Nationals Baseball

I guess I will start at the end of the story for this post: THEY WON!! The game we went to, at least... which, lets face it, is just about all I care about when it comes to baseball.  I'm very invested that way.

In all honesty, though, I really do love Nationals baseball. I have never been one to enjoy baseball on TV, but I get immense enjoyment out of going to a real live game! Because going to a game means that you have to enjoy all aspects: the junk food, the beer, and the entertainment.

This was the scoreboard after the game... Jayson Werth (who most of the time looks more akin to a mountain man/homeless person than a MLB player) made his 1,000th hit, which just happened to be a home run. It made it even more fun to be there! Side note- the woman interviewing him there is about to get the residuals of a Gatorade/ice bath that Werth received from his teammates. Poor thing... she looked like she was ready to spruce up her resume after that...

Our view from section 222... not the best, but we could see the entire field as well as the massive jumbo-tron for all of the cool replays and instructions about when to display 'natitude' (I take this very seriously). Also, we were near section 136, which is where all of the gluten-free food for the stadium is kept.  Since going to this game was part of my father-in-law's birthday celebration, this was important!

Overall, what made this game the best was that my parents...

My mother-in-law (and me)...

My husband and his dad...

and I think you know who these people are...

all were able to spend time together! It was fabulous :) Go NATS!!!

We Made It... Again!!

Y'all might have guessed by my absence from blogging for the past week or so that we've changed locales yet again! Two days ago we arrived in Bethesda, MD at a friend's condo... no hotel rooms for 6 whole weeks! Hallelujah!! 

This is Ron.  He comes with the condo for a week. We're bonded :)

He thinks this is his couch. I'm trying to convince him otherwise.

Our last week in the Pacific Northwest was so awesome, and I will be sharing everything very soon!

Big Day Nostalgia

I promised a throw-back post about our fabulous wedding day, so here it is!

Because this monumental day was a year and a week ago, it is fun to look back at the thousands (literally) of pictures, thanks to LHM Photography, that document that day.  Even the wildly imperfect parts of the day were wonderful because of all of our family and friends that were there to support us and celebrate with us.

Thinking back... the only moment of that day that was upsetting happened when I was alone for 30 minutes to take a shower.  When I got out of that shower and began to blow out my hair, I got a call from my dad saying that there we would likely have the ceremony at Fort McNair (the reception venue) because there was no electricity at the church.  My only response: "Why am I alone right now?!"... with tears, of course.  Because I knew that everything would be better once my sister (aka the most clutch MOH ever!) returned to the bridesmaids suite. And it was.  We had the ceremony in a VERY hot church, followed by the reception in a VERY hot officer's club (turns out that their AC was out, too).  There were some other hiccoughs, too, but I mostly just remember how happy Michael and I were to share that day with everyone. We had the time of our lives!

Pre-Sweat Fest... oh, wedding, I mean... ;)

Y'all don't even want to know what's happening underneath the layers of silk organza, satin and tulle of my dress... it was like a bikram yoga studio in that church...

We felt a little better outside...

My girls and I standing on the edge of the Potomac River... I won't mention the part when Caroline (my dear cousin to the left of me) loses her balance, grabs me, and we nearly fall in. I guess 5 inch heels aren't the steadiest footwear...

A few different views of me and my dress.  The dress was everything... I wish I could wear it every day!

Our WONDERFUL families. Enough said!

The guys... I've really missed each and every one of them this year!

Pretty flowers and candles...

The Cake... this is what it looked like when it tasted like the best cake I'd ever had (thanks Alexandria Pastry Shop!). That is what I'm telling my husband in that photo. It's my omg-this-is-so-good face. Have I mentioned that I can be kind of a foodie?

This was the part where my wonderful Jewish uncle, Jed Mescon, decided that Michael and I should have a Jewish wedding reception.  It was SO much fun... and hilarious.  My face in this one: omg-layers-of-organza-on-a-satin-chaircover-is-incredibly-slippery!!!

Part of our exit... Notice the industrial fan directly behind me ;)

Weddings

We went down to Jacksonville, Florida on Memorial Day weekend to attend the wedding of my husband's high school friend, Ken. This is the only picture we took of the beautiful couple, and unfortunately the bride, Casey, is slightly blurry.  Y'all wouldn't believe how stunning she looked in person!

Speaking of which, I must share a little anecdote that I find particularly hilarious. Leading up to our big wedding (which was only about 85 people, but big in comparison to our little wedding at the courthouse that was just  the two of us), I would ask Michael what he thought my dress would look like/what he wanted my dress to look like. I know that I was playing with fire, but he had watched enough "Say Yes to the Dress" with me to know what I liked. The only thing he described that was contrary to my Claire by Priscilla of Boston dress was the fabric.  He said, "You know, like that kinda shiny, soft, smooth fabric?". I said, "Uh huh, mine isn't like that." Game ruined.

On our big day, he loved my dress, of course, and I completely forgot about our conversation on gown fabrics until we were at Ken and Casey's wedding reception this past weekend. After chatting with the blissfully happy bride, Michael turns to me and says, "I really like her dress... it's that shiny soft looking fabric."  I immediately knew that he was clarifying his preference stated a year ago... he finally had a sample in front of him to show me what he thought my wedding dress should look like! I burst out laughing, saying,"Can't change it now!" and "Do you want a re-do?", and giggled about this for the rest of the night. He felt bad and backtracked and apologized, but I wasn't mad anyhow.  It was a really pretty dress! So Casey, if you ever had doubts about that dress, Mike (and me too!) gives it a big vote of approval :)

Many women might be upset or offended if this were a comment from their husband, but I just thought it was adorable.  Like for some speck in time, he forgot that we were already married, and I had already walked down the aisle wearing silk organza, not satin. I figure, he can prefer another dress all he wants, as long as he still prefers me to be the girl in it :)

My dress... oh the amount of Special K I ate to fit into that 00! 

At least I have the results documented in thousands of photos thanks to LHM Photography!

We had so much fun at Ken and Casey's wedding, and it made us sentimental for our big day almost a year ago. I'll post some throw back stories as we get closer to our first anniversary on June 30th!

The Sweet Lobby

Just a few blocks from Capitol Hill in the District (that's Washington, DC for those of you non-locals), there is a neat little neighborhood called Eastern Market. Located on its own metro stop, Eastern Market is home to lots of cute shops and restaurants.

My reason for going to Eastern Market is always the same, though: The Sweet Lobby! The Sweet Lobby is a bakery with a teensy little storefront (read: three really is a crowd) selling specialty baked goods. They have gourmet flavored eclairs, madelines, and cupcakes (they actually won an episode of "Cupcake Wars" on Food Network). However, the best thing they sell is their macarons. If you have never tried a macaron (notice the absence of another 'o'... This is not the coconut confection 'macaroon'), your life is not yet complete.

Basically, a macaron is the Parisian version of a sandwich cookie. The huge difference between a macaron and an oreo (besides everything) is that the actual cookie parts are made with an almond flour batter. This makes them light and chewy and crispy and gluten free! The beautiful thing about macarons is that they can be flavored in so many different ways, with colors to match. The Sweet Lobby sells on average, ten different flavors of macarons daily. Sometimes more, sometimes less, always delicious!

I can tell you from experience, the macaron is a finicky and labor intensive cookie to produce. Therefore, they are quite pricey. This makes them inaccessible for daily consumption (and all the more special) and even lovelier for gifting.

We gave my father-in-law a big box of macarons as a thank-you gift at our rehearsal dinner.

My sweet in-laws had The Sweet Lobby send us a gift box full of different flavors (in pairs of two!) for our anniversary. They were such a wonderful surprise :)