visitors, thanksgiving, ringtones

I've finally really started to calm down after the move, the new job, etc. I know this because I've started making themed playlists again. In college I made playlists of songs about mountains, songs with clapping in them, stuff like that. Now I'm working on a playlist related to public transportation (or travel in general) and a playlist with songs that include something about Washington in them. When they fill themselves out I'll be sure to report my findings.

So since my last post I've had several visitors. I hope that my life in Washington always has this many visitors, every weekend someone new comes up for one reason or another! RW came up a while ago for a little and we combed Georgetown for things that were remotely affordable (ha!)

My boyfriend was up to visit for the past week- I had to work for a lot of it though which was disappointing and also disturbing. I've never had to ditch someone for entire days like that. I've always been able to move my schedule around. It was nice anyway, we ate lots of good food and explored some great stuff. Unbeknownst to us, there was a Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that we happened to stumble upon. That worked out really nicely since my boyfriend is a big fan of Ansel Adams (consequently I am becoming more appreciative, too). There is also a nice folk art section in the American Art Museum, I'm just waiting for the day when our beloved South Carolina Chicken Man (Ernest Lee) gets some of his chickens in there. When I bought a couple chickens from him in October he (Ernest) talked to me for a long time about when he lived in DC and how bad the crime is. Apparently he used to work not far from my apartment!

I was introduced to Tryst (near Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan) by some college friends and I am a fan. Although the place was PACKED when we went, once you do find a seat you understand why no one wants to leave. It's a coffee shop / bar that is super mellow with cozy couches and free internet.

I also decided that I officially have a new favorite food. Panang Curry. You can get it in most Thai restaurants. It is AWESOME if you like the sweet/hot combination, kind of nutty, creamy, mmm so good.

So I flew home for Thanksgiving and I've been hanging out with my mom. It's nice spending time with her. Sometimes when I come home though, I get really really stressed out about nothing at all. Stress just pulses through me and I don't want to hang out with anyone and I don't want to listen to my mom talk and I am mean. It feels like I just need to get out or I want to get out of Columbia, even though I don't because I just got here. I have problems. A lot of my Thanksgiving felt like that. Some breaks aren't like that at all.

So I've been busy making my own ringtones- I usually just sample songs (usually the beginning of songs) on Wavepad and then transfer them to the phone. so far the best songs for ringtones are:

Crayons - Caribou (this has been G's ringtone for a long time, it is seriously the best)
Cemetery - Architecture in Helsinki
Spring 2008 - Architecture in Helsinki
Ready to Die - Andrew WK (only the very beginning of this one)

If you have any ideas for a good ringtone please comment!!!!!

My friends and Beyonce

So this past weekend my friends C (different C) and G came to visit me! They came in on Friday and we had some fab. adventures around DC town. Friday night G and I ate dinner at the White Tiger, an Indian restaurant near my place. The food was great but the service was weird. Saturday we slept in and then ate breakfast at the cute little bagel place around the corner (AWESOME), and then went to a yard sale. No luck there so then we went to Eastern Market. Eastern Market is basically the best place to be in DC on a Saturday morning, if you've already paid a visit to the bagel place. There are produce stands and one of them has a lot of local apples for sale- they have samples of all the apples so we stood around there and ate a ton of apples. Those pictures are a couple I took on one of our walks. Cute little pigeon knows where it's at!

After another yard sale we got a call from P, another friend, who apparently had a layover in a DC airport, we assumed it was in Dulles (which is far far from DC) but he was actually in Regan! So he came and we had more fun times. We visited the Oceans, Rivers, and Skies exhibit at the National Gallery and prowled around some in there.

P had to continue his flight before long so C and G and I headed back to the apartment. We had dinner at Good Stuff and it was AWESOME like usual. Then we had a cookies and beer party and a bunch of people showed up (?!) but we were too tired to really enjoy it.

Sunday we ate lunch at an awesome Thai place in Chinatown that I am most definitely returning to. C and G left shortly after that but it was so good to see them.

Today I had the day off because of Veteran's Day!! I didn't do much. I do want to post this music video. Now, I haven't watched music videos in at least 5 years, but this one was sent to me and I LOVE IT. I've always liked Beyonce- the first time I heard this song I thought it was annoying- but it grew on me. The video though, damn. She is one hot lady and she's not the standard tiny girl- such an inspiration to me and I know lots of other young women. Hot!!! I also am posting the Tun Tunak Tun video because I think Beyonce is using some of their moves. If you haven't seen the Tun Tunak Tun video, you gotta. It's amazing!! Watch Tunak first, then Beyonce, to see the full effect of how similar some of the moves are.

Obama! Yes Yes Y'all!

Obama won!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still so thrilled I can't even handle all my emotions. One of the first feelings I felt (once I quit screaming) was an overwhelming feeling of protection and safe-ness. Barack won't take away my rights as a woman and Biden will fight for the rights I deserve. I'm so happy. That is only the tip of the iceberg of all the things I'm happy about concerning this election. (HI I CAMPAIGNED FOR AND VOTED FOR THE GUY THAT WON, HOW ABOUT THAT?!)

