hi!

sorry i have been m.i.a. 

SO much going on.

good stuff! 

just a lot of stuff! 

dogsitting

(no longer sure i could handle 2!)

tests

trying to set up my etsy shop

(clearly not as timely as i would have liked)

exciting surprises from my main man

(wicked!)

visiting friends

learning to fry wontons

running 1/2 marathons

you know,

the usual ( :

i saw this today.

thought it was too cute! 

the following was found posted very low on the refridgerator door: 

dear dogs & cats:

the dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. 

the other dishes are mine and contain my food.

placing a paw print in the middle of my plate does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, 

nor do i find it aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

the stairway was not designed by nascar and is not a racetrack.

racing me to the bottom is not the object.

tripping me doesn't help because i fall faster than you can run.

i cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. 

i am very sorry about this.

do not think i will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort.

however, dogs & cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep.

it is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other,

stretched out to the fullest extent possible.

i also know that sticking tails straight out 

and having tounges hanging out on the other end to maximize space

is nothing but sarcasm. 

for the last time, there is no secret exit to the bathroom!! 

if, by some miracle, 

i beat you there and manage to the get the door shut, 

it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob

or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door.

i must exit through the same door i entered.

also,

i have been using the bathroom for years. 

canine/feline attendance is not needed.

the proper order for kissing is:

kiss me

THEN go smell the other dog or cat's butt

(or your own)

i cannot stress this enough. 

( : 

say hello!

we finished setting up our flickr site today: 

flickr.com/photos/wishbonestwo

life with v.

life with a 75-pound black lab is always interesting. 

there is a little park about a block from our house.

it's fenced on three sides

which is great for obedient dogs

maybe not for bumbling, goofy, curious black labs. 

yesterday was a trial run (no pun intended).

we attached two leashes together and ran circles with her.

there was another dog there

(a really cute, older yellow lab)

playing with a tennis ball. 

v tried to join in...

...until she was sling-shotted with the leash. 

oops.

this morning the sky is a perfect blue

no clouds at all

and, under my request, we took her to the park

with her harness
(she always behaves better with the harness)

and let go (!!) of her leash.

we threw the tennis ball back & forth for about 20 minutes

she was a very good girl! 

no running after rogue squirrels

and no running into oncoming traffic! 

she is pooped now. 

this is where i found her after i got dressed

underneath my desk

sniffing around.

she almost never sits on the hardwood

(it's cold!)

when there are beds and couches and chairs around. 

it also doesn't help that h made beef jerky last night. 

and the whole house smells like dog food

can't wait to try it tho.

crazy pup.

photo shoot.

photo shoot for inserts for our new address cards (below) from paper source in dc. that store is my addiction. the cards should be in the mail shortly... ( ;

love this!

super cute prints from lisa marie norton on etsy or on her website l.m.n.o.p. this one just happens to look like venus! ( :

it also reminds me of super cute ceramics from appalachian spring.

3-day-weekend-plans.

pretty excited about this 3-day weekend. yesterday we didn't do much... ran errands, yardsaled a little bit, watched the first bit of college football... but it doesn't really matter because we still have 2 days left of the "weekend!"

plans for the rest of the weekend:

• buying paint to finish the foyer piece i bought at a yardsale last weekend (already sanded, for $40). i'm thinking about painting it red, but we'll see how i feel when i get to the store! hopefully our local pleasant's hardware will be open on sundays. welcome to the south...

• going to the grand opening sale that started yesterday at u-fab (thanks alison!), a discount fabric store that i just found out about! h has been bugging me to get some curtains in my room... it's too bright to sleep in! (as i type this, he and v are laying in bed, snoring in rythem... guess it doesn't bother him too much!) it's been hard to match my crazy comforter and green walls again, without whiting out the whole room.

• catch up on some photography... since i moved i've hardly taken out my camera.

corcoran gallery of art, networking event, june 2009

• go to h's dad's house for dinner... this could be the meeting of the daddys, as he's invited my old man too (who is on-call, but is going to try & come)... more on this later. we're also planning on sanding an old ugly side table for the living room. i'll have a before and after of all the things my new roomie c & i have been up to!

• going to river with baby v and her boyfriend, vasco, a dopey golden retriever. i am vowing to take photographs, that is, unless i get trampled. i am having a little puppy syndrome. i almost took mocha home with me yesterday from petsmart. in fact, i may add going to get her to my list of things to do this weekend. baby v would LOVE her as a little sister! (well... maybe not... but i would!)

photo courtesy of b.a.r.k.

oh yea... and relaxing... ( : that is, until my babylock comes in, and i have to start on all my new projects!

caphill lunches.

i absolutely love capitol hill. the best part about working on the job sites near the nationals stadium is frequenting eastern market & barracks row eateries & shops (where matchbox is; first mentioned here). captiol hill books (7th & c streeets, southeast) is one of my favorite used bookstores, loaded floor to ceiling with the best-smelling used books around. i pass by it nearly everyday as i grab lunch at marvelous market next door.

today i rushed out, salad & empanadas in tow, to get back to the office and realize that my salad was expired (shriveled up lettuce & cucumbers and a horrible, horrible smell). i went back and they quickly exchanged it & felt really, really bad!

i love the houses here! i noticed an extraordinary amount of them were for sale.

and then i found this... doggie beer. no lies. $2.50. there were 2 flavors, beefy brown ale & something chow. we'll see how v likes it... ( :

catching up.

whew. what a whirlwind weekend, and it's not even sunday night!

