Happy Birthday, Rob!

This weekend was Rob's 27th birthday and when I say we celebrated...it may very well be the understatement of the year.

Saturday morning started off with mimosas and waffles in our pajamas with Laura. Afterwards we all attended our friends' wedding reception/cookout complete with games of horseshoes, a moonbounce and copious amounts of alcohol. We ended the evening around 1am at a swanky seafood restaurant in D.C. with Rob's buddies from Iraq. But the fun doesn't stop there. A few short hours later (Sunday morning) we met up with my boss and his wife in Annapolis. They took us out on their sailboat all day and we watched a TON of sailboat races. It was pretty much the nicest day we could have asked for. We took our camera everywhere this weekend, but it didn't occur to me to take pictures until we were out on the water...so I have a few of those. The first pics are from the boat races and one of the sky, cause wow, it was gorgeous. The ones below are us goofing around. You'll just have to imagine the others...

This is Rob hanging out on the front of the boat (the bow? I don't know...I grew up riding jet skis).

And yes, that's me pretending I OWN the boat.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Honey! I hope you had a great weekend! Love you!

Let the games begin!

Remember that croquet game Rob was talking about last week? Well, we went. And it ROCKED. St. Johns had a landslide victory over the Naval Academy. (again). It was very "Annapolish" (yep, made that one up) and pretentious in a way that only Annapolis can pull off while poking fun at themselves.
There really isn't much else to say that Rob didn't already cover, so I'll just post some pictures. I find that's what keeps me popular. ;-)


This is us before we left with our SO photogenic pup.


You may have to maximize this pic to get the full effect. But the "Johnnies" are the guys in old shoes, tight jeans and "Bud" T-shirts carrying beer bottles and cigarettes all over the match. The Naval Academy are in their dress whites and letterman sweaters. (I might add it was EASILY 80 degrees).

I don't know why you say good-bye I say HELLO!

This news is almost a week old, but here it is. On Saturday we said goodbye to our old pal, the Jeep. While we loved it (it was the car Rob picked me up on for our first date) it got to the point where it needed more work than the Kelly Blue Book said it was worth... and you did start to get the feeling you were taking your life into your hands when riding in it. (Just ask Karen and Eric circa de last year's baseball game).
Anyway, we were feeling kind of nostalgic saying goodbye until we laid our eyes on this puppy....

BAM
This is the New, 2007 Nissan Xterra. (We know a guy who knows a guy who got us a SWEET deal). Everything about this SUV Rocks the house! We've spent the last week creating errands to complete, short of bringing the groceries home item by item. If you need one of us, don't even bother with the house phone. We're out on the road enjoying that "new car smell".
Peace Out.

Gatsby, Wickets and Champagne

So this Saturday holds in store the perennial grudge match between St. John's College and the U.S. Naval Academy in that most violent and physical of sports: Croquet. It's kind of an Annapolis tradition - the Mids turn out to face the Johnnies every year on the great lawn on St John' campus amidst a sea of Annapolis' landed gentry, many of whom show up in 1920's suits or flapper dresses and hats in true "lawn party" fashion (though formal attire is by no means required). The champagne corks pop and the picnics and strawberries come out at 1pm (and the game starts as well, though for many it's an afterthought) and the party goes well into the night, this year with a encore of Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (You'll know it as the basis for the musical My Fair Lady) put on by St. John's Theater Troupe. For the more "cotillionesque" crowd, there's a formal dance later in the evening, and much celebrating through the wee hours thereafter. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention...it's all free. Well, you bring the food and drink, they supply the croquet and silliness.

Ok people, really this is a lot more fun than it sounds. The event is covered yearly by Sports Illustrated and GQ among others, who knows who you'll see there. The Johnnies show up every year in a new uniform (last year it was a team rendition of Napoleon Dynamite, repleat with Vote For Pedro picketers on the sidelines), and, when in dire need, they even bring out a "croquet mistress" with a tray of drinks to distract the attentions of their opponents, the all-too-straight-laced Naval Academy Midshipmen. Coolers of Red Stripe and Miller Lite are ubiquitous, as is general mirth and Big Band style music.

Elle and I will be there on Saturday afternoon, champagne, beer, strawberries and pic-a-nic basket in hand. All are welcome to join...the more the merrier. Give us a shout if you're up for it!

Here are some directions, info, et al.

Is That a Laser in Your Eye or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

So, due to some schedule openings, Danielle had her Lasik surgery this morning and is doing just fine (as if there was a doubt). I'll let her tell you about it in a later post, but suffice to say, the procedure went well, and her vision was taking drastic leaps of improvement on the drive home from Annapolis. She's taking her mandatory 3 hour "post-op nap" at the moment, but stay tuned people! Harrowing tales of scalpels, lasers and smallish, friendly Indian (dot not feather) doctors ahead!



