Stripe It Up!

Prior to our move, back at the end of April, I had big plans to use the 2+ weeks after we were moved into the new place, but still had the old place to complete some DIY painting projects (since Kairo wouldn't be in the way), including:
+ Painted stripe curtain panels for the living room
+ Magnetic chalkboards - for us and Scott & Amy's
+ Sand and paint bar stools

Well... things didn't quite happen as planned. Who's surprised?! I know G$ wasn't...

Scott & Amy, I know your wedding present is now over a year past due, but I promise, it will eventually happen!

Fast forward two months to the end of June. I finally got around to completing at least one of my planned DIY projects - the painted wide-striped curtains for the living room in a white and yellow/gold stripe. Since I was planning to this project in April/May, I already had all the supplies:
+ Small Foam Roller and Paint Tray
+ Paint
+ Fabric Medium - to make the paint less stiff once it dries
+ Cheap White Curtain Panels
+ Painter's Tape

BTW: It was actually more difficult to find cheap white curtain panels than I had thought. Target online was sold out, Target in stores was sold out, Amazon only had nicer panels or they were super sheer, I wanted something opaque. I ended up ordering them from walmart.com.

I had decided to do painted stripes, rather than sewing for a couple of reasons. 1) Sewing is a little intimidating to me and 2) I don't have a sewing machine.

Anyways, since I had all the materials, I only needed one other thing: dog-free space to paint. Our friends that we met through Kairo - Tom and Hope, with dog Chester - now have a yard and Hope very graciously offered her backyard anytime I wanted/needed for craft projects, so I took her up on it and went over one Sunday morning. She was also going to do a canvas painting for her soon-to-be-born son's nursery (now born) and wanted help, so it was a two birds, one stone kind of thing.

If anyone recalls, it was HOT in DC this weekend. We got together somewhat early, but after a Michael's trip for paint and canvas, it was already late morning and unbearable in the sun. Luckily Tom and Hope have a huge dining room, so we move the table aside and set up shop in there.

First, we measured and taped off the stripes. I had 84 inch curtains, so I did six 14-inch stripes. FYI - it's probably a good idea to actually measure your curtain length, since my bottom stripe was a few inches shorter than the rest. Not the end of the world, but just an FYI. While taping, we marked the tape lines with arrows, so we knew which side the paint should be on. I went over all the tape lines again with my fingers, pressing firmly to ensure I'd get a smooth paint line.


After both panels were taped, I laid the first one out on the floor, pressed the tape once more time just to be sure. I then dumped some paint into the tray and squirted some fabric medium in (yeah, I kind of winged it), mixed it with the roller, then started painting. After the first panel was finished, Hope and I carried it outside to bake in the sun. Then I started with the above steps on the second panel and moved it outside to dry.


Then got to the fun part - helping Hope paint her canvas. I hadn't painted probably since high school, but I really enjoyed it. I found it very soothing, and makes me want to do some more art projects for our place. Excited, G$?!?!


Once the canvas was painted, the curtains panels were dry, so I folded them up and went home. I had purchased curtain ring clips to hang them, so as soon as I got home, I unfolded them, hung them. After they were hung, I worked to fold them into a pinch-pleat, so they hung the way I wanted to, which is actually one of the pluses to having done the stripes with paint, the slight stiffness of the paint helped keep them pleated.


The one downfall to the yellow/gold color of the stripe? It kind of takes on a pukey greenish/yellowish hue at night. Hope actually has yellow curtains and when I explained my problem with the striped curtains to her, she said she has the same problem with her yellow curtains.

In hindsight, I think in the next house, if I decide to do these again, this is what I'd do differently:
+ Sew them: a few straight lines and hems can't be too difficult and it'd probably be a good beginner sewing project
+ Go with a tan/greige color rather than yellow/gold to avoid the possibility of puke-colored stripes in the evening.
+ Make them longer, so the bottoms touch the floor: granted I was using the cheap pre-made curtains that I knew were going to be too short, but went with them over the longer version so I wouldn't have to hem them - lazy, I know. :)

And there you have it, my first DIY blog post! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

<3
K$

Memorial Day Beach Recap

I know, I know... you're asking, "Are you really going to do a Memorial Day beach recap almost two months after the fact?" Yes, yes, I am. Mostly because I had to share the pics. I did spare you the paleo diet recap that was written 3+ months ago, but never posted.

