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Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Thursday, March 11, 2010

It's 2010!

I know its like March 2010 but never got around to posting anything from New Year's Eve until now...better late than never I guess.

We usually ride the Metro when we know the city is going to be crazy and we might have a tough time finding parking. But this is my public announcement stating that I will no longer be a passenger on the Metro. Maybe I'm getting a bit too extreme, I'll lay out the case.

6:30 p.m. We are pulling out of the driveway, dressed to the nines and stoked for the New Year's Eve events that are about to transpire. Mind you, we have 30 miles to travel in total.

7:00 p.m. We arrive at the Metro station and are at a dead sprint as soon as we get out of the car. (Our new practice at the station, since it seems we usually get to the landing as the train is pulling away.)

7:17 p.m. And we wait...for 17 minutes until the train merrily screeches to a halt and we jump on from the bitter cold landing that is outside. Since there is so many people trying to get into the city I thought that they would run on the rush hour schedule. Absolutely not.

8:30 p.m. 2 hours, 15 stops, and 30 miles later it was finally time for the amazing part of the night! We arrived a little more than fashionably late to Capital Grille. We had dinner and a few Stoli Oli's with Zimmerman and friends and then headed over to George of Georgetown where my friend was the bartender. Believe me this was a good thing. Click below to read more and to see a few photos from the night.1 a.m. The bottom right photo is the look on mine and Paul's face when Tanner said it was time to go home.

I think I should preface the next few lines with I think the metro has a vendetta against us. Since we rode the metro to DC we obviously planned to ride it home. We climbed on that grumbling metro car only to be hit with the sudden pang to pee. We had ridden for quite a while but we only had four stops left. Could we make it? NOOO! So we decided that we would just jump off at the next stop, pee, and hop back on the next train that came by.

Note to self: NEVER ride the metro again!

2 a.m. This quick little jump off, hop on turned into search for a bathroom, seeing people making out near the bathroom (gross) to keep warm since it was like 5 degrees at the stop, use of the most awful bathroom I have ever seen in real life, running up the broken escalator to simply stand in the cold waiting for nearly an hour for the next train to come by. We were chatting through chattering teeth(me with bare legs and a dress) but trying to make light of the whole situation. I would have to say one of the highlights of this little escapade was when small, teary-eyed Vietnamese man who had earlier offered us a cigarette at the stop secretly was cuddling against Tanner once we got on the overflowing train. Oh yeah and when that girl was throwing up all over the floor and her own hands right near the door, the classic I am asleep standing up guy, and the guy that was laughing and talking while holding up his brother who was passed out drunk. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. So we just laughed and talked about how this would never happen in Utah.

4:00 a.m. We finally climbed into bed while making our new year's resolution to never ride the metro into the city again. Since it sure doesn't make traveling any sort of a convenience although I have to give it some credit, it does provide for some interesting stories. Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Dear Utah, you are even better than we remember.

Going back to Logan this year for Thanksgiving was surreal. It has been almost an entire year since we've made the trek back to our hometown. Even though its been such a long time, the moment we turned the corner out of Sardine where it opens up to the beautiful valley it only felt like we were coming home from a long trip.

In all actuality we were about to begin a 'trip' to Logan that would last exactly 7 days minus travel time. So, I wouldn't call our Thanksgiving vacation relaxing so much as I would consider it a whirlwind of good times with family and friends. Here are a few photos and stories from our memorable trip.

Day One: I miss my sis!
I tried to get in as much sister time as humanly possible. Here she is sporting her very attractive hat-scarf that I also saw on The Christmas Story mom.

And for your viewing pleasure here are more photos of Courte from our adventures.
The memories of many Aggie football games came flooding back to us as we froze our butts off at the Aggie v. Boise State football game. There were a few key note differences this time around...1) We had a sanctuary (the box) to head up to when we couldn't feel our appendages, 2) They were competitive against Boise, and 3) There were more Utah State fans > Boise State fans to cheer on our team.Day Two: Guns & Violence
Guys Night in Utah = Call of Duty Marathon. Tanner and his friends are addicted to this war game. Please remind my why I agreed it was a good idea for Tanner to get the game when we got home.

Day Three: Skins v. Iggy's v. G-ma
...and the winner is G-ma :)
Skins lost to the Cowboys, Iggy's service sucked, Grandma was all-around amazing.Day Four: Our Old Stomping Ground
I forgot how cold Utah is in the winter. It was pretty much unbearable for me. I had to drink lots of hot chocolate to compensate. But look how pretty it is.There is about 3 things to do in Logan - not like that's a bad thing - Going out to eat, Going to the movies, and Going bowling. We managed to fit in 2 out of the 3. I think the amount of food we ended up inhaling made up for the fact that we didn't go bowling. One of the things that we miss about Logan the most is the great selection of restaurants.

