Weekend of reunions, food and friends

Lately my weekends are either over stuffed with events or nothing

but packing and catching up on the day-to-day. This weekend was definitely packed. My 5 year reunion from the University of Virginia was this past weekend, plus John had birthday/graduation party up in DC. We managed to pull off both despite our exhaustion. We headed to Charlottesville after work on Friday, and met up with my good friends Bane and Jen. Our standard hot spot in college was the Virginian on the Corner, which of course brought back great memories. We also enjoyed some of our favorite food joints like the Tavern and Take It Away. It was absolutely wonderful!

Back in Richmond, it was also a big foodie weekend, and somehow I managed to fit that in as well. Thursday before my reunion, my friends and I headed to the Greek Festival. It's one of the largest food festivals in RVA and it just gets bigger every year. Gotta love a cheap bottle of chilled red wine on a hot summer day with a side of dolmades!

Sunday was yet another food festival called Broad Appetite. My sister and I approach this festival very strategically... A co-worker friend of mine came along to tag-team each of the food vendors so that we could split them to save money and room for all the food we were eating. It was awesome... Below are a few food shots from today:

Marinaded skirt steak tacos with cilantro, red onion and parmesan cheese. YUM.

Shrimp and Pork meatballs with papaya salad plus hoisin and sriracha sauce dollops.

Smoked salmon toast with baby spinach leaves and jalapeños... Spicy!

Crab stuffed ravioli in a lobster cream sauce. OMG.

So that's the quick update. Definitely hopping back on the routine tomorrow. I can't wait to get my ass kicked in boot camp after work and eating healthy meals this week. Bring it on!

Graduation at The University

I swear it feels like yesterday that John first set off to UVA to pursue his Master's degree in Systems Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. I remember he told me it would be a tough year for him, balancing school, work, his son and me. But he did it, and I'm so proud of him. Last weekend we headed up to UVA to watch John walk the Lawn and later on receive his diploma. It was a great weekend, busy, hot, chaotic and fun as hell. My family gave him a wonderful UVA diploma frame for graduation and it looks quite impressive hanging in his office. I will most likely bring my UVA undergraduate framed diploma to hang up as well, because we are nerds like that.

I will write more later but wanted to share this news and congratulate John on his amazing achievement. I'm proud of you babe - you are a lifetime learner.