Events & Adventures

Shower Solutions

It has happened.  I have been invited to and have attended my first bridal shower.  As an inexperienced bridal shower goer, I asked many of my more experienced friends and family what I should wear and what type of gift I should buy.  Choosing an outfit was easy compared to the long, agonizing process of choosing a gift.

I am not one for registries, as I have always preferred to make or buy sentimental gifts [paintings, framed photos, hand-made cards, that sort of thing].  However, as the bridal shower date inched closer and I grappled with ideas, my list of options was growing shorter.  My solution?  World Market.

I was easily able to pick a theme [outdoor party] with all of the fun, colorful options World Market has to offer.  I ended up with a table runner with matching hand towels and threw in hand-dipped wooden salad severs.  Super cute and useful for entertaining!

spoon

The next step is always my favorite: wrapping.  Thankfully I already had some white and green wrapping paper at home, so I decided to add some turquoise raffia into the mix.

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rafia

The end result: a simple, useful present and a happy bride-to-be.

Jackietara

May is for Music

Growing up sans internet and mostly sans television, I spent a lot of my time listening to music on the radio, which involved a very time-consuming [yet satisfying] hobby of making copious amounts of mix tapes.  Several hours of my childhood were spent on the wooden floor of my bedroom waiting for the perfect song to play on the radio and to press “record” on my 1980’s styled boombox.

These days I no longer have the boombox, nor the time to spend listening to music for hours in my room, but I do still love to create the perfect “mix tape.”

My sister, Natalie, has just graduated [yay!] from Sweet Briar College, which presented a golden opportunity to put together a graduation playlist, complete with uppers, downers, and all the in-between songs that encapsulate the roller coaster of feelings post-grads experience as they leave a familiar home to burst [and sometimes meander] into the “real world.”

A couple tricks of the mix tape trade:
1. Choose music that is meaningful to you and that you’re excited about.  I rarely create mixes with songs that aren’t currently floating around in my head for one reason or another.
2. Have a purpose in mind. It’s easy to put songs together that you like in in one playlist, but way more fun to stick to a theme and find the “perfect” songs.
3. Order matters!
4. Don’t sweat the length.  It may be 8 great songs, or 20.

Natalie’s Graduation Mix
1. Boy – This Is the Beginning
2. Youngblood Hawke – Stars (Hold On)
3. Icona Pop – Ready for the Weekend
4. Ke$ha – All That Matters (The Beautiful Life)
5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)
6. Capital Cities – Patience Gets Us Nowhere Fast
7. Taylor Swift – 22
8. Junip – Your Life Your Call
9. Phosphorescent – Ride On, Right On
10. The Horde & The Harem – Chasing Crows
11. John Mark Nelson – Reminisce
12. The Shins – It’s Only Life
13. The Gossip – Heavy Cross
14. Grimes – Oblivion
15. Junip – It’s Alright
16. Youngblood Hawke – We Come Running
17. Beach House – Wishes
18. Two Door Cinema Club – This is the Life

Happy listening!

Brunchiness

As I have been dutifully completing #2 on my spring to-do list, I have been taking [mental] notes on a couple of local brunch spots in town.  Here are my favorites so far:

The Argonaut: Bottomless mimosas for $9.  The eggs benedict with smoked salmon was terrific the first time I ordered it, but overcooked the second time.  Needless to say, overcooked eggs benedict is not as pleasant an experience as perfectly cooked eggs benedict.  Although a little more expensive, the fish tacos are the best thing on the menu.  The fish is flaky and delicious, the cabbage-cilantro slaw is crisp and light, and let’s not forget the delicious rémoulade.  The guac is an additional dollar or so, but it’s well worth it.

Sixth Engine: The short rib hash.  How can you go wrong with braised beef, a twice-baked potato, poached eggs, and hollandaise?  Although not on the “brunch” menu, you can still order the cheeseburger off of the lunch menu during brunch.  Teddy swears it’s the best burger you’ll get in D.C., and I’m definitely with him on this one.  Big, juicy, made with house ground beef, topped with their own no.6 sauce, and served on a sesame bun, this is clearly a winner.  Sixth Engine also has amazing cocktails.  Try the Finocchietto Rosso, made with local Greenhat gin, muddled strawberries, fennel liqueur and lime juice, yum.

Belga Café: There is no reason to get anything but a mussel pot at Belga, ever.  Usually my favorite to eat at home is mussels “mariniere”, with white wine, shallots, and garlic.  This time though, Teddy convinced me to try the mussels “truffels en prei”, with leeks, truffles, spicy sausage, cream, red onions, and herbs.  Best decision I made all week.  And all mussel pots come with Belgian frites and mayo.  Bingo.

Teddy and I were not alone in our Belga Café brunch adventure.  My mom and sister, Natalie, joined as well, which gave me an excellent opportunity to be a paparazzo for the morning.  It was an absolutely gorgeous spring day and I had couple pretty good looking subjects to test my photography skills on.  So, why not?  Thanks to Teddy for giving me a few more pointers and also for taking a few guest shots!

