Ladies who Lunch

I ran out the door this morning only to realize I forgot to make my regular salad.  I wasn't too upset considering I was really needing a change from my regular go-to lunch.

I called Carolyn and she and I headed to Le Bon, a little French cafe, by our office to pretend we were lunching in Paris for a few minutes!

It was the perfect way to celebrate Friday.

After much patience, we scored the window seat, complete with the perfect view of friendly yellow daffodils, blue bistro chairs and the big "Love" pillow on the window seat.

It got me thinking: I really should try to eat lunch away from my desk more than once every two months.

If you work, where do you eat lunch?  Are you always hurriedly scarfing food at your desk or do you take time to sit outside if the weather is nice or use the lunch hour to spend time with a friend and catch up?

Dining in Lincoln Park

Kern and I decided to swing by Sweetgreen, pick up dinner and eat it in Lincoln Park on our way to community group last night.

I got the Chic Pea salad with tahini dressing!

We watched dogs play.  I saw 4 french bulldogs!

We even split a cup of Sweetflow yogurt with strawberries, chocolate chips and coconut shavings.

Excuse the scary eyes...but this is what I look like tearing around town on my beloved bike.  It's the best!

Spring in DC reminds me of the trip I took during in high school (in 2003) when I decided I wanted to intern when I was in college and possibly move here.  It's been nearly a decade since that trip and here I am!  As I say after a long day of work, "Living the Dream!"

Spring Cleaning

 Well, there's nothing like "out with the old and in with the new!" 

This past weekend, my landlord put new flooring in my apartment.  We have had some old dingy carpet for the past few years, and he decided to replace it with tile.

Without going into too many details, let's just say that I'm glad the flooring is in, but it was not without blood, sweat and tears.  Here are some "in process" shots.

Bye bye old carpet!

Holly and I spent two hours shopping for new rugs, plants, lamps, organizational bins...and everything else in between.

I leave you with this image to let you know what we were up against regarding clean up.  It was not fun.  When the carpet was removed, they had to sand the floors before they put the tile down.  Well, sanding the floors created this wonderful, thick, white dust that conveniently settled on all the furniture that they forgot to drop cloth...Anyway...I digress.

I'll have some "after" photos coming soon!

83 and Sunny

After a mild winter, DC is enjoying an early spring.  Several of us took advantage of the weather and went down to Cantina Marina on the waterfront last night.

Kern, Will, Dee and I rode our bikes...I wish I could have gotten a photo of us riding "Von Trapp Family" style through the streets.  Just imagine.  It's still funny.

DC sunset

Nothing like some chips and salsa with mini corn pups

Fortunately, there was a TV outside where dedicated basketball fans could watch!

This is about as close as I'll get to "spring break" this year.  Not quite Destin, but I'll take it!

Throwback post: Kern's Birthday

It's been several weeks since the actual birthday celebration, and I am going to blame my computer for doing something weird with photos and making it difficult for me upload to explain for the tardiness of this post.

Anyway...

It was fun (and delicious) celebrating Kern's birthday in February.

I made a three-layer coconut cake (birthday boy's favorite)
BIG shout out to my new Kitchen Aid Mixer...it just really makes my life so much easier!

Birthday confetti double chocolate brownies for the chocolate lovers!

Kern and Jordan

Ready for cake!

Chocolate chip cookies with coconut!

Should have been a good wish...

Charles and Carolyn

John and Lee

Shots from the Weekend

It was a relaxing weekend--just what I needed after a busy week!

We had a fun get together at Archer and Henry's on Saturday night.

Love this gal

Archer made these bacon wrapped crackers that were straight HEAVEN.  I'm not sure what I'm doing in this photo but I imagine I'm reaching for a cracker...

On Sunday morning, Kern and Buck ran a St. Paddy's Day 8K...in green blazers.  Kern even wore a pocket square.

Happy Friday!

Here's a theory to ponder:

Have a great weekend!

St. Paddy's Day Inspired Table/Decor

It's hard to believe it is already March!  Which means: spring, more hours of sunlight...and St. Paddy's Day!

Using supplies I already had, I whipped up a few items to make the table do an Irish jig.

Arts 'n crafts: I cut clover shapes out of green cardstock.

I secured the initialed clover to a napkin with jute and a small St. Paddy's themed ribbon.

I still need to paint my table top!  I'm thinking of stripping it and staining the wood dark instead of painting...

I borrowed some green rocks from the bottom of a flower arrangement and mixed in a few rhinestones (leprechaun jewels!) and tied the plant arrangement with a sunny, yellow striped ribbon.

Kern wore green for the occasion.

A full out spring door basket re-do is on the way, but for the time being I took out the red berries and replaced the red ribbon with a white satin ribbon and some more St. Paddy's Day ribbon.

When you sit at a desk all day, sometimes you just need to sit on the floor and cut out shapes!
Happy March!

Tandem Bike: Paint Stripping

Hello readers, it's me again.  El hombre, l'homme, O.G.  Many of you may have painted, but I have something to ask.  Have you ever stripped?   

First you gotta apply that special sauce.  Shout-out to Frager's Hardware.  Paint department.  Southeast DC, Stand-up!   And let me take this moment to stress the importance of protecting your Carhartt's from getting caught in your bike chain.

This stuff is nuclear Yo.  Slap those gloves on and lay out a drop cloth.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  

   Let that stuff settle.  Take a minute.  Then grab that wire brush and get your bow grease on. 

     Eliminate the excess, people!  Next time, priming.  

Tandem Bike: Let's Do This

Over the next few days, Kern will provide commentary for the restoration of the bike.

Narrative by Kern:

I could go into a lot of things here.  I could talk about the bad decision of combining sea foam with mustard yellow.  I could brag about this hand-built bike carrier you see magnificently seated in the bed of this truck.  If you want, I could tell you about the art of parallel parking this sled in the city.  But, we're gonna take a moment and admire something truly admirable.  A well executed ratchet strap tie-down.

Nah, look at that beauty.  Our 1974 JC Penny Dual Swinger.  Regular readers may not know this, but I have been putting the "swing" in swinger since 1998.  Catch my drift.  

We're gonna start the rebuild with a tear down.  That's right.  Starting from scratch.  Brings me to another point.  I got this awesome sourdough bread recipe from a Nun I met on the Metro last month.  But that's neither here nor there.  I digress.  

     Lotta heat in that seat.  Wink. Wink.  Join us next time for the stripping and priming.

Current Project: Tandem Bike

If you know me, you know I love a good project.

Lately, I've been really into furniture, which I still love...but...I thought:

"Why not try a bike?"

I found this little gem on eBay.  Kern and I drove to New Freedom, PA and picked her up.

Yep, a bicycle buit for two.

Stay tuned as we restore her to her former 1970's glory.