What I Will Remember: 2009

Celebrating New Year's at my brother's wedding.

Walking around the Capitol, to Harris Teeter, the day of the inauguration. And the four day weekend.

Joey's first birthday.

Getting to learn the new neighborhood by running around Capitol Hill, to the mall, to the Lincoln Memorial.

St. Patrick's Day Five Miler. The Army Ten Miler.

Crashing a wedding reception, or trying to, during the Law Con.

Eating at Due's at 3am in Chicago with friends.

Celebrating T&S's wedding on Valentine's Day. Celebrating with Jenny & John. Going to Vegas for the first time, and not liking it so much.

A chaotic, not fun 4th of July.

Alito's awesome speech and the Texans.

MM's investiture and drinking margaritas with the Texans. Feeling a bit hungover flying home the next morning.

Getting snowed in the weekend before Christmas.

Thanksgiving with all of us there.

Meeting Aly....to come.

Heading to Bethany one last time.

Let it Snow...

For the first time since February 2003, we have a real blizzard here in DC. Way over a foot of snow on the ground, and it continues to snow. There was even a blizzard watch!! It's been an unusually relaxing Saturday afternoon...no gym trip, no trip to Target or Harris Teeter or last-minute Christmas shopping trip to Pentagon City. It's eerily quiet in many respects, this Saturday before Christmas when hustle and bustle are usually par for the course. I'm relaxing, drinking tea and watching While You Were Sleeping. What an awesome movie. Maybe Christmas Vacation next?

There are year in review magazine issues to read, there is a Cowboys game tonight, there is wine to drink and dinner to cook. And more snow to fall. It's a peaceful moment.

Best Music of the Year

I have yet to create my definitive best of music list of the year (I'm waiting til the bitter end...or maybe during our blizzard this weekend I'll get bored and start it early!), but here are some of woxy's picks, and what I've also liked:

Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Animal Collective, Passion Pit, the xx (how did I JUST discover them...love VCR!), Metric, The Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Neko Case, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Monsters of Folk, Andrew Bird...well I could go on. The list is here.

I've really enjoyed getting to know some new music this year. I haven't completely made up my mind yet, but near the top would be Florence & the Machine's Dog Days Are Over, Beach House by the Cave Singers, M Ward's Stars of Leo, U2's Breathe, the xx's VCR, something from Swell Season, something from Monsters of Folk, Story by Great Northern, something by Fanfarlo, Noah and the Whale, the Avett Brothers....gosh, there's been SO much good music this year. I'm not really sure where to start. With what I've seen for 2010, from Spoon and Shout Out Louds and Yeasayer and Charlotte Gainsbourg, I'm positive we'll have another great year ahead.

Best TV of the Year...

So I'm going to attempt to create a few best-of lists, starting with television. In no particular order, my favorite shows of the year:

Lost. Obviously.

Top Chef. Best season yet.

Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. For getting better this second half of the year.

Fringe. Because it is sooo creepy and intriguing.

V. Because Elizabeth Mitchell rocks!

Glee. Fun and cheery.

House. Huddy!!

American Idol. Yes, I watched it every week.

How I Met Your Mother. Despite the aborted relationship of Robin & Barney, sigh.

Guiding Light. Farewell...

Whole Food Republicans

Lots of this sounds familiar:

What's needed is a full-fledged effort to cultivate "Whole Foods Republicans"—independent-minded voters who embrace a progressive lifestyle but not progressive politics. These highly-educated individuals appreciate diversity and would never tell racist or homophobic jokes; they like living in walkable urban environments; they believe in environmental stewardship, community service and a spirit of inclusion. And yes, many shop at Whole Foods, which has become a symbol of progressive affluence but is also a good example of the free enterprise system at work. (Not to mention that its founder is a well-known libertarian who took to these pages to excoriate ObamaCare as inimical to market principles.)

Yes, you can be a city-dwelling yuppie type who votes conservative. And maybe I'd quibble a bit...I "believe in environmental stewardship," because I refuse to pay taxes for plastic bags, but I also don't like waste. I believe in diversity, including philosophical/ideological diversity. And I appreciate Whole Foods, both because I admire its libertarian-leaning CEO, and also because I value the foods that go into my body. I'd rather not eat crap, for the most part, after I take so much time to run and work out.

The Republican party can have smart, educated, urban voters who care about their communities. It's not that a "progressive" lifestyle is better, but it's just not "liberal."

All sorts of good end-of-the-year pop culture

Top Chef's finale was last night. I was sorry than Kevin lost, and my second choice Bryan lost. But the Volotaggio Brothers are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and I hope to try their cooking one day. Mmmm, Volt!

And I've been listening to all sorts of good, best of 2009 music. I just discovered the xx, and I've been listening to lots of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, along with next year's new releases like Yeasayer and Shout out Louds (current favorite song: Walls). There's been a lot I've discovered this year, from new Animal Collective to Florence + the Machine to Passion Pit to Metric to Muse to Phoenix. It has been a good year for music.

The Next VH1 Special?

Loving these decade-in-retrospective lists, lately. How in the world did ten years go by?

Billboard has the Top One-Hit Wonders of the 2000s, topped by Daniel Powter's Bad Day of American Idol fare. I think on my ipod, I have Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, James Blunt's You're Beautiful, Macy Gray's I Try, and well not on my ipod but The Calling's Wherever You Will Go. That's not bad. There were several other songs I recognized like that Vanessa Carlton one about A Thousand Miles, but I am happy that I avoided most of these.

I'm guessing it's pretty likely most of these acts have disappeared, but most deserve to go away.

Now which one-hit wonders deserve to be around longer? That I might have to comb through my ipod for...

Top Chef: Napa!

Of course, I was thrilled to see that Napa and Brix was featured in the most recent episode of Top Chef, having just eaten there last April. Jennifer was booted, which was not a huge surprise, since the Voltaggio brothers and Kevin have just been stronger overall, though she definitely deserved her slot in the Final Four. Nice to see a female, 33 year old chef do so well! I will have to remember 10 Arts by Eric Ripert for a future dinner in Philly!

As to the winner...my favorite is Kevin, because he seems like such a nice guy. But I would love to see Bryan win b/c of Volt (must trek to Frederick!!).

Thanksgiving '09

Thanksgiving was here and gone in a blink of an eye. We had a smooth flight coming in, and Kev picked us up at the airport. Then we had dinner with the whole fam at Roger's Roost on Wednesday. Joey is sooo big and cute. He was shy at first, and then cranky due to lots of missed nap time. But he looks more like a little boy now than a baby, and bigger than his pictures. He adores babies, computers, cheese, mama, that mystery box in dad's office, and shutting the door. He also likes cards, putting the ball through the little basketball hoop, looking like a baby model in his baby Gap shoes, sitting in a big-boy chair, and putting things in (and out) of trash cans. He is too awesome.

I got some shopping time in with mom at Lakeside, Target's, Kohl's. Dad gave me some new books. We watched lots of football. Celebrated L-A's big 30th birthday at Lions, Tigers, and Beers.

Must get home again soon.