today's horoscope:

because the sun is agreeing with saturn, it's fair to surmise that an opportunity wouldn't be presenting itself to you unless it had a legitimate place in the/your scheme of things. therefore, especially when dealing with household, real estate or psychological issues, use the available resources instead of trafficking in theoretical abstractions and "if only"s.

despite the fact that i'm having a bit more difficulty this morning being conscious and coherent (the two c's that i hate when my alarm goes off at 5:45 on tuesdays and thursdays), the day is going to be great, i suspect. a great tuesday to follow a great monday and a very enjoyable weekend. once again i find myself faced with the challenge of providing at least some form of a recap of the weekend--a process i always want to be sure to engage in, but i never feel as if i do justice to whatever events i participated in. i need more time--time to describe in greater detail the sights, sounds and feelings that arise through the endeavors...but nonetheless, something's better than nothing, so here i go again...

friday evening was blessedly low-key. i hadn't been feeling particularly well thursday, and although the vickie indulgence thursday night i decided on (decided to finally see "igby goes down," eat chipotle and relax, unwind and decompress) helped, i still wasn't 100% on friday. so i watched the second half of "igby"--i'd had to stop the movie viewing halfway through the night before so i could get enough sleep for the next day at work--caught up on some phone calls, even did some of the work i'd brought home to do over the weekend (organization i didn't have time/space for while at work). i knew that i had plans for debauchery, adams morgan-style, saturday night, so i wasn't all about the idea of going out and being all crazy-like all weekend long (i'm getting old--such behavior is far too tiring! haha).

during the day on saturday, i continued the "vickie explores washington" tour with a trip back to the national gallery, this time to view, among other things, the two special exhibits on display--one on trompe l'oeil (artwork intended to deceive the eye), the other featuring edouard vuillard, which i thought would be enjoyable, as i'm currently discovering an appreciation for 20th century french art i never knew i possessed. both exhibits were fascinating--while some of the trompe l'oeil left me with a "um...not so much" (honestly, how many paintings of dead ducks hanging from hooks do i need to see? a question i never thought i'd have occasion to ask myself) feeling, there were so many pieces that i found astounding--both in their incredible likeness to life and the creativity that led to such pieces. there were three in particular that really grabbed me and took hold. one was a painting that was actually part of a door--a depiction of a violin hanging on a nail that was so lifelike i had to look at the door from the side so i could see that there was nothing more than a flat surface present. the second was a full-length piece depicting a door opening into a hallway, with additional open doors visible in the background. the museum positioned it at the end of one of the rooms in such a manner that visitors turned a corner and saw it at the other end--everyone was doing doubletakes. and the third depicted a painting with a curtain drawn over half of it--the sheen of the curtain, the creases in the fabric--i'm still amazed that someone can create such life out of oils, brushes and canvas...very cool indeed.

the vuillard exhibit was pretty decent--he pretty much covered the spectrum of subjects throughout his career. stil life, decorations, portraits, nudes, etc. i actually found myself drawn more to his sketches than most of the paintings, although i'm not sure of precisely why. perhaps because they were more raw and unpolished? or because they were less "classical"--i've found that i tend to prefer art that has more of a contemporary feel (i won't say "modern," as that makes me instantly think of weird sculptures and big block shapes of color, which i don't enjoy. i'm most into work from the early twentieth century, things that would go with an art deco-inspired environment). think picasso, matisse, van gogh, georgia o'keefe and similar artists. nonetheless, i enjoyed being able to amble through the rooms, at times truly interested in the pieces i was seeing, at other times unabashedly trying to look like i was interested--playing the part of the serious art enthusiast and showing "my cultured side"--hehehehe. museums are so much fun in that respect.

but i also made sure to stop by the contemporary/twentieth century section--finally stood in front of an authentic picasso for the first time (squeal!). picasso and matisse are associated so closely with my theatre experiences--the first production i ever worked on (read: the play that grabbed me by its claws and made me a theatre person) was "picasso at the lapin agile"--that i can't help but be excited when i have the opportunity to be around those works. i went up to the tower to view the matisse cutouts, which are amazing--i highly recommend that people check them out (my favorite was either "icarus" or "cirque", which i'd never seen before.

