What I missed most...

August has been my research month at school, which means I have not had any organized classes I've simply been finishing my thesis research.  Needless to say, it did not consume all of my time by any means, so I've had time to resume some of my favorite hobbies and of course do some fun stuff with my husband and friends.

Hobby 1...Reading:
1-4: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.
These were actually better the second time around, New Moon wasn't near as depressing.
5: Mansfield Park
It's no Emma or Pride and Prejudice, but still very good, it made me want to do a Jane Austen book club.
6: The Gatecrasher
By Madeliene Wickham who used to be Sophie Kinsella, not her best work, but a quick read none the less.
7. Snow Flower and The Secret Fan
This book was absolutely amazing, and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good read.  Definately the WINNER!!!

Hobby 2...Cooking

For the last month I've made all kinds of new and delicious treats, the highlights being homemade Focaccia and a Boston Cream Pie!!!

Focaccia Take 1

Boston Cream

Focaccia Take 2

Hobby 3...Having FUN!!! 

Dinner's, Happy Hour's, the Zoo, Family, Inception, Brunch at the Kennedy Center, ect.

What I didn't miss, but had to do anyway...

• Laundry
• Errands
• Dentist
• Dr's Appointments
• Class president duties

Either way August was a GREAT month, I'm going to miss it, tomorrow is my first day back to school!

What's SUP?

Last week Nicole and I went to Chesapeake Beach, MD to go Stand Up Paddleboarding.  What is it you ask?  It is exactly what it sounds like it is standing up on a board with a paddle to move yourself along.  We did this in the Chesapeake Bay.  You do not actually get into the water (which is good since there is a massive jelly fish invasion), you step directly from the dock onto the board and paddle.  It is a very fun adventure if you have considered it, or ever get the opportunity I highly recommend it!  Here are a few pictures to enhance your understanding.

I started on my knees, to make sure I wasn't going to take a dive with the jellies...

You can also sit when you get tired or don't feel stable enough to stand.

Standing in the Bay!

Ok, any questions?

The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends!

On August 5th I came home to Texas after 8 long months away!  I love DC but nothing is like Texas.  It's home and it's definately where my heart is!  I was home for ten fantastic days and Richard was home for nine, but we had a fantastic time.  We were successful in seeing the majority of our friends and family, and of course the reason we were home was Tara's wedding! 

I arrived in Texas in time for breakfast on Thursday, and immediately headed to Whitney for a little R&R on the lake with my parents.  It was 103 degrees at 9am, what a welcome!  The lake was a nice refresher in that heat.  Then on Friday, Christopher and C came down and spent the day, I love my family!

Friday night I headed to New Braunfels for the bachelorette party.  It was so much fun!  We floated the river on Saturday and then went out to dinner in Gruene at the Gristmill (which has tasty pina colada's and margaritas).  In the meanwhile Richard arrived and got to spend some time with his mom, Oscar, Nancy, Chad, and Kathy.

Sunday, we headed home from the river and I headed to Eustace to spend the day with my big fabulous family, in one of my favorite places.  The highlight of my day (besides my family of course) was the delicious plate of fried squash (from the garden) Aunt Elsie made me!  When I was about 5 years old I was spending the week at Aunt Elsie's and she made fried squash and I told here "That is disgusting, I'm not eating that!"  And Aunt Elsie said, "You are going to try one, and if you don't like it you don't have to eat anymore."  So I ate my one, then I ate the whole plate, and ever since it's been one of my all time favorite foods.  So I am very thankful for the treat!  Also, I got to meet Amanda, a new member of the Groom family, and I would like to wish her and Justin lots of blessings in the upcoming months.

Monday we went to Jacksonville and spent the day with Aunt Suzanne and Nana, basking in the sun room and watching the birds.  It was another beautiful day, but we had to leave early to meet Maria for dinner at Pappacito's, YUM!

The rest of the week we spent with my parents during the day and our friends at night.  We love you all, and are so glad we got to see you and spend time with you!  And a special congratulations to BRK!

Friday, mom and I did some retail therapy and then I headed out to Montague for Tara's rehersal dinner.  After the rehearsal dinner we headed out to Bowie to get some sleep before the big day. 

Saturday, we got up early to start primping.  Pedi's, hair, bridal luncheon, limo, makeup, and then we were ready for the BIG event.  Tara was beautiful, the wedding was amazing, and I had a fabulous time!  My only sadness... It was my last night in Texas! 

Parkland's Finest!

Sunday, one last meal in Texas, we had breakfast with my parents before heading to the airport to come home.  It was an AMAZING trip, we love our family and friends!  And we miss you all! 

Baltimore Redeemed

Saturday July 31st

Richard and I spent the day together in Baltimore.  This was our first trip to Baltimore since we moved up here, it's less than an hour drive from our house to the Inner Harbor.  So we decided it was time to finally see this Aquarium that everyone is always talking about.  We got to the inner harbor by about noon, so we decided to have lunch at subway which happened to be the cheapest meal I've ever had with such ambiance.  Richard and I both ate for $6 and check out the view...

Not too shabby....

After lunch, and a little exploration of the inner harbor, we headed on over to the Aquarium. 

Richard, Aquarium in the Background

The reason we had never been to the aquarium before is because it's a little pricey and in Baltimore.  So luckily my husband is one smart cookie and reserved our tickets ahead of time, because it was super busy.  The tickets included entry to the Dolphin Show and a 4-D showing of Planet Earth.  It was nice, but would have been much nicer had it not been so crowded.  The dolphin show was great, and they have an exhibit called Jellies Invasion which I really enjoyed.

Me and My Hubby

Bubbles...My Bubbles!!

