Washington DC

This week I was gone Monday through Thursday traveling on business. For 2 days I was in DC, and then I fly home and drove to Columbus for 2 days. Columbus was certainly less exciting than DC... the Hilton has nothing on the Mandarin Oriental hotel! =)

I went to DC to accept an award for my company; we were recognized by the United States Postal Service for both Supplier Performance and for Supplier Diveristy awards for the contract that I helped manage in 2009. The award is a really big honor for my work company, and I'm pleased to say that we were also the only supplier that was representated 2x out of the 13 winners (various categories)! Thankfully I didn't have to make a speach; it isn't that I mind public speaking, but I much prefered just having my picture taken and meeting some interesting people.

Here's the press release photo and link. I'll be getting some induvidudial photos via email soon; they show me accepting the award and meeting the post master general, etc.

The best part of my trip though was probably the hotel. Our contracting specialist authorized us to use her government rate to stay at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, which is OMG probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at! It was 65% off the rate we normally would have had to pay (over $600 a night for a regular room). I had an awesome view of the Jefferson Memorial from my window.

And the bathroom was amazing! Dave laughed when I texted him that, commenting that of all the sights in DC, the "crapper" is what caught my eye. But the tub! The super huge glass shower with waterfall sensation shower head! The plush robes and marble everywhere! Awesome.

In a twist of fate, Harrison Ford was also staying at the hotel then, and was in the bar drinking solo (or should I say, Hans Solo!) Monday night when we came back from dinner for a night cap! To respect his privacy, no one approached him. But my friend said "Wow! He's old!!" A hotel conscierge did comfirm that they are filming at the hotel. Cool!

Tuesday morning we got up early and walked some monuments. Having been to DC a few times prior, this was probably the best time there. It wasn't quite 7 AM and it was like we had the place to ourselves. I mean, no one was around the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial.

We were the only people on the steps which are normally jam packed. And best of all, I got to see the WWII memorial which was my goal. Both of my grandfathers fought in battles, and the silence of the morning was a great way to reflect and honor them. Some pictures from the WWII memorial:

And my favorite picture from the morning:

pie

Dave is a much bigger fan of birthday pie over cake. His choice this year was coconut cream pie. Cori was fairly pleased with the selection as the sequence of shots show.

Easter

Dressed in our Easter finest....

Cori got an easter chicken that dances to the chicken dance.... everyone joined in the fun! (clap, clap, clap, clap!)

The chicken was fun until Cori decided it was MORE fun to beat the chicken with her easter wand.... BAD chicken!

bounce...bounce...bounce

The Easter bunny left Cori a big gift in the backyard on Saturday morning (no, not THAT kind of gift as rabbits often do!). Cori loves her bouncer and insists that we come in and play with her. The bouncer also collapses very easy so we can take it with us to reunions and such. We anticipate some fun playdates ahead!

Pre-Easter activities

Easter Saturday we went to Trax with one of my best friends and her family. Our daughters are close in age and had a great time playing together before, so we met for some Easter fun!

A visit from the easter bunny!

The Easter egg hunt was more of an egg gathering as they just had eggs spread out in a small space and the kids were given a basket to gather them up. Cori wasn't all that thrilled with the idea, mostly because it interefered with naptime. Notice the cranky face in the shots!
Afterwards Carli and Cori rode the train, which was probably the highlight of Cori's day! The girl is really into trains. She proceeded to scream something awful when the ride was done and she had to get out of the car.

After Trax and a very short nap (isn't that always the case??) we dyed eggs.

After another very short (15 minute) nap, we saw Grammie and Cori got another Easter basket of goodies, most of which can be used outside (much to her delight!)

I just think this picture is adorable, so I had to add it.

our dancing star

We had a jam-packed fun weekend, and have more than 150 pictures to proove it. But until I have the time to go through the pictures, here's a little video from tonight. Cori discovered Dancing with the Stars and LOVED it! She danced during the entire introduction, but we only managed to captured some of it on Dave's iPhone. Sit back and enjoy the laugh!!