So you've been warned, this is going to be more of a photo dump to share the trip.

It was a great vaca! We all had a blast, especially Kairo! We stayed in Duck, NC in the Outer Banks, which is one of the only beaches in OBX that doesn't have a leash law for dogs on the beach. It was completely legal for Kairo to be hanging out on the beach without a leash. It was great!

The days usually started off like this. Kairo heard my parents waking up with their dogs at 6AM, so he was whining to go out of our bedroom to play. So I got up with him, while G$ continued to sleep. My mom and I took the dogs out to the beach to play in the ocean while there weren't tons of people out there yet:




















Then, we came back inside. G$ then graced us with his presence. Just kidding, I had no qualms with him getting more sleep - it was silly for both of us to get up at such an early hour! But he was usually getting up, so we made breakfast. Then it was time for family nap time upstairs. Kairo and I slept, while G$ caught up on the news/surfed the internet.

Then we had lunch with the fam. I love the beach, since it's one of the few times I'll actually eat Doritos. I looooooove Doritos, but I know they are horrible for you, especially when you have no self control and want to eat an entire back. So it's rare that G$ eat them, or any other chips for that matter.

Then it was down to the beach for the afternoon. I didn't take an pictures while down there, since I didn't have my phone. But Kairo alternated between digging in the sand and some how managing to throw sand on my mom despite being really far away from her, laying under the umbrella, or stalking birds. He enjoyed being down at the beach. He was not, however, a fan of the water. The waves really threw him off - he was not the biggest fan, and would quickly run away backwards, when the waves would come up to where he was. It was kind of funny. The water was pretty chilly, so neither G$ nor I went in, but my dad and Scott did from time to time and Kairo was very intrigued/concerned/interested when they were in there.

After the beach, we'd head back up to the house, shower, prepare drinks/hors deurvres and enjoy them out on the deck before dinner. This is where I got some super cute shots of my nephew Brandon and new niece Ally, plus of course some more of the K-Man, Abby and Hunter:
























It was a great way to spend Memorial Day and I can't wait until next year. Although, we are trying something new and staying down in Hatteras Island, so it will be a new and exciting adventure!

<3
K$

Happy Memorial Day

We are spending Memorial Day in the Outer Banks NC with my family. We arrived on Sunday and are staying through Wednesday. The K-Man was again a good sport during the five hour car ride. More on the beach and sand hopefully later this week, but here are some pics from the ride down.
Head out the window:

So cute:

Yes, he's still spoiled and spent some time in my lap:

Sunroof action when we were close to the beach house:

Although everyone (myself included) loves the three day weekend, let's not forget the real reason for Memorial Day - to honor the folks in the military and our veterans for their service to our country. So to those reading, thanks!
In honor of Memorial Day, our CrossFit gym did a special "hero" workout called Murph on Saturday. The Hero workouts are always tough and are usually named after a soldier who was killed in battle. Murph the workout is in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.
This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.
"Murph"
1 Mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run
With an option of doing the entire thing with a weighted vest or body armor (I did not... Ha!)
You have to start and end with the run, but you could break up the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. We did 20 rounds of 5-10-15.
It was a doooooozy! But I finished!! In 64:50. And was exhausted for the rest of the day and may or may not have taken a nap. Needless to say, I am a tad bit sore and going down stairs is a bit of a challenge due to the squats, but it felt very good to finish such a long and challenging workout. When I was halfway done with the 100-200-300, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it, but I powered through. The push-ups were by far the worst part and the hardest for me. I struggled to do five, then would try to do three more, then two more. Then to have to finish with a mile run in the humid sun, whoa.
It's early to rise tomorrow for some early morning beach time with the pups!
<3
Kara

Happy Birthday Dear Kairo!

I wrote this post almost over a month ago, but never got around to adding the picture (which always seems to be the bottleneck on posts).  I made a few updates in italics below, since what was future-tense has now happened.  And where did April and May go?!?!?    

On Sunday, April 15, Kairo turned one!  We didn’t have any special doggie cupcakes like he received on G$’s birthday, but we did go on an extra long 4+ mile hike and he had a blast!  As did G$ and I.  I need to get some video footage of it, but Kairo looooooves to stalk bird.  It's too funny to watch.  And he knows the difference between birds, squirrels/bunnies.  Birds he stealthily approaches, since he knows they have the power of flight, but with squirrels/bunnies, he will just take right off after them. 

