Guns Up!

Well Matt & I finally had a weekend at home, and we couldn't have asked for anything more perfect! Friday afternoon we went to a really cool place over in Georgetown called Dumbarton Oaks. We had to take this walking path through Rock Creek Park to get to this "park" and beautiful garden and the leaves, even though they peaked probably a week and a half ago, are absolutely beautiful. Of course coming from TX where we have very little color, our expectations aren't very high! We were pleasantly surprised at how great these gardens were. Not only were the grounds just awesome, but there was also a museum attached and sadly enough, it was way better than one of the Art museum's Matt & I just visited downtown!

Self portrait at Dumbarton Oaks

Saturday was the perfect lazy day just relaxing and watching a little Ohio State football. We also made a trip to Lowe's & bought a fire pit and a flag pole for my Texas Tech flag, and of course...geared up for the Texas Tech / OSU football game! I found a watching party that the DC Alumni Group puts on over in DC, so that's where we were going to watch the game. Matt, in usual fashion, figured there would be 5 of us there, but when we walked in, we were BOTH pleasantly surprised at how many Red Raider fans were there. My question was, how do all these people from Lubbock, TX end up in DC?? Anyway, it was obviously a great game, and they had the fight songs and all for each time we scored. So afterwards, Matt & I decided to hit up a new bar he's found that's really cool, called the Tattoo Bar. Well the problem was when we got there was there was a line to get in (the place in REALLY small) and it was obvious no one was getting in. However, where there's a will, there's a way, and Matt found that, and it was called bottle service. Now, I ask you, is bottle service, between 2 people, really all that smart? Especially after we'd already had 4 pitchers of beer while watching the Red Raiders? My friends, I tell you NOT! While we actually managed to finish off half the bottle, it did not make for a pretty Sunday. I felt absolutely horrible all day long. Like, really horrible. So I had my first McDonald's since we've been up here, but that didn't help. To make matters worse, one of the things we wanted to do this weekend was go to Arlington Cemetery to see it during the fall, so we ventured out. You have to understand, this is one of my favorite sites in DC, and it was the most miserable trip ever. First the metro ride was BAD, then the walk all over the cemetery, up and down hills, ugh! Anyway, boy am I glad it's Monday! It's a much better today!

I almost forgot - GO JIMMIE JOHNSON! See you in Miami for a 3-peat!

What a Whirlwind Last Few Days!

Wow! So much has happened over the last 7 days! I was back in Dallas yet again (even joined 24 Hour Fitness in TX) for the weekend, as I found great airfare and it was NASCAR weekend! Since I was home I got to enjoy Trick-or-Treating on Main Street with Renee and Lauren. It's hard to believe Lauren is 8, she seems all grown up! Of course I can be one of those friends who will always say, "I've known you since you were a month old"! And of course the night took a drastic change when Amanda and I went to Eric's Halloween party. The costumes were quite unique (Clinton & Rod took my prize for best costume) and it was a great way to celebrate one of my favorite holidays!

Clinton as the BEE

Lauren as the Candy Corn witch...

Saturday started off like most normal fall weekends. I must say you couldn't have asked for more perfect fall weather! As much as I like the temperatures here in DC, the gloomy skies are getting old, so a beautiful blue sky was a great welcome! Matt and I played a little baseball at the park and enjoyed the playground, and even found a race car for Trent to get his picture taken with...all leading up to...the Texas Tech / UT Football game. We went to Liz & Dave's and watched the game with Amanda & Gary as well. And OH MY GOSH! Could we have asked for a better game!!?? I am just now getting my voice back today after all the yelling with the Crabtree touchdown that gave us the win. I LOVE MY RED RAIDERS!!! ALL THE WAY BABY!!!!

Trent with Elliott Sadler's Best Buy car...

