Tomorrow is the big day

Dan and I head out tomorrow for our church's pioneer trek. We were asked to be a Ma & Pa for 14 teenage kids. We'll be reenacting the trek of the earlier pioneers who traveled by foot from the Midwest to Utah. I'm sure it will be a good experience, but I just saw the weather report and it's supposed to be 90 degrees, off and on thunder storms, and HIGH humidity. I can't think of a better way to spend my weekend than bad weather, wearing long sleeved pioneer clothes, and babysitting a bunch of spoiled teenagers! All bitterness aside, I'm quite excited. I'll post more pictures when we get back....that is if I survive!

Happy Anniversary to us

Today is our 2 year anniversary! I can't believe it has already been two years....time flies when you're having fun! I have the best husband in the whole world. He's smart, incredibly handsome, funny, and so nice to me and everybody around him. I don't know how I got to be so lucky.

Aloha!

Last night my boss hosted a party at his house and it was a luau. He has a huge house in DC with a beautiful yard that was perfect for the event. Here are some pictures of the night!

Double Fisted Dan! (Non-alcoholic of course!)

They served ice-cream in pineapple shells-YUM!

My co-worker's and their significant others

Animal cruelty at its finest-CRAB RACES! I wasn't aware that if you heat up a crab they run like crazy-I found that out last night!

Me & George Dubya!

Hiking Great Falls

The weather was gorgeous today and Dan and I couldn't fathom being at work all day, so we took the day off and went hiking at Great Falls (a national park in northern VA). I had my expectations set a little too high and thought the falls would be larger than they were, but it was still beautiful and Dan and I had a great time being together.

Check out Dan's new boots!

My Newest Creation

Last night was my final fondant and gumpaste class, and this is the cake I made using the techniques I learned. Can you tell I love pink?

Personality Test

I took this personality DNA test at www.personaldna.com
Looks like I'm an "encouraging designer"....don't know about that as I don't have a designing bone in my body! Give it a try and see what you think!

Father's Day the Arabic Way

Dan and I spent Father's Day at our friends' house, who happen to be from Syria. They are amazing cooks and treated us to a special Arabic dish. I must admit, I've never been much of an eggplant liker, but after this food I'm hooked on its deliciousness! Claudia gave me cooking lessons and I can't wait to make it myself. If you're lucky maybe I'll make it for you one day. By the way....Happy Father's Day Pop!

The women slaving away in the kitchen



The guys chilling on the balcony as the women cook.

Beef Stuffed Eggplant

Grilled Seasoned Chicken


Tabbouleh...my favorite!



The Gang

New Goods!

Dan and I aren't the best at keeping surprises. Actually, let me clarify that. I'M not good at keeping surprises. I love presents and can't wait to give them away, and it's worse when I know somebody has a present for me and I have to wait to receive it. Our anniversary is in 1 1/2 weeks and Dan told me he bought me a special surprise that came in the mail yesterday. The sucker that he is couldn't resist my puppy dog eyes as I begged and pleaded with him to give me my present early. I was delighted when he gave in and let me open it 1 1/2 weeks early. Dan knows a way to a girl's heart. DESIGNER PURSES & WALLETS! He bought me a Coach wallet to go along with my Coach purse he bought me for Christmas.

The problem is....now that he spent our life savings on the wallet, I have no money to put into it.

I have the best husband in the whole world!

You Can't Say That on the Radio!

Lazy Sunday's

Is it me, or is this a typical "male" picture? We invited our friend over for dinner and I spent all day preparing the food. After dinner, they decided to get some zzzzz's while I cleaned up the kitchen by myself. Guess I gotta get used to this....aren't all men the same?


PS-my hubby is the one in the blue shorts!

30,000 Strong

I love working for PricewaterhouseCoopers. I especially love days when I don't have to go into the office and work. Today was PwC's annual community service day and 30,000 people from all over the country joined together and participated in a service project. The Washington Metro region met at Banneker High School and did everything from weeding and pruning, to painting handrails and stacking books in the library. I was asked to help coordinate the registration desk, so I did that for the first part of the afternoon, then I helped out on the baseball field weeding and picking up trash.

The whole group (see if you can find me, I'm pretty hidden)

Working at the registration table with Janet and Chelsey

This is the team I work with on a daily basis at the client site of Sallie Mae. Mark, Rex, me, Megan, Ryan, Amy, and Chris. Sallie Mae team......UNITE!

I couldn't think of a better way to end the day than with ice-cream and Popsicles straight from the ice-cream truck! I spoiled myself with a choco taco. If you've never had one I highly suggest you running to the store immediately and buying some. You won't regret it.

Icing on the cake

As if I wasn't busy enough, I decided to sign up for the Wilton cake courses and learn the basics of cake decorating. It has been so much fun and I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I'm in the middle of course 3 and have one more course to go before I graduate. I bought every single piping tip made to man along with a tackle box full of supplies before I took the course. It's a good thing I enjoy doing it or it would have been mucho dinero down the drain! I've had to make a cake every week for the past 3 months and I think my husband is getting sick of it (which is shocking considering he has the world's largest sweet tooth).

This is my very first cake. I actually made this before I even took the course. Nobody planned on making my birthday cake so I tackled the project by myself. I was too lazy to change the icing colors so I used all pink.....pepto bismol pink that is!

Here is my first official cake from the class. Here we learned how to pipe on a design using piping gel. Much easier than tracing a pattern with a toothpick.


This is my final cake from course 1. Roses are quite difficult to do, either that or I'm a complete moron. I guess they turned out okay, but I've got lots of practicing ahead of me if I ever want to have my own business.

Dan took this photo as I was deep in concentration making my royal icing flowers for course 2. Royal icing is great because it dries hard and I can store the flowers for years.


Here is my final cake from course 2. The birds are pretty ugly if you ask me, but they were a requirement as I had to learn the technique of colorflow. I think my skills are improving, but I've still got a long road ahead of me.

My Inaugural Post

Welcome to Mer's Milepost! I finally gave in to the peer pressures of the blogging world, after years of dragging my feet and believing that no one would be interested in hearing what I have to say! Unfortunately for all of you, my husband convinced me otherwise... Hope you enjoy!