Here are a few pictures from my stroll:

A closeup of the cherry blossoms.

The Jefferson Memorial framed by cherry blossoms.

I’m not sure MLK approves of the crowds…

A panorama of the Tidal Basin, taken from near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. (Click to enlarge)

And as if that was not enough floral beauty for one birthday, I got into work today and found a huge box of gorgeous flowers from my nephews. I’m such a lucky auntie!

The beautiful Gerber daisies that were waiting for me at the office this morning.

This, apparently, is what 42 looks like – at least when it’s been walking around for too long on a hot day.

In the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to the “ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything” as determined by a supercomputer over the course of millions of years.

The catch? No one knows what the ultimate question was.

This seems oddly appropriate as I celebrate my 42nd birthday. It’s an age by which I think younger me would have expected to have all the answers, when in reality, all I’ve learned as I’ve aged it that I don’t necessarily even know the question.

I’m totally ok with this, by the way. I’ll keep asking and trying and doing and being and caring and loving, because that’s as close to everything as I am ever going to need.

Ah, well. I’ll take comfort that I’ve got the window open tonight (I know, an allergy no-no) and it’s warm enough for me to be sitting on the couch in a tank top. It’s a bit jarring to have gone from unseasonable cold to unseasonable heat, but it’s supposed to even out to normal spring by the end of the week. Before it does, though, I’ll have an 80-degree day off for my birthday, which is not terrible. At all.

Maybe I’ve got more gratitude in me than I think, because yeah… I appreciate the hell out of that.

Maybe I need to teach Harper how to write blog posts.

The Greenhouse at the Jefferson Hotel.

Growing up, I – like most little girls – threw a lot of tea parties. My dolls would gather to drink tea and chitchat, and once in a while, my stuffed animals joined them. I loved tea parties, though at the time in my life where I hosted them frequently, all of the best parts, the tea and the treats and the conversation, were imaginary.

When I got older, tea parties mostly vanished from my life. With the exception of the occasional vacation splurge or bridal shower, brunch replaced afternoon tea as the place where grownup-me found hot drinks and catching-up time. Until today, that is, when I joined a group of girlfriends at the Jefferson Hotel for afternoon tea.

Fancy tea, part one: finger sandwiches (roast beef, cucumber with grapefruit caviar, egg salad, and smoked salmon).

For two hours, the six of us – who had donned springy dresses in honor of both the venue and the welcome arrival of warm weather – feasted on finger sandwiches, scones, strawberry shortcakes, and more, all while talking as much as we could while dealing with so much food. It was absolutely delightful, and left me ready to make fancy tea part of my regular routine.

Fancy tea, part two: strawberry shortcake, cookies, cakes, and scones with jam and Devonshire cream.

Once I recover from the sugar shock, that is.

To say it’s been unseasonably cold lately would not be an overstatement – as I type, the 11:00 news is talking about sleet in the forecast and the delayed blooming of DC’s famous cherry blossoms. Despite this, there have been hints that our real spring is on its way, like yesterday evening’s perfect sky and the emergence of at least a few flowers. Of course, it was so windy that the “pink” part of this photo didn’t quite make it into focus.

Ah, well. Spring has to get here eventually, right?

A couple of months back, when the US Postal Service announced its plan to end Saturday mail service, my friend Jenna decided – along with her friend Leslie – to show their support for snail mail by sending letters and postcards to friends and to the folks that read their blogs. I was immediately reminded of my (wholly unsuccessful) plan to send a postcard a week in 2012 and decided the time was right to make that project a success.

And then I waited two months because… dormant blog, general laziness, whatever.

During that time, however, I did solve one of the problems that proved a sticking point in 2012 – that the touristy postcards that are everywhere in DC didn’t really inspire me in any way. To combat this, I ordered a batch of custom postcards, using my own Instagram photos, from moo.com. I am very happy with the way they came out and am looking forward to getting them out in the mail.

So… give me your address and I’ll send you one. Use the linked form (rather than the comments) since it’s private, and please fill it out even if you think I already have your address – just to make sure the one I have is up-to-date. No guarantees when your postcard will arrive, but I’ll get one to you!

Staycation 2013 is officially over. After six work days – and two weekends! – of leisure and shelf-building, I found myself back on the Metro platform this morning, wearing pants with buttons before noon,* making my way to the office. I survived re-entry back into my normal life, but it will probably be a few days before I feel like I am caught up and on track.

And speaking of re-entry, I think I am heading back into post-a-day blogging. As it turned out, last year’s daily experiment seems to have absolutely ruined my ability to post on an occasional basis, though I managed just fine doing that for the first four years of having this blog. I don’t expect I’ll be quite as militant this time around (translation: I won’t beat myself up if I miss every now and again) but I’m gonna give it a whirl.

***

* If you’re on staycation and you change out of soft pants before lunch, you’re doing it wrong.

A few photos from the day…

After giving out all of the 2012 awards (and believe me, there were MANY), an outfield-filling flag was brought out for the National Anthem.

The usher for our section – who is in his 70s – very gamely agreed to dance with a very enthusiastic (read: possibly drunk) twentysomething during the break in the game when they played “Boogie Shoes.”

First win of 2013!

I did, however, make a serious tactical error in scheduling my staycation during a) many local schools’ spring break and b) the Cherry Blossom Festival. (Nevermind that it’s kinda chilly and there’s nary a cherry blossom in sight – these things are scheduled way before they know if the weather is going to cooperate.) Lots of kids plus (potentially) lots of tourists tends to limit my enthusiasm for the myriad museums and historic sites in my town, so as a result, my time off has been very home-focused.

And, I might add, very productive. I’ve taken my living room from looking like this:

To looking like this:

For quite some time now, the space wasted by using my drop-leaf table as a television stand has driven me bonkers. And so, IKEA to the rescue with shelving deep enough to hold the tv and all its associated paraphernalia, but all of my books as well. They were an absolute beast to build – most likely because I ignored the instructions that said (via pictograms), “Do not build these alone, dumbass! Get someone to help you!”

I could not be happier with how they came out, though. The room looks so much better now – less cluttered and more organized. I’ve already made one trip to Goodwill to jettison some of the many random pieces of storage-related furniture I had, and will probably need to make two more. For the two biggest bookcases, though, I may instead use the tried-and-true DC technique of putting them out front with signs that say “free” and hope they find new homes without further assistance from me.

Tomorrow, I’ll be venturing out a bit more – in addition to another trip to Goodwill, I’m meeting a friend for coffee in the morning and my sister-in-law and nephews for a visit to the natural history museum at some time still to be decided. And though I don’t yet know what the weekend will bring, I’ll be finishing up my staycation on Monday at the Nationals’ home opener. Not bad, eh?