Snowpocalypse!

So as you all know, we have been experiencing a weather phenomenon here in DC known as Snowpocalypse. It is now Wednesday, February 10. It is my second snow day this week. This weather event has been going on since mid-morning on Friday, February 5. During this time I have taken up permanent residence on my couch, and have fully explored the wardrobe possibilities of pajamas. Here is a re-cap of the last 6 days.

Friday, February 5: I only had an hour left to work, so I stayed home and waited for the storm. I decided to go the library as a last foray into society to stock up on a few DVDs and books. Me and everyone else in Bethesda. Never have I seen a line more than 4 people in the library. There were about 20 people ahead of me. The only DVDs to be had were obscure foreign films about death and apocalypse. Although the latter topic seemed appropriate, I opted instead for a nice stack of books. As I left the library at 11am the flurries started.

The snow didn't start sticking until 3pm. I cooked a nice dinner, and Daniella and I cozied up on the couch for a movie. About every 20 minutes one of us got up from the couch, looked out the window and remarked, "wow! It's really coming down!" After the movie we stood by the window for about 30 minutes watching a couple dig out their car. It had already accumulated about a foot and showed no signs of slowing. We were glued to the window as they used a broom and an ice scraper to clear off their car, then trudged back to the apartment. Definitely a futile exercise.

Saturday, February 6: We woke up to this:
It looks like rain, but I think it was drops of ice on the window. It was still snowing. We had a relaxing day. At about 3pm, the snow stopped. At 4, we decided to go out and play. This is our street:
Daniella in front of our building
As we walked down the street, we saw a group of 3 people with sleds. "Where are you sledding?" we called. "By NIH," they answered, "want to come with us?" So we followed the 3 strangers halfway around NIH, tramping through the snow in tracks made by other prospective sledders.
It was really pretty, and the snow was pristine in between the tracks. And very deep.
We walked for what felt like several miles and found a gentle slope. We slid down on sleds, slowly, and got tips from a 10 year old. The strangers were really friendly--2 international post-docs at NIH and another woman from Europe (Germany, perhaps). There was much laughter. As it got dark, Daniella and I tramped back. This table outside the nursing home on our street shows the amount of snowfall.
Despite being sort of wet following sledding in jeans, we wanted hot chocolate, and so ventured into Bethesda proper.
In the park, this snowman had an evergreen shock of hair. In Bethesda, lots of people were out, walking in the street, which was empty of cars. Everyone was friendly and smiling, happy to be out of their house. The Tastee Diner was "the only game in town," as the owner reminded everyone who walked in. "We're understaffed and running really slow," was the rest of the greeting. Our waitress was relieved that we only ordered hot chocolate. Although the diner was hopping, it was almost silent inside. I think everyone had run out of things to say to eachother over the day trapped inside.

Sunday, February 7: The day dawned clear and sunny, so Rowan and I headed into DC to play on the Mall. On the walk, Rowan felt inspired to make a snow angel:

Lots of people were out and about, cross-country skiing, walking, and playing. An active game of tackle football was underway against the background of the Natural History Museum.
For the most part, we walked along paths tromped down by previous walkers, but we decided to cross at a less-defined path. Look how high the snow comes up on my leg!
Every once in a while, we would look up from our careful stepping, and realize, "wow! We're on the MALL!"

We came upon some people building an adult snowman...er...snowwoman. It reminds me of a mug I have that says "Equal Rights for Snowwomen!" and features a snowperson with boobs.
Walking back to town for chai and salty oat cookies at Teaism. Perfect way to end a snowy outing.
Monday, February 8: Snow Day! This fact definitely called for use of one of the names of this storm: Snowgasm. This quickly turned to SnOMG (either Snow My G-d or Snow-M-G) when I decided to shovel out my car. Check this out!!!
I had parked in this spot because the sun often hits it, and I thought it might help melt out my car. Indeed, it did clear off the car somewhat. But what I failed to take into consideration was the snow that fell off the roof, pinning my car to the parking lot. And look at how much snow was in front of the car, before we could even start properly digging. Luckily, a worker from the apartment helped us shovel to the car, which we thought would be half the battle. We were wrong.
In this picture I am standing on the snow next to my car. The car was so stuck, I cannot even tell you. After 2 hours of digging with borrowed shovels, we called it quits and went to Rock Bottom for soft pretzels. It was almost funny. It would have been funnier if we had gotten the car out.

