this has been a pretty awesome weekend
Actually, perhaps I should really just say that yesterday was a pretty awesome day. Things that were awesome about it:
- going out to brunch with my freshman year roommate, Julia. Still haven't found my perfect brunch place in DC -- the atmosphere was nice (well-ventilated glass rooftop enclosed patio), but the food was nothing special, and the coffee was downright awful. I still miss The Dish and Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe. (I have decided that if I want my perfect breakfast place to exist in DC, I will have to open it myself. This is my back-up plan for if Physics fails me.)
- fresh blueberries from the U St farmer's market. Which is an awesome market, if tiny. I'll have to make more excuses to get over that way early on Saturday mornings.
- finding a random 80 bucks in the purse that I pulled out to take to brunch. Actually, it was inside my under-the-clothes passport holder, which was inside the purse. I'm not sure if I've used that passport holder since the Europe trip I took after college graduation in 2000... and they're series 1999 bills, so that's actually a definite possibility. (I've been to Europe since then, but I have no memories of wearing that passport holder on the later trip...)
- finding not one but two tops that will match the skirt I bought to wear to Kimberly's wedding on the sale rack at J. Jill. (No, of course I don't need to wear two tops to the wedding, but since I specifically bought a skirt that I can also wear for dance parties, it's nice to have variety.)
- My first trip to Wolf Trap.
I went to Wolf Trap with some friends to hear Erich Kunzel conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in "The Music of John Williams." Yesterday had been a beautiful day, sunny and hot, and my main concern for the evening was that it would be too hot and sticky to be pleasant. We were making an evening out of the concert -- leaving around 6 PM to stake out seats on the lawn and have a picnic before the concert began. I stopped at Popeye's on the way over to Marla's (where we were meeting to carpool) to grab some fried chicken as my picnic contribution. As we were making our way over to Wolf Trap, ominous black clouds began gathering. By the time we got off the highway, the heavens had opened and it was pouring. (One of the other cars in our group had worse luck -- they were about 15 minutes ahead of the rest of us, and had already set up on the lawn with blankets when the rain began.) We parked, and sat in the car waiting to see if the rain would let up a bit. Meanwhile, I was feeling quite hungry. All of the food, though, was in the trunk, and none of us wanted to get out of the car in the rain to access the food. So Shanda folded down the back seats (which she had been sitting on!) to access the trunk, then crawled into the trunk to get the food out. (For those of you who don't know her, Shanda is not a particularly small person... but as a dancer, at least she's fairly flexible.) Finally the rain let up some, and we left the car to join our dripping friends on the lawn.
The picnic portion of the concert went surprisingly well. We had WAAAAY too much food for the 10 of us who were there, the rain had stopped, and we still had enough dry blankets to sit on the ground comfortably. Members of the 501st Legion were there in costume. (No, I did not get my picture taken with a Storm Trooper, or with R2-D2. Yes, I should have.)
Then the concert began... and the heavens opened again. Unfortunately, we had gotten there late enough and were a large enough group that we couldn't see the stage at all from where we were sitting. I was sharing an umbrella with Lara, so half of me was dry, at least? The first half of the concert included music from Jaws, Close Encounters, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan, Superman, the Olympics, and Indiana Jones. I already have an Erich Kunzel recording that includes a great deal of John Williams music, so the experience actually felt a great deal like one I could have been having in my living room... only much wetter.
The rain let up some at intermission (I didn't really want to move at all, though, because the patch of ground where I was sitting was pretty much the only dry patch of ground anywhere near me). Then the second half of the concert began. The second half of the concert was entirely Star Wars. At that point I was obligated to leave my seat and stand somewhere where I could see the stage... because the members of the 501st were doing things on stage. They marched across it during the "Parade of the Flags" (from Phantom Menace). Obi-Wan and Anakin had a lightsaber duel in the audience during "Battle of the Heroes" (from Revenge of the Sith). During the Imperial March, Darth Vader himself came onstage and battled the conductor (Vader fought with a lightaber; Kunzel fought with his baton). It was awesome. The music made me happy. (Yes, the music of Star Wars can still make me grin like a 10-year-old girl. I actually felt some of my recent cynicism falling away as I listened to that music.) Despite all the wetness (by this point, though, the rain had finally stopped for good so at least I wasn't getting any wetter), the whole experience was entirely worthwhile.
The drive home was fun, too. I was in a car with Catherine and Shanda, and by that point what Shanda calls the "purple sillies" (no, I don't know why they are purple) had well and truly set in. I haven't laughed that hard in... a good long while. It was a good night.
Also, too many people that I know have actually never seen some or all of the Prequel trilogy. Yes, those movies suck (with the possible exception of Revenge of the Sith). No, that is no excuse not to have seen them. I think I'm going to have to host a Star Wars movie marathon some day soon...
Today is a lazy day. I slept in, and am currently hanging out at Panera drinking coffee and... updating LJ. I found out late last night that my usual Sunday afternoon/evening plans aren't happening this week, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my afternoon. I think it may involve vising Home Depot, repotting some plants, and baking zucchini bread... but we'll see.
