Old Town photos

Wandering the Mall

After a breakfast of marvellous muffins and lovely lattes at Firehook we took a brief tour round the marina before heading back to the house to check the Internet and see how the Fall foliage colour was looking along Skyline Drive. It said it was still patchy, so we changed our plans and decided to head into DC and wander the Mall for a few hours. It was a glorious day today. Clear blue skies and warm without being sticky.



We parked up at Pentagon Mall and Metro'd into L'Enfant Plaza. I think I need hypnotherapy or something in order to overcome the down escalator phobia! I managed it, but I was not a happy bunny - and these were just itty bitty escalators. There is no way in hell that I could even contemplate getting on one of these enormous ones that they have. What is wrong with good old fashioned stairs????



We had a lovely day wandering around - up to the Capitol building, back down the Mall to the Sculpture Garden, then into the Natural History Museum. It was absolutely rammed with people which slightly took the edge off my chirpy mood! After about 3/4 hour I was ready to leave as I was fed up not being able to move without someone bumping into me. As I said to Stephen we should have left the uber popular museum and gone to the National Gallery as that's always quiet. Art is a lot less popular than dinosaurs!

We took loads of photos, and were competing to see who could get the best shot. Stephen was in hysterics at my inability to hold his camera straight. I think I need to work out my right arm in order to be able to heft his camera around! It took me ages to get a shot of him outside the Capitol which didn't have the reflecting pool sloping downhill!! He finally admitted that he had the same problem when he first got his camera, which made me feel slightly better!

She gets too hungry for dinner at 8...

In fact, she got too hungry for dinner at 6!! I had skipped lunch on Friday, and was surviving on a bowl of Frosties. In fact I'd survived on a bowl of Frosties the previous evening too, so I really was starving! Stephen was only just in the door after travelling back from the UK before I was dragging him along to Mai Thai for dinner. We were actually sitting down (outside in the sunshine) at about 5:45. I didn't leave a morsel! I thought I was quite restrained in not licking the plate clean! I also got to save some for later as I fed the Twins and dribbled panang sauce down my top - d'oh! Thank goodness for the Tide pen, which made it slightly less noticeable. I must remember not to wear white when eating there in future!

After dinner we went for a stroll to walk off dinner. Up King for 8 blocks, then back down, along to Washington then along to Southsides for a drink. We stopped into the local wine shop, the Winery, where I made friends with the dogs and Stephen perused the shelves. The owner was absolutley lovely. (Hils and Paul, she says hello.) We need to go back when we're not on foot and stock up.

Hello...Is there anyone there?

I'm beginning to wonder whether I've got my days mixed up and come into work on Saturday. Its 8:15 - I've been here for 45 minutes and I've not seen another soul.... Well, except in Starbucks...which was busy...so maybe it IS Friday after all. In that case, where the heck is everyone???

Gas Prices

I noticed that gas prices have dropped again in the past few days. There are a run of three gas stations next to one another at the north end of Old Town, and the usually expensive one was selling gas at $3.44 per gallon. Typically we had filled the car full of expensive gas last weekend (it had blipped up to $3.70). D'oh!

Pamper me

So I was wrong when I thought that it would get quieter here once the VIPs were in the UK! Its has been totally mad this week. I was answering urgent e-mails about 6am yesterday. I was in work at just after 7am trying to track down a box of brochures for the VIP visit which had gone missing in the UK, as well as print and guillotine business cards to send to a conference in DC as someone had forgotten to bring them from the UK. I didn't leave the office until gone 6pm. Then I sat in awful traffic on the way home before coming home and dealing with another few urgent e-mails. Monday was pretty similar - but more stressful! Thankfully today was quieter!

I'm going to have a pampering evening - I really fancy a good soak in the bath and an early night. I could probably do with a good sleep as I'm getting a little absent-minded first thing in the morning when I'm tired! It was mid-morning yesterday before I had a minute to go to the loo. Imagine my horror when I looked in the mirror and discovered that I hadn't properly brushed my hair that morning. It wasn't standing entirely on end (thankfully!!), so I guess it had gotten a perfunctory grooming with something...but it might have been with a twig looking at the state of it! It wasn't my normal sleek barnet!!

The nights are fair drawin' in

I'm not loving the rapid transition to that Fall feeling!

There are no "10pm and still light" summer nights here - even in the height of summer its still dark by around 8:30pm. We're heading rapidly into my least favourite time of year when its dark driving both to and from work. It was pitch black when I got up this morning, and it was pitch black before 7pm tonight. I do not want to get up in the morning when its dark, I want to hibernate!

I'm used to being woken by the sun streaming in the window in the morning and bathing me in its gentle golden glow. Now I'm relying on my alarm clock ripping me from the depths of sleep, face stuck to the pillow with drool, eyes glued together and hair which Einstein would have been proud of. Now after that description you understand why I need to get up before Stephen!! I need a head start in order to apply the primer, polyfilla and paint and make believe I look human and not like the creature from the black lagoon!

Its getting cooler overnight as well - which also makes me want to snuggle in and not get up! It was quite funny last week (and a little sad)... it was about 5am and I woke up because I was cold (we just had a sheet covering us). I was struggling to get back to sleep, so I decided to check my e-mails on my blackberry (this was the sad part!). It was at this point that Stephen sat up and decided to unfurl the comforter at the end of the bed. He had also been lying awake freezing but it was my blackberry lighting up the room which made him realise I was too, and that he could move without waking me and making me grumpy!!!