Best of DC #1: Inauguration 2009

These posts are in no particular order, just how I remember them and jot them down.

Witnessing history is a misnomer in my opinion, it transpires everyday. Witnessing the promise of change and greatness is something far rarer. Doing so with your brother and your closest friends on a frigid morning at dawn on the National Mall is a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.

I'll never forget sleeping only a few hours and waking up to trek to the National Mall with Chris, Erin and Liz to share a tiny piece of grass with over a million people. Obama's speech and the tangible excitement of the crowd eclipsed the cold and brought me out of what had been a difficult year. If I've ever been more inspired by spoken word, I can't remember it.

Beyond that, it was a full four days of fun including a beautiful inauguration party with all of my friends

at my uncle's house and tickets from Mary to the

Rihanna inauguration after-party.

What a chance. Only in DC.

L'ecume de Washington, DC

After eight years in Washington, DC, I'm packing my bags and heading west to San Francisco. DC is now just about tied with Southern Maryland as my longest residency.

I've lived in three locations in Foggy Bottom, spent four years in my uncle's English basement in Logan Circle and have now inhabited my first solo apartment for three months in Mt. Vernon/Convention Center. I've lived with seven different people, including my brother and not including the cutest dog in the world, Dover.

Eight years later, it feels like home. I know the best places for a drink, a date, a dance, a dog walk, a view, a sail, a run, a pizza...there's not much I haven't done here. I've made more friends then I could possibly have hoped for. I thought that over the next few weeks, as I prepare to leave, I'd recall my favorite DC memories and people and jot them down here. I hope you'll forgive and enjoy my sentimentality.

This will be my best of DC.

Katherine Sandoz

I came across these abstract landscapes by Katherine Sandoz on Black Eiffel and loved them. Her abstracts are fairly different from her other work. Its always interesting to see artists play with different styles. Maybe one day I'll have the funds to buy the art that I love! Until then, I'll will just appreciate it from my computer :)