it's a foxfield miracle!

great weekend in charlottesville - as usual. here's my top ten-ish from the weekend (in no particular order, and i'll probably add more as i remember):

1. the percolator.
heard it on elliot in the morning on the drive down. i swear. and it definitely set the weekend off in the right direction.

2. all the delicious food.
in two and a half days i managed to fit in dumplings, arch's, starr hill (dinner in a private room), crepes (back to the scene of the crime - but this time there wasn't any texas pete), bodos (twice!), take it away, mellow mushroom (calling 411 on the bus ride home and picking up two large pizzas when we got back might have been the most genius idea ever - especially when we saw the hordes of people waiting to get in) and the white spot (give me your money and i will have a gusburger for you in five minutes or less). i guess it's a good thing i went for a run yesterday afternoon.

3. mike, the bus driver.
he got us a little scared when he couldn't fit the bus under the 14th street bridge and ended up taking the most roundabout detour of life. but, he got us there in one piece, so i guess i can't complain. plus you know you have a cool bus driver when he comes and hangs at your plot at foxfield.

4. pirate cups.
yes, those sweet pirate cups you saw everyone walking around with on saturday were coming from our plot. that might have been the best idea i ever had.

5. late night phone calls.
ha ha ha ha. if you weren't at christian's back in january there's really no way you'd get this, sorry. actually even if you were at christian's that night you still might not get it. luckily we're good at re-enacting.

6. our waiter at biltmore.
since when is there waiter service on the deck at biltmore? we got there at 10ish on saturday night and we didn't have to go to the bar once to get drinks. it was really good since it smelled really bad in there saturday night. so bad that we decided to try the bathroom at buddhist instead. and when that line was too long for our liking we just popped into zydeco to use the rest room and then hopped back across the street. in my opinion it was much better than braving the already overflowing bathrooms at biltmore.

7. tequila shot.
despite what you might think - tequila shots make excellent nightcaps.

8. 80s dance party at jaberwoke.
in our impromptu road trip to charlottesville back in february we discovered the gloriousness that is jaberwoke on a saturday night. we clearly decided to relive the glory this past saturday - and danced the night away on the stage - giving everyone who was waiting in line/walking by a free show. the only downfall was that stupid strobe light - but i really am like whatever.

9. playing games.
saturday night as we were rallying to head back out we plugged in the iboom and started playing name that tune. granted we were using my ipod, but i still dominated that game. and then on our way out we decided to start the game of "let's see how many people we actually know." we soon lost track of the count - but i think i should get double points for the handshake on the corner. then on the drive back on sunday we decided to play some botticelli.

10. kicking the guy out of our plot.
we had fifty people at our plot. plus all of their friends who would randomly stop by. so it was a little hard to regulate the food and drink situation, but we tried our best. so when some random buy stumbled into our plot i didn't really think much of it. but, then susie asked me if i knew the guy. clearly, i didn't. and then he took a look through our bottles and started pouring himself some rum (in a pirate cup, no less). so sus made eyes and nari and nari came over and asked him what he was doing. and his response was, "i'm just hanging." and then nari went off on him and told him this was her plot and he needed to leave, which lucky for everyone he did. and as he walked away i snatched his cup right from his hand. that'll teach him to mess with us again.

11. saturday afternoon/evening lounge session.
instead of napping i managed to eat (clearly), watch the draft, watch little people/big world, go to starbucks and hang out in our hotel lobby (since everyone else was napping). but, when i went back into our room to get ready for saturday, part II everyone was up and raring to go. i think the interaction went a little like this:
sus (still in bed): what's the plan?
me: i'm getting ready and then heading to bars soon.
sus (springing out of bed): wow, let me tell you that little power nap was so crucial.
me: oh, good.
sus: yeah, i'm ready to run a marathon.
me: really?
sus: ok, maybe just a fun run.

12. the motorcade.
sunday morning we walked over to bodos to get some breakfast. there were cops everywhere and lots of the streets were closed off. and then we started hearing sirens. and no, it wasn't even anyone special. it was just a bike race coming through the streets of charlottesville. but now i know - six sirens means it's a bike race and not the president.

13. the guy on the corner.
friday afternoon as we were walking up the corner we witnessed the sweetest thing (coincidentally right outside of the sweet spot). some guy (presumably a student) brought some food to the homeless guy on the corner and proceeded to sit down and eat a "meal" with him.

14. the morning after.
this was probably the best line of the weekend. we were walking up the corner (apparently we did this a lot this weekend) and we passed a friend. she was nicely dressed for a sunday - almost as if she was coming from church. so naturally susie called her out on it. and then the girl responded: "oh, no this is what i wore last night." what a great way to end the weekend.

you have five days to recover - cinco de mayo is on saturday!

julian bond

yes, that julian bond. a week from tuesday (may 8th) he will be speaking in mclean. he'll be speaking at the mclean community center about how race, technology and immigration shaped today's music (aka "crossing the color line: from rhythm 'n blues to rock 'n roll"). it starts at 7:30pm and it's free. but (you knew there was a but), you have to pick up a ticket first. they'll start handing out tickets starting at 6:30pm and there's a two ticket limit per person. having had the pleasure of taking his class at uva, i highly recommend checking this out - this guy's a living legend!

