photog friend!

 

photo credit: rebekah girvan photography

yesterday we had lunch & coffee

with an old friend of mine from harrisonburg, 

rebekah!

besides 

being a fabulous (dog) person

and having a deep spiritual conversation with h

on their first day meeting (so sorry r!), 

and nearly getting stuck in richmond, 

she is a fabulous photographer! 

i hope she doesn't hate me for reposting

the picture above from a wedding she did on saturday. 

but it is beautiful and i love it. 

all of her pictures,

even the traditional posed ones,

seem like she has captured some candid moment in time,

some conversation

or laughs

or smirks. 

check her out at her website:

rebekahgirvan.com

or her blog:

rebekahgirvan.blogspot.com

i really hope she gets snowed in 

in richmond again soon. 

( :

snow!!!!

i just saw lovey's blog had this fantastic entry,

and i thought i'd recopy part of it here. 

we did get snow this morning

i say this morning

because we stayed out until 2 am

and it was freezing

but there was no snow yet! 

i shoveled more than 6 inches at 11 am

and by noon,

nobody could tell,

theres more than 6 inches on top of it already! 

i came back inside,

and h made me some fantastic french toast

from challah bread.

no lies.

h is a great french toaster,

but this was THE best!

and i did try going to the store yesterday afternoon

for pizza, chips, salsa, and cookie dough.

and it was PACKED! 

so without further ado, 

here is how we richmonder's do:

1. someone says snow is coming to central virginia

2. we richmonders start paying attention

3. someone says it's coming to richmond

4. we richmonders really start paying attention

5. someone brandishes the word "accumulation"


done. finished. over. we who call richmond home all-out lose our minds.
in the case of snow, it happens like this:

Tuesday morning: The word "accumulation" is used.

Tuesday afternoon: Accumulation confirmed. All weekend plans put on stand-by or out-right canceled.

Tuesday evening: First trip to supermarket for bread, milk, wine, beer and cookie dough.

Wednesday morning / afternoon: Calls around town for sleds begin (for the record, Richmond.com is one step ahead. No one has them; Pleasant's is expecting a shipment on Friday).

Wednesday evening: Local news does a story about the run on supermarkets for bread and milk. Second trip to supermarket for extra bread and milk, plus frozen pizzas and non-perishables, because you never know.

Thursday morning / afternoon: Spend workday obsessively checking the forecast. More calls for sleds. Search online for sleds, but decide against them because you can't believe how much sleds actually cost.

Thursday evening: Meet friends out for drinks or dinner because you never know when you'll get out again. Realize you forgot to buy bagels. How could you forget bagels? Third trip to supermarket.

Friday morning: Alternate staring out window for snow and consulting forecast for exact snow start time. Cancel the rest of weekend plans.

Friday afternoon: Weather.com reports that it is snowing in your area. Run to window. Spend at least one hour yelling at weather.com because it is clearly not snowing. Ask boss about company inclement weather policy. Complain about said policy. Wait an hour; ask boss if company is closing early.

Friday evening: Fourth trip to supermarket on the way home for last-minute necessities, like chocolate and fancy hot cocoa. Alternate staring out window and watching local news for exact snow start time. Watch the Closings scroll to see if your work is closed on Monday, because you never know.

Friday night: Snow finally begins. Call/text all of your friends and family to see if it's snowing in their area and to make sure they're OK in the storm. Update Facebook status to reflect snowfall in case you missed anyone. Order pizza so you don't have to break into rations too soon.

Saturday morning: Marvel at snowfall. Fling pets / children into the snow so they can marvel and so you have pictures for your Facebook page.

Saturday afternoon: Drive or trudge to nearest hill and attempt to sled on a cookie sheet/shower curtain/trashcan lid/pool float.

Saturday evening: Meet friends for out for drinks or dinner to celebrate snow.

