Farmers' Market and Playdate

We went to the farmers' market this morning and met our neighbor and his son at the nearby playground. The weather was absolutely perfect, not too sunny and warm with a slight breeze. I got some great looking peppers and tomatoes, and some Romaine that actually had flavor.

Grilling the delicious veggies to go with some flank steak

We spent some more time at the playground behind our house before dinner. Wiggle ran around and we played "I got you!" which consists of me chasing him around calling "I'm gonna get you!" 

Peek-a-boo!

We are looking forward to Nonna, Pop-Pop's, and Aunt M's visit on Thursday. Wiggle keeps talking about them, so I think it will be a really fun visit. Plus C and I will get some alone time!

Swimming!

We had our first swim lesson today. Wow! What a difference a real instructor and a warmish pool makes. Wiggle loved it and so did I. These lessons are also twice a week, so he will probably be able to gain some actual swim skills. Then I did my run, which was hella hard today.
I also took a career-aptitude test which told me that I should be an accountant. Nothing against accountants, but I do not want to be an accountant. The next step? A career interest inventory, and some GRE studying. I'm also wondering if I should retake the LSAT. Of course, I don't have a problem taking tests; I LIKE taking tests. I just don't know what to do after that. Ugh. Blech. It will get better, but it feels slow going right now.
Tomorrow, the farmer's market and a play date at a really fun park.

The Best Kind of Sunday

This morning I awoke to fresh blueberry muffins and coffee, thanks to my wonderful husband. It was overcast and rainy outside, which is my favorite kind of weather. In our new house my favorite weather is paired with my favorite view, green and hilly. What can I say? It's my Scottish ancestry, I guess. We lazed around inside for the rest of the morning.

After Wiggle's nap, we went to the library where Wiggle scored some new books to pour over, and I scored a GRE practice test book, a couple of career aptitude books, some cookbooks, and a knitting book. Overall, it was a good haul. I have a couple of fiction books in the hopper at home, but I wasn't able to get the book that my book club is reading. I might have to read it online, which I'm kind of dreading, but the meeting is this Saturday, so it may be the only viable option. Then we ran to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things, but made a pit stop at the frozen yogurt/gelato place next door. Wiggle enjoyed mango and mint chocolate chip gelatos.

As we drove home from the library, Wiggle said "house" and "playground" when we reached the neighborhood. Naturally, we walked over to the playlot and horsed long enough for Wiggle to start being a little wobbly with fatigue. On the way home, we met another of our neighbors and his son, who is almost three. Wiggle followed the older boy around, who was pretending to be some kind of monster, with rapt attention. His mom is home too, so we will probably be seeing a lot more of him.

For dinner, we had some more of the delicious candy tomatoes in a pasta salad. This is the way I would like every Sunday to go, and I don't really see any reason why most of them can't be like this. I have a pretty good life.

A boy wolfing down gelato and tasting our frozen yogurt

At the playlot

Climb it!

A Beautiful Day

Today we got a late start, so we had to rush out the door to get to the farmers' market before it shut down. We hadn't been to the Saturday one before (there is also one on Tuesday and on Sunday), and it was both larger and appeared to have more local produce than the other ones, which is great.
We took home some peaches and nectarines so fragrant, that I kind of want to rub them on my neck as perfume. Also, we have cherry tomatoes in both yellow and purple, as well as some big, beautiful heirlooms. The tomatoes here are some of the best I've ever had; each variety actually tastes different, and they are so sweet, they are almost like candy. Even Wiggle, who normally eschews tomatoes, ate a bowlful tonight with dinner.
We also went to an awesome park today, Burke Lake Park. It is about 15 minutes from the house and is HUGE. There are trails and picnic shelters, a kiddie train, the lake, boat rentals, playgrounds, and a gold course. It is also very pretty. If I ever work up to running outdoors, it is a dream spot.
The park was very crowded today, partially because it was a beautiful day ("Hello, Fall! I've missed you!"), and partially because today was the last day of Ramadan, and there were many families out celebrating and grilling. We took a walk to the lake and on the way back we had to cross a part of the path that was separating two parts of such a group, as we walked by they had a huge bowl of grilled chicken that smelled strongly of lemon and garlic - two of my favorite smells. We made our way past the crowd hovering near the bowl, when a hand reached out the bowl to us, and a young woman asked us if we would like some. I said "yes!", but figured I would taste it and then give the rest of the piece to Wiggle, who was running down due to a delay in both nap and food. Then they offered C a piece and Wiggle, and it was delicious! We walked back to the car savoring our chicken and thinking how lucky we are to have moved to such a wonderfully diverse and welcoming place.

