The High Line (SWF) Birthday Edition

Instead of simply tearing it down, New York City has taken what was a very ugly - and long in length - eye sore and turned it into a spectacular park-in-the-sky. The High Line starts in lower Manhatten's Meat Packing District and will eventually stop at 34th street. Right now it's open to 20th Street. Such a fabulous place! (See here for a wonderful seasonal slide show of The High Line.)

As some of you know, my birthday was last Friday, the 4th and my seeeester came from DC to help me celebrate! I always appreciate help when it comes to celebrating (just about everything). Jules and I met her in lower Manhattan as our agenda for the day included seeing the wonderful ~Claude Monet: Late Work~ show at the Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street and walking The High Line. Talk about beautiful! What a splendid job NYC has done. The meandering path is flanked on both sides with gorgeous plantings that, I understand, are seasonal. There are wonderful benches to sit on and soon there will be a water feature. If you haven't been there, do go!

After we were through walking The High Line, we happened upon The Chealsea Market, another wonderful place! It is full of shops and restaurants - and a grocery store where we discovered the veggies were a lot cheaper than anything we find out here in the sticks of CT.

Then we walked a loooooooong way to The Garage (112 W. 25th St. between 6th & 7th Ave.), a huge flea market selling just about anything you can think of. It would have been a lot more fun if the temperature had been about 20 degrees cooler. Needless to say, we didn't last long there.

After all this activity the three of us were getting hungry so we cabbed it up to the West Side and met Daryl for a loverly lunch. Let me just say that a birthday margarita is about the most perfect thing one can possibly have!

A day of perfection!

~~~

xoabb

i have the best family & friends!

Sky Watch Friday

Do join us!

~~~~

P. S. A most wonderful birthday to the most wonderful dad in the whole wide world!

Happy birthday, Daddy!

xoxannlie

Well, Look At That!

Twice in the last several week, I've seen license plates that have immediately reminded me of two gals that have become friends of mine through this blogging thingy we do. 

First, the lovely and always interesting blogger, Asthma Girl, who has a profound and not always rational love of all things chihuahua. Isn't this just the perfect license plate for her? Maybe it's still available in her home state. Anyone notice the chihuahua head on the antennae of that really really cute car? (Also love that bonus Obama sticker - OK, I'll stop being political now!) Had I been staging this photo and not doing a drive-by shoot I certainly would have removed that annoying grocery bag!

Then there's my friend, Chesapeake Bay Woman. I nearly wrecked the car taking this picture for her, as I was driving and trying to turn left all at the same time. It wasn't pretty. (It also was a dark and rainy afternoon, thus the blur.) Must tell you, if you haven't visited her, you should. Her writing is this side of brilliant. You'll laugh, you'll cry...well probably not, but I guarantee you'll be marvelously entertained! Especially by all the cross-throughs she does. ;-)

