It's going around...

ETK posted this on her blog and I think she expects at least some of us to do the same. So, here are my answers.

Put your name in the subject box.
The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about your friends.
It is fun and has 50 easy questions to answer. Try it; this can be fun and interesting.

1. FIRST NAME? M
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My father - his middle name is the masculine version of M
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I'm sure it hasn't been too long ago but I can't remember exactly when
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Turkey
6. KIDS? Phoebe
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF? Certainly.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I've had several but never kept up with it for more than a month at the time.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I think so.
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cheerios
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Depends on what you mean by strong. I'm not physically strong but otherwise, yes.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate
16. SHOE SIZE? 8 or 8.5 for regular shoes; 9.5 for running shoes
17. RED OR PINK? Red
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Slightly crooked top front teeth
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandma
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Of course but no one will.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Khaki cropped pants, blue and green t-shirt and black hoodie
22. WHAT DID YOU EAT LAST? Brown rice cake with peanut butter and glass of milk (afternoon snack)
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Green
25. FAVORITE SMELL? J'Adore
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? MTH
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes
28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Red Wine
30. FAVORITE SPORT? Football (American)
31. HAIR COLOR? Brownish, reddish, blondish
32. EYE COLOR? blue-green
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
34. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate
35. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Not sure - I don't see very many movies
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Definitely Summer!!
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Hot chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream (sharing it with MTH at Evening Star)
42. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? MTH
43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Against the Gods
44. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Laptop when I'm at home and in Richmond; Black with wrist support in my cube
45. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Nothing
46. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SOUNDS? Never thought about it
47. STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
48. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? France
49. HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? It seems like I should but not sure.
50.WHERE WERE YOU BORN? North Carolina

Halloumi

MTH and I discovered another cheese. This time it's not from France or California. It's from Cyprus. It's called Halloumi. I first read about it in my biweekly Whole Foods newsletter. There was an interesting recipe included in the email. When we were in Cheesetique and MTH remembered to ask about it. She had it. (ETK should note that we did NOT buy it from evil Whole Foods - of course, we bought the rest of the food we cooked at Whole Foods). If you clicked on the recipe link above, you'll have seen that it says to grill the cheese. Somehow it's magical cheese. It doesn't melt! Then, you get to eat it. It's awesome cheese. Maybe on the salty side but definitely a nice change. For our first foray into it, we ate it by itself but I think I'll try it with some veggies next time. We also read that in Cyprus, they eat it for breakfast after sauteing it in a pan. I'm thinking we'll try that soon too. I also read that it's good on kebabs. So many possibilities!

Pictures of our Deck

In case you're interested, here are some pictures from our gardening work!

Purple ones are verbena and pink ones are non-stop blooming begonias

Rosemary, Chives, Sage and Oregano

Hanging Plants with Geraniums and a Purple Flower that I Don't Remember the Name

More pictures to follow of the actual gardening in the yard.

Chili Cook Off

MTH and I went to the DC 101 Chili Cook Off yesterday. We've figured out that we're too old for those kinds of things. Not the chili cook off portion - we definitely love eating chili. The crowd part is what we're too old for and the lines!! We had to stand in line first for our arm bracelet and beer tickets. Then, we had to find our way through a sea of people in order to find the tasting booths for trying out the chili. We figured out that we were too late for quite a few of the tastings :( But, of the 3 or 4 that we tasted, they were all very good. I definitely wish we'd been able to taste more. After we finished with the tasting, we listened to Better than Ezra. Then, since we hadn't gotten our fill of chili, we had chili nachos from Hard Times. They were definitely good but we can get Hard Times' chili any time since there's one just down a few blocks on King Street. At least they Red Hook beer (and not just watery Bud Light!).

The Love Boat

I went out to dinner on Thursday night with a friend of ours, Marky. MTH was out of town in NYC for work. Little did I know that I'd get the privilege of hearing the them from "The Love Boat" sung in karaoke. Marky is definitely a good singer. Of course, good singing and the Love Boat probably don't normally go together in a sentence. His performance was right on with how you remember the song when you were little. Very low, lounge singerish, just all around cheesy. There were other songs sung that night (none by me since most of you know that I can't carry a tune) but the only one I'll remember from that trip to karaoke is "The Love Boat".

Dinner Last Saturday

Yes, I'm behind. I meant to post about this one earlier this week. But, the food we made was so good, I have to share :)

When SM visited, she had mentioned that she grilled some tuna. So, I decided that we could do it to. Using my Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill cookbook, MTH learned how to sear the tuna on the grill. I made an Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce to go on top. It consisted of grilled tomatillos, a grilled jalapeno, lime juice, honey, avocado, onion, cilantro and oil. You mix everything together in the blender except the avocado, onion and cilantro. So, it's like a vinaigrette with chunks of avocado, onion and cilantro. For the side dish, we made Grilled Asparagus and Rice Salad with Goat Cheese and Spicy Vinaigrette. The original name is actually Grilled Asparagus and Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese and Spicy Black Olive Vinaigrette. I didn't own any quinoa and MTH isn't a big fan of olives. It still turned out great! I'll most likely be making it at our next cook out (which happens to be on Memorial Day in a little over a week).

Once we sat down to eat, we were very pleased with the meal that we put together. MTH was an integral part of the preparation as he did all of the grilling while I put everything together. Unfortunately, it was too cool to sit outside. Hopefully tomorrow night we'll be able to enjoy all of the gardening we've done by sitting out on our deck.

Gardening

It seems that I'm now learning about plants. Over the past two weekends, we've "transformed" our yard. We planted lots of different plants in the front and back yards. Begonias, non-stop blooming begonias, alyssum, angelonia, daylilies, coleus, verbena and petunias.

It's nice to accomplish something. Plus, now we can walk out onto the deck and look at a much prettier yard. There's still some work to be done. A couple of our azalea bushes died so there are now a couple of holes where they used to be. We need to find something to take their place. Maybe we'll figure that out this weekend.

We have a cookout coming up on Memorial Day so that gives us even more impetus to finish.

Paris

It's been a year since my last trip. Based on all the jokes people tell about me, that's a long time. I didn't go to the City of Lights with my then fiance, MTH. Instead, it was a girls only trip with MAK. We tried to get EE to come too but she has to procure visas so it's much more of a hassle. Plus, she was changing jobs at the time. Anyway, MAK and I had a great time. Here's a picture that will prove my point.



We were reminiscing a little through email this past week. We've decided that we must keep up the tradition of taking a vacation together. Several years back, she and I took a long weekend trip to Cape Cod. It was a great time. We both enjoy eating, drinking wine and walking around places exploring things. We also took a short bike tour one afternoon. I went out and bought a bike after that. I've been pretty good about riding it (of course, it now needs a tune up so I haven't ridden it yet this year). Here's my favorite picture from that trip.



Back to the topic at hand, Paris. MTH forwarded me an article on CNN yesterday about the many things to do in Paris. He's also ready to go back. For some reason, we really like Paris and France. I'm sure it's more that we love the idea of Paris and France. If we lived there, I think we'd get quite frustrated and fed up. But, by just going for a week or so at a time, we just whet our appetite for all things French (especially the food and wine!). Maybe we'll find a good deal and take a trip over there soon. I hope so.

Of course, I should expand my horizons. There are many other places to see in this world. We did enjoy our time in Dublin and Barcelona for our honeymoon. I've heard that Prague is an awesome place. I'd also love to see Slovakia. My great-grandmother was from there. Although I basically know nothing about the culture, going there would be a great way to learn.

Another Party Disguised as a Horse Race

We've been invited to a Kentucky Derby party this Saturday. It should be fun but I still have to find a dress and a hat! Hopefully tomorrow in Richmond I'll have some luck at the Nordstrom's. I'll keep you posted. SM comes to visit starting on Thursday. She'll also be going to the party with us. She already has her dress and hat. I'm so behind. MTH can just go into his closet and get something together at the last minute. It's so unfair. Of course, I shouldn't complain - it gives me an excuse to buy a new dress! I think we'll cook out again on Sunday. I love this time of year. The weather is wonderful and so far there hasn't been too much rain but it's also not extremely dry. The only complaint is that there are a lot of caterpillars on our back porch. Our neighbors' trees on both sides have the nests in them. It's interesting, we actually have no trees in our backyard. They're all around the perimeter of our yard and give us great shade but aren't ours.

Foxfield

My first time going to Foxfield was yesterday. It's a big party disguised as a horse race. MTH and a couple of friends and I got in to Charlottesville on Friday night. They went out but I went to sleep. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it through the day (from 11am-6pm out in the sun) on Saturday if I stayed out too late. They got in at 2:30am. There's definitely no way I would have been able to function on Saturday if I'd stayed out with them. They had fun though so that's what counts. Plus, they were able to function on Saturday. Although MTH did not go out to dinner with us that evening after Foxfield as he was fading fast. The races themselves were actually exciting to watch but there's a lot of down time in between. Thus, there were snacks and drinks. Plus, we all stand around talking and catching up. It was quite fun. Then, this evening, a couple friends came over and we grilled out. We had those homemade brats from Whole Foods again. They're awesome. I also grilled some sweet potatoes. I brushed them with a fresh herb mixture. Then, we had Thin Mint milkshakes for dessert. It was a great meal and overall a great weekend.

