A master at last

I think it has long been my mother's dream for me that I would get a master's degree. I seem to recall many conversations with her when she told me that while I wasn't married, I should get a master's degree because it would be much harder afterward (and nearly impossible once you have kids).

Well, I managed to do all three. I started my program (an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in instructional technology/instructional design and development and a graduate certificate in eLearning--how's that for a mouthful?) in the summer of 2007--before I was married. Then I got married, and I just kept on working slowly through (emphasis there on slowly)...and then I had a baby, and managed to take about triple the course load at that point so I could just get it done. And now it's official! Yay for graduating! Yay for having a master's degree! Yay for not having to use it right now! Yay for Justin for dealing with me when I had a paper or project that I didn't want to work on!

If you would like to see some of my handy work, feel free to check out my fancy-shmancy portfolio website that I created (that's right, I know how to build a website!): http://portfolios.gmu.edu/bdurham

Home Sweet Home

So it's official. We are homeowners. Weird how two years ago at this time we were counting down the days unti our wedding, and now we have a kid and a mortgage. I guess it turns out that sometimes things really DO work out.

The move was fantastic...because we didn't have to move ourselves. I would like to publicly thank the U.S. Navy for sending us the movers. They showed up at 10:30 am to a completely unpacked (and rather chaotic) apartment, and by 5:30 pm, they had packed, loaded and unloaded everything in our new home. I've now been spoiled, so I guess it's good we don't plan on moving again any time soon. Colton particularly enjoyed the boxes and packing paper they left with us.



Anyway, rather than including the worlds longest post with a tour of the entire house, I've decided to post a room at a time. This particularly convenient as we have been unpacking one room at a time. Today's feature: The living/dining room.

Under Contract

Those of you who actually read to the end of my last post may have noticed that I mentioned that the offer we put on a house has been accepted. Well, we now have a contract on the house and are working toward a January 22 closing date. Wahoo!! The house itself might not look very big, but we assure you that the mortgage is... It is a cute little house in an historic district (seriously, it's on the national historic registry for being a track house built in the '50s) in the perfect location for us. We are quite excited.

Here are some pics. Descriptions are above. For example, this pictures shows the exterior of the house featuring the for sale sign.

This is the view of the living and dining room and into the kitchen from the front door.


Here's a shot of the kitchen and dining areas. (The dining area is pretty small...like 2 feet.)

Here's the kitchen. It's all brand new...

Here is the bathroom that we will be sharing with our children. Nothing brings a family together like sharing a tiny bathroom.

This room will be the nursery as it is the smallest and quite fitting for the smallest member of the family.

This room is the master. You can't really tell it apart from the nursery in the picture, but it is quite a bit bigger. There's another bedroom upstairs as well, but apparently I forgot to capture it. That's okay, it would look pretty much exactly like the other two anyway.

The staircase downstairs is in the kitchen. Here's the view coming up the stairs.

There are two bedrooms in the basement, although the previous owner knocked out the wall between them. Putting the wall back up is already on our project list. We're going to use one as a storage room and one as a guest room (for anyone who wants to come visit!).

There is also a full bathroom in the basement. My favorite part about it is the shower that I can barely stand up in because the ceilings are low. It shouldn't be a problem as long as our kids aren't tall...

Most of the basement has normal ceilings. There's just one little corner that is really low. The bottom of that light comes down to my nose. Project #2 - take out that low fixture and put in a recessed light.

Here's the view of the staircase coming down into the basement.

There's a nice sized rec room downstairs. It's also a walkout basement, so it's nice and sunny down there.

We have a nice little back yard (featuring a ginormous shed). Justin is already planning to put a grill/smoker/woodfire oven in that corner.

Here's the other side of the yard. Notice the bike path 2 feed out the back yard. Prime location for a family that likes to bike!

I'll post more when we actually buy the house, paint it and move in. Here's to thirty years of house payments!!

Justin Scott, M.E.M

After years of torturous work, I'm proud to announce that Justin has officially finished his Masters degree in Engineering Management. The professor who graded his capstone project said that Justin's was one of the best executive summaries he's seen of the hundreds that he's read for this program and that writing such summaries was an art that Justin had clearly mastered. Justin said that the real art was taking the executive summary and making it a 40 page capstone paper. Either way, I'm proud of you for pushing through to the end. Way to go!!!

