Friends With a Capitol 'F'

As I mentioned on Thursday, Michael and I spent a long weekend in Washington, visiting my friends and (a little bit of) family. The first night we went straight to my favorite restaurant in town, Lauriol Plaza. Although it's moved to a new location since my D.C. days, the food (and margaritas) are as good as ever. We got together with my girls Kristen, Kandy and Jean. As we reminisced we really couldn't believe that we'd been friends for more than a dozen years -- and seen each other through a lot of ups and downs during that time. Kandy -- who's getting married next month -- was saying how she feels like we haven't changed a bit. We all had to agree, although a quick flip through my photo albums might beg to differ, if only a bit ...

Later that night we met up with my friend Keith whom I hadn't seen in ages. His big smile and infectious laugh took me back nearly 20 years and reminded me why we'd become such good friends. On Day Two my brother Bill drove us out to visit our dad's grave at Arlington. It was my first visit since his funeral back in November 2005. The headstone turned out beautifully.

On Friday night my friend Ken (right) had us over for a little cocktail party along with Donald and Jim -- plus Jim's visiting sister and niece. We had a lot of fun and Ken's new apartment is just fab.
On Saturday Michael and I took one of those double-decker bus tours. Silly as it was, it was a great way to see a lot of the city that is normally overlooked, including the gorgeous National Cathedral and a bird's eye view to all of the monuments and the Capitol (see top photos). We jumped off the bus in Georgetown and as we were making our way down to the harbor an old photo came to mind prompting me to ask Michael to help me recreate the scene (Jane, stop this crazy thing!!!!!) ...