Our Trip to DC for Jenny and Matt's Wedding

Our first weekend away from Atlanta and Aimee's first visit to Washington DC. Hard to believe! As always, flying with Aimee validated my sense of rationality and calm. The flights were actually pretty smooth which made it better for everyone involved. Pictures from the weekend are in our Picasa Album here.

Friday night we got in and visited Cafe Asia for dinner in Arlington and then decided to hit the monuments at night. What a great experience (and thanks to Jenny for the suggestion)! There are few pictures below from that. Plus it gave me good opportunity to gain experience with night photography.

The wedding ceremony and celebration occurred at the Hendry House near Arlington. It was a beautiful day and an intimate setting surrounded by family and friends, new and old, of Jenny and Matt. I came home with the prize for the guest knowing Jenny the longest, second to family. Not really a prize so much but I got a nice picture with the bride!

Their wedding ceremony, dinner, celebration, and whole weekend were reflective of Jenny and Matt, both individually and as a couple: hospitable, authentic, warm, and open-armed. This excerpt from a reading that day stuck with me:

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

(from On Marriage by Kahlil Gibran)

We finished off the weekend with a trip over to the Georgetown campus, mass at Church of the Holy Trinity, and brunch at Peacock Cafe. Below is a picture from the Francis Scott Key bridge.

Congratulations Matt and Jenny Have a look at all the pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mscozz/TripToDCForJennySWedding#

Our first visitors

This past weekend my Mom and Dad flew down to Atlanta to stay with us for a few days. Last time they were here we moved in, spent a lot of money, got lost a lot, and kept them up late. This time around, there was no moving in. And we got lost less often. Aimee and I were just so excited and thankful to be able to host them here and show them around a bit. Naturally, it revolved largely around food.

The weekend started at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, gate C30. We were able to time our incoming flights pretty well as I was arriving from Austin. We got home, got a proper greeting from Aimee and Crowley and the headed out for some Fellini's Pizza. Due to a pesky hole in our air mattress, my parent's sleep was, well, pretty flat. Consequently, we are now the proud owners of two twin Aero Beds. Dinner Friday night was at Murphy's in VaHi. Along with Rosebud, Murphy's is fast emerging as a favorite spot for brunch and dinner.

Saturday we went to the DeKalb International Farmer's Market which never quite ceases to amaze me. The highlight of this particular trip was purchasing 3 pounds of Alaskan King Crab legs. Later, at the risk of giving my parents nightmares from owning a dog, we decided to give Crowley a bath. My dad snapped this shot of Crowley looking decided evil:

Back to the crab legs. This was a definite first for me. We went with a pretty basic cooking technique and made good use of our large All-Clad steamer. I steamed them for about 8 minutes until they were "aromatic and hot to the touch". I love vague cooking instructions. Anyway, paired with some clarified butter for dipping, fresh pasta, and homemade marinara sauce, we had ourselves a mighty fine dinner! A mighty fine way to kick off the Notre Dame/Michigan State game watch.

On Sunday we started with brunch at Rosebud. I had the Alon's brioche French toast with orange-rosemary syrup. Other entrees included the Ultimate Pancake, Gordo's Breakfast, and a broccoli and pimento cheese omelette. All fantastic!

The weekend drew to a close with us going to 5pm mass at IHM. As always it was nice to introduce my parents to some new friends there. Our outbound trip was similarly expertly timed as I flew to Tampa for some training. Next thing I knew I was driving across Tampa Bay with the top down (compliments of Avis):

This coming weekend we are headed to Washington DC for Jenny's wedding. Having met her fiance a few times I'm especially happy for her as he seems like a great guy. More to come after that!

Good News!

Well this post is long overdue and we've told some people already but Aimee officially has a job at Rush next year!

She will start in July as an Instructor in the Department of Neurology and as an Assistant Attending at the hospital. It's a three year appointment starting in July 2011 and has her becoming a full-fledged Attending in July 2012.

In related news, Aimee also took her 8 hour board exam last week which will allow her to be board certified in Neurology. We don't find out the results until December but I'm optimistic! While we continue to enjoy living in Atlanta, it sure is nice to know that we'll be heading back to Chicago next summer.

How good is it?

Slap-yo-mama good. Oh, we're not advocating any kind of maternal battery here. This is why hyphens are so great. The distinction between good and well aside (I did use "yo" after all), let me just be clear that slap-yo-mama is an adverb phrase-ette modifying the adjective good. Good is not an adverb descri... well I can just stop there actually. See, we continue to be exposed to great gems of the Southern lexicon and I felt compelled to share now and then.

Along with this phrase, we also learned about the utility and potential pitfalls of hiking kilts and, while clearly not a Southern thing, something worth sharing nonetheless.

This weekend marked the start of many things: Notre Dame football, Aimee studying for boards, and temperatures that start with a 6. We kicked off the football season by hanging our flag on our balcony (compliments of Matt and Allison from their wedding). We joined the Notre Dame Club of Atlanta at RíRá Irish Pub and had a great opportunity to meet fellow Atlantan Domers. One of which was a friend of Aimee's who she hasn't seen since college.

view from the apartment building entrance

Aimee's neurology board exam is September 13th and, not one to procrastinate, she has dedicated this weekend and upcoming week for her preparations. She has even taken the week off of work to remain free of distractions. Speaking of distractions, the weather has been simply exquisite. While still quite warm by mid-afternoon, it's been really nice waking up and walking Crowley to temperates in the high 60s and 70s. Since a photo of her seems to make it in most posts, here's one of her enjoying her pink bone:

She's really been enjoying the dog parks and her new friends Maggie and CeCe belonging to our new friends Michael and Jeff. They hosted us twice this weekend for dinner. We are blessed to have come across such welcoming and hospitable people. A chance to share this kind of musicianship and fellowship, both in and out of church, is a welcome gift!

Crowley being her usual submissive self

In other somewhat related news, how good is this -- we booked our flights to Chicago for October 15th-17th!! We are more than excited to spend some time with our friends there. I'm not 100% sure where we are staying yet but will plan to see as many of you as possible. And of course a visit to the 5pm mass will be on the books.

The brunch report for this weekend is rather uninspiring: we went to the Original Pancake House location on Cheshire Bridge where I had the worst blueberry pancakes I've ever encountered. Sorry but my bar is high for these things. Lest I end on a negative note, I made a delectable dinner tonight of BBQ chicken topped with fresh goat cheese and home grown chopped cilantro, accompanied by corn off the cob and baked potatoes.

More to come as always. Well, Happy Labor Day all!