It was such an eventful weekend that it is taking me until Tuesday evening and two glasses of wine to actually blog about it! I do have reasonable excuses for not blogging over the weekend…and I do believe I briefly mentioned our plans to see Kiss of the Spider Woman on Friday evening…and I think that is where I left off.

Well, Friday afternoon I picked T up at the airport and we went home and ate a healthy lunch. OK, not so healthy…it was Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yum! Afterwards, I went for a run while he did some work on the computer and prepared for a phone interview as part of a benchmarking project he is working on with MP, his project partner. After a nice mid-afternoon run, I prepared dinner for the two of us (orange ginger pork chops) and then we made our way to The Signature Theatre in Arlington. We planned to arrive early enough to grab some dessert before the show and moseyed on into Cakelove, the famed bakery as seen on The Food Network a few years back. The original store is in Washington, DC but since the owner has been televised, it seems locations are sprouting up all over. The cupcakes and cakes are quite dense and it was a first experience for both of us. We ordered an amaretto and almond cupcake in addition to a slice of German chocolate cake. Along with the steep prices, I though flavor would match the popularity and reputation…but it didn’t. It was something we both wanted to do and ended up doing…time to move on. Sure, I won’t turn down a piece of cake from Cakelove in the future, and maybe I should have taken T’s recommendation to taste a plain vanilla cupcake as a control (he is always in data mode!) but with all of the choices it slipped my mind and we ended up with what I ordered. Maybe next time?

Anywho, we did not leave much behind despite my criticism since that would be waste, right? We took a brief walk around the area and eventually made our way to the theatre. The show was great and we had good seats which was a plus. Many of the songs in the show are quite catchy and having been cast in this show when he was younger, T hummed along to some of the numbers. As a side note, I was quite impressed with T’s impromptu performance in the car on the way in as we listened to the soundtrack. Really, I was impressed.

After the show, we took a walk around a few of the buildings and into the parking garage to begin our journey home. That evening was a long one for T as he worked until the wee hours of the morning (3:30am!) on some paperwork and we both awoke early Saturday to begin the preparations for our afternoon gathering…here is where the fun really began!

I did some maintenance around the house, like lawn mowing, weed pulling, and mulch laying. The deck was prepared and all was made tidy for our guests. T was inside preparing the house and the desserts we would eventually eat in the evening. T and I moved around the house trying to find appropriate places for the beautiful artwork he brought back from China and once we get them framed I will share some images with you.

Our guests began to arrive shortly after 4pm, with RAM and HAM coming into the house with their hands filled with goodies and food stuffs. H recently spent a month in Thailand for a work assignment and while she was there was able to take a cooking class…and so there was no doubt in my mind that upon her return we would need to have a party. Yes, of course, to celebrate her return…but mostly to taste the result of her cooking class! We gathered on Saturday and H, along with T and M, cooked up a four course meal. All I can say is yum!! Of course I would help out but someone had to make sure the wine was poured, and big Baby A was entertained. Life is tough!

An evening of fun and socializing, lots of laughing and story sharing ended late into the evening and it was such an enjoyable event that we will now be doing theme gatherings…next stop, Pinoy food!

Sunday morning we awoke to heavy rain and thunder (a little later than we had planned) and hopped in the jeep. We had made plans to meet up with MM for brunch at the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park. Arriving on time (if we had planned to be an hour late!) we had a short wait before being seated at a water-side table. The food was nice, but the conversation and time spent together was the best. I always enjoy talking with MM and can never thank her enough for the effort and energy she put in to finding out T’s ring size for my Christmas proposal despite final exams and the craziness that is involved in end-of-semester activities.

Brunch was yummy, a brief walk to the MET followed, and away we went back to Cambridge. I made my way back to Maryland on Monday afternoon after waiting for the Boston Marathon to clear my travel route and I arrived home before midnight. I got into bed fully clothed with my laptop to check my email and woke up at 5:30am in the same clothes and the same position I last remembered before crashing…and boy was I tired today.

All of this fun and excitement caught up with me and now I sit, reflecting on the last four days and all I can say is What a Weekend!