Thursday, April 23

City vs Country

This is a constant topic of comparison, but did you ever think it could be used in reference to dogs? I did not until I came to DC. Now that Spring has arrived, the flowers, people, and dogs are all out in full force. What is particularly interesting to me is how the dogs here in the District act. Probably like most of your dogs, Mason and Abbie (our dogs we left behind) run pretty much wild around the house/outside and have a mind of their own. Dogs in DC do not act like that.

Story #1: I was running around the National Mall when I noticed an older lady running with two huge poodles. As she approached the intersection, she stopped running. The moment she stopped, the dogs sat down. When she was able to cross, they got up and continued to jog beside her. Being from the country I thunk "them are some pur-dee smart dogs ryyyht thur" and continued on with my jog, not realizing this would be a reoccurring experience.

Story #2: Another instance occurred where I was observing a guy with three dogs, leashes unattached, walking down the sidewalk. The guy stopped at the street corner and all three dogs sat down. He took a step as if to make his way across (the dogs stood up) when he realized he could not cross he took a step backwards (the dogs sat back down). I was amazed.

I feel that you are following me, but Story #3: A guy with his chocolate lab puppy was walking down the sidewalk. He would stop and the puppy would sit down. He did this several times while walking the sidewalk. I feel he was in the middle of training. (I honestly think when the time comes for me to get a new dog, I am going to try this maneuver).

On Sunday afternoons, when the weather is beautiful, Lo and I like to go Lincoln Park down from our house. This park is similar in layout to the Square in Oxford. Imagine the park is the courthouse. Traffic runs completely around it. There is not a fence around the park. Got the picture? Well, the dogs here run around like a wild heard of elephants, well tiny elephants, without leashes WITHOUT EVER RUNNING INTO THE STREET.... I MEAN NEVER. Their owners stand and watch (some do not pay attention at all) as the dogs chase after one another. It is quite amazing how they never get an itch to go defy their normality and venture beyond whats known to them. I mean my dog always likes to defy whats normal.

Whenever the time comes for us to migrate back to our homeland, one thing is for sure, I will bring with me a new bread of canine to the South. Woof Woof until next time.

Tuesday, April 21

You Know I Like My Chicken Fried...........

1) Love the song.
2) Lauren and I had a great time in Nashville over the Easter weekend. As always, the day we left DC, Lo was in the happiest mood known to man or woman. We got to Nashville with daylight left, unloaded our bags, and headed to Franklin to have dinner at Boxwood Bistro with Lo's parents and brother. If you are near the Nashville/Brentwood/Franklin area, this restuarant should not pass you by. It was amazing and it just so happens to be owned by some long time friends of Laurens' family and the parents of good ol Katie Horrell. Click on the name above and check out what it has to offer. Go there, you will not be disappointed. Friday evening came Grill Out, Go Out at Jordan's (P.S. this should become an annual event...well most of it..) and boy was that eventful. Eventful because of the following story:

Around 1:30ish...(I know, nothing good happens after 12:00)...Lo and I decided that we were tired of the Honky Tonk Bar Cadillac Ranch. Might I add, this is the 1st time in five years I have gone out in downtown Nashville. Locals steer clear of the tourist bars, unless in the mood for an eventful evening. Anyways, outside of the Ranch, we got into a taxi. I asked the foreign taxi driver, WITH A $20 BILL WAVING IN MY HAND, that all I had was this $20 bill and could it get us to Brentwood. He responded in his taxi driver voice (indian, chinese, mixture, whatever, you know the voice) "yes yes of course. it will take you to brentwood. you. get into car. i take you to brentwood. yes yes brentwood. get in." So after our verbal agreement, we got into the car, headed out of downtown Nashville, and onto I-65 South headed to Brentwood. On the way, a few miles from our exit, our driver pulls over and starts yelling "get out! get out! your twenty dollar over. get out now." Uh....Seriously dude. Very politely, I asked him if he was serious to which he replied "get out! get out! your twenty dollar over. get out now." Uh.....No...After yelling and screaming that he was not leaving us on the side of the interstate... at 1:30 in the morning.... miles away.... and that we would sit in his car and wait until someone picked us up before we got out, we made a comprise.... Well not really. He realized that in order for him to get back to downtown, he would have to take the Brentwood Exit. ha. He flew down the interstate, exited off the exit and looped back around and entered on the on ramp, to where he pulled over and we got out. Not really where we thought we were going, but nonetheless in Brentwood. With Lo on my back, because she was wearing 4.5 inch heels, we/I trucked through the muck to Waffle House where we sat until T came and got us. Always a story. Always.

The next day was brighter, with my family driving up to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. We enjoyed spending time with family and good Southern food, all of which made us want to move back sooner than later. Fear not, we shall return.





Tuesday, April 14

Toire wa doko desu ka?

Back in action, y'all. It's been a few since the WOLO reported, but things are as alive now as Obama's nonsense chatter. Since some of you have been asking (not me or Lo, but our mother's, caught ya) what we have been doing since the B Spears concert, I will give you the five minute wrap.

Both weekends in between Britney Spears (pics are the post below) and now were spent laying low with not much to write about. Lo and I spent some much needed time alone with dinners and naps in the park to keep us occupied.

Last weekend, we woke up early Saturday morning, got a workout in, and made our way through the Cherry Blossom Festival. The weather was gorgeous, so we were able to walk around and soak in all the happenings. Lo bought herself a vintage Kimono and I have to say it looks quite nice on her, a little Asian persuasion. Post Japanese adventure, we continued to the Tidal Basin, where we (along with the other 10,000 people who had the same idea as us) took pictures of the Cherry blossoms.

History lesson: Japan gave 3,020 sakura trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship.

Enjoy the pics of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Oh yeah, what does my title say? Google it. The translation is on the 5th or 6th link. he he he. Until Next time.......








Pictures from the Circus

As promised, here are a few of the pictures from The Britney Spears Concert. They do not do justice to my post.


Lauren dancing to Toxic. As you can tell she was really excited.


Another action shot.


The happy couple.