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)

Team Jacob

dear twilight, why can't i stop watching you? you are not as good as so many movies i own yet, yet i only ever want to watch you. sometimes your dialogue borders on unbearable. hold on tight spider monkey? really, really? and edward, you can't act. you were a terrible cedric diggory.

last night i finished the movie up from a few nights ago when i started it. this morning i started it again to have as background while i got ready for work. i'm even listening the soundtrack right now. and i found yoooooooooouuuuu flightless birrrrrrrrrd. tears. just kidding what? i definitely don't cry at the end of that movie every. time. i. watch. it. i don't.

anyways, now it's just become a comforting movie to me. i watch it when i'm upset or when i can't sleep. it's my drunk movie. i can repeat lines from it. i've incorporated bits of the movie into my vernacular. i love it.

and now a taylor swift song is on derrell's radio yessssssss!

Poo-tee-weet?

magnolias on m.

pork sin.

gluttony. it's a deadly sin and whoopsy daisy, i committed it this past weekend in new york city.
the amount of pork we ate is almost (almost) atrocious. i'll bold all the pork.

nearly the first thing we did upon our grand entrance via bolt bus was go to porcetta. for how simple the pork sandwich was, i was really impressed. it was a truly medieval meal we had in the park that afternoon. i had the rip the chewy bread out of my two hands with my teeth and then work through the crispy bits of skin.

that night we went to momofuku ssam bar. we started with a bottle of champagne in our coffinesque hotel room before walking the 3 blocks to restaurant. here's what we got:
raw oysters with pureed kimchi. drew said it tasted as if someone was holding you underwater, which i thought was beautiful.
steamed buns. so delicious! the softest and sweetest buns folded around pork belly and pickles.
pig's head something or rather. the other stuff doesn't really matter. i still cannot believe i ate pig's head, and while i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to venture to the fringes of charcuterie, i'm very proud of myself.
pork shoulder steak with baby spinach. the pork was braised and so sweet, with so much flavor.
long island skate. the skate was really good and surprisingly approchable. i'd recommend it to anyone who likes crab cakes.
ssam bar was definitely the best meal in nyc and one of the best i've ever had. it was truly exciting.

on saturday we went to stumptown coffee and wichcraft, then later that night, ventured out to brooklyn to go to motorino.

stumptown was interesting, i had a really great cappachino and the baristas all wore antiquated clothing like suspenders and caps.

the pizza at motorino was amazing. it was crispy and thin in the middle and soft and chewy in the crust. sam sifton said it's new york's best pizza, which really pissed drew off, but i thought it was prettty pretttttttttty pretty good. oh and we got proscuitto as an appetizer. even though we were stuffed, we got a late-night hot dog at gray's papaya. okay FINE we got one the day before as a snack as well at the papaya dog knock off.

sunday, even though by this point i was feeling all the rich food, we tried shake shack in madison square park (after visiting stumptown again). a good burger, crispy krinkle cut fries and an hour wait. fortunately it was a beautiful day, so the wait wasn't awful.

we did other stuff in nyc, i swear. we looked at some art at the met and the new musem, see?

we also went shopping, to the high-line and the new york public libary.

but i won't lie, we mostly ate like kings.

Yesterday was a Day.

it would be really easy to be completely negative on this here blog, but jesus christ my commute was awful yesterday, so cut me a break.

things I forgot:

- my Smarttrip, well actually i lost it.

- that regular metro cards become demagnatized near your phone.

- that sitting backwards on the metro sometimes makes you gag into Georgetown sidewalk trashcans.

- that metro hasn't fixed the price guide to buy a card since the 10 cents raise.

- that people do not know how to use the exit fare machine. it is simple, so ridiculously simple.

- my shoes on the shuttle. oh and the shuttle driver threw them away.

- also: my lunch and my work swipecard.

sometimes i feel so uptight, but if you make me miss my train because you want stand next to your girlfriend on the escalator and hold her hand i will push you onto the rails!

metro hating? maybe a little bit, just for today, but it's still better than the subway.

Reality Check

The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia:

1 person family: $10,830
2 person family: $14,570
3 person family: $18,310
4 person family: $22,050
5 person family: $25,790
6 person family: $29,530
7 person family: $33,270
8 person family: $37,010

For families with more than 8 persons, add $3,740 for each additional person.

I found this yesterday and it was shocking. I'm living with the same means as an 8 person family.

TGIF am i RIGHT?

oh leon, how we laugh. remember today when you passed me the big peice of cake and then kept saying i needed another?
you are just too much.
you get so proud when i eat oatmeal, you just love oatmeal.
it's too funny when you try and talk me into becoming a vegetarian. i mean really, it's too funny, stop.
oh the things we bond over: smells wafting from the kitchen, bob and his antics, when tim walks by the cubes really fast and you can tell he's upset.
should i be changing your names? whatever.

it is weird watching basketball games on play-by-play updates. especially while doing an excel spreadsheet.

i feel like a computer.
the "p" key never works on my keyboard, it sometimes makes me seem inappropriate/illiterate. (see first sentence: it would be really awkward if Leon assed me a peice of cake)

Metro Raises Fare by One (moderately priced) Anthropologie Top!

immediately after i heard that lady's assertive yet calming voice over the intercom telling me metro fares would rise 10 cents i did some quick math and realized, one less moderately priced anthropologie top for Kerry this year.

things i would buy with metro savings + $50:

for jamaica, but i'd cut off that silly bow.

pretty.

rainbow urchin sandals, i could almost afford one with the metro savings.

also what's with that MAN in the spring catalogue? what clothes are you even wearing? that looks suspiciously like a jcrew top.
girls only!

IRRITATING

prologue: there are certain rules, which must be adheared to when working in an office.

for the past 2 days someone has been reheating fish in the office kitchen.
now maybe i'm biased because i don't like fish, but am i wrong in assuming fish shouldn't be reheated? it smells foul, i mean really foul. whenever my mom cooks fish i am unhappy and my brother has a fit, saying it gives him a headache. so stop reheating your disgusting food in our microwave! IRRITATING.

instead, you could bring: peanut butter & jelly, peanut butter & jelly or peanut butter & jelly.


let's reverse this for a minute. it's breakfast, and i'm enjoying a nice warm bowl of strawberries & cream oatmeal. i'm satisfied, and then someone starts cooking bacon.
really?
really?
you're going to cook bacon, quite possibly the most delicious and permeating smell known to man?
how are you even cooking bacon? you're AWFUL. IRRITATING.

i'm going to start putting bacon salt in my oatmeal.

credit to monica.

annie anyone?

oh my

oh my

photo taken today on my iphone at the good stuff eatery with heather.