I'm back...

but just for the evening. I'll leave for Richmond for 4 days tomorrow. I was in Macon for the weekend for my Wesleyan college reunion. It's been TEN years since I graduated. Definitely hard to believe! It was fun to see people I hadn't seen in a long time. Some it had only been a couple and some it had been the entire 10 years. The weekend was well planned and the weather cooperated for the most part. I also got to see ETK, KS, MD, LS, ETK's husband, Jason and Jason's friend. We went to brunch at Einstein's in Midtown (at 12th and Juniper). I enjoyed my cheddar shortcakes although I couldn't even eat half.

This week at work is all training. The first 2 days are the All Stat conference. It'll be 100 statisticians in one place :) Then, the last 2 days are an actual training where we dicuss some theory as well as policy. I'm actually presenting a 45 minute presentation so I'm a bit nervous.

Next weekend, MTH and I are going to Charlottesville to Foxfield. I've somehow never made it to this annual event. I just hope it doesn't rain.

Back from Sin City

Yes, MTH and I went to Las Vegas on Easter weekend. Everything was open! We had a great time. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so unless MAK and/or PT give me permission, there will be no picture story. Nothing else interesting to report from the nation's capital.

Cafe MMH

Instead of going out for dinner last night, I cooked dinner for us. The menu was as follows:

Warm Arugula salad (without the croutons)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream
Skirt Steak with Cilantro Garlic Sauce

If you clicked on the recipes, you'll notice that I changed the first two. They still turned out good. The recipe for the salad would have taken close to 2 hours if I had followed the recipe. Instead, I did some of the things at the same time and omitted the croutons. The only thing that would have made the salad better is if Whole Foods had better arugula. It was on sale for a reason!

For the sweet potatoes (or yams as they called them), I wasn't able to find creme fraiche so I substituted sour cream. Plus, it didn't seem worth it to buy a whole pack of chives just for a topping.

For the skirt steak, I basically followed the recipe. We really enjoyed the flavor of the cumin spice rub with the cilantro garlic sauce. These would be good in corn tortillas (like fajitas).

As you can see, I was the chef. MTH filled in as the sommelier. My mom gave us a wine fridge as a wedding gift. The wine we drank from a Bordeaux Grand Vin. It was a gift from our flight attendant on the flight from Atlanta to Dublin for our honeymoon. We had upgraded to Business Class for that leg of the trip.

After dinner, we listened to music and played Chinese Checkers and Scrabble. I won every game. I only tell you this fact because MTH already gloated about winning the last Scrabble game on his blog.

Our Town is Smaller Than I Thought

MTH and I decided to check out a new restaurant, Rustico, in our neighborhood. It's about 1.5 miles away. Originally, when the weather forecast for Friday was good, we were going to walk over and then take a taxi back home. The reason we didn't want to drive is that one of the restaurant's specialties is beer. We wanted to be able to try out a few of the brews. But, the weather didn't turn out as we had hoped and there were thunderstorms. So, we took a taxi there. The driver seemed nice. He had a clean taxi and didn't talk on his cell the entire time we were in the car. That's a big deal around here as most cars are very dirty and the driver will be on the phone the entire time. He dropped us off and we went to the restaurant. The restaurant doesn't take reservations so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. While waiting, we had some beer. I had a Dominion Oak Barrel Stout. MTH had a lighter beer to start (I can't remember the name - will add later) and then a Breckinridge Avalanche Ale. At dinner, we decided to have some wine. It was a nice rioja from Spain. My dinner consisted of salad and pizza with roasted wild mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese. Both were very good. The pizza has a crispy thin crust that's been baked in a pizza oven. It has that nice smoky flavor. MTH tried out the asparagus fritto misto as an appetizer and pizza with Italian sausage, pickled red peppers, smoked mozzarella and smoked tomato sauce. His pizza was much richer in flavor due to the meat. The pizza's are quite large so we have lunch in the fridge.

To get home, we needed to take a taxi. So, MTH called the taxi company and then we went to wait outside - it had stopped raining by this time. We waited a few minutes and then the taxi shows. We get in and I notice that the seat cover that the taxi driver has looks very similar to the one who drove us to the restaurant. MTH and I look at each other thinking the same thing. Then, the driver says "Back to your house, then?". It WAS the same driver. He knew exactly where to go since he'd already been there once before that night. In the grand scheme of things, our town is not that large but there are at least 200,000 just in our city and the region has several million. So, it's not like we live in Baxley where there's probably only one taxi driver.

Proof that I Ran the Race

It's a terrible picture but here's the proof. It's interesting - I look like I'm walking.

MMH at around Mile 3

The Weekend is Here

No real plans but am definitely happy to have the weekend here. It's our last one at home for 4 weeks. Next weekend is the trip to Vegas. I'm looking forward to my hot stone massage! MAK and PT get there Friday afternoon. We'll probably go to a low key restaurant that night and hopefully out to a club. On Saturday, MAK will definitely hit the shops while PT and MTH hit the tables. That night we're going to Bouchon, a restaurant that has been touched somehow by the guy who runs French Laundry in Napa. I'm definitely hoping that I'll make it to that restaurant one day soon. MAK also wants us to go to a buffet on Saturday. I wanted to go to one last year but the lines always looked horrendous. I just have to suck it up and stand in line. Then, we leave pretty early on Sunday. I've decided I can't deal with red eye flights anymore. I need my bed. So, we'll get back Sunday afternoon and it'll give us some time to adjust back to the East Coast. Then, that Thursday, I'm off to Atlanta. I'll see MTH's parents Friday morning - I'll be getting to their place very late that night. Then, I'll be off to Macon for the weekend for my 10th year college reunion - yes, my age is finally showing. Should be a fun and entertaining weekend. The last weekend of April will be spent in Charlottesville at the world famous steeple chase horserace called Foxfield. You haven't heard of it? You're so out of it! (JK).

So, as you can see, MTH and I need to get a few things done this weekend or everything will fall apart. The first thing on the list are taxes. Yes, we're lazy. The second thing are a few more thank you notes. Again, yes, we're lazy. The others are just normal, run the house kind of things like wash clothes, wash dishes, clean out the litter box, etc.

Now, the weekend's doesn't seem quite as fun as it did when I started writing this entry.

A Sinful Delight

I've found a new cheese to recommend: Pave d'Affinois. It's kind of like a brie but richer. Also, if you clicked on the previous link, you'll see that it says if the cheese ages for a few weeks, it'll become runnier, more like a brie. I don't think that this piece of cheese will around to find out! Maybe next time.

One note of caution, if you don't like eating the rind on a brie, you will NOT like this cheese. It's small so a large portion of the cheese is made up by the rind. I like the flavor that it adds to the cheese but realize that not everyone agrees.

MTH is the BEST husband!

He got up with me at 5:45am (felt like 4:45am due to the time change) to cheer me on for the 10 mile run!!! I was able to see him at miles 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and just before the finish line. Unfortunately, the way the course was set up, those were the only feasible places for him to see me. He's not a crazy cheerleader but seeing him as I'm running up gives me that extra bit of energy to keep going - especially at the end. I was VERY tired. There was no way I was going to stop running but after seeing him, I was able to speed up for most of the last part. Overall, it was a successful race although I didn't meet my goal time of 1:30. I ran it in 1:36:53 (updated with official time). I can make excuses (time change, too many people in the way, etc) but next time I just have to train to go faster so that I can make up that time.

I don't have any specific races picked out yet but some possibilities are: the half marathon in VA Beach, the Army 10 Miler again, or the Chicago Half Marathon. I do want to do a half marathon. I just need to do some more research on what ones are coming up.

The Taunting Squirrel

Today, I was sitting in the living room with the doors and windows open filling out a survey for the JLW and looking over the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile course map. I kept hearing this really weird noise that didn't sound like anything Phoebe had ever done before. But, I figured it must be her and just ignored it. Finally, I decided to investigate. It turns out that it was a squirrel. I didn't realize that squirrel's could be so loud. Also, I've never seen one be so brave. It was probably 10 feet away from the door where Phoebe was sitting looking at it. The only thing I could figure is that the squirrel knew Phoebe couldn't get outside and eat it. So, it was taunting her - "I'm out here and you're not (sticking tongue out)"

Squirrel after it jumped up on the railing when it saw me - it still made that noise even after I showed up

Daniel O'Connells

A new Irish pub has opened in Old Town. It's about 2 blocks from the waterfront in the building that used to house Bullfeathers. I never went to this previous establishment so I have no idea what it was like. The new place seems pretty cool. It has 4 bars (some are extremely tiny but the point is that each of them serve drinks). It's also a fine dining restaurant. That was the reason MTH and I were there last night. We finally had our date night (he stood me up last week to go to the Wichita State/George Mason University game with some colleagues - I've forgiven him).

