New Things November: Tuesday the 30th

Biebzbear and I found a new park today! We walked and walked in the stroller until we came to the park on the west side of Barracks Row, and we found the park, and we went to the park, and there were lots of grassy knolls that Bear ran up and then fell and then got cranky when I wouldn't let him run down the hill because he would have died. Also there was a nice male caregiver there wearing a Utilikilt, and I wanted to be friends with him, but I did not do that.

Also Bear and I walked around the entire Eastern Market/Barracks Row/Navy Yard area, and holy crap! there's some cool stuff! Awesome houses and buildings and really cool art in some alleys and stuff.

New Things November: Monday the 29th

I locked myself out of new house today! I had not locked myself out of this house Ever Before. It is important not to lock oneself out of the house when one does not have a front desk staff with spare keys, and also one has a landlord who is very difficult to contact, and one does not always know when one's roommates are going to be home.

It ended well for me, because Incredibly Adequate Roommate was home before I even left work! He is AWESOME.

Hopefully I will not lock myself out of new house again.

New Things November: Sunday the 28th

I took a new bicycle route to work today! I usually go south on either 8th or 11th, but today I went on 9th! It was very nice. I might do that again.

Also I had some New Kids today, one time kids. I had Bee, who has not yet made an appearance on the blog until now because even though I've been watching her since the beginning of the summer, she is not super regular, and she is more stress than sweet, so there aren't many cute stories to tell. But, today, I had her and the kids of her parents' friends, so that all the parents could go to dinner together. Bee is two and a half, and the boys are 4 and 6, so it was ... kind of stressful? The surround sound on the DVD player wasn't working, so when the characters on Finding Nemo were on the sides of the screen we could hear them just fine, but when they were in the center of the screen, their little aquatic mouths were moving and no sound was produced. None of the little ones seemed to care, but now I want to watch it again, so I can get all the funny parts that I missed.

Bee was mostly cuddly on the couch with me, which was super adorable, while the boys threw around a yoga ball and mostly ignored me when I yelled at them, until I took away the yoga ball and the 4 year old had a minor breakdown. My bike was only knocked over twice, so I consider the evening a complete success.

After we had found Nemo, we switched to The Wizard of Oz on one of the movie channels, and the sound was fine! Weird.

New Things November: Saturday the 27th

There are about a million bars on my street, and I have not been to quite a few of them. So last night we went to a Place Where I Had Never Been! I did not have their coffee I only had their whiskey and their live music and their dancing to their reggae(??!). There were a lot of white people there who couldn't dance so we spent a lot of time on the couch watching the white people.

Then we went to pie, and I ate pie, and it was all gone within a few steps of the pie store because I was the God of Pie, and I was unstoppable.

New-ish Things November: Friday the 26th

Today I did nothing new. I was in bed all day and I watched the new episodes of The Walking Dead, Modern Family, and Glee, in that order. Watching new episodes doesn't count, a whole new TV show might count but not new episodes. I took two showers, also not a new thing.

But this is my 200th blog post, which is a milestone, which is kind of like a new thing. In celebration I made this video which is very cute.




I am not sure what will be the new thing for tomorrow. It is my half birthday on Saturday the 27th, so maybe I will try a new bar, or maybe just a new drink at my regular bar, while wearing a pretty dress. We will see. Maybe not a dress, because it gets cold at night. Is it winter now??

New Things November: Thursday the 25th

Today I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, which I had never done before. Well, the only thing that I can take ALL the credit for is the stuffing and the turkey, but I was also "executive" on the gravy too (not really, though). We also got to eat salad and baked brie, garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, bread, and roasted squashes, and then for dessert which none of us could fit in our tummies there was pumpkin pie, coffee cake, and Oreo pie (better known as "dirt"). And we had spiced/spiked cider too, and wine, and MGD, woo!

I had never cooked those things before, the foods that I cooked yesterday! it was all SO RIDICULOUSLY TASTY. then we watched MST3K and I wanted to die of food overdose, and also laughing too hard overdose. It was really excellent times.

oh also Brady figured out how to turn up our hot water heater, which was only set on warm, and now holy crap! the water! it's so amazing! I can take a shower longer than 4.5 minutes and have the water still be warm! I need to turn on the cold faucet as well! I feel like a normal person again! ...nah. no normalcy.

