The fastest January ever

If I had the time or energy or brain-power these days to write regular blog posts, I would have told you about a lot of things that happened in January. Believe it or not, things happened besides the birth of my son (and that in itself is a weird sentence to write!). The baby was born at the beginning of the month, and plenty happened after that. Let's see...

The week the baby was born was also the week of my birthday! We took a trip to Target (big deal!) and I cashed in my birthday reward from Starbucks (venti - win, decaf - sad) and then celebrated with pizza, salad, and ice cream cake with my family and some friends. I finished the night cuddling with a very snuggly newborn. It was wonderful. It took me until last week to realize that I turned 29 - I never really had time to process that or the fact that I will turn 30 next year!! Yikes. I'm already planning a joint birthday party for me and the baby - perhaps a walking and wine theme, anyone? Sounds good to me!

My poor cat with psychological issues, my "original baby," developed an ear infection and then an ear hematoma (it's gross, don't google it!), and had to have surgery and stay the night at the vet. He is currently wearing an "Elizabethan" collar for another week and it's likely that all the work we've done to normalize him and get him to trust and love us over the last few years will be completely undone by the combination of bringing a baby home and having surgery. Sigh. 

C and I had our first date since the baby was born! Last weekend, we went to visit my in-laws, and we decided to get takeout for dinner. We bravely left the baby with his grandparents (who were MORE than happy to let that happen), and enjoyed an hour of alone time with beers and an appetizer while waiting for our dinner order to be prepared. It was a little bit horrible and a lot wonderful. We definitely needed the time to recharge our "couple" batteries! 

My mom came to help out while she had some snow days, and over the course of two days, she insisted that I not only shower, but go get a pedicure and dye my hair. (Not in a mean way, of course - just in the "you need to take care of you" way.) I am now rocking some freshly painted tootsies, and I've hidden all my gray hairs for at least a couple of weeks. It was very refreshing!

We survived the Blizzard of 2016. Winter Storm Jonas dumped over a foot of snow in our area, and more than two feet in other places! The area essentially shut down for a week, believe it or not. The baby could not have cared less about his first experience with snow. Poor C had to do all our shoveling on his own, as my C-section recovery kept me from being able to help. Obviously, I felt horrible about that... We cooked a lot, watched a lot of Netflix, and snuggled a lot. It was also really nice when the world started turning again and we were able to get back to real life!

As per usual for Virginia, we followed a blizzard with a couple of days of 60 degree weather. I took advantage by getting out the stroller and going for a couple of walks around the block. Fresh air for the baby (and me) and a little very, very light exercise for me - much needed all around. I won't be cleared to exercise for at least 3 more weeks and it's kind of making me crazy. I am antsy to get moving again. I'm not sure how I'm going to work going to the actual gym into life right now (it's 20 minutes away with traffic, so an hour workout actually takes almost 2 hours... Don't think I have time for that at the moment!) so I am already trying to plan some at-home workouts and highly anticipate getting back to running. It's been a long time!!

Needless to say, January was gone in the blink of an eye. So many fun things happened, and it was an adventure to experience them with a newborn! We are slowly acclimating to life as a party of three. It's a little overwhelming, but gets better every day. I'm hoping that February will bring us a bit more normalcy and routine (and maybe a smidge more sleep) as we continue adjusting. We've got a few fun things planned, and I can't wait!

Travel Tales: Rodanthe, NC

We spent last week in Rodanthe, NC, with C's family for our annual beach trip. It was a really relaxing week, and we had such a nice time. Given all the shark-related incidents lately, I didn't want a whole lot to do with the beach itself (but then, I never really do) but I was perfectly happy to spend my time in the pool and in the air conditioning!

In the past, it's seemed like there have been many more "activities" with the family throughout the week, but this year, with three little ones and two more on the way, there was much more downtime and relaxation. Totally fine by me! A week of decompression was just what the doctor ordered, and we took full advantage of the plan to have no plans.

Mostly, that meant reading (finished this and this), napping, late lunches, puzzles, and floating in the pool. That is my kind of vacation! We stayed at the same house that we stayed at two years ago, and it was kind of funny to be back and see everything the same. We had breakfast two different mornings at one of our favorite local joints, Atlantic Coast Cafe, and of course the whole family went to Top Dog for our annual lunch. Traditions that involve food are my favorite.

