Newest addition to our mealtime: George Foreman Grill

Ben and I have been expanding our horizons a bit the last few days and trying some new things for meals...

The famous brat, some parmesan primavera rice and peas

BBQ chicken sandwiches, corn and Quinoa rice

Since then we also went a little crazy and decided to buy a George Foreman Grill to cook things like chicken and salmon... so we will let you know how it goes once we've tried it!

Also, feel free to let us know if you have any great ideas of what to make on it! We would love to hear suggestions if you have them!

That's just about all the news for now. As of right now we are scheduled to stay here in DC until this coming Saturday, but stay posted because that could quickly change!

Heading to.... Washington DC!

September 28, 2011

Well, we arrived yesterday to our newest desination. We had just recieved about 16 new claims in Washington DC, so we headed from Vienna, Virginia to Lanham, Virginia near DC. We figured we didnt want to stay right in DC, so we are going to drive a little bit farther to get to the claims each day. But it will be worth it; a little less busy and a little less expensive!



A few of the fun things we got to see along our drive to work today:

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

And for those of you who are just dying to know how the Focus is doing now that we got a new truck... Dont you worry, the focus is still alive, and running good as new!

It just got a brand new tire and is still faithful as ever. We like to call it the energizer bunny!

They look good together, don't they?

What do we eat while on the road???

September 23, 2011

Though most of you probably think we are surviving and thriving solely on ice cream alone, it definitely is a number one essential to the Logan food pyramid...but that is not the case.

Let me tell you, it sure is a GREAT thing I married a man who is not picky and wont judge me for my lack of creativity and diversity when it comes to meals! Before getting married, I spent time at home learning how to cook for my soon to be husband. I became obsessed with reading cook books (I still am) and I loved  making different meals and using my family as guinea pigs for my meals. (I secretly think they enjoyed it, though they may not readily admit it right away). I really began to love cooking and was so excited to get my own kitchen, my own cooking supplies, and begin to cook for my new husband.

Who would have known that hotels do not provide you with a complete kitchen, stove and supplies?

Suffice it to say, my cooking excitement has been temporarily put on the back burner because hotels only come with a small refrigerator and microwave (if you're lucky).

SO, what can you cook when 1/2 of us is allergic to gluten (me) and you only have a microwave? Well, that leaves the options pretty limited and that is where creativity must come in; You have to think outside of the box! Unfortunately, I have not gotten that down yet and we eat pretty much the same thing for dinner every night:) Which is why it is a GOOD thing Ben is not picky!

To make a long story short, we made a stop to Costco to search for some options... (We are pretty big fans of Costco, and recently got a membership there! Unfortunately, we have not been able to use it much since they are no where to be found in Wyoming OR Virginia...bummer) We found these chicken brats that were filled with mozarrella and some other things and decided to try them.
Fast forward about 2 months....

We have some variation of those brats just about every night for dinner. Walmart has all different kinds of flavors and they are gluten free and fairly healthy for you. We usually cook them with either a baked potatoe or sweet potatoe. We also get some mexican enchiladas fairly often, so we will do that with chips and salsa for dinner as well.

You'd think you would get sick of having the same thing so often, and many of you probably think it sounds disgusting, but Ben and I actually still look forward to having it just about every night. I take that back, we  get really excited about it! And as odd as it is, when we go away from them for a while, we cant wait to get back into our routine of  those dinners together. I guess we are a bit weird in that way. There will be a time when we have a full kitchen and I can make different meals and have more variety and excitement, but for now it is all part of our crazy adventure and it's pretty fun! 

For lunch we do simple things like sandwiches, fruit, soup, rice cakes and peanut butter, vegetables, etc... things that you can sort of just throw together or bring with you on the road as we work claims.


Well there it is, whether you wanted to know it or not, you now know what we eat while on the road!

Thanks for following along and keeping up with our crazy adventure so far!

What's with HEATHEN??

