life sans my regular roomy (currently off exploring the rough and tumble wilderness of buenos aires) has been a little less bubbly, but not without adventures!

tuesday evening i met up with a friend for drinks turned impromptu dinner event. we decided to check out jackies, a converted auto shop dining experience similar to what i imagine a good acid trip to be...a barrage of colors and shapes. The food and cute wait staff werent too bad either

the following afternoon i met up with a few fellow shark nuts for happy hour. new BEST happy hour spot EVER...right downtown. a little unassuming japanese place, mazu. im telling you, these drinks (cocktails under $6) packed a serious punch AND were tasty...the so called 'asian long island.' two drinks later and we were all slightly shambles.

thursday i agreed to check out a german happy hour with some coworkers, both of whom actually speak german (me..neit!). somehow i got wrangled into coming, but hey, i figured A. i at least i look german and B. its an excuse to check out the new beer garden on H st. we showed up fashionably late around 8, facing a table of about 25 or so german speakers of all ages. conversation momentarily paused and all eyes trailed our movements as my coworker and i squeezed in at the end of the table with the other stragglers. the moment i sat down, people launch into conversation-in german-as i just sat there like a lump batting my eyelashes, pretending like i knew what was going on. after somewhat long awkward expectant pauses, i eventually offered up that i dont actually know any german. after a few looks of confusion and annoyance (understandably...being at a german CONVERSATION group meeting), people switched over to english. we met some interesting characters...the infamous 'sleep apena' ex soldier, the token croatian creeper who continually made sexual inuendos, the elderly soft spoken german women, and friendly wine enthusiast. i cant remember the last time ive laughed so hard to the point of tears with a complete group of strangers. as the night wore on, i began to forget i was blocks away from the dc ghetto and fancied myself in the bavarian hills, lulled into confusion by omnipresent german conversation and long rows of tables lined with german beer drinking patrons. after the evening of spotty german lessons, i even managed to corral a frenchie into being my speaking partner on my way back from the bathroom...heard that accent, ears perked, reverted to attack mode, made a bee line and cornered that helpless french man in conversation, securing a business card and offer to come 'mix and mingle' with dc's french elite. done and done.

yet another happy hour and evening of soccer is in the cards tonight, meeting up with some folks at neighborhood haunt and sports bar extraordinaire lucky bar. trying to go a little low key tonight, a few drinks, some nibbles, hit the sack early to wake up bright and early for my World Ocean Day event tomorrow in baltimore.

holy smokes...tues, wed, thur, fri, and sat night out and about...when did i become such a lush???