1. Toyota RAV4 Hybrid: that’s right, we got a car!! DC is a lot more car-friendly than NYC, and we want the ability to easily explore outside the city on weekends. So last week we signed a lease on this brand new silver RAV4 hybrid! I haven’t had a car in more than fifteen years, so this is nerve-racking but also exciting. I very rarely drove in NYC and am I’m still freaked out about driving around a dense city by myself, but I’ll get used to it in time.
2. National Mall: it never gets old (at least, not after a month of living here 😛 ). Last weekend some friends were in town for our friend’s 40th birthday party, and on Saturday we met up at the Lincoln Memorial before walking around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. This view looking east toward the Washington Memorial is pretty awesome. Please note the dog in the puddle in the lower right corner of the pic; he fully laid down in the water after I snapped this photo.
3. CityCenter DC: I’ve started following a bunch of DC blogs and Instagrams, and something that keeps popping up is this display of pink lanterns at CityCenter, a luxury shopping and dining complex. So earlier this week I made it a point to go check them out myself. The lanterns are up for the Cherry Blossom Festival, so they’ll only be around for another week and a half. I’m glad I got to see them!
4. Deck Furniture! With the weather finally starting to warm up enough for us to want to spend time on our deck, we made a trip to Lowe’s to get some outdoor furniture. (This was one of those occasions where we were thrilled to have a car.) We picked out a basic table and chairs and added some cute outdoor throw pillows, along with a couple citronella candles and an owl candle that might as well have had my name on it. I can’t wait to eat so many dinners out there!
5. Urban Garden: while at Lowe’s we picked out some veggies to attempt to grow on our deck, and I spent a sunny morning potting them. We got lettuce, tomato, basil, squash, and zucchini plants, plus French breakfast radish and red pepper seeds. Aside from a few herbs last summer, I haven’t tried growing veggies at home in many years. I’m not entirely sure if our deck will get enough sun to grow any of these properly. Fingers crossed that at least some of the plants yield goodies for us!
