Happy birthday, America!

I love long weekends.  I have three days to do what I normally cram into two, Eleanor wonders what the hell I'm still doing around on a Monday (she knows her days of the week), and Nick starts to get on my nerves by Sunday night.  But no, really, they're the best.

We tried to step out of the box this weekend and not sit around for hours at a time, watching Say Yes to the Dress marathons ("we" = "I").  Saturday we spent the day in the sweltering heat, walking around Capitol Hill and Old Town Alexandria.  We really weren't prepared for the heat, as the last 90 degree day we had was in May.  It was a little rough and I single-handedly disproved the belief that women don't sweat, they glow.  No, I was sweating.  We were also verbally attacked by a Metro employee (we've reported her but have yet to hear anything back from WMATA) and dealt with really loud tourists.  But all in all it was a fun day.

The rest of the weekend was spent running various errands, though we did eat at Mussel Bar in Bethesda last night.  I thought it was delicious.  I don't eat mussels (or really any seafood, save crabs and lobster) so I had the prime rib steak sandwich with frites and a glass of rose.  I know, wine?  For me?  But their beers were mostly imported and I'm an American craft beer enthusiast.  We also ordered dessert, which I haven't done in God knows how many years.

So here are some pictures.  Did  you all have a nice weekend?  The next long weekend is Labor day!  Can you believe it?  This year is flying by.

Starting out the day as two innocent kids who had no idea of the messed up people they would encounter on their adventures.

Navy diver punching a shark, something you can only see at the Eastern Market

Mmm, green tomatoes

The vendor was offended I was taking pictures of her flowers instead of buying them.  Sorry!

Hill's Kitchen, where I bought two icing spatulas and a present for my mom.  Way to go crazy!

The stuff nightmares are made of.

Letterpress

I love these porcelain milk jugs

Ahhh, finally.

California Pizza Kitchen

Fried Mac and Cheese!

Some of the weird produce at Safeway

Eleanor enjoys helping us with laundry

A monkey dressed like a banana at the Paper Source in Bethesda