The Perfect Day

It was the kind of day where we didn't look at our watches until, well, until we did. No cares about time. Our clock was our stomachs and our feet (and the number of bags we could carry).

For what will likely be my last Girlie Hurrah, Sugarplum, 31204ever, and I decided to spend the day in downtown DC.

Started at Zaytinya. One of my favoritist places on the planet.

Neither of the girls had been there for more than drinks, so I was thrilled to share the food with them...we ordered two mezze at a time, so paced it perfectly, and rounded it out with Steve Klc's brilliance.

lemonatha - sparkling lemonade with orange blossom water...perfect.

banjtijan bil laban - fried eggplant with roasted garlic yogurt sauce. butter. absolute buttah.

spanikopita - how in the world they manage to make their own phyllo, I have no idea, but they do. And it's worth it. I'll never tire of it.

let's not forget the freshest, pipingist hot, steamiest bread with olive oil and pomegranate reduction.

arni souvlaki - lamb kabob with a yogurt cumin sauce. so tender, it melts.

sea scallops with yogurt-dill sauce (see a sauce pattern here?!). more buttah.

debate, debate, debate. smart waitress reminds me about the shrimp.

garides me anitho - sauteéd shrimp with dill, shallots, mustard, lemon juice. i'm neither a huge seafood nor mustard fan, but these are so tender, sweet, and juicy that i'll cross major amounts of traffic to get to them.

patates tiganites me yourti "agaia kremezi" - basically, the best french fries ever. fried in olive oil and served with a huge spoonful of yogurt on top. heaven.

pause while we debate desserts. two were easy choices: turkish coffee chocolate (deepest chocoloate, espresso, and cardamom - more of my favorite flavors) and turkish delight (my description: deconstructed baklava).

finally decided on a summery blood orange, wine gelée and citrus sorbet (think one was grapefruit) concoction to round it out. the wine gelée was the coolest thing ever. a girl could get drunk on it.

then we all had the same idea: H&M. Walking distance. Sales.

Couldn't tell you how long we were in the store, but we actually braved the dressing room lines and each managed to find a few new "essentials." Florals were high on our list (Sugarplum a skirt, 31204ever a top), and we discovered more good basics (one of the main reasons to hit the store, in my opinion), and the little known fact that H&M has M clothes. Yup, M clothes. H&MMama, the line's called. Same adorable hipness, just with room for The Bean. They didn't have a sexy cute cherry print top in my size, so I consoled myself with a sexy mama (H is going to love it) dress. It's already slated for M & Sugarplum's annual BBQ next weekend.*

My M feet were killing me at this point, so Starbucks to the rescue (and thanks to Sugarplum's students for the gift card that got us our treats). Rest, rest, rest, then on to Macy's.

31204ever was on a hunt for, as she put it, "non-boring tops" to wear to work, so we scoured the racks @ Macy's - to no real avail, though there were definitely some cute pieces. I picked up a pair of pants for H for his foray in to prepdom (baby blue cotton slacks - I nearly fell over when he showed them to me - not his normal style) and another comfy bra for me (let's just say that things change with The Bean).

Then home.

It was the perfect, leisurely day with two of the most wonderful women in the world. No hurries, no worries...just time spent together...and, of course, in the most stylish way.

*I only wish that we could share pics - silly H&M still hasn't put pics on its website.