Things I Love About DC

People say many things about DC. But I love DC. And here I present a few, random things I love about DC...in no particular order.

Cherry Blossoms

Awesome drag queens. I don't care where you're from, our drag queens can totally take your drag queens!

Shows at the 9:30 Club

My love/hate affair with Georgetown

Roller Derby

Random, cool graffiti

Going to a concert in a synagogue (this is at 6th and I)

The view from the terrace at the Kennedy Center

Obama lives here now.

If You Don't Have A Home, You Can Buy One There!

I'm making up for not posting in awhile but having two posts in one day! I know, you alls is lucky.

So, in continuing with my exciting weekend, Kristen and I drove up to College Park, MD on Saturday to spend the majority of the weekend with Beth. Beth has swank new digs in College Park. They are especially swank because she lives within walking distance to an IKEA. Ikea happens to be one of my favorite stores ever. My fascination with Ikea is hard to explain. Everything about them is so cute, so efficient, and so very Swedish.

After getting our dinner of Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam, we set out to explore the Ikea for awhile, pretending that each room setup was our own, mentally decorating our future apartments.

For instance, would I have this whiteboard in my future home, advocating for the preservation of bees?

Would my friends and I lounge on this comfortable lawn chairs on our porches in the spring and summer?

Would we read books about Proust in Swedish?

Would Beth come over to my place on Friday nights to sit in my wicker chair that is awkwardly placed in my future living room and growl at me sexily?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions. But I do know one thing. I want a swank-ass circular bed.

Maybe, in my future apartment, we would have these cute martini glasses, and gather for cocktails after work.

We would probably drink these cocktails while watching some movie like 'Becoming Jane', because, well...we're women.

But we'd look sexy while we watched it, on someone's cute little bed that could easily double as a couch.

Or maybe instead we would recline on a chair like this, drinking tea.

Most likely though, we'd get fed up with Jane Austen pretty easily, and instead pop in an old favorite like The Emperor's New Groove. Come on, it's a classic!

If there's one thing a visit to Ikea does for me though, is it makes me want to move to Sweden slightly. I mean, everything just seems so much better in Sweden. Don't let this expose from The Daily Show tell you otherwise!

Friday Night Happy Hour

Mallary had the brilliant idea on Friday that, since it was insanely nice out, we should go somewhere outside and get plastered. Luckily, happy hours were invented for this sort of thing.

We wanted to go see a Korean movie at E Street Cinema later that evening, so it was decided that we would find a bar in DC to drink at before the movie. I suggested Saint-Ex, since I've been meaning to go there for years and I know they have outdoor seating. However, they would not seat us outside unless we were eating dinner, and food there happens to be quite expensive.

So we ended up at Alero, a Mexican place on U Street. Iced margaritas on a warm day seemed like a good plan. And the U Street area has some of my favorite people watching of any other place in DC.

The plan was to order a pitcher, and finish it by the time we had to leave to go to the movie. Here are some pictures.





And here is a girl standing near the entrance of the restaurant, cradling a margarita pitcher. Mallary and I, for some reason, found this REALLY funny. Luckily, I was able to snap a picture. It wasn't until I was looking at it just now that I realized her margaritas are the same color as her shirt. I've gotta hand it to her. Color coordination is an important lesson to learn.


Since Mallary and I were both feeling the effects of about 3 margaritas each, and since we had some time to kill, we decided to walk all the way to the theater. Keep in mind, we were on U Street...walking all the way to E Street. That's almost an entire alphabet, isn't it? Nonetheless, it was a good way to sober up, plus we got to see a good chunk of the Shaw neighborhood, going down along 11th Street.

For instance, Shaw has a beauty parlor called the S&M Beauty Salon. Innocently named beauty shop or covert sex parlor/fetish dungeon? You be the judge!


It was a really nice walk though. I need to go to DC more, just to walk around and see what's on all the streets and corners that I've never taken the time to explore.



The slight downside to all this is that by the time we reached the theater, the movie we wanted to see was sold out. Oh wells.

Realizing Life Is Both Ironic and Cruel

When I was a little girl (and by that, I mean somewhere between 13-16 years old, so not actually that little), I wanted to be any one of these women:

Debbie Harry (Blondie)

Kate Pierson (The B-52s)

Patti Smith

Stevie Nicks

-----------------

As time passes, I realize with a certain, suffocating dread, that I will probably end up like this woman:


....sigh.

Trouble Is My Business

I have a small thing for "old time radio". Especially hardboiled detective shows. And...as far as I'm concerned, nothing typifies this genre better than Philip Marlowe.

