Falling up escalators is part of falling in love

We had an awesome weekend last week.  I mean awesome.  It didn't have to do with any big event, just all the little small things we love that make us "us."

We headed out early on Saturday for a run on the National Mall.  BEAUTIFUL!  You could not possibly ask for nicer weather in February.  Running past the monuments and then to the White House with the sun shining, not even needing long sleeves was amazing.  We like to jog through the crowds and gossip about what might be going on with the families and other couples, etc. who we pass.  It's kind of our thing.

Chillin' in front of the Washington Monument during our run... 

"Excuse me!  Random tourist!  Can you please take our picture?!"

Then we hopped on the metro and headed to the Eastern Market for the first time.  I.  Am.  Hooked.  The atmosphere, people and families walking around with their dogs, vendors, artists, FOOD everywhere, was great.  We did a quick walk-through (we intentionally only brought as much cash as we could strap to our arms with our running gear and no cards), then sat down for lunch at a little Italian Cafe.

Yum.

It was almost like being in Italy again.  (Sigh.  Can I study abroad again?  Those we the days!)  Small tables.  Awesome, fresh food.  People outside enjoying themselves.  I love the sidewalk feel, I only wish all this was closer to our townhouse! 

We decided to head out and spend the night at home with a couple movies.  On the way out of the metro, I challenged Shrimp to a jog UP the DOWN escalator.  I made it to the top, she wasn't so lucky.  She made it almost all the way to the top before... yeah, I bet you can imagine what happened.  Her foot slipped and she was sprawled out clinging to the top of the escalator.  I should have thought immediately, "Oh!  She's probably hurt!  I should help her!"  But instead, I laughed.  Hysterically.  I found it freaking hilarious.  She somehow managed to roll onto her back while the escalator was still running under her butt, holding her knee and (so you know I'm not a horrible girlfriend) laughing at herself.  Turns out she was only hurt a little bit.  She has a nasty bruise now, but the marks from the teeth of the escalator didn't last too long!  The fact that she was able to laugh it off just reminded me why I love her so much :)

And then we headed home... have I mentioned we're foodies?  I freaking love food.  I take pictures of my food all the time.  It's way prettier than most landscapes.  Before we started the movie (Beginners - different than I thought it would be but the dog and the deceased gay dad are super cute!) I decided to try my hand at homemade potato and bacon soup.  I didn't have a recipe, but it is definitely a new favorite.  Yum.  Again.  I know this will make you want to come to dinner at Your New Neighbors' house...

My homemade potato & bacon soup.  You may notice it's in an Ikea bowl.  Surprised?

With our bellies full of the deliciousness you see above, we both ended up passing out early and didn't even make it to movie #2 :)

Now it's another weekend and we're about to head out the door to explore what (food) makes this nation so great!  Let's hope Groupon treats us well :)

~Tater

Our genius Ikea project (one of many)!

Well lately it seems like we are on our way to having an Ikea furniture/items filled house so why not go all out and give the cat an Ikea litter box, right?

 Inspired by something like this that we saw in a SkyMall catalog.

We got a great deal on a storage bench with 3 compartments in the "As-Is" Ikea section a few months ago. The genius idea that made us break down and purchase this was "We could so make one compartment hold (HIDE!) a litter box for the cat and we'll be litter box "free"! So we purchased it and spent a solid 30 minutes trying to make this huge box fit in Tater's Honda...which ended up w/ me in a super uncomfortable awkward position smashed under the heavy box and Tater laughing in the driver's seat.

Now, this piece of furniture sat in the box in the spare room for at least a month.  It wasn't until we found out that Tater's mom would be staying with us for a few days that I decided to put this thing together for her to have a place to put her stuff while she was here. So of course the morning of her arrival I started working on this project.  A few hours later it was all done even if I had a few pieces left over (crazy Ikea instructions...I mean who really knows how to read those things correctly?!) it looked great!

Look familiar?

 A few months pass by....still a great piece of furniture in our spare room, but still haven't had the time to turn it into a fully functional piece with a hidden cat box!

Then one February evening, after a few mimosas, we decided to pull out the Dremel Tater's mom bought us (best house warming gift ever!) and get started on this project!

After several broken dremel blades, more mimosas, a hand saw, mallet and determination we (mainly Tater) successfully cut out a square opening in the side of this wonderful Ikea wooden storage bench...and we immediately say "This damn cat is gonna have the coolest s!@* box in town"!"

 Tater thinking this is going to be a piece of cake.

 Me hard at work wearing my "safety goggles."

  We even made her a ramp.  We were so excited after we cleaned up our mess and put her litter box in the compartment and shut the door...surely this cat is going to love this!  NO.....not at all!  She. Hates. It! So now the litter box just sits beside it...FAIL!

After all that work and planning of our amazing idea...I'm just hoping she warms up to it soon!  If not...then like Tater says "Well, we can just put a blanket in the compartment and she'll have a really neat place to sleep and we'll be really sweet cat owners for making her a comfy hideout."

We'll keep our fingers crossed and start planning our next home improvement project...over mimosas of course.

~Shrimp