Happy Birthday, Dad!!

A very happy birthday goes to my wonderful father. Yesterday was his 62nd birthday! Wow. I still remember when he turned 40 and what a big deal that was. Time certainly flies, doesn't it?

My superdad is definitely young for his age. He is constantly outside in the garden, perfecting his grass and plants. While I was away in D.C., he was so great. Not only did he work on his own yard, but he came over and took care of my lawn knowing that I invested a lot of time and money to make my yard what it is. So before all my work would have nothing to show, he lovingly took care of it for me without me even asking.

He even recently went water tubing for the first time ever, and he had a blast!

Even though I'm all grown up, he still made time to come watch all of my basketball games over the summer and, like he did when we were small, he kept track of all my stats. That's my dad!! He's always looking out for his kids and always sacrificing everything to make us happy. With the addition of Rupal and Katie, he treats them just like his own, too. And he is a fun grandpa, too...I'm sure Shifa would agree.

Anyway, happy birthday, pops (a.k.a. "Dya"). We all love you. Thank you for being you!

Home Sweet Home

Part of me actually really likes to leave for a short period of time from my house. The only reason being is because every time I come back home, I'm greeted with some amazing surprise that my beautiful wife has in store for me. For instance, the last time I went on a one week business trip, I came back home to see my entire office transformed into something wonderful and elegant. I LOVE my office now; it's so cozy.

Well, while I was in D.C. for 6 1/2 weeks, I could only guess what she did this time. I got home to see our bedroom look like a hotel room. It seriously looks like a fancy hotel. We got a brand new head board, a bed skirt (sort of), new matching side tables, a new tall lamp, a little tree in the corner, and grandma's chair in the corner as well. I'm sure Katie will take better pictures and post more about it, but below is a sample (from my iPhone) of what the bed now looks like.

Last Work Day!!!

Well, I did it. It was tough, but I did it. God was with me every step of the way. For the past 6 ½ weeks I have been in Washington, D.C. for work. While it was extremely difficult to leave my bride, I had to listen and obey to God’s word in my heart. A long time back I explained what the Lord told me about getting out of my comfort zone and trusting Him. I can honestly say that I have clung onto Jesus this entire trip, I have grown much closer to Him, I have not feared but simply have trusted Him with everything I am, and He never left my side.

Today marked my final day at work out here. I fly home tomorrow night. Thank you for those who took care of Katie and those who took care of my house while I was away. Thank you for those who sent me mail, gifts, cards, and for those who visited me. Thank you for reading my blogs. Most importantly, thank you all for all your prayers. It’s been fun, D.C., but I have a family back home and I’m ready to see them. Peace.

Happy Anniversary, Joyces!

I want to wish Jeffery and Silviana Joyce a very happy anniversary. Yesterday marked their 1 year anniversary. One year?! Really? Already? Time certainly does fly, and with the addition of Victor in their lives, I’m sure time is flying by much faster for them.

Here’s to Jeff and Silviana. Be blessed and enjoy a lifetime together!!

DAY 6 - Baltimore (final day)

Day 6 finally came. If you think for a second that we decided to take a break and relax that day, you are wrong. Even after our 40+ miles of walking in 5 days, we were ready for more. Rather than going to work only to come back to just drop Katie off at Baltimore for her flight home, I decided to take another day off. We spent the morning packing up all of Katie’s stuff. When that was all set, she said goodbye to the apartment and we began our 45 minute journey to Baltimore. Her flight wasn’t until 5:55pm, and it was only 1pm when we got to Baltimore. I did this so that we could spend the day in Baltimore. So we drove around a bit. We saw Camden Yards (where the Orioles play) as well as the Ravens football stadium. We parked the car and began walking again (we got good at that). We walked through Little Italy, but everything was practically closed. The fire hydrants were painted the colors of the Italian flag, which was cool.

