I Cook When I'm Lonely

Most of you probably already know this, but the DC area has been hammered with snow this weekend. There are reports of it being as much as two feet of snow, which is pretty unheard of here in DC. Unfortunately, Sarah went to New York this weekend with her mom and grandma, and hasn't been able to come back since the roads are all blocked. So Pip and I have been trapped in the house for two days, trying to stave off cabin fever. Every five hours or so, I have to get completely outfitted in cold weather gear, carry Pip out to her favorite spot, dig through the snow down to the dirt so that she can stand up, and wait for her to do her business. But at least it gets us out of the house.


Since I had nothing to do and nowhere to go, I planned a somewhat extravagant meal for one. It consisted of slow-roasted beef brisket, buttermilk biscuits with cinnamon butter, potatoes gratin, and cinnamon-fried apples. It was pretty tasty, and kept me busy for a few hours. There's plenty of leftovers if anyone wants to swing by. Anyone? Hello? HELP

The Reason Why I'm Getting Fat

The Christmas snack season is upon us, and Sarah's baking has been in swing. First, we had a Cookie Swap party at some friend's of ours, and Sarah made some awesome sugar cookies. The snow globe was my favorite, although it was somewhat labor-intensive.



Sarah also participated in a gingerbread contest at work. The idea was to be as creative as possible, so Sarah came up with a gingerbread recreation of the pyramids at Giza. I played a small role in that I got to make the crocodile out of gum paste.



Here's a good shot of one of the pyramids (we made two). The whole structure was pretty awesome, including two pyramids, a crocodile, graham cracker sand dunes, the Nile, and a miniature cookie Santa bringing gifts to the local Bedouins. The whole thing looked pretty cool, but we unfortunately do not have a picture of all of it together. Merry Christmas!

Pippin's Holiday Season

Hi everyone. This is Pippin. My folks are busy because Sarah is working a lot and that man who feeds me has been studying for some type of exams all week. So I figured I should post something since they're busy and tell you about how my holiday season is going. It's been pretty good so far, considering it's the only one I have experienced. Here are some highlights. First, I went to Thanksgiving at a farm, where apparently everyone gets to eat turkey but me. It must be some sort of holiday designed to torture pets. On the plus side, I got to meet some kittens who were pretty cool.



When I got home, I had to spend a little more time than usual by myself, since the man who feeds me was so busy. Fortunately, I was able to find ways to entertain myself... by eating plaster and sheet rock to my heart's content. Unfortunately, I got a bit of a stomachache as a result, and my people were not pleased (probably because I ate three other holes in the bathroom wall too).



Their "solution" as they called it was to fence me in even more so than usual, so now when I am by myself at the house I have to sit in the bathroom and stay inside this fence. It's so degrading. I am not pleased.



To make matters worse, my people brought a friend over who also has a Cavalier. They let Floyd the Cavalier into my house! To sit on my couch! In my owner's lap! While I was sitting there already! I was not pleased.



Then, when I finally got to go outside, it was snowing. At first, I was pretty excited by how much ice there was (seeing as ice cubes are my favorite food), but then I realized how cold it was, and I wanted to go home. Fortunately, it only lasted a day or so, so my life is good. Well, talk to you later. I sleep about 18 hours a day, so writing this post has made me pretty tired. Bye!

Rejection Hurts

It is with great sadness that I must report I will not be attending Georgetown University this January. I received the eloquent rejection letter the other day and though it was short it still stung. Granted my GRE score was laughable but I had hoped that my other credentials would swing things my way. I suppose its for the best considering that we are not entirely sure where we will end up within the next year and a half so perhaps it is better to save that $40,000 for something else.

Thanskgiving Time!

Hey everyone! Sorry the month of November has been pretty much devoid of posts. Sarah and I have been super-busy getting ready for finals, and for the holidays. We had a great Thanksgiving, and a nice chance to relax. We traveled down to Hertford, North Carolina (Population: 1800), to visit Sarah's Grandma Jean down at the family homestead. We had a wonderful time catching up with family, eating, relaxing, and eating.

I took quite a few pictures of Grandma's house, which is filled to the brim with all sorts of Grandma-esque stuff (including old WWII food stamps, pillows with cats embroidered on them, etc.), but I thought this lovely collection of wooden ducks was especially endearing. Maybe someday Sarah and I can have our own duck collection.



