A week of good weather, great friends and tons of boxes

Hey all, I'm closing up shop here in DC and preparing for my big move on Monday. Eeek!

I think all the frantic packing/organizing has distracted me from the fact that I'm leaving a ton of good friends behind in a city I've grown to enjoy. It didn't hit me until my parents and I were driving around the city and passed a bunch of places I used to live. All of a sudden I got a case of the warm and fuzzy memories and got a little sad about leaving.

I may have been raised in New Jersey, but DC is my home.

I "grew up" here during college and DC has been home for a really long time. I've seen restaurants and bars come and go and there are tons of places/areas in DC that just ooze memories...

Yeah, I think I'm sad to leave.

Did I mention I started an "Adios DC" playlist? O yeah, as if sifting through stuff in the apartment wasn't enough, I've made a soundtrack to pack to - songs that bring back memories over the past few years. HA.

Saturday night was my going away hurrah and we started things off right at the Big Hunt in Dupont.

Elementary school friend came all the way down from Baltimore and another friend even bussed down from New York. They started the evening with me at exactly 8pm and by 8:15, I had a Black Velvet (I'm sure I've mentioned how I always order this at the Hunt) and Chicken Tenders in front of me as the three of us caught up a bit. Couldn't have asked for a better start to the evening!

Awhile later, everyone else trickled in and the next thing you know we've got a big long table of fun friends! Now, I don't know about you, but apparently I have a few different circles of friends...and not all of them have met. Thankfully my friends are awesome and can get along wonderfully with others :)

So it only seemed appropriate that I start my last week in DC on a frantic note....cramming in as much as possible. I think I should stop doing that. I slipped out of a meeting on Monday so I could rush off to meet some old coworkers at our standby sushi spot, Kaz Sushi Bistro. I haven't been to Kaz in awhile, plus I wanted to enjoy one last workday lunch with them :)

Met up with Quinn and another friend of ours and we chatted over some delicious sushi:

I tried to toss it up a bit from my regular order and went with a Spicy Scallop Roll, White Tuna Toro with Scallions and an order of Salmon Nigiri. Just the right amount of food. The thing I love about Kaz's sushi, aside from the quality, is that the ratio of fish to rice is perfect. I hate when I go to sushi restaurants and they overload on rice or have ginormous rolls. Totally unnecessary.

Monday didn't stop there. After working both jobs, I managed to find some time to meet up with a friend for a long overdue catch up session at Sign of the Whale. My friends and I used to frequently visit the Whale in college and immediately following college for happy hours. If I remember correctly, nachos at the Whale = awesome.

Since we were pretty low key (and the bar was empty at 8:30 on a Monday), I grabbed a drink and a salad that was just ok. We weren't that excited about the menu, but the Cobb Salad seemed like an ok choice at the time. I was that annoying person that requested it without a lot of items and dressing on the side and then ended up eating around the other stuff. I hate when people do that. Sorry, not my favorite meal.

Tuesday brought Lost and Sloppy Joes (or as friends were calling them, Sloppy Karenas) at a friend's in Woodley Park. Ahh memories while walking through my old neighborhood! The weather was perfect for eating outside and the Sloppy Joes rivaled my mom's....definitely need the recipe!

Friend also busted out some homemade popsicles. Of course I sampled one of each - Lemonade with Strawberries and a plain Blood Orange.

I want a popsicle maker/kit/doohicky thing.

I ended up leaving my camera there so that's where the food photos stop for the week. I picked my camera up later on and found this gem:

Wednesday was a day full of packing and waiting for the parents to come down. I shipped my first batch of boxes to California (pretty sure the Cleveland Park post office hates me now) and celebrated with a night of wings and beer at Nanny O'Brien's with running store coworkers. Have I already mentioned the Wednesday 25 cent wing deal?? It's effing glorious and worth checking out. I used to be sold on the wings at the Hunt, but these are much meatier and they have a bunch of different flavors! Lots of delicious food and maybe a few shots were consumed. I'll definitely miss everyone and I think this is where the sadness about leaving kicked in. *BIG SIGH*

After Wednesday night's antics I managed to pop out of bed at 9am for a day of packing and trips to my storage unit. I think this is the most strength training I've ever done hahaha. My dad and I knocked out a ton of boxes and furniture so I was able to cancel my Saturday Uhaul. Yay saving $20.

Yeesh. This is one mammoth post. I should get crack-a-lackin on some packing! I'm hoping to squeeze one more post in before I leave on Monday! Hope everyone is having a good weekend!