Inspiration Can’t be Found with Google Maps

I don’t consider myself a runner I consider myself determined. I lose my way more often than not, whether in the car or mentally, and it can be challenging. However, even in those lost moments more direction can be found. Maybe desperate disorientation is a way to discover how much one person can handle, whether it be miles or milestones.

So back to running, I joined Back on My Feet to look outward from myself, to give back and maybe even encourage someone who maybe felt lost, to persevere. I am learning on some of these runs that this might be a mutually beneficial mentor-ship.

Today I learned

Hidden Gem in the Heights

Life can be a choose your own adventure; I truly believe it is all about how you view the experience.  You can choose to live it in monotonous routine traveling in a familiar direction or seek out new, undiscovered routes that sometimes lead you to unexpected places.  I am pretty much a life-offroader.  However every bump and detour is worth it if you find those enjoyable off-the-beaten path places.

This is what happened last night.  I rarely venture up to Columbia Heights because it isn’t the most walkable from Dupont but hey that is what cabs are for right?!

I have a bucket list of places and so my friend and I decided to hit one such place; Acre 121. Acre 121 is fairly new, it opened over the summer.  It boosts a L-shaped bar, ample seating, and a small stage for live performances.  The bartender, Lou was super friendly and even introduced us to a “pre-prohibition” beer on draft that was pretty tasty.  The band, CAOLAIDHE AND MIKE, had character of its own. I mean I don’t think I have ever heard of a Celtic Pop group and they played covers ranging from Johnny Cash to Kings of Leon to Cold Play to Mumford and Sons.  I have to say it was the perfect starting point to the night…even if I didn’t realize what we were about to stumble on…  

“I make more money than you can dream about”

I don’t want to be a basher however I am still in disbelief at the approach some men think works with women.  I’ll take it as a compliment that the guy in the bar that one of my co-workers said she wanted to dry hump his leg wanted to “flirt.”  But as a rule of thumb I am never really impressed with getting hit on at a bar although most times it is harmless.  There are those guys though whose tactics are just lost on me.  I will just use a recap of the conversation with the afore mentioned guy to warn men what probably won’t work for most intelligent, semi-normal women.

1. Play senseless age games and instead of just saying your age give the year of your birth and wonder how a girl could get your age correct.  I’m not awesome at math but I can handle simple addition and subtraction.  Then to top it off tell the girl you were a late bloomer which is why you graduated college later and couldn’t play regular football so you had to go to Europe to play professional football.

**Seriously I thought European football was soccer but apparently if you aren’t good enough to play american football professionally then you can play in a country that could careless about the sport.

2. Ask a girl her age and then when she says she is 30 tell her she is obviously not 30 but probably just saying that to make herself sound

If You’re Going to San Francisco…on a budget

Oh San Francisco…the sites, the sounds, and um yeah the smells!  Last weekend was my first time ever visiting the city.  Of course I have heard amazing things in songs and seen pictures so I couldn’t wait to experience such a unique and identifiable place.  I think even our pilot was excited to get there as he advised people boarding the plane to “dig deep” and “pull together” to get luggage situated and people seated so we could depart on time (I just love Delta).

Since this trip was a test of my new money diet (aka trying to put myself on a budget) I will share how proud I am at how much my friend and I did for so little cost.

Here is my monetarily lean and justifiably spent trip (just my half):

Don’t Starve DC

I am so impressed with this proactive email I got from Grubhub that I felt like, even though I have escaped the impending threat of torrential rains and power outages in DC to frolic in San Francisco, I should relay it to those who might fear starvation when Hurricane Irene hits DC. Here is the email:

Earthquake Survival Guide

When do you realize your joke is not funny…when it really IS an earthquake that is shaking the building!  Everyone by now has been able to joke about the DC Earthquake that literally shook up our Tuesday afternoon.  I have to say it was freaky.  The scariest part (besides the somewhat prophetic dream/nightmare I had the night before about an evacuation) was not having an intrinsic reaction of what to do in the event of an earthquake.  Normally I am impressed with my natural instinct in catastrophes but this one, not so much.

I must have been absent, not paid attention, or never learned the drill for an earthquake in elementary school.  I mean obviously you don’t get in a bathtub to avoid the earth opening up and the building you’re in becoming a pancake (which there aren’t any bathtubs in my office anyway if you wondered).

This unpredictable, uncontrollable event did inspire me to look up what to do during an earthquake on FEMA.  My favorite line is the first one on the site “stay as safe as possible during an earthquake.” As if I wanted to take that moment to be really risky! But it is definitely helpful for future reference (and now I am prepared for other disasters like volcanic eruptions in DC)

I also decided to make my own do’s and don’ts based on my experience:

My Top Ten “Caught in the Alley” Moments

I never thought I would say this but I think I am a little sad Apex closed.  I have never actually been into Apex but I feel like I experienced it vicariously through the parade of patrons who would stumble through my alley.  In fact my alley has been pretty quiet these days.  Where have all the gays gone?!?!   I guess the late-night shrills, squabbles, and stilettos had become a little like a lullaby to me from Tuesday night through Sunday night.  Spectating the alley events from my balcony has become less colorful…in fact just plain dull although it does make me reflect on my top ten most memorable alley moments:

1. Guy peeing in the alley at 4:30 p.m. on a Sunday (thankfully he turned away when we made eye contact)

My Car is an Official DC Resident: a How-to

It’s official, after too many months, multiple tickets, and more trips to the DMV than any person should have to endure in a lifetime, Zippy (my car) is no longer an illegal resident of the district.  Part of this delay is my procrastination of anything that seems time consuming and painful, which is why all my college papers were written not just the night before they were due but sometimes in a race against the hours before they were due.  Although I will say college enabled this bad behavior with usually rewarding me with “A”s and “B”s on my papers.  So this is not a post about selling awesome term papers but more usefully, a checklist for how to register your car in DC. You need:

Bottomless Brunch: The Modern All-You-Can-Eat/Drink Buffet

Living in DC I have come to love the concept of the bottomless brunch.  I don’t mean a brunch without your pants on, although the amount of alcohol you could consume could lead to that, for me however I mean the places that offer a fixed price for unlimited mimosas or bloody marys during brunch hours.

My first B.B. experience was at a restaurant right next to my apartment called Scion.  Scion offers bottomless mimosas, bellinis, and bloody marys.  You pick one and they bring  carafes of it to your table.  Scion also has great, reasonably priced food and offers a free fruit bar.

Upon moving into DC I did not know this bottomless brunch thing was a phenomenon.  Now it is hard for me to picture a brunch without it.  I say this NOT because I am an alcoholic but because I am economical.  And I keep finding more and more “economical” brunch places. Just recently LivingSocial offered a deal from Policy which included the bottomless mimosa in their brunch offer.  I didn’t even know Policy had a brunch but it was great. 

Party in the Middle of the USA

This is going to be short and sweet because I thought my original post about St. Louis was the worst of how my words can come back to haunt me.  Actually this is more like “I would like to thank the following people for the rest of my experience in St. Louis.”

1. Thank you to my friend on Facebook who suggested going to the rooftop of the Four Seasons.  Honestly it has the best view of the city, amazing food, and a delicious Zinfandel that I wish I had written down the name of the bottle.
2. Thank you to my friend who suggested I get up and sing “Party in the USA” at the Dueling Piano Bar so I don’t have to question why I didn’t quit my day job to pursue musical theater, although it was a show for sure.  (Oh and