Woman Needs a Man, Like a Fish Needs a Bycicle

Dear DC,

So, it was nice to have spring time….you know for that whole week and a half that it was around. Thanks for ditching out on us spring and allowing summer to just jump right on in at full force. What’s with the 90 degree days all of a sudden? Shouldn’t we at least have some time to enjoy some temperatures in the 70s?

Well with the very nice, but very hot weather it does make me feel quite good. And that’s a big thing for me to say considering I hate any temperature over 60 degrees. But there is something great about being able to drive my insanely dirty car down the street with the windows down, blasting music and bobbing my head to the beat. With the great weather, and this great place to live I have also discovered a new and fantastic summer time activity-bike riding!

This past Saturday we went to this great spot in Georgetown by the river and rented bikes. We took this paved trail along the river and through the woods, not to grandma’s house though. The scenery was beautiful, the wind was cool, and if you kept your mouth open you got your protein intake for the day. It was so much fun, and a great 10 mile workout - not bad for someone who hasn’t been on a bike in over 5 years. Now I am all pumped up to buy a bike and become an avid bike rider. We’ll see how that goes along with my other aspirations I’ve had over the years such as: pro tennis player, world champion of Halo, and avid bottle cap collector.

Ok, I may not have mastered those other things, but bike riding was too fun to give up on too easily.

With Pedal Pumping Love,

Kyle

All You Need Are Comments!

Dear DC,

Just a note that for a short while the comment feature on this blog was broken. It is now fixed. So comment away. Comment on how you love/hate/laugh/cry/are indifferent to what we write.

Heck...comment on this comment. Commenty com comment!

With Comment Love,

Julia

Just Dance!

Dear DC,

Sometimes the weather is so beautiful outside and I have the music cranked up on my iPod that I seriously have to restrain myself from dancing down the streets on my way to the bus stop in the morning. The thing that seems to bring me back is the thought of looking crazier than the homeless guy with the shopping cart full of plastic bags who likes to sleep in a doorway by the bus stop. I might be crazier than him, but I certainly don't want to appear that way.

I'm not much of a dancer (despite years of lessons and wishful thinking) but once that music gets pumping and the sun comes out I am a championship dancer choreographing stage shows in my head...costumes and all. Outkast or Black Eyed Peas comes on and suddenly I become a hip hop extraordinaire, popping and sashaying all over the sidewalk...in my head. Malaguena comes on and amazingly I transform into a passion-filled latin dancer clapping castenettes as my hips shake to the beat...in my daydreams. U2 comes on and....well I skip U2 because as awesome as they are, can you really do anything but jump up and down and marvel?

Point is, even though I don't dance anymore and I'm pretty crummy at it anyways, a girl can daydream, right? I love having some time to just lose myself in the music and let my mind wander through the rhythms and melodies. It only gets worse in the summer when I have "So You Think You Can Dance" to inspire the dancer/choreographer/costume designer who lives only in my mind.

Maybe someday the expert that I am in my dreams will actually translate through my body...I just have to give it a shot, right?

With Dance-dreaming Love,

Julia

Walk On

Dear DC,

I have found that I really enjoy walking to and from work each day. The short 20 minute walk from home to office really seems to give a boost to my energy level. I don’t have to sit at traffic lights and worry about homeless people trying to sit in my car, or worry about the taxi driver’s lack of driving skills. Instead I get to breathe some fresh air, enjoy all the blossoming trees, and get a little extremely much needed exercise.

I have gotten myself in a routine by walking to work. I try to leave the apartment right at 8:30am, which will get me to work by 8:50am. I walk along Maryland Ave, through the same park on my way to work. With this routine I have found that I am not the only one who has a routine at 8:30am.

Every day I pass the same mother with her 4 children waiting at the bus stop for the X8. The mother, who I like to call the “Nobody Taught Me About Carbs Mother” eating a chicken wing (at 8:37 in the morning), the children eating oversized M&M cookies.

Then there are the two girls who walk onto Maryland Ave from E St. The Bobbsey Twins. One girl is always smoking a cigarette and holding a green plastic cup. Each time I see her I imagine how gross whatever it is that she is drinking tastes right after she takes a puff of the cigarette. I then begin to walk faster than them in order to get ahead of the smell of cigarette smoke.

Once I reach Stanton Square, there is always that same guy, Flood Boy, who is wearing tennis shoes with his suit. The gap between his shoes and suit pants is at least 10 inches, and for some reason he is always carrying an umbrella. Rain or shine. It’s not open, just there.

In the middle of Stanton Square is usually when the Two Bag Girl arrives. I suppose a more fitting name for her would be the Chicken Dance Girl. Because she is walking along with her purse on one shoulder and her gym bag on the other and her hands on the strap of each bag, it causes her arms to flap out with each step that she takes. Luckily I have my ipod with me so I don’t get the chicken dance song stuck in my head.

Then we get to the ultimate routine. Every day, as long as I keep my pace up, in the 400 block of Maryland Ave, I will nearly walk right into the Rav4 Guy. The Rav4 Guy is the guy who comes charging out of his house, opening his squeaky iron gate, and into his silver Toyota Rav4. Before walking through his gate however, he stops to look both ways down the sidewalk as if to be checking to make sure he won’t run into a Segway tour group.

