Anniversary weekend in Chicago

It's hard to believe M and I just celebrated our 7th anniversary together!  My goodness how time flies.

When we started thinking about what we wanted to do to celebrate, we talked about getting out of town for a weekend.  Chicago was on the list, since we hadn't been together in a few years.  When I looked at the calendar, I realized I would be there for the week before our anniversary on business, so that was the obvious choice.

M arrived on Thursday evening, and I wrapped up our events Friday morning.  Once we switched hotels and got settled, the first place we went was Eataly!  If you know anything about us, you know we plan our trips around food, and this one was no exception.

After exploring the HUGE store (is that what you call it?  Store/bar/restaurant?), we found a spot in the beer cafe in the corner and decided this would be our afternoon hangout.  We were waiting for our friends to fly in from DC to join us for the weekend.

With both the US Open and World Cup matches on, we were in a perfect location. Plus they had one of my favorite beers on tap - Dogfish's Positive Contact!  We ordered a few small plates including fried shrimp, a white bean and artichoke spread, and fried chickpeas - all were delicious!  Perfect timing, just as we finished lunch, our friends arrived!  

That evening we headed over to Restaurant Row and had small plates/appetizers at 2 of the cities hottest restaurants - Girl and the Goat and Avec.

The food at both restaurants was incredible.  At Girl and the Goat we got several appetizers: goat empanadas (you have to get something with goat!), roasted cauliflower, and hamachi crudo, among other things.  Everything was delicious, and we all tried one of their signature cocktails, which were delicious as well.  The one I ordered, Bolt Action, is made with Blenheim's ginger ale, which is made in a small town near where my dad grew up in North Carolina!  It's hard to find even here in DC, so imagine my surprise when I saw it on a menu in Chicago!

At Avec, we had a few more small plates and dessert.  Again, delicious!

Saturday morning we needed a bit of exercise, so we got up early leisurely and went for a walk around the city.  Chicago has always been one of my favorite places, and the weather over the weekend was just perfect.

Our Saturday activity was a Chicago White Sox game!  If I'm in town, it means the Cubs are out of town...it's just what happens.  So the next best thing was to head to Comiskey Field, aka US Cellular Field.  The weather could not have been any better, and we had fantastic seats.  

M even caught his first foul ball!

Apparently at this point I decided to stop taking photos, because I didn't take any more the rest of the weekend!  After the game, we were starving so we stopped by Public House back in the city for some nachos, pizza, beer and soccer.  That evening we headed up north a bit, just north of the Lake View area, to the Half Acre Brewery.  The boys wanted to try a few of their beers, so we stopped in their tap room for a bit.  We were finally hungry after that and went over to the brand new restaurant, Parachute.  It had only been open a few weeks - it's a Korean American restaurant opened by Beverly Kim and her husband Johnny Clark.  We were fans of Beverly on Top Chef, so were excited to go check out her new spot!  We tried a bunch of different things, but the bi bim bop was by far my favorite!

Sunday morning we went for another walk, and then back to restaurant row for brunch at Little Goat, the diner connected to Girl and the Goat.  It was absolutely packed, but we put our name on the list, got a coffee, and walked around a bit while we waited - and it was definitely worth the wait!  Everything was delicious, and it was the perfect end to our weekend in Chicago.  The boys drove us girls to the airport to head home, and they set out on their baseball adventure - they went to 3 more parks and several breweries as they made their way back to DC!

Happy anniversary honey, here's to many more!

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!

RVA weekend

I love when we're in RVA for the weekend visiting parents and get to try some of the new, cool places in town.  The weekend after Thanksgiving was one of the best we've had - good food, some culture at the museum, and a new local brewery! 

Friday night, after a couple of drinks with friends at Havanna 59, we headed over to Pasture on Grace Street for dinner.  

We mostly just had a handful of  'snacks' and 'small plates' to share.  We had the pimento cheese with Ritz crackers, fried okra, Brussels sprouts, and steak tartar, as well as a few others.  Everything was delicious - and they had a great beer list with tons of local/VA craft brews to choose from.

Saturday afternoon, following morning coffee with friends and some shopping, Mom and I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  They were hosting a special exhibit of glass artist Dale Chihuly.  

In May 2010, the museum completed a massive expansion with beautiful gardens.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and dozens of people were enjoy the sunshine and setting.

The pieces were just amazing.  These photos don't even begin to show the mass and beauty of these displays.  If you ever get a chance to see a Chihuly exhibit, don't miss the opportunity.  Here are just a few photos I took from our afternoon at the museum.  

That evening, we made our first trip out to Hardywood Park Brewery.  The place was packed and they had a live band playing.  What a great addition to the Richmond craft beer scene!  We got a few samplers, which was great - we all got to try several different beers!  

In addition to visiting the brewery, you can find their beers in dozens of restaurants and stores around town.  Highly recommend, and looking forward to getting back to town to try some of their new releases!

Richmond is such a vibrant town with so many cool things going on and places to go.  We always enjoy getting back home to visit family and friends and explore the city!

Dinner at Daikaya

It's been a few weeks months since we had dinner at Daikaya...but I'm finally getting around to telling you about it!  The newest ramen place in town (or at least it was when we were there) is also one of the hottest places to go.  Located right next to Graffiato and across the street from the Verizon Center, it's a must try.

 Not knowing too much about ramen other than my one experience at Toki Underground, it was a bit intimidating to go to this hot new ramen shop.  But honestly, there aren't many options and everything's delicious - so you just have to go for it.  

I got the Japanese beer Sapporo and M got Sake.  There aren't many options for alcoholic beverages...but that forced us to try something new!

We got the dumplings and the 2 different ramen dishes to try both - and honestly I don't even remember which 2 we got, but they were both delicious.  

Definitely recommend going.  Even if there's a long wait, they will take your phone number and text you when a table's available - and you can just go next door for a glass of draft prosecco!

When we were there, just the first floor ramen shop was open...since then, they've opened an Izakaya on the  second floor.  According to their website, an Izakaya is "a type of restaurant that serves Japanese comfort food to accompany a wide range of drinks."  Guess we need to go back!  DC has such a diverse dining scene, it's always an adventure to try something new!