black eyed.

Put it on the list, another place on my must check-out for the next time I go home to Denver, the Black Eye Coffee Shop. It looks very cool and I have never tried Boxcar Coffee Roasters, so here's to a hot cup and a trip back west soon...

noir.

Just wanted to pass along a new Camera App discovery from this week, Camera Noir.

In full disclosure, I haven't had a chance to really make use of it yet, but I like the looks of it. Here are some examples from the itunes site to give you an idea...

Hill Center.

Something I have really missed about NYC is the 92nd Street Y. I went there a good deal when I lived in the city and towards the end, I was going more and more. I loved the community in there. I frequented the lectures (Gloria Steinem and Cornel West to name the last two I saw), tried the yoga classes there and just all around loved it. For anyone who has never been, it is incredible. It was started in 1874 and the Y provides all sorts of programs. Exercise, Jewish culture, travel, classes, a nursery school, senior programming, events, shows, so so much! Oh my god, do I love the 92nd Street Y!

Part of it of course can't be recreated outside NY. It has a history and draws such an interesting crowd and incredible events but I have missed it since the day I left. Well, I have new hope. The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital. Don't get me wrong, nothing can compete with the 92nd Street Y, but I happened upon an article earlier this week that mentioned it and there is promise, I can't wait to go and check it out. There are all sorts of programs and opportunities and the building is beautiful. Just take a look...

Raise your hand if you want to go with me!

the roundup.

It has been another long long week. Work has been a beast lately, Ben and I have been on the move, and we are trying to get out for runs which means super early mornings, in short I haven't had much time to post this week. Lucky for you, tonight is actually the first night I have been alone in the house and I am playing catch up. So here we go with a couple highlights...

Earlier this week, we went to the private opening of the new Shake Shack over in Chinatown.

It was fantastic. Free milkshakes, burgers, fries, wine, beer, ice cream...this is called starting the week strong!

We also went to Emmy's rooftop and holy moly, talk about a view...it is a 360 of the city!

I also absolutely love this building that was renovated into new apartments...

We were going to have a date night on Wednesday but I got a terrible headache in the middle of the day. Ben was very sweet about it and we went low-key. We walked down to H street to try and H&Pizza. Have you all been yet? They also just opened U&Pizza. Definitely go when you need a cheap but good pizza fix.

After dinner, we hurried up to Union Market before it closed to get a scoop of ice cream from Trickling Springs Creamery (which we have now decided is the best ice cream in DC!). It started to rain, so we stood eating our ice cream under the awning and when we caught a break in the storm, we headed for the house. It actually started to pour about a block in and get this, a random couple, pulled over and offered us a ride home!

And last night, we went out to celebrate Josh's 31st birthday! We headed to the Red Hen...

We had saved the Red Hen to go to with Erin and Josh...that said, Josh, ended up missing his own celebration and had to work late. We all loved the atmosphere and vibe...the food was good...and it definitely has a lot of potential. (Note: great date spot for all of you out on the market!) and Ben said his negroni was outstanding.

And there you have it...thank god its the weekend!

the whirlwind.

This weekend was jam-packed. Ben's parents came down from NY on Friday and we made the most of their company. First things first, we went to Rasika West End for dinner! They came back to see the house after dinner and we were so excited for them to see it.

Saturday was an early rise. We headed out to Maryland. Virginia and Maryland are full of roadside antique shops and Ben's parents love to peruse. When they have a free weekend in NY, they love to drive up through the Hudson Valley for an afternoon and drop in to antique stores, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do with them.

While we didn't find any benches (which we were on the look out for) we did get an awesome cart for the kitchen, a work table and a mirror. Success!  I only have this quick picture I took of the cart, so I will update later with some more and a better picture, but it definitely rounds out what we needed for the kitchen. 

We took them up to Union Market so they could see what all our fuss has been about and we loaded up on some meats and foods to grill. And check out these oatmeal cookies with filling that we grabbed for dessert from Curbside Cupcakes...pair these with some of the ice cream from the Trickling Springs Creamery and yeah, we were living the good life!

Ben grilled up an amazing meal...his parents were still talking about it the next morning...

And speaking of which, Sunday morning, we grabbed fixings for a "healthy brunch" and Emmy came over for bagels, eggs, and the full spread.

Ben's parents needed to hit the road around this time but we convinced them to come to Home Depot with us for one last hoorah. We lived it up in there grabbing shelving, peg board, cutting 2x4s....

Ben's Mom hurt her ankle last week and so she was elevating and icing and periodically advising...

And then we rolled out to the car to find it had been broken into. To say it took the wind out of our sails is right. Up to this point the weekend had been fantastic and in the end, everything worked out, nothing was stolen oddly enough, and his parents did end up driving home Sunday night. But there was a really chaotic 2 hours involving police, home depot vaccuums, Ben's Mom needing more ice, a home depot van home, flight and train itineraries, frantic car window replacement searches, Ben's Dad driving away from a gas station with his wallet on the roof, and more...probably would have been a very entertaining reality t.v. segment! All in all, a great great weekend!

passing.

