The Lovely District

I thought I should finally share some of my pictures from my recent trip to Washington, DC. I love that city and I especially LOVE the people that I left there when I graduated. DC will always have a wonderful warm spot in my heart. What a lovely place to explore.

My friend from college MR (also B's Boyfriend) teaches spin classes throughout the District. I had never taken a spin class or a class from a friend so I practically begged B to take one of MR's classes with me. Before the class started we "warmed up" a bit. This picture cracks me up. MR is workin' it, B is watching, the little old man in the corner is stretching (?) and I am obviously taking a picture. Good work MR. Ha.

I am so thankful for B and her closet. She pretty much dressed me for S's graduation. I LOVED this dress. (and isn't her place adorable!!)

 Way to go S!!

The lovely graduate. It was so, so, so great to see her. 

 Outfit picture: Heading to dinner Saturday night. I loved B's neighborhood Cleveland Park. It was so refreshing to walk around everywhere again. Dinner here we come.

 We went to the restaurant Medium Rare. It was a prefix menu of salad, and all you can eat fries and steak. We may have had two servings of fries and steak. It was delicious that is for sure.

On Saturday night our friend was hosting a Prom party. Note: we are all twenty-somethings. There was no underage drinking or fraternizing with minors. When I left graduation earlier in the day I told S and her family that I had this Prom party to go to that evening and as I left S's mom yelled "Have fun a Prom!" Like I was a twenty-something cougar. Nice.

B and I wore tiara's because we were Prom Queens. Ha.

Sunday we went to Eastern Market to wander. Lots of interesting things to look at. This one booth had a ton of amazing mirrors. I really wanted one but shlepping it home would have definitely been an issue.

Hi MR- nice shades.

B bought that adorable hat.

I didn't do any site seeing this trip, I only feel a little guilty about it. Just lots of fun adventures with friends. This picture of the Capitol is pretty much the only touristy part.

Blog meet Isis. B's adorable old lady cat. She is the most vocal cat I have ever met. I had full on conversations with her and no I am not crazy. When we get ready I swear she says things like "Oh girls..." and "Is that really appropriate..?" (imagine an old lady saying it...) She's funny. 

 On Monday we visited MR at work. NASA that is. And he showed us around and told us all sorts of top secret information. Not at all really but it was still neat to check out his cubicle in basically your everyday DC office building. Every office building you work in has a gift shop right? Ha.

 And last but not least on Monday night I met up with one of my best friends from College MFF. Ahh the memories of taking over the school together. hahah.

We went to Mike Isabella's restaurant Graffiato and it was delicious. And hopping when we first got there at 9:30. We ended up closing the place down (hence all the empty chairs behind me) but I swear it was packed when we first got there around 9:30 and on a Monday too. Cheers.

 I had such an amazing time in DC. Thank you again B for hosting me!!!! Till the next time!!

Shellac Nails with my Bestie B!

I am definitely enjoying my time in DC!

After lunch with two of my ultimate best friends, B and I headed to get a Shellac manicure for the first time! What do you think?

I'll keep you updated on how it lasts! :)

Heading to DC!

Happily waiting in the airport for my flight to DC! I love that there is free wifi so I get to browse my fav blogs while I wait!

Let's Pretend for a Moment

Let's pretend for a moment that we are having a lovely dinner in DC. A tasty dinner with charming company in an adorable apartment. I can't think of anything better actually. 

:)

My dear friend B has shared with us one of her go to dinner recipes. I personally can't wait to try it!

Spicy Garlic Chicken with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I just buy the bottle kind)

2 Tbsp honey

2 tsp tabasco sauce

1 tsp minced lemon zest

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1) Season chicken with salt and pepper, Stir together panko, garlic and oregano; place in shallow dish. Dredge both sides of chicken in panko mixture.  

2) Combine lemon juice, honey, tabasco and zest for a glaze in a small bowl, whisk to combine and set aside

3) Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; saute until browned on both sides and cooked through (about 12 minutes)

4) Add lemon-honey glaze to the skillet; reduce until syrupy, about a minute.  Return chicken to the skillet, flipping the pieces once to coat them with glaze.

Voila! 

FYI I usually double the recipe since MR eats enough for a small village. 

All photos courtesy of Miss B!


Thanks B for sharing such a tasty recipe! I hope you all get a chance to try it!

To the Nation's Capital and Back!

Hello Sparklers!

(all four of you!) :)

I am back from the clammy (or should I say dewy? Dewy is more appealing... OK dewy then) dewy city of Washington DC where I went to school. Boyfriend came with me, and I feel I can say with confidence that we had a great time!

I had so much fun roaming the ol' stomping grounds with my best friend B and showing Boyfriend around.   We landed Thursday evening at the ripe time of 8pm and practically headed straight to Cleveland Park Bar & Grill where we not so promptly closed down the bar. Yep, this sparkler was one of four who closed down the perfectly breezy (for DC) rooftop bar.

After sleeping in Friday we headed to the Metro! Ready for it everybody?? Boyfriend's debut on Sparkle!!

We met up with an old friend of mine from school for lunch at Cafe Ole in Tenleytown-ish. It was delicious mediterranean and they have a great outside patio. I'm still thinking about my yummy falafal wrap.

From there I gave Boyfriend the tour of my "Quaint" campus (Boyfriend's words... he he he's right) It was so fun to be back. And great to see my old friends on campus. And no there were no students around. I was slightly over involved and was friends with the staff. I may be a little bit of a dork but I'm OK with that.

Later that day after walking allllll around we met up with B and her Boyfriend M at the Sculpture Garden on the Mall. It was awesome.