We then went to the Inner Harbor and enjoyed some delicious sandwiches and dessert at Potbelly. We walked some more to the little mall by the harbor. Inside I showed her the famous Fudge Factory where the employees make fudge in front of everyone while singing a tune the entire time, and they have GREAT voices. In fact, did you know that Sisquo and the rest of Dru Hill were found because they originally worked at the Fudge Factory? Cool, huh? Anyway, we walked some more and then some more. Katie went shopping and I sat outside and listened to a guy playing live music with his guitar and microphone. He played great songs and sang/played them wonderfully. “Wonderful Tonight” and “Brown Eyed Girl” were my favorite along with a Jason Mraz song. After Katie was done shopping, we listened a bit more to the musician, and then we headed back to the car. I then dropped Katie off at the airport, and that was the end of our adventure. It was a wonderful time. Katie, my love, thank you for a wonderful 6 days together. I loved every single minute of it. Can’t wait for you to be in my arms again soon. I love you!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading about our journey. Please check out the pictures (unfortunately I did not upload the Baltimore pictures in time, so they won't be there). I will let you know when Craig has all his pictures uploaded as well. Those will blow your socks off.

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

DAY 5 - Back to D.C.

Day 5 started out rough as I got up at 6am to go to work. I was beat from the weekend, my feet hurt, and I had to put on dress shoes for work. I headed out the door, leaving Katie my extra set of apartment keys and her 7-day Metro pass. Katie’s plan for the day was to get up and meet her friend Ashley for lunch in Maryland. I went to work and was there from 6:30am-3pm. Katie hopped on the Yellow Line from Pentagon City to Chinatown, then crossed over west on the Red Line to Bethesda area (about a 45 minute ride). She had lunch with Ashley and her mom and spent some hours hanging out with them and chatting.

After work, I headed home, and Katie got home not too much later than I did. From there, we got dressed in our casual clothes and headed to Old Town Alexandria in my car. The previous time we were there was simply to watch the movie, and it was night time, so we didn’t get to explore. So now that we were there, we went all over Old Town. I looked at the design blog again and wrote down a few of the places to go see. We went to several design stores and even found a cool candy shop. We walked all the way east to the water and sat and rested as well as took some pics. After resting, we headed back up King St from the opposite side that we were walking on before. We found a really wonderful store where Katie bought a bunch of stuff and even used her mom’s leftover money to buy her mom some things as well.

From there we headed back to my car, drove around Old Town a bit, and headed back to my apartment. We quickly changed into our dress clothes as I had booked a fancy restaurant for a night out of town. We jumped on the Metro from Pentagon City to Chinatown (Yellow) and then west on the Orange Line to Metro Center. From there we had to walk only a block to Tosca Restaurant, a very fancy Italian restaurant. We had a wonderful time there. The food was out of this world good. By far the best food I’ve ever eaten. All the flavors were just so…flavorful! The wine was amazing, too! [First picture above is from Tosca]

After dinner, we headed back to Pentagon City and my apartment to change our clothes one last time back to casual. We then drove to Georgetown and had a wonderful time walking around there, seeing the different stores and driving through Cady’s Alley (design store alley). Great time in Georgetown. We drove back home and got in around midnight. That concluded our final full day together. Katie would be leaving the next day.

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

DAY 4 - NYC

Hang in there. Only two more days worth of posts after this one. If you haven't already, please go back and read days 1-3 to catch up on my story. Also, please check out the pictures (link provided on each days' post at the end).

Day 4 began with major pain in our legs and feet. After all, we walked about 8 miles or so the day before, putting our total to about 28 miles in 3 days. We packed up our bags and checked out, but we left our bags with the bellman since we didn’t want to haul everything all over New York. Katie and I grabbed some Starbucks, and then we headed to Grand Central to take the number 4 train to Brooklyn (Borough Hall). This would’ve been the stop we’d have to take to attend Brooklyn Tabernacle for church, but we decided to not go since 1. We’ve both attended the church in the past, and 2. We simply did not have time to do everything we wanted to do before our bus ride back at 6:30pm. So at Borough Hall, we waited for Craig who lives very close by. He greeted us a few minutes later, and he told us that it was photoshoot day. Katie and I wore our fashion model clothes, and we began walking with Craig around the nicer part of Brooklyn. He showed us his place, and he took us right by the water which was overlooking Manhattan and all the skyscrapers. Missing in our view of course were the World Trade Centers. The view was perfect!

