This little poster tacked on a community bulletin board in Adams Morgan caught my eye yesterday. It's in a child's shaky handwriting, but everything I've learned in my 28 years has taught me that the kid is right. If you try, there's always a chance, no matter what has happened before.
Think it's cheesy? I dare you to not be inspired by this slideshow featuring 26 incredible people who failed just as incredibly, but didn't let it stop them from trying. [MSN Money via Cup of Jo]
After seeing it in a Spin article, I sent this song to my friend Debie. "Isn't it so pretty?" I said
I apologize for waiting to tell you for so long that I am not human ... I am made of bacon. Fairy tales pixie dust I don't feel I hung myself and didnt die i am omnipotent I'm alive I'm not real I'm alive You leave me careless I like it I like it Caught in the blast caught in the action caught in the bursting flame i stand there comfort in dying .
"Does the beginning of the song say, "I am not human/ I am made of bacon'?" Debie asked.
I didn't even notice that, but she's right. I was too focused on the dreamy, tripped-out production to notice bacon lyrics. SZA also mentions unicorns in the song. Why not?
We're supposedly heading into peak cherry blossom blossoming. Or has it already happened? Seems like an inexact science. Let's leave that to the tourists to decide. Earlier in the month, I wrote a post for R29 with a few delicious cherry blossom-themed cocktails around Washington. I like the idea that the cherry blossoms, as gorgeous as they may be, are pretty much the same every year, but you can find so much variety and creativity with all of the different cherry-themed drinks and dishes for the festival.
Here's the Angelina, made with Don Ciccio & Figli fennel liquor, cherry shrub and cognac from Room 11 in Columbia Heights. I adore Room 11 — cozy space, interesting cocktails, good people! We celebrated Christine's birthday there last week and had a great time. We asked the bartender if he could make a special birthday cocktail for Christine. Turns out the last time someone asked this, he ended up in the City Paper's Cocktail Guess column. Sort of funny. Maybe it's not a common request?
The Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market opened for business this Saturday, and even though it's held on a piece of pavement about the size of the postage stamp, it really makes the neighborhood a special place.
Photo via Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market Facebook
Flash backward to the last day the market closed in fall 2012. Joe and I stood in line for the pork bun vendor. The pork buns are from the People's Bao and they are a pretty great market lunch. Joe is majorly obsessed with them, which makes what happened even sadder. The line was about 10 hipsters/yuppies deep, and we watched with bated breath as the pork supply dwindled. Sure enough, it was our turn and the guy said, "Whoops, ran out of meat."
Now here it is, six months later, and we're back in line to try our luck again. Of course, the same thing happened and the pork runs out exactly when we're at the front of the line. It was a nice bookmark to close and open the pork bun season.
Joe was silently fuming as we walked away. But there was nothing I could say to make up for the injustice of it all.
We kept walking down the block and then an older lady in a wheelchair stopped us. "I hope you two are still holding hands 10 years from now," she said. "I hope so," Joe told her. I hope so too.
It was such a nice day that we walked to the zoo. A few of the animals were out, namely a pair of squabbling sea lions that I could've literally watched all day. They fought over control over the same rock, and it was quite exciting.
That night for dinner I went with my in-the-know friend Carolyn to her friend's Columbia Heights supper club for his catering business. I ate many courses of yummy Vietnamese food and chatted with amiable strangers. Unfortunately, I also drank wine and talked about 2 Chainz. A lot. Sorry, amiable strangers.
The next day, we went to a fun dinner at the new Beuchert's Saloon in Capitol Hill with my friend Betsy and her husband. I told Joe where we were going over the phone. "A balloon?" he said. "No, a saloon!" It was appropriately old-timey, with a guy wearing a bow tie and two buffalo heads stuck on the wall. The food isn't inexpensive, but we definitely enjoyed it. I recommend the oxtail tagliatelle, any of the root vegetables, and the fries — you know you want to order them. Next time, I'm getting the burger with the fried egg to accompany.
I cried earlier in the week when I heard that Roger's cancer had returned, and I cried again when I heard he had passed. I can't even read retrospectives of his life, it makes me too sad. Of course, I'm not alone in this reaction. Everyone recognized his genius as a writer.
There are many of Roger's books and essays that I can go back to, thankfully, but I will so miss his voice in our world now. Whenever I watched a movie, I immediately wanted to know what Roger Ebert thought about it. And talk about prolific: he's written about nearly every movie out there. I always love to know what smart people think about a work of art, and his opinion was everything to me. For example, I just watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the review he wrote crystalized what I loved about the film. His writing was accessible, thought-provoking, laugh-out-loud funny, and most of all, life-affirming. Rest in peace, Roger, and thank you for your work.
I feel like this song is an answer to Robyn somehow.
Debut album Devotion available now from iTunes http://bit.ly/devo-13 & Amazon http://amzn.to/UhfPNS https://www.facebook.com/jessiewaremusic https://twitter.com/Jessie_Ware http://www.jessieware.com/ Previous singles including Wildest Moments, Night Light Running, & Strangest Feeling available on iTunes http://bit.ly/JWiTunes Directed by Kate Moross PMR Records
It took me awhile to get into Jessie's music, but two bazillion plays of this song later, I get it.
