So.

It's been a while.  Let's not pretend it hasn't, but let's also just let that slide by.  So much has been happening and eventually I'll let you in on all of it, though don't get too excited, it's all pretty ho-hum, nothing crazy.  For now though can we talk about FALL?  How amazing it is?  How it's not summer anymore?  Can we also talk about boots and buffalo plaid?  The former I've never really been a fan of, until recently, and I've gone crazy for them.  The latter has always been a favorite.  So you can imagine my excitement when they both came into my life this week in their most amazing of ways. Loeffler Randall Frankie Moto Boots, Jack Spade Utility Bag I love you both.

Things that may or may not happen when your husband is gone for a month: Part I

1. Lights hanging from the ceiling - happened.  I should thank Lauren for this as she sent me down the rabbit hole of DIY-dom.  The instructions are not as easily found today as they once were, read IMPOSSIBLE, so I had to wing it from a list of supplies I found on Apartment Therapy. Overall I think in a month (or six) I might re-do the entire fixture with some sense of wiring and quality control. Also it needs a few more glass spheres, it's not nearly dramatic enough.  But for now it is amazing and I love it.  And it did not cost $1750 or whatever I had started to think we were going to spend.

1b.  Getting that drywall on the other side of the living room patched up so I can finally finish painting the ceiling - did not happen.

2.   Two dogs becoming a team - happened.  It might be the fact that I've been forcing them to cuddle with me every night for the past 30 in an effort to stay warm and snoozy, or just the simple passing of time.  Whatever it is IT IS HAPPENING.  There is still some growling on Frances' part when shit isn't going the way she'd planned it to ... but they sit on chairs together and alternate peeing on bushes that ought not be peed on and every once in a while stand still enough to photograph.  Or this could all just be because I bought them matching harnesses.  Maybe that is the answer.

I may have also applied to graduate school, planned a trip to NYC in the spring, eaten my weight in meat sandwiches, discovered mint goes with everything so long as it's in a smoothie, headed back to yoga four times a week and started and finished House of Cards on Netflix.  There is more, it was quite a productive month for me, but I'll fill you in on that later.

January Things

January started with an epic trip south, way south, to Key West.  I lost my favorite jeans, two sweaters and a mostly empty bottle of perfume.  It was something like 10 days, no two spent in the same hotel, it's a miracle that's all I lost.  It was also something like a million hours locked in a car with two dogs and a husband.  It could not have been better.

Now I'm back in DC.  After a most crazy weekend (hello Mr. President) the roads have been cleared of the scariest of metal fences and the people have all retreated to, hopefully, warmer weather.  We got a dusting of snow last night that Anna has been romping around in all morning and Frances has been avoiding.  I've been wearing my snow boots that I hastily ordered last year from J.Crew because they were just too good to pass up.  Turns out, while they may be cute, they aren't exactly warm.  I think I'll be tossing them and going with ye faithful Sorels for the rest of the winter.

I've been juicing a bit, and slowly, trying to take animal products out of our diets.  Not like 100%, I love me some meat sandwiches (hello new cheesesteak place that I cannot get enough of) and will eat macaroni and cheese until it comes oozing out of my pores, but you know, when at home and for most of the time.  It's time to up my veggie intake, like for real, and for ever.

Anna was spayed and de-dew clawed.  She came home and was totally passed out for three days.  It was terribly sad.  Especially when she would wake up just to cry.  That really happened.  IT WAS SO SAD.  She's totally on the mend now and has been approved for exercise despite those pesky (and disgusting) stitches in her back legs.  They come out Monday.  

Sometimes Frances will leave the confines of the bed and beg me to take her out-of-doors for a walk.  Three blocks later she's so beyond done I've got to pick her up.  Then we go back home, she lazes in the sun for a while, and two hours later begs to try again.  Always the same results.  Maybe once it's more than twenty eight degrees outside we'll have better luck with an actual walk.

January will be over soon and then we're on to February, which in DC I think means spring, I kid ... kind of.  I think this year I will miss it, I think this year, January might have been exactly what I needed.

Frances is the undisputed road trip queen.  She LOVES the car.  She LOVES road trips.  She LOVES her little nook in the back of the Prius filled with her sleeping bag.  SHE LOVES IT ALL.  

