we finally made it to phillips after 5 (LONG time list item). we went, we saw, we conquered.

on top of the museum's regular collection and special exhibits, we sampled the free food, sat in on the dc jazz week performances, sipped some specialty cocktails, and hobnobbed with dc's finest. definitely my favorite way to visit a museum

leaving dc this weekend and heading north! we're roadtripping to vermont for a friend's wedding, stocked with plenty of road munchies. bring on the cabins, the celebrations and the open road!

 

 *please excuse my serious lack of tan

i took myself on an adventure through the wilds of northern virginia. turns out, not so wild after all

mara and i braved the tornado warnings and flash floods in search of dinner, desserts and dry places. we ducked into shop house just in time to avoid the downpour, catching up over spicy curry and organic tofu. we waited out the rest of the storm at one of my neighborhood favorites, kramer books, swapping book recommendations and geeking out over our favorite reads (oh reading for fun, how ive missed you these past two years!!). somehow, we managed to only leave with one new book each *i picked up the first game of thrones book after obsessing over the first season and have been chained to the book ever since. to congratulate ourselves on our restraint, we treated ourselves to cupcakes of the chocolate and peanut butter varieties. mara sensei-ed me in the art of cupcake sandwich making...i forsee many, many years of study ahead

***SO excited for allie rose to come back from her big european adventure tomorrow!!

i just cant seem to get enough dc rooftops these days. or crossing things off the list.

despite the lackluster food and service, the music + view + company + not yet unbearably hot weather made for a near perfect dc summer night on the roof at jack rose. not to be upstaged by a late night round of jumbo slice (of vegan pizza fame)  / forever the student, i spent an afternoon working on my finnish flash cards at a new coffee shop in woodley *lucky for me finnish continually ranks as one of the hardest languages to learn. a trip to visit the motherland with 'isäni' is my light at the end of what im sure will be a very long, very dark tunnel / el centro rooftop margaritas with the lovely avra

                                                                                                               *vegan pizza whhaaaaaaaat?!

fooding. per usual. went on a little culinary adventure around the mediterranean, america, west africa, the district, italy and ethiopia

if you're ever in dc, i highly recommend the o st mansion (self led) champagne tour. a converted  hodge-podge maze of a mansion complete with secret doors, decked out themed rooms, hidden wine cellars, 2 story indoor log cabins, memorabilia and more bathrooms than you could ever use in a lifetime. we snagged a living social deal and wandered our way up 5 levels and across the 5 combined rowhouses, stopping to ogle at the mounds of misplaced books, guitars and chotchkies-all donated and mostly for sale (a hoarders paradise!).  oddly enough, the mansion is also a functioning hotel, so we were never quite sure who (or what) we would find *thankfully nothing traumatizing. we only managed to find around 5 of the countless hidden doors, passages and crawl spaces, so i guess ill just have to go back to find the rest!