visit home

The weekend before last, Richard and I had several events that brought us home to South Carolina- sweet Leigha and Jonathan's wedding and a family reunion for Richard's mom's side of the family. We decided to add a mini-vacation on to the trip with an overnight stay at the Grand Bohemian in Asheville. It was beautiful, but I was thankful it was paid for using Marriott points! Richard and I were both disappointed there wasn't a pool (we are not huge mountain people- something we may should have thought about when we chose Asheville), but the decor is really cool.

the Grand Bohemian

our bathroom with a huge garden tub- didn't think to get a picture before the room got messy!

lobby of the Grand Bohemian

There are a lot of free spirits in Asheville (think dreads and tattoos galore), but there is also a ton of fabulous food. Between the Tupelo Honey cafe for dinner and the Early Girl Eatery for lunch, we didn't go wrong in our meals. They were excellent!

Early Girl- where I had delicious strawberry and sunflower seed pancakes

Our good friend Rebecca suggested that we visit the NC Arboretum, and the flowers there were really pretty. It's a fun setting with great trails, and had we been more appropriately dressed, we could have done some serious hiking.

quilt garden

hey hubby!

After our short trip to Asheville, we headed back to Spartanburg and enjoyed some local nightlife- the Wild Wing and the Main St. Pub. Quite the happening scene. ;) The best part was definitely the company!

loved getting to see Jeff...

and Meghanne and Caleb and Laurie and Daniel

On Saturday, we had great dinner at Richard's aunt and uncle's house with family we rarely see and then drove up 85 to Leigha and Jonathan's wedding. Leigha is truly one of the sweetest, happiest people I know, so we were thrilled to be a part of her big day. I, of course, left my camera, so this one is "borrowed" from Facebook. Thank you, Meghan Terry!

USC Law group with the glowing bride

We had Richard's family reunion on Sunday, and it was so good to see Richard's great-aunt and great-uncle, as well as our honorary grandmother, Mrs. Ruby. Family is so important, and I'm thankful for having a whole new family as a result of marrying Richard.

Mrs. Ruby slicing her a-mazing cake

the Clark/Webbs/Ousley's- Aunt Phalba, Uncle Bill, and Cousin Karen came from Brentwood, TN- we wish we got to see them more often!

Richard's family was kind to include my immediate family too

looking at old photos and telling stories- love hearing about who's related to who

Happy Birthday, Richard!

Almost a year ago (hard to believe!), I married the person who I had loved since middle school, in one way or another. Richard Webb and I officially met in 6th grade at Dawkins Middle School, where we had several classes together. He was always very studious, wore sweatshirts-sometimes decorated- over collared shirts, and seemed a bit older than most of the other boys in our grade. Our friendship developed in middle school through working on school projects and learning the barn dance in Mrs. Thrailkill's class, blossomed in high school through Halloween trips to haunted houses and double dates with our respective high school boyfriend and girlfriend, and continued through college, where he was my favored sorority function date and post-college, wedding date. We never officially dated, but I went to Richard to teach me how to shag (dance) and for thoughtful conversation and fun companionship.

When we FINALLY started dating in the fall of 2003, I thought that we would be together forever. We drove I-26 frequently to visit each other in Charleston, where he was in med school, and Columbia, where I was in law school. When we broke up in Spring 2004, I was devastated. Richard wanted to focus on med school and didn't want to be in a super committed relationship. That obviously did not go over well with me!

I distinctly remember walking the block around my home through law school with our shared house-dog Micah and just praying for Richard and our relationship. For two years, while I dated other people, I hoped and hoped that Richard and I would get back together. I was so excited when we finally did on a fun football weekend (Wofford kept it close against USC, and Clemson had a big win at FSU over the Seminoles!). Our relationship had its share of ups and downs as we weathered long-distance, intern year of surgery residency, and entering the working world with a full-time job. But we persevered, and our engagement and wedding and first year of marriage has been some of the happiest (and hardest!) times of my life. I cannot imagine being married to anyone else.

Richard is is most disciplined person I know, but as he has gotten older, he's become more laid-back and maintains a great balance of work and play. He is fiercely loyal, a hard, hard worker, and has a funny sense of humor. He's a natural performer and has exceptional musical talent. He has a wide variety of friends, and he's incredibly strong in his beliefs. And he's extremely stubborn, but that usually works to his advantage (even if it frustrates his wife on occasion). I love him more than anyone on this earth, and I am thankful for his 30 years and wish him many, many more! Despite a crazy week and a tough birthday weekend, we had a great time celebrating! Happy 30th, sweetheart!

the birthday boy on his actual party day, with one of his favorite desserts- red velvet cake from DC's Founding Farmers

at Matt and Gus's wedding in Baltimore- Richard represents the South well with his wardrobe choices!

