Goodbye DC Hello FLORIDA!!

Less than three days we will be back in Florida!! This will be our first time living in Jacksonville at the same time (and actually knowing each other). We are very excited!! We have been checking out places to rent on zillow.com. This is a bit of a debate because Jamie wants SPACE and I want to be by the beach.. I don't care if it's a shack. So we will be checking out everything.

This week has been an interesting last week. Usually before I leave places it's the best week ever which makes me not want to leave. I'll be ready for a month to move on then bam Last Week Fun Week then I'm sad to leave. For some reason DC has made sure that I don't ever come back. Drama at work, my sideview mirror being stolen, some great goodbyes and some just moving on without saying goodbye (disappointing), TRAFFIC, my commute has been the longest this week, forecast of SNOW, and I can keep going... Jamie has had his share of sad good byes this week too :( After I long week our apartment looks like.....

This is just one room! And taken with my phone so not the best picture.

Halloween Results!

I am having trouble getting the original pictures on the blog.. but until then the results! Here are my mummies

Mummies!

Ok so these were harder than the appear. First tip do not let the dough get warm. It makes it very hard to cut into slices. 2. This is a long process so don't start one hour before the party 3. Buy toothpicks for the mustard eyes 4. Dry off the hot dogs- if they are slimmy the dough doesn't stick as well
Overall they turned out cute! Everyone loved them! I didn't come home with any!

Ghosts!

I was in a really big hurry so I didn't get a cute picture but this will do. And I bought the wrong eyes.. you should use MINI chocolate chips but I grabbed the wrong bag. All you do is dip the nutty buddy cookies in white chocolate, put the eyes on, let it sit (or put in the freezer) and ghosts! These were very easy! Also super sweet.. I think maybe using a dipping chocolate instead of white chocolate chips might be better..

Overall I think it was a success! Now on to Thanksgiving planning :)

Back where I come from..

For most of you (if there are any followers..) you know that I am from, born and raised, Indiana. Now if you have or haven't been to Indiana it's not the most glamourous or happening place to go but it is a fantastic place to grow up. Every fall I get a little nostalgic thinking about what a perfect place Indiana is in the fall. Just look at these pictures courtesy my friend Katie Thomas.

Indiana is perfect in the fall. The leaves change colors the weather is cool but not cold. When we were younger we would have haunted hayrides and bonfires at my grandfathers farm, surrounded by the cornfields. There were apple orchards and pumpkin patches to find the perfect pumpkin and sip on apple cider. There are fall foliage parades- you know everyone in them and you actually get to be in them because it's a small town. You spend Friday nights bundled up watching the football games. You don't worry about safety or traffic. Everyone knows your name, your grandparents, you cousins... The food is AMAZING!! Calories aren't even discussed when you are eating homemade pies, mashed potatoes, macaroni, you name it it's made from scratch and delicious. Saturdays are filled with sporting events or all day cross country meets. Sundays you go to church, no if ands or buts about it. And if your lucky your parents take you out to eat at one of the small local places to eat where you run in to... everyone! Last year, I took Jamie to Indiana during the fall to enjoy it. Hopefully we will make it back next year. 

Now you might just understand how different living in DC is for me. I haven't been quiet about my struggles with living in DC but look where I grew up. A small sleepy town with country roads to drive on. Not a major city with traffic, round abouts (I can't even spell it), power people discussing money and status.. I obviously did not adjust well but I have come to realize I am not a city girl and I won't pretend to be! I love visiting cities and I admire people who love to live in them. 

Disclaimer: I love how I grew up but I won't be moving back there ever but I do hope my kids can grow up similar to how I did but near the beach :) 

Army 10 miler- Team Holmes!

Last Sunday, team Holmes set out to run their first race as a married couple!!!!

