Enjoying the Spring

Hello - is anybody still there? Sorry I disappeared again. I just couldn't help myself. Between the gorgeous weather we've been having and the social life I've apparently just found, being on my computer has not been on the top of my list. So yes, I'll try to resume my photo a day project, but I'd rather let you know I've been out having a great time in DC. Sunday was spent on the sand courts by the Lincoln Memorial, followed by an impromptu dinner party at EJ's. I finally got myself to the Fish Market in my neighborhood, and I think I may be hooked (fish tacos are on tonight's menu for dinner). Monday I met a new friend and wandered the cherry blossoms around the title basin. Cursing myself for not bringing my Hasselblad (especially since the sun has not cooperated since). And tonight is the opening of Doug Aitken's SONG 1 installation at the Hirshhorn, which should be really cool. I'm hoping to be able to grab a seat for the lecture beforehand, too. Fingers crossed!

Safe to Put our Coats Away?

Today's photo: A Sign was my attempt to capture the gorgeousness of DC today - although unfortunately  I had to be inside most of the day. All I wanted to do was go for a nice long bike ride - maybe along the Potomac... luckily the weather forecast is upper 70s all week, so I think I'll have to make time for a bike ride soon. Today was spent on my computer, a combination of Helsinki Library stuff and portfolio. I think I may be getting close (fingers crossed). Evan, Chloe and I did make a point of eating our lunch outside in the park next to the Key Bridge. I think all three of us fair-skinned friends got a little red. But it was nice. And I introduced them to T. Sweets after work. Nothing like a little bit of Gtown nostalgia on a sunny day like today!

Sweet Indulgence

I just got home from an amazing dinner with Robin. She's moving this weekend back to Texas so we thought it would be best to have our "last supper" at a place we had always wanted to try: Coco Sala. Which worked out perfectly as today's word is fork (I will also add my Internet has been out basically since Friday hence me being MIA- I'm writing this post from my phone and I'm already getting annoyed correcting my typos). So I'm going to keep this post short and sweet (yes pun intended). Robin and I both love chocolate so we had pretty high expectations, but they were definitely fulfilled and then some. We started the night with cocktails - she ordered a malted chocolate martini while I ordered a coco-jito (chocolate mojito), both were delicious. We split a few savory starters to save room for dessert - tomato and buratta salad and bacon mac and cheese (with a piece of chocolate covered bacon on top!) - the later actually ended up being my favorite dish of the meal. But yes onto dessert. We split the trio of hot chocolates as Robin had heard the peanut butter hot coco was great - I think it had been written up about in the Washington Post? It basically tasted like someone melted real peanut butter into hot chocolate - amazing! But somehow the salted caramel (with marshmallow topping) one topped it. Then we split a sticky toffee pudding concoction with ginger ice cream. The ice cream was crazy good. I kept saying it could have been a topping for sushi (like how Chef Elizabeth Falkner made ice cream for savory dishes on The Next Iron Chef). Oh, and we ordered a chocolate mouse with a salty caramel filling that was delicious. I can't remember ever eating that much dessert in my life but well worth the splurge. Luckily we walked the two miles back to my house, and I take after my dad in being a human garbage disposal ;-). Such a great meal with such a great friend. I keep thinking how much I'll miss Robin, but once I move back to California, she'll actually be much closer to me in Texas so I guess I can't complain...

Shop/Window

Even though I'm not working full time, sometimes I have a hard time keeping up on here. Yesterday was Kacy's birthday, and we spent most of the day working in the wood shop at CUA trying to get her thesis model finished. It's spring break this week, so it was so nice having the building virtually empty (and the shop to ourselves). Here's yesterday's something you wore. I feel like I'm the poster-child for a California native in this pic - Tom's, blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a hoodie.  I have a nice layer of sawdust appearing on my shoes as well. I think someday I'm going to have to have a mini-shop in my garage (you know, when I have a house with a garage when I'm like 65). It's been pretty cool learning how to use all of the machines over the last few years, so I think I'm going to need to have a jointer, planer, table and chop saws at some point...

I was back at Travis's office today working on the Helsinki competition, and captured this window from D&D - somehow I find myself in there almost every Tuesday/Thursday. I figured it was a pretty nice one, though. And a much needed coffee escape as well.

Now I'm just waiting for the arrival of my friend Sean who's staying over tonight for a job interview he has in the morning (pretty nice that I have an extra bedroom here). It will be nice to catch up with him and just relax for a bit. Tomorrow morning I'm off to get my hair cut, then finally planning to get back to my portfolio in the afternoon. 'Til tomorrow!

