the b-roll: #18
the land of seasonal confusion
Let’s be honest: the only DC girl who’s moodier than me this time of year is Mother Nature. Merely existing outside this week has felt like the atmospheric version of a sauna-and-cold-plunge combo. Very good for regulating the nervous system.
Despite her highs and lows, I’m making it work. Let’s get into it.
What I’m doing:
There are few things I like less than thinning the herd that is my immense closet, but with an impending cross-country move and the subliminal voices telling me that spring cleaning is upon us, I’ve decided I have no choice. My walk-in has had me far too spoiled for far too long. Enter my old friend Depop, a platform where I’ve spent a fair amount of time and money as a buyer, but never dipped my toe into the seller pool. Don’t worry, I’m here now, but my eyes are closed so I don’t accidentally encounter something I want to purchase.
I’ve been practicing radical levels of bravery and parting with some of my favorite pieces, but simply put, it’s time. If you’d like to shop in my closet, you can do so here. I’ll be posting more and more as I slowly chip away at my massive wardrobe.
Despite the spring-cleaning at home, for much of the week, the weather outside was reminiscent of deep summer. I celebrated by walking home from work multiple days in a row (about a mile and some change), and even though every day I came home sweaty and delirious, I did not learn my lesson. I was too excited by the warm weather to care about risking heat stroke.
Once the work week was over, I could focus on the real task at hand. This weekend marked the beginning of birthday celebrations for my dear roommate (and honorary sister), Josie. In this house, we celebrate birthdays for a minimum of five business days. The extravaganza began with a happy hour at Lucy on Friday night after work, which was supposed to be a casual, quick deal, but ended up as a table for 12 (classic). After a few hours and many multiple Aperol spritzes, we ubered our way over to Blagden Alley for some drinks at Calico and Lost and Found. A very typical and nostalgic pipeline for our (not so) little crew. Returning to our roots.
On Saturday, we started the day at one of Josie’s all-time favorites, the Colada Shop, for smoothies and empanadas. Of course, as has been the theme of our lives lately, we took a brief hiatus from our meal to quickly take a virtual tour of an apartment. It’s been bittersweet trying to enjoy our last few weeks in DC while looking forward to what’s coming next, but many of our friends are in a similar boat, so we can commiserate over the changing of the seasons, so to speak. The apartment was great, and while we all still very much enjoyed our fried breakfast confections, we needed to get home to submit our applications with a quickness.
That evening, Josie really wanted to take the ferry from the Wharf to Old Town Alexandria, which is something I’ve personally never done in my four years of living here. It’s one of those things that sounds like a drag in the moment, but ends up being lovely once you’re there, and you find yourself asking, “Why don’t we do this more often?”
We started our excursion at the Pier Bar, where we got a perfect table on the water in the sun, despite our large party and the gorgeous weather. It was there that I enjoyed a perfect combination of a crisp Diet Coke and a bag of Old Bay-flavored potato chips. As they say, when in Rome (on the Potomac). We then slowly moseyed our way through the quaint, tree-lined streets for a delicious Japanese dinner full of noodles and giggles. It only felt right to end the night with some ice cream and some sidewalk karaoke, at the special request of the birthday girl.
Finally, to round out a lovely DC weekend, we had the privilege of going over to our friend Gaby’s parents’ (Randi and Pat) house for dinner. The night’s itinerary included trying out Randi’s new just-add-water moist towelette gadget (she’s always got gizmos galore), scrumptious food, a full-fledged Port tasting, and, of course, a healthy amount of gossip. Randi, girl, if you’re reading this, thank you for always keeping it real and feeding us like princesses. We’re lucky to have you.
What I’m consuming (food):
After months upon months of travel and straying from routine, I’m finally officially back in the kitchen. On Monday, I had a serious craving to cook myself up something fancy, so I went with a ribeye. It was both much easier and much more affordable than I was expecting. I had never cooked steak on the stovetop before, but it came out perfectly, and I ate it for three days. Plus, I only triggered the fire alarm four times.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard me hemming and hawing about chia pudding all week. When I was in Mexico a few weeks ago, I had a chia pudding that really shifted my worldview on the breakfast food — it was so delicious that I was determined to try and recreate it at home. Unfortunately, my proteinmaxxing tendencies forced me to try and mess with perfection, and I made the grave mistake of adding Greek yogurt into the mix. Sorry to all my GY apologists, but that stuff is nasty. Of course, I initially made enough to feed a small village, so once I got through my botched batch, I was able to give it another go. Safe to say I think I nailed it. Recipe is below (~5 servings):
1 14 oz can reduced-fat coconut milk
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup chia seeds
Instructions: Whisk coconut milk, soy milk, vanilla, and syrup together. Add in chia seeds, whisk again. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, whisk again to make sure everything is combined evenly before refrigerating. It’ll keep in the fridge for around a week!