Anna on the other hand .....

Needs constant attention, a bajillion chewy things and a run before we actually enter the car.

Unfortunately the run before an 8 hour trip in the winter is not exactly what I call practical.  It is cold outside.  It is dark outside.  And really, I'd just rather get there.  This time both MAS and I made the trip and I think that got her overly excited.  She did not sleep for more than half an hour on that entire stupid trip.  The way back home was better, but still not exactly the most awesome.

Next up Anna, South Florida.

This is the first year in about five that we will not be heading out on a boat for the second week in January.  I made a fuss last year that our only vacation is the same year after year after year and was appeased with the promise of every other year.  I don't want to sound like a total tart, but there is a lot of this world I have not seen that does not easily translate to six days on a boat in January.  Also, I'm allergic to the sun and hate salt water.

But a few months back MAS was bemoaning the fact that we were not going to have boat time this year.  It was, in fact, ruining his life.  So, being the good wife that I am, I agreed.  I mean we did take a road trip over the summer and that should technically count as a vacation not on a boat.  We sent an email to our boat friends, everyone was excited, and then MAS realized he was scheduled to be in the UK for the about half of the time we were meant to be on the boat.  Alas, our tropical vacation has be cancelled for 2013.  BUMMER.

In all honesty, I'm kind of excited.  I'm tagging along on his work trip and we're taking a few extra days to tour Wales.  It'll be great.  But it means I have ZERO reason to purchase this most amazing suit.  Especially since the day we agreed to start planning our 2013 sailing trip I purchased a suit I still have not worn.  Yes, my weakness for swimwear is ridiculous.  But seriously, someone should buy this suit. 

Tree, we have a tree.

This has got to be some kind of record for us.  Normally we talk and talk and talk about getting a tree and normally it happens about a week before Christmas.  Which is fine, but our schedule this year would not allow such things.  So over the weekend we walked down to Eastern Market and snagged a 6 ish foot bundle of smell good Christmas tree.  Like last year, MAS carried it home, it's becoming our DC tradition.  I'm pretty sure MAS likes walking the five blocks home the most.  He never gets covered with sap OR ruins jackets.

Beginners lessons ... sort of.

I'm taking Intro to Ballet at a local dance studio and it's too advanced for me.  As I am possibly the most uncoordinated person you've ever met, this is fairly unsurprising.  I frequently roll my ankles, trip over my toes and lack any sense of rhythm.  Top that with the fact that the last dance class I'd taken was when I was six years old.  In fact, the only thing I remember about dance class, save for the AWESOME bag I carried my stuffs in, was my mom falling asleep for a touch longer than she meant to and picking me up late (i was assuaged by the staff with so much candy I may have vomited it all up by the time I got home, not a bad memory).

Turns out, I need to go back to that six year old Ballet class because I literally know nothing about ballet. And being a 30 something girl in America that signs up for an Intro to Ballet class, this is apparently unheard of.

It started like this, our teacher was 10 minutes late to the first class.  AWESOME, one sixth of the class done! But it allowed all of us wanna-be-ballerinas to chit chat.  I kept hearing from my leotard clad classmates "Ohmygod it's been sooooooooo long since I've been to a ballet class I wonder if I'll remember anything" over and over and over again followed by something like "Yeah it was high school the last time I put these slippers on" once it was even COLLEGE. It should be noted, I was not wearing a leotard, or tights, or even legwarmers.

Whatever, it WAS fine.

I mean the teacher has a really horrid habit of teaching to the most experienced person in the room, NOT ME, so when I'm asked to count it out (what the fuck does that even mean?) I can't, but no one really bats an eye and someone else does it for me.  When the mirrors show everyone I am physically incapable of doing the arm things with the leg things I ignore them and surprisingly don't blush (a very bad habit of mine).   I'm pretty sore the day after class and I really do think it might be teaching me how to not slouch (another horrible habit of mine).  Also, it is kind of making up for the complete lack of good yoga in this city.

Now if I can just make it through Intro so I can start dropping into the Beginners classes, which happen more than once a week, I might actually get somewhere.  Also there's an Intro to Hip Hop class calling my name, and maybe laughing with me at the thought, bust still, SO MUCH FUN.

Meet Anna.

