October

First of all, we did not do this:

We decided Marathon Training was not for us when we decided to take a "lovely run" on a 95 degree day, and Steph started crying on Register Avenue.
But we did....

See the Legwarmers for our friend Kim's birthday.
And, then did the Race for the Cure with Ben's mom the next day....feeling a little "under the weather."  Steph thankfully did not throw up.

Our friend, Leigh, came to visit for a couple hours and we took her to the wonderful Samo's. Although she did not wear Ben's favorite "I love Cats" sweatshirt, she did wear a lovely tribute to the Nation's Eagles.

The Post's came to Baltimore!  And we went to Gettysburg...I'll have to upload a picture later (like when I'm not at work...) 

We also joined a "Haiti Learning Group" learning about the history and culture of Haiti, and hopefully participating in a trip to Haiti in the next year.  This is really exciting because Steph has been to Haiti a couple of times, and we had wanted to visit Haiti together while Ben was living in the Dominican Republic, but it was never possible.  It's been a great thing for us to explore our love for the international community, and do something together again we really care about.  Currently, we're on a $2 a day eating challenge for the class...it's been a great experience.
This is a picture from when Steph visited Haiti to see the Citadel a couple years ago:

Steph went to Michigan as well, very very last minute, to see all her old friends and roommates from Hope College.  5 year reunion, we're officially older.  She also got to see her dear friends Biz and Julie.

Annnnd....Steph loves Halloween.  So we carved a legit pumpkin this year (although last year's was amazing too).  And we checked out the Great Lantern Parade in Patterson Park.  It was well worth it, and we're already planning on joining in next year...let us know if you want to be a part of our lantern team! 

I think we're semi-caught up now. 

September

We are horrible at actually updating our blog, although we love having it.  I'm sure it will get a little more interesting come winter time when we're treking through Costa Rica with the Post family...

Here's what we did in September:

We killed some mice, Boblooch style.

We went to Michigan and stayed at the Post's Cottage on Burt Lake.  Grandpa Post came and played a couple rounds of Salad Bowl.

We visited the Fort, we hadn't been there since we were kids.....We played with guns and Ben drew a mustahce on my face with a piece of charcoal.

It was great to see Justine before she left for Nicaragua.

Ok....we'll talk about October next.

constantly improving...

Last year:

This year:

the long haul is over...

I have officially finished my last assignment, ever, for grad school.  Tomorrow I will get the sweet satisfaction of going to my last class ever and handing it in.
Last night as we were running we congratulated ourselves, as couple, for getting through this crazy year of grad school.  It took both of us, and we're so proud and relieved that it's OVER!

Weird and Recommended

Our friends Nikki and Jason introduced us to an excellent cookbook, Great Good Fast, by Martha Stewart. Ours is currently on loan from the library, but I might have to make the purchase....
After a trip to the Sunday Farmers' Market, I made this.  And I think you should too:

Training

I will be the first to admit that Ben is right, A LOT.  I used to say "always" instead of "a lot" but then I started being right more after we got married (kidding).  No, but really, those who know both of us well, know that we are two totally different people, exact opposites.  So, it's true that opposites attract!  When Ben and I were in the Dominican in March with a group of college students, several times we would hear "you and Ben are verrry different--it's so cool to see how you work together!"  We took a lot of pride in that.
I am very emotional, and Ben is very even keel.  That sums it up.  And Ben calms me down, brings me back to reality, while I encourage him to share his feelings ("feelings...talking about feelings...") more.  It's a great combo.  We're quite proud of our differences.
And here is an excellent example of why we need to do this half marathon together.  Last night we went for a run, only 2 miles, but at this point if I can run that without stopping, it's a great accomplishment!  Ben is obviously in better shape than I am, and faster, but has been mostly sticking with me when we run.  He took off ahead of me last night and I was immediately discouraged and outraged.  Instead of it making me want to work harder, I had to fight with myself to even keep running.  Of course, the rest of the run I was thinking about what I would say to him when we got home, along the lines of "YOU LEFT ME!"  And of course, when we arrived home, Ben said "great job!" and a conversation ensued.  Basically, within one nanosecond of me starting to whine, I realized that Ben knew exactly what he was doing to push me along in our training.  Our goal is to run this "race" together in life and sometimes we're in different places.  The job of the person ahead is to reach back and encourage the person behind, and the person behind's job is to keep the other in focus and work hard to catch up to be with the other.

Love all this sappy running metaphors..

Oh, and I love my husband who just surprised me at work for lunch.

July

Although July is not yet over--I'm sure that the most important thing we'll do all this month is this: