green screen

a few reasons why screen on the green has it going on.

a warm summer evening kicking it on the mall? check.




a free movie with awesome friends like katie? check.




marlon brando's handsome mug on a massive screen?




yes, please.

single-town

good news, friends!

according to an article on yahoo! (and we wonder why the newspaper is dying...), washington, d.c. is one of the top five best cities for singles.

holla!

as my nacsent ward crush was revealed last sunday to have a long-distance girlfriend, i had some doubts about the veracity of this claim.

but then i got all hip and urban and went to a bar (!) and played pool (!!) on a thursday night (!!!) and i decided that yahoo! might be right after all.

{jess gets a lesson from dean}

{my partner, kemmitt, attempts to undo whatever damage i have done.}

i would say midweek night on the town+only hitting one ball that belonged to the other team into the hole=massive success.

doobie time: d.c. edition

doobie undertook a grand east coast tour before heading to the wild west for an MBA program. and since i am now a grand part of the grand east coast, he made a stop here in the district.

the list of things doobie managed to accomplish while i was working is rather impressive. the things we managed to accomplish together when i was done with work are less so, mostly because it kept dumping rain at the worst possible moments.

we did watch some "battlestar galactica," which is always time well-spent, and also saw the movie "500 days of summer," which we both loved even if the last two minutes were a little lame. (doobie has always been a highly skilled movie buddy, another category of friend i have not quite filled here.)

but the biggest event was our mutually first trip to ben's chili bowl, a washington d.c. institution. (and another recommendation from my "eat.shop.d.c." book. i am quite literally determined to visit every place listed.)



if you want to eat like el presidente (again, quite literally, because this is what he ordered when he went there), you should get the half-smoked. i wimped out and went with the regular chili dog, but doobie went all in, obama-style.





saturday morning, on our way to union station so doobie could catch a train to boston he said, "if you had to move away from utah just as i was moving to utah, i am glad you decided to move here."

and i think, so am i.

first time high

my saturday was full of the following firsts.


first brunch at kramer books (whole wheat waffles with fruit)

first rooftop tan (thanks, dana! and dana's roof!)

first few pages of "special topics in calamity physics" (highly recommend)

first haircut at vsl salon

first time i've cried about coming to d.c. since i arrived

first time wearing my new mint green sandals

first time speaking japanese with a native speaker in at least a year

first blueberries of the summer

first drive to cleveland park (survived!)

first drive to capitol hill (survived that, too!)

first time dancing under a disco ball in a garage

first time watching people take shots out of an ice luge

first post-10p.m. bedtime in a week

just the first of many more firsts

a bicycle built for one

i haven't been on my bike much lately.

for the past few days, this has been the result of an unfortunate incident involving my bike being semi-permanently stuck on my indoor trainer, a situation which required the brains and brawn of the father of one of aunt joyce's flute students, as well as the sacrifice of a plastic screw cap, to resolve.

another contributing factor is that i am now one of those poor suckers who works all the time and leaves the office with minimal energy leftover for anything else.

but the biggest culprit is my lack of a biking buddy here.

due to my general self-consciousness about all things athletic, i usually opt to do athletic things by myself, but biking is the exception. there are few things i love more than riding along, chatting with a pal. the hills seem so much steeper and the miles seem so much longer when i am pedaling along alone. and it is definitely not as much fun to pull off to the side of the trail and watch the washington municipal airport authority take someone away when there is no one to watch it with you.

sigh.

millie and i will continue to persevere on our own (millie being the bike, you'll remember), but i sure hope someone comes along to join us soon.

(any of the completely hot guys i see on the mt. vernon trail will do just fine.)

sugar low

i am taking a break from sugar.

since i am the person who eats brownies and/or mike and ikes for breakfast, this is a rather daunting, not to mention unexpected feat.

i blame the office candy jar.

i became acquainted with the office candy jar on the first day at my new job. i had never worked in an office with a candy jar before, so it seemed like a pretty genius idea to me. delicious candy whenever i want it? yes, please!

it started out innocently enough. (as these things always do, i am sure.) a post-lunch kit kat, or a little box of nerds to get me through a long meeting.

but then i just sort of lost control of the whole thing and before i knew it, my garbage can was full of snickers wrappers at the end of the day. like, full.

and i started to feel gross. like, really gross.

i have always been blessed not to suffer any ill effects from indulging my rather wicked sweet tooth, which has resulted in, basically, a complete lack of will power when it comes to not eating junk. (i was totally not kidding about the brownies for breakfast.) but, i am turning over a new (temporary) leaf! i am under no delusions that i can keep up this nonsense for anything resembling the long term, but i definitely think i can manage no sugar for a month. (especially if i let myself have a treat on the weekends. which, let's face it, i am probably going to do.)

i am three days in with no sugar at all (praise me! please?) and i am not shaking or anything, so i think it's going well so far. in fact, today i took some watermelon and almonds to work to snack on when the evil craving hit, and i wasn't even tempted by the candy jar at all.

of course, right now the candy jar is filled with disgusting banana flavored laffy taffy. but that is not the point. the point is, when that chocolate pops up again, my will power and i will be ready.

saturdays were made for this

{my sister in saturday spontaneity, emily, on the maryland side of great falls}

itinerary for a spontaneous saturday in d.c.

a trip to eastern market on capitol hill: famous buck and blue pancakes, handmade jewelry, scrap metal sculptures, heirloom peppers, peaches so good they make you cry, bright and beautiful zinnias as big as your face.

a hike to great falls: sandy trail, peaceful river, kayakers, a group of dudes smoking something that was probably weed, rare rock terrace forest, water fall!, good conversation for miles. literally.

a nap: this goes better when aunt joyce does not need help with word scramble.

a luau: watermelon, church friends, fire dancers, the miracle of no mosquito bites. sadly, no obamas this time.

a late night dinner: avocado and sprout panini, poetry on the walls, new friends, sweet potato fries, dating philosophies expounded.

a good night's rest that lasts until noon the next day: enough said there, i think.