Oh yes, Mr. Smith's 32nd birthweek.
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Zeke's birthday treat: Stand up comedy show at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse.
Comedy show by Tom Snyder, proceeds went to Phoenix Bikes, |
Then, entire East Coast was hit by a megastorm which caused rolling blackouts.
Saturday morning: double date with Kyle & Britt for the AT&T National golf tourney benefitting the Tiger Woods Foundation.
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The storms cleared, top down, beautiful day.
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Driving to the tourney in Bethesda.
Outlook: Not so good. |
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| Yikes. |
We drove to the Bethesda to find out that the tournament was closed to all spectators. What do we do instead? Drink all day at the pool, duh.
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Someone bro'd out hardcore....
*Disclaimer- he's not our friend |
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Continued the party on our patio with good Bourbon and cigars.
{Does that make us old?} |
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| Go KJ. It's Zeke Birthday. |
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Late night rap star session
Ok... maybe we're not old. But are we ghetto?? |
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| Hype woman |
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| Perfect score on "Gin and Juice"... definitely a little ghetto. |
Sunday- made the trek back to Bethesda- game on! Nothing like 103 degree heat to kick off my 29th birth week.
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| Golf bunnies |
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| One of Zeke's bday presents: Grey Goose tent passes |
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| Stalked Tiger- got a great front row spot at the tee box on the 4th hole |
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| Tiger. NBD. |
For the 4th, we hung out with some of our Halstead pool friends and did a big group bbq. We had everything covered- ribs, sausage, potato salad, hotdogs, CORN DIP. I made a few pitchers of Grey Goose raspberry lemonade... deeeeelicious!
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| Happy 4th! |
I went back to work on the 5th thinking it would be a regular day, just like any other. Little did I know... my BFF Tara surprised me at P Brennan's! Best birthweek ever.
Then... another surprise arrived!!
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| Sheena! |
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| H-O-T |
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| This is what happens when you let us out of the cage. |
Friday, I
stumbled out of bed awoke to a surprise from Mr. Smith. He emailed my boss in advance and asked for the day off, and planned a fun filled day for me & the ladies in DC. {He's just the best thing ever :) }
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| First stop: Breakfast at Bob and Edith's |
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| Second stop: DC Segway Tour! |
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| Gettin' our roll on. |
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| 3rd stop: Witness protection program pic of drinks at POV. |
We headed home to change, and little did I know, my 3rd and final surprise was waiting for me!
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| Poppa Bear!! Officially the best birthday ever. |
On my actual birthday, I tri-hosted hosted a b-day celebration at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia with two of my co-workers. Believe it or not, East Cost peeps float the river, too! We chartered
Keg Bus to take 30 of us to/from the river. It also happened to be the hottest day of the year... 108 degrees! We had a blast though. I didn't get many pics... photography fail :(
This really was he BEST birthday ever. Zeke never ceases to amaze me :) And to Sheens, T, and Poppa Bear- you guys have no idea how much that weekend meant to me. You really are the best friends imaginable.
The following week, me & a few LivingSocial peeps volunteered at
Miriam's Kitchen in DC. It was an awesome experience! I love cooking, and I love doing something tangible to help those in need, so this was the perfect way to do my good deed for the week and give back. Miriam's is such an amazing organization... they feed tens of thousands of chronically homeless people each month.
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My contribution: a crap ton of relish.
{My hands also smelled like picked beets and carrots for 2 days. Eek.} |
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| Liz mixing up the pancake batter. |
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| Making some Tang. |
The following weekend, I flew to Houston to say goodbye to someone near and dear to me. My grandpa {Dad's dad} unexpectedly passed away just before Memorial Day. We did a delayed service so that all of our family and friends could be there. It was a wonderful weekend and the memorial was beautiful... I'm sure he was smiling down on us all :)
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| Good omen :) |
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| Awesome board that my cousin Jaymie made. |
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| Spent some quality time with the Jerden Cousins :) |
Sunday, Mama J gave me the best birthday card EVER.
