The end of summer, and the beginning of something wonderful!

The past couple of weekends DC has begun drifting into Fall, and I must say that if this is what Fall in DC is like, give me more! The temperatures are mild, the sun is shining but not blazing, and the cool breeze makes a sweater just necessary in the evening and morning hours. Don't you worry, I'm soaking it up and not staying cooped up inside.

Labor Day weekend feels like just yesterday (as does my last blog post) when in reality it's almost two full weeks ago. Danielle, dearest Dani, came for a visit and a wedding and blessed me with her presence Thursday night through Tuesday morn. Since it's getting late and I don't want this post to be forever long, I'll just give you the highlights.

Friday evening Danielle joined Sarah and Zach for pitcher 1 of Sangria at Jazz in the Sculpture Garden until I had time to get home, change, and briskly walk the not-so-short distance to the garden to meet them for pitcher 2. (Please note at an average pace it normally takes 45 minutes, and I did it in 30 +the 5 minutes I stopped to take photos of the NGA with the gorgeous flowers and lighting.) I think it was worth the photo op, don't you?

These haven't made it to Photoshop yet either... but they will. ;)

We had a grand time at the garden catching up. Sarah and I hadn't seen each other in weeks, so it was great that our schedules finally found time for us to meet. Sarah, maybe we should get schedulers like the congressmen have!

Ok, so I talked all about how the weather was... well... Friday, it was HOT. We were all glistening a little extra that evening, and Zach caught us primping Dani before the photo. I thought it was cute enough to share.

A few moments after this photo, Dani and I parted ways with Sarah and Zach to make our reservations at Cure Bar & Bistro where they are said to specialize in pairing tapas with wine selections. Danielle and I had a nice little chat with the sommelier who settled in on a Petit Syrah called "Spellbound" that he said should be the perfect compromise for Dani and I's varying tastes.

We weren't starving so we opted to go with a cheese board, a crab pie, and a tomato mozzarella salad. The cheese board was only supposed to come with three but the sommelier must have liked us, because he added an extra one that "he thought we'd like." He was right! Our waitress need not be forgotten in our praise for the sommelier. She also was quite good and made sure we were served well. The food... delicious. Wine, yum!

After our dinner we hopped a cab to meet up with Valerie, Callon, Katie, and some other ladies for a nice evening out. We traveled from our meeting point at the historic Old Ebbit's to POV on the rooftop of the W Hotel. Check out the Point of View from POV.

That's the Dept of the Treasury which plays neighbor to the White House that you can't make out because of the lighting, but I promise, it was there, and I could see it as plain as the Dept of the Treasury. The prices of course were escalated by the magnificent location, SO, we didn't stay there too long before moving elsewhere. But we stayed long enough for photos!

They didn't plan this, they promise!

Saturday we ventured out of the house relatively early for brunch at Matchbox around the corner from me. I got stuffed french toast with a honey-butter syrup, and it was delicious! I was so sad that we left the leftovers in the car too long to be able to eat them later. But the syrup stayed good for my pancakes this past weekend, and I think I can identify the ingredients. New recipe: here I come!

After brunch we headed on foot to Capitol Hill Books, just across the street from the Eastern Market. Christina's friend's friend recommended it to me after church the other week, and I thought Dani of all people would enjoy it with me. Now... please take in all aspects of this photo. Notice the windows... all the windows. Now if you opened the door, this is what you'd see:

Books

Books to the roof

Books on the stairs

Books, books, EVERYWHERE

I must admit. I had to tinkle, and in my time of need, I had to ask a fellow to get off the toilet (where there were MORE books) so that I could go. BEWARE: If you have OCD, never enter Capitol Hill Books!

Fortunately, I don't have OCD, and I loved it. They had new books, old books, non-fiction, language, current best-sellers, and old cookbooks. I know it sounds morbid, but the gentleman who owns the store said that he gets most of his books from dead people. I was delighted, though, to find that the books extend to music books as well. 

These unmarked treasures were 75 cents each. I would've bought them if I'd had a piano nearby, but I thought someone else could enjoy them until I have one to play. The red book was Handel, I believe, but I can't remember and you can't tell from the photo. They had a Music Theory text book that was dated 1944, and one from the 1800s. Oh, I was in heaven just holding them.

Both of us ended up walking out with a best-seller that was half the price of the major book stores, and mine is barely cracked. I'll update you on what I'm reading in another post since I'd get all too descriptive if I began.

We took our books and headed to the ... Library of Congress patio to drink our specially crafted sodas from We, The Pizza and enjoy the sunshine before taking a quick self-guided tour of the Library, which Dani had surprisingly never seen.

The rest of the weekend we spent in different directions, her with the wedding, and me with co-worker outings, but it was a fabulous weekend getting to see her!

I have more to write but I realize this is getting too long for the average enjoyment, so I will try my best to write again Saturday. Much love! xo