Trader Joe's and Short Hair

I took the car in for its first oil change, which was free. I thought that was nice. Of course Mazda is nothing like Mercedes where they are all free to 50,000 miles. Work was crazy today as usual, but I didn't work very many hours. Since I dropped the car off and had a Dr. appt mid day, I called it a 'sick' day. I did work constantly via PDA even when I wasn't there, but don't want the man to think I'm taking advantage of my situation. I guess that's what differentiates my work ethics from some of the others.

Lisa did hit bad snow last night driving home, but she made it safely. Timmy is in the air right now returning from Seatle and I have to pick him up at BWI at 10:45. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal. Last night when I couldn't find anyone to hang out with me for Sunday Funday, I realized how lonely it can be without him. I did end up grabbing Eric after his shift for a few drinks and then Tish, Tara, and Vera joined me for a few. We went to Helix and then Grillfish. I was out for about four hours. I did get my head buzzed off too. I so wanted to grow the curly hair out again until it got cold and hats made my head a frizzball.

I shopped at Trader Joe's tonight on my way home from work. I do love that store. I bought a few meals worth of food and a case of wine. It was time to restock the wine cellar.

Time for a little nap. I should leave work at 5 every day! Funny how I called it a sick day to be able to do that.

Lazy Day

T is still in Seatle visiting our friends with a new baby. My sis just left to drive home after a fantastic weekend that included fun dining, shopping, touristing, and just hanging out. The weather kinda sucks so I hope she drives safely and it doesn't take her too long.

Everyone is having a lazy day so I'm just vegging out with the tv and doing the same.

Funny thing - Forever 21 now sells boy clothes. I bought a shirt there - I am much too old to be shopping at such a store. Funny.

Brunch!

Lisa ends a fabu weekend with brunch at Playbill! Will add more later.

The Washington Auto Show

There will always be a place in my heart for a VW. Having fun at the Washington Auto Show withT. We are having a car show date before he leaves for Seattle to see our friends and their new baby for the weekend!

She might kill me

She might kill me but I took a photo as she nestled in front of the fire. We essentially stayed in all weekend until this evening. Had a few glasses of wine at Pollys and Sollys and now settling in by the fire with spaghetti nite with friends. This one is done!

Three times the PAIN

I mentioned yesterday that the Military Challenge class I took at Vida Fitness kicked my ass. Well I am very sore today. Antwoin makes it miserable to fail - for example - After completing lets say 3,000 squats, he makes the class hold it in down position. The first person to collapse has to do 100 more in front of the class. Brutal. I love it. My goal is to be able to breeze through his class, but I'll spend many more weeks struggling through it and embarrassing myself first I'm sure.

I purchased an exercise ball at Target to work on my core early in the week, but I'll have to rest before the Saturday Military Challenge class. I've decided to take Matt's class on Tuesday and use Thursday for working my upper body. It is strong enough to recover by Saturday for the Military Challenge class where my core is not.

R and I had lunch at Freddie's Beach Bar in Crystal City. Their menu is hysterical. I ate a "Girlfriend" and he had a "Mermaid. What a riot. Beyond the food, it was rather strange to be able to light up a cigarette after eating. It has only been a few weeks in DC, but I am completely comfortable with going outside to smoke; I embrace the DC Smoking Ban. It tempers my smoking and I can wear my couture to the bars. I smoked like a chimney at Freddies, not because I wanted to, but because I could. I hate VA smoking laws - yet another reason to avoid crossing over to the other side.

No major plans for today. It was great to be exhausted last night. I had a tiny bowl of homemade chili with M/C and fell fast asleep on their sofa before 10 P.M. Around midnight I crawled home and nestled into my own bed for a fantastic night of rest. I've been up since 7:30 and am ready to face the day!

Three times!

So I'm not doing so well with the smoking, but I did eat healthy ALL week. I only went out for drinks on Thursday (work event) and only had a few. In addition, I went to the gym Tue/Thu/Today this week and took hour long classes (That's three times - my target). Holy crap. I'm sore. The military style class I took today kicked my ars, but I'm going to shed some pounds and get in better shape before Costa Rica if it is the last thing I do.

