the district: brunch and einstein.

we really really liked le pain quotidien. perfect place for a rainy saturday bruch. i had a yogurt parfait (the granola was amazing!) and TH had eggs and soldiers.

oh and belgian hot chocolate. you get to stir in the chocolate yourself. fun!

then we visited mr. einstein at constitution and 24th. we really like this statue and want to visit the national academy of science museum soon.

stressed. desserts spelled backwards.

you guys, don't worry. i'm cool. it's cool, no need to worry.

everything is fine. things are normal. life is good.

right?

(wishing i were still in bed right now. or far away in a nook where i can read and nap all day.)

how to avoid work OR my new hobby

here's my next big idea: reupholstering chairs.

i found a couple cheap chairs (with great frames) on craigslist and i think i'm going to try my best to reupholster what are currently very dingy chairs. has anyone ever done this? any advice? does anyone want to help or bring a chair and do your own?

i've been researching and it seems like you need a lot of tools. and sometimes the fabric can be expensive. ohhh...what am i getting myself into?

and i was out.

last night was tough.

TH and i met up to have a study date. i need to study for my job, to get smarter on all these topics, and TH needs to do some studying for his, too. well, we went to buzz cafe, open till midnight, awesome cupcakes, wi-fi and good study space...and it was totally packed! so we stood there for like 5 minutes, pouting, then went back to his studio apartment.

we got thai food, watched seinfeld, then started studying. and by studying i mean he started working and i laid down and went to sleep. so much for getting smart.

and also, i miss thai smile - the old thai place that used to be on 23rd street, which has now been replaced by a less desirable restaurant. now we go to urban thai which is fine, but you have to admit its much more fun to get take out from Thai SMILE!

i'm going to go home tonight, change into comfy clothes, make a pb&j (thanks naomi for the idea!), and watch my stories (the office, 30 rock, and project runway). sounds heavenly.

tears.

it was 10pm. dark and chilly. glowing lamps lit small cozy homes as i walked by. and this song brought me to tears - its rumored that mahler wrote it for his wife as a love letter. writing this symphony filled their first summer together as husband and wife, and his wife Alma was a continued inspiration for his music.

and well, walking home last night from the metro, i began to cry because this song really does feel like the person you love is making his declaration. i have been practicing the adagietto - a piano arrangement. its not nearly as beautiful as the symphony, but it fills some gaps.

basically, i am putty in mahler's hands.

things i need in my life. this week's edition.

1. lots of bubblegum.2. old cameras.
3. furniture with clawed feet.

4. stripes.5. grand piano.6. friends.probably some cinnamon rolls, too.

but not all at once. wait, on second thought - yes, all at once. i'll work on this - and will provide photographic evidence.

when history looks oh so bad.

sometimes i cringe at the boys i've dated in my previous life. You know, Julie B.TH. (before TH).

facebook always brings their pictures to my attention and it ruffles my feathers sometimes. maybe i should look at facebook less and look more at things that matter, like the growing pile of work in front of me.

but seriously, most people reading my blog probably know of at least one person who i should never have dated. *sigh. such is the life of a 27 year old girl. why didn't you guys tell me what i couldn't see for myself? glad that is history and now my boy TH surprises me with tulips on a wednesday night. and doesn't mind watching project runway with me. and has some really, really good jokes. and just makes me feel good about life in general (i always think of that depeche mode song when i hear "life in general". then i think of report rhyming with report and it sends me into a fit of giggles.)

(best hairstyle ever)

last night.

i made the upside down cranberry cake. it was delicious.

we watched 30 rock, the office, and project runway.

then after the shows, we were talking about crabshacks for some reason. and TH came up with best name for a crabshack: shadrach's crabshack.

at 11pm, it was really funny. my stomach still hurts from laughing for like 10 minutes. the silent laughter is the best, with the shoulder shaking? ya know?

we also laughed about the time i said shadrach, ratshack, and abendego. i never said i was up on my bible stories, did i?

cranberries. no...cranberries. alright both.

i'm talking gild the lily, folks.

as if cookies and dessert breads were not enough, i'm feeling the need for a little more...oh how the french say, "i don't know what".

i will be making these and this. i think i'll start with this, and i can always freeze these. just keep me away from the orange zester because last time i zested my thumb and forefinger. disgusting.

