DC is not good for me

Living on the road has its perks. I have no friends, so I don’t go out. I have a tiny per diem and no peer pressure, so I eat healthy. I work all of the time, so I spend very little money. Then, I go home. Back in DC, back to my friends, back to the fabulous bars, restaurants, and cafes. And, apparently, back to the thousands of empty calories and insane amounts of money that I spend here! I have spent more on food and drink in three days in DC then I have in a month and a half on this job. Sure, a lot of that is because I’m on a per diem, but still, if you live here, you know. I am stunned. When I end this job and move back to DC permanently, I am going to have a lot of thinking to do. And a lot of working out. I go over my budget all of the time and theoretically I knew how much it costs to have a social life in DC. But having such a vivid example is shocking. So, if you live here, and you find yourself broke even if you make a more than decent salary, I’m here to tell you why.

Want to know what I’ve been spending my money on? Well:

Saturday lunch at el Centro. Yum.

Saturday night drinks and risotto at Lost Society with @ekanerealestate.

Sunday brunch at Vinoteca with my adorable mentee.

Sunday tea at Big Bear Cafe.

Sunday dinner at Founding Farmers. Why do I love this place so much??? Because it’s amazing.

Monday nutella crepes and helping a friend job search at SNAP.

Monday night dinner at Dickson Wine Bar with @designbyjihee and @danieldzn.

Thank goodness I’m back to work tomorrow and leaving again on Wednesday. Neither my wallet or my scale can handle any more going out! But, I have to say, as far as restaurant choice is concerned, I couldn’t have made better choices!

Sigh. One more day in DC and then off to Cleveland again!

AGinDC

San Diego in January

San Diego is so gorgeous right now, it’s unbelievable. It’s sunny and bright and not chilly enough to justify more cover than a light cardigan. I was able to drive around the city a bit more this time and it is really quite beautifully laid out. This is a terrible shot from my car window but note the blue sky, the palm trees, and the buildings that seem to match perfectly.

 

 

 

 

I also stayed at an amazing hotel. The Manchester Grand Hyatt is beautiful and enormous. It is, in fact, so big that they actually gave me a map. Of the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My room was on the 37th floor and had an amazing view. I prefer to be as high up as possible and this was no disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While driving around the city, I ended up close enough to the border to buy Mexican Insurance but sadly did not have time to stop for food. It was a sad day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It actually was a pretty sad day. I knew this was going to be a tough job when I took it but these were the first two days when I really broke down. The combination of the mad travel, the isolation, the running around and then stopping at 5pm and having nothing to do but sit in my hotel room and work, the working from 6am to midnight every day even on weekends, the calendar that is relentlessly packed with travel and meetings for the rest of my life, and then the having to fight the people whose job it is to provide children with an excellent education because they could really give a fuck that their high schools have a 5% proficiency rate. It’s infuriating. After two horrible days in San Diego (not all awful, there were some great moments like the happy hour at Finch’s Wine Bar with our amazing alums. Finch’s is great, I highly recommend it for an intimate dinner, pre-dinner wine and small plates or a small gathering) I was stressed and tired and had only been home for four hours in almost a month and then the TSA agents were their usual massive asshole selves (there are no words to describe how much I hate TSA) and then my terminal didn’t have any restaurant nicer than California Pizza Kitchen and I just couldn’t take it. I broke down crying on the phone with my assistant and then cried on half of my flight while writing a strategy paper for my bosses on how to handle the situation. Ugh. Then my flight got in around 10.30pm, and I accidentally got on the wrong train from Reagan and ended up at Huntington! Not a good end to a bad day.

But now the weekend is here and I get to see the friends I haven’t seen since I got the job and actually relax a little. Today I had lunch at El Centro with a friend and I’m soon on my way to Lost Society for drinks with @EKaneRealEstate and dinner with @danieldzn and @designbyjihee. Yaay!

More later. If you haven’t found an MLK Day service project yet, go find one! I’ll be doing something involving children and voter registration, apparently. Not exactly sure what.

Have a great weekend!

