election day

please, go vote! i only waited an hour in arlington this morning. and the time flew by when we took this quiz from this morning's wapo.

after you vote you can get lots of free things.

happy halloween!

and to celebrate i made salted oatmeal cookies, which are delicious! but i didn't stop there - after they had cooled enough i concocted an ice cream sandwich with two of the cookies and pumpkin ice cream in the middle. obviously it was SO good.

walking to work this morning there were signs everywhere reading: halloween celebrations. georgetown streets closed. expect delays. let's just say i'm very glad to be getting out of georgetown before the festivities begin - can't wait to get down to charlottesville!

new york city

last weekend i hopped on the double decker megabus up to new york city. true, it's a bus, but it only cost me $22.50 round trip. that's cheaper than tolls - or even gas at this point. plus the ride up was pretty empty and i read, and finished, twilight.

friday was spent doing what i love the most - frolicking around the city. i got a cheap manicure, strolled through the farmer's market, grabbed lunch, stumbled upon the grand opening of crumbs and got a cupcake (giant red velvet - it was alright), walked through central park and saw my cousin's gorgeous apartment on the upper east side. and that was just during while the sun was out. dinner plans were for the spotted pig, but we were too hungry to endure the two and half hour wait. instead we walked a few blocks over to the meatpacking district and grabbed dinner at spice market. the highlight of dinner was while we were waiting for a table at the bar - i asked for a glass of cava and got a glass of malbec instead. um, it's not even the same color. after dinner we grabbed a drink at gaslight (where ashley saw gg filming one night last summer). the cab ride home was spent singing subway commercials and tupac - good times.

what's the best thing to do on a cloudy saturday in new york? go shopping, of course! we walked up to bloomie's and went to town. seriously, i love that store. on the way back home we conveniently walked right by buttercup and picked up a box of cupcakes to snack on while we watched the uva game. i was initially thinking we might need those cupcakes to cheer us up when we got slaughtered by georgia tech, but what do you know - the hoos pulled out an upset!

dinner on saturday night was over in the east village at a cute little italian spot called paprika. kind of reminded me of locanda, but better. seeing as it was pouring we hopped in a cab and headed downtown. we didn't even make it five blocks before we rear ended another cab and were stuck in the middle of an intersection. and the best part? this is not the first time i've been in an accident in a cab. ugh.

so we finally made it to our destination and got a table by the window (not really a great night for that since the rain was coming down so hard - oh well). but, the food was well worth the trouble getting to the restaurant. fresh pasta with delicious homemade sauces - definitely my kind of place. and luckily we were getting penn state updates all throughout dinner since there was no tv to be seen.

after dinner we headed back uptown to nikki beach - a club modeled after the one down in south beach. we got the mojitos flowing and then there was dancing on tables and then it was definitely time to go home. luckily the rain had finally stopped by then.

sunday morning in new york city - of course we went to brunch. down on irving place is the homey looking friend of a farmer. it's a tiny spot and the line to get in was down the block. although being a group of three (and willing to sit outside) allowed us to bypass almost everyone in line. we were seated in no time and had a plate of cornbread and chunky applesauce waiting for us. first up - coffee. in a french press! wonderful. and the food was delicious - eggs benedict, eggs, pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, sausage, potatoes - the food just kept coming.

but then it was time for me to travel back to dc. my trip up was so smooth so by default the way back had to be disastrous, right? i got there early hoping to catch an earlier bus, but there wasn't one. so i hung around and got in line to get on the dc bus. the buses pulled in early but they waited to board them until right before we were supposed to leave. big mistake. the bus employees are pretty much incompetent and kept shuffling people around on the two different buses (one went to baltimore and one all the way to dc).

so we finally got moving only to stop at a gas station in jersey to switch drivers. then some little french girl got up and asked the bus driver if he could play a movie. well you have to listen to the little french girl, right? so we sat at the rest stop for thirty minutes while the idiot bus driver tried to figure out how to turn the movie on. with the movie on we finally got moving again. but the icing on the cake was that the bathroom on the bus was all clogged up. let's just say i had to hold it for a long time.

next up: homecoming(s) in charlottesville! it's gonna be great - but can it top last year? we'll have to wait and see...

19 days until the election!

and that means nineteen more updates to this. amazing.

free ice cream!

everyone is already planning on voting, right? well if the current state of our country isn't enough of a reason to get you out to vote then maybe free ice cream will do the trick. head over to ben & jerry's on the evening of november 4th for a free scoop of ice cream! so glad i work right next to the ben & jerry's in georgetown!

austin: day five

since our first four days in austin were relegated to the downtown area and zilker park, we figured we'd take our last day to explore a bit more of what austin has to offer. without a car we had to stay in walking distance and decided we both really wanted to see the university.

the campus is located about ten blocks north of the state capitol and looks like just about every other college town in america. in anticipation of touring the campus we printed out ut's very own walking tour and went to work. as our very own tour guide i read all the neat tid-bits about the school and we walked around among the thousands of nike-clad students. seriously, i felt like i might have been at oregon with the amount of nike clothing i saw.

so the campus was cool (well, hot actually - but you know what i mean). loved the statue of césar chávez. and ut's corner (aka "the drag") had a fun mix of shops - including potbelly - so jealous! we also found a fun little coffee shop for breakfast. you can always count on a college town for good coffee spots. and we made one final stop at the pool - come on, you know i had to see the place where all these olympians have trained. not nearly as nice (i.e. new as the afc), although it was really big (kind of like the natatorium at penn state).

after our cab debacles of the weekend we determined it would be best to call a cab to take us back to our hotel. and then it was off to the airport! and it turns out the austin airport has an outpost of the famous waterloo records along with a few of austin's finest eateries - including amy's ice cream!

so, overall austin was pretty awesome. we tried to see as much as we could, but obviously missed just a few things. although i would imagine i'll be back there sometime in the future...

austin: day four

it's amazing how much long days in the sun wear you out. luckily we had lots of great music to look forward to on sunday. that and being able to watch the skins game in cowboy territory, but more on that later.

here's who we saw on day three of the festival: priscilla ahn (filling in for adele, but very impressive nonetheless), tristan prettyman, gillian welch, start, xavier rudd, silversun pickups (i still don't get their appeal), blues traveler, okkervil river, gnarls barkley, the raconteurs, band of horses, tegan and sara and the headining foo fighters. we only got to see half of a lot of the sets since a lot of the sets we wanted to see were overlapping. but i really liked band of horses - perfect music to listen to just as it's getting dark. minus all the crazy drunk people making tall towers out of their day's worth of beer cans. ugh.

keep austin weird of the night: when walking home from the concert that night we passed what is possibly the best sign of life. it's for a business called mermaids, which has private hot tub rentals by the hour. ok, granted this is the most disgusting sounding thing ever - i'm pretty sure sitting in a hot tub after the weekend we had would have felt amazing. but don't worry - we didn't.

