Monday, June 25, 2007

Out of 50 million single women


These “find your perfect match in one week or less” shows infuriate me. I couldn’t watch more than 27 minutes of “Science of Love” on NBC tonight before shutting it off. The producers make women look like weak, squeaky, I-need-a-man-to-have-a-fulfilling-life creatures. (And let’s not leave “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette,” or “The Age of Love” out. Are there anymore shows on the networks that I am missing?) Are they so desperate for a date that they have to go on national television, and, often times, drag there cookie-cutter families along for the ride?

For drama, there is always the element of woman versus woman where the competing women putting each other down, criticize, and make judgments about people they don’t even know. And the men think they can find The One on the first (blind) date. They all come off looking so sad and pathetic.

Where does Kelly Ripa’s husband and host of the show get off saying that out of 50 million single women in the United States, the scientists found the perfect match for football player guy? I was not in that pool of possible winners. Were you?

These shows simply perpetuate the myth of Prince Charming will sweep me off my feet and everything will be perfect. But worse than that, these few women that appear on these shows make us all look ridiculous.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

One of DC's hidden treasures

I have found one of DC’s hidden treasures, the tower at the Old Post Office Pavilion at 11th and Pennsylvania NW.

Corey and I were eating lunch there today after visiting the National Gallery. Corey noticed a sign for a Tower Tour so we checked it out.

First of all, and most importantly, it’s FREE.

And the view is amazing. You can see so much of the city. I bet it rivals the Washington Monument. We saw the Shrine, the new baseball stadium, the airport, Roslyn, a gorgeous view of the Lincoln Memorial, all along The Mall. It was awesome, you must visit.

In other news

A man after my own heart, the Mayor of San Francisco is cracking down on single-serve water bottles:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19378595/site/newsweek/

Friday, June 22, 2007

Welcome Summer



It was a beautiful night to welcome summer at Alliance Française La Fete de la Musique. Can you get over this weather? Three of the C-list girls and I went to sip wine and listen to a wide range of music. It was fun, mixing with French-speaking people from around the world. Two of the acts played outside which was lovely.

Knitting

I am still ripping out the Tivoli top. All of the decreases are now causing me to pull all of the ripped out yarn through on stitch. It’s maddening so I only do a few inches a night.

Elann.com is having a sale on some wool, $2.25 a ball, so I am going to knit up a French Market Bag (free pattern from Knitty) and bring it to R.I. when I go in July to felt in my mother’s washing machine. I don’t have control over the cycles on the machines in my building. Amanda’s squatty sidekick is another cute (free pattern) bag I might try - and I am also thinking Christmas gifts. I am dieing to felt! And the color selection of this sale yarn is huge.

Young Dave Follow up

When you last read, Ellen McCarthy, writer for the Post, responded to my request for Dave’s email, after I saw him in last week’s Weekend Section. She did not have his email address so she called him, above and beyond the call of duty, and told him I had gotten in touch with her and she gave him my email. As the days drifted by I thought I would not hear from him. Et viola, yesterday he send me a sweet message. So it was good to hear from him and my goal was completed, simply to say hello, glad you are doing well.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I love making my own pizza



with my garden-share plum tomatoes, all red and ripe





and the oregano and basil, fresh from the window-sill, all green and fragrant









But pounding out the dough sucks. Is there an easier way?



Young Dave cont'd

On Saturday I told you about my finding an old flame in a story in the Post Weekend section. I wrote the writer, Ellen McCarthy, to see if she could put me in touch with Dave. She sent me a delightful response on Sunday, explaining that she did not have his email address but she called him to get it. Apparently he was excited to hear about me after all these years and took down my email address. And Ellen wants the scoop!

This is all so funny. I truely just want to say hello, glad you're doing well. And I so appreciate Ellen's kind response. I am too quick to assume people don't care.



Sunday, June 17, 2007

That’s right, garden tomatoes

Again this year I am participating in Community Supported Agriculture, which is organic, locally grown produce. I pick up my weekly share from Stoney Lonesome Farm on Thursdays in upper NW. It usually goes for 18 to 20 weeks.

This is week two and the share has included spring mix lettuce, turnips, radishes, red and green peppers, sugar snap and snow peas, garlic scapes, braising greens, and tomatoes. That’s right, tomatoes. There is a neighboring farm that grew them in the greenhouse this winter.

Last year we were inundated with Swiss chard and I was bracing myself for it again this year. But luckily so far no chard, hip hip hooray. There is nothing worse than giving away a chunk of your vegetables every week. I scoured my cookbooks and Internet last year, looking for interesting ways to disguise, errr prepare, the chard. But every time I ate it, it tasted like dirt. DC Food Blog is now wondering what to do with all of the greens in the share, too.

I wasn’t sure what to do the turnips, but then I remembered this dish I have made before with carrots, potatoes, red onions, turnips, some spices and lemon juice. It is so good, I am glad I had a reason to make it. Love me some root vegetables.


Saturday, June 16, 2007

Young Dave?!?

So I was flipping through the Weekend section of the Post a few minutes ago and I came to the feature story about all the ways to meet people in D.C. when you are feeling at a loss for friends or people to do stuff with. I can relate, that is how I met the Craigslist girls (we have our second date tomorrow, btw). I glance at the picture of the two outdoorsy looking guys and read the caption, “A few years ago, Dave Connolly, left…”

What?