New Things November: Wednesday the 24th

TODAY I GOT A NEW BIKE

Well, not really, I guess I don't get to keep it until Christmas. It looks like this:


it is my new single speed Peugeot mixte and it is blue and white and it is AWESOME.

Really my new thing is that I got to ride my new bike for the first time, well, I did ride it a bit in the alley the other day when it was finished, but I don't think that really counts, and I got to take it on a trip to the grocery store today, and it is great. and it is a New Thing!

New Things November: Tuesday the 23rd

Today I gave a shot to a cat! That was something I had never done before. I am catsitting for a diabetic cat for one of my families, and they are very rich, so they can afford to have a diabetic cat. They are also very nice and they have a beautiful house, so I am glad to be able to hang out with their diabetic cat in their large and beautiful house.

So I have to give him insulin once a day! which is actually a lot more fun than I thought! I had never given an injection to anyone of anything before! NEW THING WOO

New Things November: Monday the 22nd

Today is a really crappy New Thing. I was running out the door to dinner when I noticed that my cats were outside, which was confusing because they did not get out the door. Then I noticed that one of the cats was halfway out the WIDE OPEN WINDOW, and the screen was pushed all the way up, and then I got the cats inside, and realized that one of my roommates often leaves his computer on the table in front of the window, and that it was gone.

So, wooooo, our house got robbed. That is a stupid stupid Thing That Has Never Happened To Me Before Today. Luckily, roommate whose computer is gone came home right as I was closing the window, which allowed him to log into all his accounts on my computer and change all his passwords. His computer was not worth much more than personal information, which I realize is priceless, but the hardware itself is several years old and not worth much money. He also, I assume, filed a police report.

In our neighborhood, it was only a matter of time until our house had stuff stolen from it, especially because my roommates leave windows unlocked and open and shades up and things like computers in plain sight. I'm really thankful that it was this fashion, even though that roommate had to pay a really unlucky price. It was not our back door being busted down, and all our bikes being stolen, along with our stereo, TV, all four computers, jewelry, other electronics, and all three cats going AWOL possibly for good, etc. etc.

But now, of course, our house is a target, because the stealers could look around our living room, and could at least see my bike and some other things. I feel bad that it happened while I was home. I had the radio on. I don't know that I necessarily could have done anything anyway, I guess. Except lock the window. I suppose it is time to call the landlord and have him fix the back gate. And it is time to talk about leaving the windows locked and closing the motherfreaking blinds.


The New Thing that I did today on PURPOSE was that Biebzbear and I went to DC-3, which was delicious, if not kind of stressful, because taking babies anywhere is stressful, let alone babies who are as fussy as Bear. He's so fussy!

New Things November: Sunday the 21st

Today I did a New Thing That GrownUps Do, I guess? I applied for yet another credit card, this time just to transfer my balance from my credit card that has a 16.9%APR (BTW, WTF! LOL, KTHXBAI) to the new card which is 0% on balance transfers for 12 months, so, hopefully that will be a thing that will save me moneys, like 250 bucks or more I think. But then I will have three credit cards which is Less Than Ideal IMO. I wish that air travel and vet bills were not so expensive.

Um so yeah, that is about as much as I will talk about my finances on the internet!

Oh except the other day I did a New Thing after I had already blogged for the day. I got my credit score! Which I had Never Done Before. It was really not so bad, actually! Yayyy.

New Things November: Catsup

Thursday, November 18
I don't remember what I did on Thursday. I met some new people! That was fun. I spent the entire 24 hours with Capital R, which may have been a first, but probably not, and then we went to dinner with his sister and her daughter, which was fun. New People are New. We went to Ted's Bulletin which is not a new place but I did have a new food. I'm stretching for Thursday, because really not that much happened except for that.

Friday, November 19
I went to two new places! First I went to the Dangerously Delicious Pies store, and though I have previously eaten their pies I had never been inside the store. They really are super super delicious. Then I went to Kabob Palace in Crystal City, which was delicious but I didn't have very much, because let's be honest, I was already full of fried chicken (mmm, Crown) and pie, and also a couple of beers.

And a new thing I just learned is that Crown Fried Chicken has a website, and also it's halal? I am not so sure I believe that.

