For our first baseball game this season, we were joined by Maria’s dad, Efren, and sister, Jennifer, for the ‘Battle of the Beltways’ – Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles.

Later that evening, we headed over to the 9:30 Club,  in the U Street corridor and grooved to the irie reggae sounds from Steel Pulse! Not only was this Jose’s first time at the 9:30 club, but it was also our first time going to a concert together. Needless to say, the reggae rhythms evoked all kinds of gyrations and movements from the crowd. We soon found ourselves feeling overheated and crowded, but the music was in one word, amazing!

We spent the afternoon on the Mall with Jose’s cousins, Nicholas and Christian practicing our kite flying skills. Well, in reality, we probably spent more time running up and down the Mall attempting to get the kite to catch a decent gust of wind, than any actual kite flying. It was a gorgeous spring day, perfect for kite flying and the boys seemed especially eager to run down and tackle Jose.

We eagerly participated in the March for America rally on the Mall, and joined thousands of protesters from both near and far, to demand immigration reform by Congress. It was a beautiful and unusually warm spring day, but all the better to join our friends and lend our voices on behalf of undocumented immigrants across the United States.

That evening we met up with my mom, Luz,  and my sister, Jennifer, for mass at Sacred Heart Church (16th St.) – yes, this was Jose’s first time meeting one of the parents!

March 5-7, 2010

Our Big Apple adventure kicked off with our first mission: to score tickets for the Broadway musical, “In the Heights,” from the TKTS booth at the South Street Seaport. We not only scored tickets to some great seats, but we were also rewarded with some amazing views of a gleaming Brooklyn Bridge. After a quick and impromptu photoshoot with the bridge serving as a backdrop, we realized it was time to grab lunch, so we dropped into Cabana’s for a quick Cuban meal before heading to Midtown for the next leg of our adventure.

Feeling energized and satiated, it was time to explore King Kong’s favorite NYC landmark, the Empire State Building. Several lines and multiple elevator rides later, we arrived at two observation decks: the first on the 86th floor and the second on the 102nd floor. From these heights we snapped some pretty spectacular panoramic shots of the city, both downtown and uptown, and we even spotted our friend Tony’s condo building, located across the river in New Jersey! After bidding adieu to King Kong, we headed to the Rockefeller Center, more specifically to Morrell Wine Bar & Cafe, to meet up with our friends Karoliina and Jonathan. Our night wrapped up at Camarada’s in Spanish Harlem, where we met up with our friends June, Jose and Tony, and sampled Puerto Rican delicacies and sangria, while also enjoying the live bomba/plena music.

The next morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at ‘La Unica’ bakery just a short walk from Tony’s condo, in Union City, NJ, before heading back into the city and catching the show. An amazing show capped off what was a fun-filled weekend in the city for this budding romance!

February 14, 2010

We celebrated our first Valentine’s Day as a couple with an activity-filled day in downtown DC. Our day started with a scrumptious brunch at the rooftop restaurant of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, followed by an afternoon of discovery at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).   We not only learned about the different varieties of cacao, and it’s various uses in the native american populations, but we were also treated to performances by Folkloric Peruvian dancers who dazzled us with their acrobatic “Scissor Dance.”

January 23, 2010

Since I was preparing to run the ING Miami Half Marathon, the following weekend, Jose offered to join me for my Saturday morning 10 mile training run, and even proposed a route along the fairly quiet Sligo Creek trail, in Silver Spring, MD.  I was excited to try a new route, but even more excited to discover that Jose was quite the runner himself! Nearly two hours later, with our run completed, our tired muscles were treated to soothing deep tissue massages, and nutritious protein shakes, at the nearby mall in Wheaton.

However, our second date did not end there…

That same night we met up with Jose’s friends, June and Lino, for a night of Latin dancing, at The Salsa Room, in Arlington, VA, where a fundraiser was being held to collect funds for earthquake disaster relief efforts in Haiti. We danced until our tired legs and feet couldn’t take it anymore, but had a fantastic time in the process, dancing to classic salsa, merengue and bachata tunes.

Taking a much needed break from dancing!