Life Lately

Our place is *FIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNALLY* almost “done.” A year and 2 months after moving in. That’s usually how it goes. We’ve been filling in the details…..a sconce here; a succulent there; a pair of portraits for the gaping wall space you just never filled; a magnetic knife rack; the perfect sleek black-and-gold candle holders for taper candles. Small deets.

One of these days I’ll do a comprehensive tour.

I’m not really feeling in a narrative mood, so I’ll bullet point some things since there’s no pressure for my thoughts to be remotely understandable that way. Just rapid fire bullet points. Easy.

• We saw Zero Dark Thirty. Very good. Hashtag–America.

• The inauguration came and went in our capital city. It’s obnoxiously fun living in the nation’s capital during inauguration time. Even though I do nothing social, don’t leave the house, and watch everything on TV because inaugurations take place in the month of January, a.k.a. the month that is on repeat in Hell. When you’re evil, and you end up in Hell, it’s nothing but January on repeat, every month, forever. January 31st at midnight becomes January 1st forever. But I have so much fun with the hype and excitement and energy….that I’m absorbing via twitter, instagram, and facebook; because I literally don’t leave my house. All weekend I was refreshing my feed, getting so excited by other people’s activities– their spotting of celebs in town at the airport; their having drinks at the historic downtown-DC hotels like The Jefferson and The Mayflower; their innagural ball gowns because they’re actually doing things like going to inaugural balls.  You legitimately could not pay me cash to put on a dress, and step outside in the cold, to like……dance songs and celebrate America. BUT I’M REALLY EXCITED by your doing of those activities. Literally all weekend, Alex and I cozied up and like…drank hot chocolate and watched Workaholics and Felicity, and lit candles and read books and watched the news, and cooked delicious cozy meals, in flannel pajama pants while everyone that I know took part in the festivities– and the sheer knowledge that so much stuff was happening nearby, was exciting and energetic. Just knowing that right outside our door, people from all over the country are in town, drinking, toasting, visiting, taking pictures. So many peeps were posting instagrams of the crowds and parade and I was stimulated by it but………………..we’ve been there done that. 4 years ago my mom’s friend had an extra ticket and I would have rather ended my life than wait in the cold to attend the inauguration in person, but I kept thinking “this is historic…first black President….being sworn in….you’re alive..you’re here…you live in this city…you have a chance to go….you’ll be embarrassed one day if you tell your kids you DIDN’T go…do it..go”, and I did, and I was in up and in line and waiting at 4:30 am, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I was in more layers than ANYONE HAS EVER BEEN IN–EVER–but it did nothing- it was like the coldest day in 400 years, and we waited for 6 hours, and it was painfully disorganized and we barely got in and almost got trampled/died and by the time they let us through the gate the ceremony was like 2 hours in and I never got close to seeing him and  then when it was over, I almost died again in the crowds, and every street forEVER was blocked off and there was no car traffic that was allowed for a radius of like 40 miles so I couldn’t get picked up or get a cab, and the wait for the metro was like 4 years– literally in 2013 people are still getting on the metro from the wait in 2009–and so I had to walk, in the cold, from Constitution Avenue to BETHESDA, and when I got home, I felt like Moses and the fucking abrahamites on the trek in the desert or whatever that shit was, I was like looking for manna to fall down from the sky, I was delirious, slept for like 5 days, and believe that the experience took 11 good years off of my life. The sheer cold and wait– when I die at 70 instead of 80, it’s because I went to the inauguration in 2009. I don’t even look back on it nostalgically. I’m not happy to be able to say “I was there.” I’m like…it was 0 degrees and a crowd of millions, THE FUCK were you thinking going to that shit. So I did not make that mistake in 2013, but I did feel the excitement radiating through my city and was proud to be living here.

• We went to Ikea and are in love with the way a $13.99 magnetic knife strip can transform a kitchen.

• I changed my clothing rack to ONLY house items that are black and shades of turquoise/green (of which I have a lot).