Sunday: Eat leftover pizza and stare out window, watching snow melt. Obsessively watch Closings list. Feel happy when the county you once lived in announces closing and then sad because you never became a teacher and now you have to go out, clean off the car and then go to work tomorrow. Plus you've got all that bread and milk to eat.

enjoy the snow! 

or your weekend, wherever you are,

and be safe ( :

rva shout out!

do you get daily candy?

i found it while living in the dc metro area

and when i moved to richmond

i started getting the

"everywhere" edition.

today

in the everywhere edition's

weekend guide

is a link to

none other than

carytown's boutique

need supply company

it's been one of my favorite little carytown shops

since i was a teen.

nice to see some recognition!

like a gem.

h wants date night tonight.

what to do,

what to do?

i was browsing around some local richmond websites

style weekly

richmond good life

skirt

to find something interesting to do

since the byrd is playing

paranormal activity &

where the wild things are (bleh).

i found no good ideas for tonight.

but

i did find a fantabulous review

for a wondiferous restaurant

and a true gem

(no pun intended):

garnett's.

really.

if you haven't been there,

please go!

it's even better than what they say.

and even cuter than the pictures.

you absolutely must get a lemon nana.

 so...

any ideas for date night?

pageants.

my dear college housemate helped choreograph the christmas pageant at a local church here in richmond, west end assembly of god, so h & i went last night to see the play. i was excited to see her work, but not so much about seeing the play itself. 


i have to say, i was thoroughly impressed. even though there was a live camel and people hanging from the ceiling and a really creepy jesus and a showtune at the end... 

the play this year was an original script and score (amazing btw) called no man's land based loosely on the movie joyeux noel about the treaty between the french, germans, and british on christmas eve of world war one (h loved this). 


if you live in richmond and are free the next few nights - you should go see it! 

impressed.

one of my high school friends is visiting for the week, and after i let him borrow my computer on a walk around richmond, this is what i found... completely un-edited, wonderful pictures of the city of richmond from the eyes of someone who hasn't seen the city in 9+ years... i love it. (although i wouldn't expect anything less from him.)

maymont

james river

I swear, he did this on his own accord.

OMG!!  Faithful readers... I have the most amazing boyfriend alive!  He dressed up in my favorite khakis of his and shaved and brought me flowers and took me on a date tonight!!

Just kidding.  But not really.  This really is H.  And I did take Rachel on a date tonight.  I decided, from my small list of places approved by Rachel that were participating in Richmond's Restaurant Week, to go Stronghill Dining Company. But I didn't let her know ahead of time.

I remember now why I choose not to go to the fancy restaurants... and it just so happens to be the same reason I think Rachel really wanted me to go to a fancy restaurant... portion control.

The food at this place was pretty good but I don't think it was excellent but what do is I know I am not a holy crap-get-a-life-food critic from Top Chef.  My only real problem arises from the fact that I am a real man who LOVES to eat.  I strongly support venues that serve buffets from the sunrise to well after the sun goes down (places such as Golden Corral).  There really is nothing quite like a smorgasbord of delectable treats to get the senses tingling with excitement (and more bang-for-your-buck)!

Case in point - they served the very first course - an oyster mushroom and duck confit miso soup, in bowl-like dinner plates.  We had to swirl the soup to create a vortex and then move the spoon in the opposite direction to scoop up the fishy broth. And it was fishy.  There were easier methods such as tipping and slurping but again we were not at the Golden Corral.  I decided to order a new beer to go with the steak I ordered.  It was a very nice beer - Jefferson Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout.  It was pint size so I thought it would be perfect for the size of my steak.  Ohhh was I wrong.  I should have ordered a shot of beer instead. Dessert was a pumpkin apple pie. It was light and fluffy. Again a small portion on a giant plate with a giant mint leaf. Good, but nothing like those rich, creamy desserts you can get elsewhere.

My tiny steak and Rachel's two giant scallops. 

Out of a possible 45,692 points, Stronghill Dining Company received a total 27,656 points

But truth be told, in the end, I wouldn't trade a date night with Rachel, regardless of the location,  for anything because I am firm believer in its not where you are but who you are with - even if it was a date spent at a buffet.  That served pizza.

The end.

dear h:

please take me out for restaurant week (october 26 - november 1) in richmond. 3-course-meals for $25/person. plus they donate at least $2 to the central virginia food bank. plus the food (although you wouldn't know it different from pizza) is bangin'.

we could go to: delux, julep's, rowlands fine dining, six burner, stronghill dining co, or more.

please. 

love, 
your most lovely girlfriend. 

new lunch spot.

photo from palani drive's facebook page

one of my college housemates suggested we meet for lunch at palani drive in the westhampton/libbie neighborhood. what a great lunch spot (or after dinner beer stop)! wraps were decent size, about $6-7 each, and their frozen chai was delightful. i hear their yuengling drafts are $1.75!

