Brandon Román's BLOG

Happy Birthday, Honeychild!

2012-01-30T14:07:00.000-05:00

Hey there everyone! Hope this mid-Monday Blog finds you all enjoying the start of what will hopefully be a wonderful week! My week is off to a great start (even survived an a-hole cab driver almost running me over), so things are good :)

This past weekend, after a BUSY week of school and work, Seth and I headed to dead Fred to see Mom and Dad, and to get in some (even if it was only a little) R&R :) Mom, Seth, and I used our gift cards from Santa and went to Massage Envy in the afternoon (soooo relaxing!) and then met Dad to go see "Iron Lady" (which was pretty good!) After the movie was over, it was back to D.C. to get some sleep and rest up for...Honey's Birthday :) I can't believe we have had our little bundle of joy for a year now! She has brought so much joy to our house, I can't even explain it!!! We had a brunch in her honor, and even made her a special birthday treat (as you will see below) We love her so much, and wanted to send one last Happy Birthday to our Honeychild :)

Honey, making a wish :)

She scarfed down her treat faster than you could say "cheese!"

Well, that's about all I got for this week, but until the next time - much love!

This Semester is Going to be "Taxing!"

2012-01-24T09:52:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Sorry this is a little late, but this past week/weekend was crazy-cray! School has officially kicked in and is really starting to consume me...I'm taking 17 credits, working as an Extern and Dean's Fellow, and volunteering with VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program)...so needless to say life is a liiiiiitttttle busy! In fact, I spent most of my Saturday and Sunday in training for the VITA program - but I am officially certified and ready to do some taxes :)

Although most of my week was spent doing school, I sometimes make the tradeoff of sleep in favor of a little fun :) A.K.A. I'm tired, but smiling! One of my best friend's from law school and I have officially established "Revenge" night (an amazing show on ABC!) to served as our midway break for the week...and boy will I need that this semester :) Seth and I were also able to make it out to a friend's birthday party this weekend and even did some Salsa dancing afterwards with some girlfriend's - fun times! And luckily for us, we made it home just before the snow/ice hit, so I think it was God's way of saying he was glad we went out to have some fun :)

These glasses even made sweet ol' Seth look like a creeper :)

Honey looked so cute walking on the ice :)

Speaking of ice and snow, I forget how wimpy we are in DC when it comes to weather! On Sunday night, I got a call from my boss at my externship saying that we would be opening 2 hours late on Monday (even though there wasn't really any snow), but I wasn't complaining ;) My first day at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was great, and I am really excited for the externship! My boss, Ty, is actually a friend of mine, and everyone else is really friendly and fun...so I think it's going to be a great time! As for my work, it is a lot different than what I was doing in the Courts, but it is super interesting and I like it a lot! My first day, I did everything from reviewing potential legislation in Oklahoma, to vetting Judges, to drafting testimony - and it's all for issues that I believe in :)

My office - right outside of DuPont Circle

Cheesy pose, but love the fleece my summer firm sent me to keep warm :)

Well, that's about all of interest I can think of (we were actually pretty boring this week!) I hope that everyone's week is great so far - and hopefully it only gets greater :) Love you all!

Hi Ho, It's Back to School I Go!

2012-01-15T23:32:00.000-05:00

Hey there everybody! Well, it's one week down and a semester more to go...but all is well and so far, so good! My first week of school was fairly laid back since I set-up my schedule to allow me to ease back into things (only three classes, with two more starting this coming week, and my internship starting the week after next). Given the easy first week, however, I took advantage and had a fun MLK Holiday Weekend :)

Between the Alabama football game/party on Monday, a tanning date with my friend Tensie on Wednesday, and various and sundry other things, the week flew by! On Thursday (which is like my Friday!) I went to dinner at the Melting Pot with some law school girlfriends and then ended the night at our weekly Bar Review - and boy do these law school kids know how to blow off steam haha! On Friday night Seth and I met our friend Whit (who is in town from Utah) for dinner and drinks...we sure do love having visitors!

Gotta love the Melting Pot - yummm!!!

To kick off the weekend, a few of us got together for brunch at Level One and, thanks to their delicious food and potent unlimited mimosas, our brunch turned into and all day affair - football, dinner and drinks, and dancing! Even though it was totally last minute, it was really a fun day :) In fact, it was so fun that we almost overslept our date with Marge today...but luckily we didn't! So, after racing to get ready, we met Marge for a wonderful lunch to wrap-up our weekend...and then came home to take a nap :)

Me, Abby, Daniel, Allen, Lauren, & Seth at brunch.

Well, that's about all for now, but I hope all is well and that you enjoy a wonderful MLK Day tomorrow :) Ciao!

One Last Hoorah!

2012-01-10T01:11:00.000-05:00

Hello again! Well, school is officially back in session and I am back at it for my fourth semester of law school (can you believe it!?) After getting back from Utah, I spent most of last week visiting with friends that had returned from break and resting up for my last weekend of freedom. How to celebrate you ask? Las Vegas is too far away (for now at least!), so we did the next best things: Atlantic City! Seth, Brooke, her boyfriend Matt, and I drove up from DC and met Brooke's cousin Kristen, her boyfriend Rob, and their friend Amanda for a fun and crazy weekend! As a matter of fact, the weekend doubled as Kristen's 30th birthday bash, and mine and Brooke's last hoorah before starting back to school...and boy did we make our 24-hour stay worthwhile :)

Me, Seth, and Veronica at Sushi the night before AC.

The East Coast Vegas = Atlantic City

The view from our room.

After checking in to our hotel, we headed to meet up with the other half of our party for a quick visit before heading off to play Blackjack. I am definitely not a professional gambler, but I do enjoy playing cards. I started off with $200...and ended with $200, so I call that a win :) As a group, no one lost money and we actually walked away with about $1,000 more than we came with, so that was extra nice! After our time at the tables, we grabbed some dinner and took a nap to get energized for the fun night to come :)

Since it was Kristen's birthday, we surprised her by getting bottle service at Mixx (AC's #1 nightclub) in the Borgata Hotel & Casino...and boy was she surprised and happy (she almost cried tears of joy!) After checking in, we were escorted to our table and enjoyed an amazing night! It was a little pricey, but totally worth it! The dance floor was PACKED, but we enjoyed our own little private area to dance in...and my oh my did we (I in particular) dance the night away :) The DJ/music was amazing, the venue was great, and the crowd was so much fun! After about five hours of dancing, we finally called it a night and headed home around 4:00 AM for some pizza and sleep!

Ladies Night (hehe): Amanda, Kristen, me, & Brooke in the Borgata.

Seth, me, Brooke, Matt, & Rob at our table.

Kristen and I danced ALL night!

Unfortunately for us, the next day happened to be the Giants first playoff game, so Brooke was up and at 'em early and ready to head home by 9:00 AM so that she could catch the kick-off (that is SO something my Mom would do!) So, tired as we were, we said our goodbyes and headed home to chalk up another fun weekend trip :) Needless to say, we spent the rest of our Sunday relaxing and getting ready to head back to reality! And now that we're back to the grind, it isn't so bad...at least, not yet :) But, I am pooped (just got home from a football party at our friend's), so I gotta hit the hay and get ready for my Tax Law class in the AM...so until the next time, much love and tons of hugs from me to you!

A Very Utah Christmas and an Interesting New Year

2012-01-02T23:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! I hope that 2011 ended well and that 2012 has been great for your all so far!

Since the last Blog post, Seth and I had the chance to head to Utah for Christmas with the Odoyle clan and all of our Salt Lake friends...and my what a good time we had! We flew in on Christmas night, just in time to see Andrew and his girlfriend, Stephanie, before they headed off to California to spend the holidays with her family. After a little visiting, we got some shuteye (at the 5-star Ahern Inn of course!) and rested up for the busy week to come!

We spent most of our time visiting and relaxing with the fam...good times! The day after Christmas we actually opened presents since we didn't get there in time to do it Christmas night. On Wednesday, we headed to the Hogle Zoo to see the animals and "Zoo Lights." The weather wasn't too cold (at least to begin with) and we enjoyed some hot cocoa while strolling through the Zoo. Friday was Family Fun Day! We started with a gourmet lunch from Little Caesar's (yum!) to give us energy for Boondock's. What is Boondock's you ask? It's a family fun center and has bowling, race cars, laser tag, etc... that kids enjoy. But come to think about it, I think the adults might have even had more fun than the kids :) Of course, no family trip would be complete without a visit to La Puente for some smothered burritos, so we made sure to get dinner before heading back to Mindy's to play Dayton's Wii dance game and burn off some serious calories!

Jack loved her "Pamper Day" in a box!

Chrissy, Seth, Mindy, and the chillins opening presents.

Zoo Lights!!!

Seth outside the Tiger's den.

The tiger looked freaking possessed!

Dayton was so excited, he ran all around Boondocks!

To prove to Mom I broke 100! 118 to be exact...and no gutter guards!

See below for the next winner of So You Think You Can Dance!

Aside from family time, Christmas in Utah is always a good chance to catch up with our Utah friends, especially those who are away at school during the year! Between lunches, dinners, and drinks, our schedule filled up pretty quickly :) It was great to see everybody, and we even got to celebrate Emily and Ryan's engagement with a party in Park City! Every time we get to spend time with our friends, we remember how blessed we are to have so many amazing people in our lives :)

Me & Victor at The Bayou.

Kody, Me, & Seth at The Spur.

The gang was dancing up a storm while a live band played!

Whit and I pre-Thursday night dancing!

Although our time in Utah was busy, it was so much fun that time flew by too quickly! Before we knew it, Saturday morning had arrived and we were headed back to the airport to fly home. Although goodbyes are always bittersweet, we had much to look forward to back in DC...starting with a New Year's Eve Party! Little did we know, however, just how our New Year's Eve would turn out :)

Flying home, we had a two-segment flight: SLC to Detroit to Washington. Although our flight was delayed by about 20 minutes pulling away from the gate, we figured we would have plenty of time to catch our connection...and we would have had Delta done their job!!! First the plane stopped on the runway for about 20 minutes due to a miscalculation in the plane's weight. We eventually took off and got to Detroit just in the nick of time to make our plane...that is, had the pilot not stopped 2 feet away from the gate...and had we not had to wait another 20 minutes for Delta to send someone to unlock the door on the other side of the gate! Thus, long story short, we ended up missing our connection and had to wait until the next day for a flight home...but luckily my cousin Chrys lives in Toledo, Ohio, which is only about an hour away from Detroit! So, after getting things squared away (and using my arguing skills to get some Delta vouchers), we rented a car and headed down to Toledo for Chrys' s spectacular New Year's Eve Party!

Me, Riley, & Seth ringing in 2012!

After an unexpected but fun New Year's Eve, and a few hours of sleep later, we headed back to the airport...and this time we actually made it home :) Our first item of business: picking up Honey Child from the Pet Hotel and enjoying a wonderful first day of what will hopefully be an equally wonderful 2012!

Honey rockin her Pink puffy vest!

Well, that's about all I have for this week...but much more coming up next time...including a last hoorah trip to Atlantic City before school starts again! But I don't want to put the cart before the horse :) So until then, lots of love and a wish for a happy and prosperous New Year to you all! xo

An East Coast Christmas

2011-12-28T17:02:00.000-05:00

Merrrry Christmas everyone! I hope this finds you and yours enjoying the Holidays, because it finds us loving every second of our break :)

After a busy week of Christmas shopping, Seth and I managed to finish up just in time to enjoy the familial festivities! On Friday morning, I headed to the airport to pick-up Andre and enjoyed a fun 24-hours with him in D.C. We had lunch with Amy in Old Town, went to Maria and Jay's for dinner with my sister Marita and her family, and then met back up with Amy and her sister Meg for drinks at Russia House...good times :) After all the fun, I'm really looking forward to Andre playing tour guide when we are in Miami for Jen's graduation in May!!! Hope you're ready Andre :)

Andre, Meg, Amy, & Seth at Russia House.

Before heading down to Fredericksburg on Christmas Eve, we had to drop off Honey at the Pet Hotel (since we were heading straight to the airport on Christmas Day)...so naturally we had to do Honey's Christmas before we dropped her off...and boy was she spoiled by her Grandmas, Great-Aunt Carol, and Utah Aunt's :)

Honey opening her gifts.

Honey's "Pugz Boots"...she didn't like them so much :)

Honey pouting about her "Pugz Boots."

Honey is "Daddy's Girl."

After a fun Christmas with Honey, we dropped her off at the Pet Hotel and headed off to Fredericksburg. Lucky for us, Jen was in town, so Seth and I met up with her for lunch at our favorite Mexican place before going to Mom's house. We had a nice visit with the family and were stuffed with Prime Rib and a wonderful Christmas dinner, courtesy of Pepe Roman. Little did we know, however, how good Santa Claus would be to us, because it turned out we'd need all the energy from the food to open all of our presents :)

Underneath our Christmas Tree :)

I love this wall-hanging...Thanks Chrys!

Luckily, the WSJ Wine Collection came early :)

Mom's Christmas Tree

Way too many presents...thanks Santa!

Mom, Andre, and Dad opening presents.

Seth, Mom, and Andre are thankful for Santa Claus!

Dad was wayyy too excited!

Even the cats were spoiled...Wheezie loved her cat-nip :)

After opening our presents on Christmas Eve, all that was left for Christmas morning was a delicious breakfast (courtesy of Pepe) and the Church Christmas program...and Mom was happy to have all THREE of her sons in attendance :) After Church, Seth and I headed home to finish packing before Dad picked us up to head to BWI for our flight to Utah for Christmas Part deux :)

Happy Holidays!!!

2011-12-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

Hello again everybody - long time, no see! Now that the semester is DONE and I am officially HALF-WAY through with law school, my lameness from exams has come to a conclusion, I'm back in action, and am ready for a new Blog entry :)

Since my two weeks of exams were uneventful, there isn't much catching up to do about all that (although I did take a break between the two exams to meet a girlfriend that was visiting from Atlanta!) While I don't know my grades yet, I think things went well and know I did my best :) SOOO glad to be done!

Me & Alex outside of Front Page in DuPont.

Since being off from school, life has been even more jam-packed than before...but this time with parties and fun :) To kick off our celebrations, Seth, my two friends (Tensie and Daniel), and I went to grab a margarita (or two pitchers) at Guapo's (an old standby for students at my school). On Friday I spent most of the day getting ready for our party - cleaning, buying supplies, making appetizers/sangria, etc... We had about a dozen of our close friends over to celebrate the end of another crazy semester! But we didn't stop there...we had to get our dance on, so we headed downtown to boogie down :)

Theo, Yasmine, Tensie, Veronica, Me, & Emily waiting on the Metro.

Seth & Yasmine boogying down :)

Saturday we were up and at 'em fairly early to meet Amy and Megan for brunch at LevelOne (again, in DuPont...kind of our stomping grounds). As we were getting off the Metro, Seth looked at me and said: "Brandon, my wallet fell out in the Metro." Shortly after speaking with the Metro guard at the station, Seth got a call from his credit card company with a message: some lady had found the wallet and left her number for Seth to call her so that he could come and get it. It's so nice to see that there are still good people out there...and with the good news, we still made it to mimosa hour with time to spare :)

Meg & Me at brunch with our bottomless mimosa :)

The rest of our Saturday and Sunday evenings were full with dinners, holiday parties, and lots of fun! Then, on Monday morning when the alarm went off, I looked at Seth, smiled, and laid back down :) (Sorry babe!) But, I haven't been a lazy daisy...I've been busy doing much needed Christmas preparation! Our cards are out, shopping is almost done, and now we just have a few more details to wrap up before the weekend is here!

The result of my shopping today!!!

The result of Honey playing with her new toy :)

And with that, I think you're about caught up in the life of Seth, Brandon, and Honey. I hope this finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying the holiday season! Between last minute Christmas activities, travel, etc... there is much more to come this weekend...but until then, much love and many well wishes :)

Half-Way There...ALMOST!

2011-12-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

Hello again :) Hope this Blog finds you well...it finds me a very happy camper :) For those of you who don't know, December is a pretty lame month for law school students, thanks mostly to exams (boo!) Luckily for me, however, this December won't be THAT bad - although, it still is pretty lame :) Since I only have two exams this year (two classes had papers that I have pretty much finished and my internship ended before Thanksgiving). I am not as stressed as I was this time last year! That being said, this will likely be the last Blog I write for the next two weeks (partly because I will be studying, but partly because I will also be lame and not have much of anything fun to write about)...and then I will be officially half-way done with law school!!! This week though, I do have some fun updates to share, so away we go!

