Thursday, 17 March, had Connie and I headed out to Berryville, VA to meet with Jason at Body Art Tattoos for a consultation on some new body art we were both thinking about. Jason is the one who did my running Shamrock tattoo, and has done a bunch of other tattoos for my friends. He does amazing work! I had a few things in mind and also wanted to get a touch up on the running Shamrock. I ended up getting lucky, as Jason had a cancellation for the next Wednesday and was willing to take me in for my requests. So I scheduled it and was excited to be getting some new artwork done. After our consultation, Connie and I headed out to have lunch at Sonic! If there is one within a 15 minute drive, we are SO THERE! Yummy tator tots!
After lunch we hit the Leesburg Outlets and we were successful at purchasing a few needed items. For me, I bought 2 Coach badge holders for 2 of the ladies back here on Camp. I also got a couple short sleeved light sweaters to wear as coverup for my shoulders on those hot days in the summer when I need to wear a sundress. I also got a couple pairs of sandals, also for wear back here on Camp. Nice!
Thursday night had me hanging out with my Girl Scouts...regular meeting night. They were finishing up the plans for the 60's theme Mother/Daughter Dance scheduled for Friday night. I was slated to be DJ again this year, so I spent sometime with the girls making sure I had some "hip" music in my iTunes the kids would want to listen to. I didn't do too bad, considering! I must be a little hip then! HA HA
Friday, 18 March, I spent the day at Wegmans and home preparatory cooking for Saturday's Thanksgiving in March celebration at the house. I planned to make a bunch of the food, but lost the energy by keeping myself so busy at home. So I ordered the turkey and ham from Wegmans. I made the green bean casserole and found an awesome new recipe for homemade stuffing. Friday night was the 60's themed Girl Scout Mother/Daughter Dance. We had a blast! But I honestly was surprised by some of the music requests by the young ladies. I assume at their age, or at least hope, that they really don't understand what many songs mean..but nonetheless, I had to be the bad guy and not play some of the songs they requested. But we did get to jam to plenty of Justin Bieber. I still have a soft spot in my heart for boy bands from the early 90's...and his music kind of makes me think about that music! We also did a number of line dances and had a ball! My roommate, Blake, was the event photographer and got some great shots of the Mothers with their Daughters.
Here is a shot of the troop. Groovy ladies.
Following our groovy time at the dance, I had a bunch of friends and family over to the house for Thanksgiving in March. My friends had asked what I wanted to do most while I was home, and Thanksgiving is totally what I wanted to do! Wegmans provided the ham, turkey and gravy. I made home made stuffing and green bean casserole. And everyone who came brought something too - we had mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, rolls, deviled eggs (yummy), plenty of desserts and lots more! It was great. My roomie Blake even recorded the 2 Ravens play-off games so we could have football on the TV while eating the feast! It was great. A wonderful day with friends and family. Some photos below.
Patrick, me & Paul...love you guys!
Lovely ladies of Wednesday Night Crew - Heidi, me, CJ, Kristen & Anita
Great friends! Jennifer, Michelle, me & Connie
It's Queen B and Big B! Me & Jessica!
Now it's Queen B & Besty B! So nice to see you!
Me & Nicole...so many ways our lives have crossed!
OMG - it's been more than 20 years! Kali & me
I AM the center of attention! Michelle, me & Alex
After Thanksgiving Feast nap - Cathy & Mike
After the festivities, a bunch of us headed out on the town for some Birthday Celebrations for Kristen! We hit Leesburg in full force and had a great time. I should have written down the names of the places we went to, but I did not and cannot remember them either. We had some excitement in one of the pubs, as a co-worker of Kristen's from PTS passed out cold on the floor right in the middle of all of Fire Fighters/EMTs. So he was fortunately in good hands! Thanks Anita and Todd. He's fine now, but got a free ride in an ambulance to the hospital. Below are some photos from the festivities.
Party girls: Kali, me & Michelle
Trouble 1 & Trouble 2...Todd & me
Some of Ashburn's finest men (& me too): Kyle, JC, me & Hector
Heidi & Kristen
Christina, Kristen & CJ
Me & Blake cutting a rug... ;-)
Sunday, March 20 had me headed back to Southern MD (SOMD) to spend time with my Dad, family and friends down County way! I didn't stop moving...trust me! Sunday night was a nice dinner with Dad, Robin, Uncle Jim, Aunt Phyl and Jeff Haley from Kansas City. Yes, he came all the way just to see me! ;-) He owed me after I flew from Djibouti to Kansas City back in January just to see him (well and the Ravens win against the Chiefs). It was a great dinner of BBQ chicken and ribs on the grill! Yummy!