Since we had Matt and Gus's wedding on Richard's birthday weekend, we celebrated with friends in our backyard last Sunday afternoon. It was a ton of work to get everything ready (and Richard did a lion's share of it), but we had a great time and hope our guests did too!

ladder golf and corn hole (thanks to Max and Christopher!)- can't see them too well, but I used blue hydrangeas and white peonies and yellow spider mums in the flower arrangements

Min tied these adorable birthday tags on our mason jars

loved having my office mates with us to celebrate! Christopher, Anna and I all sit within 5 feet of each other and make of 3/4's of the Team Gowdy Legislative team

WRAMC General Surgery- you're in good hands with these guys

with Min, Vin and Gia Capaldi, who are our new neighbors and were so helpful in helping with the party!

ortho friends and their better halves- please note Kelly's Trophy Husband t-shirt

Pam and Misha, our McLean small group friends and soon-to-be mama and daddy!

good buddies- Max, Richard and Jason (and our new patio lights!)

Richard and Beth and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Do you remember Alexander and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? ("I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.") I've kind of felt like Alexander of late.

It all started on Richard's birthday, which was Friday, the 27th, when we discovered that the air conditioning in our house was not working. Since the furnace went out on my birthday, this seemed entirely appropriate. It seems that the unit is completely busted and needs to be replaced. Our landlord was convinced that the mobile units he brought on Sunday would be sufficient to cool our house, but that was wishful thinking. And now it's Wednesday, with no promise of repaired AC in sight on what has been one of the warmest weeks yet.

We had a fun evening celebrating Richard's birthday and headed to Baltimore for our friends' wedding. We finally made it after several delays (a forgotten suit, keys and phone delayed the process) and enjoyed Matt and Gus' gorgeous wedding and reception on the water. Richard started to feel bad at the reception and was the sickest I have seen him in our short marriage on Saturday night and all day Sunday, leading us to cancel fun cookout plans.

Richard began to feel better on Monday, but we noticed a strong smell of gas on the main floor of our house. Just as we were walking out the door to take advantage of a rare week day off, our carbon monoxide alarm started going off. Apparently, our chimney has been clogged, leading carbon monoxide from the water heater that would generally exit out the chimney to be blocked. Today we learned that the lining of the chimney is rotted, which means the need for a major repair...and no hot water in our house.

To top it all off, Richard lost his wedding ring in our front yard last night. I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy as we looked through our bushes with flashlights and spot lights! We spent a worry-filled evening researching metal detectors and praying that the ring would be found.

So the past several days have been incredibly frustrating, but thankfully, at least the wedding ring was found this morning! And the DC heat wave is supposed to be ending soon, so hopefully the house will cool off some. Though our circumstances have not been ideal, they certainly do not compare at all to the devastation the tornado victims in Missouri and Alabama have seen. We just have to remember to keep counting our many blessings!

fun times with a two year-old (and his parents!)

The American Urological Association hosted its annual convention in DC this past week, and it provided a great reason for Kim and Brian and Jackson to come visit! Kim was my freshman year college roommate and is so dang smart. She is almost finished with her urology residency at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and she was her to present some of her research, in addition to seeing me and Richard. We had the best time with Kim and Brian, her husband, and with their adorable two year-old, Jackson, who was our ring bearer. He has gone from barely talking to putting together sentences and giving an emphatic NO to almost every question you ask him. SO independent!

Brian had never been to DC, and they saw all kinds of monuments while I was working. But we did all sorts of other fun things while we were together.

We enjoyed the BGR Joint- Jackson is asking for a "sipasoda' below.

We visited the Georgetown Cupcake. Before dinner. Because it made sense to us! And then Jackson's cupcake kept him entertained while we waited on our food at Jaleo.

yummy icing

On Sunday, we went to the Cabin John park, which has an incredible ride-on train. Sadly it was closed because the tracks were wet, but we still had a great time playing.

always on the move

hard to believe it's been ELEVEN years this August since we moved in together!

I love the picture below of the Burgess family. Jackson rarely wants to pose for a picture- he's just way too busy!- but I love how this captures his joy. It's amazing how that joy can turn to despair in 0.2 seconds, and then joy again with the suggestion of the Mickey Christmas DVD or Nit Nots on Imagination Movers. Man, we will have DVD players in ALL cars when we have kids!

Richard loves the Pirates Tavern, and while I'd never been, I thought it would be the perfect place for lunch considering Jackson's obsession with pirates. He's quick to play the villain though, and gleefully announces "I Captain Hook!" Dad usually has to be Peter Pan. The Pirate's Tavern staff was great and brought out all kinds of swords, including foam ones for a sword fight!

get him, Jackson!

Jackson fell asleep after the Pirate's Tavern, but another (bigger) boy in our group was determined to go to Glen Echo to ride the carousel. Glad we could do that while Jackson slept. It was just a little odd that they were playing Christmas music...

The Burgess family came to see me at the Capitol on Monday, which was really fun. The Hill magazines always catch different Members coming through the Cannon tunnel, so I thought I'd catch a similar picture of my friends.

