time: birthday week, birthday week…

I am still deriving far too much pleasure from adding whatever word I like after “birthday” and singing it to the tune of Birthday Sex by Jeremih.* I was lucky (?) enough to hear this song during brunch at Tonic a few weeks back and it was such a “Did I really just hear…?” moment that I had to ask twitter if it was f’realz. Sunday evening I had some birthday steak… birthday steak… and it was good. Kris informed me that it’s my birthday week and as this fits into my earlier proposed concept of birthday time, I agree.

I hadn’t planned anything special for my birthday as I figured I’d be too busy with the stress of moving. No one else came forth and said they were planning anything either, so y’know, eh. However some local friends were planning get-togethers on Friday & Saturday and while I originally thought “No, I must pack, I must pack, pack pack pack pack pack!” I later changed my mind and decided I could use the breaks. I’m still hoping that decision doesn’t blow up in my face. 🙂

Friday evening, LiLu and B had a great housewarming party where I met some recently-made local blogger friends and some new friends and drank… heavily. I mean heavily for me, and I’m a lush–I’d just been cutting back in recent weeks. Well things eventually got a little… out of hand:

Thankfully I was behind the camera, but it was a wonderful time and only two of the new people I met mentioned my bruise, thereby immediately diffusing its presence. The others’ eyes just kept sliding upwards, but eventually I was too tipsy to notice. A good time was had by all, and they’re currently just around the corner from me, so the walk** home was easy too.

The plan was for me to meet up with Shaw Girl at around 9:30 for the Farmers Market at 14th & U. Well I’ll be honest–I barely remember going home and getting into bed Friday night. I didn’t wake up either in clothes or naked, so I did have the presence of mind for pajamas. However when I looked at the clock, it had these strange blurry symbols on it that resolved themselves to read something like 10:20…

Thinking: Hm, that can’t be right, must mean it’s 1-something in the morning, roll over and go back to sleep.

Then in the double-take that one can only make while one is half-asleep and in bed, I focused on the clock, then the window with sun streaming in and thought, “Well, crap!” So I didn’t make it to the market, but we had brunch plans for the next day so it was all good. I still had lacochran & and gilahi‘s Not-Quite-The-End-Of-Summer get-together at their house out in the freakin’ burbs!*** Aside from an overwhelming compulsion to spit on the teabaggers that I saw around the city with their dumbass signs, on scooter chairs and improperly crossing the streets, the drive out to their place was uneventful.

They have a lovely home and really nice friends and neighbors. Even though we were pretty easy to spot as “the bloggers”**** only one or two guests made comment. And talk about gracious hosts, they even bought a birthday cake for my and another guest’s upcoming birthday. So sweet!***** Definitely the one thing I miss about living in DC is “house parties”. Not the Kid ‘n Play variety, but having or knowing friends who have enough space to host more than 10 people without it getting too tight. Many of my friends have great apartments, but I’ve never been equipped to have that many people over at a time. And dinner parties are right out! Again, I had a great time and I learned a valuable lesson: don’t let LiLu mix me a drink. However we did discover that dark rum and premade mojito mix go great together! It gets kinda hazy after that… I think I remember McDonald’s fries?

Good to see the people behind: the Change I Wish to See, Lemmonex, Flip Flops in the Rain, PQ Nation, Pithy Comments, i hate so much…, The Restaurant Refugee, Alice’s Wonderland, The life of Mb, The Definitive Dmbosstone, Zandria, Malnurtured Snay, Fresh Muddy Waters and if I missed anyone, speak up in the comments. My memory is probably more than a little faulty due to this weekend’s events.

Sunday brunch with Shaw Girl, The Hat and James was too much fun. We went to Founding Farmers, mostly because when asked where I wanted to go, I couldn’t think of anyplace else! There is a definite difference between me having breakfast on my own and brunch with 3 other people. We were there for over 3 hours eating and talking… mostly talking. And it was a blast.

I stuck to the brunch menu, tho as we were seated close to 2p, they brought out their full menu and I was a little overwhelmed. I do plan to go back for some of the items, though–or just attempt to recreate them on my own at home.

I haven’t actually been out to eat with SG all that much, but food is always a primary topic. We also touched on reality tv, sci-fi, movies, drinking and lack thereof, our waiters’ asses and/or lack thereof and I even got them to accept some of the items I’m looking to get rid of in the move! Brunch was yummy though I was still unable to determine what the housemade jam was. I finally had my first Pimm’s Cup and probably my last as it really feels like more of a summery cocktail.

After brunch and desserts which none of us were able to finish, we finally headed back outside to a gorgeous Sunday and took a walk past the White House. I have to say, that’s one of those quintessential DC things: you’re just strolling along and oh hey, there’s the White House, cool. I’m looking forward to the Farmers Market opening this week.

And apparently I’m still on birthday time so gifts, meals, happy hours and offers to help clean & pack are totally appreciated.

(is anyone even still reading this? what are y’all, masochists?!)