Views from Stefanie's Desk

People say Spring is the best season in DC, but we think late Fall is pretty nice as well. Check out this picture from the late afternoon a week ago. Isn't that red brick color great? This is what Stefanie sees when she looks out the window from her desk.

Despite the beautiful weather, we have not gotten to spend much time outside enjoying it. Good thing we have a great view! A few weeks ago we had a nice chili-cook off with some folks from church in a near by park. It was nippy out, but the chili gave us a great warm feeling.


Stefanie "surprised" Jonathan with some file folders to organize his desk last Friday. Who knew file folders could be such an exciting present? After an hour of desk organizing, Jonathan was beaming at his newly arranged study space and was ready to settle into a work weekend. This picture isn't great, but this is what Stefanie sees when she looks over at her wonderfully productive husband. (notice the coffee cup in hand- it was not planned when taking the picture)


All in all, Stefanie thinks the two views she sees from her desk are pretty nice. And it's a good thing, too, since she seems to spend ALL her time there.

Now it is time to power hard through the next few days, enjoy a little bit of time off for Thanksgiving, and then finish the semester strong. 23 days. But who's counting?

Fall has Fallen

Fall has fallen like a stack of books. Some day in the last 5 weeks summer officially ended and it became cool enough for bath robes in the morning, jackets while walking to school, and house shoes and tea at the end of the day. Going on 5+ months of marriage now and we think it's pretty great.

Halloween came and went and, alas, we did not dress up; though we did exchange ideas about interesting costume options. Here are some throw-back pictures.

Despite a very busy past few weeks, we managed to fit in a few non-study related things. Stefanie has attempted several new cooking recepies with medium to high success rate. This past week has featured a great deal of sweet potatoes in a variety of consistencies. Jonathan found amusement in reading this.

We finally tried out the new tennis court near us. Not exactly pro-court quality, but we both still had fun, and are looking forward to making this a sport we play together forever.

Jonathan has been busy with his course work, which includes lots of projects and partner work, as well as grading papers for his "young scholars." His students should blame the Phillies if they did not do as well in this Economics course as they had thought.

Stefanie is still counting down days until Winter break (5 weeks exactly). For Thanksgiving, we'll be joining the rest of the Kreamer clan in Philly, along with Stefanie's little sister Olivia, for some delicious feasting. Unfortunately, the trip will be cut short as Stefanie has exams that next Monday, and Jonathan as assignments due Tuesday. But, we hope to be back in lovely Philly before Christmas.

Interestingly, both Stefanie and Jonathan have had urges to return to their personal blogs. What to do, what to do? Shall we keep this blog, oh faithful reader(s)? Or shall we keep to our respective blogs of economic prose and introspective musings?

Haircuts and Sleep

Friday was "haircut" day for us. Stefanie got a few inches chopped off and unintentionally was given bangs along the way. Jonathan got his curls sheared and is looking studly as usual.

In addition to hair cuts, we spent this glorious three day weekend (well, really only Stefanie had the full 3 days off) catching up on lots of sleep, reading, walking around outside, going to the gym, and generally relaxing! We both took Saturday off of work completely, and had a very enjoyable day. Stefanie made chili in honor of October being "national chili month," and we got to watch an episode or two of the "West Wing," which we just started watching from the beginning. Stefanie things Jonathan might look a bit like Josh Lyman in the future.

It also was a pretty good weekend to be a Philadelphia sports team fan. If only Jonathan had had exams to grade, his students would be very happy this week with their results.

One Last Hurrah

Two weekends ago we spent the weekend at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. Even though it isn't quite the same as the Pacific Ocean, after a few snarky comments about how the East Coast only has the "shore" and not real "beaches," even Stefanie enjoyed time in the sun, sand, and water. It is so rare for us both to have a lite-work weekend coincide, that we were very grateful to take advantage of this chance!

Notice: med school notes about Hematology/Oncology were quickly put aside

Notice: Jonathan trying to read Stefanie's notes

Couldn't ask for a better beach for a morning run. 2 great morning beach runs that weekend made Stefanie very happy.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. Stefanie found it very odd that the sun would ever RISE over the ocean. Still, it was very beauitful.



The house we stayed in had a great deck that was perfect for morning sitting, coffee drinking, and reading.

We enjoyed our restful weekend, and entered back into academic life ready to conquer the week's work. For Jonathan this included 2 projects and a presentation. For Stefanie, this meant studying for her final exam in Unit 2 (Musculoskeletal, Hematology, Lymphatics), which was yesterday.

This week, Stefanie started a new unit in med school- Pulmonology and Cardiology, which will last through Thanksgiving. Jonathan has had tons of grading to do for the classes he is teaching. Stefanie is amused that when the Philadelphia Eagles do poorly, Jonathan tends to grade a little more harshly. It's a good thing the Phillies are doing well to balance it out or his students would be in big trouble!

Today we've been married 4 months!

To whom much is given...

Last week was a successful one in the Kreamer house (errr...condo). Jonathan was offered a great winter job opportunity to teach Macroeconomics at UMD for the first three weeks of January. This works out great, since Stefanie will already be back in school by then, and Jonathan doesn't start until late January. Stefanie aced her set of Monday exams, and ended up winning 300$ in a school raffle. Lots to be thankful for. Luke 12 serves as a good reminder for us of how much we really do receive:

And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? ...Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also...

...Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

To celebrate a successful week, and to kick off a weekend that was less work-filled then most, Friday night was a date-night out in Georgetown.

Dinner at Martin's Tavern.

Walking along the Potomac river after dinner.

Potomac River at sunset.