Here's a closer look at those cupcakes:

New Year Resolved

This year when the new year rolled around, I actually set a goal. I determined that this year, my goal would be to ride 100 miles in the Sea Gull Century bike ride. This may have been a little presumptuous considering that I didn't even own a bike at that time, but nonetheless, that is the goal I set. I would like to announce that this weekend, I officially achieved my new year's resolution for 2008. I actually rode 100 miles on my bike yesterday, and the only snag in the day's adventure was that I forgot to bring any socks. I ended up buying some guy's extra pair of old socks for $5 bucks, only to find out they were selling socks inside. Oh well. Justin finished in 5 hours 12 minutes, and I finished some time after that. Here are the pictures:

Here we are in our matching spandex outfits, ready to start the ride. The lady taking the picture for us had to try three times before actually taking a picture. (It was kind of awkward after asking if they had any socks that I could buy, going back a few minutes later asking if they would take a picture for us...and then having to go back three times since it didn't actually take.

During the four hours Justin had to wait for me to finish, he had time to take this picture. He also had time to fall asleep on the concrete wall by the finish line, leading some to wonder if he was dead or alive.

I clearly wasn't there to snap a picture of Justin when he finished, but he was there waiting for me. (Notice the ugly black socks that I was wearing--bad idea for someone who doesn't have a tan to begin with.)

And I made it!!

All in all, it was a great ride. It was perfect weather, and a completely flat route, and I actually had a great time. I'm not enjoying myself quite as much today, however, because it hurts to sit, I can barely walk, and every muscle hurts, but at least I accomplished my goal!

Look what Justin made!!

Well, as if Justin didn't already do everything, we can now officially add "artist" to his long list of qualifications. Believe it or not, he made this from scratch. Well, he didn't make the license plates, but he did cut them out and build and paint the backdrop. We got the idea for this about a year ago when we saw a similar work of art at the National Portrait Gallery.

Anyway, Justin decided that he could make one...and it turns out that he was right (which is good because the one at the Portrait Gallery cost $4,000). Besides the suggestion I gave him to actually plan which color of license plates he was buying (so that all of the Western United States didn't end up the same color) he did the whole thing himself. And it fits in so nicely with our vibrant red couches. Bravo, my love! (Watch out Dan Bradshaw--you're not the only "arteest" in the family now!)

Here's a better view...

And here it is when I used the flash...you can tell which license plates were really old because they didn't reflect...

Pretty sweet!!

Pain in the b*tt...

So...I have once again taken up exercise. I gave it up in 1996. It was a conscious choice. I quit the soccer team and decided that I didn't need to exercise ever again. It just seemed like a silly waste of time to me. Not only did I give up exercise, I think I may be one of the only people to ever actually actively campaign against it.

Let me explain my reasoning for such seemingly illogical campaigning (there happens to be a lot of scientific research to support exercise). When I spoke out against exercising, I wasn't saying we should all be lumps on the couch. Physical activity, in my young mind, was perfectly acceptable. Things like frisbee or football or soccer are virtuous and lovely and should be sought after. What I personally found to be completely silly was exercise isolated from any type of sporting event or game. Running isn't fun. If you think it is, you are lying to yourself. It hurts. It makes your lungs burn and your legs tired. You get sweaty and smelly, and if you're not careful your toe nails will turn black and fall off. Soccer, on the other hand, is fun...and if you have to do some running as part of the victory process, so be it. But just running? Such a thought makes reason stare.

So, flash forward from 1996 about 5 years. At the end of my mission, I started setting goals. Missionaries do crazy things like. I decided that maybe it was time for me to be "fit" again. Something about serving the Lord heart might mind and strength. When I got home I joined a gym, and I have actually been a member pretty much ever since that time. It turns out that all those scientists are right. Exercise does make you feel better. As my HEPE teacher at BYU always hoped for me, I have learned to "reap the benefits" of exercise.

Why on earth am I pontificating on such a random topic? You all know me and probably realize that when I say that I have taken up exercise, I mean that I work out once a week--twice a week if I'm lucky. I am certainly no rambo barbie. After a 2 month spell with no gym membership (I thought that I could save money and do step aerobics alone in my bedroom. That was a joke...), I went back to Gold's yesterday and gave them a ridiculous sum of money so that I can run and not go anywhere, and then lift some heavy things, all while enjoying the latest music videos. As part of getting the membership, I also had a workout with a personal trainer. I don't know what this says about me, but she had me do a lot of exercises that worked me glutes...and today my bum is very sore. That is all.

Thoughts on exercise? Please share!!