Cute templates, anyone?

I am so sick of all of the hideous templates that blogger gives you to use. Does anyone have any ideas about websites to go for new ones?

Philadelphia

Adam and I just got back from a fun weekend in Philly. We'd been wanting to go and it was perfect when my cousin Lindsay called and told us that she and her husband Jeff would be there interviewing for medical school. We decided to meet up with them and see the city.

The drive was pretty hectic. Right when we got into the city, we were trying to merge into a lane and no one would let us in, so we ended up crossing a bridge and going into New Jersey. We thought we'd just be able to flip around and go back, but no, things can't be that easy. There was a cement median down the road for miles and miles with no breaks. When there finally were breaks, you couldn't turn left. Augh! We ended up driving forever in New Jersey and finally doing some illegal turning before we finally made it back into Pennsylvania. Oh, and paying ANOTHER toll. The 2 1/2 hour drive ended up costing us $23 in tolls. Being from Utah, that's just not something I think about when I budget for a trip.

Anyway, we finally made it and met up with Lindsay and Jeff. We went straight to Independence Hall, but with just our luck:

We had missed getting tickets by a half hour. So we saw it from the outside instead!

We also got to see the Liberty Bell and Benjamin Franklin's grave. We went out to eat at a yummy Italian restaurant and got some Italian ice from a little street shop.

Philly is a gorgeous, old, interesting city. Our favorite thing we did was walk around and look at all of the old architecture and charming townhomes. We loved it! We highly recommend this city as a fun place to visit!

Days Until Adam's Death

"This is so cool! Look what I just did!"

"What?"

"I made a countdown of number of days until I die and put it on my homepage. Based on my age, health habits, and family history, I'm going to live to be 84. That gives me 21,343 days left!"

"Adam, that is so depressing! Take it off! Why would you want to do that?!?"

"It's to inspire me to live life to its fullest!"

Wow, I really don't understand my husband sometimes....

A Fun Washington Weekend

Adam and I have had a great weekend. I don't know if living in Washington actually gets better every day or if it just seems that way because the more we get so see, the better we percieve it. There is so much to do here! I have a feeling that even if we get out and see something new every weekend for the 3 years we live here, we'll still have barely scratched the surface of this place.

Last night we went to "Mormon Night" at the Washington Nationals game. We met up with a huge group of BYU alumni to eat pizza, cookies, and soda before the game. I wasn't too excited about the whole pizza idea for the sole reason that it was the 5th time in 3 days I had eaten pizza (sick, I know). I did enjoy the game though because I actually watched it for once! What a concept, I know! Adam explained all of the rules to me and I got pretty into it (and by into it I mean I wasn't picking my split ends, calling people, and repeatedly looking at the clock). He had me call whether a pitch was a ball, strike, or foul. It was fun.



I love the sky in this picture!



This afternoon we took a little trip to the temple. Nothing beats going to the temple on a Saturday afternoon with my sweet hubby! After we were done we drove to Georgetown to eat at a yummy burger joint and get ice cream with some of our fellow GW friend couples. It was no Crown Burger, but as close as we're going to get out here. If anyone comes to Washington, walking around the Georgetown neighborhood should be a must on your list of things to do. There are lots of fun shopping streets that are crawling with people, great stores, and yummy restaurants. It's just one of those charming areas of town where you really enjoy yourself.

We also had our first experience playing Wii. Man, was it fun! My favorite was the cow racing game. I was laughing so hard that I felt giddy and my cheeks were burning. Adam's was boxing. We had so much fun that he's begging me to buy him one. The only downside to today was that we forgot our camera so we don't have any sweet pics of our activities for you all to enjoy. Maybe next time!

Our Cute Wall

I finished my project of making our living room wall looker cuter. I bought a bunch of frames and put some of our favorite pictures in them. It will be fun to change the pictures periodically when we get tired of looking at the current ones. I like doing home improvemnet/decorating projects. Here's a picture of the finished product. It's not much, but it helps a little.

Andi's B-Day

School's keeping me pretty freakin' busy. In the five weeks I've been a law student I've learned that the most important cases in American law include a woman who thinks she's Batman and can fly (seriously, it's a real case), a young school boy who lightly taps another boy's shin under the school desk and a group of hicks from Kentucky that takes 55 days to travel to Texas.

More on the absurdities of American jurisprudence later. Right now we're thinking about Andi's birthday!

Andrea got home from work late tonight and wanted nothing but to relax and enjoy her special day so she immediately changed to her robe. We had a good night filled with cards, presents and a disgusting cake that I tried to make (the cake was good, but the frosting tasted like it was made by a monkey mixing the kitchen cupboard together. Believe me, it was awful).


