Our House, the Frat House

So when TBS came to an end and people going to IOC started moving out of their rooms, they had no place to put their gear and belongings for the two and a half weeks between TBS graduation and the start of IOC since they weren't getting rooms until IOC began. And if they were married and stayed in Mike Company instead of taking leave, they didn't get rooms either. We have a large basement and nothing really in it so we had about 6 guys store their stuff here.

Well, the two and a half weeks went by and guys started coming back on the weekend to prepare for Monday's check-in. They couldn't get rooms in the hall. Brian and I couldn't let them get hotel rooms when we have so much extra room in our house so one by one they started trickling in. We had 1 extra last Wednesday & Thurday, 2 extra Friday, 3 extra on Saturday and 5 extra by Sunday.

The shocking part for some may be that I wasn't bothered being the only girl in the house with 6 men. This being because they were like the magical fairy people I had been wanting around the house. (I'm sure if they knew I was comparing them to magical fairy people they wouldn't be so excited and may never speak to me again.) They actually cleaned up after themselves and after I cooked dinner and we ate, they DID THE DISHES! You read that right. They did the dishes! It was lovely!

Monday came and they checked-in to IOC and....YAY Marine Corps! They tell them they don't get rooms that day, but feel free to check-in to a hotel. Um...no. Hotel Quinn is still in business, which is perfectly fine with us. It was like an over night study group for the CET. We did lose one guy who had been here since Wednesday and thought he was wearing out his welcome and he sneakily moved out while Brian and I were gone.

Tuesday came. If you guessed they didn't give them rooms again, you'd be correct. They don't have the room for them since there are so many people living there still. The previous IOC class hadn't graduated yet so they were still living there. We lost another guy because he thought the same thing as the first guy and we couldn't convince him otherwise. We were able to convince the 3rd to stay instead of shelling out $$ for a hotel room.

On to Wednesday. Still no rooms for these poor guys.

Thurday. FINALLY they have "homes". YAY for them!

So it was quite the party at the Quinn's house for the last week. It was fun!

Cherry Blossoms in DC

So I just wrote a whole post and somehow I deleted it. And the automatic save saved the empty page. :-(

Try #2:

Brian and I went to DC the 23rd of this month to check out the Japanese Cherry Blossom trees. This is their centennial and I really wanted to go. We only live 45 minutes away so off to the Metro we went!

We got off and I started taking pictures as soon as I saw the trees.

Shot with the Washington Monument

Looking down the path

My favorite shot!

These weren't pink quite yet

Couple shot!

During our self-tour we found Dr. Lee's debit card in the grass. So we picked it up, gave it to a Park Ranger, and went on our merry way.

Brian wanted to ride in a paddle boat in the Tidal Basin but the line was super long, so we didn't.

Next, we went to the gift shop tent. I splurged for a shirt!

Close up!

We went and sat under a Cherry Blossom tree and tried to decide what to eat for lunch.

When we sat down a mom had her kids shake a branch of the tree next to us so she could take their picture. It was making us upset because it says EVERYWHERE not to do that, climb the trees, or walk on the roots. Then she shook the branch herself so her daughter could take her picture with the petals of the flowers falling around her.



The aftermath of the lady and her children. :-(

We decided to take the Metro and eat at some pub. Once we got off the Metro, we started walking and walked by a place called Black Finn. It looked like it had some tasty food for my hungry tummy so we ate there. It was so nice outside that we sat on their "patio" for lunch. It was good company and good food for a decent price!

Since we were so close to the front of the White House, we decided to walk there since I had never seen the front, only the back. There actually weren't that many people there, which was nice. There was a protester across the street and a Dish Network kangaroo standing in the middle of the street taking pictures with tourists and would sometimes chase them down the street with his sword thing.

Some pictures from the White House:

St. Patrick's Day

Brian and I decided to stay home for St. Patrick's Day. He first had to call all over the cities of Stafford and Fredericksburg to find a drink he wanted. O'Mara's Irish Cream. He FINALLY found it at Wegman's in Fredericksburg. So Friday night we made a special trip to get his drink. He also had the idea of an Irish movie marathon. If it had an Irish person in it and/or was set in Ireland, it was in the running. So we Googled it and picked out 4 movies: In Bruges, Leap Year, Cassandra's Dream, and Waking Ned Devine. Brian also had to read a 500+ page book for IOC. So, before watching any movie, he went outside on the deck and read some of his book. He came in around noon and we started watching In Bruges.

I am the type of person that needs answers at the end of the movie. Foreign films that I have seen, don't do this. That includes In Bruges. I went along with it and the end was getting intense and then.... IT JUST ENDED!!!! No answers what so ever about the main character. I was so upset.

Then Brian went out to read and my friend, Tanya, asked if we were going to watch Boondock Saints. I had never seen it and Brian loves it so it was added to the list.

Next was Leap Year. Simple, cute, chick flick. My kind of ending. Brian actually didn't hate it either!

