going gray?

On the way home from church today, I verified the existence of a gray hair in Doug's head. (Well, if it's not gray it's freakishly blond.)

I asked him, "Starting dental school has been a bit rough, eh?" and he responded, "No way. It was getting IN to dental school."

Frankly, I'd have to agree.


PS- Lest you worry Doug wasn't happy about the gray hair, he actually was super excited. I believe "COOL!" was his word of choice. He'd love to look like his dad, but I'm afraid if he does turn silver he and his dad will have to start wearing name tags so I can tell them apart.

life before and after slipcovers

Here's our family room with what we lovingly call "the Liberty Square Couches":


And here's what happened when our couches met slipcovers a la BB&B:

Serenity now...


Oh, and I just wanted to post this pic because Doug was a good sport shopping all over the world and trying out one type of slipcover after another until we found the right kind. He even let me remove the labels from the sofa cover and stick them on his arms and shirt. Thanks, Doug, for being marginally amused:

meet reagan!

The newest Mortensen arrived today. 7 lbs 7 oz. Jess and baby Reagan (pronounced like the president) are doing great!

We're thrilled.

disturbia

What's so disturbing about having a small cardboard box sitting in your front hallway?


I'll tell you: it contains a human skull. Doug checked it out from the anatomy lab at school so he could study it.

I don't EVEN want to talk about it...

speaking of gang tags...

That last post reminded me of this pic. The only way you know that I didn't do this is the fact that I would have spelled my name correctly, right?

spray paint: it aint just for gang tags anymore

We've enjoyed updating some furniture for our new place lately.

2 yard sale nightstands with a nice early 90s style became...

...painted nightstands with new handles and a semi-hidden 90s style. $10 put to good use, I'd say.

An end table that was handed down from Doug's parents to Ben and Whit and from them to us became this black beauty. We also tweaked this lamp from Cydney. We likey.

High fives to Cyd for giving us the idea to have a spray painting extravaganza, and to Jenn for getting the ball rolling!

virginia beach

Why I liked Saturday:
1. Doug was formally introduced to the Atlantic Ocean, swimming in the waves for at least an hour straight. Maybe longer.
2. We experienced the ocean breeze. There's some sort of drug in it that makes me at peace. Like a percocet.
3. It wasn't too hot nor too cold. Thanks, weather.
4. I didn't see nearly as many women-in-bikinis-that-shouldn't-be-wearing-bikinis as I thought I would.
5. We checked out the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA and realized we should never antagonize the US Navy because they could easily destroy us. It was way cool.
6. I got to remember why I wanted to move to VA so badly. This place is hitting the spot for me. Phew.

non-smoking is a matter of perspective

Oh new apartment, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.

We love thee for thy dishwasher and weird yet handy trash compactor.

Our souls rejoice in thy excessive amount of storage space,

ridiculous number of closets, and spacious rooms.

We love thee freely because utilities seem free because

they are at a blessed fixed rate

We love thee purely, for thy extra bedroom, washer/dryer, new carpet, and

friendly neighbors that have a little boy that shouts at construction workers.

But, oh dear apartment, claimer of non-smoking standards,

must you freaking REEK of cigarette smoke so much that we sit

in church on Sunday (feeling pious) and realize

both our shirts smell like we're recovering chain smokers?

Our love was close to perfection, apartment, so so close...

...oh, and if you could work on the spider thing too that would be great. Thanks.

jakester

Our nephew Jake would have been 2 today. Boy do we miss this little guy!

You can learn more about the birth defect CDH at Breath of Hope, Inc..

my life is of general interest

I have a collection of essays by E. B. White that I really enjoy, and I read this today and loved it:

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest.

That, my friends, is the world of blogging. Hilare.

what to do all day...

I plan on working whilst Doug is in school and we're still kid-free, yet the employment world out here hasn't seemed interested in employing me yet. So when I came upon this article a little bit ago, I had to laugh. Yes, "What do you do all day?" is something I ask myself frequently.

Oh well, at least there are lots of books to read and projects to suddenly take up. What better time than now to finally organize our wedding pictures, right?

byrd theatre

Last Saturday Doug and I went with some friends to a Richmond institution--the Byrd Theatre. It was a movie theater built in 1928 that is unlike any other. It has chandeliers, a balcony, and murals galore. There are two enclaves on either side of the front stage--one has a baby grand piano and the other a harp. Before Saturday night shows (such as ours), an organist raises up through the stage and plays a pre-show show. It's pretty freaking sweet.

Apparently they haven't really ever remodeled it, so it looks pretty much the same as it did when it was first built. It only plays second run movies (like unto a dollar theater) and admission is just $1.99. So despite the popcorn-covered floors and torn seats, we decided there's no more charming place to enjoy an organist and "Iron Man" all in one sitting.

Well done, Richmond.

anticlockwise

The British girl on my pilates DVD says "anticlockwise." I think it really improves a workout if you move your leg anticlockwise instead of silly ol' counterclockwise. Consider it next time you rotate a limb.

sister time

Got some quality sister time this week. Loved it.

Thanks, Jenn and Lex!

a gentleman and a scholar

Here's Doug coming home from his first day of class. Nothing like anatomy and dental lectures to bring a smile to your face!

He survived his first week of classes. The week before was orientation and apparently it was terribly boring. But this week alone he got back into anatomy (he actually enjoys it), drilled some teeth on a mannequin, carved some more teeth from wax (and did a way good job), and he's wearing scrubs every day for the next 4 years. What more could a man ask for?

sweet home alabama

We loved our time in the Bama with the fam!! We hit up this place full of blow-up slides and obstacles, played outside, caught bugs, fought over the Wii, watched movies, ate, did a sweet slip-n-slide, explored some caverns, and played and played. The best part, I'd say, was seeing our niece Hannah be baptized. It was so cool to be there!

Trust us, though: fun was had by all...

We met Miss Molly!

Making silly faces

Uncle Doug cut hair.

Singing songs on Pioneer Day

DeSoto caverns were pretty sweet. They even managed to throw in this light show that had the Creation Story as the narration and a light-up cross. Gotta love the South!

We got to be there for this little lady's birthday party AND baptism!

Jeff's pancake below had butter, syrup, peanut butter, AND jam on it. Mmmm...boy...

Because sometimes you gotta pack heat no matter what you're wearing.

driving, driving, driving

From Denver we drove to my parent's new home in Birmingham. Here are some highlights from the drive:
Above: An incredibly long train somewhere in Kansas. We lost track of how many cars it had!

The St. Louis Arch, of course

denver, baby, DENVER!

We then got to stop in Denver and visit Jess and fam for a few days. We had a blast swimming, breaking in their trampoline, eating out, hitting up the Denver zoo, and más and más. These folks are priceless, as shown:




I didn't approve of the picture below. Statue or not, this is possibly my worst nightmare, and Rylee took it like a man.



The animals below boggled the mind. There were probably 8 of them all around the pen trying to blend in. Weird science.

The Mortensens were terribly good to us, and we were sorry to say goodbye! (Jess is having baby Reagan on August 27, and they weren't able to join the other Dunlops in AL. They were missed!!!)

headed east

Luckily our drive to VA was broken up with some high quality stops. We stopped in Arches National Park in Utah because we'd never been there. (It seemed wrong to have delicate arch on our license plate without having seen it.)




(That's Doug. I opted for a lower spot.)


Our conclusion? Beautiful!! Loved it. We didn't get to do any real long hikes because we didn't dare leave our car that was jam-packed with our TV, computer, and other hard-to-replace belongings, but we got our fix for now.