Recap

Tom was in Alaska for two weeks earlier this month, working with middle school children in a science camp called How bacteria and bugs drive the world, which was funded by the NSF:
http://www.uaf.edu/asra/summer-programs/middle-school/2013-modules/critterology/

While he was away, the house got a top to bottom clean. My theory is that when Tom is around, I expect and wait for him to help. When he's away, that option is out and everything gets done.
On Wednesday night of Week 1, I got a call from one of his friends who now lives in Philadelphia. He and his wife have a house in Birmingham that they are trying to sell and needed to come check on repairs. So I hosted Scottish Chris from Friday to Wednesday. I'm glad I had cleaned the house already. I still managed to get some crafts done (see future post) while he was here.
On Thursday of Week 2, I met up with Kelly and friends on her actual birthday at her favorite restaurant, Iguana Grill. We had a great time. We continued her birthday celebration at Kelly's and Pam's forty and fabulous party on Saturday. I brought potato salad (I might have gone overboard a little, with ~12-15 lbs of potatoes). In my defense, the guest list said 30 people were coming. I also brought our wedding cornhole boards/bean bag games. I left for a bit to pick up Tom from the airport, took him home so he could shower, and we went back to the party.

Jamal and Tom, action shot in Kelly's huge backyard

Edgar's competition: Strawberry cake from Emily

 
We were so tired that we skipped a wedding shower/stock the bar party that evening and opted for a quiet meal in. Sunday was spent catching up with chores, aka getting Tom's laundry done and putting away the suitcase.
I'm going to whine for a paragraph. Bear with me. 
Monday was awful - I got ready to go to work and my car wouldn't start. I jumpstarted the car, drove for about 30 minutes, thinking that it would charge enough and would be okay. I got to the parking deck at work and the car wouldn't start again (I should have listened to Tom when he said to take her in to the shop). Now, how to do tow a car that's in a deck (we had tried to jump it again twice and it wouldn't take). So how do you tow a car out of a parking deck? My insurance company called around and found a place that said they could do it. Waited for almost an entire day. Kedria was so nice to let me hook up my car to hers and let hers run for about 15 minutes. That didn't do it. On a hunch, I called MARS, UAB's motorist emergency service, to see if they had any ideas on how to get a car out of the deck. They didn't, but they still sent someone to check her out. The nice gentleman hooked his box to the car and she just started. Really, it was that simple? Yes, I know the box has more juice so that's why it worked. Anyways, cancelled the tow truck service, which still hadn't been dispatched. I drove the car to the regular car shop and they told me I needed a new battery. Okay, go for it. Well, it turns out that one of my terminals was corroded and they couldn't take the battery out of the car without damaging the battery cable. I was told this at around 4:15 pm and that I needed to take her to the dealership. Umm, with an upcoming trip, I just told them to keep the car and I would pick her up on Friday to deal with that mess. When I was ready to pick up the car on Friday afternoon after making arrangements to take her somewhere else, the car shop people informed me that they had found a solution and she was ready to go.

So back to Monday afternoon: Tom picked me up and we went to watch the US soccer game with Colm at Rojo. It was nice to be distracted from car troubles, and the win was great (although the US didn't play that well). 
In the early hours of Tuesday, I left for Crystal City, Virginia for a meeting. Since it was close to DC, I had the chance to meet up with BFF Grace at the National Zoo in DC - We were both excited to see the new panda cub but we were too late and all the animals had been put up for the night.

The National Zoo, yes it is this bright at 7 pm in DC

It was scorching hot in DC, hotter than in Alabama and I managed to get a tan. After the zoo, we met Mauritian Mikrish for dinner in Old Town Alexandria. We went to a place called Nando's, mostly because it's a well known chain in Mauritius. I got home late Thursday night and Friday was a blur, catching up with work and doing trip reimbursement.
Saturday, I went to Stacy's (her house is awesome, I want to buy it) for a shower in honor of our friend, Melanie. Everything was so cute and well done. Much fun was had.

Super adorable diaper cake that Melanie's sister made

Yum, cake!

Adorable monogrammed cookies

Fairy tale/dragon themed treats

After the shower, Tom and I trucked to Leeds to buy fireworks for the annual Larson 4th of July bash. This year will be on a smaller scale. Tom was having a sushi craving, so we went to SPR, a sushi place in Five Points for dinner. We capped with the night with catching up on Game of Thrones.

On Sunday, after my ritual Skype date with my parents, I went to the grocery store (yay for meal planning), and we took care of a few chores. We went to Mafioza's, our favorite pizza place in Mountain Brook and also where we had our rehearsal/family dinner before wedding 2, to meet up with Will and Emily and Matt. Tom and Will were twins for the night. Unfortunately, that didn't bring us luck. We were devastated by the loss but it's still everyone's game. Fingers crossed for Thursday's game! Go USA!

This was a long post and thank you for stopping by!