So much exciting stuff....

Well, the snow from the Storm of the Century out here on the East Coast is finally melting. There are still big piles from where they had to plow, but the sidewalks are getting clear - woohoo!

A lot of exciting stuff has been happening these past few weeks for us. First, my last day at Urbanite was on Friday. I'm starting a new position (today!) with Federal Hill Main Street. I'll be focusing on marketing and promotions, which is what I'm extremely interested in. It's just an internship, so it'll be done in May. The reason I decided to switch from a full-time job to an internship is simple: we're only here until May and I really want to work in marketing and promotions. I'm hoping this position will help me land a job in that industry wherever we may move to this summer. Wish me luck!

Evan has a lot of exciting stuff going on - he'll be traveling to Cincinnati on Thursday to compete in a business plan competition. Throughout the semester, he'll be traveling a lot because his team has been getting into business plan competitions left and right! Joining Cincinnati on the list so far: Berkeley, Manitoba (yes, Canada!) and LINCOLN! That's right, we're coming to Lincoln in April - I've already made the executive decision that I'll be joining him! His team is also a semi-finalist for Tulane and Wharton Business School - so there's a chance he'll be going to those also!

We'll be sure to keep you updated on our travels to Nebraska in April!

Happy Olympics!

First of all, we finally had a normal day today! I went back to work, and Evan's classes started back up. Some of the streets in Baltimore are still a mess - there's just nowhere to put snow when you're in the middle of a big city with narrow streets - yuck. The main roads are decent, so that's good. It's actually snowing right now - I'm not sure how much we're supposed to get. I'm just trying to ignore it...maybe it will go away!

Second, Happy Winter Olympic Games - woohoo! I love the Olympics. We watched the entire opening ceremonies - and the major fail that Canada experienced while lighting the cauldron. Oops! We've been watching the games every day, and plan on doing so until the end. It's just so exciting - we love it. 

It's crazy to think that once the Olympics get over, it will basically be March. I think I can hear warmer weather calling our names...it's more a muffled sound, off in the distance...but it's there!

Hope you're all staying warm!

Phase 3 Emergency

Baltimore is now in a Phase 3 Emergency Plan. This states that only city-authorized vehicles are allowed on the streets. This means we can't even go outside and WALK down the street. The city has shut down! 

This is just pure madness - the local channels have been reporting this storm all day. I'm not even kidding when I say that no "regularly scheduled programming" was on the air today. News anchors were asking people to send them emails of what they're baking and cooking. I just had to laugh...

We haven't been outside to take pictures yet. The wind is blowing pretty hard - it's kind of a white-out. Hopefully it will clear up by tomorrow morning, so I can take some pictures!

Johns Hopkins already called off school for tomorrow - I have a feeling I'll be working from home again. That will be day #5 of that (it started last Friday!). 

We'll be sure to keep you all updated!

Here comes another one...

It's been crazy here these past few days. The last blizzard hit us Friday night - luckily it stopped snowing by Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Baltimore has no idea how to clean up streets, so the roads in the city are AWFUL. Johns Hopkins actually closed yesterday and called another snow day for today - Evan was pretty excited! I've been able to work from home yesterday and today, so that's been nice - thank goodness for the internet!

Here's some crazy new for you, though....another snow storm is on its way. A winter storm warning went into effect around noon today and will last until Wednesday at 7pm. The projected amount for this storm is 12-18 inches for Baltimore. However, I follow this website for weather: Foot's Forecast. He's a local science teacher (I think), and his predictions are almost always right. He's saying that 22 inches will be the right amount. Ahh! 

I'll be sure to post updates as soon as the snow starts to fall. Hope your week is going well!

Another blizzard...

We're alive and trying to stay warm!

Ok, so when we first moved to Baltimore, we heard that the winters were pretty mild. Yes, we did have that big blizzard in December, but besides that, it's been very enjoyable. Mild temperatures and hardly any wind (and anyone who knows me, that's huge!). Well, we heard this past week that another blizzard was coming...seriously?! Again, we didn't know what to expect, as people tend to freak out at the smallest amount of precipitation out this way. The snow was predicted to fall starting on Friday...and on Thursday, schools were already declaring snow days for Friday. It was crazy. My work gave us the option to work from home on Friday, which I obviously took advantage of. I did have to stop at the grocery store on Friday, to get some food....normal food. I wasn't involved in any of that "panic purchasing" - buying huge amounts of toilet paper, 8 loaves of bread, 10 gallons of milk, etc. But believe me, there were a ton of crazies participating in that behavior. 

The snow started Friday afternoon and it really got us that night. We woke up to a winter wonderland yesterday morning! Chris, a friend of ours and who is in Evan's program, came over on Friday night and stayed until today! He's from Florida, so we enjoyed being able to experience this blizzard with him! Of course, him being here meant that Evan had a partner-in-crime for building igloos and playing in the snow - which of course they did!