After the Aquarium we enjoyed a beautiful dinner with some great people watching, before heading over toe M & T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play.  There was an exhibition match between Inter Milan and Manchester City.  Inter won 3-0, we got to see Materazzi play among others.  It was a wonderful day, Baltimore has officially been redeemed!

Going into the stadium.

Rich in his element.

Thank you Richard (and Baltimore) for a wonderful day!

Boston or Bust!

To further celebrate being done with Phase I me and a few girlfriends from school took a road trip to Boston.

We took off on the 18th and stopped for the night in NYC.  It was a nice way to break up the 8 hour drive to Boston.  We didn't have time to do too much in NYC so we went to Times Square and to a tasty Cuban restaurant in Chelsea called the Cuban Cafe, they had fantastic mojitos.

Mmmm... Strawberry Mojito!

Day two of our trip we hopped back in the car and headed to Boston.  This was my first visit to Massachusettes, and let me tell you, it's a great place to go in the summer.  The weather was so nice and cool.  I loved Boston, it was beautiful, clean, cool, and felt much smaller than it is in reality.  The day we arrived we settled into the hotel, had some dinner (Clam chowder and Chocolate Fondue), and headed out on our sunset harbor cruise.

Boston Harbor, In front of the Aquarium

Lobster Hat...Haha

Boston Harbor Cruise

Some of my favorite stories from the harbor cruise include the story of the Boston Molassacre (or molasses disaster), google it, it's quite interesting, and the stories about the U.S.S. Constitution.  After the harbor cruise we sought out the Bell in Hand Tavern, the OLDEST pub in the US.  It was established in 1795.

Bell In Hand

Blue Moons at the Bell in Hand

Day two we headed out for our 'wicked awesome' segway tour.  Although Lauren may disagree about the awesome part.  But we spent two hours cruising around the harbor. 

Segway Adventure

We were wicked hungry after our long morning so after the segways we headed to the closest patio at Tia's, which lucky for me they happened to have $13 Lobster lunch.  After lunch we explored the glory of Fanneuil Hall.  I wish I had understood exactly what that had meant, it was so amazing I may have sacrificed the Lobster for the food extravaganza that waited inside.  It is essentially a food pavillion with any kind of food you could hope to find, Seafood, Greek, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Ice Cream, Smoothies, Pastries, Candy, etc.  It was amazing and overwhelming, the gelato shop didn't have any chocolate so I settled on a M & M cookie sandwich.  YUM!

Please notice the Glint in my eye :)

What could possibly be great enough to follow Lobster and a M & M Cookie Sandwich?

Pedi's!!!!

After our relaxing afternoon, we headed to dinner with some of Lauren's friends.  Before heading out on our Boston Duck Tour.  The duck tour took us around the North End and up the Charle's River.  Some of the highlights: The Old North Church, MIT, Mass Gen.

Quack, Quack, Quack!!!

Now as if this day wasn't long enough, we spent the rest of our evening meeting Baker #3, Lauren's sister is the banquet director of the hotel we were staying out, so we got to know Jaime B. a bit.  Then at last it was time for bed!

The following morning we met Jaime for breakfast at the Hyatt.  If you want an Amazing view for breakfast in Boston, you have to check it out.  The view is amazing, you can see the entire Boston Skyline.  It was quiet and cool, right on the water, and the food was great too.

The View

Our last event before leaving Boston was a trip to the famous Ether Dome at Massachusettes General Hospital.  This is the site where the first anesthetic was administered in 1846, ether was used to effectively anesthetize a patient while a submandibular tumor was removed.  I know, maybe not that exciting to you, but I really enjoyed it alot.  It was actually a highlight of the trip.

This is the Ether Dome, Heyni is sitting in Dr. Morton's Seat!

After this we went shopping, on our way to Lauren's parents house.  We also stopped at a local farm and indulged in a little homemade ice cream, while watching it rain.  Before heading out to vampire territory...  On the way we went through Sterling Virginia, where Mary Had a Little Lamb.  We spent the rest of our vacation with Lauren's family, relaxing by the pool, playing games, and of course watching The Exterminators.  We had a wonderful time!

Homemade Ice Cream!

End of Phase I Party and Field Day

July 16th

My classmates and I celebrated the end of phase I with a BBQ Pool Party.  We spent hours just hanging out eating and drinking, attempting to regain some sense of normalcy in our lives.  It was so good to kick back and relax.

Angel got to come to the party too, she was a hit!!!

The next day, July 17th, was Lauren's Birthday party.  She celebrated with a huge old school field day.  We divided up into teams (of course Rich and I were on separate teams), and competed in a series of events including wheel-barrow race, egg race, water balloon toss, dizzy cone, and a combination relay.  Lucky for me, my team won technically (regardless of what Richard says).  He seems to think his team should of won, but he didn't listen to the instructions and was disqualified. 

The Birthday Peeps

The Winning Team...Go Hairy Hippos!

Back to the Blog

So, It's been 4 months since I've blogged about anything, so I'm not going to even attempt to catch up except to say that it's been a crazy few months trying to keep up with school, vacations, and visits.  Some of it's been great, but unfortunately more of it is overshadowed by the overwhelming sense of horror associated with school.  But now, on to better things...

I think I'll start with July 15th, which is just about the best day in recent history.  This was the day I took my last final for summer school, a pharmacology oral exam (which is just as awful as it sounds), but the completion of this exam signalled the END of phase I of my program, or the end of the didactic (all school all the time) phase.  So we went and celebrated with lunch at the Liberty Tavern, yum!

It was also Lauren's birthday, Happy Happy Birthday Lauren!!!