We made it home to the US of A again a week and a half ago. We got in Friday the 15th and were immediately greeted by my very lovely parents at Regi's! I didn't get to eat at Regi's during my last visit so I was super pumped! I ignored the fact that it would be at least my fifth meal for the day. My parents were a little more lovely dovey and smiley than usual and it turns out, they had been bar hopping across the harbor since 4PM. It was no 8:30PM. I love them! And my mom looked so cute in a sweater dress and Uggs! Love it! 
Saturday the 16th, Andrew and I awoke jet lagged bright and early. It was Baltimore Marathon day so we went for a nice little walk over towards Fells. I was craving Blue Moon (anyone up at the crack of dawn on a weekend, treat yourself to breakfast here!! There tends to be a looong wait after 8 AM). Sitting in the window of Blue Moon we were able to see the Marathon front runners glide by at mile 15/16-ish, running a pace faster than I can run one mile! They seriously looked like gazelles! There was a HUGE gap between these pack leaders and the next set of runners. At least 5-10 minutes (I'm a horrible time estimator).
After breakfast, I wanted to see the runners to see if we knew anyone, so we walked the route back to the Hyatt. I saw Andrew Chanko, a couple former gym buddies, Cyriac - my former co-worker, and Jon Truhan - my high school boyfriend! Craziness! I don't know how people run marathons. Everyone looked absolutely miserable. MISERABLE. 
By the time we got back to the hotel, I had a message in the room from Ashley Biggs telling me to come see her before she became Mrs. Greg Sileo later that day! I picked her up at Neal's hair salon. I myself will never go back there after the bangs butchering of 2009, but Ashely and her girls looked absolutely beautiful. She's a really pretty girl. The wedding Reception was going to be at the Peabody Library, so she had the Presidential Suite at the Peabody Court Hotel to get ready in. It had an old, antiquey vibe and so much space to get ready in! Ashley was actually steaming bridesmaid dresses mere hours before her wedding until I realized what she was doing and took over. No bride should be doing ANYTHING where they could break a sweat on their wedding day. I wanted her to be the princess that she is :) I tried to do a good job of documenting the getting ready process before her actual photographer got there. I tried to think of things that I wished I had thought of on my wedding day. Steph was the best MOH ever though, so I couldn't really think of much! 
I went back to get ready and then Andrew and I were off to the wedding! It was so surreal. Andrew and I hadn't been back to Loyola Chapel in almost a year. Last time we were there, he and I got married! The wedding was beautiful, Ashley looked beautiful, Greg and Ashley's parents look fabulous, it was great. I held it together during the ceremony which really surprised me! Some of my Loyola peeps were mentioning that Loyola had undergone major renovations so I made Andrew wander around campus with me before the reception. I was AMAZED with the changes. The technology classrooms in the Sellinger School of Business had two flat screens per desk instead of the gross, bulky monitor in the desk it had when I was there! The student center was absolutely gorgeous with a Starbucks and a smoothie bar (replacing some no-name crappy wanna be coffee joint and a salsaritas). And Boulder Gardens Cafe was all shiny and new with glorious food choices! And the book store, it's now a Barnes and Nobles. At least all the money we paid (pay) to go there is going to good use! 
As I mentioned before, the reception was at the Peabody Library. I had never been there before and it was honestly stunning. It looked like something out of Harry Potter with it's open foyer and story after story of book shelves! I found a long lost bff in John Simonetti's girlfriend Blair. It was all just fabulous. And I really enjoyed myself until it was time for the father daughter dance. Ashley's dad passed away a few years ago and she put together this slide show in it's place of pictures of her and her dad/family. I lost it. To my defense, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, but I took it especially hard. After that, it was hard for me to pick my mood back up.
It was a gorgeous wedding. Very Ashley and Greg. I love them.
After that, the rest of the weekend, we watched the Raven's game and Andrew got ready for his big week at the office. As usual, we had jammed packed plans. Lunch Monday, Andrew and I took Steve Heilbronner to the Cheesecake Factory. Steve is an institutional writer and T. Rowe and I used to work with him when I worked there. He also edited Andrew's Cambridge application so we wanted to thank him for the time he put into that. He's a really great guy and could sympathize and understand what Andrew and I were going through as he and his wife lived in Italy for a number of years. It's amazing the parallels we have with other couples who have had overseas living experiences. That night, we went to Magerks with Magno, Jamie Gray, and Jason Dowell. It was a lot of football talk, so I was happy when Alex Park showed up as well! I love that kid. Nothing like Magerks cheesesteaks :) 
Tuesday I had lunch with my former GCIR boys and then went home to see Jacky play his last soccer game at home! It was senior night and he wrote a little note thanking my parents for their support. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best game but I got to see just how exceptional of a keeper Jack is! Amazing! Cousin Mikey came to watch too. It's always great catching up with him :) The Wednesday it was back to Baltimore to have dinner with Emily and Elliot. It was a blast as always! We really miss those guys. I'm pretty sure I drank a bottle of wine on my own that night and I was blindly drunk by the time I got back to the hotel. Totally not what the plan was! That was the night that made me miss Baltimore and our old hood, Fed Hill, the most.
The Thursday we went to see Josh, Andrew's BFF. We went with Josh to pick the boys up at their school. I can't believe have big they've gotten! Carter was crawling the last time I saw him so it was amazing to see him walking around and the happy-go-lucky personality he's developed! And Travis is a little man now! Josh has started teaching him early to be a ladies man, because in the car, he was petting my leg and playing with my hair. He was too cute for words! We played with the boys and had some dinner and it was just like old times. Andrew and I both really miss having the good friends that we had back home... Travis is a little monkey too! I got some good pics of him with his godfather, Uncle Andrew :)
Then Friday, Jesse came in! Andrew and I killed a little time at Arundel Mills while waiting for his plane to land at BWI. We ended up playing in Dave and Busters and had a BLAST! Between basketball, football throwing, claw machines and skee ball, we had a fabulous time! I can't wait to go back and have a day like that again - hopefully over Christmas because I really enjoyed myself! I even won an Orioles basketball in the claw machine on my first try!
Jess got in and home we went. My mom, as usual, had an amazing dinner waiting for us. My best times in the whole world are when I'm with my whole family - Jess, Jack, Mom, Dad and Andrew. Best times. Hands down. Saturday we got up and went kayaking on the Potomac. My mom is an AWESOME kayaker. I was totally impressed. I did alright, but I think my technique was all off because I felt like I was putting out more effort than everyone else, but wasn't going anywhere! I would've had pictures of the adventure, but Jess the photographer managed to tip his Kayak over withing 45 seconds of being on the water... ruining his iphone that he was taking pictures with. Poor guy. But really, how do you flip a kayak on still water?! We ended the kayaking adventure with a Flavor Ice... perfect experience! 
The rest of Saturday, my mom prepared fake Thanksgiving. It was the last time our family would be together until probably Christmas, so she held Thanksgiving... it was GLORIOUS! She really outdid herself. There was turkey and ham and pineapple casserole and broccoli casserole and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie...everything. I got some good ideas what to do for actual Thanksgiving, which I am going to host in our flat!! My mom is amazing. i hope I'm as good a mom as her one day... Then that night, Jackie had his new love interest, Hannah, over and an old flame yet still bff Britney. We played pool and ping pong and the ever so fun Catch Phrase! You know it's a great night when high schoolers would rather stay in and play at our house than go to a party! 
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