More Patron Please

You know what makes Tuesday’s more fun?  Ending the day with a Patron Margarita and dinner with friend!  Kacy is  back in town for more interviews and apartment hunting, and I drug her to Austin Grill in Rockville to have dinner with me.

Patron Marg, on the rocks, of course

To be completely honest, it was the commercials I always hear on the radio that inspired me to try this place.  That and they had a nice patio for outdoor dining.  I sat with my left side in the sun, and now that arm is sporting a pretty tan that my right arm does not have :).

Conducting business deals while sipping on a marg. Kacy says hi.

 Kacy and I both ordered the Patron Margarita to start with, and then also drank two large beers after that.  I love a girl who will sit and drink with me over dinner, haha.  I was really craving nachos for dinner, and the plate that showed up in front of me was a perfect size and delicious.  I ate every single bite.  Not that that is unusual, I typically house every meal I eat.

Can I have more nachos now please?  This is the third time Kacy and I have had the opportunity to hang out, and I can’t wait until she moves here and I can use her apartment’s pool.  I mean, hang out more.  She is awesome and so fun.  Dinner lasted nearly 3 hours, and by the time I hit the road to actually go home it was almost 8 pm.  That’s the sign of a good time at dinner.

Pumpkin was very happy to see my when I opened my bedroom door last night, and she did come downstairs and sprawl out on the hardwood floor for a while before going back to bed with me in the a/c.  She is once again locked in my room today where it will stay nice and cool.  I remembered to throw her puppy in with her to keep her company today though.  When Pumpkin was a baby she stole one of my small stuffed dogs and made it her own, now the thing will randomly move around the house, but you’ll never see her move it.

I think the heat and humidity is supposed to break with tonight’s round of thunderstorms, so hopefully she’ll be back to roaming the whole house tomorrow.  Darren arrives tomorrow for the weekend, and I really can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks already.  I feel like I was in Chicago like two days ago.  I’m pretty excited, plans include a Nats game on Friday, dragging him to kickball on Saturday, the Crime and Punishment Museum, and maybe a BBQ.  Very exciting!

It’s Wednesday friends, we’re almost through the work week, and April for that matter.  Have a good one!

Lady Date

Last night my roommate Danielle and I went out on a lady date to a local Thai restaurant, Bangkok 54.  I ordered take-out from there once before, and we’d heard the drinks were delicious so we decided to try it out.  I started with a Flirtini and Spring rolls, while Dani had the Q-tini and Crispy Edamame Strips.  All things were delicious.  For my main course I ordered the 54s Fried Rice and Dani went with the Bangkok 54 Golden Chicken ~Lightly battered and deep-fried and wok-tossed with special chef’s sauce with fresh roasted cashews.  My fried rice was delicious and spicy and had my nose running, and I snagged a piece of Dani’s chicken which was also fantastic.  We paid our bill, moved on to the bar, and three glasses of wine later finally called it a night and came home.

I’m thinking one Flirtini, and 3 or 4 glasses of Cab were not the best way to prepare for my long run today, because I felt like shit.  I really struggled through it and my calves were sore the entire time.  Can someone explain that one to me?  When I was training for my half my thighs would always be sore and my calves okay.  It’s the complete opposite this time around and I can’t figure it out.  Any thoughts?  Anyway, 6.5 miles in 57:30.

Again this week there was wind blowing in my face for the first half of the run.  That’s getting old.  I have no idea if I’m ready for next weeks race, at this point I’m just kind of crossing my fingers and hoping I make it through all 10 miles in a respectable time.  I guess we’ll see what happens.

I plan on heading out in a little bit to meet up with all the bloggers that are in town for the Marathon/Half Marathon.  I’ll be the one standing awkwardly in a corner not knowing anyone.  So if you see me there, say hi!  After that I’ll probably curl up on the couch with wine and be a complete bum, because well I’m tired, and a loser :).  Have a great Saturday!

Chi Town Recap

Well I am back from my long weekend in Wisconsin/Chicago, and I am exhausted.  This post is probably going to be a pretty picture heavy recap, only because my brain isn’t functioning on a high enough level right now.  I had a fantastic time, it was a great trip, and Chicago just might be my new favorite city.

So let’s see, the trip got off to somewhat of a rough start due to the ridiculous weather here on Thursday night.  From the start my flight was delayed by about an hour, so I hung out at the airport bar and had two beers.  Then, once the plane actually arrived, they rushed to get us boarded and in the air, only to then have the airport shut down because of storms rolling in.  I sat on the airplane, not going anywhere, until 9 pm.  It was awful, but we finally did take off 3 hours late, and I made it to Milwaukee around 9:30.  Upon leaving the airport, I immediately requested a giant glass of wine, and after I finished that, Darren and I headed to his mom’s house to spend the night before leaving for Chicago in the morning.

We arrived in Chicago around 2 pm on Friday, and spent the afternoon walking around and shopping.  Dar was a good sport, and sat playing Angry Birds while I tried on 37 pairs of jeans and actually helped me pick out a pair.  After a few hours of shopping, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  Darren’s 27th birthday was Friday, so I was treating  him to dinner, and he decided on N9NE Steakhouse.

Dar's 27th B-day Dinner

I’m not a big red meat eater, but I figured when in a steak house order steak, and I am so glad I did because it was seriously one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.  Amazing food, a cool atmosphere, but not cheap, so save it for a special occasion.  Saturday morning I did not wake up to run, but instead slept in, and then got up to do some more shopping, and meet Amy for lunch!  Saturday was Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations, and the mass amounts of drunk people wandering the city were hysterical.

In front of the green river

Both of us

Chicagoooo

reflections in the bean

We finally managed to find our way to Miller’s Pub to meet up with Amy, and after a few minutes in line and a short wait inside the bar (green beers were enjoyed of course) we sat down to have lunch.  Amy was one of the first people to comment on my blog way back when, and keep coming back, so I was very excited to finally meet her in person.

Dar was once again a good sport and took pictures for us, and put up with our conversations about other bloggers and internet friends.  He barely uses Facebook, so the blogging and tweeting thing is pretty bizarro to him.  Amy already wrote about this, but the funniest part of the day came right after Darren finished talking about how funny drunk people are because you never know what they’re going to do.  A drunk guy stumbles over to our table, starts to lean towards Dar’s head with his mouth open, and pretends to blow on it and polish it with his arm.  Amy and I lost it, she was laughing so hard she was crying, and I couldn’t pull it together either.  Luckily Dar was in a good mood, otherwise that guy could have very well ended up with an elbow to the face :).  After lunch the three of us did some more walking around and shopping, well Amy and I shopped, Dar sat on a couch playing more Angry Birds.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Amy, who hopefully I will get to hang out with again when I’m back in Chicago for work in June.  Saturday night Darren and I decided on a more low-key dinner, and all I wanted was traditional Chicago Deep Dish so off to Giordano’s we went.

Seriously the best pizza ever.  I loved it, and am pretty sad I had to leave the remaining four slices in Wisconsin with Darren.  Yesterday we packed up and left Chicago to head back to Wisconsin to hang out before my 7 pm flight home.  I was very tempted to offer to stay behind when they announced the flight was overbooked, and needed three people to stay until today.  Here I am back in VA and at work today though.  Darren is flying out here in 6 weeks to visit, so it will be fun to have him in VA and show him around my town.  I’m off to get more coffee.