September 22, 2011
For those of you who are a bit concerned and have questioned the name of our website, or have just silently wondered... there is no need to worry:) Ben and I are leading no heathen life... we just like to combine our names and Heathen was one combination that we came up with. We thought it was a bit funny, and it's ok to think otherwise. I just wanted to assure you, we aren't LITERALLY leading a heathen life:)
love you all!

Just because I wanted to...

 I mentioned before that I like getting pictures of the state signs as we enter... although we have missed quite a few, here is some proof that we really have been to some of these places we claim we have been to!

Arizona

Utah

Delaware

Maryland

Pennsylvania

Virginia

North Carolina

Nevada

California

Vienna, Virginia

September 21, 2011

Yesterday we arrived in Vienna Virginia. As of right now we will be here for at least 1 week. Our new home for the next week is officially the Wolf Trap Hotel. Sounds a big odd doesnt it?? Well, it has everything we need and so far we are enjoying it!



Home sweet home:)



We can check North Carolina off our list!

September 18, 2011

After work today we drove about two hours down to Murfeesburo, North Carolina. Matt and Joy Phelps are good friends of the Logans and they live in Murfeesburo; since we were so close, we decided to stop by and see them for the afternoon!



We added another state! I work really hard at trying to get a picture of every state line we cross; Ben is a great at helping me accomplish this goal




Me (Heather)Joy, Matt, and one of their beautiful daughters, Abby.



We spent the day with Matt and Joy hanging out and getting a tour of the college where they work. Matt is the head soccer coach at Chowan University, so we got to see the whole campus and even got some Chowan soccer shirts to take home as souvenirs:)

There's my handsome and wonderful husband!!!:) I made him model his new Chowan soccer shirt for me, isnt he good looking??

A warm bowl of soup + a cold day = perfect

September 17, 2011

Happy Birthday to our wonderful sister Melissa Logan! Hope you enjoy your big day! Love you:)

Today in between claims we saw this house:

Luckily, this house had been forclosed and noboday was living in it. But you can see that a tree completely fell on it and destroyed the entire house. That is by far the worst damage we have seen here and luckily it did not effect anyone directly.

Once we were done inspecting we headed back to the hotel. I guess fall is coming because I could not wait to get back, cook some soup and cuddle under a blanket! Somehow I feel like we skipped right over summer because it went way too fast! Luckily fall brings such beautiful colors and crisp cool air; I'm looking foward to seeing what fall looks like in Virginia.

I'm convinced hugs make the world a better place

September 16, 2011

Just one quick update for today. On our last claim of the day we had such a delightful woman! She thanked us multiple times for coming and told us what a delight it was to meet us. Upon leaving she gave each of us a hug and told us to come back sometime. That was the first time we have ever been hugged by one of the insured, it brought a smile to both Ben and I and we left the day of work on a very high note.

Sometimes it's easy to forget how much we can bless others by a simple smile or friendly hello. Never miss opportunities to make someone else's day a little brighter!

So long Maryland, we're off again to Richmond, Virginia!

Thursday September 15, 2011


Today we woke up, packed, said our goodbyes to Eunsae. (Eunsae is here visiting from Korea and is staying with the Fishers for a while; she is here to learn english. We had the privilege of meeting and hanging out with her as well while staying with the Fishers). Unfortunately the rest of the family was gone at school and work already so we didnt get a chance to take photos with them, but we took a few with Lori and Eunsae.

The Fisher's house: Our home away from home for the two weeks we stayed

These were the Fisher's dogs, Riley and Callie, they kept us company when the Fisher's were at work; they were hilarious and very entertaining!

Ben fell in love and decided that he wants to have two dogs

Us with Eunsae

Us with our wonderful host mom, Lori Fisher

 We drove 3 hours south to Richmond, Virginia. The claims we will be doing in Virginia are still from Hurricane Irene and will be similar to what we were doing in Maryland and Delaware (sump pump back up, water leaks, fallen trees, wind damage, etc.) Luckily, the storm was not nearly as bad as they were expecting, so the claims are all pretty minor.

