The Story Of Us

We woke up in Richmond (this was almost a month ago, I can hardly believe it) we packed our bags for the fourth time while D chatted on the phone :)  Drove right across the street to Cracker Barrel and had a very good breakfast.. we were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures.. after our tummies were full we drove on over to Maymont Gardens. These gardens are so extensive that you need to drive to get to other parts of it. There was a little train for kids, plenty of place for picnics and play, a Japanese garden, Italian garden and much more. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to explore. Our main purpose for the stop was to take D to his first petting zoo.  The boy was afraid of just about everything there.. he didn't want to be put down, the goats were a bit too excited and hungry for his liking.. and then we found a sheep. The sheep was as mellow as a sheep can  possibly be.. D slowly approached him as he saw M petting h...

After Washington we headed on to Virginia and the natural beauty of the Shenandoah National Park. Camping was not on the itinerary nor were we equipped to hike with D. Instead we opted to cruise along the 105 miles of the Skyline Drive. We entered through the north most entrance at Front Royal. There was a $15 fee which is valid for seven days. There are about 75 overlooks; reaching the heights of almost 4000ft but after the first 10 overlooks everything started to look the same.. and after the first few times of taking D out of the car and putting him back in he was annoyed and didn't want to get back in. The weather was perfect, everything so peaceful.  A little after the 30 mile marker we left the Skyline Drive using the Thornton Gap Entrance and headed into the town of Luray. Were we ate at the West Market Deli. Very good sandwiches.. our food karma had officially taken the turn for the better.  Next stop Luray Caverns. This was our se...

As of lately I have been seeing a lot of posts on bringing new life to clothes and accessories with the magical properties of dye. And I was intrigued. But I didn't want to have the issue of accidentally dyeing my hands or my sink though I did manage to get a little of the dye on the inner drum of my dryer :( I also wanted this to be a zero cost project. I thought natural might be the way to go. So I started my search of everything I could use to dye my old white skirt. There was a lot of mention of plants that I hadn't heard of and was in no mood to go hunting.. I thought a purplish pink might be nice but I didn't want to waste berries. And then I stumbled upon Itty Bitty Impact Tonia suggested turmeric for a bright yellow and I couldn't think of a better color and an easier source of dye. Turmeric is something always found in my kitchen, perfect for my no cost project. Supplies: White Vinegar - for plant dyes or salt - for berry dyes. Turmeric ...

Hello Everyone.. hope you all had a lovely weekend celebrating your fathers and helping your little ones celebrate theirs.. our day started out with D waking up at 5am and snuggling into our bed. When we finally did roll out of bed we had breakfast at home.. Banana Walnut stuffed French Toast.. then we headed out to an indoor park south of Jersey.. We Skyped (a god sent) with out respective dads.. both continents away. D is now tired and wet and ready to go home..(as you can see from his above take-the-pic-quickly-so-we-can-get-out-of-this-cold-wet-place-bombarding-me-with-it's-surprise-splashes-n-squirts picture) He's not much of a thrill seeker, at present. We picked up some mangoes on the way home and grilled a few steaks and corn on the cob.. and called it a day.. what more could you want? How was you're weekend? What did you do to celebrate? Don't forget to read about our hilarious misadventures of last years Father's Day .. Get my post directly in you...

We have had a road trip overload.. so I thought I'd give you all a little break with something sweet.. Halva  refers to many types of dense, sweet  confections , served across the Middle East, Sub - Continent and Africa, just to name a few. I know I don't talk about it much but while I was born and initially raised in Chicago I spent my pre-teens to early adulthood in my parents birth country Pakistan. No, not India and yes there is a difference. :) I met my wonderful husband there though he was in New York during our entire pre-wedded bliss epic long distance engagement era. (can you sense the drama? well drama there was)  I feel it is because I was lucky (though it didn't always feel that way) enough to spend a huge part of my life living in two vastly different countries that I was able to soak up the right amounts of each and bring it not only into our life and in the raising of D but also into my photography .  Wow.. now that was quite a sidetrac...

We arrived in DC early evening and checked into the very nice Savoy Suites in the Glover Park area. No complains with the hotel, very friendly people at the desk, they had a shuttle that ran every half hour to take you to the Metro and the driver Mustafa gave you his number so he can come for a pick up at other times too.. my only issue was that on our last day, during a D melt down we decided to come back to the room around 5ish and our room had yet to be cleaned.. 5pm is a late for a still messy room..but other than that I would stay here again. We freshened up and headed out for dinner.. at no more than a minutes walk was Surfside, a Mexican spot. A less commercial and gimmicky version of Chipotle. Good food, you order at the counter like in a fast food place, there were little color coded order forms for those who wanted to build their own plates or you pick off the chalkboard menu.  I had the Cabo San Lucas (above) and M had the Belize (below) The next mor...

Leaving the Charmed City behind we made our way towards the Capital with some nature viewing on the way. Great Falls Park is a small National Service Park along the banks of the Potomac River. We stopped here just to take a look from the three overlooks though there was an abundance of activities to partake in. Kayaking, fishing, camping, picnicking just to name a few. Three beautiful overlooks, two pretty simple to walk to the first a bit rocky. Which was not a problem for us just made tossing D around a bit more dangerous.. The only negative was the long wait to get in. I head read about it online but I still didn't understand why we had needed to wait for almost an hour to get into the park.. It didn't seem that full once we got in..  Next stop DC.