Too good for one post

This was definitely one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Too good to document in just one post. So, instead, I'll do a post for each day.

Day one was really just arriving in Canaan Valley. We made very good time, and arrived by 1800. Plenty of time to unwind and enjoy a nice, quiet evening.

We stayed in the Royale Cabin,

which, I think, is laid out nicer than the other cabins.

We made ourselves at home right away - you gotta love a cabin that has a wine rack all ready for me to stash my wine.
Even the yarn enjoyed the cabin. It had to move around a bit to decide which position it liked best. In the end, it decided it liked the pedestal - a place of honor it felt was well deserved.

Plus, it has a great view of the barn right outside the window. You know how we love barns.

After settling in, we sat out on the porch in the rockers,

chatting for a bit before retiring out to the jacuzzi, and eventually topping off the evening with a yummy steak dinner, some sparkling wine, and desserts somewhat smooshed from the trip down, but still 'lishy (SigO talk for delicious). A nice peaceful start to an exciting weekend.

More tomorrow.

Field Trip

Friday, one of my coworkers suggested we spend lunch strolling the grounds of Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. An excellent suggestion as the day was beautiful and it's always nice to get out of the office for a minute.

Here are some pictures of the gardens.

The bell of Peace and Harmony donated by the Koreans:

From Afar
Really, really close

Dragon head on top.

There were some incredible peonies in bloom - and we all know I have a soft spot for peonies.

For a while, we stood out on a deck in the middle of the lake and watched the turtles and koi swim around. This is the view from the deck.

Then we headed over to the kiddie garden - that I couldn't play in, cuz I had to go back to poopy old work and I would have gotten all dirty. Poo.

On the way out, and back to the grind, we passed this miniature garden. Way cool.

We've all sworn we're going to do this again soon, but I suspect it will take Dario to get us out there again. Go, Dario, Go!!

New River

Well, we got to go White Water Rafting again this year. I didn't sit in the front like I did last time, and it's not nearly as breathtaking.

Next time, I'm definitely back up front.
Once again, we managed to stay in the boat the entire time, although SigO did his best to go for a swim. The boat tipped up on the side we were sitting on and I was sure we were going over. SigO had a special little moment with the guy sitting next to him at the front of the boat. After they were done making out, SigO pulled him back into the boat and we were back on our way.

After we were finished braving Class III - V rapids, we rushed back to the cabin and jumped in the jacuzzi with an ice-cold Stella. It really doesn't get much better than that.

And now, to the irony. After surviving the "dangerous" rapids, we went to Pies & Pints on a recommendation for dinner. We had planned on eating there, but there was a girl at a nearby table who could have shattered glass with the shrillness of her voice. We were both ready for some peace and quiet, so we took our pizza to go and headed back to the cabin. By this time, it had been raining for about 30 minutes, and it was coming down pretty steady. Naturally, not only did I not want to get wet, but I didn't want the pizza to get wet either, so we rushed up to the door as quickly as I could hobble on this knee, and sure enough, my feet slid out from underneath me on the slick wood of the deck. My right leg went flailing out and I came crashing down on my left knee. Fun times. Isn't it just the way that I survive Class V rapids, but can't survive a trip across a 10foot deck.

The knee is fine. Never fear. It stung pretty good for a while there though.

We came home the next day and started cleaning up the house that we had left messy in our haste to get outta Dodge. And wouldn't you know it, first the dishwasher refused to drain and started leaking into our newly refurbished kitchen. Then our washing machine overflowed the sink drain and water went rushing all over the laundry room. Nothing like home sweet home huh?

I think SigO summed it up best when he pointed out that "Logistics Of Life" has the same acronym as "Laughing Out Loud".

Appropriately so.

Spoils of MS&W

What a great weekend!
First, Anya and I were both a bit trepidatious about our knees holding up for an 18 mile bike ride, but not only did we both hold up just fine, we both decided we needed to do more of it, because our knees felt better afterwards. And it couldn't have been a better day for a ride. Beautiful weather, beautiful friends, sexy boyfriend...oops, sorry - back on topic. I guess I haven't even mentioned where we rode - we wanted to do the Mt. Vernon trail, but not an out and back. So, we parked one car in DC, and the other in Mt. Vernon and off we went. As I say, it couldn't have been a prettier day for it.