Monday morning I spent in Miss Madelyn Spalding's 2nd Grade class. Madelyn sent me Flat Stanley so he could enjoy a visit to Djibouti. If you are unfamiliar with Flat Stanley, it is something kids do in school to learn things about different places in the US and abroad. He is a cut out of a man with his suitcase. When you receive him, you are supposed to take pictures of him doing fun things in your town or where ever you might be. We had a lot of fun here in Djibouti. And I sent him to Honduras with a friend from Djibouti who went home for Christmas. Anyway, I decided to put together a slide presentation of Flat Stanley's adventures and present it to the kids. We had a blast! And the kids learned a lot about Djibouti. I also gave them each a 100 Djiboutian Franc piece and a Pog (coins we use on military bases). In addition, I gave them each "Djibouti Africa...Go Wild with Fresh Breath" mint tins. Here are a couple pictures from the lesson...I really enjoyed teaching the kids all about Djibouti! And just because I think it is funny, before we even got started, one of the nice young ladies looks up at me from her seat and asks: "Are you Madelyn's Grandmother?...I mean Aunt?...or something?" NICE!
Teaching about Pogs...Madelyn is in the green standing there.
The whole class
The remainder of Monday I spent over at my Grandpa's house visiting with him, my Dad, Uncle Jim and Cousin Jeff too. They are doing a nice makeover of Grandpa's house. Fresh paint, carpet, flooring, bathroom, etc. Looks really nice!
Tuesday was a busy day with the ladies. I spent the morning with Lisa and we met Laura at Stoney's on Solomon's Island for some crabcakes for lunch. It was yummy as always! The best around! It was great to catch up with Laura and to hang out with the girls. We then hit Target and I headed back to have dinner again at my Dad's house. Then headed back up to NOVA for things to be done up there! Photos from Solomon's Island below:
It's so beautiful on Solomon's Island
Stoney's...awesome crabcakes!
My dear friend...me & Laura
Me & Lisa (my BFF)
I headed back to NOVA on Tueday night, as I had an appointment to get my new tattoo on Wednesday in Berryville, VA with Jason from Body Art Tattoos. But first I stopped off in Sandgates to have a beer with my Uncle Jim, Aunt Phyl and Cousin Jeff before heading up the road. Also enjoyed some peel and eat shrimp and french fries!
Cousin Jeff, me and Uncle Jim..playing a little Keno
Aunt Phyl and me
Wednesday, March 23...Body Art Tattoos with Jason. He did a great job and was great to work with on designing what I wanted. Below are the before and after photos.
Just some of the Body Art Trophies for their work.
Jason and I trying to figure out exactly what we want...
Jason doing his magic. OUCH! It did hurt!
And there they are...Ravens in flight.
Straight from there I was off to Wednesday Duty Crew...a little worried with my soreness. But it was all good. We actually had a few calls this round. It was really great to run with the crew again and to see Kristen in action as she is now an AIC and in charge! She is awesome...even if she still doesn't do body fluids! HA HA And as weird things go sometimes, tonight was no exception. We had run a box call (a fire) and were back at the station. It was getting late, so I opted to get myself ready for bed. I was upstairs in the ladies bunk room when a new call came in. It was for a number of ambulances and other apparatus. I did not hear A6064 in the list, but figured if M6062 was going, it was likely we would be called as well. So I slid my shoes on and ran down the stairs. I saw Heidi, one of our fire fighters, and asked if we were going on the call. She said yes! So I ran out to the ambulance bay - to find the ambulances GONE. They had gone without me...I was, at that moment, extremely pissed. I look up to see the type of call this was and see it was for a Cardiac Arrest. I have yet to be on a Cardiac Arrest yet...so I was getting more upset. I vented to the fire fighters who were still in the station and texted Kristen to see what happened. Anyway...I finally went back upstairs to go to bed. That was after 2300. About 0200 the lights come on in the ladies bunk room, and Kristen is standing there...in scrubs! She says, "I know you are pissed at me, but I need to talk to you. The whole crew was exposed to TB (tuberculosis) tonight, so if you want me to sleep in a different room, I will." (This explains the change in clothes - Kristen had quite a time with this patient). I ask if the crews have been put out of service, which they had not, so I didn't see any need. Of course, being groggy it is just now hitting me what she had said! Angels watching over - I was the lucky one who had not been exposed with the rest of the crew! But still having a hard time with the fact I missed the call... Anyway, I talked to our medic, Jonathan, about it. He gave me the scoop on the call. I did miss a lot. But in the long run, grateful not to be wondering if the exposure is going to be something to change my life. Not to mention, I most likely would not have been cleared to leave the US and enter back into Djibouti if I had been exposed. So small miracles... I felt awful about how mad I had been. I was more mad at the circumstances than the people involved. I will always have the highest affinity and respect for my crew! Always! And I am sure there will be another Cardiac Arrest in my future at some point. But thankfully, come Friday, Loudoun County informed the crew that the patient thankfully did not have active TB and they were all cleared! Whew! It was a crazy night! And I miss the crew already...especially Jonathan, Kristen, and CJ. Sniff...sniff...
