are you kidding me??

this is ridiculous!

we love you stevie!

no, i did not yell that out last night. but about 400 different women did. from all corners of the arena. but minus that (and the freakshow "dancing" in front of us) the concert was amazing! he was surprisingly energetic and played for nearly three hours without a single break (and i was told he had a sip of water - one! - but that must have been when my view was blocked).

some of the highlights:
- ribbon in the sky - at first i was getting bored by the ten minute rendition of the song - but then when he got the entire arena singing (one part for the ladies, another for the fellas) it was pretty amazing.
- all of the political activism was pretty inspiring. and i would have paid to see some of the faces of the politicians who were in the audience. (and speaking of politicians - jeannemarie devolites was campaigning at the dl metro yesterday with an elephant mascot. as if anyone doesn't know she's a republican. what a joke.)
- the dueling harmonica solos.
- the backup singers/dancers. one girl was his daughter, the other guy could dance, and the third girl looked pretty on stage (i'm sorry, but she was kinda boring).

some of the lowlights(?):
- the first hour of the show. i could have totally done without it.
- the girl in front of me who couldn't fit in her seat and therefore thought it would be a good idea to sit on top thereby blocking my view of the stage. but, i was too lazy to move over so i guess it was my loss.
- the acoustics were absolutely awful! we missed a lot of stevie's story telling - especially because he mumbled a lot!
- he didn't get to you haven't done nothin' or i just called to say i love you (and probably a bunch more). but i guess you can't hear them all, can you?

and things that make me wonder (yes, pun intended):
- does he have a set list in braille?
- does someone tell him when he gets a standing ovation?
- has someone told him he does the head sway?

and totally unrelated, but exciting!

happy halloween!

all stevie, all day

stevie wonder tonight at the phonebooth! i'm pretty pumped, if you couldn't tell.

i fell asleep, again

why do i keep missing then ends of good football games??

11 street is on fire!

no, seriously. there's a huge flaming fire coming from a manhole in the middle of the street. tons of people are out on the street observing in awe. sirens are coming from every direction. and that is exactly why i'm back at my desk in my office.

someone taped it!

happy monday!

and in case you're not so happy (it is monday morning afterall):

what a miserable weekend

first the hoos lose in a heartbreaker to the wolfpack. and then the skins lost. no, they got embarrassed. and i wasn't expecting them to win, but 52-7? really?? and they faked a spike and scored a touchdown. pathetic.

happy birthday N!

jeremy darling said it best: "tonight is going to be ooc."

oh and way to go chokies!

pumpkin beers!

here's a write up of all the different pumpkin beers you can find in the area (via washingtonian). is anyone else suddenly thirsty??

exciting news!

from this week's rolling stone:

whitney houston may be going in a hip-hop direction on her comeback disc. she has recorded with will.i.am and has approached polow da don for the cd, out in 2008.

i cannot wait until some of her songs start to leak!

i jinxed myself

of course after posting about that awful metro announcer i had a worse one (or at least just as bad) this morning. on account of all the rain i was running a few minutes behind - did anyone want to actually get out of bed this morning? i got to the station and was excited to see a train coming so i ran down the stairs and just made it on. i guess i shouldn't have been so excited - the announcer sounded like a twelve year old girl who had just sucked helium. ugh.

the worst metro announcer ever

i'm sure just as i write this i will hear someone worse - but honestly this woman is really bad. she's on the 7:45 train out of dunn loring. and you might ask why i don't just avoid that train - but i've tried - she's unavoidable. one time i got on someone else's train but then we were off-loaded at east falls church and of course her's was the next train through.

and if you're an orange line rider you'll know exactly who i'm talking about. she talks like a slow robot - awkwardly breaking up her syllables - it makes you want to gouge you eyes out (or is that just me?).

and while we're on the subject of metro announcers - what ever happened to the best announcer ever? he was the guy who would make fun of all the drivers stuck in traffic on 66, give directions of how to get off the train and genuinely wish you a good day. i think the last time i heard him was last february. maybe he switched lines?

wildfires: the hurricanes of the west coast

seriously, it's getting ridiculous out there on the left coast. the ap is reporting that over a quarter of a million people have been forcefully evacuated from san diego. and this is all after the fires ravaged malibu yesterday. yikes!

more chris long

go watch the safety.

chris long on gameday

hoos hoos hoos hoos hoos hoos

what a great weekend! first was the celebration of oktoberfest at the german embassy. let's just say that drinking beer (and champagne!) out of a 24 oz. stein makes for a good night. and add that to the fact that there was an authentic german band and old guys in lederhosen.

and then it was time for the match up of the season - virginia v. maryland. after turning down tickets to the game (a night game in college park, no thanks) i settled into the new dogfish head restaurant in seven corners for a night full of good food, good beer and great football! and i even made it home in time to catch the end of the lsu game - wow.

and the heart attack weekend continued on sunday with the skins game. how they survived their fourth quarter meltdown i still don't understand. but no need to dwell on the negatives - we came away with a win!

and the icing on the cupcake? the hoos are now ranked in all of the polls - topping out at 15th in the bcs!

things i learned this week

1. ipa stands for india pale ale. yes, i realize i'm probably the second to last person to know this. and honestly, i have no idea why i never knew it before.

