Herb’s job frequently takes him to London. I decided to join him, but as we got to planning, it was clear that it was going to be much cheaper to go to Dublin for the weekend than stay in London or go to Scotland. We found a $0 flight on Aer Lingus and so off we went. We had a great time touring around town on the hop-on-hop-off bus, enjoyed the Musical Pub Crawl with traditional Irish music and three nice places to drink, saw Kilmanhaim Gaol and marveled at how young the Republic of Ireland is. We drank some Guinness all over town, and at the tippy-top of the Guinness Storehouse.
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland
My good friend Iwan, who shared an apartment-style dorm with me during my semester abroad, treated Herb and I to dinner one night at a nice Italian joint nearby to our B&B. I love being able to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in ages. It’s rare to find someone who you can feel comfortable meeting up with after 10 years apart on different continents.
While we were in Dublin, Fairfax, Virginia was rocked with a 5.8 earthquake! The only thing we noticed in our house was one book off it’s shelf. It’s been amusing listening to people talk about where they were and what they did when the earthquake hit. 90% of the people I talked to thought the initial shock was a truck rumbling by. Once the rumbling came back and was sustained, they knew that they were wrong, and tried to make sense of what was going on. Few guessed it was an earthquake. Most people assumed an explosion of some sort. I heard more than one 9/11 reference… Universally, everyone ran outside, following fire-drill procedures, which is exactly the opposite of the right thing to do in an earthquake. I’ve stolen this picture from the Internet, and am giving credit to http://belieber.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/2011-va-earthquake-we-will-rebuild-east-coast-damage.jpg, though I’m sure they stole it from somewhere else.
🙂
A week later, we were hit with hurricane Irene. Though it aimed right at Wilmington, NC, everyone there weathered the storm just fine. As did we and Herb’s parents in Rehoboth, DE. These people in the Mantua neighborhood must have been sad, though. We found their house squished when we went out to survey the damage in the area.
Squoosh.
Posted on 30 August '11 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
We spent last Thanksgiving in North Carolina at my parents’ new place, along with the McNews, Brian and Jes, and Jes’ dad Wes. The drive was long, but we used some hotel points to book a stay between our house and theirs on the way down. A good thing too — traffic on 95 was horrendous.
Mom fashions a tofurkey.
The finished tofurkey. Jes claims it was good.
Jes, Brian, Margaret, Elaine, Kevin, Herb. Eating OUTSIDE on Thanksgiving!!!
Thanksgiving feast!
Stuffing
Thanksgiving staples in our family. Fruit, nuts, and stuffed artichoke!
Posted on 30 August '11 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Prepping the kitchen
We insisted that they re-paint the inside of the doorway white. Rules of interior design be damned. The bright blue next to bright green was just UGLY. Note that the colors are not quite *this* vibrant in real life.
This is how the kitchen looks now. So much more functional.
We now have fancy granite countertops and ceramic tile.
The countertops were raised a couple of inches to bring it up closer to regular counter height.
Posted on 30 August '11 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Herb and I have been in Vegas since last Friday, swapping Friday for MLK day as vacation. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I was at the MarketingSherpa Email Summit, and because Herb is lucky enough to have a portable job, he worked from the hotel room.
What did we do in our spare time?
We stayed at Bill’s Gamblin Hall and Saloon and lost money at blackjack and slots. We saw the beautiful scenery of Red Rock with Pink Jeep Tours. We visited the Atomic Testing Museum, and we laughed at the Improv over at Harrah’s. We moved over to Ceasar’s for the conference and enjoyed the hot tub. And we ate. A LOT.
Banana and Brown Sugar Flapjacks at Hash House A-Go-Go at the Imperial Palace
Chocolate mousse from the steakhouse at Bill's.
Beijing Noodle No. 9
Herb through the fishes at Beijing Noodle No. 9.
Raspberryjito from Level 107 Lounge at the Stratosphere
Posted on 27 January '11 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Rather than ditch our wedding blog, Herb and I have decided to repurpose it as a family blog. So what’s new? Glad you asked!
Our latest preoccupation is fixing up the house we bought back in January. There was a flurry of activity before we moved in, during which we ripped out old carpeting, refinished our hardwood floors, tore down old baseboard, removed hideous mirrored tiles from the walls, and replaced wood paneling with drywall. Things slowed down for a bit after we moved in, but this week we have big news!!! The kitchen renovation has begun. OH how I long for a fully-functional kitchen, and now an end is is sight!
These photos were taken yesterday after the first day of work. The three layers of flooring have been removed, the stove and fridge have been removed, and the cabinets have been reconfigured.
Where the fridge used to be
Where the stove used to be. There was a floor-to-ceiling pantry on the right-hand side that is now reconfigured as a top and bottom cabinet in this photo.
Mysterious electrical socket hidden in the wall. Could this be the unknown device that our wall switch operates?
New "open cabinet" above the sink
Posted on 28 September '10 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
And these are our photos of the sunny beach and surroundings of the Adaggio Cottage on the island of Grand Bahama. Wouldn’t you rather be there right now? Me too.
Our view from the cottage.
This lizard had good timing! He posed just as I snapped the picture.
The timing on this one was all me. Lots of patience!
Posted on 4 May '09 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Hello everybody,
Our photographer, Jenn Link has posted some photos to her blog, and also a slideshow. A link for ordering photos will be coming soon.
Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what you’ll see at her website. Great photography!
Alison and Herb
The Girls
The Guys
Posted on 4 May '09 by Alison, under Photography. No Comments.
If so, could you please return it to the caterer? All of the glass vases were up for grabs, but there were two metal ones that belonged to the caterer. Email me at a l i s o n c h i l l a @ y a h o o . c o m for the information. Thanks!
The flowerpot looks like this, minus the decopage.
Posted on 27 April '09 by Alison, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Sometime around sunset last night our return trip from the Bahamas landed at Dulles International. We had a most relaxing honeymoon. It was nice to unwind on the beach after the weeks and months of preparation for the wedding. I can recommend the cottage we rented to anyone without hesitation. You can find the link posted on the left along with all the other awesome vendors we had. We have some photos we’ll post from the honeymoon spot in the coming days. A week spent walking on the beach, reading and swimming in the Caribbean was just what the doctor ordered. While you wait for us to post some pics from the Bahamas you can peruse the photos Kristina took at the wedding and was kind enough to post on Flickr.
Posted on 25 April '09 by Herb, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
I just wanted to do a quick post while I had a few minutes. Thank you all for coming to the ceremony reception and celebrating the day with us. For the impatient among you Jenn Link has already posted one photo from the wedding on her blog and promises more. You can find the link to her site on the left. Alison says hi. She also mentions we are getting warmer.
Posted on 20 April '09 by Herb, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
