Settling in

I heart DC

really, I do. Mostly because living in city allows you to walk everywhere. And walking gives you this sense of belonging to a community. Especially when you become familiar with a certain area, in my case Adams Morgan, Woodley Park, Dupont, etc., the places become apart of you.

One of my favorite places, incidentally where I am now, is this cafe called Tryst. The coffee isn't amazing (like Shade Tree) and haven't yet tried the food, but the atmosphere is incredibly invigorating. The place is always packed with individual people studying or on laptops, groups drinking, couples dating and snuggling--sharing a drink. The corner I usually inhabit is along the back wall, which just about gives me a panoramic view of the entire open area with the bar straight ahead, band area to my right, and a darker ambiance for couples to the left--practically out of my periferral vision. I'm surrounded immediately by others on their laptops and noses in books, so I'm encouraged to be productive rather than wishing I was on date. The jazz band tonight is pretty peppy, and I can't complain about having the Olympics broadcasting right in front of me on TV.

My daily routine is anything but routine. So far the two weeks prior to this one have been vastly different and full of exciting, intense and varying degrees of fun, learning, working hard, and pushing me beyond my limits. This week though, the intensity has settled. Consequently, it has allowed me to go jogging for over 1 hr on both Monday and Tuesday. And today, I was able to finally attend a yoga class right here in Adams Morgan. It was perfect! Small, intimate, intermediate level, and a good mix of what I like. Not too much of the spiritual and mind stuff to conflict with my religion, and none of the intense balancing poses that I abhor. A lot of flow and stance poses that help with alignment, and definitely a good time for me to relax and destress from my day at work.

I was also able to cook dinner for the first time in DC. I made linguine with pomodoro pesto sauce. Perhaps even enough to bring to work tomorrow! This week is half way done, and I think I'm definitely settling in to DC. I can't wait till this weekend because I'll have the opportunity to show off my surroundings and the fun places I frequent, host dinners, drink wine, relax and be merry! I think that's the best part about living in DC--having everything so close and accessible. It definitely attacts friends who live out of town and makes me a bit more popular.