Adieu to the Long Weekends

I was lucky enough to have two long weekends in a row - hence the lack of a post on Friday the 25th - I was off work and ended up being out and about in nature. The weather had been forecasted to be crummy but the sun came out and it instead turned into a glorious day, so we made the best of the sunshine and headed outside for most of the day - and I'm so glad we did!

My fiancé's mother and her special friend (boyfriend feels like a strange term... I don't know what to call him, he's just Doc to us) were in town for the weekend and so we took them over to Luray and the Storybook Trail. I cannot recommend this trail to people enough if they are visiting the area because it requires almost no effort but offers some stunning views! It's perfect for everyone and since the trail is paved, you can even take people who are physically impaired right up to the view point. It's excellent!

We also stopped in at the Mimslyn Inn for a quick visit - we are having the rehearsal dinner there and have a section of rooms booked for the wedding as well - I wanted to show them the space. We decided to pop over to the Shenandoah National Park but it was rather a quick visit because most everything is still closed for the Winter and there was some ice/snow on the roads due to less than stellar weather on Friday.

 

We had dinner with my parents on Friday night at Springhouse Tavern - a new hometown favorite for Ryan and I - and then the guys installed a new ceiling fan in the master bedroom of the house while the ladies visited. It was a great way to spend a Friday! Saturday morning started slow and steady, we had some baked oatmeal and Ryan and I finished up watching The Kings Men (the prequel to the other Kingsmen movies) before getting ready for the day ahead.

We all went into DC for the afternoon and evening - Ryan's cousin Noah is an accomplished musician and wrote a concerto that was being performed for the first (and only) time in DC at the Atlas Performing Arts Center! We popped over to the National Arboretum to check out the original US Capitol Columns and get in some sunshine before making our way to the H Street Corridor in DC for the evening.

I confess I'd never been to the H Street Corridor but I found it to be a really interesting and unique area of the city - thankfully Ryan and I had a chance to explore it as we had about an hour to kill before we met everyone for dinner at Mozzeria. We stopped in to see an art exhibit; photos taken on January 6th of 2021 when the US Capitol was overtaken by insurrectionists - the pictures were stunning to take in and we were able to have a really neat conversation with the photographer; we discovered we both hail from the Deep South (him from Huntsville, AL & me from Meridian, MS). 

I think we shared very different view points on things but we were able to have a really great conversation and man - if that isn't what the world as a whole needs to learn to do: have conversations with people that are different from them. But I digress...  the neighborhood was filled with fascinating murals and I couldn't resist snapping pictures on every corner and in every alleyway. I even convinced Ryan to pose in one! :)

We had dinner at a restaurant called Mozzeria - which is run completely by members of the deaf community - and I was blown away when my fiancé just started using ASL to communicate with our waiter. Like; excuse me, who are you? The food was great and I got to meet some of Ryan's family (my soon to be family, I suppose...) ahead of his cousin's performance and it was just a really lovely time!

The Atlas Performing Arts Center was beautiful and the performance(s) were incredible! Noah plays several instruments but played the Saxophone on Saturday night as part of the concerto he wrote (yep - he wrote it) along with a friend who played the Indian Flute. It was an amazing concert and just so amazing to see the talents and abilities that the Lord blesses people with - just outstanding! 

We got home on Saturday night after 11:00 and slept in, opting to go to second service and then it was sort of a mad dash to eat a quick lunch, drop Ryan at our house, pick up my car and pick up our friend Marcia before heading to the Winchester Wedding Expo - which was really neat! Now I'll admit - almost everything related to my wedding has been booked/planned/plotted, etc... but it was still so neat to get ideas and suggestions from the vendors. Plus - we had to support our amazing friend and photographer, Brooke! 

I felt completely worn out after the long weekend and I ended up spending Sunday afternoon and evening doing a whole lot of nothing! I fell asleep on the couch at one point, put away some clothes to feel at least mildly productive and took a big ol' bubble bath before having delivery pizza for dinner, watching Home Town and crashing. I slept like a log and woke up dumbfounded that Monday arrived so quickly - and now it's almost over!