As if vacation wasn't enough fun, we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday while we were there, and I took advantage of the opportunity to make dessert... yellow cake with whipped cream and berries was so refreshing and delicious.

One morning, we went fishing at the Rodanthe Pier. This mostly involved C fishing and me watching, but I did manage to accidentally catch a fish. How is that possible? Well, I was posing with the fishing pole so C could take my picture like I was really doing something... and next thing I know, there was a fish tugging on the line!! NOT how I planned it... oops! C also "caught" a stingray, which was the craziest thing - more like, it was HUGE and it caught him, because it was way stronger than he was! I caught a glimpse of it flying through the water and it was massive. It took his line almost all the way out and then snapped it, and got away with his hooks and anchor and everything else on the line. I've never seen anything like it! That was enough adventure for one day, by far.

Another day, C and I went for a drive and ended up all the way down at Hatteras, so we had lunch at The Billfish, which we discovered last year, and went shopping for some souvenirs. It is always nice to spend a little one-on-one time with just the two of us when we are spending the week in a house with 15 people. We needed some time away! A lunch date was a great way to spend the afternoon.

C and I spent a lot of time with our niece, "practicing" - in fact, C, changed his very first diaper, ever. Makin' moves! We really could not stop looking at each other and thinking / saying, "this time next year, we will have a 7-month-old baby!!" It doesn't seem possible. Crazy to think this was our last summer vacation as the two of us, and that next year we will be a party of three! It will be here before we know it, and vacations will never be the same, will they? At least next year I will be able to enjoy an adult beverage while beaching - this year was a little DRY (puns... ha).

Overall, we had an amazing time, and we capped off our trip with a stop to Morris Farms for farm-fresh tomatoes and peaches, which I've been enjoying for breakfast, lunch, and dinner this year. Really good produce is just that - really good. Such a delicious souvenir to bring home and keep the vacation-vibe going. I loved our trip and the beach is one of my happy places, but I have to admit, sleeping in my own bed on Saturday night sure felt good. There is no place like home!

Birthday Boy

Check out my guest post at My Freckled Life today - I'm giving some tips for bringing "baby meals" to new mamas!

Today is a very special day - it's my sweet husband's birthday! 

Happy, happy birthday to the guy who has been making me 

open-mouthed, scrunch-faced smile for years. I love you so much! 

(also, Throwback Thursday Wednesday to a couple outtakes from our engagement photos... such babies we were.)

The Boy Who Lived (at the theater)

I mentioned on Friday that we were celebrating C's birthday on Saturday, and that I'd planned a surprise outing for him. The man is notoriously hard to shop for, and even harder to surprise - so I was pretty excited that I actually managed to pull this one off!

We woke up and did some housecleaning on Saturday morning before getting ready to head to the city. Traffic was not on our side, and we were starving by the time we reached Pentagon City, where we planned to catch the metro the rest of the way. Enter plan adjustment #1. We opted for a quick, delicious lunch at Nando's Peri-Peri - C's first time there, and a great one. So good.

Once full, we hopped on the metro and went into the city. I planned for us to go to a museum for a few hours as we always talk about going to them but never want to come back to the city on the weekends after spending the week here! We headed towards the museums of Natural History and American History...  But as we walked we realized we were seeing LONG lines of hot, sweaty tourists waiting to get into each museum.  Umm, thanks but no thanks. Enter plan adjustment #2. We opted instead for a bit of bar-hopping for the afternoon, and ended up having a lovely time in a cool, dark bar watching the Orioles game on TV. Not bad considering how hot and muggy it was! 

Around 4, we headed off for the main attraction of the day, and the real surprise: a showing of Potted Potter at the Shakespeare Theater! C had no idea that was the plan, and knew nothing about the show, so he was interested and excited to see what it was all about.

Potted Potter "takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books (and a real life game of Quidditch) into seventy hilarious minutes." I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I was hoping for some good laughs as it's gotten lots of glowing reviews. Let me tell you - we laughed the entire show! The two actors were so great, and they were hilarious - interacting with the audience, not taking themselves too seriously, and putting on a great show. We loved it! I may or may not have laughed until I had tears in my eyes... it was just so good. C & I are both HP lovers (C moreso than myself) and we thought it was a really well-done parody of our beloved books. I'm so glad I picked up tickets - it was a wonderful event for us!