AGinDC

Cleveland again!

Back in Cleveland this week for three rockin’ days. Sorry, I feel the need to use the word “rock” whenever I talk about Cleveland. But the CLE is actually a pretty cool town. They’ve got great architecture, about 3/4 of the people are super friendly, and I’ve only begun to explore the eclectic neighborhoods. The housekeeping at my hotel could not have sucked more (seriously, I ran out of toilet paper) but I had sushi made by a white guy for the first time ever and I didn’t die! So that’s a mark in Ohio’s favor.

This week I stayed at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade. I got to the “Arcade” around midnight and it was creepy as F. Dark, abandoned, full of windows with ugly clothes in them. Seriously, I feared for my life. But the next day things had livened up and, though the clothes were still ugly, the atmosphere had markedly improved.

Not all clothing in Cleveland is hideous however. In fact, I found a great boutique and a store clearly started by graphic designers who really, really like Cleveland and I can happily report that there is hope in the sartorial life of the Midwest. I’ll write more next time when I have more money and fewer pounds and can divulge myself of boutique-y fabulousness.

Other things that are cool about Cleveland? Cleveland State University is really pretty. Seriously, their alums must really like them. Either that or Development is being run by Daniel Ocean. The student center and law school are particularly awesome. I would post pics but I had just decided to take a quick walk without my Blackberry and since I’m still rockin’ the iPhone 3GS the picture quality is, shall we say, without flash? Soooo, no pics for you! Next time.

That’s all to report on the Cleve. Right now I’m in the airport in what seems to be an attempt at an airport sculpture garden. Next stop, San Diego! And then home! I actually get to spend four whole days in DC. I am absolutely beside myself. I’ll probably spend the whole time in bed.

Happy Trails!
AGinDC

P.S. I’m writing this from my iPad so pics are below with little to no formatting.

The Arcade

From the outside

Cleveland has trash cans that say “meh”. I have nothing to say about that.

There are guitars everywhere. Just in case you forget that this is the city with the Rock and Roll hall of fame, Cleveland will be there to remind you.

Sculpture garden in the airport. Ohhhhhh yeah.

San Francisco Retreat

Happy New Year!

I didn’t write over the break because I was too busy hanging out with the fam. But, then I went to San Francisco for a retreat with my team and it was wonderful. Not only did we get a ton of work done but… I got to be in San Francisco! At this point, it doesn’t beat DC, which I am dying to get back to (I have another week before I can go home minus a four hour suitcase exchange tomorrow =/) but it’s a great city. Plus, for the first time I stayed at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, which is gorgeous and has been a part of San Francisco culture since 1928.

 The Staircase

 The Bar

 The Vintage Bed

 A chair in the lobby

The super awesome red dresser

Luckily, the San Francisco office is right in Union Square so we were in the perfect location for some shopping (clearance at H2O!) and delicious eating. The first night we had dinner at Tropisueno, a delicious Mexican restaurant. The second night, we unfortunately had dinner at The Pub at Ghirardelli Square and it was terrible. The mac and cheese tasted like boxed Velveeta and the waiter was really rude when I said they weren’t good. Like, “Oh, well I’m sorry that you have pathetic taste buds and don’t know what good is”. And the rest of the food wasn’t good enough to justify the cost and the rudeness. But, then again, it was a tourist trap, so consider yourself warned.

After the terrible dinner we took the miserable streetcar (one of my team members had never been to SF) back to the hotel. Or, at least, we tried. At the crest of a hill the streetcar died and we sat there forever before we finally just gave up and caught a cab. On the way back to the hotel we passed two other immobile streetcars. Apparently this is a thing that happens sometimes. Good thing we weren’t on a hill!

Today we drove the gorgeous drive to Sacramento, had a delicious lunch at Grange at the beautiful Citizen Hotel, stopped at Temple Coffee for a tea refill, and then drove back up, which was even more beautiful because the sun was setting.