- going out to brunch with my freshman year roommate, Julia. Still haven't found my perfect brunch place in DC -- the atmosphere was nice (well-ventilated glass rooftop enclosed patio), but the food was nothing special, and the coffee was downright awful. I still miss The Dish and Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe. (I have decided that if I want my perfect breakfast place to exist in DC, I will have to open it myself. This is my back-up plan for if Physics fails me.)
- fresh blueberries from the U St farmer's market. Which is an awesome market, if tiny. I'll have to make more excuses to get over that way early on Saturday mornings.
- finding a random 80 bucks in the purse that I pulled out to take to brunch. Actually, it was inside my under-the-clothes passport holder, which was inside the purse. I'm not sure if I've used that passport holder since the Europe trip I took after college graduation in 2000... and they're series 1999 bills, so that's actually a definite possibility. (I've been to Europe since then, but I have no memories of wearing that passport holder on the later trip...)
- finding not one but two tops that will match the skirt I bought to wear to Kimberly's wedding on the sale rack at J. Jill. (No, of course I don't need to wear two tops to the wedding, but since I specifically bought a skirt that I can also wear for dance parties, it's nice to have variety.)
- My first trip to Wolf Trap.
I went to Wolf Trap with some friends to hear Erich Kunzel conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in "The Music of John Williams." Yesterday had been a beautiful day, sunny and hot, and my main concern for the evening was that it would be too hot and sticky to be pleasant. We were making an evening out of the concert -- leaving around 6 PM to stake out seats on the lawn and have a picnic before the concert began. I stopped at Popeye's on the way over to Marla's (where we were meeting to carpool) to grab some fried chicken as my picnic contribution. As we were making our way over to Wolf Trap, ominous black clouds began gathering. By the time we got off the highway, the heavens had opened and it was pouring. (One of the other cars in our group had worse luck -- they were about 15 minutes ahead of the rest of us, and had already set up on the lawn with blankets when the rain began.) We parked, and sat in the car waiting to see if the rain would let up a bit. Meanwhile, I was feeling quite hungry. All of the food, though, was in the trunk, and none of us wanted to get out of the car in the rain to access the food. So Shanda folded down the back seats (which she had been sitting on!) to access the trunk, then crawled into the trunk to get the food out. (For those of you who don't know her, Shanda is not a particularly small person... but as a dancer, at least she's fairly flexible.) Finally the rain let up some, and we left the car to join our dripping friends on the lawn.
The picnic portion of the concert went surprisingly well. We had WAAAAY too much food for the 10 of us who were there, the rain had stopped, and we still had enough dry blankets to sit on the ground comfortably. Members of the 501st Legion were there in costume. (No, I did not get my picture taken with a Storm Trooper, or with R2-D2. Yes, I should have.)
Then the concert began... and the heavens opened again. Unfortunately, we had gotten there late enough and were a large enough group that we couldn't see the stage at all from where we were sitting. I was sharing an umbrella with Lara, so half of me was dry, at least? The first half of the concert included music from Jaws, Close Encounters, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan, Superman, the Olympics, and Indiana Jones. I already have an Erich Kunzel recording that includes a great deal of John Williams music, so the experience actually felt a great deal like one I could have been having in my living room... only much wetter.
The rain let up some at intermission (I didn't really want to move at all, though, because the patch of ground where I was sitting was pretty much the only dry patch of ground anywhere near me). Then the second half of the concert began. The second half of the concert was entirely Star Wars. At that point I was obligated to leave my seat and stand somewhere where I could see the stage... because the members of the 501st were doing things on stage. They marched across it during the "Parade of the Flags" (from Phantom Menace). Obi-Wan and Anakin had a lightsaber duel in the audience during "Battle of the Heroes" (from Revenge of the Sith). During the Imperial March, Darth Vader himself came onstage and battled the conductor (Vader fought with a lightaber; Kunzel fought with his baton). It was awesome. The music made me happy. (Yes, the music of Star Wars can still make me grin like a 10-year-old girl. I actually felt some of my recent cynicism falling away as I listened to that music.) Despite all the wetness (by this point, though, the rain had finally stopped for good so at least I wasn't getting any wetter), the whole experience was entirely worthwhile.
The drive home was fun, too. I was in a car with Catherine and Shanda, and by that point what Shanda calls the "purple sillies" (no, I don't know why they are purple) had well and truly set in. I haven't laughed that hard in... a good long while. It was a good night.
Also, too many people that I know have actually never seen some or all of the Prequel trilogy. Yes, those movies suck (with the possible exception of Revenge of the Sith). No, that is no excuse not to have seen them. I think I'm going to have to host a Star Wars movie marathon some day soon...
Today is a lazy day. I slept in, and am currently hanging out at Panera drinking coffee and... updating LJ. I found out late last night that my usual Sunday afternoon/evening plans aren't happening this week, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my afternoon. I think it may involve vising Home Depot, repotting some plants, and baking zucchini bread... but we'll see.