Happy things: a day in DC

After a week of immersing myself in shopping for a mortgage and making plans to buy our first house (just outside Burlington, VT, where I'll be starting residency in June), my dreams of tending the perennials and painting the door of a cute little farm house were dashed when the seller rejected our offer on Wednesday night. Buying a house is much more complicated than I had thought! Since I tend to dwell on disappointments a bit too much, I was glad that I had no classes and an appointment for a haircut in DC the next day so that I could take advantage of the heat wave by spending the day wandering around the capital city!

{Cherry Blossoms at the DC Tidal Basin}

After waking up at 5:30 am to ride with Chris from Baltimore (where we live) to Clinton, MD (where he works), I hopped on the Metro and headed toward the National Mall. I got off at the Smithsonian stop and followed the groups of tourists wearing sneakers and carrying cameras to the Tidal Basin. The cherry trees were in full bloom, and it was really beautiful--definitely something everyone should try to see at least once! 

I ended up strolling near a grandmother and granddaughter--the older woman in khaki capris and a visor and the little girl with pink shorts and curly blonde hair--who were picking up piles of fallen blossoms and throwing them up in the air. The little girl, who looked to be about six, was giggling delightedly. It made me stop and smile, and I thought about lyrics from a song that I like to listen to in the morning on the way to school: why can't we be happy?

After the Tidal Basin, I wandered toward China Town for my hair appointment at the Aveda Institute (a cosmetology school). I've gone to Aveda a few times in Chicago, and I always really like it--and the DC branch was great too! They offer hot tea (which I gladly accepted, in spite of the 90 degree weather), give a scalp massage while washing your hair, and then style your hair at the end (without charging extra for it!)--all for WAY less than a typical salon. Yesterday I ended up getting enough hair cut off to donate--and I love my new haircut! (Usually it takes me a few days to get used to a big change, but not this time.) 

After my new haircut, I stopped into Loft, where I bought a cute shirt (I love the zipper in the back!) for $12 before having lunch at Le Pain Quotidien (photo from their website):

{Organic quinoa and spelt scone...yum!}

I spent the rest of the afternoon studying for my epidemiology class and people-watching in the courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery (photo from Wikimedia Commons): 

{A lovely, peaceful place: Kogod courtyard}

I rode the Metro back to Clinton, picked up Chris from work, and we headed back to Baltimore. On the way home, we decided to go to a Toyota dealer (since we have been shopping around for a Prius or Prius C), and it ended up like this (photo below from ifc.com), except they didn't have any rolls for us to grab on the way out! Even though we wasted over 2 hours sitting at the car dealership and hearing about the various financing and warranty options, we ended up laughing the whole way home, thanks to one of our favorite tv shows.

{Around the World in 80 Plates: if restaurants were more like car dealerships}