Our Nation's Capital

My work has brought me to DC this week. This is very fortunate, because DC is probably my all-time favorite city. It is good to be here.

The highlights thus far included:

1- Dinner at the famous Charlie Chang’s in honor of Ann. We ordered the Crispy Beef, but I’m sorry to report, it was not up to its usual crispy beef-ness. The rest of the meal was delectable, followed by a lame fortune, which is not even worth repeating.

2- Church at Colonial 1 on Sunday. It was fun to see many familiar faces, but surprising that almost half I knew from other places—not from living in this ward three years ago. Mormondom is a small world. I also learned a lot at church, one memorable lesson was the parable of the ribbon as told in Sacrament Meeting by the RS president. The moral of the story was people are worth more than ribbons.

3- I enjoyed a lovely evening in Old Town with my old roommate Sara. We did some shopping and ate an adventurous dinner of tappas. I enjoy tappas a lot, but some of these were not what we had anticipated. The dessert, however, was more than anticipated. It was divine.

4- G Street Fabric. Until yesterday, this was one of my two unfulfilled DC experiences. (Stay tuned, for the fulfilling of two of two unfulfilled DC experiences on Saturday.) A big thanks to Shari for helping to make my life complete. My G Street purchases were modest, but fabulous.

This lovely jade and brown wool doesn’t show up very well in the picture, but it’s great and was only $8/yd. I’m going to make a skirt and use the blue floral print for the waistband lining. There should also be plenty of fabric left to make a matching headband and clutch.

I couldn’t resist this gorgeous silk. The photo really doesn’t do it justice. I didn’t want to spend the money to get enough to make a dress, so I settled on a scarf. It is perfect scarf fabric!

5- After the G street trip, we stopped at Panera’s. We have Panera’s in Las Vegas too, but a little Panera’s is always good for you. As we were pulling up to the restaurant, I saw two beautiful girls in light pink dresses and headscarves. They were about ten years old and both of them were twirling and watching their dresses swirl around them. It was a beautiful moment and I tried to quickly sneak a picture, but I forgot a flash would be necessary after dark. This is what I got. You can see a pale pink haze on the right of one of the girls getting into the family minivan. Oh well. Those moments are hard to capture.

Tonight I finally went to the Mall. I will never fail to struck by the sights that greet you as you emerge from the Smithsonian metro station.

The funny thing about the Mall is that I take the same pictures every time I come. I do like to people-watch, but my candid people shots never really turn out, because I don’t have a camera so expensive that it allows me to avoid looking like a stalker and still get good pictures of total strangers. So here are some of the usual shots:

Flags at the Washington Monument. This time I got some shots at dusk and more after dark. Now I just need one at sunrise and I’ll have every possible lighting scheme.

Speaking of people on the Mall, the Mall is full of runners. I always feel embarrassed when I visit in my regular street clothes. I want to tell every passing runner that I’m a runner too, but I had to bring my camera, and then there’s the whole sweaty metro ride thing and, you know how it is. But I don’t. As I was walking between memorials, four guys about my age ran past me. One turned back and yelled, “Hey, are you under cover?” They had probably just visited the Spy Museum and learned that there are more spies per capita in DC than any other city, but I shouted back “Yes” anyway, because I am an undercover runner. I think he could tell.

My actual purpose for this trip to the Mall was to see the WWII Memorial, which was under construction when I lived here in 2003. These are the pictures of this memorial that I expect I will take on each return visit.

Ha ha.

This shot is pretty cool.

The Lincoln Memorial will always be my favorite spot on the Mall. My Dad has a picture of the Lincoln Memorial hanging in his office at work. He took it while he was working at the National Archives, during which time my Mom was expecting me. Even though my Dad already captured it perfectly, I always take that picture when I come to visit Abraham Lincoln. (Dad's is a bit different and the lighting isn't as good, but I always try.)



As I left to walk back to the Metro, it occurred to me that DC is like Christmas. During those weeks between Thanksgiving and December 25th, my heart is more tender than usual. I am often struck by the joy of the season and I feel my own convictions with a greater, deeper poignancy. For me, DC is a beautiful and poignant city.