G$ tried to get me to send out a joke e-vite inviting family and friends to Kairo’s birthday party, but I unfortunately never got around to creating it…kind of like I never got around to posting this entry.

It’s so hard to believe that a year has gone by since Kairo was born and they he’s almost been in our life for a year (May 31st will be a year).  And man, what a year it has been!  I recently  went through all 1000+ pictures I have on my phones (yes, you read that correctly), and it was a nice trip down memory lane.  He was such a cute little ball of fur back then.  Still is super cute, but now has the added benefit of having a larger, more controlled bladder! 

Here’s a cute before and after picture:

As a wee little pup

Same stool, at a year old.  Sorry it's a big blurry. 

After Easter church and brunch with G$'s family, we swung by and picked up Kairo before heading back to G$'s parents' house for an Easter Egg Hunt for G$'s nephew, Jack.  Kairo help find the eggs, but was very good and didn't try to pick one up!

Kairo is getting more comfortable swimming.  Last summer he dabbled, so we really think this is going to be a good summer for me.  After the Easter egg hunt, we went home, took a family nap, then later in the afternoon went to the dog park.  Since it was late in the day, there weren't a ton of dogs down by the water, which meant the K-Man wasn't distracted and would actually fetch sticks. 

One of the vizsla blogs G$ and I follow recently did a post about their friend’s vizsla passing away and it really got G$ and I thinking about how sad we are going to be when that day comes.  He really has become a part of our daily life and it’s very bizarre when G$ and I find ourselves home with the K-Man by our side (the few times we’re home, but haven’t yet picked him up from daycare).  And nothing, really  nothing beats the whole body butt/tail shake that ensues after we come home from being away (even if it’s just 2 minutes to run and check the mail).  He.just.gets.so.amped.up!  As sad as it will be when Kairo’s time comes, there’s no sense in thinking about it now, instead we are going to live up some exciting times in our life, including:

• I have a new baby niece!  Allison Katherine was born on April 16.  I’m so excited to meet and hold her on Saturday!  She’s a cutie-patootie! G$ and I met her the Saturday following and got to spend some time chatting with Scott and Amy at their place.  And I sadly neglected to take newer pictures of Ally when I saw her on Mother's Day.

• Kairo’s best friend, Chester, the labradoodle, moved a few weeks ago and the nightly play sessions have not been the same.  We have had dinner plans with them on Friday night, so Kairo and Chester will be were reunited once again.  Kairo had a blast with Chester, got to experience a doggie door.  It was funny, he's use it to get back in, but opted to push the screen door with his nose and/or his paw to get back outside.  He was once again intrigued by their cats.  Yes, plural.  He becomes VERY curious, but then gets scared.  It’s actually been good that Kairo is starting to change his nightly routine (less hardcore running right before bed), since...
• We move next Friday moved!  I have not done nearly enough packing and I’m sure I’m going to start feeling stressed once this weekend is over… And I was stressed, and we didn't get everything packed, so we've had to do a number of loads between places after the fact.  I took Kairo over to the new place on Wednesday night while G$ had his softball games, which may have been a bad idea… a new strange place... in the dark... without his daddy.  After smelling the place top to bottom, he was whining a bit, so we went for a quick loop around the block, then I went back to clean some of the cabinets.  Since he was still whining/whimpering and I stupidly forgot to bring a toy for him, we headed out to catch the end of G$'s softball game.  As we were leaving, we met one of our neighbors with a dog named Molly.  Kairo was super friendly and actually walked up their stoop to greet Molly’s momma.  Our next visit there will be this weekend, when it’s light out, with G$, so hopefully he’ll start to be more comfortable with the new place.  No worries, Kairo has since adjusted to the new place.  I will do a post on the new place, so you'll hear more then.
• Five More Days of our Whole30!  I owe you guys and updated post on that – I’ll get it to it soon, hopefully before it’s over!  And it's over!  I took measurements before and after, which I will publish in a summary post. 

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite recent Kairo pictures:

<3
Kara

Whole30: Day 4

What was that “gorge-ourselves-with-carbs-one-last-time” reference I made in the last post, you ask?  If you didn't guess it (or haven't already heard), G$ and I are on a 30-day diet, called the Whole30.  Today is Day #4, only 26 more days to go! 



