Back in School

My next accounting class is scheduled to start tomorrow, but I have already started the first unit. I was so not engaged when I signed up to take this class. It is scheuled to end in June, but I would really like to get ahead of the game if at all possible.

I am excited about it - this is the second of the prerequisite classes that I would need if I decided to continue on in the career program. This is a series of accounting classes that I would need IF I wanted to sit for the CPA exam. We'll see how this one goes, but it's always nice to have options.

Right now, it's pouring down snow. I am hoping that it snows enough that I can't get out of the parking lot in the morning :)

Restaurant Week

This week was Restaurant Week. Usually, I make it to two places, but we only got one this time around. Jim and I made a day of it in the District on Saturday. We spent a few hours in the morning at the Natural History Museum, because they had a new exhibit called Written in Bone that I really wanted to see. Take some time to check out the link - it was fascinating and I got to touch actual bones in the forensic lab. It was probably as close as I will ever get to my dream of growing up to be Quincy (or if you are not old enough to remember Quincy, Kay Scarpetta).

After the museum, we went to Zaytinya's for lunch. It is a Greek/Mediterranean small plates restaurant with the same executive chef as my other favorite small plate restaurant, Jaleo. The restaurant is really bright and open, decorated in white and blue like the Greek flag. We shared all the plates (except the lamb which I can't eat).

For round one, we ordered the Fattoush, which is a tomato, cucumber, radish, pepper and onion salad in a lemon vinaigrette, and the Bantijan Bil Liban, a crispy fried eggplant with garlic yogurt.

Round two was Spanakopita and Adana Kebab, skewered ground lamb, grilled tomatoes and sumac onions.

The third round brought Shish Taouk, which was grilled chicken, tomatoes and sumac onions, and olive oil poached salmon with spicy eggplant and green olive tapanade.

Both the lamb and the chicken were served in these beautiful copper tangines. The plating of all the dishes was just lovely and everything tasted fantastic.

For dessert, we had the Greek cherries and vanilla yogurt, with ground pistachios and the Turkish Delight - walnut ice cream with goat milk yogurt mousse and honey gelee.

In case you were curious, Zaytinya means olive oil in Turkish.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a very nice Valentine's Day yesterday. First, The Boy brought me these beautiful flowers on Thursday evening.

Then we had tickets to see Avenue Q at the Warner Theatre. The show was very funny, especially if you are into profane puppetry. Definitely not a family show, no matter what it looks like. There is full frontal puppet nudity in this show. This is a gorgeous theater and our seats were really good even in the nosebleed section.

When we got home, I made cornish hens, wild rice and broccoli for dinner and individual peanut butter and chocolate chip cakes for dessert and we had a bottle of wine that The Boy's mother had given to go with it. We used the cd from a friend's wedding as our background music.

I got one more gift yesterday as we were finishing up our meal. I was having a terrible time getting a good picture (shiny things don't photograph well for me) so here is a better picutre so you can see the details.

Finally...

Well, I have finally moved in with The Boy. I actually still have a few things to get out of my apartment this weekend, get is all cleaned up and turn in my keys, but it's mostly done. I have to tell you, it is nice to have all of our stuff in one place. No more of my shoes being in one house and my sweater in the other or vice versa. And we both will be able to save a good bit of money.

Also, we finally had our first snow last week. This is a picture of the parking lot from our side door last Tuesday. After we watched three cars slip and slide in the parking lot, I decided that I would work from home. I got more work done than I usually do at work - fewer interruptions.

Children's Inaugural Ball

I know I promised you all some photos of our event on Sunday, but I swear to you from the moment I set foot inside the door, I didn't leave the coat check room until it was all over. The Boy did get to walk around a little bit before he joined me what had to be the world most crowded coat closet. Other people did take pictures, though and here are some links to good coverage of our Children's Inaugural Ball. We'll have some photos on the Every Child Matters website soon, too.

Washingtonian Capital Comment Blog

NJ.com

Education Week

Inauguration Madness

In case you have been living under a rock, this is Inauguration Weekend. Otherwise known as, "Don't even try to leave Northern Virginia" Weekend. The DOT/Secret Service/Lord knows who else has closed every single bridge from Northern Virginia into the District. This means that anyone who is attending any of the festivities, or God forbid, has to go to work, has to take public transportation.

This would be all well and good, except for the fact that our office is sponsoring the first ever Children's Inaugural Ball at the Washington Historical Society tomorrow afternoon. This event is the only thing that is kid-friendly all weekend. It is also free. It also filled up one day after we started taking RSVPs and has a waiting list of over 1200.

Sadly, it is also going on at the same time as the giant concert at the Lincoln Memorial. All of the staff are thinking about sneaking out the back door and going to hear Bono.

Our party is going to be great and I'll post pictures this weekend after it's over.

Don't forget that I will be on Jeopardy! on Tuesday; someone tape it for me in case it's preempted here for more inauguration coverage.

So Long, 2008

Well, I did a terrible job of blogging during the end of the year, so as I am waiting for the boy to get home from work and getting all dolled up to go out for New Year's Eve (dinner at Rustico and dancing at the Kennedy Center), I thought I'd take a minute to tell you all that I love you and that I hope you had a great 2008 and I wish you an even better 2009.

Rebecca