DC-A-Bloom

DC is a-bloom right now! I thought that the cherry blossoms were a magical time, and they are, but as they began to get blown off the trees and started to die, they were immediately replaced by something equally beautiful: the entire area blowing up with flowers, green trees, and general natural beauty. In every direction you see bright tulips and super-saturated hydrangeas, two of my personal faves.

Unfortunately blogger is having some technical issues right now, so I'm missing the first pictures for this post (which include the great blooms). But, eh.

So I'd like to start off with this fine picture below. That, my friends, is the Irish Car Bomb that my mother did at The Dubliner, and did like a champ. Not only did she throw it down, keeping up with our new pub friends, Justin *who my mother called Russel all night*, New Hampshire, Coach, Vermont, and Russel's California friend, but then she smacked her lips and announced that it was "quite filling". Now, for those of you who have the pleasure of knowing my mom, you also know that she is the eternal designated driver. Though I suspect she had her wilder times back before I was born, she has fallen comfortably into the role of the responsible family member for a long time. Well Saturday, to the tune of some good live irish music (to which we belted it out and made lots of friends), mom sampled a few of the local brews, had her first irish car bomb, AND introduced us to mini-guinesses, a lovely shot of tiamaria and baileys. I say this not to call my mom a lush (we all know she is far from that), but to say that I have the coolest parents in the world. Dad and I joined in with slamming the salt shakers on the table, providing some percussion to the music (until they were taken away),and yelling out the choruses. It was a fantastic night!

One of the things that I enjoy most about living in DC is being able to show off the great place that I live in. It's really easy to fall into a pattern and avoid significant areas because of the traffic and tourists; but it takes company to realize that it's better to celebrate those instead. Here are just some of the highlights of the parental weekend:

1. The orchid exhibit at the Botanical Gardens. Really the whole Botanical Garden facility is stunning and so serene.
2. Morris Dancers on the steps of the Capital
3. brunch at Busboys and Poets, always a fan-favorite
4. The old stone house in Georgetown (with spinning and knitting in the bedrooms, pictured here). It is the oldest remaining house in the area. Unfortunately none of the things pictured are original.
5. walking around Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, the Hill, Chinatown/Galleryplace and Monument Row/The Mall.
6. Dinner at Ceviches in Silver Spring (delicious!) and the Thai place
7. The Smithsonian craft show (by craft, I mean amazing work that was amazingly expensive)
8. Color Me Mine (paint pottery shop in silver spring) with Mom.
9. The Asian concept restaurant at the waterfront in Georgetown.


So check out my neighbor's sweet house:

Nice, huh. Too bad he's kind of an idiot. The good thing is that he's moving out soon. I'm not sure who's moving in when he leaves, but I've got my fingers crossed for a certain someone ::wink:wink::


Mom and I also did some craftiness on her last full day here. We explored the bead shop in Takoma Park I've been eyeing, and got beads to make necklaces. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of beads in the store, we were both drawn to the same stones, so we ended up with very similar styles. I decided to also make an anklet. One of my favorite anklets went missing into the depths of the room I was staying at on my last Florida visit. It was the anklet I made from hemp and wooden beads in the Bonaire airport last summer after the dive trip with the fam. A plane crashed on the runway the night before, so we were wicked delayed on the one flight a day that left the island. With all of the good magazines and books in other languages, I found a little kid's craft kit and made myself the anklet. Sad with it's departure, but in the spirit of new beginnings, I made myself a new one!

In other news, the weather here has been absolutely beautiful. It's been sunny, breezy, and warm. Chilly at night, then warm days - it's great. I guess it takes a winter to make you really appreciate what the good weather feels like. I can't get over how healing it is for you. Just standing in the sun, feeling the breeze and taking a deep breath of the fresh air. Nothing else touches that.