Open Road Song

We had a packed weekend, and it was pretty damn awesome. Well, Saturday started out kinda blah, had a dentist appointment. I'd had to reschedule my original appointment because of a cold, and the only one they had left was that Saturday morning. So yay, woke up early on a weekend got my teeth poked at. But hey, no cavities!

Anyhow, the weekend fun really started with dim sum at noon. My friend Sarah invited us to join her and her friends, and it was AWESOME. I feel like some dim sum dishes are hit or miss, but everything I tried on Saturday was delicious. I was so freaking full by the end of lunch, I about fell into a food coma. But we couldn't do that, no - we had THINGS TO DO.

Community Forklift is a shop up in Hyattsville that sells old furniture and home supply items like doors, windows, appliances, etc. Saturday was their "Garden Party" celebrating spring, so we went to walk around and see if there was anything we wanted. Unfortunately they didn't have a good plant selection, so we didn't get any veggies. But! We found a light fixture that we think will work well for our living room (we want to get a ceiling light put in) and a sweet hatchet. Why do we need a hatchet? Don't you worry. (Actually just for yard work.)

Since our plant purchasing had been foiled, we decided to go to a nursery near our house and see what they had. They had a decent amount! So we got broccoli, spinach, snap peas, seed potatoes, and a few herbs. Plus some summer-blooming bulbs. When we got home we let Coco run around the yard and got the veggies (minus the potatoes, which have to wait a few weeks) into the ground, and the herbs into the pots.

That night we stayed in, had wine and cheese, and watched Daredevil. QUITE enjoying it so far!

Sunday we met up with my family for some day drinking. To clarify - my sister and her family are in town for a visit, and we met up with them and my parents at a local brewery for lunch. Palmer and I had been to 7 Locks Brewing a few times already, but my parents hadn't and obviously my out-of-town sister and her husband hadn't either. My dad bought us lunch, and we all had a few beers - a flight first to try a bunch of different ones, then a full-size beer. Meanwhile the twins (age 5) ate their lunches, played with other families' kids that were there, and learned how to play giant Jenga. Good times!

After beers, Palmer and I went BACK to the nursery to get a few things we forgot about. Did a bit more in the garden, then headed to the movies to FINALLY watch Deadpool. It was hilarious, and very gross. I was laughing and going "Ew!" a lot throughout. Definitely glad we caught it before it left theaters. Now we need to try to catch Zootopia...

And that was our wild and crazy weekend! We were super productive, had delicious food and beers, and got shit done!

H'ok, so - had a crazy busy weekend, it was pretty awesome!

Friday evening after work I went down to Dupont Circle to meet a friend for drinks. This is a networking buddy I met at a client's event, and this was the 2nd time we've gotten together. I like her, we have similar jobs, and she's fun to hang out with. Probably becoming an actual friend, not just someone in my network. ANYHOW. We went down to Kramerbooks and their attached cafe Afterwords and had a few drinks. Last time I was there was about a year ago for the Fug Girls' book-signing for The Royal We. Luckily, the veggie quesadilla app was just as delicious as I remembered.

After drinks I headed back home, and Palmer and I ordered some food, drank some whiskey, and finally finished up Agent Carter season 2. Upon waking up Saturday, I realize that we probably drank too much whiskey, but never mind that. On Saturday we went to a late brunch, then headed downtown. The Renwick Gallery (part of The Smithsonian) has an exhibit called Wonder that I was dying to see and photograph - as was everyone else in DC. When we got there, the line to get in stretched down the block, and we were a bit worried that we wouldn't even be able to get in before they closed. Luckily the line actually moved fairly quickly, so we only waited about 20 minutes. Once inside, getting around took a while cause of the crowd, but the exhibit was gorgeous. Everyone's favorite seemed to be the installation by Gabriel Dawe, which is gorgeous. But I think I liked the one by Janet Echelman the best - fishermen's netting sculpted to mimic the energy wave released by the Japanese earthquake, with multicolored lights shining all over it. Stunning.

After the Renwick, we headed over to Yards Park on the Anacostia Waterfront. They had some enormous luminescent bunnies on display that I wanted to see and photograph before they were taken down on Sunday. So we wandered around Yards Park for a bit, then headed back to the Metro to go home. Unfortunately the Metro ride made me super queasy, so when we got home I pretty much chugged an Alka Seltzer then took a 2hour nap. When I got up we ate dinner and hung out for a bit, then I went right back to bed.

