Two Broken Ribs & A Partridge in a Pear Tree

We had an interesting weekend in the Hardin house. Two things that have never happened to us before happened. I decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving, and Jon broke 2 ribs. One of these hurt more than the other.

The Bad

We've both *almost* fallen on the stairs a few times, and we've both thought it was only a matter of time before one of us really fell. I thought we had years. Jon made it happen in a couple of months, and it was a doozy. Installing a stair runner has now moved up the to-do list. The good news is that he is getting a little better every day. The bad news is that it will take about 6 weeks to fully recover. We leave for vacation in 4 days. This could be fun! :/

The carnage. Jon was carrying some laundry down the stairs when he slipped.
Yes, as many people have pointed out, this was a very extreme measure to get out of laundry duty.

The Good

Our house is starting to look rather festive. If you know me, you know that I love Christmas. I normally consider it a crime to decorate before Thanksgiving, but since we're out of town over Thanksgiving and it's so late on the calendar this year, I needed to get a head start since we're hoping to host a holiday open house in just a few short weeks. I'm so glad I jumped the gun because I have no idea when Jon will be a contributing member of this family again (as they would say in the South, "bless his heart").

Christmas decorating has officially started!

The Friday Happy List

Del Ray Baptist Church. We joined a new church! As of Sunday, we are new members at Del Ray Baptist. We are so excited to be part of this small, but growing church. It already feels like home! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. :)



Kitchen Island. We have an island. Even more impressively, we have an island that Jon and I assembled. But most impressively, we have an island that Jon and I assembled, and Jon and I are still happily married. Success. It's the last big piece to the kitchen, which I guess means it's done. We still need to hang some things on the wall, and I would love to find some shelves for my cookbooks, but for now, I'm closing the book on this one. Maybe I'll actually get around to doing a proper before & after blog post now!

Turks & Caicos. In one week, we'll be hanging out here. I. Can't. Wait. We need a vacation real bad. We're renting this house with my sister, brother-in-law, and parents. It's perfect timing because we could all really use a vacation for one reason or another. Normally I'm all about the turkey and fixings, but with this view for a week,  that's all gravy. [That pun was for you, Jon. Although I'm not even sure Jon reads my blog. This will be a test.]

The Friday Happy List: BBQ Chicken Skewers

In lieu of a list, I'm sharing a recipe today. When I started this blog, I had visions of posting some of my favorite eats. So far that hasn't happened, but I promise to start making up for it. Here is a recipe that has been making both me and Jon happy lately. It's a little unconventional (bacon paste!), but it's not hard and it's certainly tasty. 

BBQ Chicken Skewers
(Adapted from Cook's Illustrated)

BBQ Sauce

• 1/2 cup ketchup

• 1/4 cup molasses 

• 2 Tbs grated onion (grated on the large side of a cheese grater)

• 2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

• 2 Tbs Dijon mustard

• 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

• 1 Tbs brown sugar

• hot sauce, to taste

Kebabs

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1.5" inch pieces

• 2 slices bacon

• 2 tsp kosher salt

• 2 Tbs sweet paprika

• 4 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

For the BBQ sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and stir for 5-7 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thickened. Remove from the heat and reserve about half of the sauce to serve along with the chicken.

Cut the bacon into pieces and process in a food processor until a thick, smooth paste forms. Set aside. Mix the spices together in a small bowl. Now here is where things get a little messy. Add the bacon paste & spices to the chicken and work it in to cover the chicken. This is best done with your hands. It might not seem like it's spreading evenly, but don't panic. Just coat it is a best you can.

Thread the meat onto skewers and grill over medium-high heat basting with the BBQ sauce and turning every few minutes until charred, about 12-15 minutes. Serve with the remaining BBQ sauce.

[You can make the sauce, spice mixture, and bacon paste in advance. Just bring the bacon paste to room temperature before using and reheat the sauce before serving.]

And in case you are curious about the corn, it was just basted with olive oil, grilled until slightly tender (I like my corn to still have a bite), and brushed with salted honey butter. Yum!

Weekend Visitors

We had our first visitors this past weekend. Phil & Shirley (Jon's parents) took advantage of a Southwest airfare sale to spend the weekend with us in Alexandria. Hosting people is much more comfortable when everyone isn't crammed into a small apartment! [Hint: you should all come visit us.]

We toured the George Washington Masonic Memorial on Saturday.
This is the view from the top. Our house is somewhere in those trees!

Overlooking Old Town Alexandria & the Potomac River.

Jon is getting pretty good at this grilling thing. Recipe coming soon. :)

Like father, like son. The Hardin men always* do the dishes. I married into a good family.

How cute is this Dash & Albert rug?
It was a housewarming gift from Phil & Shirley. I love it!  

It took all four us to make sure our new address yard sign was straight.
Thanks for the anniversary gift, Mom & Dad. Now maybe people can actually find our house.
Also, check out the sneak peek of our new landscaping. :)

Not pictured: eating frozen custard, going to see Captain Phillips (it was good, but too long IMHO, and the shaky camera made it less enjoyable), church, crashing a neighborhood open house, card games, and some other good eats.