What it is?
It’s a 30 day hardcore paleo diet – short for paleolithic diet, or often called the caveman diet – which is a high protein, vegetable, and fruit diet.  No grains, no sugar, no legumes, no dairy, no processed food.  It’s often referred to as the caveman diet since you are eating the foods that were available during the caveman era. 


How did we hear about it?
After we started crossfitting, we decided to start eating in a pseudo-paleo way – eating mainly meats and veggies on the week days, but all bets were off for the weekends.  So I added a few blogs to my Google Reader to get some inspiration.  And one of them, called EasyPaleo, had post about doing their second Whole 30 and linked to the post about their first Whole30, so I started reading more about it and was intigued.  Then fast-forward a few months later, G$ emailed me about a paleo challenge that one of the other crossfit gyms was doing that required you to put $50 in a pot each week as motivation to stick to the diet.  That got me thinking, we really should do it. 

Why?
Eating paleo is big in the crossfit world, but that’s not why we decided to do it.  There are a couple of reasons:

1. I was intrigued the first time I read the Whole30 website in that the description made it sound like a cleanse.  To force your body not to rely on sugars or processed foods, and learn to enjoy the natural flavors are often overtaken by the unnatural flavors as well as learn how grains, dairy, etc. make you feel.  After the 30 days is over, you are supposed to gradually introduce those foods back.  Day 31, eat breads, then wait a few days to see how it makes you feel.  Are you bloated?  Does it cause you to break out? Then Day 34, try introducing dairy back in, etc. etc. They even tout that seasonal allergies can improve!  Fingers crossed!
2. You often hear or read that exercise is only one step towards being healthy; the next step is changing your diet.  Back in this post, I stated that one of my goals was to feel comfortable wearing a two piece bathing suit.  I know I could put on a two-piece bathing suit whenever, but the key was going to be feeling comfortable.  And in order to feel comfortable, I need to be leaner and lose some body fat, and I finally came to the realization that I need to eat healthier to do that.  

How’s it going?
Okay.  I'll be honest, it hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been painful either.  Not being tempted by things around me isn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  And I think part of that is because I know this is a 30 day regiment, with an end eventually in sight.  The fact that it's very cut and dry and laid out also helps.  In the past, I've just made internal goals to be healthier, but didn't make clear rules as to what that meant.  So when there was candy at the office, having a piece here or there wouldn't be a big deal.  Now, I'm looking at labels to see if the ingredients include sugar or words I cannot pronounce (i.e. not natural). 

I think the toughest thing is planning all the meals and making sure they get cooked.  Last night, I actually said to G$, "this is the third time I've cleaned this pan tonight" because I was prepping lunch for the next day.  I have certainly learned some things in the first four days that will hopefully make next week easier.  I'll share them next week sometime since I know some of you (ok, maybe just one, Heath) may be starting this after Easter.  

Another tough area for me was my morning coffee.  No dairy = no milk.  No sugar (real or artificial) = no Splenda or vanilla syrup.  Which really translate to drinking black coffee.  You could put coconut milk in it, but I never brought any into work, so it has been black all week.  Let me just tell you that black coffee is nasty!  Because I'm no longer enjoying the morning coffee, I decided that I am going to use this month to curb my coffee/caffeine dependency, so hopefully no more afternoon headaches on days I don't get "the juice."  I started the weening process this morning by making a half-caf coffee – half regular, half decaf.

On the positive side, I'm experimenting with different foods.  I've had Kale twice this week, and actually enjoyed what is said to be a "super food" packed with vitamins and nutrients.  Thanks for introducing us to the Kale/Avocado recipe Heath! :)  I also made my own mayo!  Never thought I'd say that.  And it's not.hard.  There have been some busts with experimenting with different foods as well - ground chicken, cinnamon, apples, and squash is not a good breakfast meal.  The chicken tasted good, but it was something about the squash that just didn't sit well.

I took my measurements and fully plan on sharing my weight and inch changes after the 30 days is over.  I'll keep you posted on how it's going and perhaps share some of our favorite recipes.

If you are interested in getting more information, let me know and I can send you some.  

