Home is Where You Hang Your Hat

Or should I say, "Blossom when you are replanted." While I still feel DC/Virginia is my home, I could never live here again. It's so special coming back and I miss so many things about it. But I have become accustomed to the slower life, the simpler life, the enjoy-yourself, kinder life that I've found here in Tennessee.

Since the hub had finished his work, we were going to move to another hotel that he had a free night with. With all of his travels, there must come some perks. We ate quite the hearty breakfast before leaving though. Oh my. Hot chocolate.

Homemade little bite-sized doughnuts.

I don't' remember what the hub ordered, but it sure looked good.

I was too busy salivating over mine. Their version of Eggs Benedict. YUM. The fries had a truffle drizzle over them. Does it get any better?

There was some type of ham hidden between the luscious homemade bread. You almost had to wheel-barrow us out into the streets once we were done. It was sooooo good, needless to say.

We decided to check into our next hotel, The Fairfax, up on Mass Ave. before heading out for the day.

I even crawled into bed and took an hour's nap before we did.

Some of the photos in the room which I loved.

I love this area. It's convenient to DuPont Circle and you are surrounded by embassies--thus the name Embassy Row. Look at this little number for sale across the street. Wonder how much its price tag was. Another sigh.

And the corner "house." This is a lot of what I truly miss. sniffle.

An embassy across the other window. Such beauty. To think these were once homes. Oooof.

Then we headed out. First we drove through Georgetown which was all abuzz, as usual. I'm not used to it anymore. We drove by our first place we rented after we were married at 30th & Q. What wonderful memories we made here. Oh, it had always been my dream to live in Georgetown growing up but I never thought it would ever come true. We were here over a year and a half. After driving by, rather quickly and snapping this because someone was on my tail, we headed for the cupcake shop. We finally found it. Guess what? The line was out the door and down the street! Uh uh. I don't do lines any longer, sorry. So we proceeded on. We said if we found a parking space, we would park and walk around, otherwise we would keep on keeping on. We kept on keeping on.

All the way to Falls Church, a couple of miles out, where we had owned our first home before the kids were born. They both were born while living here. So sweet. I called it our little love nest which embarrassed the hub terribly at the time. The new owners replaced the quaint little cottage windows with more energy efficient ones it seems. Oh well. Still cute though. And the big old oak has been replaced with two tiny ones. Sniffle.

We had a late lunch at a favorite haunt of mine since I was a small child, The Pizza Pantry in Arlington. It was closed for a short time but it's back. So, that was what we did. The hub and I ate an entire pizza in the car! tehe. And then we were off to Old Town Alexandria (where I was born). It's so pretty there along the Potomac. What fun! That's the Wilson Bridge heading into Maryland in the background. The Potomac River separates DC from VA and further down VA from Maryland. Once you cross the river, you're in another State.

We hit some shops (Paper Source, of course). And this is one of my favorite children's shops in Old Town, Why Not? I used to take the boys here when we would visit the hub when he worked up the street. Sniffle. I love this window!

Then we strolled down by the water and the old Torpedo Factory which has been artist studios for many many a year. It was closed though.

By this time, it was getting late. We had made reservations at The Jockey Club at the hotel for a fancy schmancy Valentine's dinner but decided we really didn't want to get all gussied up. We ended up at the hotel lounge which had a wonderful piano player.

We sat and drink and listened to the music and got to "know" the couples around us that stayed as long as we did. It was entertaining watching all the sophisticates coming in for dinner and stopping for a drink before or after. We had a blast. There was an older French couple who ordered dinner here. He ordered the cheeseburger and she the pizza. Here they were, dressed to the nines (her even in full gloves) and a fur coat tossed on the arm or the chair, ordering crazy American bar food. They had finished their bottle of wine when all of a sudden there was a great crash! I glanced over to see (and hear) the French woman going crazy over dropping her plate which broke into a million pieces. No one seemed to be bothered but her. She made such a fuss about it all in French. It was just like being in Paris! tehe. Then she ordered the barmaid to "come and clean this 'incident' up--it was a mess for others to see!" I had to snicker. I didn't' feel sorry for the barmaid because she was a be-yotch anyway and deserved such a talking to. Karma baby.

We sat for over four hours listening, relaxing, drinking and making googly eyes at each other! And way into the wee hours of the morning. The hub became chummy with the pianist who would shout out "Hub, what do you want to hear?" The hub is quite the connoisseur of the old sound of Frank Sinatra and such. It was a delight. But ooooof. We had not eaten and this is about how I felt. I'm thankful it was just a lift ride to the room.

Of course, we ordered room service while we talked to the kid on the phone. I think he found it all to be quite amusing. In fact, we all did. I can't remember the last time the hub and I went out and had adult time together. It was a wonderful Valentine's.

It sure was hard getting up the next morning though (ouch) and heading to my brother Jim's house. It was wonderful seeing him and my SIL and the girls, my Jacq and Mad. Miss them all so much. And there was hardly any time to visit before we had to head back to BWI and head home. (But Jacq did show me how to play Guitar Hero! How fun was that!)

Wonderful memories were made once more.