Capitol + Gallery + Food Tour

It was a rather action packed weekend, so I'll try to give you the play by play =).  On Saturday morning I met up with my friend Uyen and we toured the United States Capitol.  I had scheduled a 9:30 tour, but they made us get there early.  In the visitor's center there was an "Emancipation Hall", where there were statutes of famous people who served as emancipators.  Before the tour stated we watched a film about the Capitol, and then we were divided into groups of about 20, where we were given tours of some of the main rooms in the Capitol.  The first room we saw was the Statue room.  There were probably about 20 statues surrounding the circular room.  The most interesting part was the center of the room which was supposed to be the exact center of the Capitol, which determines which quadrant of DC you are in.  The neatest part was a bust of Abraham Lincoln.  The artist left the ear off of the statue, to symbolize his unfinished presidency. 

This little child stood in the middle of the Capitol, so cute!

Next we went to the Rotunda, and that was absolutely beautiful.  They had these artists construct the art around the band of the rotunda.  Apparently it took three different artists to complete the work.  At the top there are the 13 maidens to signify the 13 colonies, George Washington, Liberty, and one other?  Lastly we went to the room where the House of Representatives used to meet.  It was a small room, and the tour guide showed us how the room echoed and John Quincy Adams used to pretend he was asleep at his desk and he would eavesdrop on the other members.  We also got to see where the desk spaces were for the members.  The tour ended there, and I wish I could have seen more.  So if you or any of your friends has access to the Capitol, please give me a more extensive tour!

Nonetheless, the day continued in an upward pattern.  Uyen and I got mimosas at brunch, and then went to Tru Orleans and had a hurricane.  I got my hair done, and then met up with Jess at the Hamiltonian for a gallery opening.  Apparently the gallery had given several artists a scholarship to work over the year, and their end of the year project was to make a piece of art with some obstruction based on what they may have normally done.  So there were two or three requirements of things that they could not have in their art.  One artist had a picture of what looked like growing mold, one had a project with rocks sticking out of it.  My favorite piece were these beautiful lanterns that were hanging in the middle of the room.  They were paper lanterns with outlines of different people and things.  Apparently the artist made these during a block party on her block in Baltimore, and there was a picture of people helping her make them.  Part of her requirement was to have neighborhood involvement, so she had that. 

After the gallery we had dinner at Alero and then went to my friend Mira's house for her goodbye party.  I got home late, did some things around the house on Sunday morning, and then met up with Katie to do this food tour.  I had no idea what to expect, except that we would (hopefully) be eating a lot of food.  We went to four different restaurants.  The first was District of Pi.  They have an awesome beer list, and they served both deep dish and thin crust pizza.  I got to sample both types of crust.  The deep dish had meat and tomatoes, and it was quite delicious.  I am partial to deep dish pizza though =).  I also got to try the thin crust pizza with zucchini and onions.  It was delicious, and just thinking about it again makes me hungry.

Hungry and sad at District of Pi!

We went to Restaurant 701 on Pennsylvania Ave, and that was a total bust.  The restaurant was completely empty, but they did not let us sit down.  They gave us an amuse bouche of rockfish tartare, and sent us on our way.  I was pretty annoyed at that point, because I was still hungry. The tour guide said that there was some miscommunication with the restaurant.  Our next restaurant was Rosa Mexicana.  They made a ton of guacamole, and Katie and I ate a bunch of it while drinking sangria.  My mood improved greatly after this!  I am a sucker for guacamole, I could probably eat it daily.  Our last restaurant was Ping Pom Dim Sum.  I was excited to go there because I have recently discovered my love for dim sum, and I had not been to this restaurant.  I got to have a vegetable roll, and a shrimp dumpling.  I was pretty full at this point, and Katie and I left.  The food tour was fun, but we had also paid half price for it.  I would not have paid full price based on the quantity of food we received.  I now want to go to District of Pi and Ping Pong Dim Sum for full meals!!!

A new family member....

So I promise I won't become a crazy person and make this blog about my cat or post frequently about him.  But, it was a bit of a saga to get him, and it was part of my personal happiness journey.  Around the time I started this blog I knew that I wanted another cat just because I was lonely at nights.  I was not sure of everything though as it has been hard dealing with the sudden loss of my cat in February.  After he died, I had no intention of getting another cat.  I even donated all of my cat supplies. 

At first, it was my hope to get a foster cat.  I was not sure that I wanted a permanent cat for fear of getting a bad match.  So I contacted the Washington Humane Society and filled out a foster application.  Several days went by, no answer.  Two weeks went by, no answer.  I got annoyed and applied to foster at another shelter, and no answer.  So, I started looking into adopting a kitten.  I went to the Washington Humane Society just to look at kittens, but there were not any that I liked enough.  I went to look at the adult cats as I was there, and there was a black cat who came right up to me.  I petted him and walked away, and he moved so that I'd pet him again.  He jumped into my life and made himself at home.  I thought he was really sweet but I wanted a kitten. 

