Kayak adventure!

We bought a groupon for a 2 hour kayak tour and I took Ella on a date :-) for quite a while, (years?) Ella always wants dates with me so it was good to make sure i focused some attention on her before school starts. Plus...it's kayaking!! I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day, the tour was awesome and I'd totally go again. It was a little harder bc Ella isn't quite old enough to actually be a consistent, helpful paddler but, still, good times :-)

Beer & Bacon

When Chris was still sick in bed we bought a few groupon deals online for things that sounded fun. It was a way to stake our claim on a healthy, happy future time where we'd be able to go on dates again and spend our time somewhere besides hospitals and home in bed. We're SO thankful to bed redeeming some of those deals only 4 months after Chris got sick.

This beer and bacon tasting was one of the events we bought while he was still sick in bed. The event was a lot of fun! There were about 10 other couples and a we were all served 7 courses of a tasting menu. Every dish had bacon and was paired by the chef with a beer. Perfect event for foodies like us :-)

A spin on one of my favorite slogans ;-)

The last course was the best!! Chocolate mouse with a graham cracker and bacon crumble paired with a fabulous rich, sweet barleywine beer. Very fun night!

Groupons Rock my World (the Cookie edition)

 A couple months ago I snatched up a deal for a cookie baking class at a new local kids bakery.  We cashed in our certificate and got a private baking lesson with the WONDERFUL owner, Lisa.  I really loved her-she was organized, good with Ella, prepared even though the bakery is still under construction, and really easy to chat with while we baked.  We had a great time and will definitely go back.

Getting ready!

Ella got to choose what kind of cookies to make from a bunch of yummy sounding choices.

Stirring hard!

Scooping

See, I was there too :-)

While the cookies baked, Ella got a box and a bag to decorate for her cookies. Genius use of time.

Then we got to taste the cookies right out of the oven.  Seriously REALLY good cookies.  Best chocolate chip cookie I can remember having in years.

Ella packed up her cookies and Lisa gave us instructions on how to freeze and thaw them if we didn't want to eat all 2 dozen right away. 

Overall, this was a really fun date.  We make cookies at home but there's something about a "date" (and her cookie recipe tastes way better than mine) that made it worthwhile.  They also have a ton of options for playgroups, birthday parties and more that sounded great.  Also, for those of us in church communities, Lisa and her husband are active Christians and very open to church-related groups coming in. She even mentioned having brought in a Song of Solomon Couples study to do baking classes that relate to marriage building!  We ended up talking about faith because I noticed that she incorporated the fruit of the spirit into the ingredient list when talking to Ella!  So, just because I really like Lisa and her cookies-go patronize Little Hands Cookie Co.!

We're TEN!

 One cool thing about God giving you the love of your life when you're a teenager is that you're only 31 when you have your TEN year anniversary!!  We are so blessed to have been together for 12 years and still, God-willing, have so much more life ahead to share.  Chris is a standout dad, sweet husband, incredibly intelligent and shockingly well-read, excelling in his career, well respected, hilariously silly, and has more varied interests than anyone I've ever met.  I love this man. He has made me feel loved and cared for unlike anything I've ever experienced.  And a husband who is excited to take a pottery class on our anniversary?  Really?  I'm super blessed. 

 Our anniversary date was a lot of fun.  God provided a babysitter pretty late in the game (I was trying not to freak out) but she ended up being able to stay with the kids for 12 hours and give us a whole day to play!  And, she contacted me to ask if she could babysit!  After I'd asked almost everyone I know. How often does that happen?  Thanks Lindsey!

 Our first stop was the Baltimore Antiques Show at the convention center where I was offered free tickets when I went to the box office!  Score.  We'd never been to an antiques show but Chris is interested in all things historical and we're both fascinated by intricate handiwork and cool art/furniture.  We walked around for close to 2 hours and saw all kinds of crazy things from a table with 50 different porcelain ring holders to enormous Japanese screens to extremely ornate 3d scenes carved into elephant tusks. One guy tried to sell us an engagement ring which I found hilarious and ironic being our tenth anniversary :-) Random event, but fun to just be together without chasing little children and enjoy the spectacle of strangeness mixed with talent.

 Next we enjoyed a little snack at a cute cafe and then onto our pottery class!  There was one other guy in the class with us and the teacher was awesome!  I totally recommend Charlene at The Clayground in Savage Mill. She was a really good teacher and extremely patient and encouraging and laid back.  We both had a lot of fun getting dirty and spinning that wheel!  In less than two hours we had pretty good looking bowls ready for the kiln!

