WHY? Why wear a Speedo?

Why must fat men wear speedo's? Why must men wear speedo's to begin with, PERIOD? And why sport one to HOT YOGA class?!!!!!! Yes, I had one of these guys in my yoga class on Tuesday night. I got an eye-full, barf.

Saraaarrrr's Wedding

After 12 years, Sara & Belinga have tied the knot! They got married this past Sat. out at River Creek Country Club. Sara made a lovely bride, totally smashing! And Belinga looked quite handsome as well ;) I've stolen some pics from my friends to post on my site (haha!)





Perhaps one of the funniest moments of the night was a conversation that Kristen and I had with the Minister of Finance from Cameroon. It went like this:

Kera: Excuse me, are one of you gentlemen the minister of finance in Cameroon
MOF: Yes I am him
Kera: WELL COME DANCE WITH US!!!
And Kristen and I took him out on the dance floor to boogie down to Michael Jackson's, Can't Stop Til You Get Enough! I'm sure he was like "WTF is wrong with these 2 white girls!" Just imagine Coming to America.



It was a great wedding and reception, had a ball. The food and bacon wrapped goods were delicious. PS: I had extra mashed potatoes. YUMMM. Loved the Persian/Arabic dancing. And Sara's little brother is no longer little (he's like 18)...I told him that the last time I saw him he was like 3 years old and would answer the house phone saying "F*** You!" hahahaa

We loved the surprise Cigar bar as well! The Cigar maker told us he had some 'good stuff' in his car, the way I was feeling the next morning made me wonder if I had some of it ;) Here's a pic of us ladies smokin' cigars!

Capital Crescent Trail WIPEOUT

Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, I've been taking out my bike for rides on the W&OD. Well, last night after work me, Dean & Deena decided to go for a little ride. We ended up on the Capital Crescent Trail past Hunter Mill. Now, let me preface this by saying I am a novice mountain biker (I dont bike much to begin with, although I'd like to), so I said to Dean, "Are you sure Deena and I can handle this trail?" And he said, "Yea, of course, no problem."

So we take off down the dirt path into the woods following Dean. AWESOME trail through meadows and deep woods, we saw probably over 30 deer and a handful of other mtn bikers along the path. Mind you the dirt path is probably 2 feet wide at most and winding between trees, tree stumps, rocks, creeks, up hills/down hills, jumping tree logs..I mean totally submerged in the woods. And at times having to pass between 2 trees that weren't even 4 ft apart. My adrenaline was pumping, slightly scared but enjoying it.

At our first creek crossing, Deena and I decided to walk our bikes across, probably a smart move since it was rocky and up a steep hill afterwards. The next creek crossing was man made and concrete on the bottom--water was flowing, probably 6-8 deep in water. So we get up to it, and I'm like... "Dean, I got this one, I'm going to do it." And he's like "Ok, just pedal fast and get through it."

So I take off, I'm trying to gain some momentum and I'm splashing thruough when all of a sudden my back tire spins out with the current and I'm thrown to the ground. I could hear Deena yelling..."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as she watched my tire spin out and me fall into the water. I hit my head but luckily was wearing a helmet and didnt even feel it. But I landed pretty hard on my upper right thigh and scraped my knee pretty bad. I jumped up immediately so Deena and Dean wouldnt be panicked, soaking wet of course. Let's just say the 3-4 miles back to the car in soaking wet shoes and clothing on a bike is no fun...burrrr.

Oh so right after it happened this couple comes through busting through the woods on their bikes and I say to them "Hey, you might not want to go thru." ANd the guy was like "Whatever, I'm done this a 1000 times." Sure enough he and his partner made it through no problem. PUNKS. After they crossed I yelled, "Yea, thanks for making me feel bad!" As I stood there dripping wet like a BIG fool.

Next time, I'm making it across that dumb river!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool trail if anyone is interested though!

Billy Goat's Trail

On Saturday, Chris and I hiked the Billy Goat's Trail on the MD side of the Potomac. Growing up in Great Falls, I spent plenty of time on the VA side of the river and often hiked down through neighborhoods and the woods to the Potomac with my dad. I loved and still LOVE playing on the rocks.

