Goodbye Exploder... Hello Tiguan

A little sad to see it go, it was in the family for 13 years

About half way through the summer Ry and I had to put one of our Explorers to rest. It had almost 200,000 miles on it when the engine took its last breath. Luckily, we had another Explorer for Ry to drive around for a few weeks so "we" could shop around for a new car (and when I say "we" I mean Ry b/c I was working about 15 hours a day, Mon-Sun.)

Unfortunately for Ry, the other Explorer was closing in on 250,000 miles, had no AC, no heat, and made funny noises we didn't even want to know about. It wouldn't have been so bad if this happened at the end of Sept or the beginning of May but, it was the middle of the hottest July I can remember.

You would think since we are in the middle of a recession, any car dealership would bend over backwards to sell a car to someone with pretty good credit right? Wrong... Ry and I went to a few different dealerships (I won't name any names here) and they were HORRIBLE!! The first dealership let him test drive a disgustingly dirty car. The second salesman damaged the paint on a car we were looking at and didn't care. "Oh well, not a big deal". And the third salesman couldn't even be bothered by coming outside. He expected us to go inside to see him! Aren't the cars OUTSIDE?!?!

Then, the skies parted and we drove into Fitzgerald Auto Mall in Annapolis. First, the salesman came outside (GASP), asked us how we were doing (WHOAH!!!) and was extremely friendly (I almost fainted at this point). He then talked to us, rather than down to us, and helped us buy a brand spankin new Volkswagen Tiguan in cherry red. Ry and I had never even heard of the Tiguan but as soon as we got into it we fell in love. It was perfect for us, a sporty SUV that isn't too big but not too small, plus it is a manual! Ry has been looking for a manual car this whole time. I don't know how to drive it yet but all that means to me is an extra daquari or margarita at dinner time :)

MIA

I confess, I have been HORRIBLE at blogging the last two or three months however, I feel I have a good excuse. Or 111 of them. I just finished up my second season coaching a summer swim team, along with coaching my club swim team and teaching about 2387492983 swim lessons a week. Well, maybe not that many swim lessons but, a whole lot!!! It was an extremely busy summer but a very rewarding one!

"WCSC Seadogs"
One of the swimmers came up with this idea and it worked out really well!

A few weeks ago I had to make one of the hardest decisions ever... I quit coaching my club team. I have been talking about going back to school for a while but, with Ryan, my family and my friend's support I am really doing it! I am going to miss my kids more than they will ever know! Luckily, we are all BFF's on Facebook so we can keep in touch :)

Most of my group

I I just registered for two classes and I am really excited! I know what you are all thinking... NERD! But, I am ready to go back and learn. I am also excited to have a career, whether it is as a swim coach or as a mechanical engineer. So, the next year and a half or so will be pretty crazy but, it will definitely be worth it!

Top Gun

So, yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year. No, it wasn't a holiday and yes, I had to go to work. Why was it so special? It was Navy's graduation... so I got to see the Blue Angels fly over our condo for about an hour.

Every year since Ry and I moved into our condo we have gone downtown to watch the show they put on. This year, Ry couldn't take off work so I decided to watch them from the picnic table outside our condo with Foxxy.

When I told Foxxy she would be able to hear them before she saw them, she got ready

It really is amazing to watch them fly so close and a couple times I could actually see the pilot flying the plane. I didn't get too many photos but I did get a pretty cool (but short) video.

B/c I didn't get any cool pictures, here are some photos from last year...







Remember when an American cargo ship Captain was held hostage by 3 pirates and our Navy went in to rescue him? Yea, this is what Naptown does to show how kick ass our Navy is!

What's a Pirate's Favorite Letter?

A few weeks ago Ry, Foxxy and I took our first Sunday stroll around Naptown in the spring time. During our walk we stopped in a little dog and cat boutique, Paws, to look around. They have the coolest stuff in there! In the back there is a wall that is only collars and leashes (there are so many it's border line overwhelming!). After looking for a few minutes we found the perfect collar... skulls and crossbones. But, it's not JUST skulls and crossbones, it has a pink border so it is very clear that she is a she :)

Living the life of a pirate

The bandanna is pink too!

After we found the perfect collar, we found a new new name tag. Now, this is a serious skull and crossbone... no pink, no fru-fru, nothing feminine what so ever. The name tag makes a statement: "I'm a bad ass", the collar lets everyone know she is a bad ass girl, and the under-bite lets everyone know she is ridiculous.

Watch out!

We tried...

Oh, a pirates favorite letter? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Is this really the same dog?

Ryan and I love to take pictures of our beautiful Vizsla, Foxxy. I think we take so many pictures of her b/c we don't have any children yet... at least that is what I tell myself. Enjoy!

When she was just a little pup

She loves the park!

