The Salmon Shorts Epidemic

If we've learned nothing else from living in our nation's lovely Capital, it's that the young professionals are in deep, deep love with their salmon shorts.  We've been wanting to post about this observation for a while now, but never seemed to be able to pull our phones out fast enough to capture each specimen. Well, I made a conscious effort over the past week and the wait is over.  Without further ado, here goes our tribute to DC/Arlington's salmon shorts lovers...

The ever-popular, salmon shorts/polo combo (also demonstrated by 1st photo, above).

Look how bright and shiny these ones are!  Something tells me this is his 1st time taking them for a spin.  Hold the phone - does anyone else see the 2nd salmon shorts wearing specimen ahead?!  Whoa, I didn't even notice that until now!  It appears that he too, is carrying a Trader Joe's bag.  Double whammy!  

Salmon shorts and boat shoes - this screams DC!

You'll notice that I use Wes as my decoy in a few shots.  Most of our encounters are of the male gender, but I thought I'd throw this one in to spice it up a bit.  Equal opportunity blogger, here.

p.s. I'm aware that this is verging on coral, but included it anyway.

Look past the coral skirt to the man in front of her. 

Whoa - full length salmon shorts!

Oh yeah, work those salmon shorts!  His friend is totally jealous.

This is the money shot!  It was our first salmon shorts with cowboy hat spotting!

Bad lighting, but trust us, they're real.

I wonder if he has salmon yoga shorts in that bag?

Blue & White Rehab

I need help. I'm realizing, as I pack and pack, and pack, and pack...that I need to expand my color horizon. ...and these are only the button downs!

Let Something Go

This morning in my yoga class, as the teacher was leading us through our breath, I was struck by her word choice.  Typically, I hear teachers say, "let it go," when cuing an exhale, but this particular teacher replaced it with something.  "Let something go," is what she would say each time she signaled for an exhale.  It was amazing how a simple change in pronoun, completely altered my perspective on this common phrase.  One of the many things that draws me to yoga is that everyone can take from the practice whatever it is they need and that intentions can change from class to class.  I'll never know if anyone else took note of her word choice this morning, or was even phased by it if they did, but that doesn't really matter anyway.  Today, I needed to hear someone tell me to let something go!  With every exhale, I seemed to let a different negative or stressful feeling go.  It was really amazing.  

As we head into our last full weekend here in Arlington (more on that later ;)), I am going to try to keep her words in the front of my mind, so that we can take in as many happy memories as possible.  If you need to, go ahead and do the same; after-all that's what weekends are for anyway!

Happy Friday, everyone!      

The Starbucks Bum

Even before we officially lived in Arlington, we met him - The Starbucks Bum (a.k.a. "SB").  Who is this mysterious  and illusive man, you ask?  Well, feast your eyes on the one friend we don't want to make, but keeps coming back...

SB first came into our lives when we were dining at one of our favorite local restaurants, Pete's New Haven Style Apizza.  While sitting outside enjoying the ridiculously delicious arugula pizza, SB stopped next to our table to chat.  After an awkward few minutes of meaningless conversation, SB looked down at our pizza and said, "So, uh, you gonna finish that?"  Dumbfounded, I looked back at him and in my most authoritative tone replied, "Umm, yeah."  Well, that didn't deter him from asking a 2nd time.  *awkward* And this was just the beginning of what we now know as SB's relentless persistence.

*Ding, ding, ding!*  Round 2.  While grabbing a coffee at the Clarendon Starbucks, SB came into our lives for the 2nd time.  Right away, I recognized and remembered him and thus, tried my best to avert eye contact.  However, Wes was not so quick to the draw.  Like a hawk spotting a turtle, SB went in for the kill.  This time, Wes was lucky enough to hear his pitch for the "latest" speaker system. Seriously, he tried to sell Wes a set of desktop speakers.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, round #3.  The day after capturing this picture (we liken this picture to the rare, yet infamous Yeti photograph), I was walking across that very same crosswalk on my way home from a yoga class.  Lucky for me, SB was crossing in the opposite direction, at the exact same time.  With every ounce of my being, I tried my best to look as busy as one can while crossing a street.  I was proud of myself as I just made it past him without any interaction....but inevitably, he got me.  As I made my first step of freedom beyond him, he turned to me and yelled out, "Hey, nice shirt!  Namaste."

In an effort to learn from our experiences here in our nation's lovely Capital, this is what we're taking away from our encounters with "jack of all trades," SB:

1. Pizza lover
2. A casual salesmen
3. Peaceful warrior

    

A Red, White and Blue kind of day.

Sorry for the delay, but here are some shots from Inauguration Day 2013.  It was a brisk, very crowded winter day, but I couldn't resist experiencing the moment just this once!

I heard somewhere that in order to wash his jeans, Anderson Cooper just showers in them.  

(Things that make you go, hmmmmm)

Anyway, back to the Inauguration...

Mr. P. & Mr. V.P.

There were monitors setup all along the mall.  Thank goodness, because apparently you have to be a "very important pushy person," to get anywhere close to the Capital.

Lots of pageantry.  

OMG - are those BANGS I see?!  Two words: Who. Cares.

Now here we have something to really care about. :)

*Shout out to Rob*

xoooo

Oh NO YOU DIDN'T Wegmans!

While Northern VA is a beautiful area to live in, with a TON of interesting and fun things to do, we've quickly learned that it's pretty much an 80/20 split of rude to kind people.  However, Wegmans* was always a friendly escape.  A safe haven we could visit to feel at home for a short while.  Well, it happened - Wegmans* (in Fairfax) let us down.  

After tutoring yesterday, I stopped into Wegmans* to pick up a few things.  I left all of our reusable bags in the car, and because I have a very difficult time using plastic, I bought another bag at the register (this happens on about 75% of grocery store trips).  In the time it took me to snag the new bag from the hook and hand it to the cashier, she had already placed the milk and butter in a plastic bag.  Here's the conversation that went down thereafter:

Jaime (in a kind, apologetic tone):  "Oh, I actually have this here, I was hoping to buy and use."

Bitch cashier with a stink look on her 17 year old face and super attitude tone:  "Ugh, so do you want me to re-bag ALL of this?!"

Jaime (realizing her uncalled for attitude and fed up with the NOVA rudeness):  "Oh, you mean those 2 small items?  Yes, I would actually like those to go in the reusable bag.  I'd like everything to go in the reusable bag.  That's why I'm buying it." 

Bitch cashier with a stink look on her 17 year old face and super attitude body language:  silent...but she did squish my Kleenex box.  I know this because both Kleenex boxes were in perfect form prior to the bagging incident.  I'm very particular about my Kleenex boxes, ask Wes.  Furthermore, back in my cashier days, if I encountered a super-rude customer, I would usually secretly squish a tomato while placing it, ever so gently, into the bag.  :)  Just doing my part to ensure karma.  So, the point is, I'm onto her little tricks. 

*Wegmans is the BEST grocery store in the entire world.  We still love Wegmans.  Wegmans, Wegmans, Wegmans!

Virginians are Odd

Seriously? We get it; you're children are athletes.  No one behind you cares.

Wait, we're confused...

...do you really have a scary dog, or are you just trying to creatively express your religious agenda?

You can find this weird sign posted in a window, at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to our yoga studio.