We arrived late for our 8:15pm reservation but they were still able to seat us right away (although without any menus - I guess they're still figuring out how many they need). We sat at the table for probably at least 10 minutes with no menu but we did get water and bread so that made the wait not so bad. The waitress finally stopped by with our menus. The menu was VERY short. Everything on it looked good but there was virtually no choice (only one chicken dish for ETK - at least it wasn't on the bone). We ordered cocktails - kir royale for me and a Guinness for MTH (so a Guinness isn't exactly a cocktail but we were in an Irish pub!). We decided on what we wanted to order: beef tenderloin for MTH and seared tuna for me. MTH also ordered a side of macaroni. We both ordered a glasses of wine. I had a shiraz blend and he had a cabernet sauvignon, I believe.

The food arrived in what seemed about the right amount of time. The taste of the tuna was wonderful but it was lukewarm. Although seared tuna is basically raw, it should not be lukewarm. This must mean it was sitting out waiting on MTH's tenderloin. His was very good and the right temperature but he thought it was a bit big (I think he would have rathered had a smaller piece of tenderloin and more side dishes that came with the meal). The macaroni and cheese was nothing special.

We decided to share a dessert. It was called mini-doughnuts with semi-freddo espresso. I didn't understand what the second part meant until it was served - coffee ice cream (semi-freddo must mean something about frozen). The idea of the dessert was awesome but the mini-doughnuts were a bit doughy. I think they need to turn up the heat on their fryer.

Overall, we enjoyed the restaurant will definitely go back. Hopefully, next time it's on a Saturday and we'll feel like checking out one of the 4 bars after dinner.

Phoebe: A Salute to a Spoiled Cat

Pictures downloaded from my camera phone.

Grants from the JLW

I went to a meeting for the JLW tonight. Due to the fact that many of our functions are to raise money, one of the committees is devoted to giving out money. They solicit applications from non-profit organizations through DC. After a lengthy process, 2 are chosen for the league to vote on. If approved, each organization will receive $20,000. The first organization is Turn the Page. They do programs with underprivileged parents to help them understand the power of reading and communication with their children. The second organization is the Washington Middle School for Girls. They're mission is to help vulnerable young girls in SE DC get a good start in life by intervening around the 4th grade.

The other thing that the league offers is volunteers. We also give grants of people's time. The recipient this year is called Jubilee Jobs. It's an organization that helps vulnerable people (i.e. ex-convicts, immigrants, undereducated) find jobs. I'm thinking of working with this group next year. The specific program is called Move Up. It's for people who have been able to find entry level work and keep the job for a certain amount of time. Then, we'd help them with their resume and basically mentor them in trying to "move up" to a higher paying job with benefits.

A Productive Sunday

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. On Saturday night, we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday. The reason I start with that is that normally if I stay out late on a Saturday, then Sunday turns out to be at least a partially lost day if not a fully lost day. I did listen to that voice in the back of my head that reminded me I had been training for the upcoming 10 mile run and that my most important training run was on Sunday. So, I didn't end up going out dancing with them although we didn't end up leaving the restaurant until after 11pm (and remember, I'm old now!).

So, on Sunday, I was supposed to go running with my running group but the trail was 30 minutes away and the run started at 8am. I decided that I didn't want to waste an hour of driving so didn't get up until 8am and went for my run at 9am. I ran 8 miles in 74 minutes. I can't help myself - I have to brag a little. I'm so proud that I ran close to 9 minute miles (if there were no traffic lights, I was on pace to finish in 72 minutes). So, I actually have a chance of reaching my goal of running the race in 90 minutes!

After the run, I headed to the Corcoran to take another docent's tour. I give my first real tour next Saturday so I'm putting togehter what I'll say. The two main exhibits just opened within the last month. Therefore, I don't know them all that well yet. After the tour, I sat at Cosi eating my lunch and reading through the Cooking Light to figure out our dinner menu for the week. I've been horrible about cooking lately. With MTH working 10-12 hours per day EVERY day of the week, I don't have much motivation for cooking just for myself.

After creating my grocery list, I took a few pictures.
The main exhibit at the Corcoran is by Robert Bechtle. His art is very interesting to me. It's like looking at someone's family album. He paints mundane and ordinary scenes. The paintings are mostly based on photographs. And, they're so detailed, that photos of the paintings look like photos themselves. Even some of the paintings look like photos in person from a distance.

The Renwick Gallery (part of the Smithsonian)

The Corcoran Gallery of Art from afar

The Lion that meets you at the front door of the Corcoran. It's an interesting pose. The lion reminds me of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. He's laying down and gives a sense of stillness but in looking closer, his face is scary. He looks like he could pounce at any moment.

After the pictures, I headed to Whole Foods to pick up the groceries. Then, back at home, I cleaned up a little, talked to MAK for over an hour and cooked dinner. MTH made it home around 8pm and we were able to actually eat a somewhat normal dinner.

Then, I was in bed by 10:30 and asleep soon after.

Young Women's Leadership Forum

Today was an interesting day. It's a Saturday but I got up at 6:25am to go to Richmond to volunteer as a mentor for the Young Women's Leadership Forum sponsored by my company. It was an inspiring day. Since my role was to be a mentor, I sat at a table with 5 girls ranging from 10th grade to 12th grade. We talked about what their plans were for the summer all the way through what they want to do in the future. It was very eye opening to hear about what some of these girls have already accomplished or want to accomplish. For example, one wants to put off her first year of college to live in Italy for a year. I would have never thought that possible when I was graduating from high school. Certainly, all the girls at the conference hadn't had these types of experiences. The key note speaker was a person named Liz Murrary. As a little background, she had a movie made about her life and it aired on Lifetime. You can read more about her here and here. The main theme of her message is that each day we need to listen to what she called the "what if" voice in the back of our heads. That is, what if I did what would really make me happy today (that is if you're not happy with what you're doing now). Her message was that life is about choices (I know, we've all heard that one) but she made the point that it's about all types, not just the big ones. I don't want to bore you with the entire story of her life. With that background, you'd understand better about what's so inspiring. So, I'll just say, try to see the Lifetime movie. In the afternoon, the girls went to workshops about leadership, budgeting and finding their paths. The mentors went to a networking session, a discussion about differences in communication between genders and a feedback session. All in all, it was a great day.

NYC Timeline

3/17
5:30pm - Arrived Penn Station and head to 49th&5th to drop off my bags at EE's office
6:15pm - Headed to Saks to try out the hot chocolate in their new chocolate cafe on the 8th floor. It was wonderful - not too sweet, not too rich.
7pm - Sat down for dinner at Morrell's Wine Bar
8:30pm - Headed to Edgewater, NJ and turned in for the night
3/18
8:00am - Woke up
9:15am - Ate breakfast at Panera - tried out their new egg souffle pastries - nice change for a breakfast item
10:34am - Caught the bus to go into the city (it actually was late and didn't arrive until after 10:50am)
11:45am - Sat down for lunch at "good" - of course, EE and I weren't hungry since we'd just had breakfast at 9:30am!
12:45pm - Checked out KS and MDH's apt in Tribeca - very nice place with a view of the water and it's convenient to many subway lines
2:00pm - Arrived at the box office to find out that they don't open until 3pm - we decided we didn't want to stand in line for an hour so we head to the Whitney Museum
2:30pm - Arrived at the Whitney Museum to find a line out the door and we also realized that we were hungry so we decided to go to lunch - yes, we didn't plan this part of our day very well
3:00pm - Happened upon a wonderful place called Payard - I had a wonderful entree - Potato Tourte Layered with Goat's Milk Brie, Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions and Walnuts. EE had the three Mini Lamb Burgers in Olive-Fennel Fougasse Bread, Vegetable Bayaldi, Arugula Salad and Harissa-Yogurt Dipping. We were content after that meal.
5:00pm - Headed to Saks for shopping
7:00pm - Headed back to Edgewater after we figured out that we were very tired
8:30pm - Ordered Italian food from Noni's Italian Bistro - everything but the Eggplant Involtini was very good. We had discussed watching a movie but somehow ended up watching the story of Beyonce on E! It was interesting. We also watched a Chris Farley SNL Memorial show. I couldn't believe how many of the skits I remembered. That's KSD and MD's fault. We must have watched them when we lived together in Atlanta. They loved that show. I'm sure 2.718 must have watched it with us too.
11:30pm - Asleep
3/19
7am - Drank my bottle of water so that I could go for a run at 7:30am
7:45am - Left a little later as SA and EE decided to go for a walk while I went for my run
8:45am - Returned from my run
9:34am - EE and I caught the bus - very impressive that we were able to take showers, get dressed, dry my hair and both put on make up and walk to the bus stop in that short amount of time!
10:15am - Arrive at the Port Authority - there was traaffic in the Lincoln Tunnel so it took longer than on Saturday
11:00am - Arrived at Le Pain Quotidien
12:00pm - Shopped at the Lincoln Jazz Center
2:30pm - Headed to Penn Station
2:55pm - Arrived Penn Station
3:06pm - Train left on time for DC and my trip to NYC was over

As usual, the theme of my trip was eating. That's not a bad thing although ETK was very adamant that we should have eaten at least one Turkish meal. I guess that EE has enough Turkish food at home.

