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December 26, 2008
Home Again, Home
I've been too busy to blog. But I'm finally "back in action," so here's what's been going on.
I spent most of December in my beloved hometown Washington, DC, visiting family and friends and the local sites that I miss the most.
I arrived at National to the feel of cold air and the tempting smell of Five Guys. (It's a miracle I managed to get out of the airport without a little cheeseburger and a bag of fries.)
My trip to DC was just one highlight after another. Besides visiting loved ones, I made time for ....
Breakfast at La Madeleine. Yum. An egg, bacon, and cheese on croissant so delicious that I have blogged about it before. This time the croissant was a little soggy and falling apart. In the past, it seems that the cook took the extra step of lightly toasting the croissant so it can hold up to the weight of the eggs and such. But not this time. I guess the cook was a little off his game, maybe due to the holidays looming. Still, it was very, very delish and you can't beat La Mad for awesome ambience. (And free wireless internet!).
The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center. How's that for a traditional holiday outing?! It was a very well done production. But I had missed dinner, so by the second act all I could think about was how hungry I was. Bummer.
Two lunches with friends:
one at Mike's in Springfield because our traditional spot, Bennigan's, was no more and thus we had to choose a new place.
and one at an Indian place on Capitol Hill, which just reminded me why I like the other Indian place better. Both have great food, but one has snooty, annoyed service and the other has friendly service. It's worth a little longer walk from the Metro to not have the waiter give me a hard time about not ordering an entrée. I like to order samosas (an appetizer), onion kulcha (bread) and raita (a yogurt and cucumber dip). But that's never enough for this place. So annoying. Next time, I'm going to the nice Indian place.
Kicking around the National Harbor with Mom. So cool. The shops and fancy hotels were impressive (although lunch at one of the fancy restaurants was disappointing.). The coolest part was visiting my favorite sculpture in its new location. Here are some of the pictures I took of The Awakening. The sculpture is too big to get into one frame at street level.
And...
Taking the Metro and walking around DC, stopping by my favorite familiar places like the Lansburgh, Penn Quarter, Teaism, and Eastern Market. I even dropped in on the new theatre in the neighborhood: Sidney Harman Hall. It's gorgeous.
All in all it was a wonderful trip. And as usual I was torn about leaving. It's tough to have a hometown in one place and a home in another. It's like I'm always leaving home to go home, and vice versa. But I got home in time for Christmas, and I guess that was the point. So, now I'm sitting in my perfect house, looking out at the amazing view, and waiting for Granddaughter Lily to come over for a visit. Which reminds me, here are a couple of my favorite recent pictures of Lily:
So cute.
Here's hoping all my loved ones near and far have happy holidays and a happy new year.
Posted by Selena at December 26, 2008 12:46 PM