and yes, this was all inspired by this.

ug, autumn, what are you DOING to me? besides destroying my waistline, that is.

nerves.

my big haircut is right around the corner and i have no idea what to do with my hair!

i always do this. i schedule an appointment weeks in advance with plans to find "the perfect haircut" then i go in with nothing and say "ummm, what do YOU think?" i need an image consultant, i think.

in other news, i practiced scales for 30 minutes last night on the piano, and then determined that i still am a romantic. bach is hard to play and i make it sound choppy, and debussy is beautiful and flowing. how do i fight that kind of logic? welll, folks, i don't.

movie theaters.

growing up, i was never much of a trouble maker. i was kicked out class occasionally for talking too much, and once given a referral for flirting (this honestly did happen! how embarrassing!), and i think i said the A word for the first time in 11th grade.

when i moved out and went through my college years, things pretty much stayed the same. i was a good kid and didn't get into too much trouble. however, i did develop one habit that was less how shall we say, "moral" than my other habits. i was a movie sneak.

i snuck into more movie theaters than i care to mention, from dc to missouri to utah to alaska, etc. from sea to shining sea, really. sometimes i would just walk in and not pay. other times i would pay for one movie and catch a double feature and on the rare occasion - a triple feature. i didn't have much money at this point in my life, but i still thought i deserved entertainment just as much as the next guy. i did a lot of temp work, which meant sometimes 5 days a week of working, or sometimes only 1 or 2. it was boring. i was poor. i snuck into movies.

one time i pulled the "can i use your bathroom" trick, then sneaked off to a theatre. on the way, i saw the guy who let me in to use the bathroom. my heart sunk to my chest and i got the insta-sweats. i was sure i was busted! but the guy just looked right past me. lucky break.

yes, i have a shady past when it comes to movie watching. and you know what? i don't even feel that bad about it.

still the weekend.

3 day weekend! so much to do, and that extra day kind of gets us there.

friday we left work a couple hours early to meet on the mall and check out the peacock room and the solar decathalon. we movied, hung out in the portrait gallery, and tried out meat and veggie burgers at good stuff.saturday we bageled at brooklyn bagels in clarendon (a fav spot), then met with some new friends, hannah and rob. we started reading each others blog awhile back, then they just recently moved to dc from paris (!), so we decided it was high time we were real life friends. and i don't want to jinx anything, but i'm pretty sure we hit it off. we talked loudly in the corcoran for like an hour and hannah wasn't even that upset when i started touching all the art, which i can only assume means we are friends. we walked through dc for a while, then supped for 3 hours at tonic in mt. pleasant. TH and rob found out they work right across the street from each other and share a common love. (well, besides significant others who enjoy meeting blog friends)
sunday was dinner with family and baby lijah and laura are in town!

today? more solar decatholon (even though the weather is trying to thwart us...)

the district: national arboretum and the mall

it was cristy's birthday this week!to celebrate, she was gracious enough to invite me on her birthday day of exploration.

we went to the national arboretum.

we ran into nature, including a praying mantis the size of my head.

cristy prayed to the birthday gods and they smiled upon her.

this slug also impressed us with its size and mobility.

cristy near the castle.

ahhh dc is wonderful! i keep saying that new york ruined me and i can never love any other cities, but the more time i spend in dc, the more i love it. the arboretum was so beautiful. we went to the top of the washington monument and saw for miles around. we visited the peacock room which is one of my new favorite spots in dc. we walked through the solar decathlon that is on the mall for the next few weeks (with incredible scandinavian-esque designs and solar panels everywhere!!)

point is - i really like this city. in the same way it takes time to get to know a person, it takes time to get to know a city. but i feel like this is more than a crush and it may be something more akin to endless love once its fully developed.

