Team name is coming in handy tonight on the courts!
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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!
Monday night, it took all of my willpower – possibly all of Nick’s willpower too, but he didn’t show it because he was motivating me to want to go – anyway, after the trip home from NE, we had tickets to the Nats/Mets game in DC, won from the bocce flair contest earlier this summer. It was our first time at the new stadium – loved it, from the scoreboard to the relish wheel. And the nats won to boot! Good stuff
Last night was the first and second round of playoffs for bocce, and oh was Et Tu, Bocce ready to take on the challenge. It’s been a fun and emotion filled season, coming off of the spring league and the disappearance of our old captain, but we survived, had fun, and made new friends in the process.
We won our first game – woohoo, actually felt a little more in control than in games past, but fell in the second round of playoffs in a 16-9 loss. It’s hard to feel sad about the season though, with so many almost complete comebacks (the games that started 12-2 and ended 16-15 for example), and making it a bit further than we did in the fall.
A great team, with saved by the bell references flooding the season – what better way to end it off than to quote from Nick’s Motivational Bocce Email:
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In preparation for the bocce playoffs tonight, I have prepared a little motivational e-mail for everyone. Now when young members of a tribe would prepare to enter manhood, they would go off on a vision quest until a fox that sounds like Johnny Cash would give them their spirit name. I will spare you the vision quest and assign you all the Saved by the Bell Character you represent from our team.
Laura (Mr. Belding) – Our fearless leader, always looking out for our best interest and still remaining hip. Mr. Belding was around even during the “Good Morning Miss Bliss” years just as Laura is a bocce veteran whose experience is invaluable.
Emily (Slater) – I have prepared a haiku for this selection,
Wow! A permed mullet
Who would sport such a hair do
Must be from New Jersey
Yeah, I know we have multiple Jersey girls, but noone wears it on their sleeve (and one of the few Jersey residents who wears sleeves) like Emily does.
Brian (Tori) – Tori was a hot brunette introduced Senior year that drove a motorcycle to take the place of a couple cast members that felt that they were too good for the show. Brian is a hot brunette introduced to the bocce team that drives a motor cycle to replace a couple of Bocce team members that thought they were too good for the team.
Nick (Screech) – Despite the rumors, this pick is not because of that tape I released in college involving Dirty Sanchez’s. Sticking strictly to Screech the character, he’s a nerd. Now, as someone that went to grad school for CS and is currently writing an e-mail about Saved by the Bell I challenge any one of you to prove you are nerdier than me.
Colleen (Lisa) – Impeccable fashion sense and Screech had an endless crush on Lisa in the show but to no avail, in real life Nick had a crush on Colleen and pity took over and she decided to date him and the rest is history. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Janine (Kelly) – Kelly was the All-American girl on the show excelling in multiple sports. Janine has made enough killer bocce shots where we can safely label her the namesake to the Kapowski fist bump.
Lauren (Jesse) – Though I’ve never seen Lauren OD on caffeine pills, there’s a link … wait for it. Jesse proved in “Showgirls” that she’s ain’t nothing but a mammal and she can do it like they do on the Discovery Channel … Lauren works for Nat Geo which is kind of like the Discovery Channel. Get it! E-mail is almost over, don’t worry.
John (Zack) – Slater always refers to Zack as preppie, and who is preppier than a guy that consistently shows up to bocce wearing a suit.
Tanaz (Stacey Carosi) – Stacey was Zack’s love interest in the Malibu Sands Beach Club episodes. Though she was only in a few episodes, she was an integral part of Saved by the Bell lore … just as Tanaz was only able to make a few games but was still a valued member of the team. Side bit of history, in many Saved by the Bell circles, people are convinced Zack lost his virginity to Stacey and not Kelly!?!
Mehul (Rod Belding) – Rod was Mr. Belding’s charismatic brother who promised the crew fun and awesomeness on a white water trip … but then at the last minute left to go somewhere more exciting (weekend fling with a stewardess) and abandoned the crew, leaving Mr. Belding to pick up the pieces. Hmmm ….
Coming off of Monday night book club (the August book was Water for Elephants, which we both really enjoyed) and bocce last night (a maddening 16-13 loss, after we came back from being down 12-1), I think I’m about ready for a nap. That’s not to mention the plethora of work stuff going on for both of us lately. For me, the new hardware is in and we are in full test mode, but I’m meeting some of my engineers that work in PA for the first time today which is somehow ‘nerve racking’ despite the phone relationship we’ve had for the past few months. For Nick, an upcoming thesis proposal means lots of getting organized, finalizing papers, scrutinizing reading lists, preparing slides, prep & practice talks. I’m glad we’ve got nothing going on tonight other than getting home from work and vegging, because we’re both really looking forward to CYOAB tomorrow night, and outlet shopping on Friday since I get out of work early, and of course the start of Husker season on Saturday!
(I’m a bit bummed we don’t have direct tv and have to go to the bar for the game, so we won’t be able to have Pinot & Cashew in full NE gear with us for the game this weekend.)
Oh – and on a happy note – the wine that we made from the kit that Nick gave me last Christmas – well, it turned out less than stellar on it’s own. (One of our friends who will remain nameless referred to the taste as rubbing alcohol.) Despite many looks to the effect of me being crazy, I managed to turn it into a decent drinkable punch with the following formula – one bottle ‘less than awesome’ red wine combined with an equal portion of mango juice and an equal portion of diet sprite. Who would have thought? Mmmmm, tasty.
Long weekend, I can’t wait for you to get here!! Oh okay, I’ll settle for Friday
Oh what a night – a whomping 16-2 victory, followed by winning the flair contest! Woot woot, nothing to complain about for a random Tuesday evening!
…despite the fact that we were robbed (robbed!) from winning the first round of the bocce playoffs. Yep, we waited around instead of taking the forfeit, were told to pack it up early due to the threat of rain, and went into sudden death tiebreaker only to be surpassed by someone that wasn’t technically on the other team. (lame)
but neither that nor the rain got us down, not with a plethora of sugar to be held in the form of an oreo cake, double stuff oreos and tuxedos, and take 5 marshmallow bars! Mehul’s 29-stuffed oreo leads us to the promise of a fun summer season ahead.
Final night of Bocce – aka Mehul’s Birthday (happy birthday mehul!) pictures will be included in this post soon.
Best flair, blazing sweetness! Woohoo!!
7:30 Game, but meeting at Bullfeathers before 6, and oh, killing with a 16-2 win. No complaints on this perfect Tuesday evening!