The cake.


The rhyme that accompanied this gift:

Three birthdays have passed
we're still together.
These good times and bad
we've managed to weather.

You make me good dinners,
I do the dishes.
We serve one another
and fulfilled are our wishes.

A service I perform
makes my hands ache.
By rubbing your feet,
sometimes my limbs quake.

So here is a gift
to help me serve you.
A tub of warm water
with foot-rubbers too!
You know what they say, "Inside every lawyer is a wrecked poet." "Terrible" might be a better word than "wrecked," though.


Here we are recreating the marvelous work of art I left for Andrea on the bathroom mirror this morning. If you look closely to the right, you can see a drawing of us kissing.

Happy 22nd, Andi! I love you!

The Doxey's Visit

My family left a few hours ago. We had so much fun! Here are a few pics of some of the highlights:

We sure got windblown by the passing metro train.

The "Bodies Exhibit" was unbelievable! The above picture is a real cadaver skeleton and muscle system that came from the same person. It was awesome, but made me feel quite sick, especially the display case that contained all of someone's skin- I mean all of it. Eww!


Adam gave us a tour of his law school. Don't worry, my parents did what parents do best- they thoroughly embarrassed him. They took a million pictures, talked loudly in the hallways, made him pose in front of his locker, and said funny but inappropriate things in loud voices.

We also walked around Washington and saw some sights. I saw the White House for the first time!

We went to a Spanish restaurant in Maryland and even celebrated my birthday with some delicious cake and ice cream.



We also went to the Washington D.C. temple. It's gorgeous! We love our family so much and wish they could have stayed longer. The time flew by and now we won't see them until New Year's. :(

ABC's of Me

A is for age: 21! But my 22nd b-day is this week.

B is for Break-fast: A granola bar

C is for Career: Doctor's office, Old Navy, BYU Research Assistant, BYU Geography Teaching Assistant, Wells Fargo, Nanny

D is for my Dog’s Name: Maxwell Beauregard Doxey- but he's dead :(

E is for Essential Item I Use Everyday: Mascara, computer, food

F is for Favorite T.V. Show: The Office, Heros, 24, Lost

G is for Favorite Game: Scrabble (I'm the best!)

H is for Hometown: Growing up--St. George, UT; Right now--Washington, DC

I is for Instruments I Play: Piano

J is for Favorite Juice: Grape juice

K is for Kitchen, What Color is it?: Red, orange, and yellow- I love bright colors!

L is for the Last Place I Ate Out: Jaleo in Bathesda, MD

M is for Marriage: 1 year 1 month and it just keeps getting better!

N is for my Nickname: Andi, Ange, Chubby, Johnny

O is for Overnight Hospital Stays: None!

P is for People I was With Today: My parents, little sister Lauren, husband Adam, the family I nanny for, and two sets of aunt and uncles.

Q is for Quote: These are my awards, mother. I won them in army. -Buster Bluth

R is for Biggest Regret: Worrying too much about things that don't really matter.

S is for Sport: BYU FOOTBALL! Go Cougs! (I'm actually just saying this to bug my husband) Ha ha.

T is for Time I Woke Up Today: 7:45 a.m.

U is for Favorite Piece of Undergarment: Patterned tights

V is for Last Vacation you Took: Reykjavik, Iceland in August

W is for Worst Habit: Worrying about money

Y is for Yummy Food You Ate Today: Hagaan Dazs waffle cone

Z is for Zodiac: Virgo

My Family is Coming!

Tomorrow night my dad, mom, and youngest sister Lauren will be here! My dad has a medical conference here in D.C. and he was nice enough to bring my mom and sister along to spend time with us. It's only been two months since I've seen them but it feels like a lot longer than that. I can't wait! They'll be here Friday night through Tuesday morning. YAY! I'll post pictures after they leave.

Women in Art

I'm a major art lover and thought this was really neat.

Home Improvement

I've decided that it's time to do something with the biggest wall in our apartment which is completely bare. Every time I look at it, I feel depressed. The reason it's been sitting bare for a month already is twofold. Number one, it's hard to come up with something cute and creative to do with a huge wall, and number two, we're poor. I got some inspiration from Heather Armstrong, whose blog I read frequently. She recently did this in her kitchen and I really like it.



I figure that this collage won't looked dwarfed by the big wall. I found some semi-inexpensive frames at a store today that I will most likely buy within the next few days or so. If I can get myself to spend the money that is. I absolutely HATE spending money. Whenever I have to, I get a panicky feeling in my stomach, my hands tremble as I pull my card out of my wallet, and I start to sweat. As soon as it's over, I agonize about what I've just spent and want to immediately return it all. The drive home is spent calculating; calculating how much I spent on such-and-such already that month, how much money is left in our bank account, how much I could have saved if I had gone to a different store, and whether the items were necessities, semi-necessities, semi-wants or wants. I call Adam to tell him what I've done and he has to convince me that despite what I think, EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. He's a good husband like that.