But I had to rest up for Sunday! NASCAR!! Renee picked me up bright and early (7:00am) so we could get out to the track and to Mike's in time to beat the raceday traffic and try and find a parking spot by the camper. Of course Bloody Mary's were the roadie of choice and our "coffee" of the morning, and they were quite yummy! Needless to say, they went down quite easy and the morning started well. Not only did we get to hang out with Mike, but Kirby (Mike's brother) was in town for the race as well. He used to come to the races each year, but he's in the military and was overseas for the last year - so it's GREAT to have you home Kirby! Beyond that, at times during the race I was asking myself "I flew home for this"? Not only was it one of the most boring races ever (lots of green flag racing) but Jimmie went a lap down early, and with Carl winning the race, our lead for the cup has been cut in half. Considering Matt and I are going to Homestead for the final race in two weeks, he better BRING IT!
Kirby, me & Mike

Renee & I after the race

So back to DC, a Steelers win during Monday night football...

And then, there was the election. Even though Matt made us special "red" martini's to enjoy as we watched the returns come in, they obviously didn't bring us the results we needed. That being said, what an exciting time to be in Washington, DC. Even with the rain we had last night, as I went to bed (which was after Obama's speech) I could still hear cars honking and yelling in the streets over his victory. Ahhh...to live in America....

xoxo

Can It Get Any Worse?

So, my last post sadly enough started with how pathetic I had been about updating this. And I officially beat the amount of time since my last post. I have excuses though...October is a CRAZY month for me at work for travel, and it's just now slowed down. Plus, I finally moved into this century and joined Facebook, and I've become quite obsessive with that! It's pretty cool that in a matter of entering your email address, you find everyone you went to high school with in a matter of seconds. And it's cool that everyone's actually excited to see/hear what's been going on since we left the mothership in Southlake, TX.


Mom's Visit
Mom came to DC the first weekend in October, and lucked into some great weather, actually a little bit on the warm side for this time of the year. We had a very domesticated weekend while she was here: She helped put some final decorative touches on the house, we made and iced some pretty kick butt Halloween cookies and she taught me how to make her homemade rolls for Thanksgiving since Matt & I aren't coming home. Yummy! Pretty much the only touristy thing we did while she was here was ride bikes for what felt like hours on end over to the monuments. We cooked every night and enjoyed good wine of course. Monday night, when Matt got home from Dallas we cooked steaks on the grill and I think the final count was 5 bottles of wine we went though. Rough day at work the next day!


Home of NASCAR
The next weekend Matt and I went to Charlotte, NC for the NASCAR race. It was actually a beautiful 6 hour drive, and always good time spent together! It rained during the Busch Race on Friday night, but we ended up with a GREAT night Saturday night for the CUP race. Jimmie came close to winning, but at least he walked away still holding the points lead. We originally had a hotel room, but gave that up and instead camped. We actually really enjoyed it, minus sleeping on the very, hard ground. An air mattress is a must if we're really going to take up camping!


Back to Dallas, AGAIN...
The middle of October I had to go back to Dallas for a meeting all week long, spent the weekend in Dallas and then had to head to Austin for a conference. I LOVE Austin, and it was so nice being at a bar where ice cold Coors Light was only $1! Gotta love college towns! As much fun as it was seeing all my marketing buddies, I was gone for almost two weeks and was ready to be back home in DC.

Marketing Buddies in Austin!


One of the Best Football Games Ever...
Last weekend Matt and I went to Columbus, OH with his dad and Anna for the Ohio State/Penn State football game. Hands down, one of the coolest games I've been too. I have to say, it also probably rivals any NFL game I've been to in terms of tailgating and team spirit. I give the fans credit! Although Ohio State lost, it was still a great game, but VERY cold!



Tonight Matt and I are headed out to MD to a haunted forest...supposedly one of the best "haunts" in the nation! So if I don't post again, you know what happened to us!
xoxo

Yes, I'm a Loser Baby...

WOW! I know I've been a total slacker when it comes to updating this thing, but a month? How pathetic is that? I'll try to do better - PROMISE! And a lot has actually happened in the last month, so here goes!


Labor Day Weekend
When I got back from Dallas after my flight fiasco, Matt and I went to New York City for Labor Day and had a great time. We got to stay at the Waldorf Astoria (not worth the money), went to a Yankees Game (last season at the Yankees Stadium), go to US Open (tennis), and lots of other cool stuff. As some of you know, Matt's family bleeds Ohio State, so since it was the first season of the year, we had to go to the OSU Alumni Watching Party at this cool bar called Tonic in Times Square. Being there just proved to me how better football (except high school) is up north. We walked in (I had a green & black dress on) and I was the ONLY person in there not in 1) OSU garb or 2) their team colors. It was amazing! We also found this really cool new area called the Meat Packing District that had some awesome restaurants and a fab roof-top bar at this hotel on the Hudson River. As much as NYC is a great place to visit, it made me love and appreciate DC that much more! Matt had a choice between DC & NYC, and thank goodness we're here! ONE NOTE: Their taxi's are WAY better than the system we have here in DC, they're SO CHEAP up there!