If you follow me on Instagram, this is old news.  But if you don't WE GOT A PUPPY!  Miss Anna is nearly five months old and only a little bit annoying.  She was a rescue filled with worms (a lot of worms) and instalove for Frances.  She followed me around non-stop for the first month and for the first week I had to have my hand INSIDE HER CRATE the entire night or else she'd loose it and no one would sleep.

Now she follows Frances around all of the time and sleeps happily in her crate on the other side of the bedroom.  She absolutely needs a morning walk and an afternoon run in order to not drive me up the wall.  Turns out yelling "I FUCKING HATE YOU TWO" does not stop the wrestling over toys.  It's never mean, just typically taking place on my feet while I'm trying to work, and possibly even on a call. But this means I'm running again and that is not a bad thing.

Frances doesn't yet LOVE Anna, but we're getting there.  Anna is allowed on the couch and the bed (Frances was in charge of the inviting, yes we have zero control of our older dog) and sometimes, SOMETIMES, she's even allowed in my lap at the same time as Frances.  There has been one instance of cuddling and it was brief, but now that it's cold outside I have high hopes that it will become a regular thing.  There has been no fighting, which has been a relief, and a lot of food sharing.

Frances is far more active, the house smells much more of farts and we're back to having to schedule our outings around a puppy that needs to be let out every four or so hours.  All in all it's been a pretty good thing.

Oh and possibly the best part, her actual biological sister lives just a couple of blocks from us.  THEY HAVE PLAYDATES.  It is adorable.

delayed/instant gratification.

so, some time in early july, or was it late june?  this package arrived at our door.  it arrived at our door after mas had been super secretive with his emails and computer (something to do with my birthday present, he told me that much)... i mean he went as far as changing his password secretive ... for two or three months.  and then it arrived while he was out of town.  it arrived one month before my birthday.  it arrive and it was from MOCIUN.

i did not open it.  it was very hard to not open it.  i waited.  he was home a few days later.  he ripped the package open, left the room, returned and handed me a small black and white box.  it felt weird.  it was not my birthday.  it was not even almost my birthday.  he had already made me wait SO LONG.  why not a little longer?  mostly because i think he was too excited to see my reaction, but also i'm sure he was a bit afraid that now that it was in the house there was really no chance that i wouldn't end up opening in my own super secretive manner.

so i opened it and fell in love.  it's beautiful and made just for me.  by my most favorite person and my most favorite designer.  damn, that's a birthday well done.

{image via mociun, mostly because we tried to snap photos, but they all suck, and this necklace deserves a non-sucky photo.}

August in AVL

sometimes i use mas' insane work schedule as an excuse to take a break and head to the mountains.  when we lived in eastern north carolina i was spending what seemed like half of my time in asheville.  but then we moved to dc and i settled in.  found local clients.  found local friends.  and now i'm making it back, what seems like, quarterly.

i'll fill you in on the details little by little over the next few days but the BEST PART EVER was the weather.  my friends, i lounged around in jeans and flannels and light sweaters OVER BUTTONDOWN SHIRTS.  i went for runs and did not want to kill myself.  i had coffee, of the non-iced variety, in the afternoon.

oh dc, you've cooled, but you're not quite where i want you.  winter can honestly not come soon enough ... though i would be willing to settle for fall.

our neighborhood rocks.

the eddy, the bar inside of hank's oyster bar's new capitol hill location, has won my heart.  our neighborhood was awesome before their arrival, but now, now we have a place where we can go and grab a not-too-fancy but utterly delicious drinks*.  also, oysters.  yay capitol hill!  i love you more than ever ... which is saying something.

* to be fair our current favorite, the atlas room, fits the above criteria.  dude is serious 'bout his drinks.  but it's a touch further away, sans oysters and, really, it is always good to have OPTIONS.

