"Go Shorty, It's Your Birthday"

Ah yes, 50 Cent, today IS my birthday and I spent the day wine tasting in enemy territory, a.k.a. Charlottesville, with Brad. Despite today's beautiful scenery, neither Brad nor I took any pictures!

Our first stop was to Jefferson Vineyards on the original vineyard of Thomas Jefferson. Of the three wineries we visited, Jefferson Vineyards definitely had the best wines. We were greeted by a sorority girl proudly displaying her Delta Zeta sweatshirt and settled at the bar in front of one of the wine tasting staffers, an energetic older man. I can honestly say I liked every single wine we had the opportunity to taste except for the Rose. I don't typically like Rose wines so that wasn't much of a surprise. As part of my birthday gift, Brad offered to purchase a bottle of wine so we went home with their easy drinking Vin Rouge.

After a quick stop to our friend's new apartment, we moved on to Blenheim Vineyards owned by Dave Matthews. Brad and I had been wanting to visit Blenheim for quite some time, but I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. Not only was it incredibly crowded and the service wasn't that great, the atmosphere wasn't what I was expecting. They did have a fabulous deck overlooking the vineyard with a beautiful view of the mountains, but since we hadn't planned to drink or eat there we didn't take advantage. Despite the spotty service, I did like their chardonnay and took a bottle home with me.

Our last stop was to Sugarleaf Vineyards which was featured on the Real Housewives of D.C. The reviews on Google looked promising but again, I was slightly disappointed. I already knew the drive to the winery would be sketchy; a single lane dirt road leads you to the "estate" and if you come upon another car, it makes for an awkward situation. When we were inside the tasting room it was pretty crowded. Unlike the other wineries, Sugarleaf charges a wine tasting fee plus tax as well as an additional fee if you want the glass. Bottles of wine are pricey too, ranging anywhere from $23 to $40. Only want a glass of wine? You might as well buy a bottle as you'll be paying $8-9 a glass. Brad made a point that since they are a small winery they need to make money; to me, the quality of their wines did not warrant the cost. We tasted several white wines and a couple of reds, one of which I considered taking home, but we left empty-handed, deciding to save our money for dinner.

We had originally planned to have dinner in Charlottesville and I had gathered several suggestions from friends, but I had taken my car in for service and since they're not open on Sunday (and close at 5 p.m.), we had to get back so I could pick it up. Instead, we decided to have dinner at The Hill Cafe Three Monkeys which is where we are headed in a few minutes.

Today was a great day, despite some of the disappointments at the wineries. I received tons of text and Facebook messages from friends and family and got to spend lots of time with Brad. Brad's 30th birthday is coming up soon and we might be going to Las Vegas to celebrate, stay tuned!

UPDATE: Emotional Rollercoaster

I'm sure many of you are wondering about my friend Lindsay and her little boy Lane, and thankfully I have good news to share. Lindsay is being discharged today after three weeks in the hospital. She will have someone come to her home several times a week to help her with physical therapy and eventually she'll go to an outpatient program. Lane is also doing well, but he'll need to spend at least another one to two weeks in the hospital as he is having a little trouble breathing without extra oxygen. This isn't a cause for concern however, since Lane is considered a premie.

New details have also emerged about the accident. When the ambulance driver first talked to the police officer he told him that he was programming the address of his next stop into his GPS. During his second interview though, he told the officer that he had been having a migraine all day and that he had repeatedly blacked out and that is what happened right before the accident. The officer determined that the more likely scenario is that the passenger of the ambulance was programming the GPS and the driver was watching him and was distracted. It has also been determined that the ambulance's traffic signal had been red for quite some time when he ran through. Despite his distraction, the driver will not be charged with vehicular manslaughter because he did not have the intent to kill, but will probably face a lesser charge, possibly vehicular homicide, which is a felony and can carry jail time.

Lindsay, her husband Eric and their son Lane still have a long road ahead of them but they are getting better every day.

