paced out.

It's the home stretch on this week and Ben's parents are coming to town tomorrow for a quick visit. We are taking them to Napa and Sonoma and I'm already looking forward to the warmer weather (90s!) and some good meals! And to help finish out the week, here are some links I thought might be of interest!

• The restaurateur behind Le Diplomate is opening a new restaurant by Union Market!

• This NPR piece from Radiotopia - The Procedure - about abortion is fascinating (hat-tip to Jordan!) - highly recommend the listen!

• Aren't these Barcelona vases from World Market great?

• Bread + Ice Cream - yes please!

• We got this bag for Ben's Mom for her birthday coming up as the perfect beach bag to carry towels, snacks, a book and more - we are going to fill it with beach essentials for her upcoming Maine trip! 

• Ben got us hooked to this show, This is Us, on NBC. Mandy Moore is back and it's like a big old romantic comedy wrapped into 18 episodes! You can get a month free of Hulu and plow through it like us. 

weekend warrior.

I swear I'm not avoiding you - I just haven't been able to keep up with everything of late. But not to worry - lots of updates coming. This giant eyeball is from a quick trip to Dallas last week - how cool is that?

And in the meantime, happy weekend and some links to distract you for a little while - be back soon!

• I read this New Yorker Georgia O'Keefe piece before Santa Fe. It's a take on her style and an awesome read! 

• Who didn't love Maggie Gyllenhaal already? I love this about parenting her children in the Trump era...

• I don't really wear hats, but loving this JCrew classic ball cap! 

• We are headed to Walloon over the 4th of July and the countdown is on - Ben and I both are checking the live webcam regularly!

• More NoMa news - Politics and Prose announced it is opening in the Union Market lot - super exciting. 

• And on the other coast, Tartine is opening a Coffee Manufactory in Oakland! 

• Ben's brother, Adam, and his wife Christina - just welcome our nephew to the world last week - Sam - and this piece about raising a feminist son feel timely. 

changing landscape.

Oh 2016. In the aftermath of the election, on a personal level for me and Ben, an underlying question and anxiety has been how this changes our long-term plans and goals, and very specifically, when will we move back to DC? Will we ever move back to DC? To be clear, we had no set time-line and this was not going to be an imminent return. We just got out to California and we are happy. But we also miss the east coast, and we have both felt we would head back east eventually - we just assumed it would be DC. That is no longer a foregone conclusion. When we were in NY, we debated whether a river town might be a new reality for us. So, who knows....

With all this said, we do really miss DC the city, so we were psyched to see the announcement that a new indian place, August 1 Five, is opening in SF and the chef was previously at Rasika! Can you say Palak Chaat? For anyone who knows DC and Rasika - this is huge news and this little piece of DC coming our way warms our hearts. DC we love you and miss you dearly - hang in there!

sweet sweet green.

This is huge! A Sweet Green (the DC started and based salad restaurant) opened in SoMa this week. SF doesn't have a lot of low-dollar, good food options and I also regularly crave the Harvest bowl, so I could not be more excited about this announcement. A little piece of east coast DC has just landed down the road from us!

back east.

We were back in DC last weekend for two of our best friends who got married a couple months ago and their wedding party was on a boat on the Potomac. DC was in perfect, start of fall weather and it was so good to be back in the world of sarcasm, acceptable bagels and suits - if but for a couple days. We also got some QT with our favorite new newborn, Nora, hung out with our favorite 15 month old Freddie, and could catch up with friends. It was quick but wonderful.

first up.

New restaurants alert! For all of you in DC - great Washingtonian highlights of new restaurants to try....

mid-summer.

It has been two months since we did all that planting in the front yard (here is the post about it from May) and here is the mid-summer update - you won't believe the difference in just two months.

Here is the little garden area in the front yard by the tree...

MAY

JULY

Here are the azalea bushes right after we planted them, along with the iris bulbs...

MAY

JULY

 And here is the side of the house along our brick wall...

Oh yeah, and we added a DC flag to the front of the house and the flower boxes are in full bloom. All in, we have a lot of growth and color going on

the fourth.

We went with Emily to the White House this year for the 4th of July (thanks Em!) and it was awesome! There was beer, wine, ice cream and popcorn. We brought our blankets and staked out a prime spot on the south lawn. Bruno Mars performed and he was phenomenal. POTUS and FLOTUS came down to wish everyone a happy 4th. And, the sky cleared up for the fireworks. I would say this was probably the most full-on American 4th of July we will ever have. I am even including a video for your viewing pleasure - that is just how great it was!

sunday fun day.

Yesterday turned into an unexpectedly great day. It all started because I was determined that we wake up early and drive up to Baltimore Farmer's Market & Bazaar. Not exactly sure why yesterday had to be the day to do this, but I was fixated on it. So, we woke up at 6:30 and jumped in the car and headed up. I had seen mention of the Farmer's Market a while ago and been meaning to go....it is under this huge highway underpass in the middle of Baltimore.  In reality, the number of actual farm stands probably isn't that much more than DuPont, but it has a bunch more vendors serving up food and the whole feel of it under the highway is kind of cool...we definitely doubled down on buying enough veggies to make it worth the drive up there...