austin: day three

i forgot how much i love blackout shades. with our hotel room just like a cave, we were able to sleep for hours. after we couldn't sleep any longer we got up and got ready for day two of the festival. the fact that it was saturday morning made it a bit easier to find a brunch place. we found ourselves at a nice hotel downtown where the dining room was half-empty, which was great since we were starving! when we asked for a table, however, the teenage looking host told us it would be a thirty minute wait since the kitchen was backed up. seriously?

desperately in need of a cup of coffee, we headed over to the bar and found a table for two where they would serve us food. score one for sus and rach! and our food came out in like ten minutes - so much for the kitchen being all backed up. and the best part was we had a pretty sweet view into the bakery. no, scratch that - the best part was we sat next to robert plant!! seriously, very exciting!

after fueling up it was off to catch the shuttle for day two. it was just as hot and maybe even dirtier - but we had just as much fun! day two bands: the fratellis, sharon jones and the dap kings, css, eli "paperboy" reed and the true loves, erykah badu, mgmt, the nachito herrera all-stars, john fogerty, conor oberst and the mystic valley band, iron & wine and robert plant & alison krauss. my favorite? hard to say, but it was probably sharon jones. that girl (well, really 50 year old woman) can dance! she put on quite the show in the mid-day heat.

day two really took it out of us. our plan was to take the shuttle back and then catch a cab back to our hotel. well, let's just say it's nearly impossible to hail a cab in austin. i mean we were standing on the corner waving our hand out (assuming that's the universal way to hail a cab) but literally none of the cabs stopped for us. we had to walk up to the bar district and literally hail down a cab. and then some guys tried to steal the cab from us - nearly a disaster.

keep austin weird of the day: we were walking to catch the shuttle and passed some guy who was (supposed to be) cleaning up the street (like those bid guys in dc). so he has a walkie talkie and out of nowhere someone (presumably his supervisor) comes onto the speaker and says, "look, there are a lot of pretty girls out there today. let's try and stay focused on the task at hand."

austin: day two

this was day one of the festival, so we decided to rest up so we could last all day out in the sun. we headed downtown for some breakfast, which turned out to be harder to find late on a friday morning than I would have guessed. from breakfast we decided to play tourist for the morning and walked up to the state capitol building. being from dc I think I’m a little jaded about all of the security measures in place and have gotten used to not being able to get close to any important building in town. well, austin is nothing like that. we literally walked right into the capitol and just roamed around wherever we wanted. the dome room was pretty sweet and had the same echo qualities that the capitol building in dc has. and let’s just say that texans are so much nicer than anyone in dc will ever be. it was a pleasant surprise.

after learning more about texas than I ever wanted to know, we walked back downtown to catch the shuttle to the festival. talk about organization – wow. these people in austin sure know how to run a music festival. after about a ten minute bus ride we pulled up the zilker park for austin city limits. first stop: filling up our nalgenes at the free water faucets. then we tried to get a lay of the land, before settling in for our first show of the festival: vampire weekend! just as we expected their hour long set consisted of every single song on their debut cd, plus a few new ones. it was a really fun set, dampered (is that a word?) only by the hot, hot sun.

after vampire weekend we frolicked around and by the end of the day we had seen: del tha funky homosapien (my coworker’s brother!), delta spirit, jamie lidell, m. ward, googol bordello, jenny lewis, n.e.r.d., antibalas and g. love & special sauce. well, we also heard the mars volta as we were walking out of the park, but they were no one we wanted to wait around to see. plus we had other plans on the agenda: another night out in downtown austin.

so, when you spend ten hours outside in the sun with sunscreen on walking around in a dusty field all day you are bound to get pretty dirty. i wasn’t really ready for the black grime all over my body by the end of the day, but what are you going to do? that shower friday night was one of the best showers of my life. a five dollar cab ride later, we were back downtown and ready for some food and drinks. seeing as there was a ut game on saturday, the streets were already pretty packed with people (in fact they shut down the streets to cars after a certain point). and i might be exaggerating a bit, but it felt like there were a hundred different bars in a five block stretch on sixth street. knowing they have some competition, all the bouncers are yelling at you when you walk by to try to get you into their bar. but, they’re all the same – cheap drinks, loud music and lots of college kids. good times.

keep austin weird of the night: a guy (who later introduced himself as keon) came into the bar and grabbed susie’s hand and proceeded to dance with her. it was great.

keep austin weird II of the night: some guy sitting on the curb throwing rose petals on the sidewalk. seriously.

austin: day one

first of all thank goodness for southwest and direct flights to austin! and our slight ocd got us checked in early and allowed us to get some pretty good seats. i hadn't flown southwest before and was a little surprised by the casualness of the flight attendants. and the guy announcing everything on our flight was a little bit of a comedian, however i've since been informed that it's the whole southwest shtick - lame.

we got to austin safe and sound, picked up our festival wristband and hopped on the shuttle to our hotel. we did a quick turnaround and decided to hit the town. we were starving (read: indecisive) and didn't know where to go so we just asked the concierge for a good mexican recommendation. walking downtown we got to take in the sights and ended up on sixth street for some dinner. first order of business was getting a nice cold adult beverage. and seeing as we were out "west" they had fat tire! mmmmmm beer.

the hostess must have read our mind because she seated us at a table by the window so we had prime seats for people watching! let's just say they're pretty spot on when they say "keep austin weird." try and visualize this: a crazy homeless man in camoflauge get up, dreds in a ponytail with the rest of his head shaved and a spelunker light on the top of his head. we ended up seeing him around town all weekend, but tragically never could get close enough to get a picture (but you can check out all of our other pictures here).

lots of other crazies walked by, but there's too much to even get into here. instead let's talk about how we saw carson daly(!) walking down the street in front of the restaurant. i mean he's pretty much a nobody these days, but growing up in the heydey of trl (r.i.p.) i'll always have a special place in my heart for carson daly.

from dinner we figured we should get a feel for austin. we walked around sixth street for a bit before settling in at a bar that was essentially a big deck. needing another adult beverage we headed to the bar where we discovered they only had cans of beer and liquor. clearly, this was a very classy place. keeping with the mexican theme we got two cans of tecate for a whopping four dollars. and the best part about this bar was the giant projector screen they had. so we watched usc lose and befriended a crazy oregonian in the process. overall, a pretty successful first night in austin.

austin was great!

much more to come when i have a few minutes to spare.

in the meantime...happy new year!

fall is here!

yesterday was the first day of fall (crazy, huh?). even though i love the summer, i always get excited about the changing of seasons (reason #42 why i could not live in the real south). i get most excited because it means i basically have a whole new wardrobe to choose from - because let's be honest, i'm totally sick of all of my summer clothes.

also fall means there are lots of other fun things to look forward to:

• new tv - after the writer's strike last year it looks like we have a full season of tv to look forward to. although i'm already slightly overwhelmed with the number of shows we are dvr-ing.
  