Lucky Number Seven

This was the surprise waiting for me at the front desk yesterday; beautiful flowers to mark the seven amazing years Brad and I have been together. I love the card he sent: "Roses are red, violets are blue, thanks for putting up with me the past seven years. I love Delilah...oh yeah, and you too!"

We continued our celebration that evening by going to Acacia Mid-Town, a restaurant we've both been wanting to try for quite some time. It just so happens that it's Restaurant Week in Richmond and Acacia's menu is featuring some pretty amazing options. For my appetizer I opted for the duck confit with potato gnocchi, fresh cranberries, local Swiss chard and pomegranate molasses. I've never had duck before and I wouldn't normally be drawn to it, but the other elements of the dish were what drew me in; it was simply delicious. Brad chose the crab fritters which were also very tasty. For the main course, I had the seared sea scallops with fresh pasta, local kale, golden raisins, leek flower, pecans and shrimp butter sauce, while Brad had rock fish with local broccoli puree, sautéed brussel sprouts, sunchokes, roasted pumpkin and red wine sauce. After trying the fresh pasta I don't think I ever want to eat boxed pasta ever again.

With two good dishes under our belts, Brad and I were both looking forward to dessert. I ordered the black forest cake with cherry sherbet while Brad opted for the apple ginger cake. Have you ever seen a cake plate after everyone has had a piece and there are just a few scraps left? That's exactly how my dessert looked, like they put together some of the leftover scraps of black forest cake and arranged them on a nice, fancy plate. The scraps definitely had a nice rich flavor but I would by no means call what I was presented a cake. Brad's apple ginger cake was equally tasty but as he put it, was the size of a postage stamp. Definitely not the way I would have hoped a delicious meal would have ended.

Despite our skimpy desserts, Brad and I had a great time together, like always. I look forward to 70 more years together with Brad, even if he thinks we won't live that long!

First Pumpkin Spice Latte of the Season

And it's an absolutely gorgeous fall day with sunshine, blue skies and low humidity after two full days of heavy rain.

Boston is for BFFs

The great thing about best friends is that you can go days, weeks, months, even years without seeing them but as soon as you see them again you can pick up like you were never apart. The fact is, my friends and I are apart a lot - we're all over the country: Boston, Athens, Ohio,  Fredericksburg, Va., Fairfax, Va., Columbia, SC, etc., so I really appreciate the time we get to spend together.

This past weekend my friends Kate, McKenzie and I visited our BFF Amy in Boston. McKenzie had just celebrated her birthday and had never been to Boston and it had been over a year since my last visit. We spent Friday tasting beers at Sam Adams Brewery and Harpoon Brewery.

Beginning of the Sam Adam's tour

Barrel room

Look at those delicious pitchers of beer

Excited about tasting some beer!

These are the only photos I got from Harpoon and they weren't even taken outside the brewery, they were taken at a seafood restaurant down the street!

Lobster lady?

Absolutely love them

Saturday was spent cheering on our Hokies as they played Boston College. Thankfully we came away with a win (19-0!!) and had a fabulous time celebrating in downtown Chestnut Hill with some fellow Hokies we met before the game.

View from our seats

Celebrating with fellow Hokies

Amy with our new friends, Jacob and Andy

Our celebration lasted long into the night and we didn't go to bed until 4 a.m. which meant Sunday was spent recovering. Before we headed to the airport, we had a fabulous brunch at Trident Booksellers & Cafe. They have a fabulous Cafe Mocha and apple and brie omelet! Despite the delicious brunch, our experience at the airport was far from fabulous. Due to terrible weather, every single one of our flights was delayed. I was supposed to get in at 10:20 p.m. but I didn't land until 11:30 p.m. To make matters worse, Delilah had gotten sick earlier in the day and when Brad and I got home, she had gotten sick in her crate. By the time we cleaned everything up, it was 1:00 a.m. Needless to say I didn't go to work on Monday but I didn't even get to sleep in because Delilah got sick again. Thankfully the vet was able to give her a shot and some antibiotics and she's feeling much better.