{the old salt is a lovely combination of watermelon stuffs and tequila and etc.  so light and refreshing and perfect for these fucking hot and humid days (and nights).}

// i took a break from the internets.
\\ we went to canada, new hampsire, massachusetts, rhode island and new york.  i'm tyring to figure out how to get back to rhode island.
// i continued my break from the internets.
\\ mas' work trips were nixed!
// i decided to quit the internets.  "cancelled" my facebook account, closed my reader "for good," and started writing a farewell to blogging post.
\\ we went to california.  i had a lot of cheeseburgers, mas had a week long class in santa clara.
// since we were on that side of the country, we went to los alamos.  mas is trying to figure out how to get back to los alamos.  ok, i am too.
\\ mas' second round of work trips were postponed!
// i turned 31.
\\ i logged back into my reader.  had too many posts to even consider reading.  unsubscribed to about 50% of my feed.
// i decided that quitting the internet was perhaps just a harsh reaction to a couple of bad days.
\\ we wound up with cable and more importantly hbo.  our one tv is in the basement ... where other people are currently living.  but hbogo runs very well on the ipad.  i've since blown through big love, true blood, and hung.  ok i didn't blow through hung, i stopped watching it.  also newsroom.  we're obsessed.  and game of thrones.

// i missed the internets.  so i came back.  except for facebook.  i think that relationship is over for good.

{photo from our road trip from santa clara to los almos by way of big sur}

the weekend.

it was only a little bit warm, not quite wanna kill yourself hot.  there was a lot of walking.  to the farmers market and back. with a bag full of cherries! that ended up on my shorts.  which was kind of ok since they were already pink.

there was soba with sesame and veggies and rice vinegar and a sixpoint apollo, my most favorite summer beer.

there was walking to the park, sitting, snoozing, reading.

there was a pizza made of leftover dough covered in garlic scapes and zucchini and garlic.

there was the cutest little guy in the the corner of a sidewalk square.

there was also the wearing of my bensimons, which hasn't actually occurred in a very long time.  i think i've decided to get rid of them.  though i'm not sure.  they just aren't very comfortable.

eating habits.

my favorite food is the cheeseburger.  mas' is split between cheeseburgers and spaghetti.  there was a time in our lives, a good chunk of time even, when we were eating meat only once a week (mostly in cheeseburger form).  but something happened.  we moved, mas started travelling, we came across good meat available for purchase just down the street, we live in a city where the food is actually delicious and the variety great.  we started eating meat every other day.

and now we both kind of feel gross.  so we are taking a break.  we've gone vegan for the week.  we say we're going to do things like this all of the time.  so far it's never worked out.  but we're on day one point five and so far i haven't dipped into the challah we bought on friday and stupidly didn't finish over the weekend, i consider this a win.

tomorrow morning it's muesli and spiced strawberry syrup from my new roots.  tonight is't black pepper tofu from ottologheni's plenty.  two recipes i'm fairly certain i wouldn't have gotten around to making if we hadn't cut out butter and cheese and yogurt.


i know it's not a lot, but now it kinda seems like it, and maybe it'll change our piss poor eating habits ... at least for a while. 


{image of tomorrow's breakfast from my new roots}

two favorite things.

we've been in dc now for just about eleven months.  of those eleven months mas has been away for work for six of them - or something stupid like that.  poor kid.  sometimes we'll be walking down a street that is three blocks away from home and he'll be lost until he spies a street sign.  no seriously, that happened.

we make the most of the time that he is here (fighting over the best burger, attempting to redo some part of the house, etc) and i'm finding dc to be quite hospitable when navigating solo, or with frances.  it is so weird to think about where we were just one year ago.  things were different, our lives were different.

it's not been the easiest of times, mas and i have had some of the worst fights of our relationship since living here, but we've also had some of the best days.  and together we are figuring it all out ... and eating ourselves silly.  you guys the food in this city is dangerously good.  something we weren't exactly expecting.

but after nearly a year i find that my two most favorite things have stayed the same, which for a creature of habit, is maybe not so weird?  they are:

1.  walking around the capitol.  it happens daily and i'm still not sick of it.  i wonder when, if ever, the awe will be wiped off my face as i look up.