As we walked along the strip near the water, Craig took tons of pictures of us. With Craig you not only get the best tour guide in the city, you also get the best photographer in the city, too! We got a 2-for-1 deal for FREE. Craig rules! From the promenade, we walked down the street towards Brooklyn Bridge. By this time Craig and I got really hungry. Craig wanted to take us to Grimaldi’s which is a pizzeria and apparently the best pizza in New York (or at least Brooklyn). Unfortunately it didn’t open until noon, and it was only 11am. Katie wanted to go to the little market place under the Brooklyn Bridge so we went there to kill time. Craig and I debated several times whether to eat some place else immediately or wait an hour to eat at Grimaldi’s. After carefully weighing in all options, we both decided we could hold off our hunger for a little longer. Craig suggested we head over by 11:40 because he claimed people would begin to line up. After Katie did a little shopping, we grabbed her to head to Grimaldi’s by 11:45. When we got there, sure enough there was already a big line. We were happy though, because Craig said that we should definitely get a seat still. However, right at noon when they opened the doors, a HUGE number of people with some special privileges got to cut in front of everyone and go in first. When we saw that, we ran out of hope. Finally, we moved to the front of the line. We were about to head in when a worker there said, “Sorry, no more seats left.” WHHHYYYY?!?!??!?! Luckily we could order take out, so Craig quickly ordered our pizzas, and we waited a few minutes, and then they came out with it. We took the pizza to the nearby park and ate it at a bench in the shade. The weather was extremely gorgeous like the day before. Sunshine and mid-70s with humidity. The pizza was like glory in my mouth. Delicious! After eating, Craig did more of his photoshoot. He even got to photoshoot for another family as the guy with the camera had an older version of Craig’s camera and knew that Craig knew how to take good pics.

After all the walking and standing we did, we proceeded to the Brooklyn Bridge where we walked across it. We took several pictures along the way, and Craig took some super awesome pics of me dipping Katie and kissing her on the bridge. Can’t wait for Craig to post those. We continued across the bridge and headed to the subway. We hopped the train to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. From there we began to walk towards the terminal. It was hot and humid. We saw a huge number of people doing yoga in the park—at least 100 of them. We finally got to the terminal, and we were beat. We sat down and it felt good. When the ferry arrived, we got ready to board. Some lady fainted, and I can’t blame her because there was probably no oxygen in the room. When the doors opened, everyone bum rushed the ferry and tried to get a view from the top. Only Craig was wise enough to know there was a special spot down below where we could get a stellar view of the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty. Sure enough, we went down there and got a great spot. Craig took lots of pics as did Katie. The 30 minute ferry ride was simply just for us to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty, great view of the river, and a time to relax a bit. Once we got off the ferry, we immediately exited and literally ran to the next ferry to head back. Did I mention the ferries are free? It was my idea to take Katie on a boat tour that costs at least $20/person. But Craig was the genius who told us to take the free ferry instead. Good call as usual. On our trip back, we got to see a better view of the Statue of Liberty along with a wonderful view of Manahattan.

From the ferry terminal, we headed to the subway again where we hopped the train to Canal St. Katie’s main goal was to buy knock-off purses, primarily Louis Vouitton. As soon as we started to walk on Canal St, an Asian guy shouts, “Louis Vouitton bag?” That was our cue. We tapped him on the shoulder, and he took us for a little walk to find a private area. He showed Katie a brochure that had all the different knock-off purses he had. Katie saw a few she liked, and the guy went somewhere to grab the purses and Katie looked at them. We bargained with him. He told us $55 per purse, but we ended up getting one for $40 and one for $45. Katie later would have buyer’s remorse because she’s not one to buy right away without thinking. One of the purses was for Katie’s mom, too. I also ended up buying a pair of sunglasses since the burglars last month jacked all my shades. :( Craig also joined the fun by trying on a pair of glasses himself...take a look below.