2. it is illegal to chew gum on the metro.

3. climbing stairs makes you so tired because you are fighting gravity (ha!). that's why i got so tired walking up all the hills in charlottesville last weekend too, right?

4. just in case you were wondering - maryland still sucks.

5. there are about 42 (ok, only nine) different covers of umbrella out there. obviously we all knew about scott simons' version back in june. actually, i'm kind of shocked matt nathanson didn't cover it last night. i mean even ingrid covered it when i saw her at jj a few months ago (and she didn't even know all the words!).

and just for the record - that's two posts on a friday - no more complaining!

another thursday night at the 930 club

seeing matt nathanson in concert has been about four years in the planning for me. honestly i've had conflicts every other time he's been anywhere near me. but, the wait was definitely worth it! obviously i already knew i loved all of his songs - but his stage presence is just great. think a very dirty dave barnes.

and the added bonus with this show is that ingrid michaelson opened up the show. tragically she only played for about twenty minutes - and left out my favorite song (the hat) - but she was definitely just as quirky as usual.

and after she went off we had more than an hour to kill (who wanted to see melee anyway?). so we frolicked over to duffy's (that guy's a genius, by the way) for some beers and tots. after watching endless shows about whether joe torre was going to stay or leave (he left) we decided to head back for the main act.

i guess i should mention this was a (very) early show. the doors opened at 5pm! so it was now about 7:30 and matt was about ready to take the stage. i figured it would be somewhat crowded - but i'm pretty sure the place was sold out! for an early show on a thursday night - i was shocked! and to think they had another show that night (the wallflowers) - they must have done a killing at the bar last night!

so how was matt nathanson? pretty much amazing. and except for the guitarist looking like fidel castro in his green military shirt (and he even popped the collar toward the end!) - his band was pretty much lame. although matt's personality and banter with the crowd more than made up for his pathetic band members. at one point he heard someone yell out something about the red sox....

did someone just say something about the red sox? [cheering] i was born in massachusetts. are they playing right now? [someone yells, yes!] awesome, how are they doing? [yelling] oh, they're losing? [more yelling] no, they're winning? [even more yelling] oh, it's 0-0? great! so i don't really know anything about sports - does washington have a team? [people start shouting at him] oh, they're in the national league? so that's a different league than the red sox? [lots of yelling] oh, their name is the nationals? the dc nationals? that's lame. so does everyone just adopt the baltimore orioles as their own? [at this point half of the crowd cheers and half of the crowd boos] wow. sorry, i didn't know.

ok, so back to the music. he played a nice mix of new and old stuff - mixed in with a lot of guitar tuning. i mean like a lot a lot. it was weird. and it's not like anyone would have been able to tell the difference anyway, right? so in between all of his great songs he threw in two great covers. the first he described as the best song ever written - laid by james. but then he corrected himself and said this next song was the best song ever - don't stop believin' by journey. and the crowd (obviously) went wild! the only thing that could have topped that was if they had covered soulja boy and done the dance.

and the best part about the whole night? we were home before 10! a pretty tame night compared to the one some of my coworkers had - winning itouches and six hours on a private jet. man, i always miss the good parties.

mmmmm cupcakes :)

yikes!

my old hood is getting dangerous.

dc cabs to switch from zones to meters

fenty is set to order the switch - but no word yet on the timeline for the implementation of meters. will it be cheaper to take a cab in dc with meters? that remains to be seen. but i guarantee cab fares in dc still won't be at cheap as in charlottesville.

top five posters

here are my favorites from over the years. what have you seen??

1. maryland basketball: it's a riot.
seen at u-hall for a maryland v. uva basketball game way back in 2002. i previously posted the picture i snapped of it here.

2. virginia is for lovers: that's why we score more.
spotted at the wake forest basketball game last january. and then randomly last week at swim practice my swim coach (a former uva swimmer) was wearing a shirt with the same slogan. i'm going to need to get my hands on one of those.

3. we must protect this buffet.
a classic take on the under armor ads. this one a direct shot and the fridge (aka maryland coach ralph friedgen). this one was seen at the maryland v. uva football game up in college park third year).

