Inn At Little Washington

As a thank you for letting her crash with us, Courtney surprised us with an awesome gift.  A gift certificate for The Inn At Little Washington.  If you haven't heard of it let me give you the scoop.  It's the only Michelin 5 star restaurant in the USA.  It is pricey.  It is in a beautiful setting out near the Blue Ridge in rolling farmland that would make Anne Shirley sigh with delight.  Anyway, it's fancy schmancy and we never would spend the money because it's kind of super pricey, and so this was the PERFECT gift (thanks again).  So anyway, we got all dressed up, and my hair looked horrible, but alas I can't do my hair, so it stayed that way.  The curl did manage to settle so that's good.  

 Anyway we drove out through the beautiful countryside and arrived at the Inn.  It was so fancy schmancy I feel like I can't even talk to most people now because they are mere commoners.

We sat in this room on one of the comfy couches with a view of a courtyard.

 They brought us out bite size nuggets of deliciousness, similar to these, to whet our appetites.  Seriously delicious.  I'm not kidding.  I don't know how it is done, but they really know how to cook here.

 All of these pictures are off the Internet but this most closely resembles my main course (it's a three course meal).  Beef two ways.  One is a braised short rib and the other is fillet Mignon wrapped in swiss chard.  And I will dream of it till the day I die.  Delicious.

This resembles slightly my first course which was a lamb carpaccio, which I don't even know what that is, except it tasted amazing amazing amazing.

Rob's first course was this super tuna thing that tasted better than most things I've ever tasted in my life.  You think I am exaggerating.  I am not.

We had many more delectable courses and desserts and all was completely out of this world.  How can we go back to regular restaurants after this?  And if we were wine drinkers we would have been in heaven.  Because everyone around us drinking wine was including the whorish (it's my blog and I can say what I want) old woman who was 98% plastic sitting next to us.  She had the face of Suzanne Summers (with extra pouty collagen lips) and the body of an overweight 90 year old, except her super perky super fake super large boobs that were falling out of her skimpy dress and was really distracting.  Seriously, it was good she didn't sit down until the end of our meal because she was super distracting and kind of killed the whole mood for me.  Anyway, when the meal is finished they brought out this cute little souvenir stuffed with more delicious treats. 

So anyway, it was the fanciest dinner I ever did eat and the ambiance was incredible and the service was unreal.  The servers are people doing internships.  These are career hospitality workers.  They are good at what they do:  make us feel super swanky.  

And then we got home and Rob pointed out that the Little Pony sticker Clara had put on my ankle to help prettify me had remained on the entire evening.  So then I remembered, oh yeah, I'm just a normal person and not really all that swanky at all.  But the illusion was nice while it lasted.

Graphing

Lucy, for a laugh (weird), made some graphs.  This one was super funny.  And then Clara made a chart in response.  In case you can't read it, Lucy's chart is titled How much I love Clara 2007-2011.  Along the bottom are the years and the side is percentages. Clara's, I'm not so sure, but she did have a very excellent presentation for her stats.

Happy Day To Me

I had a pretty great birthday last week.  And lets face it, birthdays are good when there is a great cake and good food.  Rob had it covered.  He made an amazing german chocolate ganache cake.  He also recently bought a grill cookbook and I have been reaping the rewards.  For my birthday he made some amazing chicken fajitas.  Delish.  It was a great day.  Thank you all for your good wishes, the gifts, the calls, etc.  

 

First Day of Preschool

While I was in Nashville Clara had her first day of school.  I was sad to miss it.  Rob got her all gussied up, however, so no worries about that.  Clara is very into her appearance.  She is vain (or just uber-confident?).  Anyway, she loves school.  I think we will have another reader on our hands in a few months.  She is making progress.  Exciting!!!  And unbelievable.

And for fun some Clara conversations.
Clara: Do you think the people at the store thought I was beautiful? (she often thinks about what others think of her looks.  Scary, but super funny)

Clara: When I grow up I want to be an ice cream girl.
Me: What do you mean?
Clara: I want to make ice cream and sell it at a shop.  But I also wonder what it feels like to be a doctor.  So I think I will be a doctor too.  And I also wonder what it feels like to be a Mom.  So I'll be a shop girl and a doctor and a mom.

Balloon Races

While we were in Reno last week it was the annual Balloon Festival Races (or something like that).  We went on Saturday morning.  It was pretty cool.

Elvis showed up:

 This next one is for Rob's next album cover:

Nevada! Never!?? or Never Say Never

Well, most of you already know, we are moving.  I guess putting it on the blog makes it super official.  Rob hasn't been thrilled with his job in Virginia.  The people he works with are great, but there are things he just hasn't loved.  And so last January or so he started looking for something else.  And a job in Reno popped up.  And he applied.  They flew us out in June, and offered him a too good to be true job. And it seems like a perfect fit.  And so he accepted the offer.  And we are moving to NEVADA!?!
Let me give you a brief history of my opinion of the state of Nevada.  In my world-view Nevada was the arm-pit of the West, squished in between the lovely state of Utah and the lovely state of California.  Winnemuca, home to the Motel 6 we stayed at while traveling to California was hideous in my world.  I have nothing very good to say about the dry boring scenery. If I never go to Vegas (at least the strip) again in my whole life I will die happy.  In my opinion Nevada was a place to hurry and get through on the way to somewhere much much better. All in all I always believed of all the places in the country, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Texas were wastelands I never wanted to live in.  Well I guess I should, once and for all, learn to not say never.  Because in October that is where we will live.
Reno is nice.  Yes it is still dry, but it is next to mountains.  Not rolling tree covered hills, but real mountains.  The Sierra Nevadas, that provide crisp fresh mountain air in the evenings.  And Lake Tahoe, and other currently unknown-to-us outdoor gems are within a quick 20 minute drive.  The ski resorts are plentiful and only 20ish minutes away.  And there are parts that feel downright like Salt Lake City.  And there are great restaurants.  And the schools seem pretty incredible.  And it is a hop skip and a jump from the bay area, a leap to Utah, and a minor trek to So Cal, and a MUCH shorter/cheaper plane ride to Hawaii.  It is big enough to have everything I need (Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, Farmer's Markets) all within about a ten minute drive (unlike here where it is a trek and a half).  There is a great downtown area next to the Truckee River that is being revitalized with a vision of the San Antonio riverwalk as it's model.  So although it isn't quite there yet, it is up and coming.  There are a lot of bay area transplants that have come and seem to have/be transforming the economy from gambling to the tech industry.  That is a good thing, and it seems poised to continue on that track.
It's also going to be a great opportunity for Rob, career-wise.  He will be doing much more of what he wants to be doing, the practice is sharp and the best at what they do, which will keep him honing his skills.  He is excited about the job, if a little nervous.  It's going to be much more high pressure than where he is now, but if anyone is up for it, Rob is.

Anyway, believe it or not, I'm excited to move to Nevada.  I'm excited to settle in, sink down roots, and just live somewhere permanently.  I can't wait to find a house and make it ours.  I can't wait for the kids to find friends they won't have to leave behind. Although when our kids grow up and go off to college and people ask, "Where are you from?"  I will for sure want them to say Reno and not Nevada.  Don't know if I'll ever get over my aversion to Nevada entirely.

Love Her