...but the conversation was unbeatable. glad she's back! ( :

why i love rva part ii.

i'm not the smartest crayon in the box apparently, as i couldn't figure out how to add this to my last post w/ video. ( :

just stumbled upon this GREAT blog entry about all the great places (from food to boutiques to festivals) in richmond from none other than design*sponge! please check it out if you live here or every aspire to visit! (which, after watching the video below, you most certainly cannot resist!)

now... i must get to bed before i'm in trouble for blogging in bed!

why i love rva part i.

3-day-weekend-plans.

pretty excited about this 3-day weekend. yesterday we didn't do much... ran errands, yardsaled a little bit, watched the first bit of college football... but it doesn't really matter because we still have 2 days left of the "weekend!"

plans for the rest of the weekend:

• buying paint to finish the foyer piece i bought at a yardsale last weekend (already sanded, for $40). i'm thinking about painting it red, but we'll see how i feel when i get to the store! hopefully our local pleasant's hardware will be open on sundays. welcome to the south...

• going to the grand opening sale that started yesterday at u-fab (thanks alison!), a discount fabric store that i just found out about! h has been bugging me to get some curtains in my room... it's too bright to sleep in! (as i type this, he and v are laying in bed, snoring in rythem... guess it doesn't bother him too much!) it's been hard to match my crazy comforter and green walls again, without whiting out the whole room.

• catch up on some photography... since i moved i've hardly taken out my camera.

corcoran gallery of art, networking event, june 2009

• go to h's dad's house for dinner... this could be the meeting of the daddys, as he's invited my old man too (who is on-call, but is going to try & come)... more on this later. we're also planning on sanding an old ugly side table for the living room. i'll have a before and after of all the things my new roomie c & i have been up to!

• going to river with baby v and her boyfriend, vasco, a dopey golden retriever. i am vowing to take photographs, that is, unless i get trampled. i am having a little puppy syndrome. i almost took mocha home with me yesterday from petsmart. in fact, i may add going to get her to my list of things to do this weekend. baby v would LOVE her as a little sister! (well... maybe not... but i would!)

photo courtesy of b.a.r.k.

oh yea... and relaxing... ( : that is, until my babylock comes in, and i have to start on all my new projects!

lots to catch up on.

has it really been 3 WHOLE months? no way. besides the fact that i have crashed 2 computer this summer, i have a whole list of other excuses, promise!

-at the time of my last post, i was recovering from m's wedding at delfosse vineyards near charlottesville, va. h&i stayed the night and enjoyed a very southern wedding brunch complete w/ shrimp & grits before heading to monticello on sunday.


-h's & my birthday celebrations (june 16 & 15, respectively). i got a toddy coffee maker, pretty cool! if you have instructions on how to use this effectively, please let me know! i have to experiment.

-4th of july beach trip w/ the fam & h... was great! it went by too fast! but the house was perfect, and the company was unbeatable.

-july 11 i won a free ice cream party from edy's & invited h's neighborhood. v was abused by screaming children with stick fingers and one little girl nearly cried when we told her she couldn't have h's mullet wig. ( :

-we went rafting with the rivermen on the new river in mid-july with some coworkers & friends. it was so great, we're going again for the gauley (eek!) in september!


