Biscuit and Gravy go to the Dominican Republic

Before we got engaged, Chad made the mistake of sending me a discount travel email. He was sending it just as an FYI, but I took it to mean, "Look Biscuit, these are some great deals on fun trips. We should book one." So I did. Within a few hours of receiving the email, I had purchased two tickets to the Caribbean!

I got us a trip to the Dominican Republic over Chad's birthday weekend. We stayed at a gorgeous resort in Punta Cana.

One of the days we were there, we went on a snuba excursion (combination of snorkeling and scuba diving) and we (Chad) got to drive our own personal speed boat to the snuba site. It was a ton of fun and only a little scary.... Chad told me afterwards there were only a couple times when he thought he might actually flip the boat.

The week of relaxation and sunshine was just what we needed, and now that we are back in rainy Seattle, we are really looking forward to Tahiti after the wedding.

We are engaged!!

Chad flew to Seattle on April 24 for what Kelly thought was a regular visit. Little did she know that Chad had been anxiously developing multiple plans for the perfect proposal for months, and he planned to execute one of his plans that week.

After Kelly cancelled their plans to go to the tulip festival on Sunday, the Seattle weather rained out their walk through the Olympic Sculpture Garden on Monday, and Kelly announced last minute that she had a work event all night Wednesday, Chad was running out of plans. Thankfully, he did not give up.

On April 28, Chad asked Kelly to come to the roof of their condominium building and take pictures with him holding signs that said "happy birthday" to send to a friend serving in Qatar. Kelly stood on the roof holding the signs, as Chad set up the camera up on the tripod.

Chad hit a button on the camera, walked over to where Kelly was standing and asked her to put down the signs. Confused, she said that she couldn't because the signs would blow away. Chad insisted, and although she was very confused, Kelly obliged.

When Chad grabbed her hands, he was shaking so much. Kelly knew something big was about to happen. Chad talked to Kelly for a couple minutes, listing all the ways they make each other's lives better and bring out the best in each other. At the end of his speech, Chad recited a limerick he'd memorized months before:

It took us a while to see Just how great we could be Now Biscuit and Gravy are together And if you say yes its forever Will you marry me?

Kelly of course said "YES!!!" As Chad went to stop the camera from recording (he'd thought ahead and captured the moment on video!) he remembered one of his props. He walked back over to Kelly and unzipped his jacket and showed her the t-shirt he had made. It said: "Mrs. Gravy?" Then he handed her her very own "Future Mrs. Gravy" t-shirt.

Addie Bunny--STL Easter

Its hard to miss a "first" when you have a cute little one. And it doesn't hurt when St. Louis is kind of in between Seattle and DC. So, we spent Addison's first Easter Weekend in St. Louis.

We didn't have a lot planned except seeing the family and staring at Addison. We were able to accomplish a few things. I had heard about Pappy's Smokehouse. Since I like BBQ almost as much as I like biscuits, I conned everyone into going to visit it. You know its a good restaurant when the line is 50 people deep at 2:30pm. We of course waited, but were disappointed to learn all the chicken and turkey was gone. Thankfully they still had the swine, so i got the double platter of brisket and pulled pork..with a side of the most amazing sweet potato fries. Lunch was worth the trip alone.

After the long lunch, we took Addison to the petting zoo. We showed up with just a few minutes to go before closing but were able to see horses, cows, goats and a few others. Addison liked to watch and growl at the animals and we just laughed at her the whole time.

When we got home, Derek schooled everyone in the science of Corn-hole. That night since Addison couldn't die Easter eggs, we decided to do it for her. Because Chad can't focus on anything for a while, he quickly died his eggs and then ate candy. Biscuit, Heather and Derek spent hours drawing on, dipping, and creating masterpieces while Chad pretended he was Superman.

Luckily the next morning the Easter Bunny showed up and brought everyone candy--of course Chad ate from everyone's.

It was a short trip but great to get to see the family and finally hear Addison growl in person.

We love NY

Even though I went to law school a short train ride away from NYC, I had never been. Chad thought (rightfully so) that this was a great tragedy, and promised to take me as soon as possible. Thanks to Tonya, we managed to find a great deal at a new hotel in Midtown, so we picked a weekend in March and booked the trip!

During our three-day whirlwind tour of NYC, we managed to see Times Square, eat Tasti D-Lite (Biscuit), run into The Naked Cowboy, get a bus tour of Lower Manhattan, Explore (a very small part of) Central Park, eat falafel from a street vendor, eat Pinkberry three times (again, Biscuit), and be the first ones to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown.

