Moving Up in Being Stuck

DC has finally made it to the top - in traffic congestion that is. Normally LA gets that distinction, but this year DC and Chicago are tied for first. Some may see that as a negative, but as a transportation engineer who doesn't own a car, I call it job security. :)

Explain This To Me

So, I've owned a poofy vest for about 5 or 6 years now, and only worn it a few times. That is because I feel, deep down, that it should be a useful garment, and I am unable to get rid of it, but really, I just don't see the point. Extremities, like arms for example, are the part of the body that get cold fastest, so if it's cold enough for me to pull out my poofy wardrobe, would I choose something that ensures I will freeze my arms off? Sure, you can layer the sweater or sweatshirt underneath it, but in my last foray into poofy vest wearing, I wore a hooded sweatshirt and a hat and gloves to ensure adequate warmth and then walked all over DC, and I'm pretty sure at least 3 people thought I was homeless. Do you wear a poofy vest? And can you explain the logic/situation in which it's applicable?

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

A trip up to boyfriend's cabin a week ago means I came home with a Christmas tree! It's pretty small, but it is the first tree I've had living all by myself, so I had fun decorating. :) Now I just need to figure out when to have a party!

Woo Hoo!

I just got my fifteen minutes of fame! I made it onto the front page of Etsy! Totables is doing quite well these days, and I'm gearing up for my first craft show, so if you're in the DC area come on out! The details are:

T.C. Williams High School

3330 King Street

Alexandria, VA

Saturday, December 18th

10 am to 4 pm

The craft show is being put on by the advanced engineering class and is supporting Joining Hearts and Hands, an organization that promotes educational, health, and economic well fare for the people of Kenya and Tanzania. This organization, founded by William and Joanne Cala, has raised money to build schools, health clinics water wells, and latrines in these countries. They have also provided secondary school scholarships for students and created micro-businesses to promote self-sustainability.

High Speed Bus, Anyone?

Ah, it's funny because it's almost true:

http://www.theonion.com/video/obama-replaces-costly-highspeed-rail-plan-with-hig,18473/

The 100 Greatest Cult Restaurants of All Time

So I was perusing the Real Simple blogs, and came across a post on The 100 Greatest Cult Restaurants of All Time. The definition of a cult restaurant is:

- Having a highly devoted customer base, divided between locals and tourists
- Stellar and unique food
- An almost unbearable wait
- Not too many multiple locations
- Cheap—less then $20 per person for a meal

Sounds good to me, so I counted up where I had been on the list, along with my own commentary.

9. Ben’s Chili Bowl (Washington, D.C.) - I hate chili, and therefore am not a fan.

18. Ray’s Hell Burgers (Arlington, VA) - Pretty good burger, and I may be going against regional judgement here, but I've had better.

54. Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, OR)

70. Dinosaur BBQ (Syracuse, NY) - I actually ate at the NYC location, and Salt Lick should totally be above it on the list.

80. Salt Lick Bar-B-Que (Driftwood, TX) - Best BBQ in the world.

84. Busboys & Poets (Washington, D.C.) - Fun place to hang out, not sure their food warrants them being on the list.

96. Georgetown Cupcake (Washington, D.C.) - Way too popular for its own good.

Anyone else have thoughts on the list?

Costume Madness, Part 2!

So here we go - the reveal! The rally was a lot of fun, despite not being able to meet up with multiple groups of friends. It ended up just being me, boyfriend, and another friend, Brian.

What most of the rally looked like to me.

Until I got to see the view from boyfriend's shoulders.

After a quick change at home, time to go out on the town in my second costume of the day! It ended up being more Vegas showgirl then sexy monster, but it worked.

Meeting Maxwell

So as anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time knows that I love Apartment Therapy. So imagine how excited I was to find out that Maxwell (creator of Apartment Therapy) was going to do a presentation and booksigning last night in DC! I was one of those people that pre-ordered the Big Book of Small Cool Spaces, so yeah, it's awesome to have it signed.

Costume Madness!

I love halloween - it's one of my favorite holidays. I love candy and I love dressing up, so what could be better? I've missed out on dressing up the past couple of years for various reasons (I spent last halloween camping in a treehouse), so I'm super excited about making up for lost time. This means two, maybe three costumes. First off is Saturday during the day, for the Rally to Restore Sanity. Several coworkers and I are dressing up as Waldo, so if you happen to catch it on TV, keep an eye out for me.

