voyages

capitalizing my pants!

ok, so y’all know i’ve been complaining (whining?) incessantly about the awfulness of this year’s winter in austin. but obvs i realize that it’s been a lot worse for many cities, esp. on the east coast, what with their Snowchella or whatever. which is why it made PERFECT SENSE for henri and me to fly to DC over the weekend! right? RIGHT!!!

well, actually, we flew there to celebrate henri’s friend jen’s 30th birthday, and since i love birthdays about as much as i love tasty business (cos usually they are related! happy family!!!!), i figured that was enough to keep me warm.

HA HA HA. i am totally joking with you cos what really kept me warm was my long underwear! and the fact that the sun came out!! friendship is great but y’all it doesn’t keep you as warm as the fiery flames of the sun.

as jen drove us through the city streets on friday evening, i kept seeing mounds and mounds of totally gross, dirty snow. i mean, LOOK AT THAT:

that’s the first picture i took on our whole trip, as you can see by henri’s enthusiastic expression (usually i wear him down by the 20th photo). but seriously, there was so much snow! i kept having to make “better off dead” references! and then every DC resident i met informed me that the majority of the snow had already melted, so “this really isn’t that bad,” which in posh-speak means NEVER MOVE TO DC.

with that said, the city does have its charms. like most east coast places, everything looks so old and classy, esp. from the perspective of someone from texas, where the “venetian river” (complete with gondola!) at the outlet mall is considered an architectural marvel.

this is where jen and michael live! doesn’t it look stately?

and here is their cat, omar, who immediately fell in love with my suitcase and kept scratching at it with his (non-existent) claws.

heeeeey LOOKS LIKE IT’S TIME FOR AN LOL CAT!

yay!!!!

that night, jen took us to the gibson, which she described as a “fancy speakeasy.” OMG THIS PLACE WAS POSH TO THE MAX!!! first of all, there’s no sign out front, so you feel super extra cool when you go inside (well, at least i did. HOW CAN YOU TELL I’M A TOURIST?!!!). secondly, the bar serves “pre-prohibition style drinks,” with a dimly lit, classy ambiance to match. check out some of these fancy pants drinks!!!!

DUDE I KNOW. i tried the nuez, which was delicious and weird and hit me with, like, three different flavors at the same time. henri got the mary travelar, and see where it says “charred cinnamon”? that means it comes with a cinnamon stick that’s ON FIRE!!!!

these are the kind of drinks that don’t *look* impressive but trust me, they are. ok wait, i take that back. check out KP’s cobbler, modeled by jen:

that’s like, an exotic island… in a cup! check out the ingredients:

i also really love that you can order old fashioned punch. i bet it comes in a super shiny crystal bowl!

of course, no bar could receive the Posh Stamp Of Approval without serving some tasty business, and the gibson was PREPARED. look at these adorable little mini-corndogs!!! with… hold the phone… WASABI MUSTARD!!! MY MOUTH IS BURNING FROM THE AWESOMENESS!!!

our reservation at the gibson ended promptly at 8 PM (it’s like, pre-prohibition levels of etiquette over there!), so we walked down the street and hit up tabaq (i highly recommend clicking on that site if you want to introduce some incredible music into yr day), this mediterranean place with a fantastic view of the city. and BONUS: it turns into a euro-trash dance club after 10 pm!!!! that’s pretty much all henri needed to know to decide that yes, we were most definitely eating there.

unfortunately, i couldn’t get any good pictures of the view (um, it was dark), but here’s my favorite photo from dinner: michael and jen with their matching mussel pots!!! i think jen’s closed eyes add a nice touch to the shot.

after a divine dinner, we decided to leave, since the regularly scheduled douche party had been replaced with a “fundraiser” (no one at the restaurant actually knew what the fundraiser was for, which made it seem way more mysterious and exciting than a fundraiser should be). we ended up at bar pilar, a cozy and extremely crowded bar with one empty chair in the back room! which we claimed! and then used to create a game that henri called, “truth or chair.”

here’s how you play:

1. find a bar that’s really crowded but has one (high) chair left.

2. circle around that chair.

3. ask everyone if they want to sit in the chair but no one does because they feel bad.

4. start a game where the person in the chair has to answer one question from each person in the circle. and then make someone sit in the chair.

5. be sure to include lots of embarrassing, high school-era questions.