We were able to make some great trips around the area, which is one of the oldest counties in North Carolina. In fact, they even had their own version of a tea party before Boston (it mainly consisted of a group of women writing a letter to a London newspaper, but it's the thought that counts). All in all, it is a very historic and interesting place.



Sarah and I were happy just to take some time to relax and take in the sights. Plus, Sarah's Grandma was a former tour guide, so she could tell us all about the different locations we were visiting.



I took quite a few pictures of the actual Thanksgiving feast, but I decided to focus on Sarah's ridiculously delicious rolls. This is actually a recipe from my grandma, and Sarah was able to make a faithful recreation for our Thanksgiving. We had a great trip to North Carolina, and I was sorry to come back and study for finals (which start next week). Wish me luck.

Halloween and Lots of Food!

Happy Halloween from the Petersons. Here's Pip and her favorite Halloween toy. We had a Halloween party with some of our friends, which was lots of fun.


We came up with all sorts of treats for the party, although they weren't exactly Halloween-themed per se. We had stuffed mushrooms, peanut butter pumpkin cookies, spinach artichoke dip, and chili biscuit bowls.




Sarah made an awesome Halloween cake for the party, complete with a chocolate gingerbread house, tree, and tombstones.


We were all pirates for this Halloween. As you can see, Pip is the captain, although she didn't really invoke fear into the hearts of her crew or anyone else at the party.

U2 and Monticello!

Sarah and I have had a couple of crazy weeks. Although we have both been really busy with school and work, we have managed to have some fun too. A few weeks ago we went to a U2 concert as part of my birthday present, which was awesome. If you haven't heard about it, it involved an amazing stage called "the Claw" and was pretty cool. Plus, one of our favorite bands, Muse, opened for them so it was a great show all around.



Last weekend, we traveled to Charlottesville to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. It was beautiful, and it was nice to see all the leaves changing. Sorry both of these pictures are stock photos, but Sarah and I keep forgetting to bring a camera, so we have to manufacture these memories instead.

Sorry there hasn't been much by way of blog posting lately. Sarah and I have been pretty busy lately. She has been swamped at work, as well as finishing up her Georgetown application, which she turned in yesterday. Meanwhile, I can't believe my semester is already halfway over. I have been busy with all sorts of projects, along with the eternal job hunt.

But overall, we are doing great. Life is good here in Arlington, despite the fact that it has been rainy all week. Pippin hates the rain, which makes potty time particularly unpleasant for her. However, she loves beards, so at least she can lick my beard when she gets home. Maybe I am leaving food in there or something, because she finds it delicious.

Ryan's Summer Movie Round-Up

I realize that it is now October, so my annual summer movie roundup is a little late this year. But better late than never, because I know you're all dying to see what movies I picked. Overall, I felt like this wasn't the strongest summer movie season. So many of the big movies were sequels or other less-original fare, so I have limited my list to three films instead of the usual top five. But first, how about some honorable mentions:

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - This movie was fun, but made absolutely no sense. Like many of the films this year, plot holes were rampant. Why did the evil robots bother dragging Sam's parents out into the middle of the desert? And how come there is a robot heaven?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I think it's safe to say whenever there's a colon in the title, that the film probably won't be that original. Although Wolverine did blow up like eight helicopters over the course of the movie, so it had that going for it.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - This one had a colon in the title, and it doesn't even have a sequel yet. It's like this movie was planning to be ridiculous from the get-go. Sarah and I agree, however, that the dialogue was top-notch. Upon discovering that the team would be heading to Paris, one character cleverly remarked, "I like croissants." Oscar-worthy.

Monsters v. Aliens - This was pretty clever, entertaining entry by Dreamworks, but they still don't seem to be at the same caliber as Pixar. Still, I'm sure this is better than the fourth Shrek movie that will be coming out next year.

And now on to the big three that made the cut!

3. Star Trek - Let me first say, that I hate Star Trek in general. When it comes to being a male teenage nerd, you can only like Star Wars or Star Trek. Liking both is completely unacceptable! I chose Star Wars as an adolescent in hopes that girls might still talk to me. Regardless, I was amazed at how good this Star Trek movie was. It completely revitalized the series and opened it up to a whole new audience. Although an excellent film, it was still not devoid of the plot holes that seemed to plague the summer movie season. Why was Spock living in some ice cave when he knew there was a weather station a few miles away?

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Although technically a sequel as well, I think this is by far the best Harry Potter movie to date. It was exciting, scary, humorous, and spent a lot of time developing the characters and setting up for the big two-part finale. Great movie!