But, we got a late start. And by the time we were finished, chances of us making our dinner reservations were slim to none. So, on the way back to the car parked at Mt. Vernon, we started brainstorming where to eat. We were cruising down Washington St., just past King street in Old Town when we remembered this great little Italian restaurant SigO and I had eaten at before. Both of us immediately went heads down to our iPhone to try to remember where it was and what it was called when Jim (Anya's squeeze) pipes up: "Is this it?" Purely random. He just noticed a restaurant up ahead a little ways. We look up from our iPhone, and in stereo: "YES!!" You probably had to be there to appreciate how surreal it was, especially after hearing how often Jim and Anya had been lost in the surrounding area for the past two days. The restaurant is called Trattoria da Franco and has some of the most authentic Italian food I've eaten here in the U.S. Needless to say, the four of us had a wonderful meal with wonderful conversation.
Sunday, I finally went to Maryland Sheep and Wool (MS&W) fest. I've never gone before - to me, it's like being an alcoholic in a bar - and I'm just not as strong as Sam Malone. But, Anya was here, and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, so I took one for the team (yeah, right). Even better, I managed to convince the SigO to come along - ladies, here's the trick: Wait until morning, when he's moving out of heavy sleep and into almost ready to wake up. Then go down, kiss him sweetly and say "Are you sure you don't want to come with me today?" He'll be so befuddled, he'll pretty much agree before really knowing what he's agreeing to. Worked for me, anyway.

At the fest, we found lots of great vendors, looked at lambs ranging from newborn to almost grown, watched the border collies do their thing herding up the sheep, oh, and bought a little bit of yarn. Hardly worth mentioning.... yeah - I'm gonna need another storage bin.
So, as I said, a wonderful weekend. Here's to more like it - but cheaper.

Jo Weekend

It started out with a little free time on Friday --- did you know there was a DC Metro Yarn crawl last week?? Well, I didn't find out about it until Friday afternoon and it was a whirlwind from there.

The original plan for the weekend was to spend it in St. Michaels, riding our bikes and luxuriating at the Harbour Inn, but then the forecast called for Thunderstorms and rain all day Saturday. So, we first figured we'd goof around going to brunch at Jackson 20, then do some yarn crawl.

You know - I should get the sequence of events straight.

Friday:

1. Went to Uniquities between Doctors appts 1 and 2. I've been "fasting" for a year, so there was a bit of a yarn binge here, buying up the bulk of their Manos Del Uraguay Silky Blend, some Fiesta Ballet, and Schaefer Elizabeth.

2. Swung by Aylin's on the way home - mostly because I wanted to check it off the list. But still found some Latitude by Berroco there - good for a sweet looking pullover.

Saturday:

3. Drove to In Stitches before the SigO woke up to get my third stamp and pick up some framing that had been completed. Surprise, surprise - found some yarn there too - Sublime's Tussah Silk

4. Drove back home in hideous "escape for Spring Break" traffic to pick up the LOML and go to brunch. Had a yummy breakfast and chatted it up, softening him up for a trip to two more yarn shops.

5. Walked to Fiber Space - in Old Town, Alexandria - a great LYS. Bought so much yarn I graduated to Space Commander, which apparently qualifies me for a private shopping trip when I fill up that card.

6. Took the metro into town to go to Looped Yarn Works - newest metro yarn shop in Dupont Circle. This was a nice adventure as the weather was rainy and overcast so we had the streets of DC largely to ourselves. DC is very pretty when you don't have to share with hordes of people.

7. Finally headed out to St. Michaels. Had a grand time smashing crabs before heading back to the room for a romantic evening and a playful morning.

8. The winds were still kicking Sunday, so the SigO decided to make the entire weekend about me --- I didn't object. So, we headed back toward home and stopped at two more yarn shops:

9. The Yarn Spot in Wheaton, MD where I bought Grass (yarn, not illegal substances).

10. Knit & Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda, MD where I bought enough Rowan Wool Cotton to make Juno.

Because the SigO was such a great sport, I made seven shops, which qualifies me for the raffle drawing. Even if I don't win, it was a great experience and a nice way to break my yarn fast.

On the way home, we stopped at Jos A. Banks and I got to dress him up a little more - look at these great shoes with that outfit!

That night, we went back to the house, had a great bottle of red wine while I cataloged all my new purchases, updated my Ravelry queue and caught one more surreptitious picture of my cutie.

Now that's what I call a Jo Weekend!

Ahhh

I can finally breathe - and catch up on...well, living my life again. Not that it's been all nose to the grind. The SigO and I have had some fun times here and there.

1. February(yeah - I'm that far behind): Once again, bad weather prevented us from celebrating our anniversary on the actual date, so we had to postpone. And as usual, we went to Foti's and had a great time. We discovered a new place to stay with two very comfy king-sized beds so Gooberous Maximus (GM - otherwise known as LOML, or SigO) can get up and down and watch TV until he's ready to really come to bed. The place is called Suites at 249 and is in Culpeper, VA. Not a B&B, but inall honesty, so many B&B's are so focused on being "quaint" they forget comfort. And then, you wake up the next morning to a breakfast of all carbs - not a gram of protein in sight. So, I'm rapidly falling out of love with B&B's over all and am looking for more places like Suites at 249 - not some big Hotel chain, but cozy and comfy. Anyway, we had a great dinner at Foti's, as usual, and bumped into some people we had just met the previous weekend - small world. The next day, we tried to go for a hike in Shenandoah, but there was still so much ice on the trail we were unable to get very far. So we went to Luray Caverns instead. I've been wanting to go practically since I moved here, so it was great to finally get the chance. At first, we stayed with the group like good little tourists, but the group was so large, and it was taking so long we decided to sneak on up ahead and enjoy the caverns on our own. I know - for shame - rule breakers! But it was much nicer once we got away from the unwashed masses.

