Ann Taylor Perfect Pointy Pumps

My Ann Taylor shopping trips continue - last Monday, I needed to find some grownup clothes and shoes.  Most of my shoes have vestigial buckles or pictures of cartoon dogs on them, so this is a huge step forward for me.

I needed something that was decidedly conservative, so Ann Taylor seemed like a good bet.  I know this is the store of choice for D.C. careerist types.  My roommate who works on the Hill used to wear Ann Taylor almost exclusively.  She even wore it when we out clubbing at a sketchy warehouse.  But I've avoided Ann Taylor thus far, mainly because I hate buying work clothes.  This shopping trip impressed me, though.  It seemed very on trend, lots of neon everywhere, but in a restrained boss lady way.

I ended up getting these shoes - what do you think?  The saleswoman who helped me picked out an entire outfit for me, including the pumps.  I put them on and they were the most comfortable heels I've ever worn.  "I'll take them!" I said.  Then I looked at the price.  This sent me reeling, because I was expecting a tag similar to the $5 pants I just bought at Ann Taylor Loft.  I had no idea their shoes were this much.

Oh well.  Wish I had used a coupon.  They won't go out of style, so I feel better about it.  I wore them all day and stood in them for one hour straight and they didn't obliterate my feet so I'll give the Perfect Pointy Pumps a thumbs-up so far.  Anyone else wear Ann Taylor shoes?  Let me know if this was a good buy or not in the comments.

Wardrobe Malfunction

This month I set a little challenge for myself: I want to run one mile every day for 30 days.  I'm currently on Day 6, still on track. This might be a dubious goal, however.  It only takes 10 minutes to run a mile.  It takes me longer in general to change into my gym clothes.  10 minutes of exercise is not really a thing anyway.  I will proudly boast to the doctor the next time I get a physical, "Well, I always get in my daily 10 minutes of cardio." I need to bump this up to 2 miles to get anything out of it probably, but as it stands, I like my little goal because it's easily achievable.  So this morning before work, I finished my mile at the Clarendon gym and I looked in my bag to grab my work clothes after I took a shower.  I pulled out the shirt, the shoes and then a sickening realization washed over me.  The pants.  Dear God, where are the pants?  No pants!!! I stood frozen, contemplating my next move.  How could I forget this?  I saw only two options:

1. Ride the metro back home, get the pants and ride back to work for a round trip of 1.5 to 2 hours.  And call my boss and explain why I was late to work because I forgot my pants.  
2. Make do with the swishy gym pants.  Just go with it and pray no one notices until the shops open at 10 a.m. and you can buy another pair of pants.

Dear reader, what would you do when faced with such an impossible choice?  I texted Joe frantically and tried to call my mom for advice.  Joe wrote back,"O.M.G.  That is one of the reasons I always fail to work out before work.  I'm terrified I'd forget socks.  But pants is worse."

Much worse!

Daredevil that I am, I went with option 2, the nice sweater combined with gym pants and sneakers.  I decided the heels would make the whole thing even more ridiculous.  I darted off the elevator to my desk, pants swish swish swishing as I went.

No meetings on the Outlook calendar, phew.  I pushed my chair up as close to the desk as possible, but I thought maybe I should tell my immediate coworkers just to cut the awkwardness off at the pass.  "Peter, I don't have any pants!" I exclaimed.

Wait.  That came out all wrong.

Luckily, the stars aligned and I stayed in my chair till 9:55 a.m., then snuck out to Ann Taylor Loft and was the first person inside when they opened the doors.  I flagged down the salesperson for help.  Here was a guaranteed sale for her.

I tried on one pair of plain black pants from the sale rack and bought them, wearing them out of the store.  And here's where my luck turned around.  Guess how much they were?

$5!

Yes, really.  That fact redeemed my day entirely.  Good ol' Ann Taylor Loft!  Can I be featured in a commercial to tell my dramatic and uplifting tale?

Full Metal Jousting

There's a line in my new fav show Portlandia that goes something like, "He only watches shows about fishing or logging."  Doesn't this describe modern man, circa 2012?  I have little to no dating advice but this needs to be said: one amazing thing about being single is that you never have to watch "Ax Men." Of course I wouldn't seek this show out on my own, but I admit, I got sucked into the drama of Rygaard, Swilley, Paw Paw, Shelby Stanga and other seeming incompetents trying to fell large trees without killing or maiming themselves. This is the male version of Real Housewives.  That's my thesis.  And just like Real Housewives, there are a ton of these types of reality shows.  More actual destruction, instead of just the emotional destruction that's highlighted on Bravo. I tried to call Joe a few minutes ago and he seemed distracted.  "Are you busy?" I asked. "Can I call you back?  We're about to watch an intense jousting scene," he said. Of course, a reality show about medieval jousting.  Sure, call me when it's over.

Joe's Birthday Party

I love to read food blogs, so when Joe told me that he and his good friend Andy planned to host a joint birthday party, I finally had an opportunity to make all the fun party food that would be strange for me to cook for myself.

