"You're Tearing Me Apart, DC!"

Well the past 10 days or so have been a bit of a whirlwind.

North Carolina

Mike had to renew his driver's license in North Carolina and since I had a car and little to do, I offered to accompany him on the road trip. As he told me, there was tons of good Southern food to enjoy. Highlights:

• Biscuitville where they had grits and apparently also sell plain 'jelly biscuits'. 
• A morning trip to a sad mall in Burlington which has seen better days. Less than half of the stores in the building are open. However, the mall has been transitioned into a 'track' or gym of sorts for Burlington's elderly population. When Mike and I walked inside, we were most definitely the only two people under 60 and I think we were moving more slowly than the silver sneaker walking club who were all walking and talking on a specific route and on a mission.
• Lunch at a cute vegan/vegetarian restaurant with Mike and his sister in downtown Chapel Hill that was really yummy and super reasonably-priced! I think it was called The Butternut Squash or something, but it looked so fancy and the hostess/waitress had the best London accent! (Which Mike will insist is the only reason I rave about it.)
• Trying Ethiopian food for the first time! It's very communal which can be weird if you're not used to it, but of course I've gotten very used to it. And note: when given the choice between the spiced coffee or tea, go for the tea!

Bye Bye Williamsburg

• After getting back to Williamsburg, taught my last yoga class ever and regular attendants imparted some final words of wisdom to me before I left. I also learned that my sister Courtney was in town briefly and I took time away from packing to get Pizza with her at Paul's (Paul's Pizza is the best pizza ever). It was also, fortunately, Dollar Corona night.

Court was super excited for some Paul's Pizza.

• After moving ALL of my life back to Warrenton, VA and being extremely cranky because it was hot and despise not knowing where anything is when I'm trying to pack for a weekend away, Yorky puppies made it better. 

This is the runt. His name will either be Rudy, Magellan, or Neville.

Back to DC

• After getting into DC that night, I got to meet Absi very shortly after arriving! After hearing so much about her, it was a joy to finally get to meet her in person. I also got to see Noah and Davia before they left for California and was introduced (FINALLY) to Pinkberry! Hands down, best frozen yogurt ever. Now I know I cannot live in Dupont Circle eventually. Because that is were my money would go. Right before leaving Dupont Circle to head back to Mike's for drinks, Absi and I decided we were very thirsty. I took us back into Pinkberry (which I remembered had free water) with the plan of explaining that we has just been there a second ago getting froyo and forgot to take advantage of the complimentary cucumber-infused ice water. It would take at most 30 seconds for us, right? Wrong. There were no ice water cups. There were plenty of froyo cups around, but we were not allowed to use them. The staff went into a complete insanity trying to find us the proper ice water cups and all I could think about was the scene from Love Actually where Mr. Bean wraps the present with a sprig of holly. That's how long and awkward and tense this waiting for the water was. However, we eventually got it and it tasted like heaven.

• Saturday Mike and I had dinner with Steph and Micah. Earlier in the summer, we had them over for dinner, but Mike and I agreed about 5 minutes into the dinner that they win best dinner hosting award. It was really no competition after we spilled all the quinoa on the floor, but, just to humor you, dinner included: homemade guacamole and chips, some brazilian rum drink with candied ginger, thai chicken and rice, sake, and more mixed drink tasting. We provided the dessert. Mike had already had a few drinks when he plated them, so this was the result:

Giant Patriotic-ish Dessert. Angel food cake, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream.

Awesome company!

• After dinner, we traveled back into the city to see the midnight showing of The Room at E Street Cinemas, the cutest little indie movie theater in downtown DC. We met up with Jeff, Josh, Sara, Tommy, and Mark and got a picture to record the moment. I learned that we had JUST MISSED playing football with Tommy and Mark and will never live it down. If you have not yet experienced The Room, you don't know how awesome this picture is or how having Tommy talk in front of you for like 20 minutes can make you question whether this guy is for real. Mike thinks he's an actor. I think he's for real. 

Me: But Tommy I have a red dress! Tommy: Okay you stand by me. And then he signed my shoe.

An awesome weekend and I'm so grateful to have had such a support system during the move. My stepdad came down at 8am. Mike transformed into the Hulk and moved huge pieces of furniture like they were nothing. My sister Kim drove me to the metro late on Friday and picked me up on Sunday because I was so tired of driving. And anyone who listened to me vent about how much I hate packing.