It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since my last
home leave trip, but a few weeks ago I packed my bags and headed across the pond to Chicago, Wisconsin, and Washington DC. First stop was Chicago where my favorite sister Kelly was kind enough to host me for a few days. While there I was able to meet up with some good friends that I hadn't seen in quite a while....Olga and Ben (who I hadn't seen since our trip to Alaska a few years ago) and the Aliotos (who I hadn't seen since Jordan was only a few months old).
Though I sadly have no pictures it was also great to meet up with Kristen Stutz, who was by chance in Chicago for work that week, and Anisha, who has been slapping me upside the head since we met in summer school typing class the summer before freshaman year of high school.
Then it was off to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to see my parents and enjoy the sunshine. When I arrived my request was to go to Friday night fish fry (a Wisconsin tradition) by boat and I was not disappointed as my parents, Bobby, Susan, Liz, Dave, and I headed to Gordy's by boat.
It was great to get up and ski in the morning and then spend my days sitting on the pier listing to all the Oakwood gossip.
Then it was off to DC! I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with Sophie Kim (and her parents Amie and Alex) whom I had not seen since she was 4 days old.
The following day I met Jeff for lunch at
Matchbox, a newish restaurant in DC that is very "in" right now - it was fantastic! After spending the afternoon shopping in Georgetown, I met Kara at her office and we headed back to her an Chris's great new home! We met up with Elizabeth Setterlin for dinner at
Clare and Don's Beach Shack. Kara always does better than me at restaurant recaps so check out
her post on the place.
On Thursday I met Susan and Carla, friends who I used to work with in DC, for lunch at The Bistro and afterwards went into the office to say hi to everyone else. Then I was off to the Mall to meet Sheila at the Museum of Natural History to see the
Butterfly Exhibit.
After at drink at
Zaytinya with Sheila to wait out a spur of the moment (and completely insane) thunderstorm, I headed back to Arlington to meet Stephanie for dinner at
Lost Dog Cafe (oh, how I've missed Lost Dog....and Steph too!).
On Friday morning I got to meet
Miss Ashley Grace Hurst...and see her mother Megan. Then it was up to Maryland to meet Aaron for a lovely lunch outside in Friendship Heights. Then I headed to Alexandria for a haircut with Stephen...is it weird that whenever I'm in DC I have Kara make me an appointment to get my haircut with my favorite hairstylist Stephen?? Then Sheila and I headed down to the Mall to watch Wake Forest beat UMass in CAN softball - GO DEACS!
We rounded out the day with some excellent sangria and Mexican food at El Paso Cafe in Arlington with Erin Norris. Finally, Sheila took me to Falls Church to finally get to see Stacey's new home - and it was worth the wait - adorable!
Saturday morning Stacey and I decided to pamper ourselves with manicures and pedicures followed by some shopping in Tysons...I went a little crazy with the shoe shopping, but with the dollar so low and sale season, can you really blame me? Plus, in my defense, my shoes get ruined on all the cobblestones over here :)
What a fantastic trip home...it was great to see so many friends! For those of you I didn't see, I hope you're doing well and hope to see you soon!!
On Wednesday, July 23rd at 2:14pm, Grant and Nikki welcomed their first son into this world. Bo Declan Skelton weighed 3.77 kg and was 54cm long...or, for those of you who are not as metricly inclined - 8lbs, 5oz and 21inches.
I'm glad you're here Bo...can't wait to watch you grow up!!
There were plenty of beer tents set up, but the Gammel Dansk ladies spent the afternoon passing out free shots of 
After starting the morning with my favorite kickboxing class, I headed to the boutique shops on Nordre Frihavnsgade (a street in my neighborhood) to see if I could take advantage of the summer sale season. Unfortunately...or fortunately, depending on how you look at it...I was unsuccessful, but did end up getting a great new beach bag that I immediately put to use as Katie and I headed to Kongens Have to relax in the sun.
Copenhagen Jazz Festival is going on right now - 10 days, 100s of Jazz musicians from around the world, venues all over the city - super fun. There were concerts going on throughout the afternoon in Kongens Have...the perfect backdrops as we laid out and soaked up the sun. 
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