• apple picking - and cider, cider donuts and all the baking/cooking!
• football - not too excited about the hoos this year, but maybe the skins will finally pull it together this year?
  
• election day - and this year virginia is in contention!
  
• pumpkin ale - i already had some at chef geoff's last week. and dogfish has their punkin ale on tap already. who wants to go?
• thanksgiving - i hate holidays (minus the fact that you get off work), but i can certainly handle all of the eating that goes along with thanksgiving.
  

potus

friday night we headed up to the source theater for some improv. the show was potus among us and for those of you who don't know potus stands for president of the united states. it was basically an hour long improv about the political campaigning process.

when we got to the theater we were asked to come up with some issues we'd like to see the "candidates" run on. let me tell you - it's hard to think of funny stuff on the spot, which makes me respect the actors even more.

so the premise is the five candidates run on randomly selected issues (all of the audience member's issues were put into an uncle sam hat). the candidates glanced at their issues and then did a quick monologue on what they were running on and why you should vote for them. from there we voted on two candidates (votes = claps) and the rest of the play was made up of little improv segments on the campaign process. our two candidates were running on platforms of reducing gaps between parallel parked cars (vp pick = platform of eliminating traffic circles) and eating more organic food (vp pick = oprah). needless to say it was hilarious. the last shows are this friday and saturday - i highly recommend it to everyone!

and the night was made even better by the fact that i had picked up a box of cupcakes from hello cupcake on my trek through the city on friday afternoon. final verdict - good, but not as good as baked and wired. and believe what you've heard about those peanut butter ones - i don't even like peanut butter and i thought the icing was good. also, lesson learned - cupcakes are a great conversation starter.

austin city limits

less than a week until we head down to austin, tx for city limits! clearly i can't wait. and we've been busy compiling lists of things to do while we're down there (if you have any suggestions, let me know!). but the one thing i know for sure is the music is going to be awesome. lots of bands i don't want to miss: vampire weekend, nerd, sharon jones, foo fighters, gnarls barkley, g.love, okkervil river, jenny lewis, drive by truckers, del, tristan prettyman.

last night at oak marr

the playlist last night for the old lady's water aerobics class (in no particular order):

• your body is a wonderland (oh, really?)
• woman by maroon 5
• under pressure (or was it ice ice baby? indoor pools are not known for great acoustics)
• kiss from a rose (i really don't get this one - do they think if they listen to seal they'll look like heidi klum?)
• some sort of country song that i obviously didn't recognize

i'm thinking this class could use some more upbeat music. although some of those water aerobics classes w/ techno remixes of random songs are pretty awful too. i guess you can't win.

things that annoy me - part VIII

it's been a while since an annoyance post...

44. people who don't use blinkers.
this is just plain unsafe. and i hate when people use the excuse, "well, there's no one behind me." don't you know it's just as important to use your blinkers for the people driving the other way?!

45. people who spell my name wrong.
ok, i realize that a lot of people spell rachel with an a. that's fine, and i don't really mind if i get a rachael once in a while. what really bugs me is when i send someone an email and in their response they call me rachael. my name is correctly spelled in no less than three places (my email address, my signature and i usually also type out my name). are people really that lazy?!

46. walking and reading.
i see people doing this all the time. i just don't get it - is your book that good that you can't wait until you can sit and read it? i mean seriously people - it's kind of dangerous to walk and read.

47. rolling briefcases.
are these really necessary? i mean if you can't carry a bag i think you have a pretty big problem. and in my eyes they just cause a lot more commotion at the metro stations.

48. arlington police.
now that we've moved we're living right by the arlington county police department. it's great - there are cops everywhere and i feel so safe! the problem is that they park all the cop cars in the street and leave them all on. why on earth do they need to leave the motors running?

overheard on the metro

on the metro somewhere between courthouse and metro center...

little girl: mom, how many people do you think are on this bus?
mom: you mean the whole train? definitely more people than in our town.

how much do you want to bet that this family would be one to stand on the left? gotta love tourists early in the morning!

quote of the weekend

at the warner theater saturday night for the lombardi doo wop concert for cancer...

an old guy in one of the doo wop groups: ok, next we're going to do a song by the king. most of you know him as elvis. our kids know him as michael jackson's father in law.

61 days until election day!

wow, these next two months are sure going to be a doozy.

1. so obama is getting pounded on his apparent lack of experience. ok, i'll bite. do we really want our next president to have the experience of the past eight years? i certainly don't. obama offers a new, fresh change to washington - a change i think we need.
2. i get that sarah palin is a hockey mom (and for those of you who were wondering a hockey mom is alaska's equivalent to a soccer mom - it's just too cold up there to play soccer). but i don't think the republican party can blast the press for digging up dirt on her family when she is clearly running as a working mother with her family in the forefront. sorry, but you can't have the good without the bad.
3. i never realized being a p.o.w. was a requirement for being president. every speech at the rnc this week (yes, i've been watching it) has highlighted john mccain's experiences in hanoi as being crucial in his bid for the presidency. i understand, and respect, that he made a sacrifice for this country. but last time i checked obama didn't grow up when the us was actively involved in a major war like vietnam - should be be penalized for that?
4. have you noticed that there are only white people (in cowboy hats, to boot) at the rnc? the republican's theme of the election is "america first." well, color me confused - i'm pretty sure whites only constitute 75% of the american population. so did they mean to say "white america first?" what about the other 25%?
5. and just for fun - let's hope tina fey is slated to make some appearances on snl this fall - she's a dead ringer for palin.

and for those (most?) of you who aren't really into politics, there are still some fun ways you can get into the election spirit. buzz in alexandria has elephant ears and donkey tails for sale and will keep a running tally up to election day. if pastries aren't really your thing you can head over to baskin robbins and choose from their two new flavors - straight talk crunch or whirl of change. and i'm sure some bars will be getting in on the action just like they did in the primary season (i'm sensing lots of blue and red drinks this fall).

so long summer

i've been hearing from more than a few people that they're upset i haven't been posting too frequently lately. mainly i've just been lazy, sorry. also, i've been a bit busy this summer...

well, i've certainly eatenmy share of burgers this summer. ray's is the best piece of meat, but i think central still wins top overall burger in my book. and burgers aren't the only thing i've been eating, but the list of restaurants i've been to this summer would seriously bore you.

back in june i headed out west (to south dakota!) to be the maid of honor in emily's wedding. it was a whirlwind (long)weekend where we tried to fit in everything rapid city has to offer. some of the highlights: mount rushmore, taking my picture w/ tj, the presidential parade (scratch that - it was a big bust), three dollar giant beers, and of course the wedding!

and my absolute favorite part of the summer - outdoor concerts! i made it out to wolftrap three times this summer. once in the rain (well, really it was more like a monsoon), but the other two were on absolutely gorgeous nights. sadly it'll be the last summer we can see h&tbf since hootie (aka darius rucker) has left the band to do this.

and it's a leap year, which means olympics and elections - two of my favorite things! the opening ceremony back on 08.08.08 was simply genius. the communist chinese work ethic really showed in the perfectly executed drum sequences. but more amazing than the opening ceremonies were the athletes themselves. phelps, bolt, may & walsh, johnson, liukin, among others. and bob costas didn't even get on my nerves as much as he ususally does. although nbc's obvious pro-american (and pro-phelps) slant was pretty awful.

and what do i have to look forward to? well, i just moved into a brand new apartment and now i have a nice, quick commute! at the end of the month i'm headed to austin, tx (finally!) for austin city limits. [if anyone has suggestions of what to do in austin please let me know!] and of course, the best place to go in the fall - charlottesville!