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-3

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-2

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-8

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-7

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-9

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-12

2013-04-12_Shabbasana @ 6th & I-10

Spring To-do List

I love lists and it’s spring, so here is my to-do list for the new season!

1. Go outside!  This “task” may seem like a no-brainer, but working a 9-5 job and then some + teaching makes it hard to get outside during the day.  My goal is to be able to pry myself away from my desk for 10 minutes a day to enjoy the sunshine and get some Vitamin D.

2. “Live it up” and go to brunch.  Brunch has always been something I have viewed as a hoity-toity expensive and frivolous activity.  Having experienced brunch at District Commons and all it’s glory last weekend, I have decided that it’s actually a great way to catch up with friends after a long week, enjoy some comfort food, and have one of my favorite things in the world – mimosas.  I’m going to depart from my usual frugality and go to brunch more often, starting tomorrow ($9 bottomless mimosas at the Argonaut!).

3. Experiment with food.  Not in the Frankenstein or Flubber sense of the word, but to have more of an adventurous spirit while cooking.  Growing up with a French dad I have had it all, from escargot and pate, to venison and Cassoulet.  I am a pretty decent cook and I most certainly have an open mind when it comes to food, so I think it’s time to put the two together.  My first shot this week was making octopus salad (recipe and photos to come!).

4. Discover new music.  I have been listening to NPR’s podcast All Songs Considered a lot lately on my commute to work.  One of my favorites right now is Junip’s new song “Your Life, Your Call,” which reminds me of my best friend’s motto [in reference to all the stupid things that people do], ” it’s not my life.”  Never mind the disturbing video, the song is great.

The Flaming Lips’ new album, The Terror, will be released tomorrow, April 16!  Apparently I have an affinity for disturbing music right now, because The Terror has also been described as being “disturbing” by Wayne Coyne himself.

Another album I am anticipating is Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City.  Take a listen to “Diane Young.”

5. See the cherry blossoms.  Although, I think the storm this morning may have undermined by plans to go downtown tomorrow to see them.  This is how I feel about the situation in haiku form:

Pink and white blossoms
Disappear from the old trees
Untimely cruel storm

What are you planning on doing this spring?  Please share!

Colorado

At the end of February, Teddy and I took an amazing vacation to Colorado. We stayed in Salida with family and friends, skied on Monarch Mountain, and frequented a few steamy hot springs.

Our first day in Colorado, Teddy, Nate, and I decided our best option would be to hold off on skiing and to “acclimate” to the high altitude on a hike [I was still huffing and puffing on the trail] before relaxing in the clothing-optional [an experience in itself…] Valley View Hot Springs at Orient Land Trust.

Teddy loaned me his Nikon D700 and 50mm lens for our hike so I could snap away alongside him and Nate. I got a few pointers from them along the way, including how not to back focus [like I did in the photo below, oops].

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I did manage to take a few other “good” photos [in my nonprofessional opinion] of the boys on our scenic hike. I hope to take in the gorgeous mountainous landscape again soon – hopefully next year!

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Reflections on waiting outside a courtroom

In case [no pun intended] you were wondering, appearing in court is nowhere as glamorous or dramatic as you might think.  I thought for a fleeting moment that I would have the opportunity to fulfill a life-long fantasy to live out a Law and Order episode when a subpoena appeared at my apartment, but that dream was quickly diminished by a way-too-early morning and the growing fear of fumbling my words during the cross-examination.  So.  Scary.

Although I ended up worrying for no reason [something I do all too often], because I didn’t end up having to testify, here are some tips for a long wait outside the courtroom:

  1. Bring a book, or better yet two.
  2. Bring a laptop.  Smart phones are great, but answering work emails over and over on a small device does a number on your fingers.
  3. Bring headphones.  Not necessarily for yourself, but to block the sounds around you (loud music bleeding from other headphones, listeners singing along, crying babies, parents scolding children, etc.).
  4. Write a blog post, a letter, or that thank you note you have been procrastinating.  This is a GREAT way to knock out at least 30 minutes.
  5. Cancel ALL appointments that day.  Even if there is a glimmer of hope that you will be able to dash to a dentist appointment or make it back to the office, you won’t.

In terms of not getting to the office my day was “wasted,” but I did accomplish a few things I wouldn’t normally have been able to on a Monday morning while experiencing a side of the United States legal system.  Next time I hope I will be prepared to follow my own steps 1 – 5, or better yet, there will not be a next time.

My first [nerve-racking] blog post

I was struggling for a tagline for my blog and came across a birthday card while shopping at World Market (random, I know).  It read, “This day is a journey, this very moment an adventure,” which resonated with me.  Life is short and I want to pay attention, even [and maybe more importantly] to the small things.

I am not profound – I have never proclaimed to be and I probably never will be.  My goal isn’t to teach or preach, but to document: my life; my music; my art; my attempts [keyword attempts] to eat healthfully and have fun while doing it; and, hopefully, my stabs at photography.  I don’t live a life of greatness, but I want to live a great life, and if I can share my meager nuggets as I learn along the way, that will make me happy.