Now I’m taking advantage of the free wifi at the San Francisco airport, watching Archer on Netflix and getting ready to fly a red eye on Jet Blue back to DC, change my suitcase, and head to Cleveland and then San Diego! And then, finally, I get four whole days at home! Woohoo!

So that’s that. I’m off to sleep on the plane! Ciao!

AGinDC

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I’m in beautiful Seattle with my even more beautiful niece and wonderful family. I’m completely stuffed, have been watching Midsomer Murders for two days and have discovered how thoroughly exhausting two-year-olds can be. I’m here for a while longer so hopefully I’ll get to visit some of my favourite haunts before I head down to San Francisco. I’ll keep you posted!

Have a great last week of the year!
AGinDC

Retooling

Hello all. And by “all” I mean Jihee and my mom.

I haven’t been writing. Shocker. But this time I have a good excuse. I have an amazing new job that I just started after Thanksgiving and my life has been such a whirlwind that I haven’t had a chance to breathe. The job also requires a TON of travel, which is amazing, and I’m having a blast but I’m also experiencing new hotels, airports, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. every day that I would love to share. So, this bloglet is taking a turn and for the next however long I’m in this gig, I’ll be doing a bit of travel writing. So let’s get started.

Today I’m in Sacramento! I have to admit, I was not at all excited about Sacramento. It didn’t sound exotic, no one ever talks about it, and I was pretty sure it would be boring. I was soooo wrong.

First of all, my hotel, the Hyatt Regency, is gorgeous. Apparently it’s just been renovated and I can tell. They have two bars and a cafe with a delicious breakfast brunch, and a restaurant downstairs. It’s about ten feet from the Capitol, is right by great restaurants and two movie theatres (including an IMAX) and has gorgeous views of the city from the top floor (when the fog is clear).

Outside, the weather is sunny and cool, the way December should be. The Capitol is beautiful, as are the many sculptures, signs and random artsiness along the streets. Everyone I’ve spoken to here is super proud of how many local shops and restaurants there are and the airport even gives a rental discount to local businesses so they can compete with the McDonald’ses (?) of the world. I’ve been doing my best to sample the local flavor and so far I’ve fallen so in love with the tangerine ginger tea at Temple Coffee that I bought a tin of it, I had amazing gelato at Hot Italian and I absolutely fell in love with Mayahuel, or, rather, Maya’s Kitchen, the fab little takeout section where the waiter (who looked like Justin Timberlake with hair) gave me a free bowl of the most amazing lentil soup while I waited and I got three giant carnitas tacos for $8 which included a free bowl of soup (another, and I ate that too because it was soooo good). This place is fantastic and I will definitely be coming back with every visit.

Sacramento has turned out to be a pretty great town and I can’t wait to come back next month.  One of the best things about the new gig is that I get to come back to the towns I’m visiting over and over so I’ll really get to know them. Of course, tomorrow I’m heading home to Seattle and I could not be more excited. I haven’t been home in two years and I get to see my ridiculously adorable niece Bella who is two and brilliant and  perfect. I also get to see the big people like grandma and grandpa and daddy and I’m sure that will be almost if not quite as exciting! I’m sure that most of my Seattle experiences will be child-themed, which means seeing the city from that perspective for the first time, since I was two in Arizona!

I’ll do my best to keep up a little travelogue of my trips, somewhat because people might be interested but mostly because I’m traveling by myself and I want to tell people about awesome places like Maya’s!

Until the next post, have a great night and, if I don’t write before the end of the month, happy holidays!

=)

AGinDC

In My Opinion…

Last night I went to a WIN workshop on women op-ed writers. Since I have always wanted to be the love child of Maureen Dowd and Eugene Robinson, and since I write a weekly op-ed for Empower News Mag, I absolutely had to attend. The workshop had some of the typically sad statistics, for instance, that only 17% of op-eds are written by women, but mostly the four dynamic speakers gave great tips and tricks for succeeding in the biz. I was especially excited that my DCYE pal Alyssa was on hand to talk about The Op Ed Project, which I will absolutely be attending in February!