~

In other news: I'm having a great time here in DC/Alexandria VA with my sis and b-i-l. Care and I spent most of the day purging her closet(s). How many ways can you define ~pack-rat~? A synonym for every definition is my sis's name. However, today, we fought the closet and we won! Eight bags to Salvation Army, 2 bags to trash, 1 bag to recycling! (Shhhhh....she's coming to my house for the same purging very soon!)

~~~

xoabb

purging is very good!

It Was So Very Good!

After it's over....it's over.

But...It Was So Very Good!

Auntie Care & the Con-man who is inquiring if possibly it's time for

Auntie Care to retire from her birthday activities.

That Con-man...such a thoughtful young gentleman!

What a wonderful birthday weekend we had!

Auntie Care, the Con-Man & the Con-Man's mom, Jules

Of course, we were surrounded by the best of family and friends, and all was augmented by the very best eating and cocktailing experience any of us have had in a long while. Just perfection!

Our first night, we gathered at Taverna Cretekou, a traditional Greek restaurant in Alexandria, VA's Old Town. Atmosphere, service, & food were all simply fantastic. 18 of us were there, we all had different entrees, and it was just wonderful! I was going to have lemon/oregano chicken until my ~diplomatic~ - and I do use that term loosely - hubby announced to the entire table that if I had chicken instead of lamb at a Greek restaurant he was going to go screaming out into the night (actually he just threatened to never go to another restaurant with me ever again - almost as bad) because when in a Greek restaurant, you have what they do best - and especially if you love it...and I do...love lamb. I had the lamb. It was sublime. It was wonderful. It was one of the very best lamb dishes I've ever had! Seriously.

The next day all of us savvy world travelers - and again a term used loosely - decided to be the ultimate tourists and do the double decker circle line tour. It was just wonderful! Mr. Bob (as we named him) narrated us through all the major Washington DC highlights - we all learned more about this wonderful national capitol than any of us ever knew. Just before the end of the tour, we jumped off to go to the National Portrait Gallery - however decided en masse we needed lunch first. The birthday girl suggested an Irish pub she knew about. Hellllooo Fado! What a great place! Had the best Reuben there I've had in a long long time! Atmosphere was perfection, too. Go there! You won't regret it!

After our lovely lunch, off we all went to the National Portrait Gallery. Such a marvelous place to spend one's time touristing in DC - the portraits and associated biographies are simply phenomenal.

Later that night, we all traveled to Falls Church to Duangrat's Thai Restaurant, my sister's and brother-in-law's favorite, for her 50th birthday bash. I have to admit I've been to a not that good Thai restaurant once in my life, and my hubby never ever at all.

We both totally and completely fell in love with Duangrat's. Completely. And totally. No doubt about it. The spring rolls! The pork & asparagus! The Coconut Chicken Curry! That Beef thing! The...well, all the rest...I'm sure you get the picture. The food was simply sublime. Anytime you're in the DC area, do yourself a favor and visit this fine establishment. My sis was worried Duangrat's might not be "fancy" enough for a gathering. HA! It was simply perfection!

To top it all off, the weather for this first March weekend - a winter weekend, by the way - was just perfection. 70º weather, no rain and an overcast day. A taste of Spring. Sightseeing and walking perfection.

All I can say is this must mean my sis is a very good girl who was and will be blessed with good fortune on her 50th and for ever more. A perfect 50th birthday day - and a perfect life for her to come!

Happiness always, little sis, happiness always!

~~~

xoabb

baby seeester's are the BEST!

My World Tuesday was DC & VA this week!

Do join us!

I'm Exhausticated...

What a weekend we had! Never stopped for a minute and we all had a blast! We birthday feted sister Care, we ate, we toasted the birthday girl many many times, we played long and hard, we reconnected with cousins not seen in a long long time, we did the tourist thing, we just did it all! 

And I'm exhausticated...I can actually hear my bed calling to me.

We're on the top of the double decker tour bus that's reflected in the window behind that really big, really neat spider sculpture.

Connor, Dodgie, Jules, Chrissy and Bill doin' the tourist thing.

An embarrassing collection (according to my sis, the birthday girl) of her earlier years. There were several photos she tried to turn over. Being the good relatives we are, we didn't let her. 

More tomorrow - must go horizontal....now!

~~~

xoabb

expect zzzzzz's!

My First MEME!!

I've been ~memed~ by that Mental Pause Mama, my lovely friend Ms. Lauren. I'm quite new to this and was thankful that both she and the person that meme'd her, Wine on the Keyboard gal Kacey, supplied some rules and guidelines to this new thingy (to me at least) we're doing.

Below, behold the meme rules:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you.

(2) Post the rules on your blog.

(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (In my case, I probably won't tag six people as I'm pretty darn sure I don't know six bloggers well enough yet to tag them.)

(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (Or do as Kacey did and don't tell the folks you tagged. Let them find out when they visit your website!)

Hmmmm............6 random facts about me.......hmmmmmmmm.

AH-HA!

Below, behold the randomness:

1. I can't stand to go to bed if the kitchen's a mess. The rest of the house? Couldn't care less!

2. I always read the first and then the last chapter of every book before I read the middle chapters. If I like those two, I'll read the rest of the book.

3. I'm a mush that has easily lowered myself to crying over every Hallmark card commercial I've ever seen. My friend, Jules, does too. She is a bigger mush than me. That makes me happy. Her two daughters think we're both nuts. They could be correct.

4. Like Lauren, I also either cut or burn myself every time I entertain. I'd say that it must be a Southern thing, but it happens to Jules, too and she's from the Windy City.

5. I cannot abide fish and mushrooms in the same dish. It is gross.

6. I want to know the end of the story. Now. The story, whether it's my life, my family's/friend's life, a movie, a book, whatever, I want to know the end of the story NOW!

7. (I know, there's supposed to be 6, but I was just talking to my seeester and she told me I had to include the following because it is so how I converse with her.) On a fairly regular basis, Care will tell me "ANN, you're channeling William Faulkner again! STOP IT!" She accuses me of ~speaking~ in a "Stream of Consciousness" kind of way. She also claims it's quite annoying. Hmph!

Tag, you're it! (a note from 7/16/16 - all the folks I originally tagged are no longer blogging, so no reason to link to them!)

