Whoa, Spring. Whoa.

April 21? Spring is flying by! Here’s what’s been keeping us busy:

Mikey B. had a birthday. Lots of laughs were had while catching up with visiting friends from New York.

Work kept me busy and has included a couple of field trips and a new hire which I’m hoping will [finally] take some of the pressure off. D has been busy with work as well, and even took a field trip to just outside Scranton, PA, home of The Office.

Last Thursday, one of my oldest and best friends came to visit from Milwaukee.  We kicked things off with an afternoon of shopping and R&R, dinner at Jaleo and an evening out.

Saturday, we grabbed a few folks and took in our first roller derby match. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turns out that sitting in a hot gym, drinking tall boys and watching a bunch of kick ass girls fight it out for points was pretty fun.

After the match, we went to a neighborhood Mexican restaurant and waited an hour and a half for what would become the worst dining experience of our collective lives. To liven things up, we serenaded Kate for her birthday…which is technically in August.

Before Kate left, we walked down to the National Mall to check out the Earth Day festival. It doesn’t look like much, right? Chevy Chase was the emcee; we saw a few moderately famous people and Los Lobos before we took off to avoid incoming inclement weather.

We also hung out with the BFG, aka, Albert Einstein.

All in all, it’s been a busy and interesting few weeks. D, I’m sorry to report, is still suffering from Saturday’s dinner, and I’m rocking a new, larger set of stitches after having my second skin surgery* today.

We may be a couple of sad sallys right now, but I think we’ll be back on our respective feet in time to enjoy what’s coming next: Capitals playoffs, Orioles games, becoming Nationals fans (they need a few) a Capital Funk showcase, and celebrating upcoming weddings and births with family and friends.

*Here’s hoping the next time someone operates on my stomach, I get something for my trouble. Like an organ I can encase in formaldehyde and place on a bookshelf. Or a baby.**

**Did I just say that?

Springtime Visitors

It feels like yesterday that were celebrating my birthday; now here it is the fifth of  April!

Thankfully,  the last few busy weeks of work has been broken up by visitors. My friends Justin and Brandy journeyed from Colorado to spend a few days in DC and I was happy to host! I underestimated how nice it would be to have some of my people here and was sad to see them go.

This past weekend, D’s dad came out for a visit. I can’t speak for D, but it seems like the two of them had a great time catching up and telling stories. They were nice enough to let me tag along for most of the weekend, which included a trip to the Air and Space Museum Annex (after hearing about Justin and Brandy’s great visit there, we had to go), some NCAA action, a stroll through the National Zoo to see its three pandas eat some lunch and a random trip out to Fairfax, VA to watch a George Mason University baseball game.

I’ll spend the next week and a half resting up and getting ready for my next visitor: Kate! She visited me about this time last year, when I had just moved to DC. It’ll be fun to spend a long weekend with her here now that I’m not so wet behind the District ears.

Wonder, Light, Merriment, etc.

Hello, friends!

It’s been awhile, right? Or is time just passing like old molasses? At any rate, we’re back in DC after an extended stay in Cedar Falls, IA with family and friends. Our flight home was canceled on Saturday, so we ended up driving to Minneapolis bright and early yesterday morning to catch a flight back to DC. The drive was fun, the flight was fine, and I wasn’t sure I’d say this—but it feels good to be back. Also? I’m off work until Friday! I’m already sad that Monday is winding to a close (a first, I’m sure).

I’m also happy to report that the intarwebs is working here at the new pad. Hopefully this yields a few more work-from-home days and blog updates. In fact, I got a snazzy new camera for Christmas, so here’s hoping I have more photos to share in 2009.

I’ll start out with these three, which include D and me being goofy on Christmas night and where I found Ella upon returning home. The latter two also provide a peek at my new digs.

(Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have this guy around?)

Now. On to New Year’s. What do you guys have cooking?

Salutations, Explanations, Geographical Deviations

I know, I know. I suck as a friend, blogger and overall human being.

I’ve been totally submerged (or have felt like it) since the beginning if last month. I blame work, which in large part has been wrapped up in election events. (And that’s all I’ll say given that I’m coming fresh off a dream where my boss found Expo and started commenting.)

So how did I magically free myself up to post something?

1. I took a couple days off to come back to Denver to see two friends tie the knot. (!)

2. I’m on east coast time and have been awake since 6A. In fact, I’m laying in bed this very instance, listening the the whirr of my former roommate’s hairdryer.