<3
K$

Georgia on My Mind

As I mentioned at the end of my previous post, this past weekend, G$ and I packed up the car with Kairo and drove down to Georgia to visit one of my besties from high school Heather, her husband D and their beautiful 18-month old daughter Grace down in Columbus/Fort Benning, Georgia.  Google Maps said it would be about a 12 hour trip, but we were able to make it in under 12 hours with food, bathroom, and gas breaks – a feat that G$ and I were both very proud of. :)

Heather did a great recap of the weekend and I’m apparently not in a “writing mood” so I will be brief with additional information.

The highlights in my book:

• Grace.  She was so cute and I don't want to toot my own horn (toot, toot), but Heather said she warmed up to me muuuuch quicker than she usually does.  I was holding her the first night while we were playing outside with the dogs and had her in my lap for breakfast the following morning.  Such.a.cutie.  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of her with me... :( 
  And no, me spending a weekend with Grace has not convinced G$ and I to have a child any sooner than we are planning to, so I'll just get that idea out of your head up front!
• D.  He just cracks me up.  I love how he says what's on his mind!
• Heather's beautifully decorated house (sorry D, we all know Heath is the brains behind this!).  It has set the bar high for our new place. 
• The beautiful old, historic mansions we saw on our river walk - which I later zillowed and found out the ones for sale are at or under $300K...  The same house in the DC area would easily be over a million.  Sigh. 
• Having a door to the outside on the same level.  Getting a little taste of sitting outside relaxing with a drink while the dogs played made G$ and I super excited to move.  T Minus 1 month. :)  Also really makes me want a fire pit or heat lamp to ensure the patio for longer when the nights are cool.  Whatdoyouthink, G$? HA!
• The all around good times with good friends - even when we are just doing low-key activities with three dogs and a toddler in tow.  Couldn't have been a better weekend!  

It was soooo great to see Heather, D, and Grace.  It really makes me miss how my three main girls – the bridesmaids in our wedding – are not local.  One (hi Jack!) is living in Durham, NC going to business school at Duke.  Another (hi Al!) is actually on a 6-month business trip in Chester, England, but normally lives in Houston, TX.  I’m horrible at keeping in touch, and even though we try to plan four-way calls every so often, it’s sad that I don’t talk to these amazing girls more frequently.  Heather and I probably are the most in touch, and I really attribute that to the blogs, we always know what’s going on in each other's life (me probably more than her, since I’m horrible at updating this thing), but it prompts us to gchat each other during the day after reading the other person’s blog.  Ali is keeping a blog to detail her adventures in England, so I’m hoping she enjoys it so much that she’ll continue it once she returns to the states.  (hint, hint, but I don’t think Ali even follows this regularly…)



Heather, D, Grace - thank you so much for having us!  We hope to see you soon - at hopefully a closer location! :)

As Heather mentioned in her post, it was sad, we didn’t take any pictures!  I did manage to photo-document Kairo being the cutie-pie that he is while sleeping in the car…

As soon as we got in the car while it was still dark out, Kairo quickly curled up in his bed in the back seat.

Told you I did a good job photo-documenting it! :)  He was a perfect angel and slept for the majority of the time.  Don't worry, he was the spoiled Kairo you know and love... he spent probably about 15% of the trip in my lap:

Us both with "sleep eyes"

And I did get a few of Kairo playing with Molly and Major:

For the most part the drive was pretty uneventful.  G$ somehow managed to drive the entire 12 hours both ways – isn’t he sweet!  One interesting thing did happen on the drive down.  As you know, Kairo has some “bald spots” or “scars” where he’s currently fur-less from playing rough – or getting sidewalk-burn.  Well, we stopped for a late lunch and ate it outside while Kairo stiffed around.  When we got back in the car, all of Kairo’s bald spots were swollen and the fur on the outer ring of the spots was sticking up:

We think he got sunburned!  Since this skin would have never seen the sun before – since he didn’t have them last summer when he was a pup.  After about an hour or two, the swelling died down and we didn’t see it again.  We are going to keep an eye on it next time we are out in the sun for a prolonged period of time.  

