Haute or Haunted?

Chris and I drove to Leesburg, VA on Saturday for one of my favorite past times-- experiencing small town America. It's only an hour away and you get to see hills, farms, wine country and (drum roll please) antiques! What more can I ask for?

We went to a farmers market (more on that in a later post) and Old Lucketts Store, which I have been dying to visit for nearly a year. Admittedly, the stuff in this store is more Bleecker (or Rue Claudel) than Olive, but one always needs inspiration!

Chris doesn't really like this stuff. He thinks all of it looks like it comes from a haunted house. To his credit I did snap one freaky picture of a dismembered doll and old picture of a clergyman. I guess getting him to like Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams was my one gift from the decorating gods this year.

We bought a silver bon bon tray and a new light switch plate for our bathroom. I also fell in love with a window pane that would look lovely repainted above our bed, but I need a few months to work on Chris to pull that off. I think another visit will be very soon. More pics on our flickr page.

good nights at the ballpark

This weekend the Nats were home against the Cardinals, and with several Cardinals friends in town I went to two games. Somehow they are over .500 at home (their road winning percentage is a dismal .333), and the two games I attended were great.

Thursday was Allen's birthday so a bunch of us went and sat at tables in the restaurant in left-center. The weather was merciful - it was neither humid nor overly hot - and the Nats played fairly well. They were up two going into the top of the ninth and managed to give up four, but came back in the bottom of the ninth with a two run home run to send it into extra innings. In the bottom of the 13th they got an infield hit for the win, and even Lelaine thought it was pretty exciting.

san francisco part 2

Saturday we woke up at what would have been shortly after the crack of dawn had it not been for the fog to hit Triple D stop #2 on the trip - Dotty's True Blue Cafe. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. I had blueberry cornmeal pancakes and Lelaine had corned beef hash. The place, particularly the kitchen, is tiny, and we sat at the counter and got to see the cook impressively make a lot of food in very close quarters.

Later that morning we walked from our hotel in the financial district to the weekend farmers market at the Ferry Building. It was packed and we had a couple small slices of meat from Boccalane, whose slogan is "Tasty Salted Pig Parts." Even though a lot of the food looked great, we planned on eating lunch a little later in another neighborhood. But right before we were set to leave we saw a food truck with a massive line and decided to see what all the fuss was about. When Lelaine saw a sign mentioning pork belly rolled in pork loin, we decided to throw our plans out and get in line. The bites of crispy pork were really good, although since it was just after 1pm and we had already had breakfast and a snack, neither of us could finish our lunch.

san francisco part 1

Tonight we got back from a weekend trip to San Francisco. Lelaine went for work and I tagged along.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and were picked up by Lelaine's cousin Maya, who took us to their new place in Burlingame. When her husband Tyson (FYI-Maya and Tyson are the ones who got married in Cabo last year) came home from work we headed into the city for dinner. We ended up at Tacolicious, which was my favorite meal of the trip. We tried the carnitas, chicken, beef, filet mignon, and chorizo tacos. The chicken was the winner, although all were worthy of the name of the restaurant.

Another interesting part of the dinner was eating outside. Although the weather was sunny and warm in Burlingame, it was cool and foggy and in the city. The cool temps pleased me, although Lelaine was pretty chilly even though the restaurant had heaters and blankets. Tyson had a softball game after dinner, and I felt sorry for whoever was playing in the outfield because the fog was so thick I don't know how you could follow the ball off the bat and into the thick, wet fog.

old age

Today is my 32nd birthday. Despite that fact that my 73 year old boss told me, "you're getting old," the birthday doesn't make me feel any different. But what really does make me feel old is the recent realization that as of tomorrow, Allen and I will have known each other for 14 years.

Our friend Sam turned 30 last weekend and at his very enjoyable rooftop party we were talking about a joint activity for Sam, Allen, and me since we have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other. Allen and I then started talking about how long ago it was that we went to college - we were randomly assigned to be roommates our freshman year at Mizzou. It just so happens that I left for Columbia the day after my 18th birthday, which means that as of tomorrow, Allen and I will have known each other for 14 years. That is scary.

When my mom used to make fun of me and say I was getting old, I used to tell her that at least when I was born there were 50 stars on the flag. But the fact that I met Allen 14 years ago makes me feel like a fossil. I would add a picture of the two of us from freshman year, but I don't think cameras had been invented then.

Sneak Peek

While work is in the progress, I thought I'd share the snapshot of the new rug. It is at the store (Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams), so don't mind the dining room table. Alas, we didn't gain another room in our condo.

Our next big project is cutting and framing 12 vintage travel posters. Any cheap ideas? Chris has also promised to "take care of" staining our TV stand. And I'm on the lookout for good throw pillows.

We are also not just taking in, we are throwing out! We've gotten rid of a few things that we realize we don't use. Example: $15 fondue pot bought at Target that hasn't been used in 5 years.

All in all, we are moving fast towards a sophisticated home. Yay!