Craig and I then left Katie on Canal St as we both hopped the metrorail yet again to Grand Central where we would walk to Katie and my hotel to pick up our bags. We grabbed the bags and then began to walk. We noticed time was closing in on us, and we didn’t think we could go all the way to pick up Katie and then go back to the bus stop in time. It was 5pm at the time, and 6:30pm is when the bus leaves promptly. So we called Katie and had her meet us at the bus stop. Katie was brave, and she hopped on the train all by herself and rode it to 33rd street where she met up with Craig and I.

By this point, we were all dead from walking. Katie walked everywhere on Canal St, and Craig and I walked from the hotel (42nd and 1st) to 33rd and 7th. It was grueling. We then grabbed some panini’s from a nearby store so that we could eat it on the bus. Craig waited patiently with us at the bus stop until we got on. Finally we boarded, and we began our long 4 hour journey back home. This time we had power and WiFi though, so the ride was really quick. When we got off the bus, we couldn’t find Katie’s sunglasses. We searched the whole bus to no avail. It was strange. From the bus stop, we had to walk a few blocks again to Chinatown, then hop the Metro from Chinatown to Pentagon City, then we walked home. We got to bed a little past midnight, and I had to get up early to go to work the next day. That concluded our wonderful journey to New York. Major props goes out to Craigy. Thanks, buddy, for an unforgettable weekend. You are our NYC tour guide and official cameraman for life. His attitude of constant giving for us surpasses friendship and enters brotherhood.

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

DAY 3 - NYC

Day 3 turned out to be even better than the previous days because this was the day that Katie and I went to New York City! We had our bags packed and we woke up at 6:30am. By 7:30, we were out the door, and we caught the Yellow Line (see Metro map from Day 1) to Chinatown. From there, we walked 3 blocks or so to the bus depot. We waited until about 8:30 when our BoltBus arrived. It was a big charter bus with leather seats, extra leg room, and power/WiFi available. By the time Katie and I got on the bus (due to the big line), there were no seats next to each other except for the very back of the bus. So we grabbed those seats (which was next to the bathroom…gross!), and began our journey to NYC.

Unfortunately the power on the bus wasn’t working. The bus driver stopped a few times to get the system to reboot, but no dice. Katie pretty much just sat there and gathered her thoughts for the full 4 1/2 hours (haha), and I was virtually asleep the entire time. About 45 minutes from our stop, we could see New York City from the bus. The bus finally got into the city where we encountered what else?—traffic. Finally we got to our stop on 33rd and 7th in Manhattan which is next to the Macy’s store. Craig showed up about 15 minutes later with some Sammies in his hands for us. That was really cool of him. It was practically the best sandwich I have ever tasted. So good! We just sat on a bench outside and ate it. From there we walked to Macy’s. We let Katie loose as Craig and I just wandered around the different floors. Already within an hour of seeing each other, Craig and I had not one but TWO major laugh attacks. Remember the story when Craig visited me in D.C. and we laughed so hard we were both crying and our stomachs hurt? Well, that happened twice already. The first was when we were heading up the escalators in the store, and this group of Asian girls were in front of us. They all went up the escalator, and from the side two white ladies were trying to get on the escalator and pretty much cut us off. When the lady realized that she almost cut us off, Craig said, “No no, go ahead.” And the lady said, “No it’s fine. You’re with them [the Asians], right?” Craig just shook his head, and we both just started cracking up instantly. What a typical thing for a white person to assume that just because Craig is Asian, that he belonged to that Asian group. It isn’t even close because the group of gals were probably Chinese, and Craig is Filipino. Big difference. Anyway. Our second bit of laughter came when we got to the 8th floor (I believe there’s 9 floors total). We decided to take the elevators down instead of the escalators. Craig pushed the button to go DOWN. Within a few moments, the elevator doors opened up wide and we saw a bunch of people in there. Craig was standing right at the entrance, but he noticed that the elevator was going UP. However, nobody in the extremely crowded elevator was getting off on our floor, so it basically *appeared* that Craig pushed the UP button, causing their elevator to stop. While Craig was standing there frozen and nobody was moving, I literally busted up laughing in front of everyone, and Craig proceeded to laugh, so it truly looked like Craig purposely pushed the elevator button to screw with people when in fact he did not.

