Ahoy, skipper!

We had a great week!  I love having a chill rotation; it's given me time to catch up on some things, see James more regularly, touch base with friends, and go to my own appointments now that I have insurance all in effect.  I won't talk much about my dentist appointment, however - that wasn't as successful (let's just say that I won't be going to that office again after they wouldn't clean my teeth during my appointment and said I should just come back during their next appointment opening in March of 2014 for my cleaning).  Ridiculous.  On the positive side: I don't have any cavities (woot for strong teeth!  They may have been crooked pre-braces, but I have yet to get a cavity in my lifetime...knock on wood).

Anyway, some highlights of the week:

James and I managed to snag some of the best parking spots by our apartment - just on the other side of the street from our building.  An added bonus is that our cars got to park by each other in this awesome parking spot for a couple of the days.  Nacho + lil' blue = so cute!  I have to drive every day so now lil' blue is quite a ways down the street by itself.

We had a fun meeting at our new/in-progress house!  It is called the pre-drywall meeting, and our construction manager led us in a walk-through to show us everything behind the walls and confirm the locations of our cables/phone hookups/etc.  I'm standing here close to where our kitchen island.  Our bottom floor is our 1-car garage, office, and half-bath.  The 2nd floor is our kitchen/dining area and spacious living room.  Upstairs is the master bedroom/bath and then another bedroom and full bath.  It was fun to imagine the house with carpet and approximately 1 piece of furniture per room (we'll have to furnish it gradually, haha).  I am not photogenic so don't judge me based on this photo...eek.

James, the best husband-chef ever, is already envisioning the future culinary masterpieces we will create in our new kitchen!  He had to see what it would feel like to whip up a sauce in our future cooking space.  So much cabinet and counter space...we are giddy when we think about it.  We're also excited for our little deck (not built yet...but will be behind where I was standing to take the picture and will have plenty of railing space for garden boxes of herbs and other edible goodies!).

On Friday afternoon, we'd been productive throughout the day and were able to get outside for a sailing lesson.  This was my second time out with the JHU outdoor pursuits group but it was James' first time on a sailboat in many years and certainly his first time steering.  He loved it.  He was also quite a dashing helmsman, in my opinion!

Our skipper dared us to stand on the deck by the main mast for a picture.  We were a little worried about falling into the toxic harbor, but safely survived our kodak moment.

Goofy grin in front of a creepy ship.  We had to tack back and forth during some stretches and had to get close to things in order to get decent wind.

We watched a news helicopter filming a tourist speedboat and tried to convince him (unsuccessfully) to come and feature our crew on the news instead.  Apparently a big yellow boat with rows of gawking spectators going in a straight line is more newsworthy.

Taking a turn as helmswoman.  I didn't pose like this on purpose, but our nice wind seemed determined to knock my hat off during our sail.  Thank heavens for my long ponytail that caught it during the gusts.

Enjoying the view of our lovely sail and jib (and tell tale and masthead fly)! :)

Posing in front of the harbor.  Should have kept my cap on...oops on the hat hair.

Our crew, minus the skipper.  Chen, the MPH student, and Christopher, visiting student from Poland, were good crewmembers.  Our skipper was from Alabama and drove us in a JHU Ford F350 truck through downtown Baltimore.  I have to say, the drivers obeyed his honking and right to the road more than they respect my little Dodge Neon.

Yesterday, we helped some friends move, cleaned our apartment, complained about the rain for a while and took a nap instead of going paddle boarding, got some $25 hiking boots from James (gently used but originally $130 with only a hint of "splitting" near the seams) at the REI attic sale, and then went to a fun outdoor movie with my fun visiting teachee, Jade.  A wine store in a Bmore suburb shows free outdoor movies each Saturday night and this week was MI4: Ghost Protocol.  We were worried we'd be pressured to buy some wine and have to blurt: "I don't drink - I'm Mormon!  I just wanted a free movie!" but they let us eat our popcorn in peace and we only got rained on for a couple of minutes.  Success!

Today, James did some marathon home teaching (a church program where he visits families in our congregation...but he has 14 families to visit each month, which is an unusually long list and thus he visits a couple of families per week) and then my awesome friend Diana came up from DC for a cooking adventure.  We made some delish chicken and pepper kabobs, some yummy artichoke/sun dried tomato orzo, etc...and then, the tzatziki sauce.  Let me tell you a little secret: never put fennel in your tzatziki sauce, no matter how good it might sound or how badly you may want to use up that fennel that seems to have no other use.  I guess, if you love black licorice, you could go crazy with the fennel.  Otherwise, stick with tried-and-true dill.  Also, vanilla greek yogurt is not always a good substitute for plain yogurt.  Just sayin'.

You may wonder at this point: isn't Lauren a resident?  And isn't James doing an internship?  Well, yes.  James still gets 40 hrs per week.  And, I'm on this awesome rotation (GI) where I watch colonoscopies and endoscopies for 12 hours a week.  Less awesome: I am studying for yet another round of boards at the end of September.  But, hey - we like this schedule flexibility and just might go paddleboarding tomorrow (on a Monday!).  

Catch up w' ya next week!