1. Up - Pixar is awesome. We have all known this for years, and yet they continue to amaze us. I was impressed that they could make me almost cry with a robot love story last year, but they took it up a notch with the story of a cranky old man who lost the love of his life. Sarah cried for a good half hour of the film, and most of the way home, so I guess that's a winning endorsement. This movie had everything I could hope for in summer fare. And most of all, it finally answered the question of what a dog would say if it could talk.

LOL Pip

Pippin Strikes Back

Things are good in the Peterson household for the most part. Sarah and I are staying busy with work and school, and the weather is starting to cool down here in DC. Sadly, there has been a rash of Pippin-peeing-on-Sarah's-favorite-Pottery-Barn-rug-related incidents lately, so we are having to keep a closer eye on Pip. I suspect this some type of retaliation for the bath we gave her a few days ago. As you can see in the picture above, she seems none to thrilled about the experience (although she loved the hair dryer afterwards). Hopefully, her memories of this horrid incident will soon fade, and we will be able to return to life as normal.

New York and Arizona!

So this puppy has been taking up a bit of our time, which means I have been neglecting the blog in terms of other things that are going on in our lives. However, we have also been to both New York and Arizona in the last month. Just part of our cross-country search for someone who will hire me to work at their law firm next summer. Here's a picture of Sarah in the middle of Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. The Domincian Day parade had just swept through town, so people were just wandering around in the middle of the street.
No trip to New York would be complete without cupcakes, so we of course stopped at Magnolia Bakery at Rockefeller Center.
Since the weather was so much nicer than our last visit, we were able to wander around the park and head to the zoo. This is a picture of Sarah by the sea lion pool. There's supposed to be a sea lion swimming right behind her, but I must have posted the wrong picture. I'm afraid I'm too lazy to go back and fix that, so just close your eyes and imagine an adorable sea lion cruising by over her left shoulder. Can you see it? Isn't it an awesome picture now?
We were able to stop in to Arizona the same time as my dad and sister Kim's birthday. As you can see, my dad is sporting a pretty awesome goatee now, and you can see my evil nephew plotting our demise in the bottom left corner.
Here is some of the rest of the fam. Sarah and I were so glad we were able to see our family in Arizona. We had a great time, and it was hard to come back to DC. But that was our trip around the nation. Hope you enjoyed it.

This dog is so cute!

For your viewing pleasure

This is what happens when you are at home with a new puppy and your wife is out of town. You put your puppy in a cooler and then take pictures of her. Pippin is doing well. She is getting better on walks, and doing pretty well with potty training, so we keep moving forward!

Pippin Comes Home!

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since we have posted anything. Sarah and I have been on a double vacation in New York and Arizona for job interviews/family bonding. We got back on Tuesday, and the next day we picked up our new puppy Pippin. She seemed a little tentative getting into the car, but she enjoyed the ride home from Maryland (as evidenced above).
Most new parents try and take a picture of their baby's first steps, so I figured I would try to record our puppy's first walk outside on a leash, which seemed to contain a lack of much actual walking. Apparently, she had never been on a leash before and didn't enjoy it. So I was able to capture Pippin in the act of not walking/not enjoying herself. Fortunately, she got better, and our walks have improved to some extent.
Here's an action photo of her not enjoying her leash further. But she seems to be doing a bit better today on her walks and her potty training today. So things are looking up for the new addition to the family.

Ryan's Solo Trip to Chicago

Here are some pictures of my trip to Chicago. I got to go to Chi-Town for the ABA Annual Conference, which was pretty interesting. It's a really cool town. Unfortunately, I am not actually in any of these photos, since I was flying solo and didn't have anyone to take pictures of me most of the time. But I promise I was actually there, and I didn't just find these pictures on the internet. Here's the view of Lake Michigan outside our hotel window.
The Field Museum was really interesting. It had lots of stuffed animals (not toys, but actual animals), including the lions of Tsavo. Apparently these lions killed 140 people in the late 1800s before they were finally shot. Also, they were the inspiration for Hall & Oates' chart-topper "Maneater" (I may have made that last fact up).
Finally, this is a picture of the "bean" in Millenium Park. It's essentially a giant bean-shaped mirror, but it's pretty famous. Overall, my trip to Chicago was fun, but I missed the wife. Fortunately, we will be headed to New York this weekend, and then off to Arizona for a week. I'll check back in once we get back.

