Sunday Morning

FYI, this was scheduled to be posted the week before Christmas but it didn't for some reason.  Sorry!

With L already in Texas for Christmas, I was left to my own devices for most of the weekend.  Obviously that means I needed to go shopping and get a pedicure.  To be fair, I was honestly on a shopping quest that focused specifically on trying to find my sister's Christmas gift (she's very hard to shop for this year because apparently there's nothing she wants, nothing she needs, and I just gave her an entire outfit for her birthday on October so I don't want to repeat with more clothes for Christmas).  My goal was simple: find my favorite vendor at Eastern Market and find some awesome jewelry for her.  L and I tried to do this very same thing last weekend and we were met with a big fat failure due to the gross, rainy weather.  I got up Sunday morning and was out the door by 10:45 and on my way to the Hill.  As luck would have it, it was a beautiful day (albeit cold) and I scored a free parking space.  Things were looking good!!  I raced into the flea market area only to find that my guy was not there AGAIN.  I mean what the deuce!!  They're there every weekend, and usually they are there in spite of bad weather.  Something was up.  I heard someone talking to another vendor about the Holiday Market, so I quickly looked it up on my phone and decided I'd hit it up next to see if it might hold something fun for Sister.  After a quick run-through of the rest of the vendors, I hit the road and moved downtown for further treasure hunting.  Once again, luck was on my side- I found a parking spot pretty quickly and lo and behold, MY VENDOR WAS THERE!!  Of course he was.  Seriously, he has the best jewelry.  It doesn't hurt that his display method is great, too.  It's all done by color, so if you've ever seen my closet, you know that's obviously that's right up my alley.  Anyway, Sister's gift was scored, at long last.  (For the record, she does not read my blog so this isn't spoiling anything.) 

Anyway, it was pretty cold and I'd neglected to bring a hat or scarf with me, so after perusing the entire Market area, I decided to hoof it back to my car.  I parked about 3 blocks away and on my walk back to the car it was pretty windy, so when I saw the new-ish Forever 21, I decided to go ahead and go inside for a minute or two to warm up. 

UM, LET ME JUST TELL YOU THAT THIS IS THE BIGGEST F21 I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.  I mean we're talking flagship/NYC-big.  It's 3 stories and- wait for it- IT'S ACTUALLY CLEAN.  I was fully expecting to be met with the same feeling I'm met with when I go into the stores in Tysons Corner and Northpark, which is basically the feeling of having just committed the worst mistake of my life.  I mean, I could actually see what was on the racks.  Nothing was on the floor.  It was all organized.  It was great!  I didn't buy anything, but I did spot a couple of items worthy of sharing.  First, this cardigan would be perfect for Aggie fans going to the Cotton Bowl in  a few weeks:

I saw this t-shirt in the men's section. 

I immediately wanted it for 2 of my younger cousins and their dad/my uncle.  The three of them arrived at Thanksgiving with all sorts of ridiculous facial hair due to their "No-Shave November" pact.  Just picture a middle-aged man, roughly 5'10", with dark hair, and a rounder physique and Joseph Stalin's mustache.

Never in my life have any of my family members had facial hair.  That's not to say they've never sported it, but it just hasn't been during my 30 years of life.  That made for quite the surprise when my uncle walked in with the 'stache.  No one knew about No-Shave November except for his 3 sons.  For the 2 that participated in NSN, they basically just looked like creepy child molesters.  They shaved after showing off their "beards", so the only one in our annual Thanksgiving Day Family Picture with facial hair is my awesomely crazy uncle.

Anyway, for all you F21 lovers out there, if you come to D.C., hit up the location downtown at 10th and G.  You won't be disappointed.

The rest of my afternoon was spent watching Christmas movies, addressing Christmas cards, and then meeting Mrs. FBI for a pedicure, which was one of the stranger ones I've ever had.  Apparently their hot water was out so they had to heat water up in tea kettles and pour it into the tubs of each pedicure chair.  There was also another customer in the salon who had the worst collagen-injected lips ever.  And she was mean to the salon employees.  That's why I don't feel bad saying she had bad lips.  She was just too much across the board.  Note to all: pedicures are tricky to get when there's snow on the ground.  Do you tough it out and just wear flip flops back to your car, do you put your shoes and socks back on that you wore in, or do you wear booties that they'll give you?  If you're me and Mrs. FBI, the answer is you tough it out and wear flip flops all the way back to her apartment (which is only about 2 1/2 blocks away, but at 6:00 on a cold, windy Sunday evening, it doesn't seem close).