i'm noticing a trend....

I am busy. I think we've covered that in the last few months worth of posting, and I apologize for my blog being so neglected. My life is quickly turning from the "hooray! I have so many events to go to-- yay for socializing!" too "oh-my-god I just want to stay home and do laundry... just once!" I have full intentions of staying in on Friday night so hopefully that will provide me with some much needed rest and allow me to go back to wearing my pretty top-of-the-drawer underwear again.

A little recap of the last month? My trip to the ATL was fantastic (except for the tornadoes) and it was so crazy wonderful to spend time with the fam (including aunts, grandmothers and cousins!). I really do love Atlanta, especially in the spring. The pear trees were in bloom and everything was green-- fabulous! Plus the stores were much more stocked with spring merchandise. Yay! Annnnd shopping with my mom is always good. She bought me this:

How great is that going to look with something like these??
She also got me the most fabulous yellow wrap dress that you will see me in a bajillion times this spring/summer: to work, out to dinner, at Eastern Market, whatever. I heart it. A lot.

After I got back from the ATL I threw a quick little surprise birthday shindig for my lover, Miriam. Aren't we cute?This picture actually wasn't taken at her party. I didn't make people wear nametags, I promise. I do have some cute pics from the party, but unfortunately they can't be uploaded due to my lack of laptop. Anyone want to contribute to the cause? This blog would be *so* much better.

Anyway, after Miriam's birthday my week was filled with exciting things like meetings and boutique work up until late Wednesday night when I decided it would be a good idea to drive to Fripp Island, SC... my happy place... and 9 hours away from DC. In fact, it took me 10 and half on Thursday night. Awesome. It was still worth it: 75 degree days, eating on the back porch at Panini's, looking out on to the marsh all day, eating shrimp, and spending QT with the fam all over again. Perfection in my book.

Monday I had trivia night where Craig and I made a big announcement: we'll be hosting our own weekly trivia gig! Scary, exciting, crazy. It's a lot of work and we should be starting next Sunday, the 6th: trust me, I'll post details! Tuesday night was a big Yelp event (the pic of me and Miriam is from that fantastic night) which included lots of wine, mingling, laughing, drinking, Guitar Hero-ing, being dressed inappropriately, and a lonnnng sobering walk back home. Good times, as always. Last night was more boutique work and we FINALLY got new tenants for our basement! Hooray! They've signed the lease so it's official: no double rent payment. Thank the Jesus. Tonight I'm headed to Girls Gone Glam, which should be fun: I love a good fashion event, always!

So that's my recap, not very exciting I know, but at least it's an excuse for this blog being so incredibly lame lately. Ok, so it's always been lame, get over it.

daily randoms.

1. Only in DC would one walk by a homeless woman who was not asking for food, or money, or even a cigarette. No, the woman was asking for lotion. She was SCREAMING "Oooooo, I'm ashy! You got lotion? I need lotion!" The thing is, if I had some, I totally would have given it to her.

2. Tonight is the Yelp Elite shindig, which means tomorrow is the monthly day of Hangover. Big hangover. Scorching hangover. Oh, and trivia that night. Woot!

3. Had my first Annandale experience on Sunday night. It was... special. Annandale isn't too far away but it's like a whole other world full of Koreans and strip shopping malls. And Korean shopping malls. It's bigger and more "accurate" (for lack of a better word at the moment) than DC's Chinablock and also has a lot better food. Seriously, this place should be called yelpland because I think I recognized the name of nearly every place as a yelp favorite. The soondubu at Lighthouse Tofu was no exception, at least until we got kicked out for being too loud. Ooops. Apparently Annandale can't handle the loudness of we yelpers.

4. I was sitting at a work luncheon today, and just happened to notice that every single man had a wedding band and only one woman did, and the room was a pretty even 50/50 gender split. I'm too tired to really comment/analyze, but I just found it interesting.

word of the day: jorts (jôrts) n. jean shorts. icky.

office-mate banter of the day:
o-m: you know, i don't think that proper working women wear those, um, you know, fishnets to work.
me: well at least my legwear came from the adult section of the department store, unlike those obvious kids-department socks you've got on there.
o-m: yes, you OBVIOUSLY shop in the ADULT section, if you know what i mean.

Oooo, innuendos at work. They don't translate so well into blogdom but it was all pretty hysterical. At least to those of us who are strung out at the end of the day at work.

back to life, back to reality.

I'm on my 5th mug of green tea for the day (yay antioxidants!) and I feel like a new woman. Except when I move. Then pain shoots through my neck and shoulders and makes me want to cry/get a serious massage. I remember driving from ATL to Ohio solo with no problems. Oh, my youth.

