Weekend Recap

I love birthdays! Well, not particulary birthdays of my own; but those of others, I'm especially fond of. Case in point: this past weekend marked the anniversary of the day that my dad was brought into this world (Brooklyn, to be specific)--all the more reason for me to venture down the Jersey turnpike--yet again--to surprise him.

My surprise was actually usurped (in a good way, of course), by Karl and Bec, who beat me to the punch by making it to Maryland early on Friday. They crashed (again, in a good way!) the birthday dinner at Mon Amie Gabi in Bethesda. At that point, Mark and I were probably picking up the car in our favorite Jersey town, Ramsey, en route to another late-night, Boston Market-fueled ride down to Wheaton. We finally rolled in to University Towers around 1, hit the sack, and managed to make our feeble (but well worth it) surprise on Saturday morning.

That day, while Mark said a final goodbye to his motorcycle, I made my rounds in Wheaton (nails, eyebrows, etc.), before driving up to the farm for a quick visit with my mom, Uncle Joe, and Stella. There, I got to pay a visit to a feisty groundog Uncle Joe had trapped more than two weeks ago. As Uncle Joe says, "groundhogs are just like roaches--they can live through anything." Apparently, he's correct: even Grandpop's "poison peanuts" didn't do this guy in, but I have a feeling a swift bullet to the chest eventually did.

That night, I sped back to the nation's capital to have a lovely dinner with Corinne and Lonnie at Sette. After catching up over delicious pizza and wine, we strolled down to Lucky Bar to meet up with Mark, Mike, Chuck, Maureen, Pat, and Mary (did I forget anyone)? D.C. hasn't changed a bit--which, I think, is a good thing. We had fun at the bar...I heard my new favorite Justin Timberlake song...and the night ended with a good old-fashioned pig-out session on Mike's couch at his brand new place.

We rose the next morning to head back to Wheaton to meet up with the 'rents for the Orioles Game. The tickets were Part II of my surprise--so despite the heat and the fact that the O's "stink" (my Dad's words, not mine), we enthusiastically drove up to B-more. The game ended up being a nail-biter with the O's beating the White Sox in the final inning. I asked some stupid questions that usually followed with the reply (from my Dad)..."how are you ever going to write sports for the Washington Post?" (answer is, I probably won't!), but I think I'm a born again O's fan!

Happy Birthday again to my Dad...and thanks for giving me the opportunity to celebrate with you! Pics from the weekend are below.