A Whole New World

No - I didn't necessarily intend to quote Aladdin in my blog title but it certainly fits so I decided to run with it. I've officially been in Virginia for a week now! Wow! I don't think it's really sunk in yet and to be honest, it probably won't sink in for a little while that I actually live here...and that's fine, ha-ha! I'm just enjoying it day by day, figuring out what is where and how to get to it, ha-ha!

Trying out new walking trails...on Monday afternoon this was also known as the golf course directly behind our house.

Monday night supper with a fussy dog - he begged & begged & begged...

Monday night thunderstorm!

The most interesting part of the move so far has been trying to adjust Watson to his new lifestyle - he's used to being able to run wild and free and with the move, he is now more of an inside dog. He's been doing pretty well although he's certainly earned himself a new nickname this week: Jailbreak. My Mom bought a safety gate with the intent to put it up at the bottom of the stairs of the basement and Watson could sleep in the basement at night - let me just let you know that the basement of my parent's townhouse is not a cold, moldy and damp basement - it's fully finished with carpet, a second living room, a second bathroom and a storage room.

When we went to town early in the week for some supper, we just sat the gate at the bottom of the stairs and assumed it would be fine. When we arrived home, a certain little pup was waiting in the window to greet us - he'd knocked the gate down and just came right on up into the kitchen to do whatever he pleased. Well, we put him in the basement another night and put the gate firmly in place; locked it down and went upstairs...and my Mom kept hearing him bump, bump, bump against it, but I was sure he couldn't break through it. Well I was surely wrong! He persisted until he crashed that thing down and came racing back up the stairs, stopping to sit and look at my Mom like "well, I did it." So, we'll see where we go from here.

On our daily "long" walk...we usually do at least a mile or more in the mornings...

Sitting on a hilltop on the golf course on Tuesday afternoon - thankfully there were no golfers & so we were able to hang out, sitting on the hill for a good 25 minutes.

Wednesday, I spent the afternoon at the pool with my friend from church, Jen and her daughter Emily and Emily's friend (my little friend too) Jimmy. Hanging out with an eight year old and a six year old is pretty hilarious and they kept me entertained; they were so eager to entertain that they when Jen and I got out of the pool (after being in the pool for over an hour) to talk, Jimmy kept coming to ask me "why did you get out of the pool??" and when I'd tell him that I was going to come back to the pool in a little bit, he'd shrug and tell me "oh well - you're missing all the fun!" Kids are a mess! I re-applied sunscreen but I obviously didn't apply enough because by the time Wednesday night rolled around, I was feeling the heat! Yikes! Oh well, you live and you learn.

Trying to get rid of my pale, pasty white legs...with some goofy little kiddos!

Okay - I thought it was just a little bit cooler in Virginia...what is the deal?

Wednesday night's colorful supper, courtesy of me!

Wednesday night drive over Low Water Bridge - which I wouldn't want to drive across when the water wasn't low...

Wednesday night sunset!

A lovely end to Wednesday night, Sweet Frogs - just two miles up the road! And Watson got to come too!

I've also had my share of adventures at the DMV this past week - I do think that being grumpy is a requirement to working at the DMV because good gracious at the people and their unfriendliness! I went on Monday, thinking I'd be on top of things and get it taken care of, but I didn't have what I needed and the nice (ha) lady at the desk hi-lighted a piece of paper for me so I'd be sure to bring the right things on trip two. I went on Tuesday with what I thought were the correct things but another lovely (ha) lady informed me that I still didn't have the right things and she hi-lighted the paperwork a second time, because I was obviously too idiotic to read it the first time...*sigh*. I finally got everything together and went on Thursday for the THIRD time and when my turn came up, the nice lady (this time, actually nice) told me she loved it when people had all their stuff together. I just gave her a look and in a deadpan voice said "I've been here three times." Oh well, I'm registered to vote and my license will be here in three to five days.

Headed through downtown Front Royal after leaving the DMV for the third (and finally successful) visit....

Emily being a goofball & trying to box herself up - what a little nut!

Walking to dinner in Old Town Winchester on Thursday night....

We ate at Union Jack's - a British Pub!

Some pictures from supper - including my delicious mac & cheese from Union Jack's!

Watson's new favorite place to nap is on the back deck...in the shade!

My Mom and I went on an interesting outing Friday night - Styx and Foreigner were at the Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheatre and tickets to sit on the lawn were only $15, so my Mom and I decided to check it out! We were joined by our long time friends, Angie and Rachel...I say long time because I've known Rachel since we were born and our Mom's have known one another since before we were born. It's funny, we started our life together in California and here we are at thirty and almost thirty (yikes) in the same place again! I didn't really know too many of Styx's songs but I knew almost every song that Foreigner sang and I was singing along to every one! Rachel and I spent the time between the songs we knew people watching - and some of the people we watched, well they are still living in the early 80's and they also still think they're 25. Yikes!

Ready for the concert on the lawn!

The opener was Don Felder, of the Eagles. I didn't know much of what he sang, but I did know Hotel California!

Group picture - here's to thirty more years of friendship!

Styx!

Foreigner!

We got a very special package in the mail on Saturday - our magic bands for Disney!

The weekend seems to pass quickly even when you aren't working - isn't that wild? Saturday was the first day of Summer and we brought the Summer in with rain and a high temperature of 65 - crazy, right? My Mom and I went to see The Fault in our Stars in all it's weepy glory on Saturday afternoon and I went to sleep on Saturday night at 9:30, like some kind of old woman, ha-ha! After church on Sunday, I went on another adventure with the parents to the village of Millwood (yes, it's still called a village - I love it) to see the Burwell Mason Mill. My Dad and I perused the mill and watched a video while my Mom wandered around outside. After supper at Bob Evans (my Dad loves that place, it cracks me up a little bit) we came home and I introduced my parents to the movie Pompeii - which they both loved!

Millwood, the Burwell Mason Mill and the Old Chapel

Cheesy smile, ha-ha!

Sunday afternoon adventurers!

A little snack on Sunday afternoon - yum, yum macaroon!

So, that is my first week here in a nutshell! Amazingly, I've already got some things on the calendar for this upcoming week and I can't wait to see what else might pop up unexpectedly! Hope you have a great week ahead...I'm sure I'll be having one myself!

Holy backyard thistle!