Sunday the nausea was gone, thankfully. We went to brunch at my new favorite place, Carluccio's at Pike & Rose. THEY ARE REALLY GOOD, OK? Then we took Coco on a nice long walk. We'd abandoned her Saturday to do our downtown exploring, so we wanted to make it up to her with a lot of exercise. We did a 5 mile walk through Rock Creek Park, which seemed to do the trick - that evening she was zonked. (So were we!) After the walk we went to a new brewery that opened up near us, and did a flight of their beers. They were all good, but we decided on a growler of the Honey Ale. On the way home we grabbed some Chipotle, which we then enjoyed with that growler. Finished out the night watching the democratic debate, and went to bed around midnight.

Good times!

This week is busy - have a craft meetup tomorrow, lunch with my parents Wednesday, and then a full weekend of stuff going on, including a Metric concert. SO excited! So yeah, managed to get off my ass and go do stuff this weekend, here's hoping I can continue the trend. :)

Oh! I gave up weeknight drinking for Lent (which I think I mentioned before?) and I've lost 7 pounds since starting! Rock on!

For friendly and sociable people, Palmer and I sure are recluses a lot of the time. Part of it is laziness, part of it is we really enjoy each other's company and like spending time together without other people. But a lot of it is laziness. Anyhow, we were NOT lazy this weekend! In fact, we did TONS of stuff!

Ok, so I'd been reading all week about how Jupiter Ascending is amazing and stupid and crazeballs and amazeballs and space werewolves etc., and the excitement finally got the better of me. I told Palmer that I wanted to see it, that I wanted to see it that night, and went and bought tickets. We just got an iPic Theater close to us, so I bought tickets there. For those who don't know, iPic is a "luxury" theater that has armchair seating and waitservice. I got the cheaper seats, so we had to go to the bar and order (LIKE PLEBES) but it was still super nice. And oh, Jupiter Ascending. If there's ever an instance where "Shine on you crazy diamond" is appropriate, it is for this movie. I'm stealing a thought from Tumblr which is that everything in the movie can be preceded by SPACE! and still make sense. SPACE BEES! SPACE WEDDINGS! SPACE POLICE! SPACE REGENERATION! HOT SEXY HALF-ALBINO SOMETIMES-WINGED SPACE WEREWOLVES! See? Jupiter Ascending is a treasure, it really is. An orgy of gorgeous special effects and actual orgies. A feast for the eyes! Plus the guilty pleasures of Channing Tatum (looking damn fine as the afore-mentioned space werewolf) and Eddie Redmayne doing his very best Space Voldemort. Mila Kunis is awesome (and screw people saying she's a damsel in distress - she does quite well for herself amidst extremely weird and dangerous situations!), Sean Bean is awesome, everyone is awesome. GO SEE IT! Ahem.

So that was Friday evening. Saturday we went out to breakfast at our favorite spot in Downtown Silver Spring, then headed over to Rockville to look at furniture. We need a dining room table, cause the one I bought 5 years ago is tiny, shaky, and looks silly in our proper-sized dining room. So we went to Bob's Discount Furniture and then a proper furniture showroom to look around. Each had tables that we liked, but Bob's wasn't as sturdy as we hoped, and the one at the furniture showroom was more money than we had planned on spending. We thought about them, and talked about them, and decided that for now, we'd be ok with what we have, but that we'd keep dining room tables in mind, and check semi-regularly for options.

Saturday evening it snowed, but we had Valentine's plans and braved the weather anyway. We went to Denizens Brewing Co in Silver Spring for their beer and chocolate event. Each ticket got you five tasting rounds of beer pared with a hand-crafted chocolate made by a Silver Spring-based chocolatier, plus light fare. It was a great time. Crowded, but we managed to get a table, and all the pairings were awesome, as was the food. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get something for a proper dinner, and then it took us an hour to GET home because the snow turned into whiteout conditions and no one in MD can drive. But! We made it home safely, had dinner and more beer, and had a good night overall.

Sunday was chores and hanging out. Palmer's family came over for an hour to see us (but mostly Coco) and then we got some takeout for dinner. My boss had already told me to wait until noon to come in, so I was able to stay up a bit later than normal.

This morning I was getting ready to go in when I got a text from my boss telling me to stay and work from home. We've got a winter storm moving in (it's been snowing for a few hours now as I type this) and he didn't want to risk me driving. So I ran to the grocery store really quick for some lunch stuff for tomorrow and the ingredients for dinner on Wednesday (a slow cooker dish I'm making for parents, who are coming by) and it didn't take me as long as I feared. Longer than I liked, but even though the lines were crazy, the cashiers were moving quickly. Everyone was fairly nice and calm, though people need to learn how to not block aisles with their bodies and carts. Then I got home and spent the next five hours working.

