A bit of catch up...

This year is just flying by - I can't believe Halloween is over, it's November, and I've already done my first grocery store run for Thanksgiving!  Yes, maybe a little early for that, but with the 3 Thanksgiving meals I'm looking forward to, I wanted to plan ahead :)  Nothin' wrong with that...

Anyway.  Instead of trying to literally catch up with the last month 4 months on the good ol' blog, I figured I'd just do a bit of a photo dump....and then just continue from here.  Here's a bit of a peak into what all we've been up to, besides Europe-tripping, since the summer!  I know some of you are anxiously awaiting the second part of Western States, and some more trip pictures....I'll get there eventually!

Dewey Beach to celebrate the bride to be, Amy!

Meeting adorable baby Nathan

Elon Alumni Softball at the CAN tournament

Yeah...softball isn't my sport...but I tried!

Went to as many Nats games as we could get in

Dinner at Little Serow in DC for M's birthday - hottest food I've ever had in my life. 

Celebrated with the bride and groom!  Congratulations Amy and Nick!!

Wedding fun!

Call me CRAZY! 

CF staff did the 4.7 mile Run Around the Lake for the Wounded Warrior project, in the rain

Nats make the playoffs!! 

After they won game 4!

Cady's had some visitors lately ....

Old 97's at the 9:30 Club

Elon alumni outing at the newest VA winery, Bull Run

Dirty River Boys and Reckless Kelly at State Theater

Even though I've been a bit disenchanted with blogging lately, struggling between having good, fun, entertaining posts and feeling the need to photograph and document everything we do, I really have enjoyed this blog for the last couple of years.  I don't plan on going anywhere...just might not try to post several times a week.  Maybe then it won't seem like such a daunting task, and I won't go radio silent for weeks on end.  I promise to do better :)

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my bff Lola today, too!!

Weekend snapshots

I'm so behind on posts lately!  Y'all probably think I've gone into hibernation.  But it's actually the opposite...I've been here and there and everywhere and just haven't taken the time to 'document' everything we've been doing...but I'm making a conscious effort to get back to (fairly) regular posts.  I have a few in the can that I need to get up too, like my overseas visitor and weekend jaunt in New Orleans!

But for today - it's a little view of our fun weekend in town.

Friday night we braved the wind and rain to go to dinner at one of our favorites, Cashion's Eat Place.  We had purchased a 6 course and wine pairing tasting menu for a great deal on Gilt City and needed to use it before it expired.  Everything was amazing - food, wine and the staff.  We've got to make a point of getting down there more often!

Saturday morning was picture perfect after the storms had cleared.  I made myself a delicious latte, grabbed a magazine and the pup and enjoyed some quiet time on the deck. 

Saturday afternoon we were back in the city, this time up in Eastern Market.  What a fantastic area!  We walked around a bit, I had no idea what a vibrant neighborhood it was.  We went to Matchbox Capitol Hill for beers, sliders and pizza before the Nats game with some friends.  The game was at 4 and followed by a concert with Big & Rich.  We were starving by the end of everything, so we stopped by Mad Fox in Falls Church on the way home.  They also had a band playing, Virginia based Melodime, who was really great.  

Sunday we had a real treat.  One of my best friends Jen and her husband Ian were in town/the country visiting from Dubai!  They moved overseas almost 2 years ago, and I hadn't seen her since then...it had been even longer since I'd last seen Ian.  Lunch at Coastal Flats was wonderful, but just not long enough.  They're trying to get us to visit Dubai, we might just have to move it up the list!

We ended our busy weekend with some quiet couch time at home.  A small cheese plate and delicious bottle of wine plus a mini-Grey's marathon was just the ticket.  We opened a bottle of Loring Pinot, the first one that we've had since our trip to Santa Barbara in 2010.  It's awesome that some of our older wines (this one's just an '08, so older is relative) are finally ready to drink!

With so many fun summer plans, we won't be home too many weekends for the next couple of months, so it's always nice when we are able to enjoy a fun DC weekend!

Play ball!

One of the best parts about spring is the return of baseball!  Over the last couple of years, I have really come to love baseball and going to games at Nats Park.  It's a great warm weather DC activity.

Yesterday was the home opener for the 2012 season.  The team has been on the road for the first week of the season, so it was exciting to have them finally back at home.  The team is off to a great start this year and there was definitely a buzz in the park!

The opening ceremonies were beautiful and gave a great tribute to our military, honoring them in several different ways.  

It was a great day at the park, and while they tried to give it away in the 9th inning, ended up winning in the 10th.  They are off to a 5-2 start, and apparently the best start of a MLB team in DC since 1951!  Granted...there were a few years in the middle without a team in town...but it's still a fun stat!  

We are looking forward to many more fun days and evenings in DC at Nats Park!

Go Nationals! 

Weekend snapshots

Last weekend was a fun and packed 3 days!

Dinner at Lyon Hall in Clarendon and our last Nats game of the season, complete with a "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" shake from the new Shake Shack. 

A last minute decision to make the trip to College Park for the WVA-MD game

Went downtown to 'our bar' to celebrate the recent marriage of a good friend, and wish him the best of luck as he moves to Roanoke next week.

Joe "Johnny Drama" Brown, you'll be greatly missed!  Visit often :)

And despite being out late Saturday, I was wide awake at 7:30 am Sunday morning.  After an early trip to Wegmans, I spent most of the day in the kitchen.  Brownies, dinner for a friend who just had a beautiful baby girl, a massive batch of breakfast burritos and this delicious chili...

Recipe to come this week!

This weekend wasn't quite as exciting...DVR catch up, laundry, couch time and other chores. 

We did venture up to MD on Saturday to visit my cousins for dinner, and had a blast!  It is unusual for us to get together when it's not a holiday, and without the parents.  We had a great time laughing, telling stores, and dancing!

Weekend warriors

Well, I'm pleased to report that we had an incredibly productive weekend!  After my last post about all of our to-dos, I wanted to share some before and afters!

New lights in both the hallways and the dining room -

New pots for the plants and a pretty new African violet -

New storm door that goes out onto the deck and the top window can open to a screen -

Freshly spackled and painted doors, windows, and trim on the back and front doors, finally getting rid of the ugly holes left behind from the previous owner - and repainted all of the trim in the kitchen and foyer -

Old bar removed and brackets put in place for new bar to be installed on Friday (NEW GRANITE!!!)

Don't look at the mess, this was during the week we kept Pearly so double the dog stuff!

Backsplash removed -

New sockets and light switches (plus super cool automatic timer for the outside light and dimmer switch for the fan - husband's very excited about these) - They made such a huge difference, now they're white on white and look so much cleaner and newer.

There's still a bit of work to be done before Friday (NEW GRANITE!!!) - tonight we finished removing the counter tops in the kitchen and tomorrow we'll install the new dishwasher. 

See the pretty new sockets! 

We did sneak in a little fun this weekend.  We went to one of our favorite places on Saturday, Mad Fox, before heading downtown.  We went to see the Nationals take on the Pirates, watched some fireworks at the park, and then met up with some friends to celebrate Jason's birthday! 

Jason, Mary, TSettles, Chicken, me and husband

Everything's really coming together.  The house is a disaster right now, and we have several more projects for the next few weekends before it's complete.  I can't wait to share our progress with you, and see it once it's all finished!