-and-

2.    good stuff eatery ... my FAVORITE burger place in the city.

this move has been good for so many reasons.  i'm so happy that after only a year i can already see that.

ps - i totally screwed up my nails this week, but here's hoping i figure it out by next!  it promises to be good ... i think.

my week.

i'm one of those people who would happily shell out eight dollars for a small box of granola.  it's one of my most favorite things in the world.  but then, i realized, it was stupid to pay eight dollars for eight oz. of granola and instead i've started to make my own.  with olive oil and maple syrup and pretty much anything we have sitting in our pantry.  it's delicious and we eat it by the pound now, not the ounce.

frances finally got over being scared of the new piece of furniture in the house and now is busy making it filthy.  i've covered it in a ridiculous number of blankets to keep her paws, and her mouth, off of the very light upholstery.  so far it's working.

and then, that's about all that happened this week.  it was pretty blah.  there was some rain, a little bit of cool weather, and a whole lot reading.  today i'm planning on spending some hours looking at art.  it's been too long.  also, maybe the prius will be done?  i'm feeling trapped these days without a car.  honestly, you people who live in a city that is not new york and don't have a car, how do you do it?!  it's not been super hard, and i've totally taken advantage of the new little smart cars scattered about town, but it's seems silly to pay for a morning jaunt to target to just look around and maybe pick up some toilet paper.

this weekend i'm purging our house.  we have too much crap.  it's ridiculous there is stuff everywhere.  also i think i might make some corn cookies, because it's been too long.  and mop the floor. i've yet to mop all of the floors since we moved in ... ten months ago.  yikes.

my week.

there was a neon belt and gingham shorts, also gold boat shoes and a chambray shirt ... hello prep.

the viewing of a shuttle being shuttled to it's new forever home by way of a 747.

there was frances sleeping on the chair, putting her dirty paws where they don't belong.

there was the massive blooming of one of our very old and established rose bushes.  anxiously waiting for the other two to follow suit.

and there was a delivery of eggs.  ever since we signed up for our green grocer delivery we've received a dozen of these a week, until last week, when there was a shortage.  it was one of the saddest weeks.

and then there is the weekend.  we've a couple of friends coming to town and are planning on another million calorie weekend (will tourist season please be OVER, i'm eating way too much).  there will also be live tapings of jeopardy, watched by us.  oh and the destruction of a bookshelf ... you know to make way for a new window.  what are you up to?  

so how was your day?

i'm keeping some pretty decent company today ... me and all my stripes.

my shorts don't fit.

over the weekend we did a little bit of celebrating.  mas is one year older and i am about ten pounds heavier.  we had crack pie, times two, and chocolate cake.  also we went out with a dear friend saturday night and found ourselves eating frito pies (oh and tater tot pies) at two in the morning.  it was fun, but let me tell you, sunday i woke up and thought i might die.

we converged in the kitchen for breakfast around 11, so late for me, had oatmeal because no one could stomach the thought of even eggs, and then we sat, drank water/coffee/orange juice, and attempted to rehydrate.

at 1:30 we went on a twenty mile bike ride through the city, it was warm.  at 4:00 we were cleaned and STARVING.  we headed down the street to have sliders and pizza (hello healthy, i know).  i was a zombie.  it was my first actual bike ride in about a year and it was SUNNY.  i hate the sun, it drains me, so does biking for that matter.  i had a slider, some salad and a piece of peperoni pizza.  they boys had three cocktails a piece and the rest of the food.  they were fine, maybe that was my mistake, no cocktail.

around 6:00 we ended up back home and the weather outside was lovely.  mas was suffering from an oncoming benadryl coma and i was just suffering from the past 24 hours.  we took a sheet, the dog and a bottle of water three doors down to the little triangle of a park.  we slept for an hour.  then we came home, mas took another nap, and i figured out that those shorts i purchased in january are far from comfortable.  apparently my lifestyle of eating a lot and exercising not at all is catching up with me.

long story short, mas and i had a discussion about diets and personal challenges and exercise.  turns out we disagree on just about everything (except for the fact that a diet is NOT THE ANSWER, we both agree that is the case) and doing this together doesn't seem to be the best idea.  so, he's going to bike to work and exercise more and i'm going to run every day (yeah right) and stop eating solids.  i kid, i kid, but maybe i'll not keep corn cookie dough in the freezer any more.

{image via instagram, i'm cevd, did you know?}

after wishing for a good week, it finally came.  monday was a wash, tuesday sucked, but wednesday through friday = some of the best ever.  there was lots of lasagna eating (kind of happy that's over), printing (!!!!), cake making (happy bday mas), and chilly mornings (curled and buried k-9, bottom right).

so goodbye week, hello weekend!  here's to chinese burritos, birthday cheeseburgers, and eighty degrees.  what are your plans?