Compass & Coffee Spoons

New Collection at Holland Cox

Valerie's at it again, with a great selection of bags for Spring!

 

Fall in Brookside Gardens

I was going to see "Curse of the Wererabbit" at AFI with Leslie and Mike, so we made a day of it at Brookside Gardens. I have to say I was pretty impressed with it. Gorgeous gorgeous day!

Frog in the visitors center...

 

The light was amazing...

 

And the sky was so blue...

  

The pond was serene, even with the loads of visitors...

 

Leslie was obsessed with the cushy looking mums...

 

Which she insisted could be like a stool...

The colors were also amazing...

 

 

This is a memorial area to the victims of the sniper attacks...

 

I couldn't get enough of this ginko tree...

 

We called this Mum Madness... 

 

The roses were in bloom and so fragrant...

 

 

 

There was a crysanthemum show in the conservatory...look, a mum umbrella!

 

I'm a sucker for succulents...

 

The last bit of color in the parking lot...such a wonderful day!

 

Fall Frederick Fun

Angela and I went to Frederick last weekend for some fall leaf-viewing. (Though most of the time was spent browsing the cute shops and eating brunch!) Just sharing some pictures here...not much to say except it was nice to get away...even only 45 minutes away!

 

Where we had brunch--Firestone's

 

I thought this couple was cute.

 

 

 

 

 

Cunningham Falls State Park

 

The falls

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic Handmade Handbags

I don't think I ever blogged about my friend Valerie's fabulous handbags. Valerie is the owner of a company Holland Cox, which she named after her grandmother. She creates bags from original designs and has an impeccable eye for great fabric combinations. I think this Fall's new colorways are some of the best! I own a few already, and just ordered another (and have another one that I'm still deciding on). The craftsmanship on them are as perfect as the colors, believe me. For example, if I were to sew a bag, it would look "homemade" in a cute, kindergarten kind of way. That is SO not the case here!

She creates limited quantities of her bags, so that each is unique and unlikely to be seen carried by someone else on the Metro. You can find different styles and colors at a cool bricks and mortar showroom Dekka on U Street in DC, a collaborative effort with several local indie designers, as well as on her web site. She is also the writer at one of my regularly-checked out blogs, Insatiable Need.

Here are a few of my fall favorites:

     

    

     

Check them out! (And buy!)

Two Kinds of Crabby

I've been a bit crabby this week. First, I left early on Friday because the office was ridiculously loud and irritating me more than normal. I was also going to the beach. The only way I was crabby on the weekend was when I was eating crabcakes.

It was SO nice to be at Susie & Kirk's house with Erin, totally calm and relaxed. Between sleeping in every day until 11, lazing on the beach in the afternoon, and gorging on Kirk's dinners/junk food, it was heaven.  I'll spare you the bathing suit pics.

We had PERFECT weather. If I had to choose one weather, it would be this.

Like my pedicure?

Travel Scrabble on the beach! 

That's Beau, the bulldog, by the way.

Well, my bad mood miraculously reappeared when I went to work on Tuesday. I had a run-in with admins, felt like I wasn't accomplishing enough, and generally have felt off balance. I gained 6 lbs in a week, haven't gone to the gym (which is reeaaaalllly helping with the weight thing), and have been eating poorly. I did go to the dentist today. Good news--my gums are healthier! My neighbor's been loud, and I've had dreams of maybe getting into the real estate buying game, but saw a Washington Post article about how banks are expecting the full 20% downpayment (not likely). Between all that, and my deflated hope on the dating scene (not giving up, just not feeling peppy about it), and I'm GLAD the weekend's coming.  I decided not to drive to my parents' for the weekend; the thought of traffic was making me dread it. I do have some exciting things on my agenda though: laundry, cleaning, buying eyeglasses, doing a little research on home buying (reviewing notes from a class) and maybe hitting an open house or 2, and getting myself sorted out. OH, and probably having some fun too!

 

No, I'm not in Hawaii

My friend Emily is...for WORK. How is it that I end up going to places like Richmond? (Not hating on Richmond...it's just, well, NOT Hawaii). I LOVE this picture of hers. She has some other awesome photos you can check out on Flickr.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...

there was a party at my house! I threw a Twelfth Day Tea on Sunday. I maxed out the available space in my apartment with the 15 guests who came (though, I guess one was tiny and didn't take up much space!). It was great to meet Jacob's daughter finally! Adorable!

Unfortunately, as she does not yet have teeth, little Charlotte couldn't help us eat the bounty of food we had. I made two savory dishes with Pilsbury Crescents--reuben crescent wraps (I believe the original name for them was "Crusty Reuben Bites.") and the same thing as a veggie version with Roasted Red Peppers, Goat Cheese, and Fontina Cheese.

I went a little baked good crazy the day before. I made some great molasses cookies (from Cooking Light--see here for the recipe), pizzelles, sugar cutout cookies, and scones (from a mix) while watching the Steelers devastating loss to Jacksonville. Everyone had sweets on the brain, because we had SO many baked goods that people brought, all DEEEElicious.

Believe it or not, this table is AFTER most people have eaten!

It was great to have everyone over for one last hurrah, especially before taking down the Christmas decorations. I was thinking maybe next time (because I want there to be a next time) I may do an open house, because while I LOVE having all my friends over, I could fit even more if they were spaced out. Maybe I should give timed tickets, like a museum! LOL.

The Christmas decorations are now down, and my apartment's feeling empty and non-festive. Fortunately, I have a lot of "projects" planned to keep my mind off of it! Here's one last wreath...

 

Gorgeous Gorgeous Saturday

Saturday was gorgeous, and I wish every summer day was that nice. Fortunately, I planned to be outdoors, though I didn't plan the exact activity. I was waitlisted in the walk the Maryland Outdoor Club did that Erin went on. So, I planned to go to Great Falls after some searching online for some nice easy walks. 

