A Visit From The Fam...

Hello my lovies! Have you missed me? I assure you that all is well here at Casa Bean. I've been so busy visiting family, preparing for friends to visit, as well as a ton of creative projects that there aren't enough hours in the day. Shall I begin to catch you up? The other weekend my charming aunt Susan and her hubby Ed came to visit us. "I was feeling a little homesick for you" she said. Isnt' she the sweetest? I think they are an adorable couple.

Another reason they are so sweet is that they brought Momma Bean and Casper with them!!! Yay! That's Beanie the Wonder Dog on the left with her brother Casper on the right. What a pair!
Among the many places that we ate was Jackson 20. It deserves a mention for many reasons.

They have WAY cool antique metal menu covers and little piggie napkin rings!

Their bathroom is gorgeous. I mean look at that tile, and fresh Ochids? I'm in LOVE! Yes, I photographed the bathroom ;)

They have a brass piggie! The hostess was wonderful, the waitress was fabulous, the food (I had Rabbit Brunswick Stew) was great and it was all shared with loved ones.

One of the things on the MUST DO list was take my mother to the Library of Congress. We got her a library card then went to see about looking up some books. We had a fabulous time, including walking in the tunnel to get from the main building to the Adam's Building where they were sending the books she requested so she could sit and look at them. We had a WONDERFUL time staring at all the Art Deco on the walls, sketching and giggling like only two Book Lovers can.

The view from the King Street Metro station where we changed trains from the Blue Line to the Yellow.

After a hard day of site seeing you just HAVE to have some to die for Tiramisu. I may have found the best in town but I'll have to go back and have another just to make sure ;)

Also on our MUST DO list was visit the Natural History Museum. Always a great choice, as long as you get there before all the screaming children and grumpy parents. Even my mother said "Let's get the HECK out of here before we get trampled". Go EARLY people cause the stampede comes at about 1pm and they are hot, tired, hungry and PUSHY. Personal space people, personal space. You've been warned, you violate it and I'll dart you and put you on display next to the Mammoth as a warning to the rest of the group. Just sayin.

At the Natural History Museum they had a special Butterfly display that you can walk through. They have 400 Butterflies with 52 different species. It was magical. Well except for the obnoxious asian lady and her two kids, but we won't go there.

I was the only one of us to have one land on me. I couldn't believe it. "Mom...mom....MOM LOOK"! I was giddy with delight. Momma Bean said that it was because of my Lemon Verbena lotion.

Did you know there were Bull Mummies? Me neither.

Little clay figures that Momma Bean and I stood and sketched. *sigh* if only she lived closer so we could do this all the time.

Of course I had to take a pic. I mean come on. Thoth is so rare that when you see him you gotta capture it.

What a great trip. I got to show Susan and Ed my town for the first time and Momma Bean brought me a Thai Basil plant that I am very happy to report is still alive and well. You may not know this but I have two black thumbs. Give me and animal and I'm golden but give me a plant and you sentence it to a long slow suffering death. Just ask my hubby, I've killed an air plant. Yep, that's no joke.

Thank you so very much Susan and Ed for taking the time to come out and see me. I hope you enjoyed our town. It was a blast. Love and Hugs to you both.

Tomatoes, Pulled Pork and 10yrs of Marriage...

Today The Bear and I spent a lazy day doing what we like best, walking through a park with Wee The Wonder Dog. We drove over to Manassas and took a little stroll and Wee wandered and sniffed around. The weather was beautiful and everyone we encountered was in good spirits. This was the only photo I snapped because some days you're just having too good of a time to pause and *snap*. After the park we stopped at our favorite Farmer's Market and picked up some very delish tomatoes and a loaf of bread to make sandwiches later. Then on the way home we stopped at little road side place that's only open on the weekends and picked up some Carolina Pulled Pork and Ribs to bring home and dine on. What a delicious adventure. Wee kept licking her lips and staring at the pork container! Mmm, finger licking good.

When we got home we settled in and dove into our delicious food. Wee even got to nibble on a rib! After dinner I took Wee for a little stroll down the street and look what we found. I had to come in and get my camera to capture them. How adorable.

Today marks our 10 year Anniversary and we spent it just how we like it, together, out in nature and enjoying a great meal at home. Ya, we are an old married couple and we like it just fine!

(Sadly I have almost no pics of us in the same photo so this one is from June 2008 at our friend's wedding)

With Friends at the Old Mill...

Any of you ever see the movie State and Main? Well if you haven't you should, it's a good little flick. It's a good comedy where the characters are making a film about "The Old Mill". Anyways I digress.

