A summer, in photographs

Well, happy to report that I am in a much better mood than I was a few days ago.  Talking through things really does have amazing restorative powers and definitely wins out over allowing myself to get all worked up over what essentially proved to be a misconception.  Which is good, because tomorrow is going to be my last day in the States for a while, and I am starting to panic a little bit.  Must... Focus!!!

But.  I promised that this blog wasn't going to turn into a summer chronicling of how very awesome my life is,  but I couldn't resist sharing just some of the summer's highlights.  So with no further ado, and in no particular order...

There was the Pseudolympics, complete with events, medals, and the Invocation of the Gods.  (I invoked Dionysus, and also won the silver in both the Wine Carry event and Wine Pong.  I am sensing a pattern.)

Chariot Racing

Invoking the gods

The Fourth of July happened of course, and my superb friends threw a giant party complete with moon bounce water slide.  Which of course I did not get a picture of.  Natch.  I was sore for the next week after playing on that thing all afternoon/evening/night.

I had several truly lovely winery visits with my very excellent friend Matt.  Virginia has some excellent wineries, but my personal fave is unquestionably Fabbioli.  Matt passed along this great blog review of Fabbioli which I will now share.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Serious business

Hiking along the river trails out behind Tarara.

There were several sojourns into DC to visit the museums with both family and friends.

Cool installation at the Hirshhorn.

My amazing parents in the Sculpture Garden.  National Archives in the background.

.... This is at the National Gallery, people.

Thanks to my friend Will having a birthday, I got to see Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed at Wolftrap!  Complete with good company, lawn picnic, and watermelon mohitos!

Because it can't be all culture, all the time, I also caught a Nationals' game with my friend James.  The Nats lost, but after the game there was a free Third Eye Blind concert.

After the game/concert, we wandered around in search of someplace to get a drink, and ended up at the Marriott drinking with Third Eye Blind.  James gave them home insurance advice. :)

Me, a friend, and a moderately famous person.  Guess which of us is the least impressed

I met several friends downtown to see The Lloyd Dobler Effect, a local-ish band we had seen before and liked.  They played at some delicious barbeque place in DC, the name of which I now forget.  But it was excellent.  The sides were even better than the meat.  And we got a LOT of meat.  They also had margaritas flavored with fresh poblano pepper.

Recently, I got to say Goodbye to a bunch of friends at once attending a certain set of twins' 30th birthday bash.

They were pretty pretty princesses!

And hot damn, there was so much more that happened.  I took two trips up to New Jersey to visit family, and got to spend some really great time with my Grandma.  She gave me a stuffed bear.  I named him Cabernet Sauvingnon. :)

I had people over for wine and movie nights.  I spent days and evenings in Old Town Alexandria and DC.  Friends rented hotel rooms so we could party just as hard as we wanted and not have to worry about getting home safely.  I went down to Richmond to engage my inner geek and play not one but two Mutants and Masterminds one-shots.  I cooked a ton of superior food including two parents' birthday dinners.

With all this, one thing I didn't get much of this summer was some good quality alone time.  I didn't make it out to Great Falls but at least I did get in that walk around Burke Lake.

I joined a gym but didn't exactly get to go as often as I probably should have, due to aforementioned shenanigans.  And Dad and I started a woodworking project but it is still very definitely in pieces.  We will finish it over the holidays I hope.

There's so much I'm forgetting.  Thank you all so much -- every single one of you who made this summer the most memorable of my life.  Kind of feel like I need a vacation after this vacation though.  But that sure isn't going to happen.

The next phase is just under 36 hours away.  Crazy.  Life is good, my people.

(I could reminisce more I suppose, but I've accidentally gotten myself completely addicted to Doctor Who this summer, so now am off to pound through another episode or four before I cancel my Netflix tomorrow.)