Thankful

Holy Blogging...it has been too long since I have updated the World Wide Web to the happenings in the Modica household!

As usual, the summer went both fast and slow. Fast because I was in an advanced statistics course which consumed most of my free time (seriously, I spent more time with my study buddy Lauri than my husband most weeks). And slow because the hubs spent most of the summer in central Florida gaining valuable experience with a practicing attorney. I am thankful he had that experience, but it was rough spending week days apart, and dealing with mopey pets. We did enjoy our weekends, especially a few trips to the west coast during scallop season.

We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary (July 19, 2009) in St. Augustine. It was a perfect long weekend alone, celebrating in such a magical city. And it was definitely the first of many anniversary celebrations to come. And I can happily report that our wedding cake tasted ok one year later. The icing was more of a whipped consistency, but overall it was yummy.

August brought a fresh set of classes for both me and J. I can thankfully breathe a sigh of relief that this will be his final year in law school. Yay!! The countdown is officially on...less than 6 months until graduation, and 8 months until he takes the Florida Bar. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we are anticipating hubs beginning his successful law career in less than a year. And I am still plugging away at my degree, slowly but surely I am completing credits each term. August also brought an unexpected and stressful change to the Thrift Shop. I am happy to report that we survived and are thriving, but, I was beyond busy donating 140 hours of volunteer time during the months of August and September. I did win the League of Her Own Award with my Co-Chair Cori. So our efforts did not go unnoticed.

Other Fall moments for which I am thankful:
-surviving 2 months sans manager in the Thrift Shop
-also surviving the interviewing and hiring process for the new manager
-trip to the mountains with my sis to visit our Mom
-enjoying all the home Gator football games in the Swamp
-perfect season for the Gators, 12-0 and on our way to the SEC game next weekend
-Cooler Fall weather
-Successfully hosting 13 at our house for a Thanksgiving feast

I would like to give a special thanks to my Mom...she really helped me pull the house together and prep for Thanksgiving. Thank goodness she is retired!

Tomorrow is the first day of December...I can't believe 2009 is almost over. Wow- where does the time go? Now, I need to buckle down, finish my classes and tackle some Christmas shopping. Oh, and get in the Holiday spirit. :)

Dog Days of Summer

Things have been fairly hectic around the house lately...and largely due to this:




And you are probably thinking, poor Bumble, that is absolutely pathetic! I felt the same way, UNTIL she came running at me every day- ramming the plastic into my legs, or shutting and locking herself in rooms, or stepping on the cat because she can't see her feet, or shaking repeatedly during the night because she wants it off.

So, you should really feel sorry for me (cat and the hubby). Honestly, we have been suffering with Bumble for the past 2.5 weeks! Hopefully she only has to wear the dreaded "cone" for another 1.5 weeks. Fingers, toes, and paws crossed!

Let's eat cake....for the sake of freezer space

Yesterday was our 10 month wedding anniversary. I know, it seems silly to count down so close to the big "One Year" mark. But, I am so over having our wedding cake in the freezer. For ten long months it has been sitting, front and center, I see it every time I open the freezer. That cake is constantly taunting me:

"Eat me"

"I am taking up sooooooooooo much space in your precious freezer"

"I am suffering from freezer burn, please eat me"

"Don't you just want to take a peak at me...see how I have held up over the last 10 months? Come on you are curious"

"You didn't even eat a full piece at the wedding..."

Honestly, I am scared to take a peak at the cake. I am not sure how securely it was wrapped- James and I were in wedding night/honeymoon mode, and did not even think twice about the cake after we cut and fed each other. My wonderful sister (photographer, matron of honor, pet sitter, gift carrier) drove it to my house the day after the wedding...and it has not moved from that exact spot in my freezer since.

So, for 10 months it has been freezing, and probably burning away, growing impressive freezer fuzz. It is now less than 2 months until we determine the fate of our cake (I have a bad feeling about it)....but, I can always have a replica made at Publix. Stay tuned, later I will unveil the fate of our cake...to be determined on July 19, 2009.

