BRAD PAISLEY!

i promise, this is my last post about last weekend...sunday morning, we ran into some people at chapel who had extra tickets to the brad paisley show that night, so of course, alex and i took them, and headed out to VA beach with tim, mcadams, greg, lawlor, julia, brent, brock, travis, sarah, and a few others. the concert was so much fun; we sat on the lawn, so we could all dance and sing along as loud as we wanted. while we were there, we ran into addison and some football guys, who then ran into kate, so she texted me and i went over and said hi. it was really fun to see everyone and brad certainly puts on an entertaining show! here are some pics...




the boys singing "i'm still a guy"...

official VA resident!

last weekend in the burg, after 5 trips to the DMV and getting my car towed once, i finally replaced my illinois license plates with VA ones (meaning alex and tim replaced them). i have to say, i was really sad to give them up, especially because the standard blue VA plates are so boring, but it feels good to be done with all of that official moving business!

PUPPY PICS!!!

alright everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for...some pictures of puppies kayla and i might check out!

this is the little guy in williamsburg...

and these are a few in the dc area (the funny looking one had to have his coat shaved cause it was too matted, but he's too tragic not to be cute haha)

puppy shopping (sort of)

while alex and i were in target, we went to check out the one spot (obviously) and discovered that it was full of dog stuff! we couldn't resist, so we picked up several things, including food and water bowls, a collapsible water bowl (for taking leonidas to the park), a rope toy, a tank top that says "go team" and a squeaky hamburger toy.


it turns out, there's a little dog in williamsburg that kayla and i may go look at in two weeks...he's a 2 year old lhasa apso, and he's really cute. alex and i tried to play with him but he was in quarantine for scratching a volunteer (although apparently it was totally the volunteer's fault)...i'll try to post a pic later but for now my blog is acting funny...

Update from Williamsburg!

this weekend i went down to williamsburg to spend labor day with alex! because i've been so inspired by katie's (and now chris') blog, i took several pictures with the intent to post, so here they are! there are several, so get excited :)

They've done some relandscaping outside the caf to include leafy palms worthy of the jurassic park set...and yes, alex and i ate sunday brunch at the caf, haha.
as most of you know, alex is enrolled in introduction to non-weapon stage combat, more affectionately know as "fake fighting". His professor is the founding father of the international order of the pen and sword, and here's a shot of their newest member in his required knee and elbow pads.
we went to target to do a little shopping (more on this later...) and one of the gems we found was a hannah montana bike helmet, complete with a bejeweled denim cover...alex modeled...
i've got lots more, but it's time for dinner, so i'll post them later...get excited!!!

Overdue Update

i cannot believe i've been working for almost 2 1/2 weeks now! life in arlington is still going really well...two weekends ago, i went to PA for alex's mom's birthday. he drove up from the burg friday afternoon, we baked her a chocolate cake (best way to avoid traffic ever!), and then we drove up to his house. the weekend was great; we went to a huge craft fair with his dad (his mom was working unfortunately) and ate french fries and funnel cakes and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. sunday, we just hung out at his house and relaxed, which was a welcome change of pace from work.

as far as work goes, i've officially been placed on a project at the coast guard! it's a fun place to work, and everyone seems relaxed (most of the time). referring to my supervisors as commanders or lieutenants definitely takes a little getting used to, and my team (there's just three of us) is still working out the dynamics, but so far it's keeping me busy.

this weekend, jennie and kate were here staying at our apartment, and we had so much fun. friday we got to see christina and celebrate her birthday. saturday we went to allison's wedding and sunday we went to the zoo! it was a very full, but very fulfilling weekend :)

First day of WORK!

so today was my first official day as a Kadix Systems employee :) overall, the day was a big success i would say, filled with a lot of information (i have to pick a 401k plan...like i know how to go about doing that) and forms (taxes are such an unfortunate part of our government) and meeting people (my favorite part).

i have a meeting with a project manager tomorrow to discuss an open position on a coast guard project very soon, rather than the IRS project i was originally slated on, so we'll see how that turns out. also, all of the new hires got laptops, so i'm now sporting a new hp laptop at work, complete with carrying case haha.

although it was very weird to wake up and realize my career started today, it was also a really encouraging day in terms of the type of atmosphere kadix promotes, the type of people that work there, and their apparently solid grip on the 40-hour workweek, meaning every day i should be starting at 8:30 or 9:00 and done around 5:00 and 5:30 depending on the client. i'm excited to find out more about my specific responsibilities on the project i eventually get assigned to, but for now i'm just enjoying some new-hire seminars and my temporary cube :)