I took a few hours away from my 90+ hour work week to unofficially wrap up my volunteer year.

The experience was wonderful and I'm so happy to be involved with these fantastic organizations. I'm the volunteer coordinator for the DC Gator Club. Saturday was International Gator Day, where UF Alums from around the world participate in a day of service. Of course one just wasn't enough for me, so I planned three. We partnered with DC public schools and thousand of other volunteers a few weeks ago to fix up all the campuses around the city. We are working with the USO for their annual family fun day. This past Saturday we helped with cleaning up Kennilworth Aquatic Gardens which is amazing. Most of us had no idea it even existed.






After a beautiful morning in the great outdoors, I headed to the Eastern Market (my favorite farmers market) for some fresh produce and a bit for lunch. I had a Cuban with a twist, it was served on Rosemary chibatta bread, I did like it...a lot-ha!



Back into the car and on the George Washington Parkway, one of my favorite roadways that travels adjacent to the Potomac, to McLean form my last Junior League commitment of the year, the talent show for my Langly consumers. I'm going to miss those guys this summer, but will be on the literacy club committee next year. Bonus, we won community partnership of the year!

And then my friends, back to work for the rest of my Saturday, Sunday, Monday, you get the picture.
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Location:A little break?

The Many Faces of Molly

Molly, my beagle baby, has two main objectives in life.

Objective #1: Sniff out any and every edible (or semi edible) object possible and chow down on said object before any human or other dog notices what's going on.

Objective #2: Never let me, Josh or her dog sitter Tatitiana out of her sight. In fact the only time Molly isn't within a 2-4 foot radius of one of us, she is actively pursuing Objective #1. Like tonight when I went upstairs to jump on a conference call and Josh went to his office, she helped herself to the remains of my dinner that I casually left unattended.

It's not easy being a separation anxiety ridden beagle who needs to eat her feelings. If anyone understands it's her momma. Our deep understanding of each other is just one of the many reasons I love her to pieces.

What's not to love?






















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Oh Wells or What If's

I've spent my life on a roller coaster of 'oh yeahs' and 'oh wells'. I've ridden this roller coaster pretty fearlessly most would say. I learned after my fair share of 'oh wells,' that success comes after quite a few failures some small, some large. But honestly have few regrets because I'm living my life to it's fullest capacity.

Recently, I've stepped out of my comfort zone once again trying to avoid having any 'what if's.' I guess you can't knock it till you've tried it, the grass is or isn't always greener and I'm proving over and over again hind sight is always 20/20.

Does getting older (and hopefully wiser) mean I'll start willingly trade a few of my 'oh wells' for a few more 'what if's?' it's been a really crazy ride these past few months and I'm about ready to swap front row center court for a rocking chair on the front porch.

I feel that I am following Gods will for me, just don't have a clear vision of what that is and where exactly it's leading. I am exhausted and overwhelmed. I know he doesn't call the enabled, He enables the called.

But for the first time in my life, I'm almost feeling like I'd be ok with a few more 'what if's.' Especially if it meant I would get a few more hours of sleep.

Menu Monday

On occasion there comes a stretch of days where I don't have a board meeting or volunteer obligations and Josh is in the country and doesn't have a business dinner. When this happens and we actually have a hour and a half on the weekend to spare, we try to take that time to plan out a meal or two together. I think the last time this kind of happened was the week of Passover. I made our traditional sedar with my mother in laws brisket and the next night made a double batch of Josh's favorite Passover dish, Eggplant Matza Lasagna (which he ate leftovers of for the remaining seven nights as I was volunteering or something of the like).

Yesterday, the stars aligned, and after brunch I pulled out my iPhone and he his blackberry. A quick check of the calendar confirmed we could actually have dinner together a few nights this week (other than our usual, a take out burrito bowl from Chipolte).

So last night we had BBQ Chicken Pizza- whole wheat pita, BBQ sauce, red onion, cilantro, grilled chicken breast, topped with mozzarella cheese and broiled in the oven.

Tonight we're Grilling for Life with Bobby Flay.



