Temptation Mountain 5 (coming soon!)

The party bus sets sail for Temptation Mountain 5 next Friday. That's right I'm only a week away from visiting the lovely (and by lovely read "Free Drinks") Woodlands Inn and Resort.

Ohh Temptation Mountain 5 (TM5), how I love thee....and if you've ever been before I'm thinking you might feel the same way. Ok so the mountains aren't huge and the snow doesn't have a 50' base, but TM5 is all about the love, the "slammin' entertainment," the gigantor hot tub, the copious amounts of jello shooters, the traditional pizza in bed on Sunday, etc.

This year 12 people have pulled together to join in the fun. About half have been before and half are newbies. As soon as we get back I'll be sure to post all the pictures so if you couldn't make it out this year you can at least see what you missed. ;)

Down with the Camel

It seems that in the last couple of months I have really ramped up my water drinking. Not really conciously, but I find that at the end of a meal out I will have drank like 3-4 glasses of water, at work I'm always heading to the water tank to fill up my glass and at home I'm always in the refrig. filling up from the brita. Yet strangely I don't feel like my bathroom habits have changed. Where is all this water going? Do I have perhaps an invisible hump where it is all being stored?

Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant

Well thanks to Kelly I was able to get that Chinese food that I've been thinking about since yesterday AM. I got the yummy Hunan Chicken combo (gotta love those peanuts) which came with a big bowl of soup and a happy little egg roll. The only bad part about the lunch was when we were seated next to the murky Lobster/Crab tank. A bit depressing to see them stuffed in there and knowing where they'll be headed next. Luckily Kelly had a better view of it. ;)

In case you haven't been here let me tell you about it. The quality of the food is better than most of the places in Chinatown (I've been working for the past year or so to visit everyone in order to make a 100% informed decision, but it's hard to not just go to Tony Cheng's.) Tony Cheng has two restaurants: the one on the bottom floor is a Mongolian Grill and the one upstairs is a "seafood restaurant", but they have all the regular fare you would expect. I'm sure the Mongolian grill is good, but if I want something like that I'll head to Flat Top. And if you are in Chinatown on the weekend they do Dim Sum there as well. I would say the one at Fortune near 7 corners is better, but this is a close 2nd. End of story is if you want Chinese food and you are near Chinatown go here. It may not be the best place ever, but it's the best place in comparison to the others around there.

Cafe Atlantico

Looking for a good place to eat in DC? Got to Cafe Atlantico. The food rocks, the drinks rock, the service rocks, and overall (yeah you guessed it) it just plain rocks. Stegret and I visited on Saturday and made good use of the prix-fixe menu that they had available for restaurant week. Our reservations were for 9:30pm, but after a bit of a debacle on the metro (pre-dinner drinks during the football game led to a nice loooong nap that took us about 6 stops too far, whoopsie!) we didn't get seated until more like 10:15. Nobody complained though and we were happy to, despite our mistakes, be seated and served a lovely dinner.

I hope everyone is watching 24. If you aren't I feel sad for you. No one is cooler than Jack Bauer. Well maybe Cloe….she is like a Jack Bauer in training.

Humm…just had the sudden need for Chinese food. But that really doesn’t go well with my “Eat Healthy after you Pigged Out During the Holidays” diet.

Hot stuff.

10:10am - Purchase cinnamon latte drink from Starbucks and have them put it in my Starbucks mug (10 cent discount baby!)

1:51pm – Drink is still warm (yes I know I’m still drinking the thing, but it’s really too much sugar to take in all at once – must meter myself to avoid sugar rush and the inevitable sugar induced nap)

It's all happening!

The Wind shifted causing
random people to collide and
old friends to set out on new directions.
Things are coming to an end with
new things already underway.
It feels different, but comfortably familar.
If you need directions I'd ask someone else because
me I'm just along for the ride.

Over easy with a side of grits

If you live in the DC area and you ride the metro then you know you are not suppose to eat or drink on it. Remember the lady who got arrested for having a bite of her PayDay candy bar in her mouth while going through the turnstile...granted I think she did say something nasty/rude to the officer, but still a bit extreme. Anyway the point here is you don't eat food and you don't drink drinks on the metro (full stop). And usually people follow this rule. Sure you'll get the random person now and again sneaking a sip out of their Starbucks mug or the baby nibbling on crackers, but overall people pretty much follow the rules. I remember once I stuck a piece of hard candy in my mouth because I was coughing and felt all guilty about it...like my fellow passengers were judging me and soon a secret food cop was going to jump out of the crowd and arrest me. But today there was this guy that all out didn't follow the rules. He whipped out of a bag an ENTIRE breakfast. Eggs, sausage, home fries...the works and he proceeded to eat it with no hesitations or side-ways glances. I almost wanted to report him, but figured that would make me dumber than him...can you imagine the ridicule I'd get if he was arrested and my face was put up in the Washington Post as the person who turned him in! Yoy...I'd never be able to ride the metro again! The more I think about it though the more I realize I was just mad because he wasn't sharing and those home fries looked mighty tasty. :)

I'm baaack!

Wow what a long vacation! I think the combination of an Oregon trip and a 3 day weekend was just the right mix. The rest of the Oregon trip (after my last entry) went well. We had a beautiful day on Mt.Hood and an uneventful flight home (except when we almost missed the plane because we thought it left a half hour later!).

And after all that (and a fun New Year's Eve party) I am just so happy to be home. I feel like I need a big long nap under my fluffy down comforter with two pugs for company and warmth. Ohh puggers...so fun to have the back in the hizzouuussse!

Want to check out what Oregon looks like? Go here: Oregon Pictures