well crap. it's been almost four freaking weeks since i took a run and getting out there for just four or so miles was  treacherous. i felt weak. so today, i rededicate myself to running and training for a marathon. and thankfully, evenings i will be able to run outdoors since the weather is a bit more mild and we have more sunlight. today's sorry run:

maybe it's the mess i live in that explains my perpetual state of singledome, like in this nytimes article. (site note, lately i've been having fun saying i'm perpetually single. it just sounds good, yes? for example, if asked, "do you have a boyfriend?" i respond, "no, i'm perpetually single," followed by a wink or knowing smile. it kind of scares people off and oddly, i like that.)

piles, and piles, and piles. piles are just my thing. i can't and won't disguise my
messiness for anyone. i'll clear a space for you to sit if you're
coming over, but aside from that, i just am not going to go through a
spring cleaning rampage for anyone. it is what it is, and if you can't
deal with it, then it just isn't going to work. but dealbreakers when it comes to a fella's home? i've got to think about that. i've never been scared off by anything quite yet... even living at home still, that hasn't even stopped me in the past which is quite amazing given that i think i'm pretty shallow. i can't help but wonder how shallow some of these folks are who've turned away some of the fine gents highlighted in the article.

here was the view from my hotel room. we stayed in the union square/financial district. it was perhaps too close and too much access to shopping.

ike and his pa. spitting image. it's remarkable.


the groom getting some love from his little sisters. i dunno what i was laughing so hard at.

my sister, ike and i just hanging around before the ceremony...


the three greatest fellas i know:

here comes the bride....

and you may now kiss the bride...


uncle E spending some QT with ike


before the reception started, it was a pre-funk and mingling opportunity. and apparently, i don't know how to pose for pictures. check out the unflattering stance:

their first dance... miss chloe is off in her own world enjoying the dance as well.


normally camera shy, champagne, white wine, gin and tonics brought out the ham in me. "take my picture!"


this was late into the reception... and you can see we'd had a few drinks by this time- i have a bit of an asian glow here, as does the sister.

on our last day in CA, i drove up to sactown for some biz. check out how beautiful the drive was. it looked surreal.


here i was driving into sactown... nothing really significant about sactown... except maybe the governer arnold's office


and later in the evening, i played tour guide to joon and showed him some of the classic SF sites including the golden gate bridge.


and right before takeoff, we introduced joon to in and out burgers. nice...
          

i am tired. and tomorrow, i think i'll be even more exhausted as my SF weekend comes to an end. i'll check out of my hotel in the morning, and then it's off to drive to Sacramento for a day of work. then, it's back to SF for the evening, and then the red-eye to take me back home- back to the east coast. and i'm ready!

my brother's wedding was wonderful... i will post pictures later. but i still can't believe he's hitched! he's hitched, my sister's hitched... and then there was one. third wheel, fifth wheel... that's become me. i was the sole single gal at my dinner table, i walked down the aisle in the procession on my own, i boogied onto the dance floor without a partner... it's just me. and actually, it's okay. i'm quite alright with it because i'm having far too much fun right about now.

okay, gotta pack.

goodbye SF. it was nice being here again. i'll see ya soon, for sure.

last night i had just about the greatest night ever- drag queen bingo at chaos. i don't know how one of my girlfriends found out about it, but i'll definitely go again despite the fact i have been dragging and tired all day. it was a grand 'ole time for sure. 40-something year old men dressed as women and looking more fabulous than i ever will... how can you not enjoy that? they were fierce.

i keep meaning to post a certain entry that's a bit more introspective, but i just can't seem to get the words out flowing semi-eloquently... so instead, i keep posting about good eats. more good eats this evening! bangkok joes in georgetown, it was super delicious! we only had dumplings, rolls and wontons, but i was a happy camper dining there. plus, they had a really fabulous pina colada coincidentally called... the fabulous colada. delicious. i had the strawberry flavored version, and it was fabulous for sure. i will have to go back again to try some of their other eats.

in the midst of all good eats and libations, i did manage to meet a sweet gal this evening and my conversation with her got me thinking. i can't believe that i can now say it was a few years ago, but that's besides the point... a few years ago, when i broke up with a fella with whom i had been with for years, i thought it was perhaps the most dramatic and traumatic event ever. "you don't understand," i would say when i told people about it. "it was a really complicated situation."

fast forward to a few years later though, and i finally get what he meant. it really wasn't that unique of a situation. it has happened to many others and will continue to happen to others. like this evening, the sweet gal i met is going through a situation similar to the one i went through. and if i think about some of the great gals i've met over the past few years both in Seattle and DC, there are a handful of them who've been through more of the same.

it's funny once you realize they too have the same battle scars and you begin to swap war stories. you give one another a knowing look and then there's an instant connection. it's like meeting other veterans, and then knowing that i was not alone in the midst of all that drama, despite feeling so alone at the time. and there's something oddly comforting about that. somewhere else, the whole thing was happening to someone else too; i just didn't realize it at the time. she felt the same mix of emotions as me, ranging from regret to joy to fear to relief and then finally contentment and satisfaction. and now a few years later, we can share the highs and lows of the whole experience. it's kinda nice.

if you carried a fatal gene, would you want to know? if you could take a test to find out the course of your future, would you do it? really interesting read in the nytimes about such, facing life with a lethal gene.

i'm tired. i just woke up from a three hour nap and am pretty darn certain i'll still fall asleep at a reasonable hour tonight and get some good shuteye.

it was lunch at delhi dhaba today, but we went to the arlington location which doesn't look nearly as fancy as what i'm presuming is the bethesda location on their website. i ate too much naan though and didn't take advantage of the lunch buffet as much as i would have liked to. oh well. it's just nice to hang out with the family and spending some good 'ole QT with them. after lunch, it was cupcakes from love cafe. the key to their cupcakes truly is to wait for the frosting to reach room temperature. what a delicious treat.

the week ahead includes dinner at bangkok joes, drag queen bingo, packing and cleaning... and then off to SF on thursday. yay!

it was a really great walk from georgetown down to dupont circle and then steaks at bistro du coin yesterday evening. i had the hanger steak which was just okay... but dining there, you feel like you're eating in someone's kitchen. it has a nice home-like feel and is a nice lively scene. i think i could probably go back later to try out something else.

while dining, there was this really lovely couple sitting at the table next to us though, and in chatting them up, we learned that they have been married for 50 years, and are still bickering with each other to this day. they were happy and lively though. you meet people like them and it gives you hope for the future. later it was gazuza for some shisha... i never get what the big deal with shisha is. i feel like you just look silly smoking from such a large contraption. i can do without, and frankly, it seems like a waste of money.

side note. when you have little to no expectations for how an outing might go and it ends up going wonderfully well, then it's just a great surprise. it's a wonderful surprise. good conversation, endless flirting ... good times. there are just some people whom you feel completely at ease around. it's always nice to find such good folk.

dinner last night was at logan tavern, which is just okay. it's good mediocre food; not a knock your socks off kind of place... but the ambiance is nice. i think my date and i were the only straight people there though. i had the boneless southern fried chicken... and the mashed potatoes were probably the best part of my meal. logan tavern is owned by the same folks as merkado and grillfish... and after trying both grillfish and logan tavern, and being minimally impressed by either, i think i'll pass on trying merkado.