The show last night was FANTASTIC. If you know me, you know why this is an incredible statement. I hate bar shows, I hate the crowds, the standing, the shuffling, the inability to see, the long sets by bands I’ve never heard of(I even skipped seeing Mike Doughty, who I love, because I didn’t liek the venue he was at). Leave it to Mark to pick bands and a venue that would change all that for me. We got there, met our friend James (who doesn’t have a website but should), and managed to be early enough to be at the stage.
The first band was okay, I think everyone liked them more than I did. They weren’t bad, just not great. The second band, Rogue Wave was very very good. They rocked hard. AC Newman was the headliner and was also incredibly good. The keyboard/guitar guy was right above me, we played a little eye tag, that made my night. Mark has incredibly good taste in music.
So, after hours of rocking out, and many vodka tonics, Mark drove us over to DC culinary institution Ben’s Chili Bowl for 2am chili cheese fries! We talked, we laughed, we talked some more. Sitting there at 2:30 in the morning with people who are genuinely fun and interesting, just cemented my decision to move here.
Back at the hotel by 3am. The stress, the running, the 4 week low grade fever, the 2am chili-cheese fries, the decisions, everything that sits on my soul lately just came crashing down. Unfortunately, there’s no one you can call in the middle of the night. I rode it out til dawn and called my mom. Mom’s are good, you can call them, bawling your head off and they make it better with just a sentence or two. Lovely.
Mark picks me up in the morning and we head to Virginia to an Indian Buffet brunch. Yeah, that’s right…brunch, in Virginia, an Indian Buffet! I met a lot of Mark’s friends and ate a lot of Indian food (though not as much as I would have, 2am chili cheese fries…).
After brunch we headed to Whole Foods where we discovered they had no espresso!!!!! I left Mark with the cryptic shopping list and headed to Starbucks (there’s one on EVERY corner). Crisis averted I found Mark, harassed the uninformed cheese counter lady and we headed back to his place with the fixings for a very nice meal.
Dinner was rack of lamb with a beurre rouge, mashed yukon golds with burnt green onions and asparagus with lemon butter. Mark’s friend Amy joined us. Personally, I think there is nothing more fulfilling than feeding people good food and to watch Mark and Amy inhale their dinners was satisfying, I even gave Mark my last lamb chop just to watch him enjoy it.
I go home tomorrow, James is taking me to the airport after I have a last lunch with Mark. I know I’ll cry, I’m a girl like that, but if anything was made clear to me this weekend it was that I am making the right choice.