Another Day in DC: Getting Awkward with Our Forefathers

The skies around the capitol region cleared up this weekend and we had some beautiful weather again.  Chilly, but beautiful.  We chose to spend that time yesterday napping with the back door open, but today we headed into DC to see a couple more monuments up close.

We started out at the Lincoln Memorial.  After we visited Ford's Theater a couple months ago Shrimp has been somewhat obsessed with this guy.  I can't blame her, Abe was a pretty cool dude and I can't imagine where this country would be if someone didn't have the guts he did.  We snapped a couple shots, including the obligatory hey-stranger-here's-my-iPhone pic.

Shrimp & me at the foot of freedom

 He must have felt bad when he saw us struggling...

 Standard awkward self portrait... this is what we look like in real life

 I'm not going to save you from the same shots you always see, because I had to take them too :)  Shrimp's are much better (she was using her real camera and I was just dinking around with the iPhone), but mine are already loaded onto the computer.

At the foot of the Lincoln Memorial

 Lincoln's Profile... kind of a cool angle

It might seem creepy that I took a pic of a random little boy, but I thought this was a perfect "photo journalistic" moment.  I love seeing little kids get so excited about history.  He was reading every single word of Lincoln's second inaugural address.

Right after we saw that cute little kid is when things got awkward.  No, mom didn't scold us for snapping a picture of her kid, we maybe seemed even creepier.  We walked into the bookshop to the right of where that little boy is standing and I must have pressed something on my phone, because all of a sudden it was like we had our own theme and entrance booming, "2homos.com.  It's not a porn site, we just like the name..."

With music.

Yep.

Apparently I had pressed the "music" app and the last thing I had been listening to was this hilarious podcast, and the intro to it came blaring out of the speakers of my little iPhone.  To say a couple people turned their heads is an understatement. That bookshop is small and that phone volume was jacked all the way up.  Good thing I'm hard to embarrass :)

So, we headed to the Jefferson Memorial.  Thomas Jefferson is by far my favorite politician of all times.  I know he wasn't perfect, the man used pure logic and I really appreciate that :)  During our cold walk there I snapped this pretty pic of the sky.

 Look at that beautiful blue sky over the Jefferson Memorial!

By the time we got to the memorial we were cold.  It was beautiful but windy next to the water, so we kind of hurried through this one.

My man, Jeff up close and personal

 I have a bunch of pictures of the Washington Monument from different angles.  

This one is from inside the Jefferson Memorial.

After all that walking and cold, we or course needed to fill our bellies with something warm and delicious, so we hit the famous Ben's Chili Bowl.  Yum!

 Inside Ben's

Chili dog, chili half smoke, fries, and sodas (which we never get!)

Let's just say we went home and took our "before" pictures, which we will NOT be sharing, when we got done with this meal.  Surely we will still be eating delicious food, but there will have to be much more running around the monuments and more color in the foods we choose.  Sigh.  It's not much fun being nice to your body.

Have a great week!

~Tater 

Falling up escalators is part of falling in love

We had an awesome weekend last week.  I mean awesome.  It didn't have to do with any big event, just all the little small things we love that make us "us."

We headed out early on Saturday for a run on the National Mall.  BEAUTIFUL!  You could not possibly ask for nicer weather in February.  Running past the monuments and then to the White House with the sun shining, not even needing long sleeves was amazing.  We like to jog through the crowds and gossip about what might be going on with the families and other couples, etc. who we pass.  It's kind of our thing.

Chillin' in front of the Washington Monument during our run... 

"Excuse me!  Random tourist!  Can you please take our picture?!"

Then we hopped on the metro and headed to the Eastern Market for the first time.  I.  Am.  Hooked.  The atmosphere, people and families walking around with their dogs, vendors, artists, FOOD everywhere, was great.  We did a quick walk-through (we intentionally only brought as much cash as we could strap to our arms with our running gear and no cards), then sat down for lunch at a little Italian Cafe.

Yum.

It was almost like being in Italy again.  (Sigh.  Can I study abroad again?  Those we the days!)  Small tables.  Awesome, fresh food.  People outside enjoying themselves.  I love the sidewalk feel, I only wish all this was closer to our townhouse! 

We decided to head out and spend the night at home with a couple movies.  On the way out of the metro, I challenged Shrimp to a jog UP the DOWN escalator.  I made it to the top, she wasn't so lucky.  She made it almost all the way to the top before... yeah, I bet you can imagine what happened.  Her foot slipped and she was sprawled out clinging to the top of the escalator.  I should have thought immediately, "Oh!  She's probably hurt!  I should help her!"  But instead, I laughed.  Hysterically.  I found it freaking hilarious.  She somehow managed to roll onto her back while the escalator was still running under her butt, holding her knee and (so you know I'm not a horrible girlfriend) laughing at herself.  Turns out she was only hurt a little bit.  She has a nasty bruise now, but the marks from the teeth of the escalator didn't last too long!  The fact that she was able to laugh it off just reminded me why I love her so much :)

And then we headed home... have I mentioned we're foodies?  I freaking love food.  I take pictures of my food all the time.  It's way prettier than most landscapes.  Before we started the movie (Beginners - different than I thought it would be but the dog and the deceased gay dad are super cute!) I decided to try my hand at homemade potato and bacon soup.  I didn't have a recipe, but it is definitely a new favorite.  Yum.  Again.  I know this will make you want to come to dinner at Your New Neighbors' house...

My homemade potato & bacon soup.  You may notice it's in an Ikea bowl.  Surprised?

With our bellies full of the deliciousness you see above, we both ended up passing out early and didn't even make it to movie #2 :)

Now it's another weekend and we're about to head out the door to explore what (food) makes this nation so great!  Let's hope Groupon treats us well :)

~Tater