We made it! Part 2

Move number two is on the books, folks! We are currently residing in Fort Bragg, North Carolina for the next five weeks.

The actual moving part was easier this time around, and I can only imagine how streamlined my/our process will be by the time we do move number 9 (yikes!). The leaving a wonderful experience and lovely people part was, as to be expected, not as pleasant. I have found myself missing Fort Hood a little bit... Mostly the warm sunshine (it averaged in the 70's when we were there... Today was overcast and in the 40's/50's at Fort Bragg) and people. However, I never thought there would be anything to miss about "The Great Place" for the first few days we were there, so I'll just tough it out until I can find the bright spots in Fort Bragg (unique moniker still unknown).

All I can say right now is that this place is definitely different from Fort Hood, in good and not-so-good ways.

Exchange here- better
Commissary here- better
Class six* here-better
'Commute' here- worse
Lodging here- worse

*For those of you unfamiliar with a 'class six' on an Army base, it is where you go to buy booze, or in my case, a bottle of wine. The selection was not stellar, but definitely superior to the offerings at Fort Hood (read here for more info). A nice glass of chardonnay can fix a multitude of things, if you ask me.

I'll post some pictures and more about our travels between TX and NC tomorrow after we're slightly more settled.

Bobby Lupo's

About a week ago (I am so behind on my blogging!), we had another dinner out with Michael's clerkship site director. She really couldn't be any nicer or more welcoming. I truly feel as though I know the full culinary prowess of Killeen and Harker Heights, Texas because of her lovely hospitality.

We met at Bobby Lupo's, a cute pizza place near her home, and ended up getting several pizzas to-go before heading to her house to eat and mingle. The pizza was rather delicious... Better than Joes Pizza in Killeen by far. I tried a small slice of all three flavors: chicken bacon ranch, buffalo chicken, and margherita. I was surprised that I liked all of them, with the margherita pizza being my favorite. It has a little ricotta and fresh spinach on top of the mozzarella, tomato and basil that make up a normal margherita pizza.

I'd like to say that we'll definitely be going back there before we leave, but seeing as our departure date is looming a mere 5 days away, I have my doubts!

Blonde Salon

I've needed a haircut/color refresher for quite some time. On Friday, I finally set aside two hours of my day to go get it take care of.

At the recommendation of Michael's attending physician, I made my way to Blonde Salon in Killeen, Texas. I was 10 minutes early, per my personality and another good habit which my mother bestowed upon me (thanks again, mom!), but the stylist, Stacy, was ready for me. She understood what I wanted to do (shorten it up and warm up the color with lowlights), but maybe didn't quite get the gravity of the situation.

The last time I cut off a significant amount of hair, I was seventeen and my friend Amanda chopped it off with a pair of dull scissors in my boarding school dorm room. Perhaps I was having flashbacks to that traumatic moment when Stacey unceremoniously (and without warning!) lopped off five inches before starting my foils. I think I disguised my hyperventilation well as she quickly put in 25-30 foils of a coppery brown shade throughout my hair. When I say quickly, I'm not kidding... I've never seen a stylist do this as fast as Stacey did. I was sitting in the little lounge processing after about 20 minutes (whoa there speedy gonzales!). It was a little nerve wracking, but she seemed to know what she was doing.

The haircut is still growing on me (and literally growing, thank goodness), because I haven't had hair this short in over 7 years. However, I think the color is divine. I had Stacey write down the exact colors she used so that the next stylist I use can replicate it. Where that will be, nobody knows :)

Yikes!!

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 :)

Underwood Jewelers

If I were Holly Golightly, Underwood's would be my Tiffany's. (For those confused, see Breakfast at Tiffany's, or better yet, read Breakfast at Tiffany's).  Nothing bad could ever happen at Underwood's.

