D.C. Life

After we completed our tour of the northeast, we returned to Clemson for a few days for Thomas to pack up for training camp. He flew out to Minnesota, and I had my own tour of South Carolina after driving to York, Columbia, and the thriving metropolis of Edgefield. Then, I headed for Washington D.C. to spend 2 weeks with my sister, her sweet husband Jesse and daughter Margaret. About halfway through my visit, I realized that it was absolutely the best place for me to be during training camp. The Lord truly went before me and prepared a sweet place for me to be. I completely, totally, 100% H.A.T.E. being away from Thomas, but D.C. was the perfect training camp scenario for me. Jeannie and I planned lots of fun things and we had 4 wonderful visitors throughout the 2 weeks.....

Our cousin Catherine was our first visitor (far left) and we had so much fun showing her around the city. Our  favorite day was when we went out to Leesburg, VA to Tarara Winery, Lucketts,  The Wine Kitchen  and last but not least, Mom's Apple Pie Company. It was the ultimate day! Catherine was so easy to have around (its a quality of the youngest child, if I say so myself) and it was good to be with her for a few days.

Then, our grandparents came for a weekend....

They are hilarious. My grandfather is 83 and my grandmother is 81, but you'd never guess it! They've been married 59 years and are so encouraging to be around. They are also a ton of fun and keep us on our toes. I've you've ever been around Grandmama, you know that she asks about a million DEEP questions.

We then had a couple of day with no visitors and I did some babysitting for Jeannie's friends and helped with Lil' Margie while Jeannie and Jesse worked on their new rental home. You can read about the hilarity of that on my sister's most recent blog post.

Next up, my dear friend Caroline came in for a few days and we had a blast. I am so thankful for her!

We ate lots of amazing food and had a wonderful time catching up. I had so much fun in Leesburg with my cousin, I took Caroline back:

Here is a photo of some of the amazing furniture at Lucketts. It is a truly unique store and I highly recommend you taking a visit. But be sure to take a U-haul, because you'll want to buy lots of the reasonably priced furniture!

Caroline took this marvelous photo of the wine tasting at The Wine Kitchen. We decided that if we ever own a restaurant, we want it to be just like The Wine Kitchen. The food and wine there is impeccable!

Here is a rundown of my favorite D.C. restaurants, in case you'll be visiting anytime soon:

Sweetgreen, where I now own a frequent customer card
GoodStuff, where the hamburgers and fries are far beyond anything you can imagine.
Chop't where the salads are beyond any salad you've ever had!
Tabard Inn  amazing. Enough said.
We The Pizza. Haven't gotten to go yet because the line has been too long. We've tried to go 3 times!