Who knew the MD side was much more adventurous? I had no idea. The Billy Goat's trail is not for everyone, but it's fun. It's predominantly a hike scurrying across the boulders that enclose the river, a look down below may deter those afraid of heights. And towards marker 2, there's a HUGE boulder to scale, luckily it's above flat water and not rapids.

Saturday was a lovely day to be outdoors, the hike took us about 2 hours and was definitely a great little workout. Highly recommended. Also, the canal that runs along the park is beautiful. Anyone game for biking it sometime soon?

I gotta find some sort of exercise since I'm not running these days.

Dalya's Baptism

Being out in Denver I missed my little cousin, Dalya's baptism :( But isn't she just the cutest little gal? And from what I heard she was a happy baby on her special day. I think this was a picture before the ceremony, but afterwards she wore her mommy, Nyla's, baptism dress. So cute!

God bless her!

DENVER, the Mile High City: to move or not to move?

Back from Denver, here's the email recap I sent a couple of days ago:

We've been out here for work since Wednesday but finished board meetings on Saturday and since then my coworkers and I have been exploring the area to decide whether we want to make the move out here. Lots to consider but it's a beautiful area!

GOOD NEWS, The Association finalized the purchase of our new headquarters in Castle Rock, CO (which will be annexed to become a part of the town of Larkspur). We had a hayride tour of the property with the board and the Larkspur mayor on Friday afternoon. Keep in mind that the headquarters will be located on 5 acres the Assoc. has purchased from a 200+ acre parcel our partner currently owns. It's beautiful property surrounded by mountains and about 10 mins from the town of Castlerock, it's VERY remote. Ie: bears, elk, all kinds of wildlife on the property.

We also got to meet our neighbors who have a 5,000 ft airstrip on their property for their personal plane. We got a tour of their 10,000sq ft home (only had 2 bedrooms) and their SHED (which as we determined is at least worth 6 million). This couple owns 3 Ferraris, 3 Lamboriginis, 2 airplanes, and a variety of other antique and military SUV type vehicles (at least 20 vehicles in that SHED). Oh and their 17 yr old daughter drives a convertible PORSCHE. CRAZY.

Anywho, so we've been busy touring the area and looking at tons of apartments the past couple days. I think we visited 10 different units yesterday...uggh. Found some really cool places, but I may not get everything I want. Since where I'd be working is out in the wilderness, I'd kinda like to live in a more urban area. Downtown Denver would be great and we toured the Riverfront Park Area a couple days ago and I loved it. It's a big park located along the river and has tons of running.biking trails for miles but you're within walking distance to shops, restaurants, a grocery store and largest REI I've ever seen. Totally reminds me of my summer up in Hoboken, NJ and the riverfront park area there. Problem is that it's a bit far from Castle Rock and the prices for housing aren't much cheaper than DC. So we will probably have to live somewhere in between CR and Denver and that's mostly suburban sprawl. Oh well...

I did get the chance to attend liturgy at one of the Orthodox churhes in Denver on Sunday, St. Catharines and it was really nice. There are several out here actually. Later that afternoon we met with some realtors who talked about the area and made suggestions on where we should live. This afternoon we had lunch with some friends of my coworker, his old boss from DC and his children. They all moved out here and LOVE it, everyone raves about CO living.

Ohh this is funny,so on Monday night the Foundation had a catered dinner at the Lodge (our new HQ). Me, Grant and Daniel showed up a bit late due to traffic and apparently missed the joke. My boss tricked me into eating what I thought was either fried zucchini or fried chicken tenders...turns out they were ROCKY MOUNTAIN OYSTERS! If you dont know what they are, look 'em up. I about puked and the entire foundation was dying...totally a scene from Funny Farm. YUCK, they tasted ok but knowing what they were...uggh no thank you.

Weather out in Denver is awesome, 60 degrees and SUNNY, although we had some snow in the mornings. The Rockies are so clear and majestic...the tips are all snow covered and GORGEOUS.

LOTS TO THINK ABOUT!