We followed the show with dinner at Matchbox, a DC favorite that C had never experienced. We split the arancini appetizer (to die for) and a spicy meatball pizza - so delicious and so filling. I really wanted to get dessert, since it was C's birthday celebration, but by the time we were finished eating, I don't think we could have managed another bite, even of anything sweet.

The drive home was a bit of a disaster, given that we were traveling through some of the worst weather I have ever experienced. It was raining so hard we could barely see the cars in front of us on the highway, and there were several times we were driving under 20 mph with our emergency flashers on. As it turned out, there was a small tornado in the area right around the time we were driving through, and a house on my parents' street was struck by lightning... talk about terrifying! Luckily, C got us home safe and sound, and we managed to avoid any major catastrophes. Birthday surprise & celebration, successful!

What was the last theater performance you saw? Birthday surprises: good or bad? Is your significant other easy to shop for, or hard like mine? I can never think of anything good... 

Anniversary Time-Travel

For our anniversary, I gifted C with a night at a hotel in one of our favorite "quick getaway" towns: Williamsburg! A little time traveling is always a good adventure. I flew home from Detroit on Friday morning, and then had just enough time for a quick lunch and to throw some clean clothes in a new bag and grab my toothbrush before we were out the door again. I was afraid I would be too exhausted from the business trip to be much fun, but it turned out to be absolutely perfect. We had all of Friday evening and Saturday to spend being tourists, and then had all day on Sunday at home to get caught up on house and life things. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary, and I'm so glad I bit the bullet and booked the trip, because we'd been talking about it without committing for a while. Why the heck not!

Once C found out where we were going, he did a little research, and decided that we should finally do a Tavern Ghost Walk in Colonial Williamsburg. We checked into the hotel and then headed to the historic part of town for a walking tour by lantern, complete with real accounts of ghostly activity at some of the most well-known locations in the area.

It was goofy and fascinating... definitely got my gears grinding. I don't think I believe in ghosts, per say, but I do believe in souls hanging around. Does that make sense?

 

After our tour, we decided on dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in the area: Food for Thought. Can't recommend it enough if you find yourself looking for a good meal! The owner was in the house on Friday night, and stopped by our table to wish us a happy anniversary - so sweet. We had a fabulous meal, just as we always do there, and completed the evening by popping open a bottle of champagne from Old House back in the room & toasting with our wedding flutes. Three years down, so many more to come!

Blurry and dark, but then again, we were on a ghost tour... so that's what you get.

 

Saturday was a quintessential fall day in Virginia - blue skies, sunshine, crisp breeze, colorful leaves. We made the most of the weather and wandered around Colonial Williamsburg and the surrounding shops. There was a Farmers' Market going on, and a reenactment taking place in the center of town. Plenty to see and do! We grabbed sandwiches from The Cheese Shop and sat outside on the patio to enjoy them. A quick detour to the Yankee Candle shop left with me two new candles for the house (I had a coupon! Sorry not sorry) and, at the last minute, we decided to check out the Williamsburg Winery, which we've heard lots about but never been to. Time to try it!

 

 

We did a tasting to see what we liked (there was a white and a red that were very nice, and a spiced wine that I bought a bottle of and can't wait to turn into gluhwein!), and then decided to check out the Gabriel Archer Tavern for a glass of one of our favorites. Sitting at the bar, watching the hustle and bustle of the lunch crowd, was a lovely way to kill some time. Once we decided that we couldn't delay any further, we hopped in the car and headed home to our kitties. This was their first overnight alone since we got Toby! They did splendidly - the only casualty was a bag of corn tortillas that had been left on the counter. Apparently, Toby was in the mood for Mexican food... who could blame him?

