DC Weekend

Right now, we have a very lovely, very tall, very not-ginger red-head visiting us from California.  Per usual, we've been using her trip as an excuse to eat anything and anywhere we want.  Other people's vacations are our fatcations it seems.  And I love it.

Saturday, we headed to Alexandria to pick her up at the airport and Mike and I stopped for a late brunch at Columbia Firehouse where I got eggs bendict made with fried green tomatoes and jalapenos which was just as delicious as that sounds, thank you.  And a bloody mary...of course.  We then walked around a bit and did some shopping and sweating because holy hell this weekend was HOT on the East Coast.  We cooled down by popping into Daniel O'Connells for some more bloody mary's.  Fun fact:  if the bartender at Daniel O'Connells asks you if you want your bloody mary mild or spicy and you say spicy it will BURN YOUR LIPS OFF.  If you say mild, they pour Guiness into the bloody mary to cool it down.  Now you know.

After our lip burning cocktails, we picked our guest M up at the airport and headed off to DC.  We spent the night at Hotel Rouge which, like all Kimpton Hotels, was perfectly lovely albeit incredibly confusing to get to for bumpkin out-of-towners like us.  Holy traffic circle confusion, batman.  We had dinner that night at Table which was GOOD.  Super cool/cute location, we were sat on the patio with a cool breeze which was lovely, the food was delicious, the portions were perfect, the service was great.  So so worth a trip, I tell ya'.  We followed up dinner with one of our favorite spots in the city, the Columbia Room at the Passenger.  Cocktails, ambiance, awesome bartender, good friends.  It was a great night.

And I took no pictures.

Because I'm the worst blogger ever?

Sunday, we headed out into the city to show M around and hit a couple of the Smithsonians.  M had twisted her ankle the night before (damn you adorable, giant wedges) so we took it much easier than we normally would have.  (Mike and I are museum speed-walking fiends)  We ended up at the cafe of the National Art Gallery drinking a bottle of Blanc de Blanc and eating dessert.  Who needs art when you have booze, I say?

Then we met M's cousin and his wife for some chatting, beers, and games at Penn Social.  Which was actually pretty darn fun.  Especially for my husband who has ADD and loves having things to do while drinking.  Also, any excuse not to talk to people, right babe?

So that was our DC weekend.  Oh DC.  I want to be in you all the time.

Too dirty?

A Sunday Hike

Instead of going to the gym on Sunday, we decided to go for a hike.  We've done the 7.5 mile trail at St. Mary's River State Park before and have loved the views and the great work out.  Mike brought the camera and was getting some great pics and we both were feeling pretty darn good about how much we were sweating our asses off.

And then I saw one of these:

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And nearly peed my sweaty pants.

And we had 4 miles to go.

This trail is like a big giant circle.  If you have 4 miles to go, you have 4 miles to go.  There are no short cuts.  You have to walk 4 more miles through the woods that you are now convinced are filled with giant black snakes.

So that was not fun.

Even though Mike could care less, I kept screeching every time a leaf rustled.  I actually screamed and jumped when some mountain bikers road up behind us.  I'm pretty brave is the moral of that story.

But we kept on hiking.

And then at about 2.5 miles to go, we both lost steam.  We didn't see any more snakes because I'm pretty sure our growling stomachs and grunting whines scared them away.  7.5 miles is far.  Walking/biking/running/whatever.  That shiz was tiring.  But, we did it and the pictures are pretty and I didn't get swallowed by a giant black snake, so I guess it turned out okay.  And, as I asked Mike after the snake sighting, don't you think you burn more calories when you're terrified?

Some parts of the trail like this one make me feel like I'm in a fairy tale.

There were the brightest orange mushrooms out today.  They seriously looked fake, they were so bright and perfect.

This is my, "I just saw a giant snake and now I'm too scared to finished this trail, but I have to." face.

Beach Day!

One of the things I love most about our new town is how accessible everything is.  Sometimes when I tell people that I moved here from California, they look at me flabbergasted.  How on EARTH could you leave California for this place?! I think that most people think all of California is beaches and Los Angeles and just, well, cities.  But when I tell them that we were in the middle of the desert, they tend to get why we would love it in this water and tree filled town.  This summer, we are definitely trying to take advantage of being near beaches.  They're not the California beaches we're used to, but they're also not as damn far away and inconvenient as the beaches we're used to.  Saturday, we decided to give the beach on our base a try since we'd never been there before and the weather was gorgeous.  I personally think it's pretty darn cool that our base has a free public beach among other things.

Except, you know, that it's pretty infested with jelly fish.

So yeah, don't go in the water.

Here are some (cell phone) pics of our beach day.  I'm sad I didn't capture either of us getting attacked (with licks, not bites) by some guy's dog every time we tried to lay on our backs.  Or the giant tough dude pouting after his first jelly fish sting.  Or the walk we took collecting shells for a jar in our house (that's required if you live near a beach right?  Cliche and required.)

All in all it was a lovely little beach day.  Have I mentioned how much I love this place?

Oh this guy.

This is before we saw a bunch of jelly fish and I squealed at him to get back.

Alright, I might be picking a wedgie here, but it's still a semi-flattering picture unlike the others Mike took of me.  Enjoy my GIANT caboose in your face.  And yes, this one is formatted smaller than the others.  It was scarier that size...

A Day Trip To Sotterley

The Saturday that the mo-in-law was here, we had grand plans of spending the day in Mt. Vernon.  And then we found out the dogs couldn't be kenneled for the day except in tiny grooming cages and that I would be working Friday until 3am, so we scratched that idea.  After I dragged my sorry and exhausted ass out of bed that morning, we ventured out for some breakfast and a tour of Sotterley Plantation.  It's definitely worth a trip if you're in the area and seems like an amazing event location.  We should have taken more pictures, but I was running on fumes by this point so this is all I could do.

A Day Trip To Historic St. Mary's City

The mo-in-law was here all last week and I've been working full time including the world's longest work day ever for our giant concert on Friday so I've been going through internet/blogging withdrawals.  I'm back!  (No one cares)  I luckily got the 4th off of work so my dad and his fiance came to hang out with us all and we took a day trip to Historic St. Mary's City.  Which, if you live in this area, you should definitely do.  It's BEAUTIFUL and so full of history and I thought I would hate the people dressed up in colonial garb, but I kind of loved them.  Just do it on a day that isn't so hot, okay?

Here are some pictures from our lovely (sweaty) day.  This is a super picture heavy post and Mike was a little obsessed with the butterflies.  You've been warned.

Don't you just want to picnic here right now?!

Oh this guy...he's the cutest.

My dad doesn't hate us as much as he looks like he does in this picture...

This is definitely a more accurate representation of us than the prior picture.  Weirdos.

So they shot fake cannons out of this awesome boat and they were LOUD.  The best part was I was startled all 5 times even though I knew they were fake and knew they were coming and birds with nests right in front of this didn't give a crap.  Balls of steel those birds.

I was not aware my hair looked like this all day.  Hmph.

Am I supporting him or attempting to pus him off?  We'll never know...

Instead of warning me that I was standing right next to this, Mike waited until I walked away and then took pictures of it.  Thanks hun.