It’s been an action-packed month for Chuck and me, and I feel like we haven’t had a chance to just chill in weeks (probably because we haven’t). Work has kept us super busy – converting a big website to Drupal is no casual undertaking – and it’s also grant time when the annual gathering of boatloads of data begins.

That would be enough, but then we took a whirlwind 5-day trip to the east coast for family visits and a family wedding. We arrived on a Wednesday night and from then until we flew home on Monday almost every minute of every day from early morning to late at night had some event happening. the most relaxing part of the trip was the flight home! I did enjoy seeing Chuck’s cousin’s horse farm, and they even forced me onto a horse – which means, including the pony ride at Griffith Park, I’ve ridden a horse three times. While it was sort of fun, I mostly felt only marginally in control so doubt I will repeat the experience any time soon. His cousin has a fabulous deaf Great Dane named Portia, who galloped down the lane as we drove up and just stuck he whole head in the car window as we slowed down – no need to jump up or anything – she was as tall as the car! But she thinks she’s a lap dog and is a big love (and she knows sign language!). We also visited with Chuck’s 95-year-old Aunt Jo who is still trucking along and is sharp as a tack, and his cousin Jackie who is battling (and beating) breast cancer. Jackie and Chuck had a great talk about the joys of chemo.

The wedding was my niece’s, and took place in Washington, DC. The really big news (in my mind) was that Chuck wore a suit – and this was the first time since I’ve known him that I’ve seen him in a suit! The problem with this sort of hyper-speed trip is that we came back feeling like we didn’t get a chance to spend quality time with anyone. Oh well! One smart thing we did was to base ourselves in one hotel for the whole trip. We chose the Hotel Palomar in Washington, DC and I can’t recommend it highly enough – the vibe is  pretty hip (and we aren’t), but the rooms are fabulous and the staff all great. it’s definitely a place I’d stay again.

Photos of the trip are here and here.

This past weekend we attended our friend’s annual Dead Jesus Party, which takes place on (you won’t be surprised to hear) Good Friday. It’s a themed costume party, and this year’s theme was “There’s an App for That.” So Chuck and I decided to go as our favorite app, Angry Birds. Unfortunately you can’t buy these costumes – you have to make them. Luckily for us, Chuck knows how to sew! So off he went to JoAnn’s and he set to work for two solid days, finishing just in time for the party. The costumes were a huge hit, and we’ve had requests to loan them out. We discovered a slight flaw in that you needed a big head to really pull off the costume  – I kept disappearing into my costume. And they were pretty warm (they were stuffed with poly-fill, the stuff they use in pillows). But it was worth the effort – we won Best in Show at the party! Now we have to figure out how to top ourselves next year.