Tuesday, February 9: Car still stuck. Office open. I worked from home, which was quite productive, though seriously boring. I missed the fun dynamic of the office. I don't think I would want to work from home long term. After work, I shoveled some more with the help of my neighbor LL. The car was almost out, but then it started snowing again. I walked down to the post office. Look how bad the roads still are.
This city has such poor snow removal.

Now it is snowing again. Blustering, big flakes. I can barely see out my window. Snoverkill? I think so.

Project 365: Jan 29-Feb 4 2010

Friday, Jan 29: I don't know if I actually took a photo this day. We went to a very cool after school program to vaccinate at-risk middle schoolers and teens. I really admire their program and am thinking about volunteering there. Here is a card I made with my V-Day set and some patterned paper from AC Moore.
Saturday, Jan 30: Snowed all day. I had to get out of the house after spending most of the week in bed or on the couch. Walking to Caribou Coffee to write some letters, I came across a couple who had a unique answer to the snow. They're garbage bags, in case you couldn't tell. People here don't quite know how to handle snow. You can also see that the streets are not plowed at all.
Sunday, Jan 31: Miriam came over. We made chocolate-chip cookies and hung out on the couch. We don't hang out at eachother's houses as much now that we're grown-up (?). We decided we miss it.
Monday, February 1: We got some accumulation of snow that Saturday! It looked pretty out my office window.
Tuesday, February 2: My roommate Daniella. We had just finished watching Something's Gotta Give, which I liked quite a bit. It was about the 5th time Daniella had seen the second half of it. She has yet to see the beginning. Her hair is usually curly, but was straightened by one of the "Miss"es at her school.
Wednesday, February 3: We got a lot of snow on Tuesday night, but the roads were merely wet the next morning, so it was no trouble to get to work. Both the Montgomery and PW County schools were closed, but the Federal and State governments were not. The ride to work was beautiful with the snow just sitting on the branches.
Thursday, February 4: Asher's eyes were dry today, so Bobbi attempted to put eyedrops in his eyes. This was about as successful as it looks in this photo. I love how much we laugh in my office.

Today we also had a vaccination clinic at the Senior Center, which is like a JCC for seniors. They have all sorts of classes, crafts, computers, fitness equipment, and an area to hang out. Most of the seniors who got vaccinated knew eachother and were kibbitzing while filling out their forms. It is so encouraging to see seniors who are active and social. I really do interact with a limited age range usually. I was helping one of the men fill out his form and he was flirting with me to beat the band! We had a good time at the Senior Center.

They are predicting a big storm starting tomorrow late morning. I braved Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. They were out of most everything--basically all carbohydrates and milk. People are so funny about snow here. I was getting non-emergency food like feta cheese, salsa and soy cheese (for Daniella), so I was ok. I am stocked with at-home activities for tomorrow and Saturday--movies, a book and cards to make!

Stay warm!

The Week in Review: Mall, Bethesda and Sqashy Disasters

Last weekend, Rowan asked me to go work clothes shopping. Since Miriam had helped me so much, I figured I would pay it forward. Plus, we had a lot of fun.
Not everything fit. Rowan had the opposite problem with pants--or at least she did until she discovered that "ankle" meant they were short.
She came away with a lovely pair of pants, and then we started searching for something to eat. I couldn't resist taking a picture with this smoothie and yogurt stand. (Sorry, pregnant woman. The other 2 shots had someone with their hand down their pants, so this was the best bet)

Tyson's Corners is a huge mall, with all sorts of odd specialty shops. They even had a Lego store, which sold Legos by the scoop as well as in sets.
After dinner at a diner across the street (and a very attentive waiter) we drove into DC, following the instructions of my GPS. This was a poor choice, as we ended up with a full tour of the district, even managing to drive through Dupont Circle. I am still figuring out how to be smarter than my GPS.

