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!!

Night out in Richmond

A couple of weeks ago, while MB had lots of work projects here in DC to do, I headed down to visit with the parents for the weekend.  Saturday night we headed out on the town to check out some new (to us) places.

We started out at Barrel Thief at the corner of Patterson and Libbie.  This small wine store is also a cafe with some tables in the back.  They have a nice wine list, as well as options to pick a bottle off their shelves.  We had a couple of glasses and some snacks - the plum bruschetta was wonderful!

Then we drove across town to Church Hill for dinner at The Roosevelt.  

We were a little early for our reservation, so went to the bar and ordered some cocktails.  The place is not very big, and it was packed.  They had quite an impressive fancy cocktail list. Mom had her (current) favorite, a dark and stormy while I tried the Seersucker.  It was amazing!  Marker's Mark with sweet tea syrup and a halved lemon that was grilled and frozen.  

Yum.  We ordered a Virginia favorite, the Linden Hardscrabble, for dinner.  The menu was very interesting with creative combinations.  We all had a hard time choosing!  Mom and I shared the beet and watermelon salad, which was fantastic and light.  I had the pork shoulder special with grits and grilled peaches.  Everyone at our table just about licked their plates.  We finished by sharing the foie gras pound cake and ice cream.  

Everything we had was just delicious, and the prices were very reasonable.  I can't wait to go back, and next time take M with us.  I'm sure he'd flip over things like the crispy pig head terrine and foie gras pound cake!  

Happy New Year!

I know it sounds cliché to say how fast time goes, but my goodness does it ever!  I can't believe we're sitting on this side of the holidays, and it's two thousand and twelve.  I still feel like it's barely 2007!

We had a great weekend ringing in the new year!  One of husband's favorite bands, the Drive By Truckers, was in town for 3 nights at the 9:30 Club.  Since we weren't too keen on being out and messing with driving around on NYE, we opted to go on Friday.  One of our best friends and his girlfriend joined us.  We ventured to Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights first.

source

It's one of our favorites, but sometimes can be tricky to get up there.  It's a great spot when you're going to a show at the 9:30 Club.  It's a big beer bar, which is perfect for the boys.  (They were very excited to see so many DC Brau beers on the menu!)  We shared a bunch of delicious appetizers and had a few beers before heading over to the concert.

I have to admit that the Truckers aren't my favorite, and not exactly my style of music, but I've now been taken to so many shows, I've learned to love like their music!  The 9:30 Club is a great small venue, one of my favorites, and we always have a good time when we go.  I was excited to try out my new pocket-sized camera that I got from hubby for Christmas!

Saturday we were all a little slow to get moving, apparently we had a little too much fun at the concert.  But we got up and moving, getting the house ready for our little get together for NYE.  Tom and Ashley came over again, as did another friend of mine Craig.  We had a great evening - yummy appetizers and 3 cheese sausage lasagna for dinner.  Craig brought a couple bottles of wine, including a bottle of VA wine from Linden, their 08 Hardscrabble.  Linden is one of my absolute favorites!  

At midnight, we all toasted the new year with some bubbly, and were quite proud of ourselves for staying up so late!  

Self timer attempt at a group photo...

Sunday morning, New Year's Day, we headed next door to visit with the neighbors and have some delicious brunch.  Egg and sausage fritatta, sausage balls, Nutella sandwiches and fresh fruit was on the menu.  It was so nice to have brunch at our friends' house, talk about how great 2011 was and look forward to what all 2012 has in store for us.  That evening I made Black Eyed Pea stew with pork and collards - all things to bring us good luck and prosperity in the new year.  We'll take all the help we can get! 

It was a fantastic way to ring in the new year, with good friends.  We are so lucky here in northern VA so have so many special people close to us.  I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate the start of 2012 any other way!

Happy New Year to you and your families!  May it be the best yet.