*Almost always. I don't want to get anyone in trouble. ;)

Happy Halloween!

My Solimar co-workers. We had our first ever costume contest. 

It's hard to tell in this group photo, but I'm wearing the front of a Life cereal box and carrying some lemons, which I handed out to people throughout the day. Get it? When life hands you lemons! It's easy and clever, if not a little corny - just what a Halloween costume should be. The best part was watching people think really hard about it before it clicked. Instant entertainment for me all day.

We also had a Halloween potluck at work. And yes, it is the best place to work. 

The best costume of the day, IMHO was my co-worker Gabe who dressed as a panda. Over lunch, we were discussing how funny it would be if he had gone as the panda cam. It's kind of a big deal around here. Sure enough, once we were all back at our desks, he invited us to a streaming video of him just kind of sitting there working. He was the panda cam. Too funny.

Gabe as the Panda Cam. As seen from my monitor. 

Our Halloween is over because we committed the cardinal sin - we ran out of candy. Luckily our awesome neighbors lent us some of theirs (you may remember them from the awesome cheese & wine housewarming gift) so we could make it until 8:00 p.m. After that, we just had to shut 'er down. New homeowner fail. :(

Just for fun - here are some oldies, but goodies. 

Bag o' flour.

Not Halloween, but still dressed up. This was common. 

Anniversary Weekend

I need to start coming up with more interesting post titles.

Thank you so much for all of the love for my last post. It was fun to write, and I'm glad at least a few of you had fun reading it.

We had a great time this weekend. Not only was it our anniversary, but we really needed a break. Escaping to a secluded resort in the mountains was just the answer.

We drove down to Primland on Friday, our actual anniversary. Part of the drive took us on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was breathtaking. There are a lot of reasons we got married in October, but it's a fun added bonus that it gives us an excuse to travel when a lot of places are at their most scenic. It's also fun because our anniversary always falls during the World Series - hopefully someday we'll celebrate with a Nats World Series win.

Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

At the Mabry Mill, we ran into a couple that asked us to take their photo. They were celebrating their 27th anniversary. How cool is that?! I didn't have the heart to tell them they were married the year I was born.

Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

About six hours and lots of bad radio later, we arrived at Primland. It's legitimately in the middle of nowhere, and it was expansive. It took several minutes just to drive from the main entrance to the main lodge where we checked in. Apparently it's over 12,000 acres. There is a golf course, spa, hunting, fishing, 3 restaurants and countless other activities, but let's be honest, I was mostly there for the view.

We stayed in the Barn Owl treehouse... 

...and this was our view. It was ok. ;)

This was our other view. It was also ok.

And these were our sunsets. Swoon.

We went on a hike.  

We rode horses. This is Daisy. She was stubborn just like someone else I know. 

One of our favorite dinners at the resort was the casual BBQ buffet. It was a big reminder that we were in the south South. There was a live bluegrass band, and while it's not a style of music I typically enjoy, it was SO GOOD. We stayed almost an hour after we were done eating just to enjoy their music. Here's a little video Jon took:

We also went to the spa, ate a lot of food, and just enjoyed the beautiful views. On our way back to D.C. we stopped at Monticello because when we're not eating or relaxing on vacation, we're probably doing something nerdy and/or historic.

Who doesn't love a Presidential house tour?

Just a little proof that we were on this little vacay together. Jon always makes me ask other people to take our photo. 

We got home just in time to watch the Packers destroy the Vikings. It was pretty much the perfect weekend.

5 Years

We've been married for 5 years. Has it really been 5 years? Wow. People always make a fuss about the milestones that end in 0 or 5. I'm not usually one for fussing over sap, but I do think it's fun to look back. Here are some very random musings about our last several years together (and a few additional comments from Jon who has approved this message).

We met in college when I was a freshman and he was a senior. I have no recollection of this, but Jon claims to remember everything. Typical.

But here's the funny thing about Jon's memory. He can tell you his locker combination from high school (21-35-17) and what movie he saw on vacation in 1993 (Jurassic Park), but he has a tendency to forget what I told him 10 minutes ago. It's amazing really.

Even though we met when I was a freshman, Jon didn't ask me out until I was a junior. (She said "maybe.") He likes to procrastinate.

I told my roommate (Hi Audrey!) before our first date that I was going to marry Jon. Yes, I really did. I know it sounds crazy, and I could write an entire book on what prompted me to say it, but for the sake of brevity, it goes something like this: sometimes you just know.

The best part about the actual wedding was being surrounded by so many loved ones. It was such a happy day. Sometimes when I'm ridiculously happy, my nose crinkles. My nose crinkled a lot that day. As evidenced here:

 Here:

Here:

Look at our hairs. This photo says one thing to me: future ginger babies. 