I am convinced that op-eds, like most things, may be dominated by men now, but soon will be a girl’s game. After all, who’s more opinionated than a smart woman?

Today, I had District of Pi for lunch. Delicious. Try the Lincoln.

Tomorrow, New York to meet one of my heroes! That’s right, just me and Wendy Kopp. Alone. Ohmygod. I may die. Yep. Death. It’s coming.

See? I’m getting started again already! Let’s see how long it last. =)

AGinDC

Let’s try this again

Uggghhhhh. I totally suck. Worst blogger ever. And so, so much has happened that I have absolutely no excuse for not writing. So I’m going to try again. I may have to start blogging from my phone… But I’ll make it work. There’s just too much going on not to share.

Call it my… mid-November resolution?

=)

AG

2 years to 30

Yesterday was my birthday and it was quiet and low-key and wonderful just as I wanted it. I started the morning with coffee at Tynan and a meet-up with a girl at my law school who I actually helped recruit! She’s interested in following a “non-traditional” path so, of course, she was directed to me. It was so nice talking to someone from Mich and especially someone as smart and adorbs as this girl.

Then I had lunch at Vapiano (did you know there’s another Vapiano that’s not the one in Chinatown? Yeah, me either) with my two new LilyPad interns. These girls could not be more adorable, although they’re both very cute blondes with Gossip Girl names so I’m already mixing them up. I’ll have to work on that. They’re both seniors at GWU, want to go into Fashion Marketing and have amazing experience working for Vogue, Oscar de la Renta in Paris, and more. How lucky am I to have run into these girls in DC of all places? Love it.

After lunch I went home and got myself looking halfway presentable and then headed off to the White House again. This was for another panel on the American Jobs Act and although the President didn’t join us this time, it was great because we had an hour with two of my favorite Michigan Law grads: Valerie Jarrett and Melody Barnes. They both looked great, Valerie in particular looked so much more glamorous and rested then she has in a while. I was glad to see that she must have been treating herself to some well-deserved spa time. I would also kill to know who made her suit. Going to the WH yesterday was actually a surprise. @KeziaMW emailed me while I was drinking oolong and said “DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY? EMAIL BACK IN FIVE MINUTES!!”. I emailed back in 30 minutes but luckily it wasn’t too late. Talk about a birthday surprise!

Post-White House I had drinks with Ferr and DeanBax, who also played Happy Birthday to me on his oboe! It was a perfectly low-key and comfortable night. The best thing about my birthday was that they were all things that I’ve done before and will do again and that when I woke up the first thing I wanted to do was work and go about my day as usual. I think that’s a pretty good sign that I’m living the life I want to live.

Other things that are awesome? My roommate gave me yummy cupcakes from Sticky Fingers bakery. @danieldzn and @designbyjihee sent my gorgeous flowers. And my 2-year-old niece very deliberately signed my birthday card in neon green scribbles.

2 years to 30! What am I going to do with it?

AGinDC

 

A working weekend

This was my favorite kind of weekend, I spent most of it watching the Golden Girls and working. In fact, after a meeting at the W on Friday until the ReadySetDC FashionDistrict shop and reception on Sunday night, I sat at my desk, in my PJs, with only Captain Picard and Dorothy Zbornak for company. It was wonderful.

I was also super proud of myself, I spent the weekend learning Adobe InDesign and made a super kick-ass digital mood board, complete with audio and video links. It was far from perfect, as @danieldzn kindly pointed out, but it’s the best I could do after several days of slaving over it and I think it looks pretty awesome considering that I only started working on it on Friday. Thanks Adobe for the free trial!

Other awesome things this weekend? I met Artistic Aya! Woohoo! How excited was I? I’ve been crazy about her designs since I first moved here! She was ridiculously adorable and super sweet and now that I’ve met her I can continue stalking her trunk shows and twitter feed without feeling bad. Which reminds me, go to her trunk show at the Chevy Chase in Bloomie’s on November 10-11! She has a really cute new collection that isn’t online yet!

That’s all for now. The lack of activity this weekend has rendered me speechless.

Ciao,

AGinDC