Straight from Station 6, I headed over to the Nissan Dealership in Chantilly to get the oil changed in my car, have some air put in the tires, and the State Inspection done early. I left my car with my roomie this time, so wanted to make sure it was in tip top shape before I left. So about $500 later...my car was! Ha Ha In the meantime I spent sometime oggling over the new Nissan GT R $91,000 red sports car! It was sweet. But out of my league. So I borrowed a Nissan Altima to go run some errands while they worked on my car. I was able to get one last visit in with Nicole and Jessica at Lockheed Martin. I sure do miss my peeps already! So after having very little sleep at the station Wed. night, and being out and about all day, I decide to try to get in a little nap before heading down to Old Town Alexandria and Bilbo Baggins for some fine beer and cilantro fries! Yummy! I met up there with the usual crowd and we had a great time!
Me, Richard, Cathy, Connie and Joe
Cilantro Fries
Michelle & me
Friday, my Mom and I headed downtown to the DC Armory for the Race Expo for the National Marathon and Half Marathon. We had a handful of packets to pick up for the race on Saturday morning. It was chilly and windy on Friday. And the line was quite long when we arrived. But it moved pretty quick. Since I had to pick up multiple packets, I was worried I was going to have to get into multiple lines...but they were awesome and one lady handled it all for me. We were in and out of there in about an hour. Looking forward to running a half marathon with my brother, Steve. Friday night we all gathered at the Morton's house, as the PA Haleys were in town as well.
Saturday morning (3/26) came early - I picked up my brother about 0500 to head downtown for the race. We met up there with Connie, Michelle, Jennifer, Cathy, Kevin and Sam. It was super cold - 27 degrees when I pulled out of my garage. But got up to 33 degrees by the start of the race. Steve and I did okay - considering neither of us was really in great shape to be running 13.1 miles. But we finished together after enduring some breathing issues for me (either the cold air was a bit much for me, or just the fact I wasn't breathing the crappy air in Djibouti) and I also had a Charlie Horse in my right calf about the last 3 miles. But we made it! And we finished together! It was great. Cathy actually PRed with this one (personl record). And we all have our medals to show for the accomplishment! Woo Hoo Another medal to add to the collection.
Pre-race sleepiness...waking up in the COLD!
Steve checking to see how much he can get for the medal...
We did it! Happy finishers!
After the race, we all got together at the Morton's, including Dad, Robin, Mom, the Mortons, the PA Haleys, the Whytes and myself, for some of Dad's famous Paella! YUMMY! It was a nice afternoon with family. Steve and I couldn't wait to eat and take a short nap! Had to have some energy for the next outing...we headed to Clyde's for some adult beverages and snacks for the evening. It was a nice ending to a fabulous vacation at home! I am so glad I got to fit so much into a short period of time...and to see so many people that I care about. I'll close for now with the photos from my last night in NOVA. Next up...back in Djibouti! love to you all! Ciao!
Capt. Morgan...er, uh, I mean Darren & Jodi
Alex & Michelle
Blake & Tammy
Steve & Steph
Connie & Michelle...a couple of tired runners too! Love you guys!
Ciao everyone! Love and miss you already!
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