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.