A Bender...

Well hello there. Greetings from an Annapolis coffee shop. How I love finding these places that are tucked away and I just need to know about but would not necessarily stumble upon - thank you smart phone. More than several times this month, I have been on benders. One being when Sam was in town and we painted the town red almost every single night (not to mention saw an Orioles game, ate breakfast in bed, biked every morning that we could up the NCR trail, drank with old co-workers, drank tea in the garden, etc. The other time was last weekend. We went out to celebrate Kara's birthday on Saturday night in Arlington. It was such fun! We decided to stay at the Key Bridge Marriott (thank you Kristen and your connections!) and ventured out to Clarendon Ballroom and the rooftop there. There was a fun DJ playing and we took full advantage :) The next day Kristen, Sarah and I went to brunch in Del Ray (love this part of VA). And then had a "the one where we moved the couch" afternoon. If I never do that again, it will be absolutely fine with me. What a mess. Poor Sarah and Bill ended up having to carry it down seven flights of stairs only to discover that it would not fit out the door! Unfortunately, I was no help at all. Hours later, the massive piece of furniture was in the back of the Silverado and up the road we went. Fast forward a few hours... I hopped on the metro to head downtown to meet Michele for the Madonna concert! First we went to Proof and then ended up upgrading our seats. The show didn't start until after 10:30 pm which I could not believe! She certainly puts on quite the performance though! It was really rather unbelievable, the effects and dancing and craziness of it all. I was so glad to be there and that I got the chance to see her perform (especially after all of Derek's gushing about). I love her old stuff the most - the songs that I grew up on listening to and transform me to a different time and place. I felt especially fortunate that night for good friend's like Jen who picked me up at the metro and let me stay with her. Some interesting things/opportunities presented themselves this week and I am supposed to be thinking about them this weekend. Thursday I drove down to Easton to hang with the Keefe's. We had a great time - spent mostly in the kitchen and on the back patio enjoying the Indian summer day. They are so wise and funny and offer such wonderful, invaluable perspective that I so appreciate. Granddad even broke out the pro and con list at lunch :) - how classic is that and how lucky am I? That evening I headed down to Delaware to hang with the Deale's. We spent yesterday on the boardwalk soaking up the sun, playing skee ball and grubbing on Grotto's and Thrashers...ahhhhh.... the beach.