Week 8: Early Bird Dinner & M. Ward

This past weekend I caught my very first music show at the Sixth & I Synagogue. It was definitely a cool experience to watch a rock concert in a historic and religious building, sitting in pews instead of standing in a sweaty basement.

The show opened with the Vivian Girls, who, despite critical acclaim for their debut album, failed to inspire or move me. Their particular brand of garagey girl punk 1) was already not my speed, sound & genre-wise 2) did not sound good within the walls of the venue, and 3) reminded me of a high school talent show performance.

Luckily, I was there to see M. Ward and he did not disappoint. The show was predominately a mix of songs off his latest release, Hold Time, as well as some of my favorite tunes off of his previous album, Post-War.

While the show felt a bit short, I thought it was a great performance. It was a nice mix of his rollicking, full-band tunes alongside nice, acoustic numbers. M. Ward impressed the crowd with his guitar skills on a John Fahey number, and warmed us with his earnest and gravelly voice on some slower ballads. All in all, a great time with great company. Looking forward to my next chance to come to this venue as it is truly a unique place to enjoy music.

On an unrelated note, this week's SP is from my pre-show dinner at Westend Bistro. Now everyone knows I'm not really a dessert girl at all, but John and I really enjoyed the Apple Cobbler, and more notably the homemade vanilla ice cream that was served alongside it. The delicious meal was a great start to a fun weekend night!

Week 7: Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day I spent a lot of quality time with friends and family. I ate and drank too much (mostly ate) and my stomach/body are still recovering, but I had a great time and think that spending Valentine's Day with loved ones like this is just as fulfilling as doing something cheesy and romantic with your s.o. (though we all know that based on my love of chick flicks and hopeless romanticism in general, I am not opposed to such things).

This week's SP includes my cousins Steph, Kim & Natty (Sorry for the face and head cut off, Steph & Natty! I'm still working on my technique, though I'm not sure short arms can be overcome!). We all went out to Fly Lounge on Friday night for an evening of dancing. It was a nice change of pace from my usual venues and nights out, and it was great to bond with the family over it, too!

Week 6: A Beautiful Winter's Day

This past weekend we enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather in DC, so my cousin Mai and I decided to take advantage of it, motivate each other and go for a nice run downtown. We headed to the national mall as part of our DC funsies day, part 2.

So the run wasn't quite as productive as we would have hoped (net running time ~25 minutes), but we still got our legs moving and broke a sweat, which, in the end, was probably a good warm-up for our out-of-shape winter bodies.

Really the day was about enjoying the weather, taking in more of DC's landmarks, and of course, embarrassing ourselves silly. Give us a couple cameras and that's what we do best!

I'm a giant!! This photo took a zillion takes and a few location changes before I got it just right.


A classic, jumpity self-portrait (courtesy of remote shutter and Mai's new Gorillapod). Just imagine the looks we got from all the other tourists walking by!

*Editor's note: Neither of these photos are self-portraits by me, and thus neither is my actual Flickr self-portrait selection of the week. They were just my favorites of the day.

Week 5: DC Funsies Day!

This past Saturday I had a fun, touristy DC day with my cousin, Mai (Tuti/Kam). We started the day with a delicious brunch at one of my favorite local spots, Logan Tavern. This is where the cameras came out and we proceeded to embarrass ourselves (Thanks for being seen with us in public, John!).



After enjoying some tasty food and even more delicious bloody marys, Mai and I headed to the National Building Museum (where we posed with the lions outside -- perhaps the first tourists to find this an amazing opportunity for self-portraits), then the National Portrait Gallery. After a quick snack break at Penn Quarter's new TangySweet, we made our way to Eastern Market and strolled around for a while before Mai made the best purchase of the day: 4 pairs of sunglasses for $17 to add to her already huge collection.

It was a rare day of so much touristy DC activity, but I had a great time!

The photo above is this week's "official" self-portrait, but since there were so many great ones and I had a hard time deciding, here a couple more gems from the weekend: