Things I Love Thursdays

a long phone conversation with Brittany Jackson (why don't we talk more often?) - George Bayuga - a good interview that you leave feeling better than when you went in - when the sun comes out even though its been cloudy all day - working in coffee shops (even if it isn't Cafe Appropos) - meeting my cousin's friend - babysitting - the beautiful pink and white flowers on at least 20% of the tress in DC right now, promising green leaves in no time - homemade pizza - soup - daydreaming about haircuts - smiles from strangers - thinking about Brazil - having a full inbox on gmail - cute dogs, especially golden retriever mixes - a reason to buy new clothes - the promise of wearing sandals in a few weeks - cherry blossoms!

I can't get my photos to load on iphoto which is making finding them very difficult.  Please excuse my photoless posts and I will be posting about my cooking ventures with Alice soon!

Marvelous Mondays

Mondays are not always marvelous.  This past week has been lost to allergies and joblessness which is such a bummer.  And as I write this, I realize that I really need to take some time to find some ways to make this day marvelous:

I want every one of these books but especially The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  I've hinted this to Ben, in fact, I told him outright.  I love making ice cream.  But, my allergies have been so bad that I haven't been able to run... no running + lots of homemade ice cream = potentially dangerous.

This new coffee shop on The Hill is AWESOME!  It's not as great as the place I've imagined in my head, but it's pretty close.

This is what I have for today- but both have made me very happy and will continue to- which is awesome!

Things I Love Thursday

I live by this.  

There are a lot of things I've loved this week: the conversation I had on the way home from Seattle or on the bus home just tonight - Smith happy hour and the comfy chairs right by the huge window in front - the end of a rainy day - the 'its ok' page in glamour magazine - the smell of spring - my new ice cream machine and this chocolate peanut butter ice cream, perfect as is - sitting next to ben on the couch - planning dinners with alice - knowing that my trip to san francisco is getting closer - looking forward to the 8k this weekend - that one of the house mice has been removed... how many are there? - getting part time work every once and a while - long necklaces - short hair = a good time to wear pretty earrings

Marvelous Mondays

- I stole this link from Danielle, but I do love this tattoo SO much and I'm not even a baker (but hopefully I will be soon)!

- While on a run in Seattle, George and I stopped at this bakery for fresh donuts with marscapone.  DELICIOUS.  Good thing I had time to go back for more coconut chocolate, coconut cream pie, and peanut butter sandwich cookies

These donuts.... yum! 

- Awesome documentary about homosexuality in the Muslim world, find it on Netflix, of course

- If you've been reading for a little while, you know I wanted a french butter dish and an ice cream machine.  Thanks to George in Seattle who works at Sur la Table, now I own both!

 Making the pecan gelato I wanted to make so badly.  It was awesome. 

The site with the recipe can be found on an earlier post. 

Mario Batali's father owns this awesome cured meats shop.  They make HUGE sandwiches with fresh mozzarella!

Things I Love Thursdays

first daffodils of the year seen this spring & fish tacos

my fortune after noodles, my first night in Seattle 

last minute trips - friends that you meet for 2 days and stay friends with for years - hospitality (its good karma) - SEATTLE, despite the rain - running longer than I thought I could (but I am sore) - trying Bikram at the Sweatbox in Seattle - having a West Coast, male clone - making ice cream!!! - Sur la Table - Pike Place Market - the Puget Sound (beautiful)

Try 5 Meet-up Groups

I have been rather slow in reporting the progress I’ve made on this goal.  But- I’ve tried two meet-up groups in the DC area to date and have a few more that I have my eye on.

The whole concept of meetup.com is an awesome one: to transform internet social networking into real human interaction.  As someone who has always been concerned with the increasing role that technology plays in our interactions with fellow human beings, I appreciate this mission.  (I still remember lamenting the rise of instant messenger programs; not only did this mean less phone time, but also, conversations via the internet are somehow less authentic than those face to face.  I have, and will continue to remain a face-to-face person... hopefully this will benefit my job hunt, but that’s a whole different story).  ***just now, I almost typed slang that I’ve never seen typed before but that I know we’re all familiar with: “a whole nother story.”  I want to reflect for a minute- what words composed that phrase originally?  “Whole other story?” “Whole another story?”  We all know nother isn’t a word... is it?***

So back to the issue at hand- I have to date tried two meet up groups, both related to Arabic.  The first one I tried was called DC/VA/MD Arabic Social Networking Group.  I went to a dinner at Me Jana restaurant in Arlington, VA.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous walking in.  I went by myself and was somewhat discouraged to find that I was the youngest by about 15 years.  It stayed that way for a while until another young white girl showed up.  All in all, the experience was a good one and left me willing to try another group.  But unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in hating my job at that point that I really didn’t take time to appreciate the people I met- and maybe I just didn’t connect with them very well.  (Although I am very grateful to one man I met there who agreed to meet with me a few weeks later for an Arabic conversation- at that time, the revolutions hadn’t swept the Middle East and North Africa yet, so we talked about the Coptic Christians in Egypt). 

The second, a meet-up group that in near and dear to my heart, was Circle of Friends of Morocco.  This group was and is a perfect place for me.  I immediately felt at home with the leader of the group who agreed to meet with me an hour before the scheduled event time (a dinner that I had planned at a nearby Moroccan restaurant, Souk).  He lived in Fes for much of his life, a place I called home for a year myself.  His family currently lives in Taza- a wonderful city close to the Morocco/Algeria border that has this amazing cave where silly, adventurous Westerners like to “spulunk,” i.e. cave dive. 

Anyways, the entire meal was awesome.  By that point I was willing and ready to leave my horrible job, and I will credit a conversation I had that night with giving me the final push (for which I am immensely grateful to Brett).  I met both Americans and Moroccans with inspiring experiences.  I even had a few long conversations in Arabic (as you know, another goal- I need to get working on that though... I usually fall back to English for a few words here and there).  A friend I met that night works as an Arabic speaking correspondent on Capitol Hill for a French news station called Medi1 TV.  Two of the friends I met that night I’m still in touch with and see relatively often (and even speak in Arabic a lot of the time).  

 

Most of all, these new friendships are making me increasingly nostalgic of my time in Morocco.  Ben may even go back this summer!  But in the meantime, I’ll just share a few photos.