I know it probably sounds silly to say that we needed to recharge our marriage a little bit - I know, we don't have kids yet, we work the same hours, blah blah blah... but really, we did need it. Work has been draining me lately, we've gotten into a meal rut, the chores are piling up around the house. It felt so nice to take some time away together, without anyone but the two of us, and go on an adventure with no agenda. We did whatever we want, when we wanted it, and just enjoyed some quality time together. A night away from home to focus on each other was just what we needed. The last three years have been so wonderful - I can't wait to see what year four brings us!

And now I'm ready for lunch... OBX eats!

Hello, hello! Long time, no chat. My post-vacation mind melt finally seems to be clearing - my brain is starting to work again!

We spent last week down at Cape Hatteras with C's family, enjoying the annual family beach trip. We had so much fun, and spent plenty of time relaxing, eating, and soaking up sun (on the days when it wasn't pouring rain!). It is always a treat to be able to take some time away and disconnect from real life. On the other hand, it sure is hard to come back and get the gears turning again! So I'm slowly getting everything going again and returning to real life.

Since we all know that most of my daily life revolves around food (when is lunch?), you can only imagine how much I enjoy indulging while on vacation. C's family is great about cooking meals all week while we are at the beach, but we do take some time to enjoy local restaurants, too. In fact, one of the things that C and I like BEST about vacationing in the OBX area is the endless supply of non-chain restaurants - there is always something new to try, and we've discovered some time-tested favorites, as well. We get such a kick out of trying local joints and hole-in-the-wall places - you'd be amazed at the local treasures that get discovered when we make a wrong turn or randomly decide to walk into a new place for a drink.

In case any of my darling readers ever find themselves in the Hatteras area, I thought I'd share a little bit about three local places we ate at last week and loved. Maybe you'll get a chance to go there, too!

Billfish Bar & Grill

We went to the Billfish on a whim on a rainy afternoon for lunch - we were driving around with C's parents looking for somewhere to eat, and C said "turn here!" without really knowing where we were. As it turned out, it was perfect!

When we walked in around noon, we were one of just a few tables with patrons - but as we ate, we noticed that the place was getting totally packed. By the time we were done with lunch, just about every table was full!

The food was delicious, the waitress was sweet, and the beer was cold. For lunch, I went with that day's special: fish and chips, made with freshly-caught local cod. It was fantastic! A light, flaky beer batter coating a big filet of fish (without being way too much), crispy fries, and a side of homemade coleslaw. I ate every bite! Had we had a chance to get out for lunch again, we wouldn't have hesitated to eat here twice.

Top Dog Cafe

You might remember me mentioning Top Dog before... this was not our first time there. Lunch at Top Dog is one of our family traditions - it's a must! The burgers speak for themselves, of course, but the rest of the menu is pretty amazing, too. Top Dog is super casual and beachy, with plastic tables and chairs and Corona buckets on the table full of condiments and spare napkins. It's really a no-nonsense place, too, which I like - they don't do special orders, they don't do substitutions... just order something and enjoy it. And we do!

This is our 4th picture like this! Creatures of habit.

The trek to this cafe was a bit longer for us this year since we were further down the coast, but no one batted an eye when we said we still had to go. I remembered salivating over the fish tacos when someone else ordered them last year, so that's what I went with this year!

Huge pieces of Mahi are wrapped in soft flour tortillas, then topped with cool, crunchy, diced cabbage and warm, melty cheddar. A side of pico de gallo adds some freshness, and the key lime sauce that comes on the side is killer. My mouth is watering at this very moment. Dang!

Breakwater Restaurant

C & I went to Breakwater for our date night, and it was a very pleasant surprise! We had no idea what to expect, but it was a really nice location for a date. We were seated at a table on their back deck, and enjoyed dinner while watching the sun go down over the sound. It was gorgeous!

The food was great, too. (no food pictures here - it was date night, after all! Phones away :) )We splurged a bit - we had drinks and an appetizer (the Firecracker Shrimp, which we delicious, but I could have used a little less sauce), and then ordered our entrees. C went with the Filet Oscar, and was delighted to find that it came topped with a ton of crab meat and then a béarnaise sauce, rather than a sauce with a little crab in it like he's had before (does that make sense?).

I had the Catch of the Day - Snapper, which I ordered blackened (yum). I really, really wanted to try their homemade Key lime pie for dessert, but couldn't have eaten another bite if you'd paid me. We always cherish our date night while on vacation, and Breakwater was a fantastic location for some alone time. We recommended it to the rest of the family, too!

Now that I've officially made myself hungry AND sad that we are no longer on vacation... hope you enjoyed reading about some of the places we ate last week! My seafood-loving-self was in heaven. I definitely took full advantage of the local offerings - and loved every minute of it.

So tell me...

• Have you been to Hatteras or the Outer Banks? Have you tried any of these restaurants?
• Do you cook on vacation, or go out to eat for every meal?
• Do you stay safe with chain restaurants, or experiment with local joints?

Birthday shenanigans

Yesterday was my darling husband's 27th birthday - we're the same age again! To celebrate, we both took the day off, and spent almost the entire day completely work-free! (A minor miracle.) I surprised him with cupcakes and some other treats before breakfast - I firmly believe that everyone should have cake on their birthday.

I told C that we could spend our day of "hooky" doing anything he wanted to do - my only wish for the day was to spend it together and have fun! He decided that he wanted to go to a movie and go bowling... so off we went!

We joined lots of parents with kiddos for a matinee showing of How to Train Your Dragon 2 - and I'm not at all embarrassed to say that we loved it! The first HTTYD is one of our favorite animated movies, and we were excited to have a chance to see the second one at the theater. It was such a cute movie, and a treat to be at the actual theater instead of waiting for it to come to Redbox!

After the movie, we ventured to Splitsville, the bowling alley next door, for a couple of games. Once again, we were probably the only adults there without kids... but we didn't care!

We were thrilled to discover that they offer $2 bowling on Tuesdays - if you can't find us on a random Tuesday after this, you know where we'll be! We both like bowling, but rarely go... I don't know why. More bowling is in our future! This particular bowling alley is considered "luxury lanes," and is beautiful inside! Each set of lanes has a designated waiter or waitress to bring you anything you'd like to order from their amazing menu and / or bar, and there are flat screen TVs all over the place showing other sports and TV shows. It was so much fun!

Why yes... I do own my own bowling shoes!

Look at that form... :)

We made a quick pit stop to the mall so I could take advantage of Bath and Body Works's semi-annual sale (gimme all the candles!) and then we followed that with a beer at one of our favorite watering holes, Park Lane Tavern. Dinner last night was take-out from Castiglia's, a local Italian restaurant that we love, and we concluded the day by lounging on the couch, flipping back and forth between a movie on FX and the Nationals game. Just the way my sweet husband likes it! C said that this was one of his favorite birthdays in recent memory... I'd say the day was a success!

Happy birthday, my love!

Boys Behind the Blog: The Grand Finale

While I was falling down on the blogging job, I was missing out on a few of my favorite things - one of which was the Boys Behind the Blog link-up! For the past year, Stephanie & Mal have been providing the questions and link-up for one of the most fun bloggy things around, and C & I have loved participating. I am sad to say that we didn't get our act together to answer the questions for the last two months, and now Mal & Steph have decided to end the link-up. Womp, womp.

Never fear. Even though C's official duties are over, I decided that we should play this little game at least one more time. Link up over or no, we are back for the May edition of Boys Behind the Blog. I couldn't possibly let C miss out on his grand finale! Without further adieu... my darling husband shall take it away.

1. What was your first job? 

I didn't get my first job until the summer after high school graduation because SPORTS (that got me so far), but it's funny to talk to my friends about their pre-driving summer jobs because they're all so proud over their time in the hot dog stand at the pool or busing tables at some shitty burger joint. Oooh, and the kids who got Dad to let them file papers in his office (I'm white-collaring all over that stack, bro. LOOGITMEGO).

Anyway, I was a professional tile mechanic, and that was a stupid choice. I wasn't terrible at it, but it was so freaking hot all the time. We were residential, and usually got into the house just after duct work, so it was dusty and cramped and hot as hell. We had thermometers in the bathrooms (glorified closets) to make sure the temperature didn't get over 130. If it did, we got to take a fan from the warehouse.

Also, my buddy Nelson got deported like three weeks before I quit, so that sucked. He's back now though, so it's cool.