08.08.08

you must watch this!

thanks to sus for finding this. watch it - i promise it will make you laugh.

happy first day of summer!

yes, i'll drink to that!

co co sala

my sister met me downtown last night after work for a fun night on the town before she leaves town for all of her travels. the plan of the night was to get dessert at the new dessert bar - co co sala. wanting to have something a little substantial before a large dessert we went to oya and grabbed so sushi. four rolls later we left oya and walked the few blocks over to ccs (not to be confused with css). we didn't even make it to g street before the skies erupted and the storms they had been calling for all day finally blew through.

earlier in the afternoon i had checked on opentable to maybe snag a reservation for ccs. there were literally reservations available at every single fifteen minute interval and since i didn't know the timing of the evening i decided we could probably just risk it. well we walked in at about 7:30 and there were no tables for two! but luckily they have two bars where you can order from the full menu. so we squeezed into two seats (they had a few too many barstools stuffed around the bar) and began to examine the menu.

here's the deal: there are four dessert tasting menus all with five courses. all four menus are based on a different theme (indian, italian, aztec and childhood favorites), but have the same five basic courses: a main dessert, two snacks, a cheese and a cleansing sorbet course. you can either get all five courses for $30 or three courses (no cheese or sorbet) for $20. in addition to the desserts there are cocktails that pair well with the themes. and if your parents trained you right and you have to eat dinner before dessert they have that covered too. on the "real food" menu you have a choice of mac and cheese, crab cakes, sliders or salad. and keeping with the theme of the restaurant all of these savory dishes incorporate chocolate in some way.

since we had already had dinner we went straight for dessert and opted for the five course aztec dessert menu. not up for cocktails we went with the trio of hot chocolate. we ordered milk chocolate, dark chocolate and lavender white chocolate (lauren's choice, not mine). fifteen minutes later we got dark chocolate, white chocolate and white chocolate lavender. the dark chocolate was delicious the others were pretty disgusting. we didn't even bother complaining though, since it had already taken forever to get these drinks. plus we could tell the bartender had no idea what he was doing (every question we had about the menu was met with a "sure" or
"i don't know" or "let me check").

so how was the dessert? well it was delicious! let's look at each course:

1. amuse - churros with cinnamon cream and dulce de leche dip.
such a great way to start! we got two churros, but i wonder if that amount changes based on the number in your group. every part of this dish was delectable.

2. main dessert - hot chocolate soufflé with fiery chocolate center and kahlua soother.
wow, they should have bolded that fiery part. the chocolate center was definitely spicy, but good nonetheless. i guess that was the point of the kahlua soother (yes, i copied that directly from the menu).

3. intermezzo - papaya and lime margarita sorbet with papaya stick.
a perfect refreshment after that spicy chocolate soufflé.

4. cheese course - pepper cheese enchilada with guava sauce.
wow. this was just delicious. and not spicy at all (despite the pepper description on the menu). the guava flavoring made the dish sweet without overpowering the gooey jack cheese.

5. petit fours - chocolate infused horchata and mexican wedding cookie.
this was a great, light way to end the meal. i could have done without the sesame seed sticks, but the shortbread cookie was delicious.

and of course i have some other random comments on the place. first off i went to check out the bathrooms (come on - you know me). i can't decide if i liked them or not - the floor to ceiling mirrors really threw me off. and the lighting in the restaurant (or at least at the bar) was way too bright. the ambiance was so sheek and sexy but then they had bright lights everywhere. maybe it was just a timing thing, but about halfway through our meal all the lights dimmed - it was much better. the best part about sitting at the bar? the flat screen tvs that streamed flowing chocolate. it was like straight out of willy wonka. as i mentioned earlier the service was pretty lousy (steer clear of the bartender lorenzo!), but i can cut them a break since they just recently opened the place. and i do have to give credit to the kitchen - they really timed the courses well. you don't realize how much such small dessert courses can fill you up!

i would definitely be up for giving ccs another try - any takers? it's a really fun lounge atmosphere complete with a dj booth. i see it as a fun spot to hang out at between dinner and going out - and being located in the heart of penn quarter makes it perfect for that exact purpose! plus there are three other dessert menus to try...

obama!

wooooooooo!
watching his speech right now - SO exciting!
but will hillary ever concede?
and more importantly - will virginia finally go blue in november??

everyone is going green

my company's color is green so it only makes sense that we are making a big push to be carbon neutral by 2010. that means our new office space is leed certified (gold i think) with automatic toilets and sinks (waterless urinals for the guys), motion sensor lights and glasses and mugs (no more solo cups).

and at the penny dive at dl this past weekend they announced that "dunn loring is going green" by not having all those crappy plastic toys in the kiddie section.

and even the nationals are going green! on wednesday discovery is launching their new network, planet green, and the nats are supporting the silver spring based company by wearing green caps. and the best part is my cousin is throwing out the first pitch!

random segue... fingers crossed that zim's shoulder gets better soon!

a zappos.com endorsement

the shoes might not be super cheap, but you get them fast. last night at 7pm i ordered a pair of shoes from zappos. i got an email this morning at 10:30 saying they had been delivered. and that's free shipping both ways. wow.

jackson 20

if the quality of a restaurant's bread basket is any indicator of it's overall quality then jackson 20 is great. after months of failed attempts (some their fault, some mine) to get to the new restaurant in the hotel monaco in old town i finally made it this week. let's just say it was worth the wait.

upon sitting down (next to the giant pig statue!) our overly cheery waitress explained the drink menu to us. the first thing that stood out was their extensive wine list that boasts 20 bottles for $20. and the best part is the majority of those wines are from virginia. but even if you're not in the mood for wine (we weren't), there's plenty more to choose from. just like any other kimpton spot their cocktail list is fun and inventive. and they had some solid beer choices (any place with dogfish head on tap is fine by me).