Despite the flight and puppy drama, I had a fabulous weekend with my friends and can't wait to see them all again!

"How Can I Keep From Singing?"

I don't think many people know that I love to sing. Not the car-windows-rolled-up, music-blasting-so-no-one-can-hear-me kind of singing or the drunk-Top of the Stairs-karaoke kind of singing  - I'm talking about serious singing, with a choir or as a soloist. I distinctly remember (and I'm sure my parents wish they could forget), being three years old and singing for the entire two hour car ride home from my grandma's house. In elementary school I started singing with a group called the Kid Company. We were sort of a cabaret-style group that sang mainly show tunes complete with choreography. We would put on an annual performance for our parents and friends as well perform at events, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. in the community. I don't remember what grade I was in but one year I was chosen to sing a solo: "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella. I even had a magic wand I shook around while I sang. In addition to being part of the Kid Company, I auditioned for and performed in various musicals such as Annie, Fiddler on the Roof and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to name a few. In sixth grade I was selected to play Charlotte in my middle school's production of Charlotte's Web.

Once I got to high school I realized I wasn't really much of an actress. I was never able to land any of the big leads in the shows I auditioned for and I knew it was because I couldn't act. I dunno what it was but I could never really envision myself as someone else. It always felt fake to me. Confident in my singing ability, I continued to sing in my high school's choir. When my family moved to Northern Virginia, I was lucky enough to be part of a choir with an amazing choir director, Pamela Potts. Ms. Potts was one of those teachers who absolutely loved what she did and genuinely cared about the well-being of her students. With her help, encouragement and support, I continued singing with my new high school's chorus and auditioned for the county, district and state choirs. My junior year of high school I was selected to be a part of the all-Virginia state chorus. If I have one regret in my life it's that I didn't participate in this chorus because the concert was the same day as my first prom.

My senior year of high school I was also part of an extra-curricular chorus, the chamber choir. This was a small select group of students who sang during the spring and winter concerts as well as gave performances in the community and at graduation. I will never forget one afternoon I was having a very stressful day. A couple of us sang together for a little while and afterward I felt so amazing, as if all my stress was gone. I realize I probably sound like a complete music nerd, but there's just something about singing for me - my voice with the others, the challenge of singing a difficult song - it's almost therapeutic.

When I went off to college I considered minoring in music, but at ECU the requirements for a music minor were just a few credits less than the major. Instead, I did the next best thing and joined the University Chorale. I really wanted to be in the chamber choir and the director pretty much told I'd be in if I had been a music major. Even so, it was nice to be singing with a group of talented students. After I transferred to Virginia Tech, I had pretty much given up the idea of singing. There wasn't a group similar to ECU's University Chorale and I didn't have the time to participate in a choir for school credit. But then, during my music history class (which I despised), the teacher asked us to fill out a student profile which included information about our experience with music. A few days later I received an e-mail from the teacher inviting me to participate in a small, extra-curricular chorus that sang mostly Gregorian chant-style music. Excited for the opportunity to sing again, I joined (and even received one school credit!). Unfortunately, and maybe it was because it was an extra-curricular group, we were terrible, embarrassing even. To this day I'm embarrassed that Brad came to hear us, we were terrible, a far cry from the type of group I was used to singing with. Needless to say, once the spring semester came around, I was no longer part of the group and I haven't sang with a chorus since.

So why am I writing about all of this? Because after a six year hiatus from choral singing, I have decided to sing again. On Monday, I start rehearsals with the One Voice chorus of Richmond, a community chorus promoting racial reconciliation. I am excited beyond words to get to sing again, to have music in my life again. Two years ago, I auditioned for a choir through the University of Richmond. It had been so long since I had sight read music and sang that way that I didn't do as well as I knew I could do. In fact, the director told me I was average. Average. Average is something I know I am not. So instead of letting it get me down, I took another break and thought about what I wanted to do. Earlier this week, as part of my new project, I listened to some of my old high school chorus CDs. After a couple of listens, I knew what I had to do, so I Googled "Richmond, VA choirs." At first I glanced over One Voice's website, but once I checked it out, listened to their music and discovered I didn't need to audition, I was hooked. I immediately (and excitedly) e-mailed the director who wrote back with equal excitement, welcoming me to the group. My first concert with One Voice will be on November 20 and will feature music from Show Boat, West Side Story and South Pacific - all Broadway musicals. Until then, I am very much looking forward to my weekly dose of music therapy.

