Pippa loves to hike in Great Falls National Park!
Our first summer in DC was low-key, not as hot as we expected it to be, and actually very outdoorsy! The season opener was a lovely family trip to Emerald Isle over Memorial Day, and then we spent nine nights in Maui in June, which was just perfect. (So far the only photos you can see from that trip are on Instagram, but I promise that’s about to change.) Knowing that fall means wedding season blending right into ski season and the holidays, we decided to take July and August easy, explore DC, and not live out of a suitcase. There were a few exceptions, of course, including Nashville, Boone, and Annapolis, but those were all pretty laid back trips. (Will also went on decidedly not-laid-back bachelor trip to Montreal in August.) The good news is that I diligently kept track of my Friday Favorites all throughout July . . . and then diligently failed to post them. At least I was consistent!
But you know what? When I saw that tomorrow’s prompt for the Blogtember Challenge is “Now that summer’s at an end, share a list of favorites from the season!” I knew that it was all meant to be. None of these little tidbits are earth-shattering, but these are the little slices of life that made up summer of 2016 for us. With fall kicking off on Monday it’s now or never, so buckle up for the mother of all Friday Favorites posts with 15 of my favorite summer memories in roughly chronological order!
1. Pippa was Pet of the Month!
Honestly people, I can’t believe I kept this under my hat all summer, because this is just about the biggest news I’ve ever had to share on the blog. Pippa was July’s Pet of the Month for our apartment building! She was featured in the middle of the lobby, and we couldn’t be prouder dog parents.
2. Pink Palm Opened in Clarendon.
Hello heaven! Some of our favorite evenings this summer were spent walking with Pippa around our own neighborhood, just enjoying the later sunsets and the hustle and bustle. Clarendon has so many restaurant options with outdoor tables for summer it’s hard to even know where to start. And then this opened! I’ve mentioned that I tend to like Lilly signature stores more than actual Lilly, if only for the fact that they can also carry other brands I love and make it a little more interesting/convenient. Thrilled!
3. Rush Talked about Andrew’s Thoughts on the Radio.
So Rush Limbaugh is from my (small) hometown in Missouri and also a family friend. Apparently on his recent visit home my brother made some particularly insightful comments over dinner, because Rush decided to share his thoughts on the show! It was funny to me now that we live in such an insanely politically charged city to think of how much most young Washingtonians would appreciate having a national radio personality broadcast their dinner party political musings. I also thought it was funny that Rush called Andrew a “local man,” because he knows him, but I guess that makes more sense when you’re trying to get to the point on the radio than “my cousin’s son’s friend.”
4. Hayley and I Checked out The Sovereign.
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Our friend Hayley watched Pippa while Will and I were in Nashville, and she and I took the opportunity to check out The Sovereign for Belgian beer and oysters when I dropped Pips off. If it weren’t already European enough, we spent the evening catching up about Hayley and Jeff’s trip to England, Scotland, and Iceland, and it was delightful. This is the kind of place that is already such a cozy escape, and I think it will be only more inviting in winter (like the Tombs!). We’ll be back.
5. Kate FINALLY became a Represented Model!
Photo by Jeff Stella. Make-up by Peggy Pliscott
Well, I only had to wait 10 years for this, but it was worth it. My dear friend, sorority sister, theater kindred spirit and wedding attendant Kate is finally a professional model! The best part about this is not that she’s an absolutely incredible, naturally born model who just lights up an image (although she is). The best part is that she never really talked much about modeling and was never one of those girls who went around saying “I’m going to be a model.” (Cue eye roll.) Nope, that was always me saying, “Kate, you honestly should really think about modeling. I’m not kidding. You need to just get an agent and try it.” And here we are, pushing 30, Kate has an agent, and SHE IS CRUSHING IT. Sigh. So proud.
6. I Discovered Podcasts.
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It’s pretty funny that this took me this long, but I finally discovered podcasts this summer. I was lamenting over dinner with some girlfriends (who are much cooler than I am, i.e. Taylor), that I get bored listening to music on my commute but have a hard time focusing on audiobooks, (unless they are complete fluff), political radio makes me too angry, and sometimes I just don’t have the energy for a phone call. (Oh the first world problems!) So Taylor suggested podcasts, and I promptly ran our Verizon bill over on data for the next three months. (I’m figuring out how to download over wifi.) Sometime soon I will have to share all the podcasts I love. There are so many good ones!
7. We Said “See you Soon” to the Phillipses.
Ugh, I’m not even going to pretend this wasn’t a low point of the summer for us, but I’m not here to selectively post only the happy stuff. This was taken at our goodbye dinner with the Phillipses, two nights before they moved to Charleston. They are such wonderful friends and people who made our first year in DC exponentially more fun and homey than it would have been without them. We already miss popping over to their place just to hang out so much. (I might have ugly-cried on the sidewalk, and I blame my mom and grandmom. I come from a long line of serious goodbye-criers.) BUT ANYWAY, Ryan had a fantastic job opportunity back home in South Carolina in the amazing city of Charleston, and we are so happy for them, living the dream in their dream city. They are currently in Europe celebrating their five year anniversary as we speak, and you can follow along on Erin’s blog here. Also, look out for Charleston photos, because you know we are going down there!