Our fabulous intern took us on a tour, which I had actually never been on, so it was equally as informative for me. We saw the old Supreme Court chambers where Marbury v. Madison was argued, sat on the House floor and went in the old Senate chambers.

old Supreme Court chambers- I got goosebumps being in there!

looking a little wind-blown in the rain

Kim and Brian went out for the anniversary on Monday night (they celebrated 8 years on the 17th!), and Richard and I baby-sat Jackson. Bless his heart, he was NOT happy to be stuck with us! But we made it through and learned a little in the process- maybe we're not as ready for kids as I thought!

We were able to celebrate with Kim and Jackson at the Blue Duck Tavern on their actual anniversary, and the food was incredible.

discussing throwing in "monies"

so stubborn- "no camera!" "no pictures!"

stubborn or not, I love this child

We also strolled the Georgetown waterfront and finally got a picture of everyone.

We ended our food tour of DC with a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl and even had a celebrity sighting!

half smoke and chili cheese fries

hey Donovan McNabb!

It was absolutely wonderful to get to spend some quality time with my old friend and her family. I just wish we were closer and our visits more frequent! Kim is like a sister to me- Jackson even calls me "Aunt Jessie" which is Brian's sister's name. Considering she's several years my junior, I'll take that as a compliment. After having his car seat in the back of my car the past several days, I got a little sad when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw it was gone this evening.

Burgess family, please come back soon!

two weddings- a study in contrasts

Richard and I had the privilege of attending two beautiful weddings in April- the first one was the wedding of Kelly and Lauren in Philadelphia. Kelly is one of the orthopedic surgery residents at Walter Reed, and he and the other ortho residents have been great friends to Richard. Lauren is from the Philly area, and their Rehearsal Dinner was at Chicky and Pete's. Quite different than what we're used to, but they have Crabfries, which Richard absolutely loved. And I obviously think a fun casual, rehearsal dinner is a great option- we square danced at ours!

Richard, Kevin, Kelly the groom, Jon and Matt (who's up next!)

The Rehearsal "late night" was at Drinker's Tavern- but not just Drinker's Tavern, downstairs Drinker's Tavern. Between the dancing and Matt landing on his face attempting the Worm, it was a wild night!

Saturday turned out beautiful, and we enjoyed the Reading Market before heading to the ceremony, at a Catholic church right near Pat's and Gino's. After the ceremony, we picked up a cheesesteak then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the reception, which was right down the street from our hotel. I understand having your ceremony early and a cocktail hour and reception later is very common, especially up north, but it sure does make for a long day. The bride and groom get a ton of time for pictures though, which I would have loved!

Kelly and Lauren's venue was perfect, and their band was amazing. And the bride was beautiful! We had a great time and loved getting to spend the day with good friends.

view from the Cocktail Hour

Congratulations Kelly and Lauren!

Richard's cousin Molly got married the Saturday before Easter, and it was special in its own right. We always love getting to spend time with family in South Carolina, and I was in town for the entire week before working from Spartanburg and Greenville. I had the privilege of helping with the details- from putting together the programs to telling the guys when to walk out, and it made me miss my own wedding planning!

The Rehearsal Dinner was at the Piedmont Club, and it was very tame compared to Kelly and Lauren's. Just a sweet (calm) time with family and friends. The after-party was at the Spartanburg Marriott, which is not quite downtown Philly, but still fun.

Suzanne, Molly (the bride) and me

the Clark and Webb cousins and spouses

Proof that the world is small- Josh, the groom, used to coach at South Dakota State, and his friend Shannon is still a coach there. Shannon was one of the groomsmen, and he is friends with the Assistant Volleyball coach at SDSU....who lived with my dear friend Bec in Columbia before she moved to South Dakota! Richard and Shannon bonded, and we loved making a new friend.

Shannon, me, Molly and Josh

Molly and Josh wanted to do something different for the wedding, and so they decided to get married in Molly's parents' neighbor's back yard. It was GORGEOUS. As was she...and everything went off without a hitch. Richard played with many of the musicians who played in our wedding, Richard's mom directed the wedding and got everyone to their appropriate place, and Molly laughed and was full of joy all through her vows.

talented musicians

Clark family

The ceremony was in the front of the house, and the reception was in the back. Molly's Aunt Vicky did the flowers, which were amazing. And Darla, the baker who did our cake, did Molly's. It was a huge treat to enjoy her skills again!

part of the reception site

Clark, McAbee, Noe, and Webb cousins

Congratulations Molly and Josh!

When Molly and Josh left, Molly's big brother Al drove them out in a Gator. One of the funniest moments of the night was when Molly hopped in the front with Al and Josh was left in the back by himself. I didn't get a great shot of it, but Emily Corey, who did an incredible job with the pictures, did. You can see it and a few other sneak peeks here.

I love having the opportunity to celebrate with friends and family at their weddings and am thankful Richard and I have been able to enjoy so many together, regardless of where they are or how different they may be! But this one is still my favorite. :)