A photo of our patient and her new, stylish eye protection.

Speechless...

Thoughts and Prayers go out to those who are friends and family to the victims at VA Tech.

This is why I'm hot

Aaaaand we're back.

Hope you guys had a fantastic Easter. We definitely did. We had some neighbors over for dinner and then went to the evening service at our church. Pretty sweet.

In other news, has anyone out there had lasik eye surgery? (I'm not even sure I'm spelling that correctly). After 15 years of contacts I've decided to give it a shot. Okay, actually ROB was the one who thought of it. I'm going in for a consultation on Friday. Am I scared? Um, yes. They stick a LASER in your EYE, people! I have to wear my glasses for three days before I even go in for the check up though. Yes, it's the return of "Librarian Danielle". For a limited time only!

Yep. This is why I'm hot.

P.S. Johnnie Avocado, I've been trying to comment on you for WEEKS now. Something's up with your word verification. Just didn't want you thinkin' we don't care!

REAL MEN WEAR CROCS

K, can I just say how funny I think it is that every guy who reads our webpage has gone from being terrified that Rob would get hurt in Iraq to being terrified that Rob would buy Crocs?! Hahaha. Anyway, no worries, boys, there are no Crocs in our household. I kinda wish there were now though.
Rob is currently driving back up to Maryland for two weeks of leave (YES!!!) and I came home from work early to monitor the installation of our new dishwasher. You know you're getting old when you're excited about a new kitchen appliance. (can I get an "Amen"?) Yeah, stay tuned...we have our eyes on a storm door down at Lowe's too. (ooohhhhh, ahhhhhh!)

Wanted: Desk Job, Lunch Box, Normal Life

Hey everybody! So wow...it's great to be home. No matter how full of preservatives, meaningless news headlines, overpriced real estate and ridiculous reality TV America gets, I'd still rather live here than anywhere else. Still getting used to some things (like driving...for some reason I now think it's normal to drive about 15 mph under the speed limit, much to Danielle's chagrin)...meeting some new people (apparently I now have a new younger brother and sister a few doors down), and finding out that the real world really doesn't stop the day I check out of the east coast for a few months: The other night Danielle and some friends suggested that we all get together and watch the movie "Children of Men." My response was akin to "which movie theater are we going to?! That sounds great!" - not realizing that the flick had come out on DVD a while ago...and we were just going next door to watch it on my neighbor's bigscreen TV. Some things don't change though, like the traffic on the Woodrow Wilson bridge...of all the deployments I've come back from, this return home brought me the closest to 'snapping' as I sat in gridlock traffic on I-495. Good times.

The future for the Townleys is still somewhat cloudy as far as job prospects go for me...I've been asked to come up and work with a research group in N. Va until I get out of the service this coming winter...now the only trick is getting that idea past my boss in NC. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer people, I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Other than that, my stupendous wife and I went through my sadly outdated wardrobe today and threw out everything that was more than 3 years old (which left my side of the closet rather bare), after which she took me out to play dress up at the mall. Somewhere in between trying on some new Crocs and the blaring music inside Hollister, Danielle and I were offered a modeling job by some crazy manager who refused to take no for an answer, even after we told him that we have "real jobs"...I figure if we lose our office jobs maybe we can stand around at the mall and make faces in designer clothing for 7 dollars an hour.

To all you folks who sent care packages, left messages, said prayers, mailed holiday cards, helped move our house all over the east coast, and otherwise generally opened your hearts and homes to us Townleys while I was gone, thank you. Your support of our family over the last few months meant the world to both of us, I hope we can repay all your kindness now that we'll not be doing this deployment nonsense anymore.

Stay tuned for the next chapter everybody...it's called "The Townleys settle down and start a family." Valentine's Day in Ethiopia's got nothing on this one, people! Promise!

ROB IS IN DA HOUSE!

So, we're back together!!! I went to get Rob on Friday morning. After a 7 hour drive (including several wrong turns) I arrived in Lejeune, hung out with Jay, and then finally, FINALLY the boys came home!!!!

yeah, that would be me and MY boy.

We went to Wilmington for the night where we stayed in what Rob would call a "Crazy nice" B&B. The Camellia Cottage- which is owned by Paula (x-pastry chef) and her husband, Steve. Yeah. If we ever have to stay in Wilmington again, we're going back there. We even had a THREE COURSE breafkast.




And after what felt like 7 years of driving and traffic, we arrived back at the Townley Base where our friends hung signs all over our house (and Jeep) welcoming Rob home.


Thanks again for all the well wishes, and I promise to get (re: force) Rob to update you all as soon as he adjusts back to Maryland time.