<3

winter coat.

i'm so bored of the pea coat.

i saw this girl in iceland with a mid-thigh length black jacket with a hood. i guess you could call it a cape, but it was so stylish. i looked all over iceland for it, but no luck. it was so flowy and beautiful, but not like, you know, robin hood or lord of the rings.

man, i want that.

isn't life tough sometimes? haha. this is what mark calls a "bouge problem" like bourgeoisie.

youngest sister has some exciting news...again!

laura always keeps me guessing. i always thought i was the wild card of the family, but now i realize i'm just rather boring.
i...
sit in my office day after day and
pay my student loans and
make excel charts to track my budgets and
go to bed at a reasonable hour and
get to work early and
stay in a stable relationship with a good boyfriend and
watch the same shows everyone watches...

anyway.

point is, she is way cooler than me. (so is the rest of my family for that matter.)

at 19: pregant, married
at 20: has cute elijah baby, husband baptized
at 21: pregnant with #2 and talks of a big move

WHAT? who IS this girl? the great part is she is totally cool about it all and not all control freak like i'm afraid i would be. cool as a cucumber, that laura.

plus i just found out this morning via her blog. i was shocked and SO SO happy! i love my sisters!

harvest season.

last weekend: a scenic drive with dear cristy and annie to an orchard/farm in potomac, md.purchased: 10 pounds of apples, 3 squash, 2 corn, 1 apple cider, and a bag of yellow and green beans.

yielded: 3 lunches of butternut squash/cauliflower/chickpea salad, 3 dinners (accompanied by various fish), and one delicious apple pie.

remainder: 4 pounds of apples. what do you do with all those apples?!

well, you invite more friends over to have apple desserts.
on the list: apple tart, apple cake, apple fritters, and applesauce!

moral of story: a good way to burn yourself out on fall flavors is to be overzealous at the orchard.

well, does it look like we could help ourselves??

feeling fancy.

i need a sparkly dress and a top hat to match the mood i'm in.

october, is the second most romantic month out of the year (november 1st, duh), and it makes me all silly. i know TH just LOVES my whims.

let's eat french food!
let's drive to the river and take pictures of us in animal masks!
come pick me up and we'll ride with the windows down through the night air!
let's buy tickets to paris and leave tonight!

of course how often do these things happen? hardly ever. but sometimes they just need to exist in my mind for a few moments. i'm a romantic at heart. i should've known when growing up, all i ever wanted to play on the piano was liszt, chopin, beethoven.

have a beautiful weekend, lovelies.

clothes. this is my materialistic post.

a discussion on the evolution of shopping.

here's the thing. the other night, sitting in the hall, staring in the mirror and debating which hairstyle would flatter us the most, cristy and i were paging through vogue and elle. many many adorable clothes and many gorgeous women. we started on a conversation about how many of the clothes we love cost $2000 per article. and how the clothes we used to rely on are growing more dull everytime we step into a shop.

i.e.
banana republic: have your clothes changed since 2002? i'm so bored of seeing the same lined ill-fitting office pants. and the same overpriced trench coat. just reinvent yourself already.
jcrew: a tshirt for $60? why because it has some sequins on it in the shape of a bow?
anthropologie: yes, of course i love everything you sell, but why must it cost so?

my question is this. is there some secret store that i don't know about selling beautiful sweaters and boots and fall-wear for a reasonable price? and these sweaters would last for years and be timeless and i could keep shopping at H&M and UO for of-the-moment fashion?

it's just so depressing, what with my new budget and all. its turning cold and i'm finding i have nothing to wear.

question.

should i cut my hair like this?
or do i just want the impossible? (to look like audrey hepburn)

figuring it out.

allow me to dissect my relationship with TH in a discrete manner.

as evidenced in all my posts, i'm what you could say "into" my boyfriend. i think he hangs the moon and i can safely say he feels the same. but. that has not always translated into something that works.

we started off kinda rocky, 2.5 years ago, but through a series of events were rejoined. (pretty much a couple months after i moved to nyc we decided to be in a relationship again. long distance. blerg.)

i moved back to dc in june, and since then we have had our ups and downs of getting to know each other in close proximity and with stronger feelings than we'd had in the previous iteration. my job is stressful, his job is stressful, i had to make friends around here while still cultivating our relationship, and WOW we did not know how to be in the same place while still having separate lives.

well, its been 4 months. and i think we've figured out how we work. the weirdest part? neither of us have ever been busier with work or life in general, but somehow, somehow it's working.

i really can't say it's one thing. i think we're learning some basic principles or virtues such as patience (me), time management, supportiveness (not a word, i know), quality time (which must be my love language), etc.

but the bottom line is this: we care about each other enough to, as tim gunn would say, make it work. while it hasn't always been easy, my affection for him is such, that i'm willing to make sacrifices so the "we" receives benefits. to sum up: we're both happy when we're both happy. and we when we're doing whatever we can to ensure this, then well - it works. i've never felt so safe and relationshippy and secure in saying so.

so...does this mean i'm a grown up now? i always felt like that entailed some sort of mortgage or childbirth. but maybe i'm on my way.

i feel like all the world is asleep.

