andrew, courtney, and benjamin

And some things, you just can't get rid of...

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 14:39:25 GMT

This sweatshirt is hardly wearable (see multiple rips throughout the torso section), is *GASP* 16 years old; meaning it has been around for more than half of my life. It's lived in NY, RI, MA, FL, CO, MD, and now VA.

I have a VERY bizarre attachment to this sweatshirt. I still wear it around the house, even with the, er, breeze flaps, and the fact that it's so thin, it hardly keeps me warm.

It reminds me of my best childhood friends, water polo, hot coach Rick, and the Greased Lightning dance.

It reminds me of Tera's family's cottage, chasing tour boats, and sneaking a beer. That three of us shared. Oh, 1994.

It reminds me of taking chemistry in summer school and the funny, funny notes that we passed back and forth (I think those are hidden in a book somewhere at my mom's house). And the fact that I barely passed that class despite taking it to be proactive. At least I realized young that I wasn't a scientist.

It reminds me of Hotel Grande after swim meets, the swim dads talking smack at Massena swim meets, and the songs and giggles that probably drove chaperones MAD on the buses to meets.

Other odd attachments include random things from the shoe boxes that my mom slips into our trunk each time we leave a Potsdam visit.

Like this duct-tape pin. If you don't know what it means, don't worry about it. You clearly weren't in the club.

Do you have things that are SO bizarre to hold onto, but they'll always find a place on your shelf? Do tell!

~Courtney posted at 3/5/2010 2:39:25 PM

Gasparilla Marathon: The Final Voyage

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 08:23:09 GMT

So, due to traffic issues in the city of Tampa, 2010 was the last and final running of the Gasparilla Marathon. I think it's a pretty weak excuse, but I am also a person who has multiple weeks where I run and walk more miles than I drive, so I recognize that I could be a bit biased.

Anyhow, in attempts to be relatively positive about an experience I never want to re-live, I am going to post the good, happy thoughts of the day.

First, it was the most well-organized marathon I've done. I mean, I've only done three, but they really had amazing volunteers, and plenty of aid/water stations.

Secondly, the weather was AWESOME; particularly for an under-trained northerner who would have been done-for if there had been humidity.

What were you doing at 4:15 on Sunday morning?

Third, I got a loud, huge metal, and I wore it to watch the amazing, despite the outcome, USA/Canada hockey game at Hattricks, a Tampa bar owned by a Binghampton, NYer.

And lastly, I ate this (yes, that's a shuffle board...standing room only), and drank beer, guilt free.

So, I was fully aware that I should have run the half marathon, but per usual, my heart and drive overtook my brain, and I had a pretty miserable morning. I've been talking about doing the race since I moved there in 2004, and this was the last chance.

I am in marathon retirement for now, and am going to incorporate more swimming, yoga and strength training into my workout-life, in hopes to build speed back up to where it was a year ago; and give my poor knees and hips a break.

Oh, and lastly, for real this time, a huge shout out to Amy, who did amazing on her first half ever. Your determination and drive is beyond admirable!

~Courtney posted at 3/5/2010 8:23:09 AM

Under a rock

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 10:24:54 GMT

I apologize to everyone for basically being the world's biggest sketchball over the past couple of months. Partially by choice, partially by weather, and partially by illness, the a, c, b clan has been living under a rock. Or, more appropriately, barely leaving the house.

I ventured out in a major way last week, with a trip down to Tampa. Some visiting with friends, some running and some working. I completed (barely) my third marathon, and am officially in marathon-distance retirement for the remainder of 2010. NOBODY will be able to talk me into doing another 26.2 in 2010. 2011? We'll see.

In other (actually quite major) news, we're moving again. Without getting into the details of it all, we put our suburban abode up for sale in mid-December, had an open house in January, and sold it later that week.

Debating on whether we wanted to do 2 smaller homes with an extremely long commute between them (2 hour flight, FYI), or another suburban home around here, we chose neither.

After a lot of talking, a lot of stressing, a lot of panic attacks (me) and a lot of lists (I love lists!), we decided that we aren't really suburb-people, are overwhelmed by the work that needed to be done to this house (we're not fix-it people), and mostly overwhelmed with the day-to-day stuff to maintain a big house that just holds 3 people. When we bought it a couple of years ago, it really seemed like the right choice, but quite frankly, we've not had the visitors we figured we would have, nor did we have the future babies that we figured we'd have, and all we did was feel (self-inflicted) pressure to fill it up with crap.

