Hrmmm. Not sure how I feel about the word ‘hubby’, but today I am just giving a lot of thanks for my great husband, who heard I wasn’t feeling all that great and skipped football to bring me the most yummy soup- Tokyo Soup with Udon noodles and Shrimp Tempura from Bethesda Raku.
Today could have been your average, run of the mill Wednesday – but no – today is day 100! AND today is my half birthday. So yeah, if that doesn’t make your average run of the mill Wednesday more exciting, I don’t know what will.
How did we celebrate this fantastic day you ask? Well – my day consisted of a very exciting tip that I learned from Colby & Liz over the weekend – leave my high heeled shoes at work. Much more comfortable than walking to/from work in them. Genius! And they fit in my lower desk drawer so nicely (nope, haven’t gotten quite to the shoe rack point just yet, mainly from a lack of desire to go to Target.) The CSA pickup today was actually pretty cool - I had never before seen celery not from a grocery store celery – and it is huge. AND the CSA today gave us some free apple cider with our box of goodies. Good stuff.
While I went home, went for a run, and did a bit of weights, Nick went to Laura’s Marathon Happy Hour downtown. The Gburg boondocks comes though again, there was no possible way for me to get the CSA, get home, and make it back downtown for happy hour. I’m glad Nick got to go, and woohoo to Laura for an awesome time in the NY marathon last weekend!
Nick and I met up with Maria & Jeremy for dinner at Redwood in Bethesda this evening. Good times, we don’t get together very often these days. NJ and I really enjoyed the food, though I hear there is some debate on the quality in the foodie community. I’d recommend it and gladly go back.
Glad we only make it once a year… or we’d both weigh 900 pounds!
There is nothing better at 1 AM than a plate from Mark’s!
Post bocce game tonight, Nick, Pinot and I set off for a run on the mall and rewarded ourselves with dinner at Teaism! I just can’t get enough of the broccoli side and the side salad. 
. Nick was surprised at how good his buffalo burger was. Teaism- not all chai and salty oat cookies! Though I am looking forward to a cookie stop as well. >
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Wow, has it really only been a week since we got back from Vermont? Nick checked out the blog the other day and was insinuating that I hadn’t updated it in a long time, when I pointed out that Vermont was actually only 5 days ago. Well, 7 now. But still. It’s crazy how time flies.
This weekend was no exception. We both got home on Friday at about 3:15 - Nick after attending AT’s proposal (pass!) and the CS picnic and me after a longer day at work (for a Friday). Power napped, and headed down to Mount Vernon for the Spring Wine Festival. This is our 3rd time going over the past 4 years – we had to miss it last year for my moms surprise birthday party. We got there a bit late, but still had plenty of time for the best part of the night – a picnic on George & Martha’s lawn overlooking the Potomac.
Saturday we were up early, running a 5k down in Springfield VA. Pinot got to run it too, 
which was really cool – not too many races let you bring your dog! Pinot was really funny – the pack started, and we started towards the back, having a dog and all. She wouldn’t have any of that and wanted to be in the lead, so the first mile or so we were essentially sprinting with Pinot to get to the front of the pack. Another 1.4 miles at normal pace, and then Pinot realized – wow – I’ve just gone all out for 2.4 miles. I’m pooped! Nick ran ahead to the finish line, while Pinot and I walked for a few minutes, and then jogged at the end. She was definitely the top finisher in the doggie division, and Nick and I were pretty happy with our times too. Pinot was pretty tired for the rest of the day!
On the way back to home from the race, we stopped in Bethesda for the 2009 Strut Your Mutt doggie festival. At first, was pretty psyched that they had a big blow up cat too. And then we saw a dude that brought his (Cashew + 15 pounds) colored kitty on a leash. It was awesome. Pinot was tired after her run of runs, but still enjoyed socializing while we enjoyed brunch from Cosi.
Saturday night, we mixed up our plans a bit. After running some errands, we found an 
awesome Greek restaurant that is maybe 2.5 miles from our house called Athens Grill. It’s amazing how we’ve lived there for almost 5 years and had never discovered this place before. The food was excellent – so good in fact, that we’re planning another trip this week with Louie & Derrek in tow!
Sunday – we went for a nice 8 mile bike ride around the Montgomery Village, and in the words of Nick, the Keebler elves exploded around our kitchen. Post on that to come…..
This Monday, I’m excited about a short week. Working Mon/Tues/Weds, with Bocce Wednesday night, and then touring DC with Derrek and Louie for the extra long weekend! What are you excited about for this week?
Have I mentioned that I have the best husband ever?
Sunday, after a tasty Indian buffet brunch, we headed home to relax when lo and behold, Nick suggested that we bring Pinot with us to go to Wegmans to pick up supplies for that evenings birthday dinner with Melanie and Javed. I had to stop in to work for a quick 5-10 minutes and was pumped about the opportunity to bring Pinot & Nick into my office with me. And a trip to Wegmans to boot!
