Happy Birthday Heather...

Happy Birthday Emily...

Happy Birthday Kristen...

Congrats Lil Merrill...

Yay for Lauren, who bought a new Pontiac G6. It's a beauty...leather interior, heated front seats......and better yet, it works! (sorry Lil Red). So, congrats to Lauren and lovely car.

Christmas with Charlie Brown...

So, I know this is a weird title, but for those of you who don't know...I actually have an uncle named Charles Brown. He goes either by "Town" or in this case "Charlie". We didn't get to have Christmas breakfast with them so we settled for an after Christmas lunch. We ate delicious mac n' cheese, some type of crescent dish my sister baked and homemade pecan pie. Yum Yum... We finished our desserts by watching the newest Alvin & The Chipmunks movie. It was so nice getting to see Town, Pam, Ashlee, Jesse & Brandon.

Game Night...

It's so convenient that my best friend Christine and her husband Travis bought the house next door to my parents. So now every time we go home we get to see them, which is much better than when they lived in Blacksburg and us in Alexandria. So we got together and played games all night long. We started with Phase 10 and ended with Mexican Train Dominoes. We had so much fun! (well, we did, but Christine lost....not so much fun) j/k Love ya!!!!

Merry Christmas...

From the Harlow's & the Merrill's we wish you a very Merry Christmas. Last night we had our usual crazy Christmas Eve agenda. We started the morning with sausage gravy and biscuits at the Merrill's for breakfast. Then we had chicken cutlets for a late lunch before heading off to church with the rents and Lauren. Christmas Eve service at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Salem usually involves so many people that there aren't enough seats, some people wreaking of perfume, others of alcohol and lots of Christmas music sung by the children's choir. It's only the 3rd Christmas service I've attended at a Catholic church, and I'm still not used to the traditional ceremony with kneeling and standing, etc., etc. But it is nice spending time with the Merrill's.

After church we headed over the the Harlow clan's celebration. My dad's extended family always does Christmas on Christmas Eve cause there are so many kids and grandkids, that way Christmas is for in laws or quiet personal time. This year guest included my parents, and sister, Mike, I, Grandaddy Harlow, Jeannie, Tony, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Lynn, Brenda, Charlie, Katie, Chris, Nicole, Kelly, Jason, Jordyn, Katie, Justin and Wilbur (a new "relative" of sorts). By the time we arrived they had already eaten dinner. This year for dinner they had chosen to do soups and salads. Each year we change up the menu, it's much better than the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing....especially since I'm not a huge fan of any of those. After dinner is usually time for games, this year was no exception. We played mexican train dominoes, snacking on the delicious desserts at every chance. We ended the night, as usual, after midnight and made the drive back to Mike's parents house.

For the last 2 years we've stayed the night at my parents for Christmas Eve so that we can have Christmas morning breakfast with my parents and my mom's extended family. But Mike wanted very much to wake up at his parents and open gifts, so I obliged. After opening are many gifts with Mike's parents which included a GPS from Mike to me and a new Ipod from me to Mike we headed over to my parents for breakfast. It was a wonderful but hectic 2 days. I really enjoy spending time with our families, just wish we didn't have to switch back and forth so much, it's hard on us and Emma Sue.

Happy Birthday Megan...

Hopefully we'll get to see

more of eachother soon!

Ornament Exchange Brunch...

Today was Alana's 2nd Annual Ornament Exchange. Last year we had a delicious array of evening appetizers and wines, this year we elected to have a brunch. Unfortunately, because of the date of the exchange many people weren't able to make it, as they had already headed out of town for Christmas with their families. But, Jill, Alana and I, and baby Aaron, had a delicious brunch of eggs, english muffins and jams, fresh fruit, bacon and sausage and later desserts. We all exchanged ornaments for our trees and then hung out to catchup. It is always so nice to get together with these two ladies, as there is always a relaxed atmosphere. I'm glad that we've become such good friends and look forward to many more Ornament Exchange parties!!!
Thanks so much for hosting Alana!!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn...