anyhoo, twas very cool. then there was relaxation and whatnot, as well as some gym time, before heading out for the night with chloe and nicole. we partook in my bottle of boone's farm (haha--lovin it!) before leaving for aileen's apartment, where we knew next to no one, which made it fun. the three of us wound up talking with a guy originally from atlanta, but now working at some lobbying job and who possessed a greater working knowlegde of the political realm than either nicole or myself (and we're the ones with the government jobs..whoops!). the guy was talking with me about the fact that there's a movement to rename the russell building--he was asking my opinion of it and i was explaining my frustrations over the pettiness of the "small stuff" when there are so many other things--larger and more pressing things--we could be focusing on, yadda yadda. my partners in crime were delighted and shocked later when i informed them that that was the first i'd heard of any such movement--i was totally bs-ing the entire thing. whoops! it was fun, though--gave me the chance to do some chatting and enjoy a couple of glasses of red wine--works for me!

and then we headed into adams morgan. i love the morgan, but i'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather. so much of the fun of the place is tied into wandering the streets, watching the people in their various stages of intoxication flock in and out of bars, spilling out onto the streets and into cabs--and it's tough to observe it properly when everyone's busy trying to get into anywhere warm...but nonetheless, it was still fun. hit up a few different places, most of which i'd never been to before, so that's always cool. it was just a laidback chance to have a few drinks, do some people-watching, find people to talk to and what have you.

before piling into the cab to return home, however, i made a horrible, tragic discovery. when first experiencing all that is adams morgan, there was a system--go to bars, drink, have fun, get a jumbo slice at pizza mart, scarf down said slice, head home. i hadn't had the slice since november, however, as i wound up having a not-so-pleasant experience with it (i think it was a combination of eating too quickly and having partaken in far too much fun at dan's cafe). but saturday night, i was ready to experience it in all of its glory once again. so we bought our slices, balanced them on the tin foil and plates while we flagged down a cab and piled into the car for our trip home.

and then i discovered it--i can't eat pizza mart anymore! i had maybe five or six bites when i started feeling ill. i stopped eating it and felt better. took another bite and felt ill. so i enjoyed the crust of my pizza and had to get rid of the rest (for the record, both chloe and nicole said it wasn't up to pizza mart's usual standards as well). this cannot be! now i have to discover something else to enjoy during the late-night drunken state! i'm going to have to either stock up on salsa con queso or find myself something else to indulge in. a travesty, i tell you!

anyway. sunday was relaxation day--i told myself that i was going to sleep in as late as i wanted. no setting alarms, no nothing. so naturally i woke up at 9:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. never fails. ;) but i was able to veg out for most of the day--did the necessary weekly tasks (grocery shopping and the like), as well as taking in a matinee of "how to lose a guy in 10 days" with c & n, which was predictable, frothy, but adorable and funny as hell! i highly recommend it to anyone in need of a fun, mindless moviegoing experience--it's a very fun time.

and then there was yesterday. typical day at work--yadda yadda. i was craving something different for dinner, so i stopped by dupont on my way home and hit up wrapworks for "the big juan" (grilled fresh veggies, roasted tomato salsa, corn and pepper relish, black beans and mexian rice in a low-fat flour tortilla) which i brought home and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed. i'd experienced wrapworks once before, when i had a wrap custom-made for me, but never tried one of the specialties--it rivaled chipotle, although, admittedly, they're apples and oranges.

so i enjoyed gym time and dinner before checking my mail and discovering the greatest surprise waiting for me--a two-disc mraz show, courtesy of the truly kick-ass paul! so many thanks to him for sending that my way (it got me singing and dancing as i started my day today, therefore helping me cope with the early hour)--not to mention that it's an outstanding recording! it's easily the best live show of any artist i've heard--it's like mraz is chilling in my room, playing for me!

anyway, a few phone coversations later, i settled in to watch "joe millionaire" and immediately became so disgusted by the fact that we weren't going to find out who he picked that i gave that up and wound up making some calls and all in all having a great night! so thank you to those who contributed to that!

whew--ok, i should think about doing some work now. whoops!