I went to the Washington Animal Rescue League and found a kitten I liked.  I was then interviewed and the lady very nicely told me that unless I got two kittens I was not getting the kitten I wanted.  When I waivered I was told that I was "not a good match" and I left without a kitten.  I cried and called my mother, and realized that if I wanted a cat I would either have to get two kittens or get an adult cat.  I researched and realized why they wanted me to take two kittens.  I still did not know that I wanted two kittens, and so I decided to go look at the cat I saw at the Washington Humane Society again.  When I got there I went over to him and picked him up, and after that he would not leave my side.  I decided that I wanted to take him home.  This time, the interview was a breeze.  The coordinators at the shelter were so happy that he was being adopted, which made me think that perhaps he had been passed over before.  I had heard that all black cats are often passed over and people do not like them as much.  I was able to take him home that day.  His name at the shelter was "Chip" but I decided that name was dumb.  I researched online for black cat names and came up with "Obsidian".  Obviously that's quite a mouth full, so I decided that he would be "Obie" for short.  He has been very grateful thus far, but our first night was a little rough in that he could not decide whether to explore the apartment and snuggle with me. 

Nonetheless, I have definitely enjoyed having him thus far, he is very sweet.  I think the story has a happy ending because he gets a good home and I get a companion.  A symbiotic relationship indeed =)

Obie was fascinated with the washing machine.

New York New York!!!

So this weekend I had the privilege of going to New York City with my friend Green.  I have been to New York many times, but I had not actually hung out in the city since 2004.  We went to New York to celebrate Green's 30th birthday. 

Our bus drive took a sum total of 6 hours, when it should have taken 4.  During that time there was this super obnoxious girl having multiple conversations on her phone simultaneously.  I was really hoping there was some website that focuses on obnoxious people on public transportation, and I could post her picture to humiliate her.  Alas, no such luck.  Anyway, Green and I were able to master public transportation such that we could get to our hotel.  We wanted to maintain a budget so we stayed at one of the Pod Hotels.  They are budget conscious but the rooms are TINY.  Nonetheless it served our purpose quite well.

Once we checked in we met up with my friend Matt and we went to Candle 79 Restaurant.  It was a fancy vegan/vegetarian restaurant.  We split the nachos after our amuse bouche, and it hit the spot to curb some of our hunger.  As an entree I ended up getting this pasta with seitan, which is a meat substitute, and it wasn't bad!  Green and I split this amaaazing peanut butter dessert.  After that we went to St. Mark's Street in the East Village, to a "speakeasy" called Angel's Share.  We had several mixed drinks, and for whatever reason all of mine smelled like old lady's perfume.  Fail.  Then we went to miscellaneous bars on St. Mark's Street and then got a slice of pizza.  We then went back to midtown where our hotel was and ended the night at a bar nearby. 

The next morning (er, noon) Green and I went to Roosevelt Island on the tramway.  We were able to walk around over there and we took some pictures; it was a lot of fun!  After that we went to meet up with Matt at the Barbecue Festival.  I had been looking forward to this as I love BBQ more than I can say.  However, the lines were two hours per truck, so we ended up going to a BBQ restaurant down the street.  I still got to eat pulled pork and drink beer with my friends, so I called it a win.  After eating our weight in BBQ, the three of us went to Central Park.  We walked down by the boathouse and took some pictures. 

I just thought this was cute!

After returning to the hotel to get ready we went to see Wicked.  OMG, it was so incredibly good.  I did not really like the Wizard of Oz, but Wicked made me like it more.  The music was great, the acting was good, and it was just a wonderful experience.  Minus the small bathrooms...but Matt got us some rum and cokes that we could drink during the performance, so that was pretty awesome.  After the show we ventured into Times Square.  It was crazy busy and I was super overstimulated and wanted to like...eat a McDonalds burger or something!  Green wanted to go to the M&M's store and it was a little insane.  I cannot imagine what it is like to work there.  We went to Emmet O'Lunneys Irish Pub nearby and hung out, and then Matt left and Green and I went to the bar near our hotel.  All I will say was from that point forward the night took a somewhat ridiculous turn =)

Green and I woke up rather hungover, and we ate some breakfast and went to the Puerto Rican Day Parade.  It was a lot of fun, but we were only there a little while before we had to go to catch our bus back to DC.  It was an amazing trip, I think it was well deserved.  I cannot wait to go back again!