To celebrate the end of classes (along with the end of social life/beginning of exams), some friends and I went to Cactus Cantina to grab a margarita for my friend Abby's birthday. The week got even better when we got a call from Chrissy asking if the Ahern clan could come visit and spend the night at our place before heading back to Utah...and of course we said HECK YES! We had a great visit and are so glad we got to see them a SECOND time this trip :)

Happy Birthday Abby!

Look what Santa left us under our Christmas Tree!

On Friday, we bid adieu to Chrissy, Ryan, and Baby Nolan and got back to the grind. I had to head to school, while Mister Seth stayed home to recover from his cold (luckily, he seems to be feeling better now!) Although Friday and most of Saturday were pretty dull, we did have a really fun Saturday night (courtesy of Marissa and Peter!) Seth and I attended the CentroNia Charity Auction (an annual event that we were also able to attend last year) at American's Katzen Arts Center. CentroNia is a great program in DC and Maryland that has 5 campuses which provide programs for underprivileged kids. Maria (Marissa's Mom) sits on the Board and each year, CentroNia hosts a fundraiser where they sell tickets to the auction and auction off donated art from local artists, as well as handmade crafts. This year was the 25th Anniversary Bash and was wonderful - yummy food and drinks, great company and entertainment, and we were even able to buy someone their Christmas present :) Check out the video and pictures below...good times!

Maria (on the TV) giving her speech.

Jay, Maria, Seth, & Me - too bad you can't see my bowtie :)

And with that, it's back to editing my papers and counting down the days til my FINAL final :) Until then, wish me luck and I will talk to you all very soon!

I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving!!!

2011-11-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

First things first: Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend with all of your loved ones...I sure did!

The time off has been great (although school is still ongoing, so it hasn't been TOO much of a break!) Seth even got off early on Wednesday (and came home early without telling me, so I thought we had a burglar in our house!) Wednesday night, one of my best childhood friends (Adam Dodd) was in town and performing at Riot Act Comedy Club, so we went to go watch him and kick off a nice, long weekend! Adam was great and we had a good time. To end the night, we went home and I started getting everything prepped for Thanksgiving morning cooking :)

Me and Adam after his show.

On Thanksgiving Day, I got up early and started cooking my portion of the dinner: cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, and an apple bacon (yes, bacon!) pie :) With the Macy's Parade (and the National Dog Show, which I think I should enter Honey in) on, I finished cooking, cleaning, and putting up our decorations...so we are officially ready for the holidays now! Seth and I actually got in a pre-Turkey workout and then picked up Andre from the airport before heading to Mom's for dinner.


The Apple Bacon Pie :)

Dad helping us unload dinner supplies - hehe!

Thanksgiving was really nice - lots of good food which, of course, was accompanied by good company :) Although we def miss the Odoyle clan, it is nice to be able share holidays with the East Coast fam! After eating ourselves into a food coma, we enjoyed some football and Thanksgiving TV specials (including Lady Gaga!) before calling it quits and heading to bed...and as you will see in the pics below...EVERYONE was exhausted!

Maybe this was what really made everyone tired lol!?

Post-Dinner visiting led too...

Lazy!

After recovering from our food coma, we spent most of our Black Friday avoiding the outside world and hanging out at the house. In the evening, we all hopped in the car and headed down to Richmond (Mom, Dad, and Andre went to go see Bill O'Reilly's tour). In honor of Dad's birthday next week, we got a cake and celebrated all together over dinner...and I think Dad liked his gift from us :) Seth and I found a close-by theater and went to see a movie while we waited, and before I knew it, I was back on the couch watching Lock-Up!

Andre, Mom, & Dad at dinner.

Dad and his Birthday cookie cake!

To wrap up our trip to Fredericksburg, we got up on Saturday and went to meet Aunt Carol for lunch to celebrate Andre's birthday (which was earlier this month, but since he was in town, we ate in his honor!) After lunch, we went down to visit Aunt Kathy in the hospital. For those of you who don't know, doctors just found out that Kathy had a malignant tumor in her pancreas, but thankfully they found it in time to remove it all before any of the cancer spread! She is looking much better and seems to be on her way to a full recovery, so please continue to keep her in your prayers :)

Today I woke up early to finish decorating and wrapping up things (it's really my last weekend of freedom for a while, because this week I start prepping for finals!) After getting Honey's check-up (clean bill of health, although she wasn't too fond of her shots!) we hopped in the car and headed to Mt. Airy, Maryland to see Seth's sister Chrissy who was in town visiting her husband Ryan's family for the holidays. We had a great visit and enjoyed seeing her and baby Nolan (who has grown so much in the three weeks since we last saw him!) Although we wish we got to see her and all of our beloved Odoyles more often, we are officially counting down (28 days!) until we head to Utah for Christmas!!!

Honey under the Christmas Tree :)


Baby Nolan had lots to say to his Uncles today :)

Well, it's about that time again...Sunday night blues are hitting and another week is approaching. But, in the spirit of the holidays, I want to end today's Blog by reminding each of you how THANKFUL I am to have you in my life. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, and hope you never forget how much I love and appreciate YOU!!! Hugs and love!

Happy Birthday...to Me :)

2011-11-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

Hi there everyone! Hope this finds you well...it certainly finds me very happy and loved (and TIRED!) This has been an AMAZING week! First things first, work and school were great this week (some good stories from Court especially!) and I continued the interviewing process in an attempt to find a summer associate position for next summer...and the best Birthday present came (early!) on Friday morning when I got a call from a partner at Patton Boggs LLP offering me a slot in their 2012 Summer Associate Program!!! I couldn't be happier: the firm has offices around the country/world but I will be able to stay in DC, they do a lot of policy work (which is perfect for my interests), and its a well known/respected firm and I am thrilled to be a part of it!!! Thanks for all the crossed fingers and prayers - it paid off!!!

With work plans lined up for next summer, the weekend stage was set for fun, fun, fun! On Friday, Seth and I went to dinner with Brooke and Matt at DC 901. It was deeeeelish and I enjoyed every single bite :) On Saturday, we got up and met Amy and Meghan at Level One for a brunch with unlimited Mimosas :) They made me feel so special - cake, flowers, and love! Following brunch (and a nap!) we headed over to my friend Tensie's for a joint birthday dinner/party with her and a bunch of law school friends. We had a blast and danced the night away :)

My beautiful flowers :)

Tensie and I at Madam's Organ celebrating!

Today, on my actual birthday, we got up and ate some homemade breakfast (thanks to Mister Seth!) before heading to Pentagon City to meet Mom, Dad, and Carol for lunch and shopping :) We had a good time (as usual), and I was showered with love (and gifts), and even got some nice new threads (thanks Mom!) I guess my old age has caught up with me, because by the end of the afternoon, I was pooped and ready to go home to rest :)

A bird's eye view of Mom, Dad, and Carol at the mall!

I'm not OCD, I'm CDO :)

Well, like I said earlier, my old age has gotten to me and I need to get some shuteye soon (I need beauty rest to keep me looking somewhat young hehe!) But before I go to bed, I want
to thank you all so much for making my day so special and helping me feel so loved...my birthday wouldn't have been the same without you :) Much love until the next time!

All Work and No Play Means...Game Night

2011-11-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well, aside from 11-11-11, this week was kind of a bear with school, work, etc... (although I did make a wish at 11:11!) But never fear, it all wound down in time for Game Night :)

On Friday, we invited about a dozen friends over, so my Friday afternoon was busy getting ready (I told Seth I sometimes wonder if I should just have been a party planner instead of going to law school!) Anyway, it was lots of fun, and much needed after such a busy week. The menu was pretty yummy (if I do say so myself): cucumber rounds topped with salmon and chipotle queso, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese, pita chips with hummus, home-baked pizza, mini-eclairs, mini-fruit tarts, and (of course) some deliciously potent punch :)

The gang playing Sour Apples to Apples/Loaded Questions - fun!

After Game Night, we were convinced not to be the old, married couple and went out on the town to dance the night away (for which my soaking wet socks the morning after can serve as proof hehe!) We didn't get home til almost 4:00 AM, so we were pretty tired...but from the looks of things below, Honey was even more tired :)

Miss Honey Child is pooped!

Well, speaking of tired, its time to go fold my last load of laundry and wrap-up things here, but more to come next week :)

Jay & Tina Get Married...O'Doyle Style

2011-11-06T16:10:00.000-05:00

A big hello from Boise to all of you :) Seth and I are sitting in the airport awaiting our flight to Minneapolis (which is delayed, so hopefully we make it in time for us to get on our connection). It sure has been a wonderful weekend...and we needed it after the busy week we had!

On Friday, we got up at 4:30 AM (ugh!) and headed off to Dulles for our flight. After having some problems with my boarding pass (stressful!), we made it to our gate with about 15 minutes to spare before boarding...and guess who we ran into? Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah :) Being a true politician at heart, I introduced myself to him and we had a nice 10-minute or so conversation. When I was telling him about being in law school, he noticed my wedding ring and asked if I was married, to which I replied simply "Yes, I am" with a big smile on my face :)

After a nice flight to Salt Lake, we purposely missed our connection to Boise in order to be part of VanFest 2011! The family rented a 15-passenger van and we trekked it from Salt Lake to Boise (about a five hour drive). It was actually really fun and we had a great time with all of the O'Doyles :)

Why hello Utah, so happy to see you again!

Andrew, Mindy, and Chrissy displaying the O'Doyle Van.

Baby Nolan and Uncle Seth :)

After VanFest safely made it to Boise, we ran by Jay and Tina's to say hello and meet some of Tina's family. We didn't stay long though, because VanFest tired us all out :) The next day, however, we were up bright and early in time for the big event! We all met and took pictures before heading to the cutest little chapel right by the Boise State campus! It was a simple, sweet ceremony and we couldn't be happier for the newlyweds: Congratulations Jay and Tina!!! To show their appreciation for everyone coming, we all went to lunch at the Cottonwood Grille for some yummy food and even yummier wedding cake...but that was just the beginning of all the food! After lunch (and a nap!), we headed back to Jay and Tina's for a BBQ. It was so much fun and just like old times to be able to have everyone together...and only 49 more days (according to our Delta itinerary) before we are back for more :)

Goin to the chapel and they got married :)

Tina and Jay - Congratulations!

The Longhurst boys and Jack.

It totally looked like Jay was going to shove Tina's face in the cake!

Me, Jack, & Seth in a food coma from the BBQ!

Well, like I said, this has been a wonderful weekend and now its back to reality: school and work - boo! But it's OK, because its times like this weekend that make all the hard work worthwhile! Gotta sign off and get ready to board our flight, but I will talk to you all again back on the East coast - much love until then!

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-30T23:09:00.000-04:00

Boo! Or should I say hello :) I hope this find you all well...its finds me very tired (it's been a fun, but long and tiring week!)

As I've gotten older, Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays...and it seems to be a long lasting celebration! This year, we kicked off the festivities on Tuesday night in DuPont Circle for the annual High Heel Race! Every Tuesday before Halloween, people gather to watch this race where guys wear high heels (at least 2 inches tall) and race a quarter mile down 17th Street. It was super crowded, but we had a good time nonetheless. We actually met Amy before for dinner and drinks, and then took her sister Meghan our afterwards for her birthday.

Amy and Bon Qui-Qui after the High Heel Race.

The High Heel Race on 17th Street...the winner ran fassst!

The High Heel Race wasn't the only race we were involved with this week though, because this weekend we headed off to the Men's Health Urbanathalon in New York City (no high heels involved!) This is actually the same race that Seth and I ran two years ago in Chicago. So on Friday, Seth, Brooke, her boyfriend Matt, and I hopped in the car and headed to NYC for a Halloween race weekend. After picking up our race packet and getting some food, we headed to the hotel for some zzz's and rested up for the race. As for the race, it's a 9.5 mile course with obstacles every mile or so (tires, wall climbs, monkey bars, etc...) It went really well (minus the rain and cool temps), but at the very end, a huge gust of wind came through and blew over the finish line (which was being held up by huge metal poles) that fell on top of a woman! It was literally about 50 feet away from me and about 30 seconds after we crossed the finish line, so we were lucky it missed us...because it knocked out the lady it hit and she was gushing blood...so I sure hope she was OK! On a more positive note though, the race was fun and we even got a medal for finishing :)

Stretching before the race...good thing!

The finish line: climbed under cars, over buses, and jumped a wall!

One of the obstacles: the stairs at the Mets stadium.

After from the race, we did have a weekend in New York to conquer, so we got some rest and prepared for a fun night! Amy, her sister Meghan, and her friend Jade all came up on Saturday and met us for a night of Halloween mayhem :) As you will see below, we had a wonderful night: dinner, a piano bar, and dancing! It doesn't matter how many times I've been to New York, I am always amazed...and sure am glad we live close enough to be able to make it up there as often as we do :) But enough talking about it, how about you just see for yourself.

Seth and I all dressed up :)

The Big Bad Wolfe, Little Red Riding Hood, & Brooke.

Amy, Jade, and Meghan at Breeze (our standby dinner!)

Amy singing "Bugle Boy" at the piano bar.

Well, I think that's about all she wrote...and I'm pooped so I know that's all I wrote :) Time to walk Miss Honeychild and head to bed...until the next time - xo!

Clients, and Lawyers, and Judges, Oh My!

2011-10-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Hope all is well with you...this past week has been pretty busy with the whole law school thing for me...especially after trying to settle in from Jamaica :)

This week, we hosted our Jurist in Residence Program (it's a week long event where we invite a judge from the the U.S. Court of Appeals to come and visit with students). As part of my role as a Dean's Fellow, we helped organize the lunch/dinner with our visiting Judge (this year it was Judge Wynn of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals). The events went off great and I enjoyed getting to know yet another Federal Judge :)

With schoolwork behind me (sort of) for the week, I got up on Saturday morning for an event that Judge Cordero (the Judge I am working for this semester) was participating in. She did a good job (of course!), and then I met my girlfriend Emily for lunch and shopping before heading home to get ready for Cocktail Club!

This is what I came home to...someone had a lil' accident!

What is Cocktail Club you say? Well, I stole the idea from my sister Marissa, and basically everyone comes up with their own drink recipe, brings the necessary supplies, and we taste/vote on a winner - so much fun! We hosted the first (of what we hope to be many) Cocktail Clubs, and I got to show off my Betty Crocker skills :) Although it was a close call, my recipe lost in a drink off with Matt's (Brooke's boyfriend)...so he got the Cocktail Club Cup (it's a decorated cocktail glass/trophy that travels with the winner until the next time).

Brooke and Matt: the winners of Cocktail Club.

After Cocktail Club, Seth, Brooke, Matt, and I all headed to Marakoff's Haunted Forest (we went there last year) for some haunted fun :) Got home late, but got up in time to enjoy a busy but productive Sunday! As you can see below, some of our day was spent playing with Miss Honey Child :) We sure do love her, and are glad she is a part of our happy family :)

Little Red Riding Honey :)

Honey got a bath with her special shampoo!

Well, not much else more to share (and not much more energy to share it!), but Seth and I went over our upcoming week (and next several weeks) and there is much more coming up to share :) Until then, much love!

Jahmeyka Mahn

2011-10-15T16:28:00.000-04:00

Yah mahn, I'm writing you from Runaway Bay, Jamaica...or I mean Jahmeyka. No problems here mahn :)

OK, enough silly talk. For those who didn't know, Seth and I flew to Jamaica for a long weekend/belated honeymoon/mid-semester vacay...and it was much needed! It's been a busy semester so far, so we both needed a break...and because I'm OCD and always on the go, I have to literally leave home to actually relax, so it was off to Jamaica we went!

We got in on Thursday morning and have been enjoying the food, sun, and people so much! We booked our trip as a travel deal I found online. It was kind of a pain to get booked (a.k.a. we were originally supposed to go to the Bahamas), but it worked out well :) We are staying at Club Ambiance in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. It's an all inclusive resort, so we don't have to leave or spend extra money on food or drink...and we have totally been taking full advantage :) Other than eating, drinking, and being merry, we've pretty much just been relaxing by the bay/pool and catching up on rest...no crazy adventures for us this trip :) I am a little sad we have to leave tomorrow (the people here are so relaxed, I kind of want to stay!), but we are missing Honey Child and have a busy/exciting next couple of months to look forward to, so all is well!

Seth at our welcome dinner - yummm!

The view from our room.

The Entertainment Center in the courtyard.