lunch cruise on the potomac

i was a little apprehensive about going on this work sponsored lunch cruise, but with this nice weather (and the chance to legitimately take a three hour lunch) i figured i'd give it a shot. we cabbed over to the waterfront and got our tickets to board the spirit of washington. before we boarded we had to take the obligatory pre-cruise tacky picture, but luckily i was able to sneak by the photographer. we got on the boat and the "hostesses" showed us to the upper level, which we had all to ourselves.

at this point i was starving so i immediately broke into the rolls on our table. they filled up our waters and handed out coupons for drinks (don't worry - it was only for juice or soda). and then the dj came out. now i'm sure he was forced to play all the bad music he played, but come on. i mean it was painful. and they conveniently had the speakers turned up all the way. i think my ears still hurt.

right before the boat pulled out they did their safety spiel. one of the "hostesses" doubled as a flight attendant of sorts and showed us how to properly adjust a life vest, in the event that we needed one. keep in mind this woman was wearing a black velvet dress w/ rhinestones. it was about as heinous as you could get. at least it was black - any other color would have just been tragic.

then they called our tables up one by one to get some food from the buffet. let's just say the food was nothing to write home about. and luckily there were still some extra rolls on the table. and as we were all eating the dj came over the mic to announce that our entertainment for the afternoon would be arriving shortly. ooooh boy, this was going to be great. so it turned out our entertainment was a group of two girls (the "hostesses" - they were multi-taskers) and two guys. i honestly felt like i was at a bar mitzvah. a really bad bar mitzvah.

luckily there was a top deck, so we excused ourselves to go get some sun and see the "sights." the boat took us down the potomac past old town and then turned around and brought us back. so the "sights" were hains point and the awakening, all the naval stuff, old town, the torpedo factory, etc. it was thrilling, let me tell you.

we ventured back down into the cabin just so we could gobble up our dessert, which was actually quite delicious (and most definitely not nutritious). it was some sort of chocolate layer cake with strawberries - right up my alley!

before the entertainment started up again we made a bee-line for upstairs and spent the rest of the cruise up in the sun. too bad we had to stand around in heels - all the chairs were covered in pollen - gross. as we started to pull back into the dock we figured we'd sneak back downstairs so we could get off the boat faster. big mistake. the entertainers were back and had dragged some of our group up to do the cha cha slide, etc. well actually some of them looked like they were legitimately enjoying themselves, so more power to them.

we finally pulled in and they docked the boat. we hopped off and as we walked down the dock we passed all the pictures they took. luckily i had bypassed that situation. and like anyone would actually buy one of them anyway. we went to hop in a cab, but there were no cabs in site. we had to walk all the way down to the cheap motel (stuck in between zanzibar and h2o) before we could hail one down. but then it was just a hop, skip and a jump and we were back to the office.

and now, three hours later i'm still feeling a little nauseous. i'm not sure if it's from the food or the boat. it's probably both.

and tomorrow is bring your kid to work day. we got an email about all the fun activities they have planned for the kids. and the best part of the email was: "If you have an important meeting or conference call during this time, please just shut the door to your office. The children will be instructed that if a door is closed, they should not disturb you." well it's a good thing i have an office door i can close. ugh.

but, i'm optimistic - tomorrow means there's only one more day until charlottesville. hooray!

yes, i'm an excel nerd

inevitably i spend the majority of my day in excel. but, it's not like i'm complaining because i happen to love excel. i mean it basically does all your work for you - that is if you know how to use it. me and my coworker go back and forth telling each other little short cuts we discover. we both have gotten to the point where there is no need for the mouse - we can do everything from the keyboard.

well, i almost never use the mouse. probably my favorite short cut is the alt-tab combination. especially since i'm the world's biggest multi-tasker so i always have about ten things open at the same time. but, here's what kills me - most of my spreadsheets have multiple sheets. and clearly they're all related so i'm bound to be going back and forth between the various sheets. but, as i tragically discovered, alt-tab doesn't do the trick between sheets. it totally screws with my rhythm when i have to go to the mouse to click the different tabs.

well, yesterday we figured it out. my coworker was on the phone with his friend who works up on the trading floor and was asking about something else when i yelled over to have him ask about this problem we'd been having. well, his friend came through in a big way. if you want to go between sheets all you have to do is hit ctrl and page up/down. go ahead and try it - you can thank me later.

the sun in shining, i'm going on a river cruise for lunch today and i'm going to charlottesville in two days. wow, life is great!

commence patio/deck drinking NOW!

just got my weekly email update from dr. dremos and was very excited when i got to this part:

**When is the patio opening? It depends on the weather. We are
hoping around the 2nd weekend in May. Each day will be a "game time decision"
for the first few weeks while we are waiting for the weather to change for good.
Call our hotline, if the patio is open, it will say so in the beginning of
the message. 703.528.4660. General rule of thumb: if the over night low is below
65, it won't be open.

and all around the city restaurants are putting out tables and chairs so people can enjoy their lunches outside. but i guess none of this matters when your mom works a block away and has a rooftop deck on top of her building. yeah, it's pretty sweet.

and keep your fingers crossed for saturday - so far the weather's looking great!

mmmm cupcakes!

don't those look delicious?? especially those red velvet ones! well maybe not as delicious as my oreo cupcakes (kidding). i just found out that murky coffee (in arlington and on capitol hill) is serving baked goods from bakeshop dc. but, that's only while the guy behind bakeshop dc looks for some permanent real estate so he can set up a full fledged bakery. i can't wait to see how these cupcakes compare to all the rest i've sampled (baked&wired, furins, buzz, cakelove, etc.)