2. What is the biggest risk you've ever taken? 

Virginia Tech. Like I said above, sports. All the schools we could afford have excellent athletics. All the schools that wanted me were crazy expensive. Honestly, I applied to JMU and VT two weeks late, and only because they were my two options if absolutely nothing worked out. Spoiler alert: they didn't.

Anyway, I had never been to Tech. I knew nothing about the school outside of the football team, and even then, I was kind of a UVA fan in high school (so naive). Needless to say, I wasn't really looking forward to college. Too many people, too few friends, too far away from home.

All that being said, VT gave me a wife, two best men, three other groomsman, and tons of great experiences along the way. I'd say it panned out.

3. What is one thing you can't live without? 

DANGER QUESTION, PLEASE AVOID LANDMINES. I don't like to get emotional on consecutive questions, so we're going with fantasy sports. What a beautiful waste of time. Really, I can't live without our football draft. We've had it during a hurricane (IRENE!!!). We've had it on a bachelor party (do not ever, seriously ever, do that). We even had to convince our non-sportsy friend to have it at his house because (definitely do that) because it didn't work anywhere else.

My buddies and I don't often hang out with a purpose, and that leads to chaos. We love to bitch at each other, argue, fight about nothing, and what's a better medium for all of that than football? It's all arbitrary, but it gives us a documented avenue to prove that we're smarter than our idiot friends. It's wonderful.

4. What is your least favorite food? 

Hi, I'm Charlie, and I'm a picky eater. Everybody say hi now. I'll try anything, but there really are just foods that I don't like. Green peppers, mushrooms, most olives, fruit hidden in desserts, walnuts (just found out I'm allergic; whoooop, never have to eat those again), quinoa, tomatoes, pickles, cabbage, etc. Anyway, I've had all of those things in various forms. They either don't taste good or they're slimey or gritty or disgusting in some other way. Sue me.

5. If you could time travel, where / when would you go? 

Can I come back from whenever? Because if not, then heeeeells no. I get pissed off if I have to use LTE for Pandora, so I'm assuming that I would not do well in past generations.

Also, do I have a participate in history, or am I just viewing it like it's a History Channel Pensieve? If I have to participate, then nope, I'm staying put. I don't want to get accidentally scooped up into the Roman legion or catch the plague or go island hopping in WW2. That sounds unfun.

But at the same time, it would be cool to talk to Da Vinci (I don't speak Italian) or young-Vonnegut (don't do enough drugs). Still though, it would be cool to see how certain events really played out. That's some mighty-fine wine you got there, Jesus. It was really watered-down earlier. I could get into that.

I think know that C has really enjoyed exercising his creative-writing muscles via this link-up, and we are both sad to see it go. That said, I think he will be popping in spontaneously here and there to write his own posts... this whole blogging thing really isn't so bad ;)

So tell me...

• Are there any link-ups you've participated in that have ended that you've really missed?
• Do you have any questions that you'd like to see C answer? He does love to make people laugh... the better the question, the better the answer!
• Any topics you'd like to see covered by my darling husband?

Sneaking in a day-date

Little-known fact: C and I work in office buildings that are directly across the street from each other. We spend all-day-er'ry-day separated by the distance of a few football fields. People often tell me that this is great and ask if we eat lunch together every day or get coffee all the time... and the surprising answer is that no, we actually do not. And that's intentional! We commute together 2x a day, spend all evening together, and spend the weekends together. We have made a conscious decision to keep our work lives separate, because, for heaven's sakes, there is such a thing as too much time with your spouse. We need time to be individuals!

There is definitely a perk, though, to being able to run across the street for a phone charger when I forget mine, or demanding a coffee break when I'm having a particularly frustrating day. It doesn't happen very often, though, so that makes it a treat when it does occur.

Yesterday, though, we broke the mold and decided to have a real-live lunch date! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we decided to take advantage of that and walk over to Chop't for salads (I am in love with Chop't - I want one in my living room.) It was refreshing to get away from the office for a bit (very rare for me as I almost always bring my lunch) and spend a little QT with my hubby in the middle of the day. I'd forgotten how much fun that can be! It's also pretty neat to see all the sites that are laying right outside our office buildings - I forget that these are things people actually travel here to visit and see! No big deal, just walking past the Nation's Capitol building on our way to lunch...! :)