San Antonio
From New York, I had to move along to San Antonio for an annual conference that my industry has. For those of you who know the likes of Le Freak, I had them play at an event I put on one night. And I must say, I have the most awesome team working with me as they put up with me on lots of different levels, one of them being "dress up" for this crazy event. My thought: Since Le Freak dressed up, so were we! And that we did! It was a BLAST and everyone LOVED the band! From San Antonio I went back to Dallas for the weekend since I was so close and got to celebrate Amanda and Sam's birthday at the one and only Zuroma's. The sad thing is, the rest of the weekend, I barely left my mom's house. I was beat from traveling and took advantage of some much needed R&R at mommy's house!

Back to DC for a Few Days

So Matt & I were both in DC when we came back from Dallas and that week I got to take a tour of The Capitol which was VERY cool! I got to go through all the underground tunnels and sit in on the House Gallery as they had just gone back in session the day before so there was lots of activity. That week we also had tickets to see Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which I later found out is one of Matt's favorite plays. In true Shakespearean style, the entire case (male & female) were played by men. Needless to say, Matt wasn't all to thrilled with the fact Juliet was a man!!!!

Yinz Are In Stiller Country

The next weekend we headed to Pittsburgh to visit my family and go to my god-daughters 4th birthday party. That's one of the cool things about living up here...we're within driving distance of a LOT of places! Although, it rained on us from the minute we left DC until we pulled into my Uncle's place, and it was the MOST MISERABLE drive across the PA Turnpike in those conditions, 18-wheelers flying past us on soaking wet roads at 80 miles an hour! And as I'm sure you can imagine, I still have a MAJOR ISSUE with 18-wheelers. So what is that fear called? Anyway, Matt got to experience Amish Country, my family, the greatness of a Pirmanti Brothers Cap & Cheese sandwich, the beautiful shrine of Heinz Field (it will make anyone a Steelers fan) and the Italian ways of the Strip District on a Saturday morning. For a quick weekend trip, we had a great time, and the drive home was much better.

Brooke & Grace

Sarah Visits DC!!!!!!!!!!!

The next weekend leads us to Sarah's visit! Yet another trip that was way to short! We went out in DC on Friday night and hit up a wine bar we've been wanting to try and Matt took us to a Hookah bar in Dupont Circle where we enjoyed some mango hookah - and some good stuff it was! Saturday Sarah and I spent more than 4 hours on bikes riding along the Potomac into DC to see the sites as it's a great way to cover a lot of ground. However, your derriere does pay for it! That night we had a relaxing dinner at a local Mexican joint, enjoyed some wine on our patio and watched 27 Dresses. It was a GREAT girl's day! And that continued on Sunday! We woke up, went to a local dive for some breakfast, went to check out the new 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon and then headed out SHOPPING! We took the Metro to the top of King Street and shopped all the way down!

This is Einstein, the coolest, statue in DC!

And Now...

So that catches you up for the last month, and brings us to September 25 - my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday pops, wish I was there to celebrate with you! And today, here in the "Beltway", it's cold and rainy. And I thought I was going to love the winter, but my fingers sit here frozen as I type and I am really starting to think I may never leave this house come December???? Regardless, with all of this economic and financial craziness that going on, it's an exciting time to be here. I want to go sit on Capitol Hill and just watch the frenzy! AND - an election year? With one of the most interesting cast of characters in years??!! OHH - and Matt & I are going to the Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball in January put on by the Texas State Society, so we'll get to enjoy some quality "Texan" time!