 

  

After a little Starbucks pick-me-up and some great, deep conversation about future plans for our family, we headed home, put Sadie to bed, and got changed into our "fancy" clothes, and left for dinner!  It made me feel better to nurse Sadie and put her to bed myself rather than worrying she'd wig out and not take a bottle (which happened for Chris' mom last week) so it worked out to make the pit stop at home.

One thing I LOVE about Facebook being so popular right now is that I can ask a question and within minutes have a ton of answers!  We've gotten great advice on what type of mattress to get, where to go with kids in Philly, and this time, a great restaurant recommendation in DC!  We went to Proof and the service and food were great!  The atmosphere was also good but the music playing left something to be desired (it sounded like I should be in the middle of a diner or bar not a classy restaurant-it just didn't jive with the decor/clientele).  I LOVE cheese so Proof's full page cheese selection was a big winner in my book.  They also brought us champagne as soon as we sat down, knowing it was our anniversary. Nice touch!  I am almost always a 1 drink person and we really wanted to order wine so the glass of wine plus the complimentary champagne made for quite the "fun" Corinne at dinner :-)

 And yes, I'm a foodie dork and took pictures of our food.  Chris had duck with sweet potato puree and pomegranate reduction and I had a nut-crusted halibut with a curry sauce and jasmine rice.  Super tasty. 

We also had the tempura fresh veggies with a truffle dipping sauce that was amazing.  We shared a caramel bread pudding with banana ice cream for dessert which was also fabulous.  Lovely meal and wonderful date.  Here's to many, many, many more anniversaries to celebrate!

Bromo Seltzer date night!

A few weeks ago Chris and his ability to find SUPER random things online scored us an AMAZING date!  We got to go into the Bromo-Selter clock tower for a special anniversary event! We got a tour of the clock tower on the top, access to dozens of artists studios/galleries on the 15 floors before you get to the clock, live music, and wine, cheese, appetizers...FOR FREE!  We had such a good time perusing the art, chatting with artists, sipping some wine, riding in the original (and super scary) elevator, and getting some awesome views of the city.  This date was a surprise so I didn't know to bring my camera so sadly, all the pics are from my phone but glad I documented it nonetheless.  We capped off the evening with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants nearby. Love date nights :-)

lookin' kinda GQ inside the clock tower

the mechanism of the enormous clock was pretty awesome

The view from the clock tower

The stairwells in there were intsense!  You could see all the way down 15 floors.

Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!

When I started grad school and had some time driving there by myself, I started listening to podcasts and have become quite addicted to a few over the last 3-4 years.  One that I NEVER miss is a comedy, news quiz show from NPR called "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me."  It's so funny and a sort-of decent source of news each week as well!  I found out they were going to be taping the show live in Baltimore last month and searched all over for tickets but it was sold out.  I was so bummed!  

However, on the day OF the show, I checked ticketmaster and craigslist one last time and ticketmaster had tickets!!!  I consulted Chris, prayed we'd find a babysitter last minute, and we bought them!  

Since we bought them last minute we were sure the seats would be poor but they were AWESOME.  We were in a box with 3, comfy, swiveling, velvet armchairs and no third person!  Just us!  We were looking right over the stage.  Couldn't have been more perfect.  

It was so much fun to see how they produce the show and to see some of the "voices" I hear all the time!  And Mo Roca, one of my favorites, was one of the panelists (it rotates weekly)!  The celebrity guest was John Waters who was there in person and as a fixture in Baltimore, was interviewed for much longer than they needed for the show.  He was such a character!  We were also really impressed with Peter Segel, the host, in person-he managed to be really funny on the spot and entertain the crowd as well as do everything needed to keep the radio show going (he reads all the questions from an ipad on the podium in from of him).  

Great experience and made me love listening to the show every week even more!

Our attempt at a camera-phone self portrait

our view of the stage

Night Out

Last night we met some friends for dinner and my parents (Abuela and Popeye to Ella) came over to watch Ella. When we got home I was putting Ella to bed and had this little conversation...

Me:Did you have fun with Abuela and Popeye?
Ella: Yes! SO much fun!
Me:Good!
Ella:Where Mommy and Daddy go?
Me:Mommy and Daddy love each other SO much so sometimes we go out, just us, on a date!
Ella:Oh. For dinner time?
Me: Yeah
Ella(with building excitement):To a restaurant?
Me:Yes! We went to a restaurant that had guacamole and chips! (Ella LOVES guacamole)
Ella (sounding almost disappointed:) Oh, I've been there.