Note: The title of this post is a choral piece that was sung by the middle school students selected for the all-district chorus in 2001, the same year I was chosen to sing with the all-Virginia choir. Click here to listen to the Virginia Tech Chamber Singers' performance of the piece.

It's a Blacksburg weather kind of day

Absolutely gorgeous. I love fall!

This makes me smile

Stowecation: Seven Amazing Days in Vermont

Every time I tell someone Brad and I decided to vacation in Vermont, I get a funny look. No, we don't ski and no, we didn't go in the winter. We chose Vermont (specifically Stowe) and we chose August because of all of the outdoor activities and ideal weather. Brad and I went on a lot of adventures and took hundreds of pictures over the course of seven days so here are the highlights of my favorite moments.

Sunday, August 8
In doing my research for our trip, I found the website of Green Mountain Inn (our digs for the week) extremely helpful. It was there I found the recommended hiking trails we decided we would tackle on our first day. Feeling ambitious, we had planned to hike Pinnacle Trail, Moss Glen Falls and then ride a gondola to the top of Mount Mansfield and hike down. The Inn's website describes the Pinnacle Point trail as "fairly gradual for the most part, though there is a short rocky section as you near the top." The trail may be "fairly gradual" for a local, but for Brad and I the trail felt like an almost vertical climb! Despite the difficult terrain, the view from the top was absolutely amazing and the chilly breeze felt fantastic. Needless to say, the 2.8-mile hike was pretty exhausting and we completely crashed when we got back to the Inn. Check out the pictures from our first adventure!

You can't tell from the picture, but the trail was pretty steep

Beautiful view despite the clouds

Tuesday, August 10
On Tuesday we had originally planned to go to Montreal, but after two days of hiking and some rainy weather in the forecast for later in the week, we decided to rent bikes and spend the morning tackling the 10 mile round trip bike trail in town. The bike trail was paved and was pretty easy to navigate, although going over some of the wood slat bridges was a little scary because they were so narrow. Our rental was for a half day so we took our time, spending about 2 hours or so riding the entire trail from start to finish, making a few stops in between.

Our bikes for the morning

Cornfields and mountains

We finished up our biking adventure around noon and with the whole afternoon ahead of us, we decided to visit Ben & Jerry's. When we arrived, the next available tour time wasn't for an hour and a half so we bought our tickets and headed over to Green Mountain Coffee, Brad's favorite coffee roaster, to kill time. Green Mountain's visitor center is housed in an old train station and the main lobby is set up for a self-tour. In different places around the lobby there were big plastic coffee beans you could slide over to reveal an interesting fact about coffee. There was also a computerized quiz you could take to determine your coffee personality. After our tour we moved into the retail shop. I bought some coffee for my dad, a pretty star key chain and some iced coffee.

Sign near the front porch

Even with our visit to Green Mountain, we ended up being about 15 minutes early for our Ben & Jerry's tour so we spent a few minutes taking pictures. Check them out:

Moo cows!

I have no words, just laughs

I had actually been on a tour of Ben & Jerry's before but it had been so long I couldn't remember what we were going to see. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures of their factory (you know, so Haagen-Dazs doesn't try to steal any secrets) so I don't have anything I can share from that part of our trip. I will tell you though, their sample of the day was chocolate chip mint (my favorite ice cream flavor) which was absolutely delicious. Brad, however, wasn't a fan so he bought himself a different flavor from the cafe outside. After we finished our ice cream (I got chocolate fudge brownie frozen yogurt which is just as good as the ice cream), we called it a day and headed back to the Inn to figure out what to do for dinner.

