So I've had a very interesting last couple of days. Been to D.C. and back. Eaten out almost every single day. Been visiting fun people. Doing great things. Laughing a lot. Having a great time.
But first, last Wednesday, I went to the Canandaigua community church sale with my family, as I do every year. After getting up at 6AM and heading there, Deb mentioned "For someone trying to downsize, you sure have a lot." True, true. But most of what I got was for other people. This sale is gigantic, and the prices are really reasonable. I usually get a few things every year to "fill" in the blanks at my house. This year, I was doing the same for some other people. I met up with my mom too, and the four of us hit up Denny's after for breakfast. It was a nice morning off from a stressful week at work.
So I took Friday off and drove down to D.C. again. I had this huge todo list, and got everything squared away, got into bed by 10:15pm and even got up at a decent 5:30am. Got on the road and everything was going smoothly. The trip was easy, as usual. Time flew by. I went a new route this time since I was heading straight to Linda's condo, which is a bit north of where I usually go (Laura's house). I even got to listen to Kathy Griffin's audio book on the way day... really great, hilarious and helped pass the time. Purpose of my being in D.C.... of course, just potential opportunities and whatnot. And I thought it all went well, but I've needed to pass on things and just keep pushing ahead. A huge disappointment, a big letdown, and kind of depressing all at the same time. But I'm a fighter.. and I get what I want. Just need to hone in on some things, right?
After getting back to Linda's condo and getting back into comfy clothes, I ate a quick dinner of salad (which I brought) and got on the road to go visit Laura & Sean. Getting through DC rushhour traffic on a Friday evening was not fun.. but I wasn't in a rush, and it turned out OK. Laura's parents were visiting too, and there was this bean salsa and hummus dip setup while everyone was talking and chatting about the latest. I got a nice tall glass of wine, shared the story of my day (in glorious wide-eyed happy detail), and enjoyed the rest of the evening just hanging out with the happy family. It's times like those that I realize I'm happier in DC than I am anywhere else.
I left Laura's to meet up with Linda and her friends for a fun night out. They all met up at a couple places before I joined them. But I met them at Ben's Chili Bowl, a famous chili place on U street. Seeing as I didn't like the chili last time, I passed on the food, but enjoyed the conversation. We hit up this club called "U Street Music Hall," a downstairs basement dance club with really expensive drinks ($10 for a shot of whiskey? ok) and very loud music in a very... very dark black-painted room. Now, I've been in a bunch of clubs, but this one felt oddly missing... personality. But they all had fun, they got drunk, and I left before midnight. I was tired. I was hungry. I was exhausted. And I wasn't dressed to be there.
But I pulled Linda awake in the morning and we went for a nice run. I love running in her area. It's not really great for running (trees, obstacles, pavement, businesses, sidewalk eating, etc), but I like the area.. and you can run to parks and rivers and whatnot. We ran a couple miles to the Iraq Embassy and then back. It was a good run, and I can tell Linda would love to run more, but she doesn't. We'll change that if I end up in DC someday.
After dropping Linda off at her work, hitting up Whole Foods for some supplies, I met up with Laura, Luke & Sean for the day. Laura, Sean and I hit up the Arlington County Fair for some fun in the vendors area, eating free samples on the food court, visiting a firetruck, walking through the midway, and just enjoying a nice day outside. Not sure about all the free crap I got, but I got it! And I brought it back home with me. Ha. We hit up Trader Joes afterward so I could get some wine, almond butter, nuts and other supplies I always get from there. It was a great day, and after getting back, Laura made this delicious dinner of pork loin and salad. She really is an amazing cook. We paired it with this delicious Italian wine and just enjoyed a quiet evening playing Wii, lounging and watching some TV. OH.. and Coldstone, of course.
I was supposed to come home after I left Linda's on Saturday, but dinner plans got complicated back in Rochester, so I decided to stay the night at Laura's and enjoy Sunday with them, too. So Sunday brought a great trip to a brunch place called Columbia Firehouse with Laura and her parents. They had an amazing selection, awesome atmosphere, cool dining area and really great service. I ended up getting a salad and some wings, and the rest of them dug into bloody mary's, appetizers and even shellfish. The food was very good and it was a really great end to a fun extended weekend. Driving home wasn't run. It took over 90 minutes to get out of DC, but I went to my mom's, dropped off the wine and such I got for her, and got back to Rochester by 11pm.
So this week seems to have been THE week to eat out. Last week, I had great wings at this local bar with Marni to commiserate some unfortunate happenings in our lives, I grabbed TOGO from Chili's for my trip down to DC, I hit up a couple great food places in DC, I went to the Cheesecake Factory with Tad for a belated birthday dinner (and had fun debating the merits of liberalism), and even hit up TGIFridays with Nola on Wednesday. It's terribly bad, I know. You get into the habit, and all of a sudden you want to eat out every day. Luckily, I have the willpower of an ox, and have put the kabosh on it. But then again, Cynthia is coming into town this weekend, and I'm sure we'll be eating out somewhere. I know Raj wants to go get Dinosaur BBQ with us this weekend.
I've had a bunch of work done on my house! I'm trying to get it into a great shape to rent it out or whatever may come of it. Ever since I moved in, a couple things have annoyed me about the place. One of which was the bits of the attic that were left unfinished, and also all three pairs of stairs squeek and bend when you walk up them. The attic steps had cracks in the planks and the basement steps actually were falling apart and ruining my pairs of socks. So I had it all fixed! And I got my wine fridge alcove finished, too. Pat and his assistant got everything ready on Thursday, I bought it, and he worked on the house for over 7 hours on Monday. It smells something terrible as the glue dries, but it looks great and I'm very happy with the results. A little pricey, but it needed to be done!
Okay, that's enough for now. :)
Posts
