Flowers Make Me Smile

This afternoon we walked over to the United States Botanic Garden. I was feeling a little grumpy and thought seeing some pretty flowers might help to cheer me up. Guess what....it worked! We spent some time in the Conservatory, the National Garden, and Bartholdi Park. Most of the flowers are in full bloom and looked gorgeous on this perfect spring day. Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Happy Spring! Hopefully the flowers bring a smile to your face as well!

Countdown

As anyone who works in a school can tell you, the weeks following spring break usually involve a countdown to the end of the school year. Everyone is excited that the school year is almost over and we can't wait for summer break. I am definitely excited for the school year to be over because so many great things will happen this summer and fall, but there is one thing I am dreading that has me wishing time would stand still....

AJ starts his summer job on May 3rd.

In New York.

And I will be working here until the end of June.

I'm trying not to be a wuss, but I cry thinking about being away from him and being on my own. Then a small part of me also gets upset that I am so sad because I feel like I should be more independent and self-sufficient. Ugh. Clearly I am overly emotional about this whole situation!

Luckily we will only be apart for two months. We will see each other Memorial Day weekend for a wedding and my friends and family will be visiting throughout May and June. Kona will stay here with me and she will help keep me company. I have great neighbors and friends in DC and I know I will get to spend a lot of time with them as well.

At this point I'm just trying to stay calm and keep it all in perspective. It really isn't that awful, especially when I think of the women who are away from their husbands during a deployment. He is just going to New York, not a war zone. We will only be apart two months, not a year. We'll be together again before I know it.

It looks like I will have multiple countdowns this school year. First, a countdown to the day AJ leaves. (sad face) Then a countdown until we see each other in May. (happy face) And finally a countdown until the school year is over, which means I can head up to New York and spend the rest of the summer with my husband!! (super happy face)

Day Trip to VA

It's my last day of vacation. I'm sad to have to go back to work (which probably says something, right?), but I thoroughly enjoyed my time off, so I am feeling pretty happy.

We had a wonderful time on our day trip to Virginia on Friday. We stopped at two wineries, one tasting shop, an inn for lunch, and an ice cream parlor. The wineries were both picturesque and the town of Middleburg was so charming. The weather was perfect and the only low point of the day was driving back into the city. It took us over two hours and I actually hopped out of the car once we got into the city so that I could metro home. Yes, I left my husband to survive the gridlock on his own. I could tell we were headed for a fight and this helped save the day. I got home approximately 30 seconds before him, but I was relaxed again and he was happy that he did not have to deal with a side seat driver. But enough about the drive home. Let's look at some pictures!

The view at Crysalis Vineyards

Enjoying the sun! (Excuse my natural hair...didn't have time for a blow out)

Piedmont Vineyards

The oldest original inn, Red Fox Inn

Lunch on the back patio of the Inn

We didn't make it down to the cherry blossoms, but we got to see them from a far and we might try to venture down to the tidal basin later this week once the tourists have packed up and gone home. No offense, tourists. Speaking of tourists, for a funny comparison of us vs. them read this post.

ETA: Blogger is messing with the color of my pictures. So weird!

Hello Spring Break!

It is finally spring break for me! We have a lot of things planned for the next few days so I am hoping to have a lot of stories and many pretty pictures to post here next week.

Today I hit up Target, TJ Maxx, and the grocery store for a little retail therapy and to stock up on food for the many cookouts we plan on having this weekeend. Tomorrow we are heading out to Virginia to visit a few wineries. We have not been to any in the DC area since we moved here, so I am really looking forward to our little day trip. Saturday we are having our old neighbors over for a cookout and Sunday I have a big Easter dinner planned. We also need to fit in a trip to see the cherry blossoms! I saw them while I was driving out to Target this morning, but I don't think that counts.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the nice weather!

P.S. Make sure you check out MRM's Vineyard Vines giveaway here.