Everything is blooming right now as DC transitions from the grey, barren winter to it's lush summer.  Spring around here is beautiful.  We got brave and joined the masses on the mall so that Elodie could experience her first Cherry Blossom Festival.

Her dad really knows how to make her smile.

The festival was packed and the metro was crazy.  Elle loved her first metro ride, flirting and smiling with everyone that looked at her.  We didn't end up staying too long, but got a few pictures to prove she was there :)

Meanwhile, the trees in our neighborhood are out of control beautiful.  One neighbor's dogwoods are just gorgeous, so we make sure to go past them on our evening walks.

It's hard to believe that Elle will already be 5 months old this week.   She's getting bigger every day!

it's cherry blossom time! 
the national cherry blossom festival has been going on for the last two weekends, but the blooms weren't really happening until late last week.  with the freezing cold front moving in today, i'd say they barely got a good week of blooms in there, poor trees!

nevertheless, the festival has brought in lots of tourists and we've ventured out a few times ourselves to get a look at all that's happening.

last weekend we went to the southwest waterfront festivities.  there were market stalls, food trucks, the fish market, and fireworks!

there have also been a couple of days that i've walked down to the mall from the office to check out the flowers closer to the lincoln memorial.  one evening i walked down with a high school best friend who was in town visiting!

october is over, and this year was a particularly good one.  i had a two week furlough-vacation, people got creative for halloween costumes, we got lots of cute trick-or-treaters, and the month marked bella and my five year anniversary :)

somehow i missed posting our maryland waterfront oktoberfest celebrations during the actual month, but since it was das best oktoberfest, i decided better late than never.

first of all, the advertising was not false.  there were lots of boobs and there was lots of beer.  i myself am much more interested in the german food than the beer, and this festival did not disappoint.  between the food and the band, it felt like home :)  and did someone say funnel cakes?  oh my lord, yes.

it's furlough day 14... we've officially been shutdown for a fortnight!

i think everyone is getting a little tired of talking about the shutdown... the conversation has kind of moved to what people are doing to entertain themselves without the money we're not getting paid.  and our dc friends are getting a little concerned about what's going to happen with the trash and other things that are usually paid for by the state government when the emergency money runs out.

here's a pretty hilarious buzzfeed of people disobeying posted signs to keep out of monuments.

and now, happy columbus day!
i meant to post pups and pilsners a week or so ago, but then the shutdown happened and i forgot.  so here we go.

pups and pilsners is a small beer festival that you bring your dogs to.  we met up with a few of our friends and their dogs to sample craft beers and hang out for the afternoon.

the best part of this thing was watching everyone with their pooches.  so many cute personalities, breeds, colors, ages, sizes... everywhere you looked was cuteness!

let's get the human pics out of the way.  cheers friends!

 first prize for cuteness goes to this baby bulldog.  o.m.g. he was perfect.

 second goes to yoda dog.  the cutest, you are.

 third prize goes to this man.  he is not only carrying his wife's bright orange kate spade bag, the bag has a chihuahua in it.  the man's got confidence.

 obviously people holding their dogs are cute.

 ^^mark and sweet baby yalla are on the left.^^

 ^^i was already being creepy taking pics of everyone else's dogs... why not their kids, too?^^

 ^^tiny killer standing on chad's foot and a huge great dane.^^

^^of course both of the two most beautiful dogs to ever exist on earth were there.  just look at that drool.  love her.^^

the virgin freefest is an all day music festival at merriweather.  richard branson hosts, a bunch of bands perform, and people can wander around and check out different booths, eat and drink, and hang out.

branson didn't parachute in like he has in years past, but there were some great overall highlights: ben folds, zz top, and tie-dyed shirts! (that's not the name of a band, there were really more tie-died shirts in one place than i've ever seen, and i was a child of the early 90s) i had no idea there were this many neo-hippies on the east coast :)