so we have the drinks covered - how about the food? well, as i said, the bread basket is delicious. the mini-cornbread is reminiscent of black eyed pea's cornbread (sweet and mealy, not that fake cake-like cornbread you find at many places). and then there were mini crescent shaped biscuits with a hint of sweet, but not overly dry. and with that was a slab of honey butter. like i said - delicious.

their menu changes seasonally in order to highlight the freshest (and local) ingredients. our chatty waitress was quick to point out the items that were just recently added to the menu. but she also told us what was just taken off the menu - maybe it's just me but i don't really want to know what i missed out on.

seeing as we were starving we went for the fried green tomatoes and a fresh greens salad to start. the tomatoes were lovely. big fat slices fried to the perfect crispness. they were topped with a flavorful, white cream sauce. the mixed greens were tossed with a grapefruit vinaigrette and served with avocado, apple and grapefruit slices.

the entrees were split pretty evenly between meat and fish (with a pasta dish thrown in to the mix as well). we're a big sharing family so we tried not to have any overlap on the ordering. we settled on the roasted chicken, pork chop, trout and flounder. can you guess which one i ordered?

the chicken was nice and juicy (dare i say crisp and juicy?). it was served with rather large shallots and with a yummy corn pudding straight in the corn husk (like a tamale!). the pork was
cooked perfectly (medium, but not too chewy). and it was a nice cut of pork - it had a bone but was not all bony like some of those pork chops are. the pork was served with swiss chard, a few giant onion rings and a grilled peach. i tried a bite of both of the fishes - they were ok if you're into that kind of thing. the flounder was served with roasted potatoes and the trout with a crawfish etouffee. side note: did anyone else know that cut up okra looks just like jalapeño peppers?

that night we were celebrating my sister's birthday (which everyone knew since my mom bought her a dora balloon). so of course we had to order dessert. except when we looked over the dessert menu nothing really jumped out at us. we were also pretty stuffed (maybe it was all that bread we ate?) so we decided to pass. i don't think our waitress was too happy about that.

overall a very good meal and with very reasonable prices (made even more reasonable when i didn't have to pay). and the bar looked fun - not sure about any happy hour specials though. the only happy hour i know of is their supposedly famous doggie happy hour (gross). if they allow you out in the courtyard at other times i will definitely give it a shot - but not if there are any dogs in sight.

quite possibly the most random food giveaway ever

tomorrow (5/28) california tortilla is giving away free pop tarts. i don't like pop tarts, but maybe you do?!

my new obsession

trader joe's dark chocolate covered mini pretzels.

also, new at tj's: white zinfindel two three buck chuck. great if you're into that kind of thing.

my weekend of firsts

1. took a metered cab in dc.
it seems like they still don't really know how to use the meter. our driver, abdul, started the meter and the initial charge went to $3.00 instead of the required $2.50. he immediately started apologizing and told us he would adjust it at the end. when we asked about what he thought about meters he told us he was getting 30-40% less in fares, but people were generally making it up in tips. our fare from chinatown to dupont-ish was $9 something - not sure how much it would have been in the zone system.

2. rumors.
this is my first and definitely last trip to rumors. can anyone explain the appeal of this bar? and why did i pay $5 to go in? there was awful music blasting and sketchy people hovering. gross.

3. rode the metro from dunn loring to vienna.
despite living around here my whole life i've never taken the metro until the end of the line. figure i might as well do it before we move and everyone else i know moves away from vienna.

4. ate fish!
even though there were some non-fish items on the menu at tackle box, i decided to bite the bullet and order some fish. i went with a non-fishy tasting tilapia and was very happy with my decision! and the pesto sauce and side of hush puppies and mac & cheese made the meal very satisfying (and it was only $14 - what a steal!).

the rest of the weekend was pretty typical of any other memorial day weekend - lots of pool time, a bbq and the fun run with the family.

happy first weekend of summer!

and so it begins...
shorts fridays at work, lazy weekends at the pool, bbqs and outdoor happy hours. oh, summer how i've missed you.

sadly i won't be making it down to the beach this weekend, but i've got plenty of fun planned for the next three days. it's only appropriate to kick off the summer with some refreshments - this year i'll do it with margaritas. and tomorrow night will be the obligatory bbq. sunday night i plan to pretend i'm up on the northern shore with dinner at the newly opened tackle box. and in true memorial day fashion monday is the falls church fun run. i can't wait to see what color the shirt is this year!

hope everyone else has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

most awkward music video ever!

but did you see perez? he makes a few cameos. i should have been in the video - i "discovered" him years ago... and now i'm bummed he's becoming so famous :(

john mccain is old

he even tried to make fun of himself on snl this weekend:



but better than listening to mccain stumble through his words is this blog. hilarious!

beta bridge

no, the paint didn't peel off. those bricks are painted on! i did a triple take when i walked by last weekend until my sister informed me an art class painted that on a few weeks ago. apparently everyone's too scared to paint over it.

oreos!

in our house we always have a steady supply of cookies & cream ice cream in our freezer. along with that we've been known to have some of my oreo cupcakes laying around from time to time (oreo cookie on the bottom, white cake with oreo pieces and white oreo frosting on top - heavenly!). it is my philosophy that anything with oreos cannot possibly be not delicious.

so it will come as no surprise that we attempted homemade oreos last night. last week sus and i came home having printed out the exact same recipe at work. if that's not a sign then i don't know what is. i remember doing a quick scan of the ingredients and noticing that we have everything in our normal baking arsenal. so last night, with nothing better to do we set out to make some oreos.

really they're quite easy to make. i made the dough in our stand mixer and baked the cookies while susie whipped up the frosting (and got a little arm workout in the process). after they were sufficiently cool we blobbed (official recipe term!) some icing between two cookies and devoured them. maybe next time we'll have to brand them with our names instead of "oreo."

free iced coffee!

for those of you who live under a rock and only read my blog (ha!)...

tomorrow dunkin donuts will be giving away free 16oz iced coffee. head to any dunkin donuts store tomorrow between 10am and 10pm for one of dunkin donuts' delicious iced coffee. lucky for me a dunkin donuts just opened up on 7th street. although how long do you think the lines will be? i'm guessing they might top chopt's lines tomorrow...

and if you're not into drinking it black like i do then you can try their new berry berry flavored iced coffee. or really maybe you should just get your iced coffee sweetened. i mean berry berry iced coffee? are you kidding me??

happy wednesday!

wednesday is clearly the best morning. you've hit the midway point of the week. this weather is just absolutely gorgeous (although it's not helping with my allergies - ugh). and my favorite part of wednesday morning is reading the food section.

and this morning it was great! the feature article was all about eating in charlottesville (obviously one of my favorite things to do). i'm so glad i'm going back down there in two weeks - maybe i'll finally get to try the raved about feast!

who would wear these?

seriously, these might be the most hideous looking shoes i've ever seen.