party w/ the wiz tonight at fly

my coworker is co-hosting this party w/ uva's own roger mason jr. so if partying on a monday is your thing go knock yourself out. i hear it's going to be pretty ridiculous. me, i think i'll go swim and get a good night's rest in anticipation of this weekend.

support for the hokies

no this isn't from virginia tech. actually it's not even from the state of virginia. sus took this picture at the blue & white game up at penn state this past weekend.

this weekend was pretty good

couldn't have asked for a better weekend weather-wise. it was gorgeous! and now i've got a short week ahead before i head down to charlottesville on friday. and to top it all off, it's employee appreciation week (i.e. lots of free food/events. hooray!)

here are some highlights from my weekend:
- work happy hour at harry's. nothing beats outside tables, endless pitchers and free popcorn. especially with the crowd i work with. it's guaranteed hours of endless entertainment.

- was driving on p st. in georgetown saturday and passed roy hibbert walking hand in hand w/ his "girlfriend." let's be honest, he probably has a starting 20.

- stopped into saxby's coffee. can't wait for them to open up more stores in the area.

- enjoyed a day of shopping/eating in georgetown. luckily we scored an outside table at furin's, but tragically we declined the cupcakes because we were holding out for thomas sweet. but, once we finally made it all the way up wisconsin they were out of oreo. total dagger.

- we even made it a point to walk around georgetown's campus on saturday afternoon. it was fun pretending to be back in college. and it was even more fun to crash the springfest like activities that were going on.

- power hour on saturday night was crucial. and even more crucial was the software i downloaded. it's called ipowerhour and it converts your music from itunes into one minute segments and ties them all together w/ a simpsons quote about beer (which gets really old by about minute 42). the only problem is it might cut off the favorite part of your song. it's especially awkward when everyone's singing along and gearing up for the chorus and then the song changes. oh and the next power hour i do will be all whitney. who's in?

- another fun night at garrett's. not as great as st. patrick's day, but really will any night ever top that? we came close when on our ride home our cabdriver, referring the maniac driver in the lane next to us, said: "he's from the jungle." really??

- yesterday's weather was definitely pool worthy. too bad dl isn't open yet. i had to improvise and just lay our on our deck instead. it was the perfect lazy sunday.

- ended the weekend at jammin java last night. beside the fact that there was absolutely no leg room in between the rows (think an airplane row, but 10 times worse) we enjoyed ourselves immensely. the opener was the eva castillo trio. it was her (good voice, played guitar) and box player and an upright bass player - it was a funky sound. and the bass player totally looked like someone i knew, but we were unable to determine exactly who it was. we settled on a mix of ryan gosling, jason cain and matt schaub. and then eric hutchinson came on. and he did not disappoint. he sang a bunch of his older songs and through in a lot of his newer ones too. and of course he did his jt parody - which was even more hilarious than last time i heard it. and then he closed the show out in the best way possible. he did a medley of i wanna dance with somebody, how will i know and my girl. let's be honest - anyone who covers whitney is awesome in my book.

- and the wiz are playing in the playoffs! yes, they lost yesterday, but maybe they'll turn it around. although i doubt it since roger mason jr. is hosting a "kickoff of the 2007 nba playoffs" party at fly tonight. a party on a monday night in the middle of the first round has to be good for the team, right??

happy foxfield week! four days and counting...

spring has sprung

must have been all that sunshine and all those birds chirping that woke me up early this morning. but with weather like this who can complain?

i figured since i was already getting to work early i might as well treat myself to some real coffee (i.e. not just the luke warm brown water concoction going on in my office). i contemplated walking over to caribou but when i noticed the line for starbucks wasn't out the door i figured i'd just pop in there.

i walked up and ordered my coffee and handed the lady my starbucks card. but, tragically it didn't have enough money on it and i still owed her 48 cents. so since i had my wallet out i just whipped out my debit card and handed it over. she gave me an annoyed look and asked, "do you really not have 48 cents?" now, probably somewhere deep down in my humongous work bag i probably could have scrounged up 48 cents, but honestly that would have taken about ten times longer than if she had just swiped my card. so instead i said, "no, sorry i don't." then she handed my card back to me (without swiping it first) and just grabbed in the "tip" jar and took out 48 cents. so thank you, starbucks lady, for giving me a 48 cent discount on my coffee this morning.

the sun in shining and it's supposed to hit 70 degrees today. color me excited!

you really should never take a bet with me

this is probably the most random story ever, so just bear with me. i was just eating lunch w/ a coworker and we somehow got on the subject of disney movies. [ok, honestly i know how we got on the subject of disney movies, but it would be entirely too much trouble to explain. let's just say it all started when weather.com listed the forecast for today as "sprinkles."]

so back to the disney movies. me and my coworker got deep into conversation about how old we were when different movies came out. and then we started listing movies out in the order they were released. my order was 1) little mermaid 2) beauty and the beast 3) aladdin 4) lion king. i was pretty confident about it. then my coworker counters with 1) beauty and the beast 2) little mermaid 3) lion king 4) aladdin. we went back and forth about it and then eventually came to the decision that we would bet a potbelly cookie about the order of the first two. so it was a bet about whether little mermaid or beauty and the beast came out first.