And for you Cowboys fans, have no fear, the big topic here this week when the media actually takes a break from our financial breakdown is the Cowboys/Redskins game on Sunday! I've already told Matt I'll be sporting my Romo jersey ALL DAY LONG!

xoxo

P.S. - I TOTALLY FORGOT! I had the worst pedicure EVER earlier this week here in Alexandria...I have been on the hunt for a good place since I moved here and thought maybe I had found it. And how wrong was I! I'll spare you all the details on what made it so horrible, but leave you with this one tidbit: THEY USED PALMOLIVE dish soap to scrub my feet!

Ranch Hands

Well I finally made it to Dallas! Although, that entailed getting up at 3:30am on Saturday so I could try to catch a stand by flight at 6:00 am. I guess the benefit was, since it was so early, there were not only 60 seats open, but a first class seat with my name written all over it! Of course, I don't get to fly first class very often, so you can bet that even though it was 6:00 am, I was taking advantage of free drinks and I had myself a bloody mary. I needed to take that edge off from having made this mistake in the first place, right? Well, that's the story I was telling myself...

So onto the rest of the weekend! I encountered no further delays with my airline travel, in fact, my bag was the first one off the belt at baggage claim. Matt & Trent were picking me up, and AA was SO fast, that by the time I walked outside and called Matt, he was still buckling Trent in the car seat! How about that American Airlines!

We trek over to my dad's and meet Jo, Amanda, Gary, Liz & Dave and we all caravan up to "The Ranch". This ranch, as we'll refer to it, is located in Allen, OK and the biggest thing this town has going for it is the local Quick Pic (that's a "convenient store"). But the news in town is there are some new gas pumps going in across the street and the town folk are quite excited about this! In all seriousness though, this town, or at least the crowd my dad and Jo "run" with, are some of the best, nicest, most sincere and quality people you'll ever meet. Heck, they knew I moved to DC, heard I was coming in town, and they had a BBQ for us out-of-town visitors!

So what is life like on the ranch you ask? Basically, it entails two basic details:

1) Cold Beer
2) 4-wheelers

So, you load the cooler up with above, strap onto the other above, and off you go. 4-wheeling until your thumb and other 4 fingers on your right hand feel like they have arthritis worse than an 80 year old, hence why the beer is involved? You ride through the woods, truck through creeks, past the bones of deceased cows and oh yes! Manure patties EVERYWHERE! Anyway, it's the absolute best way to spend an afternoon. We fished a little, ate a little, shot a few guns, and drank and rode some more. And then later, after dinner, and a LOT more drinking, we did the absolute safest thing you can think of, we went for a night ride! But how can you not take advantage of a view of the stars like you have up there??!!

Trent of course, loving tractors like he does, enjoyed the brand-spankin' new John Deere more than the horse he "rode", the 4-wheeler he was on or the ponds stocked with fish and turtles. We got a lot of great pictures of him, and yes, I would be to blame for the really cute pants I picked up for him, that look more like man carpi's. Guess I didn't notice that was the hip style for guys in DC since that's where I got them? Seriously the tag said they're shorts, and I don't quite see how these things are shorts? Yet, the length just isn't long enough for jeans. Maybe that's why the greatness of H & M is so cheap?

Anyway you look at it, Matt & I are saving up to buy a few acres for a ranch of our own. Hey Grapevine Gang, instead of our own housing development, how about we go in on a ranch? KEYSTONE Ranch! Imagine what a cool brand we could come up with for the cattle we're going to have on it so we can write off the 4-wheelers and a few cars!!??




xoxo

MAJOR Mistake...

SO it's Friday night, and I SHOULD be sitting in seat 5C (yes, that's First Class) preparing for decent into DFW. What you ask, am I doing instead? Sitting at home, by myself, drinking a Yuengling (the only saving grace of the evening).

How does this happen? Well let me tell you ~ for as much as I travel, you would think I'd have made this mistake before. Nope, not me, I'm a savvy traveler, right? Matt and I have the prefect plan for this evening. We're both flying back to Dallas, but him out of Baltimore (two hour commute to the airport) via lovely Airtran Airlines, and me, out of Reagan (5 minute commute) via my fave, American Airlines. We were scheduled to meet up at the old hang out, Tap-In. I must say, I was looking quite forward to crawling in bed tonight smelling like smoke!