Like chocolate-covered potato chips.  I found the recipe from the very fun blog Spoon Fork Bacon.  Just what America needs right?  Greasy salty chips covered in sugar.  Eh, it's a party, I say.

I hand-dipped every single potato chip from a family size bag of Wavy Lays into a vat of milk chocolate.  "These are bespoke potato chips," Joe said. It took a very long time.  Once I started, I couldn't stop, and covered every available flat surface with potato chips on wax paper.

The ones photographed on Spoon Fork Bacon are eerily perfect.  My chips were lumpier because I had a hard time getting the perfect amount of chocolate on each chip.  But dang, they tasted good anyway.  If there is ever a situation to use the word "dang," I think it should be when describing chocolate-covered potato chips.

Behind the potato chips, you'll see dulce de leche sandwich cookies via Joy the Baker, who is the cutest person ever, at least judging from her blog.  I love her, and the rest of the recipes I cooked are from her website.  This party was brought to you by Joy the Baker.

These cookies might not look like much, but they are the best I've ever made.  I've made three batches this year, by popular request.  It's easy too.  A can of dulce de leche serves as the filling, with some sea salt sprinkled on top.  I'm very into the salty/sweet combination.

I also made baked brie lollipops. Joy's baked brie look prettier than mine, but I was just happy they didn't explode in the oven, as some commenters mentioned.  I was using Joe's oven, so no skin off my nose if they did.  Haha.  No that was easy too.  I convinced Prudence to come to the party by saying that I would serve "fancy Hot Pockets on a stick."  I think that would be my food truck concept as well.

Alex made a sign advertising my mixology skills.  Not sure why "special" is in quotes.  Is he humoring me?  I made another Joy the Baker recipe, rosemary lime cocktails.  These are so good.  I have a heavy hand with the vodka too.  Prudence said that I would be distracted, talking to someone, meanwhile the vodka bottle is going "glug, glug, glug."

Someone bought in mini-pies from the new Pie Sisters in Georgetown.  Georgetown Cupcake, will this put a crack in your empire?

The birthday boys blow out the candles.   [Not pictured, the awesome friends who made the trek in the cold to help us celebrate].

I wore my party dress meant for a six-year-old for this special occasion.  The print has little horseys, bunnies and teddy bears on it.

I don't wear this dress very often.  I tried to wear it to the office, but I felt like the bunnies might make it less than professional.  I still love it though, it's from a stall at an amazing flea market in London.   So I've only worn it a handful of times, and one time I was wearing it, waiting for the bus and a girl walks by wearing the exact same dress I was wearing.  What?  I'd expect that for a F21 sweater, but what a coincidence.

Happy birthday, Joe!  So looking forward to spending your 31st year together!

Cape Weather

I checked the weather this morning and saw it was going to be 50 degrees.  That is the tipping point for when wearing my cape makes sense.  Warmth is not its greatest feature.

I bought my cape two years ago, and now I see quite a few girls wearing capes.  It's no biggie these days.  Well, at least to me.  Maybe not for others.  I generally get my own seat on the bus when I take the cape out for a spin.

During my halfday today, I went to the library to pick up my books on hold.  (An aside: the DC public library system's website is amazing.  Couldn't be easier.  Just type in the name of the book you want and they'll deliver it to your nearest library and you can run in and pick it up. If you don't have a library card, you are missing out!  It's a shame I waited so long to do this).

The librarian who checked out my books said "Nice cape."

"Thanks!" I said, a bit too eagerly.  Then I thought I should go ahead and say what everyone was thinking.  "It's a bit eccentric."

"But it's perfect cape weather," she said.

That's what I've been saying!  Finally, someone gets it.

Brunch at Mandu

Sorry for neglecting the blog. Seems the busier I am doing fun things that would be interesting to write about, the less time I have to write about them.  I also signed up for the alternative work week schedule at work, in which you work 9 hours Monday through Thursday, then get half-day Fridays.  Seemed awesome, right?  I thought it would give me more time to write and blog and run errands and do the things I like to do.  But so far I've only been able to actually leave at noon once.  That one time was glorious, though.

Does anyone else work alternative work schedules?  Have you had better luck at sticking to your schedule without seeming like you are a slacker?

Anyway, hope you are all ready for the weekend.  Here's my foodie recommendation for your Saturday or Sunday...

Like any good city dweller, I love brunch.  But it can be such an over-priced yuppie endeavor, can't it?  When I read about the brunch plate at Mandu, a Korean restaurant on K Street at City Vista, and I thought it would be fun to try a departure from the usual waffles, eggs benedict, what have you.

$12 gets you Mandu's set brunch plate: gimbap, a Korean omelet, chive pancakes,  Korean-style hash browns and marinated meat or veggies and tofu.

That's a lot of food.  Plus it comes with dessert.  All this, and gelato too?