Whoops!

Sometimes, I am undeniably, simply, a big klutz! As I was leaving work today, crossing Wilson Blvd. (a quite busy, main road), I slipped and fell. Yes, I fell in the middle of the road. I had even switched from my daytime heels to my commuter flats, but their (apparently) slick bottom, coupled with the wet road showed me no mercy. Luckily I did at least have the ‘walk’ sign so didn’t get run over, and I was able to catch myself with my left hand, so didn’t go all the way down – These facts didn’t help my embarrassment much, though! I got up so quickly and raced (more carefully) across the street safely to the other side and ended up making it home all in one piece!

April Showers

In this case, April showers bring…summer babies!! Saturday was Kristy’s & Megan’s baby showers. Since they were both at the same time and 6 hours apart, unfortunately, I couldn’t attend Megan’s – But will be seeing her this weekend, which I’m really looking forward to!

Kristy’s shower was at her mom’s house in Brucetown, right outside of Winchester. Rachel and I arrived a bit early to help her mom with a few last minute preparations and ended up staying until 5:30. Despite all of the baby gifts and seeing Kristy’s tummy grow each time I see her, part of me still can’t believe she’s going to have a little baby girl in a matter of a few months! Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited, but in my head, we don’t seem much older than those sweet, innocent (ha!) girls that we were back at James Wood High School. Guess it will get real for all of us on August 2nd!! :)

What in the hill?

These warm spring days have me jonesin’ for spring/summer to get here permanently! On Saturday morning, I took advantage of the beautiful day and went for my first long run of the season outside. Wanting a change of scenery, I decided to head through the neighborhoods towards McLean instead of towards DC or the W&OD trail. Well, I never realized how freakin’ hilly the neighborhoods of Arlington are! I think I literally must have picked the steepest streets to turn down – Halfway through, I started looking for easy ways out and would turn down a different side street when seeing a hill looming in front of me, only to find a steeper, longer hill! I have to admit, one hill was so steep that I gave up and walked it – In my defense though, I think even Frank’s Honda would have struggled up that one!

Do I have to be nice to the neighbor's dog?

I love our neighborhood – Lots of great, fun couples/families. HOWEVER – I DO NOT LOVE EVERYONE’S DOG. As most everyone knows, I’m not what you would call a ‘dog lover’ but I do tolerate most dogs and you might even say that there are some that I like. Well, one of the couples in our neighborhood recently got a little dog (no clue what kind it is – white with black splotches, but I know it’s not a Dalmatian!) and I feel obligated to be nice to it but truthfully I can’t stand it!!!! For example, yesterday as I was walking home, the guy was out walking the little thing. (Regina’s internal monologue: Great, now I have to stop and pet this dog.) So, I did stop and talk to the guy and played/pet the dog. This dog is insane though – He proceeded to jump all over me and bite me – Literally at one point, he was practically hanging off my shirt sleeve. (Regina’s internal monologue: Jesus, if this bastard rips my shirt, I’m going to be very upset. What the hell? I wish this guy would stop going on about the dog walker and notice his dog is hanging from my arm and help me get him off!) So, this left me asking Frank when I got home, “Do I have to be nice to our neighbor’s dog????”

Girl's Day

On Saturday, in celebration of Kelly's birthday, we hitched a bus to Charlottesville for a day of wine tasting with the ladies - And what a perfect day for that it was! We left Tyson's Corner a little after 9am and were enjoying the first vineyard before noon (after a bit of a detour by our bus driver - he took a wrong turn!) - Blenheim Vineyards - owned by Dave Matthews! His sister runs the winery and dished out our tastings. (Unfortunately none were that great.) The grounds and building were gorgeous though - Beautiful rustic look. From there, we stopped in downtown Charlottesville for a bite to eat and then made our way to Barboursville - a huge winery with many, many wines to taste. They were having a special barrel tasting where they unveiled their 8th edition of Octagon - a mixture of 4 different wines. Unfortunately after sampling countless reds (and a few whites), I ran out of time to buy - The bus had to be back in Tyson's at 7:00. All in all, it was a gorgeous, fun day with some of my favorite ladies - I only wish the day could have been a bit more leisurely...Guess I'll just have to go back for that! ;)

Grillin

Last Sunday, I picked up our new grill from Sears...And on Wednesday, Frank invited Chuck and Kristen over for our first BBQ. Thank goodness Chuck knows Frank by now and understood that nested within Frank's invitation it was also implied that he would have to help drag the grill out of the back of my truck and put it together. I was quite impressed with how quickly the boys had the grill in place - Honestly, in the back of my mind, I had mapped out how to cook the chicken and burgers inside just in case the grill took a bit longer than expected! Turns out that I never should have doubted the grill masters - We were enjoying our first BBQ by 8:30. The grill, coupled with our patio set that arrived on Saturday, have us all set for many cookouts this summer - I can't wait!

In Remembrance

Please join me and the rest of the Hokie Nation as we recall the tragic events that happened one year ago and pay tribute to all the heroes and victims of 4/16/07.

Yo Yo Check it Out!!

DAVID COOK IS IN THE HOUSE! Frank & I are big American Idol fans...As we watched tonight, we were both blown away by David Cook - He's amazing. We literally rewound the show to watch his performance three times. As part of Mariah Carey week, he sang “Always be my Baby” and, as Randy would say, “brought the house down, dog”. I’m also a pretty big fan of Carly, Brooke, and Jason, but I think my vote for the next American Idol goes to David. (I’m almost tempted to vote for him, but I try not to get that involved.)

