I really like this pic of me at the Jefferson memorial too.

Visit with mom

Mom came out to visit and we have had a wonderful time. I think she would recommend it to everyone :) Last night we went out for a really good maryland blue crab and shrimp dinner after a long day of touring some monuments and a visit to the international spy museum. I wish she didn't have to go!

Sammy in the shadow

Ian took these pics a couple days ago, and I thought I would post them in honor of mom coming to visit today! We are going to jet all around the dc area for the next five days doing lots of fun stuff. Happy early Thanksgiving!

The Grouchy Pumpkin

I happen to think Ian is a pretty good photographer, and he thinks this is one of his masterpieces. I got a good chuckle out of the title of the picture, so I thought I should share it with you all.

Pomegranate

Not much to say here....except I haven't had a pomegranate since like 4th grade. We are excited to eat it this weekend. You should try one if you haven't.

Christmas Spirit

That's right, the Christmas season has begun in the Westermann household with a viewing on opening weekend of my new favorite Christmas movie, the Santa Clause 3. I think Ian even enjoyed it. It was really good and I encourage you to see it. We will for sure be buying it on DVD. Great conclusion to the trilogy, except I was quite sad that Bernard the elf was not a part of this movie. Ah well. Merry Christmas!! :)

Babies

This is one of my favorite things in the world, seeing someone at risk of losing babies too early, going to near term and having healthy, happy, beautiful babies. I feel like I can take a little bit of credit sometimes for helping them come into the world, but the mom's do such a terrific job and are already taking such good care of their babies before they are even born. I just get to watch them grow and see them when they come out! What a neat job.

Artwork

Some of our recent pics, and of course Ian's new pride and joy (the camera).

Tennis Ball

Here you go...Ian and I went to the tennis ball at his work last night and had really good food. They introduced all the tennis pros and had a 'dancing with the pro's' competition. Sad to say, Ian and his partner did not win, although I heard the competition was rigged. They should have got honorable mention.

Yikes! haircut

Here is my new haircut. For those of you who haven't seen me in awhile, I got ALOT cut off about four inches! It was very hard to part with mind you. I have been growing my hair long (super long) since junior yr. in college. It was about halfway down my back just this week before it was all chopped off.....show me some sympathy, getting my hair cut is anxiety producing! :)

Pizza

Ok, I am thrilled for my first little bit of Maryland Pride. Today on Oprah, Gayle King traveled across the country to find the best pizza.....the number one pizza in the nation.........sorry fam, its not the Taco Pizza from the wheelhouse......its Ledo Pizza in College Park, Maryland! This just happens to be Ian and my new favorite place for pizza. It is divine. I hope when you come visit us we have time for some Ledo Pizza!!

Slippers

These are my new slippers. I could not resist them. Compared to my prior pair with holes in them, these are heavenly. I easily threw my old slippers in the garbage after I bought these. I hope you enjoy your own slippers as much as I do mine, if not, you should consider buying a new pair. It really makes my day.