~~~
xoabb

Baby Heather......& A Few Turkeys, Too

As you know, GB and I went to see my sis and b-i-l this past weekend. We thought. Turns out, we actually went to see Baby Heather the cat. (Also turns out she's the unequivocal owner of my sis and b-i-l, not the other way around!)

10 years old, and with a MAJOR heart condition, Baby is the most social, demanding, beautifully gray, and all of 6 pounds soaking wet cat we have ever met. Yep, she also thinks she's human. She also has her own agenda when it comes to the important things in our life, like our wanting to take a picture of her with her face toward the camera. Can't tell you how many times I tried to do just that. Did it work??? As you can see above, nope. As all we mere humans should know, a good scratch is much more important than posing with ones face toward the camera!

But then.......Baby threw me a bone...

Feetz? Theyz weaponz I keepz hidden. 'K?
(look out http://icanhascheezburger.com/ - I think that pic's a contender!)
I took a great shot of Her Royal Highness....
and, DANG it, the picture's colors stink big time,
either because I did something I shouldn't have done,
or didn't do something I should have done.
Do ya think I might benefit just a teensy weensy bit from
actually reading and embracing the camera's instruction manual?!?!
Ah well, at least you can see how very lovely Baby is.

On to other matters...

~~~

Below, our pond last Friday morning:

It's early morning
Our turkeys in the tree tops
See them? There are six!

~~~
xoabb
expect anything!

D. C. and the Auto Show

I need to screw off my feet and put on my spare pair. NOW!

GB, my sis, brother in law and I spent the better part of today at the Washington Auto Show. While their website kind of stinks, (to my non-car mind), the show itself was just amazing! Nearly every auto company was represented, from Scion's and Kia's to Bentley's and Mazeratti's. All the companies had concept cars and some of those were incredible.

The very "coolest", (at least I think Chrysler is banking that this auto's "cool" will appeal to a certain male demographic......but......wait a minute......the damn thing is a MINI-van......are you KIDDING me??? You're trying to appeal to any male demographic with a MINI-van??? HOW MANY marketing dollars did you spend for that idea, Chrysler??? It's. A. Freakin'. MINI. van.!!), was what Chrysler calls it's Town and Country Black Jack Van. It sports a complete black jack table in the back area of the van, and if you get tired of that, a large-screen tv under the back hatch. Bottom line? It's a mini-van. Emphasis on mini. Mini and sexy should never be used in the same sentence (there's one exception - see next paragraph).

My favorites at the show were the Mini Coopers. Emphasis on mini. (Mini and sexy should only be used together when referring to the Coop.) It was a small herd of Coops, 12 to be exact, each one different and the next one cuter than the last. What a lovely tooling-around mobile. LOVE 'em, love 'em!


Tonight we're off to Peking Gourmet Inn, for their world famous Peking duck.

Are we having fun yet???? Yep, actually we're having a blast!

Except my feet..........my poor poor feet....

~~~
xoabb

P. S. -

It's now 11:00PM EDT and we've just returned from the above named restaurant. We are all groaning....with pure delight! NEVER have we had a more EXCELLENT meal, well, ok, definitely one of our top five! The Peking duck was all and more it was touted to be - and Peking Inn's other signature dish, (that we all shared), their ~garlic sprouts stir fried with shrimp (our choice), chicken or beef~ was simply over the top. (I understand the owners grow the garlic sprouts for this dish and there's a fresh crop every day for this.) Can't begin to tell you how delicious it was. Simply superb!

If you are EVER in the DC area, do yourself a favor and dine at the Peking Gourmet Inn. A little out of the way, but you certainly will not be disappointed!!