Things I will travel back to DC to do
Last Friday, almost 23 years to the day after I arrived in DC to start law school, we sold our house. We’re moving to Los Angeles in August, and I couldn’t be more excited.
We are going to have a blast, and it feels like the right time to make this change. I am going to miss DC very much though, especially because of the incredible framily we have made there.
I love DC, but I have always been very hard on it. It’s where all of the most amazing things in my life happened. I met the love of my life (non-Bruiser category), graduated from law school, got married, had two beautiful babies, had four different careers, opened three different businesses, and adopted the best dog in the history of dogs (Bruiser). In terms of services, the pandemic closed a lot of our favorite places (including Biker Barre) and there’s a reason that I have always shopped, gotten my hair cut, and eaten sushi elsewhere.
As we headed out of town, we tried to do all of “our” things one last time. There weren’t a ton of places on our list, but the things I love, I really, really love. Here is a short list of stuff I will continue to do in DC, even if I have to travel to do them:
I started doing lashes the month before my older daughter was born in 2012, and have kept them up pretty much since then. For the last seven years (including outside during the pandemic) I have been going to Katie and I will find reasons to get to the DMV to keep seeing her on a semi-regular basis. I have had refills in Miami, New York, Paris, Cape Cod, and who even knows where else, and have never found anyone who comes close to as good as she is. Of course there are people in LA who do great lashes, and I will try to find them, but luckily, Katie is only a plane flight away for special events and lash emergencies. She also introduced me to:
One of the best aesthetician’s I have ever met. Her microdermabrasion facial is magic, and it’s the reason I haven’t had to take extraordinary measures with my face yet. It’s hard to believe that I look forward to her taking what amounts to a very small power sander to my face, but I do.
Do you love your primary care physician? I love mine and I am absolutely going to keep seeing him for as long as I can. Dr. Ang is a renowned HIV/AIDS specialist who I accidentally started seeing as my GP when I misread a (printed! it was 2005!) list of endocrinologists and called his number instead. Our first appointment was a little confusing, but we clicked, and I have been seeing him ever since. Here’s what I love about Dr. Ang: he takes as much time as he needs, he runs thorough tests every time you are in the office so you always have a great baseline for everything that matters, he is the least judgmental doctor ever, and he actually listens.
Hair Botox at Sophia La Belle:
I have never really understood the name of this treatment, but who cares what they call it if it works, and it does. I have been straightening my hair in some form since high school. This particular treatment takes the curl and frizz out of my hair but doesn’t flatten it.
Someone once told me not to use someone you actually like as a real estate agent, but I have had great luck working with friends, first with Alison McCubbin (who has since moved to California) and just now with Mary Saltzman. Unless there’s property in DC I don’t know about, I won’t be selling or buying anything there ever again, but you should absolutely use her if you are. Mary is one of the least BS people I know overall, but especially in an industry that is absolutely crawling with nonsense. She was 100% honest with us about what we could expect, didn’t have us jump through a million staging hoops, showed our house 60 times while we were living in it, and eventually got us our full asking price. She and I started walking the same 2 mile route when our big girls were in pre-K, so I have spent a lot of time with her over the years, and can say firsthand that she constantly works her tush off and is a legit hustler in the best possible way.
PS I am not a foodie at all. I am a “supertaster,” which is a real thing, I swear. I don’t like complicated (aka “flavorful,” according to my husband) food, which DC is awash in. I don’t give a ton of restaurant recs, because I realize that the things that make food unappealing to me, like spices, are enjoyable for others. That said, there’s no DC restaurant I am going to miss, but here are two I actually like:
Seriously, it’s a great burrito. It’s my favorite lunch in DC - and there’s not a lot of competition. I used to love the salmon bento at Teaism, but they redid the menu about 10 years ago and sadly got rid of that option. Sweetgreen started in DC and I used to like the Harvest Bowl, but I don’t like goat cheese and they weirdly got rid of the cheddar cheese option a few years ago and I fell out. Burrito Brothers is consistently awesome and they don’t mess up their food with a ton of unnecessary truffle-based additions.
Right after I got to DC in 2000 I went on a few dates with a guy who’s defining characteristics were: (1) he owned his own car AND condo (which, at 35+, was actually not that impressive - I was 21), (2) he was too old for me, and (3) he took me to a bunch of restaurants that ended up staying open for as long as I lived in DC. Perry’s was one of them. Jesse and I took my dad once to the Drag Brunch while we were still in law school, and then we never went back until a few months ago. Big mistake! It ended up being one of our favorite places of all time. The food is delicious, the service is outstanding, and the patio was a total delight when the weather was good enough to sit outside. A+