Goodbye Maryland!



Hello Virginia!

The front of the Best Western: Governor's Inn

 We found a Best Western to say at, which is close to our claims and is called the Best Western Governor's Inn! There are two highlights that stuck out among other things... First, it looks like it used to be an old castle and has a really unique look and feel to it. Second, and probably most importantly... look at the size of the freezer!

 It's huge compared to most hotel freezers. So what does this mean you ask? Why is it important to have a large size freezer? Here is why...

Normally when we are in hotels, the freezers are too small for us to fit ice cream in (dont worry we still get ice cream, we just have to eat it all in one night so it doesnt melt... which we normally dont mind until after the ice cream is gone and our stomachs dont feel so well). So as we were grocery shopping we saw that ice cream was only $2.00 so we decided since we had such a large freezer we would both choose a kind and keep them in our huge freezer, we were pretty excited about it.


We won't be here long. We already got more claims to go to Northern Virginia closer to the DC area. We leave from here on Tuesday September 20, so we better enjoy the Governor's Inn while we can!

Last night in Elkton, Maryland with the Fishers

September 14, 2011

Today we had work and then hung out with the Fisher’s for our last night. We played Settlers of Catan, which is one of our favorite games, got some ice cream from Rita's, and just enjoyed our last night living with a family at a home. The Fisher’s have been so wonderful and we are so grateful to have such amazing friends and family who open up their lives and homes to us! It is truly a blessing and we are sad to be leaving such a warm and welcoming home and family!

Tomorrow we head back to Richmond Virginia for a few days, so it’s back to a hotel for Ben and I! Luckily, we don’t mind hotel life, it’s all part of the adventure and at this stage we are in, we are ok with the transition and moving around quite a bit. I’m sure as time goes on we will want to settle down and have a place to call our own, but right now it has been so much fun just traveling around, visiting different people and seeing so much of the United States in such a short period of time!

Australia reunion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

September 13, 2011

Today is a unique day for Ben and I. Normally while we are at storms we don’t take any days off. We normally work 7 days a week and work as much as we can to finish up the claims that we have. However, today we have the day off! We actually didn’t plan it, but all of the appointments were cancelled so we are taking the day to explore! So… what to do when you have never been to the East Coast before, and there are SO many things close by?!

After talking with Lori and Mark Fisher, we decided to go to a play called Joseph, Sight and Sound. It is a Biblical broadway show and apparently it is an incredibly well done performance. That begins at 1:00 in Strasburg Pennsylvania so we are planning to head out around 10:00am. Along the way there is an Amish town that you drive through and Lori said is pretty neat to drive through and stop at the shops.  So we plan on making a few “tourist” stops along the way.  



Outside the theater where we saw the play Joseph







Inside the Millenium theater, waiting for Joseph to begin



Once the play was done we headed back up to Philadelphia to meet a few friends that we met on our Australia Studies Center study abroad program. (For those of you who don’t know, Ben and I met while studying abroad in Australia through our Christian Universities; there were 27 students from all across the United states that we traveled with and became close friends with). Ben and I decided it would be a lot of fun to visit friends or family if they are close to where we are staying.  (So who knows, we could visit you next!) So we figured out that Jenna Eugenides, Kaylee Goodwin and Jason Collier are all close to Philly so we met them and hung out for the evening.

Jenna Eugenides and Kaylee Goodwin

We ended up meeting at Jenna and Kaylee’s house and went out to eat at the Ugly Moose. Once dinner was over, we headed back to their house and played Taboo. (Let it be noted here that Jenna and I beat Kaylee and Ben!) It is always so great to catch up with people from Australia. They definitely played a huge role in our lives and hold a special place in our hearts!

 

Katie, Me, Kaylee and Jenna







Jason and his beautiful fiance, Katie