Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The next level of blogging

My first meme, I am so flattered (thanks Deb!).

Ok, here goes. More about me than you ever wanted to know.

"The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was living in a group house in Glover Park, finding my way in my new life in D.C. I was having fun, hanging out with friends, doing happy hours, cook-outs, playing flag football and left field on the company softball team.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
I don't keep actual lists because I then forget to look at them! But rolling around in the back of my head: get in touch with Sophie to meet up for dinner Wed. or Thurs.; practice using the new camera; finish the left front of the Auburn Campshirt; set the alarm for 4:45 AM so I can get to the airport in time for my 7AM flight home from Austin; and decide whether to call Paul or not and then just stick to it.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Edamame; ice cream; cookies; Triscuits; dark chocolate.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
start a foundation.

5) Places I have lived: Rhode Island; Boston; Austria; Brookline.

6) Jobs I have had:
cashier; museum assistant; nanny; in the library during college.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who you will enjoy getting to know better:
Pink Monkey Knits
Yarngear
A Knitter in Queens
What Liz Said
Neophyte Knitter

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Artomatic

It's Artomatic season on DC again. It's a great event if you have never been. Lots of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, ceramics, glass. 9 floors I think, music, poetry...and it's free. But only through June 15.

Warning if you are traveling from NW DC, the directions are wrong. Turn right on M St. NW, not left. Follow the directions from the 14th Street Bridge.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

A little of this...

In the knitting category, I recently joined the Auburn Camp Shirt KAL.








FilmFest DC continued last night with "Fados" and "Late Bloomers." These movies could not have been more different, but in a good way. "Fados" was a look at all of variations of the Fados tradition in Portugal, Brazil, and other Portuguese-speaking countries. It consisted of vignettes of singers and dancers performing. I enjoyed the singing, Fados is so melancholy, but live performing never translates fully to the screen, be it a movie or TV. It's like taking a picture of a sunset, unless you saw it yourself, it does not have the same impact on the viewer.

"Last Bloomers" was in the same tradition of "Calendar Girls," some older woman who are depressed with their lives buck up and make a change - one that shocks their friends and neighbors. Martha lost her husband and prays that God will take her, too, in her sleep. No such luck. But a conversation with her friends reveals that when she was much younger she was an accomplished lingerie designer and sewer. A trip to a fabric shop brings back the fire and she decides to make the sundries shop she and her husband had run for many years in their little town in the Swiss Alps into "Petit Paris," a lingerie shop. The town is scandalized but the women prevail. It was cute.

Before the movie, Carol and I ate at Poste, in the Hotel Monaco. Have you been?

It was the menu was what hung us up. It is categorized by where the food comes from (The Garden, The Pasture, etc.) which was clever but not very helpful. More importantly for me, The Washington Post's description of the prices at $$ is too low. The entrees were $23++. But the menu was mainly appetizer-type dishes, a ratio of at least 3 to 1, at $13-$24. Is the intent a tapas menu? And it was heavy on cheese. I love good cheese, but I am not going to order ricotta and goat for dinner. My friend and I got 2 apps for dinner (the squash blossoms were excellent), no drinks or dessert, and the bill was $51. A little steep for what we got. The food was fine, the ambiance, too, but I was a little let down. There are better places to eat in DC with more ambiance and more food for the $$.