*
Originally uploaded by samara york

and i'm right there with everyone.

i've been so tired all week, with no explanation! all i want to do is crawl back into bed with my fluffy pillows and sleep for a day.

watch our iceland.

we made a movie of our trip. we showed it to some friends on sunday. and now i'm sharing it with you.

watch it here.

adventure in iceland. from julie rowlett on Vimeo.

xoxo.

out of town.

Leaving for a quick business trip to a city I've grown to hate: Indianapolis. Can anyone tell me something good about this place?

Iceland pictures are coming when I have more than 20 minutes at home when I'm not sleeping. Geez, life, slow down already.

it took me 15 minutes to get a cab yesterday.

then today i find out there was a possible taxi strike yesterday. yes, that will do it. i felt like such a city novice, standing on the curb forever hailing every cab that passed, but they were all full. the saddest part of the story is that i could have walked there in 15 minutes.

lets turn to memories from an easier, less urban time.
on southern coast of iceland:

we're back.

so many pictures and stories to share!

TH dropped me off at my door last night and we both looked each other and i'm like - did we really just go to iceland? it feels like we never left! and i guess that's how trips are. but we have the pictures to prove it. and the broke bank account, geez that country is expensive!

but man, iceland is so beautiful and everything i wanted it to be. i wouldn't mind moving to reykjavik - i'd live happily ever after in my cold paradise!

i'll be sharing pictures later this week. work is crazy and there's a lot of catch up to do by the weeks end! glad to be home and SO glad to sleep in my comfy cozy bed last night.

xoxo,
gnomie

having trouble sleeping.

i couldn't fall asleep last night.

remember when you were a kid and you knew you were going on a field trip or to a theme park the next day, and you just couldn't settle your mind down to go to sleep? well...i'm 7 all over again.

i am so looking forward to this trip. my first trip since finishing grad school. my first vacation since nicaragua 1.5 years ago. my second trip with TH (third if you count london. first was new mexico).

i think the most exciting part is that i really have no idea what to expect. sure, i've been researching and reading my lonely planet, but i still feel like this trip is such a wild card. i'm usually such an AR planner, but because this trip had to be planned by two, and TH is not plagued by the same need to plan as i, it's all very much up in the air. besides my heart palpitations and dizzy sweats, i'm excited that we have no plans. (did it read like i'm freaking out? cause i'm not. nope, i'm juuuust fine.)

and a trip with the boyfriend is so badly needed, too. our parents are both kind of like - uhhmmmm are other people coming with you to chaperone? and we're like - puhlease we are in our late 20's and old enough to make our own decisions on cohabitation travel. (but inside i'm like - wait, SHOULD we bring other people with us? the need to please my parents is deeply ingrained in me, what can i say.

tomorrow we fly out of nyc, so we are taking the train up a bit early to have about 3 hours to play in new york. then its an early thursday morning arrival in Reykjavik. i'm so so excited!

hmmm nice weekend.

mi familia came to visit on friday night! dad brought jen and lizzie up and aj met us at the train station. house tour and party in the back room, then dinner at a greek restaurant, a 5 minute walk from my house. TH met us halfway through dinner, and we all shared kebabs, hummus, pita, and baklava. and i had a delicious crispy sea bass. yum!

then as if we didn't already feel stuffed, TH and i went to see julie and julia, and now just like everyone else, i want to move to paris and cook for a few years. i need to get my hands on a copy of mastering the art of french cooking. i also need to find out which dish in life i want to be known for. you know, like dad is known for biscuits and gravy. mom is known for chicken tetrazini. jenny is known for frozen hamburgers and ketchup. (jenny - i kid, i kid!).

but really - i want a signature dish. right now i'd have to say it's dominos pizza. womp womp. maybe i'll get good at veg chili? or a soufle? or quiche? what have you perfected in your kitchen - what's your siggy?

(saturday saw an opera in the ballpark with some lovelies, and sunday lunch at founding farmers for TH's birthday, then a drive through southwest DC - a place TH and i wouldn't mind moving to...)

a few ways to love life.

