Sweetpea’s Garden

I am so in awe, I have to write about this. My girlfriend from college never ceases to amaze me. Here is a little background.

My friend Mary Beth is married, has two kids (ages 5 and 3), and works three days a week. Her husband travels regularly for work so she is on duty 24/7. For fun, she exercises (spinning classes and various cardio things), and she decorates cakes beautifully (for almost anyone who asks). She also loves 80s metal bands and boys with long hair. She has always been an awesome friend and cheerleader.

So why am I telling you about my girlfriend? This last weekend, she and her hubby (along with some other friends) participated the Rocky Gap Adventure Race - which is a timed (5 hour), 18-24 mile, trekking, biking, paddling, and navigation challenge. As if she doesn’t have enough to do with work, kids, hubby, and house she decided to turn in to iron-chica.

Now that I have confirmed that she survived the challenge - albeit very sunburned from what I am told - I just have to say publicly - WOW!

They finished in four and a half hours, finding all six check points in their assigned order, on and off trail. Here she is with the hubby and a friend after the race (hubby in the middle). And yes, that is mud splatter all over!

Oh, and then she came home and made a cake for someone (it appeared to be a wedding cake no less).

Don’t I feel like the human slug! Go MB!!

I’ve been going to hockey games since I was a little girl, but still learned something I didn’t know last night: that men apparently don’t use the bathroom during regulation time when it’s game seven of the playoffs. Or so it seemed, at least, when every guy at the Phone Booth decided to hit the restroom before overtime.

(Note that this picture is only part of the line; the iPhone does not have the wide-angle lens necessary to capture the whole thing. It was one of the longest — and grumpiest — restroom lines I have ever seen. I guess the boys didn’t like finding out that it can be uncomfortable to wait. Tragic, isn’t it?)

The outcome of the game, needless to say, was disappointing — mostly because it was due to crap officiating. It’s safe to say that when a playoff series makes it to overtime in game seven, the teams are pretty well-matched, and to my mind, this was the case with the Caps and the Flyers. Either team could have won, and really, I wouldn’t feel badly about the loss, except that having it come due to senseless referees rather than a truly outstanding play makes it a little cheap.

Overall, though, coming back from being the worst team in the NHL to Southeast Division champs and putting up a truly impressive playoff effort is an amazing feat, and one that I hope has given the team a great deal of pride. They deserve it.

I don’t think this week’s “My DC” subject matter comes as a surprise — because of the new stadium, baseball was the talk of the town this week. I’m part of a season ticket group and between that and picking up random tickets from friends, I make it to a dozen or so games per season, so I think the ballpark definitely counts as part of my DC.

This is the view from the main entrance. It’s not a very good shot because the crowds made it difficult to get a clear view, but I think you can get an idea of it, at any rate.

Continue reading ‘My DC: Take Me Out’