Now we're making dinner. I'm doing some red skin mashed potatoes and Palmer will be cooking steaks. I made us cocktails, but they kinda froze while we let Coco out, so we're waiting for them to thaw. After dinner, idk. Maybe I can convince Palmer to watch Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Or maybe we'll watch House of Cards. Either way we're safe and sound, and happy to be able to work from home tomorrow.

For those in the path of this storm, stay safe!

Friday night we went out to a Nationals game for our friend Kim's birthday. It was a good time, the Nats won which is always nice to see. But the game was over super quickly, which kinda sucked. Whatever, afterwards we went out to U Street, where I had two too many cocktails, then over to Adams Morgan for some karaoke. Definitely felt it the next morning, but it was super fun. Just need to remember that moderation is key.

Saturday, as mentioned, I felt like hell. But we got it together in time to go to the Dance for Water, a fundraiser for the Reel Water Film Festival that the production company is co-sponsoring. It was fun - learned the basic foxtrot step, as well as the "club swing" which is a type of hustle. Also won an item in the silent auction, a tour and tasting for four at Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard.

Sunday was better, went to yoga at Core Power Bethesda. Spoke to them about doing work for yoga, cause god knows I can't afford the $135/month membership fee, and it looks like I'll be able to start that in a few weeks. Hooray!

Today has been... not good. I don't know if its the weather, or what, but I am crazy depressed and it blows. I didn't go in to Bethesda Green today (though I did work on that stuff from home) and I've basically just sat on the couch. ( cut for specific talk of weight )

And that's where I am right now.

H'ok, so.

The Gala was Thursday night. That day, I got off work around 2 and headed out to the building to help with setup. Worked on that for 2 hours, then got changed for the gala itself. I wore a skirt, a nice knit top, and low heeled boots. BIG mistake. I hadn't known that the floors were either marble or concrete, but oh man. My feet could tell. Anyways. Worked registration for the event, and things went a bit haywire. Luckily we scrambled a bit and managed to get things taken care of, but I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off for a good portion of the evening. I eventually managed to get some food and sit down for a bit, and I did get to see the intro video to the program. But other than those two breaks, I was working steadily throughout the evening. Today when I went in, my mentor led everyone in thanking me for my hard work, which was very nice. She then thanked me twice more while I was in the office today, saying that I had been her right hand person, and she really appreciated everything I'd done. A really good feeling after working hard all week. So yay!

Friday I worked, but was sent home early. Basically, everyone could see how exhausted I was, there was plenty of coverage, and my manager said he would stay and do the count. I stayed at work until the paychecks arrived, then booked it home. Where I promptly fell asleep for four hours. I then got up and made myself go on a run (which I'd been avoiding). 5 minutes into the run, my phone decides to restart. So rather than wait for it to do so, and then restart that day's run, I just continued to run. Phone came back on, figured I had six more minutes for that interval, and then did the rest of them based off my phone's time rather than the Run Double app. But hey! Ran 16 minutes total, which I would NOT have been able to do 5 weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure I'll handle the 20 minute run tomorrow just fine. Again, yay!

Saturday was Ren Fest, which was the same as every year. Lots of delicious fatty foods, beer, and throwing sharp things. Also Johnny Fox. This year was a bit different, we had a friend with us who'd never been before, so it was fun seeing his reactions. Also managed to see everyone that I knew was going to be there, but hadn't made specific meetup plans with.

Sunday was the Redskins game. Despite my pessimism, the Skins won! It was pretty fantastic, if nerve-wracking. But by the time we got home, I was exhausted. Basically fell right into bed.

Today has been fine, even good. A customer knows the founder of the company I applied to recently, and he told me to send him an email with the job description and my qualifications, and he'd speak to the owner on my behalf. And then, while I was at my internship, I got an email from a company I'd applied to a month ago. The position I applied to has been filled, but they have another opening they think I'm qualified for. So I responded that yes, I am interested, and yes, I am available for a phone interview on Wednesday. Hooray!

And that's about it!

So, that whole post on Wednesday about Unfucking and working on projects and whatnot? Totally did it! Finished Project from Hell on Thursday, then as promised rode to Bethesda. Got back and worked on my GIS reading, quizzes, and conference responses. Friday I did some last-minute research for Project 2, Saturday I banged out 7 pages, and today I finished it off! LIKE A BAMF! Now I'm posting to LJ because I needed a break from homework. I'll probably get up and go clean out the fridge (its a problem) and then settle back in for some work on my GIS lab.