For Auntie Kacey & Uncle Mark

Yesterday afternoon Cori received the sweetest Easter basket from her Auntie Kacey and Uncle Mark! I snapped a few really blurry cell phone pictures to share. She was fairly uninterested in looking at the camera as she kept yelling "BUBBLES!" and "CHOO CHOO!" and moving all over the place. (Apologies for the poor pic quality) Cori was so excited she wouldn't stop to even take off her rain-coat.

We had to test drive the choo choo immediately!

Thanks again for your generosity and thoughtfulness Auntie Kacey and Uncle mark (and little Cooper too!)

Piano

Cori is the next Ludwig Van Beethoven; she's playing on the piano that I played when I was a child.

Sour note perhaps...

Pigtails!!

First time ever!

goat cheese drop biscuits

I don't often put recipes up on the blog, but today I made these again and realized they are too good to not share. These biscuits are from Chef Art Smith and his Chicago restaurant Table Fifty-Two. I love goat cheese, and I love biscuits. The goat cheese adds a bit of sweetness and the light consistency and slight outer crunch is only riveled by the soft fluffy insides. These are not as labor intensive as they may sound.

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp(2ozs) cold butter in small chunks
• 4 Tbsp(2ozs) goat cheese in small chunks
• 1 cup (8ozs) buttermilk
• extra melted butter
• some grated parmesan cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter and goat cheese. (If you aren't a baker - like I'm not a baker - just add it in and use your hands to crumble it up into the dry ingredients. You should be left with small chunks throughout the mixture.) Add in the buttermilk and mix until moistened. (You may need to add an extra tablespoon or two of buttermilk to get everything moist.)

Place a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet or jelly roll pan. Place 1/4 cup batterfuls of the mix onto the paper. (I just eyeball it - you want to get 12 biscuts if you can.) Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter and bake for 15 minutes.

Take the biscuits out of the oven and sprinkle with shreded or grated parmesan cheese. You may want to place them back in the oven for a minute to melt the cheese fully. Enjoy warm!

Welcome March!

So happy that it is March now, and the sun has been shining for 4 days in a row! I'm hearing birds in the morning and it's staying lighter longer too. I'd venture to say that even mother nature is happy it's March!

We've been doing okay over here. It's so nice to be able to be excited about the new house and count down the days until we break ground! (About 143 days). Dave got to spend a nice weekend away in Philadelphia last weekend; he hung out with his dad and brother at the WVU / Villanova basketball game for Mark's birthday. It goes without saying that having 2 nights of solid sleep isn't anything to complain about either!

I've been doing okay. The commute still stinks but it's manageable. The new job is okay too. I'm supposed to be traveling somewhere west next month for a few days of meetings. Not sure where or when yet, which is a great test to my ever-planning self. I'm hoping it's LA or Denver so I can stay a few days longer and visit friends. I am worried that my ocular rosacesa is back though as my eye is burning, dry, and ultra sensitive to light. It's usually brought on by stress (at least with me) which I find ironic, as I've been more relaxed since closing on the old house. In "fun" news, I got about 6 inches of hair cut off (more in the back) and am loving it! Excuse the bad cell phone pic - I seriously cannot take good photos of myself with my Blackberry.
Cori has been going through a wonderful language explosion. She is talking in 2-3 word sentences and has a few new words daily. I'm just shocked by the words she knows and often find myself thinking "when did she learn that word?!". I guess I forget that she is learning in daycare too. This morning she shocked us by counting up to 10 along with us. It was only a few weeks ago she knew up to 4 and would then stay silent. Time sure flies.

Her latest obsessions are planes (odd huh!), Elmo, and trains. It's also funny to hear her say one of her favorite books - Dr. Seuss's "Hop on Pop" . It comes out like "hup up up". She is really into books these days and is getting more into self-playing. We're still dealing with some middle of the night wakings; not sure if they are associated with the move, the developmental transitions / language explosion, teething, or all 3. Here are some photos taken this past Sunday at the Children's Museum with my cell phone; Cori loves the water area as you can see.