B and her Boyfriend M

Crowded and dewy but so fun. The four of us shared a pitcher of sangria and had a chance to catch up.

Can you see all the people who were also there enjoying the fun? I highly recommend spending a summer Friday evening at the park. Lovely.

OK after the sangria and dinner at Shake Shack (pretty delish) we headed to one of Boyfriend's high school friend's place in DC and legitimately hung out. Enough said.

After again sleeping in on Saturday- divine in B's cuter than cute apartment (with her chatty cat) we headed the ZOOOOO. We were on the hunt for some tiger cubs and unfortunately failed (they were not on display...) but we did see an awesome roaring Papa lion- really really cool. We were in the jungle.

Hello Papa Lion

We also saw some pandas. (no cool pictures cause they were inside) But we did take some picture by the classy brass statue. So you kinda get the idea.

And then Saturday night we started the evening by venturing to Mt. Vernon Square to have a BBQ with two of Boyfriend's college friends. It was a great to meet them and hear some of the crazy stories from his past :)

And from there we went out. Oh boy did we go out. We started (if you can call it that)at Dan's Cafe in Adams Morgan. A very interesting place. The first drink ordered was a set of three G&T (so yummy and refreshing) and it came as a bottle of tonic, a glass of gin, a bowl of limes and ice and two additional glasses. That's right folks we became bartenders for about 45 seconds. And from there Boyfriend came over with a $15 squeegee bottle filled with So-Co and lime.

Something like this...

The deal apparently is you put down a $5 deposit for the squeegee and get $10 worth of booze. And when you return the bottle you get your $5 back. Not a bad deal since we got about 5 rounds of shots for about 8 people out of the deal.

Then we headed to Town Tavern and danced up a storm. Seriously.

Sunday- more sleeping in. Hummm I love sleeping.

Once we all sufficiently woke up and were ready to get on with our day (around 3 or so. I swear I am not usually such a sloth) we headed on a brisk hike on a trial about five minutes from B's apartment. See I told you I am not a sloth!

I wish I had a picture for you. I'm really sorry. The hike was beautiful. Each day I said "Today is the day that I will take more pictures" Yeah, well that didn't really happen. I ended the trip with a total of about 8 pictures. Bummer. At the end Boyfriend started refusing to take another "self taken" picture. You know the ones where you pose with your heads close together with one arm out taking the picture??? I know you know what I am talking about.

So one last picture... I'm pretty sure this was taken Friday afternoon... it's another metro picture. I'm sorry. The lighting in the Metro is awful but I was just too happy to be with B that I had to take another.

Picture from Instagram

I had such a great time in the District. Such a great, awesome, lovely time. Can't wait for my next trip. 

Maybe more on my outfits later. It's late...

Guest Post ~ Lou Lou in DC

Hello!

I have the privilege today to share another guest post from B! When we lived together in DC I was constantly raiding her closet and desperately miss her (and her closet) now in San Diego! Today she is sharing a fun find in DC. Maybe if you're in the area you'll check it out or share (with a comment) how much you already love it!

One of the other more sparkly things in town that I love is Lou Lou Boutique. One location is in DuPont Circle, the other around Metro Center (near the Ford’s Theatre, which is part of the Smithsonian and therefore free to the public, and has a really exceptional museum/tour by the way). 

This quaint store has many sparkly and fun things. Earrings, headbands, necklaces, bracelets, hand bags and rings to your hearts delight. It has a super cute, shabby chic style, not quite as alternative/indie as urban outfitters or Anthropologie and less expensive! I believe this fun find originated in northern Virginia, as there are also 4 locations in that area. 

You can go to: www.loulouboutiques.com for more information! 

Boyfriend and I are headed to DC the first weekend in June and I am definitely going to have to drag him to Lou Lou to check it out! 

Thanks for sharing B!

I hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! I'll be camping and I'll try and do a mobile post!

~Elise

Guest Post ~ Biking Fun in DC with B!

Alright everybody, I am so excited to introduce my absolute bestie. Her name is B and she lives in Washington DC where we met at school, and she is going to GUEST POST! I just shared with her that I was writing a blog and it seems like a perfect fit to also have her add to it and give it a little East Coast flair! So here she is Miss B!

Here we are berry picking in college! More on that if you wanna know... let me know!

Let me start by saying that I am honored to be a guest blogger on “Sparkle at Twenty-Something”! 

I am a young professional living in Washington, DC and would love to share how I make my life Sparkle at Twenty-Something in the District (and on a budget). 

Capital Bikeshare is one of my favorite new programs in the District, designed to get DC residents exercising, having fun around the city and also offering a new style for commuting. Recently I spent a day with my boyfriend biking around town, running errands and enjoying the beautiful spring weather. 

A one-day pass is $5 for the first 30 minutes that you bike. After 30 minutes you get charged a small fee per hour you have the bike out. There are 114 pods of bikes are the area so we made sure we returned out bikes every 30 minutes to not get charged extra. 

It sounds inconvenient but with at least one pod in every neighbor of DC it was not at all hard.  This is great whether you are a resident or visiting in town. You can also get yearlong memberships if you live in the area. 

Here is a picture of me, looking maybe not as sparkly as I would have liked, but wearing and helmet and being safe comes with some sacrifices!

I love them. End of story. ~E

As well as my boyfriend and me with our bikes in front of the White House. 

You can go to: www.capitalbikeshare.com for more information! 

Well that’s all I have for now! Thanks for reading and make sure to check back with “Sparkle at Twenty-Something” for more exciting posts! 

-B