No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn

I woke up in the middle of the night to my phone buzzing on the bedside table.  I groggily grabbed it and looked to see who was calling me at such a late/early hour.  It read "Blocked," so I let it go to voicemail.

I was intrigued to see what could be so important as to warrant a call to me at that time, so I listened to the voicemail.  And then I spent the next hour fighting off nightmares because this is what I heard:

A child's voice.  But not the sort that actually comes from a child.  The sort that comes from a voice changer.  The sort that comes from those freakish twins in the Shining.

This shrill, gasping, childish voice asked -nay, demanded - money from me.  And emphasized that when I call back to give that money, to make sure to list all my identifying information: address, e-mail, birth date...

It was at about this point in the message that my sleep-deprived mind started thinking about the Shining and serial killers and how the child-impersonator was probably lurking right outside my window watching me.  I quickly deleted the message, but the damage was done.  These thoughts were enough to keep me up for the next while tossing and turning in the sheets. 

This morning as I relayed the story to Blake over breakfast, I wished I hadn't so quickly deleted the message because it was all seeming a little less scary than it was in the middle of the pitch-black night. 

Picnic perfection

We had a picnic on the Mall on Sunday during what was probably the most beautiful Sunday on record in the District.  Mid 70's, breezy, puffy white clouds.  Add to that some old friends, croissant sandwiches and way-too-many Oreos, and you've got yourself a perfect afternoon.

See, Meg and Ivy are pretty happy about it:

P.S. Meg, why are you always so cute?  You're making life kinda tough for the rest of us.

Nats, Hats and Friends

Oh what a blissfully wonderful weekend!

After dealing with the heat and humidty over Memorial Day, I thought summer was here to stay.  But, thankfully I was wrong.  This past weekend temperatures reverted back to the spring - low 70's, clear skies and a breeze.  We took advantage of the weather and spent as much time as possible outside.

Meg and Stephen are living here for the summer while Stephen does an internship. They arrived Friday night amidst thundering skies and tornado warnings (so, I retract my previous statement...the weather was awful on Friday, but made up for it on Saturday and Sunday).  We celebrated the beginning of their DC adventure by introducing them to our favorite Italian joint - Pacci's and by cuddling Ivy and laughing at the extreme 90's-ness of Jeff Bridges in Arlington Road.

Saturday morning we perused a rather sad neighborhood yard sale (where my neighbors tried, forcefully and unsuccessfully, to persuade Stephen and Meg to buy all manner of used baby items) and drove five minutes with Meg and Stephen to their new place.

Blake and I spent the rest of the afternoon gardening, grocery shopping, and going to the National's game with Tiffany and Ryan.  Tiffany's company gave us each a ticket, a National's hat and $15.00 to spend on food.  In a word, it was amazing.  The weather was perfect, the company was fabulous, the Nat's won, and Shake Shack was as delicious as always.  (I love that there is a Shake Shack at National's Stadium!)

Here we are.  I'm looking a little worse for wear in the sun and wind.  Oh well. 

I will say this: after discovering the incredible comfort of Haines men's undershirts, I may never sport a real shirt in the summer again.  Those things are amazing.  Go out and buy some right now.

Braving the Memorial Heat

It's hard to believe it's already Wednesday.

I love starting the work week a day late.  I keep surprising myself thinking it's Tuesday when it's actually Wednesday.  And nothing is more satisfying than waking up on what you think is Monday morning only to discover that you get to skip Monday and head straight into Tuesday.

Our weekend was jam packed with great food, fabulous restaurants, fun friends, copious treats, and the rather unwelcome hot hot heat.

Friday brought an early-out work day, a delicious Mexican dinner with friends (these ones, these ones and these ones) at our favorite place and a party until the wee hours of the night/morning.

Saturday brought yard work, the vengeful return of the bugs and, consequently, the return of my swollen bug bites, birthday shopping and dinner at Seasons 52 with Blake's family.

Sunday rolled around with a late morning, laundry, painting, church, a longer-than-expected nap, and some truly painful, wilting heat.  The heat was so intense, in fact, that we wimped out and didn't go to the Memorial Day concert at the Capitol like we'd planned.  We felt guilty about that decision until we were watching the concert on TV in the comfort of our own air conditioning and about half an hour in they cancelled the program due to vicious weather.  So, we then enjoyed the rain and sounds of booming thunder on the couch while we congratulated each other on making such a fine decision.  The moral of this story is that sometimes being lazy really pays off.

We braved the heat on Monday with Tiffany and Ryan to explore Annapolis.  It was beautiful, but swelteringly, drippingly hot and humid.  We roamed downtown by spending a few moments outside and then popping into the nearest air-conditioned store to browse.  I'm not sure how much Blake and Ryan enjoyed this (it's sort of a lose-lose situation for a man: be extremely hot, or spend time in women's clothing and accessory stores), but it was a fun afternoon for Tiffany and me.

You know you've got good friends when they don't judge you for being a sweaty mess all day.

We saved our appetites (aside from devouring heaps of ice cream at the Annapolis Ice Cream Company) and used my birthday gift card to eat lunch at Copper Canyon Grill back in Silver Spring (thank you Grandma and Grandpa for paying for our lovely lunch!). 

I wish we had another three-day weekend in our immediate future.  I need another one just like this one. 

Above: The Annapolis Navy band playing the Marine's Hymn on the pier in the heat.

I'm 26 and I still got it.

Yep.  I may be in my late twenties (what?!?!), I've still got it.  "It," of course, meaning a teenager-looking face.

Last night I answered the friendly knock on the door in my summer work-out clothes: men's basketball shorts and t-shirt.  (As a side note: don't you hate it when solicitors use the knock that should be reserved for friends and family?  You know, the knock that is more pleasure than business?)

"Hi, are your parents home?"

(Considering telling him it's my house, but then deciding I'm too tired to deal with hearing his whole pest control monologue)  "Nope."

"Ok.  I'll just come back tomorrow."

"Oh, that's ok.  Don't bother."

This is made even funnier by the fact that he was obviously about 20 years old.

Will those door-to-door salesmen never learn?

It's ok.  I guess I can understand his confusion.  I mean, can't you?