Crawling Across DC…

in COSTUME, is probably one of my favorite things ever.  Hence the perfect excuse for a 10 hour road trip this weekend.  Claud and I took off Friday night to be a part of my third ‘Nightmare on M Street’ bar crawl in DC.  Meeting up with a couple awesome friends from college made this the best reason ever to travel

I’d say it was pretty worth it…

ANGELICO’S VISIT: 9.  In college I was the hugest fan of this small Italian restaurant in Tenleytown called Angelico’s.  They have the most incredible pasta, sandwiches and calzones, took EagleBucks, AND delivered.  I have many fond memories of ordering oversized pesto dishes Sophomore year, and delivery to the front desk while working night shifts Junior and Senior year.  So a stop here for lunch on Saturday pre-bar crawl was perfect.

-1 because I had the toughest time deciding between pasta and a sandwich, only to remember how incredible the calzones were after Claud ordered one.  One visit just isn’t enough…

OUR COSTUMES: 8.

I’d say overall we were pretty impressive when it came to costumes.  We had one Lara Croft Tombraider, a DC tourist, a Jane Fonda/80′s aerobics instructor, and one dual costume of pregnant housewife/librarian (when the milkman wasn’t around people were confused and not so friendly due to the beer drinking ‘pregnant’ woman).

-1 for the 80′s hair (room for improvement next year), and -1 for the lack of FBI t-shirt, jean shorts and white socks for the tourist.

FLASHDANCE SOUNDTRACK: 10!

Absolute favorite moment of the evening.  Earlier in the evening while there was still some space, people were dancing, and all of a sudden a song from Flashdance came on.  Could I be more excited?  Nope.  Pretty sure it’s not possible.

Luckily, there happened to be an 80′s dancing guy (who knows what he really was) there as well, and we showed everyone how it’s really done.  LOVED IT.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST: 3.

The next morning before heading out we decided to check out the new restaurant put in place of the classic Bagel City down the street from my alma mater, American University.  While Bagel City was classic, with normal breakfast options and not excessively expensive, this place was french inspired, 100% organic everything, and significantly overpriced.

I did love their concept of a giant community table in the middle of the restaurant (German style) but almost everyone was sitting at small individual tables on the side.  And they did have a pretty incredible selection of jellies, chocolate sauces, etc. on each table.

However, the prices and prissiness were a bit much for me.  I’ll stick to Steak and Egg next time.

I’ve already begun planning my costume for next year, based off some inspiration from this year’s adventures… until then, just living for the tens

Trip Home

After babysitting on Friday I hit the road home, and decided to take a quick layover in DC on the way.  1) it split the trip up so I didn’t have to drive until 1am, and 2) it allowed me to stop by and visit some old friends and some classic bars.

I met up with Jeff and Jill at Chadwicks in Friendship Heights upon arrival, where we grabbed a couple beers and caught up before heading to the famous Malt Shop.

CHADWICK’S SWEET POTATO FRIES: 9. I’ve officially hit a cut off point from sweet potato fries.  It turns out they’re now everywhere, so I’m going to need to stop ordering them.  That being said, the ones at Chadwicks were pretty decent.  Way better than the Q-Shak, but not quite as good as the ones at Brickhouse.  They served them with ranch dressing which made them even better.

We then headed down the road to the classic Malt Shop, where regrettably I have no pictures.  They’re all on Jill’s camera, so perhaps once she finds her cord I’ll put them up.  But needless to say it was as divey as it always was with beer that’s just as incredible. By that I mean it was all college students and crappy Bud Light.  Since discovering the world of delicious beer (Shock Top, Blue Moon, Sam Adams Summer and Fat Tire to name a few) it is tough to go back.  But it was nice to stop by and see that nothing has changed

Jeff was kind enough to host us both that night at his swanky apt. near AU, but I couldn’t resist rating the sparce decorating.  The highlight being picture frames on the wall with literally nothing in them but cardboard.  Perhaps this is the new thing in the world of decorating?  Hoping a couple of our fabulous shots from the visit can help him fill them up…  Right now I rate the decorating a 5.  It was perfectly puppy proof, and definitely not too cluttered.  The bedroom is close to knocking it down below 5 as literally the only thing in it is a bed and a closet.  The couch, however, was INCREDIBLE (again, no picture ).  Huge with three parts, it was the most comfortable ‘bed’ ever.  With a giant comforter I was in heaven.  Possibly more comfortable than my actual bed at home.  In addition to all that, the warm hospitality and samurai sword are making me want to plan another visit ASAP.

TDR’S SATURDAY HOURS: 1.  For breakfast we decided nothing was more appropriate than attempting to sneak into TDR, our old dining hall at AU, since it’s right up the street from where Jeff lives.  Our plan was to trick some Freshman into swiping us in for free (really not a bad plan considering most are forced to get meal plans with WAY too many meals).  It turns out they don’t open until 11 on Saturdays.  I understand they probably don’t want to staff it early on a Saturday morning when most collge kids are sleeping, but they should be a bit more flexible for those folks who are up early and ready to get on with their day.

KRUPEN’S BREAKFAST: 8.  The good news was Jeff and Jill had a quick solution to our breakfast troubles.  Apparently there’s a great diner-style place in Tenleytown that everyone used to go to in college. Except for me that is.  In fact, I’d never even heard of it.  But they were so convinced we hopped on the shuttle and headed into town.  Good things were to be found there, and I got a great bagel, eggs and hash browns for only $3.50.  And since they didn’t take credit cards for small amounts, Jeff covered it.  Overall I’d say it was a good choice.  -1 because there were no whole wheat bagels, and -1 because the hash browns were cold.  Solid 8 though, so I’d definitely return.

