having fun despite my nats losing streak

In honor of the Beltway Series, Jesse and I planned a little pre-game tailgate with our friends for Saturday’s game. We were all pretty excited about getting together and looking forward to cheering on the Nats. Not surprisingly, the Nats lost. I say this not because they’re not exactly the best team in baseball. I say this because I can’t remember the last time I attended a Nats game and actually saw them win. Jesse and I are huge baseball fans so we frequent RFK (and Camden Yards) and I just never see the Nats win. Regardless, we had a great time, especially since my friend Roo Roos was visiting this weekend from Philly.

Here I am with my boys, Dave and Roo Roos before the game.


After the game, we had a late dinner at Banana Café, Roo Roos favorite DC restaurant. Here I am with Jesse during dinner.


Even though they missed our tailgate, Jesse’s friends and co-workers, Carl, Anna, and Adrian joined us for the game and dinner.


Here I am with Roo Roos.


Roo Roos wanted to get a pic with the Banana Café sign so here we are with Dave.


Even though the Nats lost, it was an awesome weekend. I love when Roo Roos comes to visit!

the return of roo roos

I am actually a week behind on this post, so I apologize. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing my friend Roo Roos, who was visiting from Philly. Dave decided that we would all have dinner and drinks at Guajillo, which I found out is really, really good. I highly recommend it for authentic Mexican. Being Mexican myself, I find that it is so hard to get real, good Mexican in this area. After all of these years here, I think I have finally found it.


Here are Enzo, Jenn, and Dave, sitting pretty after having a few drinks.



Here I am with Roo Roos. We had just finished our enchiladas de mole and they were delish!


Here I am, sandwiched between two sweet boys!

Tomorrow, I'll blog about my action-packed weekend...a little spa treat to myself, a birthday dinner in honor of me, and college football (of course).

the ‘burbs don’t bite, I promise

When I lived on the Hill, the last thing I wanted to do was leave the District. In fact, the only trip I would willingly make outside of the District was to Pentagon City (and not just when I worked at the Gap there). I justified it by telling myself that it was ok because Pentagon City has the only metro-accessible DSW in the metropolitan area. Occasionally, when my friend Dave would host his OC viewing parties, I would trek out to VA Square and then hurry home. The less time I spent in the suburbs, the better. It was like the ‘burbs had cooties and I certainly didn’t want cooties from the ‘burbs.

In fact, when my friend Roo Roos lived here, we both were quite the DC snobs. “There’s nothing like living in the city” we’d say time and time again to our poor friend Dave. Dave would make every effort to convince us that life outside the city wasn’t so bad, but Roo Roos and I wouldn’t hear any of it. We were convinced that being in DC was too awesome and that the suburbs were just not good enough for us.

Fast forward to two years ago when I met Jesse. Jesse, who at the time lived in Clifton (which is in Fairfax County if you’ve never heard of it), started his own campaign to prove to me that life outside of the city wasn’t so bad. He’d take me to restaurants I’ve never been (and had never heard of). He’d drive me through the woods (I love how this area has got a whole lot of forests…it reminds me of Redding). He’d take me to the various strip malls and shopping malls that Fairfax has to offer (the boy knows that I love to shop). Still, it wasn’t enough to make me love the suburbs, let alone willingly leave the city for suburban living.

And then Jesse bought the condo in Arlington. It was so nice to have him just a few metro stops away as opposed to a 45 minute metro ride plus a 30 minute car ride. By that time, I had already been spending most of my free time with Jesse in the ‘burbs, so it wasn’t that hard for me to decide to leave the city. I had the opportunity to live with Jesse! Surely I could withstand suburban living to be with the man that I love. Right?

I have to admit, it was hard at first. And to be honest, there was some crying involved. I missed the city. I missed the cute little rowhouse I lived in. I missed walking over to Schnieder’s to get my spirits for the weekend. I missed the convenience of being within a 5 minute walk to Eastern Market. I missed calling the Bistro Italiano when I didn’t feel like making another sandwich for dinner.

While I was doing all of this “missing,” I began to look past the Arlington stereotype. It’s not as sterile as all the brand new condo buildings (that keep popping up like weeds) suggest. (Dare I say it?) Arlington actually has some diversity. It has its charm. I love how there are a million and one places to get some good Peruvian chicken (pollo a la brasa). I love that Salvadoreans have businesses everywhere (restaurants, grocery stores, etc.). I love that the Asian shopping center off of Wilson has those big gaudy arches over the entrance. I love that I finally found authentic Mexican food (in Arlington of all places) at Guajillo. I had the chicken enchiladas with mole there and I thought I was going to cry—they were that good and authentic. I also hate that older buildings are getting bought out and demolished to make way for more cookie cutter condos. With every new condo building, I feel that a bit of Arlington charm is sacrificed.

If you don’t like the suburbs, I totally understand. But have you really spent time in the suburbs? It’s ok. Just venture outside of the DC Bubble. I promise it won’t hurt. If you keep an open mind, you might be surprised to find that you actually kinda like it (even just a little bit). I’ll probably always miss living in the city, but living in the ‘burbs really isn’t that bad.

Really, it’s not.

I swear.

This one’s for you, D. Leaving me the silliest, little comment on my birthday dinner Evite inspired me to write this post.

why am i doing this? i forget

MySpace. I've never been the slightest bit interested in joining. I figure it's the new friendster and I'm rarely on friendster (actually, the first version of this blog was on friendster and that was probably the most time I ever spent on it). I know that MySpace is supposed to be a big deal right now (at least in some circles). But I just don't get it.

I'm not quite sure why anyone's into it. You sign up, create a profile, add a pic, and then add friends. And then you rank your friends (which frankly could be insulting to some). And then you post messages and stuff. You talk about what you like and what you think is cool at the moment. That's the gist, right? Yup, that doesn't sound very appealing.

I think that if I was Amanda's age (she's 15 and my neice), MySpace would be the coolest thing ever. Actually, I know for a fact that she thinks it's the coolest thing ever. When I told my family about my blog, Amanda got really excited and asked me, "Are you on MySpace?" I replied, "No" while trying to hold back any feelings of condescension. She looked incredibly disappointed. I didn't know you could blog at My Space, but I've seen seen some MySpace pages and some of them are pretty ugly. Sure, OC girl is a little pink, but at least I don't have obnoxious images all over the page, making it difficult to read anything.

Jesse joined MySpace not too long ago. He did it because his friend, Ashish, told him to (I wish I had Ashish's power of persuasion). He continues to go to MySpace to keep in touch with his friends. I could understand that.

Last night, while out with my boys, Rudy asked me if I was on MySpace. I told him no and then he begged me to join. Roo Roos has made some friends through MySpace who share his interests in music (which he expresses on his page). I asked him to sell me MySpace. Why should I join? Initially, he replied, "I don't know." But then he thought about it and went into how great it is to make friends there and how people you knew in high school look you up and you can see how they're doing now. Frankly, I'm not sure if I want any of my high school friends looking me up. They could be Republicans for all I know.

Come on. I already blog. What else do I need to do to be cool? I thought blogging was sufficient. And I love blogging. I can't see myself loving MySpace.

Oh, Roo Roos. I'm such a sucker. It's hard to say no to you. If anyone is interested, here's my MySpace page.

If you're on MySpace too please add me as a friend. I've got no friends right now and I'm feeling kinda lonely.