But then we decided that while we were in Baltimore, we might as well pop over to Woodberry Kitchen for brunch. Obviously, this should happen, right?! (If you don't remember Woodberry Kitchen - here is the past post). But, since Woodberry Kitchen wasn't open yet, we decided first to check out their coffee shop we had never been to but had heard was cool. So, we ventured over to Artifact Coffee. Awesome spot - you should go!

Caffeinated and now finally 10:00 am, we headed over to Woodberry Kitchen, sat outside in the beautiful non-humid weather, and brunched it out!

We got back in the car with the full intention of heading home but we decided that since it was kind of on the way, we should stop to check out this place called Second Chance that might have some cool furniture or old vintage pieces. We had no idea what we were about to discover. This place is unbelievable! It is a giant (giant!) warehouse with everything.

It was started to save and reclaim materials in houses and buildings that are going to be destroyed while also providing job training and employment for the unemployed. It is more than 20,000 square feet of neverending stuff. Bathtubs, lights, door knobs, sinks, stained glass, art, furniture, doors, windows, etc. Yes, some of it is useless but wow, there are some pure gems in there. We couldn't believe it!

This stained glass was stunning....

 Old vintage stoves...

 Beautiful paned doors and windows...

 So much stained glass...and bathroom materials...

When I say everything, I mean everything! It was amazing. It was a DIY dream. It made me want to quit my job, buy a giant house and start renovating tomorrow...

We wandered around for the better part of an hour...and then we happened upon this beauty! I had stopped and looked at it when Ben was in the bathroom, and then Ben stopped and happened to look at it later by himself. We decided we had to take it home with us. We asked the story behind it and they told us it had come in with another piece of expensive art from a wealthy home (or it was from a public showcase) - either way we love it. It is a Yves Klein silk screen print of his famous Blue Monochrome. And the frame on this is gorgeous - we couldn't pass it up. It reminds me of visiting Yves' Majorelle Gardens in Morocco a couple years ago and Ben remembers studying exactly this piece years ago.  We have no idea what it is worth (not that that should matter, right?) but we are pretty sure we snagged a treasure. And it is now beautifully hung in the guest bedroom.

And by 2:00 we were back home! We had really only planned for the farmer's market but the detours along the way were wonderful....hope you all had a great weekend!

restaurant roundup V.

I have a back-log of restaurants to report back on...so I thought it was time to do a quick restaurant roundup.

Brookland's Finest Bar & Kitchen - Dan, Ben and I headed here for dinner a while back. It was really solid. The outdoor/deck area is very nice, the service was great and the food hit the spot. This is a fantastic neighborhood spot and for us, it works well for an occasional Brookland bite. Would recommend it for a casual, easy meal.

Beefsteak - opened across from the Whole Foods by GWU and come lunch time, that line is long! But, Stephanie and I hit Beefsteak hard the first couple of weeks it was open and we can report back that if you are craving veggies this is your one-stop shop. This is a Jose Andres special, and he is opening up the second location in DuPont very soon. It is basically chipotle style but all veggies, steamed and fresh and only what is in season. Would highly recommend it!

Impala Cantina is right on H street and Ben and I only just discovered it, thanks to Caroline and Phil. It is a great little spot (with a fantastic patio/outdoor area) and the chips & salsa are some of the best we have seen in DC. Thank god for some tex-mex on H street to help round out the food options - it was laid-back and easy and my margarita was just strong enough for a week-night!

Maketto - in short, Maketto is just cool. The design is cool - I felt like I was in California. But seriously, the space is really interesting and different from what everyone else is doing in DC. By morning and day, it is a coffee shop and bakery, come evening it is a bar and restaurant. No reservations and the wait is long (we haven't done dinner yet) but the food they are sending out of the kitchen looks like it is worht the wait. We were there a couple times right when it opened and they were still working out some of the kinks - but we are thrilled to have this one so close and finally open!

Mango Tree - seems like there is a new opening at City Center every week now. Mango Tree is the upscale Thai restaurant that opened about six months ago. During the spring, we decided to go try it out with Becky and Matt. Our impressions were mixed. It is very sleek and modern - the space is big - taking up two floors and has the look of a scene. Since we went, we have heard from a number of people that they loved it...so perhaps we will give it a second change sometime soon...

Mission Dupont - we went here last week with Dan - it was his pick. Ben is not easily won over by tex-mex - but this was a great spot. The inside is packed and busy (at least on the night we went) and they have a great outdoor area for people-watching and nice dining right off of DuPont. Our food was very good - the fish tacos in particular - and my margarita was just what I needed!

The Pub & the People - last but not least - we have been waiting for this place to open. Right over on North Capitol - Ali and I went last week for a drink and dinner. It was fantastic. Food was solid, service was good, ambiance is cool - I am a big fan. They are working on the patio out front, so hopefully that will be opened up soon but in terms of good spots I am hoping this is trend-setting for North Capitol. My only caveat would be - it got real loud, real fast in there - so if its busy, sit close for conversation!

And finally, for past posts - round-up IV, round-up III, round-up II and round-up I.