I Love DC - #6

After a long 11 days at work, late nights, lots of stress, big events, it all ended well. I have been really glad to have the weekend at home with no plans. Today I spent the whole day in my apartment cleaning, cooking and organizing. I ran a few errands in my neighborhood, pedi mani at my local nail place, coffee at the local Firehook and groceries up the street. It was a dreary day, but the leaves were colorful and bright and I enjoyed walking around my neighborhood with nothing planned for the day, little stress and enjoying "my home".

I love the area I live in! DC has a lot of different neighborhoods: Georgetown, Dupont, Adams Morgan, Woodley Park...I live in Cleveland Park. I have lived here for about 5 years. I moved into my old apartment building with a roommate on the 3rd floor and two years ago I moved out into my own place right downstairs to the 2nd Floor. Since I sold my car a couple of years ago I find myself hanging out in my area even more. There are great restaurants and bars right down the street from me. In the middle of the city Cleveland Park is a little place of its own that I have really come to love. Here are a few of my favorite places in the Connecticut Avenue area.

1. Indique - I have become to love this Indian restaurant! For take out or for dinner at the restaurant, it is not too expensive, the food is always great and the place is always busy. Yummy warm naan bread with al of the sauces, I want some now!

2. Yogiberry - New York has Pinkberry & Taste D-Lite. DC has caught on to the craze of frozen yogurt shops also. This past year Yogiberry opened up and as a treat I love the original or green tea with berries and fruity pebbles on top. yum!

3. Cleveland Park Day Spa - nothing fancy, but they can always fit me. $40- for a pedicure manicure and I can walk home after, perfect. You can't beat it.

4. Bardeo - Oh I truly love this place! It is a great place to meet friends out and taste the wine flights or wines by the glass. Monthly they have awesome wine tastings that are such a steal, $25. I think I frequent here about once a week. I will miss this place!

5. Uptown Movie Theatre - The one screen theatre can seat over 800 guests. I love sitting in the balcony, it makes me feel like I'm watching a big production. A lot of movie premieres take place here, the other night when I was on my way home I saw the new Michael Moore movie opening there. I already have my ticket to see New Moon there next weekend. I CAN'T WAIT!

6. Sorriso - Want a yummy thin crust Neapolitan Pizza? Sorriso is a great family run Italian restaurant right off the metro. It is cozy and always full. The owners are always there, sometimes it makes you feel like you are eating in their home.

I really love this place.

xoxo

a success!

Successful! A LONG day! I woke up to emails and phone calls from my clients to increase the guest count, increase, increase! I thought my chef was going to kill me. At the end, it was FINE! The party went smoothly. My guests were happy and full and danced the night away, my client was so excited. I may feel like I got hit by a car and run over, haha, I'm so exhausted and my body is run down mentally and physically, but my LONG week is done. WOOOO HOOO!

Me and my colleagues were dancing with excitement that it was a success. They were so sweet to help me out all day, ordered me lunch and everything. I had to share a picture of them dancing in the "partyvators". Yes, we serve drinks in the elevators.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

xoxo

a crazy week

Oh I've had a crazy week at work. I have been working around the clock to prepare for 3 big events this week, all ending with a reception for 1,800 guests this evening. 1,800 with 3 planners, a band, newspaper boys, an Indian caterer, 130 waiters, 7 floors, 2 VIP receptions, it is a lot of work. I'm looking forward to the weekend to relax and lay low, but right now I cant see past tonight. I love my work, the event business, but living at the office and waking up thinking if I ordered enough platters and spoons at midnight, is not my dream. I know this will open up many more doors to me, so Im keeping my chin up . Monday I have a fun opportunity for a job and I hope it works out. We will see. Just let me get through the day! Think of me at 5pm as we start setting up and start passing 1,800 mini burgers to guests. Breathe, inhale, exhale!

xoxo

snail mail

There is nothing like getting home after a long day, opening my mail box and finding a little snail mail in my box. I truly love receiving a letter in the mail. Now a days with emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, letter writing often gets lost. The idea that the writer has taken a little time out of their day to sit down and write to you, is thoughtful and sweet. Thank you letters, Birthday Cards, notes just to say hi!, I love them all.

I come from a family of letter writers. After Christmas Day, Birthdays, Holidays, our mom always reminded us to send out our thank you cards. I do the same thing now with big clients at work. It is a nicer gesture then the worldwide web.

Maybe because of my obsession and almost therapeutic find in writing letters, I have become obsessed with stationary! My sister Charity sent me a beautiful card recently from Designs by Amelia Marie (a Syracuse grad) with a Marie Antoinette silhouette on it. I loved it almost to the point as I want to frame it.

The website iomoi is an obsession of mine. I stalk it and dream of getting some beautiful chic personalized stationary. Kate Spade's thank you card that are "tickled pink" are also on my wish list.

Take five minutes out of your day, write a letter, tell somebody you love them, your thinking of them, thank them. It truly is a great old tradition that will always stick around in my life!

xoxo

Happy Birthday Kitty!

35 years. Yes, the crazy little Hello Kitty brand is 35 years old. I may be moving closer to the 30 year old mark myself but yes, I am still a little girl at heart. I've always loved the little white kitty with her little red bow. When I was little I actually had a Hello Kitty play kitchen, it was only the beginning.