Am I Boring?

So, ETK hasn't posted for a while because she was told her blog is boring. Personally, I didn't find her blog boring but even if it was, who cares is what I say. I figure that more than half the people who read my blog probably don't make it through the entire posts because they're not very interesting. I guess you have to ask yourself "why am I posting to the blog". Is it for venting (getting out your thoughts), is it for gratification or something else? Whatever the answer, it's for you and that's what counts.

American Goat Cheeses

I went to another cheese tasting this past week. It was on Thursday night. The theme was American goat cheeses. Some of you may be crinkling your nose right now because you think of goat cheeses as pungent and weird tasting. It turns out there's a reason you may have tasted goat cheeses like that. The owner of Cheesetique explained that goat's milk is very delicate and must be made into cheese almost immediately after it comes from the goats. If it's not, the cheese does not taste very good. Thus, it means that the cheese is from a lesser farm. The tasting included some very interesting cheeses. There was a hard cheese called Midnight Moon that's aged for almost a year. It did not taste like any goat cheese I'd ever had before. The Purple Haze does have that goat cheese taste but it also has an interesting flavor from the added lavender and fennel pollen. There were many others but I won't bore you with the descriptions. Basically, my favorite was the triple creme. We will have that one at our next party for sure.

The Grill Still Works

Due to the great weather, we were able to test out the grill this weekend. Originally, a group of us were going to a St. Patrick's Day festival in Arlington but it turned out to be so crowded that we would have had to wait at least an hour to get in. So, instead, we headed back to Alexandria, picked up some fresh made bratwurst at the Whole Foods and grilled them to perfection. It turns out the Whole Foods is the place to be on a Saturday afternoon. There were cheese tastings, wine tastings and even a beer tasting. The cheese tasting was for Irish cheeses. So, we ended up buying an Irish brie. It was really good. When I say "we" went to the grocery store, of course, that was the girls. So, what were the boys up to while we shopped? Bocce ball, of course. They played until they could no longer see the ball due to there being no sun or moon. All in all, the day turned out to be a lot of fun.

Tonight, MTH and I will have some chicken burgers and grilled asparagus. We'll probably just play Scrabble, no bocce for me.

Beautiful Weekend

We've had wonderful weather this weekend. Friday it was in the 70's. I worked from home in the afternoon with the windows and doors open. It was great to get so much fresh air. Yesterday, it was again in the 70's and today is more of the same. I'll write more later. I've got to go take advantage of the wonderful weather.

The Weird Cheese

QY was definitely interested in the new cheese I brought up this past weekend. She was very worried about the ash in the middle of the cheese. So, I took a picture of it so that she could see what it looks like.

Mobay Cheese just before MMH finished it all!

The part of the cheese on the left is goat's milk and the part on the right is sheep's milk. The blue line in the middle is the ash. You can eat all of it and it tastes wonderful. It's not pungent like you might think of a goat cheese tasting. It's milder like a sheep's cheese but with more robustness.

Yes, I know, I'm crazy about cheese. It's my new chocolate.

If a tree falls in a forest...

I was reading an article earlier this afternoon about the "millenials". Haven't heard of them yet? I hadn't either but it seems that people who were born between 1980 and 2000 have been tagged with that title. I guess I'm considered a Gen X-er but I'm actually not sure.

Anyway, the point of the article is that these people are extremely connected. They download their TV shows so that they can watch them at any time. They instant message, email and text message more than they talk on the phone. One of the people being interviewed summed it up very well - "It's like, if you don't check your email and you turn off your phone, it's almost like you don't exist"

That blurb definitely struck me. If you don't see a lot of the people that you email or text message very often, it is like they no longer exist if they stop.

Another interesting tidbit: It also said that only 9% of 30 somethings read or have blogs. I guess MTH and I are in the minority.

Spring is peeking through

In mid-February the daffodils in our front yard started peaking through the ground. Now, they've bloomed.

Close up of a daffodil bloom - Note that picture was taken with one hand with cell phone

Early St. Patrick's Day Celebration

The 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Brunch was a success. People stopped over for brunch yesterday morning. We enjoyed coffee, leprechaun breakfast and cinnamon rolls with mascarpone cheese mixed with orange marmalade. MTH made some great pots of coffee. And, of course, we had mimosa and Guinness - no green beer though.

Then, we headed out to Old Town to watch the parade. We missed part of it because we didn't leave the house when we should have. The next part of the day was supposed to have been spent in one of the Irish pubs in Old Town. We had decided to go to Murphy's. It has traditional Irish music and several Irish beers including Guinness on tap. But, it way too packed - we would have been miserable. So, we went to House of Klaus instead. It's a dive bar right beside Murphy's. They had Guinness - in a can. We spent the afternoon there - playing darts and hanging out. It turned out to be pretty lazy day. MTH and I arrived back at the house around 6pm where we promptly fell asleep for a few hours. We then ordered out pizza and went to bed around 11:30pm.

Here's some pictures of the day.

MTH and MMH before the party started - Yes, MTH's shirt says Made in Ireland and yes, my hair looks funny

Everyone wanted to pose with MTH before we headed out to the parade (look at those nice legs on MTH)

QY winning at darts

My New Favorite Cheese

I went to my favorite store, Cheesetique this evening. I was buying items for the St. Patrick's Day Brunch tomorrow but decided that I needed a snack for tonight. I tried a cheese called Mobay. You're probably asking yourself - what kind of cheese is that? Well, it's from Wisconsin (shout out to Loud). It's made from both sheep's milk and goat's milk but they're not mixed. It's actually two different cheeses separated by a very thin layer of ash. You eat them together along with the ash to create a new flavor. It's so awesome. I definitely recommend this cheese to everyone!

I also bought some Cashel Blue cheese in honor of St. Patrick's Day since it's an Irish cheese. Also a very nice cheese. MTH likes blues better than me so I actually bought it for him.

Why cats are like husbands

Phoebe and MTH have a lot in common. They can be needy. For example I was on the phone with ES of Baxley. Several times during my conversation, MTH would yell upstairs about something he needed. If hadn't been on the pohne and had wanted him to listen to something I had to say, he would have easily ignored me. Phoebe has this behavior down pat as well. Just a few minutes ago, I was trying to type on the computer. Phoebe decides that I really need her in my lap. Since this computer is a "lap"top, that means Phoebe was actually on the computer that I was trying to type on. Of course, if I wanted to pet her, she would run away and possibly even hiss at me.

I've been informed...

by MAK that the theme of my blog has morphed into "MTH working too much". Since that's not really supposed to be my theme - ok, ok, not sure what my theme is but I don't think that's a great theme - I'll put a moratorium on that talk.

Blog Improvements

I have stolen an idea from Loud. She has a calendar of upcoming events in her life on the sidebar of her new blog, Too Twisted for TV. I really like that idea so I've added one too. Now you can find out what MTH and I are up to over the upcoming months. Note the cool colors for each of the months. March is green in honor of St. Patrick's Day. April is pink in honor of the Cherry Blossom Festival. May is yellow in honor of Cinqo de Mayo. June is blue in honor of the fact that I'll be at the beach twice that month. July is red in honor of Independence Day.

Accomplishments

I accomplished a lot this weekend. Yesterday, I got the wireless on our computer fixed, I sealed the granite countertop, I washed clothes and I planted some pansies in the front yard. I know it's a little late for the pansies but they should last until May and then we'll plant some begonias and impatiens. I also planned our menu for the 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day brunch tht we're holding next Saturday. Today, I ran with my new running group, I organized my scrapbook/card making stuff, I polished the granite countertop, I re-organized the countertop and threw out a few things and now I'm cooking a beef brisket with Guinness, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions - in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

This past week, I made a lot of reservations for some upcoming trips. I've already mentioned that MTH and I are meeting MAK and PT in Vegas in early April. I'm also going to Macon in late April for my 10 year reunion at Wesleyan College (yep, I'm officially old). Then, in early June, I'm heading to Miami to meet up with EE and MAK. Hopefully, CLM can hop over and hang out with us. I'm definitely excited about that trip. We'll be staying at the South Beach Marriott because I had received a nice gift certificate from work for being part of a market research panel. Our cost will be less than $100 per person to stay there for 2 nights. Then, in early July, a friend is getting married in St. Thomas. I've reserved our hotel room but not the flight yet. That will be done soon though.