We managed to eat a lot of food at some of our old favorites, pretty sure we ate out every meal. Italian Place (I think Tanner went here three times), Le Nonne (with our Pictionary opponents), Angie's, Logan's Heroes, Pita Pit, Firehouse (with some of my favorite girls - who pointed out that whenever I am asked when I am having kids I say 5 years, and that's been going on for at least 3 years). We also went to a new restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, because Anna works there and it was amazing. There are many more delectable dine-in experiences to be had in CV but those are the ones we managed to hit....next time I must go to W.O.W. and La Beau's, oh ya and the bowling alley to get the full experience. We also went to the movie about 3 or 4 times....haha. Life is so simple, yet amazing, in Utah :)
Day Five: Golden Birthday
This celebration was not a surprise so Tanner got to choose the itinerary. He wanted nothing more than to take in an Aggie basketball game and dinner with a few close friends. We ended up in the backroom at Ruby's after the game, which was a drag, that is until we got there. The room ended up being filled with tons of laughter once memories came racing back to these friends.
Day Six: Working OutI was very proud of us for managing to squeeze in some workout routines. It was great to go to Bootcamp to see my old friend slash trainer Natalie. She kicked my a$$, I was sure to quickly blame my loss of breath and lack of endurance on the altitude. Elevation: Ashburn = 298 ft, Logan = 4,534 ft so I feel pretty good about that excuse. I also went to Crossfit with Kira and Wendi and found that to be equally as punishing.

Day 7: Thanksgiving
I am thankful for Thanksgiving because it's focus is entirely based on the 3 F's which also happen to be 3 of my favorite things, Family, Friends & Food! Thanksgiving didn't let us down on any of those this year. It even added an additional F "Freezing." Although the below freezing temperature was quickly forgotten at Lundstrom Park during the First Annual Turkey Bowl followed by a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma's. It's true that time flies when you're having fun, because the week was over in a flash. We didn't get to see all the friends and family that we wanted to, but we'll back and believe me it won't be a year from now.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Our Homeland

We had so much fun in Utah for Thanksgiving. I haven't had time to sit down and write about it but I hopefully I will soon. Until then you can just look at this photo in anticipation.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Party in the USA

Elite Party Planners: Kirsten & Paul + mucho Facebook correspondence
= one surprised* guy *other adjectives to describe Tanner = amazed, astounded, blown away, bewildered, dazed, dazzled, dumbfounded, electrified, flabbergasted, floored, jarred, jolted, overwhelmed, shocked, stunned, stupefied, taken aback.

We had a surprise b-day party at Kitchen in DC for Tanner. He was seriously surprised since he thought he was going to my work party (lame-o) and it was held 6 days before his actual birthday (what?!). He had no idea, which I was very proud of since it's hard for me to keep a secret. Lots of lying, deception, and sneaking around occurred which was definitely difficult for Miss Honest Abigail. I guess it made it a little easier since we started planning literally 2 days in advance. Here are a few photos from the monumental night:

Hope all your dreams come true!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Fall, Friends & Football

Our wonderful friends the Galbraiths came to visit us back in October. I am a terrible blogger lately but I wanted to link to Nikki's blog. Click here and here for her blog posts from the trip. Thanks Nikki :)

Friday, November 6, 2009

Halloween!!

This year we thought it would be fun to dress up and carve pumpkins on Halloween Eve. Here is Border Patrol Jen with her two captives Tequila Shooter Tanner and Happy McMexican Blake.Kirsten reffed the pumpkin carving and the dogs even dressed up against their will Jack as a cute pumpkin for maybe the 3rd year in a row, Baxter sported an orange T, Chip was a bee, and Dale a cow.
And finally we have Dorothy and Toto
Chris and Nance didn't dress up but Chris somewhat resembles Zac Morris...maybe that's what he was going for.
In the Kirsten and Tanner Cooley household it is ALWAYS my idea to carve pumpkins and I ALWAYS manage to forget how much work carving pumpkins really is. Unfortunately for everyone else I had already resorted to complaining and swearing as I was scooping out the pumpkin guts. Here is everyone happily beginning to carve.
Here we have everyone diligently finishing they're masterpieces....and I am in full fire drill mode demanding better tools to catch up. Soon after this in my despair Tanner took over and finished my jack-o-lantern before I had a meltdown.
My mood quickly turned around when the pumpkin was complete and it was time for a photo ;)
Here are a couple of our finished products lit up. Tanner's football and my ghost.
Chris's skull, Nance's scary pumpkin, and Blake's awesome bat creation.
And here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy 2009!

This past year has been a blur. I can't believe 2008 has come and gone. A lot has happened in our little lives: got my masters, CPA and MCAT punishments, moved twice (into Chris's and out of Chris's), left our home town, new experiences, new jobs, lots of blogging, and a new place to call home.

We rang in the new year at the Skye Lounge in D.C. Loud music, laughter, and excitement filled the air. It was a memorable experience in more ways than one. Cooley resolutions: Count to 10. Make Virginia home. Be more organized. Live life to the fullest.