Maryland Hunt Cup

Peter and I went to our first steeplechase race, the Maryland Hunt Cup, on April 30. It was a gorgeous day - perfect for picnicking and watching horses jump over fences :)

I had no idea that steeplechase racing was so difficult! Of the 10 horses that competed, only three completed the course without falling or losing their riders. Good grief!

The horse that I was rooting for, Volle Nolle #8, came in 3rd! The horse that Peter was rooting for did not finish the race :)

We had a really fun time, and I'm sure that we'll be attending other steeplechase races in the future!

Also, just a heads up, Rue La La is having a Vineyard Vines sale this Sun. / May 15 starting at 11:00AM EST. If you need an invitation to Rue La La (totally free and no commitment), you can click here. I can't wait!!!

(images via Google)

Book Beginnings and Bookends: The House on First Street: Week 1 Questions

1. Have you visited New Orleans before? Do you think a visit to the city is necessary to connect to this book?
I've visited New Orleans twice, and while I don't think that a visit to the city is necessary to connect to this book (or enjoy it), I think it would definitely help. New Orleans is a unique place, and lots of the stories and references that Julia includes can only be fully appreciated if you have experienced NOLA firsthand. Some of the bizarre things that she mentions might seem a bit unbelievable unless you have been there and know that New Orleans is the capitol of bizarre things :)
2. What are your thoughts on Julia's writing style? Do you like the way she tells stories?
She has a good sense of humor. Some of her writing is a little bit too tongue in cheek, but for the most part it's fun and witty. She also describes things very colorfully with great adjectives :) She does name drop a lot which gets tedious; I don't know the people whom she mentions but I get the feeling that she assumes that I would know them and be impressed that she's friends with them.
3. To me Julia took a laid back approach to the evacuation warnings and even devastation. What was your reaction to her approach? How do you think you would have handled a flood of such proportions?
I was a little shocked that she would plan a dinner party the night before Katrina hit! That said, however, she mentioned that when you live in a place that is always getting dire warnings of impending disaster that you kind of become immune to them and tend to think that your city is going to be spared one more time. That seems to be what she was thinking. I'm a worrier so I probably would have evacuated far before Julia did, but I also rather admire her laid back approach. She managed to come out OK without much stress!
4. Julia instantly was solicited by her editors to do pieces on the disaster. Do you think she gave an accurate portrayal?
I've learned a lot more about Katrina and its consequences for NOLA residents in this book than I knew before, but Julia might be a bit biased in her portrayal. She definitely loves New Orleans, and I don't know if she gives the city, state, and federal leaders a fair judgment for their decisions in the crisis or not.

Weekend Recap

Friday was a day off of work for me that unfortunately started out with a doctor's appointment (Ugh!) but then improved as the day progressed :) After the doctor, I was excited to go to Target and peruse the new Calypso St. Barth collection, but I was unimpressed with the offerings. Tie-dye and beading/sequins just aren't my style, and the Calypso collection was heavy on that look. Oh well! The rest of my shopping trip was successful, and I returned home to tackle some much-needed chores around the apartment before heading out to join Peter for a nice, long walk around a neighboring town. We picked up a milkshake for him and a smoothie for me for some sustenance on our trek :) We came home, and I tried the Spicy Chicken Shawarma recipe from Cooking Light that Virginia Belle had recommended a couple of weeks ago. Super yummy, and a perfect Friday night dinner!

(image from Cooking Light)

Saturday morning we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then I headed out for a little shopping. My Junior League chapter was selling a "shop around" card that gave buyers discounts at many area retailers. It's a great idea and raises lots of money for literacy-related programs in the DC-area. I bought a new Murfee scarf at the local Lilly Pulitzer shop and a new pair of platinum Jack Rogers to get ready for summer :)

(image from Jack Rogers)

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to our friend KLW's house for her Derby party. I forgot to bring my camera so no pictures, but I promise that we had a great time! KLW makes a mean mint julep :) The Derby is always the most exciting two minutes in horse racing, but this year was especially exciting with Animal Kingdom coming from way behind to win it. I think that he was in 15th or 16th place at one point in the race! When we returned home, Peter and I munched on leftover Black Bottom Cupcakes (my food contribution to the party) and watched the movie Metropolitan.

(image from IMDB)

We were really liking it until the last 20 minutes or so when everything seemed to fall apart and not make much sense. I definitely enjoyed the preppy fashions from the 90's, though :)

Sunday was church and then a fun bike ride on the Capital Crescent Trail which connects Georgetown in DC to Silver Spring, MD. Peter and I had not biked this trail before, and it was a great find! We didn't have time to bike the entire trail yesterday, but we're going to try to take a Saturday in June to do the whole thing. It was a gorgeous day in DC yesterday, and there were many people out and about enjoying the weather and celebrating Mothers Day. I missed being with my mom and taking her out to lunch for Mother's Day, but it was great to talk to her on the phone later in the day. My beloved maternal grandmother passed away last July so this was our first Mothers Day without her which made it a little sad. I'm very thankful that I was able to spend so many Mothers Days with her during my life, though :)

Charlottesville Trip #3

On our last day in Charlottesville, we had yet another delicious breakfast at Albemarle Baking Company , picked up a picnic lunch at a super cute market/cafe called Feast!, and then we headed to Montpelier, James Madison's home.