As mentioned earlier, other culinary highlights included Momo in Alexandria, where I had quite an excellent Chicken Katsu and Ramune marble soda (I will never not order one of these if I see it on the menu, original flavor only), and Randi’s Timballo, a dish I’d never tried before. According to Wikipedia and my own personal experience, Timballo is essentially a cake made of layers of pasta, meat, sauce, hard-boiled eggs, and veggies, encased in a pastry crust. Randi and Pat told us they were inspired to start making it after watching Big Night with Stanley Tucci — add to list!
What I’m consuming (media):
My birthday party last month really gave me the permission I didn’t know I needed to let my theater kid freak flag fly, and I’ve been fully immersing myself ever since. My Spotify Wrapped is completely screwed this year; it will undoubtedly be full of Glee covers and musical soundtracks.
The rabbit hole I’ve traveled down most recently is that of the 2025 West End production of Evita. The TikTok powers that be must’ve known I would want to be read in before Rachel Zegler won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Eva Perón. I unassumingly scrolled into Rachel’s rendition of Rainbow High, and I’ve been hooked on her and the show ever since. My recent Wikipedia history includes Rachel Zegler, Evita (musical), Eva Perón, Juan Perón, Peronism, descamisados, need I go on? Needless to say, I didn’t envision myself learning this much about 1940s and 50s Argentina this week.
Imagine my surprise when just days later, Rachel won big at the Oliviers (the British equivalent of the Tonys). Incredibly well-deserved, and her speech was so humble and moving that I couldn’t help but cry for her (queue “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”). After all the crap she took during West Side Story and Snow White, I couldn’t be happier to see her getting her flowers and being appreciated as the shining star she really is.
In other media consumption, I watched the Nuremberg movie (in a way, slightly related to the whole 1940s Argentina thing) on my flight home from Mexico — a nice, light vacation watch. I was already locked in for the full two and a half hour film thinking it was partially fiction, only to find out after that it was almost an entirely true story. Of all the historical periods, I tend to be most fascinated by World War II, but just trust me on this one. No spoilers (although much of it happened in real life), but I highly recommend you give it a watch.
Last but not least, I have to briefly touch on The Pitt finale. Congratulations to Dr. Robby, Nurse Dana, and their day-shift crew for consistently stressing me the hell out for 15 consecutive weeks (or 15 hours, depending on how you’d like to look at it). The way the last few episodes had been careening towards chaos, I was expecting more of a massive bombshell, but as is customary with this show, it was much more of a subtle end to the season. It definitely left me with more questions than answers. What will become of Baby Jane Doe? Will Dr. Robby go on his sabbatical? Will Dr. Al-Hashimi keep her job? What will become of Javadi and Mohan? All I do know for certain is that I’ll cherish the Trinity and Mel karaoke scene through Season 3 and beyond.
What I’m buying:
Hopefully, over the next few weeks, my What I’m buying section will be non-existent as I attempt to save money for the big move, but this week I did make a few small, really, really useful and important purchases. Please see below:
Ascics Gel Cumulus 16 Sneakers: I love a funky walking sneaker, okay? Sue me. This colorway was too good to pass up, and I had some extra money on my wellness subsidy from work, so these were technically free.
I meannnnnn Dairy Boy Sport (shorts, top): I’ve felt a very strong pull towards the vintage-inspired activewear look lately, and the DB Sport collection really nailed it in my opinion. After seeing approximately 20 videos about the collection, I decided to look into it a little deeper, and it turned out to be much cheaper than I expected, so I bought two pieces. It does, however, seem like FedEx may have misplaced my package, so I might get refunded for the whole deal anyway. If so, not meant to be.
Hoping these arrive at my door soon :*-)
What I’m wearing:
Despite the crazy temperature swings, I’ve been trying to embrace spring as much as possible and incorporate fun colors into my day-to-day. This is me trying.
What I’m thinking about:
My mind has been mainly consumed with all things moving. The amount of time my roommates and I have spent scouring Zillow, harassing leasing agents through all channels, attending awkward virtual tours, and trying to do the mental gymnastics of getting ourselves and our essentials across the country is staggering. And speaking of essentials, I’m having the same revelation I have every time I move, which is that I’m a sick woman who consumes far too much when it comes to clothing. I need to do better. Anywho.
I’m looking forward to one last DC spring, spending the next few weeks with the people and places that have treated me kindly these past four years. My only goal is to soak it all in, leave nothing on the table, and make a few more memories in the district. And you, dear readers, will be there for every step!
As always, thanks for sticking with me, and I’ll see you in the next one <3
Greek yogurt is not nasty if used the right way!