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
