the start of summer

It definitely feels like summer has officially started! Last week, DC had some of its first 90 degree days. Oh joy. Now we'll be sweating to death until about mid-September. I had to laugh when I got a city-wide alert email reminding residents that as we head into summer, the best way to combat the heat is not by opening fire hydrants on the street. But the heat can do crazy things to people...my bet is that we'll be getting several reiterations of this email before September rolls around.

Also, my first wedding of the summer was this weekend! One of my best friends from college married his beautiful California girl yesterday...it was wonderful. He's in the Marines, so all of the funny Marine traditions [including the bride getting smacked with a sword on their way down the aisle - my personal favorite] were present. Some of my closest friends from college were there, and it was great to see them in my (new) neck of the woods. Fantastic start to the wedding season!

And another sure sign that summer has started: DC storms are back, friends. My favorite part of the weekend so far has been having Clara and Gwen here to show them where I live! We bummed around Old Town for awhile, got the heavenly-elixir-that-inexplicably-gives-life [COFFEE] and wandered down to the river after I got out of work early on Friday. Then, because Gwen had never been to DC before, we headed into the District to go take awesome tourist photos in front of the memorials...and of course, when we got there, my camera battery died. Classic. [I'm sorry, Gwen! Come back and we'll take some epic pictures. Pinky swear.] Anyway, as soon as we got to the Washington monument, our Clara weathergirl very calmly pointed out that the clouds looked pretty foreboding.



Will checked the radar. Cuss...there was a very serious red dot coming our way. We decided that we needed to re-evaluate our plans...WWII memorial would become a drive-by [sadness], and we'd rush to the Lincoln Memorial and beat the storm. We raced there, the girls jumped out while Will stayed in the running car, and we sprinted up the steps Rocky-style. That memorial never fails to bowl me over. Gwen was so happy. Then Clara pointed back out towards the mall....well, we hadn't beat the storm. It was intense - dust blowing up from the walkways around the mall, trees bending sideways, even some picturesque lightning behind the Capitol. We ran back to the car as fast as we could, but we were SOAKED by the time we piled in. As we were all saying that it was worth it, the storm stopped. Of course. How could I have forgotten that most DC summer storms last about 15 minutes? Rookie mistake.

Fortunately, the mistake was cancelled out when we went home and changed into dry clothes, and then went to dinner at Union Street Public House.



Delicious food, lack of sleep-induced ridiculousness...can you guys just move here, please?