I’ve cautiously approached this weekend, allowing myself to get good and excited, but realistic about my feelings of coming and going. So far being here is kind of like the twilight zone; things look like I left them, and yet they’re not at all.

Without getting too introspective, I suppose we’ll see if you really can come home again. Although the fact that I just referred to Colorado as ‘home’ might be a good indicator.

At any rate, I’m happy (like a hippo) to be back and can’t wait to see you all!

Now… Anyone want to wager whether Cassie will be mad if I go crawl in bed with her?

Weekend Soundbites

What a great weekend. We had a good meal with friends on Friday (you NFL fans will appreciate that we saw Clinton Portis—and his pimp ass ride—at the restaurant), watched football yesterday and had a hot dinner date; this morning D ran his first 8k and then we checked out a new church.

Among the smile-inducing soundbites from the weekend were these:

“Megan, it was so bad. I looked at him and water just started pouring out of my eyes. What do you people call that….yeah; tears.” –Roberto (who never cries)

“I broke up with my boyfriend on Monday. I caught him having a casual encounter on Craigslist. With a tranny.” –An acquaintance at dinner

“Oh, doctor. I can’t wear these anymore; I can’t feel my legs.” –Dan, on crazy American Apparel underpants.

Labor Day Crab Crackin’

Well, I’ve managed to finally contract that nasty summer cold that I’ve spent weeks avoiding. And right before starting my new job. Hopefully a little Dayquil will do the trick and I’ll sail through this week without incident.

We stayed in DC this Labor Day weekend, hanging out with friends and doing something most of us have never done before: Eating crabs.

If I weren’t nearing a snotted zombie-like state, I might go into great detail about how unclean and gross it was. Instead, I’ll direct you to this Flickr set, where you can see it in all its Old Bay-covered, don’t-forget-to scoop-out-the-guts glory. To get you started, here are a couple of photos:

Our three pounds of crabs

Me and my first (crab)

It was alive 10 minutes ago

Crab penis. (Male genitals are shaped like the Washington Monument; females are shaped like the Capitol.) You have to pry off the penis to get inside to the meat. I know, I know. Completely vile.

After crab cracking, we headed to a nearby pub to watch more college football (how about them Hawkeyes!) and spent the rest of the weekend winding down.

What did you all do with your long weekend?

Hey, Denver Music Fans!

 

Our friend Jesse and his band, These United States, will be playing a show at the Hi-Dive on August 16 which you would be remiss to…er…miss.

Just so you know, this isn’t an obligatory blog post mention—D and I saw them play two shows at the Iota this weekend and it was the best I’ve ever seen them play. I’d send you to their MySpace page for a taste, except that they’ve rewritten the songs to include kickass percussion, more steel guitar, the occasional harmonica and a lot more rock. (In fact, if you don’t like the amped up version of “At First Sight,” we might have to part ways.)

But really. If you have nothing to do on next Saturday night (not even a school night! Whee!), go to the Hi-Dive. Drink PBR. Listen to great music. Say hello to Jesse and the band; they’re really nice guys. Tell them Dan and Megan sent you and they will feel loved. And so will you, from the sheer awesomeness of listening to good music.

Tickets are $7 @ the door. No excuse to cheap out.

Fun with Friends

My baby craze is sorta over. It ended when Bregar was belaboring a career move and said something about “tenure after six years.” And I said, “Would you really want to do that for six years?” Which reminded me of the permanence of parenthood. I figure once I can get over my fear of mortgages, I’ll be ready to deal with a commitment on par with kids.

ANYWAY, as most of you know, my best friend Kate was out here this past weekend and we had a great time. We’ve lived in separate cites for almost a decade, so it’s a treat just to be able to have a bev and chat face to face.

I’ll share with you a couple photos from the weekend, starting with my favorite. It’s of D, hating on this seriously odd girl who sat next to us at a hookah bar. I can’t even explain it to you and keep good karma. But the photo cracks me up, through and through.

Photo of the Day

One of these things is not like the other…

Not one of Ella’s staple catloaf spots, but apparently she found some calm in my strewn about items. Also, this photo serves as your first glimpse at the eccentric apartment which I’ve inherited for the spring. More to come on that.

‘Tis all for until after the weekend. Kate flies in tonight, which is very exciting. It’s not too often that I get my close friends and D in the same city, so when it happens it feels like stars are aligning or something. The rain chased out my plans for the outdoors, so we’ll make it up as we go along. We’ve always been pretty good at that.

Happy weekend!

Operation Relocation: Leg Two

Our second installment brings us to Iowa City where I got together with some old friends. Fun stuff.

Next, I point the car east!