I'm just proud of this night shot.
Yep, we had a birthday lunch for Dana at the mall. We brought cake and ice cream (kept in a cooler to retain its goodness) and stole plastic utensils from nearby food court eateries.
One thing I love about DC is that there are so many good causes to contribute to. A group of friends from my ward participated in a Lupus walk this weekend - complete with homemade t-shirts for our team (Purple Scream), maroon and orange ribbons for VT, and free face-painting by Go-Go the clown. It was the first year of the walk, and they raised over $60,000!
For the rest of the day, we walked around with butterflies painted on our faces. We stayed in town for awhile to enjoy the beautiful weather that has FINALLY hit - good news for the wedding party. (We were supposed to go home right after the walk to do spring cleaning, so I guess we were sort of playing hookey from ourselves. I like being an adult!) The butterfly mask was empowering - it erased all our inhibitions. It's like we knew people were going to stare at us anyway, so we may as well give them something to stare at. We were doing dances and stomps on the sidewalks, jumping on all the benches we passed, and learning Tai Chi on the Mall. Passing tourists were stopping to take pictures!
It was amazing how many people stopped to talk to us in this town that is usually so anonymous. Everyone should try painting their faces and walking around town, at least once. Pretend it's normal. The results will astound you.
They certainly brought good things out of this tragedy.
We also went to a Barnum & Bailey's Circus that was in town...
This weekend was the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. A group of people from my ward volunteered to be ushers for the masses of toursits. Look at the awesome t-shirts we got out of it!
For starters, Princess allowed me the privilege of being her date to one of her fancy black-tie political socialite events (yeah, one of the dozens) that took place in one of the Georgetown mansions. We tried to sound like we belonged there by hanging by the hours devours and saying things like, "And then Robert Redford said, 'I starred in that movie!'" and then we'd start chortling (the most dignified term I can think of for laughter). Anyway. It was awesome.
We threw a Pirate birthday party for Princess and Abbey the Red on St. Pirates Day...
I worked in the oldest federal building in the country, did you know that? We recently moved into a new and improved building that actually didn't feel like a warehouse! But not before we said goodbye to the old building in style:
(We actually put a hole in the wall when we bowled with a regular bowling ball.)
Marcia and I went to an Ok Go and Snow Patrol concert that I would place in my top 5 best (um, that's really good - I've seen a lot of 'em). In particular, we were dazzled by the performance of Snow Patrol. It reminded me why I love concerts. The lights, the quality commentary from the lead singer, the energy...sigh. It gives me goosebumps.
Last but not least, I went to the Kite Flying Festival with some friends. Imagine the Washington monument surrounded by kites in every direction. Better yet, let me show you...
We even tried our hand at it...
And just for fun, here's a picture I took along the Potomac. Pretty awesome, right?
