Ringing in 2011

I already recapped what a year 2010 was and therefore, 2011 has an uphill battle ahead to beat out 2010.  So Stud and I decided to give it the best start possible by celebrating with all of our college friends in the nations capitol.  We spent last weekend touring, tasting, and tearing up Washington DC.  We have a ton of good friends, and even a little family in the city, so we had a free place to stay and an ample supply of tour guides.  We crashed with Stud's cousin Haudge and he was an impeccable host.  His freezer was stocked with tater tots and his apartment was in the center of pretty much everything.

The weekend kicked off with a staff led tour of the capitol with my friend Caro, who gave us a very educational and VIP tour.  We even got to walk through the tunnels from the House office buildings into the new Capitol Visitors Center (SO Dan Brown) and then had an amazing lunch at Good Stuff Eatery.  Spike from Top Chef and me, pretty much BFFs.  In case you are curious, I had the "Sunnyside," a burger with bacon and a fried egg along with a side of the rosemary thyme french fries.  Drooling?  Me too.  The afternoon was spent watching Studs' inner child emerge as we toured the Natural History Museum.  He wanted to see the dinosaurs, I wanted to see the gem room.

Our tour guides Caro and Haudge

Friday was pretty low key, we had a big night ahead.  Stud and I met up with our whole group from college and walked around the American History Museum.  I bee-lined it for Julia Childs' kitchen, the foodie in me wanted to see where the master worked.  We had a late lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, rubbing elbows with past presidents and other really important people.  New Years Eve was spent at a bar with amazing food and drink, and the New Year was rung in with Stud and many of our friends.  Then they played Whitney Houston.  Pretty good start I'd say!

Sunday was spent on an epic walking tour of DC.  We started in Dupont, worked our way through Georgetown and then down towards the Mall to see the monuments.  Someone (ahem Stud) was fading rather quickly so we took a cab it home from there.  That night we had one final night with the whole group relaxing and hanging out, then it was off to bed.  We had an early flight the next morning so we could be home in time to pick up our precious angel from the kennel.  Then Monday morning, back to work and for Stud, the beginning of his surgical rotation.  I'll see him again early March.  It was a great weekend spent with good friends and we even squeezed in some good food stops and amazing sights.