first, my trip back from aiken. thursday was a long (18+) hour day. you can ask h, i was not a pleasant person to be around when i got home at nearly 1 am. however, i was excited to share my coffee from moonbeans coffees-- i got 2 bags for jre (moondance, his favorite, and harvest, another similar medium roast blend) and a pound of big papa's blend for my lil sis. big papa's blend is their charity of the month roast, benefiting the national multiple sclerosis society, lil sis's new internship. there's a bag of bluegrass blend (my personal fave) that i need to pull out of my freezer. the roaster at moonbeans told me that you should never keep them in the freezer--beans should be kept whole until needed, and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. learn something new every day!

friday i worked from home--evaluated my new health insurance plan & did some tedious odds & ends & recovered from thursday. i had lunch with some girls from czc at leigh street bar & grill (1301 leigh street behind the siegel center in richmond--currently no website yet). leigh street used to be called the corner bar & grill... they've cleaned up a bit, but the food is still soulfoul & delicous. we got homemade potato chips w/ a creamy dip and grilled cheese sandwiches w/ tomato, mmm. i got mine with a side of collard greens (my fave), but the girls said the veggies were good too. they have a good beer list, and i can see it being a happening neighborhood bar on the weekends. if you happen by, make sure to tell austin the bartender we said hi ( :

then off to get my haircut. my friend k told me about her friend janis who works at karina's in carytown, and in a period of desperation (& anger towards my last hairdresser of nearly 3 years), i gave janis a try. she was wonderful! i remember my mom used to go to karina's when it opened in 1992. i'm pretty sure karina herself cut all of my mom's hair off before she had her second round of chemo. the receptionist said my name sounded familiar. "my mom used to come here a long, long time ago," felt really good to say. karina's has changed a lot- it's a great little space-very clean and very hip. they use bumble&bumble products, which i love, and who just came out with a whole new line for curls. i bought the defrizz, which i will use for curly&straight looks.

h&v&i drove back to dc for the weekend. we had dinner with my roommate n, and her bro, a at matchbox on barracks row in southeast dc. i had mentioned this restaurant to a friend coming to visit dc, telling him it was one of my favorites, then promptly got yelled at by h for never taking him to a, gasp, pizza restaurant (that kid loves the za)! matchbox pizza is amazing. not to mention their stellar beer selection (tried brooklyn brewery's brooklyner weiss, as my new thing is german beers--it was great)! h tried the flat iron pizza (like a cheesesteak, but on a pizza), i had shrimp&grits (amazing) and n&a shared the fire&smoke pizza (just the right amount of spice). then we skipped back across the river to eventide in clarendon, va. this drive went very fast for me, as i fell asleep in the 10-minute car ride as my boyfriend&roommate took embarassing pictures of me (i had had a long day)! boo.

but eventide was just what i needed to wake up- a great rooftop bar, with some great atmopshere & an evening of wonderful spring weather. i'd love to try their food downstairs, too (hint, hint), especially after reading the review in the washington post magazine this morning.

saturday morning we were super lazy, barely making it to "brunch" at mexicali blues (maybe my new favorite bloody marys). we had plans to go to great falls, but laziness took the better of us, and we ended up going to the dog park in shirlington with v. it's right by a little creek, four-mile run, and we sat and waded in the water and played on the "beach" for nearly 2 hours. it was a perfect afternoon-just what we needed.

last night we went with some family friends to see our friend laura tsaggaris play at rock&roll hotel in northeast dc for her cd release party. if you haven't heard me rave about her, please go check out her music on myspace. she's doing amazing things!

h woke up early today to go back to richmond for a football game. i did a much-needed cleaning of the house & had bagels with the fam. auntie l & i went to get manis. she made fun of my color pick, accusing me that my fingers looked bruised. i don't care, i like it! ( ;

now i'm cleaning up & unwinding & remembering mom. what a beautiful day!

look what i found.

i'd just like to point out my three best purchases of the day.

#1: slurpabowls. i have no idea what genious person invented these. i've been looking for transportable bowls for baby v for so long! currently, i'm using a tupperware container, which she inevitably spills anyway.

these are foldable bowls made from 100% recycled paper, and are coated, so you can use them a few times before you discard them in your recycling bin! they hold 2 cups, and come 6 bowls/pack. i found them on sale at the container store for $5/pack. AND, you can just slide them onto your leash, so you have nothing to carry! amazing.

isn't she cute? she's been so well behaved on these days when i've been working from home! today at lunch we went to the dog park in byrd park. i didn't even have to walk her with a leash! ( :

#2: avocado cutter (serving the avocado community since 1991). i found this at the grocery store in the avocado section. don't tell, but it was free, so i guess it doesn't count as a purchase. i think this thing is hilarious. i think it just amazes me that you can patent ANYTHING. someone patented this spoon/knife/thing. i'll admit, it does help with getting that gosh-darn pit out! apparently it also promotes the sales of avocados.

#3: ukrops chicken salad & white house rolls. o.m.g. i miss this almost as much as i miss my youth.

working from home.

sorry for the lack of posting. i've had bronchitis for the last 8 days. note to self: don't get bronchitis again. don't work for 15 hours straight in freezing weather to contract bronchitis in the first place. there is no remedy for bronchitis. apparently it's viral. anyway. so because of this, today, which would have ordinarily been a day off for me to go to czc, i am working from home. venus cannot comprehend why, for god's sake, i have been sitting in front of the computer for the last 6 hours and have not been lounging on the couch with her or, god forbid, taking her for a walk and petting her incessently. instead, she has been pushing lucky the hedgehog against my leg for the last hour and a half. lucky was her valentine's day gift. he didn't have a name until he survived one whole week without going through surgery to get his squeaker removed. i would just like to give lucky a shoutout. and wish venus a happy birthday. she's 21. and that means she gets a new dog collar for big girls. (shhh, h doesn't know yet!)

dog days.

venus & h at barker field & watching the redskins win on sunday afternoon.