Snapshots from a DC Weekend

Vegetable garden at The White House.

If I didn't already realize it, this past weekend really hit home the notion that I'm back from all of my travels and wedding events, and that normal life has resumed. I spent much of it catching up on work, catching up on sleep/trying to shake my latest sinus infection, and doing a couple of DC activities with friends--and although it was quite a blur, it felt nice to be back to a somewhat typical routine/existence. 

On Saturday, we went on a White House Garden Tour, courtesy of the same friend who took us on our first White House tour a couple of months ago.  I was in love with Michelle's vegetable garden (pic above), but also thought it was really cool to be standing on the lawn where all of the helicopters land and all of the foreign dignitaires enter the premises. Every once in a while it's really wonderful to do something totally DC-ish (or insert your city name here), as it reminds you of some of the special aspects of where you live and allows you to learn something new about your city...

Standing in front of the "landing pad," facing the White House (with my new husband!)

These old magnolia trees are dead and held up by metal cables so that they can remain without being a danger to those around them.

Another beautiful garden...

On Friday evening, we had some friends over to our apartment for dinner and pumpkin carving. Believe it or not, they were our first dinner guests EVER in this apartment (and it was so fun! We must do this more often!). Ben cooked while I "entertained" (aka watched videos from our wedding on our friend's computer--they took a bunch and it was so fun to see them!), and then after dinner, we got out the pumpkin supplies. We'd decided previously that we could only create CrossFit-themed pumpkins (these are dear friends from CrossFit), so our carvings took an interesting turn once we got started...

Our original pumpkin design...the CrossFit DC logo.

Everyone hard at work.

The final products...a "DC Weightlifting" Club pumpkin, and a "CFDC" pumpkin.

After we were done with our first set of pumpkins I said, "now lets make some yoga-themed pumpkins!!" but everyone seemed to be done carving for the night :(  So, we moved on to an even more exciting activity, harvesting and toasting the pumpkin seeds. First we separated the seeds from the rest of the innards, then we washed them, coated them in olive oil, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and cooked them for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees. 

Add some salt and voila! An instant healthy snack (lots of protein!).

Delicious! If you haven't already done something pumpkin-related this month, I highly recommend it, as it really does put you in a fall sort of mood. If you're not into carving pumpkins, you could bake a pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread/muffins, or pumpkin pancakes, you could go to a pumpkin farm to pick out a pumpkin, or to a Corn Maze (which I hear is really fun!?), OR, you could paint some pumpkins, which can also be really pretty. See? So many ways to enjoy a pumpkin this month :)

I hope your weekend was also full of special moments. Here's to an equally-enjoyable week for us all!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine