the last supper.

ok, so the picture is kind of hard to make out, but good gracious.

we went out on our last hot date before marriage last night to Nora's in Dupont Circle. i'd always wanted to go there - the menu is full of savory American good eats and creative choices. well, it did not disappoint. we dressed up all fancy like, nestled down in a romantic, candle-lit table, and ate and ate and ate. and flirted. and mused on the wedding day and honeymoon and months and years after.

marrying this boy just might turn out to be the best decision i ever make.

i am still full from last night, so let me recap the menu while it's fresh in my mind.

i started with the salmon tartar and crostini, TH got the potato gnocchi and rabbit ragu.
next: the most delicious caesar salad i've ever had
main course: me - the black cod with snow peas and bok choy. him - the scallops with beets and turnips.
dessert: me - the meyer lemon tart with strawberries and ice cream. him - the local apple pie and ice cream.

GAH. everything was SO good. it's the nicest restaurant i'd ever been to in DC. we were probably the youngest people there, the rest of the clientele clocked in around 35-45.

when we were leaving, i thanked the hostess for giving us such a nice table. "we really enjoyed the dinner. it's our last date before we get married next week."
hostess freaked out, gave me a hug and expressed her excitement for us. then told TH he was lucky to have such a beautiful bride.

(between you and me i hate the word bride. but anyway.)

i was flattered. i was also drunk off love and calories.

we drove home to admire our new couch and coffee table. we are such adults. how boring. in a matter of seconds we were both asleep, only to be awakened by the damn metro that runs right outside our apartment and might be the death of me once i move into the apartment. but i digress.

here we are, 8 days before the wedding. things coming together. people are so kind. i'm touched by the kindness of friends, family, and strangers. weddings truly are a celebration and i can't wait to be with so many loved ones in one week!

summer.

remember when it was warm? hot, even? remind me again why i think i hate summer.

i would kill to be at coney island right now, riding the cyclone over and over again with TH. that was one of the best days i can recall.

what the hell, really?! i just read that old post and man - sounds like i used to have fun!!! we were nonstop adventure. coney island, brooklyn museum, di fara's pizza, hot jazz concert in brooklyn, dancing across the bridge over the BQE. i miss that "me".

anyway, all i really am dying for right now is the heat of last summer. it's so cold all the time.

home sick.

i'm sitting in the bed. legs crossed. bare-legged Hill workers walking on the sidewalks outside (somebody tell them about pants! or hose!). i was so sick this morning, so i just decided to have an at home day. plus the couch was being delivered today so it actually worked out pretty well - i just came over to the Cap Hill apt around 10:30 after i was finally able to get out of bed.

so now, we have a couch! it's so nice. thank you annie for your brilliant suggestion. and thank you couch movers for being super awesome and bringing that thing up the stairs and wedging it through the door!

i also went grocery shopping because poor TH had condiments, some leftovers, and 2 small potatoes. that's it. he is in for a rude awakening from bachelor fridge when i finally move in. i really like cooking at home but we are always so busy, we usually end up grabbing something late that we end up regretting. sob story.

now i'm listening to sigur ros and looking out the window at the birds playing in the trees. yes, i really do like this apartment. i wish it were warmer outside - all i want to do is hop on a bike a ride around the lovely neighborhood!

back to life.

this weekend was awe-some.

i'm mainly stating this fact because i was afraid of major major meltdowns this weekend. let's just say TH and I don't do well with tasky busy weekends. however! this weekend, we:

crafted for the wedding friday night
saturday morning we rented a truck
moved 4 heavy items from my house to cap hill house(bed, dresser, table, armchair)
lunched at dutch country market (fresh pretzels omg!)
helped my sister and her husband move to germantown
bought wedding bands
had one of most successful ikea trips ever (kitchen cart, dining table, shelves, coffee table, hooks, etc.) and also dinner at ikea.
watched one of most heinous movies ever (valentines day)
sunday went to church
met with leaders to get appropriate marriage paperwork (success), drove all over kingdom come to do this
put a few ikea items together, and didn't want to hurt people afterwards (success)
napped
ate sushi at sticky rice (yum!)
home.

sticky rice on H st NE.

SO MUCH DONE!!! i'm really so proud of us for doing all of this without any major fights. we've come a long way since the beginning. ha. good thing because we are getting married in 12 days.

this week: working hard, another ikea trip, a movie with friends, working out, and major date with TH. we have to fit them in where we can!

how was your weekend?

friday.

yes, dave adams weighs only 5 ounces and his toes have the strength of 10,000 armies. (this is for you, hanner.)

this was last weekend. painting the apartment. it was really fun - like a little party with very kind friends who showed up to have some fun and put their back into it. and the wall turned out a little more greenish than this after it dried. i think i like it. the jury is still definitely out. the blue in the kitchen also turned out a little more smurphy than i'd like. but i think i can work with it.

and now finally its the weekend again.

it was a rough week with work, but now moving onto the weekend! craft night for wedding tonight. watching the olympics. spending all day tomorrow with TH, shopping for the apartment, cleaning, buying wedding rings, running errands, maybe a date to the symphony?

it's going to be a hard hit for the wallet this weekend, but we have to settle into the apartment somehow! the couch is being delivered on tuesday. we're buying a closet system this weekend. also doing some major craigslist hunting. we'll be busy. but hello, only 2 weeks till the day.

hope you all have a fun weekend! i spent yesterday afternoon walking around DC and catching up with an old friend. it was fun, and i have to say there is nothing better than not being in an office in the afternoon! it keeps me sane, i think. just every so often.

xo

IT STOPPED SNOWING

praise be.

i can walk around like a semi-normal flabby person, i can take the metro to some above-ground stops, i can go to work!

i gained weight staying inside and baking cupcakes and watching movies and doing other laying around activities (minus the 4 hours spent shoveling snow - back muscles to prove it!). what's a bride-to-be to do? i'm supposed to LOSE 5 pounds before the wedding, not gain.

And a huge work meeting next week puts me out of commission for lots of working out. Then it's 2 weeks till the wedding. I've got a lot of work to do in the next 3 weeks!

Any tips for fast weight loss that doesn't make me drink lemon and spicy tea or other weird things? i know, i know, eat lots of big green salads, fish, and drink lots of water. oh yeah and work out. fine. i'll do it.

hurrah for the sidewalk showing through the snow!

digging out.

well, it stopped snowing. the sun is shining and i'm out to shovel. TH and i took a looooong walk last night to buy a shovel for our new apartment. it was only 9 blocks away, but felt like a lifetime with the wind and snow hitting our faces like a million prickly needles. but! we have a shovel and it was a good thing to go last night because they are all sold out this morning.

a few pictures from our walk last night (we now have somewhere around 30 inches on the ground. gah.)

i'm so so glad the sun is out. i'm so stir crazy and now it's time to put my back into it, and get rid of some of this snow!

ps i love being snowed-in in our new apartment, even if i am sleeping on a blow up mattress and TH is on the floor (sorry TH!). going to see about some furniture today...

pps don't worry mom, we're not living together yet

snow what? who cares?

more snow??

friday night a tree fell on our power line outside and we were left without power for 3 stinkin days. saturday we gave up on trying to stay warm and walked to annie's house - a 3 mile walk. we came back the next day, power still out, and walked to TH's house in DC. we walked across the bridge because no metros were running to his house due to the 1.5 feet of snow on the ground, so another 4 mile walk (it was really, really pretty though). the next day i went out to manassas to take a break from this city, and hung out with the fam. then ride back to the metro yesterday, took it into crystal city, then metro'd to TH's before the yellow line shut down again and i was stuck.

pros: fun time with family, friends, lots of food, picked out wedding flowers, did actually a ton of wedding stuff, government shut down so no work.

cons: cold, stressful to not be at home, no work so my days are totally unstructured, there are like 2 feet of snow on the ground.

anyway, we are making the best of it. we've planned out our honeymoon, talked with the florist and caterer, other wedding stuff, and settled into the new apartment a little bit. we've got big plans for this place. we'll be painting this weekend, then time to really focus on moving in!

the winds are up to 40mph outside, snow is falling quickly, and cars keep getting stuck on the road in front of our house. who drives in this weather? especially if you're a cadillac?







we get it, snow.

best of luck.

have a great weekend everyone!

