the fire is so delightful

well, in the spirit of holiday wish lists, here's mine. there's only one thing, and it's a wool coat from j. crew. i've always thought that they were too expensive to ask for (around $200), but since i don't need/can't carry anything home with me, it's easy to choose just one thing that i've been thinking about for years and years.

this one is my fav. i think blondes are so pretty in navy.

i made chicken and wild rice soup tonight and it is delicious, if i do say so. the rice wasn't fully cooked in the first batch i ate.. which i just figured out when i went to put it away and the rice was fully puffed. whoops. maybe that's why it feels like i ate soup made of rocks.

there's a tip though. wild rice at giant: $16 for a tiny box. wild rice at trader joes: $5 for a giant bag.

i leave you with this amazing speech from NY state senator diane savino about why we should legalize gay marriage. she is so right on. it's 7 minutes, just listen to it while you read the news or whatever you do online.

with space to swing your arms around

we've officially entered winter. this picture is from saturday, but it still feels chilly. the ground is frozen. maybe i've fallen a few too many times in this town, but my legs feel really unsteady walking on the frozen ground. it's like you're waiting for the feeling of falling on an ice rink. i've fallen flat on my butt 5 times in 3 months here.

so i just got off the phone with the kuo's and mr. kuo wanted to know if i had a boyfriend and when i was coming to taiwan and what i'm doing for christmas. then he says love you, i say love you too, and he says 'very good!'

speaking of a bit of taiwan.. i finally opened one of my bags of tea. it is so fascinating to brew tea from real leaves.
i forgot the water needed to boil the first time around, so not much happened. i dumped the water out and started over. but you're supposed to wash the leaves first anyway so i guess it was fine.
eventually they all opened up. i allllmost cried drinking that tea. it felt like i was just sitting in the tea house with alex guppy and the tea lady, discussing how it has kind of a flowery taste in your throat afterwards.
anyway i'm trying really hard to get both feet in DC. this week i'm going to make up a cover letter for political jobs and just blitz the listservs from now until the end of january. if all went perfectly according to plan, i'd find something before i have to move out of this apartment and just seamlessly move into a real place with a real job. the hopes are pretty high, so we'll see. keep your fingers crossed.

sweetly singing

i'm late to bed so i'm just going to post pictures from this weekend from other people's cameras

this one isn't this weekend.. it was from the wine bar last weekend or a couple weekends ago with john and abha. and me and my "long" hair.

friday we had mojitos at abha's before going to dinner. this is me, john and marc. and the new hair.

saturday night we wall watched the UT game. becca, andy and i are on the couch. abha, john and marc's friend ryan are in the next row. then marc and this guy chuck/charles who's in law school. he took chinese in high school but i don't really understand anything he says.

today was a lot of fun. miriam and i went to the neighbors for brunch. we made a dutch baby. it looks fancy but it's one of the easiest things you can possibly make.

then this evening a whole bunch of us went to marvin, my fav restaurant, ate delicious mussels and chatted in the candlelit ambiance. it is so nice in there and the food is always good.

after dinner, we gave up our secret hangout and showed everyone where the speakeasy is. nine of us smushed into a 6 person area, but it was cozy. if they don't have a drink you want, you can tell the server what you like and he'll suggest something to suit your tastes. the guys were having fun with that.

i invited one of our newest friends, brian, to dinner and drinks and he was delightful. we met him a month or so ago at the beer pong tournament but i didn't even say hi to him then. he's outgoing, super nice, really intelligent. he's going to be a fantastic addition to our group.

sad that andy's going home, but it was nice to get everyone together for so many things while he was here.

p.s. aunt carol's dutch baby recipe
3 eggs

1/2 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp butter, melted

oven 450, butter 10 inch skillet or pie platebeat eggs, add flour, stir in salt milk and butter

pour into cold, really buttered pan

bake 18min

drizzle 2 tbsp butter over, half a lemon, dust with a bunch of powdered sugar

i haven't felt so much like a 5 year old in a long time.

john texts me and says: winter wonderlandd!!!

which wakes me up

i read it and jump out of bed, look outside, run into the living room, hair rumpled and puffy eyes from just being asleep and do the squeaky yell to my roommate to my miriam "it's snowingggg!!!!" and then stand at the window for 5 minutes just looking at the snow while intermittently squealing.

andy and marc headed to the capitol but i just woke up. we had a fun night last night. well, a fun day. andy, bec, abha and i met up at lunch for crepes downtown. it was bizarre to see all of them on my lunch hour. then i took abha and andy to work! and they got to see what everything was like. i forgot how it all looks through fresh eyes. pretty exciting.

so then after work we all met up with more people and had drinks and had dinner at a sorta mexican place. not delicious but not bad. and the restaurant is really pretty. i was just happy to talk to my friends who have been friends for so long. i like how they all felt the need to tell marc and nirav myyy embarrassing stories but we never got into any of theirs. some of johns i guess.

later we met up with one of my favorite people from work and it was nice that he finally got to meet them. it's funny/awesome when worlds collide like that. i think it gives you much greater insight into who someone is. and i'm so proud of my friends and how we all fit together.

so that's my weekend. and now snow! and the big 12 championship tonight! it's going to be awesome.

everywhere you look

two stories, friends.

so i walk to work in theoretically comfy or at least flat shoes and then bring other shoes in my bag. lots of times i change before i get to the office so the shoes i walk in end up in my bag. this results in a layer of leaves, dirt and general crap in the bottom of my purse.. which gets under my fingernails when i'm digging around for my badge or my keys or whatever. so today! i decided to take everything out and dump it out.

so im sitting in the break room at work and i take everything out and shake my purse over the trash can. i was talking to someone so i wasn't really paying attention to what came out, and tonight when i was walking toward the metro i went to reach for my metro card and i realized that it was in a pocket that doesn't close and i accidentally threw it awayyy!! and it had SIXTY FIVE DOLLARSSSS on it!.

bad words came out of my mouth that never, ever come out. i was so upset and mad at myself because i know they empty the trash every night so it was gone.

but five minutes later i remembered that i wrote down the number and saved it in my wallet andd registered it online. so, all is not lost. it's just going to be annoying to get a new one and get it recharged. so that was a stressful success.

the other story is less of a story and more of a cool thing.. but i have this friend jill who i met when we were both trying out to be RAs our sophomore year. neither of us got it, but we had the same math class so we sat together and we've been friends ever since. we lived together in the dorm junior year when i got back from studying abroad. so at one of her birthday parties, i sat next to this guy, anand. we talked for 2 hours or so over margaritas as we were sitting there. that's the only time we've ever been together in person, but we catch up over facebook every 6 months or so.

it's all to illustrate how amazing facebook is in that you can meet someone for 2 hours and stay in touch with them even though you never see each other. and it's also to say that anand is one of those people i felt a special connection to even though we chatted so briefly, and now we keep in touch and it's like we've always been friends. so thank you, facebook.

glooooooooria

this is one of the coolest people in the worldd. he has some stories to tell. can you imagine being the person who smooths over all of the problems that pop up? amazing.

easy day. volunteered at a high school, went to a bake sale, listened to a cool talk, read a little bit at the end of the day. piece of cake. what's not a piece of cake is this weather. today was frigid and light rain that came at you horizontally, making umbrellas almost obsolete. and i busted out the berry colored wool beanie with a pom pom on top. i think jonny was embarrassed to be seen walking beside me.

i obviously need some of these $300 handmade moccasins from j. crew

are they serious?! seriously though they do look pretty toasty, don't they? i think i'd rather have 4 sweaters, 2 pairs of shoes and some pants.

funniest moment in a long time: my friend was going through a security gate and she started talking to me and wasn't paying attention and somehow the turnstile bar came right up between her legs and she let out a little yelp and got temporarily stuck for a minute while figuring out how to swing a leg over one side. we both giggled uncontrollably until the security guy also started laughing. it took us 7 minutes or so to get it out of our systems.

parumpumpumpum

sometimes i wish i was a guy so i could just wear a gray/black/brown suit, white shirt and different colored tie every day without having to think about it. instead, i'm armed with 7 cardigans in all shades of the rainbow, a couple of white shirts and a couple of other solid colored tank tops.. which is boring in its own right, but i feel like a canary yellow cardigan stands out a lot more than a yellow tie and thus you have to pay slightly more attention to how often you wear what, as a girl.

i am so exciteddd because miriam is home and andy is flying in from austin tomorrow! i haven't seen him since my birthday.

almost our entire core group of friends will all be together briefly.

random observations about the hill: each office can decorate however they want. some are full of stuff from their state, some are generic office-y. some are filled with friendly, engaging people.. some are filled with office drones who have had the joy sucked out of them, or maybe never had it to begin with. there are cute boys, dressed up women, lots of mahogany desks, navy carpet and doors that slam hard behind you.

i spent a few hours this morning going from door to door, handing things out.

p.s. you know at least one person who will be going on this tour next week! i'll fill you in.