I want a donkey

Look at that face! Adorable.

So, I really do not want a donkey, BUT my husband would love if we could keep one as a pet (in our tiny backyard no less!). Lately though...he has been desiring other strange and exotic pets: monkeys, chimpanzees, and a capabera.

Now keep in mind, we absolutely adore our wonderful dog and cat (well, honestly, the dog is doted on more than Cat). Maybe we should try a fish or guinea pig before something strange and exotic (aka hard and challenging to care for).

I promise honey, when we have land and I get my horse, you can have your donkey!

Free Chocolate Day

Chocolate is like a girls best friend! Seriously- sweet, dependable, rich, comforting.....

Just so you can fully indulge your sweet tooth this summer, I wanted to alert you to a Free Chocolate opportunity, it is a sweet deal!

Visit this website: www.realchocolate.com each Friday from now through September 25 to get a coupon for a free Mars/M&M chocolate product. A limited amount of coupons are released, and they are available at 9am, so be sure to log on early.

DC part 3...Mount Vernon & the Prez

Honestly, Saturday was a slow start for us...considering our late return from the birthday celebration, we all deserved to sleep in before tackling another full day of sightseeing. On the Agenda for the day- Mount Vernon and Georgetown!

Alli's apartment is in the perfect location. A short walk to the Metro, or a short drive to the beautiful suburbs, Potomac, and Mount Vernon. We hopped in the car, and soon were standing in front of George Washington's house. Alli has the absolute perfect timing, soon after starting the house tour, we turned around and the line had grown significantly! Whew, glad we beat the rush!

Standing in front of the house, I knew something looked odd...can you tell what it is?

The tour was great, I vaguely remember visiting here as a kid, so it was nice to hear all the facts again. I tried to soak up all the historical goodness like a sponge!



They do not allow pictures when touring the inside of the house, but I got some great shots of the grounds. It is a gorgeous piece of property, wow.

Trying to decide where to go next...

Tending to the garden

The road less traveled :)

My husband will appreciate this!

After exploring the grounds we decided to leave. But, Alli has an annual pass now, so I suspect she will be back, and they allow dogs on the grounds! So maybe even Ruby will tag along!

We drove back to Alexandria and stopped to visit the Torpedo Factory. Alli kept mentioning stopping in, but I did not know what to expect, such a strange name. It was an awesome assortment of art studios, and people working, displaying, and selling their creations. http://www.torpedofactory.org/about_us.htm But, it does have historical roots as a torpedo factory.



By afternoon I was definitely hitting an energy low (probably compounded by the lack of caffeine with lunch). I begged Alli to stop at a store on the way home so I could get my Diet Coke fix...of course she obliged. But, not before we experienced the second random act on the trip.

*The three of us were walking back to the parked car, which was adjacent to a nice park. A man was jogging down the path, and stopped us. He was really friendly, very outgoing, and blurted out, "excuse me, how tall are you?" Hmmmm....we all blurted out our heights, and he called me out on my 5'6"! Geez....ok, maybe I am really 5' 5.5". Apparently he was doing a random poll, as he compared me to the height of a gal he had just asked down the path. And then he jogged off....? It was very strange. We giggled, jumped in the car, and started to guess what he was doing- practice to be an expert height guesser? Informal research project? Attempt to pick up women? Who knows....but we did get a good laugh!

After another quick nap, we decided to explore Georgetown. We jumped on the Metro and were soon walking towards the bustling streets of shops. On our way we passed Alli's friends and b-day party organizer, we chatted briefly and asked for dinner recommendations. As we walked closer to downtown, we tried to cross a busy street and noticed that the road was being blocked by at least 5-6 black SUV's. Men (and a woman) in black suits were holding back the crowd and staring at everyone with serious, blank faces. After scanning the govt tags on the vehicles, and reading the hanging tag from the suit people (US Secret Service), we realized someone very important was meeting/dining at this location in Georgetown. Could it be the President? With all the commotion and secrecy we knew it must be someone really important. We had important shopping and eating on the agenda, so we decided to continue on, and look for a story in the news on Sunday to learn which VIP was in the area.

