Historically, the Women of J1 meet up every few years. But as life has gotten increasingly complicated for us all lately, we've needed to lean on each other a bit more frequently. Hence why we squeezed in
TWO reunions in the past
7 months (though sadly, Tracey couldn't make either).
This time Cecily and Audra flew to DC to give me a little extra NU love. The pair flew in Friday night and after a few hiccups leaving National Airport (exits are hard!) we headed back to our house for dinner, drinks, a concert from Owen, and some quality socializing.
The next morning, I picked up treats at the Pretzel Bakery before we headed to Dupont to catch part of the annual Around the World Embassy Tour where we checked out the Trinidad (FYI, after experiencing the costumes, stilt walker and music, everyone should check out Trinidad), admired the line for Australia (it went on for blocks...) and eventually made it to the African Union Embassies. Afterwards, we braved a gentle rain and walked to Georgetown where we visited the Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Owen's school, before we grabbed some lunch and slowly made our way home (after racking up 19,999 steps). That night, Allen and the kids went to Steve & Megans while we enjoyed some adult beverages and a couple of movies before crashing.
The next working we were moving a bit slower, but Allen made us a lovely breakfast after which we rallied and headed to the Smithsonian Craft Show. Audra was inspired and got some hints on new materials, Cecily discovered the value of fallen trees in Oregon, and I got to catch up with Sharon (and pick up a birthday present for her). After hitting every booth over several hours, we grabbed lunch and then made it to the National Museum of Women in the Arts for their free first Sunday of the month entry an hour before they closed. We had only made it through two galleries before they started closing and we hadn't seen the Alma Thomas paintings Audra was particularly hoping to find. So she stopped by the front desk, where a very helpful curator offered to give us a private tour of two Alma Thomas pieces (one by flashlight since the gallery lights had been turned off), gave us some exhibit cards on the works, directed us to the Portrait Gallery which was having a full Alma Thomas exhibit, confirmed that museum was open until 7 pm, and then gave us directions.
We managed to make it and get in the full Alma Thomas experience, followed by the Presidential Portrait gallery and even saw Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey's portraits for good measure before I called it. We crossed the street and grabbed the metro, and then called Allen so he could pick up at Union to save us the walk home. He even dropped us off at Hiraya where I thought I'd made a reservation (I didn't). We grabbed dinner and then came home, had a drink with Allen and then crashed.
The next morning, Audra & Cec slept in and briefly Facetimed with Tracey while I took Owen to school for his A.P. Government test and then dropped Noa off at the metro. When I got back, we showered, cleaned up, grabbed some bikeshares and then headed to Capitol Hill for a monumental tour. We started at Tracey's old boarding house from our college days, followed by the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the Capitol (where Cecily spied a taping of RuPaul's Drag Race and ended up in the background of one of its star's instagram). We then parked the bikes at the Botanical Gardens so we could see the corpse flower whose three day bloom happened to coincide with Audra and Cecily's visit.
Afterwards we got new bikes and then started on our epic tour of all the monuments, but around the Sculpture Garden, I realized that Noa's interview for a CHAW counselor in training position this summer was cancelled, which meant they could make their softball playoff game (which was short on players), but they didn't have their uniform or equipment. After some panicked texts from Noa, I sent Audra and Cecily on their way (Audra had visited just a few years ago for her kid's spring break so she knows the tour well) while I ran home, grabbed Noa's stuff, took the metro to Van Ness, handed Noa their stuff (they made the game, but ended up not playing), metroed home and called Audra and Cec to see if they wanted a ride home only to discover they were already biking back (having hit the Lincoln, Vietnam, Jefferson, FDR, MLK, George Mason and Einstein Memorials). I made them a quick snack before we packed up everything and headed to the airport where we said our goodbyes and started planning our next gather in six months or so...
(To see all the pics, click here.)
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