This weekend out dear friends Leah and husband Tim came to hang with us and we went for a little trapes around Colvin Run Mill in Great Falls VA. Leah and I just love to go places and take pictures. We also like dragging out hubbies around with us!

View as we were approaching the mill.
I don't think that you could take a bad picture of this so cute place.

A view of the inside. The light was beautiful, don't you think? They actually run this mill on Sundays and sell the flour and meal in their general store. I bought some Yellow Corn Meal because The Bear promise to make me Corn Bread! Yummy.

Even though I'm sure the hubbies rolled their eyes when they heard where Leah and I wanted to go I think they had a great time wandering around looking at old equipment discovering things we girls were overlooking.

This was the most popular view. There were actually several artists that were set up painting the mill. If you look at the lower right hand corner you can see an artist's canvas on and easle.

I was sad that the wheel wasn't running but that wasn't going to stop me from snapping some pictures.

Old swirly windows always catch my eye.

Sometimes getting a good picture means sitting on a bridge!

I love reflections in water, don't you?

Leah said " Check out the size of this old stump". She got right in and the cameras started snappin away like she was a Celeb and we were the paparazzi. So much fun!

Tim shooting Leah! With love of course :)

Leah took this picture of us checking out the inside of the mill. You can only go inside if you buy a ticket for a tour and we decided not to since it wasn't running. I have to say that I truly love you, dear readers, because otherwise I wouldn't post a pic of my dairy aire! ;)

Another pic by Leah. I was looking at the Holly in order to take a pic of it for my blog banner come winter time.

There is nothing better than getting out with good friends, exploring a new place in the crisp Autumn air.

Thank you Leah and Tim for coming out to play with us. Next time we come to your neck of the woods. Perhaps explore a Vineyard?

A Much Needed Weekend Away...

The Bear had to be in Charleston WV on a Friday afternoon for work, so why not make a long weekend out of it? We had hoped to get away in the Spring but it didn't work out. Since the weekend was already chosen for us, how could we argue with the universe, right? She was basically saying "Here, you have to be out of town anyways, sooooo what's the problem?"

Once Brian was done we had a 3hr drive to find the cabin we rented. By the time we got there it was PITCH BLACK out! It was fun driving the roads, watching it get darker and darker, finding the key in the lock box and getting through the gate. Navigating our way to the front door and trying not to crap my pants as I step inside and search for the light switch while every single shadow seems to be a serial killer. I watch lots of horror movies and this is a strange house in the dark. Before you call me too big a wuss, note that I was the one to walk through the door first and find the lights! ;)

Since we arrived in the dark we had no idea what the view looked like. I woke to the sunrise, and in slippers and a blaket walked out onto the deck and there it was, my view. The morning light was beautiful. There was a warm golden glow to everything and I just breathed it in slow and deep. This is the view of the cabin from the river. It was perfect, very clean and very well stocked.

This cabin really made me feel at home. The Bear and I are not city people at heart or by origin and this cabin was just what we needed to relax and remember who we are. We weren't circling eachother around the apartment, taking turns in the kitchen where we tend to elbow eachother etc.

Brian spent his time fishing among other things.

I spent a whole afternoon painting on the deck. Unfortunately the sun barely came out that afternoon but who cares right? Atleast it wasn't raining. Oh I had sooooo much fun. It had been so very long since I sat and painted, 3yrs I think? I wasn't going to pack all that but Bear said, "get those canvases out of the closet that have been there for YEARS". That's all the encouragement I needed. I'm so glad that he knows just what I needed. He's great that way.

Beanie even found a new pass time. She liked to sit on the futon and observe wildlife from the screened in porch. She's a city girl at heart and prefers to see nature rather than touch it. She spend half her time looking up at you and saying "MOM, I've got nature on me". Now she's a wuss.

The man loves to cook outside, what can I say. The only problem is that he cooks for us as well as the 4 teen age boys that we don't seem to actually have. "I thought you'd eat more" he says. I just look at him lovingly as I wrapped the leftovers up and place them gingerly in the fridge knowing that we won't be eating them since we only have 4 nights here and the Bear has steak, hotdogs, and sausages on the menu along with the 7 pieces of chicken he just grilled. Oh how yummy everything was, so good that I wish I could eat like 4 teen age boys!

Can't beat waking up to views like this.

And you definately can't do this in our apartment. Well we could string one up but then how to get the river in here as well. Hmm, workin on that one.

What relaxing adventures have you had or are planning this Fall?