The snow did cancel some plans that we had with my dad. He was supposed to fly into D.C. on Friday - which got postponed to Saturday - which got postponed to later tonight. We were going to meet him for lunch today down in D.C., but he's still not here. Bummer. We do get to see him in 2 months, when my parents come out for Easter - so yay!

I'll leave you with some pictures of the blizzard - I hear Nebraska is expecting some snow tomorrow - stay warm! We're supposed to get quite a few more inches on Tuesday - ugh!

 

 

Another weekend down...

Wow. We're now in the last week of January - I can't believe it!

Evan and I had another great weekend here in Smaltimore (yes, Smaltimore - the locals call it that because it's so small - which we've come to realize, it is!). Katie Madsen, my dearest friend, was in College Park, MD for a few days, so we were able to see her on Saturday. We spent time touring University of Maryland's campus with her and Josh Alvarez - who also went to UNL and ventured out to the East. It was wonderful.

I decided that Sundays are my baking days and I love it (and I think Evan enjoys what comes of it!). Yesterday I made pretzel chocolate chip cookies - yummy!

My dad will be out in D.C. for a few days in early February. We're hoping that everything works out, and we'll be able to see him. My mom and him made it back safely from their travels to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - they had a great time.

Enjoy the last week of January - February here we come (bring on the Winter Olympics!).

We have fallen in love...

With NEW YORK CITY! And I truly mean that. Evan and I decided that in the next few months, we are going to take advantage of our location on the East Coast. There are so many cities that are close to us - we feel we need to visit as many as possible. First on our list was New York City...a mere 3 hours away! We bought bus tickets from Mega Bus - a really cheap option.

We loaded up on the double-decker bus at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday and headed to NYC. They literally  just dropped us off in the middle of the city. It was pretty amazing. And we fell in love in an instant. Seriously. We first walked to Cafe Grumpy - a great coffee shop that Evan heard about from one of his professors. Best drinks we've ever had - probably because they use a $30,000 coffee grinder!! Next we wandered around the Financial District, Greenwich Village and NYU's campus. We ate lunch at an authentic Thai restaurant - a place that I wouldn't have chosen by looks alone - but it was delicious! And thanks to Evan for exposing me to new things! We then took the subway over to Brooklyn and walked back to NYC. The view was amazing.

End-of-the-day highlights included CRUMBS, Bryant Park (for those Project Runway fans!), Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Times Square. By the end of the night, we both felt that we could definitely live in New York City. Who knows what the future holds, right?!

EDIT: just realized the pictures I posted are mainly of food. oops. :)

Below: In Central Park

Below: CRUMBS - Red Velvet and Baba Booey (peanut butter/chocolate)

Below: Bennie's Thai Cafe

 Below: Evan's latte at Cafe Grumpy.

Hairspray, Sunday & Chicken Cacciatore

I received two free tickets to Hairspray at The Lyric Opera House from Urbanite, so Evan and I got to experience the musical in all its glory last Friday night. We went to a production of it while it was in Lincoln two years (Evan surprised me!) and I've been in love ever since (with the musical and with Evan!). When we found out we were moving to Baltimore last spring, I couldn't help but bust out the chorus to "Good morning, Baltimore!" Needless to say, I'm a fan. Friday night's showing was absolutely terrific, and we appreciate having had the opportunity to go.

Sunday was just as wonderful - I love Sunday mornings! We got up early to head to Trader Joe's and got our grocery shopping done. We stopped by Starbuck's for some coffee (thanks mom, dad and Grandpa Rogers - all who gave us Starbuck's gift cards!). After we got home and unloaded the groceries, it was time for church. All in all, a great morning!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already - this week is flying by. Although Evan hasn't officially started classes back up, he has been working with his team on their project. So we're both back into the routine of everything.

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight - a new recipe! Chicken Cacciatore in the crock pot - I'll be post the recipe and pictures on my food blog later this week. I'm excited to get home tonight and not have to worry about fixing dinner - it will already be done! Hope everyone's week is going well.

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year, everybody! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season - we sure did. We left one blizzard and experienced another one right away, once we got to Nebraska. Our 2 weeks at home was absolute bliss - and much needed! Although the snow cancelled a few of our family Christmases, we were able to see everyone. Evan was finally able to meet his nephew, Garrison...it was great! We also had two weddings to attend, so it was nice to see some college friends.

We got back to Baltimore on Monday - it was sunny and the snow was all gone! We're just trying to get back into the swing of things. We can't believe we've been here for almost 7 months, and that it's already 2010 - time keeps going by faster and faster!

Baltimore Blizzard 2009

 

Above: Evan built an igloo for us!

 

 

Above: The next day - that's a lot of snow!

 

Above: Our apartment's courtyard - Saturday night.