While we can walk a few places here, and that's fun for us, we've decided to downsize our (overly gluttonous, see aforementioned filling of the home) lives, and have purchased an adorable brick, 1800s (completely, brand-spankin'-newly renovated) row home in Baltimore's historic Federal Hill neighborhood.

We love, love, love it there. We love the house, and we love even more, the idea of simplifying our life a bit, being able to walk to restaurants, the movies, the Inner Harbor, church, coffee houses, etc.

Andrew currently spends part of his time in his company's HQ just outside of Baltimore as it is, and the majority of the developers he has on his projects are there full-time, so he'll have a couple good-length commutes to Chantilly each week, but nothing ridiculous, and he tends to get up early to get his work-day done early, as it is. He's lucky to have such a flexible job, and is now excited to start following some pod-casts during his commuting days.

I've got an appointment in a few minutes, so you'll have to wait to see pictures of the awesomeness that is our soon-to-be-new-home. But, I'll try to post them a little later!

This is the addition, off of the back of the house. It'll be my workspace, as well as where B's art supplies and craft table ends up.

Kitchen. Duh. Out to the addition/study. You can't see it, but the door has gorgeous blue glass in it.

One view of B's room. I love, love, love that they kept the old mantel there. Clearly, we have no interest in having a fireplace in a pre-schooler's bedroom, but it's there if we wanted to cut that wall out...I plan to do something fun with books in that space.

Benjamin is a fan of his new room.

We are fully comfortable admitting that we're more patio people than yard people. We'll visit family, or just go to the parks to get our fix of grass. If you know of any good container garden blogs, send them my way, please! I've already got some great plans in my head for that!

And I know, it's a yucko basement, but I've always wished I had a laundry/utility sink, but have never had the space in a laundry area to have one...this makes me happy!

These are just a few shots that Andrew took while at the home inspection earlier this week. The ONLY thing not redone in the entire house is (thankfully, we love them!) the hardwood flooring throughout the house; which is from when it was originally built. It has new plumbing, electric, appliances, water heater, roof, etc. There were three bullet points on the home inspection, and they were just tiny little oversights that we easily could have fixed ourselves.

So, anyhow, we're beyond excited, and have been working hard around here to get rid of the excess stuff that has been moved from state-to-state-to-state-to-state, and now back to state #3. It's amazing how great it feels to purge stuff; especially if it can be handed over to someone who really wants or needs it.

I took a lot of baby gear, extra scarves, mittens, etc., and bags full of books to our local homeless shelter. They were so appreciated, and when I went back the next day with some more things, they volunteer told me that the books and winter apparel was all taken within 5 minutes after I left; which made my day.

Anyhow, so when are you coming to visit us in the new place? We'll be settled by mid-April...just in time for some nice weather, I hope!

~Courtney posted at 3/4/2010 10:24:54 AM

Friends

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:32:55 GMT

Benjamin may have an imaginary friend. Do-do (pronounced doh-doh, dough-dough, maybe?) lives at the North Pole, but is responsible for much of the shenanigans that happen around this house.

Benjamin and Do-do:

Sharing his remote control helicopter:

We've not left the house in a really, really long time.

~Courtney posted at 2/11/2010 9:32:55 AM

I swear this isn't a meteorology blog...

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:28:37 GMT

...but had to share the snowman shot from a few minutes ago:

Wednesday, 11:25 am:

~Courtney posted at 2/10/2010 11:28:37 AM

Artichoke Risotto

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:31:28 GMT

It's no secret that I am a fan of my slow cooker*. Most of the things we make are what I think of when I think of slow cookers; pot roast, pulled pork, beef stew and dumplings, etc.

Recently though, I've been a tad more adventurous with what I make, last night, blowing the dust off of this cookbook, I made the artichoke risotto.

It was fantastic, and the recipe was definitely worth sharing.

From the cookbook, but mine definitely looked that pretty. I just didn't photograph it.

From the cookbook:
Here is one of Alessandro Serni's simple yet irresistible risottos from the Four Seasons Aviara restaurant, Vivace.