Running to Target for some household crap and then helping Tisha move this afternoon. Should be fun...that is if I can lift my arms by then.

New Beginnings

Well I fell of the wagon on the smoking recovery with the holiday weekend. With the visitors and the going out and such, I didn't even make an effort. I'm up early this a.m. and about to head to the gym for a class. Perhaps I can make it through today without a smoky treat and will get back on that very shaky wagon.

Have a great Tuesday world -

Dottie's at Eastern Market

Look...It is Michael and his gays! We had brunch at the Banana Cafe where 18.95 will get you a buffet of delicious food and as many mimosas as you can drink. We were here a few weeks ago and the shaved head guy (don't know his name) was a much better server. This time, we had another guy and the champers didn't flow as freely. We took the visitors to Eastern Market and had to pose in front of "Dottie's" store.

We had a fantastic time last night...too much to write about, but it did include convincing a cabbie to put 10 people (yes TEN) into his car and making a pit stop at the host hotel for MAL weekend. Jack was having a good time, but Anthony and I were a bit out of place. Anyhoo, many others will join us throughout the day as we chill in Capital Hill. Tonight a giant group of us will invade the Phase for Sarah's last hurrah. Very sad to see her go...very sad.

Visitors from Ohio!

Yeah! It is a long weekend and my friends Jack and Dottie are here from Columbus. We went out last night and I am on my way to work this AM (unfortunately.) They will be here until Monday when I don't have to work for MLK day. It is fantastic to see them and I am very glad they came.

Last night we did the U St. / 14th St. Bars and zipped over to Halo on P. Jack loved that place and I do too. I only wished it was early enough for half price happy hour. $37 for a martini, two beers, and a mixed drink is a bit excessive, even for DC. Tonight we will do Be Bar and 17th Street. Timmy hates Be Bar, but it is becoming one of my favorites!

Lord knows what we'll get involved in tonight. Fun Times!

Sunday Funday

What's this? Could Laura and Iris be displaying nurturing motherly instincts? Lissa, Milian, Baby Flora, Tim, and I met them for brunch at the Beacon Bar and Grill. Was great to get everyone together, and as you can see, the girls were fascinated.

The brunch - AMAZING. Including tip it was around $30 per person and this includes obnoxious unlimited amounts of Bloody Mary's and Mimosas. The waitress just set the bottle of Champers on our table at one point. Fantastic! The food was superb in selection and quality.

...there's always a story with the DMV

I waited in line barely long enough to snap the photo and mobile blog it. The cruise director motioned me on to lane 5. Not surprisingly this was the handicapped / senior citizen line, but I didn't care because I was motioned around the 1 car in front of me. The inspector came up and asked me to 'beep the horn,' which I did. Then he told me I passed and that I should drive around to the front and park in the exit to lane 5. No break light check, no turn signal check, no tire check, nothing. Just beep the horn and pass. Welcome to DC.

Normally I'd park off to the side, but lane 5 is by the door and there was a car parked between 4/5 so I did as I was told and parked in the exit. Another man came up and started screaming at me. I told him I'd already been inspected and that I was to park at the exit. He says not in the lane, "..if somebody hits you I have to fill out a report, and it's near the end of my shift and I have no time for paperwork." I asked where I should park and he directed me to the sidewalk. Now I thought perhaps I should park legally at the DMV, and I thought I was following instructions, but no. I was wrong.

After receiving my horn check sticker, I mean inspection sticker, I went inside to renew my tags. Now they did expire in July, and I thought perhaps they'd question me, but they did not. He asked if I wanted one year or two. Last time I checked you could only renew motorcycles for one year at a time and I believe my inspection sticker is for one year. I figured if he offered, I'd take it, so I said, "two." I paid him the $129 and he hands me a receipt. He then fiddled around in the drawers and said he was out of stickers so he'd just give me a windshield sticker. Now I realize that some motorcycles have windshields, but WTF? I advised that I had no windshield and he said they didn't have 2009 stickers for motorcycle plates yet (of course they don't because they only renew for one year at a time) and that I'd have to go to the C St. location and request one. I told him I didn't have time and asked if he had a 2008 sticker I could use until then. He did.