Rowan's house was having a cocktail party, and we were only a little late for it. Emily (far right) was in town, and we spent lots of time laughing over Smith things and catching up. She was a regular at the Kosher K, and we have several mutual friends. I was so glad to get a chance to chat with her. From the left is me, Rowan, Kelsey and Emily.
Sunday, October 25: This was my first unscheduled healthy day in ages. I started it with a tzatziki-feta cheese omelet, which came out quite prettily.
Then I had a slow, lovely walk into Bethesda. The trees are changing here, and many have a mixture of all 3 colors on the same tree. This tree is right next to my apartment building.
There are also these short trees with smooth-edged leaves that are very red right now. It was pleasant out as I walked. It felt good to be quiet inside (although I was queasy from the eggs).
I wanted to capture a common sight in Bethesda: this pizza shop closed. It is still in business, but I rarely see it open.
As I walked past the Burger Joint square, I was struck by all the different sources of red in this scene: the umbrella, the 2 trees, the woman's hair. Surprisingly, she did not even notice when I took about 10 pictures of her.
I passed The Blue House, which has awesome home furnishings. I love these pillows. If I had a white couch (which I should never buy), I would decorate it with brightly colored pillows.
After a lap around downtown Bethesda, and some time sitting in the sun by the empty fountain, I settled in at Quartermaine for a latte and some letter-writing. They serve coffee in real mugs if you ask for it, and that made me feel extremely cozy. I sat at the counter and rocked out to '90s hits like "Don't go chasin' waterfalls," and reminisced about these songs with the male barista who was probably about 5 years older than me. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Once home, I decided to cook up some dinner: spaghetti squash with putanesca sauce (from Trader Joe's), mushrooms, zucchini and veggie crumbles. As I cut into the squash, it did not feel as impenetrably hard as usual. Then, without warning, it crumbled under my knife and oozed all over the counter.
Turned out to be fermented on the inside. And do you know how gross it is to sponge fermented squash juice off of the counter, floor, and cabinets? I just had sauce, veggie crumbles, and vegetables for dinner. In only a day, the fermented smell was gone from my kitchen.

Monday, October 26. I know the date of Monday very well because I told it to about 400 people. I spent the afternoon and evening involved in a public health event. It went quite smoothly, and everyone was quite polite. My gaff of the evening was asking a man to answer an uncompleted question on the Spanish language health screening sheet. After he started laughing and making belly-growing gestures, I realized that the question read, "are you pregnant or nursing?"

Tuesday, October 27. At work I spent some time at one of our clinics, answering phone calls about flu. It was overall a positive experience and gave me the chance to get to know some of the ladies at that clinic a bit better. After work I went grocery shopping. Finally, there are brussel sprouts at Giant. And they look so cheery!
Wednesday, October 28: Today when I arrived at work, J had decorated my desk for my birthday! There was a "Happy Birthday" sign, confetti, a card, and a candy jar with m&m's. Made me smile. I thought everyone was mistaken as to the date of my birthday (it's tomorrow), but turns out they all know it's tomorrow, but decided to celebrate early. Fine by me! The whole group took me out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. There were 8 of us total, and there was much joking and laughing, especially on the walk to and from the restaurant. Much of the morning was spent moving office furniture around and rearranging the space in the offices to get ready for our grand total of 7 people, the last of which will arrive on Monday. I work with some really great people.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I am headed to Northampton for the weekend. My plans include Herrells, Osaka, naps on Haven couch, shopping in NoHo, time with Smith friends, and surprise anniversary celebration (2 years!). Basically, I am going to eat and hug people. Very much looking forward to the weekend.

What a Weekend!

This was a weekend I will not soon forget. My camera went on the fritz on Saturday afternoon, so I will have to rely on others' photos, but I wanted to write about it now anyways.

Friday, October 9: After a very long commute home, I raced out the door to 6th and I Historic Synagogue. There was a Rick Recht service and a Jewish Transgendered speaker that I did not want to miss. It was part of a monthly event called "Sixth and the City," which has dinner and drinks, and tends to involve much awkward mingling. My plan was to just attend the service and talk and bolt out of there. But when I walked in, I saw people I knew! I met T and K at one party, enjoyed talking to both of them, and did not get their contact info. About 4 months later, I walked into another, unconnected party at Rowan's house, and there they were! Again, I had a great conversation with T, and left without contact info. And there they were at 6th and I!!! This time, I got their information. Being there with people I knew made a huge difference. Joy Ladin, the speaker, is a very skilled writer, and the piece she read to us was moving and well-written. She spoke about her experiences at the Wall in Jerusalem, first as a man with his children and wife, and then as a woman alone. It was less about the differences in the two sections of the Wall, and more about her journey as a person. We were all riveted. And then we had dinner at Joy Ladin's table. We stayed until 10:30 talking (with eachother). New friends?

