A Special Workday

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

We woke up early this morning to walk Lisa to work in Georgetown. She works as a research assistant at the Georgetown University psychology department investigating the relationship between childhood eating patterns and food advertising. Appropriately, her office was filled with computers, TVs, videos and an extensive collection of food products featuring 'branded' characters. It's really an interesting project and it was fun to see the campus, which is so different from any university environment Brittany or I have experience with. The grounds are quiet and confined instead of lively and expansive. Needless to say, our public universities also do not adorn every building with crosses--I mistook every building for their chapel. But we did find their bookstore enjoyable. That was, of course, after we dropped Lisa off at her lab. We meandered around for a little while longer and then headed slowly back down to M Street, the chic main drag of Georgetown.

M Street offeredthe entire Gap-Banana conglomerate lineupe that we're used to from LA; we skipped those. Instead we headed for H&M and some other east coast favorites, though I did want to stop at Barnes & Noble. Despite our selectivity, we made sure to down into shops every 15minutes in order to keep our tempature down.

Our most successful visit was to the wonderful Dean & Deluca. We had no idea it was both an espresso bar and a market--it was really genius, both entirely overpriced. We couldn't fathom an avocado for $2 but we were very impressed by the warm entrees and fine cheese selection. For lunch we found some great greek salad (yes we also had that yesterday; oh well), a little container of fruit, a killer brownie and some exotic soft drinks. All the while, Lisa enjoyed her pack-lunch back over at Georgetown U.

Lisa did meet us for coffee a few hours later just as the mercury really started to rise. Starbucks found us again though our tendency is towards more local places--that's just the nature of M Street. It's also what makes M Street so tiring.

Lisa made her way back to work as Brittany and I staggered back to Foggybottom. After regrouping, I set off to Safeway for cake supplies. And you won't believe it, the local Safeway was actually under the Watergate Complex! It was exciting to visit the landmark like a local on a real errand, real meaning three tubs of icing and cream.

Back to the kitchen with the supplies and the Alvy girls whipped a predictably amazing cake. Brittany's icing finishing work was especially professional and tasty. To help us enjoy their creation, Lisa's two friends DK and Kelley came over. It was much more pleasant to meet Lisa's friends in a comfortable environment instead of a raucous restaurant--it was good fun.

After a little cleanup it was blog time again! Time for packing, cake nibbling and bed.