The plan for the night was a second attempt to go to Georgetown Cupcake for dessert, since we continually hear good things about it. The line, however, wrapped around the corner. Jonathan pointed out that the female to male ratio in line was approximately 8:1, and the only men leaving the store carrying bright pink boxes of cupcakes were accompanied by their girlfriends or wives. We decided to ditch the cupcake idea and headed back to our neighborhood for delicious frozen yogurt (see above). This is exactly what we did last time we attempted to go to Georgetown Cupcake. We think we just like frozen yogurt better.

We're spending next weekend at Rehoboth Beach in Deleware. Stefanie can't wait to see the ocean, even if it isn't the Pacific. That means that the rest of this week will be extra work-filled so that we can enjoy some free time over the weekend.

More Hiking. More Studying.

After a fun trip to Philly over Labor Day, we eased back into a 4 day week. Stefanie was gearing up for the exams that she took today, and Jonathan settled into the second week of classes and started establishing some rhythm to the school days and week. On Wednesday he found out that he passed both of his comprehensive exams (woohooo!!) which he had taken in August. To make the week even better, on Friday morning Jonathan taught three sections of Intermediate Macroeconomics. He loved teaching! Looks like it is gearing up to be a good hear of reading, writing, and teaching.

Stefanie entered the weekend resolved to be in a good mood about studying for her Monday exams, despite it being a beautiful weekend to be outside. Her determination lasted until about Saturday night, which is better then the last exam weekend. However, the weekend of memorizing what seemed like millions of skin and bone diseases paid off. She has, however, decided that she definitely does not want to be a dermatologist.

On Saturday, Jonathan headed off with a few people from our neighborhood group to Old Rag Mountain in Virginia. They headed off early, had a great and challenging hike, and came back tired but happy. Stefanie was there in spirit. Here are a few picures from the beautiful hike:

Starting off on the trail.

Everyone brought some kind of food to share with the group, so they had a ton of snacks! As Jonathan says, "We ate our way to the top." Stefanie got a good laugh out of the fact that Jonathan carried up the entire bear carton of animal crakers (see picture), which apparently made a great jiggling noise each time he took a big step.

The view from the top.

More of the gorgeous view!

Stefanie's outdoor treat for the weekend was a new pair of running shoes (much needed) and a beautiful run in the great fall-esque weather on Saturday. Also, she heard such good things about the hike Jonthan went on, that she is planning on taking a group of her med school friends to go to Old Rag Mountain over Columbus Day Weekend.

It was a busy weekend, in different ways, for both Stefanie and Jonathan, and we're looking forward to a calmer week with a chance to get back into a normal rhythm of work and life.

Kreamers Go Marching Two by Two, Hurrah, Hurrah

Jonathan returned safe and sound from Chicago after four exciting days of road-tripping, sister-helping, Chicago-seeing, and a few other unnamed adventures. Despite only having two short days in Chicago, Jonathan and Nick managed to do a lot! They saw Wheaton's beautiful campus, and helped Jonathan's little sister Catherine move in. Then came an evening in Chicago, featuring delicious deep-dish pizza, Grant Park, and The Bean. The next day the fearless duo took in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and sampled scrumptious Polish Sausage. But most spectacular of all was the drive. 32 hours in all, from Philadelphia to Chicago and back again, with a pit stop in Pittsburgh. Four states, and nothing to change their view that Pennsylvania is the most beautiful.

The last two weeks proved to be busy! Jonathan recuperated from his road trip, got ready for school, and kicked off year two of grad school. He's taking Advanced Macroeconomics, Computational Economics, and Trade. Stefanie continued to plug away, learning lots of medical facts, drinking lots of coffee, and spending a (likely unhealthy) amount of time dreaming about summer vacation options. She moved from Unit One (General Pathology, Microbiology, and Pharmacology) into Unit Two (Musculoskeletal System, Skin, Connective Tissue, and Hematology).

This past weekend we had a little breather from all of the work, and headed up to Philly for some fun. Hurricane Earl (which Jonathan finds to be a whimpy name for a Hurricane) brought us nothing but perfect weather. We were sad, however, to have missed saying goodbye to Catherine (off to Wheaton) and Mary Robin (off to Turkey) the previous week!

Saturday we headed out to Wissahickon Valley to do some hiking. Here are some pictures from our time in the great outdoors:

Jonathan was quite the bush-whacker. Now if only he had had a machette.

Cooling off our feet in the river while eating lunch. Stefanie was tempted on multiple occasions to jump in. Only the idea of a wet train ride back to Philly held her back.

Jonathan is beaming at our perfect lunch spot. No mosquitos + sandwiches from Reading Terminal Market + great scenery (and company). What could be better?

Can't we do this all the time?

We found someone at the Valley Forge Inn to take a picture for us. Half way through our hike and we are still smiling.

Saturday was fun, but the weekend didn't end there. Sunday we headed off to our good ol' Alma Mater and did some work in Houston Hall. It almost felt like we were back in college- drinking coffee, eating food from Wawa, and totally engaged in work. Except those new freshmen looked so young! We, of course, never looked that young or lost. In the afternoon we walked out to City Church and got to see some friendly familiar faces.

Sunday evening held the traditional fantasy football draft. Jonathan, along with several friends from college, hung out eating pizza, catching up, and hand picking the best teams they possibly could. Great tradition! Great friends! Great time! Stefanie spent the time with her little sis, Olivia, eating dinner, decorating Liv's dorm room, getting to know her roommates, and watching 2 episodes of House (and feeling proud every time she knew something House talked about).

Monday brought us back to DC. Our study-filled bus ride landed us in the nation's capital a little more rested, a little more connected with friends/family, and feeling mostly ready to conquer the week ahead. Minutes after walking back in the door, the books were out, computers, on, coffee cups filled, and it was time to get back to work.

Already looking forward to the next 3-day weekend! (Columbus Day)