Anyway, after that was over, we went downstairs and outside and waited for Katie. When Katie was finally done browsing, we hopped on the NYC subway, and headed towards Grand Central station where we would get out, take some pics, and then walk several blocks to 42nd and 1st—the UN Millienium Plaza Hotel where we were staying for the night. We got our keys and headed up to the 35th floor. The room was amazing and the view was even more spectacular. We could see both the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings from our room (see below).

After we freshened up, we invited Craig in the room to take some pics. Finally we left and began walking towards Grand Central again where we would take the subway towards Central Park. At the station, Craig told us about the Whispering Corner where Katie went on one corner of an archway's wall, and about 15 feet away I was on the other corner. Katie would whisper a phrase into her side of the wall, and I could very clearly hear what she said on my side. It was cool. So cool in fact that these two people saw what we were doing and were wondering what was going on. So Craig told them what to do, and they, too, were stoked about it.

After a fairly short subway ride, we got off and started to walk around. We originally wanted to get frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity (like from the movie), but the wait was well over an hour! So we decided to walk some more and visited Dylan's Candy Bar instead. Did you know that Dylan is Ralph Lauren's daughter? Anyway, we enjoyed some ice cream and frozen hot chocolate there (as well as enjoyed the break from walking).

After eating our yumminy goodness, we strolled to Central Park where Craig took a bunch of pictures of us. We walked through "The Mall," saw a bunch of skaters doing their thing, saw a bride and groom getting pictures taken by the Bethesda fountain, saw people ballroom dancing, went to the Wollman Ice Rink (which was iceless), and took pictures near a pond. For those who don't know, Central Park is HUGE (like 6 miles around), so we only walked around parts of it. Then from there, we headed to the Plaza Hotel. We walked around the lobby area, but we didn't linger too long thinking that someone would soon kick us out for taking pictures.

From there we headed over to 5th Ave to walk a bit. We then got super hungry and looked for a place to eat. Craig suggested we eat at The Eatery. We didn't know what to expect, but our motto for the trip was "Trust Craig." So we went with the flow, and sure enough, Craig did not disappoint. We had a wonderful meal there. We decided to pass on dessert and get dessert at Junior's where Craig said we'd love their New York cheesecake and red velvet cake. YUM!! However, before Junior's it was time to check out Times Square at night. Times Square was just as amazing as I remembered it from a few years ago. It almost looked day time because of all the lights there. We had a blast just watching people and checking out the area. I love New York!

Finally we headed over to Junior's where we would enjoy some fun times with our waitress, Linda, who seemed like she hated her job (and Katie called her out on it...although not knowing she was standing right behind her when she said it. Doh!). Craig was right again. Those desserts were sensational. Best cheesecake I can recall ever letting hit my lips. Mmm! This place was also where I was completely drained of all energy because of all the walking, but Craig somehow made me laugh so hard with this goofy face that he makes. Despite being completely wrecked from the travelling, he still mustered a good laugh out of me.

From there, Craig went with us to the subway station where we ended up parting ways. Katie and I headed back to the hotel after more walking. We got to bed around midnight or so, and we decided that we still had too much to do and see to attend Brooklyn Tabernacle the next day. So sadly, we decided not to go to church. :( Since we've both attended it in the past though, we were content. And that concluded our adventures in the east coast, day 3 (New York style)!

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Happy Birthday, Emu!!