we came back to our desks and immediately logged onto imdb to settle the bet. i mean do i even have to tell you the outcome? clearly i won. i can't wait to cash in on my sweet (pun intended) prize. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

and just in case you want to take a stroll down disney history lane - you can go here and check out the release dates of all the disney animated movies.

and now the story's going to get really confusing. so at that point two others had gathered around to see what us crazy people were talking about. and we got to talking about how old we were when the different movies were released (1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994 in case you were curious). one of my coworkers was in high school at the time and we started laughing when we realized she was probably getting ready for the prom as we were watching disney movies.

and then i threw it out there that i (willingly) never went to prom. and everyone got all up in arms about it. and some guy asked me if i was from around here (not sure what one thing has to do with the other) but i said i was and that i went to marshall. he went to langley. figures.

and then the conversation switched over to high school sports and inevitably to swimming and how the langley women's swim team was literally unbeatable for my four years of high school. just thinking back to when i had to swim next to them and how i got second....by like 10 seconds. ugh.

so while we were on the subject of rec centers it made sense to segue into the all night grad party. oh what fun the all night grad party was. we were reminiscing (since we both had it at spring hill) about how great it was and how everyone played in the pool, etc. and then out of nowhere another coworker (from florida) chimed in that her grad night was at disney world. yeah so that all night grad party at spring hill rec center isn't sounding so cool anymore, is it?

sunshine!

with the crappy weather for the past few days i had almost forgotten how nice it is to wake up to sunshine. and this morning, since i have a skylight in my bathroom(!), i didn't even have to turn on any lights. and i just took a look at the 10-day forecast and (after we get through tomorrow)it's looking good. it should be near 70 this weekend - and the week leading up to foxfield is looking good as well. but, i don't want to jinx anything. if there's anything i've learned from living in the dc area my whole life it's that you should never trust the weather forecast.

and here's just one of the many feel good stories in the post this morning. that ryan zimmerman is really a classy guy.

ps. 10 days until foxfield!

yesterday was a sad, sad day

i'm still in shock over what happened yesterday down in blacksburg. and i'm sure that reading every last word about it in the wapo (in every section!) this morning didn't help. and even though i don't personally know anyone down there who was injured/killed i do know that there were 32 people killled and countless more injured. and the reports coming out now are saying the shooter was from fairfax county and many of the casualties were as well. this is a story that won't (and shouldn't) go away anytime soon.

if you, like me, need some cheering up this afternoon just head over to ben & jerry's to get some free ice cream. and if you're not near any ben & jerry's shops then you can go online and create your own flavor. because let's be honest - ice cream makes everyone feel better.

just another manic monday

hard to believe it's monday again. but it is. and it's it's cold. it's rainy. and the wind is strong enough to blow over a small child. remind me again why i got out of bed this morning. at least i don't look out a window at work (ugh) so i can't be reminded how miserable it is outside.

but now that i'm on my third cup of coffee i'm feeling a little bit better. so here are some things to cheer you up as well:

tuesday, april 17th - free cone day at ben & jerry's. maybe the cold temperatures will keep the crowds away. well, maybe not.
sunday, april 22nd - eric hutchinson at jammin java. tickets are $10. and i've heard he's pretty good.
saturday, april 28th - foxfield. do i really need to explain this?
saturday, may 5th - cinco de mayo. if you're not at our fiesta you're really missing out on life.
memorial day weekend - let the summer of lounging by the pool commence. oh, and the fun run. can't forget the fun run.

happy birthday tj!

true, it's friday the 13th. but it can't be all that bad since it's also mr. jefferson's birthday.

and maybe the wapo was readying for his birthday when, on wednesday, john kelley wrote a little column about tj. apparently some guy named mark (no, not that mark) who works as a dc public library photo archivist (sounds fun, right?) recently found signed document by tj from 1805. well some other peeps signed it too - it's signed by a bunch of 19th century ballers who all pledged a bunch of money to "educate the city's youth."

in a nutshell, tj is the founder of the dc public school system. but, just like today, his plan didn't work out so well:

"After the first year, the schools were running a deficit. Within
five years, the system had collapsed. Jefferson didn't give up. Instead, he
turned his attention to his next venture: the somewhat more successful
University of Virginia."

and to think, over 200 years later we still haven't gotten it right. but maybe fenty will be the one to sort it all out. maybe by the time dc has a respectable public school system they'll actually have a vote in congress. no, probably not.

and don't forget tomorrow from 3-5pm a bunch of uva acapella groups are coming up and singing at the jefferson memorial. and they're collecting money for accessUVA (come on you know you want to support the commercials w/ sean patrick thomas). sounds like a win-win to me. well except for the heinous weather report.

tallula

my friends and i have a little dinner club - we try and get out once a month and try one of the restuarants on our list. tonight it's time for april's dinner, and we're heading to tallula, the newish restuarant in clarendon. tallula is owned by the same peeps behind rustico, buzz and evening star cafe. i've heard great things about the new space - especially the new eat bar concept they have at the bar. i really love that they've incorporated the EAT sign into their restaurant. it's almost as if a little bit of whitey's lives on.

