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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day Extravaganza

Happy American Mother's Day! I never really thought about it, but Mother's Day is not the same day in all countries. In Argentina, Mother's Day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday in October, which makes sense if you want to keep the whole springtime feel of Mother's Day in May. Yes, October is Argentina's spring - since it's located in the lower hemisphere the seasons are opposite. This is a fact that messes with my head - I had no idea the impact that weather has on my sense of time.
So, this Mother's Day weekend was spent with some of my favorite people, doing all sorts of fun, springtime things. (The picture to the left is me and my mom in 2008 at our wedding rehearsal.)



On Friday, my mom and I joined my friend Julie, her mom and her beautiful baby Caden on a trip to the Waterfront in Alexandria. I have to say that I really miss living close to Washington, DC - there are so many beautiful and historic places to visit. Old town Alexandria is also home to the restaurant I took Jon to for Valentine's Day 1996, Chart House. A girlfriend and I decided we would treat our guys to dinner Sadie-Hawkins-style. This was way before credit cards and I had no idea the price range of the restaurant, so I was sweating the fact that I didn't have a whole lot of cash with me. This is the first time I've been back to the restaurant since, and I have to say, it's a great location. We had a lovely time, we'll have to go back there one of these days.


On this day, we all met Julie's husband Dan for lunch and then walked down to the water to enjoy the view and the day, both of which were pretty great. I was lucky get to spend some quality time with baby Caden, who has changed pretty dramatically since I last saw him. (Picture on the left: Caden David before I moved to Argentina. Picture on the right: Baby-blue-eyes himself 6-months later.) It is an amazing reminder as to how fast time flies to look at how much a baby changes in 6 months. I just love his fair hair and blue eyes, not to mention that they make him a total head-turner. Julie has complete strangers come up to her to compliment her on a beautiful baby. He was such a good boy the whole day we were in Alexandria, and I even got to be in a few photos with the little chick-magnet.
Happy Mother's Day to beautiful new mom Julie, who is doing an amazing job.
On Saturday, my newly-engaged friend Sarah (Congratulations!) came to visit and we got to look at some gorgeous wedding dresses. I won't give away any of the details, but I have no doubt Sarah will look amazing in whatever she chooses.
We are all so happy for Sarah and Josh!

Saturday night I had the rare treat of actually having family AND friends together in one place on Saturday night, my parents and I met up with Sarah, Julie, Julie's mom and her younger sister for dinner. I went to school out of state, so it is extremely rare for our families to be able to mingle, I am so glad that the night worked out. Now that Sarah, Julie and I all live in different cities (and countries...) it is also becoming more rare for us to all be together - so this was truly a treat for me to have two of my best friends together, and to have my parents there too was a great added bonus! Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, it was 50 degrees outside, but we made good use of the blankets the restaurant provided us and we braved it out on the patio of The Clifton Store.

As for Mother's Day itself, we had a nice dinner and dessert at home, just the way we like it. My years of restaurant experience have trained me to loath going out to dinner on Mother's Day and Valentine's Day - dinner at home is much more relaxing. It was a great day, weekend and reunion of many people that I haven't seen in a while. I can't wait for more reunions to take place later this week when my youngest brother Robbie comes home from college and I head up to New Jersey to visit first-time-homeowners Kristen and Chip.

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom!

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