A wonderful Happy Birthday goes out to my big brother, Emmanuel (a.k.a. Emmi, Manny, M.R., etc...). He turned the big 3-0 yesterday! Wowzers!! I wish I could post up his picture with his birthday cake that had a princess on top, but I don't have the actual file saved on my computer. Oh well, I think many of us have seen it. Anyway, I just wanted to reiterate the words I left on his voicemail yesterday: Emmi, you are a wonderful man of God. A decade ago, you were a completely different person. God has transformed you into a loving husband, a wonderful father, and a pretty darn amazing big brother. Thank you for all the great memories that we share together. Happy Birthday!

On a sidenote, Emmi wants us all to remember that today is Scottie Pippen's birthday. LOL!

Now...stay tuned for the exciting adventures of Katie and Joe East Coast Style. Day 3 and 4 coming soon.

DAY 2 - D.C.

Day 2 was just as exciting as day 1. We slept in until about 9am which felt really good. I took the day off. When we got up and Katie got ready, I researched some design stores that Katie showed me once upon a time in a blog. It mentioned several places to go, and it told us which stores to check out for the fashion savvy people. So I decided to take Katie to an area called Adams Morgan. Before we did, we stopped to get some Crepes from a restaurant just downstairs from my apartment. It was great. Then we walked through Pentagon City Mall to get to the Metro station (see Metro map from Day 1). We hopped the Yellow Line from Pentagon City to Gallery Place/Chinatown. From there we headed west on the Red Line to Adams Morgan. At Adams Morgan, we walked everywhere. The sun was shining and it was hot. From the station, we walked across a huge, tall bridge, walked down some streets, and eventually came to the “busy” part of town. We checked out several shops, and walked up and down some hilly streets. After checking out some stores like And Beige and Meeps, we got some coffee. One guy (from And Beige) told us to walk to P Street and 14th. It was quite the hike to get there. Along the way we saw another store called Miss Pixie's and stopped in. From there we kept walking to Dupont Circle (next stop on the Red Line). We rested a bit at the fountain in Dupont. We were exhausted.

By this point, we walked roughly 13 miles in two days with much more walking ahead of us. From there we hopped back on the Red Line towards Chinatown, switched over to the Yellow Line to the Archives/Penn Quarter stop, and we exited there. We walked to the National Archives which many will remember from the movie “National Treasure.” We explored a bunch of history here including the original Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. We also saw Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, signed and everything. It was cool, but our feet were on fire.

We then walked south towards L’Enfant Plaza and then headed east up the street towards the Library of Congress. We had a blast here. We wanted to go in, but unfortunately they closed a lot earlier than expected. So we just rested by the steps and took several pics. After that, we were close to the Blue Line station (Capitol South), so we hopped that and headed back towards Chinatown.

At Chinatown, we ate at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants that I’ve gone to many times, Tony Cheng’s. Katie’s initial reaction was not as impressed as I first was, but that all changed when we ordered our drink. We got the Flaming Volcano which was a monstrous drink made for 4 people. The food was extraordinary as well. From here we hopped on the Yellow Line from Chinatown down to King St. This dumped us out to Old Town Alexandria where I lived the last time I was here. We walked a lot here, too. We walked all the way from the King Street station to the Eisenhower station. I showed Katie where I used to live, and we stopped at this nice restaurant and sat at the bar for a few drinks. The bartenders were friendly and one of them (who looked a lot like Tyrone Wells) was busting out corny joke after corny joke (Example 1: What do you call a guy with no arms, no legs, and is mounted on a wall? Answer: Art. Example 2: What do you call a Fish missing an “eye?” Answer: Fsh. That one got me cracking up!) From there we crossed the street to the giant movie theater and proceeded to watch “Love Happens” with Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston. Katie cried. I cried, too...but only because I was annoyed by the movie because it had no real point. Finally the day was over. We hopped on the Yellow Line from Eisenhower to Pentagon City and back home. Despite being dead tired, we packed our bags for our trip to New York. It was passed 1am when we went to sleep. All-in-all, we walked about 20 miles in two days.

