The Crosby ChroniclesA Life in Motion

Today I looked out of my gigantic classroom windows and saw more dreaded snow. The realization hit me that this winter thing still has a ways to go. This is the second time in less than a week we have seen snow in Hampton Roads. It sort of makes a native start to think things like the end of the world is near or all this hype about global warming is a hoax. Anyhow, I felt it completely necessary to go out and purchase a couple cheerful things, and have a seance to encourage the spring sprits to get things into motion. Needless to say, I am waiting with baited breath for some warm weather, flowery skirts, and blooming buds.

Before meeting my BFF, Tiffany, for dinner, I had to stop by the TJ Maxx. I have decided that I should NEVER live close to this place because Adam and I get in numerous “discussions” about the “frivolous” spending I do there. Tonight I picked up eight spring plaid napkins, a nest, and a bunny rabbit that Adam is going to truly despise (especially once I put a ribbon around its neck) and try to make me give away to charity. I only spent $25 bucks on all these jewels. I left with a smile on my face and the hope that spring is right around the corner.

Transforming physical objects to make them more aesthetically pleasing drives me. In my opinion, there is no tool more valuable or powerful than paint. Much to Adam’s dismay, I have a painting addiction: “Hello, my name is Mary and I love paint.” I love color so much that one of my friends said “I can tell you are a teacher, your house looks like a crayon box.” Now this insult did come from a guy, so I don’t take much stock in it, but I do think color makes the world a much happier place. Sometimes I wish I could paint over all the nasty nouns (people, places, and things) of the world, but that must wait until I win the lottery.  If you are reading this blog and hope to see a lot of tan or white paint, this is not the place for you. My heart flutters when I am holding a paint brush that is dripping with brick red, Georgian green, or palladium blue paint. Where do they get the names from anyway?

As of right now, I only have one project waiting to come to life with a little elbow greese and a major amount of some fancy named black Benjamin Moore Metal and Wood paint. If you have never painted furniture, I am telling you that this stuff kicks some serious behind and unfortunately comes in at a pricey $25 per quart. During the summer, I painted my 100 gallon aquarium and it turned out beautiful with just one coat. The ceremonial painting of my $160 thrift store credenza turned dresser must wait for the next warm Saturday morning that feels as if it is never coming. This Saturday, I plan to brave the frigid garage and begin the sanding process armed with 180 grit sand paper and a good old fashioned hand sander that once graced my talented grandfathers hands. I promise to update the progress as it occurs. Below you will see some before and after pics of the aquarium as well as the major thrift store score I am about to begin work on.

This is the aquarium before painting.

This is the aquarium stand after painting.

This is the latest painting project. This will be painted black to match the rest of our bedroom furniture.

Adam and Mary Welcome 2010

2010 is off to a great start, so I figured I would give the art of blogging a second chance. I plan on posting picture of projects, favorite recipes, special events. or anything else that helps me realize how fortunate I am to live, love, and work with amazing people every single day of my life.

So much has changed, so much is still the same!

So, after weeks (months actually) of reading and researching and waiting and planning, we finally got our aquarium started!
Yesterday, we added the live rock and live sand to the aquarium, and clouded up the whole works for a day. This morning, Mary took a shot at ‘aquascaping’, and we now have a pretty good looking layout of rocks, with lots of little crevices and caves for the fishes and creatures to live in. Now that the rocks and sand are in, the tank has begun it’s ‘cycle’, which will last from 2-4 weeks. At that point, we can add fish and coral, one at a time. We’re hoping to start getting cool stuff around late Dec / early January time frame.
Here’s a few pictures, from ‘Just put the tank on the stand’ to ‘15 minutes ago we found a starfish that hitched a ride’!

I’m not sure exactly what happened, but Mary somehow talked me into getting a fish tank. As with anything else we do, however, I’m not content to just get a little average fish tank with like a goldfish or something in it. This fish tank is a salt-water tank, and will end up full of coral and some exotic crustaceans and fish, so it’s at least interesting to look at. Here’s day 1:

The rest of pictures are over on flickr, here.

We’ll be sure to post updates as we add things, like water and sand and rock to it

We threw a labor day party at my condo on Monday, and had a bunch of friends over. Having two grills and a whole bunch of tables is way more fun than the last party we threw, in which 20 some people had to stand because I don’t have that many chairs inside
Ethan brought the Segway, and we had a blast playing with that.
Good times, great food! Next up, Christmas Tree Decorating party!

The rest of the pictures are here.

Well, I finished my first semester at Weslyan!  I think I got 2 A’s.  Although the semester was very boring, I still think I will finish my degree.  I’m not sure, however, what my degree will be in.  Business/Econ seemed the best choice for the money, but the more I get into things, the more it appears to not necessarily be what I want.  International relations or foreign/public policy is what my adviser recommended I look into, after talking to her for a few hours about my interests and things.

Luckily I have a while to make that decision.  For the time being, I’m going to sign up for ‘Buddhist Philosophy’ and ‘Gender and Judaism’ for the next semester – both 300 level classes.  Hopefully this will be a bit more stimulating and less horrifically boring.

Our weekend in North Carolina is over, and we’re getting ready to go back to work. We had a blast, despite Mary getting sick after eating too much turkey I did manage to accomplish most of my genealogy task, and got over 136 people on my mother’s side of the family all entered. Once I get some more people on Dad’s side, I’ll throw up the first set of websites, as well as ask for more information, such as dates of birth/death, etc. My extended family is GIGANTIC!

I’ve uploaded the pictures I took here:

Flickr Set for Turkey Day!

It’s been almost 4 months since we got married, and things are FINALLY starting to settle down. We’ve finished paying off all wedding related expenses, started collecting both paychecks regularly, and begun building our savings and investments back up to where we were before getting married.

Mary has been teaching since late August, and now that the initial bulk of starting school work is finished, seems to really be enjoying herself.

I’ve become flooded with work, as a few people working for me left for better jobs (at the same time…) in the past few weeks, and we haven’t hired anyone to replace them yet.

Everyone keeps asking if we like being married…and the answer is definitely