Happy Valentine's Day

Chinchilla valentine - by calidlee on Polyvore.com

The Five Things I Am Loving Right Now

1. Stephen Colbert's "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)" on Rock Band II. This has been one of my favorites for some time now, but the fact that it is a free download on Rock Band II is the best.


2. The new Belle & Sebastian BBC Sessions CD is making me very happy. It is a great selection of songs, including four rare tracks.

3. This time of year always makes me feel crafty. Last year I made my own Christmas cards. This year I ordered a few embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching and got to work. So far I have embroidered a cute little hedgehog on a dish towel. Boy oh boy is it cute. Next: zombies and pirates. And a squirrel.

4. I have new hair! It's dark with a little red. Also, say hello to bangs. (I love it.)

5. I finally bought tickets for our flight home for Christmas. Oh jeez, they were expensive. But it is worth it! We have not been in Salt Lake since last Christmas, and I have only seen my family for a few days all year. I'll drop a grand or two every year if that is what it takes.

Summer Wish List

Wanting things is one of the joys in my life. I love to want things. So, much to my husband's dismay, I have a constantly revolving wish list. Here are a few of the things that I am drooling over this summer.

Modcloth.com has a perfectly simple Dinosaur Love tee that I would love to wear all over the place. Of course, I love Brontosauruses as much as the next girl.


I love this print called So Very Happy by dazeychic that I found on Etsy. I would hang this in my room to remind me that every day, I should aim to be happier than a bird with a french fry. Sounds like a great goal to me.



I want a vintage camera because I have been looking to start a new hobby. I saw a few photos on Etsy that were taken using TTV style, which involves a digital camera and a vintage camera. It gives photos an elegant vintage look. I would love to snatch this camera (or one like it) off of Ebay and make my own vintage photo masterpieces.



I have been a big David Sedaris fan for a few years now, and I am very excited that he has written this new book, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames." Unfortunately I have not gotten off my butt and to the bookstore to buy it yet.




It is time for a new couch. Our couches are old and blue and now they are on Craigslist. I have been dreaming about a simple brown couch from IKEA since we moved into our duplex six months ago. As soon as our couches are sold, this beauty will have a new home.



Rock star squirrel art. I think that is all that needs to be said. This gem is by Susie Ghahremani and can be found on her website at BoyGirlParty.com. I especially like the little groupie squirrel off to the side.



This Amelia necklace can also be found on ModCloth.com. I think it is a fun, unique piece of jewelry. I don't usually wear necklaces, but I think I would make an exception here.


And of course, my favorite thing on my wish list - a baby chinchilla. I have wanted one for so long and I still have not come to my senses. The only slightly negative thing about these little guys is that they get bigger than this. Of course, I love full grown chinchillas too. I like to imagine that my baby chinchilla would sleep curled up between my neck and my shoulder and that he would go on bike rides with me in my backpack and I could feed him little pieces of fruit. It's fun to dream...

Afternoon to Remember

Nothing is a whole lot cooler than living in DC. Being able to spend a Saturday afternoon walking around the National Mall or browsing the Smithsonian makes life significantly more interesting. There are a lot of things that are completely different to me. For one thing, I can get anywhere I want by walking or taking the Metro. It is not as depressing to be without a car as I thought it would be. I think it actually makes my life a little more interesting.


On Saturday Levi and I took the Metro to Dupont Circle to meet someone who is interviewing Iraq war veterans for a research project. Before we met her, we stopped for flatbread sandwiches at Cosi. Mine was chicken, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. Levi's was roast beef and wasabi. They were delicious.



Then we wandered into a little bakery / coffee shop and picked up some Valentine's Day sprinkle cookies that I ended up trying to feed to a sad-looking statue later on.




After the interview we walked around Dupont Circle and admired the buildings. Then it was off to Embassy Row. Not on purpose... we just stumbled upon it.



There were statues everywhere... some of them were people and some were elephants. This is in front of the Indian Embassy. We also saw Ghandi and Buffalos and lots of political leaders from around the world.




This is one of the most tolerant churches I have ever seen. On the other end of the church was a SaveDarfur.org banner. Nice to know someone is aware of how Jesus would have really wanted things. (Psst... he would have been a liberal.)



Across the street from the church was a gas station where I had a very random experience. After walking around for a couple of hours, we both realized the need to find a restroom. We spent the next fifteen minutes spell-checking an essay for the clerk's English class. Odd, but kind of fun.

There are so many restaurants in DC, we could eat out every day for the next ten years and never hit all of them. This realization inspired us to make a promise not to eat at chain restaurants anymore. We are pretty good about that anyway, but this experience made it necessary to pinkie-swear. (We might cheat with the occasional Chipotle burrito.)

The next stop was a little independently owned bookstore. It made us promise not to shop at Barnes & Noble anymore either.



While we were strolling, we came upon a street that was all blocked off to traffic. There were a few people walking and biking around, so we thought we would check it out. Turns out it was Pennsylvania Avenue, so we got some nice White House photos.



Right in front of the White House there was a guy with an arsenal of picket signs. Everything from anti-war to pro-life posters. He was sorting through them when we walked by, and I got this picture as he was picking out two of them to hold up. It seems to me that protesting kind of loses its impact if you have a sign for everything.


After several hours of exploring, we jumped on the Metro to head home. We had to change lines in Chinatown, and we decided to get dinner at a place that we had walked by a couple of weeks ago called Wok and Roll. Awesome name for a restaurant. They had great sushi and sesame chicken. Yum.




We have been checking on Joe and Charlotte's dog this weekend, so we stopped for some Corona and went to their house. We played with Georgia-dog and watched Charlie Wilson's War, then one of us had the brilliant idea to take advantage of the Rock Band. Needless to say, we didn't get home until very late. Overall, it was a perfect day.

Tonight we are checking out the Grammy's. There have been a few highlights, but generally not too impressive. Right now I am watching Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and their dueling pianos. That is definitely entertaining.

Before the Grammy's was Katie Couric and Hillary Clinton on 60 minutes. After the interview she spoke about John McCain not being able to show up for an interview. Here is something that Katie did that needs to stop:

"We look forward to having him on...
...in the near future."

There was a very pregnant pause between "on" and "in." Right in the middle of the sentence. Go ahead, say it out loud. You hear news anchors do it all of the time. It sounds so unnatural, Ms. Couric should probably knock it off. Of course, she is the professional, not me.


I will end this post with a picture of the darling coffee shop birds eating our sprinkle cookies. I don't think I will ever stop getting excited over all of the birds and squirrels that are running around this city. We even saw a mouse trying to get into a Slim Jim wrapper under the Metro tracks. Aw, cute.