Saturday, November 20
I went to my first small-child birthday party! I was picking up Stellina at her friend's 3rd birthday so that her parents could go get ready for the fancy schmancy party they were attending. It was kind of scary but really cute. Stellina may have been slightly scarred when the head of the four-foot-tall Mickey Mouse balloon came off and floated up to the ceiling of the hall.

On the way home we talked to the moon and Stellina sang the ABCs, in which I was not allowed to participate because Stellina said so. And then at dinner she wanted more and more broccoli and then more and more cantaloupe, which I felt bad denying her, but even she agreed it was going to make her tummy hurt. And then she took a bath and freaked out at getting her hair washed. I had to tell her that she couldn't have any stories before bed, which she didn't believe for a while, until a few minutes later she said "No stories?" and I said "no stories unless you put water on her head" so then she took the washcloth and put water on her head three times and then said "three stories!" If there was a tiny bit of soap left in her hair, she will probably not die from it.

When the water was draining, the following cute time happened:
Me: Ready to get out, Baby Girl?
Stellina: babygirl.
Me: Who is Baby Girl?
Stellina: meeee.
Me: That's right!!
Stellina: biggirl.
Me: That is also right.

Then she shiverrrrred and shiverrrrred during pajama-dressing-time and while her teeth were chattering she was saying "No brush teeth, no brush teeth" and because I am the cool babysitter, I didn't make her brush her teeth. In reality I am the bad babysitter because I forgot to have her brush her teeth. I was focused on her not dying of hypothermia. Her tiny hands and feet were purple!! I gave her many hugs for warmth.

And that is what happened on those days.

can has

behind, I know. lots to blog! a couple of really busy days. hard days. catch up sunday! so tired.

New Things November: Wednesday the 17th

Today's new thing is Super Tasty New Thing. Somehow I have made it 22 years without eating banh mi sammich. NO LONGER! Super delicious. Also I got to have pho which made me into a superhero. Everyone should go eat one or twelve right now.

Also I got to drive a new way on Rock Creek Park today that I had never been. It was dark, so I didn't see anything to tell you.

Dave Jr. and I had some cute times today. After dinner we took a bunch of pictures with PhotoBooth, which was fun, and then we YouTubed Elmo videos. We watched Elmo Has Four Ducks, and 12 Ladybugs, and C is for Cookie, and I Love Trash, and then Elmo and India.Arie singing the ABCs. Somewhere in the middle of the ABCs, maybe somewhere around LMNOP, Dave Jr.'s eyes slammed shut and his head fell back on me, so we quickly said "adios" to the dogs and traipsed upstairs to brush teefs and wash face as best as possible. No bath tonight! Lucky bug.

New Things November: Tuesday the 16th

Well, it rained today (fall?! I notice you now!) so I did not take Biebzbear to Stanton Park, and though we did walk around it, I don't think that counts. We also did not go to DC-3. Karaoke is still upcoming, but I will write a different new thing!

I was late to work and a guy stopped me on the street and asked if he could ask a question, and I think it is bad karma to not let people ask directions or whatever even if you are running late (the exception is the Children International people who stand on the street, obviously). He did not ask for directions, he asked if I would marry him. I told him I was late for work and that I hoped he will find someone.

I know there are People Who Are Pretty who I'm sure receive at least 3 marriage proposals before work on a daily basis, but this has Never Happened To Me Before.

Also on the way home, I got hit on by a 9-year-old on a bike. WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS.

New Things November: Monday the 15th

Mondays are difficult days for new things. I get up late, hurry hurry to work, hopefully get there more or less on time, hang out with Baby Biebz for 8 hours or so, entertain myself all day long with thoughts of how I'm going to go right to bed as soon as I get home, bike or walk home, change into sweats, lounge around for the rest of the day. It is a good thing I do not have a regular 9-5 job because I would be very unhappy and extremely unproductive in my personal life.

Ha! Personal life.

It has been determined that I am going to have to start doing new things in order to write about them, which was the whole point anyway. Today I didn't really do anything new, I learned Something That I Did Not Know though, which is that I cannot get up at 8:23am and get to work on time from Virginia, because there is a thing called traffic on the Beltway. What?! Something That I Already Knew is that I can get up at 8:23am and get to work on time from my house. I can even get up at 8:33am and be on time!