Take a look at these incredible photos by Jimmy Nelson, Before They Pass Away - One Field Camera, 44 Countries, and a World Fast Disappearing, that are featured on Foreign Policy. Incredible.

pegged.

We have some work to do on the basement. During the move-in, it became a dumping ground for all the miscellaneous stuff we don't want upstairs but the time has come to start getting it in order and more functional. The first step was tackled on Sunday night - peg board + tools.

Ben's Dad came down with a treasure of tools from Home Depot (you should have seen our delight!) and and we have the perfect wall to throw up some peg board. Here is the before...

 And here is the after...

I can't decide if I should have painted the peg board a bright red or color before we put it up, what do you think?  For now though, it is a huge step up from what was going on. Next steps will include a shelving unit we got at Home Depot while we were there for our dry goods and a work table that will move in on Saturday. Those shelves in the picture are full of old paints and cans that Josh left for us, so we have to sort through those this weekend and clear off those shelves. Might just paint them up as well...stay tuned more to come soon!

old news.

I can't believe it is Thursday already, I haven't even told you about last weekend! It was a bit of a blur to be honest. On Saturday we had to go buy a bed. Within about 15 minutes of walking in the store we had narrowed down to two beds, from that point, it took about an hour and half and probably about 45 (I am not exaggerating) trips between beds laying down to finally choose. Also, Ben insisted on repeatedly getting in the spooning position to make sure we were comfortable. That's my boyfriend! But, we got a bed - hoorah!

We booked it back to the house and started prepping to have some people over for our first grilling session. We finally got our new grill that Ben had ordered...

I am not taking as many photos of late, I have kind of exhausted of it, so my documenting hasn't been top form but we made burgers, Pimm's Cup fixings were brought to drink thanks to Erin and Josh, and we had a very high pie to person ratio since Kate & Doug rolled in with 3 pies from Pie Sisters!

Sunday morning was admittedly a bit rough, but we pulled it together and trekked out to Virginia for some campaign work with Terry McCauliffe who is in a very tight gubernatorial race.

It was a great day and Ben and I ended up with amazing canvassing right in Old Town, so it basically served as a neighborhood house tour for us as well! It made us miss our campaign days and being out in the field.

We also grabbed lunch at The Butcher's Block downtown.

And at one of the houses we got some quality time with this beauty!

All in all, it was a packed and exhausting weekend...but we got back in time Sunday for the new bed to be delivered, done and done!

hknb.

New Balance is partnering with Heidi Klum on a new line. Overpriced? Yes, probably a touch. But man I would love these shoes, HKNB Unisex 420. 

neighborhood news.

It has just been one of those weeks, I haven't been able to catch my breath. Not to mention, we are yet to have slept late in the new house. Ben's parents are coming to visit this weekend and we have full, early days planned, so our first lazy morning will have to wait for another weekend. I promise some more frequent posts and updates to come, but in the meantime, and in neighborhood news, we are very excited about two things happening.

The first is that Union Market is doing drive-in movie nights! With waiters on roller skates and everything! Of course, we don't have a car to fully enjoy the experience, but apparently they will have area on the lawn for the carless folks. We can't wait to go.

Also, rumor has it that Whole Foods is shopping around on H Street. Not sure if this H and 7th location is going to happen, but likely somewhere nearby!

And this is an interesting piece about the "Whole Foods Effect". 

restaurant roundup.

Over the past two weeks, we have been packing, moving and on the run so much that we have also been eating out a lot. So here is a combined restaurant round-up...

Taqueria Nacional just opened a couple weeks ago at 14th and T and man is it good and affordable! The inside is great and it is an old post office so they tried to keep the postal theme running throughout. More importantly, our tacos were fantastic, the frozen margarita was spot on and we loved the yucca fries. Definitely go check it out!

We went to Maple in Columbia Heights with Josh and Erin and it was great. Loved the inside. We sat at a tall table at the end of the bar and the food was really solid.

A couple of weeks we ended up at Izakaya with Seals. I had been wanting to get there for a long while and unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to expectations. The upstairs was interesting, the space is unique, the food, well, it left something to be desired....

A couple blocks from the house is Chinitos Burritos. We are happy to have some mexican nearby and last night we went to check out the burrito scene. If you are looking for the definition of a burrito bomb, you have found the right place. The burrito that Ben walked out with was huge. They were packed and hit the spot. We crossed the street into Gallaudet University and sat on the steps stuffing ourselves!

Piola is yet another opening on 14th street and pizza again, naturally we went to check it out! The space is really impressive, three big floors with space between the tables and great service. We had a great meal for four there, the pizza was solid (though of course nothing compared to Etto).