Salute y Bonjour!

I realized that I forgot to mention anything about Halloween festivities. Here's a link to some pictures that we took. Mallory came up to visit for the weekend, which was an added bonus. Marie went as Joe the Pumber, Mal as Sarah Palin, and I as the crazy McCain rally lady. We handed out candy to the kiddies who stopped by our house before we went to a house party (where most of the pics were taken) and then to Dupont Circle, a neighborhood in the NW side of town. The city was dressed up and everyone was festive. Mallory was even stopped by random people who kept asking to have their picture taken with her. It was a fun evening.

This week was pretty slow as far as weeks go. Most of my evenings were spent in, with the exception of Wednesday night. Marie and I went to an event hosted by Kat's office, at the Buxton Initiative. The topic of discussion was "What role does religion play in conflict resolution?" We were provided dinner and there was a guest speaker with a pretty impressive resume. It was a typical "DC Night."

Friday night was full of new places. I met up with Kat and some of her friends where we finally tried a restaurant I'd been wanting to try for about two years: 2 Amys. It's an Italian restaurant that specializes in pizzas. After one bite, I could tell they knew what they were doing! It was delicious and I hope it's not another 27 years before I visit. Once we were finished at 2 Amys, three of us went to see the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace in Georgetown. It was pretty good, but not as exciting as Casino Royale, the previous Bond movie in which Daniel Craig plays Bond. Now that is a good looking man! :)

Saturday was spent mostly lounging, with the exception of a gym trip and dinner with Marie and some of her friends in town from NC. It made for a lazy evening of SNL and phone call catch-ups. All in all, a very good Saturday.

Today was quite fun! Carlos has a friend, Jeoffrey, who is visiting from Colombia (his first visit to the US!). Marie, Carlos, Jeoffrey and I had a fun afternoon just chatting. Marie and I took a quick break to visit a local coffee shop for a bit while the guys went grocery shopping. When we returned, Carlos and Jeoffrey began making dinner- a yummy Latin American dish called ceviche. Mmm. It had some of my favorite ingredients: shrimp, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and celantro. The ceviche was spooned over fried rice with garlic. It was amazing! Carlos made fried plantains and we feasted. It was a very delightful meal. Jeoffrey graciously shared the recipe, so I have hopes of making it again.

In the pics below, Jeoffrey is on the left and Carlos is on the right in the first one. Then, there is one of the four of us (Marie, Jeoffrey, Carlos, and me). Aaron (our other roommate) is seated beside Marie in the third picture. In the fourth picture Carlos and Jeoffrey are being super goofy and high fiving each other for a job well done on the meal. In other news, I did make a big purchase this weekend... I bought a plane ticket to Paris!! I am flying out in March, to be joined by Marie and possibly Mallory. Marie bought her ticket immediately after I bought mine. We will be staying with Drew in the middle of Paris. I'm SOO excited!!!

The upcoming week is pretty full already. I'm getting together with two of my favorite friends from the office tomorrow night and we are making tons of cookies. One of them, Jennifer, just bought a magazine with 100 cookie recipes in it. So, the plan is to make three types tomorrow. I don't really know what we are going to do with them all. We haven't really talked about it, but I imagine the office and all of our roommates will be happy that we tried the new recipes. On Tuesday I have the pregnancy center and then on Wednesday I am attending a going away dinner for my friend Christine. It's never a dull moment...