When I walked to the metro at 7AM to go to work the line to vote at the middle school a block from my apartment was wrapped all the way around the block! The District of Columbia voted 93% for Obama... I am in heaven. I went from South Carolina to 93%... so awesome!!!

C and T came over and I made some "Yes We Can Spaghetti" (success!) and some "Campaign for Change" cupcakes. The cupcakes were good, the colors came out kind of pastel. I need a measuring cup really bad.

So we screamed and toasted and had a lot of fun celebrating. NC STILL has not been called, but it looks like Obama won in the closest race in the country... so my vote did go a long way. Cool. After C and T left I couldn't sleep and was very antsy so I walked to the capitol. It's such a nice walk and so beautiful at night. There is still a lot to be done, we can't ignore the fact that this country is still not accepting of gay people and that will have to change. But for now, I'm just going to be happy about Barack and his cute family. I'll be upset about other things soon enough, anyway. I can't wait till inauguration day!!

Get off your ass and vote for OBAMA!!!!!!!!! OBAMARAMA!!!!!!

Are you ready to VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!??!!!!

Today I was so pumped about the election I had a hard time working. All I wanted to do was call in sick and volunteer for Obama. I did volunteer after work- I stood at a corner in Ballston (Arlington, VA) and handed out fliers and told people to not forget to vote. I talked to this woman from Guatemala for a long time and got her to sign up to volunteer tomorrow at a polling place. Apparently she wrote a song about Obama and wants me to help her with the English. Cool!


Vote for Obama!! Vote for Obama!

Tomorrow I'm having a little election time party thing. I am going to cook some "YES WE CAN Spaghetti" and some other delicious Obama themed treats. Ideas are welcome. God, I was going to make some Obama cookies tonight but I'm too tired.

Subway Rat Habitat

Oh, DC Halloween. I've been curious about how DC celebrates Halloween for a long time. No, people do not dress up for work. Yes, people do dress up at night. I raced home from work to get ready and was looking forward to a short nap to sustain me for the rest of the night but after getting back to the apartment I realized I forgot to pick up my checks at the post office. I had to return to get them because I had to pay rent so I walked all the way back. Waited in line at the post office for a long time, I saw a witch while I was there. On the way back a homeless man shouted at me, "HEY PRECIOUS, YOU GOT SOME CHANGE FOR ME?"

When I came back to the apartment the second time I realized on my walk that the trick-or-treaters were already out collecting their dues! I raced back to throw the Reese's in a bowl and immediately had several little kids at my door. So cute. Does this mean I'm a grown up now? There were way more Hannah Montana's than anything else. One little boy was a dinosaur and when I opened the door he let out a quiet little "raaaaarrrrr".. he must have been 3 years old! So cute.

So I never got my nap. I showered and put my costume on (Subway Rat!!! Rat that rides on the subway...) and walked back out to catch the metro. I knew I was in for it when on my walk through Union Station I saw a HUGE dude dressed like Frankenstein already so wasted that he couldn't walk, he was slumped over on a girl who was two feet shorter than him. Oh, Halloween. There were lots of the slutty college girl costumes (police with cleavage and no real pants to speak of, tinkerbells with magic wands, etc).

I met up with C and T in Dupont for a house party. It was massive- there were probably around 300 people there. I felt really out of place, as did my friends from Warren Wilson. We're just not used to so many people at a party. They had a great DJ if you could even get in the room where people were dancing. They also had bountiful "refreshments" which was nice. There was a girl there dressed up like a bottle of Jagermeister- that was awesome. She even had antlers on. Another guy was dressed as an LOL Cat- he had a sign that said "I CAN HAZ SNUGLEZ?"

We party hopped to another house party that was also really fun. They had a really nice keg of beer in the shower and good chocolate candy. We enjoyed it. THEN we walked to Adam's Morgan and got JUMBO SLICE. Now, I'm pretty sure Jumbo Slice is something only DC peeps know about because I've never heard of it until now. There are several of these shops around areas of active late night activities. You walk in, pay your $4.50, and get a slice of pizza so big that it is served to you on two paper plates.

The pizza is really thin and good and you can put parm and Italian herbs or hot pepper on it. The place was PACKED with all the hungry costumed DC party-goers. C, T, and I sat down and a giant hot dog sat down with us. I remember saying, "HEY... WHY AREN'T YOU EATING HOT DOGS, HOT DOG?" Oh god, what a night.

After trying to get a cab for 800 years we finally got a private driver car who had NO IDEA how to get to Capitol Hill (where I live). Seriously... 45 minutes later we get there after T and I are giving him our own directions.

So today E and I spent recovering from our fun- I was out till 4:00AM so today was pretty shot. We watched re-runs of West Wing and ate candy all day. I celebrated Dia de los Muertos.

I cooked Sam some steak as an offering. I have never cooked steak before but I think I did a really good job! I put it in a skillet with some olive oil, pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili powder. I liked it , I think she probably did too. So I guess now everyone thinks I'm 100% crazy.. but whatever. It makes me feel better. Feliz dia de los muertos, todos.

So, before all the Halloween candy is eaten I wanted to put up a link to YES WE CARVE- a site dedicated to jackolanterns carved in support of Barack Obama. Kind of the coolest thing ever. Thad showed that to me.