The thank you notes are not something that I can say are an accomplishment. I did at least write up in Word the wording for a good number of notes. I sent that document to MTH for his thoughts. He wrote back that he had some edits but didn't actually send those edits yet. Therefore, it looks like my updated resolution of finishing the notes by the end of February may not happen. When did I get so lazy!!!!

How did it come to this?

Well, MTH and I stood up our friends last night. I was very disappointed and upset. One of my personal pet peeves is people not following through on commitments so when I'm the one doing it, it doubly upsets me. Of course, I have to explain how it came to this. MTH is very very busy at work right now. He's worked the past few weekends and if you've kept up with my blog, you'll know that he didn't go to SF with me back in January due to work. Anyway, last weekend, there was a party at QY's and MTH wasn't able to make that either. I did go without him but it definitely wasn't as much fun. So, QY was nice enough to have a small get together this weekend with just KK and his wife and us. We were going to have Chinese Hot Pot and chocolate fondue (a melting pot of cultures - ha ha :). But, the long story short, MTH was delayed at work until past 7pm instead of being able to leave at 4pm as expected. Since QY lives about 30 minutes from our house and MTH had to work today (he's there now and who knows when he'll be home), it was too late for us to go out there to eat, play foosball in their basement and watch a movie in their brand new home theater. QY even rented the movie that I wanted to see (and if you know me, you know there aren't many movies that I want to see). She got the Wallace and Gromit movie!!! I feel extremely bad about not making it. I think at this point MTH and I can't make any plans with anyone. It's not fair to them.

I will be so much happier when he's not quite as busy at work. I'm sure he will be happier than me!

4 Things Updated

This post has been updated. All updates are in red.
ETK had the good idea of replying to CLM's email in her blog so I'll steal her idea:

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Senior Statistician
2. Teaching Assistant
3. Math Tutor
4. Secretary

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Wedding Singer
2. Steel Magnolias
3. Fried Green Tomatoes

Four places you have lived:
1. Alexandria, VA
2. Richmond, VA
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Macon, GA

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Pretty much anything on Food Network
2. Myth Busters with MTH
**that's it, I really don't watch much TV

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Dublin, Ireland
3. Paris, France
4. Honolulu, HI

Four websites I visit daily:
1. washingtonpost.com
2. gmail.com
3. yahoo.com
4. blogger.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Goat Cheese
2. Seared Tuna
3. Grilled Salmon
4. Eggplant Involtini

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Relaxing with a fun drink on the beach with MTH
2. Shopping for some new shoes
3. Massage
4. Anywhere as long as it's with MTH - I'm not really that needy, I just haven't seen MTH very much lately!!!!

Online Again

While MTH was online Wednesday night, the wireless connection died. When I got home Thursday afternoon, I couldn't figure out how to fix it. So, in order to work from home that day, I had to lay in bed becuase that's where the DSL router is located. I took the Apple computer and wireless router to the Apple Store this morning. He couldn't find anything wrong with it but he did change the channel that we're using for the wireless connection. Who knows if that's what fixed it but one of the by-products of that change is that I can now be on the phone and the internet at the same time!! Our 2.4 gHz cordless used to interfere.

So, unless we have another freak outage, I'm back!

Day Off Update

Things haven't worked out quite as planned. I met TV at her house in order to see her kitchen renovation ideas. She has some good ones but I'm so glad it's not me. MTH and I already dealt with renovating a kitchen and it's really no fun at all. Then, we headed for St. Elmo's get a muffn and some coffee. Our plan was to then go to the National Gallery to check out the new Cezanne exhibit but we decied that it would be mobbd due to the holiday and so we would go to the new Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Phillips Collection. We get over to Dupont and walk to the museum to find... it's closed on Mondays!!! So, we walked to Connecticut Ave and just checked out a few stores. She then dropped me near Georgetown and I walked the rest of the way to meet AL. We met near Wisconsin Ave and then headed to Cafe Bonaparte - a little creperie several blocks up Wisconsin. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table at 1:45! People were definitely enjoying their day off. We didn't leave there until close to 4pm. We had a nice lazy lunch and all we ate were crepes! Then, we went to Banana Republic, Coach and White House Black Market. I found a nice pair of pants and a sweater for MTH at Banana (I had a 15% discount card so I had a good reason to spend money :)

Now, I'm finally back home and still haven't made it to the grocery store or the airport to pick up my rental car for the drive to Richmond. I have to leave in a few minutes or they'll take away my reservation for the car. I may write another entry again tonight since I'll be gone until Thursday night.

Running Update

Last week was a good week for running. Even though I wasn't able to go on 2/12 due to the snowstorm, I got up that Monday morning and ran my 4 miles on a treadmill. Then, Tuesday night before my girls' Valentine's Night out, I ran 3.7 miles (time was short as I had to take a shower and meet AL in the hotel lobby at 8pm). Then, I did my Thursday run on Friday morning as I had plans on Thursday night. Yesterday, I did my long run (5 miles) with the new running group. I'm so glad that I joined the group. I would have had a really hard time getting myself up normally since it was 15 degrees outside!!!! But, since I was meeting people there, I had that extra push to get out there.

This week is shaping up to be good. I'll be able to run Tuesday night and then my Thursday night run will have to be on Friday morning again as I'll be driving back from Richmond that night. Then, I'll meet up with the group again on Sunday morning. I've also been doing my Pilates DVD here and there. I'll try to do it Wednesday night in the hotel room - I can use my laptop as a DVD player.

My Day Off

I've already gotten some things done today and I have more planned. So, today should be a productive day. I've planned our dinner menu too - we'll have Creamy Bean Soup, Grilled Marinated Pork Chops (flavored with rosemary and sage and maybe I'll even go outside and use the grill) and Asparagus or Broccoli with Parmesan and Butter. I'll be in Richmond until Thursday so the rest of the week will be frozen meals for MTH.

Before I head to the grocery store, I'm going over to a friend's house for a late breakfast and then we'll head to the Cezanne exhibit at the National Gallery. Then I'll meet AL in Georgetown for lunch and shopping.

I'll give a running update later today.

Coffee at Brooklyn Bagel

I had a nice coffee and egg/cheese bagel with EE this morning in Court House in Arlington. It was nice to catch up. I haven't seen her since the wedding. I'm hoping to go visit in NJ the weekend MTH is in Las Vegas for the NCAA tournament opening. Then, she may come back down to cheer MTH and me on for our Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run. That would be really awesome.

Here's a picture of her new hair cut. It looks really good! Remember, this picture is from my phone so that quality is not the best.

Valentine's Day

Since I was in Richmond on Valentine's Day, I set up a "date night" with other commuters. We went to Metro Grill. MTH and I had our first date there. It was fun to go back. That first date was over 5 years ago! The food was pretty good and the price was awesome. They had a special called the "date night special". Basically, for $39.95 you got: 2 house salads, 2 entrees, a bottle of wine and a dessert. So, for 5 people, we paid about $130 before tip. I don't think you could find food as good as this for that price.

Also, we had a lot of fun hanging out and gossiping.

Another Long Weekend That Doesn't Include MTH

How is it that his work decides he needs to work extra hours the weekends that I have time off? At least this time we didn't have plane tickets that would then be wasted. But, it looks like he won't be able to make it to QY's cooking party. And, tomorrow I'll probably be on my own as well. Not that I can't find things to do but I'd like to spend some time with him. During the week, we're busy and don't see each other all that much.

I guess that's life. We have to make a living in order to enjoy ourselves when we aren't working.

Snow Man

MTH built a nice snowman after he cleaned off the sidewalk. We definitely got a good amount of snow but thank goodness it's already stopped snowing. The sun is even out now. I'm sure that MAK is happy not to be in Boston anymore. It looks like they'll get the worst of it. I guess that EE and SA are not able to go out and enjoy the weekend since they're up in NJ now. And, ETK is keeping her fingers crossed that she won't have to go to Boston until Tuesday but according to her comment earlier, it seems that she may have to go.

Dinner Tonight

MTH and I stayed in to watch the Olympics so we decided to cook dinner as well. For some reason I was really craving salmon (even though I had it last night). Even though I've always thought of fish as a hard thing to cook, salmon is actually quite easy. I just cooked it in the oven with olive oil, roast peppers, capers, garlic, salt and pepper. The side dishes were steamed asparagus and capellini with olive oil and garlic. As an appetizer we had a cheese called Drunken Goat with bread. The wine was one I had bought back in the summer on one of my wine tasting trips :) It's a Zinfandel from the Coppola winery (now called Rubicon). Such a great wine. It's bad to drink those wines because then our $6 wines are not nearly as good.

21 P

We went to a new restaurant last night called 21 P. As you can guess, that's also the address. I really enjoyed my salad with goat cheese dressing but the salmon entree was the highlight for me (that is, until they brought the check - I'll explain later). With the bread, they brought olive oil that was steeped in some sort of spicy flavor. It was very good. MTH and SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) both got the pork tenderloin. I think that they liked it. I would say the only bad thing about the dinner was the lighting. One set of the lights wouldn't stop flashing. It was weird and annoying! They did have a nice wine - Luis Felipe Cabernet Sauvignon. Luis Felipe is a Chilean vineyard. MTH and I first tried their carmenere. It's an inexpensive but good wine. I would recommend trying out any of their wines if you happen to see them in the store.

