Thankful Thursday

This week has been great,  I have so much to be thankful for:

I'm thankful for

-My mom's job, which sends her to DC
-that I have time to take off to be with her
-the pool at the Washington Hilton
-a quiet week at work
-D.C. dept of public works, who kindly towed our illegally parked car to a legal spot in our neighborhood instead of to the impound lot
-that next week is vacation!!!
-friends who want to hang out with Milo while we're gone

-M.E.

Delicious

There's nothing quite as delicious as mozzerella di bufala on a pizza.

I used to think I didn't like pizza that much. That was before I moved to DC, and my idea of pizza was delivery from Papa John's or a Red Barron out of the freezer. These pizzas cannot even claim to be the same category of food as the delicious napoli pizzas I have found in D.C. and become obsessed with. And I really am obsessed, I think the pizza average in the Margolis home is at least 3 times a month.

So as I'm sitting at my desk on a rare not-so-busy Tuesday dreaming about pizza I thought I'd share some of my favorite places in the district to eat some pie.

1) 2 Amy's - All time favorite, best margarita pizze in the city; on Food & Wine's top 10 in the country
Update - The new number 2 is Mia's pizza in Bethesda. Tried it for the first time recently and man is it good!
2) Il Canale - A little known delicious pizza spot in Georgetown.
3) Red Rocks - In Columbia heights, good ingredients, consistent quality, and a great atmosphere
4) Matchbox - doesn't exactly fall into the napoli pizza realm, but their creative pizzas are most delicious

Here are some pictures from our last trip to 2 Amy's to wet your appetite:

-M.E.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

-Zach's last day of work until next school year, woohooo!
-A completed, successful press conference this morning
-this bag of cheetos I'm eating
-That I finally know what pottermore is
-That my mom will be in DC next week!
-That my lovely coworker is taking me out to lunch tomorrow
-one more week until vacation

I Heart Muppets

I <3 the Muppets.

It's time to play the music, It's time to light the lights, It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight

Ever since my family used to watch the Muppet Show together I was hooked. They are so cute and funny and they sing fun songs...

Because of my affinity for Muppets, it has become a Christmas tradition to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol which my family owns on both VHS and DVD. Watching that movie is one of the first things we do when we all get together for Christmas. We know all of the words to all of the songs (and most of the other words too: Light the lamp, not the rat!)

That is why I am super excited about this next Muppet movie featuring Amy Adams and Jason Segal. Call me lame but just take a moment to watch the trailer and you'll see the magical magnestism that is the Muppets:

Happy Monday

Hope you all had a relaxing and fun weekend.

Here's a few things I came accross:

But it was a really fun weekend! More pictures to come from an exciting real life choose your adventure game we played on Saturday night.

Alas, another week begins and I am glad to have much to look forward to. More to report later, but for now I've got to get going on work for the week ahead!

PotterMore?

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a huge Harry Potter fan. In fact tickets went on sale this week for the last film (opening July 15) and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go at midnight if I can get anyone to go with me.

But the big Harry Potter buzz today is that J.K Rowling has a mysterious new website that is undr construction at http://www.pottermore.com/. If you click on one of the owls, it will take you to a youtube channel which says. "The owls are gathering, find out why soon" and features a countdown for an announcement from Rowling in T-6 Days.

The twitter handle @pottermore already has 26,000 followers.

What could it be? a new book, an interactive online Harry Potter world?

All I know is that I may be waking up at 2AM next Thursday to see what this is all about. Anyone want to join me?

-M.E.

Thankful Thursday

But First, a photo that applies to yesterday's post and can speak for itself. Seen at Shake Shack:

Today I am thankful for...

-caffeine
-an understanding hubs who will take me to get a shackburger after a long day when I really don't want to cook
-great weather
-my old boss, who will be coming to speak to our interns tomorrow
-autonomy
-making new friends but keeping the old
-for two wonderful years of marriage
-for my Dad, Happy Father's Day!
-that even when I'm overworked, overstressed, and overwhelmed I still like my job (can't wait for us to hire some more people!)

Dogs and their People

Let me preface this by saying I don't have a dog.

My family has had a couple of dogs during my childhood. The first was Rags. Rags was a little dog with an unfortunate name and too much hair which covered her eyes. When we would ge her shaved in the summer I would tell my friends that we had a new dog and that Rags was just hiding. Then there was Molly, the long-haired welsh corgi who my parents never really wanted and eventually gave away.

So you can see that my dog exprience is not vast, so maybe that's why I can't seem to understand why dogs seem to be the center of people's lives lately. When out walking around in my DC neighborhood, it seems like everyone has a dog. Its like a dog parade - big dogs, small dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, red dogs, blue dogs.

