Be the change you wish to see in the world.

I realized I have already asked my readers for money once this year and I would never do it again if it was not a cause close to my heart.

During my last semester at George Mason University, I had the opportunity to work on one of the most important projects I will ever encounter. It was a sustainability plan for a real town in Cambodia. This was the only project I ever worked on in school that actually made a difference in the world. Whether or not my group’s project was eventually chosen or not I did not care, we were all working to make the world a better place.

Since then I have kept an eye on the Blog of Kari Grady Grossman the one who started it all. You can read her blog or purchase her book (Bones that float) here http://www.karigradygrossman.com/wordpress/

Today on the blog Kari is asking for donations to help 11 of her students go to school for an entire year. Each student needs only $150. That’s only $1650.00 for all of them.

I plan to give, but what I’m thinking is that with a little bit of outreach we can give big.

What if we raise the full $1650? Or at least try. Should I stand outside of the grocery store? Have a bake sale? Just throw a party and ask for donations? What do you think?

Tell your friends and families, I know your readers know a lot of people, post on Facebook, blog or tweet about it. Let’s make the world a better place through education.

If you wish to send your donation through “network for good” just use the link above, but please post a comment telling us that you donated, and if you are comfortable in divulging how much you are donating, I would love to know. If you would prefer to send me your check or cash and I can send it all to Kari at once make checks out to Sustainable Schools International, and leave a comment with your e-mail, I will send you my address.

more food!

Continuing with this week’s food theme I would like to try the following restaurants, and I would like to try them with company.

So here is the deal. I realize that fine dining is expensive and not all of us can afford to go out all that often. So if you are interested in a group outing to one of the following places leave a comment with the name of the restaurant and a date, or two, that is good for you.

We can then settle on a date and invite more people to come along. I think this could be a lot of fun. And I really need to stop going to the same chain restaurants over and over again.

American

Clyde's Willow Creek Farm – Leesburg

Eventide - Arlington

Red Fox Inn – Middleburg

Inox –McLean

French

Mon Ami Gabi – Reston

2941 Restaurant – Falls Church

Bastille - Alexandria

Other

Texas de Brazil Churrascuria – Fairfax

Acadiana (Creole/Cajun) – DC

So who’s in?

Also feel free to suggest other restaurants.

Restaurant Week Continued

According to the following article D.C Restaurant Week Top Ten Picks

The following restaurant have extended their RW promotions…

Restaurant Week Promotion Extensions

2941 - August 3 through August 28
701 Restaurant - August 24 through Sept 6th
Art and Soul – August 24- September 6
Café Atlantico – August 24- September 6
Cedar Restaurant - August 1 through August 23
Co-co Sala - August 24- September 2
Darlington House - August 24th through September 6th
Dino - August 1 through September 13
Grillfish DC - August 24th through September 13th
Ici Urban Bistro - August 21 through September 1
Il Mulino - August 1 through August 31
Mio - August 1 through August 31
Nage Bistro - August 17th to September 6th
Occidental - August 24- September 6
Rasika - August 24- September 5
The Heights - August 24th through September 6th
Zaytinya - August 24- September 6


YAY!

D.C Restaurant Week

If you don’t already know, twice every year D.C has a Restaurant week. Many of the restaurants offer special menus for lunch and dinner. Lunch is always priced the same as the current year, so in 2009 the lunch menu is $20.09 and dinner is $35.09. Some restaurants create special tasting menus and others let you choose a few things from the regular menu. Either way it’s an awesome deal, and allows you to try restaurants that are otherwise not in your price range.

Tomorrow I have a lunch reservation at Passion Fish.

The Domestic Empress and I have really wanted to check this place out and what better way to try it than at $20.09 for three courses.

The menu is as follows…

Restaurant Week Menu

Lunch Menu

Dinner Menu

And then Russ and I are going to Vinifera for a date on Thursday, I might get dressed up and everything. Vinifera is located inside the Westin Reston and has a very nice selection of wines by the bottle or by the glass.

I think I’m going to go with the Paella, but incase you are interested here is the menu…

Vacation Pictures (because i promised)

forgive the order, this was actually taken on our last night in Florida. we were at my Grandparents house and i was so burnt i was wearing russ's shirt and no bra.

the what the inside of our room at the Merlin Guesthouse. the pool was right outside our door and it was not at all as loud as the reviews said it would be. the sitting area was nice for watching TV.

up a few stairs was our bed. it was very cozy, and to the right was our bathroom.

This was the view from the bed. it was rustic and tranquil.

