Habitat for Humanity

Hello friends and family!  Yesterday, Ben and I spent our Saturday serving with our small group for Habitat for Humanity Chesapeake.  If you don't know about Habitat, it is an organization that has been around since the 1970's that builds affordable housing for families in need.  Habitat for Humanity Chesapeake has been around since 1982 and serves the Chesapeake Bay area.  It is a great organization and you should definitely check out the chapter near you!

Ben and I joined another couple from our small group, Todd and Lindsey (check out their awesome blog here for amazing recipes and DIY tutorials!) in Baltimore to serve Habitat.  The other couple in our group, David & Melissa, were supposed to come but unfortunately were too sick :(  Just means we will have to do it again!  We served in the Brooklyn area of Baltimore with some other volunteers, two Americorp volunteers, and the guy who was in charge of Habitat for the area.  We broke off into three groups to work on the three houses.  In Baltimore, Habitat mostly does rehabbing the inside of houses instead of building them from the ground up.

Our project was working on installing laminate flooring in the bedrooms of the house.  Thankfully it was an inside job!  Laying floor was hard work!  Most of the flooring was already installed except for the edges and corners of the room.  We also worked on repairing some floor pieces that were installed improperly.  We worked from about 9am-3pm with a lunch break and it looked like we didn't do much!  Most of the time was spent measuring, cutting, fitting, and then redoing it all when it didn't quite fit.  Lots of trial and error with the floor boards!  But our Americorp volunteer said we did a great job and was really pleased with our work so I guess it was productive!  I'd love to go back sometime, especially when it is a bit warmer!

Check out your local Habitat for Humanity and see how you can help!  There are plenty of options other than construction in case that's not for you.  And don't forget to check out our friends' blog, Todd & Lindsey!

Happy Thanksgiving & Getting Caught Up!

Apparently this post never got posted...oops!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  We have so much to be thankful for this year!  Today we are going to celebrate with Ben's family and then tomorrow, we are heading to the shore to celebrate with my family.

But before I talk about Thanksgiving, I need to get us all caught up!  My birthday was this past Tuesday and there was a lot of pre-birthday celebrating going on!  About 2 weeks ago, my parents, grandparents, brother & girlfriend, and Ben and I went to this AMAZING restaurant in Baltimore called Fogo de Chao.  This is a Brazilian steakhouse and what happens is when you sit down, they give you a coaster that is red on one side and green on the other.  When you are ready to eat, you turn your coaster to green and the waiters are immediately there with different kinds and cuts of meat!  They simply slice you off a section and move on, only to be replaced by another waiter.  They don't stop coming until you turn your coaster back to red.  It was a great birthday dinner and we all went home sooooo full!  It is definitely worth it because the food was fantastic.  I even got a free dessert since it was my birthday!!!  My family gave me some wonderful gifts such as some cute shoes, a new Redskins jersey to wear and tickets to the Redskins vs. Eagles game, some money, and other goodies.

  This past Saturday, Ben and I started the day off with having breakfast with his family for my birthday celebration part 2!!!  We went to Mimi's Cafe which was really yummy.  I had a Mardi Gras omelet which was sooo good, I highly recommend it if you ever go there.  His family also gave me wonderful gifts, like a beautiful shirt, pretty scarf, and an Amazon gift card!!!!  I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people wish me a happy birthday!!!

After all that birthday celebrating, Ben and I participated in the Dazzle Dash with two of our good friends, David and Melissa Saturday night.  Every year, the Howard County General Hospital puts on a light show called the Symphony of Lights. It is at Merriweather Post Pavilion and you pay to drive through with your family to see all the Christmas lights.  All of the proceeds go to the Howard County Hospital.  Well, the weekend before it opens to the driving, they have a race event and a walking event through the lights.  We did the race event and it was so much fun!  Besides the race, there are a lot of vendors with free food and activities!  It was a lot of fun and it was great to help out the hospital.  We even got a free shirt!