At the end, when the waiter brought the check, he also brought walnut brittle. SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) and I loved it. SM (MTH's friend, not my sister) even asked for seconds - I was so glad that he did.

Since I don't really rate restaurants, I don't know how many stars to give it but instead I'll rate restaurants as to whether I'd go back again or not. In this case, I give it a thumbs up!

Running Update

The training is going much better this week. I followed my training plan starting last Tuesday. I also think that my back strain may have been partially due to running. I don't think I'm holding my lower/abs correctly when I run. So, today I did Pilates and will try to do it at least once a week. I'm supposed to run with my running group for the first time tomorrow. It looks like it's still on even though it's currently snowing outside. I'll show up and hope that others are there too. If not, I guess I'll run by myself. MTH was good and ran over 5 miles today. It wore him out though. But at least he should be ready for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.

Update: The snow has put a dent in my plans for running today. My fitness center at work is not open on the weekends. I tried going to the YMCA as well as the city recreation center but they're all closed for the snow. Today is supposed to be the long run so it's one that I really can't miss. I'm hoping that MTH's fitness center is open later today!

Weddings

Now that MTH and I are married, I'm looking forward to attending other people's weddings and just chilling! It looks like we'll be going to St. Thomas in early July for the wedding of SY and JS. Then, I've heard from MTH that MDH and KS have set the date for 11/18 in South Beach at the Palms. I absolutely love South Beach so I'm excited that MTH will finally get to see it. Plus, going for a wedding should be awesome. I'm supposed to go with EE an MAK in early June. The three of us have got to on the planning soon. Looks like lots of beach time this year. I better buy some sunscreen. I'm sure I'll need some new sunglasses, sandals, bathing suits, etc! Plus, MTH still owes me a Christmas present. I found out that he actually had picked something out for me but that he then couldn't find it. It was a Coach bag I had asked for earlier in the fall. Since he's a boy, he didn't understand that it was a limited edition and he should have bought it as soon as I sent him the email!!! Oh well, I'll take him shopping this weekend and we'll finally rectify this no Christmas gift issue!!

I'll stop typing now since it seems that I'm going crazy with the exclamation points for some reason.

PS ETK - I don't think I'll be able to talk MTH into buying me a Gucci. Maybe you'll be so lucky.

Valentine's Day is coming up

So, although I sent out cards and gifts, I don't really buy into the "commercial holiday". It's a way for stores to make money. But, I'll admit I did have fun making cards and sending out chocolates to friends and family. Hopefully, they'll enjoy it. I'll be in Richmond next Tuesday so MTH will have to celebrate without me :) He and the cat can spend a romantic night at home. Maybe he'll buy her some canned food as a special treat. On second thought, we don't want to get her addicted.

Anyway, about Valentine's day. What makes it special? What's the point? Aren't we supposed to love each other every day of the year? I guess other holidays could be summed up the same way though - July 4th, for example - aren't we supposed to cherish our independence and freedom every day. But, we still have a special holiday just to do that. It's usually a lot of fun too.

So, maybe Valentine's Day is a good holiday after all. The stores just need to stop stocking Valentine's candy BEFORE Christmas. I'm not kidding, I saw bags of Valentine's candy prior to Christmas Day!!!

Will I ever officially change my name?

MTH is wondering if I'll officially change my name. Of course, I will eventually. The problem is that the government makes you go in person to the Social Security Administration. It makes sense to have to go in person but the problem is the long lines. Work has been pretty busy lately so I haven't felt like I had the time to do it. Then, I'll still have to stand in line for my passport and then my driver's license. The only reason MTH hasn't pushed it too much is that he knows he would never take the time to do this if it was his responsibility. He still hasn't even sent his groomsmen's gifts!!!

I think I should have included this one in my resolutions. I'll add it now. My resolution is to have my name changed officially by the end of March.

Olympics

It's almost time for the next big sporting event - Winter Olympics. I love watching the Olympics although I really hate the "human interest" stories that NBC must show every 30 minutes. I just want to watch the sports with commentators who speak in "facts" not in opinions that are so pro-American, it's embarrassing. I realize that each athlete is there to win the Gold but I do think that they are mostly good sportsmen and don't go around rubbing the other countries noses in their wins.

My favorite events are: skiing, figure skating and ski jumping.

I like the Summer Olympics better but it's still fun to watch this one.

I don't actually know the date that it starts but I'm sure MTH will let me know :)

He's been pushing for a new flat screen TV. I'd rather wait a little while. We need new shelves so it would be better to wait until we got those and could "fit" the TV in.

New Drink - French 75

French 75

Crushed ice
1 1/2 ounces dry gin
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
6 ounces chilled champagne

Half-fill a 14-ounce collins glass with crushed ice. Pour in the gin and lemon juice and stir in the sugar. Pour in the champagne.

It may sound weird but it's very refreshing. It would definitely be good at one of our cookouts. We'll also have to try out the variations.

Variations:
French 95: Use bourbon instead of gin
French 125 Use brandy instead of gin.

Steelers Win!!!!

It was definitely a good game. It never was certain as to who was going to win until the last 3 minutes. It's unfortunate there had to be some bad calls to make it not quite so clear cut but I guess the score at the end is what matters.

MTH and I had fun eating our "healthy" food. I made bean dip, guacamole, baked tortilla chips and oven fried buffalo chicken. He even bought a beer called Steelhead - in honor of Pittsburgh, I guess.

Well, no more football til next August.

The Weekend

MTH and I went to the Caps game last night. This time we got the tickets from his company. I'm just not a hockey fan. We left a little early, thank goodness. We headed to the District Chophouse. They have this oatmeal stout that's aged in bourbon barrels. It's so smooth. Since MTH and I had already eaten "snacks" at the game, we shared a burger and fries. Today, I was planning to do my Pilates DVD but MTH didn't set up the DVD player. Hopefully I'll get him to do it before next weekend. This afternoon I bought Valentine's gifts. They'll be in the mail on Monday!

Tonight, MTH and I were supposed to go to see "Walk the Line" at the Old Town Theater but MTH was under the weather this afternoon. He slept for at least 2 hours. So, this evening, we ended up staying in and cooking dinner here. It turned out nicely. Then we played Scrabble and drank Kir Royales.

Tomorrow's the big day - Super Bowl XL!! We still haven't figured out our menu yet. We're going to try to go for a "healthy" menu but I have a feeling that'll be hard to do. I'll update tomorrow.

Bon Jovi

The concert was fun(ny). QY and I enjoyed the music and the food. They played the expected songs: Shot through the Heart, Livin' on a Prayer, In a Blaze of Glory - reminded me of being in high school. It definitely would have been a lot of fun to go at that point in my life. But, now I'm spoiled. Our seats were in a suite. It's so nice to have all of that room and free food and drinks! I'm hoping to upload some pictures from QY soon.

Almost There

MTH and I still have a few gifts from Christmas that we haven't sent out. I'm finallly getting it all together today and will send it from work on Monday. One of our perks is being able to send personal packages from the mail room. So, anyone who knows that they haven't received a gift from me should be getting it soon.

I guess getting all of my gifts out by the end of January should have been a resolution but waht's the difference, its status would have been RED .

Resolutions 2006

Let's revisit my resolutions and get a status update

Take vitamins and eat more veggies Yellow - I'm doing better than in December but not near what I'd like to do
Write all of our thank you notes by the end of January RED - We haven't written one yet and it's now February
Finish all Christmas shopping and card writing by 12/15/06 (I know it’s a bit long term but I was frazzled last year with work and Christmas so I’ve got to plan better this year) Green - Can't be less than Green until next December!
Continue running – MTH and I are signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run Yellow - hurting my back cut into my training time this week but I did run for the first time again today

My plan is to continue eating more veggies and to actually buy a multi-vitamin - I can't take one if I don't have one.

For the thank you notes, we just have to sit down and do them. My new goal is to finish them by the end of February.

As long as I have no more injuries, I feel good about the running. That one will be in Green.

Vegas - Here we come

It looks like MTH and I will be heading to Vegas in early April. We haven't made any definite plans yet but we will soon. I'm hoping that MAK and EE will be able to meet us out there. That would such a great time. We could go to the spa and shopping while the boys go do whatever :)

We'll also have to figure out a good restaurant to check out. Plus, according to MAK, the drinks are stronger there so we'll have to enjoy some of those.

What's for dinner?

Looks like MTH will be cooking dinner tonight. Unfortunately, my back is still hurting. He went to the Caps game this afternoon while I laid on the couch and did some work. Now, he's going to run over to Whole Foods (yes, we're going again - it's less than 5 minutes from our house). He mentioned trying to make fish. That reminds me of the first time he cooked fish. He set a rug on fire but the fish turned out very good. There are no rugs in the vicinity of the stove any more so we should be ok.

