Virginia

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Early Saturday morning.

New York City.

Fog covers the buildings, and a misty rain continues to fall.

And I'm first up to drive.

Lovely.

It did give me a chance to listen to my music.

That's our rule, as I've said before, whomever is driving gets to choose the music.

Everyone else will listen to their music on headphones.

Know what this means?

I can sing as LOUD as I WANT when I'm driving, and it disturbs no one.

Although I do wonder what people think when they see me singing because oh yes, I'm sure you can see me singing.

I also had an opportunity to listen to the soundtrack for Godspell, and as I listened it allowed me to relive the show from last night.

Sublime.

As an aside, don't you think it's sad that the lowest gas prices we saw during our entire trip were on the New Jersey Turnpike?

It didn't take us too long to get to the baby shower - well, over 4 hours, although we did arrive 30 minutes late.

No worries.

We got there.

That was the mission.

The shower was already in session, and it was okay.

I had the presents shipped to the future grandma's house, and she kindly wrapped them for us. I also brought a pair of baby booties from Major Knitter for the future mother (she loved them a lot, by the way).

Here is the guest of honor opening her presents:

Let me tell you, I hate perfect pregnant women. You know the ones, they never gain more than they're supposed to, carry only the baby, and can fit perfectly in their original size clothing just made "maternity" by addition of a little extra fabric.
Ugh.
That was never me.
Seriously, love you T, you're a gorgeous mother-to-be.
And here's the ecstatic future grandmother - she's the one taking my picture back.

It was nice to meet up with people I haven't seen in, oh six years.
Here are Kathy (standing) and Audrey (in the chair).

It was great to visit and it made me miss living in Virginia.

We didn't run into too much traffic either which is what usually snaps me back to reality and kills that particular daydream, so that whole conversation hubby and I had about, "Could we live here again," was even more relevant.

Of course my youngest wants to move back to Northern Virginia because she likes the shopping there.

Yeah.

Uh huh.
Mother-to-be chose to have a book-themed party, as she wanted to build up her baby's library.
She also has some very generous friends.
Here's the count: 90 books, and 45 blankets.
So many blankets.
Her godmother (also her aunt) gave her four huge bags of blankets, bath towels, and clothes.
What was even nicer was that a lot of the blankets she received were handmade by either her godmother or a family friend.
Great heirlooms, for sure.
Here's the Corduroy cake (yummy).

And the future grandmother made some delicious peach punch.
I told her to give me the recipe.
She didn't.
I did, however, find it on the Web.
It's a Taste of Home recipe.

Here's what you need to make Peachy Lemonade:

10 ServingsPrep: 10 min. + chilling

Ingredients

• 8 cups lemonade
• 2 cans (5-1/2 ounces each) peach nectar or apricot nectar
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened sliced peaches
• Fresh mint sprigs, snapdragons and lemon balm

Directions

• In a 3-qt. glass pitcher, combine the lemonade and nectar;
• refrigerate until chilled. Just before serving, stir the lemonade
• mixture; add frozen peach slices. Place mint sprigs along the sides
• of the pitcher and float the flowers on top of the lemonade. Yield:
• About 2-1/2 quarts.

You know Goya carries a peach nectar, and my friend used the Simply Lemonade you find in the refrigerated section to mix with the nectar although she didn't add the flowers or lemon balm, and that's okay.

I'm sure if you made homemade lemonade and added that the taste would be completely different.

I think this will be a staple at my picnics over the summer.

It was a great book-themed party, and a good time visiting with long-time friends.

I thought I'd have time to knit at the party, but I was so busy eating, drinking, and talking that I just didn't get to it.

At the conclusion of the party when almost everyone had gone home, the future grandmother took out the invite list to check over who had come and who had not.

Audrey said, "It's a good thing you made it, Julie, otherwise there'd be a black mark next to your name!"

Now that's funny because it's true! There would have been hell to pay if we had not gone down to Virginia.

I'm glad we did.

And now we just have to wait until April to find out if it's a boy or a girl.

This was worth the crazy trip.

Museums and Ice Cream

So I never did show you my pictures of our trip to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Just down from the Main Gate at Quantico,
and past the Iwo Jima statue on Route 1, is the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
SN2 and DN2 found their place on the yellow footprints.
DN2 tried lifting a standard pack -- she struggled a bit

And SN2 tried his hand at pull-ups. Yeah, he's really trying hard, can't you tell?

This was well worth the $5. For those concerned about rounds, rest assured this is simulated firing.