So I left the DMV with a 1 year inspection, a 2 year registration expiring in '09, a windshield sticker (which I can't display) and a license plate sticker showing '08. LBJ - and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Oh ... one more thing ... Fenty has his pic up on the website already - he should be so proud of this city. Did I mention he's really hot? I don't know why, but it feels dirty to say that; as if he's related to me or something. Just because he's the mayor shouldn't make it dirty to lust after him...should it?

I went to Eastern Market to get Lisa the other half of her typewriter earrings and some hot sauce for Todd. That place has some sauce with serious kick and flavor. The sample dude in the store remembered me from a few weeks ago when I bought some for Steve. I'll have Timmy mail that off to Chicago next week. Time to work. Yes...I'm working today. Uggh.

DC vehicle inspection

Yes. Even the Vespa has to be inspected. Here I am waiting in line. This must be a great time to go because there is only 1 car in front of me.

failure

it was to be expected....

cheating

We both tried to have a smoke and Jake stopped us by crashing our lit cigs to the floor. After a great deal of arguing, Jake gave us each a hit of his Marlboro Red and we demanded a picture. Here it is.

trump

My friend Scotty manages at a fantastic restaurant (Grillfish) and he brought a brownie with a sparkler. It trumps the sheetcake and 25 friends singing happy birthday (out of tune)

Happy Birthday Tisha

Celebrating Tisha's birthday (belated because she was out of town for the holiday) at Polly's Cafe. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell like dead rat, despite the smoking ban. I haven't smoked yet. Yet.

Going home

...just waiting for it to blink! I need my tubular chariot to arrive and inject me back into to the city where I belong. It was a more reasonable day (perhaps 10 hours) but I'm ready to be home.

Duffys Irish Pub

Yummy delicious dinner; very strange. I ate a vegetarian Irish Burrito. Never heard of that before. Essentially potatoes, onions, cheese, and mustard sauce in a tortilla. Also comes non-vegetarian with corned beef. I'm still craving a smoke, but it is measurably easier with the DC Smoking Ban keeping the bars and restaurants smoke free. It may not be popular with my social circle, but I am embracing the ban!

Dinner, two beers, and now off to bed. It is better to sleep than smoke!

I'm still standing

No I didn't have a Wild Wednesday or anything like that. Just another long stressful 12+ hour day with a 5 minute lunch at my desk. I'm still standing because I have not had any smokey treats. This is just the end of day two I realize, but you have to start somewhere.

There's nobody on the train...not sure what I'm doing for dinner.

I will survive

I didn't leave the office all day...not even to eat. I was there for nearly 11 hours of non--stop action. The craving to smoke grew quite strong and I am pretty much dying on the train.

I plan to go have some food and then to bed. We're skipping trivia night at Stetsons for a variety of reasons, including some football game LW has to watch. We didn't study anyway! A few weeks ago we won the "Participation Award," which was a lovely ribbon for us to proudly display! We might not win, but we positively have fun trying!

Not sure if I'm going straight home to eat frozen food or if I'll buy something out. This is the first night I might be able to catch the Yellow line all the way to U Street. Very exciting! Perhaps today's excuse to dine out???

No Smoking

Well here it is. The first non-smoking day again! I don't usually have one until mid morning so I shouldn't even notice for awhile. Psychologically it is killing me. I can't even focus on my Express paper today on te train! I'll be at work shortly and that should take my mind off of it.

The train is dead because the Federal Government is closed for a day of mourning. They are having the service for President Ford today at the National Cathedral.

My 2007 smoking picture

Happy New Year

Having fun with friends at Michael & Catrina's house. We are ringing in the new year with a Mexican theme party and an Ab Fab Marathon! Fun times!