What we did this summer...besides move

This summer went by in a blur!  Since it's officially fall now, I figured what better time than this week to recap our summer.  Besides the move, and traveling all over the country for work, we managed to squeeze a bunch of fun things over the last few months.

 In June, I took our annual trip up to an Orioles game with a great group of friends.

In between work trips to Boston (for me) and Dallas (for M), we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!  Time sure flies.  We had dinner downtown at a fantastic, relatively new restaurant called Mintwood Place, and used a free rewards night to stay downtown at the Park Hyatt.  Cady was still at Camp Grandma's from having the house on the market, so it worked out nicely!  

For the 4th of July, we went over to Ocean City for a couple of days at my cousin's condo.  While we didn't make it to the beach, we had a great time splashing around in the pool and ate some delicious food.  We also went to M.R. Ducks and 3 of the 4 of us participated in their Chug-a-Duck tradition.

On the way home from OC, we stopped and met the newest member of our family, beautiful baby boy Ryder!  He was only 8 days when we met him.  

Despite a tropical storm on the original date of the Elon golf tournament, we were able to reschedule - and got the round in despite more rain on the make up date!  It was awesome to have Coach Swepson, Coach Hill, and Jon come up from campus for the annual event. 

With only one summer weekend that worked for all 3 of us, LR, CC and I were able to continue our tradition of a girls summer get together.  This year, we meet in Charlotte - we shopped, ate, drank, laughed, and had a great time!

Dave came to town again this summer, and we were jamming in the pit at the show.

I was on the softball team again this summer - not sure you can call what I do playing - and the tournament did not disappoint.  This year, we were lucky that we had perfect weather both days, and the Elon team was out in full force. 

My work travel has taken me all over the country this summer - Denver, Boston twice, Kansas City, Houston, LA twice, San Francisco, NYC a few times, and Chicago.  Luckily in a few cities, I was able to enjoy the surroundings a bit.  In Newport, we rented a little dingy boat for an hour cruise of the harbor - it was just beautiful!

In Boston (on both trips!) I was able to catch up with old roommate Kimbo.  It's been a few years since we've seen each other, so it was great fun to reconnect...and on this night, my coworkers and I saved her from a looser date!  Glad we could be of assistance!

In August, both M and I celebrated our birthdays.  With the house and all of the new house purchases we're making, they were both pretty low key.  We did have dinner with 3 of our favorite DC couples one night, and on separate weekends our parents visited - I think more to see the new house than to celebrate our birthdays :)  

While my parents were up, we all went across the bay to Kent Island for another baby cousin visit!  It was a great afternoon, it was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone without the chaos that is the holidays, when we usually visit.

Over Labor Day weekend, I think I had the surprise of my life.  I knew M's best friend KT was coming up from Alabama to visit for the weekend...what I didn't know was that MY best friend Lola was on her way too!  The three of us were checking in with the hostess at a restaurant on Friday night, and she asked if we still had 4....confused a bit, I said no, three, and turned around to confirm with M.  Walking in the door right behind me was Lola!!  She had planned this trip with M back in July, and left her 2 small children and husband back in Miami for a surprise weekend in DC.  Rumor has it I screamed really loud when I saw her, but I think they're exaggerating a bit... :) 

It was great to have the 2 of them in town with us for the weekend.  On Saturday, the boys went out to Catoctin Creek and Lost Rhino, while we went to an Elon game watch party.  Then we met up with some other friends to watch football, and Sunday we drug them around couch shopping with us, and fed them a big, delicious brunch at Ted's before we took them back to the airport.  

What a fantastic end to a great summer!

Visitor from the UK!

A few, well, several weeks ago, one of my dearest friends Emily visited from England!  She did a bit of a US Tour - DC first, then visited a friend in New Orleans finishing with a few days at home in Maine.

The first day she was here, we decided to do some shopping!  We headed straight to the outlets - she needed to stock up at Ann Taylor and Banana.  That evening we went into Clarendon and met H for dinner at Ray's the Steaks.  What a fantastic restaurant.  We don't go there enough, but Emily's request for red meat was a great excuse.  The wine list is great and the food always delicious!  

The next day was our 'Tourist Tour of DC' day, and luckily it was the most beautiful day of the week.  With a huge list of places to go, we got up and out early around 1130am.  We drove to Vienna and hopped on the metro.  Our first stop was Rosslyn and Iwo Jima (1). 

I had never been up to the monument myself, so it was neat to see it finally.  It's enormous!  And really powerful.

From there we walked down and across the Key Bridge through Georgetown (2).  The Georgetown French Market (3) was going on that afternoon up Wisconsin Ave, so we wondered around that for a while.  This is the second time I've been to the market - the first time it was really underwhelming.  This year was definitely better, but still not as big as they advertise.  

On the way back down the hill we stopped at the Marvelous Market (4) for a quick sandwich.  Sitting outside on the picnic bench was a great break!  After the pit stop we headed on down Wisconsin and continued through Georgetown to about the end, and jumped in a cab.  We got out right around 17 and Constitution to continue our walking tour.  We headed down 17th and stopped to admire the WWII monument, Lincoln and Washington Monuments (5).  

We continued on and explored the new MLK monument (6).  This is a huge space, and really at an interesting spot among the original collection of monuments.

Continuing on around the Tidal Basin, we wondered through the FDR Memorial (7).  I'd walked through a few times, but never really took the time to read the quotes and explore the area.  It's really one of my new favorites.

As we made our way over to Jefferson, we had a slight run in with a squirrel (8) and almost went for a swim.  Since the Tidal Basin is 10' deep, it's a really good thing we weren't one foot closer to the edge or the day could have taken an extreme turn! 

We dodged waves of school groups as we took in Emily's favorite spot in DC (9).  We decided that the steps of Jefferson were a great place to take another pit stop and sat down for a good long while.  It was so nice to soak up the scenery and just chat.

Once we left the Jefferson, we walked on around the Washington Monument, crossed 14th Street (10) and up the mall towards the Capitol.  

This is when we got the phone call from my softball coach asking if I'd happened to bring my catchers mitt with me that day...while I normally carry it everywhere I go....not this day.  We would have to forego pinch hitting for the team and just see them at the after-party.

This is also when we apparently decided we'd done enough photo taking for the day...

We walked about halfway up and then back, on our way to stop 11 - a beer at Old Ebbitt Grill - and oh man how good did that Sam Summer taste!

Stop 12 was dinner at Siroc.  One of my favorite restaurants in DC, I couldn't resist taking Emily there!

And finally, we ended our day with stop 13 at The Exchange to meet up with the Elon CAN Softball team.  Emily enjoyed seeing some old Elon friends and we had a great night dancing and hanging out with the team!

Saturday's weather was gross, so we decided to skip our day in Old Town and stick around close to home.  Lunch at Coastal Flats, the Fairfax Corner art show, dinner at Los Toltecos and beers at Dogfish - a great low key day!  

I can't even tell you how great it was to have Emily visit for a few days.  After my trip to England last spring and meeting she and her husband in Barcelona in October, I'm loving all of our visits and (significantly) increased email exchanges.  It makes London seem not quite as far away!  I can't wait to see them on our final stop during our European trip this coming fall :)

Annual trip back 'home'

Taking a break from the trip recap to talk about the rest of my life...

A couple of weeks ago, several of my bestest friends and I packed up all the maroon clothing and accessories that we own and headed to Elon, North Carolina.  We went 'home.'

As usual, a couple of us went down on Thursday - we said we felt like the Marines, first in, last out. 

I had breakfast with my mentor from college at a Burlington institution and visited some of dad's old friends who own a shoe store in downtown.

We went to Harrisons, La Fiesta, Ale House, BWW, Biscuitville, Hursey's - all of our favorite places from when we were in school, and some new places that have been built since we left.  We literally ate our way through town.

We visited with some classmates stayed long enough to have 1 beer and take some pictures at the annual Young Alumni Party - we have to go while we're still 'young!'

Then we set up camp at 9am in our spot in Harper parking lot.  Tents, flags, Biscuitville, moonshine, Starbucks, Baileys, BBQ, Miller Lite, and friends. 

We had breakfast, lunch, went to the game, then came back, tailgated some more, and even ordered Dominoes to be delivered to the parking lot. We finally packed up at 9pm after a successful day (despite the football score...)

These are some of the best friends a girl could ask for - we've come a long way since the fall of 2000 when we were all freshman at Elon!

Even 2 year old Miss Natalie joined in the fun!

One of my friends hadn't been back to school since 2005, and another since graduation!  It was great to show them all of the new additions...like the only escalator in Alamance County!!  (It's all everyone talked about all weekend!)

Elon will always hold a special place in our hearts.  Retuning to campus each year with friends old and new, we continue to love and support a school that means so much to all of us.  Thank you to everyone for making this truly one of the best Homecomings ever - I am already looking forward to next year!

DF.

Modern Technology

Last night I made an amazing discovery.  While sitting on the couch with husband and puppy, just playing on the internet, I decided to say hi to my very best friend Lola in Florida on g-chat.  So I clicked on her name, the window popped up, and I noticed something.  There was a little green video camera next to her name.  And next to mine....hmmm...so I clicked on it and up she popped on my screen!!  Sitting at her dining table, just being her beautiful self!  So we chatted, and watched, and waved to husbands and laughed and talked so much and so quickly we were talking over each other - the way best friends do.  We are pretty good at keeping in touch across the 1,048 miles that separate us - we email, send photos, make fun of people on Facebook, call when babies/husbands/dogs/in-laws/life isn't in the way, and visit once a year.  But this.  This is a whole new world to me.  This makes those 1,048 miles seem not quite as intimidating.  This makes that adorable 20 mo old that she has seem so much closer.  This will make her not go from 4 months to 18 between me getting to see her! 

I know I'm a little behind the curve on this technology, with the Skype craze and the iPhone video capabilities and all.  But it's new to me, and I love it.  As I joked with her last night, I can see us attaching our laptops to our hips and video-g-chatting all the time!  What are you making for dinner?  See, doesn't it look good!  What are you drinking tonight, cheers!  What does the new house look like (she's in the process of building one)?  Now I understand what all the hype is about.  And I couldn't be happier to have finally joined the crowds.

We also joked that I should write my next blog post about how cool she is and how much I love her.  Little did she know I would actually do it!  We met in the halls of Alamance at Elon during spring orientation.  Through some convincing (of both the housing people on campus and L herself) we began our college career as suitemates, living in an all girl dorm on the south side of campus.  The days, weeks, months and years we spent together at Elon were some of the most memorable times of our lives.  We were suitemates, roommates, classmates, friends, and became the best of friends.  And honestly, I might even say we've become closer over the years since Elon.  I am truly blessed to have met LMPT that chilly rainy day in April, 2000 - I can't imagine my life without her!!

And now, using this amazing modern technology, I can video-chat with her :)

What will they think of next?! (or better yet, what else is out there that I'm missing out on??)