Coconut Bar and the courtyard.

Me soaking up the sun.

Runaway Bay :)

Legends Bar is legendary!

The bay was beautiful and makes me want to move here :)

As you can see, the trip has been a blast, and we just won the trivia contest, so that means we get a going away prize at 9:00 tonight :) Guess I better go rest up and enjoy my last bit of time here...much more to come next week! Until then remember: "one love, one life, let's get together and it'll be alright!" :)

Fall Family Frenzy

2011-10-09T20:32:00.000-04:00

Hiya my dears! So this weekend was fun...and I sort of reverted back to being a little boy :) But first things first.

The week got off to a good start with a Tuesday night birthday celebration at Guapo's for Emily's birthday. Then, on Friday, after a typical (and long) week of work and school, Seth and I had our Friday night date night :) This week, we used a Groupon and went see a comedy show at Riot Act (DC's newest comedy club). I knew the night was going to be great when, at dinner, the chef messed up our order, and we got a free pizza to take home with us :) The show was funny and we even ran into some people from school (DC is actually a freakishly small town after you've lived here a while).

Cellphone pic of my cousin (Jose) and Lil' Grandpa :)

Feliz Cumpleanos Emily :)

Mista Seth at Riot Act pre-show.

Now, as for me being a kid, this weekend Seth and I planned a trip down to the 'Burg to see Mom and Dad...and most importantly, to make a trip to the Pumpkin Patch :) I hadn't been since I was a little kid, so I figured it might be fun to get away from the rigors of law school and retreat into being a toddler :) It was actually really fun! We went and got some yummy food, enjoyed the pig races (oh yeah!), and picked some pretty pumpkins (after riding the hay tractor to pick them of course!). Although we had already had a long day, Mom (quite the party animal) wanted to go to the movies, so we went to see "The Ides of March"...and it was actually so good that I didn't fall asleep (which is rare for me these days!).

Dad, Mom, & Seth outside the hay barn (equipped with rope swing).

This morning, we got up and (after showing Mom how to use her new computer) headed to Dad's to paint our pumpkins. To end our trip, we made our typical lunch stop via La Pizzeria and headed home with bags of goodies and some nicely decorated pumpkins to adorn our apartment.

Mom & Honey Child playing :)

The Pumpkin Painters hard at work.

Seth was tuckered out from all that painting.

Well, it's about that time again...but luckily we don't have to cook dinner tonight, because Dad sent us home some pre-made BBQ pork :) So, I'm gonna go grab some din din, but much more to come next week...including a Blog post...from Jamaica :)

Busy is, as Busy Does

2011-10-02T22:36:00.000-04:00

Hey there! Hope this finds you well :) I definitely have the Sunday night blues...can't we have just one more day!?!? Guess that's a no...oh well :)

Anyway, this has been a busy week, but what else is new! Things are looking good on the job hunt, so hopefully all of this work will pay off soon with a job offer, so cross your fingers (and toes, eyes, and anything else that can be crossed!).

Other than school, not much else exciting happened during the week. I had originally wanted to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure (here in DC) but unfortunately my schedule kinda put a kink in it...but I was lucky enough to capture some of their tents on our campus :)

Pink Tents on Main Campus

This weekend, Seth and I packed up and headed to New York. I had a conference for the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association that I had to attend on behalf of my school (I'm the ABA Representative), so I was cooped up in New York Law School all day...but at least Mista Seth got to have some fun exploring the city (see below). We were actually there less than 24 hours (thanks to our failed attempt at taking back roads), but it was still fun...especially since my school paid for it ;)

Downtown NYC

Seth paid a visit to MoMA.

Well, nothing else much more to share tonight (plus, I gotta get back to "Housewives"), so I will sign out for now, but much love until the next time :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-09-25T22:53:00.000-04:00

Hey there! Just wrapping up another week and thought I'd send a quick update...and as you can see it includes a (belated) birthday wish for Momma! Although life this past week has been pretty boring between work and school, Mom's birthday celebration this past weekend provided us with something fun to do (and to blog about!)...although luckily for me, I've got some less monotonous things coming up soon :) But I digress...

As I said, the highlight of our week was spending Saturday night with Mom (and Carol, Skeeter, and Marge of course) at the Riverside Dinner Theater. We saw "Dreamgirls" and enjoyed a fun night celebrating Momma :) The show was great, and the company was even better...and we consider ourselves lucky to have so many wonderful people (and opportunities) in our lives! Check out the fun:

The audience sang to Mom for her birthday :)

Carol, Marge, and Mom before the show.

Well, that's about all she wrote...and I'm off to bed for my early AM interview...and in case I get nervous, I'll substitute picturing people in their underwear for the image below :)

Honey in her Thunderjacket...it keeps her from getting scared :)

Autumn is Arriving

2011-09-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

Well, helloooo there! Hope all is well with you - things are crazy around here (as always), but life is still good! :)

The past couple of weeks (gasp - it's been more than a week since my last update!) have been sooo busy I have barely had time to breathe, but hopefully things are about to settle down a little bit! Balancing school, work, and the JOB SEARCH have been basically all consuming... but it seems to be paying off! Last week, I had my first callback interview with a firm here in DC. Basically, that means six interviews (each thirty minutes) for the first half of the day. It went really well, so let's hope for good things! Speaking of hoping, it's funny how when you think positive thoughts, you draw in positive things. On Friday, I was kind of having a freak out moment and stressing about how hard the job search is, and I decided to just be positive and believe that it will all work out for the best. Literally, about a half hour after making up my mind to stay positive, the phone rang and I was offered another callback with a firm in Baltimore - hooray!

With all else going on, I also always keep in mind one motto: All work and no play makes Brandon a dull boy - i.e. Friday we met some friends downtown for a fun night of dinner, dancing, and good times! Then, yesterday, Mega Seth and I headed off to Mt. Airy, Maryland to do a wine tasting at Liganore Winery - and boy was it yummy!

Our wine and cheese! Yummmm!

Mista Seth in front of the winery.

Yours truly after a great day at the winery.

So pretty, I hope you can all come and visit with us :)

Our trip to the winery sort of symbolized the end of summer (well, at least in Groupon's eyes!) and this week we officially move from summer to fall. I can't believe that summer flew by so fast, and that my favorite time of the year is fast approaching. But never fear, we won't let summer's end stop us from having fun...there is lots more in store...and that means lots more fun to share with you on the blog! But until then, it's time to go for our run and keep on pace with our Urbanathalon Training :) Much love and hugs until the next time!

So Long Summer!!!

2011-09-05T21:10:00.000-04:00

Hey there! Well, it's been two weeks since school started back and we are back to the grind...but not without some noteworthy and interesting events!

Earthquakepocalypse and Hurricanepocalypse:
For those of you who have been hiding under your beds, the East coast had some odd run-ins with Mother Nature recently. First, two weeks ago, I was in our bedroom, getting ready for school, and all of a sudden I felt shaking. At first I thought it was a truck, then I thought the world was ending, then I thought the Metro trains had crashed, and then I realized: it's an Earthquake!!! It was crazy! We rarely get earthquakes back here (at least one's that we can feel), so I was quite taken by surprise. Actually, the last earthquake I remember feeling was when I was little - I was at my grandma's house and we thought a helicopter was flying too low...but it was nothing compared to what we had the other day! Things literally shook so hard that wall hangings fell, things got knocked off shelves, and Honey got scared :( Luckily, no severe harm was had, and I even got to meet Wolf Blitzer doing his report from downtown.

That's Wolf Blitzer, under the umbrella.

Not too long after things settled down from the earthquake, things got crazy, thanks to a little lady named Irene. Hurricane Irene (as I'm sure you heard about on the news), was supposed to be this huge hurricane that would devastate the East coast. Luckily it didn't, but since we didn't know what would happen, everyone was freaking out: stores were crowded, gas was hard to come by, and all that was on TV was weather! By the time the storm got here, it had weakened significantly, so we only got rain and winds...although strong enough to knock out our power (see the photo below) and cause a delayed opening for school.

The tree by these apartments got knocked down by Irene!

All the rain caused some interesting mushrooms to sprout!

Since all this crazy weather, things have been pretty calm and things have gone back to normal. My theory behind it all? The law Gods aren't quite ready for us to rock it this year at school ;)

Back to School
Speaking of school, we started back two weeks ago now. Since being back, things have been busy (as usual!) but really great! In addition to school, I'm working with a judge on the DC Superior Court on Tuesdays and Thursdays, working as a Dean's Fellow for the Integrated Curriculum Program (a.k.a. I'm a mentor/help to new students and get to take them to coffee/lunch on the school's dime!), and (of course) on the job hunt for a summer associate position for next summer! It's crazy to be applying for jobs already, but in law school, that's how you gotta do it to land a job (thank you job market!). Luckily, I have second round interview next Wednesday with a great firm in DC, so wish me luck!

Other than school, Seth is continuing to love his new job and is keeping busy with freelance work. We're both pretty amazed that summer flew by so quickly, but we are in the process of planning some fun getaways for the Fall. In the mean time, check out the pic/video below of some of the fun we've had here in DC!

Street band playing downtown - they were great!

Labor Day Weekend
Luckily for us, school didn't get too far into full swing before we were blessed with the Labor Day holiday weekend! Seth and I headed to Fredericksburg to meet Mom and Skeeter for a road trip to see Aunt Peggy and Glen in Buena Vista. As always, it's fun to road trip with those characters, and we had a nice trip. After crashing at Mom's and having lunch with her and Dad at La Pizzeria, it was back to DC for a weekend of school and work! Unfortunately, the weekend has already come to a close (booo!) but it's OK, because life is good and "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" is on in 5 minutes!!! Until the next time, much love and hugs...and hopefully laughs (see below!):

Finally the answer to the question:
What happens when a gay man changes a lightbulb?

Back to School, Back to Blogging

2011-08-21T18:20:00.000-04:00

OK, so summer is winding down and school starts tomorrow, so I figured it would be a good time to re-launch this Blog and get it going for real! My excuse? See the link :)

My Excuse

More to come soon!

Fall Madness

2011-08-10T19:08:00.000-04:00

So, you may have heard of March Madness, but I bet you've never heard of Fall Madness! Well, there are two reasons for that: 1) I just made up the term and 2) you're not in law school. (Insert sigh of relief/craziness here!) For those of you who aren't aware, fall is a craaaazzzzayyyy time for second year (2L) students because of fall recruitment. Essentially, you apply like mad to all of the law firms you want to work for (as a summer associate in 2012) and start interviewing with those firms who are interested in you. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it is not a very carefree process (preparing for an interview is kind of like studying for a final, but a little more intimidating because you have no idea what's on the test and you have to ace it!). The first interview is a rough go, because it's only 20 minutes, and the interviewer have about 20 interviews in a day, so you realllly have to use that as a chance to set yourself apart. If you get past the screening interview, it's then on to a day of interviews with 5-7 lawyers at the firm, with a lunch/interview to break up your day. Two words: stress-ful!

Right now, I'm on the application/screening interview steps. Yesterday, I took the bus to New York and interviewed with Arnold & Porter and Chadourne & Park. The interviews went well, but apparently Chadbourne wasn't feeling me (I kind of expected that since I was originally an alternate for them, and only got the interview because someone else dropped out) and already sent me an e-mail this morning saying that they wouldn't be pursuing anymore interviews with me - ouch! One things for sure, you learn to take rejection as a law student (and it gets easier with time, because you get lots of practice haha!) On the upside, A&P is still pondering whether or not to offer me further interviews (fingers crossed!) and I'm currently at 30,000 feet on my way to L.A. for an interview with Mitchell, Silberberg, & Knupp (wish me luck!).

After this meal, I was ready for my flight :)

Aside from interviews in NYC/L.A., I'm about to begin 13 weeks of interviewing in D.C. (I got an interview next week, and find out each Friday whether I'm offered interviews for the firms that are interviewing the following week - it's a crazy, long, detailed [but helpful!] process). In addition, I'm also going to reach out to contacts in Utah and send in some direct applications for a summer associate position (so hook a brotha up if you're in Utah and have any attorney contacts with whom I could speak!) And, lets not forget that I have a wonderful contact in my Judge from this summer who has promised to help me in finding a firm job in Baltimore. So, all things said and done, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic :) And, worst case scenario, if I get lots of rejection, I will just pick up my trophy from the Judge (see below) and smile :)

Awarded to me by the Judge and it says:
Gay, ex-Mormon, Hispanic Attorney Category
Best Intern in the World - 2011. <3

With an award like that, how could I ever not have a smile on my face :) Speaking of smiles, I hope you all have one on your face and keep it there forever :) Love you lots and, until the next time, hugs to you!

Opulent Open House

2011-08-10T18:36:00.000-04:00

Hi there! Well, it's hard to believe that the wedding that goes on and on is officially over now that the Open House is over :-( But don't fret, that means we can start planning Anniversary parties :-P Anyway, back to the Open House, we owe a TREMENDOUS thank-you to Mom for hosting such a nice, fun, and packed open house! It was great and everyone had a good time! Also, thanks to Aunt Carol and Dad for there help and contributions to the shower - the cake-pops were amazing, as were the meatballs (as always!) It really was nice to be able to share a little bit of our wedding with so many of our loved ones back East, so for those of you who made it, THANK YOU!!!

Pre-Party: Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Feta Cheese - yum!

Hosted a Pre-Open House Party the night before :)

Me, Amy, Brooke, Kristin, and Seth at the Open House.

Wish I had more pics of the Open House to share (I only got the one with the girls because some of us are vain hehe!), but it will have to suffice by my description of the night: awesome! Anyway, that's about all I got for now, but again, thanks to EVERYONE who has been so loving and supportive throughout all of our wedding festivities - we really appreciate it and love you all more than words can say :) xoxo

Wonderful Wedding Weekend

2011-07-31T22:54:00.000-04:00

Well heeeelllllllllooooooo there! It has been way too long since I've blogged, but I have a good reason...our wedding :) Dad, Seth, and I left for the Thursday before the big day and made it safely to Utah for a weekend of busyness but good times! So, to save time (and space), I'm just gonna jump right into a recap of all the festivities:

Shower/Bachelor Party:
On Friday night, our SLC friends organized a really nice shower with good food/drinks, fun games, and lots of memories! This was actually perfect timing to have a get together with all our friends (a lot of whom came in from out of town) because in the coming months, several people will be moving away for school and such. We started the night with a delicious BBQ and then moved on to our shower game: designing wedding gowns out of toilet paper - too funny! Needless to say, our friends got creative and, by the end of the night, the yard was draped with the toilet paper :) To wrap up the night, we moved it downtown to Bar X (a random bar that is owned by the guy who plays Phil on 'Modern Family') and met up with Andre and some other friends who were awaiting us downtown....good times!

Vera Wang, eat your heart out!

The whole gang together again!

The aftermath :)

Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner:
On Saturday, the wedding party met at the Grand Summit Hotel and, much to Mom's chagrin, took the gondola up to the Red Pine Lodge for a quick rehearsal. With Brooke and Rev. Anita running the show, all went super smooth and soon it was off to our dinner at the Wasatch Brew Pub - yum!

Dinner was nice - we finally got some one on one time with the family! It was a cool place to go, especially because it's a well known place in Park City (they brew local beer) and allowed us some time away from the resort to play some on Main St. Dad, Mom, and Jack gave really nice toasts and Seth and I gave a quick thank-you speech to wrap-up dinner.

Luckily for us, Marita, Joesph, Marissa, and Peter offered to host the after party at their place just down the street. As you will see from the pics, my siblings don't mess around when it comes to their lodging :) They actually kind of lucked out thanks to a hotel error, and got the penthouse (a.k.a. the entire top floor of the hotel) with two hot tubs, two fire pits, and more amenities than you can shake a stick at :) Needless to say, we let the good times roll before we rolled out and off to bed to rest up for the big day ahead!

The view from the top of the penthouse - sweet!

Us boys and our Mom's rehearsing our walk :)

Andrew and Seth at the Rehearsal Dinner.

Jack, Me, and Mindy at Wasatch Brew Pub.

Wedding Day
Wedding Day was perfect - even more than I could have hoped for! We had an outdoor wedding and, despite my fears, the weather was just right - sunny and not too hot! After a morning together, Seth and I separated to get ready for the wedding with our families. Dad, Mom, Andre, Carol, and Lois helped me get ready and lookin' purdy - it really does take a village :)

Once everyone was all ready to go, we headed up the mountain on the gondola and waited for guests to arrive. With the exception of a few special people, all of our family and loved ones were present to share in our special day. (We had people come from near and far and appreciate you all so much for making the effort, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts!) And for those who weren't there to share in the day, my words can't do justice to the wonderful memories: good food, moving toasts, and fun times that were had, so I'm gonna let the pics do the trick!