And the amenities for these dogs are amazing, dog parks, doggy daycare, dog bakeries, dog boutique clothing and toy stores, even dog healthcare. With a whole city of young professionals focused on getting ahead, working long hours in the name of career and power, have dogs replaced children?

I know, I know, I may be upsetting some dog lovers out there. And don't I have a cat? why yes I do and he's awesome. But I'm not talking about the normal type of love for a pet.

Case and point, while biking on the Mt. Vernon trail two weeks ago, I happened upon a woman biking while pulling a trailer behind her bike. When looking inside the trailer, I expected to see a sweet baby - but what did I find instead? Two pomeranians enjoying a nice ride. This is rediculous People!

And while you are pondering this, meet Winston:

Winston is the dog that "works" at my office about once a week, and this is his blog: http://winstonchesterbryantsneadthedog.com/ 

-M.E.

Happy Mondaversary!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

The Z & ME weekend wrapup: Our weekend included lots of good food, kayaking, building castles with new friends, and celebrating the birthdays of 2 very special friends.

Today, Z and me celebrate our 2 year anniversary! The morning began with an early morning rise to make some migas for breakfast for the hubs. Unfortunately he has a lot of work to do today so I'm not sure how much celebrating will occur, but I do have a special edition pinot noir that has been stashed away for 1 1/2 years that we may just have to open tonight.

Apparently we are no longer newlyweds...

And now an anniversary haiku:

Joyful life together

Loving, laughing, exploring

Only just begun

Thanks for an amazing 2 years Z, and to all of our friends and family who continue to give us amazing love and support.

-M.E.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for

-air conditioning
-leftovers
-my boss
-sunglasses
-comfortable flats
-waking up without the alarm
-summertime
-having no plans tonight
-that watching a documentary is part of my job this week
-that tomorrow is Friday
-that Z only has 2 more weeks of work until summer break!
-that on Monday I will be celebrating 2 years of marriage with the hubs

What are you thankful for today? feel free to respond via comments.

-M.E.

It all starts with an idea

write (v): 1. to trace or form (characters, letters, words, etc.) on the surface of some material, as with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means; inscribe: Write your name on the board. 2. to express or communicate in writing; give a written account of. 3. to fill in the blank spaces of (a printed form) with writing: to write a check.

I've always liked to write. Perhaps it started with my parents giving me such a long name. I recall learning how to write and spell my name in preschool. My mom tells a story where this boy in my class came home from preschool the day we were learning to write our names. This boy was named Jay, and apparently this is what he said to his mom:

Jay's Mom: What did you learn at school today?

Jay: I learned how to write my name!

Jay's Mom: How exciting!

Jay: Yes, it was easy for me because all I have to write is a "J", but how would you like to be 4 years old and be named Mary Elizabeth!

Or perhaps my writing began in 3rd grade. We were given free reign to write a Thanksiving story book. We could write about whatever we wanted, there were no limits or parameters. Most kids came up with a simple story that was turned into a 8-10 page story book. My story book was 25 pages, I couldn't help myself.

The people at Abilities Potential say it is because I have high idea productivity.

Idea productivity measures the quantity (not quality) of ideas a person has. Apparently my brain has an open faucet of ideas, constantly streaming out at a high rate. Good ideas, bad ideas, funny ideas, rediculous ideas...

The common way to test idea productivity is by showing  a person an image like this:

And asking him/her to make a list of as many things they can think of that they could make out of this shape in 30 seconds. The average person comes up with around 8-10 things. I came up with 28.

But whatever the source of my love of writing and flow of ideas I am happy to the chance to share them with you. My hope is that this blog will be interesting and amusing and offer a chance for me to let some of the many ideas floating around in my head come out to play.

-M.E.

The start of something new...

This isn't the first time I've started a blog, but it is the first time I've taken it seriously.

After getting some wisdom from this guy (who writes this) I feel like I'm finally equipped to take this on.

So Welcome everyone (or no one, we'll see how it goes) to A musing M.E. Please allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Mary Elizabeth, and yes I go by the WHOLE thing ;) This is me:

This is my husband Z:

And this is Milo!

We live happily in Washington, D.C. I work in PR, and Z works as a teacher.

Some stuff I like includes frozen yogurt, purple, eating out, movies at home, Church of the Advent, Two Amy's pizza, skiing, cities, dresses, casual Friday, Swaziland, giraffes, baked potatoes, my family, old houses, and new shoes.

what do you like?