Tomorrow Baby Biebz and I will find something new to do. If it is not rainy and wet, we will go to Stanton Park, to which I have never been, but I hate because it messes me up geographically something awful. If it is wet but not rainy, then we will go to the new hot dog place on Barracks Row. If it is wet and rainy, then I guess I will have to blog about going to karaoke at Sticky Rice which is apparently happening, or maybe the crazy iTunes announcement that is apparently happening, or maybe I will dye my hair pink just to have something to blog. That is probably not happening.

ETA: I realized, a thing that is cool about today, but probably isn't a Brand New Thing, is that I had a buy-nothing day! I didn't spend a single money. I did just download a new album on iTunes but it was after midnight so technically, I did that tomorrow.

IT CAN NEVER BE TOMORROW.

New Things November: Sunday the 14th

Sunday! I have been obsessed with Eastern Market (place, event, and neighborhood) (I include Barracks Row in the "Eastern Market" category) for a while, and yet an important Place I Had Never Been was Peregrine Espresso, which I have heard is the best coffee in the area, if not the city. So, I went. I did not have coffee, but I did have iced tea which was delicious, and my friend had drip coffee which he said was not all that impressive. We decided that the ambiance left much to be desired. It was not very warm and the chairs were hard and the green is not very inviting. It's very trendy though.

I got back to the bike shop and some of the bike shop boys were just returning from there, saying, "blah blah omg I love Peregrine so effing much blah blah" and one of them was talking about how he wants to be an investor, which made me roll my eyes while looking away, as I often do in response to this person, and he was mispronouncing "Peregrine" the whole time, which made me roll my eyes even more in response.

I will go back and try real coffee sometime, maybe Tuesday! In the meantime, I maintain that Pound Coffee is the best in the city.

New Things November: Saturday the 13th

Today I have a New Babby! Not for regulars but for tonight, anyway. She is amazingly adorable. She is the babby of some people with names. Names that you can Google and find things about. Babby is tiny and bubbly and has see-through eyelashes and loads of curly red hair, and is friends with Stellina! And anyone who is friends with Stellina is friends with me.

The Best Years of Our Lives is on TCM right now, which is exciting. Some people might know that it is one of my favorite movies! I wrote a couple of papers about it in sophomore year, but I haven't seen it since then. Myrna Loy is gorgeous.

OH, double new things for today! I found a store that sells ONLY CHEESE, and also I guess it sells other things that go well with cheese, so bread and olives and wine and stuff. I was only there for a few minutes but now I would like to back, because they sell ALL THE CHEESES.

New Things November: Friday the 12th

There I was, in the brand new bike lane at Lincoln Park, and there was the UPS truck, parked smack in the middle of my brand new bike lane at Lincoln Park. Curse curse, grumble grumble, gtfo of my lane, HOLY CRAP MY CONTACT.

So my contact fell out while I was riding my bike in traffic. Luckily I grabbed it right as it was falling out of my eye, and just held onto it as I made the next two blocks so I could pull over and try to manage the situation. I was two blocks from work, and had about 5 minutes to spare before I needed to be there so I was in no major rush but as I was attempting to stick my contact back in my eye, I was going through the plethora of terrible things that happen if I drop my contact on the ground. My mobile contact solution that I used to carry in my bag is now stationary, not to mention, if I drop my contact, there's no way in hell I can find it on the asphalt in the dusk with just one functional eye.

None of those terrible things happened! I got my contact back in my eye. WOO. High fives all around.

That whole shenanigan is a thing that has Never Happened To Me Before. I wish for it to Never Happen Again.

I feel like my New Things are kind of lame. I am pretty sure there will be one Really Awesome New Thing before the end of the month, seeing as how it is only the 12th and we are actually going all the way to the 8th of December?? So, that's good.

Heat and shower are both back in business. We got a new furnace and a new diverter. Yay!

New Things November: Thursday the 11th

Today the new things is some movies, I am in the middle of Elizabeth, which is pretty ok, and also I am watching Henry Poole is Here. It is interesting, I guess. I have never seen these movies! Luke Wilson is very Luke Wilson-esque. Both movies are really heavy on the religion! So there you go.

Some other things, as well. We have no heat, still. Tomorrow the guy comes to look at it to see if we need a new furnace, and then after that we will get a new furnace, because I will tell you that we need a new furnace.

I realized why my bartender looks so familiar, he looks just like Geoffrey Rush, but not the Geoffrey Rush in that picture, more like the Geoffrey Rush in Elizabeth.