Seth and I at the base of the gondola.

The Roman-Longhurst Wedding Party!

Me, Rev. Anita, and Seth during the ceremony.

True love <3

Sealing the deal with a kiss :)

Mother-Son Dance to "Mama" by Boyz II Men.

Gettin' down!!!

Our grand exit from the Red Pine Lodge.

Aftermath:
After the wedding, we had all had such a good time that we rented a 32-passenger shuttle to take us to Main St. Park City for a post-party at Downstairs. And the festivities didn't end there - we hosted a breakfast in our suite the following morning to say our last good byes and soak up the remaining moments of an amazing weekend! And then, before we knew it, a year's worth of planning had come to a close and we were on our way back to DC to get back to reality! But you know what, when you love life, reality isn't all that bad to get back too :)

The crew came over after a long night to say goodbye...and for bagels :)

Since being back, things have been busy playing catch up from a few weeks of doing nothing but wedding stuff. Seth is still loving his new job, and I am starting the last week of my clerkship tomorrow. With job interviews already lined up for a summer associate position next year, things are looking good :) We are so lucky and blessed and recognize that every day...but mostly, we are blessed in the friendship department to have as many wonderful loved ones as you :) Speaking of which, this Saturday, April 6, we get to see even more of our loved ones at the Open House that Mom is throwing! Can't wait to see you there or wherever out paths may cross...but until then, just know you are loved very much by us :) xo

Dr. Jen Make a Housecall

2011-07-10T23:43:00.000-04:00

Well, it's the end of another weekend, and I'm exhausted - totally not ready for a full week of work...but the show must go on :)

This weekend one of my best girlfriends, Jen, came to town. Jen and I went to middle/high school together and have been close since then. She is in Optometry School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and had a break this weekend...and luckily for me it coincided with both a break for Seth and I, so Jen hopped on a plane and headed to DC to see us :)

From the moment she got in on Thursday, it was a blast! We spent most of the weekend eating...and eating some more! But no more of that for a while, cause it's only 2 weeks til the wedding and I gotta make sure I fit into my tux :)

An extra bonus this weekend: my cousin Chrys and her daughter Riley were in town, so Seth finally got to meet them! Chrys' husband, Tom, is one of the coaches for the Colorado Rockies (who were in town playing the Nationals), and they were here for the game. After a nice lunch with Chrys and Riley, we spent the evening at the baseball diamond and the Rockies pulled of a win :)

Seth, Jen, and I in the "Bullpen" outside the Nationals stadium.

After getting some much needed rest, it was up and at 'em on Saturday for another busy day of fun and friends. Saturday evening we had a dinner party - salad, chicken enchilada casserole, chocolate chip cheesecake, and whit sangria - YUM! Spent the first part of the night visiting and playing games before heading to Georgetown for a night of dancing. It was actually really fun and, by the end of the night, my shirt was completely soaked in sweat...so I guess I got my workout in :)

Jen getting ready for the party.

Jen, Me, and Tensie at McFadden's.

Today, after some much needed sleep (although not quite enough), we got up and headed off to brunch before taking Jen to the airport. But this brunch wasn't just any brunch - it was DC's infamous Drag Queen Brunch! We had been talking about going for a while now, and today we finally made it. They have a yummy all-you-can-eat buffet, and the Drag Queen performances are an added bonus (for those who have never seen a Drag Queen perform, they are usually hilarious!)

Seth and a Queen.

Work those hips Queenie!

After going into a food coma and dropping Jen off at the airport, Seth and I headed home to wrap-up another weekend. Seth starts his new job in the morning, and we officially begin the final countdown for to the Big Day! Speaking of days, it's almost midnight and tomorrow is another day, so I'm off to bed. Until the next time - much love!

Summer Time, In the City

2011-07-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

Time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe it's already July and the summer continues to fly by!!! But never fear, we are taking advantage of being here :) DC is such a fun city and, while we do miss SLC tons, DC has lots of good points too!

Dog Parks - DC is doggy central...seriously! There are so many single people/gay couples who adopt dogs as their 'kids,' that there are so many dog parks (and nice ones too!) to visit. Recently, Seth and I went to DuPont Dog Park and took Honey for a play date with some friends :) As you will see below, Honey loves the city too. She is our little bundle of joy and we love her!!!

Honey loved some FroYo...but it made her gassy :-/

Honey in DuPont Dog Park :)

Old Friends - Another great thing about DC is the fact that I have quite a few long-time friends around. On the 4th, Seth and I enjoyed a day full of friends! We started out at the Nationals Game with Emily, Patrick, and Matt. They are all Cubs fans, but luckily the Nats pulled it off in the end (and of course it happened after we left!). After the game, we grabbed a dessert and headed to Brooke's boyfriend Matt's house for a BBQ. It's been nice having Brooke and Amy back around (we missed them!)...plus they provided some good eats, so that didn't hurt either :)

Nationals Game on the 4th of July

So vain...Seth and I at the BBQ :)

History - Finally, yet another great thing about DC is all the history associated with the city! To end our 4th of July celebrations, Seth and I headed down to the National Mall to watch the fireworks - we even got to hear the end of the concert on the Capitol steps. Last year we got there too late to actually see the fireworks, so it was nice to get to see them in person this year!

The Capitol all lit up to celebrate the 4th of July!

No, the Washington Monument isn't on fire, those are
fireworks. Oh, and don't mind his head :)

All in all, the 4th of July (and the summer thus far) has been great and we are grateful to live in the Nation's Capital to remind us how lucky we are to live in the U.S.A. We hope this post finds you well and enjoying your summer just as much! God bless each of you, and God Bless The U.S.A.!!!

Marissa and Peter's Wedding

2011-07-06T15:26:00.000-04:00

What a whirlwind of a past two weeks this has been! First, and foremost, Seth got a new job! Hooray! His old employer really wasn't a good fit for him (or anyone else apparently since they have such a high turnover!), so Seth had been looking for a new job for the last few months. He went in for an interview with a new company, MarketSmart, on a Friday morning, and got offered the job that same evening...they must recognize that MegaSeth talent within :) Seth gave his notice and has been enjoying some much deserved time off before starting his job next week.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect either, because he didn't even have to use vacation for our trip to L.A. Speaking of which, we had such a good time! For those who don't know, my sister Marissa got married to her new husband Peter. We first met Peter (who is such a great guy!) in January when Seth and I went to visit them during New Year's. And before we knew it, their wedding weekend arrived! On Thursday, Dad, Seth, and I headed to BWI and were off to L.A. We arrived pretty late, but not too late to avoid a stop by In-N-Out Burger - yum! When we got to our hotel, Marissa had nice welcome bags awaiting us (which made me realize how many small details we still have left to take care of - yikes!) and it was time to rest up for the weekend ahead!

Friday was the rehearsal dinner. But before that, Dad, Seth, and I headed to Santa Monica Pier for a stroll and then ran to Beverly Hills for lunch. For those who aren't familiar with the Real Housewives, Seth and I are huge fans - and our favorite season was Beverly Hills. For lunch, I made reservations at my favorite housewive's (Lisa Vanderpump) restaurant called Villa Blanca, which is right by Rodeo Drive and all the craziness that is Beverly Hills. Although Lisa wasn't there, the food was good and I was happy to hear that she was off filming a new season <3

Villa Blanca <3

Pepe Roman and Mista Seth on Via Rodeo Drive

After a busy morning, we headed off to the rehearsal dinner and it was so much fun! The entire wedding weekend actually took place in Marissa and Peter's backyard. They have been constructing a guest-house/party room in their backyard and doing a lot of landscaping changes to get ready for this, and it looked wonderful! The soon-to-be newlyweds hosted a delicious buffet and a top-shelf, open bar :) The highlight for me was the toast that Dad gave ( click the link to watch http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100113388969569&comments) - who knew Pepe had that in him!? :) Anyway, it really was fun to have all of the family together and to get to visit with other friends and family.

A hand-drawn family tree was part of the decor!

The Wedding Party at the Rehearsal Dinner

After a fun night rehearsing and partying, the Big Day had finally arrived! We had some time before the ceremony, so Dad, Seth, and I headed to Manhattan Beach to try some fish tacos and enjoy the beach (before heading back to lame, East Coast beaches!) Soon enough though, we were changing into our wedding clothes and off to the ceremony. Marissa (as did all of the bridal party for that matter) looked beautiful and the ceremony was short, sweet, and screamed 'Marissa!' They had so many nice little touches - from mints in the bathrooms, to a live band, to delicious food - which helped the evening to turn out wonderful...2 thumbs-up! During her toast, Marissa even gave a shout-out about our upcoming wedding - so thoughtful! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and danced the night away til we couldn't dance anymore!

As Husband and Wife - Marissa and Peter...Congratulations!!!

Joe and Marissa gettin' down to the music!

The Lovebird Cake - yum!

After all was said and done, all still wasn't said and done :) Marissa and Peter hosted a farewell brunch for all of their family and out-of-town guests - YUMMM!!! Brunch may well be my favorite meal, so to have an omelet station, delicious pastries, and fresh juice/coffee is heaven! After stuffing our faces to the max, it was time to say our goodbyes and head to LAX for our flight home.

Brunch Time :)

Dad forgot his salad fork...so he improvised with his fingers :)

Well, that about sums up Marissa's Wonderful Wedding Weekend. We had such a good time and are so happy for Marissa and Peter, and to them we say "Bendiciones!" And now, only 18 days til we see them (and hopefully you!) again for our big, fat, Utah wedding!!!

New York, New York!

2011-06-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

Hola amigos! It's been yet another busy week, but busy is good :) Last week, all I could think about was New York City...and before I knew it, the weekend was here and it was off to NYC we went!

If you remember, a while back I bought some tickets to a comedy club in New York. Seth and I went to check it out and had a good time, so this time we made it into a trip and brought Brooke and Amy along with us for a reunion NYC style! It's funny, because when the three of us lived across the country, New York was always our meeting spot...and now we are close enough to make it up in only four hours - yay!

New York on the way to the Holland Tunnel.

Amy and Brooke getting a nap in to rest up for the trip!

After making it safely to our hotel, we changed in our boating clothes and headed up to the New York City Yacht Club. One of Amy's clients at her bank is a member, so she got us the hook-up :) Unfortunately, the bar/restaurant isn't open on the weekend, but we did get to tour the place - pretty cool! And who knows, now that we've seen it, maybe we will join one day with our own yacht :)

Brooke and Amy in the Yacht Club elevator.

NYC Yacht Club lounge.

After our tour of the Yacht Club and some good old fashioned shopping, it was back to the hotel to freshen up and meet Kristin (Brooke's cousin) and her boyfriend, Rob. We ate dinner at our standby, Breeze Thai Cuisine - cheap food, cheap drinks, and SOOOO good :) During dinner, I made friends with our table neighbors (this cute lady from Transylvania!) and actually gave her our extra ticket to the comedy show. Speaking of which, the show was good...but I think Brooke's bantering back and forth with the comedian and all that ensued after (including a $215 free tab!) was my favorite part haha! What happens in New York stays in New York :)

Me and Brooke pre-dinner dancing and ready for a fun night!

Me, Brooke, and Amy at Breeze.

Sunday it was up and at 'em (at the last minute before check out time of course) and off for a nice lunch at Benito I in Little Italy. It was delicious and a perfect day to eat outside and soak up some last little bit of New York City...there's nothing like it! As lunch was coming to a close, Amy realized her purse was open and her wallet was gone...but luckily she had misplaced it in her shopping bag :) And good thing she found it too, because we still had more shopping left to do!

Amy, Seth, and Brooke in Little Italy.

Bon Appetite!!!

After a food coma and more shopping, we hopped in the car and headed home to D.C. and back to reality...and now we're counting the days (8 of them) til we head to L.A. for my sister Marissa's wedding...and it's only 33 days til our own!!! Til the next time - much love and lots of smiles!!!

DC Pride 2011

2011-06-13T00:19:00.000-04:00

Hey there! I figured I'd try to get this post done before hitting the hay for tonight (cause otherwise my tired, feeble mind might forget everything that happened this weekend!!!) So anyway, as you can see, this weekend was DC Pride and needless to say I am exhausted!

To kick off the festivities, Seth and I volunteered with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation - an organization that monitors gay and lesbian activity/portrayal in the media) for its fundraiser called "Thank GLAAD It's Friday." Basically it's a cocktail hour where people drink and mingle. It was fun and Seth and I were assigned the best job - drink and mingle with the guests :) We met some new friends at the event and, after, we all went to the Shake Shack (a transplant New York burger place which is sooo good!) and then headed home to our sweet little daughter :)

View of the PRIDE ready city from on top of the Donovan House!

Speaking of burgers...great meal, just not the best idea the evening before you have a 10K haha! On Saturday I was up at 6:00AM to run the "Lawyers Have Heart 10K" in Georgetown. Luckily, due to the heat (it has been FREAKING HOT here for June!) they changed it to a 5K, so my tummy managed to make it (and I actually beat my old 5K time, so maybe the burger wasn't all that bad!) DC is probably the only city in the world that could have a race with JUST attorneys/law students...and there were 5,000 people that ran, so it's kind of crazy to think how many people practice law here (I think it's like 1 in 7 or 8 people!)....and soon I will be one of them!!! Also, I had to laugh because in the e-mail they sent changing the 10K to a 5K, they emphasized the legal liabilities involved...oh lawyers :) By the way, thanks to Mom, Dad, Carol, Brooke, and Steven for your generous donations - our school won the fundraising challenge! After the race was over we headed off to the dog park for some play time...and we saw the cutest thing: nuns playing tennis in their all-out nun attire! The picture below is pretty blurry (I was trying not to be TOO obvious that I was taking a picture haha!) but I figured I'd post it anyway just because :)

At the starting line of Lawyer's Have Heart 10K (well, 5K!)

Super blurry, but our best attempt to catch this on camera :)

Before too long, it was off and away on the good ol' Metro to head downtown for the parade. This year we actually marched in the parade (with GLAAD) and had a great time! It's always fun to see so many people out to support the cause. We met some cute ladies on the Metro from the Unitarian Church who reminded us of our Mommas and Aunts...so maybe next year you will have to march with us ladies :) Anyway, we actually made some new friends at the parade and ended up celebrating with them on Saturday night.

This couple just got married!

The parade route was packed with supporters!

This dog was decked with lays/beads for Pride!

After a late night, it was another early morning thanks to our grocery deliver and a very fun visit with my cousin Jose Antonio and his girlfriend, Rosanna. They are visiting from Puerto Rico and wanted to see the city, so they came down for brunch today (Dad even made his way up here too for a bit!). By the time we made it downtown, it was midday and at the peak of the hotness, so they decided they just wanted to walk through the Pride festival and call it a day! It was nice seeing them, and hopefully we will be able to see them on their home turf in lovely PR sooner than later :)

The Pride Festival with our the Capitol building in the background :)

After getting home today, we ended our marathon of a weekend by heading to a cocktail party on U St. and grabbing some Mexican food at Alero. By the time we got home and walked Honey, we passed out and (luckily for us since we forgot to set an alarm and still had stuff to do before the week began) were awakened at 9:00PM by a call from Mom :) Now it's just about time to call it quits for the night and get some sleep, so I'm gonna sign off for now with lots of love. Happy Pride :)

The Dog Days of Summer

2011-06-09T23:26:00.000-04:00

Howdy ya'll! Well, summer is here with a vengeance (my Mom calls it the 'dog days of summer') and I for one am not ready! Today, I was standing and waiting for the Metro and DRIPPING with sweat!!! It really is ridiculous and way to freakin early for it to be this hottttt! Let's just hope it's not a pre-cursor to a deadly hot summer to come...

Aint I purdy when I sweat!?!

But I digress, it's also the dog days of summer cause of Honey :) We sure love our little bundle of joy and just got her enrolled in a doggy Health Plan (luckily for her, it's not Obamacare hehe!) Also, we even took her to get her nails did and, this time, she did good and is loving the results of her mani-pedi!