Other Friday Randoms: 

• G$ and I are going boating this evening with friends who bought a boat last fall, then doing dinner at Cantina Marina on the SW DC waterfront. These friends are moving out of our building in a couple weeks, so we are calling it the: combined gorge-ourselves-with-carbs-one-last-time and goodbye-Hope-Tom-and-Chester dinner.
• What’s the gorge-ourselves-with-carbs-one-last-time, you ask?  You’ll just have to wait and see! :)
• Wegmans is coming to Alexandria!  It’s still about 20 minutes away, but that’s closer than the existing Wegmans are to us.  Likely not going to be our every-day grocery store – and by every day, I mean every week to two weeks – but it’ll be nice to have one within a more reasonable distance.  Ha, and I just read the entire article I linked to...which is about the groundbreaking...which still hasn't occurred.  It's not going to open until early 2014.  Wah waaaahhhh!  I should probably just remove this bullet...
• This week has been gorgeous in DC.  All the trees are blooming, including the ones right outside our building – they look so pretty during the day, but I think even cooler at night (coincidentally, the same time I had my phone and could take pictures…):  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

<3
K$

The Proof is in the Pudding…

This Sunday, I ran in a St. Patrick’s Day 8K with some people I work with.  It was company sponsored (read: free), so definitely a good way to encourage me to get out and run without having to shell out money.  Team Excella Consulting had a scheduled rendezvous time of 8:15 AM, which you all know, it really felt like 7:15 due to the start of daylight savings time this weekend.  Talk about an early start on Sunday. 

An 8K is equivalent to 4.97 miles.  Although G$ and I have been going to CrossFit three days a week pretty regularly, with a number of 200, 400, and 800 meter runs incorporated into our WODs, I have done very little long distance running.  Last weekend, I took Kairo out for a 4 mile run and that’s pretty much where my training both started and ended for this race.  Ha!  Therefore my goal was to run a 10:00 minute mile so that’s I’d finish up the race by 10:00AM (it kicked off at 9:00). 

But… true to what our instructor on Day #1 of CrossFit said, CrossFit really does prepare you for anything.  Not only did I run at a sub-10:00 minute mile pace, but I was even at a sub-9:30 minute mile pace!  Clocking in with an official pace of 9:25, with my final chip time being 46.47!  And to get into even more statistics, I placed 352 out of the 1046 total women in my 25-29 age group, that’s hovering around the top third!  I’ll take it!

Side Note: we have some crazy-fast runner at my firm: we placed 4th out of 51 teams (only the top four runners’ times count in the team score).  The guy finished first on our team is absolutely nutso and this past fall, he qualified for the Iron Man Championship down in Kona, Hawaii next year!  Like I said, nutso.  He runs, bikes, and swims more than I think I’ll ever be able want to! 

Team Excella before the race

G$ brought the K-Man into the city to cheer me on.  The combination of being up and at ‘em earlier than normal (remember, Kairo is not a morning dog), walking around the city with lot of people, and bird stalking, really pooped him out.  He was exhausted, which was great for us since he slept while we were at brunch and then for about four hours later in the afternoon.  I’m not sure if it was the time change or my body being in shock from the run, but I took advantage of Kairo’s abnormal calmness by taking a two hour nap with him in the afternoon.  Glorious! 

In other weekend highlights, my sister-in-law Amy had her baby shower this weekend.  And I sadly forgot about my grand plan to buy a UVA onesie as one of my gifts.  Grr!  Since Amy and a number of her friends in attendance when to Tech (no, we don’t hold that against Amy…), I thought it would got a rise out of some folks when she opened it.  Oh well…  My cousin Laura, who’s a few years older than me and lives in Boston, came down for the weekend for the shower.  She stayed with G$ and I on Saturday night, so we went to dinner with my parents in DC – to Station4 in the SW Waterfront area for those in DC, which was good.  We had a somewhat early reservation 6:30 and service was a bit slow, but most people were there for dinner before a show at the Arena Stage, so I’m sure when I told him we weren’t and weren’t in a hurry, that put us lower on his priority list for the first part of the meal.  G$ was a great sport and entertained listened to Laura while walking around DC with Kairo while I was running, then we met up with my parents again for brunch at my favorite place – Liberty Tavern in Clarendon.  I looove their Sunday brunch buffet table.  Needless to say, it was a food-filled weekend and I’m still stuffed! :)

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures at the shower, so here's one of Kairo and G$ on a walk on Sunday afternoon.

Not too much going on after work this week, just planning for our road trip down to visit H, D, and G down in Georgia!  Yes, we are bringing the K-Man, so I’ll be sure to fill you all in on pictures from the weekend and how the 12 hour car ride with the pup went.  I.cannot.wait!  Plus, the weather is looking gooooood: 80s and sunny! 

<3
K$