Shopping

I had to get my bridesmaids' dress altered. Of course, before I could do that, I had to buy shoes. The dress is espresso but I didn't want brown dress shoes. So, I got some burnished gold shoes by Betsey Johnson. Here's a picture:



And another:



Of course, while I was there, I saw some everyday shoes that I decided that I needed as well:



And, to show you the great thing about Cole Haan shoes, here's the soles:

Another Picture

Here's another one from our wedding almost one year ago.

Eamonn's, A Dublin Chipper

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'd be checking out Eamonn's in Alexandria a couple of weeks ago. Well, I did make it there but was out of town right after. I didn't have time to get a post onto the blog. Here's my review:

First, of all, the name is not 'ee-mahns'. I was corrected by my English friend, HS. It is 'ay-mahns'. Of course, when ordering, you never have to say the name of the establishment so there's no worry of embarrassing yourself. As a reminder, the specialty of the house is fish and chips with special sauces. But, according to HS, the only way to eat fish and chips is with homemade tartar sauce and malt vinegar. It turns out they're good together which I had never tried before. I got the small fish which was plenty for a meal. Both the fish and the fries were fried perfectly. This meal is definitely one you shouldn't have very often but is fun when you do. The other thing not to miss at Eamonn's is the candy. They have a wide selection of English ones. HS was ecstatic when we walked into the place because she hadn't seen these candies since she had arrived in the US over 3 months earlier. We bought a chocolate orange and another one I can't remember the name. I was much too full that night to eat them so we ate them another day. After dinner, we decided we weren't ready to head back home so we went to Restaurant Eve. That's the place that is owned by the same guy that just opened Eamonn's. They have the best sour apple martini I've ever tasted! So, that's what we had. We just sat there and talked and had fun. Then, we headed home and had to go to sleep since the next day was a day of work.

Our Anniversary

Our anniversary is coming up. In honor of the one year milestone, I'll post a few pictures over the next few days. Here's the first one that I think is a fun one because you can't really recognize anyone unless you know them.

Food Bank

I volunteered this past weekend at the Capital Area Food Bank through the Junior League. We first saw a video that explained what the food bank does and who it serves. It's definitely amazing. They have a farm out in Maryland where they grow organic produce and bring it to a market in SE DC to sell. There is only one grocery store in that area of DC. It allows those residents access to foods that they normally wouldn't be able to get. The food bank also does the more expected type of work like taking in donations from food drives and cash donations for buying foods. The other great thing that they do is they work with the grocery stores to salvage food. There is a lot of food that doesn't make it to the grocery store shelves because it's not "pretty" but it's still very edible. In the not so distant past, that food was thrown out!! But, now, the food bank is able to pick up that food from at least a few of the grocery store chains in the area. My particular job for the morning was to help create bags of foods that would be taken to Maryland for people to take home and cook. It was an assembly line. I put in two cans of vegetables and then sent the bag down the line. We put together over 600 bags in about 1 1/2 hours!! It was a great way to start the day.

He did it!!

MTH competed in his first triathlon. He has promised to update his blog soon. But, as a preview, here's a couple of pictures that I took while braving the cold :)

While waiting for the race to begin.

He's almost done swimming. The water was warmer than the air!

MTH is off for the run. Yes, he did ride his bike but this picture is better. Look at that great form!

He looks like he could go another 10 miles!