Last night we went out to celebrate Katie's 25th birthday (actually 12/18) with a "Golf Tour of Old Town". Katie, Danny, Mike and I, and about 15 of Katie's closest friends met up at Murphy's on King Street at 9pm to tee off. The point of the party was to treat each bar as if it were a different hole in a round of golf. A score card was given that detailed which drinks at each bar were considered "Par", "Birdie", "Eagle", etc. Often the best score you could get was a shot of something - most likely bartender's choice and a par was a beer. Water wouldn't hurt your score, you just didn't get points for it. Mike and I only made it to 3 bars before we decided to head down the block to our apartment (I'd been sick all week with a stupid URI). But we had a blast and wished we could have stayed out longer to party with everyone. Thanks to Danny and Lindsay to planning such a fun night and of course, thanks and Happy Birthday to Katie who turned 25!!! Love ya~

Sibley Holiday Party...

Tonight was my company holiday party and this year we decided to go to Buca di Beppo on Connecticut Avenue. Mike and I had never even heard of this restaurant, but were delighted that it was an old style family dining italian restaurant. It reminded us of a Carmine's (where we went in NY after we got engaged). This year we had an extremely large group. We had 13 of 14 HR staff members and at least half of them brought their significant others/spouses plus 3 peeps from Safety & Security. We started off the night right, as Katie and I are huge wino's, by ordering 2 1.5 liter bottles of red wine for our end of the table....and it didn't last long. We also order lots of appetizers - fried mozzarella, mozzarella caprese, calamari, garlic bread all to chomp on while we discussed which entrees we would be ordering. Mike and I rarely agree on menu items, but for this dinner we both agreed that the prosciutto stuffed chicken topped with marinara and served on a bed of pesto cream sauce sounded to die for. Mike joked that I usually don't like ham and prosciutto was ham - and I came back with it's an expensive cured type of ham - at which point he said, "Oh, that's why you like it...because it's expensive" and the banter continued... All in all our table of 25 ordered 9 appetizers and 12 large entrees......but didn't stop there, for dessert about 6 of us joined in for the $12 double dark chocolate cake. I am not a huge dessert person, especially for chocolate cake, but much to my pleasure the cake came out and in my opinion could have fed 12 people (or my chocolate lover husband himself). We capped off the night with after dinner drinks of either irish coffee or ambrosia. It was a fabulous night full of delicious food and a nice break away from the hustle and bustle that has become our job. Thanks Queenie for treating us to such a special event.

Congrats Sister...

After many months of job hunting I would like to annouce that my sister has been offered an amazing position as a 5th grade teacher at Mason's Cove Elementary School in Salem, VA. We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her progress as not only a teacher but as a young adult!!! She is an amazing person who is devoted to helping students learn, but also knows how to make it fun. I'm sure her students will love her as much as I do!! Congrats sister! Stay tuned for posts on her room (which I have been commissioned to clean/decorate).

Goodbye Lil' Red...

So, after many years of faithful service "lil red" has died. For years Mike, his sister Lauren and I all drove Ford Escorts. Mine was the nicest :) a 2000 Ford Escort Zx2 so bright blue you could see it for miles. Mikes was an older 4 door white escort and Lauren drove a 4 door red escort. Mike sold his after college to a woman in Salem. I still drive mine, and although it has sounds that Mike and I consider "features" its a piece of junk. Lauren called the other night to say that hers was dying....nearly dead, and it was going to cost more to fix it than the car itself was worth. So, being the wonderful person she is, she decided to donate it to a breast cancer charity that we fix it and give it to a deserving family. So, goodbye Lil Red... and good luck to Lauren as she will be borrowing my blue escort until such time she purchases her "new" car!

Duane, you will be missed...

Salem, Virginia is a small close-knit town. Growing up in Salem I had the honor of knowing Duane. As kids we often ran around together at the Salem football games with Jen Jennings, Joey Sovine, Mike Beamer, etc. A few months back, March 11th to be exact, Duane was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. It saddens me to report that yesterday Duane lost his battle and went to be with the Lord. Please keep the Perdue family and the Salem community in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Birthday Erik...