Besides, we always observe the Safety Rules when firing.

So many fascinating exhibits to see I just had to stop taking pictures and start looking around. If you ever get a chance you need to go there -- it's well worth the trip. It certainly brought home some of the Marine Corps history for SN2. When you live with the Marine Corps as a child you don't really stop and pay attention to what is happening around you, it was only on this trip that he fully realized what the Marine Corps is and how it can (positively) impact his life.

After the museum where else could we stop but JoJo's Ice Cream!

Yes, right next to Pizza Hut.

Anyone up for meeting at Quantico over the summer?

10 reasons why I'm glad I don't live in Virginia anymore

Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad I Don't Live in Virginia Anymore
1. Traffic.
2. Traffic heading north on I-95.
3. Traffic heading north on I-95 at 1:00 pm!
4. Traffic on I-95 South beginning at 3:00 (just reverse the picture and fill in the HOV lanes).
5. Stupid drivers.
6. Stupid drivers with vanity plates.
7. The Beltway.
8. The President holding up traffic on the Beltway.
9. More traffic (Hi Famous Dave's!).
10. High priced housing (they're asking $419K for this one - it's 26 years old).
But there's more to like too....stay tuned.

On Our Way Home

We're heading back home today.
Lots of pictures to show you, but you'll just have to wait until later!
We had a good time, you'd think it had been years since we'd been in the Exchange, and not just 1 1/2 years.
Man, that's a long time.
Anyway, say a prayer for us - we'll be on our way at 1000 ET with an ETA of 1900 at the latest.
Off to work tomorrow.
Ciao bella!

Easter Sunday - Final Destination

We had a lovely Easter Sunday.
During church all the noisy kids sat in the back (or in Virginia Beach) and then we came home and had ham, sweet potato casserole, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, corn and rolls - it was yummy.
And wine.
Then after we had stuffed ourselves we didn't even stop to do the dishes, we got into the van, with the one who was the least drunk driving (that was me!), and drove down to Quantico to see thisThe National Museum of the Marine Corps.
It was amazing.
I can't even begin to tell you.
But I will try.
Even if you weren't a Marine, you definitely want to visit this place.
And if you are a Marine, expect to run into people you served with like I did.
So now we're back off to Quantico - have to hit the Exchange - they have Vera Bradley there at 30% off (I do miss shopping at the Exchange!) - and I'm going to get some golf gloves for my sister-in-law. Any Vera Bradley for myself? Maybe some hangers.
I have to keep my obsessions to a minimum.

Vaya Con Dios all the way baby

Well we made it.
We're here in Virginia.
Back to our old stomping grounds, if only for a long weekend.
I didn't think I would miss it as much as I did.
Well I didn't know that I was missing it until I came back down here.
What have I been missing?
The traffic on I-95 with the six lane highway and two lane HOV?
Yup.
The stupid drivers?
Yup (sort of).
The blatant consumerism?
Yup.
Jo-Jo's Soft Serve ice cream?
Yup.
My crappy old house?
Yup.
All of it.
And I certainly miss driving 85 mph and still being "with the flow of traffic."
Can't do that where I live.
Well, I may miss it a bit less when I run into all the traffic on I-95 again on Monday, but right now, on Saturday night, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.
After all I spent (all together) 13 years of my life here in Northern Virginia.
And if you do the math I only spent 17 years in New York. Okay, plus 1 1/2 more years since we moved up there in August 2005.
And don't try to do the math - because I'm much more than 31 - yes, the lost years in between 43 and 31.
But anyway, I'm really almost more of a Virginian than a Yankee (and to Jean I'll always be a redneck I'm sure).
Hmm...something to think about.
Anyway - to answer Caroline's comment, I do have two pairs of the knitting needles with lights, but truthfully, my hands are usually in the popcorn during the movie so I don't even try to knit because I'm such a sh*tty knitter to begin with, I can't afford to get greasy butter all over a project that I can ruin by dropping stitches anyway! Which leads me to this thought: Do I go to the movies for the movie or for the popcorn. I still can't give a definitive answer.
And Angelika - thanks for the offer for Cadbury Mini-Eggs (my fav!) but here in my friend's house she has Longaberger baskets filled with them!!! She says their her favorite too! Ahhh...chocolate heaven.
Blades of Glory was a stupid movie - stupid funny and I enjoyed every second of it.
We've been taking lots of pictures for the blog, but can't post them until I get back.
So Happy Easter to all!