Valentine's Day, Winter blues

I've been suffering form winter blues today. Oddly enough, it was warmer, the snow is rapidly melting, I went for a jog, saw some art and should be feeling great. But I'm not. Before I delve into that (or not...) Let's work on catching up from the last few weeks. Valentine's weekend wouldn't normally mean anything to me. Tyler and I don't celebrate it, but this year I was lucky enough to be treated to a delicious french dinner with my parents! We ate at Bistro du Coin; a lovely corner bistro that brought back memories of my beloved France. Though our visit was short, we had a great time. Earlier in the weekend we went to a dinner party hosted by a friend who loves nothing more than to cook and bake for lots of people. I got to meet new friends, catch up with other friends who I hadn't seen since the massive snow. Everyone was excited to get out of the house finally. Even after our 4.5 snow days the week of February 7th or so, we still got President's day off. I spent it like any other weekend day- cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping. Finally started get back into the swing of things with work. This weekend was super low-key. I stayed in both nights and did some work for my class. I got an A on my test that I took last Wednesday, by the way! Goooo ME! Today Tyler and I ventured out to National Gallery of Art to see a collection of art from Chester Dale, a man who made a fortune doing Stock Market stuff, who chose to spend a lot of it on beautiful impressionist and post impressionist art, largely French art. Luckily this great collection will be on display for the next year and a half! It was nice to get out and about again in the city. I'm still struggling with winter blues though. Even exercise didn't snap me out of my funk. Oh well, I guess I will find something else. That's all for now.

Snowmaggedon!

There is something about the snow that brings out the friendly in people. Is it because when our city, neighborhood, street gets transformed, we do too? Does the magical winter wonderland somehow turn on a nice switch? It isn't that people are outwardly mean usually. It's just that the snow; taking walks in it, passing other pedestrians in it, gives us strangers something to bond over. You find yourself freely commenting on the environment in a way that you usually don't when white hasn't taken over the streets. It is a very interesting phenomenon. I can say that tromping out in the snow today certainly helped me gain a new zest for life that had leaked out of me after feeling confined to my inside space all morning. I guess other people feel it too. It was truly beautiful to be surrounded by snow, not a speck of sidewalk or road in sight. Falling was comfortable, since we had snow drifts to envelope and cushion us. There is an excitement you can feel walking around when you pass other people. Even on the internet, surfing websites that report on all things DC, the internet chatter is bright and excited. And when you are ready, you can come back into the bear cave that is home and sink into layers of blankets with a cup of coffee and a book or computer in hand and take pleasure in having a day in.