September 17 is A Good Good Day

That's two "good"s.

One good for being Nicole's birthday. A second good for being the date on which we met last fall. (We didn't start dating until mid October, but what the heck. We'll just celebrate then too.)


We had a little party to celebrate, with Nicole whipping up some sinful truffles and surprisingly potent espresso martinis to wash them down. Merriment was had.


Then, after a somewhat sluggish morning, we zipped out to the Shenandoah valley again, this time taking the Skyline Drive south towards the center of the valley.

Near Luray we stayed in a "cabin" - one of those L.L. Bean versions with satellite TV and a jacuzzi. Not that I'm complaining a bit - 3 cheers for jacuzzis - but is that really a cabin? Where I come from, it's not a cabin unless it has an outhouse.


Semantics aside, it was a lovely to get away from the city together. A LOT has happened over the last year, and it was great to sit in a nice, quite place to think about it all and to be happy.

Oh, and we saw this Preying Mantis! To this and all other bugs I say "bleh."