We took a few minutes to make some mashed potatoes and grab some slow cooker pork chops out of the crock pot for dinner and got settled in for another movie. Then we watched Boondock Saints. I actually liked this movie minus a few scenes that were a bit too bloody. I kind of want to watch the sequel.

Next was Cassandra's Dream. Another foreign film. This one sort of had an ending. But it was abrupt. I wasn't a fan of this one. I liked In Bruges better if I had to pick between the two.

After this it was like 2 AM and I was tired. Brian was not. Complete opposite of the usual. So I went to bed and the tipsy husband went downstairs, watched Waking Ned Devine and folded his laundry. He's one special person, what can I say.

This was a great St. Patty's Day! It was simple and I got to spend it with just Brian. :-)

I was

Etsy is live!

I have a few listings in my Etsy shop now! I'm am done uploading listings for the night and will continue on tomorrow!

Here is the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nicolequinn611

My Crocheted Things

So while sitting here one day, I decided to buy a crochet hook and some yarn and teach myself to crochet again. (My grandma taught me a long time ago.) So I went to Michael's and did just that. A couple of Youtube videos later I can do the basic stitches I need to do simple things. So I made a hot pad. Then I started an afghan. Then I made a baby blanket. Threw in some hats with flowers and made Brian a scarf. That was about all I had tried. Nothing fancy.

Then someone asked me about making a ladybug hat. So I found a pattern and went for it. (If you know me, I'm a visual person. It's easier for my brain to comprehend if I see someone doing it in front of me. Reading it can get confusing sometimes.)

This is what I came up with:

I thought it was fun making other types of hats besides the normal ones after I made this so I went and made these after tutorials on Youtube:

Sock Monkey



A pumkin and an apple

A cupcake

What people call an "Elf hat"



And Brian's Aunt Rhonda asked me to make a boob as a joke for a friend:

I made myself an ear warmer headband and I loved it so I made this one and one more.  

This is the ear warmer headband laid out. It holds together with a button and button hole

I can make bows. This one has a clip on the back so you can put it on things like a headband or in your hair.

These are the flowers I make for the hats if people want them. My cousin also suggested that if I made bigger ones people could put them in their hair.

This is the back side with the clip on it.

This one I just looked at a picture and made it. I am still working on this one because I need to put braids on the side.

I have a few more things but I'm not going to bore you with millions of pictures. I signed up and started an Etsy shop so tomorrow I plan on actually setting it up with pictures and listings. I'll post a link in another post when I get it set up so you guys can look at it if you want!

Warrior Day & TBS Graduation

We are finally done with TBS! Brian graduated on Wednesday, March 7! These last 6 months have just flown by!

Theresa (Brian's mom) flew in Tuesday for it. That night we had our "adopted son" and his family over for dinner. I made a new recipe, Baked Penne. (It was really good!)

 Wednesday morning we woke up at 0545 to get ready and go to Warrior Day. And the following pictures show a little of what happened...

Brian was showing me how to hold an M16 properly...Not that it helped later....

Me standing in a hmmwv (humvee). I was standing all the way up, but Brian didn't think so

Theresa and I looking warrior-esque

Theresa looking like a warrior while I channel Vanna.

I am now armed and dangerous...

Before graduation

Brian getting ready to walk across stage at graduation.

After graduation

My TBS grad and me :-)

Now for some entertaining videos!

This was me shooting an M249 SAW

This was me shooting an M16

Brian got some good laughs between me and his mom!

Brian is taking leave until the 19th and then it's on to IOC (Infantry Officer's Course). He checks in on the 26th and by the end of June we will be out of here going who knows where. Stay tuned to find out where!

Touring the Commandant's Home

On March 5 the Golf Company spouses got the opportunity to tour the Commandant of the Marine Corps's house. This tour was so interesting! There is so much history there! Mrs. Amos met us at the door. She is so sweet and hilarious! The house is 3 stories tall and each story is about the square footage of a normal sized house. Most of the furniture and decorations are donated by previous Commandants and/or their families.

There are twin couches on the first floor. One is in the living room and one is in the music room. The Sergeant giving the tour waited until some people sat on one to tell the story about them. Apparently, the 4th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Archibald Henderson, died on one and one of his grandchildren was born on the other. I don't think the girls could get up quick enough! Hahaha!

Couch in the living room

Couch in the music room

After the tour we got to take our picture with Mrs. Amos

Then we went outside and took a group photo with Mrs. Amos and Chesty XIII

Chesty was in his own little world the whole time.

After the tour, we went to Molly Malone's for lunch and then some of us went to Hello Cupcake and bought some cupcakes to take home. They were tasty!

I'll add a few more pictures of the Commandant's house tour:

These things belonged to John Philip Sousa. He also played on the piano these are sitting on.





Don't touch this lamp if you ever go to the Commandant's house! It is worth too much money to be able to replace it!

Rug you see when you walk into the house

There are chandeliers in the bathrooms!

This is a tablecloth that they had important people sign when they came to visit and then embroidered over their name and they framed the cloth. You can't take flash photography of this.

They rolled out the red carpet for us! ;-)