Walking on a sine wave

For almost a decade, my then company’s annual meet coincided with my birthday which would push the celebration out. This changed a few years ago when I changed jobs and since then I always make it a priority to celebrate it on the day of my birthday. This year, we decided to combine the celebrations with our yearly trip to DC to see my sister. 6 days of non stop fun exploring one of our favorites cities.

The number 1 to do on my list was visiting the African American History Museum and it exceeded my expectations. A big museum spread over 6 levels addressing the start of slavery to pop culture influences, it is a must for all of us to understand and appreciate the contributions of African Americans to the prosperity of our nation. I loved when the woman at the info center suggested we start with the ” Slavery to Obama” section on the lower 3 floors. Bought back memories of President Obama’s historic win in 2008 and how optimistic the nation felt on this momentous occasion. We spent 3 hours in this lower section and it was heartwarming to see the trials, tribulations and successes of the community over the last 500 years. We were mentally drained but enriched in our minds and souls. Headed to the museum cafe for lunch but it had 100 people in line waiting ahead of us to savor some of the best soul food in DC. We spent another hour in the top 3 floors and headed out for lunch to the nearby location of Roti. In the evening we headed to Reston, Virgina to meet one of my father’s old friend and loved their hospitality.

We spent the next day indoors as it was 105F and headed out in the evening for dinner followed by a walk through the monuments / memorials at night. What an amazing experience seeing all the monuments lit at night! I think from now on, I will only visit them at night as it adds another layer of mystique to these timeless sculptures.

Saturday morning was spent at Mount Pleasant farmer’s market shopping for fresh produce and our favorite falafel wrap at Jerusalam Falafels. Spent the evening at home cooking and chatting because it was too hot to go outside. Later that night my sister and I went to a neighborhood speakeasy. Over delicious Ginger and Pisco cocktails, we finally had some alone time for sister talk which as always ended with laughter and lots of pictures.

Sunday was brunch at Ambar followed by a few hours at my favorite Eastern Market from where I purchased a one of a kind dress I wore for my birthday dinner.

Monday morning we headed to George town for Kayaking followed by a trip to the State Department. I felt like Jack Ryan and you will get the reference if you are a fan of the show like me :D. However, unlike Jack, no one sought my analysis on any matter at the state department … bummer, next time I will jog by the Tidal Basin before going to state and maybe they will listen then.

Tuesday morning was spent at the National zoo and our favorite was the pseudo pregnant panda. Apparently pandas think they are pregnant and spend the “gestational” period behaving pregnant when it happens. We wrapped the evening with the celebration dinner at Zaytinya.

Now let’s talk about the food. DC never disappoints and this year we blindly followed the recommendations of Insider DC. They are also on Instagram and these decade long DC insiders know all the awesome food spots in this city of a million food options. Whether it was the Balkan brunch at Ambar, Ethiopian Food at CherCher( check out familiar faces in this post ), date night at Bazaar by Jose Andres’, Zaytinya or Cupcakes at Wired and Baked in Georgetown, Insider DC’s recommendations were spot on! Bookmark them for your visit to this fantastic city.

As I was reflecting on the past year, I couldn’t help but be grateful for everything. It was a roller coaster with phenomenal highs and crushing lows. Both of them contributed to my growth as a person and taught me valuable lessons. The highs gave me the confidence to climb the next tallest mountain (figuratively) and the lows gave me the gift of acceptance. I don’t know what this next round around the sun has in store for me but I am looking forward to all the new experiences.

I will end the post with my favorite gift from my son. He captured the essence of my birthday and made this cap cut video. Enjoy!