Friday, November 04, 2005

Good things in DC

In addition to visiting our friends, which was clearly the best part of our recent trip back to Washington, there were lots of other things that made me happy as well.

Dog friends. We visited Grady's 3 best friends from back in the day, Porter, Shelby, and Spot. Here I am getting a big smooch from Spotty.



Shopping. I become a complete shop-a-holic when I go back to the States. Fortunately, I had already done a ton of clothes shopping when I was in Wisconsin in August, but nonetheless, I go completely crazy upon stepping into a mall (or better yet a Marshalls or Target). In the non-clothes department, I picked up the first season of Laguna Beach on DVD, more Crest toothpaste, Orville Redenbacher's Microwave Kettle Corn, Jello (don't laugh), my favorite hairspray, and the new fall color (Beach Plum) of Lancome's Juicy Tubes (among other random things). I restrained myself from going to DSW Shoe Warehouse knowing I can't walk out of there with at least a couple new pairs of shoes.

The Washington Post. We miss reading the newspaper here. Reading online is just not the same. Plus we were there when the "Scooter" case broke and when Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court which made for lots of good reading.

Church. We belong to a really great church in McLean, Virginia, and it was really nice to go back. Even though it was a bit embarrassing when our Pastor made a point of announcing our presence to the whole congregation during the service. We prefer to be anonymous.

Halloween. Halloween is HUGE in Arlington, especially in our friends' neighborhood where we hung out on Monday night. Lots of people decorate their houses and when we were kids all I remember was putting a pumpkin out front. Check out these cute kids all psyched to start trick-or-treating!



Food, food, food. Of course we love Swiss cuisine, but it's always good to go back to the US and eat a cheeseburger. We also had bagels. And I ate at many of our favorite restaurants, including Lost Dog, Raaga, Lebanese Taverna, and Sawatdee. Yum! I also discovered that Starbucks is offering a delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte right now to celebrate the fall season. Why doesn't the Basel Starbucks make it?

TV. I am scared for what my first few days back in the States will be like. I could honestly sit on the couch for hours and just flip around on the remote. All the channels are in English! (except for a few Spanish channels, and I also came across Deustche Welle at one point) Seriously, I even caught myself watching bad game shows on the Game Show Network like Password, $25,000 Pyramid, and Match Game, and reruns of America's Next Top Model on VH1. I also got to see an episode of the current Amazing Race, and Real World Austin so that was pretty cool.