Easter

This post could just as easily be titled "A love letter to the self-timer."

It's fairly rare that I blow dry my hair and get fully "ready"for church, but I felt like Easter was a great opportunity to put on a new dress and pull out the blow dryer.  The cherry tree was in full bloom and the yard was looking spiffy after our marathon clean-up session on Saturday, so we pulled out the camera and took some family photos.

Thank goodness for Blake and his artistic prowess and technical know-how.  He can put a camera on top of our good ole Honda Accord and make us look halfway decent!

Our neighbors probably thought we were strange staring at our car with plastered-on smiles.  Oh well.  The cherry tree is one of our favorite things about our house, so we like to get as many pictures of it/with it as possible.  There's just nothing better than the springtime - when all the windows are open and the smell of cherry blossoms is wafting through the rooms.  I could live in perpetual spring for the rest of my life and never lose my appreciation for it.

 

Tidal Basin blossoms and the mysterious Wharf

I probably post the same pictures every year, but I can't help taking more each time I visit the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin.  I went twice this year: one by myself on a morning jog, and once with Blake, Bear, Brady (Blake's brother's dog) and some of Blake's friends from work.  Both days had fantastic weather and a manageable amount of tourists, so it was enjoyable on all levels.

I made the mistake of wearing white pants when we went with the dogs. By the end of the morning they were looking not-so white.  Having dogs jump all over you and then eating lunch on a derelict cement retaining wall at The Wharf will do that to you.  Go figure.

Bear loved the people and wanted to watch the paddle boats go by.  We got stopped every few feet (per usual) by people asking what type of dog he was, if they could pet him, and (my favorite) if they could take pictures with him.  Yep. He was a hit with the young Japanese tourist crowd.  I wonder how many instagram accounts he's showing up on because of it.

We had a terrible, snowy winter this year, so I was worried that the blossoms might not come in force. But, luckily, I was wrong.  We hit it at the exact right time - the trees were practically weighted down under all the fluffy pink blooms.  It smelled like heaven...and gave me allergies enough to last through the weekend.

Because the Cherry Blossom Festival was going on, a lot of the cross-streets were closed and it was nearly impossible to drive across the Mall to the basin.  We had to get creative with our navigation and ended up parking along the SW waterfront on a street we'd never been down before.  As we were walking along, I recognized the wharf from several DC-based movies I've seen.  I'd never known where that location was until now.  I would compare it to a miniature version of Pike Place Market in Seattle.  Minus the trinket sellers and beautiful flower stalls.  But that stink of fresh seafood and open-air shrimp slinging?  Yep, that's reminiscent for sure.

For $15.95 we got two crab cake sandwiches, fries, hush puppies and a drink.  Not bad, right?  I can't believe we'd never heard of The Wharf before (maybe we're just that out of it...or not hip enough).  It'd be a great place to take out-of-towners who want an authentic eastern seafood meal.  We'll be back again for sure.

More of Spring

I can't get enough of our house in the springtime.  The forsythia bush blooms bright yellow and is followed shortly by the tulips (I planted them last fall and was ecstatic to see them come up in such force).  Then there's the piece de la resistance - our cherry tree. 

Blake and I have both decided that if anything ever happened to the cherry tree that we'd have to move.  It's just so much a part of the identity of the house.  Our yard would feel naked without it.

When it's in full bloom, I can smell it wafting down the street about a block and a half away.  The sun is always hitting it just-so as I'm walking home from the metro and it makes my heart burst with how much I love where we live.  The first thing I do when I get home on those nights is to crank open all of the windows and let the scent fill the house.  It feels and smells like spring.  It's magical.

On a different note, I also think we're single-handedly employing all of the honey bees in the metro area during the two weeks it's in bloom.  The whole tree buzzes happily with activity.

Azaleas

One of my favorite things about springtime DC is that the color comes in waves.  Not everything blooms at once.  The daffodils come first.  Then the cherry blossoms and the tulips, then last (but certainly not least) the azaleas.  I'm pretty sure it's nature's way of easing us through 'til summer.  Just when I think the soggy blossoms littering the pavement are going to break my heart - wham, here comes the next round of color and I'm perking right up again.

Blake and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood at night to enjoy our neighbors' azaleas.  Our neighborhood is absolutely filled with them - in every shade you can imagine.

These photos are from my iPhone and were taken at dusk, so they're nothing special.  But, you can imagine how amazing the colors are in person.

When we bought our house we had only two azalea bushes on the property.  Huge, white, puffy ones by the patio.  We've kept those, and added several more. We can't be outdone by our neighbors now, can we?

Blawesome Blossoms

To continue the theme of "I can't believe what a heavenly spring we're having!," Blake and I met up after work today for a quick dinner (with milkshakes, of course!) at Potbelly and a walk around the Mall and the Tidal Basin to admire the blossoms. 

Having the blossoms make such an early appearance this year is making the spring even more enjoyable.  Yesterday's beautiful weather brought out the masses, but it was much less crowded than in years past - and with far fewer tourists and far more suit-and-tennis-shoe-wearing after-hours government workers.  All those tourists that booked their flights for the cherry blossom festival festivities this weekend will have missed the peak. 

Here's hoping this mid-seventies weather lasts until the end of May.  A girl can dream, right?

P.S.  My iPhone's camera continues to amaze me.

Our house in the springtime gives me a perma-grin.

I know I know.  Every post I've written in the past couple weeks revolves around the beautiful spring we're having, but I just can't get over it.  Spring is by far my favorite season, and I never get tired of it.  It's our third year in our house, and I've been looking forward to our cherry blossoms for months. 

As happens every year, I catch people from all over the neighborhood stopping on the sidewalk or road in front of our house to take pictures.  And it is picturesque, don't you think?  The bright red house, the soft pink blossoms, the green grass and the round yellow forsythia bush?

They're not completely at their peak yet, but I am thinking they'll probably be at optimal blossom-ness this weekend.  You know what's even better?  They smell as good as they look!  When you turn onto our street you see a puffy pink cloud of blossoms and the closer you get the more you can smell them.  I was telling Blake this morning that I wish I could bottle up that scent and keep it all year round: the blossoms, the clean, fresh spring air, the forsythias.  Mmmm.  It's my idea of heaven.

It would be a crime not to enjoy springtime in DC.

The weather for the past two weeks has been so glorious that I can't imagine why anyone would want to live anywhere else.  That will change, come August, when my thoughts become "how could anyone ever want to live here?!", but for now I will defend DC to the end.  I strongly contend that there is no more beautiful city in all the world than DC in the springtime. 

I'd like to add below, as evidence, a picture from my morning commute.  For more pictorial proof, check out Janelle's weekend photos of the cherry blossoms.  Spectacular.