Big DC Weekend

On Friday afternoon, Kev and I packed up the car and headed for the Nation's Capital for a belated anniversary weekend away. We packed a lot into our trip. Here are a few highlights:

We stayed at the Carlyle Suites near Dupont Circle. Very nice. I highly recommend it. It is very art deco and has those memory foam mattresses. I will tell you I am now a huge fan. I usually wake up all crooked and stiff and sore, but not after sleeping on the memory foam. Yay NASA!

We did a lot of shopping, including a stop at Red Onion where Kev used a gift certificate from Christmas to get some pretty good stuff on vinyl. We also went to Mitchell Gold Bob Williams furniture store and purchased a new couch for the TV room. We've been in the market for a long time, and we finally found just what we were looking for. Great store, too. No high pressure salespeople breathing down our necks. Goodbye, brown couch! At last!

We saw an amazing Cuban jazz piano player at HR-57. Chuchito Valdes. How great is that name? If we ever get a pet, it will be named Chuchito. This guy played the piano like no one I've ever seen. Check him out on youtube sometime. Incredible.

We saw a really good movie called Win Win at the E Street Cinema. REALLY good. Paul Giamatti is great.

We went to Ford's Theater to see where Lincoln was shot. Very interesting.

We had several great meals, including a dinner at Vento. I had delicious butternut squash raviolini. Yum. I recommend this place highly if you're in Dupont Circle at dinnertime.

And we had a great Sunday Jazz Brunch at Acadiana. Look how happy I am:

I had the "pain perdu" appetizer (a piece of french toast with bananas foster sauce), and the shrimp and grits and tasso ham entree. For dessert I had bread pudding. It was all really good. Kev's food was good too. I think it was probably worth the $30/person.

In between all the food and shopping and so forth, we walked and walked and walked some more. It was great. I got to spend time with Kev and hang out in a city. A real city with STUFF in it. And PEOPLE in it who go out and do stuff. I needed it. I feel refreshed. Thanks, Kev.

And thanks to my mom and dad, too, because while we were off in DC, they were holding down the fort and taking Daphne to her various weekend activities, like birthday parties and soccer games:

She FINALLY got to play. It was the first Saturday in weeks that it didn't rain. We missed her while we were away. It's good to be home.