Andrew + Meghan

Visited Tam & JJ for new years.

2006-01-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving + Engagement

2005-11-25T10:27:00.001-08:00

Meghan and I have been planning to visit her parent's house over Thanksgiving for some time now, but I had a secret Meghan was not aware of.

One month ago, at Casey & Rob's wedding, I asked Meghan's parent's permission for her hand in marriage. (this was only possible during a short window when Meghan went to the bathroom during the reception--I snuck over and asked). Since then, I have been researching what type ring Meghan would like, and over the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, I found it.

I knew I had to come up with a special way to propose, but I also wanted her family to be somewhat involved. Since Meghan's her grandmother (Nanny--dad's mom), aunt, and uncle would be visiting over thanksgiving as well, I wanted to ask as soon as possible so they would be involved After devising a plan, I called Meg's sister Katelin, and asked her to help scheme with me.

The plan was for Kate, Meg, & I to go "geocaching", which is basically searching for little treasures in the woods. Luckily, after I thought of the plan, Meg asked me if I would want to go 'geocaching' while we were down there! Perfect.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, Meghan felt that the geocaching trip could wait until the weekend, for she wanted to spend as much time with Nanny before they left. I needed to force the trip without her suspecting, but luckily Kate was able assist in urging Meghan.

While Meg took a preparatory nap, I drove over to the park, and found a desirable spot which overlooked a nearby stream on a small cliff. There, I hid a box adjacent to a nearby tree under some twigs and a few layers of pine straw—looking back now, I should have omitted a few layers of pine straw because the box was nearly perfectly camouflaged. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop there, because the entrance to the hiking path had been trashed by nearby construction workers and teenagers. There were dozens of beer bottles and fast food backs strewn across entrance. As a remedy, I grabbed as many bottles as I could carry and ran loads back and forth to the dumpster.

When Kate, Meg, and I arrived at the park, I was happy to see that my cleaning job had been a success—Meghan’s eyebrows did not once furrow. Katelin brought her purse since she would be taking pictures, yet she couldn’t let Meghan know that she had my camera. After Katelin withstood Meghan’s teasing for bringing a purse on a geocaching trip and I finished pretending to obtain my satellite signal and compass reading, we were off. I started counting my pace count for every step we took as yet another guise to keep Meghan from catching on, and soon enough we were at the tree overseeing the stream.

To my dismay, Meghan walked right over the hidden box not once, but three times. I tried to get another (fake) satellite reading and point her back to the tree, but she told me that “there aren’t 5 meters to go in that direction”. (oops, I should have said 3). After she attempted to scale a cliff to find this box, I urged her back to the tree once again, and luckily this time she stumbled across it.

As I went down on one knee, she was walking past me to show Kate how weird it was that someone would hide a Jewelry box. I had to tug on her leg to stop and look at me, but she got the hint when I said “Meghan, I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” She was very surprised, but immediately said “Yes, of course”. Thanks to Kate, we have several good pictures of the event.

NC weekend!

2005-07-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to NC for an eventful time--Tam's Bday celebration, James' welcome home ceremony, rock climbing, and kayaking. Take a look at the pictures of the kayak trip at http://www.mindfazr.com/kayak . Unfortunately Meghan was unable to go as she was hosting a huge GD picnic, but she would have loved it.

Meghan and I saw Batman Begins last night. I thought it ruled, they made sure to provide the time needed to explain emotions/thoughts to forge the Bat out of Bruce.

We are in for another eventful weekend. Tomorrow Meg and I have our next Kayaking class, then we'll be traveling down in the motor home with my parents to annapolis, which will be our staging point for a trip to the beach on sunday. Monday Meg & I will drive back early so we can make it to the Nats game @ 1pm. Fun Fun!

Shirlington

2005-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I visited Shirlington last night and ate at the brewery. They had quite a good selection of beers--we will be going back and trying out the sampler, which allows you to taste 5 of the beers.

Star Wars!!

2005-06-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

Meghan and Drew, the star wars nerds!

When news reached us of the final star wars coming out, we had to prepare. We immediately watched the old trilogy, which a friend happened to have. Now, we didn't just watch the movies and be done with it, but we then watched the movies again with the audio commentary, then watched the attached documentary. Time spent on origional trilogy = 15 hours

We then bought star wars episode I and II to prepare. Time spent = 5 hours

then finally, after being fully dorkified, we went to the theater and saw episode III. Time spent 2.5 hours. Around 23 hours of star wars altogether!

The last episode was excellent. It needed to be dark and sinister in order to lead into episode 4. I am just so sad that the saga has ended.

Bankok 57

2005-05-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

We walked down the block tonight for some Thai at Bankok 57. So far it is the best Thai food I have had.

Meghan found the courage in herself to try Thai food for her first time--she had Pad Thai and really enjoyed it.

Refurnished

2005-05-01T05:44:00.001-07:00

Meghans' apartment is now completely refurnished, thanks to her sister and mother coming in for a week long visit. I will take pics and update them soon.

Refurnished

2005-05-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Meghans' apartment is now completely refurnished, thanks to her sister and mother coming in for a week long visit. I will take pics and update them soon.

Dynamic Movement

2005-04-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

I finished my last day of a three week long rock climbing course. I feel more comfortable, balanced, and maneuverable now. I love it, I can't wait to go climbing again.

Cheese

2005-04-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I attended our first cheese tasting! It was great, we learned how cheese is made, then learned the spanish culture and how it relates to their cheeses, and then ate 10 different spanish cheeses. I loved it.