proposition: if you see someone wearing these shoes in public take a picture and send it to me!

and while we're on the subject of ice cream...

this past weekend i went to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials - one of which was ice cream. edy's was on sale so i went to grab a tub of cookies and cream when i noticed it looked shorter than usual. what a rip off - they've decreased the size of the container but maintained the same price. the global food crisis is starting to hit close to home!

if you missed free cone day yesterday...

well i certainly didn't miss it. although this year i scaled it down a bit and only went through the line one time.

i know there aren't too many ben & jerry's in the area so not everyone could make it yesterday. luckily there are other free/cheap ice cream deals this week.

tonight from 5-10pm baskin robbins is having 31 cent scoop night with proceeds going to local firefighters.

then tomorrow carvel is having happy hour from 4-6pm where they will be giving away free arctic blenders and blended coffees.

cheers to ice cream!

la sandia

word on the street is that la sandia is now open for business in tysons. funny since they have made no push to advertise at all (minus the mention in the business journal a few months back).

has anyone been yet?

their location in denver boasts a large tequila list. and guacamole made tableside (is there really any other way?). and it's only $8.95 - what a steal! that might be reason enough to go try it out. and cinco de mayo is on monday. hmmmm...

today is free cone day!

happy staff appreciation day

so i think this is what used to be called secretary's day. and then it was administrative assistant's day. and now it's staff appreciation day? political correctness taken to the extreme...

regardless of the name of the "holiday," my office decided to bring in ben & jerry's and set up an ice cream sundae bar for all of the "staff." randomly my coworker and i always get on the "staff" emails. i think it's because they don't know what to do with our group (yeah, we're that special). usually i just ignore them all but when this one came through my interest was peaked. how could i turn down ice cream on a day like today? (ok, on any day).

so i just went upstairs to get my ice cream. it was delicious. also our office manager was handing out some sort of coupon so i went over to get mine (figuring it was for free ice cream or something like that). well it turned out to be a coupon for one free day off from work. are you kidding me? i took one look at it and said, "no thank you," and handed it back. my office is such a joke.

j street?

seriously my brain is so random. just now i was looking at the dc zoning map trying to locate a property we're working on - a parcel of land on k street over by union station. you know what i just realized? dc doesn't have a j street. i guess i must have known that, but i never realized it. so immediately i googled it and found this. hilarious!

c-a-p-s caps! caps! caps!

it's hot out there! and the best way to beat the heat? spend the afternoon at verizon center of course. i might be a converted hockey fan (no, not really). but that came was pretty awesome! way to keep your season alive caps!

obama!

it's days like these i miss working in georgetown

i miss the days of walking across the street to get a cupcake. i miss the days of walking up wisconsin to thomas sweet. i miss walking up m street to do some shopping. but most of all i miss walking down the street to the waterfront.

with yesterday being the most gorgeous day of the year (and not because the pope was here, ok?) we gathered up the troops and headed down to the waterfront. although gone are the days of leaving at 4pm and making them open the bar for us (yes, we used to be those people.) but at least we had a convertible to drive cross town in - doesn't beat walking down the street, but it comes pretty close.

the waterfront was busy as ever and the harbor was running out of space for boats to pull in. somehow we managed to snag a table, but apparently sequoia doesn't know what table service is. i guess when you have prime real estate you don't have to worry about service or quality - both of which are lacking down there. but there's nothing quite like drinking an ice cold corona sol on a warm evening while looking out on the river.

and with the waterfront getting overly packed we decided to seek out more outdoor drinking space. where to go? old glory of course. and i was pleasantly surprised. what used to be a makeshift deck has been renovated into patio with tile floors, a retractable roof (complete with fans) and a permanent full length bar (now with two flat screens - perfect for watching the caps lose).

and nothing completes a night like last better than walking over the key bridge. the views of the city were great. will minus that ugly old steam pipe of course. the only thing that could have topped it is if any of the bakeries stayed open past 7pm. they need to take some cues from buzz - they stay open until midnight!

last night a cupcake saved my life

no, seriously. after swimming three and a half miles it was just what a i needed before i crashed. i'm so hooked on baked and wired - we're talking at least a cupcake a week for the past month or so. will i ever get to try georgetown cupcake?

"it's so ridiculous it's amazing"

free wine!

did you know that if you are a member of the uva alumni association you can get free wine tastings at jefferson vineyards? free tastings and discounts on wine purchases. sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

ranking the starbucks

with their brand floundering, starbucks has really been pulling out all the stops lately. and i can't say that i complain. first they introduced a brand new roast - pike place. it's in direct response to everyone's complaints that starbucks coffee tastes burnt. this coffee is fresher and much smoother. too bad it's not much cheaper. they also started a perks program with their starbucks card. if you register your card online (duh, who doesn't?) then you can get lots of fun freebies. and i just noticed this morning that they're giving out free itunes songs every tuesday. today - counting crows!

all of this marketing is clearly working on me. it's gotten me to cross the street and go to starbucks every morning. ok, maybe it's because the seattle's best in my building mysteriously closed last week. coincidence? i think not. anyway, going back to starbucks got me thinking about my love/hate relationship with the coffee shop. their new coffee has me loving more than hating lately, but some of the shops out there are just painful to go to.

so i present to you, my superlatives of the dc area starbucks i've been to:

best overall starbucks: metro center, 11th & e.
this was my starbucks when i worked over on 11th street. any given morning there were at least 10 people working. and not just working, but working well together. and the store was set up well to handle the flow of customers from the in door to the out. i definitely don't miss that office (gross), but most morning i miss that starbucks.

worst overall starbucks: route 7 (next to panera).
this has the potential to be a great starbucks. it's rather large and there's lots of seating (even tables outside). the problem? well it must be the management because the staff there are all incompetent. regardless of when i go in there it always takes ages for me to get my drink. now with starbucks literally on every corner it's easier to avoid that one, but you'd think after all these years they'd get their act together.

best seating: charlottesville, on the corner.
the coveted chairs downstairs in the window were always hard to get (i think i sat there once in my four years), but luckily there were plenty of places to sit upstairs (haha. i joke). but when you could snag a seat it was nice. especially to just sit on the couch and read. it was a little disturbing when lots of people got talking, but it looks like they got that under control now. figures they made it better now that we left!

most inconsistent: gainesville, route 29.
this is the starbucks that i inevitably stop at every time i drive down to charlottesville. the problem is i almost always have to use the bathroom too, so i'm forced to go in. because you know this is a fancy schmancy starbucks - it has a drive thru! the inconsistencies arise when you choose to go into order or to drive through the, well, drive thru. the process is seamless when you drive thru, but when you go inside it takes forever to order and/or get your drink. what's the deal?

