April Recap

We lucked out and had more good weather in early April, so we had plenty of time to enjoy the flowers popping up in our front yard...

...and spend some time hanging out on our front porch. It was nice to finally get some sort of spring, since most years it normally jumps right from winter to summer!

I also spent some time working on my RV-10 project. I finally marked up the pieces I needed to cut for the first step. They don't mess around...the very first thing you do when you start building the plane is cut pieces of metal!

My first batch of scones had already disappeared, so I needed to make more to take for work breakfasts. I decided to try a new recipe for banana chocolate chip oatmeal cups. They turned out really good, too. (And of course, I made sure to taste test everything.)

Mark and I both had recurrent training at work on the same day, so we went out to lunch as a treat. We went to Nando's Peri-Peri; I had a tasty salad, and we got a Portuguese custard tart thing (which we figured would be good prep for an upcoming trip). Everything was really tasty.

More time on the porch with the pups. They made sure to keep a sharp eye on the little kids that live across the street.

A few days later, we were back in DC again, and back at the hotel we'd stayed in just a couple weeks earlier.

We started with a walk around the Tidal Basin. The cherry blossoms were blooming, and everything was really pretty.

We weren't the only ones wandering around the Tidal Basin; it was PACKED. (Though for a Sunday afternoon during peak bloom, I really didn't expect anything different.)

We wandered around a bit more, enjoying the views, before heading back to the Wharf for some snacks and drinks before...

...going to see Lorde at the Anthem.

The show was really good; it's always nice to see an artist that sounds just as good live as they do on recordings. I can't say I was a huge fan of the venue, though; the bass was turned up so high that even with earplugs I felt like my body was going to vibrate to pieces at points, and for someone that's kind of short, if you aren't there hours before the show starts, good luck finding a place to stand that has any sort of view of the stage. The show was good, but the venue was disappointing, so I'm not sure I'd go back there again. (Plus security was so ridiculous that I had to open my wallet - the only thing I brought with me - and show them the cash pocket inside. What the heck?!)

After the show, we went to Barrel. It was pretty late (and a Sunday night, no less), but we wound up with an awesome bartender. It was a lot of fun to pick his brain about whiskey while watching black and white silent movies play in the background.

The next morning we got coffee and pastries, wandered around Georgetown a bit, then headed home. We stopped at Eggspectations on the way back and got some tasty brunch.

I eventually finished the giant puzzle I had been working on...

...and celebrated by diving into the macarons and marshmallows I had picked up when we were in DC.

As the month went on, I started making a bit more progress on my project. I finally bit the bullet and cut the pieces I had marked up in the first step. (They turned out just fine.)

We spent more time hanging out on the porch with the doggies...

...and I spent a bit more time working on my project. It was nice to finally be making some forward progress, even if it was a bit slow.

Mark and I went to It's About Thyme in Culpeper for dinner one night. Davis Street feels a bit empty without the cheese shop there, but hopefully they'll find a new place soon.

I had a random Saturday off toward the end of the month, so I made sure to put it to good use. I started out bright and early with a short cross country flight down to Tappahannock.

Visibility was pretty nice; this was somewhere along the Rappahannock River.

I flew over Remington on the way back. You could already see Main Street packed with classic cars...

...for the Remington car show. Mark and I walked down to check it out after he got home from work.

I especially liked the old station wagons; the matching picnic sets and luggage were fantastic.

We didn't have either of our cars in the show this year (though we may try for next year). We did, however, take Mark's Datsun to Moo-Thru, the local ice cream place. We got some for ourselves...

...and a vanilla pup cup, complete with doggy biscuits, for the wiener dogs to share.

We had a bit of nice weather at work, so I tried to get outside to walk the track as often as possible. Sometimes, I was lucky enough to catch a nice sunset, too.

Mark and I finally made it back to one of my favorite wineries: Narmada. Their wines are really tasty, and on weekends you can get tasty Indian food, too.

The view from their porch is pretty nice.

As mentioned in my previous post, I got to spend a day riding right seat with one of my airport buddies who occasionally drives this part time. It was really cool to get a closer look at trucking!

At the very end of April, I got to spend a morning at Manassas Airport...

...with my friends Jen and Alex. I finally got to run the Manassas Runway 5k again! It's probably one of my favorite races since it's nice and flat and the course is basically the entire taxiway, then the entire runway. It was WINDY that morning; I started out cruising right along until I turned around and got a strong cold headwind right in my face. The end of the race was a bit of a struggle, but I eventually finished.

Jen had to leave to run even more, but Alex and I skipped the award ceremony, grabbed some pancakes from the local EAA chapter, and spent some time hanging out in the terminal and catching up. It was really nice to get to see her again, and we're planning to run a race together again this fall!

Later that day, Mark and I met up with Jen at Barrel Oak winery for pizzas and wine. Jen also brought along a guy she'd been talking to online, and Mark and I got to watch them have a bit of an awkward first date, which was, um, interesting. At any rate, the pizza was good, the wine was good, and the weather was good, so I'll go with that.   :)