what, you've never heard of whitey's? that's really a shame. but it just highlights the growing problem in arlington. clarendon used to be fun and a bit quirky. now it's ruled by chains - cheesecake factory, la tasca, crate and barrel. thanks, but i can go to the mall if i want that. i liked have a fun neighborhoodly (is that even a word?) to go to. now the whole ballston-rosslyn corridor is full of high rises and chains. and even courthouse, which i thought would hold out, is becoming a victim - dr. dremos is set to close in the fall and a brand new high rise will go up in it's place.

anyways, back to whitey's. growing up around here, i used to go with my parents all the time. it was a total dive bar and was located where tallula is now. they were famous for their broasted chicken. it's like fried chicken but not as greasy. yeah, it was that good. and they also had these super greasy beer battered onion rings. it was always packed when we went and i'm sure the bar scene was happening. tragically whitey's closed in 2003 so i never got to experience the place as a bar. oh well.

in searching for information about whitey's i stumbled upon some old going out gurus chats from 2003 in which they discuss the closing of the neighborhood spot. when things slow down here i might just have to go through some of the archives and see what was popular back then. maybe fritz made some other bets that he backed out on. no, was that just me?

hail to the redskins!

they just announced the 2007 nfl schedule! it's actually perfect timing - with the wizards season practically over. did anyone else watch the game last night? it was just pathetic. i was watching and they were winning. and then they just lost. stupid nets. but at least we still made the playoffs. i'm just hoping we won't lose the first four and be out. maybe we'll rebound. let's hope.

enough w/ the depressing wiz talk - i just can't wait for football! there is nothing better than spending sunday afternoon/evening on the couch watching football. really, nothing better. i'm just hoping the skins don't blow it like they did last year. and the year before. and the year before that...

for a good cause

on june 14th you'll be sad you don't work in commercial real estate. that's the date for this year's real estate games, which is a huge fundraiser for jdrf. remember field day in elementary school? well, this is better. it's a full day of fun events held up at american. and it's in the middle of the week. and you get trophies and other sweet prizes when you win. and yes, i still have my swimming trophy from last year on my desk at work.

but, there is something you can do even if you won't be attending the games. we got an email today at work alerting us to an online auction in conjunction w/ the games. you can go check it out here and start bidding on exciting things such as skins tickets, restaurant gift certificates, and even the chance to drive a hummer for a whole weekend.

so, please take a minute out of your busy day to go check it out.

9:30

being at the 930 club last night got me thinking about why i love the place so much. so i figured i'd throw some of my ideas around. clearly, in no particular order.

1. smoke free.
ok, i guess this is a whole dc thing, but the 930 club benefits from this for sure. i used to dread going to shows there (pre-january 2007 of course) just because of how smokey it got. especially certain shows - it was pretty much unbearable (citizen cope comes to mind, specifically).

2. beer, and lots of it.
it's so refreshing to go to a concert there and be able to get a decent beer (read: not bud light). with three full bars all serving a wide array of beers you're bound to find something you like. well, unless you want any coors brand beer. i had a chat w/ one of the bartenders one night and apparently the owner has some beef w/ the coors people so they don't serve any of it (yes, that's why you won't find any blue moon).

3. vip section.
ok i admit it's most fun to be right in the thick of things down on the floor, but sometimes it's nice to take a step back (and up). and where better to enjoy the show then from the roped off, seated vip area w/ a great view of the stage? oh right, there's the balcony overlooking the stage. but, tragically i have yet to get up there.

4. little mermaid.
does anyone else love that they have barbie dolls on the bathroom doors? i especially love the downstairs girls bathroom, which has a little mermaid doll on the door signifying it is in fact the ladies room. and if i'm not mistaken there's a prince doll on the guy's door. perhaps it's eric?

and a few random thoughts: a) whatever anyone tells you, 930 club is nothing like clarendon grill; b) the 930 part comes from the old address at 930 f st.; c) how cool would it have been to see justin there? and i don't even love him. but i'm telling you it would have been a sick concert; d) if the supposed house of blues opens downtown it better not jack up ticket prices and take away from the "charm" of the 930 club.

so checkout the schedule and get yourself to a show, pronto! but, just watch out for large packs of girls, they might be looking to beat you up. and a little warning - if you don't bring an id don't even think about holding a drink, let alone actually drinking. i know a 39 year old who got kicked out because they didn't have their id. for real.

it's undeniable - mat kearney (pronounced karni) is pretty good. no, scratch that - he's great. and what could be better than a smoke-free 930 club on a monday night? i'm just really glad there's a starbucks in my building.

so if you haven't heard mat kearney you should get on that. a friend turned me onto him last year and i was lucky enough to hear him open for train last year at wolftrap. his voice is amazing, his lyrics are great and he is probably the best (only?) speak singer i've ever heard.

and clearly he threw in the inevitable pop culture reference. he was was introducing "where we gonna go from here." he went on and on about how he wrote this "love" song, but how he never in his wildest dreams expected mcdreamy and meredith to make out to it. haha. in case you're wondering it's from this season in episode 8 - when meredith gets back w/ derek. also ingrid's "breakable" is in the episode. and lily allen. what a great lineup.

the best part of the show came right at the end. it was his third song into the encore and it was "undeniable." the song, as written, has random "spoken" verses, but he really through a curve ball at the end. he totally ad-libbed a verse all about dc. and it was legit - he was throwing dc/md/va references at us left and right. and then he even got into real estate and how the market's good to buy right now (holla). and then after the show my new friend said, "that last part was great. i think i would be in love with mat if he had thrown in an orange line reference."