• It looks so much more mature and neutral and I love it. The predominant colors in our life are white, black, grey, tan, and shades of greeny-blue/turquoise. With lots of wood, texture, graphical touches, and warmth, and a lil’ bit of glamor, and bordering on bohemian, but not quite. Our whole dining/living room has either big pieces or tiny hints of the same overall scheme, so the rooms really work/make sense together.

As my friend Anna says, the rooms “talk to one another,” which she says is very nice. It’s totally true. They’re not entirely the same–the living room has more saturated color and the bedroom is more white/black/neutral;  but they talk to each other.  It’s not about matching– uh……I couldn’t ‘match’ things if I tried, or about consciously only buying pieces of the same color scheme (at least in my opinion….because it’s happened naturally), it’s simply about the overall rooms….talking to one another. I can’t explain it any other way. The rooms are friends. Actually that’s what she says too– “it’s nice that these rooms are friends.  It’s good when that’s the case.” I don’t think the intent is to set out to enforce that that occurs…I think her observation is that it’s ‘nice’ when it in fact happens to turn out that way, which it has. And probably a good sign that you’re making the right purchases that reflect your overall taste and preferences and work well with another. Our bedroom, living room, and dining room all talk to each other guys. No drama.

{Blurry, but you can see the turquoise kilim rug, side table with the green sculptural lamp, etceteraaaa}

• Obsessed with Friday nights that entail cheese plates, wine, candles, music, and good conversation with friends. It’s the only way I ever want to spend Friday night.

I’m doing a post on building a cheese plate because I’m that into cheese these days.

That’s kind of all I’ve got. I’ve been trying to aggressively stick to exercising since I haven’t stuck to it in 8 years. I’ve made it to week THREE of the Couch to 5k running plan but am already ready to give up. Today I had to run for 3 straight minutes–twice–(followed by walking for 3 minutes) and I barely succeeded. My work-out stamina is literally confusingly low. Like even with having not worked out in 8 years. I will do classes and I am the SINGLE person who can’t fulfill the exercise at hand. Like whether it’s a barre3 class or a pilates class or yoga class, I am literally the sole person who stops 3 seconds into the exercise to break/breathe and everyone else just does it. Like you know when the instructor is like “okay guys we’re going to hold this for 20 seconds, here we go,” I have to STOP at second two; and EVERY. FUCKING. PERSON. IN. THE. ENTIRE. FUCKING. CLASS. MAKES. IT. And there are like, out of shape MOMS in the class. Like 50 year olds. I am baffled. I think there is something legitimately wrong with me. Other than fibromyalgia. I literally can’t hold poses. My muscles get so tired that it’s not about “push yourself! “you can do it!” it’s like….I am physically uanble to to do it. I have to lie down and break 6 times in the 20 seconds that everyone else was holding the pose. NO ONE. ELSE. STOPS. AND BREAKS. NOT ONE PERSON. NO ONE. And not everyone looks like a professional athlete or even someone who works out regularly. It’s not like, oh I’m surrounded by the fittest toned-est people so that’s why. No. It’s just normal humans. BUT THEY’RE ALL MANAGING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE PARTICULAR POSE AT HAND. So I’m kind of legitimately confused. I don’t think not having exercised for a decade explains it. Because I’m like…young and even though it’s been that long since I’ve exercised, I’m not sedentary. I walk places and do things on a daily basis. And everyone else in the class looks like they haven’t worked out in 8 years too. Or longer. SO HOW COME THEY’RE ALL ABLE TO MAINTAIN THE REPETITIONS? It’s out of a movie. I want to put a hidden camera on my head and show you what it’s like. EVERYONE makes it but me. ALL OTHER 25 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FLABBY POST MENOPAUSAL WOMEN. But I guess I’ll just keep going….and seeing if something changes. Even though………it never does.

Now we’re about to try a place we’ve never been to in Mount Pleasant– a pizza joint called Radius. Excited. It’s a double date. I love double dates with other city couples who you have things in common with. The best.

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!