How did I do that?

How is it that I can run 4 miles with no problem but I go to get a frying pan out of the cabinet and I strain my lower back so much that I can barely walk. I'm now sitting here with ice on it to numb the pain. It seems to be working so hopefully by tomorrow I'll be close to normal. MTH was good though - he massaged the area for me and got the bag of ice.

Running Outfits

I'll admit, part of the fun of running is buying the clothes. MTH on the other hand, was running in shoes with holes in them until a month ago. But, this outfit this morning definitely takes the cake. It was cold outside but he didn't want to wear his running pants because in his words, "they make my butt look fat". So, here's what he came up with instead.

Pictures from SF

As expected, I had a great time in SF. MTH wasn't able to make it due to work so it wasn't as much fun as it should have been. Plus, the DirecTV on the JetBlue flight there wasn't working. On Friday, MAK and I went shopping at Nordstrom's and spent way too much time and money in there (lots of fun though!). Here's a picture of the shoes that MAK made me buy.
That night we checked out a restaurant called The House. It's Asian inspired gourmet. I had a nice grilled salmon. We went out to the Savoy Tivoli, a great place to hang out, drink and talk. MAK was much more than buzzed. It was quite fun although at some points I thought I was going to fall over due to the jet lag.

Saturday was the highlight of the weekend as that's when we headed to Sonoma for wine tasting. MAK's boyfriend PT was so wonderful to drive us around. His friend DK joined us as well. I think that Sonoma is a much better place for tasting than Napa. There were much less people and the tasting fees are much lower. The first place we went was called Schug Winery. I bought a Pinot Noir there. MTH and I have already drunk that one. Then, we headed to Gloria Ferrer for champagnes. Our next stop was Gundlach Bundschu. There MAK decided to become a member of the wine club and she made friends with the guy pouring the wine. See the next picture - he kept mentioning that "bigger is always better - i.e. magnum bottles of wine versus regular ones".

For fun, the rest of us got our picture taken as well.


At that point, we were very hungry. So, we made our way to Sonoma where we picked up cheese from the Cheesemaker's Daughter and bread from a bakery. Then, we went to our last winery, Castle Vineyards. We were able to buy a bottle of wine and drink and eat right in the winery. That was very nice of them.

On Sunday, MAK and I went to dim sum. Definitely something everyone should do when they're in SF!

That night, we cooked dinner. We bought a little too much steak but otherwise, it was wonderful. My flight back on JetBlue was much better than my flight out. I had the window seat and the TV worked!!

Going to Bon Jovi

QY got tickets through work to the Bon Jovi concert at the MCI Center next Thursday. Her husband, LM, couldn't make it so she invited me! We'll be in the suite with free food and drinks while listening to Slippery When Wet and more. It should definitely be fun.

Waiting for MTH

MTH is out for dinner with work people. Phoebe and I are laying here in bed (I love wireless DSL and laptops!) hanging out. I just finished some work. ETK would be disappointed - I've been to Whole Foods 3 times this week now. I'm definitely a hippie yuppie. I even bought some organic chocolate (it's all they had). I did find a good, inexpensive wine there. It's a tempranillo - a red Spanish wine. Since I'm upstairs and the bottle's downstairs, I can't write the name here.

MTH should be home soon. He text messaged me earlier to say he was leaving. MTH's time is not quite the same as mine so I always add at least 30 minutes to what he tells me. I learned that after about 2 years or so of knowing him.

No real weekend plans yet - we may be meeting some friends for dinner on Saturday night but that's all that I know of so far.

Nothing Exciting

Just going through a week of work so nothing interesting or exciting to report. This weekend we don't have anything planned yet. I'm hoping very much that MTH will not have to work either day. I'm volunteering at the Corcoran's front desk on Saturday afternoon so that should be interesting. After that, I'll be fully validated to give tours at the art gallery.

Well, I'm off to work for the day.

Update on running: due to work this week, I haven't been able to fit it in. I've got to do something about that. My plan is to run after work tonight. Then, tomorrow and Sunday as well. Next week, I will not let work get in the way (hopefully!). If I could make myself get up in the mornings to go for a run, I wouldn't have this problem.

Steelers are going to the Super Bowl

If only I had my Steelers pj's like when I was little (I'm sure Mom can remember how old I was). I didn't really understand football back then but I liked sitting with Pop while he watched the football. He would yell when the referee's made the wrong call but since those were winning years for the Steelers, it always ended great.

Let's hope for some of that old fun at the Super Bowl in 2 weeks.

Yes, I'm bored since MTH is not here. That's why I have 3 posts in 1 day.

More Good Leftovers (and still no MTH)

MTH is still not here. That means he's been at work for 11 hours on a Sunday! He called me at 4:15 to say he was leaving in 30 minutes. I guess that didn't work out.

But, in his absence, I did make another great meal from our leftovers last night. I didn't finish all of my steak. As I mentioned, we had some bread, asparagus and cheese. So, I made an open faced steak sandwich. I sauteed shallots, sliced steak and asparagus. Then, I put that on bread and with slices of cheese on top and placed it under the broiler until the cheese melted. What a great lunch!

At least I ran this morning!!! I get my first training email for the Cherry Blossom run tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having a goal again. I'm not very good at running if I don't have a goal.

My Favorite Past Times

I've decided that my favorite past times are gourmet cooking and eating.

MTH and I went on our date on Friday night. We went to this wonderful restaurant called Restaurant Eve. There are 2 parts to the restaurant: the tasting room (prix fixe starting at $85/person!!) and the bistro (more normal restaurant feel and price). We started with cocktails. I had one called Eve's Temptation. It was a sour apple martini made with real apples! It was the best cocktail I've ever had. MTH also had a cocktail but it was made with whisky and much too strong for me. Then, we moved on to appetizers. I ordered salt cod fritters (reminded me of Barcelona) and MTH had the bacon, egg and cheese salad. The cod fritters, of course, were good since they're fried! MTH's salad was very interesting. It was a lettuce salad with bacon, cheese and poached eggs on top. For the entrees, I ordered the Muscovy duck breast with boudin noir and foie gras. MTH ordered the "Irish Stew". It was lamb chops with roasted root vegetables in a very thick sauce. And, if you can imagine, we were able to finish with a cheese plate. Our dinner was accompanied by a nice bottle of wine from Spain. So, not on purpose, we had things that reminded us of our honeymoon :)

Then, yesterday evening, we decided to check out the new Whole Foods that finally opened in our neighborhood. Yes, I know, ETK thinks it's for hippie yuppies but MTH and I like going there. Plus, it's the only grocery stores in our neighborhood besides Giant and Safeway (yuck!). We picked up some potatoes for roasting, a bunch of asparagus for steaming, a nice New York strip for grilling, some fresh baked bread and Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese (had it in SF last weekend and had to have MTH try it too). I also got some strawberries to marinate in balsamic vinegar (those are just for me since MTH doesn't like strawberries!). The dinner was great. There were some leftovers so I had the idea this morning to make a scrambled egg with potatoes, asparagus, shallots, olives and the Mt. Tam's cheese. That was an awesome breakfast! I wish that MTH could have tried it as well. Unfortunately, he headed to work this morning at 6:50am. He's still there and just sent me an email saying it's going to be a long day!

He and I are supposed to watch the Steelers game together but it may just be me :( I'm looking forward to the day when MTH is not as busy at work. It's been crazy lately.

Capitals Won!!

Not that I'm a big hockey fan but tonight MTH and I went to a Capitals game at the MCI Center on work. They have a suite and I had gotten tickets. It was fun to hang out with people from my team and drink beer and eat tasty food that's bad for you. And, then, due to the new hockey rules, there can be no tie! Therefore, we got to watch sudden death and then a shoot out.

This weekend should be fun. MTH and I are trying to decide what we should do. Hopefully we're going on a "date" tomorrow night to Restaurant Eve. He took me there for my birthday a year ago. I believe it was our most expensive meal ever but it's a wonderful restaurant. For tomorrow night, we'll eat in the bistro instead of the tasting room. Then, on Saturday, I'm volunteering at the Corcoran in the morning. In the afternoon, we may head to Baltimore or Annapolis for a night on the town. Who knows? We'll probably end up staying here since we're both tired and laundry needs to be done.

Monday is the day I start officially training for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully, someone's interested!

I'm ready for bed but I'm waiting on MTH to help me get the cat litter out so that I can finish cleaning out Phoebe's litter box (definitely the worst part about having a cat!).

Pictures and info about SF forthcoming. I forgot my camera so I'm waiting on MAK's beau to upload them.

I'm back

SF was great. Will be updating here soon. I'm in Richmond on Tuesday and Wednesday so it may be Wednesday before I update again.

In case you're wondering...

where I am. As I mentioned before, I'm in Richmond for 3 days this week and then go straight to SF on Thursday. Therefore, I won't have access to my computer again until next Monday evening. Thus, there's a good chance I won't update again until then. I'll be back though with pictures from the trip!!