Aside from that, we've been enjoying summer and staying busy. I am still loving my job (it will be four weeks tomorrow, crazy huh!?) and am pleased with my grades (although I'm still freakin waiting on two more dang it!). Seth is keeping busy with work and all of his Mega Seth skills. We've also been spending a lot of our free time working out all of the little details for the wedding (which is in like 45 days - yikes!) and planning some more fun adventures for the summer! Also...our wine making kit came, so I'm about to start a brew of 12 bottles of Chardonnay this weekend - uhoh!!! I'll let you know how that goes :)

The Artful Winemaker has arrived - wahoo!

Anyway, it's almost the weekend (so I guess I'm a little behind on this weeks post, aren't I) and I'm looking forward to it. First of all, it's Pride Weekend here in DC, so we are volunteering with GLAAD and excited for all of the festivities! Also, to top off the weekend, my cousin Jose and his girlfriend are here for the weekend (they flew in from Puerto Rico to see the Black Eyed Peas in New York, which by the way we will be visiting again next weekend, but I digress again!) and they are going to come down and we get to play tour guide - yay!

Me with my cousins Maritere and Jose at lunch in Baltimore.

Well, that's as good a recap as I think I can give at 11:30PM on a Thursday night :) I'm off to bed, but lots more stories to come after the weekend. Until then, live, laugh, and love - xo!

Summer Lovin

2011-06-02T22:27:00.000-04:00

Summer is officially here and I'm loving it!!! Since being back from Mexico, all I've wanted to do was lay out on a beach and get a tan...and (while not at the beach) I have been lucky enough to lay out some :)

First things first: work is great! I love working with my Judge and everyone in chambers - they are all wonderful! It's been really good so far: I've worked on cases, done research for the Judge, and am helping to write memorandums that will soon (hopefully) turn into published opinions :) Also, it's pretty fun to sit on the bench with the Judge during court and observe court from a new angle. I sure am a lucky boy (even though I have to get up at 5:30 to get 'er done!)

This past weekend, however, it was no work and all play for us :) We enjoyed Memorial Day weekend to the max! Mom, Dad, and Carol came up to our casa on Sunday for some pre-Memorial Day BBQ chicken, Baked Mac'n'Cheese, and cake - yum!!! Had a good time with the familia and then had a good time the following day at the pool :)

Poolside at Fort Totten - loooove it <3

The rest of the weekend was super laid back - dog walks, shopping, and dinner/a movie. We FINALLY saw "Bridesmaids" and it was hilarious!! Seth almost peed his pants I think haha! And now, it's almost time for another weekend :) Speaking of which, TGIF in 2 hours and, since it's Friday tomorrow, I gotta finish strong which requires me getting to bed so I can get up and get my work out in before work...the wedding is less than 2 months away after all and wedding pics are great diet motivation :) Until the next time - xo!

Hello Mexico!!!

2011-05-25T22:42:00.000-04:00

Hola! Como esta? Well I am muy bien, although I'd be more bien if I were still in Mexico :) Last week, Seth and I packed up and headed to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for our girlfriend Carly's wedding. It was so much fun and we loved getting to see our Salt Lake friends, it's always a good time! After getting in, we checked in to Hotel Casa Ticul (this cute little 20 bedroom hotel by the beach) and headed off to grab some food and meet our friends on the beach to kick off the vacay :)

Seth lounging at the hotel...I think he passed out from the heat!

Each day, the maid folded our towels into something different :)

The first day, after breakfast (which three little Mexican ladies made for us every morning!), we headed over to Las Mamitas Beach Club where we literally laid on the beach ALL day! Much needed R&R, especially considering the next day was spent from dawn til dusk on a tour of the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Coba. It is cool to see so much of different cultures, both the ancient Mayans and the modern day Latinos. We hiked around the pyramids and temples and learned about all of the symbolism (and kind of scarily accurate predictions!) the Mayans incorporated into their lives. Contrast that with walking down Fifth Ave. where I was asked (in a Mexican accent): "Hey my friend, you want to buy cigars? (pause) Or something better!?" And he wasn't the only guy offering up "party favors," you literally got bombarded at night with peddlers on the street...but I loved every second haha!

Las Mamitas Beach Club...pictures say 1,000 words!

The Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Seth and I on the beach at Tulum.

The largest Mayan Pyramid in Coba. Ah-mazing!

Sunday was wedding day and it was wonderful! Carly and Paul's wedding was at the Playcar Palace Resort and, as their guests for the day, it was all you can eat/drink ALL day...and it was so good (and much needed!) The wedding was at 6:00, just in time for the perfect weather and sunlight to make the ceremony beautiful! Carly looked amazing and the ceremony brought me to tears...twice! After the vows were said and champagne toast was done, we ate some more and enjoyed a live mariachi band to kick off the party...which ended up moving to a club downtown where we danced until 3:00AM!

Paul kissing his bride, Carly <3

The mariachi band

Me, Seth, Jarrett, Dave, and Whitney after dancing.

Monday it was up and away and back to DC (although we did so in style, because I got us upgraded since the airline had problems with our seating assignments!). I was a little sad to say goodbye, especially because I really do enjoy being able to use my Spanish with my Latino hermanos :) At the airport, we ran into Kody and Ben (more SLC friends) and said one final goodbye...but it's officially less than 2 (yes, TWO) months til we're back in SLC for the big day! So hang tight, enjoy your day, July's almost here, but now I'm off and away!

God Bless the U.S.A.

2011-05-02T01:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I had thought this week was going to end with a BORING Blog Post, talking about how lame my week has been (studying, sleeping, eating, repeat...well, maybe a little more eating)...but boy was I surprised. This evening, as I was finishing some Property Exam Prep., I got a News Alert that President Obama would be holding a Press Conference, but it didn't say what it was about. Due to the abnormal nature of the Press Conference, I was pretty sure that it would be some big news...little did I know HOW big! Ding dong, the witch is dead...Osama Bin Laden was killed by a U.S. air strike! I first found out via Twitter (before any news sources actually reported it) and then, to my pleasant surprise, had it confirmed by the President. It truly was a moment in time I can say I will honestly never forget! This all started back with September 11th, 2001, and it is such a tribute to our country, our leaders, and our soldiers to have it end like this...and I truly can say I'm PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!

Now, while I do have exams, History trumped tonight and, after the announcement, Seth, Honey, and I hopped in the car and headed down to the White House to be a part of it all...so I will let the pictures and videos tell the rest of the story, but until til the next time, God Bless you all and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

People starting to gather in downtown D.C.

People celebrating outside the White House.

So many people came together so quickly!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

First things first - Happy Easter! This has been a good week, especially because it was my LAST full week of class - hooray! Unfortunately, the end of class means that exam time draws near - boo! But lets not talk about that right now, let's just be happy :)

Speaking of happy, we were very happy to have a wonderful Easter weekend with Mom and Dad. We headed to the 'burg yesterday evening and spent the evening with Mom eating Chinese food and watching TV :) Today we got up and (after Seth found his way back to the house after being lost for about 45 minutes on his run today!) headed over to Dad's for a DELICIOUS Easter dinner - prime rib, grilled asparagus and mushrooms, potatoes, rolls, and lemon meringue pie - YUM!!! After dinner, we had some fun playing with the iPhone (see below) and then packed up and headed back to DC.

Oh my, what a big nose you have Dad!

Mom laughed so hard at this she cried!

Well, I better get back to studying and wrap things up for tonight, so for now, that's all folks!

Spring is in the Air

2011-04-17T22:56:00.000-04:00

Well howdy ya'll! Spring surely is in the air and I'm LOVING it!!! Spring is one of my favorite times of year - leaving behind the cold, starting to get a tan...and the END OF SCHOOL!!! That's right, I said it, the end of school! This week, I started the ball rolling towards the end of the semester by having my LAST legal rhetoric class - hooray!!! Legal rhetoric ends a few weeks before your other classes so that you have time to focus on those dreaded exams (now 15 days away!). It's crazy how quickly the first year has flown by...now if only the next three and a half weeks will fly by as fast, it will be summer time :)

My Legal Rhetoric Section (and professor) post-class celebration!

The only bad part of Spring time? It's SOOO hard to stay focused and not run away from school to lay out in the Sun...but so far I have resisted...although we did enjoy a nice balance of studying/fun this weekend. On Friday, we used our personal training consultation that Seth won at our school's charity auction...and apparently we are both in shape :) On Saturday night (since the weather cancelled our other plans to celebrate Marge's birthday - boo!) we went to a going-away party for one of Seth's co-workers. Today, Seth, Emily (my law school wife), and some other classmates went to watch the Nationals beat the Brewers at some good ol' baseball. To end our busy weekend, we headed to the dog park with Honey and spent some QT with her and her friends and soaked up some more of this wonderful weather.

Our view of the Nats...look closely for the Washington Monument :)

Anyway, for those of you who may be worried about what appears to be a lack of study, don't worry, I'm just giving up on sleep and replacing that with study time...and so far, it's worked out pretty well :) For real though, I'm stickin to it and moving right along. Well, we hope you all have had as good a week as us and look forward to seeing you all soon! Oh, speaking of seeing you soon, be on the lookout in the next few weeks for a little something special in your mail :) Til the next time - xo!

Odoyles Rules...in D.C.

2011-04-10T21:22:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that the anticipation of Jack, Mindy, and Evie's visit came and went already! This past (extended) weekend has been sooo much fun...and I wish we could do it all over again Groundhog Day style!!! The gang arrived on Wednesday afternoon and received first class, curbside pick-up with me as their chauffeur :) We headed home (after about 20 minutes worth of struggling to fit the stroller into the trunk haha) and dropped of their luggage before heading to DuPont to pick up Seth from work.

Jack, Mindy, & Seth outside Seth's office in DuPont.

Since DC is such a 'foodie' town, our goal was to take the fam around the world in 3.5 days as far as eating was concerned...and we just about made it :) Of course, given our family tradition of love for Mexican food, we started the eating debauchery at Guapo's (our staple Mexican restaurant by my school). Suffering from a food coma of chips and salsa, we headed home to rest up for the next few days.

Thursday, I had a few commitments for school and Seth had to work, so Jack and Mindy enjoyed a relaxing morning at the Seth & Brandon Bed & Breakfast. After I was done with school, I headed home and we hoped on the Metro (that's right, they've been Metrofied!) to Chinatown for some shopping and sightseeing...and yes, some eating! Dinner was funny because Evie (a little more than 9 months old but wearing clothes size 18 months) was a hit with all of waiters in the restaurant who kept playing with her and trying to get her to smile...but that's not too hard, because she is such a sweet and happy baby!

Jack, Evie, & Mindy outside our place, about to get Metrofied!

Evie working the crowd at the Chinese restaurant.

Friday, Seth and I both had off and got to spend the whole day with the fam! We got up, had a nice brunch, and (after deciding to postpone our sightseeing bus for a better weather day) headed off to eat some more...this time at DC famous Ben's Chili Bowl (long line, but worth it for the food!) The restaurant is pretty historical and dates back before the DC race riots, but I had to laugh because the sign inside says: "The only people who eat free here are: Bill Cosby, the Obama family, and no one else!"...but I'm pretty sure if they had seen Evie they might have added her to the list :) After lunch we went to some of the museums and then headed off to meet Mom, Dad, Carol, and Marge for dinner at Il Porto (our favorite restaurant in Old Towne Alexandria)...see, I told you all we did was eat :) Dinner was great and I just have to say what a lucky boy I am to have, not one, but TWO families that I absolutely love (and am loved by!) To both my VA and Utah families, I love you so much :)

On Saturday, since the weather was nicer, we headed downtown and hopped on the open-top sightseeing bus to tour DC and see the sites we hadn't yet had a chance to visit. It really is a good tour and, even for those of us that have lived here all of our lives, you'd be surprised at the history and random facts you will learn! Also, for those of you who aren't familiar with DC, it is very common to see motorcades with government officials pass by, so once you've been here a while, you just kind of don't really pay attention to them...which leads to a funny story. While we were on the bus tour, we decided to hop off at the Lincoln Memorial to go inside and let Jack and Mindy see it. As we were walking up, we saw a motorcade leaving and basically dismissed it because it seemed to be a pretty small motorcade compared to a typical motorcade for a high-ranking official. Well, come to find out on the news, President Obama decided to make an impromptu visit to the Lincoln Memorial that day, and the motorcade we saw was the President leaving...so we literally missed him by a matter of minutes! So Jack, I'd just like to say that I ALMOST kept my promise of seeing Obama :)

No Obama, but still, the Lincoln Memorial has the best view!

After all was said and done, we started to head home (after eating dinner at the DC Hooters, since all of the other restaurants were full haha!) to pack and say our goodbyes. I still can't believe how quickly this trip came and went, but I sure am glad we got to spend some quality time with the Utah fam! Seth and I miss them so much, but are lucky that my family is here and full of love :)

Evie sure was tired on her last night after so much fun with her Uncles!

This morning Jack, Mindy, and Evie headed off to the airport and (unfortunately) are not back in Utah...but not to worry, only 3.5 months til we head out west for our wedding!!! Now its time for a quick bite to eat and then off to bed to start another week tomorrow...until the next time :)

NYC Part Deux

2011-04-06T00:44:00.000-04:00

Soooo...it seems like we were JUST in New York...oh wait, that's because we were! Long before I won the tickets to the GLAAD Awards, I planned Seth's Birthday present a.k.a. a trip to New York...little did I know that it would fall only two weeks after the first trip. Despite the basically back to back trips, we had a great time (who doesn't LOVE New York!?) and enjoyed the weekend together :)

To get there, we took the Bolt Bus (a non-stop bus from Union Station to Times Square) and enjoyed not having to drive the four hours through the traffic but taking some time instead to do school work and nap :) We were pretty pooped on Friday, so we got some pizza and headed to bed to rest up for the rest of the weekend. Saturday, we did the touristy thing (even though we've both been before) and went to Carnegie Deli and went on a walk through Central Park. After Seth got a facial peel, we headed back to the hotel to change for our night on the town :)

Carnegie Deli sandwiches don't play, do the Mister Seth?

Saturday night, we headed uptown to Broadway to see...wait for it...Book of Mormon: The Musical!!! I had been dying to see this and, after rave reviews, was lucky to be able to get us tickets!!! It was actually hilarious and had good music too...so good I've been singing the songs all week :) After the play, we headed to the Gothem Comedy Club for a show. I haven't been to a comedy show in a while and I forgot how much I enjoyed them! It is was a smaller venue, so the comedians made fun of us for dressing up and for being a law student...but the guy who got made fun of the worst was a Chinese man named Hugo...but it was all in good fun and VERY funny :)

Backdrop of Book of Mormon: The Musical

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was nice...caught up on some sleep, got some work done, and headed back home to start another week. And this week has brought so many good things already...the END of my legal writing class, nice weather, and (TOMORROW!) Seth's family comes to town :) :) :) We are so excited and just can't wait!!! Speaking of which, time to go to sleep so I can wake up and have it be tomorrow already :)

It's Been a Marathon of a Week

2011-03-31T01:02:00.000-04:00

Heyyyyyy!!! What a loooong and busy week and a half it's been since I was last here...but luckily the week is almost done (Thursdays are my Fridays hehe!) and I've got time to catch you all up :)

First of all, school has been soooo time consuming lately (more than usual), but its actually a GOOD thing! My LAST legal writing assignment just got turned in yesterday and I have been interviewing like crazy trying to get things lined up for Fall...and so far, so good! I interviewed with Judge Laura Cordero (a referral from Maria) and was offered a judicial internship with her at the DC Superior Court this Fall...hooray! Also, I'm in the final round of interviews to be a Dean's Fellow (kind of like an assistant to the Dean and mentor for next year's new students) next Fall. I've been so lucky and blessed to have lined up such great opportunities...so I decided to give back :) We have a charity auction at school every year, so Seth and I went and got some cool stuff (comedy tickets, boxing lessons, and personal training sessions) in exchange for a donation that goes to help provide scholarships for students to provide legal services to those in need! Oh, and did I mention that I also gave back by lending my face to a photo shoot for our school's "Prospective Student" literature :-D

Speaking of a marathon week, Seth and I celebrated our TWO YEAR anniversary by running the SunTrust National Marathon!!! Since we've both been so busy between work and school, neither of us had really properly trained for the full marathon. Being a SANE and reasonable person, Seth decided just to run the half marathon...and come the end of mile 26.2, I was wishin I had done the same thing haha! Even though I walked like an old man for two days, I'm glad we did it and am ready to pick out our next race!