New Beginnings

Today is my last day as a ‘consultant’ with Accenture – As of tomorrow, I will officially be part of our internal finance team, which I am thrilled about! It was time for me to move on to something else, and not wanting to leave the company coupled with wanting to get back to my finance roots, CFM seemed like a natural transition. As I packed up the few things on my desk and left my client site today, I have to admit that a feeling of sadness did pass over me. It was; however, short lived. By the time I drove the 30 minutes to Red Door for my facial, I found myself asking, “Verizon? What?” ;) Wish me luck in my new career path!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

On Saturday, Rachel and a few others from Winchester came into town to check out the new Nationals stadium. The forecast was calling for scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon so we had our fingers crossed that the game wouldn’t get rained out…Well, towards the end of the game I was hoping something would cause them to call the game! I never really realized how boring baseball games can be. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I would rather attend a soccer game than a baseball game. Is that a faux pas since baseball is the “great American past time”? At any rate, I’m glad we got to check out the new stadium – They did a really nice job and based on plans, it seems like that area of town will eventually be really nice.

Even though the game didn’t get rained out, there was a rain delay of about 1 ½ hours – We spent most of this time at the Red Porch (bar in the outfield), where we randomly ran into three of our friends from high school. Catching up with them might have been the highlight of the game – I’m sure the Nationals didn’t enjoy the day too much either since they lost 10-2 to the Braves.

First Cut!

While we were away in Vegas, our new lawn mower arrived and was awaiting us upon our return. Yesterday being the first really nice day since we've been back, Frank took the opportunity to break out the new mower and give our lawn the first cut since we've been in the house. We opted for an environmentally friendly electric mower which seems to work pretty well for our small yard - You just have to be careful not to run over the cord! (The front lawn did give Frank a bit of agida...sine it was so thick, the mower struggled through most of it. Hopefully the next cut will have less issues!) I love having a yard to maintain (and I'm not just saying that because Frank took care of the mowing yesterday!) and can't wait for the rain to stop so I can start planting flowers. On another landscaping note, about a month ago, we fertilized our lawn and also planted new seed in the sparse areas, which is just starting to come up! I'm hoping my usual brown thumb has turned green and we end up with a great yard this year!

Endless Food

Last night I met Kelly and two of her roommates at Grand Cru - a fairly new wine store/cafe in Ballston, that proved to be wonderfully delicious. Since Min (one of the roomies) moonlights there, we not only got excellent service, but also scored some free tapas! We started off with a bottle of Malbec and then each had a tasting of the white shiraz, which turned out to be quite nice for a 'white red wine' - nice and buttery which I love. We went a little overboard on the apps - ordering salads for each of us plus the bread basket, tuscan crisps with spicy avocado dip, spicy nuts (YUM!!!), mushroom strudel, and the veggie fondue platter. Plus...the chef was nice enough to send out the ceviche and escargot (in pastry, which turned out to be even better than the snails I had in French Polynesia) - and a dessert platter with chocolate mousse, white chocolate bread pudding, and cookies that were to die for! By the end of the evening, the 4 of us needed to be wheeled out of there! Too stuffed (and tired from the wine), I ended up calling my loving husband to pick me up so I didn't have to metro home - Thanks Babe!

In the Red

I've never labeled myself as 'lucky' since I've never really won anything in my life and our latest vacay to Las Vegas certainly proved that to be true. Frank & I left DC on Wednesday morning and arrived at our hotel in Las Vegas around 2pm PT. We stayed at the Paris which was quite elaborately designed, as are all of the newer hotels out there. On our first night, we stayed away from gambling and instead hit the infamous buffet at the Bellagio and then caught the 10:30 Cirque du Soleil O show, which was phenomenal! The stage set and acrobatics were amazing – definitely worth it. On Thursday, we rented a car and headed to the Nevada/Arizona border to see the Hoover Dam – another quite amazing sight. After taking the tour and walking around, we headed back to Vegas to meet up with Frank’s parents (who were also in town for vacation) for a late lunch and my first taste of Las Vegas gambling – I decided to keep it simple and just stuck to the slot machines, where, at one point, I was up over $100 but by the end, lost everything. On Friday, I figured I needed to up the ante and hit the table games – I tried Roulette (which I really just don’t get – I mean, you’re just simply betting on numbers and there is absolutely zero logic) and then Blackjack (at least that has a bit of logic) and lost sorely at both. I at least lasted about 1 ½ hours at the Blackjack table before loosing everything. On Friday night, we also saw Jersey Boys with the in-laws and their good friends from Washington – Another fabulous show with fun music and great acting. (It’s the story of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons.) In the end, neither Frank & I ended up winning – Vegas is definitely a sight to see but just not the city for me.


Me and Flat Stanely at the Hoover Dam. (Flat Stanely is visiting us from Staten Island for my cousin Joey's 1st grade project.)


And Frank & I in front of our hotel.

New Job, New Ways

Today was my first day of my new job! As most of you now know, I’m staying with Accenture but switching from Consulting to our Enterprise workforce, which is our internal group. I’m working with the Client Financial Management (CFM) team on the US VISIT project in Roslyn and am super excited! Since my new gig is so close to home, I decided that I would try out this public transportation thing – to avoid the high cost of parking and also try to help the environment. Turns out it’s really not that bad; although it is quite annoying that my trip home from 10 miles away took about 45 minutes from the time I left the office, walked to the bus stop, waited for the bus, and then rode it home amid all of the stops in between. It also didn’t help that I was so worried about passing my stop, that I pulled the ‘Stop Request’ cord way too soon and ended up walking an extra 7 or so blocks home. With a little practice, I think I could get used to it, though.

On a completely different note, it’s so gorgeous outside today – I’m currently relaxing on our deck as I type this (and stuffing my face with Peanut Butter M&Ms). It seems as though spring is finally here – I hope this is not Mother Nature’s way of playing an April Fools joke on us! Regardless, more nice weather is in store for Frank & I – We leave tomorrow morning for Las Vegas!