I started off with a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes.

Ted and Angela met me at my place and we set off.

First, we followed the tourists and checked out the falls. Always fun. You can't quite see the crazy kayakers in this shot (the little dot in the middle).

 

Afterwards, we did an easy 3 1/2 mile loop. About halfway through, you pass an abandoned gold mine. There's also a stretch where you follow an abandoned streetcar route.

 

The best part, by far, was the drinks we had afterward at the Irish Inn. As I was driving, I could only have one cider. We couldn't resist having some food too...all that "strenuous" hiking, you know!

 

After all that outdoors time, Ted and I topped off the day by meeting Liz for dinner alfresco at Cafe Berlin.

A Weekend of Wonders

Today, I was supposed to to go on a tour of the monuments with the Penn Design DC group. I actually had been looking forward to this. I allowed plenty of time to get there. I even got there early and had time to go to Starbucks. I sauntered over to Franklin Square where we were going to meet. We were going to meet at the Franklin statue because of Penn's connection with Franklin. Uh, except, where was the Franklin statue? There was none. Alas, there were no Penn Design alumni to be found, only a bunch of homeless people hanging out in the shade. Crap! I had the place wrong and now I was running perilously close to being late. I frantically called my brother and had him look up the email that had the directions. The group was meeting at the Franklin statue at 12th and Pennsylvania! (To give you a sense of direction, I was at about 13th and K).

So, by the time I got to the Franklin statue that I never knew existed (it's in front of the Post Office Pavilion in case you're curious) and I looked suspicious to the 2 groups of friends there as I circled them trying to determine if they were on the tour or not. They weren't. It was pretty clear I missed them. But, I saw another person who clearly missed them too...and it just so happened it was a classmate, Pri. So, we spent the next hour just catching up.

After that, I decided to walk to "somewhere" to kill some time between then and 5:30 mass at St. Matthews. I decided to go to the National Portrait Gallery which is having an exhibit from the British Portrait Gallery. I did however stop midway to have some ice cream at Giffords. Flavor: Peanut Butter Cookies and Cream...delicious.

The exhibit was pretty good. It had quite a few of my favorite British writers/artists featured, such as good ol' Bill Shakespeare. I highly suggest it! The normal collection is also very good, and the remodel made the facility really nice. Plus, you can't beat the price: free!

I made it to church barely in time. (Okay, late). Afterward, I decided to get groceries. The grocery situation in my house was getting pretty grim. I still didn't want to go, but did. I went to Whole Foods, which was supposed to make the shopping experience better, but it was, as expected, chaotic. I made the mistake of getting a normal cart (versus a basket or the cart that is essentially two baskets on top of each other). Not much room for maneuverability.

The funniest part was the very irate man who was standing with another man at the customer service desk. Apparently, he felt that this other man was purposely following him. Seeing the employees trying to placate him was pretty amusing, as was the fact that the place was packed, making it very likely that one would run into people and seem to be following them if one were to pay attention to that sort of thing.

I managed to get my groceries without being accused of stalking or other major incident. I went home and enjoyed the crab cakes and a corn and cilantro fritter I bought.

Okay, if my Sunday hasn't bored you enough, read on for Saturday! I spent the day with Erin, which was fun. We had breakfast at Corner Bakery (killer oatmeal with cranberries, currants, and nuts), hit Target for some needed supplies (I bought 4 oxyclean clean spray aways...they are heaven sent and hard to find), and took her dog Ferris to swim in the creek and then for a walk on the Capital Crescent Trail.

I also watched 3.5 netflix movies this weekend (2 of mine, 1.5 of Erin's). I got Walk the Line and La Dolce Vita. I really liked Walk the Line. Aside from loving Johnny Cash's music, I found the story really fascinating and the acting great (oh, and Joaquin Phoenix is hot which doesn't hurt). La Dolce Vita was spurred by my Fellini experience a few weeks ago at Leslie's. It was beautiful--the scenery and the craftsmanship. But, was it really enjoyable? I wouldn't say that. I wanted so much to understand it, so I started to go all English major on it...but that doesn't make for a fun "escape." The movies of Erin's that we watched weren't escapes either. Rabbit Proof Fence is about Australian aborigines who were taken from their mother and escape to return to her. It was engrossing, but somewhat depressing. Both of us were rather tired when we got to A Long Engagement, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have really liked it. I had a difficult time getting into the story, and it really shouldn't have been a difficult story to get into--a woman supposedly loses her fiance in World War I, but thinks he could still be alive...should be fairly captivating. Finished only half of that.

Well, there you have it! My weekend in a nutshell!

On Coffee in a Bowl

I saw these bowls at Anthropologie and reaaaallllly wanted to buy them. There is something about drinking coffee from a bowl...something that says simultaneously "I need serious coffee and I have the time to drink this whole bowl...without a handle!"

I didn't buy them because I have issues with some politics of the company beyond the scope of this blog, but I have to say, they're some lookers.

My best memory of drinking coffee from a bowl was (where else) in France, on the Riviera at a hostel (see, you were thinking "Wow, Riviera" until I said "hostel, weren't you!?!). There were 3 guys there having and making our breakfast. I'm assuming at least one of them owned the hostel. The only other guests consisted of a couple--an older "elderhostel age" German man and his Vietnamese wife (approximately half his age). We all sat on a patio overlooking the Mediterranean, eating our baguette, and drinking our cafe au lait...from bowls.

There is a cafe near the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill--Le Bon Cafe--which serves coffee in a bowl. I love going there. I can sorta kinda pretend I'm in Paris for a few minutes.