Merry Christmas!

How The Grinch Made Our Christmas Eve Awesome

On Christmas Eve Day, we headed to National Harbor for ICE! featuring the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas carved in ice. Lots and lots of huge blocks of ice. Aunt Meredith was in town and joined us as well. We donned blue parkas to enter the exhibit, where it's a chilly 9 degrees at all time. Best part? Freezing our tushies off on the ice slides!

Home Sweet Home!

The luck o' the schedule (my work schedule, that is) meant I had 6 days in a row off smack-dab in the middle of December. Six days off?! Let's get in the car and drive home! We celebrated Christmas with both sets of grandparents, & we got to see our friends, hang with our families, and get homesick all over again...

Madison Square Garden Hosts the Memphis Tigers (and us)

Thanks to our fellow Memphian-turned-Virginian Brian, we had the honor of watching our hometown Tigers play basketball at Madison Square Garden in NYC. We played Kansas, ranked #2 at the time, and actually held our own in the first half, though we only led for a few seconds. The half-time score gave us the false hope that we had a chance. Alas, we fell apart in the second half, BUT it was quite somethin' to be in that historic arena, watching our young team up close, and cheering them on!

9-Year-Old Dreams Do Come True

Best. Birthday. Party. Ever.


Local Japanese steakhouse offers **free** limo service to and from the restaurant. What a PERFECT party idea for a girl turning 9! Some serious squealing ensued--my ears are still ringing--but we loaded a few of Molly's gal pals up & treated them to hibachi chicken. Wouldn't you have loved this when you were a kid? Wouldn't you love it now!?

First Santa Sighting of 2010

Thanksgiving weekend. Carriage rides with Santa! This year is notable as Amelia's first year to not only tolerate but l.o.v.e. Santa. Exit fear and terror, enter batting eyelashes and endless chatting. This particular Santa was quite outstanding. Looked great and very friendly.

Rockin' the District

Aaaand, they're off...

It was a very Virginia day. Very Vah-jen'-ya. Old money. Colonial Southern. Lots of women in tall black boots, riding boots that aren't used for riding. Many, many hats adorned with flowers and straw and floppy brims. Men with pipes and sweater vests. "Tailgating," if you will, but not with hot dogs and cans of Bud Light. Fondue sets, champagne glasses, smokers, brie platters, catered spreads.

We loved every minute of the Montpelier Hunt Races. Stunning horses, their muscles billowing up close as they leapt over steeplegates right in fron of our eyes. On the grounds of the Montpelier estate, home of James Madison. My college buddy Sarah and her husband Lane invited us, as newly residented Virginians, to join their gang for a beautiful fall day at the races. Friendly wagers, managed by Lane, made the short runs all the more interesting. Our favorite was the runnning of the hounds to start the races. The kids played beanbag toss (which is called "cornhole" in these parts), the grown-ups chatted and reminisced. We were hoping to see Molly's penpal, Thomas, whom she had met just over a year before at Lane and Sarah's Virginia wedding. Suddenly, with little warning, Rebecca got quite sick, and we needed to make a swift exit to avoid spreading her germs. (The week before, 3 in our household had weathered the pukey storm, and we did NOT want to share with the other partygoers.) So we missed the last two races, and very unfortunately--we learned later--narrowly missed Thomas and his dad.

Despite this disappointment, we loved our day among the monied Virginians, and hopefully, we can return next fall for a redux!

Click here for pictures. You won't be disappointed!

I Did It!

Ran a 5K. Freezing cold. But done! On to a 10K...

Life is Old There, Older Than The Trees

Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, at the height of leaf season. Enjoy.