Palooza Heads!!

Hi Everyone! Maria's friend Drew runs a web-based design firm (www.growinteractive.com) here in Norfolk. They were recently procured by Lala-Palooza (yes, the big rock concert venue) to do something cool and viral with the Palooza website. PaloozaHead is what they created and we must say... VERY FUN! Make your own PaloozaHead character by clicking on the links below our wonderful dancing characters! Make sure you send the link to us afterwards so we can see your creations!

We spent our Saturday evening creating characters... We had fun, but is somewhat dorky...

Maria and Rob


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

March 25

Rob's birthday falls towards the end of a fabulous month! Rob's is the same birth date as my late Grandmother Kathleen Stevens; it is a time when people start to remember that there is a thing called warmth ushered in by days that remind us of Spring; and it is a month filled with excitement as you plan for the following months to come. The days in March seem to have a sort of energy, but most importantly this month is all about Rob. Why not celebrate his birthday this year for an entire month I suggest? Rob says nonsense, I say of course!

We started the morning of the 25th with birthday gifts, mostly bike-related for Rob so loves to bike, had some breakfast, and headed out for the day on another Mandle Adventure! Our first stop was to take a look at the building that is going to house Artomatic, a multimedia art organization that will be featuring more than 600 regional artists and performers for a five week event April 13–May 20 in Crystal City....This event is something Rob has been working to make possible through his new position with the Crystal City Business Improvement District! Rob encouraged me to enter my work into this show and so I did. We took a look at my space and spoke to a few Artomatic people.

Maria in her Artomatic Space, courtesy of Rob!

I was impressed, as usual, by the amazing amount of energy Rob commands and the wonderful way he has of making things happen. He is so incredibly talented on many fronts, but to see him so engaged in his current work, helping to bring in an event of such magnitude that will so benefit the greater community.....well, it's inspiring.

Rob surveys his neighboorhood and thinks of improvements we will implement

The rest of our day was spent enjoying the Crystal City landscape, walking along one of the bike trails, and wandering all over Arlington. It was a gorgeous day for my husband's birthday and we couldn't have been happier than to spend our time together, hand in hand, enjoying the warm weather.

Enjoying the Crystal City Water Park

We wrapped the day up by putting together our new queen sized bed, which now holds our new, plush, pillow-top mattress. We were quite thrilled with our new bed purchase and had some laughs putting it all together!

"What's this?" Rob asks towards the end of bed-putting together session


Our new European styled bed!

The following week seemed to fly by and before we knew it Rob was making his way down to Norfolk for the next chapter in our celebration of Rob's birthday month and another set of Mandle Adventures. Rob had the great idea to spend that Saturday at the Back Bay Nature Preserve in Virginia Beach. Neither of us had been there before and we fell in love with the rugged landscape with over 12,000 acres of protected coastal and marsh habitat. The weather was beautiful and calm for our visit. We hope to visit again!

Rob and Maria taking in the scenery

Well worn trails and serene waterways, marshes, steep sand dunes, and an expansive beach opening up to the ocean captured our attention for the majority of the day.

Spreading out a blanket, we spent a good 4 hours on the beach....very romantic....something we must do again!!

And now I will complete this birthday story with a few words for Rob: We must live our lives in such a way as to celebrate each moment together. Just being together is a gift and a pleasure. We live to give love. I hope we keep this in mind as we move through our lives together and look forward to many more birthdays, birthday months, and many more adventures to fill the pages of our story.

Rob Loving the beach