jared turns 27

Jared's birthday always swoops in right when I think winter is about to get the best of us. Celebrating my favorite human coincidently becomes my saving grace. We agree that it works out nicely. SO! With a new city to play in & cold, rainy, March weather in abundance, we made our way through almost my entire itinerary, only cutting out the lobster roll stop because the birthday boy wasn't feeling 100% & no one wants lobster rolls ruined.

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I don't really know why we started taking polaroids as our birthday wake-up call, but I figure if we can keep it up & polaroid film doesn't disappear off the face of the planet, we'll have a cool & really weird collection of photos to look back on in 30 years.

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Birthday breakfast in bed, always. 

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The cold march to Dupont

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First stop & first time at the legendary Kramerbooks. It was everything I hoped a Dupont bookstore would be.

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I managed to only peruse while Jared picked out a new novel, beings that I have quite the stack of unfinished books on my bedside table. He picked up some Chabon & I'm going to try my hardest not to read over his shoulder in the evenings.

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Fancy pork belly ramen for lunch. No better time of year for ramen & pho taste testing than the dreary winter.

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Hey there, 27 year old husband. Goin' my way?

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It was a perfect museum day, so we wandered over to visit The Phillips Collection to finally check that museum visit off our ever-growing list of places to visit in the city. So incredible to see their Man Ray exhibit. MATH!

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What's a birthday without a little Monet?

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Do not be surprised if our future nursery is inspired by this painting.

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This is one of Jared's favorite paintings, thanks to his mama's admiration of it. We stayed in this room for awhile, just looking. So happy to have someone to stand next to as we stare at Impressionist paintings in cities all over the world.

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DEGAS! DEGAS DEGAS DEGAS! This is my favorite painting by my favorite artist. I got a decent heaping of Degas in Paris, but THIS! It was basically my birthday, too. 

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I take these street pictures because someday walking the streets of DC as a part of our daily routine will seem like another lifetime. 

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He is so handsome. I just. Ugh. & that salt & pepper? Excuse me? #likeafinewine #hottereveryyear

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Had to document this for posterity. I am so sad to admit that I am not the giver of the card to end all birthday cards. No, no. It was from Andrew. Bravo, good sir.

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This looks pretty gross, but I can assure you, it was delicious. J's standing birthday cake request is brownies + coffee ice-cream, so to mix things up, I made an olive oil & sea salt monster cookie with salted caramel & espresso ice cream. It was decadent.  Jared claims it miraculously healed him & I don't actually doubt it. It was that good. We followed this up with a beer tasting with some of his friends down the street, & I'm certain the chocolate perfectly prepped our palates ;)

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Jared, wonderful Jared - I know I said happy birthday 1,000 times (in between freaking out that you're 27 because omgggg you're TWENTY-SEVEN) but I'm saying it again. Happy birthday, my love. 26 was such a journey for you & I am excited for this year's wild ride, & every adventure it holds. I love you with all of me.