#15 Browns Market

Most small beer/liquor stores are closed on Sunday - not something I appreciate. So #15 goes out to you Browns Market, way to go on staying open (and being close to my house) on Sundays.

#14 Rock Creek Park

One of the other joys of Columbia Heights is its close proximity to Rock Creek Park. Or DC's Central Park, if you will. Favored by runners and strollers, Rock Creek Park extends from the northern DC border all the way to Georgetown. Not only is it home to the Zoo, but also has its own golf course, planetarium, and I'm sure countless other wonders that I haven't discovered. Today, my now infamous friend Stephanie (I swear I have more friends than just her, she just happens, as she says, to be very "quotable"), meandered down to Rock Creek park to have a picnic and play a game of bocce on a beautiful September day (refer to #13). Now granted we didn't venture very far into the park, actually be found a spot right a long the busy parkway (see upcoming post), which was still quite a nice escape from the city. About halfway through our bocce game (which I won), an elderly couple including a gentleman with a cane pulled up and parked and proceeded to unload their own picnic. Now our picnic included using a Snuggie as a blanket, miller lites, subs, and pickles. Their picnic included a full table, two chairs, tablecloth, wine, and it appeared that they were eating something scrumptious off of PLATES. In my imagination, this is their Sunday ritual. Elderly couple, you made my day. Well, and the young man who came up just before we were leaving, and found a spot between us and the elderly couple. His picnic included himself and his bare hairy chest. Just goes to show you, Rock Creek holds something special for everyone.

#13 Proximity to other cities

This could be said for many cities on the East Coast, but I would argue that DC is uniquely placed at the juncture of the North and South and offers easy access to both. Seeing friends who live in Baltimore, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, Charlotte, Virginia Beach, Raleigh are all within an easy drive/train/bus ride from DC. Now to be totally honest, since I've lived here I've never gone south (barring international trips or plane rides). I know weird, but I hear and figure that its pretty easy. And I have always wanted to go to the Outer Banks and also go to South of the Border, and relive my high school glory days on the Myrtle Beach strip. I still have 86 days left, so we'll see.

Anyway, its very easy and cheap to go North, this I know. First of all there's Amtrak, which is so nice, and so much better than flying - drink/snack car anyone? And although its not quite so cheap anymore, its still often cheaper than flying and much more convenient. And then there's Bolt Bus, just $20 bucks and you're in NY, with WiFi the whole way, and a friendly often stand-up comedian bus driver, and a rest stop along the way in case you're craving a BK Veggie Burger. Somehow they always make it in less than 4.5 hours, which I have never accomplished driving. So way to go Bolt at living up to your name!

So when you're not in the mood for appreciating DC, ahem, at least there's a lot close by thats cheap and easy, just how I like it.

#12 September

Finally the oppressive summer heat has ended and we're left with cool mornings and gorgeous days. September also means the end (usually) of crazy summer travel and a chance to be in DC and enjoy the weekends. September also brings the National Book Festival (refer to #2) and Adams Morgan Day festival (refer to #6), so quite a variety here in our nation's capital. Ahhh, say that you'll remember....

#11 Columbia Heights ever-changing scene

Tonight I went on a Columbia Heights bar crawl (ok, slight exaggeration, I mean its 10pm and I'm home watching 20/20), including two new bars/restaurants - Social and Room 11, both of which are very cute, modern, with great reasonably priced food and wine, and to be honest, quite surprising and welcome in C Heights. I remember 2.5 years ago when we moved into the neighborhood and Ruby Tuesday, and a string of Latin places - Rumberos, El Rinconito Dos, Rincon Deportivo were our only choice within a four block radius. And then came The Heights, which we then overdosed on ginger calamari and grilled romaine salad for a good year. Well now there's a parade of new restaurants, including the main corner of 14th and Park which has changed three times since we've moved in - always something new, even in the same location. We've seen the fall of Carvel, and the happy addition of a Potbelly. Its been a great time to live in Columbia Heights and watch its transformation (in both good and bad ways). Ruby Tuesday is still hanging on, and although I love the salad bar, I'm not sure thats enough to keep it in business for long....