Meghan's reaction quite likely was not as positive as was mine, but I suppose that is to be expected--she hates cheese. She was nervous about the event all day (which I found quite amusing), but she did very well throughout the hour of the tasting. She didn't even look nauseous. I bet if she would have stayed another hour she'd be trying the mild cheeses.

A myriad of people atteneded from the three families: the Davis-Mattesons, the Martinezes, and the Farrells. I’d need to draw a flow chart to keep it clear, but we went since the Martinez’s paid my father’s way as his birthday gift. We all just hopped along to snag the cheese.

2005-04-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Jane & Diane planned a picnic today for Fwah's 53rd birthday alongside the tidal basin while the cherry blossoms were blooming. This wasn't just a little bag of goodies either, but three picnic baskets all spread out upon a blanket with assorted cheeses, breads, crackers, and chips, salsa, hummus, and wine.

Here are some pictures from the event:

2005-04-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Purrty.

2005-04-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Fwah'ceropterous

2005-04-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I was pulled over for "failure to obey right turn only sign" (It's a bitch of an intersection, when i noticed that it was right turn only i tried to get over but i didn't do it soon enough). Since I also "failed to obtain a virginia license" I have a court due date of 5/11. I took off a half day of work for a court appointment at 9:30. At 11:15 when everyone else in the room had been heard by the judge, I realized that today was 4/11 not 5/11. The lawyers in the room laughed at me as I left =)

Since I was way out in fairfax, I took meghan out for lunch at einstein bagels. It was quite a treat since we never see each other at daytime during the week.

Later that day after rock climbing, I went over to visit meghan. By the time I got there she had already prepared a whole meal for us. I'm not talking about our normal mac&cheese, but she cooked fish, beans, and rolls, made the table and turned on a smallville DVD.

She's just badarse.

-Drew

2005-04-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I went to her friend Evi's wedding this weekend. We made it to Atlanta and back in just one weekend while still having a few minutes to attend.

We left as soon as possible on Friday night, spent the night at Tam’s house in Raleigh and after a mighty 4.5 hours of sleep we continued down for the wedding on Saturday. After a “deodorant fiasco” where Meghan accidentally smeared deodorant on her new dress, we made it to the wedding with 5 minutes to spare.

I enjoyed the wedding even though I didn’t know anyone. The best part (which Meghan makes fun of me for thinking) were the acoustics. The church had a badass organ and a grand piano. It was a classy version of dueling banjos. Maybe Meghan will post about the other stuff like bride’s maid’s dresses (they were pretty cool I guess).

I’m glad Meg got to spend some time with her friends who she hasn’t seen in awhile. We had some good bonding times on the dance floor after the reception where the family rented out a whole bar for the youngins to have fun.

Who would have thought driving ~22 hours with the same person in a single weekend would be fun? I had a great time though. Meghan and I talked, read, and jammed out the whole way. We need to start planning similar trips up to Boston or anywhere.

Here are some pics of the events

2005-04-09T10:06:00.001-07:00

Evi and Nathan are cheered on with rose petals.

2005-04-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Meghan gets freaky on the dance floor with alexus.

2005-04-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Meghan reunites with her old roomies.

More shopping!

2005-04-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Meghan didn't need a pick up from work today. She had gone to a conference and snagged a ride from her boss--allowing her to take a walk outside and relax before I came over. We drove to Ross's where she helped me pick out a shirt for the wedding this weekend.

I need help with these kind of things. I guess I am not a good shopper because I just find something that is good and then am ready to go. Meghan will find something that is pretty good, keep looking, then have a difficult time choosing between something else. This was clear when meghan came out of target after buying some jewelry. She immediately felt it was a bad purchase after and wanted to return it. Such worries have never happened to me.

I guess that's the price she pays for her fashion. =)

Anyways, we rented "Sliding Doors" after registering for membership at Hollywood video. Meghan really wanted me to see it and she didn't even mind watching it again with me since it reminded her of England. It was good--even better once i started understanding what the dang scottsman was saying.

Kayaking lessosn planned

2005-04-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I have planned to start Kayaking lessons together with a local organization called Potomac Paddlesports. I'm proud of meghan since she wanted to take the first step. It might be a bit intimidating at first but I am sure we will have a blast overall.

2005-03-21T11:51:00.001-08:00

Meghan hosted a BYOS (screwdriver) party. We invited anyone who was willing to construct IKEA furniture for pizza and alcohol. Thanks to Fwah, Diane, bill, cindy, russ, and marilyn for helping.

Fwah constructing in the corner

2005-03-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

Russ and Bill: don't bother us, we are strong men hard at work.

2005-03-21T11:50:00.001-08:00

Decorating supervisors.

2005-03-21T11:50:00.000-08:00

A smile that really says STOP TAKING PICTURES OF ME =)

2005-03-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Saint Patrick's day!

2005-03-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

I love it when she carries something in her mouth.

2005-03-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures we took playing with mandy the otherday:

So fast she's a blur.

2005-03-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

Fighting!!

2005-03-05T18:50:00.001-08:00

Kitchen

2005-03-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Outside view

2005-03-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

Dining Room

2005-03-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Living Room

2005-03-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

Meghan's Bathroom

After months of searching, meghan has decided on an apartment to live in. She is right across the river from DC, very close to pentagon city, and bailey's crossroads. The location is wonderful and will be a lot of fun--what's even better is she was able to find a sizable place in the location for a great price.

2005-02-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

Walking dogs

2004-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

Meghan's first trip to visit me in DC. I'm just stylin aren't i?