1. Kogod Courtyard: last Saturday my husband and I did a date night downtown. We started off by visiting the National Portrait Gallery, then had a drink at Dirty Habit and dinner at The Smith (both of which were great, BTW). The museum was wonderful and I want to go back to explore more, but my favorite part was this unbelievable courtyard topped with a wavy glass and steel ceiling! The room reminded me of the DUC (Dobbs University Center) at Emory, which is a building constructed around a historic building at the center of campus. This beautiful courtyard had a very peaceful vibe…I must return.

2. CityCenter DC: yeah, I know I posted about his place last week. But after dinner at The Smith I took my husband past this place so he could see the pink lanterns before they go away. It’s extra pretty all lit up at night!

3. Taylor Gourmet (again): I’m totally repeating myself this week. But I liked Taylor Gourmet so much the first time that I had to try another one of their vegetarian sandwiches! This time I got the Roger, which has roasted rainbow carrots, green pea hummus, chili-dill yogurt, gorgonzola, pickled red onion, arugula, toasted sunflower seeds, and olive oil. I did like the Toast Redux better, but this sandwich was still really good!

4. New Sunglasses: I swung by the H&M at Union Station this week and picked up this cute pair of sunglasses, plus a new sunglass case, for $9.99 each.

5. The White House: this week I met a friend for lunch downtown, and afterward I decided to stroll on over to the White House and snap a pic because I was so close by. I mean, you can’t live in DC without walking by the White House on purpose at least once, right? I really wanted to take a pic with a big middle finger directed at the house, but there was a fairly big crowd taking pics at the fence and some of the people were clearly Trump supporters. I didn’t want to turn a silly photo opp into some kind of stink so I left my finger out of it, but know that it is there in spirit.  😛  The house and lawn are quite beautiful, though.