2. March - I had knee surgery. It's called Makoplasty - basically it's a partial knee replacement. The surgeon uses robotic equipment to put remove the bad and insert shiny new metal. I'm still trying to figure out how the metal goes in...is it molten and then cools? Because of the knee, we didn't do a whole lot of what we normally like doing until it recovers, although we did try for a few bike rides - both of which got "postponed due to inclement weather", and that catches you up to the blog I posted last.

For the record, I started this blog several months ago and never got the chance to finish it...until today.

This weekend Anya is coming up from GA and we're riding the Mt. Vernon trail on Saturday, then Maryland Sheep and Wool on Sunday. I'll try to get good pics and post about it next week.

Until then...

Tejas and Nostalgia Lane

Went home for the holidays this year. It was my turn, as they've come to me the last two times.

Had a really fun time visiting some old haunts.

1. Thu: Drove home from Houston. Stopped for gas on the way home. This is a Texas gas station.

yes - those are cow hides. and yes - these are kitchen utensils made from antlers.

I was thinking of taking a picture of the bathroom - which is bigger than a lot of department stores around here - but I was afraid someone would have me arrested for something - and in Texas, the death penalty is very popular.
When we got to San Antonio, we went to Mi Tierra to get pralines.

They still had it decorated for the holidays. I couldn't get a very clear shot - this is the best I could do. Oh, yeah - and I bought a lot of pralines - ergh. Then we went shopping at North Star Mall - I like that place a lot better when my stomach isn't bulging out from Mexican food and pralines.

2. Fri: Met Mom's friend Jim for lunch (more Mexican food - yummy - El Toro rocks!), then went to the zoo. They've added a whole new section called Africa Live or something like that and we got to see them feeding the hippos. Then we went to the Witte Museum where I proceeded to ride the sky bike and climb the rock wall - and fall off said rock wall - thank heavens for those squooshy floor mat things. We had dinner reservations and needed to kill some time, so I took the Domster to a honky tonk - Bombay Bicycle Club and proceeded to lube her up....

yeah - with virgin daquiri's - we're talking about the worlds biggest tea-totler here. The band started setting up right next to our table - tried to get Doms to pinch the drummer's butt, but we couldn't find it. Back in the day, I'd call a guy like that Nat - No a** a'tall. Then we went and had dinner at Fredericks - a nice little French restaurant (had to take a break from Mexican food).

3. Sat: Went to Landa Park - another nostalgia thing. We used to climb this tree when I was a kid -they have it fenced off now. And we always tried to have our picnics in this pavilion. I used to swim in the springs at this park - largest springs in - heck, i don't know - a really large area - very pretty, crystal clear water. Pretty durn cold too. (Still got a little Texas in me right now - give me a few more weeks over here on the East Coast and I'll be swearing normally again). After Landa, we drove all the way out to some sports store that was reputed to have a good shoe selection. They had a huge wall full of shoes - 80% of which were for men...20% for women. Blech. Figured the trip wouldn't be a waste if I could find a nice shirt for the SigO - but nothing smaller than XXL - guess you're not allowed to live in TX unless you're either naturally large, or you've had enough beer (sitting up in those deer blinds) to get large - hey! it's my home state - i can trash talk it if i want!! Anyway - it wasn't a lost cause - we stopped at an RV superstore on the way home and found an awesome fifth wheel that I could totally live in for a much more reasonable price than an RV would run. So, that made me happy. That night we went home and watched the Jets beat the Colts. And I'd just like to say, that's who I was rooting for, cuz I believed, as division opponents, the Jets had a better chance of beating the Pats. The SigO disagreed - and poor baby - has had to admit i was right later. How'd those words taste coming out of your mouth, baby?

4. Sun: Went to Uncle Russ' new house/mansion - the back yard is going to be off the hook when it's done - can't wait to go back and sit out there with a margarita or two. The rest of the house is very nice, but I'm in love with the back. Then we had lunch at La Fogata - still great Mexican food. Then we went home and watched the Packers beat the Eagles (yay) and the Ravens beat the Chiefs (boo).

5. Mon: Went to Houston to hang with my brother and sister-in-law, nephew and his wife - very fun day watching Disney movies, going to Cheesecake Factory, and just chillin' out that night and getting beat at Wii by the nephew. brat.

6. Tue - had to come home - as is always the case. good to see the LOML again tho.

so, that's the scoop.