8. I Fell in Love with Old Town Alexandria.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh you guys. You know I already discovered Old Town Alexandria with the Phillipses, but then I spent a Saturday morning there with Pippa in July, and really, really fell in love. I didn’t know places this cute and colonial existed. It started as an innocent errand for tomatoes and peaches at the oldest farmer’s market in the United States to be continuously held on the same sight, and it resulted in lots of Zillow searches for something, ANYTHING we can live in in that neighborhood. Maybe someday, but in the meantime, it’s about 15 minutes away, and we will be walking Pippa past these historical homes every chance we get.
9. We Enjoyed the Free Concert Series in Yards Park.
You might recognize this little family from Wednesday, and they are awesome. The whole Navy Yard area of DC is just booming with new fun things to do (and lots of new luxury apartments), so we took advantage of the free outdoor concerts in Yards Park and had a blast! Free outdoor entertainment is one of the things I miss the most about St. Louis, and it is one of the best things about summer in my book, so it’s good to catch it where we can in DC! We look forward to many more adventures with the Irwins.
10. My Dad Came to Visit!
This is buried down here because I had these kind of in chronological order, but it was a HUGE highlight of the summer!! We had the BEST time with my dad in DC! He had a meeting for the Missouri Corn Growers Association, so it worked out well for him to come stay a couple extra days. I took off of work one Monday, and we hiked with Pippa in Great Falls National Park (again), and then went to the new Dulles Air and Space Annex. I knew my dad knows a lot about planes, but what I didn’t know is that my dad knows EVERYTHING about planes. He was naming obscure models from the 70s and telling me all kinds of facts about them before we even got up to the plaques. We also got to go up in the observation tower and listen to air traffic control and watch as they rerouted planes away from Dulles due to an incoming summer thunderstorm. It was awesome! Dad, come back!
11. We Did a Lot of Water Sports.
Will and I kayaked twice and did stand up paddle boards once this summer. It was so fun! We got up early on several Saturdays and Sundays and went to Boating in DC (“all paddling, no politics” is their tagline) to rent water toys. Once we went out on the Anacostia from the Navy Yard area, and another time we launched under the Key Bridge in Georgetown. The Key Bridge location is so so adorable that I wished I had my DSLR, but DSLRs and stand up paddle boarding aren’t a great mix. Note Will’s five finger shoes. He’s obsessed with them, and I do need to get some water shoes next summer.
12. Hayley and I went to See “Love and Friendship.”
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I can never get enough Jane Austen, and I also love a good indie movie theater. Thankfully, DC is full of them! Hayley and I just decided to get crazy on a weeknight and go see this movie and EMBRACE LIFE, haha. I won’t say it was my very favorite Jane Austen adaption, and there’s a reason it is a lesser known, early work. But it was really cute and funny, and anytime I get to escape to Jane Austen’s world for a couple of hours, I don’t regret it. Also, Hayley is amazing, duh.
13. Will Saved My Laptop.
Aren’t these photos just so visually appealing? Anyway, the main reason I wasn’t blogging this summer was because my 2010 Macbook was on life support. Every time I tried to do something more strenuous than check my email I got the spinning beachball of death. I was at my wit’s end, and we came thisclose to buying me a new computer on several occasions. But then I got creative, did some googling, and realized that if we just went under the hood and replaced the parts, I could essentially have a new computer for $250. It was worth a try. So my sweet and devoted husband spent basically an entire Saturday in July figuring out how to replace my HD and RAM and then reconfigure my computer so I didn’t lose any files. Guys, it’s just like a brand new computer. It runs so fast and has so much more storage space. THANK YOU NERDY HUSBAND.
14. We Received the Cutest Save the Date Ever.
Speaking of Limbaughs, how cute and creative is my friend Maggie’s Save the Date? For a political family throwing a wedding in an election year, they clearly nailed it. No standard cards or refrigerator magnets here! We can’t wait to celebrate this darling couple. See their engagement photos (taken by our wedding photographer) here!
15. We Had a Lot of Thoughts on Jojo’s Bachelorette Season.
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And finally, no summer is complete without exhaustive analysis of the latest bachelorette season. I have been a Bachelor franchise devotee since college, just like every other basic blogger. Anyway, I thought Jojo’s season was a little disappointing, because she is such an awesome girl (gorgeous, spunky, funny, confident) and her love story with Jordan was just so “meh.” I think either one of two things happened. Either 1. the rumors are true and she just thought Jordan was the cutest and picked him against her better judgment or 2. it was so clear that she was going to pick Jordan from the first night the producers had to pick all her unsure clips to keep it interesting. If it’s the latter, it’s kind of frustrating for everyone since we all want a love story we can root for (hello Des and Chris!), and obviously it’s mean to JojoJo (as I like to call them). But anyway, this was generally a great summer for entertainment, with the Bachelorette taking us right into the Olympics (Phelps face!) and Bachelor in Paradise tiding us over until football season.
Phew! One thing I realized I have no photos from was a delightful outdoor dinner party to celebrate our friends Zach and Lacy’s engagement, but I’ll post pics from the wedding. Otherwise, those were the details of our summer 2016! How was your summer?