The weekend was awesome, except for the whole driving through massive traffic/torrential downpour part. Margo's place is oh-so-awesome, as were her pumpkin muffins. We had to go to a leadership summit for all day on Saturday but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I had great fun catching up with Baderg and Jimbo (former bosses) as well as all of the other Funders. Denison looked as beautiful as always and Granville is just the cutest thing ever. Sitting outside of Whit's after a stroll down Broadway made me seriously consider quitting, packing up, and moving to Granville. It's hard not to love, especially when the leaves are changing. Besides the pumpkin crop being so terrifyingly low, Ohio was in it's full fall force.

After the summit on campus and the Whit's downtown, we met up with Andy and Co. for a quick beer at Brews (CHIMAAAAY!). Quick dinner with all the ladies at The Happy Greek and then more Chimay along with some Catchphrase and re-connecting with The Loff (yes roommate, that's my new nickname for you. Rhymes with The Hoff. Pretty awesome, I know). We imbibed a bit in the Arena District, hit up an awesome gyro cart, set off some security lighting, and finally made our way back to the Loff's house. I've got to say it was nice to be in a "real" house. I know I live in a house, but it's never the same when you're renting.

The Loff's parents provided us with a pretty awesome breakfast, complete with cupcakes, and then we set off on our journey to find the best Halloween costumes of all time. I'm not going to give away what we're going to be, but let's just say: mission accomplished.

So now it's back to the grind. Today was going okay until I got a skeezy phone call about an hour ago. It was a guy that I had met at the Yelp Elite party 2 weeks ago. He's not a Yelper-- I just ended up talking to him at the restaurant for a bit, he was with friends, I was drunk and telling them about Yelp. Well, I apparently mentioned where I worked because HE TRACKED ME DOWN. I did not give him a card, a number, my last name, anything. He called the main number and somehow got transferred to me. I gave him zero signs that I was interested, except maybe in my drunken antics he was mistaken. Well, he wants to take me out to dinner and apparently won't take no for an answer. I think I've bought myself some time (like 2 or 3 days) until he calls back but I don't know his number so I can't screen. Ugh. Why do normal cute guys not track me down? I suppose because tracking a girl down after she mentions where she works makes you so not cute and normal.

daily randoms.

1. I am terribly hungover. The Yelp Elite event at Mio last night was awesome awesome, but I imbibed a bit too much in caipirinhas, which is apparently not a good idea. I don't think it was so much the amount of alcohol as the amount of sugar that killed me, although the gin and tonic at Stan's may have done me in. Oops. Needless to say, I woke up this morning feeling like absolute death, almost passed out in the shower, and had to get off the bus early in an attempt to keep myself from getting sick. Not a good start to the day.

2. Up until lunch about an hour ago, I hadn't eaten in about 24 hours apart from 3 or 4 little hors d'oeuvres I had at Mio last night. This might explain the way I was feeling this morning. At around 12:30, on the edge of passing out, I decided to make my way down to the Corner Bakery for their Turkey Frisco sandwich. This is not a meal I usually partake in-- it's carby, fatty, oily, but oh-my-god-so-freaking-good. I was pretty excited about the artichoke hearts, sauteed onions, and yummy bread. I walked in and looked at the menu and couldn't find it! It's been replaced by some crap-tastic Turkey Harvest sandwich. Ew. So disappointing.

3. I was just invited to a fashion show at Neiman Marcus that's hosted by Paul Hastings. I'm going.... with my boss. It was really sweet of her to invite me as she knows I love fashion, but I still can't see how this isn't going to be awkward. Just a little too worlds-colliding or something like that. I mean, it's not like she and I ever hang out outside of the office. Ever. She's nutty. And more importantly, what the hell am I going to wear!??!?

4. The girlies begin to arrive on Thursday! Woo! I can't believe its already here and October is nearly half over. It's been so busy that the time is seriously flying. It also doesn't feel like October outside (cough 90 DEGREES cough) but I'm hoping that changes over the weekend. I'm so excited to have all of the girls in town (we'll miss you, Jenni!) but to be honest I have no idea what we're going to do, besides play Kings and make goals, of course.

Quote of the day: My grandmother, while I'm driving down a cobblestone street in Georgetown: "Oh, wouldn't this just be an AWFUL street to ride on if you had hemorrhoids?!"

My family is one of a kind. One. of. a. kind.

daily randoms.