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| She is SO my mom ;) |
Jess drove out to Humble and we did some shopping, then cooked my fam a gourmet dinner complete with lamb chops, mushroom risotto, and foil pack veggies. Can you say DELICIOUS???
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| The chefs |
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| So simple and delish... olive oil, S&P, a few drops of Worchestire sauce, and fresh rosemary. |
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| Jess was the risotto captain... |
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| While Papa J drank beer ;) |
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| And grilled |
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| Finished product! |
Each time I leave, it gets harder and harder. I know, I say this all the time, but Houston will always be home. We love it here, but nothing can replace the most amazing friends and family in the world. Oh, the cost of living also helps ;)
Totally off-subject, but you know how random things always happen to me?? Here is a perfect example. I'm home, minding my own business, and I get this text from a random number.
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| No note, just the awesome 'stache. |
And these gems followed shortly after...
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| Sounds like I missed a PARTY! |
Moving along...
One of the perks of being a P Brennan's regular is the great folks you meet. We have become pretty good friends a really fun couple, Kristen and Marc. 2 weekends ago, they invited us {and the rowdy PB's bunch} to watch the Nationals vs. the Braves from the Lincoln Suite at the Nats Staduim.
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| Not too shabby, eh? |
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| The P Brennan's Crew |
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| Lauren & Mike came in from Baltimore to hang. |
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| With Siobhan and Ally- my faves! |
The following week, I was once again reminded that I work 2 blocks from the White House. {You really do forget sometimes}. During the middle of the work day, we heard a ton of commotion outside of our windows, so we ran over to see what the deal was. Lo and behold- it was the National AIDS March on Washington.
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| Thousands of people showed up to protest lack of the support they feel they are receiving. |
Last week, the Olympics kicked off!
To celebrate, my whole team rocked USA inspired gear, and once again, no one got a pic. Photo fail #2 for this post. The same day, we also celebrated a birthday for LaRae, one of my favorite coworkers. We attended a Sippin' & Paintin' class at
918 F Street, LivingSocial's live event space that's open to the public. We didn't know which painting they would choose to talk us through, so this is what we found when we arrived:
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| Meh... not my style. |
The COOLEST part about this painting class is that you can either follow along with the class {and paint the boring tree}, or you can pick your own picture! LaRae was leaving for St. John the following week to celebrate her big 3-0, so she wanted to get in the Caribbean spirit by painting a beach scene. She found another painting that she liked, so she used it as guide.
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| Is that a palm tree... or a ____... ?? Perv! |
I'm always in the Caribbean spirit, so I wanted to tackle one of my favorite pics ever... "my happy place". Zeke took this of me in Belize, and it's by far one of my favorite memories. Since I've done... HMMMM... 5 of these painting & wine classes, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself and try to replicate it.
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| The actual pic |
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| My painted version! |
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| Out finished products! |
And there you have it... July in a nutshell!
August started on Monday, and Mr. Smith and I have hopped back on the healthy wagon. He is training for the
Gran Fondo, a 106 mile bike ride in Virginia, and I'm... well... trying to lose 10 lbs. I know college football season is around the corner, and all we do is eat bar food & drink beer, so I'm being proactive and trying to lose weight so that I can gain weight. Make sense?
Thanks to our new found addiction to the show
Master Chef {so good!} and Pinterest, my cooking flame has been re-ignited. Here are some pics of the healthy, low carb magic that happened in the Smith Kitchen last week:
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| Sunday: Pan seared tilapia with oven roasted cauliflower |
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| Monday: Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa |
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| Tuesday: Garlic Shrimp with Sauteed Veggies |
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| Wednesday: Oven Roasted Salmon with a Red Wine reduction, sauteed veggies |
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Thursday: Date night at Twisted Vines.
Every chef deserves a night off ;) |
I'll do a separate post about this weekend... I got in one of my manic modes {that Zeke just loves} and I made him rearrange everything we made huge progress on the apartment. The study is unpacked, so you can actually walk through the room without hurdling over boxes. The place has shaped up nicely, I really do love it :)
It's late here, so I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams!