Sometimes I feel like the part of Groundhog Day. The part where Bill Murray is sitting on a park bench counting down each thing that happens because he has lived the same day over and over. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…dog barks, blue truck honks, child cries, Flood Boy walks by.

With Walking Along Love,

Kyle

Um...SCARY!!!

Dear DC,

I have never felt scared, threatened or unsafe while living here. HOWEVER, an incident this morning has changed that.

About 8:45 this morning about one and a half blocks from our place (in the wrong direction) a woman was shot and killed. This is right across the street from Kyle and my favorite fast food place which we frequent often. This is OUR neighborhood.

And here's the kicker; the shooter is still on the loose. That and the woman had four children who are now without a mother.

We were driving out of town about 10am this morning to visit Annapolis on our day off and the whole street just one block aware from us was shut down and roped off with yellow police tape. We knew something was seriously wrong....

So should I be getting mace? A gun? Probably not, usually the people involved in this type of violence are not innocent bystanders. Don't worry mom! (I think she'll probably still worry.)

With Concerned Love,

Julia

Library of the Year

Dear DC,

One of the things I enjoyed the most about my last apartment in Salt Lake was the 1 block walk to the downtown Salt Lake City library, voted best library in the country in 2006. It was a beautiful facility, had an amazing catalog, was extraordinarily hi-tech and was a place that people loved to spend time in comfy arm chairs. Basically it was the biggest, best Barnes & Noble you could imagine but with so so much more.

Now coming from that, I very nearly cried after my first DC library experience. I drove up to the "community branch" which was little more than a glorified hot dog stand (seriously smaller than my apartment). I didn't even go in and ran, not walked, to the "neighborhood branch". This was an older brick building with two floors, much better than the last place, but upon looking around, I realized that the literature section was two bookshelves with maybe about 50 books. Checking out books involved a stamp and card that gets removed from the back of the book.

Ok, so that was just small branch. The main library must be an amazing place housed in a historic building blocks from the White House. This is DC after all, our nation's capitol. Well I was right about one thing.....this is DC. And all the good-library-karma must be used up by the Library of Congress.

Alas, the main branch was the event that inspired my despair and near-tears. Literature was no longer two bookshelves but now a whole room filled with dirty bums looking at porn on the free computers....oh and there were a few books too.

The computerized catalog was down for maintenance but fortunately I came with a list. Unfortunately the entire sections of authors with last names starting with "E" and "N" were mysteriously missing. I resolved there and then that I would abandon actually going to library and just browse the catalog online and request my materials to be placed on hold.

I am seriously heartbroken about my loss of a quality library. Don't fear goodreads.com buddies....I will continue to read and post my progress, it's just that finding my next literary adventure won't be quite as enjoyable.

With Library-withdrawal Love,

Julia

Blossoming Festival of Cherry Trees

Dear DC,

What a fantastic day! While many parts of the country are suffering through blizzards, we are rocking out in true Spring style.

We started off by going to the Cherry Blossom Parade. For those who know me know that I am not a parade fan, but because my extra awesome wife loves parades its always a good time with her. We showed up late to the parade but still found an awesome spot along Constitution right in front of the White House to view the parade. There were plenty of marching bands, floats, and those large group of people that you aren't really sure why they are in the parade...but whatever.

Then there was the street festival, which just had tons and tons of people all crowding around the booths so that you can't really see what kind of over priced jewelry was being sold. I suppose once you've seen one you've seen them all though. It was still fun though, just being out in the middle of the city with lots of people out enjoying the sights.

The day was perfect for festivaling. After a few days of clouds and rain this past week, today was freaking awesome. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was something that hasn't been seen in a long time. Hey...what is that thing the sun does to you when you are out in it for a while? Oh yeah...sun burn, Yeah..we have one of those now.

Although the best part about today would be finding another insanely good sushi restaurant for lunch. And of course, we had to get their seasonal specialty, the Cherry Blossom Roll. Sooo good. Go Momoyama!

With blossoming cherry tree love,

Kyle

Hottest Ticket In Town

Dear DC,

I have the hottest ticket in town....other than the obvious (married to my hubby)....I recently procured FLOOR tickets to the U2 concert in September. WaHOOOOO!

It only cost us the price of membership to U2.com (to get into the pre-sale), the price of the actual ticket, cost of facility fee, delivery fee, taxes, service fee.

I don't understand all those fees. Isn't that what I'm paying for with my ticket? It's like when the rental car place charges an airport fee....if you're at the airport then it's an unavoidable cost. Just wrap it into my charge.

I've heard the saying that you don't want to see what goes into making sausages and laws. Well frankly I don't want to see all these stupid fees. Just charge me for it but don't show it to me. Put it all in up front, let me see it and make my decision based on that.....not when I'm in the checkout of Ticketmaster with the most amazing tickets of the year and tack on fees which effectively doubles my ticket price. That means you too airlines!

NO FAIR!

But I'm going to see U2 so I'm absolutely giddy!

With "I feel ripped off but I still get to see U2" Love,

Julia