Makes 4 servings

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock
4 cooked small artichokes quartered, or 2 cooked large artichoke hearts, sliced
1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute, or until opaque. Add the wine, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds.

Transfer the rice mixture to the slow cooker and add the stock and artichokes. Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours, until the rice is firm but tender. Stir in the butter, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste just before serving.

Transfer to a warmed serving dish and garnish with cheese. Serve immediately.

Some notes from my experience:

WAY more than four servings. Closer to 6-8. Two cups of rice is a lot.
I used a full, medium sized onion. I also did it in slices, not finely chopped.
We used champagne. And went on to drink the rest of the bottle while our dinner was cooking.
It took about two minutes to brown the onions in my cast iron skillet I used, not ten...so stay on that!
Ditto on the wine/champagne. It didn't take anywhere close to 10 minutes before it was ready to be transferred to the slow cooker.
I used a bag of frozen artichokes from Trader Joe's. Nobody would ever know. Which is good, because I tend to be intimidated by them in their fresh state.
It took longer than 2 hours for mine to finish cooking, and my slow cooker tends to be on the hot side
* My slow cooker (and mine is the older, dials-not-electronic-version) gets HORRIBLE reviews, but we love it. So much so, we've given it as gifts at least 3 or 4 times...

It was delish, and a much lower maintenance (read, no constant stirring) way to prepare one of our favorite dishes. And we have a lot of leftovers, which means I don't have to come up with something for dinner tonight.

~Courtney posted at 2/10/2010 9:31:28 AM

Snoverkill

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 11:05:03 GMT

I am trying not to dwell here, but since this is the closest thing B will have to a substantial baby book, it's more for the art of documentation. And a little bit of dwelling.

But really? Another 10-18 inches tonight?

It really was fun over this weekend (because we had power), but I am not quite sure I am up for another 10-18 inches of snow.

I did, however, just get my YakTrax so I am excited about my first outdoor run in a few days!

~Courtney posted at 2/9/2010 11:05:03 AM

Courtney's Quinoa Chicken Slow Cooker goodness

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 11:03:16 GMT

Well, Andrew says it's good.

Basically, it was a hodge podge of things that I had in the fridge/freezer that I could turn into a fair quantity of food that could be consumed cold if we lost power for any amount of time.

So, far from fancy, but actually quite yummy.

3 (I used frozen...straight from the freezer to the crockpot) chicken breasts
1 bag of frozen artichoke hearts
1 bag of random frozen veggies
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 jar of tomato/basil marinara sauce
1 chopped up onion
A bunch of garlic
Some random spices (I think I used Thyme and Basil?)
1 can of cannelini beans

I cooked all of that on low for 6 hours, (high for 3-4 would probably do the trick, too)

I used about 1/2 cup of (rinsed) quinoa, and threw it in there about 45-60 minutes before we were ready to eat.
Without the quinoa, it was definitely soup-y, and next time, I'd probably add some chicken broth in there at the same time as the quinoa to make it a little less hearty, and a little more soup-y.

Anyhow, random. Far from a recipe, but hit the spot after an afternoon of shoveling!

~Courtney posted at 2/8/2010 11:03:16 AM

I lied.

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 21:03:29 GMT

I might post a lot from my iPhone.

Commercial convo from Super Bowl (on TiVo delay):

me: that commercial makes me want to buy that for you.

a: In my head, i've already bought it.

And no, it isn't Bud Light.

~Courtney posted at 2/7/2010 9:03:29 PM

When life gives you snow...

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 20:46:31 GMT

...you shovel. And shovel some more. And then some more.

...you put on snow clothes, throw your tot into the kelty backpack, despite him weighing 35 pounds, and trudge through the snow to see if Jimmy's Old Town Tavern is open. It was.

...you plan your shopping list for tomorrow morning, because three feet of snow wasn't enough, and you're likely getting another foot in two days.

In all seriousness, we were insanely lucky to only have lost power for a few minutes. Our friends had to go for hours without. We had good food, better wine, and more fresh air than we normally get when it is just cold and dreary.

This also is my first iPhone blog post. There won't be many of them; HTML is a pain on here!

~Courtney posted at 2/7/2010 8:46:31 PM