Pork Tenderloin Crusted with Green Onion, Jalapeño, and Ginger.






With his Grilled Asian Style Eggplant Salad.








Later this week we are trying the Corn and Black Bean Enchiladas from the new Fresh, Fabulous and Fast Weight Watchers Cookbook.



Then a new fav found at http://elefantitasalegres.blogspot.com/

Warm Asparagus Gorgonzola Steak Salad

http://www.cheekykitchen.com/2011/03/warm-asparagus-gorgonzola-steak-salad.html

Hope you week is filled with wonderful dinners spent around a table with those you love!

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We started the day with a brilliant brunch. Josh made omelets, while I sliced and diced an amazing fruit salad.



Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi.



On the docket today, plan our trip to Greece. We are hooked and booked as far as transportation, hotels and where we will be when, BUT what we will be doing day to day... I am having a hard time nailing down. There is just so much to do! I have 5 hours of our trip planned and that is for a guided tour of the acropolis. Ahh, I need another day in the weekend to plan my dream vacation!

Hope y'all had a great mothers day! I'm blessed to have the most amazing mom ever!

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Big Decisions

I was faced with a real big decision today.  Go to the sneak peak of Bridesmaids with Lacey or go to Capitol Hill for a reception with the Florida Congressmen and elected officials.  To be honest it was a biggie-When 5 o'clock rolled around, I was honestly really wanting to join Lacey with a big tub of popcorn, some Junior Mints and laugh my head off.  But of course I chose to get Gatorfied and head into the city.  To be honest, although I live here I don't really hang on the hill.  It was fun to really feel like a DC Gator, and kind of made me want to hang on the hill more often.  Men in bow ties, it does something to me....

So now I am really able to confirm that DC is a small town in a big city.  While walking through Capitol Hill to the reception I ran into a great friend on the street, then at the reception I saw lots of my peeps.  My fellow board members, sorority sisters, Josh's friends, other folks I knew at UF, it was awesome.  I hob nobbed errr networked for a while, and then was persuaded to head over to the Florida State Societies Happy Hour.  Now don't for a second think that I went to hang with a bunch of 'noles... Most of the states in DC have State Societies, to get together with your fellow staters and party down errr network. 

Somehow on the way from Congress to where ever this secondary happy hour was taking place, I ended up in a Gator Entourage.  As we had all pertaken in happy hour numero uno and where headed to happy hour numero dos of the evening-we were a sight of Orange and Blue to see.  And then we created my best DC memory, and totally top 20 memory of all time.  We sang the Florida Fight Song, Alma Mater and We are the Boys while walking in front of the Capitol (take that fourth of July).  Wowzers combining the Gators and my love for America - AMAZING.  But wait, then I saw even more people I knew at happy hour numero dos.  I actually surprised my friends (and myself actually) at how many people I knew.  Wow, reminds me of the good old days when my life wasn't a constant stream of strangers.  I'm not going to lie though.  It's nice to be able to go to the grocery store without seeing someone you know on every aisle up here as I can get away in going in semi PJ attire instead of having to "dress" to go to Bayshore Publix across the street from my old house. 

So I have to share my gatorfied outfit, hopefully y'all will like it as much as Josh, plus how often do I get to tie on my vineyard vines gator scarf?  My OOTD-I take photos in the bathroom style.

Don't for a second think I'm not planning to catch bridesmaids.  But with how nutso my life is right now, it may not be until I get it in my mailbox from NetFlix...

Looks Like We Made It

Two years of wedded bliss!

We celebrated over a fantastic meal at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta's Virginia Highland area.




My cool view!


We shared our favorite memories spent together.
Mine: spending the night in our new house together in Virginia before our movers arrived with our furniture. We celebrated New Years Eve with some bubbly, take out Chinese and slept on an air mattress.
His: adopting our precarious beagle, Molly. With a little more time to reflect he would probably add getting a king size bed, which in fact is the happiest moment of his life because he now gets a quarter of a king vs a quarter of a queen.

It's about time to shut down all electronic devices, I'm sitting next to my sweets and ready to depart on life's next journey!

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