Dot...Dot...Dot...

It's Monday - and not just any Monday - it's the Monday before the Monday before Christmas. Ha-ha! Is that a mouthful or what? I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are exactly two weeks until Christmas; I can't believe that in just two weeks we will be halfway through another Christmas day! It seems crazy - but it's true!

The past week seemed...long...longer than usual somehow and the weekend just seems like it flew by; it's almost 3:00 on Monday and I'm still trying to figure out how we got to Monday so fast?

I can't even tell you why last week seemed so long - it just seemed like it lasted far longer than a week should and I was so pleased to see Friday that it was a little bit shameful. Granted; earlier today I met my Mom at Home Goods and asked her how her Friday was going...and she looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Apparently I'm determined to speed this week along?

 

The past week wasn't even filled with lots of things to do - I look at my calendar and realize last week literally had no activities at all - perhaps just sitting at home in the evenings made for a long week? Yea - I'm laughing at that suggestion too; there's no way that's what it is.

 

After the long week, I may have already mentioned that I was thrilled to see Friday arrive. I drove home in the winter darkness and then joined my parents for dinner at Nana's Irish Pub - a shout out to this place - if you've never eaten there and you live in the NoVa area...it's definitely worth checking out! The restaurant is located in an old bank and they now use the safe to store alcohol... the food is Irish pub fare and it's absolutely delicious.

I started my meal with the Jalapeno Corn Chowder; it was creamy and had just the right amount of heat, absolutely delicious and served with a side of Irish soda bread. I almost wished that I'd just ordered a giant bowl of the chowder...but then my Shepherd's Pie arrived and that thought left my head immediately. A delicious mix of ground beef, gravy, corn, peas, carrot and onions, topped with red potatoes and cheese...it was divine. Absolutely and completely divine and so much that I could not finish it...

If you do decide to check out the pub - I'd suggest making reservations. The restaurant is quite small and while the food is worth the wait; you might not want to wait once you see other people with their food! ;)

I rounded out my Friday night by getting a start on the second season of The Crown - such an intriguing show and definitely binge worthy! I fell asleep on Friday night thinking about snow...the first snow of the season was forecast for Saturday... And while I did wake up to snow falling, the forecast had originally called for 1-3 inches; I think we might have made out with right at an inch...if that...

 

I'm quite certain there will be more snow before Winter is said and done - so I'm not too worried about it. I'm also quite certain that before it's all said and done, I'll be over snow - it tends to happen every Winter and I'm sure this year will be no exception. However; for now, the snow is still welcome and magical.

I passed the majority of my Saturday doing Christmas cards, watching Elf and The Crown and baking the cake for my Mom's birthday. And watching the snow fall; of course! Around 3:30 I had to go clean my car off and get myself ready for my office's Christmas party...and then set off in the setting sun for some Italian food and improv comedy.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Violino Restaurante and the Italian food was divine! I suppose a theme of this weekend could have been that I spent a lot of it eating exceptionally good food. Our table split three different appetizers; a dish with octopus and scampi, eggplant marinara and a meat & cheese plate - and yes, I was brave and sampled the octopus. Guess what? It was NOT my thing. Maybe because it was boiled? I did thoroughly enjoy the eggplant marinara and some of the cheese, grapes and pear from the cheese plate...and my tagliatelle and cannoli were delicious!

After dinner, we walked down the walking mall to Bright Box - an event venue that hosts all sort of things; our event was an Improv Comedy group. I was intrigued because it's something I've never experienced before and all in all, it was a pretty funny hour and a half. Another company seated near us seemed to have an almost childish level of humor and the suggestions they shouted out were almost always cringe worthy...thankfully the group took suggestions from around the room and it made for an eventful evening!

Sunday morning I completed my birthday cake "masterpiece" before watching the season finale of Outlander and meeting my parents for lunch. After lunch, some family friends came over to celebrate my Mom's birthday; we had cake, visited together and most importantly, celebrated my sweet Momma! We wound down the weekend with supper at Olive Garden and I managed to watch another two episodes of The Crown before calling it a night!

I realize now the last picture is much darker than I thought - I was trying to capture my little pup snoozing away the evening on the end of my bed, but I don't know that he's very visible.

Another week and weekend come and gone...another week begun! The days of 2017 are ticking away and time is moving on...