Me and Seth (with our medals) post-marathon

After the race, Seth and I headed home for a much needed nap before heading down to Fredericksburg to celebrate Seth's Birthday with the folks :) First things first, however, Seth and I met one of my oldest friends, Liz, for her birthday celebration at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Fun times but, given the state of my body after the marathon, we didn't stay too long haha! While we were gone, Grandma Roman babysat her one and only granddaughter, Honey Child! Mom tries to pretend it stresses her out to watch her, but we know better ;) Anyway, on Sunday we got up and headed to lunch at La Pizzeria for some pizza, presents, and cupcakes for Seth's 25th (aka quarter of a century) birthday!

Seth, Liz, & Me at Cancun Margarita Grill in the 'Burg

Although the beginning of the week has been just as crazy as can be, we still made time to enjoy Seth's actual birthday with a nice dinner and a Skype session with the Utah fam...some of who will be here in SIX DAYS!!! Yay! Anyway, it's late and time to get some shuteye, but I just wanted to take one quick second to thank you all for being part of our lives...we are so lucky and blessed and are grateful for each and every one of you...WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday Mister Seth

2011-03-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give a SPECIAL BIRTHDAY shout-out to my dear husband! I love him so much and am blessed to be able to share my life with him :) Happy Birthday Panda - I love you forever <3

Me and Seth sharing a Birthday cupcake at La Pizzeria :)

I'm so GLAAD to be Me :)

2011-03-21T18:16:00.000-04:00

Hey there! Well, this has been one heck of a busy and draining last week, but it ended with a bang! After a grueling week of school [only broken up by Seth and I celebrating St. Patty's Day/2 years since we first met over some Mexican food...yes, we ate Mexican food on St. Patty's Day :) ], Seth and I headed to NYC on Saturday morning for a quick trip. Recently, I received an e-mail from a professor at my school who was giving away her ticket to the GLAAD (Gay-Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Awards in New York. In the gay community, the awards are kind of a big deal (like an Oscars type thing), so I sent in an e-mail explaining my story and why I wanted to go. Long story short, she like my essay and selected me to represent her at the event. So, after finishing up my school work and dropping off Honey at PetsHotel (sad face!), we were off and away to the Big Apple...and needless to say, it was awesome!

Honey made a friend on her way to PetsHotel!

Times Square by our hotel.

The ceremony was so much fun! In addition to being sponsored by Rokk Vodka (who provided an open bar hehe), there was great food, lots of nice freebies in our gift bags (plus I even won a $100 gift card to American Airlines), and did I mention the celebrities?! :) The honorees this year were Ricky Martin and Russell Simmons (music executive) and the event was hosted by Andy Cohen (VP/Host on Bravo TV). I got pictures with Ricky and Andy :-D and met a lot of really nice attorneys from the DC area who want to meet with me and help me on my law career journey. Sadly for me, I was solo at the event because tickets were $500 and Mister Seth decided to pass :) Instead, he went on an open-top bus tour of the city and got some great pics/learned some cool bits of info. about the city. After the awards were done, Seth met me at the Marquis and we headed out to meet some girlfriends for some dancing and fun times in the city that never sleeps!

Ricky Martin and me :)

The event stage.

Photo of the city/Brooklyn Bridge courtesy of MegaSeth Bus Tours

Sunday morning it was back to reality (I had to escape for a little bit) and time to head back to the District to get back to work! Although Seth and I are both working hard, we really are loving life and enjoying the experience of living in Washington, D.C....which we can't wait to share with Jack, Mindy, and Evie in 2 (two!) weeks!!! Let the countdown begin!!! Until the next time - love and hugs - xo!

Sometimes I Wish I Were A Party Planner

2011-03-13T12:29:00.000-04:00

Why hellooooo there! Tis the end of another weekend, and this one is coming to a close quicker than I want it too (especially thanks to a little thing called Daylight Savings!) Anyway, this past week has been Spring Break...but it hasn't been a break at all...I actually think I have been busier this week than when I'm actually in school. It's funny because when we got in the car yesterday, Seth asked me why the drivers seat was so far back and, after thinking about it, I realized I hadn't left the house (via the car anyway) since the weekend before when Seth drove home from National Harbor...I have spent pretty much all day, every day writing my Note for the Journal Competition. Now, while I really have absolutely ZERO desire to actually be on one of our school's journals, it is considered an honor and employers look highly on those who participate so, thanks to our friend the economy, I am doing everything (including journal) to be as competitive as possible! At least the assigned topic was interesting: constitutional or not - the memorial crosses on Utah roadsides. I just can't get enough of UTAH :)

Last week :)

This week...I think there is a common theme :)

Anyway, enough about school...let's get real...it was Spring Break so, although I did spend all DAY in the house, most NIGHTS were pretty fun :) Between Mardi Gras festivities on Tuesday, a networking event (with free, open bar) on Thursday, and a wonderful date night of a three course meal and wine pairings at a Greek restaurant downtown on Friday (courtesy of Seth's hard work for getting a bonus in the form of a gift card), it was actually quite a good balance of work and play!

Em and I eating some gumbo for Mardi Gras!

This weekend has been good so far too...got a lot done and gearing up for the last two months before SUMMER :) Not that I'm counting ;) Between the usual weekend chores, wedding stuff, and school, I'm freaking wiped...but not wiped enough to cancel our get together last night with Seth's friends from college! I swear, I sometimes think I should have been an event planner and saved all these student loans :)

Seth and Honey are my two bundles of joy :) Seth had a crazy busy week at work getting stuff ready to send to the printer (his company publishes visitors guides for DC) but he got it done in Mega-Seth style! We are both excited (and yes, COUNTING the days) for Jack, Mindy, and Evie's visit (less than a month!) Honey can't wait to meet them either! Speaking of Honey, she still loves her new home :) Her nickname is Diva because, well, she's a DIVA! Yesterday, we took her to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed and, when we walked in, the groomer gave us our money back because she said Honey wasn't having any part of it :-P Now I know what parents feel like when their kids misbehave haha! Oh Honey :)

Spring Break?

2011-03-06T21:49:00.001-05:00

So I've been thinking and my creativity on these blog posts has been lacking lately...now it might be because I've been so busy and not getting enough sleep, or it might be that I'm turning into an attorney (scary music playing in the background), but whatever the reason, I'm gonna get it fixed and inject a little bit more Brandon into these :)

Anyway, speaking of sleep...it's SPRING BREAK!!! We had our last class on Thursday and are off all this week - hooray! Well, OK, not so much hooray but yay? kinda cool? OK, well at least a quick cheer for not having to go to class! As a first year law student, your Spring Break is actually really lame! It's filled with writing a brief for your writing class along with a journal article for those who wished to be considered for the school's law review. On the upside, break marks the official "I'm more than halfway to summer and not having to go to class at all" point :)

The weekend has been fairly chill compared to a typical weekend. Friday I spent all day doing school stuff (so I wouldn't feel guilty for the rest of the weekend). Saturday, Seth and I met Mom and Aunt Carol at the Gaylor National Harbor Resort for Mom's belated Christmas present. We spent the night and enjoyed massages, good food, and fun times! Like Carol said today: "Amazing how much fun we can have and food we can eat in 24 hours." Hahaha - sad, but true :)

Me, Carol, Seth, & Mom in the atrium of the Gaylord.

As for my better half, Mister Seth is doing well. He is working hard and constantly coming up with new, cool ideas to make us rich...now we just have to act on them :) Honey is doing reBARKable hehe! One of my best girlfriends, Emily (aka Auntie Em), took care of her for us while we went to the harbor. Honey had a great time but her daddies were glad to pick her up and bring her home :)

Pictures truly are worth 1,000 words :)

Well, that's about all for now, but hope all is well - have a wonderful week!!!

Half Way...Almost!!!

2011-02-28T16:52:00.000-05:00

Can I just say, this has been one busy week!!! Between mid-terms, assignments from the Brief I work on, and other school stuff, I am more ready for Spring Break than ever!!! Seriously though, school has pretty much consumed my life (more than usual) so this week has been pretty boring (just judge for yourself from the picture below)...but it won't be boring for much longer :)


The weekend was obviously exciting :)

Most exciting moment of the week: losing my keys! OK, so I need to preface this story by explaining that I only have one pair of car keys (I lost the other pair two years ago when I worked in Ohio) and have been needing to get a copy since then. Mom, always being the first to say "I told you so," has been reminding me to get a copy made and, last week, I finally agreed to take it to the dealership next time I went to visit. Literally the next day, as I was taking Honey for a walk, I pulled out her treat bag and must have pulled my keys out with it! As we got back to the house, I reached for my keys and no luck! Luckily we have a concierge to let us in, or I would have been stuck outside waiting for Seth (and I had to be at a meeting, so that would have been no bueno!) Anyway, I learned that an all-wheel drive car, parked in a garage, with no key is pretty hard to tow...it actually took two tow-truck drivers to get me out...but they did it! Long story short (and $300 later) I learned my lesson and now have a key to my car again! I guess mother's always right :) Adios until the next time!

My baby at the dealership via the tow-truck

What a Wonderful Week

2011-02-16T19:35:00.001-05:00

Hey there! First, sorry I slacked off this weekend in the Blogosphere...I kind of had a boring week (a.k.a. school, school, school) last week speckled with a couple of job interviews. I didn't really want to bore you, but, now I have a fun update or two to share :) First, speaking of interviews...I got a job!!! I will be working as an intern in the Federal District Bankruptcy Court of Maryland (in Baltimore) for Judge Nancy Alquist. I am SO excited - working for a judge (especially on the federal level) is great experience and one of the best things first year law students can do!!! Like I said, the Court is located in Baltimore, so it will be a bit of a commute but will TOTALLY be worth it! I feel like a real adult haha - I will have to take the train into work, I get my own office, and (from what I understood in my interview with the judge) will be given a lot of freedom in my work and play a key role in her chambers...luckiest. boy. ever. After the interview, I felt really good about working there, especially since it's only the judge, her clerk, her assistant, and her scheduler/decorum person a.k.a. I will get a lot of face time with the judge and have a chance to really put into practice everything I have learned so far! Also, on a funny note, it's all ladies in her office, so I will let you know how it goes, although I think I will be just fine haha :)

Good morning, Baltimore!!!

Anyway, enough about school and work...now it's time to talk about LOVE :) Valentine's Day was Monday, and Seth and I celebrated with a low key night at home. We made take and bake pizza and ate that for dinner with a salad, chocolate pastries (and Mrs. Field's cookies via Aunt Carol), and red wine/pink champagne (gotta keep in the spirit of things!) and then relaxed with some TV and an early night's rest...does that mean we are getting old!?!? Anyway, I'm glad Cupid struck me with his arrow, cause I sure do love Seth :) Besides that, nothing much new to report, but hope all is well for each of you! Enjoy the rest of your week - it's on the downhill side now!!! Love you all and will talk to you soon! xo

Valentine's Day dinner <3

All you need is a ring, a book, and a flashlight <3

GQ Bombay Party

2011-02-06T17:45:00.000-05:00

OK, so I mentioned a while back that I won a contest through GQ magazine and Bombay Sapphire Gin. The iPad was the first part of the prize but, the second part was a party at our house sponsored by Bombay! Well, last night was the party and it was so much fun! Around 6:00, Gary (Bombay's Master Mixologist) arrived (straight from his home base in Miami) with tons of Bombay, mixers/garnishes, and FREE (I love anything free) cocktail glasses! Shortly after, the caterer came with TONS of YUMMY food (even enough leftover for some late night munchies)! Once the set-up was done, our friends came over and a great night of fun began :) Gary was great and is truly a master mixiologist! After the party at the casa was over, we hoped on the Metro and moved it down to DuPont for some more fun and dancing at Public Bar...good times!

Emily, Emily, Veronica, and Kim muddling some drinks.

Emily, Seth, Emily, Tensie, Me, Veronica, and Kim.

Tensie, Gary the Mixologist, Me, and Seth at Public Bar.

Anyway, after a nice walk with Honey, we spent the day cleaning-up and resting up for another week...and now it's time for the Super Bowl! Hope that life is good and all is well wherever this finds you...now go and have yourself have a great week!!!

Honey Child

2011-02-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you who weren't aware, Seth and I have a new addition to our family...our adopted dog Honey! Yeah, it was kind of sudden but, we had been talking about getting a dog for a while and the timing just seemed right, so we made the plunge! We did some research and knew we wanted to adopt a dog from a rescue. We also knew that we wanted a smaller dog that didn't shed too much. After some research, we found Honey at the Arlington Lost Dog Rescue. Honey is a Basenji breed, about 25 pounds, and (best of all) is hypoallergenic so I don't have any allergy problems :-)

We brought her home last Saturday and she has been a bundle of joy and brought so much happiness to our home every day! She has settled in quickly to her new home and is a very happy doggy :) Honey loves a big belly rub and playing with her ball, but she especially loves time with her daddies...and she never fails to welcome us home with jumps and love! Seth and I are excited for each of you to meet Honey and know she can't wait to meet you either. Woof woof!

Honey and her trusty ball.

Seth & Honey at PetSmart.

Honey loves her naptime!!!

You Win Some, You Lose Some...AND You Win Some!

2011-01-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

Howdy ya'll :) Well, this has been quite an interesting week! First of all, in case you hadn't heard, the East Coast got POUNDED by winter weather! In DC, it only takes a little bit of snow to wreak havoc, so needless to say with a mini-blizzard that poured 5 inches in a couple of hours, the city was in disarray! On Wednesday, class got canceled due to the storm and same for Thursday classes...which would normally be A-OK with me BUT in law school, you have to make up EVERY missed class, so it's likely that some of these classes will have to be made up on a Saturday :( Oh well, I enjoyed the snow day nonetheless! Guess I should just count my blessings that it only took me 2 hours to go 4 miles instead of being like my Aunt Carol and Uncle Skeeter who took about 9 - 10 hours to get home...CRAZY! Luckily, everyone made it safe and the weather has chilled out and we can all enjoy making snowman (see below plus there was even a barista snowman outside Starbucks!) Seth even got the day off on Thursday and went into school with me (since our power was out for a bit!) and enjoyed a fun day kicking it with us boring law students :)


Tenley Circle Snowman with an orange cone on his head!

Anyway, aside from a fairly lazy weekend, a few updates on school stuff. This weekend, I participated in the 1L Mock Trial Closing Argument Competition. It isn't actually trying out for the team yet, just an opportunity to practice and get ready for tryouts. I gave my argument on Saturday and, while I didn't win, I did get a lot of good feedback and felt encouraged to tryout in March :) I was glad I did it and, as soon as I walked out, I got a call saying I had been accepted to write on the Legislation & Policy Brief at school. It's a great opportunity to start writing and getting some of my work published, so I'm excited! To boot, I found out that I have made it into the final round of interviews for this amazing judicial internship program and have a training this Tuesday with an interview in the coming weeks...so keep your fingers crossed! Anyway, not much else going on right now, although I am sure that the coming weeks will bring us (and hopefully you too) lots of good news and new adventures ;) MUCH more to come SOON...love you all!

Time for Family Time

2011-01-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

Well thank goodness for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...celebrating human rights and a day off school...what could be better!?!?! :) For real, with no class Fridays and then a day off this past Monday, I had a four day weekend after my first full week of school...and I could sure get used to it!!! Anyway, the long weekend was fun but this week made up for any extra rest I got! As you all know, this semester is not only filled with school but it's busy with searching for jobs and such. This week we had an internship fair at school with lots of potential employers, and Thursday I went to the Hispanic Bar Association of DC to network and meet local attorneys. So far no job offers yet, but I have two second interviews and lots of applications out there...so wish me luck :)

As is typical for our Friday nights, Seth and I were in the mood to celebrate the welcoming of the weekend! Since this week was Restaurant Week, we took advantage and went to a yummy dinner at Couer de Lion downtown...SO good!!!

Seth chillin (literally) on the patio :)

After a good date night, I made us some German pancakes Saturday and we packed up and headed down to Mom's for Uncle Skeeter's birthday party with the fam. Between the good food, amazing cake (courtesy of cake maker extraordinaire Aunt Carol), and wonderful company, we had a great time and enjoyed our first visit down to Mom's since 2010 :) Today, we got to use our gift cards for massages/pedicures and loved having a pamper day with Mom (although I wish I didn't have to intermingle school work!) After a yummy lunch with Mom and Dad at La Pizzeria, it was back up to DC for a last bit of time before another week of work and school! Every time we cross the Potomac and drive through the city on our way home, I still lose my breath when I look around an realize we are living in Washington, DC - life is good! Anyway, had a nice Skype date with the Utah fam and now it's time for dinner and on to another week! Hope all is well with each and every one of you...and always know you are loved very much by the two of us!

