As You Are Gearing Up For Thanksgiving...

"Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents the calendar of the changing seasons.  Pie is the food of the heroic.  No pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished."

- 1902 New York Times editorial, via Parade Magazine

I read that and never felt more patriotic.  Maybe pie can unite us once again. Happy baking everyone.

More Museum Photos

This photo was taken during the Phillips Collection's Birthday Bash, during a demonstration by ballerinas emulating Degas paintings in the next room over.  So lovely!

I swear, Instagram makes any photo look great.  It's the democratization of photography.  A real game-changer.  At least I thought that until I looked at these pictures from National Geographic's photo contest.  Take a look and be inspired.  No app can capture those kind of shots, only people with real talent.

Hirshhorn After Hours Fall 2011

Christine and Serena and I used to go to every Hirshhorn After Hours, but it fell off our radar for awhile.  I hadn't been in about a year, but when we went back for old time's sake in October.  Still a cool experience, maybe not as hip a crowd as in its heyday, but fun nonetheless.  Fantastic art + drinks + music will always be a good time. We walked through the Andy Warhol: Shadows exhibit, the scale of which will knock you for a loop.

These girls are always the first ones on the dance floor.

They really crank the smoke machine up to 11 though. I could barely breathe. Every minute and a half, smoke would flood the dance floor.

This photo is going to be Christine's album cover.

High-five! Another party conquered!

Signs That You Are Addicted To "The Wire"

I'm thinking that Netflix makes it OK to geek out about shows that are years old.  Everyone else has moved on, and this is old news to all you 1%-ers with HBO (haha, kidding), but I'm now realizing that "The Wire" IS one of the best television shows ever.  It's true.  Slate, Entertainment Weekly, my former coworker Kyle, etc. always told me that, but now that I've actually watched it, I'm become one of the disciples as well.  I can't stop talking about it.  "Masterful" is a strong word, but heck, it applies.  You care so much about the characters and the storylines are woven together so well.

Anytime I meet someone who is from or lives in Baltimore, I always ask them about the show.  That must be annoying, but I can't help myself.  I talked to a guy from Baltimore at a party who said that he saw Proposition Joe riding the bus.  That was an enthralling piece of news, for some reason.

I don't know if this is the healthiest addiction though, especially since I check the crime stats too often as it is for my occasionally dodgy D.C. neighborhood.  "The Wire" is starting to affect my world view.  Last week, I told my coworker I needed to send him a 9 millimeter file.  I meant a 9 megabyte file. Whoops!  Then I went to watch "The Ides of the March," and the whole time I thought, "He's going to get killed, he knows way too much!"

Joe and I just finished watching season four, and I'm hoping against hope that season five has more happy endings.  I want it to be more like a TV show, but alas, it's more like life.  I keep thinking, how can the good guys possibly win?  They have to follow a moral/legal code, while the bad guys have the power to do anything they want, by any means necessary.  That's my black and white thought for a show that is all gray areas.

So what show should I watch after I finish this one (sob)?  I don't have a TV, I'm relying only on Netflix, so please steer me to something good!

Halloween in Fairfax

I happened to be at my parents' house on Halloween night, and was given the task of passing out candy to the little trick or treaters.  My mom bought six bags of candy, and I thought that was way too much.  But sure enough, at 6:30 p.m. there was a knock at the door, and before I knew it, the candy was almost gone. The kids who stopped by were pretty darn cute, but they made me feel out of touch in terms of 2011 cartoon knowledge.  I asked a little girl with blue Pippy Longstockings braids who she was supposed to be, and she held up a tiny doll dressed like her.  "I'm a Loully," she said.  Duh.  Well, okay. I left the bowl of Halloween candy out next to the door, and the next day my mom called to tell me that Rain the dog had eaten all the candy when no one was looking, wrappers and all.  Luckily, I had handed out most of it.  I'd also eaten a good chunk of the candy, including all the dark chocolate, which is dangerous for dogs.  So poor Rain had no adverse effects from her little Halloween adventure. "Some might say that I'm a hero for eating the candy so the dog didn't end up eating it," I told Joe. "You know, if you had put the bowl away in the first place, the dog wouldn't have gotten into it at all," he said. Hmm, yes.  We aren't used to misbehaving dogs.  I suppose this is a good a time as any to note that our beloved dog Hunter has passed on to the rainbow bridge - Halloween would've been his 16th birthday.  That is really old for a dog, I know, but I had begun to believe he would never die.  He'd just always been there, for the majority of my life.  I've been meaning to write a little tribute to him, but let's just say he was practically perfect, much-loved and had the best life a dog could ever have.  He would never have eaten the candy.  Now that Hunter is gone, Rain has no role models in her life and is clearly acting out.

Trick or Treaters, I'm Worried About You!

Halloween 2011 marked my laziest Halloween ever. I thought about recycling last year's Andrew WK costume. No one understood it last year and it deserves another chance. Plus, this year he had a contest for the best Andrew WK impersonator and the winner got a congratulatory phone call from the man himself. Surely I would be in the running? I ran out of contact lenses, so I would have to go as the "bookish" Andrew WK.

But no, I was so lazy that I didn't even bother putting on the Andrew WK uniform of white jeans and sneakers.  I had a party for work on Saturday evening, so I just showed up at Carolyn's boyfriend's Halloween party wearing my formal wear, and Carolyn was nice enough to give me a witch's hat.  Done and done.  They went all out for the party, with fake skeletons, dry ice, strobe lights and a lethal looking Halloween punch.  So fun!  Plus you couldn't get a better location, right near the Black Cat.

I left after 2 a.m. and the cabs were just not stopping.  I had to wait for the bus, but I didn't mind since you can't find a better day for people watching than Halloween.  There was a fake Princess Beatrice arguing with her boyfriend while wearing that ridiculous hat.  As I walked to the bus stop, a wasted guy started yelling at me. He was dressed as a sailor, could barely walk and didn't look a day over 21.

"Are you Meghan McCain?" he asked as he lurched drunkenly toward me.  [Talk about an obscure D.C. reference.]

His friend started dragging him away, but he kept yelling.  "Because you have big titties and they are all out!"

Number 1.) That is laughably incorrect, and
Number 2.) Sir, how did you arrive at that conclusion given that I am wearing a zipped-up parka?

Ha.  I think that says more about his impression of Meghan than it does about me.

The more people I saw as I waited for the bus, the more I started to worry about them.  Who could be an easier mugging target than a drunk guy wearing a cow costume?  What about the girl teetering on her heels while being supported by a guy who is asking, "OK, so where do you live?"  Oh you, hapless, hapless Halloween people.  God help you, as you make your way home at 3 a.m. in the cold while dressed as a Rubik's cube.

I walked briskly to my street after getting off at the bus stop.  A super hero-costumed guy weaving his way across the sidewalk stopped me as I was about to turn onto my street.

"Excuse me.  Which way is south?"

Cardinal directions are not my forte.  "Where are you trying to go I asked?  Dupont?" I said.

"South," he said.  "Just south."

Hope he made it!