(and sure enough....it was the Prez on a date with his wife: http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2009/05/cnns-headline-news-as-obama-foodie-tv.html)

After much shopping and walking we tried to narrow down the dinner options, and come to a consensus. Priya suggested Tacklebox, and we went in to check out the menu. It was very "southern" food, and was reasonably priced. I had a yummy dinner of grilled trout, yummm...it was good and fast. Definitely a reminder of home- it made me want to go fishing on the flats!

Before dinner, we were on a mission to purchase Georgetown cupcakes. Alli had been raving about how world-famous they are....and we just had to put them to the test. Thursday we had Red Velvet, tonight we were taste tasting Georgetown cupcakes. If the line out the door of the shop was any indication, we were in for a treat.

Alli guarding our treat on the Metro.

They had a 3 for 4 deal...can you guess which one I ate?

And the winner is....GT cupcakes! They were amazing- perfect cake density, frosting was delicious. Yum.

After sleeping off our sugar induced coma, we woke Sunday to extremely wet, cold, and dreary conditions. But, we decided to make the best of it and do some more sightseeing in the city. We hitched a ride to the Metro from Alli's roommate and explored up near Washington's monument.



We are tough FL gals, but seriously, it felt like the rain was coming from the ground. Up, under my umbrella, to hit me in the face. We gave up, decided to stare at the Lincoln Memorial from a distance, and then went exploring in the American History Museum (they have a great exhibit of Julia Child's kitchen!). After a quick lunch at Ollie's Trolley, we walked past a few more sights and then took the Metro home.









After packing and watching a few episodes of Law & Order, it was time to leave. Alli was kind enough to drop us at the airport, and we were back in Tampa by 10pm. It was a great trip, and I can't wait to go back and see more of the many sights we did not get a chance to visit- this a warning Alli...I will be back! Thanks so much for putting up with us, hope your birthday weekend was extra special.

The Power of 3...dominated in DC
The End

(And if you made it through that incredibly long post, congrats!)

DC...Part 2

And the Friday fun continued...

After racing back to the apartment, we may have rested for about 20 minutes before it was time to get ready for the evening. Alli's roommate was home, so all four ladies were quickly getting prepared and pretty for a night on the town.

Previous dinner plans had been made at this incredibly fun restaurant, Vapiano, http://www.vapianointernational.com/. Upon entering the restaurant, a person at the front desk hands over a card, which is then used to record all food and beverage items consumed. It allowed us to freely visit the bar, the pasta, salad, and/or pizza stations. We secured a table and proceeded to fill up on great food, drinks, and conversation. The stations were amazing and Alli and I shared a great salad and veggie pizza-yum. The drinks were much cheaper here then at most DC clubs/bars, so we lingered and chatted with the birthday girl until it was time to walk to the club.

*Side note- we experienced little bits of randomness during the weekend. I was walking back to the table in Vapiano and a restaurant employee told me, "Your hair is beautiful, don't change a thing about it." Ummm, was that a compliment? Is this something that one normally tells complete strangers, I don't even remember what I said back- thank you perhaps? It was strange... (we had another strange interaction on Saturday, more on that later)

After everyone turned in their cards and paid, we stopped to get a quick picture:

It was a short walk to the club (which was a huge bonus for all the ladies in heels!). I was surprised by the price of drinks, even though Alli had given me much warning- it was still a sticker shock from the incredibly cheap deals which I am accustomed to in a college town. So we took a cue from Lady Gaga...just dance!

We always must do the twin self-portrait.

I love the deer in the headlights look in this picture- classic!

I was so hot from dancing, and starting to do serious damage to my eardrums at this point. The music was so loud!

Roomies!

I think it is a fair assumption to say that the night was a success. We partied like rock stars in DC, and the birthday girl had fun- mission accomplished. We took the metro and a cab back to the apartment and crashed. Next up...Part 3, Saturday and Sunday....