Uncle Skeeter and his grandkids (William, Ethan, Logan, and Kylie)

I'm One Lucky Boy!

2011-01-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

Well this has been a GREAT week! School started off kind of slow and didn't really throw too much at me this first week (which I really appreciate!) and it's a three day weekend (for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) so I don't have school on Monday - hooray!

So many great things have happened this week it's hard to know where to begin, but I guess the best place to start is with updates on my summer job hunt. While I do not have any firm offers yet, I had two interviews this week regarding an internship with various federal court judges and I got offered a second interview on both of them - so keep your fingers crossed! To boot, I have almost all my grades back from last semester and am very please with the results...looks like I might be cut out for this whole law school thing after all :)

Self-portrait on my way to the interview :)

And the luck didn't stop there. This week I won a contest from Dr. Oz for a free pair of Nike shoes!!! Since I got new shoes for my birthday, we got Seth some running shoes so we are both ready and equipped for the DC Marathon in March...now we just need to start the whole training part haha! And speaking of lucky, we are the luckiest people in the world because we have the BEST friends and family out there. This week our friend Whit (from SLC) came to town and we got to spend some time with him. Since I don't have class on Fridays, I made Whit a birthday brunch and enjoyed catching up on gossip :) Friday night, Seth and I met some friends from school out for dancing and drinks downtown and it was SO fun (Section 1 is the BEST!!!)

On Saturday, Seth and I met our friends Beah and Matt downtown to get our cars detailed (Seth got me a two-for-one coupon at Christmas to get this done) and as we pulled up, much to our surprise, the Secret Service, police, and hotel security were EVERYWHERE because there was "a VIP in the hotel." Gotta love DC! We suspected it was China's President (who was in town this week) but then also wondered (judging from a lot of the people in the lobby) whether it might have been the President of India. Either way, it was still pretty cool...oh, and the car looked great by the way :) To end the night, Seth and I met Whit and some of his friends downtown and then headed home to rest up from going out two nights in a row...hey, we're not spring chickens any more :)

Me, Seth, Whit, Tim, & Dan.

PS: Sorry this pictures have been so blurry lately. I take most of them out and about with my phone, so when they are downloaded to the Blog, they are never as crisp as originally but you get the idea :)

Anyway, not much else besides school work and relaxing going on for the rest of the weekend, but I hope this finds you all well! Have a wonderful week and know the biggest reason we are so luck is not because of free shoes, good grades, or potential jobs, but because of each and every one of you who we love so much! Til the next time - xoxo!

And the Beat Goes On...

2011-01-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

Well...it's been real but, all good things must come to an end :( Tomorrow, break is officially over and it's back to school I go...time sure does fly by when you're having fun! The last week of break was spent mostly just getting a lot of things tied up (a lot of wedding stuff and planning some of our upcoming trips and activities!) before another semester begins. I'm still waiting on grades to be posted but, in the mean time, it's onward to next semester with my game face on :) <---- like my game face? haha!

This weekend, Seth and I tried to take advantage of the last bit of freedom by having TWO date nights. Friday, I prepared a Fondue Night followed by some DVR catch-up. Then, on Saturday, we made a trip down to Tyson's Corner for dinner and a movie. We saw Black Swan (kinda weird, but meh, it was kind interesting anyway) and then home for more wedding plans (Seth actually really likes to plan as much as me even though he might tell you otherwise!). It's gonna be a blast, so be on the lookout for more information soon!

Our FREE iPad came this week - amazing!!!

Seth ready to Fondue for Date Night :)

Today, we went down to Old Towne Alexandria and met Mom and Dad at Il Porto for some yummy Italian food and a good visit! We miss our Utah family, but it sure is nice to have my parentals close by in their steed :) Now, if we could only find a way to get us all place at once...oh wait, I'm already scheming on that plan :) Well, it's almost dinner time and I gotta get a few more things done and hit the hay to get ready for school tomorrow but, until the next time - love you all mucho!

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-04T10:59:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Hope 2011 is treating you all well and that 2010 went out with a bang! For Seth and I, to end the year, we flew to Los Angeles for the weekend to visit with my sister Marissa and her fiance Peter. The trip was really fun and, seeing as we are really trying to finish saving for the wedding, we tried to cut corners...which led to some great stories :) To start, we got a small rental car which, even after Seth put the seat all the way back, his knees still touched the dash haha...and we drove it all the way over to...the Econo Lodge (which we booked on Hotwire through the blind bidding process) in WeHo. After we checked in, my 'diva' side (as Seth likes to say) came out and we checked right back out (and got a refund cause, for real, it was ghetto!) and headed back to Marissa's where we stayed the next two nights :)

Peter, Marissa, me, and Fergus

Our view from Jamaica Bay Inn...much better than the Econo Lodge :)

We went down to the beach, did some shopping in Glendale, and enjoyed the California sun with friends. On New Year's Eve, we checked into the Jamaica Bay Inn in Marina del Ray and met up with our friend's Ryan and Emily to ring in the New Year. We chilled at the hotel for a while and then headed down to Main Street in Santa Monica where we danced the night away at Finn McCool's Irish Pub (and SO random, the first person I see when I walk in the pub? a guy from my law school class back in D.C. - I guess it really IS a small world after all!) Anyway, got up the next day and headed to the airport to go back to Salt Lake for one last hurrah with the family! We had dinner at Chrissy's house and then ended our trip with traditional smothered burritos before it was time to leave back for the East coast. After an hour and a half delay of our flight (due to a broken toilet in first class haha) it was up and away and we made it safely back to D.C.

Ryan, Emily, and Seth pre-partying at the hotel!

Dayton, me, Seth, and Jack :)

Seth is now back hard at work and I am enjoying one last week of relaxation (mixed with job application and gettin 'er done) before the new semester starts! Thanks to all of our family and friends who made our Christmas Part 2/New Year so wonderful! I hope that this finds you all well and that your 2011 has started off great! I love you all so much and look forward to sharing another year with you :) Til the next time - xo!

Christmas Part 2

2010-12-31T21:37:00.001-05:00

Well, it has been QUITE a busy past week but it has been SO GREAT! We got up SUPER early last Wednesday and headed to BWI where we hopped on our flight and made it safely to Salt Lake. Got our rental car (which was upgraded to an SUV big enough for a typical Utah family haha) and headed downtown for a haircut (no, we didn't fly all the way to Utah for a haircut haha) and then off to Seth's former employer's Christmas party. After a long day of travel and fun, it was off to Chrissy and Ryan's for a good night's rest. The next day was spent resting up and tying up some last minute Christmas stuff. That evening, Seth, Jack, and I headed to the Canyons Resort in Park City to do the tasting for our wedding reception and there is only one word to describe it...YUMMMMMM!!!! Can't wait to share that special day with you...and it's less than 7 months away :)

Most of the rest of the time was spent with Seth's family...eating, visiting, eating, playing games, and - oh yeah, did I mention eating :) Seriously, this New Year's is a time of reckoning for me to hit the gym and prepare for the marathon in March, but I digress haha! We had Christmas Eve dinner and opened presents with the fam at Chrissy and Ryan's and spent time between their home and Mindy and Josh's. Us uncles got lots of quality time this visit and had a great time being with our family! The Monday after Christmas we even had time to go down to Salt Lake and visit friends at our annual Friend's Christmas Dinner - good times! Anyway, so much went on and the time passed quickly but we loved every second of it! Like I said last time, the Holiday season really makes you take a look at your life and appreciate all that you have been given...and for me, although I have been blessed with so many things and opportunities, the most amazing part of my life are the people in it...and YOU are one of them and I love you for it :) Well, it's about that time to head off to our New Year's Eve festivities but I will talk to you all in 2011!!!

The fam opening presents on Christmas Eve :)

Me, Dayton, Uncle Seth, and Evie <3

Mindy gettin down to my new Wii dance game...good times!

The whole crew (almost) at our Friend's Christmas Dinner!

Chirstmas Part 1

2010-12-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

So this year, Seth and I are doing Christmas Part 1 (already done) with the VA family and then Christmas Part 2 (starting Wednesday) with the UT family! And let me just say how lucky we are to have TWO amazing families that we get to celebrate with!

Christmas Part 1 was GREAT! We got to Mom's late Friday night (after Beah's Birthday) and then got up on Saturday to open our presents from SANTA :) Santa sure must have thought we were good boys because he took REALLY good care of us (as you can see from the presents under the tree!) After unwrapping all the gifts, we headed off to the mall for a few last minute things and then Mom, Seth, and I met Carol and Marge at the Riverside Dinner Theater to see "It's a Wonderful Life."


Seth on left, me on right :)

Seth, Carol, Mom, and Marge at the Riverside.

Sunday it was up and at 'em to wrap up the Christmas list and then a traditional visit to La Pizzeria for some lunch before heading home. Oh, and by the way, Santa gave me an extra special treat: a while back I entered a context in GQ magazine...and this past week I found out I won...an iPad AND an in-home mixology party from Bombay Sapphire Gin's Master Mixologist...SWEET!!! Well, anyway, needless to say it has been one heck of a stellar week and I hope yours has been too! I love you all and hope a little special love from us to you arrives this week in your mailboxes! Merry Christmas and lots of love! See you next time with a special UTAH edition :)

I'm 1/6th of a Lawyer!

2010-12-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

Hooooorraaaayyyyy!!!! Well, sorry I'm a little late with my usual update but, all is well...no, all is GRRRREEEAAATTT!!!! I'm all done with my exams and I can't even tell you how happy that makes me :) It was two of the most stressful weeks of my life but I have a good feeling about all of my exams and really hope all the work paid off...we will see soon I guess :) Anyway, to celebrate, I organized a Happy Hour at the Front Page Bar & Grill the night of our last exam and got a part of the place reserved for our Section. It went great and about 1/2 the section (50 or so people) showed to celebrate the end of the semester! The next night we celebrated my classmate and friend Beah's birthday at cool restaurant downtown called Lima (before heading down to Fredericksburg for Christmas Part 1) Anyway, with exams all done I guess it's on to the next step: summer job search...so if anyone knows of any good places, please let me know :) xo

Beah, me, and Emily celebrating at Happy Hour!

Seth, Emily, Beah, Joanne, (her BF), and Matt outside Lima.

2 Down, 1 To Go!!!

2010-12-12T00:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been one LOOOONG week...but time is a tickin and my first semester is quickly coming to a close! This week I had my Torts exam on Monday (3.5 hours) and my Contracts exam on Saturday (4 hours) and MANY hours of studying in between...and after having taken both exams, I think (and HOPE) it paid off! I took all the allotted time and really feel confident in my performance, so I guess now it's time to focus on my last exam this coming Thursday and wait to see how I do...and I hope you will all love me no matter what cause I really did try my best...but hopefully my best is a 4.0 :-D Anyway, check out the picture below...my study sessions are pretty ridiculous!

Why, yes, that IS a burrito :)

Other than studying, Seth and I took a break on Monday night to celebrate the completion of my FIRST exam and went to a Holiday Party for WACA (the Washington Area Concierge Association). it was a good time and a nice, much needed break! Spent a little bit of time Friday trying to do my good deed (for some extra Exam blessing of course) and volunteered in our foreign language legal clinic doing some interpretation for people filing their naturalization papers and it was actually really cool experience! Other than that, Seth is keeping busy working hard (and finishing our Christmas card!) and life is good...and before you know it the break will be here and it will be Christmas - yay!!! Hope all is well for you and look forward to seeing you soon! Love and hugs til next week :)


Christmas is getting closer and underneath the tree is getting fuller :)

Art Educates...and so does studying...

2010-12-05T01:33:00.000-05:00

Well, the semester is all done as far as classes go and its been study time for me! Exams start on Wednesday and last for 10 days...luckily mine are spread out so I have extra time to study...although today I studied for about 16 hours so I'm not sure if my eyes can last that long B-)

Anyway, this Friday we got to take a break and go to the Art Educates Gala and Art Show at the Katzen Fine Arts Center at my school. Maria (my Dad's first wife) and my sister Marissa invited Seth and I to attend and we had a great time! The main purpose was to raise money for the Centronia Arts Center for the youth in the area - they had an auction and craft sale (we even bought a piece of student art for our home!) It was a good time and, in addition to the nice spread and open bar, we got to meet a lot of really cool people - the Madam Under Secretary of State to Hillary Clinton, the ambassador to El Salvador, and a Federal Judge (to whom Maria sent my resume!)...very nice and so grateful to have a break and to be included in something so fun - thanks Maria and Marissa!!!

Me and Seth all dolled up and ready for the gala :)

The piece we bought is already hanging up!

Anyway, that's about all I got for this week (and while there is still another day left, I can tell you the studying that is to come isn't really blogworthy haha!) so I hope all is well with you guys! Wish me luck on exams and soon enough I will be done for real with my first semester of school! Yay! xoxo

Chris Mouse is in the House!!!

2010-12-05T01:12:00.000-05:00

So, for those of you who aren't familiar with the story of Chris Mouse, we need to rewind about 24 years to when Seth was a little boy. At Christmas, Seth's Mom, Jack, used to invite Petey the Elf to come to the house to visit and bring treats to the kids. It was a miracle and they were lucky little kids to have a Mom that knew a REAL ELF!!! Well, as Seth got older, Petey decided he needed to retire and take a break from all the hard work he had done at the Longhurst household. Then, when Seth had almost forgotten about Petey, he got a note last year from Petey saying that he would be sending a new friend to check in on him...and that visitor was none other than Chris Mouse (yet another one of Santa's little helpers!!!)

Chris Mouse stopped by to spread some Christmas cheer :)

Anyway, Chris Mouse is in the house and is here to spread cheer til the end of the year!!! Hooray!!!

Our tree...and of course our computers :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

2010-11-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

What a weekend!!! Seth got off early on Wednesday and Thanksgiving officially began with making some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and cranberry sauce! Spent the evening (and pretty much most of the weekend) chillin and relaxing and enjoying our time together :) Got up on Thursday, made some baked mac'n'cheese, and went to pick up Andre at the airport to head down to Mom's for a gluttonous Thanksgiving meal! Turkey, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, sweet potato pie, cranberry sauce and stuffing, rolls, cake, pie, and cookies...yeah, and only 5 of us to eat it all!!!

Yeah, this about says it all...Dad resting up after the meal!!!

Anyway, had a really nice weekend with the fam (and some good Thanksgiving Skype action with the Utah fam!) and even celebrated Dad's 70th birthday on Friday night at his favorite buffet :) Dad, I hope you had a great birthday and enjoyed your 10% discounted meal hehe - I love you Poppy Seed!

The rest of the weekend has been spent gearing up for the...wait for it...END OF THE SEMESTER!!! Hooray!!! This is my last week of classes...and then come the exams...crazy!!!! Anyway, I LOVED this little break for Thanksgiving but am SOOO looking forward to a real break over Christmas :) :) :) Speaking of which, today Seth and I took time to decorate the house for the Holidays and we are officially ready :)

Seth putting up the tree <3

Well, like I said, this next two weeks is gonna be pretty crazy with the end of the semester looming ahead, so I just figured I'd take on last second to tell you all how thankful I am for each and every one of you! While I hope you know every day how much you mean to me, the Holiday season (which for me begins with turkey and last til January!) is an especially important time for me to remind you all how grateful I am to have the amazing family and friends I have been blessed with - so thank you for being YOU...I love you all!!! :)

Happy Birthday to ME!

2010-11-21T23:08:00.000-05:00

First, I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who helped make my birthday so special with your gifts, cards, and love...you are all SO amazing and I love you so much!

Well, to kick off the weekend, I met Seth downtown at his office for a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in DuPont. Had some yummy food and a nice bottle of wine and then went for a 'walk'...until the walk turned out to be a surprise! Seth had made reservations at the Hotel Palomar in DuPont and got a 'spa suite' room with a large soaking jet tub! Needless to say, we spent a relaxing evening over some champagne and loved every second of it...thanks Panda - I love you!

The tub...AMAZING!!!

Seth in another fancy robe :)

After a refreshing and restful night, we got up, grabbed a danish and coffee, and headed to Alexandria for a day of eating, shopping...and eating with Mom and Carol! So much fun!!! We spent the day at Tyson's Corner Center Mall and Mom bought me some new shoes...yay for no more holy shoes :) Came back to Carol's at the end for some pizza, cake, and presents to wrap up a wonderful day with two of my favorite ladies! Thanks to Mom, Carol, and Dad for your wonderful gifts and remembering me!