Once upon a time I had a darling niece, Lizzie. She loved to be silly. She would make bread dough snowmen with me and sing "once there was a snowman". She would stick her tongue out at me and tell me there was a spider on my head. She would laugh at her mommy and they would laugh with each other.Another niece, Brooklyn, came to visit last week and the silliness increased by a hundred. Brooklyn likes to drink ketchup, hang upside down on monkey bars, and snuggle under blankets with her auntie juju.

Inspired by the girls, and deciding silliness is a good thing, TH and I rode roller coasters all afternoon, to remind ourselves how much we love being silly. We rode every roller coaster in the park, and laughed the entire day.

We road tripped in the new mini. Which is not so much silly, as it is necessary fun and delight.And one more silly thing - I stayed up until 2am making cookies for TH's birthday - ice cream cookie sandwiches. Delicious. But who stays up till 2am making cookies?

goodbye summer?

i know this is sad news for some, but the crisp air? the winds blowing and tangling my hair? the tights and boots and jackets (that i can't afford)?

my favorite season is upon us.

this morning TH had a meeting at a hotel right next to my office. we metro'd in together, ate breakfast at a cafe with outside seating, and then we met again for an afternoon frozen yogurt after his meeting was over. it was such a fun day! all that and it was perfect perfect weather.

it makes me want to...sign up for a half marathon or something. i'm not one for running, but it could be a good excuse to get in shape. any tips from runners?

getting away.

i've been out of town a lot lately. with friends. with family. alone.

one thing that's great about leaving is the returning part. you realize how much you love your home, your friends, your restaurants that you love to poke fun at but still can't live without (i'm looking at you chipotle and thai on 23rd).

the beach was relaxing and involved everything a beach trip should involve: good friends, lots of sunshine, a rainstorm, games on the beach, reading smutty magazines, and tons of eating. hats off to all my friends for making the weekend a success! and happy birthday to TH last saturday! entering his last year of the 20's hasn't been traumatic at all for him. he gets better with age. and to prove that he is still fun and spontaneous even at his ripe old age, we stopped by kings dominion on the way home from the beach for a "3-hour ride all the roller coasters in the park" extravaganza. it was SO fun! i love that boy quite a bit. we laughed and screamed so much on the road trip + roller coasters ride home. it doesn't get much better than that.

now we're getting ready for the iceland trip as best we can. we'll be there a week from today, hiking glaciers, eating skyr, and trying to pronounce all the city names as we try to navigate the country.

sail.

a ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for.

sail out to sea and do new things.

--grace hopper

should i stop wearing so much plaid?

I've been working at the job for about 3 months now. Things are going ok, and I generally like the people I work with, although there are some odd ducks, but such is life.

So I'm typing away on my computer and the receptionist comes in my office, asking that I sign a "Statement on Drugs in the Workplace". I look at it curiously, and look at her curiously, and she says, "you probably haven't signed this yet, so I just wanted to make sure you knew about it. you need to sign it."

and i look at the form.
"you are hereby notified that the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession, or use of a controlled substance is prohibited in the workplace"

etc, etc.

so...should i be offended? do my coworkers think i use drugs on the job? why am i just getting this form now? should i stop drinking so much diet coke???

i feel a teensy bit profiled.

laughing so hard.

a weekend send off. i can't stop laughing. classic peg.

weekend oh bee ex.

if you've ever been to the dc metro area, you've for sure seen this sticker on an automobile:

people love the outer banks, and this weekend i'm just one of the masses. i'm excited to get away to the beach and just relax for a few days. the city keeps me in quite a frenzy.

i stayed up late packing and got up early this morning to get ready, and was quite a grump to anyone who may have seen me this morning (TH i'm looking at you). sorry I'm not always the morning person I'd like to be. i hate starting the morning off on a bad foot.

this weekend will be the first road trip with the new car! it's packed and ready to go - just have to clock in for a few hours, and then i'm off to beach. funny - last time i was at duck beach (2.5 years ago) i was talking to TH on the phone every day - I had only gone out with him once, but really liked him already (guess i didn't play coy very well!). he is an excellent phone talker, and this worked in our favor. it was also when, due to some strange circumstances, we decided to have a go at dating each other and only each other. how funny! i'd forgotten about our duck beach start. and i had no idea that two years later TH would be such an important person in my life.

