Monday, March 22, 2010

From Adam's Morgan to Alexandria


Phew... We had a jam-packed weekend! Since we still don't have any friends yet, we took advantage of the amazing weather (70's and sunny) to explore some more of the city.

To start off, last week I got a job! Yay. After interviewing at several places, I decided on a gym a few blocks from capitol hill called Vida Fitness where I will be training government employees, lobbyists and lawyers. Should be interesting :) Mark's work is busy of course but he really likes what he is doing.

So this weekend was awesome. On Friday night, we decided to venture to a blues bar called Madam's Organ located in Adam's Morgan. We metroed into Dupont and then walked a while to Adam's Morgan which apparently has quite the nightlife. We passed at least a dozen places to eat that look amazing and we definitely want to go back to the area to eat (Amsterdam Falafel's!!) After enjoying the four story bar, live blues music, a cocktail and some snacks, we took off for home. When we have friends, it will be fun to go there with them :) Btw, Mark was REALLY excited about the fact that the Real World house (from this season) is really close to Dupont Circle and I think he is going to freak out when we see it. Simple pleasures.

On Saturday, we woke up and Mark went to his first Grand Opening for Wachovia (a Wells Fargo Company) over here on the East Coast. I went and took class at the Dance Place with Deborah Riley. Love her! After we both got home, we went to the National Archive Museum to see the "Charters of Freedom" and the Magna Carter. It was pretty amazing and sad at the same time because some of the documents were barely legible anymore. Long lines... reminded me of Disneyland. Turns out the weekend are packed around here with crazy tourists. I just pretend that we aren't tourists anymore even though we pretty much are. But seriously... Stand on the right and walk on the left, people!!! OH, AND before we went to the archives, we ran into some high school kids who had one of those parachute things from kindergarten. I REALLY wanted to run through it so we went over there and they let us do it. THEN, we saw our first presidential motorcade drive-by. It was awesome!!


We then went to the Mall to enjoy the sun and it was SOOO nice. We had lots of fun taking pictures and people watching (Mark calls it "staring").  Went to dinner at Sei. Two words: Expensive! Delicious!! We had their version of hot and sour soup, Fish and Chips Roll (Sushi) and this other roll with fish, strawberries and avocado (weird combo but great!) and then some marinated steak with frites. Forgot to take pictures... shoot. We were planning on a cheaper dinner so we stopped there and looked for some frozen yogurt. We found a place called Fro-Zen-Yo, a self-serve yogurt place but the yogurt was NOT as good as Yogurtland. Do not be fooled. :(


Sunday was a great day. We went to the same church as last week and still liked it. THEN we took the metro to Foggy Bottom, shuttled to the Kennedy center (free), walked to Thompson Boat Center and rented bikes ($15 for the day)!! They were basically one-speed beach cruisers but they did the job. We took the Mount Vernon trail 10 miles down to Old Town Alexandria!! It was so beautiful. We could see the monuments from the trail, passed by Reagan National Airport where a bunch of families were watching planes land and we traveled down the Potomac on the path. We saw SOO many bikers and joggers. I counted 287 joggers and 190 bikers... jk, I didn't count. But there were a lot. Alexandria was so pretty! I loved all of the 3 story houses side by side with cute doors and windows. We ate at the Pita House which had YUMMY lebanese food. Their shawarmas were so good and hit the spot after the bike ride. People EVERYWHERE were walking around eating ice cream too. It looked so good on the warm day but we resisted. Next time. We took some more fun pictures and then rode home stopping by the Lincoln Memorial. Last time we were there it was covered in snow so it was SO different to see it without snow. We need to get bikes...


So that's that. It was a great weekend but we really need to start making some friends. I am thinking church and ultimate frisbee may provide the resources. We'll see. Mark has his first league game with a frisbee team called "Snack Pack" next weekend. I hope we meet some fun peeps.

And here are some bonus pictures of Julia, my sister's baby. She turned 6 months old this week and I love her.

8 comments:

  1. awesome brick wall pics!! thanks for all the fun details. it's awesome to 'go along for the ride' through your blog. miss you guys and really wish we lived there in DC at least once a week. haha.

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  2. I love the "jumping by the bricks" pictures, it's SO you guys! Wish I could magically transport myself there on a weekend and hang out with you guys (at least until you find other DC friends to hang out with...haha)

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  3. Who else would go to DC and take one picture of the Lincoln Memorial, and ten of a brick wall!

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  4. You guys are so funny!

    "People EVERYWHERE were walking around eating ice cream too. It looked so good on the warm day but we resisted. Next time" = means that Mark said "hun pleeeeeease" and Ash said "no!"

    LOVE the brick wall pics and thanks for the shout out of my baby Jules. She loves you too.

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  5. Loved the brick pictures, too. Ashley, you looked so graceful...Mark, not so much, but fun pictures anyway :). BTW, Mark, I think you need a haircut. You and Jaden are having a contest of who can have the longest hair right now :). Miss you both so much! Can't wait to see you in a month! Love ya! BTW, Ashley, when are we going to iChat? :)

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  6. That's awesome that you're playing on Dr. Nick's old team. Come up with some better chants. He said that their only one is "ONE-TWO-THREE-SNACKPACK!"...so lame. Only Mark can right this wrong.

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  7. Holy crap, you guys are busy! This is my first time at your blog, it's fun to see how you're doing. I'm sure you'll have friends in no time :)
    Cousin Betsy

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  8. Awesome photos! I love the brick wall series. You've got yourself a new follower.

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