4. steve blake: toss my salad.
some guy in my dorm first year made this sign and somehow held it up the whole game (basketball against maryland first year) without getting in trouble. since then the rules have tightened up just a bit.

5. sportscenter is next: unless duke needs more time.
now usually i hate the sportscenter is next signs, but this one was just classic. just a few weeks after the infamous duke/clemson game this sign just made me laugh. and what made it even better? we beat duke. and i was there!
(note: the above link has been changed since some people took offense that it had previously linked to a carolina site.)

cupcakes for a cause

i bet you didn't know that national cupcakes for a cause week is going on right now. head over to their site to create your very own virtual cupcake to send to your friends. for each e-cupcake sent, $1 will be donated to cancercare for kids. i mean what could be better than receiving a cupcake in your inbox and know that you're helping a great cause at the same time?! i guess eating one of my delicious cupcakes (modest, i know) might be better - but that isn't doing anything to help cure cancer!

the wapo shows the hoos some love

i know it's only because the terps had a bye this weekend. but hey - we'll take what we can get. here's the best sentence in the whole story:

"After beginning the season with a debacle in Wyoming, Virginia (6-1, 3-0 ACC) has improbably made itself into one of the hottest teams in the nation and a leading contender for the ACC championship."

[knock on wood]

homecoming recap: rilo kiley style

this post is best enjoyed while listening to rilo kiley in the background!

1. silver lining.
have you heard the hoos are ranked 19th in the bcs?!? wahoowa!

2. close call.
so, how about those hoos?! after getting completely outplayed by the huskies all afternoon we managed to make plays when it mattered and we eked out a win (17-16). never have i ever screamed so loud, jumped so much or smelled so much bourbon. it was amazing!

3. the moneymaker.
saturday night was ridiculous. we started (and finished) the night at biltmore. we ordered some food (they have sweet potato fries, fyi) and got the night started with some pitchers. after the food was demolished someone (was it you, brian?) had a great idea to do a round of shots. with the advice of our amazing server we got a round of johnny appleseed shots. and then before we could even stack the empty cups someone whipped out there credit card for round two - alabama slammers. and then round three - under currents. and round four - soco and limes. round five - washington apples (lots of crown royal, not so much apple). and round six - more under currents. and that's not even counting the stop light (one red, one yellow and one green) shots that the non-sleeping boys took. nor is it counting the steady flow of beer all night long. the end result? a $1,000 tab at biltmore. how crazy is that?? let's just say our server LOVED us (she was getting mad tips and taking every single shot along with us).

4. breakin' up.
so, have you heard they redid the girl's bathroom at biltmore? it's amazing. well, it's at least not as gross. regardless, the bathroom at bilt remains the place to go for a good time (talking about jeans, anyone?) this weekend we almost witnessed a girl fight (it was seriously getting heated in there), some girl told us that her boyfriend wanted to kill all the children with rotten apples and ran into some awkward people (in the bathroom and right outside).

5. under the blacklight.
saturday night we strolled into the biltmore all wearing black. our dining drinking partners thought we missed the fact that uva actually won and that we were in mourning (no, we were sober at the game thank you very much). i mean doesn't everyone know that black is slimming?? (no, not swimming. slimming.)

6. dreamworld.
so we stayed with the funnel mistress (yay!) in her brand new place on fifteenth street. it was wonderful except for that it's right next to the train tracks. and there's no way anyone can sleep through those train whistles. no way at all.

7. dejalo.
so no one will really get this - but i finally got to meet mónica. it's funny because my sister tells me about her all the time and pronounces her name w/ the accent - but it just sounds weird when she says it like that. that's all.

8. 15.
the dumpling place, starbucks, ragged mountain, plan 9, 1815, jefferson vineyard, arch's, south street, christian's, biltmore, bodo's, arch's (again), the lawn/range, scott stadium, biltmore (again).

9. smoke detector.
so we left biltmore around 12:30. let me just interject that we had been there since about 7:30. so we were clearly exhausted and headed back to get some sleep. or so we thought. approximately ten minutes after we had cuddled up on our air mattresses, etc. the loudest noise i've ever heard in my life emanating from the hallway. once i came to i realized it was the smoke alarm and we realized we had to go outside. so i grabbed my blanket, wrapped it around myself and made it down the ridiculously long hallway to the street (and since it was the middle of the night i obviously forgot to put any shoes on). hours later (well really maybe only like twenty minutes) the fire trucks arrived and the alarms finally got turned off.

10. the angels hung around.
ricky stokes was sitting at the table next to us at biltmore friday night. just another uva legend i've seen up close and personal!