#10 The Inauguration

Now even though it only happens every four years, its one of the great moments in DC (especially this last year). Its a full weekend of celebrity stalking, free events, and when else do you get to say that you're going to a BALL? There's also that special moment in history that you get to be part of - just because you live here. This past year, I had dinner next to Bon Jovi, took a pedicab everyday (which previously did not exist in DC), worked at Big Sky Night (Montana's BALL) in a ski hat and scarf with a blow up snowboarding machine on the dance floor, while my friend gave directions to Ron Howard, and was in the best section for the Inauguration - PURPLE, PURPLE, PURPLE. Memories to last a lifetime...

#9 Cab drivers

For the most part....there are a few bad apples out there. But in general cab drivers in DC are pretty entertaining. I have recently discussed heating up a punani with one, the fact that our friend Eve should really be dating an Adam, and the state of Eritrea's latest politics. One thing specific to DC's cab drivers, they're probably some of the smartest people in the city (refer to #7) due in large part to the fact that they listen to NPR all day. My roommate Sara probably loves them even more than I do, given her many enlightening conversations regarding the state of the world at 4am. All this said, I would probably not be writing this post, if we still had the zone system, so cabbies, the meter system has allowed me to see your inner beauty, since I'm not distracted by the fact that you were ripping me off.

#8 Potbelly

Yes Potbelly exists in other cities, but none that I have ever lived in so its going in my DC list. For those unaware, Potbelly is a sandwich shop whose signature is toasting their sandwiches and for their hot peppers. They are amazing and I, and all others that have taste, am basically always in the mood for one. The best part, they're only $4. They recently came out with the "BIG" which has 30% more awesomeness. As my friend Sara put it, the worst thing about Potbelly is the last bite.

#7 The DC Public Library

Now I generally love all libraries (refer to #2), but DC's hold a special place in my heart, maybe because I'm the only person I know who actually uses the library here, so I feel like its my special place. I know you might be thinking, my special place, plus the special place of 100 homeless people who are there everyday. Well anyway, there also happens to be a library right by my office and one right by my house, so I'm never far from the dusty shelves. I also love that you can reserve books online (I know, crazy) and that you can do self check-out. The one thing I would like to make note of is that the coolest room in the Mt. Pleasant branch is reserved for teens, and I have yet to see a single teen in the library (at any branch), so Mt. P can you please let me into the teen room? - DDS for life

#6 Smart Conversations

This post sort of goes along with Everyone's Dork, and I'll just warn you now there may be a fair amount of overlap since I do need to come up with 100 things.

One of the biggest things I first noticed when I moved here was that the first question people ask you is, "So what do you do for work?". In other cities I've lived in, the first question would probably be "So what do you do for fun?" or more likely "Is your father a robber, cause he stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes?" Additionally, in most other cities, if you try to discuss politics in a bar, you probably won't have many people to talk with, whereas in DC if you don't know about politics, people will probably move on pretty quick.

Of course, all of these comparisons have pluses and minuses, but what you are always guaranteed is having smart conversations at a higher frequency, well unless you're in Adams Morgan.

#5 The Circulator

First and foremost the Circulator always reminds me of the hip-hop hit "The Percolator" by Cajmere, and that makes me smile as I sing "Its time for the Circ-u-lator, its time for the Circ-u-lator". Plus any public transportation option that makes you bounce and wiggle down the street is a winner in my mind. Here's a few other things that make the Circulator awesome:

-only $1, still not sure why its 0.35 cheaper than the normal bus, but not complaining

-its routes are based on connecting popular neighborhoods to live with downtown areas to work (or whatever else you want to do downtown)

-its a bright cheery red

-it only makes about a third of the stops of the normal buses so its super quick

It's one downfall I will say is that it has seats that face each other and are so close that you're basically playing knee footsie with whomever you're across. However if I meet someone on the Circulator because of this feature, it will soon become a plus. "It's time for the Circulator....."

#4 Embassy events

Last night I had the honor of being invited to an event at one of the embassy residences. It reminded me how lucky we are in DC to have a glimpse into so many different cultures and places just by going down the street. For a night, you get to eat the food of another country (for free!), meet important dignitaries, and strut around while you think how important and culturally aware you are.

#2 Everyone's a dork

So I had a different number two, but will revisit at a later date, hence the out of orderness of these posts. And not that the order matters, I just need to reach a 100.