I'm not sure how I feel about today.

New Things November: Wednesday the 10th

While Maeg and I have had many food times at many Cosis, today we went to the Cosi on Georgetown University's campus, which was a Place I Had Never Been! I had a TBM Melt which was a thing I had never had, because usually I stick with Turkey Bacon Cheddar Melt because it has delicious mustardy sauce.

Also then as I was leaving campus, I was headed for a 32 bus, but came across a D6 bus, which takes me much closer to my house, and doesn't travel down the quagmire that is Wisconsin Avenue! I was happy.

Our landlord gave us a new thermostat, which I could have told you was not the problem with our heater. Now we have a new thermostat, and no heat, and also our shower is broken because someone switched it from shower to bathtub, which we try not to do, because it has been getting harder and harder to switch back to shower. Now it is broken, and I did not shower yesterday, and Capital R is out of town until late late tonight so I have no shower and no heat. I may have to impose myself on Stellina's mom tomorrow while Stellina is at school so that I may shower. We will see.

I am cranky over it, and now I am going to bed.

New Things November: Tuesday the 9th

A couple of new things happened today!

New Thing Number One!: I went to Frager's for the first time. Yay! Frager's is an independent hardware store that has been on Capitol Hill for nineteen thousand years. It was a Place I Had Never Been, and it is pretty cool. I usually go to the Ace at City Vista, because it is right by the Sexy Safeway.

New Thing Number Two!: I fell off my bike in a new manner! Woo! I was at a stoplight and couldn't get out of my clip on my right side, but couldn't swing my balance to the left. There were lots of cars there when I fell! Nothing is wrong with bike that wasn't already wrong. ie: bearings are still square, not round; chain still needs to be lubed; handlebar tape is still nasty-looking; yellow housing on my rear derailleur cable is still FLY AS HELL; etc. I myself will have some interesting and awesome bruises, and be slightly sore for a bit.

there you go.

New Things November: Monday the 8th

Today my mother told me a story about how when she was pregnant with me, and I was due in a few weeks, she was all "oh, crap, the baby isn't moving. huh. Well, if she's gone, she's gone, there's nothing I can do about it. My appointment is on Friday anyway." And then it happened the next night and the next night.

Turned out I was just sleeping. And I was borned just fine a few weeks later. THANKS MOM.

That is a Thing That I Did Not Know!

Oh, also for November 7th, which was a Sunday, I watched Eddie Izzard's Circle, which was a Thing That I Had Never Done.

Dear Selle Italia

I finally sucked it up and bought my new saddle for my bike, which I didn't want to do because it's pink and while I like pink, I wish it wasn't so gendered. Then I had a short but good conversation with one of the guys at the shop, who gets a ton of crap from people because his bike has lots of pink bits, pink grips and wheels and chain and straps and stuff. I wanted to have more conversation about it but I didn't get to. It is silly, the association of the color pink with the ladyfolk. If I want to have the color pink, I should be able to have it, but so should the guy at the bike shop who wants his bike to be pink. If I don't want to have pink, I should not have to have it.

That said, my new seat is pretty great. (and look! those people are selling it at cost!)

The end.


Tomorrow I get to watch the new episode of the zombie show. Or maybe Tuesday morning we will watch it before work, so that I don't have to sleep after it. I have already been having weird dreams lately.

My cat is trying to hack into my bag of Costco mangoes that Stellina's mama bought for me! He is a jerk.

Cold house is cold.

Today I ...

Woke up with three cats on my bed

Ran out of hot water in the shower within ten minutes, and I am the only one in the house (wtf hot water heater!)

Determined that our heater is broken, just like our A/C was broken, thought about moving to San Diego

Decided to get back in bed, because the house is 57 degrees

Thought about cleaning my room a bit

Put my Google Calendar in a color scheme that I like

Thought about birthday presents

Talked to Maeg, and also my sister, and also Hannah

Watched the first 5 minutes of Billy Elliot, then determined that I don't understand them enough to watch the movie without closed-captioning, and so I will have to wait for the DVD in the mail

Thought about brushing my teeth

Still have three cats on/in my bed

Thought about biking the MBT for a bit

Decided to blog.

IT'S BEEN A GREAT DAY SO FAR. AND IT'S ONLY 3:30!!!