I had the day all mapped out. Park at Crystal City, Metro downtown for a meeting, lunch at Teaism (be still my heart), Metro back to Crystal City for another meeting, fetch car and drive to Old Town to see friends for dinner. I wore my suit and my new shoes.
The whole thing fell apart because I misunderstood the map I’d looked at of the Crystal City underground. I’ve lived here since high school, but somehow I’ve never been in the Crystal City underground. It’s forever down there – forever if you’re walking from one end to the other and wearing new shoes. I swear I walked five miles today. Back and forth, up escalators, down ramps, walking, walking, walking. Ironically I got up early today and took a two mile walk, worried I wouldn’t have time for a walk later in the day. My feet are screaming. My calves are mooing. I can’t wait to get these shoes off and go to bed.
The highlight of the day was Teaism, although that wasn’t quite what I had in mind, either. I was really excited about the crabcake sandwich I’d seen advertised Monday night – a coconut crabcake on whole wheat foccacia with a mango creme fraiche served with broccoli and ginger salad. I remember it verbatim ’cause – well, c’mon, it sounds amazing. But that was the Penn Quarter Teaism. Arriving at the Lafayette Square Teaism this afternoon I asked if they had the crabcake sandwich – the cashier said no, they had the buffalo burger. I can only thank my Mother for instilling basic good manners in me that I didn’t reach over and throttle the woman. You simply don’t counter “crabcake sandwich” (and mango creme fraiche) with “buffalo burger”. Not to a woman who’s walked five miles in new shoes.
Anyhoo, I went with the Salmon Bento box and a salty oat cookie, and treated myself to a Ginger Limeade even though I had brought my own water to try and save two bucks. I sat in the sun and ate, practicing putting my fork down between bites. It was really interesting to feel how full I got eating that way.
I had therapy today, too, that was good timing. My therapist reminded me that Mercury is in retrograde, which lends some validity to the funk I’ve been feeling, the chaos that seems to have taken over the lives of all my friends and clients, and the general wackiness in the air. It should all be back to normal come October 20. I’m looking forward to that.
Tags: bento box, chaos, crabcake, frustration, good food, mercury, retrograde, salmon, self care, shoes, teaism, walking