The hard part will be picking which pictures to put in the frames. We want to do some of the artsy ones that we've taken. If we end up doing it, I'll post some before and after pictures.

Law School Compliment

Adam would be so embarrassed if he knew I was posting this, but I just wanted to tell everyone how well he is doing in law school. I'm so proud of him. Law professors don't give compliments often, but he got a really nice one from one of his the other day. He was called on in class and the teacher grilled him for like 15 minutes about a case they were studying. When he was finished, the professor said, "Great job! You didn't even look at your notes once while we were talking. I really like your style." I was so proud of him!

His professor, by the way, is Jonathan Turley, a Constitutional Law expert who appears on the MSNBC all the time. Here's a clip:

His school is known for their stellar faculty. Adam says that all of his professors are funny and really know their stuff. He's so lucky!

Gettysburg, PA

Adam and I decided to take a little overnight trip for Labor Day weekend to Gettysburg to visit some of the Civil War sites. The great thing about the east coast is that all the states are small and everything is really close together. It only took us a little over an hour to get there.

When we arrived, we walked around some of the main walking streets downtown. Because we got there in the evening, almost everything was closed, but it was still fun to see the charming little town.

We stayed in a gorgeous hotel last night. We have never stayed anywhere that nice before. The room was huge and the bed was heaven! I wanted to buy the exact mattress, sheets, and blankets for our apartment. If only every night's sleep could be as good as last night's. We slept for almost 11 hours straight. Aahhh!

This morning we visited the battlefield, the cemetery, and a few museums. It was really humbling to think about all the blood that was shed on those fields. There were 970,000 casualties during the Civil War and 51,000 in the 3 day long battle at Gettysburg alone. I can't believe that that many men from our own country were fighting and killing each other only 144 years ago.

President Lincoln is my favorite president. Think of what he did to keep this country together! If it weren't for him, we'd be the United States of America and the Confederate States of America. How much different would our lives be today? I reread his famous speech at Gettysburg while there, and I was really moved by it. I'm going to post it here. I'm sure most of you will think it's boring, but I love it:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

P.S. A California film crew was in the cemetery today filming a new movie for the National Park Service to be played in one of their museums. They approached me and Adam and asked if they could film us. They had us walk in front of the monument where President Lincoln gave the above speech, stop, take pictures of it, talk to each other and walk away. We had to sign disclosures saying that they had permission to use our images in the movie. We're going to be FAMOUS! :) If any of you ever make it to Gettysburg and visit this museum, you just might see us!

A Couples Survey

1. Who is your man? Adam
2. How long have you been together? 2 3/4 years
3. How long did you date? A year and a half
4. How old is your man? 25
5. Who eats more? I do, definitely. I eat my plate plus half of his.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did
7. Who is taller? He is. He's 6'2"
8. Who sings better? Are you freaking kidding me? I was the lead in the high school musical! :)
9. Who is smarter? Me, by far ;)
10. Who's temper is worse? MINE, no question! I'm the one that stomps my foot and throws things.
11. Who does the laundry? Me. He tried once and bleached my favorite pants. I cried, and he hasn't done it since.
12. Who does the dishes? He does 90% of the time. In fact, he does almost all the cleaning. I'm a lucky woman.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.
14. Who pays the bills? Moi.
15. Who is better with the computer? He is. I always ask him my computer questions.
16. Who mows the lawn? We don't have one. Apartment living is the best!
17. Who cooks dinner? He probably does more. Cooking is such a pain.
18. Who drives when you are together? He drives way more. He claims that my driving makes him car sick.
19. Who pays when you go out? It doesn't matter- it's all the same.
20. Who is most stubborn? We are both equally stubborn- that's always what starts a fight.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Adam. It's one of my weaknesses.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Neither. We live across the country from both families! But when we lived in Utah, his.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me one the first date, the little devil.
24. Who asked who out? I asked him out.
25. Who proposed? He did, obviously.
26. Who is more sensitive? Ha ha. Does that question really need to be asked?
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? He does.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I don't know, both? It depends on the situation.

High School Musical!

Okay, I realize that it's totally dorky to write a post about High School Musical, but I don't care. I watched it the other day with the girls that I nanny for and I fell in love with it! The story was cute, the music was catchy, and it was just plain fun! If I had known about it while it was being filmed in Utah, I totally would have tried out for it. I can't wait to watch the second one. I don't think it's out on DVD yet, is it?