-my last weekend in northern virginia we went to baltimore for the day w/ m to go to the aquarium and inner harbor. this was the peak of my apartment hunting craze and i nearly decapitated my ever-loving boyfriend. poor guy. it was a great day, tho! i'm sad to miss mrs. m!
-I MOVED! on august 1, back to my hometown of richmond. i love my new neighborhood. precisely after i moved, i spent 3 straight weeks traveling for work. i now work from home, so i have to be extra-diligent about my blogging, i mean, working. it helps when you don't have a computer! i've spent the last month or so decorating, and really trying to make this place feel like home. i'm pretty happy with it! ( :


i've been missing my friends, and my family that lives up north, and my sister, but overall, i feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders! i finally feel happy, and relaxed, and at home! more pictures & updates to come.

b-day weekends!

this weekend was super-packed with lots of birthday activities!

friday we made a delicious dinner & went to dave&busters with my girlfriends. every night out in short pump we run into someone we most likely don't expect to see... this time it was el's first bf (hehe). we did not get shot, thank goodness! we played trivia until we ran out of money (although now even arcades are all on plastic) & it was past midnight...

saturday morning we woke up early and took a walk with v around carytown. i stopped for a coffee at jean jacques, and then to visit our friend j who works at williams bakery (owned by our friend summer's family). we got some "bugs" (vanilla cake bites with chocolate frosting & cute butterfly designs on them) for my family for lunch and a very delicious double carrot cake for h's brother's birthday (also saturday). they had some fondant cakes that were going out later that day in the fridge that were GORGEOUS. they do wedding cakes, too!


we had lunch at my dad's for my stepmom's birthday in the west end and then off to the southside to have dinner with h's family for his bro's 20th. h nearly conned his bro into having dinner at olive garden. after we had properly stuffed ourselves, we went home, devoured the carrot cake, and watched harry potter until i got tired & cranky. ( :



sunday was the triplets birthday! we got them all fishing poles, which they fought with, and they received a lot of nerf guns, which they fought with. i think at age 8, they'd fight with anything. their mom was tricky, and somehow kept thier birthday venue a secret, so first we had to make a trip to the library (where they had been told their party was), before going to the dump, where they were puzzled until they realized why they were there- to throw out their booster seats!



after knocking each other in the head, we headed to the real party - g force karts! the kids played laser tag & played on inflatables while the "chaperones" went go karting. i could have gotten the "driving miss daisy" award, but it was super-fun. then there was more playing and singing at red robin and time to go home, open up the presents, and get ready for bed. but not without shoving gum in the others' hair! l's bumper sticker is right, living with triplets is NEVER boring!

catching up.

whew. what a whirlwind weekend, and it's not even sunday night!

first, my trip back from aiken. thursday was a long (18+) hour day. you can ask h, i was not a pleasant person to be around when i got home at nearly 1 am. however, i was excited to share my coffee from moonbeans coffees-- i got 2 bags for jre (moondance, his favorite, and harvest, another similar medium roast blend) and a pound of big papa's blend for my lil sis. big papa's blend is their charity of the month roast, benefiting the national multiple sclerosis society, lil sis's new internship. there's a bag of bluegrass blend (my personal fave) that i need to pull out of my freezer. the roaster at moonbeans told me that you should never keep them in the freezer--beans should be kept whole until needed, and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. learn something new every day!

friday i worked from home--evaluated my new health insurance plan & did some tedious odds & ends & recovered from thursday. i had lunch with some girls from czc at leigh street bar & grill (1301 leigh street behind the siegel center in richmond--currently no website yet). leigh street used to be called the corner bar & grill... they've cleaned up a bit, but the food is still soulfoul & delicous. we got homemade potato chips w/ a creamy dip and grilled cheese sandwiches w/ tomato, mmm. i got mine with a side of collard greens (my fave), but the girls said the veggies were good too. they have a good beer list, and i can see it being a happening neighborhood bar on the weekends. if you happen by, make sure to tell austin the bartender we said hi ( :

then off to get my haircut. my friend k told me about her friend janis who works at karina's in carytown, and in a period of desperation (& anger towards my last hairdresser of nearly 3 years), i gave janis a try. she was wonderful! i remember my mom used to go to karina's when it opened in 1992. i'm pretty sure karina herself cut all of my mom's hair off before she had her second round of chemo. the receptionist said my name sounded familiar. "my mom used to come here a long, long time ago," felt really good to say. karina's has changed a lot- it's a great little space-very clean and very hip. they use bumble&bumble products, which i love, and who just came out with a whole new line for curls. i bought the defrizz, which i will use for curly&straight looks.