Wednesday, August 11
Wednesday was a day I was really looking forward to because we had made reservations to go kayaking down the Lamoille River to the Boyden Valley Winery. We needed to leave the Inn by 1:00 p.m. so we slept in and had a lazy morning so we would have plenty of energy to make it down the river. When we arrived, we were greeted by two college tour guides who seemed happy to talk to some young kayakers. After a brief lesson, we suited up with our life jackets and carried our kayak to the water.

We were told it would take anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours to get to the winery depending on how much we relied on our paddling or the river to move us. I wanted to do the in between thing, paddling a little bit and letting the river take us a little bit, so Brad and I took turns paddling and cruising. It was so incredibly beautiful that day; the bright blue sky and puffy white clouds above us, the water clear and cool beneath us. The ride was relatively easy but my arms felt like they were on fire and I quickly realized I had forgotten to apply sunscreen before we left the Inn. Despite my burning arms, I was really enjoying myself but was curious about how much of the river we had left to cover. Brad and I both agreed we probably had about a half hour more to go, but moments later I looked up and saw a tent at the same time Brad said, "we're here!" I have to admit, I was a little disappointed the trip was over so quickly but I was excited to taste some wine.

After a short tour of the winery, we tasted a variety of wines and were treated to some delicious Vermont cheddar cheese, French bread and pretzels. I fell in love with a $60 bottle of red dessert ice wine that I decided to buy. After all of the wines had been tasted, the guides took us by bus (powered by vegetable oil) back to our cars.

The river

Entrance to the winery

Thursday, August 12
When I woke up on Thursday I wasn't feeling well. This was the same day we decided to get up early and head to Montreal, a two hour drive from Stowe. Our first stop was to a large outdoor farmers market called Jean-Talon Market in Montreal's Little Italy. There was so much beautiful, fresh produce and Brad told me everything smelled amazing (darn my stuffy nose!). I wish I had taken some pictures but because the Jean-Talon Market is a local spot, I didn't want to look out of place.

Battling our way through traffic-heavy downtown Montreal, our next stop was to Old Montreal and the waterfront. Our main motivation for visiting Old Montreal was the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal and it certainly didn't disappoint, it was absolutely gorgeous. We took a tour to learn about the church's history and discovered a smaller, though still incredible chapel inside the basilica behind the pulpit, amazing!

We spent at least an hour at the basilica and afterward we were both starving. Although we had a dinner reservation for a little later in the evening, I still wasn't feeling well and wanted to head back to Vermont. We felt really bad about the possibility of canceling our reservation at Au Pied de Cochon (which means the leg of the pig in French), which was made by the restaurant's former owner, a friend of Brad's friend, Jonathan. The restaurant has been featured on Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and a member of the current staff has his own show on Food Network Canada called "Wild Chef," so there was no way we could not go. After debating what we were going to do, we decided go to the restaurant to see if they could fit us in a bit earlier. Thankfully, with the help of a little explanation from Brad, they seated us at the bar right away. Our waitress was nice but I think she could tell we were a bit uncomfortable with the menu, which was in French, so she sent over a manager to explain everything to us. We started with a liquid fois gras (fattened duck liver) that I wasn't able to taste because of my stuffy nose, but Brad said it tasted like the gravy they serve with Salisbury steak. Next it was on to our main course: I had the seared tuna and Brad had the pot pie. Halfway through dinner my nose decided it would clear up a bit and I was able to taste the absolutely fantastic food we both had. Both of us stuffed, we decided to skip dessert, a decision now I hate to admit I regret, paid our bill and headed back to Vermont.

This is just a snippet of our week in Stowe and I couldn't have asked for a better trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures as much as we enjoyed living them!

Success, Such Sweet Relief!

I am happy to say this afternoon's Webinar was a success! Despite a few participants who were unable to view the slides, overall, everyone seemed to enjoy the presentation. Even my boss called from Northern Virginia to tell me she thought the presentation went well. Ahh! Now I can relax and enjoy time at the gym with Elizabeth.