Blog-o-Rama (Part 1)

Hey everyone! I realize I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately, so I spent tonight completely updating the blog on all the things that we have been up to for the last months. So be sure to check out the three new posts underneath this one as well. I figured I would start off with some new pics of Pippin the puppy (also known as the Pirate Puppy because she sort of has an eyepatch).
We decided to drive out to visit her last Sunday. Even though it has only been a month, we could tell that she had grown a little. She seemed quite attached to Sarah especially, and even whimpered a bit when she left. She must love us already.
Here's one of Pippin with her sister, who has yet to be adopted. I feel like Pippin just told a hilarious joke, and her sister is laughing hysterically.

So, it was nice to get away for a bit and go visit our puppy. Unfortunately, we won't pick her up until August after we get back from our visit to Arizona. So, life is currently pretty good. Go ahead and check out the posts underneath to see what else we have been up to, unless of course you're not really interested, in which case I would wonder why you are on this blog to begin with. Also there is yet more exciting news that I didn't have time to put in an individual posting, namely the I am traveling to Chicago this weekend for the ABA Annual Meeting, and that Sarah and I will be heading to New York in a couple of weeks for a job interview with a big law firm. Wish me luck!

Blog-o-Rama (Part 2)

So long, Kotters! This post is to say goodbye to our good friends, Jason and Kay Kotter. They are an awesome family that befriended us here in the ward, and unfortunately, they are leaving so Jason can go to grad school in Michigan. We wish them the best, and we will miss them and their two children, Abby and Oliver.

Blog-o-Rama (Part 3)

Here's a glimpse into the madness from moving out of our last apartment. We got to the point where we couldn't find anything. A couple of days before we left the house, I could not figure out why our house smelled so bad. I searched forever before I found a plastic bag full of ex-frozen chicken that had been sitting on top of our buffet for two days. We had so many other bags lying around, we didn't even know it was there. I think you might even be able to see it stinking up our house in this picture.

Fortunately, the move is now behind us, and our new place looks great. I'll put some pictures up as soon as get it all together, as we have yet to put all our paintings up on the wall. But so far, everything looks great (and it doesn't smell like raw chicken).

Blog-o-Rama (Part 4)

Here are some pictures from our trip to Baltimore, which we actually took about five weeks ago. We have really fallen behind with our posts. Our first night there, we visited Little Italy and had some amazing food, including pistachio-flavored gelato (which I seem to be enjoying a little too much). We even saw some old guys playing in their bocce ball league.
There are tons of really cool neighborhoods in Baltimore. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in a 100-year-old house that looked kind of like these. Sarah was a little scared that the place would be haunted, but we made it through unscathed.
Here's Sarah in front of Charm City Cakes, the subject of the Food Network show Ace of Cakes. Since baking cupcakes has become Sarah's religion, this is kind of like her pilgrimage to Cake Mecca.
We rode a paddle boat around the Inner Harbor as well, right before we went to the National Aquarium.
The Aquarium was fun, and we especially enjoyed the Dolphin Show. Baltimore was loads of fun, and it was nice to escape town for a few days.

The Great Move is Upon Us

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything is awhile. The truth is that Sarah and I have both been ridiculously busy the past few weeks. Sarah has been working extra hours, as well as preparing to take the GRE next month. I have been working with my ABA internship while preparing resumes and cover letters to send out to law firms for the upcoming Fall Recruitment Program at GWU.

On top of all that, we are moving to a new place this Friday, which means we need to pack up all of our stuff in the next few days. Our new place is only a mile away, so I am debating just throwing things in the car and driving them over there. It would only take about 40 trips, and then I wouldn't have to buy any cardboard boxes. However, Sarah and I are still doing well. We are both pretty busy this week, but after this weekend, things should calm down quite a bit. Above, you will see a picture of our new place. We are really excited to finally move in. Then we'll be one step closer to finally getting our puppy!

PUPPY TIME!

The Petersons have finally found their puppy! We have been thinking about getting one for some time, and now that we are moving into a place that allows dogs, the time was right for puppy purchasin'.
This little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel girl is 10 weeks old, and she is definitely the runt of her litter. She is the only white and brown one, and no one wanted her because she only has a brown ring around one eye instead of both. I think it makes her look kind of like a pirate. But she is really sweet, and lots of fun.
Sarah and I put down a deposit for the puppy, so that the owners will hang onto her for us until we are settled into our new place. She is so cute, and we already love her.