I was supposed to be running the Marine Corps 10k on Sunday morning, but due to my big toe getting into a fight with a table and ending up with the raw end of the deal, that may be out of the picture now, we'll see. But I had lots of ideas for running costumes - Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, tooth fairy, flash dance....some really good ones.

So that leaves me with the main event - Saturday night. This costume has taken up many hours of planning, visiting three fabric stores so far, with more to come, and a few disagreements with the boyfriend. The inspiration was sexy monster, aka this dress, which I cannot afford:


I totally can make something similar though, so I thought it all out. The yarn might be a bit tedious, so I thought I would change it to feathers, and use boas. Unfortunately, there just isn't a lot out there for sexy feather monster costumes. Or sexy monsters in general. I wouldn't recommend googling it, just so you know. So after coming up wiht many design options ourselves, one of which boyfriend even dreamed about, I've decided to go the more simple route due to time constraints and start with a sequined mini dress and add a feather skirt. I've also purchased a feather wig, because no costume is complete without a wig. Stay tuned for the reveal!

A Snapshot of My Life

So I'm taking an online time management workshop, because I'm ridiculous these days and not getting anything done. It started last week and I'm a week behind. Sad...

Goodness is the Only Word for It

So it's not really an exaggeration to say that at a minimum, my diet is made up of 25% cheese. And potatoes are right up there on the histogram of most commonly eaten foods by Laura. So when I came across a recipe for gnocci mac and cheese, you better believe that I may be getting a little more rotund in the future.

Definitely Not Taking a Dip Now

So back in Austin, while canoeing on Town Lake (aka the Colorado River), I convinced Bushwoman that there were alligators in the water. Of course there were none, but it was all good fun.

The Potomac, in my mind, is equally unlikely to contain vicious man-eating beasts, but unfortunately I'm wrong - according to NBC Washington, a man caught an 8-foot bull shark in the Potomac southeast of DC. Eeek!

How Do You Really Feel About It?

So one of the things I like about Apartment Therapy is the comments. There are some true gems, and once you've been reading awhile, you think, I wonder what so-and-so will say to this post? I've actually seen comments saying they wonder what so-and-so will think, which is awesome. Today there was a great one, on a post about floor cushions:

I once mentioned to a friend that I hate sitting on the floor more than anything.

"Really?" he replied, "More than EVIL?"

My answer was yes.

I Love a Good Before and After...

...but in this case I love the before more. I was perusing realsimple.com this morning and came across some bedroom before and afters (I promise my bedroom is really almost done!), and the after just doesn't do it for me. I think I just like the colors of the before better, although obviously it does need some work. What do you think?

Before

After

(Photos courtesy of http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/bedroom/bedroom-makeovers-00000000041356/index.html?xid=weeklynews-09-01-2010)

Up, Down, and All Around

So yeah, here goes the last how every many months it's been since I've posted - I got laid off in June, freaked out for two days, and then decided to enjoy my summer and hang out by the pool (while looking for a job, no worries). I actually ended up getting a job faster than I thought, 3.5 weeks from the day I got laid off to the day I got my offer, so I was a little bummed my pool time was getting cut short. So I parlayed three more weeks out of the deal, dividing it equally between more lazy time, a trip home to Michigan to see the fam, and a trip down to Honduras to see boyfriend's dad and stepmom. Cue dramatic travel sagas involving much internal cursing of Delta (I'll spare you all the dramatic details, but it wasn't pretty). And now life is pseudo back to normal. Well, as normal as life can be when you start a job three weeks before four DC-area offices of your company decide to play musical chairs. Anyways, boring details aside, I enjoyed my time hanging out and I enjoy being a productive member of society again.

Random Fact: The thing that I miss most about the old job (aside from my wonderful friends) is the tv in the elevator that filled me in on the news of the day. Every day for the past week and a half I've gotten in the elevator and looked up, only to be filled with disappointment, not to mention it was always fun to toss random statements in conversations about what my elevator told me that day. Excuse the rustiness, I'm just getting back in the saddle, but no worries, I'm back for good now. :)