Farewell Party

My sweet roommate Lisa is leaving today for a fun adventure in England. I'm really going to miss having her around, so we had a little going away party for her last night.

Pasta Putanesce (with real anchovies)

A beautiful caprese salad made by Miss E

And Pavlova- a meringue dessert that I'd never really heard of before, but must admit was pretty tasty. Incidentally, it was inspired by a Russian ballerina but invented in New Zealand.

And it makes a very nice birthday dessert since Lisa's b-day was on Wednesday.

Good Luck Lisa!!

The bane of my summers

This is my thumb. Just in case you think I'm going to die from some flesh eating bacteria, I would like to allay your fears: it's a mosquito bite.

Mosquitos love me. I hate mosquitos.

I guess I could be flattered that my blood tastes so good that they flock to me, but I'm not. I'm just glad I don't live in a malaria zone.

And I hate to be whiny, but I really do think I'm more sensitive to mosquito venom (is it venom?) than the general population. This bite on my thumb, which I witnessed in action, but failed to kill the perpetrator, happened on Tuesday evening. Past experience tells me that it will continue to itch for another 4 or 5 days.

I really do like summer, I just have face it armed with 3 tubes of hydrocortisone cream.

What I ate

Grilled portabello mushroom sandwich and black and blueberry and feta salad.

E2

Ever since 2001 when my Dad proudly announced that our family would be going to see "E2" at the Delta Center, (we had to do some detective work to find out that it was actually Bono and the boys of U2) I've had a hard time thinking of them in any other way. I've long suspected that Dad really knew what he was talking about, but just loved the reactions of people when they had to correct him about the name of one of the most famous bands in the world.

Melinda and Suzette, my lovely companions for the evening.

The ridiculously large and amazing stage. On the way out we drove past about 487 semi-trucks with labels like "B7, subs & amps". They all had their engines running for the AC inside the cabs, I wonder if Bono knows about that......

This is me after Florence & The Machine. If you haven't heard her stuff, check it out- I have a weakness for songs with clapping in them, so "Dog Days Are Over" is my favorite so far.

Sunday on the Mall

Miss Jodi happens to be really smart and came up with the idea of playing croquet on the mall on a Sunday afternoon.

So she brought her bocce ball set and I brought my croquet set, and we braved the sprinkles and the kickball teams and had a fantastic time in a grove of trees nestled between the Washington Monument and the White House.

The Obamas were invited but declined, too bad.

I won round two :)

Camping and Butts

Last weekend was a wonderful adventure that ranged through Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia- all within a 10 mile radius. It was our ward camping trip, and I just happened to be in charge and planning everything (I'll let you grab your breath, because I know you're just that shocked).

Friday was lovely and we roasted s'mores and talked around the campfire, and got rained on only when we were safely tucked away in our tents.

Saturday was even lovelier when we took a couple trips floating down the river. I'm sure that's at least in the top ten for perfect ways to kick off the summer.

Here's a fairly large portion of our group- all good peeps.

And here we are at dinner that night- good food, good laughs, good times.

Hershey Park

Just about a year ago, I met the lovely Miss Jodi at the beach. We were pretty much best friends instantly; unfortunately, she lived in Boston. I was doing my best to make someone give me a job in Boston, but apparently it's not meant to be. Luckily, Miss J got a job here in the DC area! Also luckily, her new job had a company party at Hershey Park in PA, so we got to go for a whopping $5 per person.

It was a lovely day with Bev, Jodi and Myself- the drive went super fast because we're all so interesting and fun. Hershey Park is way fun and has some pretty awesome roller coasters, and I'm very grateful that I get to enjoy them without having to worry about Dramamine. It was a beautiful day that wasn't too hot, and we only got sprinkled on a little bit, until it was time to go to the car, at which point the heavens opened and poured down on us as we ran to the car. I think the torrential rain could have waited about 5 more minutes, but that's just me.