 And here:

Maybe I should have been a little less happy so I didn't make a pug face in all the photos. [Btw, all wedding photos were taken by Benfield Photography. Dale & Meredith are fantastic. I was a little embarrassed to learn the other day that Dale has been reading my blog. My photos are terrible. Their photos are decidedly not.]

Many years ago before I was even in the picture, Jon's dad joked about Jon marrying a girl from North Dakota. It was the most far-away place that came to his mind. I love that.

Just like many years before that, my mother joked about me never living in D.C. It was the most far-away and crime-ridden place that came to her mind. I love that too.

Never say never. That's the only way to guarantee that something will absolutely happen.

Number of Packers games we've been to: nine. Including a trip to Green Bay for our first anniversary. Love God. Love each other. Love football. That's basically our motto.

Number of baseball games we've been to: we've lost count. It's been a lot. We love baseball and the Nationals too. It's on our bucket list to visit every major league ballpark. I can't wait for all of those hot dogs. Mmmmmm, hot dog.

They say opposites attract, but I think similar people stay together. I'm going to let you in on a crazy secret about marriage: you spend a lot of time together. A lot. I don't know about you, but I can only spend so much time with opposites before it drives me a little nuts.

Jon has been known to elbow me in the head while sleeping. He even head-butted me once. That was big fun. Sometimes he'll carry on a complete conversation while he's sleeping. The other night he took my pillow and hung onto it for dear life. His favorite time to shove his bright phone into my face to show me something funny or interesting is that glorious moment right after I've just fallen asleep. It's a wonder I get any sleep, but, of course, I don't sleep a wink when he's not there.

Gingers are stubborn. Mine is no different.

We laugh all the time. We laugh at each other. We laugh at ourselves. We laugh at inside jokes. We disagree and then laugh about how silly it was 5 minutes later. If you're not laughing, you're doing it wrong.

In the last 5 years, we've had more arguments about fantasy football than anything else. I think this says a lot about us: 1) We're both way too competitive; and 2) we must be doing something right if the only thing we argue about is something as trivial (MAJORLY IMPORTANT) as fantasy football.

Our best trip: Spain to Italy. I wake up most mornings secretly hoping we're actually in Italy. Here's a little recap of that trip:

Our worst trip: I really can't think of a bad one. We are great travel buddies. We both love to travel like octogenarians. We make plans, we take road trips, we stay at B&Bs, we leaf peep, we drink wine, we eat great food, we go to bed early, we sleep late, we take guided tours, and we love every minute of it.

Once I'm in bed for the night, I really hate getting up. But I usually remember at least 3 things I've forgotten to do or bring with me before hopping into bed. For the last 5 years, Jon has fetched things for me without complaint so I can stay tucked in bed. Does this mean I'm lazy? Absolutely. Does this also mean Jon is incredibly sweet? Absolutely.

One time while I was helping Jon pick out new glasses, the clerk asked if we were brother and sister. I told her, "Yep. We're related. And we're married." Jon is from Arkansas, but I hope she knows I was joking. 

I bake. Jon cleans up the mess. It's the perfect marriage. Pun intended.

Speaking of puns, I had no idea just how much Jon loved puns until it was too late. There are hundreds of puns in my future. Hundreds. (Thousands.) That thought is somewhat distressing.

Jon makes it his mission to intentionally bother me and/or push my buttons. He LOVES getting a reaction out of me. I know this could all stop if I stopped reacting, but I'm completely incapable of ignoring his antics. Some of his favorites are asking me really loud embarrassing questions in public, fist-pumping to the most ridiculous songs on the radio while driving, or when he told me he buried a dirty word somewhere in this post and I believed him. Sigh. 

We made it through our first home renovation. (Barely.) We can make it through anything.

And now, a very brief history of us in photos:

The very first photo we ever took together. 

The day before we got married. It was already going really well.

Our first Christmas as a married couple. 

New Years in New Orleans. 

Frozen wedding cake = not so good.

Snowmageddon during our first winter in D.C.
I love snow and I thought this was a good sign about the future
prospect of snow in D.C., but it's basically never snowed since then.

Sunburned in Costa Rica.

Playoff football in Philly - the year we won the Super Bowl. :)

U.S. Open Golf. 

Sunsets in Maine. 

Crabs on the eastern shore in Maryland. 

Boating in Bermuda. 

Winning the NL East! GO NATS!

Celebrating Jon's 30th birthday with good food and good friends. 

This might be my favorite photo ever. It's just so us.
I really wish I could remember what we were talking about. (Baseball.)

The best part about milestones? They are great excuses to celebrate. We're headed to Primland in southern Virginia today. Just after we made the reservation, we got the best call ever. They had overbooked the room we requested so "could they upgrade us to a treehouse at no additional charge?" Yeah, I don't think that will be a problem...

It's going to be a very Swiss Family Robinson chic weekend.

Five great years and many, many more to come. That's enough to make a girl crinkle nose happy.