Cous Cous and the Reason America Sucks.....

This weekend I had an adventure. Being directionally challenged and afraid of driving around places I'm unfamiliar with tends to cramp my natural sense of exploration...but this weekend, my friends, was different. This weekend I was Richmond bound. On the open road*, just me, an over packed duffel, a bottle of Smart Water**, and my Navigation.....oh and some apple slices. (Pre-sliced from Trader Joe's-- do yourself a favor and check them out.) I was pretty nervous for the drive, if we're being honest, but it was easy, and totally worth it to spend time with some of my best friends. I was going to stay with my friend Sarah Elizabeth (SE) since she is wonderful and comes to stay with me in DC a lot. I owed her a trip. A few other friends were going to be in Richmond, including my roommate from college who I hadn't seen in forever, so I knew it was a perfect weekend to go.

Within minutes of getting there SE and I headed out to get coffee at this little cafe that was super cute. I can drink coffee at any time of the day, it's one of my super powers, and she had been planning on a "ginormous diet coke," all morning. Perfect. We also ordered a Meze Platter which consisted of Tomatos, Cucumbers, Olives, Hummus and some grilled pita bread. Delish. Right next to the cafe was this cute little farmer's/open air market that had just a motley assortment of things-- jewelry, vegetables, sweaters...the essentials. I don't see things like this too often in Fairfax so I was pretty excited to walk through. It was a small little set up, so we got through it quick and started the walk back to SE's apartment. We turned down one particular street to see a man sitting against a building with an assortment of CDs and other wares (crap you could find in the backseat of a car) sitting in front of him...the following exchange occurred.

Salesman: You guys want to buy a CD? Everything is a dollar. Got to feed me and me and my cats. I have a lot of them. (Cats or CDs??)


SE and I : Keep in mind we are in the middle of deep "we haven't seen each other in a month" conversation.... OK so we said nothing......


Salesman: You all don't have to be rude. Snooty witches*** Just keep on walking. You are the reason America sucks.

To blame only two people for your perceived state of America, to me, is a pretty strong statement. We are the reason America sucks?? SE and I? Just walking along trying to catch up? We're not the ones peddling CDs to feed what sounds like an irresponsible number of cats to own Sir.... and we're not name calling. Sticks and stones, that's what we always say.... I mean maybe it was a little rude of us not to say, no thanks, but really do you owe that courtesy to a man yelling at you from the ground when you are clearly otherwise engaged? You decide. I say no.

Still, I was a little rattled by this, I said to SE--- "is this normal? People just yelling at you??" She said yes and proceeded to tell me things that happened to her just recently. Yikes, Richmond is lucky it's so cute and has good hummus.

We didn't let our altercation with the hobo sorry, not so pc... get in the way of our fun. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with my roommate from college, watching a little football, and yes getting more coffee. When it was time to dinner we headed out and ended up at this little place called Cous Cous. It was adorable, and we ordered pita platter with chicken. Yes hummus again....SE and I learned this weekend that contrary to popular belief, we can subsist on hummus and red wine alone. We finished up dinner, met up with our friend Caitlin who had just gotten into town, and headed to our friend Dave's to enjoy a few libations before heading out. SE and I picked up a bottle of wine on the way, we got to Dave's and she proceeded to pour the whole bottle into two glasses. It was going to be a good night. When we finally made it out, we patronized a bar called Three Monkeys. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted to do-- we got a table and just got to talk and catch up and drink red wine. (And Soco and Lime and Tequila..oops) The rest is a little fuzzy, but I know the remainder of the night involved a cab driver from Barbados, Domino's pizza, Teen Mom on demand, and a lot of fun with wonderful people. Perfect weekend, and totally worth the trip.



*95 for the most part
** I heard Jennifer Aniston drinks 100 ounces a day.
*** With a B