Monday, June 29, 2009

Super Fine at 39

Joe had his 39th birthday on June 17, and I forgot to blog about it. Bad me. We had a nice day, though. He had an early morning meeting that morning, so he left the house early. Once he was gone, I hopped out of bed and started decorating the apartment. I knew he would beat me home that afternoon, so I thought it would be nice for him to come home to balloons and streamers. My mom and aunt Kathy were still here at that point, so I enlisted their help in decorating too.

Then, I surprised him and took off half a day so we could spend more than a couple hours together during his birthday. I came home around 1:00, and I was hoping to take him and the dogs on a short hike, but it started pouring down rain, so we ended up having to stay indoors.
He opened presents once my mom and aunt came home after running some errands. My mom and aunt got him Captain Crunch and a recipe for Captain Crunch French Toast (now a bit of a joke in the family) and I got him tickets for two baseball games - one Nationals game and one Orioles game.

Then we went out to dinner at B.D. Mongolian Wok. It was great (not as good as the Wok-a-Bout in Wenatchee, but decent).

All in all, I think it was a good birthday for him. Here are some pictures:

This is what his sister sent us. Joe was absolutely THRILLED! :-)

We have been super busy over the last several weeks, but I wanted to do something special with some of our friends, too, to celebrate his birthday. So, this last Saturday, I invited a few people over to play poker. We had a great time! We snacked on some food, I made jello shots, and we battled over Texas Hold 'Em. Surprisingly, I won!

Didn't get any pictures, though. I'm such an idiot.

Anyway, happy birthday Joe! I look forward to many more shared birthdays together!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

Michael Jackson died today, and I admit, I'm saddened. He was an icon and brought a lot of great things to the music industry. "Heal the World", "Black and White", "Man in the Mirror" - they all had such a great message, and I grew up listening to them. Joe and I watched a lot of his performances and music videos tonight, just remembering all his amazing music.

He died of a heart attack - a heart attack! It just seems unfitting for him to go out that way - he should have gone out in a blaze of glory. Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge this day.

Fun Time with the Family

We had a great time with my mom and aunt Kathy while they were here. They left on Friday for their "Wild & Wacky Cross-Country Adventure!" and last time I talked to them, they were in Cape Code. They had already seen the Amish Country, Coney Island, Brooklyn, Newport RI, and many other places. They are having a great time! Here are some more pictures from when they were here:

Where Joe and I slept - it's actually super comfortable!

Mom, Kathy, and Joe had to get their Bloody Marylands and I got a Dirty Martini. YUM.

The White House

Georgetown

The Metro

Ava just can't survive without knowing what is going on at all times. :-)

Stuart came over one night and we all had dinner.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tourists

Joe and I took an evening tour of the city - just like regular tourists! We were on one of those double decker buses even, it was pretty funny.

We saw a lot of stuff we had seen before many times, but a couple things that we had missed. So, we have a couple new places to explore when we get back downtown.




Fun times!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Family in Town

It's been a busy few days! My mom has been in town ever since we got back from vacation. She dog sat while we were gone and decided to stay for a few weeks. My aunt flew in from Wenatchee on Saturday night, so we went and picked her up. This was a big deal for her - she HATES to fly, and has never flown alone in her life. She sucked it up and faced her fears... so she could come visit me and see Washington D.C. I'm so happy she did - it's been really fun having her here!

Sunday we went into Alexandria, Georgetown, and downtown Washington D.C. I tried to experience all I could with my aunt before I had to go to work and she was on her own with my mom - two wild and crazy gals in the city! haha We all had a drink at Joe and my favorite D.C. bar, Old Ebbitts Grill (okay I had two drinks, but who's counting). All four of us were tired out by the time we got home.

My mom and aunt took a tour bus around D.C. yesterday and got to see a lot. They are giving Joe and me their tickets for tonight's evening tour. We're finally going to see this town like tourists, which we never really did when we moved here.

I've been really busy with Rescue over the last week as well, so it's been tough to find the time to get on here and post updates. I'll try to be better, I promise. Photos to come.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

California Pictures

I know, I know, I'm way behind. It's been tougher than I realized catching up on everything I missed while we were on vacation. But I finally found a couple seconds to post these pictures.

So, the pictures are not in order, and for those of you who really know me, you know that just KILLS me. But I didn't really have time to do this right - I just wanted to get them up so you could see.

Ahh, palm trees. I absolutely adore them.


Drinking champagne in the hot tub during the only sunny day of our trip.


One of our many bikes rides - this one on Redondo Beach.


The reason for the trip - Heidi's wedding! Isn't she beautiful? This is her and Scott's first dance as a married couple. I just love these two. 


All the Seattle girls.... and me. :-) But I'm a Seattle girl at heart.


Joe and I at the reception. Isn't he handsome in his sexy suit??


Tried to find a way around these rocks to no avail. But it was an interesting walk.


Saw a huge rat, too. Oh yes, this is what we do on vacation.


Family photo at the rehearsal dinner. This is Heidi and Scott with their siblings.


Bike ride on The Strand on our favorite beach - Hermosa.


Cocktail Party - Joe and I with Heidi's sister Lacey and Scott's sister Gina.


First drinks of the vacation. :-)


Our hotel room. It was sooooo cute!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Back Home

Well, we are back home in Maryland. It was a smooth trip back, with just a little bit of a delay on our last flight. My mom picked us up at the airport and by the time we got back to the apartment and settled in, it was 3 a.m.! It was so much fun seeing the puppies again, but it was very apparent that they were well taken care of while we were gone. They were both so excited to see us, but settled right back in under "gramma's" feet a few minutes later. 

I took another half day off today so that I could sleep in a little and then dragged back into work. I love my job, but I admit, it was hard to get back into the groove. I really let myself relax during the vacation!

I'll post pictures soon. I'm trying to get caught up on everything now....

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Blessed Sun

Finally, on the very last full day of our vacation, the sun decided to come out and show us what California is really like! We took full advantage of it. We took the bikes out this morning to have breakfast at this bar we found and fell in love with. Joe had Capt'n Crunch French Toast, which he was very excited about. 

We then came back to the hotel and went in the hot tub for a bit and then laid out in the sun for about an hour. It was AWESOME!! :-) Then we walked back down Hermosa Beach and sat out on the pier watching surfers for a while. 

Like I mentioned, we are pretty hooked on the Womens Softball College World Series, so we went back to that bar (Hennesey's) to watch the final game (U-Dub won! Yay!) As we watched the game we had dinner and a few drinks. 

We walked along the beach on the way back and took a final dip in the hot tub once we got back to the hotel to end the day. Seriously, an absolutely amazing day. We are both exhausted, dehydrated, and burned to a crisp, but 100% content. :-) 

We go home tomorrow, but are going to try to get out of bed early for a final trip down the beach on the bikes before heading to the airport.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Dolphins!

We actually saw dolphins yesterday and today! Yesterday we took a bike ride up Redondo Beach, where we saw a group of them playing out in the water, and today we took a 15-mile bike ride through Hermosa, Manhattan, and El Segundo beaches and saw another group. Very cool!

It finally warmed up for about an hour today while we were having lunch on Hermosa Beach, and of course, in that hour, both of our white faces got burned. We came back to the hotel and have been watching the Womens Softball College World Series (yes, random, but Joe's a fan and has totally got me hooked!) and relaxing. Going out for drinks in a little while.

If I didn't have the dogs to come home to, I don't think I would ever want to come home! After I finally started to relax and not worry about work, Rescue, and other responsibilities, I just got right into vacation mode and it's going to be hard to get back into work mode!