It’s like I’ve been waiting for a friend I haven’t seen in a while to come visit me, and as the day spring comes to visit quickly approaches I get more and more excited for spring to knock on my front door and get here!! (I’m so excited, I’m gonna die – think Agnus in Despicable Me). Everyday, spring starts to peak its little head around the corner, and I have been lucky enough on the sunniest days to be inundated with a plethora of activities to participate in (which are in no way overwhelming me). 🙂 The rays of sun and warm weather fill me with so much energy and excitement that I feel like Jim Carey in Yes Man whenever I am asked to participate in any activity (minus the hesitation). And now that I am living in D.C. and have my blackberry to look up any activity and walking directions, I can access so many different sources of entertainment that spring fun is LITERALLY at my fingertips (That’s for you John, and for everyone else, watch How I Met Your Mother: Spoiler Alert).
(Listen to this while you read, the sun is shinning and you want something to jam to!)
Sweet glasses.. I'm just sayin..
I think I got this love for the warm seasons from my parents. Every day it seems they find some reason to come to D.C. and want to try a new restaurants or happy hours – Free food and drinks? I’m not complaining. So last week we all headed to the Cherry Blossom Festival and did the touristy thing (I had some awesome sunglasses, all I needed was one of those multi-colored hats with a propeller on top). The blossoms were in full bloom and the venders were crazy busy, so we avoided the fried food and headed to my mom’s favorite classy bar in the city (which she thinks we should keep a secret, sorry guys..) But, it was a good thing I had google maps on my blackberry, because I got us to the bar a.s.a.p. with a minor stop on the way, where we passed the Warner Theatre and saw that the Blue Man Group was playing. Immediately, I switched over to google on my phone and looked up when the show was playing and if we were able to buy tickets online. Luckily, we got tickets to the very last show in D.C. on Sunday. Really great group- highly recommend it for dates or family outings. Its a bit goofy, and you cant really decide whether they are more like mimes, blue clowns or just some regular Joe’s that decided they could try to make more money banging their plastic buckets in the street by pouring paint on them and painting their bodies blue. GENIUS. This is a serious example of tapping into the Blue Ocean (see: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne). Here’s a bit of the show:
YELP
Now, aside from the fact that I have hung out with my family way too much since moving to D.C., the most exciting part is spending time with all my friends that live in the area, and springtime is the absolute best time to do this. One activity I have been actively participating in ever since the weather improved is happy hour. Cara, I blame you for your blog about happy hours on U Street!! Now, normally, I try to keep social drinking down to just a couple days a week, but when the sun is shinning and all of your friends want to get together for a drink after work, it just feels right… Luckily, I have an excuse this week because its DRINK WEEK IN D.C.!!! When I found out about Drink Week, I whipped out google once again on my phone and found out all kinds of information about which bars are participating and which ones were closest to me. Check it out on YELP, and don’t forget to mention Yelp at the bar of your choosing, because its one of those secret type specials (too bad I spilled the beans).
We took advantage of Yelp on Monday at ris on L street, which has happy hour prices all week. It is a very classy place, and we had a great time, but in all honesty, it’s not the most affordable place I’ve ever been to, not gonna lie. Guys, this is a good place to take a lady on a fancy date if your trying to impress, and after a slight debate at the table between John, Liz and I, we decided that if you ask a girl out on a first date, you should pay. If you had any questions before, they are answered now. The only time we decided it’s okay to except a woman’s offer to pay is 1) if it’s a blind date, and 2) if you are completely uninterested in going out on another date with her.
On another note, I swear I do other sober activities when the weather is nice. For one, of course, I run on Curtis Trail every time the weather permits, and just last Saturday it was my friend Caitlyn’s birthday and a bunch of her friends and I headed to the Woodley Park Zoo after brunch. I had a really great time in the invertebrates section because of this amazing class I took on inverts in college (I’m such a bio nerd). As we went around to all the different exhibits, I noticed how many people were looking up information on their phones about the animals they were showing their kids, and they were able to actually teach them facts that weren’t posted for the public. I was amazed at this because children these days have so much more access to knowledge than our generation ever did. It is at these times that I seriously wonder what people did before they had the Internet on their phones.
Well I guess that about wraps it up for my week in D.C. Here are some pictures of my adventures for your pleasure, and I will hopefully continue to have endless activities and deals to enjoy throughout the spring and summer to tell you about.
Chameleon 