Underwood's is a jewelry store in Jacksonville, Florida.  It is the old fashioned kind of jewelry store... the kind that also sells china and crystal and silver.  Just another reason that I linger in the store every time I visit! There are four locations, but my husband and I always go to the one in the Avondale neighborhood.  Partially because of its convenience, and mostly because of Cindi Rivera, the most genuinely helpful jeweler I have ever come across.  From Christmas presents to my engagement ring, Cindi has been a part of our relationship in such a fun, sweet way. Even now that Michael and I are rarely in the Jacksonville area, we always call or email Cindi to get help with gifts for each other.  I really can't speak highly enough of our experiences with Cindi or Underwood's.

Cindi's wedding gift to us- a small silver folding frame, so that we could take it with us on our travels this year!

These are Underwoods' boxes, and in my opinion, they are superior to the robin's egg blue kind :)

My reaction to seeing an Underwood's box is probably comparable to actually opening it up and seeing the contents:

 Our anniversary gift to each other... four years ago we were walking around the campus in Gainesville and Michael made sure to stop by the trophy case to show me the real version :) 2008 was also the year we met, again.

Inside this little pouch was a chain for Michael to wear at the hospital so that he has a place to put his wedding band when he has to scrub in for procedures or surgery.

Anyways, Underwood's will definitely be a place that we revisit for many, many years to come!

County Line Barbecue

Last night we ventured over to Austin. It's just over an hour away from Fort Hood, so we (me, Michael, Jill and David) went for dinner and a little bar-hopping downtown.

At the recommendation of my Aunt Jodi and Uncle Darren, we went to The County Line for dinner. It was on top of a hill just outside of Austin, with a beautiful view of the sunset. We were lucky that the 60 degree weather allowed us to sit out on the back porch and really enjoy the vista.

Jill and I each enjoyed a coronarita... A jumbo margarita with a corona upside down in the glass. They are pretty easy to find in Texas, and absolutely delicious.

The food was equally incredible. Their homemade bread is apparently as famous as their barbecue, so we made sure to start off the meal with some. It was sweet and still warm from the oven. Holy cow... Better than any crock-pot meal, that's for sure!!

Per the suggestion of the waiter, I sampled the beef ribs and some brisket. They were both lean and tender and flavorful and.... SO GOOD! I also had some mashed potatoes and corn on the cob on the side. They were both yummy, but not as special as the barbecue... Although it was a treat to have mashed potatoes that didn't come from a shelf stable package :)

After we finished up at The County Line, we headed to downtown Austin's 6th Street. We went to several bars, and it was really nice to relax and hang out with Michael, Jill and David.  We had a really fun time and are planning to have a Fort Hood Pediatrics reunion when we are all back in Bethesda in April :)

One Year

Michael and I celebrated one year of marriage on Friday!  What?!  The "Big Day" was June 30th! How could we possibly be celebrating one year already?!

Turns out that even though our "Big Day" was June 30th, we had a small day to ourselves on February 15, 2012.  It was sweet and lovely and now we have a two-day long Valentines celebration to look forward to every year!

The happiest day of my life...

We had a little 'reception' together last year before I had to head over to George Mason for class (our appointment to get married was at 2:00 and I had to leave for class at 4:00... we really fit getting married into our schedule :)  So we sipped on a glass of my favorite champagne (Pommery Brut Royal) and enjoyed a cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake (because how can one get married without cake, right?) for a quick celebration.

For our anniversary, I wanted to sort of re-create that.  You're supposed to share the top tier of your wedding cake together on the first anniversary, so I decided that cupcakes again would be the only appropriate way to go!  So off I went (after a semi-traumatic haircut detailed here) to The Sweet Factory to get a strawberry cupcake for me and a carrot cake cupcake for Michael, because that is what we had last year :)

Add two flutes of champagne into this equation, and it was the perfect evening! 

Side note: I didn't pack the flutes we used last year (a lovely gift from my MIL for the occasion) because I was fearful of them being broken in all the moving, so we had to buy a new pair to use.  Of course... plastic wouldn't do on our very first first anniversary :)  have I confessed my love for stemware?  Anyways, the flutes came in a box that looked like this:

So they will definitely be keepsakes of our first, first anniversary!