East Coast, Right Coast, Part II

After a wonderful few days in NYC, it was back to DC to continue the hometown adventure.  First up, a Sutton Group ladies happy hour, which ended up being 2.5 SG members and a dude friend of mine who lives near Eventide.

Then I rushed off to my absolute favorite concert venue in all of America (maybe even the world) - the 930 club to see Menomena with these beautiful people.  Nate is 6'8" and you'd think he'd be easy to find in a crowd.  Well, when you stand up on a platform directly behind him without seeing him first and you're looking for the tallest guy in the room who is now shorter than you - yeah, it took a text to find him.  Doh!

Oh, 930, how I've missed you!  I used to see you three nights in a week on occasion, a short 2-subway stop away from my old home.  Phoenix just doesn't provide the same experience, not even close.  And with Ben's Chili Bowl nearby, it's perfect for an after show chowdown.

The picture below represents Alysia's house, since stupidly we didn't even take a photo together.  I blame the fact that she works too much.

On Thursday I drove to Bethesda to see LB, who had missed our happy hour since she now has a cute kid in the picture.  Lauren and I worked together at Sutton, and since we both had the same name, we quickly assumed nicknames.  She's Bloomer and I'm Dubs.  We lunched at Cafe Deluxe, which never disappoints!

I spent the rest of the beautiful afternoon driving down Wisconsin into Georgetown and to the grounds of my alma mater.  I really did have a fantastic college experience - best decision of my life so far.

Long live 3708 S St!

My favorite stairs on campus, in  Healy Hall leading up to Gaston.  It is stunning.

I wandered down to M St for a little shopping and made a stop at the now famous Georgetown Cupcake, which didn't exist in my day.  I don't watch their TV show, but apparently I didn't face nearly the line that most people do.  And let me tell you - even if there was a line, I would totally wait in it.  Yes, they are that good.  I don't think Key Lime translates well to cake texture, but man, they pulled it off and made it sing.  Wow.  I've been tempted on many occasions to ship myself a dozen.  I just can't justify the shipping costing as much as a dozen cupcakes.  

Back across the river for Thursday night dinner at Me Jana, which turned out to be me and lots of dude friends. I blame it on the fact that I don't have any sisters and don't relate to girls as well.  I like my dude friends!  Even though it makes for awkward dinners when there is very little estrogen around.  I feel bad for them.

After dinner and ice cream, Jan and I hit a bar for his friend's wedding reception.  Yes, a wedding reception on a Thursday night, in a bar, complete with wedding gown and all.  I helped him fend off the drunken bridesmaids.

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Friday - my last full day in DC and still so much to do!  I headed to downtown to have lunch with my old roommate Javi (Xavi, if you wanna be all Catalan about it) and his girlfriend at World Bank, where she works.  I thought we had a great cafeteria at National Geographic; turns out World Bank takes the prize.

Javi took the afternoon off (ah, government jobs) and we headed back to the old neighborhood where I lived in the perfect house in the perfect location.  Below, the remnants of Jazzii's hair shop next door, which finally got shut down for some sort of illegal activity, I am sure.

Hotel 314!

The back of hotel 314.  No more used car lot in the back.  And a whole new condo development across the street with a new Safeway and gym and coffee shop and Bus Boys.  Finally, gentrification!

The exposed brick living room that I still miss.  I don't care if that trend is over.

My favorite thing on my walk to work - the soul savin' station!  That, or the United House of Prayer for All People with an amazing cafeteria in the basement.

After I bid farewell to my former residence, I met Robbie downtown at the food truck convention.  Sadly, the lobster roll truck had a 2 hour line or something, and I didn't get to try it.  But look at that baby face that I got to hang out with!  Rob's spent the last two summers in Tajikistan and spends his free time at dinners with Ahmadinejad while trying to put off law school (even though he is in his 3rd year).

Sadly, our reunion was short, as I had to get back out to VA.  First up, dinner with Stephen, a long time Georgetown friend, and his wife Jen.  We had a delicious home cooked meal, then they took me to one of the best little bakeries in Falls Church where I had to buy about 5 things to try.

Then it was rush back to Christian's house to catch a ride out to the Corn Maze, which turned out to be a bit of a failure since we couldn't get out, even after asking the maze helper like 3 times.  Pathetic!

It was nice to experience fall though, complete with fall weather and trees that have leaves that change color.

On Saturday I made one last run into the city to see my freshman year roommate, Ms Angelle for a few minutes, partly so I could retrieve a favorite pair of shoes that I left there on my last visit, two and a half years ago! I amazed she held onto them, and I am grateful, since I wear them all the time.

On the way there, we tried to cut through an alley, and ended up getting stuck in a condo's parking lot that was fenced it.  I think someone pushed a button to make the gate go up, we drove in, realized it was a dead end, but then couldn't get out.  No doors, to way to even walk through the fence, but finally the gate opened.  I think someone watching out a window had a good laugh at our expense.

We hit the Social Network in Georgetown as a last hurrah, then quickly drove to DCA so I could catch my flight home.  All in all, totally perfect trip, so many details came together perfectly, and surely a piece of my heart is still there.  East Coast, I <3 you!