My Fun Weekend Back in DC

Since March, I have mostly been staying with my family on Maryland's Eastern Shore, since it's more fun to be with them than just in my apartment. But every so often I do come back to the DC area, mainly to grab a few things from my place and see a few people to catch up. 

Since I knew I'd only be in town for a few days, I packed in the activities!

Friday

On Friday night, I went to a friend's place for Shabbat dinner. She was my roommate five years ago (time flies!), and she's going to be moving abroad, so this was the last time I'd see her for a while. I made two beautiful challah loaves (if I do say so myself) to go with our dinner. It was so much fun to see her as well as hang out with some of her roommates and friends. One of the biggest things I miss about the "before times" is the Jewish community, and it felt so good just to meet up with people and wind down over a homemade dinner and some wine (okay, a lot of wine...). 

Saturday

My gym permanently closed during this quarantine time, so I have been staying active with YouTube workout videos (thank you, Chloe Ting and Sydney Cummings) and outdoor adventures (hiking, kayaking, playing tennis). But a couple of gym instructors from WSC have started leading outdoor workouts in a local park on Saturday mornings. This weekend was the first one I made it to, and it was really great. It was fun seeing familiar faces (masked, of course) and exercising with a group instead of alone. Definitely a good way to start the day!

After I cleaned myself up, a colleague and I met up with two other friends at Butler's Orchard to go pumpkin picking. We were surprised to learn that we could also pick raspberries, so we spent an hour picking out the perfect pumpkins and the biggest raspberries you've ever seen. I bought a pumpkin for my dad to carve for Halloween (not like Outrageous Pumpkins, though!), and the other girls got pumpkins for their homes. Then we headed to Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard for a picnic. I immediately spilled my first glass of wine in the grass (gasp!), but my friend Beth bought a bottle of Chardonel to split between the two of us. We enjoyed sipping our wine while snacking on the picnic I had packed (you can always count on me to have the perfect nibbles, and a blanket, too!). We had a lot of fun chatting as well as watching all the cute dogs at the winery. An exceptional fall outing!

And my day wasn't over yet! A few weeks ago, the DC Improv emailed out about a drive-in comedy show featuring Godfrey at RFK Stadium. I had seen him perform before, both in-person and on TV, so I already knew I liked his comedy. Plus, in this day and age of COVID-19, the idea of going out to see a show, any kind of show, had me excited. 

Park Up DC did a good job with the organization of the drive-in, and we were parked in the first three rows (we paid extra for reserved parking), so we could see both the performer and the screen. And while I didn't have any snacks, my friend did order pizza from &pizza on-site, and they delivered right to your car! Even leaving after the show wasn't too bad (unlike places like Wolf Trap), so I appreciated the planning that went into this kind of event. 

There were a few local comedians who opened the show, and each had a couple of good jokes:

• Alex Scott was the MC, and he was the first act. He joked about how we used to be polite when people sneezed, and now we think, "What is wrong with you?!" He also talked about eating weed gummies and cookies, and while he thought they had no effect, his friend told him, "You spent the last 10 minutes trying to order Wendy's from a parking meter."
• Next up was Paris Sashay, who has a new album out called, "My Honest Ignorance." She told a joke about going out on a first date with a man, and he brought his young daughter with him. When Paris tried to talk to the girl, the daughter said, "Don't talk to me! You're not my mom." Since she was being so honest, Paris shot back, "Well, that man may not be your dad, either." She admits that they never went out again haha. She also said that she was interested in dating women, but what she thought would simply be a 7-day free trial turned into several years; it was like she had forgotten to cancel her subscription. She went on to tell a story about her girlfriend wanting Paris to get a strap-on dildo, and Paris went on to joke about how "big-dick energy is real." Penis envy, hmm?
• Von Mychael was next, and I think I may have seen him before. He didn't have a great relationship with his dad growing up, so a lot of his comedy stemmed from that. He joked about being the only 17-year-old boy in Girl Scouts so he could avoid his dad, and how his dad would say he beat Von because his room was messy, but Von's response was, "We live in a studio! This is your room, too!" He also talked about mental health. He didn't realize he had anxiety for a long time because he thought it was something only white people had because they were the only ones talking about it, like it was a side-effect of gluten intolerance. He also said that he needs to see a therapist, but therapy is expensive, so he uses Tindr to find women who are therapists; the women might ask, "Do you want to talk?" and Von will respond, "Yes, I want to talk...about my Daddy issues." 
• Eddie Bryant was the last opener. He walked onto the stage in a hazmat suit, so that was pretty funny. He asked the crowd if there were any couples who were surviving COVID together, and when a lot of cars honked and flashed their lights, he said, "I'm happy for you all...I hope you break up." He talked about the fluctuating weather, and how it's hard to know what to wear, so he was wearing long john shorts. He said that his form of birth control is going to the court house and seeing the dads having to pay child support, and watching those same dads open their meager pay stubs. He did a bit about raising a deer in NE DC which was cute, and he praised DC Mayor Muriel Bowser for the Black Lives Matter mural. He figured she was thinking, "This MF [i.e. Trump] is pissin' me off. I'm going to paint this mural on his street!"
• Finally it was time for our headliner, Godfrey. He was not happy about the drive-in situation, upset that because of COVID we've come to this. He couldn't tell if we were clapping or booing! He joked that all of us are living like we're in nursing homes: we wear masks, going on a walk is the big outing for the day, and we watch ourselves age slowly but inevitably. He did many impressions, too, including Chinese and Indian accents ("It's not racist if it's accurate"), Steve Harvey, and a surprisingly spot-on Donald Trump. He was a little angry (understandably so), and he crossed the line at times, but that's comedy, right?

Sunday

As you do in DC, I had brunch with a friend to start off my Sunday. She just got engaged, so I wanted to celebrate with her (and I had a coupon. Is that tacky?). We went to True Food Kitchen, and while it was raining, we felt safest eating outside. At least the area was covered and had heaters! I had the seasonal salad (mostly kale with some brussel sprouts, beans, and other toppings), and it was so good. I probably didn't need to eat the whole thing, but when it's salad, you don't have to feel guilty about clearing your plate!

Originally I was going to go to a polo match through DC Fray and the DC Polo Society (are those one in the same?) that afternoon, but because it rained the match was moved to next weekend. Since I won't be in town, at least I was able to get a refund (which helped pay for a speeding ticket I got the last time I was in DC. Oops...). But then I had to figure out what I was going to do with my day. 

One of my favorite foul-weather activities is baking (read my blog post on baking with buttermilk through a blizzard), and since it's October, I figured I should make something with pumpkin. I found this chocolate chip pumpkin bread recipe from Delish, and it was so yummy! (Read the full blog post here.) Chocolate and pumpkin make almost as good a combo as chocolate and peanut butter (Read about these Reese's brownies. Yum!). 

Later that night, a friend who was going to go to the polo match with me came over for an indoor picnic instead. It was nice to catch up, and she loved the bread I made, BTW. I always enjoy time with my girlfriends, so it was a really nice way to wrap up the weekend.