Young Dave!?! Yup, that’s him alright. In all of his youth and cuteness.

I got back up off the floor, caught my breath, wiped the tears from by eyes and dove into the story about Dave’s quest to meet people in D.C. I could tell the story myself. He had these two friends that recently had married and moved to Seattle and he talked about them all the time. He really missed them – I wish I could remember their names. I think they started w/the same letter.

A while back I met Dave on Craigslist and we dated for a little while. He was much younger than me, about 10 years, so I dubbed him Young Dave so my friends could remember who I was talking about. I remember watching “The Ring” with him. That is the last horror flick I have watched. He was so sweet, but the age difference was pretty evident. He was probably 25 at the time.

But I would love to say hi to him, see how he is doing. I emailed the Post reporter who wrote the story and asked for his email address. What do I have to lose?

Another small-world DC story.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Pain in the lily pad

Knitting


I have spent a good amount of time this week frogging my Tivoli (free pattern from Grumperina) that I finished 2 years ago. Unfortunately it loosened up a bit after I wore it a couple of times and became way to big, gapping under the arms, the cap sleeves falling over. The funny thing is that I get many hits to this blog from the picture posted on Grumperina’s site (sheesh, look at all those tops). So I feel like I am misleading the people who look at my creation. And now it is half-ripped out. But I do plan to reknit the top because I really like this yarn. The frogging is a pain in the lily pad though, because of all of the decreases and binding off. I am almost past the neckline and sleeves. Then it will be smooth sailing on the ball winder.


Movies

I watched a great movie this weekend, "Don't Move." Only a foreign film could have a woman (Penelope Cruz) fall in love and have a long-term relationship with the man who rapes her. It sounds horrible, but the story is compelling. The characters - the guy, the woman, his wife, a daughter - are great, all sympathetic in their own way. And Penelope Cruz really shows her talent as an actress in this role. She sheds her beauty which I think gets in her way in her roles.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

The Postmortem

The first date went really well, thank you. There were 5 of us so the group size was perfect for talking. We met at Lebanese Taverna in Pentagon City, and sat outside. Alexis, Melissa, Carol, and Kristanne were great, low-key, interesting, friendly, and smart so we had plenty to talk about. I can't wait to get together again.

I think timing and karma play a role in these things, but I would recommend posting or responding to a "meet some new people" ad on Craigslist. I think there are a lot of people out there looking to make some new friends but aren't quite sure how to do it. Carol, who posted the ad, told us she had gotten many responses to the ad, more than she had expecteda. And when I told my 50-something friend at work, she was all over the idea.

Friday, June 08, 2007

I have a first date tonight

with a bunch of new women I met on Craigslist. I answered a post seeking women in my age range who are looking for people to do stuff with. “No whiners or attention mongers.”

That would be me! So about half of the group is meeting tonight at Lebanese Taverna at Pentagon Row for some hummus and chit chat. (The irony is I was there on Monday for lunch with a vendor. So my annual trips to Pentagon Row has doubled to two. My world is so small sometimes.)

I am looking forward to it, actually. My group of friends has dwindled as people have moved away, gotten married, and/or had kids. While I don’t mind doing things alone, it’s just not as fun a lot of the time.

Maybe my friend-life will be more successful than my love-life is right now.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

You know DC is a small town when

you see the same tourist-family at the Millennium Stage that was getting on your bus the evening before, most likely headed to the National Cathedral.

We were at the Kennedy Center last night enjoying

Melody Gardot
Part of the VSA arts 2007 Start with the Arts Family Festival
This 23-year-old award-winning singer and guitarist—whose multifaceted musical talent has drawn comparisons to Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone—performs music with her quartet from her debut album Worrisome Heart.

Click here to watch the video archive.

She and her band are so talented. I would call it lounge jazz, moody, soulful, melancholy. Unfortunately all of those you-will-never-understand-or-deserve-me love songs got me thinking about Gabriel. Shake it off, girl!

They got a standing ovation, something I have never seen before at Millennium Stage.

Knitting

World Wide Knit in Public Day is June 9th. The Creative Knitters Guild will be at Glen Echo Park, in Maryland, from 10:30AM to 3:30PM, celebrating. Sounds like fun, I will try to get over there.

I was in NH and Maine this past weekend of the annual Simmons Girl Reunion Weekend. It is always so much fun to get together with my college chicas. We have been friends since our first week at Simmons. We all lived on the same floor and have maintained this bond for more than 20 years now. It was like God had a plan to bring us all together.

So I made a stop at Charlotte’s Web in Exeter, NH, and bought this yarn (Tahki Stacy Charles “Bunny Print,” merino, alpaca, acrylic). The shop was so nice, and completely overwhelming. It happens to me all the time! I bring some ideas of what I want to knit and the gauges of the projects and my head starts spinning. So many options! I never know if I should pick the yarn for the project or a project for the yarn.

My plan was to knit Clapotis using this yarn, but I think it is going to be to heavy. We'll see how that works out.


Sunday, June 03, 2007

Miss the Cicadas?

Now starring in the Chicago area!

http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2007/06/chicagos_cicada.html

I was equally grossed out and amazed by these things when they were in DC a few years ago. I have an homage to them at work. I have started covering my office door with origami cicadas. Some people see it immediately and others look at me like I am a little odd.

Here's a video on how to make origami cicadas:

Origami cicada

I was startled when I saw this video. This woman is my twin! Freaky.