Your good deed o' the week, maybe.

OK, kids. A little change of pace. I don't usually go around asking for support, but this Saturday, I'll be taking to the DC public schools with a paintbrush and a toolbox as part of a city-wide effort to spruce up the schools. (Ha ha, I'm not sure they know what they're in for. Who wants to bet I get relegated to "supervising duty" within the first hour?) The Servathon project is organized by Greater DC Cares, a really excellent nonprofit here that organizes an ongoing schedule of diverse community volunteer opportunities year-round (I'm also on the roster of their regular volunteers).

This is their major annual fundraiser, and I've done a paltry job so far of helping get the word out. If you can, please sponsor me in the Servathon and help raise money for a fantastic cause. It's definitely okay if you don't (except if you are my parents or my brother – I'm expecting at least $5 from you in the name of family harmony!), but I thought some of you who can't actively participate might be willing to consider this your good deed this week. Plus, if I can reach my donation goals, maybe the other kids on my painting team will be friends with me.

Thank you so very much in advance. Be back soon with pictures!

A Very D.C. Weekend

Does taking pictures of geometrical ceilings of the D.C. Metro station ever get old? I think not.

Now that spring has sprung (at least some of the time), it's been great fun getting out and doing various D.C.-y things. We kicked off our personal "Spring in the Nation's Capital" calendar of events last Friday at the Hirshhorn After Hours party, a semi-regular Friday night gathering during the warmer months. The premise is pretty simple: Come, drink, view some contemporary art, listen to some live performances (I really enjoyed the hyped-up antics of dancing duo Hooliganship, best viewed through 3-D glasses. Fun!). Frankly, I'd invite anyone who talks down D.C.'s fashion scene to hit up this event -- it was like a non-stop parade of cute and inventive outifts. We were impressed! I also thought that maybe I should have sported something more daring than my scoop-neck, super-belted LBD (which is really cute, but slightly restrained, though it didn't really matter because I had to keep my coat on the whole time anyway). Um, wait, this isn't my fashion blog? Sorry about that.

Anyway, the Hirshhorn, in all its rounded utilitarian goodness, is infinitely photographable. Also: Great gift shop!





is this art? no, it's actually my bootie. {um, but not my booty. very important distinction.}





so, for as long as i live in d.c., you're going to be seeing a lot of the metro. it's too fun!

Saturday dawned bright and partly cloudy, perfect for our first league soccer game. Now, I signed up for the team on the promise of post-game Bloody Marys and because they were desperately in need of females to meet the league requirements. Probably because, I later realized, all the other women had quit as it's actually a slightly serious league of people who do things like head the ball. And run a little too fast, for my liking. And, to top it all off, I never even got a Bloody Mary. Hrumpf.

The best part is that the field is down on the Mall, just between the Lincoln and Washington memorials. So you get a nice dose of nationalistic pride and get to amuse lots of sightseeing tourists with your lack of stamina and coordination.




Post-game, we took a long walk around the cherry blossoms (now in peak blossomy form!) and around the city. I tried to get Mike to do a cartwheel on the Mall, but he refused. He did pose in the mirror, however:


Also, just wanted to report that Peeve and Commander Robot are as ridiculous as ever. Here is Commander Robot's new favorite resting post:
those back legs kill me!

Peeve is more into chasing her tail in the bathtub and meowing as loud as possibly when there is not a warm lap readily available.


More from our Nation's Capital will be coming soon! We've still got like 90 more monuments to go. Hurrah!

Spring! Spring!

So, it's spring! Which means: a) Flowers! b) Cute spring clothes in lots of fun colors! c) I actually am starting to want to leave the apartment, which means there will soon be nice long walks, which means there will soon be pretty new photographs to spruce up this sadly neglected site.

Most of the pics that would have been here were put on the other site as of late, like in this post and this post, both from last month's New York adventure. But really, if you're only going to read one post from the fashion site, it should definitely be this one, in which I rubbed shoulders (almost literally!) with Katie Holmes and Madonna and Orlando Bloom.

Okay, so this was mostly just to say hi (hi!) and to promise fun, pink, flowery photos to come. As soon as the temperature gets a litttttle higher. Like at least the upper 50s. What? Singapore has spoiled me; I get easily chilled with anything less.

China: The Greatest Hits

About two years ago, in the midst of moving from Beijing to Singapore, I sorted through my thousands of China photographs and narrowed down the list to about 60 favorites. Almost all of these have appeared on this site at one point over the past four years, but not all together in one big, happy package like this. China was full of a never-ending stream of photo opportunities, from my home in Beijing to trips to the far reaches of the country (which was always incredibly fun and exciting, but which just may be the site of some of the yuckiest public toilets in history. Never mind, let's not go there.)

I hope to do a Southeast Asia Greatest Hits collection from my time in Singapore but there are even more photographs to sort through from those two years, which is kind of incredibly daunting. Give me about nine rainy Saturdays to finish up. In the meantime, hope you enjoy.