Onion bagel with drippy eggs. Brilliant.

No trip to DC and AU is complete without a ride on the AU shuttle.  We lucked out with two

Now enjoying some quality time with the family in PA

DC Stop

So on Friday it was finally time to come ‘home’.  After being away from my apartment and North Carolina for nearly 9 weeks now, I was ready.  But a trip down 95 wouldn’t be complete without a stop in DC.  So stop I did

CHEF GEOFF’S SUPERMUGS: 7

We started the evening by heading to an old favorite, Chef Geoff’s.  I worked at the uptown location while in college, but also just genuinely appreciate the delicious food, abundance of beer options, and great Happy Hour specials.  They have supermugs (about 3 pints worth) of any beer on tap for only $7.95, and burgers for only $5.95.  -1 because they used to be $7 and $5.  Don’t think you can fool me with $.95 price raises.  -1 because I’m now such a lightweight that even one full supermug might be a bit much.  -1 because they’re only $7.95 during happy hour, in the bar area, and it often gets so crowded you can’t get one.  Yay for us, getting there before 5

VIEW FROM MARK’S ROOF: 7

We then headed back to Mark’s super posh apartment in U-Street, and took a bottle of wine up to the roof.  I must say, it’s quite a view.  I’m reminded how much I love a city where you can see the Washington Monument and Capitol building, and have the presidential helicopter fly over all within a half hour.  While the politics of the city definitely creates some downsides, there are also clear advantages.  -1 because I couldn’t see the sun set, -1 because I couldn’t see more monuments, and -1 because dogs weren’t allowed up top.  I think they would have enjoyed the view too   But everything else was perfect.  Too bad we don’t have a roof from my apartment building, and all I can see from my porch are a bunch of trees…

AU REUNION AT RECESSIONS: 9

When I knew I was headed to DC I got in touch with a couple old friends, but discovered another important one via Facebook status update (gotta love constant connection to the world).  Mark and I ended up at Recessions later that night (apparently sketchy due to everyone’s comments before actually going, but overall I thought it was great) for some karaoke with the fabulous Jaci Pulice and Jeff Wardwell, two old Orientation friends (and my famous co-RA).  Jaci, luckily, had rallied the whole city together, so many other folks were along for the ride.  It was like good old days at AU, plus some Bonnie Tyler and ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’.  That’s right, I’m pretty much a rockstar.  Pictures to come on that one…

Classic Jeff shot

iPHONE’S ABILITY TO TAKE PICTURES IN A DARK BAR: 2.

You can see who we are.  But that’s about it.  And you probably wouldn’t know unless I had just blogged about them.  They should come out with one that has a flash.  And video.  Yup, can’t properly capture karaoke without video.

STOPPING BY THE REAL WORLD DC HOUSE ON THE WAY HOME: 6

All through college I desperately wanted them to film a Real World season in DC.  They decided to wait until 3 years after I left to finally listen to my suggestion.  But here they are, finally in DC.  And apparently everyone in the city is hearing about it, since Jeff was able to give me the exact address of the house, off the top of his head, while at karaoke.  Since it was literally 2 blocks out of our way on the way home through Dupont Circle, I insisted we stop by (after all, I ended up seeing only 3 celebrities in LA).

The actual house was gorgeous (not a surprise), in a great location (also not a surprise), and surrounded by security guards.  I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, but I was.  I suppose it’s because you never see them on the show (clearly) that somehow I forgot they existed.  But there they were, making me feel like an even bigger dork for stopping outside and taking pictures.  Oh well…

The hot tub is actually right outside the house, covered with a thin tarp-like material, so as we walked by we could hear a bunch of people in it.  The creeper in me wanted to stop and listen (so I’m not really a creeper, it’s just more like I’d love to watch the show and be like ‘Hey!  I heard that conversation when I was stalking them!’), however the many security guards made me feel the need to move along.  Not without taking a couple pictures of course…

You can see the striped covering of the hot tub in this one

BREAKFAST WITH HANNAH AND HER HUBBY: 8

As if the night weren’t great enough, before hitting the road this morning I got to see Hannah and her new husband for breakfast.  It was SO great to see Han, and to finally meet the ‘mystery man’ I’ve been hearing so many great things about for so long.  We did meet rather unofficially via Skype earlier this year, but in person is always different.  -1 because I don’t speak Arabic or French, and I speak really fast (I know, shocker), which I’m sure made it rather difficult for him to jump into the conversation.  And -1 for the random crazy guy who stopped at the table and literally started YELLING at us (specifically staring at me for most of it), completely enraged and screaming for us to respect the black man.  I was confused, and genuinely a bit scared at points when he was threatening to throw things off our table.  +1 for Radouane wanting to help him/take him down and protect us   Glad it resulted in no fight, but sad it cut the breakfast short (he kept coming back, so eventually decided we were best off if we left).  Either way, it was great to enjoy a nice DC breakfast outside with good people.

MY NEW AVIATORS: 9

I LOVE aviators (great sun protection and clearly badass) and I scored these for 5 bucks at the Green Dragon flea market.  Still loving them.  -1 because you can’t push them up on your head when you go inside (they get stuck in my hair) so I usually end up just leaving them on (when stopping in a gas station for a minute, etc.) and then get crazy looks.  Oh well