It looks like she wants to eat them but, really she just wants to snuggle


She can beg

She likes the Redskins... sometimes


She likes to run really fast


She plays cards


She sleeps under the covers


She watches the snow


She loves the beach!


She is kinda cute right?

WOAH! What is that?!?!

Another Day in the Office...

For those who don't know, my life pretty much revolves around a pool. As far back as I can remember, everyday of the summer was spent at the pool, and from the age 11 - 19 at LEAST 5 days a week (and most days, twice a day) I was at a pool for practice or a swim meet. I started teaching swim lessons when I was 11, almost 12, and haven't stopped since then.

A little over a year ago I started coaching kids 12-18 on a swim team. You would think after so many years I would be sick of the water. Crazy enough, I still love it. Yea, I hate getting wet sometimes for lessons, but I LOVE the children I teach. Yes, I can spend 40 hours at a pool in 3 days for a swim meet but, it is sooo worth it to see the look on my kids faces when they make a goal time or qualify for finals. Even though the hours are crazy and there are days I could pull my hair out, I love my job!

Head coach ,Ken, and I waiting for our relays to start

*Photo by Melissa Albers

A perfect example is the swim meet I coached this past weekend. I had 3 of my kids qualify to swim in Maryland States. Out of those 3 kids, 11 team records were broken and all three made it back to swim in finals in at least one event. And even more exciting...

Michael Phelps swam in this meet.

*Photo by Brian Kim

And what could be more exciting than that?

He broke an American record in the 200 Fly

The previous record was 1:39.72. As you can see he swam in lane 4 and and swam a 1:39.65.

So, not only was I on cloud nine that my kids were swimming AMAZING, we all had the chance to watch the most amazing swimmer of our time break another record.

This weekend I have another swim meet with the rest of my group. I am sure more records will be broken and even more goal times will be reached.

I love my job

Oh how times change...

I remember when I was little, the Toys are Us or JCPenny catalog would come in the mail and my brother, sisters and I would circle all the toys we couldn't live without. When I was 8 I could NOT live with out the Go Go my Walkin Pup. It was a white dog with a pink leash that was set on a pair of wheels. When you pushed the button on the leash it would roll around as if it was walking.

Now that I am kinda a grown up I am just as excited when the Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond catalogs come in the mail/email. Ry and I could spend all day in Home Depot or Lowe's coming up with new home projects. Our latest project... a new refrigerator/freezer and dishwasher. I felt the same joy when the new appliances arrived at the condo a few days ago as when I opened the Walkin Pup on Christmas morning (but hopefully I will enjoy them a little longer than the white fuzzy pooch)

A little over a week ago our refrigerator decided to stop running so, Ry and I had to go through the trouble finding an acceptable replacement. Let me tell you, there is almost a ridiculous amount of choices. From the standard freezer on top, fridge on the bottom to the double door freezer/fridge and finally the fridge on top and the freezer on the bottom. Once you decide the model you then have to choose a color and size. It is like trying to decide what type of coffee to order at a Starbucks!Our old fridge... plain and boring

Ry and I measured the size of our old refrigerator and figured we could find one that matched pretty easily... we were wrong. Just about EVERY model we looked at was about 1.5 inches too big. Luckily the only thing stopping us from buying a new fridge was a set of cabinets that were empty. After a few calls to some pretty crafty folks (thanks Uncle Kevin and dad!!!) Ry's confidence was built up enough to attempt to take the cabinets out himself. It was actually a whole lot easier to take them out than we thought. Just a few screws held the cabinets up. Piece of cake.My handy man :)

Now we had to try and match the color of our walls. The space behind the cabinets was white and marked up from installing the old cabinets. Luckily, Ry had taken a few days off of work earlier so he had plenty of time to find the paint and make the wall look beautiful.

Time for the fun part: picking the appliances out! Best Buy was having a sale: Buy 2 get 10% off, buy 3 get 20% off, buy 4 or more and get 30% off. We decided to just stick with buying 2 appliances to get the 10% off. We desperately wanted a new dishwasher (notice I said wanted but not needed) our old one was soooo loud we had to run it when we left the condo. We ended up buying a new fridge/freezer and a dishwasher and we LOVE them!

We decided to go with the fridge on top and freezer on the bottom after reading a bunch of reviews and talking to people with the different models. Everyone I talked to said they either love the fridge on top or wanted the fridge on top. That was easy. Now what color and size? Obviously we would want the biggest size for the buck and the color we decided on was..... black.

We have only had them a few days now but we both LOVE the new appliances! The refrigerator is so much bigger than our old one and our dishwasher is amazing! The best thing so far is that Ry is actually helping with the dishes :) I just wonder how long it will last...New HUGE fridge

Fridge decorations