Lets begin with our training. We set out training two months prior to the race- doing the long runs, checking off the runs on our "training schedule", when Danielle hurt her hamstring (1 week before the wedding) 1 month before the race. I tried to keep running which just lead to more pain. So I had to take a week off- which turned into two. But Jamie kept trucking, putting in those long runs! One week before the race, I ran once :( AHHH. We spent Friday and Saturday before the race at Virginia Beach for the soccer tournament, drove back late Saturday night, ate Wendy's for dinner (including a frostie), and woke up at 5:30 to get on the metro by 6:15. Double AHHH. As a former runner, this is NOT how I prepare for a race. I was nervous. I even brought my IPOD as a back up, which is against the rules, I don't like disobeying the rules...

As we ran up to the metro, we were greeted by more crazy runners riding the metro at 0 dark hundred. One guy was even stretching on the metro. I was just trying to keep myself from turning around and heading back to bed. After heading straight to the port-a-potty line, the atmosphere became contagious. There were 30,000 people running this race! There were army men everywhere and even men sky diving right at the start line. Awesome!

Finally after waiting for hour and half we were off. 500 yards into the race, I see men lining the trees.. I thought hahah that's a funny joke they can't seriously be peeing next to the pentagon. Wrong. They were. We ran around DC, seeing lots of the monuments, tons of people cheering, the miles were clicking away. My competitive spirit was kicking in. Luckily, Jamie kept me in check- hey we don't run this fast at home! We passed a few wounded warriors running without their legs- which was incredible. You couldn't complain about being tired in this race! Then we hit mile 7. Ugh. My wheels fell off and Jamie's picked up. He was feeling good. Finally around mile 9, I said please leave me. I wanted to slow down. hahah so he took off. And he did awesome! This was his first race and he did great! I finished a minute behind proud that I finished after my lack of training. Our first one done and hopefully more to come!

Coach Holmes

This weekend was full of Soccer!! Jamie coached his team in a soccer tournament in Virginia Beach. We drove (through rush hour traffic) Friday night. We went straight to eat at a local seafood place- YUM! And then we hung out with some of the fellow coaches.

Bright and early Saturday morning we made it to the fields for their first game of the day! I have never seen so many soccer players! There were 15 or more fields all packed! Jamie's team won 3-0 whoohooo! Three different boys scored a goal. Only 1 injury- which Jamie was so cute he carried the little boy off the field AWWW! And 1 yellow card from on of his players.. which lead to a lecture and the little boy having to sit on the bench the rest of the game :( Good coach!  The rest of the day we spent running back and forth helping warm up other teams (well I watched) and then back for their 2nd game of the day.

The second team was much harder than the first but victory!! 1-0!! The kids and parents were excited!! Unfortunately Jamie and I had to drive back after the game to run the Army 10 miler but we heard the won their morning game and are in the championship!!! (Run on sentence-oops!)

Jamie's team LOVES him! They are so cute! And the parents really like him too. I really enjoyed the day of watching Jamie coach and all the little kids run around. It was exhausting but well worth it. Next time we have to make more time for the beach!

Halloween Crafting

Saturday was a perfect day for crafting- it was cold and rainy- and hey maybe no one will be at Walmart right? Wrong. Walmart was packed! But I really got some awesome deals: Pumpkins- 3.88, Paint 1.00, vases 3.00, ribbon 1.00, candy corn 2.00 and the deals kept coming!! Originally I set out to make the caterpillar pumpkins (which would have been the easiest) but they only had the big pumpkins at Walmart so I decided to try the witch legs... Bad idea. There is no pattern online which means I had to hand draw it myself. HA. I can't draw at all. So after a couple attempts this is what I got....

I can't show you both of them because one leg is longer than the other... hahah oh well. Next year will be better!

Boooo!!

It is officially October!! I love love love fall and Halloween. It is my favorite time of year. Why do I love fall?? -The weather, the leaves changing colors, the smell of fall, pumpkin spice coffee, football, the cute decorations, and pretty much everything.  Last year we got pumpkins and carved them but this year I am decorating!! Of course there are a million really cute ideas on BHG website but we are on a budget. Which means= Walmart. Ugh. I hate Walmart (don't get me started on why) but it is way cheaper than target. Today I am headed to Walmart and crafting all day. YAY! Here are the pictures of some ideas

For pumpkins: 

Cute candle idea

And one day when we have a house!

I'll post pictures of the results!