Cheese and Chocolate Tasting

The chocolate and cheese tasting were awesome. Yes, chocolate and cheese actually do go together. First, we learned about how chocolate is harvested and processed. It flourishes in climates 15 degrees away from the equator each way. But, it's almost entirely processed in Europe.

We tasted unsweetened, bittersweet, dark, milk and white. The white chocolate is made from cocoa butter which does come from the chocolate bean.

Then, we tasted cheeses that pair well with sweet tastes. Some of my favorites were: Chaource, Montbriac, Belletoile (triple creme brie), Purple Haze, the very familiar Gruyere, Honey Goat and the very good but weird sounding Chocolate Goat.

The tasting took place at Cheesetique in Del Ray.

The chocolate is from a cute little shop in Old Town called Kingsbury Chocolate.

Found in the good ol' Baxley Newsbanner

It's intresting how people can use statistics to their advantage. I guess he's trying to say that I would feel safer in Iraq than in DC???

Maybe we should pull out of Washington, DC

If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2,112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 1,000. The firearm death rate in Washington, D. C. is 80.6 per 100,000.

That means that you are about 25 percent more likely to be shot and killed standing around carping in our nation's capitol, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are as an American soldier fighting for world peace in a combat zone in Iraq.

We should immediately pull out of Washington, D. C.

Edward Thebo of the Savannah Morning News

Sudoku

Who out there is familiar with Sudoku? I think I'm becoming addicted to it. I look forward to doing the Post's puzzle each evening (as long as it's not a 5 star one - those are still unsolvable for me and thus, no fun). I also love the website www.websudoku.com. For those of you unfamiliar with Sudoku, check out this great explanation of Sudoku.

Super Size Me

MTH and I watched that movie called "Super Size Me" last night. Well, what an impetus to start eating healthier! Not that we frequent fast food joints but we had fallen down on eating in. Life's been too hectic lately. The problem with eating healthy is that it takes planning and time. With Christmas and work, December was shot. I barely had time to go running. But, now we're turning over a new leaf and will be MAKING time for these things. MTH had his first bowl of oatmeal for breakfast this morning. He didn't really like it too much. He liked it a little better when he added some pecans to it (gives it some texture). I'm making some granola today so that he can either eat that by itself or on the oatmeal (yes, I know, oatmeal on oatmeal but it's what he wanted).

I am also making a slow cooker meal as we speak: Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew. It's from a magazine called Eating Well. It's a gift subscription from Mark's mom (I guess she already knew we needed to eat better :). The stew is for tomorrow night and leftovers will be frozen. That's the great thing - if I can take the time up front, there's usually saved time on the back end. Tonight we'll have Turkey Meatloaf Muffins and Broccoli. We'll also be able to freeze any leftovers.

MTH won't have to eat pizza on Tuesday's anymore.

Well, here's to hoping we can keep our resolve going with the fact that next week I'll be in Richmond for 3 days and then in SF for 3 days and then back in Richmond for 2 days.

Camera Phones

It seems that I can use my camera phone and have real time pictures for my blog entries. Here's one as a test.

SM drinking coffee

The quality is definitely not as good as the digital camera but it still gives something visual to go along with the text.

Old Computer Equipment

Today I was trying to clean up our little office/guest room. What do you do with all the old computer equipment you don't want anymore. The old laptop can't be given away since it has account information on it. Also, you don't want to throw any of that stuff in the trash since it has toxic chemicals in them. Anyway, the printer and scanner still work. We have an Apple Computer so these things aren't compatible anymore.

It seems that all we do everyday is generate tons of trash.

Any thoughts on how to get rid of the equipment would be great.

The First Weekend of the New Year

I've had 2 ideas for what to post today during the day. But, I didn't write them down so now I can't remember what they were. I guess that's typical. They seemed so great at the time.

The weekend is here. We don't really have any plans but I'm hoping that they include seeing MTH. He's been working a LOT lately. And, next week, I have to be in Richmond for 3 days. I think we'll go for sushi tonight and then who knows for tomorrow night.

On Sunday night, I'm going to a chocolate/cheese tasting at our neighborhood cheese store, Cheesetique. It's great. Because I've been to 2 other tastings in the past, I was invited to this "exclusive" event. MTH is not sure if he'll be available so AL is joining me for this one.

I'll definitely give an update of the tasting!

Welcome...

to my new web address. As I said in my old blog, there were some complaints about my old address. I hope that no one will be offended by my new one :)

My New Year's Resolutions

I haven’t really written down my New Year’s resolutions but I have thought about them in my head. Here’s what I’ve been thinking:

Take vitamins and eat more veggies
Write all of our thank you notes by the end of January
Finish all Christmas shopping and card writing by 12/15/06 (I know it’s a bit long term but I was frazzled last year with work and Christmas so I’ve got to plan better this year)
Continue running – MTH and I are signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run

That’s all for now. I think that’s enough to keep me busy. At least #2 will be done by the end of January.

Driving to Richmond

It’s amazing. I’ve been driving to Richmond for work for over 4 years now. I go almost every Tuesday and Wednesday (staying over Tuesday night). MTH talks about moving back there but because I feel like I’ve never left, I really would rather not. Of course, if that is what makes sense at some point, then that’s what we’ll do. It is a lot less expensive than DC. But, there’s also less to do. It’s also crazy how well I know the different exits between mile markers 84 and 170 on I-95. I know which ones have gas stations close to the exits and which ones don’t. To pass the time, I usually call people on my cell phone. It’s one of the ways that I try to keep up with talking on the phone. Some of you are probably already aware of this practice of mine :)

Here's to a great year!

I've read back through my previous posts. I think that I sound a bit negative. I guess especially on the last one since I wasn't feeling well. But, I'm mostly back to my old self again. I worked from home today since I didn't feel like driving to Richmond after my cold but will be there tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to MLK, Jr weekend. MTH and I are going to visit MAK in San Francisco. We've already got some wine tasting planned and possibly a trip to Sausalito or a hike or both. I'm hopefully going to talk MTH into going to Dim Sum. He's not a big fan but I definitely want to try it in SF.

It's hard to have a lot to write when I haven't really left the house for over 2 days. We watched the Sugar Bowl last night. As a GA Tech fan, it was great to see the Georgia fans flabbergasted by West Virginia. They just couldn't believe that West Virginia could possibly beat them.

I guess tonight we'll watch the Orange Bowl and then tomorrow night will be the big one - the Rose Bowl. Somehow MTH has kind of gotten me into football. It seems to help at work as it gives me something to talk about with my co-workers. I actually find it enjoyable to discuss sometimes but I'm definitely not expert.

In one of my previous posts, I said that I'd upload a picture of our cat, Phoebe. Even though it has nothing to do with my subject, here she is.

PMH

New Year's 2006

Well, we had a fun New Year's starting on Friday. That night we went to a chichi Mexican restaurant called Rosa Mexicano. Who knew that I'd pay $24 for guacamole. Probably won't ever do that again though. The guac was awesome but somehow I think I can figure out how to do that myself. Anyway, we were then headed to the new bowling alley, Lucky Strike. Unfortunately, we didn't beat the people leaving from the Wizard's game and all the lanes were booked. So, we then made our way to Dupont Circle and proceeded to the play pool. It turned out that none of us were very good and 3 games took over an hour. MTH did make the best shots of the night at the very end of the last game but I came in runner up with a behind the back shot.

MMH and MTH before the party

Then, on Saturday night, we went to the French Embassy for a party there. It would be great to say that we had an official invitation but it was one of those professionals parties. It was cool to see the French embassy and to also say that we were on French soil to ring in 2006. The wine was pretty good although I'm not sure it was French. There was also lots of chocolate. We even had our caricatures drawn although I think we left it there. It was such a caricature, it didn't look like me.

MMH and MTH at the party

Then, we left and the no fun part of our New Year's began. I felt sick once I got into bed. Then, I woke up with a huge headache and basically did nothing on Sunday. At the end of the day, I was feeling a bit better so we walk to Joe Theismann's for dinner and MTH got to watch the Redskins win (that's his new favorite team - he's kind of a traitor to his Buffalo Bills but the Redskins are closer and better).

Then, I woke up this morning and now have a cold/the flu. The hangover from yesterday probably didn't help my immune system but I'm pretty certain that otherwise they're not linked. I'm achy all over and have a sore throat.

It's too bad that I'm not able to enjoy my days off. Tomorrow is back at work and I'm sure I'll feel just fine by then.

Great pizza just outside of Denver

Originally uploaded by MMH.

If you're ever on your way to Aspen or Vail, you should stop in the first town outside of Denver on I-70, Idaho Springs. It's a well known pizza place in the area so just ask a local. I believe that they now have a location in Denver but you must experience the original. Plus, you get to check out a cute little town before your long drive into the mountains.

For more information, http://www.beaujos.com/.