United!

This past weekend was a very special one. It was a weekend of extravagant birthday activities.

We celebrated the passing of another year for HusBand and what will be the first of many more holidays spent together.

The event that we both enjoyed the most was seeing DC United play Chicago Fire here at RFK stadium. I had never been to a professional soccer game before so it was all new to me. Let me tell you, television can't even capture half of the experience.

We had pretty good seats and could see everything clearly. For the uninitiated, there are two 45 minute halves in a game with a 15 minute halftime. The clock runs continuously throughout, even when the ball goes out of bounds. At the end, they play two or three more minutes to make up for that time but the crazy part is, that time isn't added back to the clock. That extra clock timer is kept somewhere else. Seems like it might be an opportunity for subjective time-keeping to me but I guess that's how it's done.

What I wasn't prepared for was the insane fanfare. RFK stadium wasn't even close to being at capacity, but it was still an experience. Apparently in soccer, fans like to beat drums and wave flags. And the bigger the better. Drums that got the crowd riled up and set a beat for chanting throughout the game.

And the flags! The two big fan sections that I could see each had 20 or so flags with DC United symbols and colors. They varied in size but there were a few enormous flags. A ringmaster of sorts would get the crowd to bring them all out at once at the right moment.

This picture doesn't do it any justice. The big striped flags in the center were massive.

And THEN, DC United had the opportunity for a penalty kick at the end of the game and scored! In one fan section a giant DC United flag came out and covered the whole crowd. In another section, the drums went crazy and someone set off a smoke grenade. The place went nuts!

Short lived lead.

We had to wait 90 minutes of game time for one goal. And THEN, in the subjective 3 minutes that followed, opposing team Chicago Fire scored two goals and it was all over. Everyone was sad then.

Kris and I were hoping that it would be a victory in honor of his birthday. We did get DC United shirts so we'll be all set for next year! We are hooked and we are going back.

Other birthday events this weekend included a Dunkin Donuts run on Saturday morning and a trip to Murphy's of DC Irish Pub, which is a popular New England Patriots bar, after the game on Saturday night. We went after the game for a quick drink. More of a recon mission.

Sunday was presents and Kris got sleepy-time themed gifts from me. Slippers, sleep pants, and a bathrobe. Also a nice "going out" shirt, wine, and protein bars. :) He also got awesome Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificates and a gift card for Ruth's Chris Steak House. That was the birthday dinner.

It was a wonderful meal. We went to the Ruth's Chris in Crystal City and enjoyed the view.

Watched the plans at Reagan land.

We each had crab cakes, spinach and pear salad, steak and shrimp with potatoes, and chocolate cheese cake. AND an awesome bottle of pinot noir. We rolled out of there. Really fun. AND to top it off, the Patriots were playing on tv in the background and won. Woo hoo!

We got home and then waited for the crowning event of the day. The Season Two premier of Walking Dead.

It did not disappoint. We were on edge the whole time. It's going to be a great season. Sunday nights will be great from now on!

Blog writing = procrastination for me. Got to hit the books. Big papers due this week and next.