My favorite part of the trip was without a doubt the trip up the Statue of Liberty. It was quite an undertaking to get there. Chad had to buy our tickets months in advance, as they only let around 90 people to the top every day. We arrived in Battery Park at a very early 7:45 a.m. Our tickets said 9 a.m., but Chad is not a fan of being late. We stood in line until 8 a.m., when we moved inside to a different line. We went through one level of security, took the boat to Liberty Island, and literally raced off the boat to be the first ones in the next security line. After passing through the final layer of security, we were off to the races! Somehow one other couple cut in front of us on the way up the 350ish stairs; however, they hesitated for about 2 seconds on a landing halfway up the monument. Chad and I did not hesitate. We glanced at each other, nodded, and took off up the stairs. We were the first ones to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown!

It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to go back, even if only for the numerous conveniently located Pinkberrys and the Hummus Place restaurant. Amazing. Thanks Gravy!

Oh Canada.....Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

I have always loved watching the Olympics. No matter the sport, the country or if its the summer or winter. There is just something about the competition, camaraderie, and nationalism.

I was lucky to attend the Atlanta 96 Olympics when my sister was dancing in the opening and closing ceremonies. However, Kelly had not been to an Olympics.

In February I was basing out of Seattle for 2 weeks. Every night Kelly and I watched the Olympics religiously. Kelly decided we should pop up to Vancouver for the day to just experience the festivities. I called my friend Chris and had my passport FedEx'ed to me and we decided on the day. Not to my surprise, Kelly didn't want to just visit Vancouver but wanted to see an event. She looked for days until she found the perfect tickets...Curling (or shuffleboard with ice, brooms, and big granite rocks).

At 7am on Sunday, February 28th we made a run for the boarder. Our trip into Vancouver was easy--flew through the boarder and found cheap parking downtown. After picking up our tickets we wandered around taking in the shirts, jackets and red mittens. While the Olympic Flame was beautiful, the fact it was behind a fence (referred to as a concentration camp) was troubling.

After fighting our way through the official souvenir shop (and failing to find mittens) we headed to the Olympic Center for Curling. 4 sheets of ice, 16 stones per sheet, and 4 (wo)man teams. Although I had been watching curling daily and reading up on it, it was still intimidating. We bought a radio to "listen in" on what was happening and to help us understand the matches. While it was hard to follow 3 matches at once (much harder than on TV), it was amazing to be part of the Olympics and a "sport" that most people hadn't heard of 2 weeks earlier. The Americans lost badly and the Canadians were also beaten in an upset. However we felt like winners for getting to Vancouver and taking part in a once in a lifetime experience (well, maybe twice a lifetime for me).

We're ready to book our tickets to Sochi in 2014!

Gravy Learns to Snowboard

Chad escaped Snowmageddon in DC to spend Valentine's Day with me in Seattle. I decided Chad had not experienced enough snow recently, so I took him snowboarding! Chad had never been before, so I signed us up for a lesson together.

After the first hour of the lesson, the instructor took us up the mountain for our first run. Gravy was awesome! He had a couple ugly falls, but he jumped back up like a champ. After one of Chad's particularly painful-looking falls, the instructor turned to me and said, "Umm, yeah he's going to be really sore, so make sure he takes some advil tonight. Or a bottle of wine. Whatever works for him."

After our lesson, we took a couple runs down the mountain on our own. I asked Chad if he was having fun. The look on his face most of the day had me a little concerned. He turned to me and said, "Why would I be having fun. I'm terrible. I'm falling constantly and every joint in my body hurts. What part of this is fun." Despite his answer, I think he actually had a great time--except for the part where the 8 year old kids flew past us down the mountain as we sat in the snow trying to muster the energy to stand back up. That was not cool.

All in all it was a good day. We both left the mountain without any (new) injuries and with at least half-smiles on our faces. Next weekend, we head to Vancouver to check out the Olympics!

Snowmageddon--February 2010

Its not my style to give you an update when Kelly wasn't there too, but Snowmageddon is big enough that it deserved a posting.

The 2009-2010 winter has been one of the roughest in DC history. My first year in DC (2003) we had a blizzard, but I haven't seen a real snow since. This winter, we have had 2 top 10 snow storms and a few other significant storms--mostly on weekends of course!

The storm started mid-day on Friday. At about 3 pm, it started to accumulate. I had planned ahead. Not only did I have candles and flashlights, but I had beer, wine, candy and of course Beer! By Saturday morning at least 16 inches had fallen. Luckily I had power (and still beer and pizza).

