New Thing #84 - Celebrating 35, 'Merica & Friendship - Day 1

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Off to D.C today!! Not only do I get to spend my 35th birthday and America's 238th birthday in D.C., but I also get to spend it with my friends, Megan, and the elusive Brenda. Megan and I haven't seen Brenda since she left for D.C. in February, and soon she will be in Sarajevo where she'll be even more tricky to see (stay tuned for my Sarajevo blog, coming summer 2015!). Megan will also be leaving the Lou later this summer to start her new job as a professor. My friends are leaving and kicking ass in their jobs, and it makes me sad. Just the leaving part. I'm super proud of the kicking ass part.

Anyways, Megan and I planned our trip around my bday and the 4th of July, because where else should you celebrate 'Merica, than the nation's capitol? Plus, Brenda is nearly finished with all of her training, and this week proved to be a mostly low-key week for her. Which meant more time for playing and counting to schfifty-five.

I spent the morning working, but I couldn't concentrate. Luckily, I wasn't there very long before I picked Megan up for lunch and we headed to the airport. Rather than going to the spendier parking lot, she directed me to the much cheaper lot that was really easy to get to. Look at me, on the cusp of 35, and I finally figured out how to park at the airport. I feel so wise.

Since we were fairly early, we stopped at the Schlafly bar for a beer (or two), and spent a good hour or so people watching. Which is one of my favorite things to do. The fashion alone is enough to fill an entire blog, but my two favorites were a guy wearing ill-fitting peach pants, brown and white wing-tipped shoes, and a blue jacket with white boxes that looked eerily like bathroom wall tile. The other was a girl wearing high heels, very short shorts and a shirt tied around the waist to hide the under-butt pokin' out of the back of said short shorts. Her lady parts were likely still visible from the front, but I didn't dare look in case I saw something I could never erase from memory. I can't imagine that would be very comfortable to wear, let alone fly in.

Because we were flying American, we both chose to only take carry-on sized luggage, and down-sized most of our liquids to fill the required 1-qt bag. Because of this, we were able to waive the $25 baggage fee - which is a racket, by the way. Don't get me started on airline fees. I wasn't looking forward to hoisting that bad boy into the overhead, but there's usually a nice gentleman around to help with things like that. Fortunately for us, our plane was small, and they didn't have room for normal luggage in the overhead bins. They had to be valeted into the baggage hold. So, we essentially got to check our bag at the gate without having to pay a fee. Boom!

Also, since the flight wasn't nearly full, the attendant at the gate upgraded the two of us from the last row of the plane to the middle row. And then when we got to our seats, another attendant told us that the exit rows were empty, and we could sit in them if we wanted to. Extra leg room? Hell yes. Of course I had to be prepared to open the exit door in the case of emergency, but I figured it would be worth it to be able to stretch completely out without cramping.

LOOK. AT. ALL. THAT. LEG. ROOM!

So much room for activities.

My row buddy across the aisle.

Yes, I took a picture of the empty seat next to me. Don't judge me.

Our flight was a delight, and I sincerely wish I could fly like this all the time. No small children, no smelly take out food, lots of leg room, and a quick non-turbulent flight. Yes to all of the above. So much yes. And even though it was a bit of a cluster, grabbing our bags at the gate was much nicer than waiting in baggage claim.

Brenda met us at the airport, and it was as if the last few months of separation had never happened. We all fell back in to our groove, and all was right with the world again. I managed to push the thought of this being the last time the three of us would be together in a long time from my mind, and I was mostly successful.

To be quicker, we took a cab and had a nice view of the city on our way back to her apartment. She was essentially staying at an extended stay type of hotel with just a few more amenities, but it was pretty nice. After a quick luggage drop off, we headed down the street to the Heavy Seas Alehouse, where I ate my weight in a delicious burger with arugula, onions and cheese, all washed down with an Optimal Wit local brew. Delish. Although for some reason the waitress thought I needed Megan's vegetarian burger, and I nearly bit into it until I saw pieces of black bean coming out of it. I didn't think my Angus beef should have little black things falling out of it.

Since it was late, and Brenda needed to finish studying for an exam the next day, we headed back to the apartment to book a few tours for the week, and get our bearings of the city. Plus, I wanted to rest up for my birthday the next day!

Brain Trust! (Brenda bought us matching patriotic sunglasses.)

Silly gooses.

I'll leave you with this little gem that Brenda and Megan bestowed upon me. I'm not sure how I never heard of this song (it's pretty old), but it's glorious and ridiculous all at the same time. It became the anthem of our weekend and I'm not even mad. (Oh, and this came about because we gave Brenda some Chocorooms….little cookies coated with chocolate to look like mushrooms. The name triggered Brenda to talk about this song. Enjoy.)

Quite tasty, actually.

And no, you're not crazy, he is mumbling. Which is probably what makes it the best thing ever.

A few -isms for the day that I don't really feel like explaining. These both happen to be from Megan:

"Week of the Day"

"Eleventy"