i drove to manassas late last night to hang out with my fam for just a bit. dad was still up at like 12:30! we talked till about 1:30, then i looked at some wedding stuff online. went to bed at 2am. urg.

we woke up this morning and went to yoga. it was SO nice - i really miss yoga, my body always feels so much better afterwards. lizzie is funny as ever. she loved riding in the mini and wanted me to stay all day and watch shows with her. sad bomb, i had to go back home and work!

a conference call from home, and now i'm making these cookies. TH is on his way, and we're going to watch movies, do wedding stuff, and eat lots of good food this weekend.
enjoy being snowed in. hope you have a good stock of food, games, and sanity.

image found here.

another snowstorm!?

they are calling for another foot of snow this weekend.

i can't TAKE it. we're supposed to go to nyc on saturday and do wedding stuff. my time is limited, weather.

going for another run, you know - to clear my mind. then banff film festival tonight! if you can't beat 'em, join 'em i guess.

trim.

my walk to work this morning. the snow is so beautiful!

dad told me last night i should work out to stay trim, not to lose weight. i like the way the sounds. "stay trim". so, that's what i'm doing. i started my work-out "lose 10 pounds in month" regimen last night - you know since i have ONE MONTH until marriage. yeesh. here's the great part - my gym is like a half mile from my office, so i ran there and back. well, it had started snowing when i left the office, and i just put on a hat and gloves to run there and people were staring at me like i was crazy. and in my head, they were all thinking - wow, this girl is so dedicated! she doesn't let anything stop her from her "daily run". yes, well, hopefully this will become a daily run but yesterday was a good start - a run in the snow! i felt so free and empowered ( i am saying this at the risk of sounding uber lame), and my mind was clear.

i guess i forgot that exercise isn't only good for physical appearances. my brain was so happy last night that i sat down and watched 2 hours of the bachelor. aaaaand now i'm back to where i started. oops.

i'll try to post pictures of the new apartment soon - right now its kind of in shambles with TH's stuff everywhere and no furniture to speak of. he's sleeping on an air mattress for now, which i refer to as The Velveteen Mattress and i will be writing a childs book about it any day now.

moving day, moving day.

it was perfect.

TH loves it. i love it. we have a fun quirky new apartment. can't wait to paint and make it a home. but more importantly, i can't wait to fix the stairs that crumbled apart as we were moving in last night. the bricks literally broke apart as i stepped on them and i fell square on my bum. luckily it is winter and i was wearing about 4 layers of clothes, so i wasn't hurt too badly. but man, we need to fix it quickly!

we have a view of the library of congress from one side of the apartment, and a view of the park on the other! it's great. the bathrooms are a little quirky and the kitchen could be placed on the head of a pin it's so small, but we love our new little home. well, TH's home for 4 more weeks, then mine, too.

and so thankful to our brilliant friends, hannah and robbie for staying up late with us and suffering through the cold. and eating massive amounts of fries, burgers, and shakes at good stuff. well done, team.

weekend roundup.

the ballet was beautiful. i cried, as always. TH liked it, too. we left early though cause i was sick (womp womp).

my friends threw me the prettiest bridal shower, complete with teensy tea cups and teeny cookies and sandwiches and cheese and pretty blackberries. it was so special and so memorable! i am a lucky girl to know so many amazing women and even luckier to have them brave the snowy weather and bad roads to make it out! (but sisters, you were missed quite a bit.)

and that 2nd big snowstorm of dc this winter cancelled church - so we had our own church, "lord of the rings church". we gathered in annie's cozy house and watched like a bazillion hours of the movie, and it wasn't even halfway over when we stopped it. i addressed ALL the wedding envelopes, and we finished them all around 1am last night. hand still is sore from all that writing, but i'm so happy with how they turned out. this is TH printing some of them last week. (he printed some and i printed others. the crooked ones are probably mine. womp womp again)let's have another look at the tea party goodies. oh man.

i could eat a hundred of these little buttery cookies!

what a great weekend. and today is moving day, where TH gets to see the apartment for the first time. hope he likes it - i'm glad he trusts my judgement enough to sign a lease without seeing the inside. its gorge. can't wait to live there in 5 weeks!