Things That Have Happened

• The Cherry Blossoms Bloomed! Mike's grandparents visited and we were motivated by their visit to go down and see the cherry blossom trees on the weekend of their peak bloom. It was one of the most crowded days at the Mall that I've ever seen.

Blossoms!

Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Washington Monument across the Tidal Basin.

WWII Memorial.

• Mike had a birthday! And it happened to fall during show week of the Spring GGSS production of Iolanthe!

A coconut cake from Mike's grandmother. 

I love this face! This is the face Mike made when I insisted on some lighting of the candles and singing of Happy Birthday:)

27 years old!

Singing "Let it Go" fro Frozen was easily the highlight of the night for me, but I believe this was when Mike was singing Phantom which is more his element.

These are my favorite boys:)

• I went home to see Ashton and my sister Kim before she left for Oregon to take on a new Americorps position. Ashton has recently learned how to laugh so in this picture I was trying to make him laugh for the camera.

His shirt says "Mister Sunshine"!!

• I went on a work trip to visit a college with some high school students to St. Mary's College. Our students can't often afford to go on these trips by themselves (their parents can't get off work to take them, etc.) so it was a really good opportunity for them to get a taste of college life. In fact, the trip got me a little nostalgic for my college years.

Mural from an art student at St. Mary's.

Garden art.

It had been storming all day, but the weather ended up being beautiful even with the clouds.

And this is what I saw on my way metro-ing home. Someone was clearly just done with the weather.

• I cooked new things! This is leftover steak from Medium Rare with sundried tomatoes, feta, and spinach. It was delicious. I also made taco salads using this recipe.

•  I got my hair cut! It is shorter than I had expected, but will be nice for the hot DC summer ahead.

• Mike heard some good news about Navy JAG! You can read more about it on his blog (once he is able to post about it), but basically JAG is now a "go" again....and it had seemed on several occasions that there was absolutely no way it would work out. We had coped with the stress in severals ways and also celebrated the good news in several ways. One of those celebratory times was cupcakes:)

Cupcakes from The Sweet Lobby. Boston Cream and Red Velvet. red Velvet was THE best.

• We traveled to NYC on Easter Weekend for a friend's birthday.

On the bus trip there:) In the 2nd picture, the boys are upset I am making them take more than one picture.

DC to NY!

Saturday night we had some of the BEST Indian food I've ever had. Garlic naan, chicken tikka masala,  curried goat. There was absolutely no chicken tikka masala sauce even left.

On Easter Sunday, we went to church with one of Goo's friends, Nehemiah. Goo was the birthday girl that weekend. Everyone sang in the choir except me, because hymns are very complicated and I wanted to enjoy from the congregation.

After church, we visited Goo's old college, Sarah Lawrence, and it was so picturesque that I wanted a picture. 

Brunch on Easter Sunday. There was only bottomless champagne instead of mimosas. Apparently NYC just gets straight to the point.

My Easter bunny ring that I'd gotten the night before with some free cupcakes from our hotel. Our waitress complimented me on it.

• We saw Henry the IVth: Part I with Josh and Ross! We got dinner at District of Pi pizza beforehand where I had the best kale salad I've ever tasted and excellent deep dish pizza. 

Mike and I and Ross photobombing.

• I got an Ashton of the Day picture with the cutest cheeks and feet that I've ever seen. I just had to share:)

This week, we have a Ben Folds concert Monday night to look forward to (my birthday present to Mike), Henry Part 2 on Wednesday night, and a trip to my home on Saturday for my mom's 50th birthday.

Lately: Spring

I've been horrible at blogging lately, but I wanted to share some pictures of recent (past couple of months) events that I want to remember.

Georgetown 10 Miler:

One of my friends and I were set to run a ten-miler right before the Disney trip, but she ended up hurting her back and, thus, Mike seemed fine taking her place. Mike has always managed to be faster than me without training so I thought nothing of it. However, due to the horrid winter (no opportunity to train) and winter weather right before the race (the course was literally covered with ice on the 1st half and slush/mud on the 2nd half), we both struggled a little more than anticipated. Luckily, we had an awesome playlist and had fun running together. The soreness lasted through a lot of the Disney trip so we never felt guilty about all of he food we were eating:)

Crucial playlist for the race that we synced together.

Pre-race picture.

Our shoes post-race.

StitchFix: 

I got a Stitchfix for the first time during March because I'd read a lot about them and wanted to see what the hype was about. You fill out a styling questionnaire, get a personalized box of clothes picked out for you, and then the $20.00 you initially paid goes toward the clothes you keep. You can try them on for 3 days at home and then return what you don't want to keep. Pros: 1) I loved all of the clothes I was sent. 2) I got to try them on with stuff I owned. 3) It helps if you're stuck in a fashion rut. Example: I always buy dresses, but have a hard time buying casual shirts for myself. Cons: They are designer clothes so a little pricier than what I would normally pay. 2) If you don't like anything in your fix, then you're out of $20.00 It's non-refundable.

Here are the clothes I got. I kept the pink and navy polka dot top. I won't be getting another fix because I prefer thrift stores and Target to designer clothes, but it is nice for every once-in-a-while.

Extremely soft blazer/cardigan.

Tribal print tank top.

Outfit styling cards.

Zig Zag black and white skirt.

If anyone is interested in trying a StitchFix, if you use this link, I would get a credit on my account toward a future fix.

Baltimore Adventures:

Mike and I spent a day at the aquarium in Baltimore with Jessie and her fiancee, Duncan. The weather was actually lovely to hang around the harbor and eat gelato. Then they made us homemade pizza and salad for dinner.

Inner Harbor and Dragonboats.

Mike inside a megaladon shark's mouth.

Homemade dinner!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

Somehow we ended up with a pineapple at our disposal and I decided on a whim to make this pineapple upside down cake. I really wish I had some pictures of it, but it wasn't super pretty and it really was gone in 3 days. It was delicious and definitely something I'll be making again! Thanks to Mike for cutting up the pineapple!

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/05/the-sunny-day-yawn/


Lately:

Happy Hour with my coworkers at 100 Montaditos where their small sandwiches are only $1.00 on Wednesdays and wine is $3.00, I believe! I kind of want to go there every Wednesday now.

I went to church with Kelly this past Sunday where Alex (her boyfriend and my friend) plays keyboard in the church band. It's a super cool church and they preached on forgiveness and grace which always speaks to my heart. 

My attempt at a selfie before I went to help out Noah with a mock trial presentation. I was a witness. Anything to practice my public speaking.

Coming up: "Iolanthe" (the GGSS spring production) is going up this week and I am helping out backstage where I can. Apparently, the cherry blossoms are also going to peak this week! Brian and Kay are likely visiting from Philadelphia this weekend. And it's Mike's birthday on Friday! He is very busy this week (just got back from Puerto Rico where his mock trial team placed 3rd/4th in the competition) so we will probably actually celebrate next weekend when we have a brief stay in NYC planned. However, he knows I will make sure that they sing happy birthday to him at the Friday cast party.

How is it already April? I also have my 90-day review for work this week and it's so hard for me to believe I've been working my 'new' job for 90 days....probably because, with all of the snow days, it actually does fall quite short of 90. But still! Next month Mike graduates from law school! My mom also turns 50 and I'll be going home for a pool party at our house so hopefully it will be warmer by then. So much to look forward to. At least this 'busy' is a 'good busy' season.