Surprise Visit from Amy/Ant!

The last weekend in July, our friends Amy and Ant happened to be driving from their home in Ft Lauderdale to NYC with their cute english bulldog, Gordita. Of course, we had to make sure we got a chance to hang out in DC! Amy/Ant didn't arrive until late Saturday, so Nikki, my sister Darcy, Hina and I all spent the morning relaxing in various capacities. Nikki and I had a late night Friday, when we drove to Gaithersburg to try a restaurant specializing in various kinds of dumplings and caught a movie after, so we started Saturday with a leisurely brunch at one of our favorite local spots called North Side Social, which has delicious egg sandwiches using eggs from Polyface Farms (featured in the book, The Omnivores Dilemma). It was so great to catch up with my sister and hear about how well med school is going (she's a 3rd year here at Georgetown). We headed back to our place for some tennis and hanging by the pool next - gotta love the facilities at the Oakwood where we live!

Amy, Ant, and Hina got in later that afternoon and after unwinding in the pool a bit, we headed into DC for an action-packed evening. First stop was the Adams Morgan area for dinner at Mama Ayeshas - middle eastern tapas and excellent service! Next, we jetted across the city in Darcy's new Forrester to catch the 11 PM show at the Palace of Wonders, which has burlesque shows. Perched above the stage with our drinks, we watched the performers eat fire, swallow swords, and hand weights from their eyelids - yo! We weren't even close to done yet though, and walked across the street to the H Street Country Club (at ridiculous name for a dive bar featuring mini-golf) for some skee ball and shuffleboard. When the bar closed and we were starving, we hit up Julias in Dupont for their famous empanadas. Mmmmmm. I have no idea what time we got home, but Hina and Gordita had probably decided that their parents were never going to return! They actually seemed to get along ok, though Hina did initiate a few scuffles and Gordita went home with some war-wounds. The next day, everyone rallied for brunch at fishers and farmers at Washington Harbor in DC where we stuffed ourselves absolutely silly. After wishing Amy/Ant/Gordita bon voyage, Darcy, Nikki, and I relaxed with a movie (Inception - it was awesome, go see it!).

A pretty successful weekend in all, with time to catch up with Darcy and Amy/Ant before we leave. With only 4 weekends left after that one, we are starting to hit the home stretch!