most animated staff: georgetown, m street.
it seems like forever ago that i worked in georgetown. in reality it's been just over a year. weird. and since we brewed starbucks coffee in that office i didn't go up the street to get coffee every morning, but when i did it was worth it. the staff at that shop were crazy (in a good way). they always seemed like they were truly enjoying themselves, which always makes it more pleasant for the customer. [side note: this is not the starbucks that had a triple homicide back in 1997.]

best bathrooms: new york city.
ok, so maybe they don't have the best bathrooms. but if i'm looking for a public restroom in new york city odds are i'll end up in a starbucks. mainly because they're on every corner (literally). but also because they keep them clean (enough). i just hate how the prices for the same drinks are more expensive up there. it makes no sense.

most cramped: pan am shopping center.
luckily this one is never too busy [knocks on wood] because if it were it would be insane. there's room for about five people in line and after that you're out the door. the one redeeming factor is the outdoor seating. but it's not like i'd use it because everyone just sits there and smokes. gross.

and you know what? there are probably so many i'm forgetting or i've never been to...

happy passover!

well it's not until saturday night, but this video is hilarious.

springtime!

i love when the seasons change! and especially when it makes a change for the warmer :) here are some of my favorite "firsts" in the spring.

1. the first trees blooming.
this happened weeks ago, but now the city is in full bloom! and i've was one step ahead of my allergies this year so (knock on wood) i haven't been sniffling too much.

2. the first baseball game.
it might be a while before i get over there, but i'd rather wait until it's warm enough to enjoy the game. i mean i don't like baseball that much.

3. the first outdoor happy hour.
and that will be tonight (or this afternoon?) at harry's. per a circulating work email: we have five tables reserved with bottle service at 6:00. i believe at a thing called harry's. to clarify, bottle service means miller lite bottle service. and while i can't complain about outdoor drinking, it's days like these that i miss working one block from the georgetown waterfront.

4. the first ice cream treat.
anyone who knows me well knows that i eat ice cream just about everyday of the year (seriously). but it's spring and summertime when i have more of an urge to go out for ice cream. today the urge hit me hard and i frolicked over to potbelly for one of their delicious ice cream sandwiches. and at $2.50 for two cookies and some ice cream (in sandwich form, of course) you can go twice as often as going to the other price-gouging ice cream shops in the city.

5. the first day of the pool.
i saved the best for last. this is my favorite day of the year. i won't be in town this year for the first day, but i'm looking forward to a summer full of lazy days and lap swimming at the pool.

jewno

greetings from florida

yes, i'm on vacation in sunny florida. it feels like the middle of august and i LOVE it. but i don't want to make anyone too jealous...

my grandfather has lived down here in boca for about 15 years now. not long after we started coming down to visit we discovered a frozen yogurt place just a mile from him place. it's kind of like arch's, but without the gooey brownie and with tons more flavors (most of them being some sort of combination of fat-free/sugar-free and low carb, yet still delicious). so as you can guess every time i come down i go every single night (obviously).

but the point of this story is not my obsession with frozen yogurt (which dc does not have enough of). i've been coming to this same yogurt place for over ten years and i just now noticed that the owner is a splitting image of john waters (his doppelgänger, if you will). tragically i don't have a camera down here with me, but he is absolutely the boca raton version of john waters (read: jewish, overly tanned and very loud).

sad news

yesterday my sister's roommate ashley fell off of her horse. she was airlifted to the uva hospital and it the doctors are 99.9% sure that she is permanently paralyzed from the waste down and will never walk again. this being less than two months before graduation. although look what happened with kevin everett this fall - you never can say never.

my thoughts go out to her and her family and friends.

happy easter

or should i say happy peepster?!

hotel cafe tour

last night we drove up to annapolis to catch a show at rams head. and not just any old show - three and a half hours of straight music. it was like an indie/folk/rock/popish combination of music. five artists - no breaks.

for those of you who haven't been to rams head think birchmere on a much smaller scale. but even better than the birchmere - the food's better, you can eat in a separate restaurant and you have reserved seats.

since i bought us tickets the day they went on sale (obviously) i managed to snag some first row seats. it was totally awesome and awkward at the same time. and we definitely made it more awkward when we started passing notes across the table. it had to be done - there were too many crazy characters not to be commenting.

first up was meiko. i'd heard one of her songs (how lucky we are - aka shitty apartment) and knew i liked that one a lot. it was her first night on the tour (the artists change constantly over the five week tour). you could tell she was a little nervous, but her singing didn't show it. she's a cute little indie girl, but sings with what sounds like a british accent. that might sound weird - but it works for her. best part of her set was when she asked the audience if anyone had a bobby pin. sus totally came through in the clutch.

next came eric hutchinson. it was three years ago when i first saw eric hutchinson - at the rams head! he's pretty good (ha!). the only problem is i've seen him so many times that some of his jokes are getting kind of old (mainly this one). but i still love his music and he puts on a killer show. plus he was playing all alone, which i think is when he sounds his best.

and then the organizer of the whole tour came out to play - cary brothers (one guy - first name cary, last name brothers). and you've probably heard some of his stuff. he went to college with zach braff, which lead to his song "blue eyes" being on the garden state soundtrack. and then there was "ride" on the last kiss soundtrack.

and ingrid was there! i've also seen her quite a few times - but i thought she was great last night! she's so quirky - and i love it! and i even liked "keep breathing" last night - usually i switch it when it comes on my ipod. also she rarely plays the hat (my favorite) - so i was happy she got around to that one last night. and she plays the ukulele. seriously.

last up was joshua radin. he's the quintessential sensitive singer-songwriter (which is exactly why he's on this tour). i have his cd and i can't get enough of it - his voice is so soothing. although i was surprised to hear how deep his voice was when he spoke - nothing like when he sings. also, i kind of love how he smiles/smirks as he sings. and his duet with ingrid is pretty hot.

and then there's the band. where do i even start with them? first there's the emcee/guitar player - jason kanakis. i know him from somewhere, but i still haven't been able to place him. it's kind of killing me. and then there's the drummer (didn't catch his name). just think an italian looking peyton manning. he was weird. but he played the box, so i can't hate too much. and then there was the guy in the back (again, don't know the name). he played 42 different instruments. well maybe not 42 - but at least the keyboard, trumpet, clarinet and guitar. and i saved the best for last - the bass player. think josh kelly + javier bardem. we had a hard time keeping a straight face when he was on stage. he made the most awkward faces and movements. he also had the largest hands i have ever seen - they were easily twice the size of mine.

observations from the week

1. it's spring break and you know what that means. tourists. lots and lots of tourists. look out for loud and obnoxious kids on the metro, lots of escalefters and the chain restaurants to be packed. seriously, i don't get that last one. why would you travel to a new city just to eat at all the same restaurants you have at home?

2. dogfish has red & white on tap. seriously. i don't think much more needs to be said about this one.

