26th Annual Kennedy Center Open House Arts Festival

Well if you haven't figured it out, I'm taking a break from the nine to five, hence the daily post. I only have another week of this then I'm back to the daily grind.

Since it's been a cold winter, I went through my archives to dig up some photos from summer. I found these photos taken from the 26th Annual Kennedy Center Open House Arts Festival. It's a great event to watch performers of all ages and genres give it their all.  I also made a quick movie from some video I took during the event.

Hello World!!!

I know many of you guys have been asking for pictures of Baby Roman - here you go! He's a handsome young lad!

Welcome to Old Town Herndon

Here are some photos I made of Old Town Herndon, VA.  I took some quick shots as I drove past this morning. Since I'm out in the suburbs now, I think I can use this blog to showcase some of the neighborhoods outside of the beltway to help recruit more folks to move out this way :).

Herndon is a nice little town filled with restaurants and little shops lined along brick pavered sidewalks. Many of the homes are built in the old foursquare style and still hold their charm of an era long gone. Hopefully I captured that in the photos below.

An afternoon in Vienna

As many of you know, we recently had an addition to our family -- a new baby boy, Roman. Having a new baby brother can be stressful for a little kid, so I decided to take big brother Noah out for a hot dog at Vienna Inn.  Where else can you get a hot dog, BBQ pulled pork sandwich, ice cold beer and quality time with your son for just over $10?  As you can see below, he definitely enjoyed his hot dog and most of my BBQ pulled pork sandwich.  After we left lunch, Noah spotted a train which was part of the W&OD Railroad Regional Park...

...little did we know this would turn out into a mini photoshoot.  Good thing I carry my 35mm everywhere I go.

This was a great spot to practice my photography.

Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs

Happy New Year!!!  Here's my first food entry to bring in the new year!

Below is last night's attempt at Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs from a recipe I found on Foodtv.com.  I figure I start a pot before the Brambleton Ring in the Hope 10K race that I decided to run with my sister.  By the time the race would be finished this dish would be done.  And no it didn't take me two and half hours to finish the race. The short ribs turned out fork tender, however I probably should have reduced the zinfandel reduction a tad longer.  The only change I made to the recipe was some added brown sugar to the sauce for some sweetness.