Sunday, August 29, 2010

Fantasy Football for Real Life

Matt and I (along with a few of our friends - shout out to Daron, Thomas and that other guy that flies helicopters) are currently participating in our fantasy football draft.

This is my second year doing this, and my strategy has changed. Before I picked only guys I knew via celebrity scandals, reality tv and the occasional sports center propaganda that was unknowingly absorbed.

However this year, this year I have a plan, muaaaaahahahah! I scouted out my favorite players this afternoon, checking their stats from last year and what different folks have been saying about their performances in preseason games.

But it doesn't always go as planned....

See, you would think your friends would read your mind. They know the players you "scouted", think are cute in those tight football britches, etc. But this just isn't the case. And curse you Daron Flory for stealing a couple of my players!!

And I must say, though I am a pretty serious Auburn football fan (WDE!), but this NFL business gets to be a little repetitive to me. So, to appease the husband, I pretend to be interested. Until I discovered Fantasy Football, which has made it a game, if you will, to watch a game.

I now have teams to cheer for, as well as individual players based on ability instead of celebrity status and shape (thank YOU, Tom Brady).

And because of Fantasy Football, I may now look forward to this fall and the sports filled Sundays, Mondays and holidays that it brings.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Colonial Williamsburg




So my (Brittany's) mom came in town on Thursday, and so far we cooked dinner for families at the Ronald McDonald house (quinoa casserole, veggies, and cherry cobbler), ate dinner at Cous Cous and visited Colonial Williamsburg.

It was such a blast from the past! Watching people live just like they did in the days prior to our country's independence is amazing. And you know what, people actually live there! There are different homes with "private residence" signs where 88 actors live when they aren't wandering the streets and showing us how they did it back in the day.

It was such a fantastic trip! I wish we could have spent more time downtown closer to William and Mary, but I'm positive we will head back there soon!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Haus en Deutschland

Forgive my German. I'm pretty positive that the title of this entry is completely wrong in so many different ways.

That being said, we have spent the evening looking at homes in Germany! So far we are partial on a 4BR 2 bath home with a large "sunny garden" (as they called it) for Patton.

This all started because Matt came home after an overseas briefing today that informed him we will be moving to Germany about 2 weeks sooner than we thought. So when Matt is supposed to report December 30th, that means he starts work that day. Which means we will be moving mid-December.

Just wanted to update everyone on our plans. Hope you all had a fantastic Monday!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Happy Birthday Matthew!





















Friday was Matt's 27th birthday, and we celebrated with a fine dining experience at the local O'Charley's, ha! Matt's new friend Kyle from the Army Logistics University joined us, and we feasted. Later, Matt got to see/eat his birthday present from me!
Saturday we made a little visit north of Richmond to King's Dominion, a local theme park, and rode roller coasters to our hearts' desire. All in all, yet another fabulous weekend!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Our Wonderous Weekend!




We had the most fabulous weekend! Friday night we went to Feathernesters, which is a tea house on the north side of Richmond. Matt really had no idea where we were going, and when I informed him we would be eating dinner at a tea house he moderately freaked. He pictured old ladies in red hats sipping teas with their pinkies high.

Lucky for him, the only tea we had was sweet, and iced :) But we did enjoy a fresh meal prepared by an awesome chef with goodies he picked up at the farmers market right next door. Twas splendid!

Saturday we toured the Short Pump Town Center and ate lunch at Tara Thai. Again, a first for Matthew. He never had Thai food before and daringly decided to pick the two chili dish. I've never seen his face so red and his eyes so watery. Poor guy! But it was delish!

Saturday night we headed out to watch the Richmond Flying Squirrels take on the Portland SeaDogs. It is the Flying Squirrels inaugural season, and while I never thought I'd meet a team with a name more embarrassing than the Biscuits, we may have. In their defense, the mascot is adorable, and they have signs everywhere that say "Go Nuts!" which is absolutely hysterical! And one of the outfielders has a cannon for an arm. That was exciting to watch.

Though I have been watching baseball for years, it seems every season I must be re-taught all the rules. So the entire game Matt was explaining exactly what was going on. When he left to grab some peanuts it was evidently a close game. When he returned, expecting a recap, I had no idea who was winning! Oopsy!

Still, it was fun. And another nice Richmondy weekend!

Loves! Britt and Matt

Friday, August 13, 2010

Matt Starts School


This week Matt started school at the Army Logistics University on Fort Lee. So far he has just been inprocessing, getting settled and experiencing, as he calls it, "death by powerpoint". He is presently at his first PT (or Physical Training) test, and thusly is not happy that I've been feeding him cake all week :) Oopsy!

As for me, well, I must admit I have quite enjoyed being a housewife this past week. I've never cleaned so much in my life. My parents would be so proud! I was always a messy kid, but I can say that I have swept and mopped twice this week, as well as cleaned every single room in this 2 bedroom apartment at least once. And you should see this immaculate kitchen!

Monday was my cake class and I brought home a layered yellow cake with apricot filling and buttercream icing. Yummy!

And in just a couple of hours I am headed to Fort Lee for Operation Homefront. We will be stuffing bookbags with donated school supplies for children on post. They will be starting school next week! I am so excited!!

This weekend I think we will be heading to Virginia Beach. It's only a couple of hours away and, best of all, FREE!!

But to kick start this weekend, Matt and I have a dinner date at Feathernesters, a tea house in Richmond. They have Supper Club on Friday nights and it looks like we will be in attendance for a fresh meal the chef has composed from yummies at the 17th Street Farmer's Market!

Patton has been begging me to say hello to you all. He is being a cute little snuggle buggle with his head in my lap. I love this little poochy!

We shall blog soon! Love from the Coles!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

A Perfect Saturday at Belle Isle




First of all, happy 22nd birthday to my sister, Alisa Cole!!! You are getting old. That's all I have to say.

So we spent yesterday at Belle Isle, which is an old POW camp the Confederacy used to torture and imprison Union soldiers. Besides a prison, the isle was used for housing a steel mill in the early 1900s. There was so much history there! Though it is a somber place, it is a fun and carefree spot to spend a Saturday in Richmond.

Basically Belle Isle is a couple miles of rocks suitable for picnics, sunbathing and frolicking on the James River. You can jump from rock to rock with a gorgeous view of the city scape the entire time.

And what Matt found most fascinating was the walkway which was directly under the freeway, suspended in the air.

We had a ridiculously Richmond time at Belle Isle on Saturday. I absolutely cannot WAIT to head back that way!

Matt and Britt

Friday, August 6, 2010

Weird Science




So we went out to Richmond the other day and we hit up the Science Museum of Virginia! We channeled our childhood and played with all of the interactive displays, and watched an IMAX film on the ocean :)

For lunch we visited the restaurant Matt has wanted to eat at since we moved here - The Black Sheep. For those of you who have no clue what we're talking about, there is a show on The Travel Channel called "Man vs. Food", and this guy named Adam Richmond visits all of these amazing restaurants in the country. In Richmond he ate at The Black Sheep and had a U.S.S. Brooklyn, which is a jerk chicken "battleship" (not sub!) with peach chutney and banana ketchup. I tried the ketchup as well as the chutney and it is AMAZING!!

We finally broke down and stopped by and Matt devoured his sandwhich. I munched on a Fire and Ice salad - a salad with local greens, tomatoes, cheese and a jalapeno vinigarette. YUMSVILLE!

What an awesome day we had :)

(and much thanks to suzy baker for instructing me on adding pictures!! ha)