Here are some pics from the park.

Looking at geese and fish from the pier

The boat launch and view of the lake

Wiggle noshing on the awesome chicken

Weekend in the County

So apparently, we live in Fairfax County and not the City of Fairfax as I originally thought. For some small reason, this is a little disappointing to me. I guess my snob streak runs deeper than I thought. Oh well, that's not really a big surprise.

Some of the neighbors had a potluck right outside on our cul-de-sac tonight. I met some other nice families and their kids, and the best news, they have plans to do it every Friday night. Talk about a neighborhood; it's pretty awesome.

Wiggle and I have been avoiding the park as of late because it is unrelentingly bright and sunny here until 7:00 pm, and Wiggle has developed a new habit of rubbing sunscreen in his eyes to the point of needing his eyes flushed. Today it was fairly overcast and wonderfully cool, so we went over to one of the playlots this afternoon.

We spent a lot of time going forward and backward; playing hide-and-seek, and going down the slide, of course.

Chillin' on a park bench

Going "ovvvvaaaaa" the bridge

Riding the bulldozer

A Slow Day

Thursdays C teaches until 10:00 pm, so I'm on my own for the evening, as well as the day. When I discovered at mid-afternoon that C had left the trash he had promised to take out last night sitting in the entryway, complete with a rotting chicken carcass, I took a bit of a "mental health" afternoon. Wiggle and I watched some of a movie and vegged out instead of going to the park as I had originally planned.

On the upside, I read a bunch today and last night.

This new blogging regimen is going to be trying, but worth it in the end, I think.

VAriety

So, we've been in Virginia about a month, and we are starting to settle in. So far the traffic has not been as bad as everyone said, but then again, we don't try to go into the District at rush hour, so we haven't fully experienced it. Everything is crowded though. There is people traffic, as well as car traffic. Stores are crowded, restaurants seem crowded, parks, and trails are crowded. Not so much that things are at a stand still, but you are very aware that there are a lot of people around. Also surprising is the amount of diversity in the area. Coming from a city of neighborhoods, many of which are ethnically segregated neighborhoods, it is a welcome change to hear 4 or 5 different languages spoken while in line at the grocery store. This also means that there is a wealth of ethnic food and ingredients around. One thing we appear to be lacking so far, is cheap produce. Even the farmer's markets seem expensive compared to Chicago, especially considering that the food is generally not organic.

The days seem to fly by, so we haven't established much of a routine yet, but C only started teaching last week, so hopefully, the structure that I crave will firm up in the coming weeks. Wiggle clearly misses his friends, but loves his new, huge room, and our house in general. He has already met a couple of new playmates in the neighborhood, but it will be awhile before they are really chummy with each other.

The boy is growing up fast. I gave him his first haircut the day before yesterday.

He is talking up a storm. Sentences become longer and more frequent each day. He expresses preferences by saying "like it" or "yucky." He has been working on colors, although he tends to favor pink and blue as guesses. He also counts to ten, even if 5 and 8 don't generally make the cut.

One of my favorite things he does, is when he tries to get you to do something by as many means as he can. If he wants to watch TV, he will say "Watch!" When I say no, he tries "See!" or "Look!" Then he may ask for a show by name, or even try pulling me toward the remote. I wonder where he gets this stubborn streak?

On a personal note, I realize that I will not be running a marathon this fall. Am I bummed? Not really, I plan on doing a 10k in October, which will be 5 miles more than I could run at this time last year, so I feel pretty good. Plus, I have found I really love running, and I feel better than I have in a long time.

I also have a few more resolutions to put in print.

I am going to post a blog entry ------- EVERY DAY. In this case, I'm going for quantity over quality in order to get the habit ingrained. Now for all of you Wiggle-freaks out there, this does mean that there will be more pictures and Wiggle-related posts, but they won't all be about him, because, well, I am trying to have a life too.

Also, I am going to read every day. I would like to get through at least two books a month, which I know will be a breeze some of the time, but I have the resolution for those other times. And the newspaper - I have to read the newspaper every day. Now that we are where news happens, I feel woefully uninformed.

More amorphously, I need to find out what I want and can go back to school for and start that process. My goal is to be taking some classes by next fall.

Don't worry there are some pics...

A busy professional with a keen fashion sense

This blurry chicken is always on the move