6. repeat.

y. oh yeah and laugh A LOT.

y’all this game does NOT GET OLD. it does, however, get v. intense. LOOK AT THOSE FACES!!!

it’s nice to know i have friends that can go from swilling fancy cocktails to exploiting embarrassing moments in middle school for personal amusement.

the next morning, i woke up to gorgeous weather! SUCK ON THIS, SNOW!

henri and i walked around adams morgan and stopped for brunch at this french place, l’enfant, where i enjoyed a delectable nutella crepe with fresh strawberries. LORD I JUST WANT TO SQUISH MY FACE INTO THIS PICTURE RIGHT NOW!!

at the end of our meal, we were met by… guess guess guess!!!! here’s a hint: he’s tiny, he screams like a girl and i love him to pieces. that’s right, the one and only TIM LOTT!!!!!!!!!!!

that’s actually a picture from later in the day; i just didn’t want you to have to go too long without seeing his awesome face.

y’all, there is just no one else on this earth like tim lott, and i was so so SO SO HAPPY to see him! it’s like, there’s this tim lott shaped hole in my heart, and it’s right next to the part that gets all excited about everything, so when we’re together, I GET EVEN MORE EXCITED THAN HUMANLY POSSIBLE ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING. some people might call this “hyperactivity,” but i choose to think of it as the Tim Lott Effect.

we wandered further down adams morgan, where i started to get all nostalgic for the summer i spent in DC (1999 what!!!) because some of my old hangouts were still around! i’m speaking, of course, about the famed club known as heaven and hell:

PSYCHE!!! um, like i would ever go there?!! i mean, a shark tank dance floor is one thing, but come ON. i just remember this club as being extremely trashtastic, and i was telling henri about it, all, “oh man, that bar was terrible! there’s no way it’s still around” when all of a sudden he pointed and said, “you mean, that place right here?” TOUCHÉ, club heaven and hell, touché! i guess you truly are as eternal as yr name suggests.

we sauntered over to dupont circle, which was pretty much my #1 neighborhood in ‘99, and i was happy to see that kramerbooks is still around!

my friend marisa worked there during our summer in DC, and i spent a lot of time chillaxing at kramerbooks cos there was no way i was visiting marisa at home (she lived in a frat house. LONG STORY but pro-tip for the ladies: never live in a frat house. no matter how cheap it is).

we found our way to this pizza place to grab a beer with… EDEN AND WINSTON!!!

oh dang this picture makes me happy, and not just cos we’re matching with our green and black! just look at those faces!!! those are faces that i miss, dearly.

it was definitely an afternoon of rice superstars, because an hour later we met up with mary, who i lived with for a year after college, and her hubby, john!

it should be obvious to you that, by this point, i’d uttered at LEAST five “i love you guys”s.

mary suggested we meet at the passenger, which it turns out is owned by the same people who created the gibson. it’s a cheaper, more laid-back space styled to look kinda like the inside of a train!! and the best part is that there’s no menu. you just tell the bartender what you like, for example, “bourbon and ginger!” or “vodka with a dash of something sweet!” and THEY JUST MAKE UP A DRINK FOR YOU!!! how amazing is that?!!! it’s like a surprise party every time you get a cocktail (customer suggestion: plz make confetti available!).

we spent two v. v. v. wonderful hours in a big booth near the front, catching up and pantsing around.

this always happens with tim and henri are together:

and THIS always happens when tim and sarah are together!!! YAY!!!!!!

after i was exhausted of all squee (ok, technically, that’s actually not possible, but after loving on three of my fave rice people, i was close!), jen, michael, henri and i headed to dinner at firefly, where i ordered, what else, THE MAC & CHEESE SUCKAS!!!

and it was preeeeetty delicious. not quite up to rivaling poshie award winner parkside, but still quite nomworthy.

at the end of the meal, our server brought out a slice of cake for jen so she could officially celebrate her birthday!!! cos you know it’s not a real birthday unless you have some kind of baked good.

the cake was actually totes crappy but don’t worry! we made up for it the next day with a visit to HELLO CUPCAKE!

it’s like the more polite version of austin’s “hey cupcake!” and, thankfully, a lot more tasty!

jen and i both ordered the strawberry lemonade, and HOLY PANTS IT WAS DELICIOUS!! the cake was super soft and flavorful, and the icing was the perfect mix of tart lemon and sweet strawberry.

my heart obvs still belongs to sugar mama’s, but hello cupcake gave my tummy a good run for its money!

soon after cupcaking ourselves, henri and i headed to the airport to fly back to austin. i have to say, i was happy to return to my snow-free homeland, but DC definitely showed me a grand ole time. in fact, considering all of the pantsing and fancy cocktails and tasty business, i’m feeling downright patriotic! MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE, I’LL BEE-EE BACK, DC!*

*not in the winter, ever

LINKS

if you happen to enjoy excellent music, check out the new morning benders album, streaming here. yes i SHALL be seeing them at sxsmas!

OMG YOU GUYS. jimmy kimmel united that 3-year-old crying girl with justin bieber because SHE LOVES HIM! it’s almost as awesome as the bill murray segment in that same video (and worth cringing through the beginning part with jamie foxx and jay leno).

check out this super neat music video from a band called hold yr horses, where they insert themselves into tons of famous paintings. yes but WHERE IS THE THIEBAUD?

speaking of cool videos, ok go’s latest makes me wanna play mousetrap really really bad!

© 2010 Poshdeluxe.