Around Town

I'm dying to crawl into bed, so I'm going to keep today's post short and sweet. I left Georgetown right at 5pm so I could meet my Uncle Bruce for dinner downtown. We had a nice dinner at Fogo de Chao and he filled me in on his and my aunt's ongoing process of renovating their house in Pacific Grove. They have decided to make it a passive house, so it was interesting hearing about his forays into this endeavor - and he said he'd pass along some of the research/companies they've looked into, which will be a great resource for me as school leaves you in want of some actual applications, not just the theoretical stuff. I included a pic from our walk together to the capitol after dinner, and then my walk home along the water. Got to get some rest - working in the wood shop tomorrow morning with Kacy, and we have the quarter finals of our volleyball league tomorrow night. This week is racing by!

Monday Momentum

This smile is a tribute to my super productive day! Thankful for a snowy forecast (which of course didn't happen), I rocked some sweet sweatpants and my Uggs all day and sat in front of my computer screen. I not only finished my entry for the DC AIA Unbuilt Competition (I submitted my thesis project - wanted to upload a pic of my board as well, but couldn't get it to work on Blogger - I think the file is just too big?), but I also made a dent (hooray! a dent!!) in my portfolio. It's amazing the things you can get done when you put your mind to it. Still have more to do of course, but I think today's effort is going to give me some momentum. 

Now if only I could get rid of this nagging sore throat and cold. Although, the sore throat justifies eating limitless ice cream, right?

How Time Flies

I drove out to Ashburn to see my Aunt Cheryl today. We had a nice lunch together, and then we "got down to business" discussing plans for remodeling the bathrooms in her house. We've been vaguely talking about this for a while now, but it wasn't until tonight when I went to look back over what we had started that I realized just how long we've been "talking" about this project. In fact, I posted about it almost a year ago today! Sometimes I don't recognize how everything really was put on hold while I was in school. But I'm excited to get back into this project with her while I'm still on the East Coast. And Cheryl doesn't really have any specific ideas for the bathrooms as far as colors or finishes, so I think over the next few days I'm going to put together some idea boards for her with different looks. Just the thought of doing a real project - even if small - is pretty exciting. I have missed this stuff a ton.

Anyways, I thought today's challenge of bedside was pretty appropriate. Just crawled into bed with a pile of magazines to start looking for inspiration!

Night Out

Just leaving my new neighborhood to metro to my old one. Panpan's in town and I couldn't be more excited for the Gtown reunion ahead.

Before I turn into a Pumpkin

I thought I was going to be able to squeeze in this post before midnight, so as not to technically have missed the day, but alas, it was one of those days... I took a really nice long walk around the tidal basin and mall this morning - it was the first day I didn't feel too sick and I wanted to enjoy the weather (I had great timing too as it rained all afternoon and night). Then I spent the afternoon at CUA on a jury for a sophomore class - one of my previous teachers asked me to be a part of. To be honest, the thought of being an architecture critic made me really nervous - what if I said the wrong thing/gave the wrong advice? But as each student presented, I found myself feeling more and more comfortable, and by the end of the presentations, I realized I really enjoyed being a part of it. Gasp, does that mean I'd enjoy teaching? Not that I'm planning to go on yet another career path, but still. I'm hoping/thinking I'll get asked to return for the final presentation of the project as well - which will be interesting to see how the projects develop. It was a tough assignment too - mostly abstract, but trying to create space through diagramming different kinds of music. I think I would have failed miserably as my knowledge of music is pretty non-existent. But part of me thought, man, I miss those totally conceptual early projects we did at the start of grad school. 

Anyways, I jetted from there to a birthday meet up for a volleyball teammate of mine - well the first night in her weekend celebration. It was pretty laid back but I ended up staying out way later than I thought I would. Partly because I was enjoying talking to Brian so much about why California is so much better than DC all night (he's a Manhattan Beach native). Good times, but man, I'm exhausted! 

Off to bed after having my late night fruit snack ;-) (today's challenge word if it wasn't obvious).

Photo Reboot

I'm going to keep this short because it's been a long day, but I am going to start over with my daily photo posts. I had really been enjoying the photo challenge I started as, to be honest, it was rekindling my desire to blog. But the end of last week, I found myself incredibly sick - and I never get sick. I basically hibernated all weekend, and finally have just been left with a nagging runny nose. But instead of trying to go back and fill in my gaps, I thought with today being March 1, I'd jump on Fat Mum Slim's March Challenge. And while her photo challenge is my attempt at creating a habit, I'm also starting to come up with other things I'd like to tackle on here, so in the next few weeks, I hope to share some new ideas (wow, original content, let's see how this goes!).

I also have to say, Hi Mom! Thanks for checking in on me. I'm feeling much better today, except for completely limping around from too much volleyball last night. 

The March Challenge - this looks fun!

Kicking it off with UP:

My view of the Whitehurst Freeway from K Street in Georgetown.