11. give a little love.
i love charlottesville. i miss it already. and i can't wait to go back. road trip anyone??

charlottesville tomorrow!

well fall is finally here (at least weather wise - it's technically been fall for almost a month now). and honestly what's better than a gorgeous fall weekend in charlottesville? and with the day off from work tomorrow i plan to squeeze in even more fun activities (read: eating) than usual!

and the weather for kickoff on saturday is looking just a tad cooler than the georgia tech game. instead of sweating through a tshirt and shorts i might actually have to throw on a sweatshirt when the sun goes down (hooray 3:30 games!).

so i know that today is going to totally drag, but at least it's gorgeous out! i can't wait to take a leisurely (ok, probably not so leisurely) stroll around the city at lunchtime!

jello shots are making a comeback

just another thing we're ahead of the curve on.

the republican race for president, in a nutshell

from the republican debate last night in michigan:

"This is a lot like 'Law & Order.'...It has a huge cast, the series seems to go on forever, and Fred Thompson shows up at the end." -Mitt Romney

new music!

1. the silver seas.
my reader alerted me to a free silver seas download yesterday and today at work i've been streaming their whole cd. so far imaginary girl is my favorite (probably has something to do with the piano).

2. vanessa carlton.
remember back in college when everyone was obsessed with a thousand miles?? well since then she's dated third eye blind's stephan jenkins, run the new york marathon and now she's just released a new cd. and she's going on a national tour - and i just snagged tickets for her stop at the birchmere.

3. spoon.
true this isn't new, but it's good just the same. and with their recent performance on snl i figured i'd throw them in the bunch. and honestly with a cd named "ga ga ga ga ga," how can you not listen??

4. ray lamontagne.
just got his cd from my dad. and it's pretty good (in that eric hutchinson pretty good kind of way).

5. girl talk.
if you like mashups then this guy has got you covered. he just put out a whole cd of amazing mashups. go have a listen.

just in case you missed this last night

did i mention i LOVE this show?!

how did the cowboys win last night?

i got sucked in and stayed up until the end (past midnight) just to watch the bills hand the game to the cowboys. i mean, really. tony romo was intercepted five times (and fumbled the ball once) yet somehow his team was still in the game at the end of the fourth quarter. and then the bills couldn't hold onto the ball and went three-and-out with to give the ball back to the cowboys for another chance to score. but they needed eight to tie and they missed the two point conversion. so the game was over, right? nope. the cowboys attempted an on-side kick and recovered on their own 47 yard line. they miraculously completed two sideline passes to set up a 53 yard field goal for their kicker. he kicked it - it was perfect - cowboys win! wait, not yet. bills coach apparently had called a timeout right before he kicked it so it didn't count. but he kicked it again and made it again (thereby ensuring that everyone in washington would be miserable today).

even though i'm obviously completely unsatisfied with the end result - i do have to say it was probably one of the best football games (well at least last 10 minutes of a football game) i've ever seen.

ps. you can go watch the last 19 minutes of the game here.

happy columbus day!

one highlight of working on a holiday is the commute is really light. i'm talking no one sitting next to you on the metro light. but that just meant that i had plenty of time to read up on the skins huge win yesterday!

and now i'm sitting in an office with no air flow (apparently someone forgot to turn the hvac on this morning). but at least it's a short week - i'm heading down to charlottesville on friday!

come on fall!

well fall's here, but it feels like it's still summer. seriously, could it be any hotter out there? i'm so ready to break out all my sweaters!

ps. i really just love this for the ingrid. i can't wait to see her again in two weeks!

madame tussauds

so in case you hadn't heard - the new wax museum in the old woodie's building opened this morning. and seeing as it's not even a block away from my office i decided to take advantage of the grand opening price ($10 as opposed to the normal $25) and just went and took a lap through the museum.

in all my trips up to new york city i've never made it to the madame tussaud's up there - so this was my first trip to a wax museum. let me tell you - it totally creeped me out. they're so life like - and it's totally freaky when you look at the eyes (it's like the tj statue on the lawn - the eyes always follow you no matter what).

tragically both of us forgot our cameras (poor planning, i know) - but we made do with a treo. i took a picture w/ tj (of course) and then i put my freakishly large hands (ha!) up against the hand molds of samuel l. jackson and evander holyfield. and yes, my hands are the same size as both of those. talk about creepy.

there were a good mix of people - historical figures, all the important presidents (well and some of the less important ones), musical legends, sports legends, pop culture celebrities and of course dc's very own mayor for life (that's marion barry, of course).

