Big News.

The Robbinses are now 3!  It's been a looong time since I've posted, but I hope to get back in the swing of things now that I have something picture-worthy to document.

Rick and I welcomed young Richard Weston Robbins on September 4, 2011 at 9:48 pm at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington DC....6 days early and still a whopping 9lbs 22inches.  Wowzers.  We are calling him Richard.  Between our two families, he is now the 6th "Richard", but the only one of the bunch to be called Richard.  I'm sure he'll develop a nickname at some point but for now it's a big name for a tiny boy.  Right now we call him Nuglet/Snugglet.  You pick.

So far, the Nug has had so many visitors!  Meems and Pops (aka Elmira and Robert) drove 7 hours at 4am for the big arrival, Uncle Bob hopped a plane at the last minute to surprise us during labor, and Auntie Bebop (Mary) took the bus down from NYC for the big event.  And what an event it was.  I've never seen Rick so excited as when he exclaimed (over and over) "It's a Boy! It's a Boy!".  Such a fun moment.

Here are a few pics from Pops, more to come soon!

Fun-Filled NYE weekend

Ba-bye 2010!

We had a fun, mellow, spontaneous NYE weekend.  Ginny was in town for the weekend, and life is always fun when she's involved.  We had a few people over for dinner on NYE and our new neighbors brought some homemade beer to go with our homemade moonshine.  Yep.  That's right.  Both were tasty.  We didn't make it out the front door on NYE, and even had a slumber party with Elly on Friday and Saturday nights!  We ate, ate, and ate some more all weekend long.  Tri-tip, corned beef, cabbage, collards, cheese, Zannie's Black-Eyed Pea dip, (which was scrumpdiddlyumptious good and will surely bring all of us luck in the New Year), Ginny's homemade ice cream pie, Mick's homemade hummus, and of course lots of champagne.  We also ventured out to H-Street and got in some shuffleboard. 

Life was good in 2010, great on Dec 31 2010, and I'm hoping there is even more fun in store in 2011.  Cheers to all!

Ninja Husband.

Another resolution: don't leave your draft blog posts open on the screen and walk away from computer.....husband will commandeer and edit at his leisure.  The last post was my running list of things I want to focus on this year....and Rick decided to add the last 3.  I'm just glad to know that I get to buy a bag a month....that's approximately 10 more bags than I average in a year, so happy shopping to meeeeeee!  More resolutions coming soon.

Resolutions

Resolutions:
- in bed by 10:30 3 nights a week
- do more historical stuff (Mt. Vernon)
- one week vegetarian eating
- call more friends
- save 10% of income
- buy one bag per month
- spend no more than $40 on pairs of shoes

Straight from the Pros.

As a new homeowner, I'm a little paranoid about getting robbed.  We live in Capitol Hill, which is a cool neighborhood, but there are definitely more curious folk running around here than in Arlington.  I'm kind of a scaredy-cat anyway, but have found that I'm becoming a little more brave now that I have a house. I sleep with a mag-lite next to my bed and kinda want to get a baseball bat to keep somewhere in the house.  I might be overcautious, but it can't hurt.  We do have an alarm, but you can never be too prepared. 

That said, I just saw this post about how burglars burglarize.  Good tips to know.  Thanks to Knight Moves for the info.
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A local magazine called The Advocate recently featured a story about burglars and their methods of attack. The information garnered came straight from a video interview with a professional burglar (who is now serving a life sentence in prison). The interviewee is described as “'James,' a 40-year-old, grungy, white male who has spent one-third of this life in prison."


He averaged about four burglaries a day, six days a week and here are the secrets to his past success:

• Two burglars who know what they’re doing can be in and out of a house within six minutes.
• James worked only between the hours of 8 and 11 a.m., immediately paying a visit to his “fence,” a person who aids the burglar in selling/distributing the property. Your valuables most likely are sold and gone before you even get home from work to report it.
• He almost always entered through the front or back door, using a pry bar tool designed to rip the trim off the door, collapse the sheet rock with little effort. According to North Central police, most burglars in our area gain access through open garage doors.
• James owes a lot of his successful crimes to the UPS delivery guy. “They do it all for you,” he says in the interview. He simply followed the truck and waited for the driver to knock on doors, discover no one was home and leave the package at the doorstep along with a bright yellow sticker.

James' bits of advice for preventing a burglary at your home:

• The No. 1 deterrent: install a reliable home alarm system or at least a sign in the front yard. The No. 2 deterrent: get a dog, preferably one that barks at strangers.
• Keep all blinds and curtains closed, especially at night. If a burglar sees a flat screen on the wall inside the house, you can bet he’ll be back to get it.

It may not be pretty and glamorous, but I found it interesting and wanted to share it, especially since most of us receive more packages via UPS and Fedex during the holidays! Anyhow, just want to help keep you, your home, and your family safe from all of the crazies out there. To read more, visit The Advocate's site - the whole story can be found there.

Crickets.

Hi loyal blog follower(s).

One of my new years resolutions is going to be posting more on the blog.  I've been bad lately.  I have a lot to write about too, just can't seem to get it done.  I know you can hear the crickets

Things I need to write about:
- new years resolutions
- Christmas in Columbia
- trip to Boston
- TEDWomen (omg - cannot wait to tell you more)
- fun ideas for the house
- how excited I am to become an auntie
- Christmas boat cruise
- life in capitol hill
- upcoming photo class

Until then, enjoy this great image from Just Be Splendid.  I'll be back.

Dining Room Decor idea

Found this awesome house on Elements of Style (one of my favorite blogs) today.  It's a home built into rocks on the Puget Sound.  As if the house isn't cool enough already, check out what they did to the inside.

My favorite room is, hands down, the dining room/living room combo.  This swanky chandelier reminds me of the one in our house, that Rick despises and I threaten to paint a cool color.  We have an old picnic/barn type table as our dining table, and I really love the juxtaposition of that with the chandelier.

Anyway, we have been discussing doing some large format pictures (possibly my dad's pics from Pawleys) on the wall in there.  When I saw this post, it just reminded me of our dining room. 

Husband, what do you think?