After watching movies and G-town basketball, I ventured out to see what it was really like. Hundred of people were walking down the middle of major DC arteries (most were carrying beer or cigarettes). There were people driving, but mostly those from countries that don't traditionally have snow. I took a few pictures, did a snow angel and hit a local watering hole for a Snowmageddon brew--Chocolate stout and Banana beer.

Except for dropping snow and water on kids smoking pot under my window, the snow has been anti-climatic. I kept my power and we didn't break the record for the largest snow ever (its top 5 and my 3rd in the top 10). My unofficial tally (on top of a recycling bin) was 22 inches for the storm!

I can say for a fact that being stuck in your condo, alone, is not a great thing. I have read books, watched movies, eaten pizza, consumed beer, taken a walk, thrown snowballs, and made yellow snow. However, its not the same with out Biscuit. I wish that she could have been stranded with me too. At least she is warm and safe in perpetually rainy Seattle

I'll stay warm tonight and start the process of digging out tomorrow.

Chad 1: Snowmageddon 0.

Snow Day!

This past weekend, I had two great surprises. Well the first one wasn't a big surprise--Kelly coming to visit--but it was great the just the same. The second was a surprise--SNOW!

The weekend weather called for a light dusting of snow on Saturday. On our way to spin class, the flakes started. I stopped looking at myself in the mirror during spin for a few minutes so I could watch the snow fall. Throughout the day the flakes fell. By the end of the night, there were about 6 inches on the ground and the temperatures had dropped into the low teens.

Not to be discouraged, Kelly and I still made it to the movies, out to Matchbox and to meet up with her Georgetown Law friends. The snow didn't stop us; it merely made the trip more beautiful.

We snuck out of DC early before the December blizzard, but we did get to see the little reminder of winter. It was also chance for me to wear the snow boots I bought 5 years ago and had only worn 3-4 times. All in all, a great weekend.

Biscuit and Gravy pick their future neighborhood..... Ballard!

Chad came out to Seattle last weekend for a couple days of shopping, eating and neighborhood hunting. Although we still aren't living in the same city, or even on the same side of the country, we are making plans for the day when we stop single-handedly holding up the airline industry.

Chad and I spent a day exploring the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle last October. By some miracle, it was sunny that day, and we spent the afternoon browsing the Ballard Farmer's Market and eating hummus (Biscuit) and drinking Guiness (Gravy) in some of the restaurants and bars in the neighborhood.

Once Chad realized that Ballard had a movie theater and grocery store within walking distance, he was sold on the neighborhood. I wanted to make sure he didn't commit too quickly though, and this last weekend we spent several hours driving around Seattle, neighborhood shopping. We checked out Eastlake, Lake Union, Fremont, Wallingford, and Capitol Hill. I think Capital Hill was a real contender, until we spent 20 minutes looking for a parking spot on a Sunday night. Yikes.

Turns out, Chad's first instinct was right. After extensive research and consultation, Biscuit and Gravy decided that Ballard is the place we'll move when we finally get to live in the same city!

Snorkeling in Xpu-Ha Mexico

When we went to Xpu-Ha Mexico, the only thing we knew we wanted to do was snorkel. During our first trip together to Hawaii in 2008, we had tried to snorkel Hanauma Bay. However, due to overuse, we saw very few fish. Recently, Chad had snorkeled in Hawaii and Honduras, and Kelly in Belize and Hawaii, but were wanting to share the experience.

On our second full day, we agreed to take an organized snorkeling trip to three locations: "Turtle Bay", Yal Ku, and a centote (Mayan sinkhole). Chad didn't hold a lot of faith that he would see anything of worth. But that was soon dispelled.

At Turtle Bay, we quickly saw 5-6 large "green and white" turtles. Most of these were close to a meter long. The largest one we saw was easily over a meter long and even though we tried to stay far away, it followed us and was only 1.5 meters away. Kelly swam with turtles before in Hawaii, but Chad had only seen one turtle once (from afar) in Honduras.

Yal Ku was like snorkeling in an aquarium. A mixture of fresh and salt water, the aquarium features needle fish, parrotfish and others. Where the water mixed, it looked greasy but if you dove down to the salt water, it was clear again. A little crowded at times, Yal Ku was a one of a kind natural experience, especially compared to the "Disney" snorkeling experiences near.

We didn't snorkel the Mayan cenote but we did cliff jump. The water was deep and fresh and didn't have as many fish as the other locations.

It was a great way to start a relaxing vacation together. Our next goal is to buy Chad a snorkel and to visit more sites on our next vacations.

Welcome to Biscuit & Gravys

Welcome to the home of all things Kelly and Chad also known as Biscuit and Gravy! We'll be updating you on our travels and goings on. Hopefully you'll enjoy sharing our memories as much as we enjoy making them.