Saturday, September 10: Im et al arrived around 3pm. Im, Kim, Kim's best friend Helene, and their other friend Su all drove down from NJ to sleep on my floor and attend the Equality March on Sunday. We departed my house after a short tour to hear Cleve Jones speak at Busboys and Poets. Cleve Jones is the founder of the AIDS Quilt, and has been a gay rights activist for about 35 years. I heard him speak at Smith, and we were all excited to hear what he had to say. As we walked toward the venue, it was clear that everyone else near us was going the same place we were. We all started smiling, realizing that people were actually here for the march!! Busboys and Poets was seriously crowded.
We could not even get inside, but instead joined dozens of other people in watching through the open walls. We actually had a great view, if tired legs and hungry bellies. The first speaker was Sherry Wolf, a socialist GLBT activist. She was fairly radical, but said many things I agreed with. The main idea I liked was the one that gay people go to work and come home like everyone else--we've got the same things on our plates as everyone else, and should have the same rights. Etc.
The best part was probably the energy of the crowd. When Sherry finished speaking, people inside the restaurant started chanting, "L-G-B-T! We demand equality!" Cleve Jones spoke only for a short time, and didn't say anything too profound. The funniest thing he said was, "How many of you have seen Milk? All I have to say about that film is, I was that hot!" In case you don't remember, he was the curly-haired young guy in the film with the big hipster glasses. Actually, he looks in that film remarkably like many hipster Smithies, despite the time-period and gender differences.

We met up with Kim and Helene's CDO friend Julia and headed back to Bethesda for dinner. Su was craving Asian food, and everyone else was freezing, hungry and had sore feet, so we headed to Rice Paddies Grill for inexpensive and filling pho. We spent the rest of the evening at Rock Bottom having drinks and snacks 7 Smithies, 1 boyfriend, and 3 of Kim's high school friends. It was good times all around and we were out waaaay past my bedtime. For once I felt like I was actually in my 20s, out with friends at a bar. Everyone bedded down for the night on the floor of the second bedroom in my apartment. It reminded me of when all of my cousins and I used to have a sleepover around Hanukkah.
I will write about the march later, with photos from other people's facebooks. Now I am off for coffee with Rowan.

Taste of Bethesda and Crafty Bastards

This post is woefully overdue.

Last Saturday, my mother's visit coincided with both the Taste of Bethesda and the Crafty Bastards, two events I have waited all year for. We started off at the Taste of Bethesda, where many of Bethesda's 200 restaurants set up booths and offer small bits of their menu in exchange for tickets. We skipped breakfast in favor of an early arrival, walking about 5 minutes from my house to the festival. I love large event set-up, so being out on this fine day, watching cooks and vendors arrange their tables and grill meats made me joyful.
We watched a 16-piece swing band do a sound check, admiring the cafe-like tables.
Jaleo, which, as you may recall, I have previously enjoyed, cooked a paella to feed 450 people. Mom and I checked back on its progress through the festival.
We found out that the heat is mostly in the center of the pan, so after something is cooked it is pushed to the side so it does not cook to death. Here they are making room for several gallons of mushrooms.
The rice is cooked directly in the pan, with the addition of much broth (mushroom broth, and I think chicken broth too. This was a chicken paella).
We sampled many different foods: shrimp shumai, a philadelphia roll, crab mac and cheese, chana masala, and a samosa.

When we were full, we headed to Crafty Bastards, an alternative arts and crafts fair in Adams Morgan. They have all sorts of funky crafts, many which are repurposed from other things:
These purses are old book covers. There was also jewelry made of nuts and bolts and clothing made of other clothing. Many of the booths had hand-made banner like this one:
Lots of screen printing (tshirts and posters), jewelry, items that look cool but have no use, and baby cloths. I ran into literally half a dozen people I know--5 Smithies, 1 Nice Jewish Girl, and Jason! We took a picture to prove to our mothers that we had actually seen eachother in Washington!
This donut was actually a floor cushion. I love Crafty Bastards.
Despite our large lunch at 11am, Mom and I found ourselves hungry, so I introduced her to the joy that is frozen-yogurt-that-tastes-like-yogurt. I'm sure this has another name, but my title is highly descriptive: it is frozen yogurt that does not try to taste like ice cream. It is cultured like yogurt. I tried the raspberry flavored with strawberries and little rice dough balls. Mom had plain with m&ms and strawberries. Totally hit the spot.