and just a word of caution - stay away from the downstairs bar, stage left. i've had a few bad experiences down there, but last night was just ridiculous. the bartender took my friend's cash and then "forgot" how much he had taken and tried to accuse her that she hadn't paid enough. luckily she stood her ground and put up enough of a fight. he eventually gave in (and gave her drink back), but not before saying, "i know i'm right, but you can just have your stupid beer. it's not worth fighting about." lame.

i'm still bummed we got there too late to enjoy the first opener. it was some band from the uk - the feeling. we caught the tail end of their last song and it sounded very promising. plus the lead singer delivered the best line of the night (w/ a sweet accent, of course): "life's too short to be shy."

and i've determined today will be much better than yesterday solely because i didn't get boxed out on the metro this morning. well for the rest of you it's one day closer to the weekend!

say it ain't so

i was just skimming through my daily washington business journal email update when i came across this! you have got to be kidding me. first z104 gets canned. and i cried. (ok that's a lie, but if i cried at all i would have cried over this). so then it goes classical for a bit and i think it was wapo radio for a little and then it (seemingly) settled on george 104. which (as you can see from a previous post) i enjoy(ed). now i did notice yesterday that they were playing all sorts of gospel/religious music, but i figured that was just because it was easter. boy, was i wrong. might be about time to boycott the radio again. thank god (pun intended) for ipods.

wolftrap, part deux

as promised, they announced the remaining summer schedule this morning. wow, they were really holding out on us. i know you're going to go look at the whole schedule yourself, but here are some of my favorites: g love(!), b52's, frankie vallie, squeeze. i'll stop now before i list the entire line-up. i'll see you on the lawn. i'll be the one smack dab in the middle w/ a nice cold refreshment. ok and a whole lot of yummy food, let's not lie.

lazy sunday

there is nothing better than waking up sunday morning (fully refreshed, mind you) and just settling in w/ a cup of coffee and the wapo. now to be honest i usually just skim through the post magazine, but luckily someone had alerted me to the sweet article in it this week. it was about this super famous violinist, joshua bell, and how he went undercover and played for an hour one morning at l'enfant plaza - with his $3.5 million violin. and he made $35ish and just about five people stopped to listen. pretty crazy, right? and the whole time they had hidden cameras - and you can watch the results if you read the article online. and there's an online chat w/ the article's author (none other than gene weingarten) this afternoon at 1pm.

and then i got to the sunday source. i mean it's pretty much the best section ever. and they somehow seem to outdo themselves every single weekend. first they brought us the first annual beer madness tournament. and then yesterday it was a peep show. apparently there was a contest to submit a peep diorama. i'm still not sure how i didn't hear about this (i totally could have dominated this contest). but, whatever. they expected a few people to submit entries - and they were literally blown away when over 300 people entered. awesome.

honestly i don't love the one they picked for first place. well at least it's not my favorite. my top five, no make that seven (in order of how they fall in the slideshow) are: batman and robin (#3), peeping tom (#4), peeposuction (#5), new orleans (#8), rosslyn metro (#10), little miss peep (#11), and the pandas (#12). you can judge them all for yourself here.

i can't wait to see what the next sunday source brings us. only six more days. i mean it's monday, but at least it's sunny (if not warm). but i say - get out and enjoy the pollen free air!

have you ever heard of red bull and sleeping in on saturday?

i'm not sure why our office didn't close early for good friday. i mean pretty much no one was there. in fact it was 5:45 and i was at my desk getting some stuff done. at this point i had both headphones in and was rocking out to my ipod. and then i had to get up to get something from the printer and i took my headphones out and i realized that i might legitimately be the only person in the office. yikes. so i tried to get in touch w/ some peeps and see what the deal was and discovered there was a group across the street at harry's so i packed up my stuff and headed down for a beer. hooray beer!

harry's was pretty hoppin. it probably was because of the widespread panic concert at the warner theater, or maybe it was just because it was friday. but either way their tour bus was right in front. pretty hott. so i met some fun new work peeps - well i mean we obviously had "met" before - but you know we actually met. i mean really you haven't met until you drink together, right?

and apparently most of them had been down there since approximately 3pm so they were all about ready to head home. but that was fine by me - i had another stop to make already. so it was onto oya. i've been meaning to get over to that place - man have i been missing out. and it was my coworkers' birthday so it was a perfect excuse to go. the space is awesome (complete w/ fireplaces and waterfalls) and the drinks are delicious. they were even mixing special "cherry" drinks for obvious reasons - very delish!

so after we had some shots of patron to top ourselves off we decided to move onto matchbox to grab some dinner. i went to put our name on the list and they told me it would be an hour and fifteen minute wait. that was just unacceptable. so i called up my coworker and told him the situation and he told me, "hold tight, we'll be over in a minute." true to his word he and his friend popped in a minute later, talked to the manager and our name was suddenly starred and highlighted. and we were seated not long after. nice.

matchbox was delicious, as always. those sliders are ridiculously good - especially with all those onion straws piled on top. and the pizzas we created were so yummy - they really should put them on the menu. and luckily our food came out fast because we were starving (and it even came faster than the people next to us who had clearly been sitting there longer than us - suckers.)

