Mmmm...Cheese!

Last night we arrived at the Hyatt hotel in Crystal City for Luis' three day board meeting. I always stay with him during these board meetings because they put him up in cool hotels. This Hyatt is so cool, the new remodeled look is so sleek and clean, the furniture is modern and hip. There was a plate with fruit, cheese and wine for Luis. I was so hungry that I picked up a piece of cheese and popped it in my mouth. However, this was not cheese. It was butter! A big piece of round thick, butter - so gross! I ran to the bathroom and spit it out. It sits there while I type.

H&M's M by Madonna Out In DC!

Curious about Madonna’s H&M line debuting at the stores today, but couldn’t get out of work to go check it out yourself? Well, no worries—After Hours was there. I arrived at the H&M on 10th and F Streets NW, 45 minute’s before the store’s opening expecting a line at least half-way around the block. But the reality was that I was literally the second person there. As time went on, a few more people lined up and chatted with me, but by the time the store’s doors opened a bit before 10, there were still only six or seven people waiting to enter.

That number may not bode well for the sales of the M by Madonna line in DC, considering that other designers like Stella McCartney and Victor & Rolf, who have also done H&M lines, caused total chaos and bedlam when they debuted. A woman who joined me in line recalled the opening of the Viktor & Rolf line last fall, saying that there were huge crowds, plenty of elbows being thrown, and clothes flying off the shelves before she could get her hands on any.

In comparison, the Madonna experience at H&M was completely tame. The collection is rather small, and features a few dresses, leather jackets, pants and blouses—plus a cream trench coat that seemed to be the object of most people’s desire. I found one dress I liked so much—a well-draped silk rayon piece that Madonna wore to the launch party for her line—that I bought it in both gray and black. There were accessories as well, including a large pair of wraparound sunglasses emblazoned with sideways Ms on the side, wide patent leather belts, totes, and shoes.

Thinking about heading to snap up some of your own M by Madonna items this evening? A sales associate this morning said she thought there’d still be items left through the day–but several afternoon calls placed to the Metro Center H&M went unanswered, so perhaps untold and unexpected hoards descended on the store and turned it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the salesclerks are cowering behind the cash registers?

Food is not love, but it sure does feel like it.

Yesterday after work, me and my colleagues went to have dinner at The Chart House, a great seafood restaurant with a beautiful view of the Potomac River, right in Old town Alexandria. The restaurant is a 5 minute walk from work. One of our directors was in town and decided we'd all go out to converse and chat and have some grub. Two of our tech support employees from Redmond and Baltimore were here as well, so it was a chance to get to meet them face to face considering we engage in only online conversations. So let's get to the food, which by the way I love. I'm sure I've mentioned how much I love food (and I'm sure you can tell by the way I look, hah!)I had the macadamia crusted Mahi-mahi - delish! I must've chugged down about three Yuenglings. Dessert was fantastic as well. We all ordered this Molten Lava Cake which you preorder 30 minutes in advance. It's an ice cream, chocolate, heath bar creation - scrumptious as well! It was easily a $500.00 tab, although I feel it was probably alot more than that. Our company paid for everything which was really nice. This was the first time I had actually gone out with a group of people from work to dinner. There had been lunches with a co-worker before, but nothing of this magnitude. I loved it. If it's one thing I love to spend money on, it's fantastic restaurants. Restaurant week in DC is one of my favorite things. It happens twice a year, in January and August. Nice expensive restaurants participate for one week in a promotion to attract crowds. During lunch, you pay about $20.00 for a three course meal and at nights, $30.00 will get you a gorgeous 3 course dinner. The food is amazing and usually the presentation is unbelievable. We've been twice to restaurant week, once last year to this restaurant called Ardeo(which had the best crab and avocado salad), and this year to Butterfield 9. Both excellent.

Zipcar Catastrophe...