But seriously- finishing these projects and exams meant that I now only have 3 classes between me and my degree. WHAT?!?!?! Ack! Dying here, a little bit. In awesomeness, one of my customers works with a company I would LOVE to work for, and said she'd start passing my name around. Ack in a good way!

On a calmer note, went bowling on Friday night with Palmer and some coworkers. It was a good time, we played Guys v Gals, and us girls beat them 2 out of 3. And in the second game, I scored 2 strikes in a row and had the overall highest score! Rock!

Saturday night we went out with Palmer's family to celebrate his mother's birthday. Dinner was good, we went to Ruby Tuesday, which is apparently trying to totally change its image? It is all "Signature Seafood" and "Premium Steaks" now, it was a bit freaky. But! I had the Asiago Peppercorn Steak and wow, it was pretty damn tasty. And only 400 calories! How did they do that?!

Today I did my manager a favor and went in to work for a few hours. The girl who was scheduled had been fired on Friday, so I went in to work bar and help them through the morning rush. It wasn't too bad, I just focused on the bar and getting drinks out quickly. The shift went by pretty fast, and then I got the hell out of there. After that I picked up Palmer and we went to Elevation Burger for lunch. Oh my god. If there is an Elevation Burger anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and go. Seriously. Delicious.

( Weight talk )

And that's it! Cleaning and then more homework, LIKE A BOSS!

Trying to start posting more regularly, since I've basically been disappeared for months. So I figured an easy way to get back in the swing of things would be to do a Weekend Update! So, let's see-

Friday I got out of work around 8:25, and managed to walk back to my parents place in 15 minutes. I'm getting faster! Got their car and agreed to look after their cats this weekend. Went by my place, fed the cats and cuddled them a bit, grabbed my computer and some laundry and went off to Palmer's. We ordered Thai food, I watched an episode of LOST, and then we were hanging out with his roommate Mike the rest of the night. It was a good time, but we drank way too much, Saturday morning was unpleasant.

Saturday we stumbled out of bed (seriously, quite unpleasant), fed my parents cats, fed my cats, fed ourselves, then sat on the couch staring at our computers until around 8pm, when it was time to feed all sets again. Palmer and I went out to Joe's Crab Shack, which is always quite delicious, and both got the King Crab legs. God, those things are sinfully good. I do wish they would put more Old Bay on the "Chesapeake Style" legs, but ah well. Unfortunately, after the meal my headache returned with a vengeance, and when we got home I went right to bed. Palmer told me that when he came into the bedroom, Loki was curled up between my calves and Goblin was curled up right next to him between my knees. I vaguely remember this, but apparently it was super cute!

Today has been fairly epic. Fed the parents cats, then attempted a trip to Target for Simple Green so I can clean my bathroom properly. I swear to god, no place in this area carries it, it is QUITE frustrating. After Target we met friends at an Indian restaurant for lunch buffet, then decided that we should all go to Value Village to go thrift store shopping. That place is irresistible, I swear. I ended up buying a Polaroid camera, a samovar-style pitcher that is now sitting in my bookshelf, and two shadow boxes with miniature kitchen implements and recipes that I will hang in my kitchen. All awesome!

Unfortunately, this evening we had to take the kitties to the emergency animal clinic. Goblin has been sneezing since we got him, and though the vet had said that it would probably run its course, his cold has been getting worse. And today Loki was totally lethargic and had no interest in food, so we decided we should take them both in to get checked out. Good thing we did! Loki is fine, just a bit under the weather (and he still hates the vet, though he didn't scratch this time- mostly because we just removed the top of the carrier to examine him and the vet had me hold him and talk to him while she checked his vitals), but Goblin's cold has turned bacterial. So! Goblin now has antibiotics that I have to give him once a day, and we have cans of tuna to feed them that should penetrate their stuffy noses and incite their appetites. Hopefully within a few days this will all be behind them.

On the plus side, they are total best buds now. Loki has been repeatedly trying to bathe Goblin over the last several days, and like I mentioned, Goblin loves to sleep next to Loki. It is quite adorable, and I'm glad they're getting along so well. Today they comforted each other after the traumatic ordeal that was the emergency clinic:

( Too cute! )

Anyhow, tomorrow I have to work, but I plan on swinging by Strosneiders in the morning to 1)check for Simple Green, 2)buy some ceramic water dishes for potted plants, and 3)purchase a hanging pot for my spider plant. Then on Tuesday I will continue the epic cleaning project that I started today. Good times!