Weekend in review

What a great weekend!!  I forget how much fun it is to catch up with family, especially my younger brother Paul. - plus, it was nice to finally meet his lady.  Even though it was pouring rain on Saturday morning, they braved the inclimate weather to make me happy and get my fresh donuts and produce for the day at a local farmer's market.  Here is a picture of them enjoying said donuts with blues music playing in the background.  This was probbly right before a man running as an independent for a delegate spot on the platform of global warming came by to get on his soapbox and tell me all about droughts and forest fires in Australia :)

After a day of grocery shopping, we had a friendly tennis competition at Tyler's grandfather's house, then did some indoor rock climbing - what a great way to bond and relax.  Even though there were little kids there a third of our age who showed us up, I think we did pretty well, considering our lack of experience, and we all finished all three wall climbs.  And Chelsea gets extra points for putting up with my shouts of "go faster" or "smile" as I tried to take her picture as she climbed in awkward positions :)

 

 

To unwind from our full day, T made us an AMAZING meal of beet salad; grilled shrimp with sweet potatoes, grilled squash, and sauteed swiss chard; and rack of lamb, and we enjoyed it by candlelight on our lovely backyard deck.  I really hope this is a preview of future summer night meals!



Surprise, surprise - Sofi tried to beg dessert off Paul and Chelsea ...



On Sunday, we stayed busy by going to Charlottesville to look at different lodging options for our wedding guests, have our first pre-marital counseling session, and re-visit Ash Lawn for fresh ideas. 

Surprisingly, counseling was pretty fun - our pastor for the service is very liberal and welcoming of all backgrounds, she used this session to get to know us better and let us know our scores on a questionnaire that we took, and to kind of identify possible issues and definite strengths that we had.  Instead of finding that we would be doomed to fail (as I stressed about leading up to the session), I left feeling very optimistic and hopeful about our future together - that's a good sign, right? 

So glad that mom and dad got to see the venue,even though it was pouring at first, and it ws nice to see the lighting and blooms going on at the time we plan on having our wedding next year!  While the weekend definitely left me a little tired for the work week, it was definitely worth it :)

Even through rain clouds and near the side entrance, I think that Ash Lawnwas stunning
with the mountains in the background

Inaugural Post!

I have officially decided to try my hand at this whole blogosphere business, seeing as I love the idea of journaling/getting out my ideas in a concrete forum, and then going back to look things to see how I've changed and progressed (hopefully).  I love perusing friends' and strangers blogs with their exchanges of ideas about everything under the sun, and this is particularly helpful for people like me who are gathering ideas for upcoming nuptuals :)

Sooo for my first post, I wanted to say that even though it's only Wednesday, I'm seriously gearing up for the weekend - not only is my younger brother Paul coming for the weekend (I only see him about twice a year since Perdue steals him away for work and his graduate studies the rest of the year), but he is bringing is girlfriend Chelsea and her adorable yorkie, Bella!  I have yet to meet either Chelsea or Bella, but have heard great things about both :)

                             Me and little brother at my swearing in - we need a more recent photo!

I never thought I'd say this, but I am absolutely OVERFLOWING with ideas of what we can do in Richmond this weekend on Friday and Saturday, and then what to do during the day Sunday in Charlottesville before we have a second look at our wedding venue at Ash Lawn Highland!  So far, I've come up with....

1. Dinner Friday night at Anokha - their chicken tikka with garlic naan is to DIE for
2. Perusing the South of the James farmer's market for breakfast at food carts and fresh produce to grill out Saturday night - I've been eyeing fresh strawberries for flaky pastries and dinosaur kale to use for kale chips.  Yum!
3. Having a lazy Saturday afternoon at the river ... like T and I did last Saturday ..

4. Play a little tennis outside - love being active in this weather
5. Other notables or possibilities - the Ashland Strawbery Faire, Richmond's first annual bacon festival, swinging by Balliceaux on Saturday night for one of their delicious mixed drinks and to hear the sounds of Soul Power, and stops at such Richmond establishments as Proper Pie for slices of pie,Shyndiz for slices of cake, or Pearl's for their signature coconut cupcake.  So many places (mostly revolving around food) and so little time to get it all in!
6. T and I plan on grilling out for the kids on Saturday night, and I've been dying to try out this little gem
7. After our guests leave, I plan on further cultivating our slowly growing assortment of plants - look what T brought for me the other day to keep all of my succulent plants (I included Sofers in the pic to show the scale of the barrel) - I have the best fiance ever!

I know I've been guilty on more than one occasion of planning way too many events in one day, but I'll recap in a few days to confirm what actually do when Paul and his lady are in town.  Cannot wait for the weekend!