planetemily

24 months and counting...

Today Matt and I celebrate our anniversary. 2 years ago we had our first date. Up until then, we had only been talking on the phone and through email. He was a lot cuter in person.

Though I didn't know it at the time, I think I fell in love with him that day. He was nervous and awkward and sweet and a perfect gentleman.

We met at Dupont Circle for dinner at the Childe Harold. The waiter messed up our leftovers and the next day we realized that he ended up with my veggie burger and I his club sandwich. Lucky for Matt, the mixup gave him an excuse to call me the next day instead of waiting the requisite 3 days. But Matt was never one to play by the rules.

Not much has changed. He's as silly and remarkable as ever and continues to challenge and impress and surprise me. I've never felt so loved.

I intend to keep him around for a long time to come.

American Bellydancer

Last night Matt and I went to see the DC premiere of American Bellydancer, a documentary detailing the formation and production of the Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses.

It was really entertaining. It seems that Miles Copeland is trying to do for bellydance what he did for the Police and IRS records. However, the dancers themselves are struggling with him to maintain the integrity of the dance and the arab culture from which it stems.

Thank you Saphira from Sahara Dance and Suhalia for not being afraid to speak your mind and for continuing to empower women all over the world.

march madness begins

For the past 3 years or so, I have played in my friend Tom's NCAA tournament pool.

You have to understand that I really do not like sports and very rarely get excited about tournaments in general. Matt is a huge football fan and leave him to it since I can't stand to even be in the same room with people who are watching a game on TV.

But there's something special about college basketball. I don't know, maybe it's the underdog in me, but I feel a kind of kinship to those guys. And the tournament season only lasts about 3 weeks, so I don't have to commit to months of dribbling and squeaking and the mindless drone of announcers.

So for 5 bucks, I submit my bracket into Tom's upset pool. I know very little, if anything about the teams playing and have each year chosen my teams at random. Using a teapot, coffee carafe, and this year, the lid of a cd spindle, I put all the teams inside, give it a good shake and start picking.

This year I cheated.

My first bracket was picked from a Kashi cereal box. It looked really ugly. So I started over from scratch using the spindle cover and was much happier with the results.

I have some interesting upsets this year. I don't care all that much about winning, I just like the fact that it's anyone's game and that that my way of picking is just as reasonable as someone who pores over stats and such. So when I do better with my random upsets I like to rub that in their faces. Sweetly, of course. I would like to beat Latonya because she takes it very seriously.

Matt kicked some ass last year. He tied with the winner, but lost the tie breaker.
Best of luck to him.

Let the games begin!!

samoa crack

Yesterday, after a long and shitty day, I ascended the escalator at the Courthouse Metro station to find....Girl Scout Cookies!!!! 

Hooray! I can't believe that no one at my office was selling cookies for their kids this year. I had tried to forget about them, instead watching my calories in preparation for my dance recital. But once I saw those purple boxes, I was a goner.

Ah, Samoas. What a peculiar and highly addictive treat. Sweet shortbread circle, layered with caramel, covered in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut. For the coconut-phobes, I pity that they will never know the joy.

I am a veteran Girl Scout. In some way, that has contributed to my development as an upstanding citizen. I even earned my gold award back in high school, so I am all too familiar with the annual cookie drive. I used to be torn between the thin mint and samoa, but we all have to pick a favorite.

One year, my sophomore I think, I went to our state capital to page in the House of Representatives for a week. I stayed with a host family who were also scouts. Now, Columbia is a separate council and has their own bakers and cookies for sale. Their version of the samoa is called caramel delight. It's bigger, has about twice as much caramel and no coconut. But the also have something called lemon pastry cremes. It's a flaky lemon cookie covered in a white glaze. I had never experienced such deliciousness before. I felt cheated. Why couldn't I have sold THOSE cookies instead?

Since then, I have lived in Chicago and DC and still have not found the elusive caramel delights and lemon pastry creams. If any of you know where they are, please send a message. I'll buy a case. Of each. They are that good.

Poor Matt. I called to let him know that I had found samoas and offered to pick him up a box on my way over to his place last night. He swears that he said no half a dozen times (something about eating a bag of skittles and peanut m&m's the day before sounds vaguely familiar), but alas all I heard was "hell yes, bring a box over". So now there's a purple temptation sitting on his coffee table calling out,  "Eat me!"

Support your local Girl Scouts. Buy some samoas.

fast forward

Oy I'm frustrated. Without going into detail, I'm having a hard time with work and project that's in the works. Turns out, what seemed to be a simple though lengthy process just got exponentially more complicated and now some pretty serious and costly decisions have to be made. It feels like I'm wading against a current and, while I have a few great people backing me up, the system isn't in my favor.

I wish I could fast forward to the end of this conflict and return to some peace. Or maybe a little fairly could flit around and evaporate (or even better, turn into stone!) the mean ones.

In the meantime, I am sooooo looking forward to getting out of DC for a few days in April. Matt and I are off to San Diego for a week. Hello sunshine!!

a puppy would come in handy right now

film movement

If you haven't heard about Film Movement yet, then listen up. FM distributes first-run foreign and independent films that don't always make it to theaters. They select a new film each month and send you a dvd like a film-of-the-month club. I don't have a subscription, but my local library does and I have been watching these movies for a number of months. They are really incredible. A few of my favorites:

The Rage in Placid Lake (Ben Lee's debut)
El Bola
Republic of Love (with the dishy Bruce Greenwood)
Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity (with Sandra Oh from Sideways)
Ginger and Cinnamon
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

Sometimes you can find them through Netflix.

I'm looking forward to seeing Alexandra's Project (Dec. 2004).

pilot

Have you ever thought that your life would make an interesting TV show? Right now, I think I'm in reality-tv mode, minus the perfect hair and host.

I am starting this blog to document my adventures and share stories and pictures of whatever happens along the way.

It will also make me look computer savvy.

So keep tuning in for updates and let's see what happens.