OMG can you believe the water? this is what beach water should look like.

and this is a real beach. our boat is anchored at the end of the sand bar. we swam to shore but had to walk back because the tide went out. the keg was on the boat so all you had to do was swim up to it and pour yourself a drink.

more beach...

you see the girl in the water with the hat on? thats me getting a sunburn and loving every minute of it.

here is Russ, we just had a few drinks at Capt. Tony's which is where the original Sloppy joe's was. we drank at the very same bar at Earnest Hemmingway and then we went to Sloppy Joe's where i danced to "dancing with myself" all by my self in front of maybe 300 people. i had had ALOT of margaritas that night.

me, by the pier, at sunset.

some of the best sushi ever. A Key West roll and an Eel roll

some awesome smoking sashimi. yum!

and last but not least, us, 90 miles from Cuba.

shelving, yay!

So remember when i said my basement needs a facelift? well the facelift has begun. today we had a wall unit installed to fit our insane amount of books and movies.

here you can see Russ putting our books in order. sorry about the quality, i will take a picture with a real camera soon. the basement still has a long way to go, and i wish i could find a before picture, but it should not take us too much longer to finish the basement. just a new sleeper sofa, a few tables and perhapse some track lighting and it should be complete.

believe it or not, there are only 6 empty shelves on the unit already. i think i need so start using a kindle or giving my books away.

Are you there God? it's me, Kathy.

you remember my Since April post?

well since then a long time family friend has died, after a VERY long battle with Cancer and my fathers best friend's retina detached and he has to have surgery.

to top it off i had two dreams about my dad's friend's son, in both dreams he was upset about something and now, this happens. not two days ago i asked my mom if everything was ok with the family, i often get worried after my dreams. When i was a little kid i told my uncle that if he left i would never see him again, we have it on film. i was crying and screaming and he still left. days later he died.

often after a bad dreamsi will call the person that was in my dream and make sure that he/she is ok.

in other sad news my parents finally called Juan Carlos in Chile and told him that my grandmother had died, it broke his heart.

please make the months of heartache and hardship end. I need a break, and so does my family.

Nothing like a Bar-B-Q in 98 degree heat

Russ plays softball with a lot of my friends and last night was the end of the season party.

We hosted it at my parents house and although it was insanely hot we had a great time, ate great good, played football, and got an impromptu concert from “the band” which is made up of Russ, my dad, my two brothers, and my dad’s High school friend.

So all in all the night was a hit. I made my famous prosciutto and asparagus; it’s the easiest thing ever. Just wrap the asparagus in prosciutto and put it on the grill till it gets crispy. Amazing! The team captain made beef and turkey burgers. We also had hot dogs, all kinds of chips and dips, salad, and desserts.

let's do that again!

Since April...

· My grandmother Niva was admitted to the hospital

o Was transferred to hospice

o And died from dementia

· My other grandmother had stints put in her heart

· My grandfather had a quadruple bypass

· My step-grandfather was sent back to Chile

· My best friends grandmother died

· I got in a car accident

· My cousin’s son was forced to visit the dad he hates in a place he hates because the law sucks

· And yesterday my aunt’s 14 year old dog died

Is it over now? I really can’t take much more.

Two Blogs you must read!

http://herbadmother.com/

&

http://thebadgrandma.blogspot.com/

so good!

Shut up and fish!

I was talking to Mo-Bot the Robot last night and we got to talking about Deadliest Catch and the sad event that was the death of Jake Anderson’s sister. As a loyal fan I was saddened to see Jake so hurt and elated that Sig turned to boat around to get Jake home as fast as possible.

But there was one thing that neither Mo-Bot nor I could figure out, why did Nick give Jake the News instead of Sig? After some digging it seems that Jake and Nick’s brother are friends and that is how Jake got the job on the Northwestern in the first place.

During my digging to find the answer I found something amazing. The Northwestern crew has a calendar, and what’s even better? It runs from Aug 2009 to July 2010, so I can still get it! Ok who wants to buy me one???

Let's talk TV and Movies

True Blood: I love you but your episodes are too short, and the plot needs to progress a bit faster.

Deadliest Catch: I was so excited that it was Tuesday yesterday and then realized that last week was the season finally. I miss you already.

Hell’s Kitchen: I am so tired of the predictability of this show; challenges always come down to the final two contestants because everyone else always seems to tie. And I am so tired of the timing of the commercial breaks. Enough is enough.

Shark Week: I have been a loyal fan since I was a kid. But now it seems like nothing but re-runs and I’m bored. Yes a Great White feeding frenzy on a whale carcass is cool, but you can only watch it so many times.

Merlin’s Apprentice: anyone remember the 1998 movie Merlin? I happen to own it. I just realized that there was a sequel. It was made in 2006 and is so far quite horrible. There is no continuity from one movie to the other and the acting and writing is god awful. Very disappointing.

Revolutionary Road: was very strange. Not my kind of movie, but interesting to watch.

The Ugly Truth: was crude and funny, but I really enjoyed it. Gerard Butler, nuff said.