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

DAY 1 - D.C.

A week ago today, Katie flew out to visit me in the east coast. Around noon, I took the rest of the day off and went to Baltimore to pick her up from the airport. From there, we journeyed 45 minutes back to my place and proceeded to take a power nap. After that, we ate at Milano’s and grabbed a couple of tasty calzones. We then moseyed along to Pentagon City Mall (which is just outside my apartment), went through it and down the escalators to the Metro station. Here, I taught Katie how to use the subway which she figured out very easily.
Click here for a clearer image: http://www.rand.org/images/washington_metromap.gif

We then hopped on the Yellow Line and headed from Pentagon City to L’Enfant Plaza where we got off and explored. Rain started to come down, but it was never more than a heavy drizzle. We ended up at the National Mall (the long park that sits between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building). To spare us walking, we decided that since we were in the middle of the National Mall, we didn’t want to walk all the way to the Capitol Building and then all the way back to the Monument.

So we decided to just walk towards the Monument. When we got there, we rested a bit as we saw the White House and the Lincoln Memorial from a distance. We then went towards the White House, but again to spare walking, we didn’t go all the way up to it; we simply grabbed a street shot. From there we moved towards the Lincoln Memorial (2nd picture below) with a pit stop at the World War II Memorial (1st picture below). We then walked near the reflecting pool, all the way to Lincoln Memorial. By this time, our feet started to hurt. Katie was walking in her boots, too. Ouch! At least the rain stopped by this point.

From there we decided to walk across the Arlington Memorial Bridge (last picture below) which was a lot longer than it looked. We got to the entrance of Arlington Cemetery, but decided to hop the blue line subway from Arlington Cemetery back to Pentagon City. We got home and relaxed for a moment as we awaited the blood to go back to our legs. We were beat. Per Kathryn’s suggestion, Katie and I then jumped in my car and drove about 3 miles south to a restaurant called Las Guapas. It was situated in a cool little area, and it totally reminded me of Cactus Restaurant in Kirkland and that whole area. We both ate some amazing carne. Out of this world good. We also had some jumbo margaritas which were delish as well. After dinner, we headed home and watched TV in bed. We watched a bit of The Office as well as the new show The Community. Katie fell asleep. The next two hours that she was asleep, I was trying to figure out how to play our wedding video on her laptop. MindCastle uploaded the raw video footage onto an external hard drive we provided them. Katie brought the hard drive to D.C., but it wasn’t playing the video. So I spent a few hours on it, but nothing worked. I even called Casey from MindCastle, and his suggestions, which I had already toyed around with, didn’t work. So we’ll see it when we get back apparently. Also earlier that day, Katie gave me a shirt she bought in Seattle, and she also gave me a late birthday present from Casey. It was the full season of History Channel’s “The Universe.” I was super stoked about this because I’m obsessed with the stars and planets, so I’ve been watching several episodes a day. Amazing!! Anyway, that pretty much recaps our journey on day 1.

To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

East Coast Pictures

All,

Please copy and paste the link below into your browser. You will see all the pictures taken from Katie's camera from her trip out to the east coast. The stories of our adventures will be posted sporadically this week.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Katieastside

She came. She left. Katie visited me in the east coast from September 17-22. I just dropped her off at Baltimore/Washington Airport. Our trip together was amazing. The full story will be posted soon. Just a quick recap though--Katie came to D.C. on Thursday, and I took her around the National Mall area. Friday we did more walking in Adams Morgan, other places by the National Mall, and more. Saturday we went to New York City where my friend for life, Craig Nisperos, was our amazing tour guide. We went just about everywhere you can go in two short days. He took tons of pictures of us, too. We got back to D.C. on Sunday night, and on Monday we went to Old Town Alexandria, downtown, and Georgetown. Finally today, we went to Baltimore and spent several hours around the Inner Harbor Area.

As a quick snippet, please look at a few photos below. I posted all our photos on Snapfish, but I still need to caption them. When I finish that, I will send you the link. In addition to the 500 pictures from Katie's camera that will be on Snapfish, Craig took over 700 pictures in New York on his camera, and half of those were poses by Katie and me. Those pictures are coming soon, too.

Enjoy!

Katie and Joe in Brooklyn (photo by Craig Nisperos)

Brooklyn Bridge (from my iPhone)

Katie and Joe at Washington Monument (from Katie's camera)

View from Katie and Joe's hotel in NYC (from my iPhone)
Empire State and Chrysler Bldg are seen



Katie and Joe in NYC (photo by Craig Nisperos)

My Wife in D.C.

Yay! I'm so excited. In about 30 minutes, I will be driving to Baltimore/Washington International Airport to pick up my wifey! :) Stay tuned for some good posts coming up. I will finally have access to a camera, so I can take some better pics than from my iPhone (but still not anything close to the Nisperos/Sidhu duo) and post them on this blog.

Today and tomorrow we'll be in D.C., touring the city and what not. Saturday and Sunday we'll be in NYC visiting Craig on Saturday and doing our own thing on Sunday (including Brooklyn Tabernacle). Monday and Tuesday we'll be back in D.C., and Katie flies home on Tuesday. Then...I only have ONE MORE WEEK!! Hooray!

NFL Sunday, Seattle Sports

First and foremost, I want to wish my good buddy, Robert Nelson, a happy birthday (yesterday). Welcome to the old man 28 club. :) As a gift for his birthday, Robert’s wife, Stephanie, bought him tickets to the Seahawks opener.

I thought it was appropriate to write this blog considering last year was the worst sports year probably ever in Seattle sports. On Saturday, the Huskies won their first game in over a year. Congrats, Dawgs! The Seattle Sounders FC are playing some great soccer. Even though the Mariners won’t make the postseason, they played much better this year than last year. And yesterday, the Seahawks put on a clinic to shutout the Rams, 28-0. Granted I didn’t get to see any of the game because the east coast doesn’t give a rip about the Pacific Northwest, I know my boys in blue are coming back this year. And while we’re on the subject, not only do they not show the game out here, but they would show highlights to virtually every game BUT the Seahawks game. How lame is that? Boo on the east coast. Saw the stats though; Houshmandzadeh had a decent first game.

The best game of the day had to be the Packers/Bears game. I was rooting for the Packers especially since I picked them to win this week in Luke’s Pigskin Pick ‘Em group. My goal this year is to beat Luke’s dad, although that is a pretty tough goal considering he either wins or gets darn near close to winning pretty much every year. Maybe my goal this year should be to beat Nisha. J Anyway, with time winding down and the Packers down by 2 with a 3rd & 1, Aaron Rodgers did a beautiful play action pass and launched the ball 30 yards for a TD. I was happy because I couldn’t afford another loss yesterday.

Anyway, just thought I’d write about how Seattle sports is turning around a bit (hopefully). And it’s sure good to have the NFL back! (Sidenote: Congrats to Roger Federer who made it to the U.S. Open final for the 6th straight year. Last time he lost in the U.S. Open was 2,200 days ago. He is superior to all. Did anyone see his second to last point last night? He had a winner that he shot in between his legs. That is amazing!)

GO BLUE!!!!!!!

Hall of Fame

Last night I watched the Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony on TV. It was a special class. Not only did they have Coach Jerry Sloan, John Stockton, and David "The Admiral" Robinson, but they also had my basketball hero, Michael Jordan. Each person had a nice 10 minute speech. John Stockton was a riot. Michael Jordan was hilarious, too. When he got to the podium, he was all tears as people were cheering him on. However, I give the biggest props to David Robinson. He praised his wife and kids that put people in tears. He then glorified God, and in front of millions, he gave a mini-sermon from the book of Luke, thanking Jesus for everything and letting others know what Jesus has done in his life. The Admiral was admirable!