but, i think the best part of the night was the ride home. we figured we'd just walk the few extra blocks over to metro center. and obviously we took the "shortcut" through the infamous hyatt - even though we didn't even have to use the bathroom. we got all the way down to the orange platform and went to the front bench. and then we saw a rat scatter past on the platform. it was absolutely disgusting. but then what we saw next more than made up for it. we were witnesses to a major dance off between a bunch of "guys." it was amazing. tragically (luckily?) we didn't have a super long wait so we didn't get to see how it all panned out, but the few minutes we saw of it was pretty sweet.

friday nights are generally pretty rough, but i'd say we made the most of this one. oh and i almost forgot - it started snowing (!) on our walk home from the metro. i mean it's legitimately into april right now. this is just ridiculous. only 21 days until foxfield and there's snow on the ground - it's ludicrous!

it's things like these that make me appreciate the tourists

i'm totally ripping this straight from the pages of dcist - but seriously it's hilarious. i really need to start sending in some of the stuff i overhear. but mainly the most ridiculous things are what i see. i need to walk around armed with a camera at all times. heyyy-yyyy.

so here's one of the "overheard in dc " comments this week:

You know you're just jealous someone else had the guts to say it before you did.
At the Crystal City Metro:
Tourist, looking at a map: "Excuse me? Which line do I take to the Smithsonian?"
Tourist's Wife: "Why is this so confusing? How do people in DC get anywhere?"
Metro Employee: "Look, are you colorblind? Or just plain stupid?"
Tourist and Wife: *silence*
Metro Employee: "Shit...you colorblind, ain't you?"

and here's an oldie, but goodie i once overheard:

Standing on the rooftop, at the bar, at Clarendon Ballroom:
Girl 1: "Hi, I'd like a Bud Light, please."
Bartender: "You know we have Miller Lite on special for $1.50 right now?"
Girl 1: "Yeah, I'd really prefer a Bud Light."
Bartender: "Ok, whatever."
Girl 1, gets her beer and turns to Girl 2: "You know I just like Bud Light so much better."

it still boggles my mind that someone would willingly spend $5 for a bud light when the miller lites are only $1.50. honestly, i can't make these things up.

stand to the right, you escalump

so if by some chance you haven't noticed it yet - tourist season is upon us. is it just me or do they seem to get worse and worse every year? i feel like they're purposely moving as slow as possible in order to annoy every last commuter. also, do they not notice that NO ONE else is talking in the morning? there is most definitely an unwritten rule that you don't talk on the morning commute - and every last one of them breaks it. ugh.

and then there's the escalators. where do i even begin? if you have no idea what i'm talking about go check out this classic wapo article on the subject. this woman nailed the subject. and she got some killer quotes in the process. the last line of the article is by far my favorite: She expertly insinuated herself into an empty space to her right, then to her left, weaving around them, like a running back. "I've become quite an expert," she said. "I'm just very fleet of foot. Sometimes I say, 'Stand to the right.' Sometimes I just charge."

smack dab in the middle of the article there's a link to what might be the best site ever. standtotheright.com. some geniuses have made t-shirts on the subject. and my theory on tshirts is you really can never have too many (this coming from the girl who legitimately - logistically? - has over two hundred t-shirts).

and then she goes into some escalator trivia. ooooh my favorite! now seeing as i'm so well versed in random tidbits (well that or i took the sunday source's history of dc quiz back in the fall) i already knew that the escalator at wheaton is the longest escalator of any metro station. now i've never been to wheaton (thank god) but i have been to rosslyn and dupont, so i can only imagine how long wheaton's escalator is. especially when i found out that it is the longest escalator in the entire western hemisphere. that's probably the most useless information i will ever discover, but i love it.

but at least most metro stations have working escalators (or do they?). us lucky ones out at dunn loring have been stuck w/ an up escalator and a set of stairs (and the mysterious, oh so slow elevator) since the winter when they decided it would be a great idea to renovate the down escalator for SIX MONTHS. but hey, at least they didn't take away the up escalator. otherwise what would we have done on st. patrick's day when we had to wait twenty minutes for our train? [note: there are videos out there of that - i need to track them down.]

so, happy (good) friday! try not to run over any tourists today.

the right stuff

so last month joey mcintyre had his cd release party at jammin java. pretty random, right? tragically i had other plans and couldn't attend...right. and now i just got word that another former new kid on the blocker is going to be gracing the dc-area stages. this time it's at iota (another great place to see a show, by the way). and it's danny wood. it's sunday night at 8:30 in case you're interested. so, who's next - jordan and/or jonathan knight or donnie wahlberg?? maybe a reunion show? wow, wouldn't that be great?

happy 400th anniversary, virginia

have you seen virginia's new advertising campaign? if not, go check it out now. maybe it's because i was a history major (and am from virginia), but i think it's kind of cool. i'm ashamed to say i don't know who most of the people are. but, that's the coolest part about it. if you click on the individual people you get a mini history lesson about the jamestown settlers. my next mission is to get my hands on one of these shirts. now that'd be hott.

free cone day

just got my monthly ben & jerry's email and it had very exciting news - free cone day is on tuesday, april 17th from 12-8pm! in case you don't know where the closest ben & jerry's is, you can check it out here. last year i made it twice - maybe this year i can go for three?

also i've been informed that baskin robbins is having 31 cent (plus tax!) cones on may 2nd. i know what you're thinking - totally LAME - which honestly is what my first reaction was. but, then i did some research on the subject (obviously) and discovered the money is for charity, which is most definitely not lame. you can read all about it here.