h&v&i drove back to dc for the weekend. we had dinner with my roommate n, and her bro, a at matchbox on barracks row in southeast dc. i had mentioned this restaurant to a friend coming to visit dc, telling him it was one of my favorites, then promptly got yelled at by h for never taking him to a, gasp, pizza restaurant (that kid loves the za)! matchbox pizza is amazing. not to mention their stellar beer selection (tried brooklyn brewery's brooklyner weiss, as my new thing is german beers--it was great)! h tried the flat iron pizza (like a cheesesteak, but on a pizza), i had shrimp&grits (amazing) and n&a shared the fire&smoke pizza (just the right amount of spice). then we skipped back across the river to eventide in clarendon, va. this drive went very fast for me, as i fell asleep in the 10-minute car ride as my boyfriend&roommate took embarassing pictures of me (i had had a long day)! boo.

but eventide was just what i needed to wake up- a great rooftop bar, with some great atmopshere & an evening of wonderful spring weather. i'd love to try their food downstairs, too (hint, hint), especially after reading the review in the washington post magazine this morning.

saturday morning we were super lazy, barely making it to "brunch" at mexicali blues (maybe my new favorite bloody marys). we had plans to go to great falls, but laziness took the better of us, and we ended up going to the dog park in shirlington with v. it's right by a little creek, four-mile run, and we sat and waded in the water and played on the "beach" for nearly 2 hours. it was a perfect afternoon-just what we needed.

last night we went with some family friends to see our friend laura tsaggaris play at rock&roll hotel in northeast dc for her cd release party. if you haven't heard me rave about her, please go check out her music on myspace. she's doing amazing things!

h woke up early today to go back to richmond for a football game. i did a much-needed cleaning of the house & had bagels with the fam. auntie l & i went to get manis. she made fun of my color pick, accusing me that my fingers looked bruised. i don't care, i like it! ( ;

now i'm cleaning up & unwinding & remembering mom. what a beautiful day!

housing wanted.

looking for:

(at least) 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment with washer/dryer, dishwasher, a/c (or window units), fenced backyard, dogs of any size accepted. in the fan.

is that too much to ask for?

date night.

as a thank-you for helping clean h's apt on friday, he took me to dinner at kitchen 64 off boulevard in richmond. we got seated fast & i promptly ordered my ginger mojito, mmm. it's like an upscale diner-all of the plates were reasonably priced ($10-15) and very large portions. i suggest the fish tacos. the only downside is it's not within walking distance from carytown.

april showers bring may flowers.

sorry for the delay--work has been crazy busy and there have been weddings galore! this weekend was absolutely amazing. one of those weekends that goes by so fast that you forgot you didn't take any pictures (shame)!

first i had a hot date at comfort in downtown richmond. it's everything it appears to be & more. great beer (i was drunk off a bell's oberon & a german canned beer that was wonderful). you choose your meat (i got pork tenderloin & h got mahi, but they had everything from fish to fried quail to venison), and then your sides! i tried thier braised greens, a little spicy for my liking, but everything looked good. the best part was we got to sit right in the front on the corner of broad & jefferson and watch the people go by. i felt like the world was flying by--so many people were out b/c the weather was beautiful and it was first fridays. followed by my first game of kings (i'm not very good at it) & me falling asleep mid-conversation w/ h's housemate ( :

saturday we ran errands, i gave h a mohawk, and then buzzed it all off & we got ready for j's wedding. she's a great friend of mine since grade school, so it was almost surreal to see her get married! she was a beautiful bride!

sunday was h's football game where v tried her hardest to run into the field as they were playing. i'm just glad we didn't get kicked out for v crying so loud! then we went to h's dad's for some smoked chicken & i met the cutest yorkie-poo ever, izzy! then we ran home to watch slumdog millionaire with some friends at the byrd.

now it's half-way thru the week! hopefully the weather will hold out for el's bday camping trip on friday. we have lots to celebrate!! ( ;

(my hot date! w/ a hair cut!)

can you see that? it says i ran a 10k in 65 minutes and 34 seconds. boo-ya. and the race benfited the massey cancer center where my mom was for while. it was a good race, even if h beat me by a minute and a half. ( ;

we also went to the czc black tie where they auctioned off a black lab puppy. it was rough. good thing we went home to a crazy THREE-year-old v! happy birthday to the best pup in the world! pics to come.