Last but not least, to round out the wonderful weekend, I got to have a virtual b-day celebration over Skype with the family in Utah! Thank goodness for technology...we were able to Skype Jack, Mindy/Chrissy, and Jay/Tina all over one call...and so much FUN!!! I even got to open my gifts over the call so they could see my delight with all of their wonderful and thoughtful gifts! Thanks to you all to for being the most wonderful family I could have ever married into - you're the best!

Me with my BLOG Book and mints :) :) :)

Anyway, as you can see, I am one blessed boy to have so many wonderful people in my life! Thanks for all the wishes via text, facebook, etc... from all my friends, and thanks again to my family for being the most amazing people in the world! I love you all!!!! Now who's ready for some Turkey!?!?! :)

One Down, Three To Go :)

2010-11-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

So, for those of you who may not know, my first semester of law school is winding down (and I'm counting the days til break!!!) and this past Friday was my first exam! Our legal rhetoric program is structured in such a way as to pound you with work in the beginning of the semester so that it can end two weeks before your other classes and allow first year students a little more time to prepare for their other exams. Anyway, although I don't have my score yet, I am pretty confident that I did well on the exam and can officially say I have completed my first class of my law school career...hooray!!! What a way to kick off my birthday weekend!!!

My cupcake from Emily!

PB Rice Crispies from Beah!

It's World Pneumonia Day...literally!!!

2010-11-14T23:36:00.000-05:00

So this weekend our friend Kody came in from Salt Lake. He got in on Thursday and we were all ready for a good weekend...but do you believe in foreshadowing? Well on Friday Kody went out exploring and came home to tell us that it was World Pneumonia Day and people were down at the Mall telling tourists about it...and wouldn't you know that he ended up getting really sick on Friday night and had to cut his trip short :( I felt so bad that he would come all this way to see us and get sick...but at least we got in some fun times before the cold kicked in! We went out in DuPont for Bar Review on Thursday night and then Friday headed to Old Town Alexandria for sushi and a walk through Georgetown...fun while it lasted but still had a blast with Kody even if it was only 48 hours :)

Seth and Kody outside an AMAZING wig hope in Old Town!

On Saturday, with Kody sleeping off his cold, Seth and I went to Maria's (my Dad's first wife) house to see some family over dinner and a good visit! I love living back here cause it seems like we always have people coming to visit (especially my family of course!). For example, Seth's old boss, Erni, was in town this weekend and, although we didn't get to see her, it's still cool to know that we live in a place that so many people pass through...and will hopefully say hello too while they're here :) (hint hint to you all!) Anyway, it's about that time to sign out and get some sleep...I need to be rested up for my LAST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!!

Me, Dad, Sophia, Jay, Maria, Tita, Maritere, Alvaro, and Sebastian at Maria and Jay's.

Terrifc Taco Tuesday!!!

2010-11-10T22:57:00.000-05:00

So...this was my last week of Rhetoric...hooray!!! I turned in my memo and am SO relieve that the semester is winding down...crazy!!! To celebrate Seth, some classmates, and I all went out to Guapo's for a drink and some yummy comida after class and enjoyed knowing that we've almost made it halfway through the crazy year that is 1L of law school!! Anyway, just a quick mid-week update with lots of love to all of you...and lots more to come next week since our friend Kody is coming for a fun weekend :)

Our fiesta at Guapo's to celebrate our memo!

Almost couldn't resist celebrating by jumping in these leaves!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

2010-11-07T22:14:00.001-05:00

Not much new this weekend...just been working on finishing my last memo of the semester for legal rhetoric (yay!) and getting a little ahead on things since our friend Kody from Salt Lake is coming to visit next weekend! Went to a career/networking event at school on Saturday - crazy that it's already time to get the resume looking good and ready for job searching! Spent the rest of my time resting up for a busy week and enjoying our beautiful casa! Anyway, that's about all from our neck of the woods but just wanted to send a little lovin to you all before another week begins! xoxo

A Weekend of Restoring Sanity

2010-10-31T12:01:00.001-04:00

This weekend was such a treat! My friend Effney from L.A. flew in to town for John Stewart/Stephen Colbert and stayed with us for the weekend. I love having visitors because, among other reasons, it forces me to take a break from the craziness and restore some sanity to my life...literally! :)

Effney got in on Thursday and we had a fun two days of sightseeing (I love playing tour guide!) in DuPont, Georgetown, and, of course, checking out the monuments down at the Washington Mall. Seeing as it was Halloween weekend, we had to make time for a little bit of spookiness and went with some friends to Markoff's Haunted Forest out in the middle of nowhere Maryland...creepy but FUN!

Effney and Seth in Georgetown.

Me, Effney, Beah, and Matt at the Haunted Forest.

Saturday was INSANE and I'm not sure how much sanity was to be found at John Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity but it was a really cool experience! We picked up Sarah Palin (see below) and head downtown for hours of sheer craziness...initial estimates are that over 200,000 people attended...and it showed! The streets were wall to wall people for blocks and blocks! Anyway, we had a fun time and then made our way through the crowds after Ozzie Osbourne and a few others performed...good times!

Sarah Palin is in the house!!!

Quite a few characters this weekend!

Our section of the Mall on the day of the Rally.

Bad view? Climb a tree!

After making it through the crowds and hoping on the Metro (all while still dressed as Sarah Palin) we headed down to Virginia to meet Mom, Aunt Carol, and Marge to go see 'Chicago' at Riverside. Good times, good company, and a good night!


Mom, Carol, and Marge looking good for 'Chicago!'

Well, now it's time to sign off and come back to reality...school work is piling up and it's time to get crackin...one more month to go!!!

I Love Rock and Roll!

2010-10-26T21:57:00.000-04:00

OK, so a mid-week update is unusual for me, but so is the fact that we actually did something cool mid-week, so I thought I'd share :)

Last night Seth and I went to the 20th Anniversary Party at the Hard Rock Cafe D.C. in Chinatown. One of the owner Seth's company does business with the marketing manager of the Hard Rock and got us VIP Passes to the party. Met up with some of his co-workers for a drink first (and his boss even paid the tab!) and then headed over to the party for a fun evening. An up and coming band called "Ready Sets" showcased and they provided food and drinks upstairs for us. Despite the fact that I had a ton of school work awaiting me at home, Seth and I had a fun night and proved that we aren't an old, boring couple after all :)

Seth and me at the party <3

"Ready Sets" at the Hard Rock.

Moe Comes to Town!!!

2010-10-25T00:23:00.000-04:00

I LOVE living in D.C. because it means I get to play host and tour guide much more often than I did in Salt Lake :) For example, we have friends coming to either visit or spend the weekend three times over the next two months...and we even had one quick but SPECIAL visitor today! One of my best girlfriends, Maureen, was in town for her grandma's 80th Birthday party and that meant a visit to our casa was in order! Moe came over this evening (after a busy day of study and cleaning of course!) and we had a great visit...dinner and gossip are the key to our hearts <3

Me and Moe :)

Anyway, time flew and we took Moe back to her Aunt's via a scenic drive across the Chesapeake Bay...good times! Well, it's about that time so I'm off to bed to get ready for another week but we hope to play host to you all soon! xo :)

Pampering the Queen

2010-10-24T16:29:00.000-04:00

Well, first of all, props to me for remembering to take pics of this weekends festivities! To kick it off Seth and I enjoyed a nice Friday night to ourselves (thank you Groupon for another yummy dinner at Front Page!) and rested up from a hectic week of my classes all being switched around due to scheduling conflicts...last minute changes make me a grumpy boy :-/ BUT on the upside, last week is done and we are one week closer to the end of the first semester :)

Saturday we got up and headed down to Fredericksburg to spend the day with Mom and fulfill her coupon of "A Day of Pampering" we gave her for her birthday. We started with lunch at La Pizzeria and then headed to the mall for some pedicures (I tried not to laugh when my feet got tickled but it was hard!). After gettin our nails did we headed to see "Hereafter" at the new Muvico Village Theater for some VIP seating in there premier seating area...nice, HUGE leather chairs, a full service bar and restaurant, and the best view in the house...nothing but the best for our Momma! Ended the night with some homemade cookin' at Dad's house before saying goodbye and heading back home to rest up for another day. Although sadly we can't afford to do things like that as often as we'd like, we are glad to be able to do it when we can :) We love you Momma!!!

Mine and Seth's feet post pedicure...wrapped up in wax to finish :)

Mom and Seth gettin their classy on at the theater.

A Clap on, Clap off Kind of Week!!!

2010-10-17T20:09:00.000-04:00

Well, is it sad that last week about the most exciting thing that happened was when our Clapper came?!...absolutely not I say because it was the low key kind of week/weekend that we were in need of! As for the Clapper...well, yes, we really did order a Clapper but it's because the lamps in our bedroom are on the wall that isn't operated by the light switch so they have to be turned off manually. Needless to say Seth, our problem solver, decided to fix that by letting us use a little clap on, clap off action...and we love that the early 90's are alive and well in our house :)

This weekend was pretty chill too. On Friday night I got the chance to entertain and cook for some of our friends. Made some chicken parmigiana and pasta and had a good time before heading downtown to birthday party for girl in my section at school. Had fun (maybe a little too much fun judging from the morning after haha) and then got up and met Aunt Carol in Alexandria for lunch and a planning session for our New York trip...sooo excited! Other than that it's been a weekend filled with school, TV, and cleaning house aka my way to de-stress :) Well, it's time for Peapod to come with our groceries and then we're ready to end the weekend with some 'Desperate Housewives'...hope this week's update didn't put you to sleep but next week looks to be a little more exciting since Mom will be involved :) Til the next time!

I'm My Own Grandpa!?

2010-10-11T00:05:00.000-04:00

OK, so first, I'm not really my own grandpa but, hey, if you had been at our family reunion in good ol' Buena Vista, VA (or as the fam says "bew-na" vista) in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, you would see why that might not be too heard to imagine (I mean, with nicknames in the family like Bug, Rooster, Pig, and Cute, who wouldn't wonder haha!) Second, I'm SO annoyed I didn't remember my camera...although to my credit, getting up at 6:30AM after a night downtown wasn't too easy! Anyway, no camera = no pictures, so the pretty little invite that Seth designed is gonna have to suffice :)

The Reunion Invite...thanks Mista Seth!

Got up super early on Saturday and went to pick-up my favorite Marge and headed down to Fredericksburg to meet Mom and Dad to make the drive to the reunion. It's about a three hour drive down to Buena Vista but it is always a fun trip, especially when my family is all trapped in one car :) It was really good to see all the extended family (most of whom I hadn't seen since the last reunion in 2007) and, as was to be expected, LOTS of good food was to be had! Anyway, we had a great day and then came home to enjoy some shuteye and a relaxing rest of the weekend! Life...is...good!

Woah, I'm Half-Way There...Livin on a Prayer!

2010-10-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

Well I almost can't believe it but, it's true...the end of this past week marked the half-way point of my first semester!!! Time is actually passing really fast because I am really enjoying what I'm doing (although on days I have to get up before the Sun you might have to remind me of that)! And in spite of all the work, we still seem to know how to have a good time! On Thursday I had the opportunity to attend my initiation into the national chapter of Pi Alpha Delta. It was actually a really cool experience - we met inside the main hall of the U.S. Supreme Court (hopefully my future office haha!) and were inducted by Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor! Although there was a happy-hour after, Mista Seth took me out for a special celebration over dinner and drinks at Front Page in DuPont instead :)

Justice Sotomayor reciting the PAD oath.

Anyway, like I said above, since this weekend marked the halfway point of our first semester AND because it was also my friend Emily's B-Day, it also meant it was time to let loose a little bit! We took advantage of the "foody" nature of D.C. and went on a double date with our friends Beah and Matt - got some Tapas (no, not topless everyone haha!) at this restaurant in Chinatown called La Tasca (we have been wanting to try it forever) and then headed off to Em's for her party and some good times! We had to get up pretty early the next day but still ended up hangin til pretty late...now lets see who says we're old!

Some of the girls out to celebrate Em's B-Day!

PS: We're Hitched :)

2010-10-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

PS: Just a note for those who don't know, Seth and I made it official at the beginning of September and tied the knot legally here in D.C. We figured we'd take advantage of the legality of it all while it lasts here in the District and are happy to announce it now that we have had the chance to tell the fam in person! Our wedding is still planned for July 24, 2011 at The Canyons Resort in Park City, UT but just FYI - we got hitched :)

Surprise SLC!!!

2010-10-04T21:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been DYING to post about this for the past few weeks but I couldn't because it was a surprise..and oh what a surprise it was! This Friday, Seth and I hopped on a plane and headed off to the SLC for a surprise visit and had a wonderful time! Thank goodness for the 'secret' setting that lets you create an event without everyone knowing because we were able to organize a get together with our friends downtown and never let word get back to the family early that we were in town :) Friday we got in at 9:00 PM and then headed over to our friend Ashley's for a get together which was followed by a little bit more pre-game at Kody and Ben's before heading to the W Lounge for a great night of dancing and fun!!! After closing down the W and saying adios to our friends, we stayed downtown at Hotel Monaco to rest up for a full day of family fun and good times that lay ahead!!!

Seth, Me, and some of the gang at Ashley's casa for good times!

Seth modeling the complimentary (well $80) robe at the Monaco!

After a good night's sleep (kind of) we got up and met with Jay (Seth's oldest brother), his girlfriend, and her son and headed over to Mindy's! When we pulled up to her house, Seth called her and, as the door opened and she saw all of us standing out front, I thought she was going to faint...and Chrissy and Jack both had that same reaction when they walked in the door...in other words: operation surprise the fam was a success!!! Had a wonderful 36 hours with them: BBQ, birthday presents/cake for Dayton and Uncle Jay, and La Puente...perfection! Anyway, it was really great to see the fam and we are SO glad we got to have a reunion - Odoyle stlye!

Me and Evie <3


Jack making her special appearance as the ninja from Dayton's dream!

Minday, Dayton, Uncle Seth, and Jack pre-Birthday candle blowout.

Well, as you can see from all the pics, the weekend was great and made us appreciate how awesome our family and friends really are! While I have said many times before how great it is to be back in D.C., we just want our Utah peeps to know that nobody will ever take your place...you're the bomb dot com and we love you all :)

Dash for Dad...and Mom on the Metro!!!

2010-09-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Spending time with my parents (although I never thought it was possible many years ago) is SO much fun!!! Mom and Dad made the trek to come and see us today...and got on the road early enough to make it in time for the 8:00 AM race (and still made it even though they got lost...hehe!) Seth and I (in an attempt to start gearing up for the National Marathon in March) have been registering for some local races. Today we rand the Dash for Dad 10K to End Prostate Cancer and both got qualifying times for the marathon. Mom and Dad walked to 2-Mile Course and beat us back to be there cheering us on at the finish line...what good sports they are :)

Seth, Me, and Mom post-race.

Seth, Me, and Dad post-race.
Dad: "I could have done the 10K faster but your mother held me back"
Mom: "Yeah right!"

After the race we headed back home to show Mom our home since she had never been here and then headed downtown to the DC Fiesta (Latin-American festival). Since we live so close to the Metro it is always quicker to just hop on the train and head down...and this was Mom's FIRST time ever riding the Metro...so I made a big deal about it and took pictures just like she did to me on the first day of school haha!

Mom's first time on the Metro!!! What a big girl :)

Anyway, took the Metro down to Mt. Pleasant to check out the DC Fiesta in all of its glory...and I felt like I was back in East L.A...tacos, balloons, and espanol all around :) Had fun walking around and seeing the festivities and then headed back into town for lunch...although I'm having second thoughts about not getting some food from the vendors now :)

Me, Mom, and Seth at DC Fiesta.

Mom and Dad left a little while ago to make sure they were home for the Redskins game and now it's time to crack the books open (boo!) but just wanted to give a shout out to two of the coolest parents in the world (no matter how dorky you may be hehe) - we love you Mom and Dad!

You down with PAD, yeah you know me!

2010-09-26T15:45:00.000-04:00

This week marked the end of my first month in law school and to celebrate I joined a fraternity...well, sort of :) There is a nationwide legal fraternity called Pi Alpha Delta (PAD) that I joined mostly for networking and study aid purposes. It was a fun night though and, in true fraternity fashion, we went downtown to party! My two new bff's at school (Beah and Emily) along with Seth and some other friends went to Chinatown for dinner and drinks...fun times! One month down...35 to go :)

Beah, Me, and Emily post-initiation outside of school (aka our second home).