Christmas is coming

So, we got a feel for what Christmas shopping in Virginia is like, just that past weekend. You see, Staunton has a mall, but it is pretty pathetic. I mean, The Lakes Mall in Spring Lake is practically The Mall of America in comparison.

So we had to go to Waynesboro to get some of the good retail action. They've got a lot of the chain stores there and definitely a wider selection of eateries. It was there that we discovered Massaki, a Japanese hibachi-style grill. We stuffed ourselves silly last night (our six-month anniversary) and are completely unapologetic for it. 

Therefore, anyone planning on buying us clothes for the Christmas holiday, please add one size onto any pants you bought for either of us!

So ... cold

Argh! I woke up today and was thinking about fixing some breakfast before brow-beating Zack in to joining the Y in Staunton. Then he called from the bathroom, "We have no hot water."

@%&$#@ How could we have no hot water? Then I remembered that we hadn't checked on the propane tank in the back yard in awhile. "Did you check the tank?" I asked. "Goin' to do that right now," he replied.

A few minutes later we received the bad news: The tank was on empty. It's a Saturday, so the gas company is closed. Oh, and our furnace works off of the hot water tank. Joy.

So, everyone think warm thoughts for us while we shiver our asses off this weekend.

Love you all!

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Sightseeing in Staunton Part 3

This first one is the front view of our house.

Kathy's is a restaurant at the bottom of our hill. It's got the most fabulous pancakes.

This wicked view is from the highest peak in town seen from Betsy Bell Park. This hilltop is not inhabited, making us the highest-altitude residents in town. Oh yeah, we win.

Some more views of downtown...

This is one of the swanky bed-and-breakfasts in town, Miller House.

This is a view of Mary Baldwin College, a private women's institution. There is also the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, so we have a higher population of deaf and blind residents.

At left is the Blackfriars Playhouse, the only existing replica of Shake-speare's Blackfriars Theatre.

Just some cool houses in town.

At left is a view of Lewis Street; at the end is the local Amtrak station. Unfortunately, there are no lines directly to Detroit, and to get to Muskegon would take 20 hours. Maybe we can still use it for a weekend in D.C. or something.

Sightseeing in Staunton Part 2

This is the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. It's where I stayed when the paper flew me in for my interview and where Zack and I stayed while shopping for houses. It is a historic hotel that dates back to 1924, and was repurposed as low-cost housing for a few decades in the 1980s. It was restored back to a hotel and was reopened as such in 2005, and is on the National Trust for Historic Preservation Historic Hotels of America. It has a really cool lobby and the rooms are fab.

Next up is the Mill Street Grill, arguably the best restaurant in town. Zack really likes the huge menu and I am in love with their prime rib.

More from our sightseeing trip tomorrow. Stay tuned....

Sightseeing in Staunton Part 1

Zack and I thought it would be fun to do a little sightseeing around Staunton to show those of you back home what the town actually looks like. It's a concentrated downtown that has narrow, often one-way streets, and it is split into five historic districts.

The picture at left is of Beverley Street, which is named after the first  landowner of Staunton — William Beverley. Beverley purchased the first town plat in 1746. The city founded the following year, but wasn't incorporated until 1871. One nugget to note is that Staunton is credited with being the first city in the world to adopt the city manager form of government, in 1908. The move was a product of the Progressive Movement, which was used to "cure many of the ills of American society that had developed during the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century," according to NWtravel magazine.

This is where I work, The News Leader, which is on Central Street. The paper was founded in 1904 by Brig. Gen. Hierome L. Opie as The Evening Leader. Actually, there was a predecessor to the paper, The Daily News, founded in 1890. Opie actually worked at The Daily News, then started his own paper to compete with it, called The Morning Leader. He 

eventually bought out the competition, combined the two papers and created The Staunton News-Leader. The Opie family sold the paper in 1979 to a company that was purchased by Gannett in 1995.

Ok, I know. I got a little caught up in the history lessons. So, here are some photos of other places downtown:

These buildings are both located along Beverley Street.

This is the Baja Bean Co. It's just around the corner from my work and Zack and I meet up a lot on my dinner break. This is one of our favorites, with homemade salsa and daily specials. There's also a bar in the back. There are a half dozen places that have actual bars, but all of them, including Baja, close around midnight. In fact, I haven't found a bar that is open past midnight yet. So ... very ... thirsty ... :-(

Well, everyone, here is the front door to our new home. The sharp-looking dude to the left is Zack's brother, Travis. These pics were taken by Zack's mom, Patty, when she and Travis visited a little over a week ago. So this should give everyone an idea of what we see every day.

Ok, so this is the view from the parking lot of Lowe's. Patty and Travis wanted to see a good view of the mountains, so we took them here. Staunton is located in the Shenandoah Valley, which is between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains of the Appalachian Mountains. In the middle is a brick building that is very typical of Staunton's architecture. Brick colonial is very popular and most of the buildings are repurposed instead of torn down around here. Love that.

This is a view from just up the street (about two houses). We live at the top of the second-highest hill in town, so we can see the mountains when we go for a walk. We can see even more of them now that the leaves are gone, but it's not nearly as pretty as when everything is alive.

At right is a view of the back of the house. It's got a single-stall attached garage. There's also a walkout basement with a slider, but the U-Haul truck (the second that we needed to truck down all of Sarah's crap) is blocking the view of the door. You can also see our little deck, which is off of the dining room. The window at the far right is the spare bedroom. At far left is the den, or fireplace room, which is Zack's lair.

This is the view from the vet's office, which is a couple of miles out of town. Patty and I went there to take Mo for her umpteenth doctor's visit, and yes, she's still alive. We call her the bionic kitty.

Well, that's it for now. We're still unpacking boxes and stuff, but we'll have pics of the inside of the house very soon!

Love you guys!

Hi everyone

Greetings, friends and family:

I have been thinking about the mass emails I've sent since moving here, in order to keep in touch with everyone in West and East Michigan. The solution: a blog.

Hopefully, it will be a good tool for Zack and I to let you guys know about our day-to-day existence, so that we don't seem so far away. :-)

So, I hope you guys will read it and that this idea works!