Hacked By Imam

Hacked By Imam with love

Breaking News: Earthquake?

So, THAT happened.  And now that my blood pressure has come down to acceptable levels I can admit – that was SCARY.  I fully recognize that the earthquake was minor in the greater scheme of things, but still…

Via Washington Post

When the cieling, walls and floor started shaking this is what I considered were the possible causes:

wtf-moment

My first thought was that a gorilla was running above my office.  As the tremor got stronger and the walls started moving, I thought, terrorist attack with the plane landing nearby. As improbable as those two options seem, that still seemed more probable than an earthquake.  There is a large amount of construction nearby since they’re building a new metro so the only other imaginable possibility was that something exploded in a major way.  I didn’t even contemplate the possibility of an earthquake until a coworker yelled, “Earthquake!”  By this point my flight response had kicked in and I was standing in the doorway of my office with my purse and phone in hand poised to sprint down the 3 flights of stairs. My plan was to cross the street to 7-11 because if the world was ending, my best bet for survival was near a 7-11 with all of it’s non-perishable beef jerky and water bottles.

Charlie called me as I was sprinting down the stairwell of the office building (the construction of which I have no faith in) and I informed him that I was exiting the building in the direction of 7-11.   He had felt it too! And he was okay!!  The streets and sidewalks started to fill up with people from inside the nearby office buildings and my thoughts went to Coco at home all alone and scared with picture frames falling off the wall.

Coco, I'm on my way!

You could see there was some drywall damage upon reentry to my office, and so I got permission to work the rest of the day from home. When I got home all was well, and it turned out the earthquakes biggest toll was on my adrenaline supply. Coco was fine.

What's up, dude?

And the house was fine.

Not exactly earthquake devastation.

So yeah, earthquakes can happen in DC. Good to know. If we’re going to endure earthquakes in addition to blizzards, I propose we move the nation’s capital to Malibu.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This year for Valentine’s Day, Charlie made breakfast with a waffle maker we got as an engagement gift from my cousin, Kalorik WM-17885 Heart-Shaped 1000-Watt Nonstick Wafflemaker:

Heart Shaped Waffles!

I made dinner with lobster my mom and step-dad brought up from Florida:

Lobster

And Coco got to go to the dog park:

Couldn't be happier

A Tale of a Hot Chocolate Break Foretold

Apparently there is an upside to all of this “holy [expletive deleted] it’s cold outside!”  Last weekend we went skiing/snowboarding at Whitetail ski resort, the closest ski-slope to the DC area.  Sure half the mountain was taken up with kids, rookies, and people skiing in their jeans, but it was so much fun, and totally worth the drive.  Absent was the snobby air present at other ski resorts where the “expert ski people”  despise the slow poke pizza-wedging their way down the mountain who was not born with the go-faster-gene, i.e. me.

On the way

Obligatory Goggles-on-the-Forehead Shot

Obligatory Hot Chocolate Break

Happy Charlie

"It's not that cold. It's not that cold. It's not that cold."

The view from the hot chocolate spot

Here Comes the Hotstepper

In emailing with an old friend from high school, I found out that Signature Gardens closed its doors forever in December.  Here is the story I found about it in the Miami Herald.  For those of you who don’t know, Signature Gardens was the banquet hall in what was referred to as “West Kendall” (which these days probably referred to as midtown Kendall), that housed most of the area  high school dances, birthday parties, bat mitzvahs, and bar mitzvahs, and most notably, in my friend Jen’s case, weddings.  For the RHoNJ fans, Signature Gardens was the Brownstone of South Florida.

Every single dance I went to between the years of 1995-1999 was held either at a hotel ballroom or Signature Gardens.   I can’t remember the décor, but two things are for sure: the air was full of pheromones mixed with Cool Water for Women and the walls had been witness to many-a-first kiss and first slow-dance.  This was the place where we thought we invented “Did you see what she was wearing?” and “I just want to dance in a circle with my friends.” High school was horrible with all of the “Who is that girl he’s talking to?” and “Why won’t my mom let me pluck my eyebrows?”, but Signature Gardens was great.

So tonight I tip my hat to you Signature Gardens, “heroes get remembered but legends never die.” Good bye old friend.  143-123

Google For The Win

If you love spreadsheets as much as I do, you’ll agree that this link is the best invention in wedding planning EVER (Thanks Isa!):

https://docs.google.com/previewtemplate?id=0AhN0y99GtIFTdEc0ZzFkMU8tZmFTSVp3dmhhMlRycWc&mode=public