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 :)