brown bag lunches

whenever i go home my mom packs me a lunch for the next day just as i remember it and just as i like it.

maybe i'm really stretching how long it is socially acceptable to feel like a little kid but it can feel so good when you need it. sometimes i still need my mom and nothing makes me happier than coming home for my dad's ribs or steak or any imaginable red meat you can stick on the grill.

i don't know if i ever went through that don't treat me like a little kid phase. i think it's maybe because i'm the oldest and i always wanted the seemingly easy treatment of the youngest. then again my mom did tell me i used to push her away when i semi-recently insinuated it was her lack of physical contact why i couldn't comfortably hug my friends. sorry mom, you can hug me whenever you want.

now excuse me while i eat my orange slices.

a dreary monday

and ramen noodles.

Lauren's Graduation

not so fast bubb.

i'm not sure why i decided to put only this last one in black and white but i'm quite sure now, after seeing this photo my dad took of me, lauren, brian and kathryn that my bangs were a mistake. i'm also surprised my dad was able to produce a relatively good picture with my camera on its manual setting. and we all thought he was a philistine.

we are all very proud of lauren and especially excited she graduated so we could all skip work and eat lunch at the cheesecake factory.

Philadelphia

pat's cheesesteak

this weekend karmaa took a little trip to philly. if me referring to my friends as karmaa or the fact that i call it philly makes you want to vomit in your mouth a little, well, it is what it is.

it was kind of a whirlwind trip and a good amount of it was spent at udel. thrrrrrowback. megan and i got there a bit early and had sushi and margarita pizza while waiting out dark skies, lightning and a storm to kick off the summer.

in (finally) getting to philly, we took a cab to old city and went to national mechanics and lucy's hat shoppe. national mechanics had solitary lightbulbs hanging everywhere, a great draft beer list and venus fly trap terrariums. lucy's hat shoppe was essentially a dance party.

the next day we walked around and explored the city for a few hours and even saw the liberty bell (through the glass). here are some pictures from the trip.

we ran into terrible traffic on the way home saturday afternoon, so while alli entertained me with bruce springsteen impressions, ashley did this:

we eventually made it back to fairfax and alli literally cried when we told her we'd go with her to get beer, guacamole and a plate of beef at uncle julio's. negro modelo is goooooood.

would it be a huge deal if i got another plate of beef?

meet laurel's new boyfriend:

Alejandro, master of all fajitas and margarita extraordinare.

Freakin Weekend

it's friday, it's almost the weekend, and it's pay day! instead of putting part of it in savings like the responsible person i'm not, i might get myself one of these babies: Polaroid 300.

i have 2 older polaroid cameras and an exposed pack of flim and they are basically just as decoration right now because they don't work.

it's heartbreaking because i love polaroids and one of them has a rainbow on it and instead of a flash, it has lightbulbs that burst.

it would be great if i could use those, but on the upside, the 300 film is half the price.

other things i'm looking forward to: the eggplant parmesan i have for lunch, nat's game tonight with fireworks, the flower mart at the national cathedral, sleeeeeeeeeeping in, catching up on LOST and seeing koa and my mom on sunday.

Scrawberry Margaritas

sometimes i read other peoples blogs and they are filled with intellectual thoughts and artistic things and it makes me feel, i dunno, trivial. but then i think about my "readership" (hi plum and grandpa!) and realize they'd probably be a lot more interested in tales of my fabulously interesting life.

so, without further ado, my cinco de mayo spent on the patios and rooftop of Lauriol Plaza in dupont:

does anyone know, exactly, what this cinco de mayo is all about? not mexican independence. something about mexico winning a war against france. people in mexico are probably shaking their heads, but the meaning has become pretty obsolete here. kind of like st. patrick's day, which is another holiday i don't understand because for me it goes 1. my birthday 2. st. patrick's day.

basically all of the pictures i took were of alli because we had to wait 2.5 hours on the patio for our table. we did, however, have a strawberry margarita pitcher.

also, i think my parents sometimes worry about me living in dc but honestly, georgetown is so safe. trees and i were walking back to the apartment, in the middle of the street by the way, and the sketchiest thing we encountered was a lady watering her flowers near midnight. hey lady, you're not foolin' me.

oh and i'd just like to say: scrawberry limenade.

A May Birthday and Bits from Home

Lauren Elizabeth O'Connor turned 22 yesterday!

as the birthdays add up, people start to say "you're ___ years old now, i can't believe it!" but lauren's birthday this year is not particularly surprising because we've always felt so close in age, and i'm 23 (which i legitimately forgot the other day when someone asked me how old i was. me: "22. wait, am i 22? i might be 23, oh my gosh i'm 23!" i honestly still feel like i'm 17, and that might be because i always thought by the time i was in my 20's i'd be settled, know what i want to do in life and maybe have a dog. and if we are talking about how old lauren might feel, i'm going to say 12 considering her disney princess wrapping paper and multitude of presents all in the shade of pink.

yesterday i went home to Fairfax for the night to celebrate with her. i took Koa for a long walk, my mom made shrimp stir fry and then we had presents and birthday cake. (Lauren shared with Brian since we were in Jamaica over his birthday and he didn't get a cake)

then we may have watched glee with a bottle of wine. and then my dad may have asked to watch another episode on dvr since he secretly likes the show. then i may have fallen asleep on the couch.

and this is what i had to say goodbye to this morning.

the farmer's market

dearest basil plant,

can we be together forever in making dinner delicious?