3. now a literal observation. my office is across the street from the renaissance hotel. the duke basketball team is staying at the renaissance hotel. at about 4pm yesterday i noticed a bus with a police escort idling in front of the hotel. i mentioned this to the guys in my area and they all sprung up to see the commotion. all the players were getting off the bus in suits and filing into the lobby. and how did we know it was duke? well one of the guys i sit with conveniently keeps binoculars at his desk. so sketchy, i know.

4. what's with the weather this week? it's been a different season every day. (yes, i realize there are five days in a week and only four seasons. just roll with me here.) if i go to bed one night and it's seventy degrees how am i to guess that early the next morning it will be blustery and cold?! needless to say, i have been severely inappropriately dressed each day.

5. i swam a lot in the last week. like probably ten miles. i'm so going to dominate all those 50s and 100s i just signed up to swim next month! woooo!

and now i'm looking forward to a weekend of music, basketball and food!

happy first day of spring!

ps. happy purim too!

black is the new president, bitch

south by southwest!

so i'm sure you all know about sxsw. no, it's not a hitchcock movie. it's the music event of the year. each spring thousands of bands (with the corresponding thousands of fans) converge in austin, texas for a week of non-stop concerts. to me it sounds like heaven (although i haven't been able to make it out there just yet).

thankfully i subscribe to npr in my google reader and have been listening to full concerts from sxsw here at work (with my sweet wireless headset of course!). actually the whole npr music site is really cool and has a lot of fun features (like full length live concerts, studio sessions and exclusive interviews).

and all this talk of music is just getting me even more excited for summer concert season. get excited - wolftrap announces their summer lineup on monday!

piñata apples

has anyone seen these around anywhere? the "soft texture" description makes me weary, but i figure with a name like that i have to at least give them a try.

observations from the 8k on sunday

we braved the frigid weather sunday morning and headed downtown to run in the st. patrick's day 8k. [side note: did you hear about how the pope - or some high ranking catholic - decreed that st. patrick's day 2008 will be on march 15th so not to interfere with holy week? seriously, they can do that?] back to the race - here are some random thoughts and observations from the morning:

- warming up with a guy nicknamed "sarge" is probably not in your best interest. i think we all pulled muscles from doing his crazy exercises (butt kickers!). the best part is when we started doing some stretch that required us to bob up and down and then "sarge" started going off about how runners have no rhythm (hence why they run). and then he made everyone stop because he couldn't handle watching those three girls do it so out of rhythm. yes, we got called out in front of 5,000+ people.

- mayor fenty is fast. i guess that is expected for the son of the owners of a local running shoe store. but doesn't being the mayor of dc (and the father of twin boys) keep him pretty busy? when does he have time to train?

- bagpipes are surprisingly good motivators. mainly because you want to run fast to get away from the god awful sound (and the sight of an old man in a skirt).

- they actually had water left at the end of the race! although after the debacles of last year i doubt any big race will ever run out of water again.

- i almost felt bad for those young girls with super curly hair who were doing some irish dancing after the race (you know since it was so cold outside and all). but then i realized they're the idiots who decided to curl their hair up and dance around in crazy outfits in the cold.

- running through the city is so fun. well except for the fact that the courses are so contrived and you are forced to make random sharp turns. but running past the capitol totally makes up for it.

10k next? or maybe 10 miles? maybe after my swim meet...

the must list

does anyone read entertainment weekly? i've been a loyal subscriber since at least high school and it's probably the reason i have such a wacky sense for pop culture. two years ago they started a weekly must list where the editors pick ten things that they're into at the moment. so, in true copycat fashion - my very own must list:

1. obama.
he's a must for america.

2. march madness.
be it beer, lost or college basketball.

3. strawberry cupcakes from baked and wired.
seriously, there's nothing better.

4. alice smith.
i could listen to her cd on repeat every day. ok, maybe i do. she's playing at the black cat tomorrow night. the fact that it's a sunday and that i'm running a race in the morning puts the odds of me making it at slim to none. oh well, maybe next time.

5. snl.
so glad the writer's strike finally ended so snl could make it back just in time for prime political season. my only complaint? the music always sounds so awful.

6. amy adams.
definitely the it girl of the year (for good reason). i've seen all of her movies this year (save the one that came out yesterday). and i've added all of her older movies to my queue. ooooh and she's hosting snl tonight (w/ vampire weekend!!).

7. ice cream sandwiches.
be them homemade, from potbelly, from neilsen's, or anywhere else. i certainly do not discriminate when it comes to ice cream sandwiches.

8. hoyas.
growing up in dc made me a hoyas fan from the start, but it's been fun these past few years when they've been so good! and honestly last weekend's game against marquette was one of the best basketball games i've watched in my life.

9. yellow.
it's been my favorite color since i was sucking my thumb (although back then i could pronounce the "y" and it was more of a "lellow"). i'm so pumped (ha!) that it's the it color this season. i've already scored some hot yellow shoes and don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

10. lance reddick.
first he's on the wire (which could/should be it's own must, by the way). and now he shows up as the bad guy (?) on lost. probably the two best shows on tv right now. wooooo!

happy leap day!

hope everyone gets to enjoy february 29th to the fullest. you know since it only comes around every four years and all. and you know what a leap year means? olympics and elections - hooray!

ps. sus alerted me to this blog weeks ago and daily candy just talked about it this morning. and for those of you sitting at work just a little heads up that you most likely will start laughing out loud. seriously, it's hilarious.

so windy!

you know it's really windy outside when you see smokers huddled in the corners of buildings trying to get some sort of shield in order to light their cigarettes. seriously, when you can't get a cigarette lit don't you think that's a sign?! this has honestly been the winter of wind - where's all the snow?! if it's not going to snow i think it should immediately turn to spring. anyone else??

cupcakes!

read all about the new cupcake place in georgetown (aptly named georgetown cupcake). it's times like these i wish i still worked in georgetown (and i had the money laying around to start my own bakery). enjoy!

hilarious!

i realize the matt damon one is old, but it's still funny for the forty-second time.

oh man, this new jimmy/ben affleck one is so good, so good, so good!

thirty-six hours in charlottesville

by now we're pretty much pros at squeezing it all in:

take it away, ragged mountain, mincer's, starr hill brewery tour and tastings, arch's (twice!), toured the new comm school, dinner at bang, dessert at the flat, pitchers at biltmore, photo hunt at zydeco, bodos, long walks around grounds, plan 9, bookstore, special collections (oh wait, maybe not), alderman, bellair, basketball game (go hoos!).

maybe not quite as great as the basketball weekend from last january. well, honestly i'm not sure we can ever top that weekend. but this weekend came pretty close.

girl scout cookies!

it's that time of year again. yup, it's cookie time. (and yes i tried to link "cookie time" to the video from troop beverly hills, but tragically it's been taken off of youtube.) oh well, i'll go dominate those boxes of samoas and thin mints i have laying around downstairs. mmmmmm :)