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Tuesday, January 22

Manic Monday (now Tuesday)

Hi all. How was the long weekend? I've literally been running ragged for over a week, and it hasn't stopped yet. I had a great few days in NYC for work last week, then hosted my brother and his wife for the long weekend. We ate, we drank, we talked, we inauged. It's Monday night now and I'm already in Chicago for the next work trip. Can't WAIT for the weekend (which includes a trip to Baltimore, NBD, but hopefully also some down time before another week in NY).

Here is some documentation of our lovely weekend. As luck would have it, I somehow deleted all the pictures off my phone with the exception of these from instagram...thank goodness I'm an avid grammer? I'm sad to have lost some great shots of the monuments, but our guests had a snazzy new   fancy camera and have far better shots anyway.


They got in late Friday, so we relaxed at home to gear up for a very busy weekend. We started in Eastern Market, where we indulged in breakfast sandwiches, fancy nuts from the fancy nuts guy, mini-donuts, and mochas from Peregrine Espresso, my favorite cafe in DC. We all resisted the charms of the flea market and instead headed to the monuments.


We had surprisingly lovely weather, considering it's January. We started at the tidal basin near the Jefferson, and worked our way to the Korean War memorial, WWII, the new MLK, Lincoln, White House, Washington Monument, FDR, and the Capitol building (from a distance). It's an easy stroll, and we had their pup with us as well. I was pleasantly surprised by the MLK memorial, which I hadn't seen yet. Also cool to visit it on MLK weekend of course.


Lily was particularly fond of the FDR memorial, which includes a bronze statue to which she can relate. She did some sniffing and quickly realized her new friend was NOT animated, which may be why she looks depressed in this picture.

We used Savored to make dinner reservations for Saturday night- it's a free reservation service that takes 30% off your final bill. Loved it. It's similar to how I feel about Scoutmob- any "deal site" where I don't need to pay money upfront for something I may never get around to using is ideal. As we got salads, entrees, dessert, and two bottles of wine, 30% off is pretty significant. We went to Lost Society on U St, and we enjoyed our meal. Next we walked around the corner to put our names in at The Gibson, probably our favorite place for a classy cocktail in the district. It's a speakeasy with an unmarked door, dim hallways, quiet, respectful patrons and no menu. We had an hour wait, but once you're in it's very uncrowded and you're guaranteed a peaceful evening. In the meantime, we went to Marvin, right next door and by the same folks. It's less exclusive, less expensive, more rowdy but still an excellent place for a drink.

We just had to visit U street in the daylight, and thus returned on Sunday morning to poke through the thrift and vintage stores. My particular favorites are Good Wood and Current Boutique, which I hadn't been to before this trip and is actually a consignment shop. Couldn't resist the other location of Peregrine for a second try before heading home to relax and catch some football (disappointing loss for the Pats). We finished up Sunday with a walk to Georgetown to shop and get cupcakes from Baked & Wired, my fave.


D was able to get inauguration tickets through his office, so J and R decided to stick around to experience it with us. It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be, in terms of crowd, transportation, cold, and all the negative situations I envisioned for a 12-million person party. We arrived via metro around 9, moved quickly through security, and after a brief and extremely smushed 20 minutes we found our way to the middle, in front of the reflecting pool near the Capitol. Our view was great (aside from a few tall and aggressive men) and we were excited to have gotten so lucky. Though my feet were numb, it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm glad we went.


Now here I am in Chicago, where the"feels like" temperature is a bone-chilling -9 degrees. Stay warm my friends.

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how you like dem apples?