christina!

christina aguilera was in town last night. and let me tell you, she was hott. i really don't understand how her voice can go that strong for so long. she's superhuman or something. either that or she doesn't talk except for at her shows to conserve her voice. wow.

i got tickets through someone at work. long, convoluted story but suffice it to say we were sitting in section 112 about [------this------] close to the stage. it was amazing. first we grabbed dinner at matchbox - and how could i have forgotten how delicious that place is? it's truly going to be dangerous when we move into our new building on 9th st. so i tried to prolong dinner as long as possible in hopes of missing out on the opening act, but unfortunately i failed.

we got to our (great) seats right as the lights were going off. and then danity kane came out. and i was all ready for them to be so bad. but they weren't just bad - they were horrendous. they can't dance, they can't sing and they looked completely heinous. christina's backup singers put them all to shame. but, luckily we only had to suffer for 20 minutes.

next up were the pussycat dolls. now, i'll admit i'm not the biggest fan, but i was told that they put on a great show. and wow, my source was right. that one girl can really sing. and they are truly performers (i guess it helps that they started out as a burlesque show in vegas, but whatever). also i actually recognized a few of their songs, which was nice. also one girl looks like rachel mcadams and another looks like the girl from party of five and mean girls. at least in my opinion.

they finished up with "don't cha" and then the lights went on again. and then the anticipation set in - i was so ready for christina - and i was so ready for a big show. but, i'll be honest - i wasn't ready for what was about to happen. i felt like i was at a broadway show/circus/concert bonanza. it was amazing.

she came out in all white. and all her dancers were in white. and her entire band (horns and all!) was dressed in white. it was very retro. and she just started belting out - and never stopped. we had a little friendly "bet" before the show about how many times we thought she would change her outfit. i jokingly said 8 times. i couldn't have been more wrong. she legitimately changed her outfit after every song - sometimes just adding/taking off a piece of clothing - but still. i think my favorite costume change was when she ended one song and went to the back of the stage and her back up dancers somehow managed to put black lace crotchless pants on over her current outfit of white hot shorts and ridiculously high white patent leather pumps. it was truly an amazing feat.

so she razzle dazzled through all her hits. she even retro-ized two of her older hits - "what a girl wants" and "come on over." honestly, it took me a while to even recognize what songs she was singing until i could really recognize the lyrics. after a bunch more songs everyone disappeared from the stage and some grossly disturbing video for "i got trouble." i'm sure that was completely awkward for the parents behind us who brought their 13 year old daughter and her friends. yikes.

and then the circus came to town. and i'm not even kidding. her backup dancers (who were absolutely amazing, by the way) came out in full circus attire. there was a guy on stilts (who still managed to break it down), some trapeze girls, flame throwers, and some woman with a cage-like skirt walking a "dog," which was actually one of the dancers. it was wild. [note: once i can figure out how to post a video on this thing you can watch the circus act for yourself.] and from there they segued nicely into dirttty, in which christina rose onto the stage on a carousel horse. and her girl dancers were dancing on poles. wow.

but that doesn't even compare to lady marmalade. the outfits were ridiculous and there were pink feather everywhere. even the backup singers were waving them. and then two of the GUY dancers were wearing silver go-go boots. it was like the girl from px, but even hotter.

i came into the night expecting a great show - but i was literally blown away. she's definitely a show stopper - sorry danity kane, but you are most definitely not.

next up: mat kearney, eric hutchinson and a summer of fun at wolftrap!

seder at the brown's

i know all jewish holidays are celebrating some different aspect of jewish history. but let's be honest, all jewish holidays are about the same thing - they tried to kill us. we survived. let's eat. and yes, i realize that passover doesn't technically start until tonight at sundown. but, i have tickets to christina aguilera tonight so we just had our seder last night. no big deal.

once everyone finally got there we got seated around the table and broke out the haggadahs to get started. luckily we have a current, condensed version - and it's mostly in english! i can only imagine what my mom had to suffer through as a kid - three hour seders all in yiddish. ugh.

so we went around and started reading. it seems like every other page has a prayer about wine. and we all know there's nothing better than uber sweet passover wine. and if you stick to the schedule you finish four cups of wine before the meal is even served. it's like a jewish power hour.

i think my favorite part of the seder is when someone reads off the ten plagues and you put a drop of wine on your plate for each one. i mean you've got all your normal plagues - floods, lice, boils, etc. but the last one gets me every time - death of the firstborn. i mean, really?

and then we came to the first song of the night. it was go down moses. we didn't really know the tune so we just improvised. and it was going pretty well until we hit one of the verses and we didn't know what to doooooooo. so my dad and cousin started rapping it and then one kid starts beat boxing in the background. it was absolutely ridiculous - and i loved every minute of it.

we got through the rest of the service and then it was finally time to eat. hooray! and we started it off right with matzo ball soup. delish! the rest of the meal was delicious (as expected), but i was really holding out for dessert. especially for the flourless chocolate cake i had made. it was quite a process to make - first the cake, then the chocolate glaze, and then i decorated it with giant strawberries. and yes, it was just as delicious as it sounds.

at the end of the night i had to roll myself out of my house - but it was definitely worth it.

and if you haven't heard - we're having a cinco de mayo blowout. you really don't want to miss this one. 5/5 at 5pm.