I wouldn't mind coming home to a front porch like that :)

Montpelier had many different owners after President Madison died and then was sold to the duPont family (yes - those duPonts!) in the early twentieth century who "enhanced" it with many additions, renovations, etc. Now The Montpelier Foundation has restored the house to what it looked like when the Madisons lived there in the 1820s. There is still some work to be done - curators are trying to track down furniture which belonged to the Madisons and which was sold after the president's death - but the tour is really interesting and gives you a first-hand look at the restoration process. The gardens have also been restored and are worth a quick stroll.

Hangin' with the Madisons :)

I really liked those lions in the garden :)

It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but there is a steeplechase race course and a flat race track in the distance. One of the duPonts was quite a horse breeder and hosted races on the estate.

I love this part of the country and can't wait to return soon! And I have a good excuse to return too since we didn't get to visit Barboursville Vineyards as planned while we were there :) Next time ...

Charlottesville Trip #2

 On the morning of our anniversary, we started the day with breakfast at a local bakery. Chocolate croissants seemed appropriate, and Albemarle Baking Company makes some good ones :) Then we headed to a little place called the University of Virginia to take a tour and look at ...

The Rotunda

  (the sweetest UVA student took this picture for us - she saw us struggling to take a self-portrait and offered to take it for us!)

The Academic Village 

(I couldn't get a good picture of the entire "village" so this is one pavilion)

Walled Gardens 

(these were behind every pavilion in the Academic Village and anyone could enter and take a peek)

Students walking around the lawn wearing bathrobes (Lol!) :)

After our tour of UVA, we grabbed some lunch at The White Spot in the "Corner" area.

Mmmm ... I wish I had a "Gus" burger right now!

Then we traveled to Ashlawn-Highland which is the farmhouse that belonged to President James Monroe.

The Monroes lived in the white section of the house; the yellow was added by subsequent owners. It was a fairly small house; I was kind of surprised at the size!

The farm had a flock of sheep that were descendants of the original flock of sheep owned by the Monroes, chickens, and peacocks. 

Adorable lambs!

This guy was giving me the stink eye the whole time we were there. I'm pretty confident that he didn't like me much.

Peacocks definitely know that they're beautiful :)

For our anniversary dinner, Peter and I went to C&O Restaurant in downtown Charlottesville. 

I didn't take a picture of our food because we inhaled it way too quickly for that to happen :) It was soooo delish! What a great way to end our special day!!!

********************************************************************

I'd like to take a break from writing about the anniversary of my wedding day to wish these two crazy kids a very happy wedding day tomorrow :)

(image from Yahoo)

Thirteen and a half hours until the ceremony starts!!! Can't wait :)

Charlottesville Trip

After some major problems with my camera over the past two weeks, I have successfully managed to upload pictures of our second anniversary trip to Charlottesville, VA. So I thought I should do a blog post in honor of that achievement :)

Peter and I wanted to do a quick getaway for our second anniversary, and since he had never been to Charlottesville and it's about a 2-hour drive to DC, we decided to go there. On Sunday we had a nice drive down to the C-ville area and made our first stop at King Family Vineyards in Crozet, VA. It was hard to pick a vineyard to visit because there are SO many vineyards around Charlottesville, but I'm glad that we picked King Family. It was smaller and owned by one family (hence "King Family") so it had kind of a laid-back, welcoming vibe to it. I'm not glad that I totally forgot to take pictures while we were there! We were walking to our car to leave for the day when I remembered that I had not taken a single picture. Seriously not happy with myself! Good memories of the place will have to suffice :) We had a delicious picnic there and then took a very interesting tour of the winery and did a wine tasting. It was my first wine tasting, and I really enjoyed it. We took home a bottle of their dessert wine, Loreley, which was super yummy! I had never tasted dessert wine before, but I'm definitely a fan now!

(image from King Family Vineyards)

Then we headed to our hotel, The Boar's Head Inn, which happened to be pretty much just down the street from King Family Vineyards. I, of course, forgot to take pictures of our lovely room in the main inn, but I did take pictures of our stroll around the grounds. There are a few lakes around the property, and all of the spring flowers were in bloom so it was quite beautiful. I would highly recommend The Boar's Head if you are spending time in C-ville!

 Front of the Inn

 Back of the Inn with Lake (Love the bench swings!)

Peter at the Lake (He may or may not have been thinking about having a swim)

Not very successful attempt at a self-portrait under a gorgeous pink cherry tree :)

After our stroll, we went to dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Duner's in Ivy, VA. It's located in what looks to be a house-converted-to-be-a-restaurant so it's fairly small, but the food was uber tasty. I did think about taking pictures of restaurant and the deliciousness on my plate, but we were literally touching elbows with the people dining around us so I thought that maybe I shouldn't :) 

More to come on our trip tomorrow ...

Happy Easter!

Low in the grave he lay—
Jesus, my Saviour,
Waiting the coming day—
Jesus, my Lord.

Up from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And he lives for ever with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

(Up From the Grave He Arose from the Original Trinity Hymnal, #206)