beach, see you soon.

places.

i wish i had taken a picture of every house/apartment/duplex/car i've ever lived in.

i have lived in a ton of different houses and apartments - college will do that to you, as will having an insatiable desire to see new things (with not too much holding you back). but my cities seem to have similar themes. city or mountains.

here is a picture from each city i've lived thus far in my 27 years:

manassas, virginia: (no i did not live in the battlefield, but who wants to see a picture of a normal brick house and porch?)logan, utah: home of utah state university. i miss those mountains.

salt lake city, utah - about 75 miles south of logan.

fairbanks, alaska. only a summer, but i swear i would move here and be happy for the rest of my life. "here" as in alaska, not necessarily fairbanks - too many mosquitos!

capitol hill, dc. oh how i miss the quaint streets and jacob's with vanessa + grandma graffiti.

manhattan! my love! see you in about 2 weeks (but only for a couple hours).

and that brings us to where i am today, crystal city, virginia.

how sad and boring. i'm not sure if any of you just can't get enough of crystal city, but i believe it's the least exciting place i've ever lived. hell, even manassas had character, even if it was murders, tamale carts, and mullets. crystal city is a town of young professionals. and i'd rather live somewhere where the town appreciates its population. there's nothing to do - it's just really a place to live. tall lifeless hotels and box buildings with people walking to and from the metro. blech.

gripe, gripe, gripe. in all honesty, i feel really lucky to be living in a such a beautiful home and lovely backyard and right by a park, and with people i really like. at least if i don't like my neighborhood, i like my home.

but manhattan to crystal city? ouch. can anyone relate?

ps - where would i rather be living? london, montreal, or san francisco i think would be just fine. or back to capitol hill? *sigh.

UPDATE:: it has been made known unto me that maybe crystal city isn't so bad - well, i have to admit it's not. and i actually live in this little neighborhood, aurora highlands, which has its own community website, complete with updated plans for construction at nina park! alright, i'm shaking off the bad attitude.

eating in.

i wish i had taken a picture of my dinner last night.

after a hard day of (trying to) work, TH came over to help me with my latest paper i'm writing. it hasn't been coming together, and finally yesterday it felt like it was making some sense. TH confirmed it had achieved logical flow and smartness, and to top it off he made me dinner. delicious fish and scallops on the grill with fresh herbs, broccoli, and a mozzarella tomato salad. and he lined it all up to be pleasing to the eye - that boy really knows how to get to me. beautiful food presentation = fluttering heart. i'm not lying.

i feel so rested after yesterday! the only time i left the house was my 15 minute walk to get a diet coke from mcdonalds. now it's time to get back on the work train for 2 days before heading off to the beach with the rest of the washington metro area population. my last ditch effort to get a tan before cold weather comes (cannot wait!)

xoxo

ps i wore tights to work today!
pps they snagged on the metro and i had to buy a new pair at cvs
ppps i was an hour late to work this morning. ah well.

working from home.

why did i decide to work from home today? i'm not getting anything done. catching up on blogs, browsing pretty clothes online, dancing around the house by myself, playing the piano...

this is stopping now.

and to (p)reward myself for my impending hard work, i'm going to walk to mcdonalds (3 blocks away) to get myself a big diet coke. one of the best things i learned this summer is that they have the BEST diet coke ever. it always tastes perfect and the straw is perfectly sized so you get the perfect amount of diet coke every time.

here we go.

new shoes.

a couple of months ago i created a budget in an effort to keep better track of my money, and especially to put a lot more money INTO savings, directing money AWAY from spending. spending particularly on shoes. but, knowing i could not fully kick the habit, i designated a portion of money each month to shoes.

that's right, i have a shoe budget. and i think everyone should have one. i like the challenge of figuring out every month how to maximize my shoe spending. this month? well...

this months budget was depleted fairly quickly once i set my sights on these:

i'm shocked i just made it out of the store with one pair of shoes. good on me.

time to start replenishing the budget because boot season is nearly here!! where do you shop for boots?

inappropriate book title.

really arthur? did anyone else see this on the sartorialist and have a good laugh?

arthur is a famous fashion photographer, having worked for vogue for a large part of his career. he has works in Victoria and Albert in London (one of my very favorite museums). but this book! do you think he meant it tongue-in-cheek?