I've been a member of zipcar for over a year now. For those of you who don't know what Zipcar is, it is an online car reservation system. You sign up, and have access to rent cars all over DC. I think it exists in New York and other big cities in the US as well. These vehicles range from small to intermediate, and much fancier models. The prices of course varies depending on the car. They are located at different points in the city, and the metro area around dc, including VA and MD. www.zipcar.com


So last week, my friend Jenny finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy - Matthew John Hemmick. Both are doing really well. Luis and I rented a car to visit her in the hospital early last week. The following day, I received an email from Zipcar to confirm a reservation I had for that Friday, after work. I thought maybe I accidentally reserved it, making a mistake and so I went online and simply cancelled it. A couple of days later, I receive another email from them confirming reservation of a car on Friday. This time I was a bit worried, thinking I hadn't really cancelled it the day before or that somehow it wasn't working. I quickly had to go on there again and cancel it, making sure it would go through. So Friday comes and at around 4:00pm I get another email about the same thing. I IM Luis and tell him about this and tell him that I should probably call them to see what the issue is. I do, and I get into this argument with this young lady about these reservations I'm not making. As we're on the phone, she tells me that I just made another one - yes! as we speak. My cell phone starts ringing and It's Luis. I don't answer because I'm on the work line with this lady from Zicpar. I keep arguing telling her to make sure and get those cancelled. My cell phone rings again and again. So I finally answer it and Luis nervously says, "Tony, hang up with her! I made the reservation! It was supposed to be a surprise." My jaw just dropped and I had to apologize to this lady. I told Luis I'd call him back. So after bitching at her for like 15 minutes, I had to be nice and tell her I was sorry. Turns out Luis had reserved the car earlier that week for Friday evening. He was taking me to dinner and had this entire night planned out. He had left a note at home so that when I got there Id read it and get ready. The note read to be ready by 7pm. He was going to show up with flowers and the car. He had made reservations at this really nice restaurant called Cafe Atlantico in downtown DC. I had been wanting to go there for a while (it was listed as #56 in The Washingtonian Magazine's Best 100 restaurants).

So Luis never realized that I was getting notifications of these reservations. I had no idea what was going on, and while he noticed them being cancelled, he kept on making them. He would make them and I would cancel them. Of course I never discussed it with him until Friday, which is when the surprise was ruined because of me...well in my defense I had no idea so how was I supposed to know? So, in the end we had a great time, had a lovely dinner, went to see a movie afterwards, and had great dessert at Cold Stone. I love Luis. He is so romantic. That was so unexpected and I was still very much surprised. I guess his tactic worked! I once told him I should never be surprised because it never works on me. Turns out I was right....sorta.

Tony moment

Why do the weirdest things always happen to me? Instances like these remind me of what my friend Melissa refers to as 'Tony moments'. This 'Tony moment' happened when my mom and two aunts were here visiting in mid February. It was a really cold Friday morning and we left on the bus that picks up right outside my home to go to downtown dc. I had just bought these new pair of brown H&M gloves which I was happily wearing. I took them off on the bus because it got warm and stuffy. When we got off the bus at our destination, I forgot the gloves in the bus. I was not able to get them back, but I thought "oh well, they were $3.00 gloves. I can get another pair." So we go to downtown DC on the metro, my hands freezing of course. We get to H&M and I try to find the same pair but to no success. I end up buying these more expensive but really cool suede gloves, beige/brown. We leave the store and my hands are finally warm again. I take my family to Luis' work which is a block away from the H&M in downtown DC. They of course being women, and cold, have to go to the bathroom. I decide, what the heck, I'll go too and I end up using the men's bathroom. I take off my gloves and put them under my arm to hold while I "go", then suddenly, I raise my arms, unaware that they were still under there, and they fall right into the toilet, pee and everything....UGH! So I come out looking upset, but I cant contain my laughter...I almost feel like crying. Everyone wonders whats wrong and I tell them. They all burst into laughter. My mom takes the gloves and goes to the sink in the women's bathroom to wach them off, now they are covered in pee and soap, wet and I am forced to wear them again....ugh!!!! The rest of the day was good, but what the fuck seriously? Why me. Always. Melissa, do not laugh.