sunday i went to the dupont circle farmer's market. i got this wee basil plant, which i'm sure will outgrow dominic, as well as some asparagus, goat cheese and mushroooooooooms. i decided to get the "mushroom mix" because it reminded me of a goodie bag, but i had to spend about 30 minutes googling what types came in my bag (hen of the woods, chanterelles, crimini, black trumpets, bearded tooth and these tiny little white ones that you always find in the grass after it rains.

anyways, here is a map from the washington post of farmer's markets in dc and the area. they are a lot of fun because people are super nice and dogs seem to hang out there.

america and the hill.

yesterday after work, megan alli and i went to help megan (and ashley by the twin associative property) at an event in one of the senate buildings on capitol hill.

captiol hill is so beautiful! can you imagine walking into work every day, passing by the fountains at the library of congress and humming god bless america to yourself? yeah, me neither. but hey i get to pass a doggy day care place in southeast every day and i'm pretty sure the chow is starting to remember me.

anyways, the event was for the Wounded Warriors Project, which Megan works for. i was so glad i got to go and see megan and ashley hobnobbing with congresswomen and the like, but i was especially glad to see how far they've come in channeling their personal experiences into actual change by starting a non-profit called the Grateful Nation Foundation. how amazing are they?

we had a lot of fun, met a lot of interesting people and continuously told people to try the meatballs (even though the crabcakes were better). afterwards we went to the Union Pub to catch the last quarter of the Caps game and listen to people boo-hoo and drown their sorrows in mini corndogs and bud light lime buckets.
oh wait...
Alex Ovechkin sleeps alone tonight.

oh did you want a picture? okay, this is what it's like to hang out with alli and megan. that spot in the middle was where i was sitting, trying to have a convesation with them as they played brickbreaker:

that's what you get for eating plums!

georgetown

georgetown is more of a neighborhood than i ever expected it to be.

i know having the opportunity to live in georgetown is a dream and that i will probably not be able to live in an area this posh until, well, ever, but part of me was afraid it would be filled with snobby people and the lifeless expensive places that cater to them.

it turns out that the uneven brick sidewalks that slant down to the waterfront have really charmed me. i've found good places that make me feel like i'm making georgetown home. quiet places, places where dogs hang out, places for groceries (trader joe's!) and places for a drink and trivia (and the ocassional dance party). i've seen people that frequent these places, and that make it feel that i live in a neighborhood. people like the homeless man that can quote Julius Ceasar and is afraid of storms and the man that walks his well-behaved chocolate lab leashless at all hours of the night and day.

this place, uptown valet, i just found last week when i finally decided i couldn't get through the spring if i didn't take my work skirts to the dry cleaners.

while i was in there waiting to pick up my clothes (i lost my damn ticket and they had to search for the bunch with a yellow sweater), everyone seemed to know eachother. above is a picture of the matchmaking wall. they take polaroids of the willing and single customers and will set them up. isn't that cute?

hey alli, need anything drycleaned?

hey there sportsfan

5$ tickets, 5 guys, cornhole and daytime fireworks.

national's game with heather.

they are really terrible.

mail

i miss getting mail, even just junk mail. i haven't changed my address yet so my anthropologie catalogues still go to my house. yesterday i was really excited to get mail from Monica, who sent me presents from this store in Los Angeles. so basically what i'm saying is don't be surprised if you see me out with a harry potter temporary tattoo on my forehead.

koa with the giant stick she made

me carry around the neighborhood

this weekend.

Avada Kedavra

allergies.

monkeys.

being away from Koa.

long commutes.

the phrase "sorry bout it"

indian food.

gore.

we make it rain

at pasta mia.

my leftovers

Jamaica

i honestly didn't even get that tan.

Almond Butter and Barricades

Almond Butter: lately i've slipped into a routine where i come home, throw my keys and purse on the table, let waffles out and have a spoonful of almond butter. when i worked as a legal assitant/nanny (ha) this past summer, the kids loved cashew butter. it was so good, but i like almonds a lot more so i decided to get myself some.

MaraNatha raw almond butter from whole foods: so good.

Trader Joe's brand: so bland, i contemplated putting up an ad on craigslist for a gently used jar of almond butter for free. it would include a sentence about the fact that i may or may not have double dipped the spoon into the almond butter, but i'm sure someone would have taken me up.
anyways, i decided to maybe throw it out the window one day to hear the glass shatter (i'd clean it up, probably?)

but really the whole reason for half a post on almond butter is because Whole Foods has a nut grider that grinds whole peanuts, honey roasted peanuts, cashews and almonds into butter. maybe half the fun is using the machine, but i tried it yesterday and it is pretty damn good.

Nuclear Summit: police cars are flooding Georgetown. apparently a lot of the participants are staying on the Four Seasons on M, so they've put up barricades and blocked off a few streets. it took me double the time to walk to Foggy Bottom because there was a policeperson directing traffic at each crossroad (jaywalking is great). seeing all of the security is really humorous because each representative seems to have 2 security guards so everywhere there will be pairs of two people of different ethnicities, like noah's ark.
it's especially funny when you see the asian security guards standing outside of Miss Saigon's and the french security guards standing outside of Bistrot Francais. fact.

One Picture

more from jamaica to come

...And We're Back!

get it?
know how it says that on gchat when it sometimes randomly disconnects you all the time?

well anyways, i'm back from Jamaica and i just wanted to say i'm going to post pictures of the trip and also do a post on why i hate monkeys (inspired by heather's easter trip to the zoo). for now i'm gathering information on their violent nature. until then, please try to avoid contact with all monkeys until you've been properly warned.

things i need. now.

not one, but a whole box of georgetown cupcake's red velvets. okay, maybe i had a chocolate and vanilla one last night but i mean, it is what it is.

i'd also like my puppy and a bloody mary.

(okay fine i had a bloody mary last night too)