Anyway, Matt leaves before me to head to the airport. I finalize everything here, lock up and head down to the Metro. An enjoyable walk and 5 minute Metro ride later, I am at the airport walking up to self-service kiosk. YOU ARE UNABLE TO CHECK IN FOR YOUR FLIGHT THIS EARLY. PLEASE SEE AN AGENT. What? I ask myself...

I walk up to the agent, he looks at me and says, "this reservation is for tomorrow, Saturday, the 23rd". Well, I unfortunately, am not rolling in cash to have paid the $1,000 difference to get me back to TX tonight, so here I sit. STAND BY, I will be on your list at 5:00 am tomorrow and that first class seat better be waiting! ;-)

Onto happier notes! We've had a fun time since my last post.

1) G Love was playing in concert outside of DC and I begged my friend Libby who lives in Virgina Beach to drive up and go with me. She happily obliged, and was quite the trooper considering she had NO IDEA who she was going to see! We had GREAT seats & the temps were perfect. Besides the guy who was sitting near us who told us we could move down by him so we could see better, then told us if we weren't going to quit talking, we needed to move back to our own seats, all was well at Wolf Trap!

2) Matt's 30th Birthday was the 19th! I am now officially with an old man and he says he's waiting to walk in the door and have me tell him I'm leaving him for a younger man. To bad I love DC to much to do that! ;-) Anyway, I surprised him Tuesday night with a sail down the Potomac River. While it was a far cry from any type of luxury boat, we had the most fun time! The wind was decent, it cooled down and it was a great vantage point for the DC sites. We then had picnic dinner at a park on the river and I even baked my entirely made from scratch Italian Cream Cake. And no, my mom didn't make it! While it wouldn't have won much in the way of "beauty", I think I rocked it! It tasted great! Although Lisa, I think I need icing lessons!


Yum! Doesn't that look good? And Matt? I licked all the cream cheese icing off tonight after the airport debacle and then trashed the rest of the cake!

Oh yeah, somewhere in that time we went to a Nationals game, that's the baseball team here. It's their first season in the new ballpark (they suck though) which they have done a FAB job on. Imagine the Ballpark at Arlington, but aimed at our age and not families! Great park for having a few drinks, and a great view of the Capitol. However, just don't take a taxi home. That's a story I won't recount for the sake of Matt & I's relationship!

Another exciting travel story! I experienced my first "Tropical Storm"! I was in FL Tuesday and Wednesday driving from Jacksonville to Tallahassee right through Fay, and it SUCKED! Here's a picture of the weather as I was waiting for my plane to take off. Honestly, don't know how we did it, but that's why these pilots get paid the big bucks!

Love to all!
xoxo

Lovin' DC (and Andy Roddick)!

So not all that much happening up here besides continuing to try and get the house unpacked and feeling like home! We kicked so much butt the first weekend, and I'm kinda over it now. It's hard to get motivated to make those finishing touches, hence why no pictures have been sent out yet!

Besides that, the weather here has been BEAUTIFUL! I work with our windows open in the office, we've slept with the windows open, we eat outside, it's just beyond words! Matt bought a new bike because he is (starting this week) going to bike to and from work each day instead of taking the Metro. We decided on Saturday to make a test run for him to determine route, time & distance. So, it's probably 10 miles door to door and about 45 minutes to an hour depending on wind. The great thing is, you ride along the Potomac River the entire way, cross the bridge into DC and then you're riding along the monuments, so it's a great way to start the morning. Of course, a lot of these monuments I haven't seen yet so I was all excited to take pictures. We're standing in front of the Washington Monument, pull out my camera, and power on, go to take the picture, and the battery dies! I was floored! Guess I'll have to ride to work with him one day!

The rest of the weekend we went furniture shopping looking for a couch for the living room. My red couch doesn't quite work sine the walls are green, it might look a little like Christmas!

Beyond that, we've been walking to King Street for some good eats (and drinks) and have a Mexican restaurant that rivals home, Austin Grill.

The US Open tennis tournament also made a stop in DC this week, so we bought tickets a few weeks ago for Tuesday night's match. Yesterday morning we were excited to learn Andy Roddick was scheduled to play, and actually got some great pictures of him, and he's a cutie in person!

Until next time...love to all!
xoxo