Saturday was a day of marathon drinking.  It served as a gentle reminder that we are not 21 anymore.

We started at Drink the District with VIP tickets getting us in at the early hour of 11AM.  We paid $30 for all you can drink, and we're so cheap we had to at least get our money's worth.

It was hotter than hell but we wisely got a covered table early on that we spent most of the day under.  We made lots of new friends who we'd take turns saving our seats with while we went to get refills and food truck snacks.

Lemongrass Truck!

There was live music, corn hole, beer pong, bear pong, lots of food, and over 40 different beers to sample.

We left around 3 and headed home for a 4 hour nap before rallying and going back into town for a friend's going away rooftop party.  It was a perfect night with views of the entire city and a lightning show is the distance.

A more interesting part of the day was the number of awesome t-shirt sightings.

First: "Don't bro me if you don't know me"

Then: "Guess what?"

The guy actually wearing the shirt was too quick for me.

And last but not least: "The Dark Side of Oz" 

We met this guy on the metro on the way home at 1am.  He was very excited that we liked his shirt.  Shirt Woot.

Another unusual tidbit learned while waiting for the train.  Who knew HIV causes belly fat?

Summer in the district.  So many things to do.

Lots of cities have their version of Screen on the Green, but ours is on the national mall.  You have a view of the Capitol in front of you, and a view of the illuminated Washington Monument behind you.

Combine that with a city full of young politicians, lawyers, students, and a large number of people still working at non-profits because they haven't decided that they'd actually like to make money at some point in their lives (that includes me), and you have a great Monday night scene.  Complete with a carousel!

People show up early, bring food and blankets, hang out, and wait for the sun to set.  Before the movie begins, HBO (one of the sponsors) plays their 1983 Intro and the crowd stands and dances. I'm guessing a lot of us there were born that year :)  An old Buggs Bunny cartoon plays and then the show begins.

Last night the weather was perfect and the starts were bright.  They showed the classic It Happened One Night and I now have a new favorite movie!  It's hilarious!! And romantic :)

This past weekend my boss and his wife were generous enough to invite us up to their family's beach house in Delaware. 

The weather was great, so we went to the beach!  Belle loves the beach and will jump and swim in the waves for hours.  Bella does not like the beach.

We also napped in the sun.

We kayaked around the bay.

And we enjoyed the sunset.

Perfect weekend getaway.

While eating with our friends Andrew and Stephanie at Capital City Brewing tonight, we started talking about the longest escalators in the world.  Over the weekend, A and S took the red line up to the Wheaton stop just to check out the second longest escalator in the world (longest in the western hemisphere!).  We think the first is somewhere in Russia?

But the THIRD is our very own Rosslyn metro station.

 I made a video so that everyone can experience the ride.

Two minutes and twenty-eight seconds!  

P.S.  The SHORTEST escalator in the world is in a shopping mall in Japan.  I love how people choose it over the 4 stair steps right next to it!

Happy Belgian National Day!

We celebrated at the ambassador's residence last night.  It is, by far, the most beautiful embassy residence in town.

Here are a few pictures.  You can't beat free beer and delicious Belgian food!  Local restaurants that catered included 42 Degrees, Le Pain Quotidien, and of course Neuhaus chocolates.

I was randomly given this camera by Mark, a friend of ours, and am so excited to play with it this weekend!  I'll post some pics after I pick up some film... and a battery... and get them developed... and scan them... so at some point :)

Minolta XG-1

How much fun is all of this stuff?!

Thanks for the present, Mark!!

Music confetti! What a brilliant and easy idea for wedding reception decor!

First, I took discarded copied music from work and coffee stained it.  I suppose if you're going to coffee stain music, it's most appropriate that it's Bach.  Apparently addiction to coffee was a "pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig".

Before and after staining

Once the music was stained, I used my new Ek paper punch to make lots of fun confetti.  Looks good!

We finally got around to checking out DC's only brewery (the first to exist in the district in 60 years), DC Brau.  They opened in 2011 and we were excited to be able to visit while it's still in its infancy, though it's growing fast!

This was my first micro-brewery tour, and Eric says it's pretty micro.  They've already expanded and have more expansion plans, so it will be fun to see how big they get in the next few years.

Brew Room

Their 3 main beers are "The Public", an American Pale Ale, "The Corruption", a very IPA tasting IPA, and my favorite, a Belgian Pale Ale called "The Citizen".  It was light, flavorful and delicious!  All three of these are also canned!

The Public, The Corruption, The Citizen

The entire brewery has just one brew room, a small canning area, a storage area with walk in fridge, and the front bar/office where you can sample the different brews while waiting for your tour to start.  They also sell merchandise.  My favorite was the "Fermentation without Representation" shirt.  It seems this local business supports DC statehood.

The beer was tasty, and the overall vibe was great.  I kept telling Eric how being a brewmaster and the personality that goes with it seems so similar to that of dive masters or pot growers.  While on one hand there's this super technical aspect where you have to follow rules exactly and people involved are masters at what they do, on the other hand you have this laid back, mellow, mentality, where the main goal is to get the best experience you can out of your chosen activity.  People that are into these things really know their stuff and take it seriously.  If only we all enjoyed our jobs this much!  

#movingtofijiandbecomingadivemaster

My favorite blogs to read have before and after pictures, so I figured we could contribute.

We were able to check two significant items off of our post move in list today.  Re-staining our coffee table and finally hanging curtains.

First we re-stained our coffee table chest.

Before

Sanded and ready

After!

In the photos they don't look much different, but the chest is much prettier in real life now than it was before.

Then, after seeing this photo float around Pinterest for long enough, we rehung (or just hung) our curtains!

I absolutely hate measuring the rod length to window length, using a level, figuring out how to use the plastic anchors, etc.  Eric left town right after we moved in together, and I found that I had come into the ownership of a staple gun from combining our possessions. Of course I immediately had to use my new found toy, and the only thing I could think of stapling right then and there were the curtains to the wall. Pretty tacky now that I'm looking at it.

Before

After

They weren't pretty.  And today we did something about it.   I still can't believe how much of a difference it makes.