so was it fun? yeah, it was cool to see the very lifelike figures. but is it worth the $25 admission?? definitely not (in my opinion). so that means you should get over there by tomorrow (saturday) to get in for the cheaper rate.

ugly betty gets political

how about last night on ugly betty when christina and betty walk into wilhelmina's apartment, christina calls it the devil's lair (or something to that affect) and then picks up a picture of wilhelmina w/ dick cheney?? i'm sorry, but that was just hilarious.

the actual quote: "i can't believe we're actually in lucifer's chamber, beezlebub's lair, the devil's rumpus room! ooooh look! a photograph of wilhelmina with dick cheney!"

new graham colton!

i'm not sure if anyone else is excited about this - but i am! plus assuming the birchmere had a typo in their email blast he'll be playing there in november w/ vanessa carlton (and i know my roommates will be excited about that!).

crank that redskins

hail!

so happy it's thursday!

there are so many reasons to get excited for thursday...

1. trash day.
our trash guys are awesome. although somewhat sketchy - they're always there to say good morning. or turn around on their truck and wave as they're leaving (i told you they're sketchy).

2. the city paper.
i enjoy reading the city paper for the ridiculous stories they publish.

3. tv.
if you don't make it out to thursday happy hour (everyone knows you get thirty on thursdays) you always have thursday night tv. first there's a chance to catch up on some shows from the week and then there's ugly betty and grey's.

4. friday.
once you get through thursday you're home free. although i really didn't appreciate this morning when some random woman in the elevator went on and on about how today was thursday, tomorrow is friday and how she has a three day weekend to look forward to. not all of us have monday off, but thanks for rubbing it in my face.

5. weekend.
it's especially great when you have a fun weekend planned. you won't want to miss our party on saturday - it'll be fun-filled with piñatas and autumnal mistletoe.

new music

1. alice smith.
i actually first heard her when she opened for citizen cope a few years back. i liked her then - but i kind of forgot about her. recently her name has been popping up everywhere and i was reminded how much i liked her music.

2. new buffalo.
you might not of heard of her - but you probably have heard one of her songs. she wrote "1234" for feist (you must have seen the new itunes commercial by now). and her own music sounds similar - just with an australian accent that you can sometimes pick out.

3. kt tunstall.
just like pb&j are all over tv this season - kt tunstall was all over tv (and movies) last year. and this fall she has a new cd out - and it's fun just like the last one. she does need some help with her style though - that get-up with gold leggings at live earth was no good.

4. ben lee.
he's more than the guy who used to date claire danes. this aussie also has a new cd out - and the songs are catchy just like catch my disease was.

5. rooney.
you probably remember when they were on the oc back in season one and sang "i'm shakin" at the bait shop. well since then they've opened for kelly clarkson and released a brand new cd - and it's good.

we need a bar like this in dc

i was just chatting w/ a friend in new york about our respective weekends. while she was all over the place on saturday night (as was i) - one place stuck out for me. down in soho there's a bar called antarctica and every night they're open they have a name of the night. basically if the name on your id matches their name of the night you drink for free. needless to say her name was on the list for saturday - and she had a really good night.

free music at starbucks

starting today when you get your morning coffee you will also get a code for a free download on itunes. it's not for any old song - rather a predetermined song of the day - but a free song is a free song.

today i got bob dylan's "jokerman" - but starbucks promises a new song daily (for the next 37 days).

young folks

is it just me or has this song by peter, bjorn and john been everywhere lately?! off the top of my head i heard it on grey's (it's on the new grey's soundrack), gossip girl, dirty sexy money and big shots. and that's not counting the endless number of plays from our computers upstairs.

for those of you who don't know what song i'm talking about - it's the whistling song - and you can go listen to it on pb&j's myspace.

oh and despite what the chorus might sound like they are really saying: "and we don't care about the young folks/talkin bout the young style."

happy october!

nothing says fall like apple picking and fresh cider donuts. all i've been hearing lately is how great the cider donuts (and fresh ice cream) are at miller farm in clinton, md. so we drove half way around the beltway and through pg county and finally got to the farm. except there wasn't really a farm - and there surely were no apple trees. and they had already sold out of cider donuts. but they did have freshly made apple ice cream. so we got a large ice cream and a few assorted donuts and got back in the car.

since we really wanted some apples we decided to go where we knew there would be apple trees. so we got back on the beltway and drove the other half all the way back to potomac where homestead farms is. we made a quick stop for food and coffee but then we were at the farm ready to pick apples. tragically the pink ladies weren't ripe enough yet - but we got some good sun crisp, cameo and stayman apples.

we got enough apples to eat and bake with and i got a little something special for our party on saturday. i won't ruin the surprise - let's just say that it's something you might want to stand under.