Philip Marlowe was a character created by the great, late Raymond Chandler (whom I love enough that I bought a book just of his letters). I don't know what it is about Philip Marlowe that entrances me so much more than any other detective. I think maybe it's just because he so personifies that sort of...noir world so well. Earlier today, at work, I was listening to an episode of "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe", starring Gerald Mohr , that I had burned onto a CD (yes, I am that much of a dork).

Marlowe speaks exactly how I want a detective to speak. I picture him in a long tan trenchcoat and fedora, smoking many cigarettes and calling every woman he encounters "dame" or "doll". The plot of the episode I was listening to is irrelevant, but I'll give you some choice Marlowe quotes here...and try to imagine them in your best old-time radio voice:

"There was only the heavy scent of taboo in the air..."

"I felt like a well-fed mallard on the opening day of hunting season."

"Quit acting like a bobby sock who's within squealing distance of Frank Sinatra and try a cigarette!"

"We held a short pow-wow without passing the peace pipe."

"It was about as relaxing as the thought of a time bomb in a day nursery."

"This situation was as tangled as a second-hand spiderweb."

"When I got there, I knew I was as welcome as whooping cough at a glassblower's convention."

"Listen, beautiful, don't flap your eyelashes at me. I can't see anything but double-crosses right now."

I'd like to imagine Philip Marlowe talking dirty. I bet it would be hot. Also, clearly I need to get this book right now.

Did You Say Cherry Blossoms? What Cherry Blossoms?

I just ordered a new lens for my camera from Amazon, which should arrive by Wednesday. I'm super-psyched. Will have to have a massively epic photo-taking bonanza to celebrate.

So, this past weekend was the Cherry Blossom Festival. I'm starting to second-guess any event in DC that is sure to draw an insane amount of tourists. However, cherry blossoms are pretty, and it's always a good idea to spend time with great friends and beautiful weather.

I will confess that my favorite pictures that I took that day were not of cherry blossoms at all.

Jeff and Meredith should seriously model for a J. Crew ad together. Or something.

Mallary shoots with a vintage Canon.

A cute family scene.

I found this girl to be...so amusing with her posing. More so because of what you will see below.

Those pink boots...are fabulous.

Meredith, the fairest blossom of them all.

This poor kid just couldn't hack it.

Megan taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

What festival would be compelte without some J-Rock?


FINE. I'll show you some darn cherry blossom pics already.


Thus concludes another epic photo post. Later, gators.

We Shatted Ourselves

A few Saturdays ago, I popped by Lisa's fiance's apartment for the 2nd annual "Shat Attack". What is "Shat Attack", you may ask? It's a day-long extravangza on the anniversary of the birth of Mr. William Shatner. Oh...Oh yea. That's right.

Seeing as this was my first Shat Attack, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What does one do on William Shatner's birthday? Well, while I was only there for the afternoon, quite a bit happened. Let me show you.

First off, the apartment was very well-decorated for the occassion...even with it's own (framed) poster!

Nothing less for this behemoth of a man.

One of the things we did was play an entirely Shatner-themed version of Cranium...which was dubbed "Crane-ium" after Denny Crane, Shatner's character on Boston Legal. Lisa's fiance, Brad, spent many late nights preparing this game. I mean, you gotta admit, this board is impressive.

Brad briefly explains the rules of the game.

There was a component to the game where you had to watch clips of various Shatner things and answer questions on them. We got to watch this lovely little diddy of a young Shatner in a very blue shirt singing a song from Camelot.

And, of course, any game of Cranium (or Crane-ium) involves drawing. For one doodle, I was told to sketch "a preacher who's lost his faith", based on at least 2 characters that Shatner's played in various things.

Oh, and we watched Incubus, which I've been dying to see for years...not only because it features a young (and reasonably attractive) pre-Star Trek Shatner, but it's also entirely in ESPERANTO! Actually, if you catch the latest issue of The Believer, there's a pretty good article on it. Also, there's a really weird bit at the end with a goat. You'd have to see it.

Oh, and did I mention that there were party hats? Oh yea. There were hats. Here's the lovely Lisa modeling her (pink) party hat. With Shatner's face on it.

And we ate pudding, in tribute to this popular Youtube clip of Shatner eating pudding.

And that, my peeps, is how you pay tribute to Mr. William Shatner on his birthday. I decided to exclude the "Shat-charades" pictures, just because that seemed like the kind thing to do. I could only come for the afternoon, but I know that the shindig raged on into the wee hours of the night. Maybe next I will be able to stay later for more Shat-nanigans.