cool as a cucumber

It's been a lovely week thus far in the D.C. Metro Area. I've been here since New Year's Day, and I've seen a few new places in Northern Virginia and been able to catch up with a lot of wonderful people.

On Sunday evening, Taylor and I met up with JT and Riley at Vintage 50, a brew pub in Leesburg. I'd never been that far west in northern VA before, but it was a lovely evening catching up. It was dark out, so I didn't have much of an impression of the area other than enjoying the restaurant and company and waffle fries. I did notice earlier in the day while running errands with Taylor that the landscape is a lot more rolling than I expected-- I spent much of the car ride with my eyes shut to quell the queasiness that subsequently ensued.

On Monday, I accompanied my good friend and source of the infamous toothbrush quote Becky back to Leesburg for some necessary shopping-- the whole reason I'm in Virginia in the first place this week is to attend a wedding this weekend, for which I didn't have a dress to wear. I was correct about the landscape, lovely and rolling, but it was nice to see slightly less development as we drove west of Fairfax County. We had a successful day and actually also ate at Vintage 50, meeting up with one of Becky's awesome college friends and her very cool son Charlie.

Tuesday involved me spending a lot of time in the library working on thesis while Taylor and everyone else I knew was at work. I accomplished quite a bit before meeting up with various cut-ups and cut-up associates in Arlington. I always like visiting Arlington because it tends to involve awesome people and I like being able to walk from place to place-- on this night it included Earl's (delicious) and Galaxy Hut (also delicious) (except for the Bourbon Stout-- beer of the day would probably be the IPA from Cricket Hill in NJ, which I always see more of in VA than in NJ).

I met up with my college roommate Brittany for dinner on Wednesday (joined by Taylor after he got off work), but spent the day at the mall and library in Springfield, which is another area that is surprisingly hilly. I guess I've only spent time in the flat parts of northern Virginia previously. Good thing I know how to drive my stick shift reliably.

So after spending the entire week thus far around northern Virginia, I finally made it into D.C. itself today, having another wonderful visit with the aforementioned awesome Becky. We volunteered at D.C. Central Kitchen this morning, cutting cucumbers and lettuce for hours to be put into salads and sent to various shelters and schools around the city. What an awesome program-- locally sourced food, training former criminals to be chefs, feeding many people in need. It was incredibly relaxing to just cut veggies all morning.

After finishing at the kitchen, Becky escorted me to purchase a SmartTrip-- her contribution to convincing me to move to the area. Whether or not I find work and move here any time soon, I will be sure to visit, especially now that I have my way cool SmarTrip card!

Tonight I head to Richmond to kick off wedding festivities!