just lovin' my trip to chicago!

I have a lot of cities I consider to be "my kind of town" but in this case, I mean Chicago. I had a recent business trip to Chicago that gave me a lot of time to catch up with Ashley, a close friend from high school. Ashley showed me around the town. It was definitely chilly for April, but we had a wonderful time. Here's a little taste of the weekend:

 relaxing in Lakeview with Andrew and Ashley. and our phones.

you don't visit Chicago and APG without hanging out with her polydactyl cat, Polly. 

polly's just lovin' tory b

 ashley got us tickets to a Cubs game, so I had a chance to catch my first game at Wrigley Field (sporting some cubs gear, of course). I think the temperature was probably in the 40s, but we had a an awesome time in the bleachers.

view of Lake Michigan and Navy Pier

unless you're from Michigan, you won't fully comprehend the significance of these next few photos, but that's okay. next time your travels take you to Detroit or Chicago we'll go. the folks who own locations of the Detroit-area favorite, Leo's Coney Island, recently opened a Chicago branch. with Greek specialties, it was nerdily one of my only must-visit requests on the trip and it was obviously a dee-light.

 APG just lovin' Leo's... i obviously did too.

staple: baby greek salad.

chicken finger pita.

chuck-fest with Andrew.

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kites and cherry blossoms

After helping Ryan apartment hunt a few weeks ago, we took a walk down to the national mall to check out the cherry blossoms. It was Saturday March 27th, which, as the first day of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, was technically a week before the cherry blossoms were at their "peak" this year, but they were still beautiful.... and we had a chance to check out the kite festival.


Kite Festival 

Cherry Blossoms (my first experience!)

one funny thing about walking around during the cherry blossom festival is that you walk by groups of people on the way to mall who are examining and taking pictures of every tree and plant that is in bloom and looks like it may somehow be related to the cherry blossoms. i found it funny, anyway.

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Mystifying

A few months ago (I know I've been slow to post) I was jogging up from Rock Creek Park and noticed someone had painted the word DEPRESSION in perfect "way more than microsoft word calculates" point white font on a huge brick wall above sherry's wine at Connecticut and Calvert.  It was one of those experiences where I wasn't sure whether it was new, or whether I had seen it many times and only internalized it just this once.

The sinister looking sky frames this one pretty well:

mystifying... i looked a few weeks later and someone had painted over it. no ordinary graffiti - it just made me very curious as it clearly took some time to paint. i'll post a picture of the "covered up" wall - where you can faintly see the word beneath brick color paint.

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ryan werner goes to washington!

I have a feeling I'll continue to expand this post as I take photos of Ryan's move, but a champagne toast in Philly a few weeks ago was a pretty good start. He just moved on Wednesday April 14 and is starting his new job at The Hartford today! 

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Villanova (oldies but goodies)

I thought this "catch all" category might be a good way to share some cool pictures that are older but I thought people might want to be able to download if possible. I'll update periodically if I come across a classic!

St. Thomas of Villanova Church at Villanova University 

(taken during Orientation in August 2005 with my Sony CyberShot)

Elite Eight March 29, 2009 in Boston

Villanova vs. Pittsburgh 

(Villanova 78 Pittsburgh 76)

This picture is from the 2009 Elite Eight in Boston. It's a pre-game shot from the Villanova vs. Pittsburgh game. Yes...  courtesy of Mr. Bob Moore, those were our floor seats!

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a sisters humann (delaney) weekend

sorry for the long delay in my posts. i just recently got internet and finally it's easy to make updates. this weekend tara (fondly known as t-bomb to those who know her) came down for a visit. it was great just to spend time together catching up. it was a mostly rainy weekend that involved some great wine on friday night, and a busy Saturday touring around DC. we made it to the Newseum on Saturday for a little culture, here's a photo of us at the Newseum, with one of the best views of the capitol in the background (even with the fog and rain! taken with my Storm, I of course forgot the camera).

 

we did a walk around Georgetown, and had a fabulous dinner at Zaytinya on Saturday night, which is a trendy mediterranean mezze (tapas) restaurant. we met john and kim out for drinks afterward in chinatown. funny enough, tara brought me a little surprise. she found Punky Brewster on dvd so we had a great time watching some throwback episodes. all in all, a wonderful weekend that makes me so happy to have a sister.

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Snowed In: Our Nation's Capital

Back story:
The two recent storms made the 2009-2010 season the snowiest since Washington, DC began recording snowfalls 146 years ago. We ousted the last record (the 1898-99 season) from the #1 spot and we still have a month of winter to go. DCist (among other favorite DC internet sites) began to name the storms... fondly at first as Snowpocalypse and Snowmageddon. Thennnn.... not so fondly... as cabin fever began to get the best of the area. 

"I'm Snow Over It" (February 9-10): the aftershock to Snowmageddon, this storm even included a lovely little bonus of 50 mph winds... and shut the federal government for three days.

"Snowmageddon" (February 5-6): they predicted another foot TWO FEET for Snowmageddon... just in time for Mandy and many other brave New York friends to visit for the Villanova vs. Georgetown game. It was mayhem... and I didn't even take photos of the "Lord of the Flies" (thanks for the great reference, Washingtonian) situations in the grocery stores. We still made it to the game though, despite the transportation issues.

Ryan at the Dupont Circle Metro (love this one)

  

Dupont Circle Winter Wonderland

In good spirits despite the wait for the Metro (yes that's Luke, Boyk, Amy, Weaver, John, Emma...)

 

Mandy and I in Woodley (taken by ryan)

Digging out Ryan's Honda Accord:

 

And somehow this little DC resident plant survived even without a trip to the grocery store (Storm):

"It's snow big deal" (okay I named this one) January 30 snowfall - small potatoes compared to what was to come! i think it only ended up about 3-6"

Taft Bridge (Nikon):

Duke Ellington Bridge (Nikon)

 

At Union Station right near the Capitol (Storm)

"Snowpocalypse" (December 19-20): compared to February's one two punch I guess it's tough to be too impressed, but it did get us a day off from work. That's the Woodley Park Metro, the very first photo taken in DC with my new Nikon.

 

and i thought this was a significant snow fall...

The White House under a blanket of white snow

flag, white house, too perfect

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A night out (with a little Red Line mixed in)

Friday night my friend Emma came by for dinner, and then we braved the Red Line down to the Hill to join the party at Molly Malone's. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon sight these days on the Red Line...

 

I think maybe we could've walked to the Hill faster... but we waited it out, made some friends... (sort of)

 

...and still made it in time so we weren't too tardy for the party.

(all taken with BlackBerry storm 1.29.10)

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Taking it all in

As many of you have visited DC before, you know running into the landmarks you grew up learning about in your history books is not uncommon. I still haven't gotten over the scenery, even if it's just during kickball games in the evenings. (september 2009, taken with BlackBerry Storm)

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The Neighborhood/New Digs

Just kind of liked the look of this photo of my entryway:

again belated, but here are a few pictures of my neighborhood/new digs in DC. there is going to be a lot of archiving until I can catch up to present! (summer 2009)

 

While at the time I was disgruntled about Ryan taking a picture of me driving the U-Haul (probably because it was 9:30 am and I was eating an egg sandwich), I find it awfully funny now and I'm actually going to post it.

(taken with BlackBerry Storm)

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