Growing up I was always a big lover of reading, vocabulary, a member of the chess club, asked for a microscope for my birthday, was in Girl Scouts in middle school, and even received a Role Model Recognition award. You know, basically a big dork. As high school came along, I found myself made fun of more and more, even receiving the nicknames DDS (dewey decimal system for you non-readers out there) and Copernicus so I quickly learned I should hide these interests and start wearing mini skirts and become a stat girl for the guys lacrosse team.

When I moved to DC, I quickly realized everyone's a dork here and if you don't embrace your inner dork (or outer) that you won't really fit in and you won't get much out of DC. You may remember my friend Stephanie mentioned in the first post. Well she hates reading and in DC everyone makes fun of her!! Luckily she has other dorky qualities (she loves maps for instance) so she's not completely ostracized.

To all you young people out there reading this blog (is anyone reading this blog?) save your chess sets, magic tricks, and rare stamp collections, for one day when you can come to DC and be the coolest kid on the block for all your dorkyness.

#3 Reagan National Airport

You might be thinking who loves/appreciates airports? Most of the time you want to spend as little time as possible, and probably spend more time complaining about the experience than anything else. This is why I love National Airport even more, which to be fair is not actually in DC, but I would argue is part of the DC living experience, so I'm including it.

I happen to travel a lot both for work and a little bit of fun here and there. I've been to a lot of airports and have had a lot of bad travel experiences, and yet everytime I walk into National Airport, it feels like a warm hug (coming or going) and I'm so glad to be back. Here's a few things that make Ronald Reagan National Airport awesome:

-metro accessible, and not from some metro to the shuttle to the metro or metro to the MARC to the shuttle, but actually just walk out of the terminal onto the metro

-no long security lines, I don't know how they accomplish this, but keep it up, I'll be back to visit in a few weeks

-Potbelly in one terminal, Einstein bagels in the other

-Terminal A, this is like the annex to Reagan National and you can basically arrive 15 minutes before your flight and walk through

-the view of DC as you take off/land

-the fact that you have to fly over the Potomac so the plane doesn't go over Kennedy's grave (its like living a piece of history on every flight)

-a cab from the airport if you choose not to take the super convenient metro is 20 dollars and 15 minutes, instead of other terrible area airports which will remain nameless

National I love you!! Never change! I'll see you in three days for another hug

#1 Jobs

I should mention that I'm in Lima, Peru for my job right now, which may be influencing this post and my appreciation of it as part of DC, BUT I would still say that DC is a very easy place to get a job and has a wide selection of very cool jobs. As an example here's what my friends do:

-PR for National Geographic, thats Nats Geo for those of you in the know

-Event Designer on the Hill

-legislative staff for numerous Congress people

-Manager of Strategy for United Way, just this job title is worth it

-kitchen and bath designer

-Project manager for international children's foundation (BTW, she's also in Peru for work right now, coincidence? Or does this prove my point?)

The other thing is that people don't come to DC for its hot nightlife or great weather, they come here for one of these great jobs I've been talking about. So in addition to there being great jobs, everyone (exaggeration) loves their job, even if most of the time they act like they hate it and are working too many hours for too little money.

P.S. I'm going to Machu Picchu this weekend. Thank you job, I appreciate you.

100 days left in DC

As a means of a short introduction to this blog, I'm moving to New Zealand after 5 years in Washington DC, and had the idea to start a journal where I would write down something each day for the last 100 days that I am in town in order to make sure I appreciate everything while I'm still in town and have no regrets. I happened to mention this to my friend Stephanie, who hates reading, and apparently all things paper, and she suggested a blog. So here we go, thank you Stephanie.

We all saw what happened to Julie in Julia/Julie, when she tried to cook a recipe everyday and blog about it, and the last thing I need is to be stressed out in my last 100 days. So, instead I'm going to list 100 things that I love/appreciate about DC with no promises to post everyday, and if you're really lucky I'll also do this for my first 100 days in New Zealand.

I should also mention that I'm not a blogger (although I guess I am now, yippee!) so apologies up front for the lack of links to twitter or YouTube and the like. My interaction with the worldwide web has been limited (lets forget about that webpage I made of myself freshman year of college) so this is a big step for me.

Another thing you should know up front is that while I find myself to be hilarious, and I am known as "the funny one" in my family, my jokes have been known to fall flat, so again lower your expectations for this blog and remember this was going to be a private journal so you really have Stephanie to thank for my unfunniness.

Lets get started....