Today I'm celebrating friendship!
Over the weekend, I spent four fantastically fabulous fun-filled days with Katie. (She snuck the sweet card above into my kitchen cupboard, next to two of our mutual loves: peanut flour and seaweed snacks, before we headed to the airport yesterday morning. Sneaky, sneaky!)
Even though we met through blogging, two minutes into our first face-to-face conversation, we realized that we aren't just "blends" (blog + friend = blend...not my term! slightly tacky, but let's roll with it, k?!), but real, soulful FRIENDS.
Over the weekend, we bonded big time. :-)
DANCING
Getting our groove on at District.
SWEATING
After 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of muscle building weight lifting, this is what happens:
Katie was in desperate need of a Whole Foods fix!
I made sure she got one every day.
We also hit up Lululemon!
Love their mantra.
Katie went to town...And then her love for all things Lulu rubbed off on me. I caved and bought my very first piece of Lulu gear:
The Define jacket! I know I'm going to be living in this.
We also bonded by...
EATING
(duh! we're food-lovers!)
Thursday night we ate dinner with Lauren at Dirty Martini.
There was nothing dirty about this place. In fact, it was very swank.
Eating here was actually a desperation move. We'd been waiting in line at the Pinkberry grand opening for nearly and hour, and just couldn't wait any longer. A teaspoon-sized sample was definitely not enough to quell hunger pangs!
Dirty Martini was literally right next door.
Everything on the small plate menu sounded delicious. Katie and I both ordered the grilled chicken skewers.
Marinated chicken, served with curry sauce, zucchini,
squash and red onion.
Lauren ordered the seared ahi.
Latin spiced seared rare Ahi tuna, cilantro-aioli with
grilled papaya puree and fried plantain chips
We were all slightly dissappointed with the serving size of our dinners. We shoveled down the $15 dollar three-bite meal appetizers in about two minutes. Our stomachs were still grumbling, so we ordered side salads, which went unpictured.
I think the lesson learned that evening is this:
A) Bring snacks to Pinkberry store grand openings. You'll likely have to wait 3 hours and may become hangry.
B) Don't go searching for a substantial dinner at a place named after a naughty alcoholic drink.
Friday night we ate at Spices in Cleveland Park.
The food was good...
Fresh Crab California Roll--my favorite!
Ginger Salad==Young tender ginger roots, cabbage, cabbage, carrot, roasted peanut and fried shallots
Tofu with Mixed Vegetables--Fried tofu with vegetables in ginger sauce
But the drinks were better!
MANGO Bellini! I break the rules when I drink. Bellini's are not just for breakfast! This was quite tasty.
Several of Katie's friends joined us.
Christine, a fellow blogger, also came, however somehow I managed to leave without her picture! :-( I guess that means we need to get together for dinner again soon, Christine!
The night continued with some serious booty-shakin' in Dupont Circle.
The next day, Katie and I finally got our Pinkberry fix!
I'll take one of every flavor, thankyouverymuch. :-)
By the looks of the lines Thursday night, I was worried that they'd run out of yogurt for a month. Thank goodness that wasn't the case!
Every bite was blissful.
I warned the employees that I'd be moving in this summer. In fact, I'm returning today, and plan on becoming an official Pinkberry groupie.
I'll definitely miss my Pinkberry partner in crime, though!
(sidenote: I love Katie's nail polish color! It's French Affair by Essie. I'm going hunting for it today.)
Katie is truly a beautiful person, inside and out! I feel so fortunate to call her my FRIEND, and am looking forward to many fun, crazy adventures with her in the near future!
"Turns out not where but who you're with that really matters."
"Best of What's Around" Dave Matthews Band
