Heineous Heat

It's 103 degrees (feels like 111 degrees) in the District right now and I positively feel like I'm going to melt everytime I go outside.  In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have worn a silk shirt today - even a short-sleeved one- because I was basically drenched in sweat after my five minute walk to the metro AT 8:30 IN THE MORNING.

I keep having to look back and my pictures from the spring to remind myself why anyone ever decides to live here.  Sure, there are lots of jobs, but is it worth it if you practically drip into a puddle everytime you go outside during late June through August?

Sigh.

At least I can console myself with the knowledge that I'm heading here tomorrow:

Picture via

Pebble Beach.  Land of the perpetual 65 degree day.  The forecast for the next week is low sixties...jackets and jeans?  I think I can do that!

Now if we can just get Blake to vanquish his 103 degree fever (he woke up in the night in total pain and completely burning up) we'll be in business.  Cross your fingers for my Blake's switft, travel-enabling recovery, ok?

CCCDDFCC

It's not quite as beautiful as the original, but I'm pretty darn proud of the Chocolate Chip Cookiedough Devil's Food Cake Cheesecake that Anna and I produced last night.  As it turns out, the key to making spreadable frosting is butter.  Lots and lots of butter.  Three sticks of butter.  Who knew?

I think all-told there is close to two pounds of butter in this cake.  Don't judge me.  I was just following the recipe.

Pinsperation

Ahh.  That sweet, sweet sound of opening a can of diet coke on a Tuesday afternoon.  I usually try to stay away from my weakness of battery acid disguised as netar of the gods, but I just couldn't do it today.

It's Tuesday and I'm too tired to hold out.  My back is too sore from sleeping in a weird position (don't you hate that).  And I'm simply too weak to hold out against my colleagues when they propose a quick coke break. 

A friend and I are making this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Devil's Food Cheesecake (say that all in one breath!) tonight for a Pinterest party:

Although my decorating skills are somewhat lacking and I doubt it will look nearly half as beautiful as it does in this photo, I rarely meet a sweet that I don't enjoy, so it'll be good no matter how it looks.

I'll leave you now with a watering mouth and a promise to post pictures of the final product tomorrow.

A New Look

You may have noticed the new look here at The Weakest Pen... Many thanks to the gorgeous Georgia bell, Whitney, for the snazzy blog over-haul! 

I'm nothing if not technologically challenged, so it's nice to have friends who are so fabulously talented and generous.  She's busy with a darling one-year-old, traveling, and in the middle of a cross-country move, but she still took the time to help me out. 

Thank you, Whitney!  I love it (and you, and Harper, and Cardon!).

the Pink House Ladies do DC (more photos)

Rachel kindly circulated her photos from last weekend and I had to share those, too.

Here we are after having dinner at my house on Friday night.  We missed Allie (who was on her way down from New York) and Ashton (who was holding down the fort in Utah), but had a grand time together doing what we do best: eating and talking a-mile-a-minute.

The next morning we met up at the Capitol for a tour.  Due to our baby-friends, we got elevator passes for our group, which was pretty amazing.

Rachel and I got there early (and I even parallel parked successfully for the first time! Fist pump!) and walked around the Capitol grounds playing tourist.

What touristing would be complete without the arm-extension shot?  Two Rachel's are better than one!

After our tour we walked in the sweltering heat over to Good Stuff Eatery for hamburgers and the best shakes known to mankind (the Milky Way Malt rocks my world).

Lucky for us, we got the only seats on the main floor and set up camp by barricading ourselves in with strollers.  Best lunch fort ever.

Roommate Reunion

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since I graduated from college.  It's even harder to believe that it's been almost five years since all of the Pink House ladies have been together in the same room.  All this, combined with the fact that I've recently noticed that I'm starting to get really old really fast (ex: I can't stand loud restaurants anymore.  Can't those young hooligans and their music leave me to eat in peace?), prompted me to schedule a much-needed girls weekend with my college roommates.  We were missing a couple folks here and there (Ashton, I hope you can make it next time!), but it was pretty great that six of us could make it to hang out together for the weekend.

Alpha came down from New York and was our resident baby-whisperer: 

Jenny and Meg are both in the DC area for the summer while their husbands do internships.  They brough their darling little tykes, Jackson (7 months) and Ivy (4 months).  Both babies are an absolute delight (just like their mamas).  My apologies for blurry Ivy.  Blake let me use his camera for the weekend, but, as I quickly discovered, a nice camera doesn't automatically mean nice photos.  It turns out that I'm more than a little photographically challenged.

Baby Ivy did not enjoy the Capitol tour. 

Everyone was a good sport walking around downtown in the heat with two strollers and lots of camera bags.

We all had tons of fun at dinner on Friday night. Rachel flew in from Illinois for the weekend and Erin came down from Baltimore (at 9 months pregnant!) and provided us with heaps of treats for girl talk...which we consumed until the wee hours.




Jackson graced us with smiles (not pictured here...too much sun I guess) all weekend.

With Jenny for a mom, you can see where he gets his smiles. 

And Rachel was such a trooper in the heat (while pregnant with her third!).  Explain to me how someone can look so good after so many hours in 95 degree weather?

What a wonderful weekend it was!  Let's not let another five years go by before we do this again, ok? 

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.