Birthday in Washington DC

Have you missed me?  Well, I hope so because I have some great things to tell you.  The Godfather and I went to Washington DC last weekend to celebrate my birthday weekend and we had a blast.  We stayed with The Chosen One and still got to hangout with Nailah, Peggy and Gary.  It was nice seeing friends that live in DC.  I did want to see more people I know but I just didn't have enough time.  It's nice to think if we ever moved to DC we would have so many friends to hang out with already.

We arrived to DC Thursday afternoon, from the airport we hopped on the metro and took it to Dupont Circle (thank god for the iPhone and google maps).  The Chosen One works at Dupont Circle so we dropped off our bags at her work, got a tour of her work, and then walked around the Dupont area until she was done with work.  What a great area to work and live in.  It was nice just seeing people walking around.  It was like New York but not as congested and busy.  I wish Atlanta was like that.  No one walks around Atlanta, I guess because everything is so far from one another.  We ended up meeting up with Peggy and Gary and we all ate dinner in Dupont Circle.  We ate at an interesting Italian restaurant that you walk up to stations and order your food then watch them make it.  It was really good.

Friday, The Chosen One decided we to give us her car so that meant we needed to wake up early and drop her off at the metro station.  I really don't remember this because I was passed out in the back seat.  We went back to The Chosen One's house and slept until noon, which I so needed I can not operate on 3 hours of sleep.  Then we woke up, drove to the metro station, and went to The National Mall (we were professional metro riders by the end of this trip).

It was incredible to be there and see all the monuments.  The only problem was it started getting cold the later it got.  By 5, I was over it.  I use to be a Yankee and enjoy cold weather.  I have been in Atlanta way too long.  The Chosen One met up with us at the Mall and we hopped on the Metro to get the car and then drove to Bon Chon for dinner.  For those of you that have never had Korean Fried Chicken, you need to find a place that serves it as soon as possible.  Trust me you are missing out.  They double fry it so it is the crispiest chicken you will ever have.  It's not breaded so it's not really greasy too.

We got the garlic and the spicy, it was so good I'm wishing I could get in Atlanta right now.  Please someone open a Bon Chon in Atlanta.  PLEASE!!!  After dinner, we went to the grocery store to get supplies for brunch on Saturday.  The Chosen One took us the a fancy grocery store that it blew our Whole Food out of the water.  Look what they sold there:

Yes truffles for $1,000 well actually $999.99 but really who's counting a penny when they are that much.  Oh Friday night after we got back from dinner and grocery shopping it started snowing.  It was wonderful that I got to see snow for my birthday.

Saturday, The Chosen One made brunch.  Her dad and Nailah came over to have brunch with all of us.  I was amazed that everyone still came over after the sleet and snow.  If we would have been in Atlanta everything would have been closed for two days.  For Brunch, The Chosen One made the most delicious quiche and a fruit salad.

Look at her cute 1960s bowl.  Love it!!

That girl knows how to cook.  After we ate, Nailah brought a card game called Phase 10.  At first it seemed complicated but we caught on really fast.

We only played for a little while and then Nailah and The Chosen's One's father had to be some where.  Nailah was going to Saturday night Mass and said she back after it.  So while we waited for her, The Chosen One and I decided to cross stitch heart buttons for Valentine's Day.

Aren't they cute?!?

That night, Nailah came back and Peggy and her boyfriend, Jeremy came over.  Nailah brought back pizza and apple pie.  We ate and played Phase 10 again.  Yes, Nailah is addicted to this game.  While we we played Phase 10, The Chosen One made us cocktails.  I like to add she made us very strong cocktails.  She knows her liquor and I'm just trying to learn from all her knowledge.  

$250 bottle of scotch

The taste of scotch I couldn't finish so I passed it around the table.

The strong Dirty Martini I couldn't finish.

Here's everyone playing:

Sunday, we ate Brunch and then left for the airport.  It was sad to leave but I was ready to get home too.  I missed my family.  

Oh are pictures of my two birthday cakes.  One from DC and the other from JT and Addison on Monday.  

They were both carrot cake.  :)

Oh before I go, you might have noticed I have added a new tab called SHOP.  I have decided to try to gradually take down my store front on Etsy and use Big Cartel.  I am hoping it will be easier to display and purchase my crafts.  I will be adding a lot of products soon so keep an eye out.  The Valentine's buttons will also be up for sale this week.

Talk to you soon,

Birthday Month

So January is my second favorite month (December is my first) because it is my birthday month.
Really I think October is very close because of The Godfather's and Addison's birthday and Halloween but it's January right now so it's my favorite this month.  Ask me again in October.  So I usually make JT freak out about if he should throw me a party and where should it be and who he should invite.  He also is confused about what to get me.  I am not high maintenance I swear.  But his year I'm not going to fret the little stuff.  I just want a nice relaxing birthday.  I usually want to celebrate the whole month but I am so laid back this year.  I can tell Addison is so confused.  He started a countdown on his bulletin board.  Every morning he wakes up and says how many day until my birthday and I just say, "Oh cool".

Have I gotten too old for birthdays?  I don't think so but I do think I have gotten to old for a big display about it.  I have planned to take a girls weekend to Washington DC the weekend before my birthday and then just spend time with family on my birthday.  But I'm looking back at past birthdays and realized they have gotten tame.  We used to do a big dinner at some fancy restaurant, that was THE restaurant at the time and then go to a club.  So Addison was not there and it was adults only.  But know I'm noticing the last 2 years have been more family orientated.  Two years ago we all went to Korean Barbq.  Everyone was there; my family, Wally's family (my second family), friends.  There were about were 7 kids there so it was definitely all about family.

Last year, we all went ice skating at Piedmont Park and then went to Flip Burger for dinner.  You can check out my blog post about it here.  We had a a blast!

My 2008 birthday party was a great dinner at a great restaurant with friends and then out to the club.  I remember I got the flu so we had to postpone it until I got better.  But not so much about family, Addison wasn't there.  But it was the restaurant Uncle Malik worked out so he go to be our server and we got the VIP treatment.

I just remembered  I wore a tiara at my 2006 birthday party.  Yes, I used to be that girl.  Hey, I'm still a princess but I don't need to wear a crown to remind everyone.   :)

So I will let you all know how this birthday celebration turns out.  I think it might be a mixture of both.  :)

Oh, I just realized how wonderful it is to have a blog.  I have been blogging for almost a year now.  It's interesting to go back and see what I wrote about in the beginning and what I write about now.  I don't think anything has really changed.  The pictures have gotten better but I still talk about food and paper.  It's like having a diary without all the personal, mommy daddy issues, and  voices in my head stuff.  Actually in my personal diary I talk about food and paper so there's really no difference.  Wait...I actually looked at it.  It's all lot about architecture and decorating.  Weird!!!  I guess I have dream house on the brain when I write.

Well, talk to everyone soon.