1) Last night reminded me why I never drive anywhere anymore. Up until last night, I don't think that I had driven for over 2 weeks. I like it that way. I think it'll be another 2 weeks before I drive again. Wisconsin Avenue is a convenient place to live, but it really is a bitch of a street. The lights are never timed correctly, traffic is painful, and people tend to have no idea where they're going. Also, they seriously need to add a center lane that can be used as a left turn lane in both directions. Honestly. There was a big Yelp Elite event last night down on Capitol Hill, and I was, of course, running late. It took me a ridiculous hour and a half to get there (with a little detour in Bethesda, but still!). I mean, I could have had an additional 3 glasses of FREE wine in that time (and then definitely would not have been able to drive home, so I suppose things worked out in the end). From now on, I'm sticking with my public transportation: amorous bus driver and all.

2) I was out "sick" yesterday and it was incredible. Totally worth the stressful-ness of coming back this morning. Georgetown is a much more tolerable place on dreary non-weekend days: people in the stores actually help you! They're friendly, chatty, and it's a downright pleasant experience. I highly recommend it!

3) You may notice a new link list on the sidebar. It's a list of some of my most favorite online shopping venues. Obviously, I haven't included the "regulars" like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Bluefly, ShopBop, Active Endeavors, etc. because I assume y'all already know about those and enjoy them (as you should!). Instead, these are some sites that I love that you may not know about. I'll try to update it often, and feel free to send me links of places you love!

4) By the way, the Elite party (and after party, planned by yours truly, of course) was a blast. I of course imbibed a bit too much, but how can you turn down free wine? Sonoma was awesome and if I ever had a reason to throw a party for 100-ish of my closest friends, I would definitely have it there. The event space is incredible, the food was delish, and the service was great. Sophisticated to the core.

weekend recap.

It was a really good weekend. One of those where you don't really have anything planned but you still have plenty to do. The insanely awesome weather was also a big plus.

Friday night, after a particulary horrendous night at work, I was super lame and came home to an empty house (my roommates, you know, have lives and stuff) and was in my pj's by 9:15. Glorious! I proceeded to watch Stacey London's new show and also one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies: Overboard, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. C'mon. Admit it. You know you're jealous. On Saturday I slept far too late (woo!), went to work, and then met the girls at a housewarming party in AMo. It was the first time that I actually had a solid good time in AMo: I was drunk but not too drunk, met some new people (including this ridiculous late 20-something who wanted to give me advice on every aspect of my life), and ate some damn good falafel.

Sunday consisted of more work (blah), skipping out of work early (woo!), and heading to the 1st Annual YCCCBOC (Yelp Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake Off Competition). I was not able to make my oatmeal choc. chip wonders in time for the competition, so instead I just got to eat everyone else's. Damn. My cookies would have lost, big time. Let's just say that the winner for the best traditional, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside cookie had her chocolate sent over from Belgium. $160 worth of chocolate. And yes, it was worth it. That cookie was.... the shit.

I apologize that this post is so boring, but you know, it's Monday. No updates on the bus driver as I took an earlier bus this morning, but I'm thinking that I'm not going to do anything, maybe just thank him but tell him I'm not interested.... or that I'm seeing someone (haha). I know, I'm lame and chickenshit. Plus, I met a cutie on the bus this morning: a new Glover Park-ian from Dallas, so maybe I will find love on the bus in the end...

daily randoms.

1) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGO!!!!

2) Why on earth does it cost more to fix a camera than buy a new one? I mean really, that's ridiculous.... but hey, at least I got a brand spankin' new camera out of the ridiculocity.

3) I recently met a woman who solved Rubik's cubes for "fun." We were sitting on the metro and a guy was playing with one next to her. She asked him if she could see it for a second, and then proceeded to tell us that one of her good friends is in Guinness for solving one in record time. She starts to solve it, and finished it.... IN 2 METRO STOPS. By Foggy Bottom it was done. I've never seen anything like it. People were crowding around her and everyone cheered when she did it. Some other guy brought another cube to her but she was only able to get 3 sides of it before we got to our station. It was pretty incredible. This story brings up some questions:
1) How does one get "good" at solving a Rubik's cube, to the point that it's not "if" but "how quickly"?
2) Why on earth were there two people on the metro with Rubik's cubes?? I don't think I've seen one since 1997 and there were two on one metro car. Bizarro.
3) How can I learn to solve one? I mean, really. Best party trick. Ever.

4) Things are going really well at the store, it's just slow. Be sure to come by and visit me! I don't care if you don't buy anything... we just want some warm bodies in there.

5) I've become officially obsessed with bar trivia. I did it in Atlanta a fair amount and some Yelpers and I have started a weekly group up here. It's pretty fun, but definitely a shot to the ego. I'm determined to win something tonight, though! Come join us at the Tombs!

6) Next week is Restaurant Week. That means that next week I am going to be fat, broke, and gloriously happy. Yay.