We went shopping and got home around 7:30PM, when after opening the door, our friends jumped out from behind the couch with streamers and balloons yelling “Surprise!” Nick planned a surprise birthday party for me, complete with ice cream cake with my picture on it, full on party decorations (including a birthday princess hat!). I sort of thought something was going on – Nick doesn’t usually ask if we can bring Pinot places, that is my job – but I didn’t realize that it would be everyone! THANK you everyone for coming over to help me celebrate! and THANK YOU Nick for making me feel so incredibly special 
Pictures are on Melanie’s blog – I wasn’t using a camera for the evening! Sort of kicking myself for that as I didn’t get one of Nick and I that wasn’t taken by me, but what can you do
Monday, birthday day itself, I took the day off of work and slept in (funny how guilt sets in when I sleep in till 9 nowadays, wonders have officially ceased!). A rainy, rainy day, we set off to Cava in Rockville for lunch (a new restaurant for us, it was good) before going to Target, watching Marley & Me at home (much sadder than the book) and heading down to DC to celebrate Greg’s 3-0 (my birthday buddy!) and heading out to dinner for my 29th. For my 29th dinner, Nick scored us reservations to Proof. I think it’s on my list of top 10 dinners of all time, between the ambiance, the food, and my date! AND – a 6 plate cheese course for dessert, what better way to end the meal. The Caps won game 2 about 20 minutes before we left the restaurant – how cool is it to live in DC.
With a birthday like that, I’m excited for the year to come. I hope I can make Nick feel as loved and special during the coming year as he always makes me feel! Call me mushy, whatever, I’m coming off one heck of a weekend high.
(Thank you Colby for the video! )
We set off yesterdy around 7 for our proposed “Alexandria” excursion to go to Spokes (for bikes) and to Cheesetique, which has been on my list for about 5 or 6 years. (A female engineer gives up her techie career to open a cheese shoppe, how would it not be?) Anyway, we set off around 7, assuming they’d be open till 9 or so, when we realized they closed at 8 and we would make it down there 10 minutes before closing time. Good thing Nick has been networking and heard of a good bike shop right here in Rockville (Revolution Cycles), where we headed to get a feel for the hybrid that we’d soon be purchasing. Afterwards, instead of Cheesetique, we went to The Vegetable Garden for dinner. The result? Great food that I didn’t feel guilty about eating. The steamed dumplings were excellent, and my heart healthy soba noodle/vegetable dish was tasty with a bit of spice added. Nick got one of the steamed veggie with fake meat dishes – I’m still not a fan of fake meat, but all in all, his dish was also very good.
Looking forward to adding it into our regular rotation!
And this morning, armed with a wholesome bowl of oatmeal (with bananas, chopped pecans and sugar free caramel syrup), we’re heading back to buy our bikes and take them out for a spin.
With the cool new phone, I’m trying out the twitter thing for short updates during the week, but I’ll still try to update the actual blog fairly often too!
Last week was really busy for me – I had a subcontractor meeting late on Monday, followed by a big customer meeting on Thursday afternoon. Between prepping for both meetings, I was at work late lots last week – but the thought that got me through was that I had enough extra hours to take Friday off!
We kicked off our spring bocce season last Wednesday night with a 16-3 victory, and ‘brick red’ tshirts (as opposed to the lovely pale pink we got last summer). Pinot loved having CJ to hang out with during the game and during post-bocce dinner at Bullfeathers on the Hill. I think we’re all looking forward to this season!
Thursday was wonderful, well, post customer presentation (that went well too, which added to the bliss) – just knowing that I had Friday off, and that the weather was going to be great all weekend.
Friday, we got up and had a leisurely breakfast at home with Nick, then Nick went in to school and Pinot and I set off to run the Capitol Cresent Trail. We got done a bit early and hit up lululemon for some new running gear – I’m all about their manifesto. As a side note, I LOVE the Bethesda shops that allow you to bring your dog in shopping with you and I heart my new running outfit. Then we set off to meet Melanie for lunch at Brown Bag (well, technically in the park, but the food was from Brown Bag).
Headed home, and then Nick and I set off to celebrate our 1000 days of marriage (woohoo!) at the Italian Pines in Gaithersburg, which had really great Italian food with a home-cooked sort of feel.
Saturday mornining, we were up and at em early, heading out to do the 8 mile MS walk. The bus ride to the walk was rather humorous because the driver had no idea where he was going, and Pinot was in the bus seat with us, but the walk was a really good time. It ended at Glen Echo with free subs from Subway.
Saturday night we headed out to celebrate Melanie’s 27th birthday at CoCoSala - all the food was all wonderful, and I loved the ambiance! (Nick and I almost thought that the food was better than the dessert….) After dinner, the 4 of us headed over to the Kennedy Center to see Shear Madness, a whodunnit comedy that was rather entertaining. Ended the night needing a jump, all in all, a great evening!
Today, Nick and I gave Pinot the day off (poor dog, 18 miles the past three days), but we headed out for an early-ish morning run in Bethesda followed by brunch and a leisurely day at home. Nick is kicking off Dynist week this week at school this evening with his group and all the Wisconsin folks that came into town.
On a seperate random note, we’re thinking about getting bikes! Yay!
I didn’t really take many pictures this weekend (shocking, I know) – but Melanie took quite a few with her new birthday camera on Saturday night – I’ll link/upload a few of those when I get them!
We got up early this morning and headed to brunch at Mario’s in Rochester before driving back to DC. Brunch was okay (not worth the price, but considering we didn’t have to cook, it made it worth it) – and we got back to DC at a reasonable hour after a sunny drive the entire way back.
