Thankful November

Thankful November or random November or just normal Mere life.

I was bored one evening and messing with the SnapChat filters and found that my subdivision has their own filters!

I got Tuf a griddle for her birthday and we finally used it to make the famous lemon poppy seed pancakes - look how beautiful they are!

I am a planner and got my Christmas cards printed the beginning of November. And they will be mailed out by the time this post will post!

Ah voting, it sure has been an interesting session. I voted. I am not talking about politics or who I voted for but what I do believe is that everyone that can vote should vote - this is our civic duty and for many of use we were not always able to vote. I took this picture stuck in DC traffic - apparently I am getting comfortable driving in traffic ;) I had to wait roughly an hour to vote and apparently that was not a smart decision for me because if I would have voted after work, I could have just walked in. As I made my way into DC there were lines that were blocks long! A voting place was right outside my window at work and the line did not shorten until the lunch time hour. While it stinks to have to wait in line - I was encouraged to see so many people out voting.

My view as I drove into DC. The white house is between the Washington Monument and the lamp post.

Speaking of the White House - I work about 5 blocks from the White House  - so  the week of the election I wandered down there everyday - just to see what was going on. Nothing during the day - all the protests are in the evenings. All I ever saw was a lot of camera crews.

Melissa and I are classy people! Ha! We had gone to dinner on Friday night before Karen came into town and the restaurant took for ever! Melissa had to go up and get our menus. I went up and got us water and then I got up again to ask for a manager. When our food arrived we promptly had to ask for to go containers and our check. While we waited for metro - we ate our dinner. Yes, we took their napkins and silverware - cloth napkins in a metro station - that is fancy! :)

Pup Pup loves being in the basement with me - she is a loner - just like me. I couldn't find her one night and when I did she had buried herself in my way to many pillows bed!

And cause I just couldn't resist the filter on Facebook... :) 

Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving! We hosted our second annual Thanksgiving with some old faces and some new faces. Tuf started the day by breaking a measuring cup. Let the festivities begin! 

Good bye HR - hello IHOP - I think I have found my new career path! The traditional lemon poppy seed pancakes.

As traditions go - Melissa becoming personal with the small turkey. There were only 6 of us this year and so Tuf bought a small turkey - apparently in her book small is 17 pounds...

The blondes cutting potatoes!

We ate around 6 pm with all the trimmings! Look at that beautiful turkey, courtesy of Tuf and Melissa. 

We had all the traditional trimmings - mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato crunch, green bean casserole, green bean  casserole and rolls. I also made pumpkin pie and a Texas buttermilk pie (new for most of us).

My amazing plate!

Melissa, Sarah and Bailey - enjoying their Thanksgiving meals.

Bailey and Sarah cleaning up after dinner.

Thanksgiving photos:

I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving surrounded by some of your people.

Karen's Fall Visit

I am truly blessed that so many people visit me in DC. The one person who visits me the most is someone I consider to be family, Karen. Because of the nature of her work she has the opportunity to come to the DC metro area every few months. Karen flew in on a Friday evening. On Saturday she wanted to go to Mount Vernon. I miss the days when I lived 3 miles from Mount Vernon. The fall colors are still so beautiful here, especially on the grounds of the estate.

Since we were in the area, I had to drive past my old house - it looks so much better than it did in May when Kathie and I drove past. I don't really miss that house - but I sure do miss the area.

For dinner Karen let me go to my favorite restaurant - Chuy's! We went to the one in Springfield, so of course we had to take selfies next to the giant red tree that is in the Springfield mall.

After dinner we made our way back to Maryland for a relaxing evening.

On Sunday, Karen made me go to church - yes, I know it is a good thing and I know I need to go back. We went to a church in Columbia Heights (DC). It was okay, I don't think I'll go back - but I am thankful that my friends care enough about me to encourage me to go back. We left my house around 8:30am and Ubered to my work to drop off our luggage. We had breakfast at Starbucks and then Ubered to church. After church I wanted to show Karen this awesome park I had found - Meridian Hill Park (I posted about it a few days ago). There was no drum circle when we were there, but we still were able to see the park in all the beautiful fall leaves.

After Meridian Hill Park, I made Karen take the bus for a couple stops and then we walked to this awesome brunch place I had been to once before in DuPont. After brunch we walked to the National Mall and played a game of Phase 10 on the lawn around the Washington Monument. This is what locals do, when they are not rushed to see everything all at once in DC.

Something that I figured out last year is that there are cherry blossoms that bloom in the fall! I love this picture of the cherry blossom flower with the Washington monument and the sun setting behind it.

When it gets dark in DC there is not much to do. We were going to go back to hotel and have an early evening. But then we decided to see if there was any activity in front of Trump hotel. Then once we were already over there we decided to walk to the Capitol since the scaffolding was finally gone from the dome. What we did not know was that there was a super moon and we ended up at the Capitol at the perfect time to see the super moon over the U.S. Capitol - it was a memorable experience.

After the super moon we got on the metro at Smithsonian - only to realize I had gotten us on the wrong train. And that is a horrible mistake on the weekend when trains are few and far between. So at L'Enfant plaza we were able to quickly get on a green line train and then at Chinatown we got on a red line train. Thankfully my mistake was corrected by switching trains multiple times. Karen's conference was at a hotel in the Ballston area - so I stayed with her from Sunday - Wednesday. On Monday evening we had dinner at Matchbox in Chinatown. On Tuesday I had to leave the hotel at 5am to fly to Ohio for the day. I was back in DC by 4:30pm and I met Karen in Old Town, Alexandria for dinner at another one of our favorite places - Mai Thai. We also had nutella milkshakes every night from a hamburger place that was super close to the hotel. As always it was a wonderful time with one of my people.