I've always thought it was so interesting for a character that never had a long running tv show, movie, etc. to become such a well known character! Hello Kitty is now an international known icon. Hello Kitty started out as a cute little painting on a change purse and now you can purchase Hello Kitty diamond rings and actually visit a Hello Kitty theme park in Japan (omg, my dream!). Hello Kitty is a crazy obsession in Japan but it has become pretty big here recently....well maybe not as big...see below some of the fun Kitty facts I found.

-Hello Kitty's name is really Kitty White.

-Kitty lives in London with her twin sister Mimmy and her parents.

-In Taiwan there is a maternity ward that is decorated with Hello Kitty. Kind of crazy! Wow, strange.

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/06/the-hello-kitty-maternity-ward.aspx

- Sanrio Puroland is like Disneyworld but with pink everywhere! Instead of the mad hatters tea cup ride, they have big pink tea cups with bows on them!

- Hello Kitty Sweets is a dessert shop in Taiwan. All the desserts have Hello Kitty on it and the entire place is pink pink pink. oh wow, I think I need to visit!

- Target sells a mini desk water cooler. How cute is that, an individual pink water cooler.

I had a Hello Kitty camera for over year and just developed the pictures last week. It was a fu surprise to see the pics, above is a cute one from Brandi's wedding. Just more Hello Kitty fun!

xoxo

SMILE ....in the middle of this chaos

I had to take a 5 minute break. I'm in the middle of a chaotic week! Crazy, insane, stressful week. I have back to back events next week. Thursday I end with an event for 1,800 guests. Yes, I LOVE to plan events and truly have a passion for it. HOWEVER, this being said, my recent set up at work is insane. I am selling parties, meeting clients and doing all of the details. Right now there are simply not enough hours in the day.

I came upon some of these prints and they made me smile. Hope they add a little smile to your day!

xoxo

NYC weekend - cute finds, sore feet

My trip to New York City this weekend was wonderful! It was a short trip but packed with fun. Marathon Weekend in the Big Apple is always tiring but thrilling. There are so many stores I want to explore, places I want to dine, friends I want to see. Unfortunately the ultimate reason I am there is to run 26.2 miles and that does not call for a jammed packed visit, that calls for relaxing my feet. Oh well, I managed to do both! I had a blast and finished the race in 4 hrs 57 min 13 sec.

The weekend started with dinner at db bistro. YUM! Daniel Boulud is so wonderful! (I'm looking into a catering job in Palm Beach at one of his places, wish me luck!). The service was great, my butternut squash gnocchi were melt in your mouth and I loved that everybody around us was speaking French! So great! As we walked back to our hotel I found delight in a new Magnolia Bakery location and had to stop in for my favorite Vanilla Vanilla cupcake!!!!

Saturday I headed to the expo where I was as usual, overwhelmed and excited. Thousands of runners the day before marathon day in one place is exciting and nervous. I discovered the booth for the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon and left with a complimentary tiara as well as my race bag! I am marking my calendar for March 6, 2010. An all women's 1/2 marathon in Disney World, fun!

The rest of Saturday Elizabeth and I spent in Soho browsing all of the fabulous stores. I felt like a little girl in a candy shop at Kate Spade. Everything in her new line is fun, pretty and playful. I was obsessssssed with the jewelry and the shoes! A few truffles at Vosges in flavors like balsamico, red chili and bacon tied me over till lunch! (only on marathon weekend would I buy truffles for myself). Lunch at Mercer Kitchen was great people watching during Halloween day. All the stores in Soho opened themselves up to Trick or Treaters. So cute to see dressed up children in fancy boutiques. I treated myself to a fun Barbie Malibu Beach scented candle at Jonathon Adler, even though I was dying for the pillows!

Saturday's shopping trip ended with a trip to Topshop. OK, I hadn't been since I lived abroad in London and was completely excited! After searching through the amazing collection of sequins shirts, platform shoes and lots of flirty short dresses, I checked out with my fun new Owl Earrings and a gold quilted purse (oh so Chanel, but not yet! Still dreaming). After shopping I had a great pasta dinner with Emily (almost a tradition!) and ended the night with a fabulous bubble bath and some sleep.

Sunday I was up bright and early to catch the ferry to Staten Island. This year was interesting. I was nervous but reallllllly so excited. I had been really stressed out about running and once I decided to I was ready, I was. All by myself I found my spot on the grass and did some stretching and reading and lots of texting (love updating during the run!). I crossed the start line at about 10:30am to the sounds of Frank Sinatra singing "NY NY". I had tears in my eyes and felt ready to go! Crossing the Verrazano Bridge was amazing!!!! About mile 8 I was in Brooklyn and heard Black Eyed Peas "Tonight's the Night" streaming from a brownstones windows. All the runners and spectators were dancing, jumping and singing, really cool. I was all smiles from then until I ran across the bridge to one of the greatest cities in the world...Manhattan! Mile 17! It is an experience like no other . You can hear the supporters even before you cross the bridge, the music, the cheers! I saw Emily and did a little stretching (And posing!) and then I saw Elizabeth at mile 18. SO NICE to see familiar faces. At about mile 20 I started to ache, my knee started to hurt but I wouldn't stop. I stopped and stretched at mile 24 and didn't think I could even walk but I slowly got going and ran my way to the finish line with a big smile and tears on my face. I was done!

THANK YOU ALL for your support! It was my 4th marathon, I say it's my last for awhile...but who am I kidding. I'm proud I did it. It was a great weekend in NYC and a great race across the line in Central Park!

xoxo