Remember a few weeks ago, I told you about the Colorectal Cancer Coalition‘s bid to win a $25,000 social media makeover?  Well, the race is close and the end is near, so they need EVERY vote they can get.  Their executive director, Carlea Bauman, was recently given the opportunity to attend and speak at a health care town hall with Vice President Joe Biden and his staff, urging the creation of a national colorectal cancer screening program for the uninsured and underinsured.  Important work like this needs all the support we can give, so if you haven’t already voted for them to win this social media makeover, please click on the badge to the left!  And can you do me one more solid?  If you have a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter page or a lovely bus sign, please spread the word!  I just recently had a colonoscopy and my doctor was able to find and remove a polyp before it became malignant.  Had I not known the importance of screening and early detection, that polyp could have led to colon cancer.  And I am very lucky that my sister is still with us today because of early detection.  So please, vote and spread the word!

Oh and one last thing.  The Boy and I are heading out to the Shenandoah Valley for a little vacation and won’t be back for about a week!  It’s an early anniversary celebration, so laptops will not be brought along (shocking, I know).  But always thinking of you guys, I have scheduled a few posts to keep you occupied while I rest and relax (not sure I really know how to relax, but I’ll give it a try!).  Having never scheduled posts to publish before, I’m not sure this will work.  So if need be talk amongst yourselves.  I’ll give you a topic: peanut butter is neither peanut nor butter.  Discuss!

“Might as well Jump!”

And that is what I’m doing tomorrow morning at 10 am.  Much to the chagrin of The Boy and most of my co-workers, my friend Carmen and I are heading out to Virginia to jump out of a perfectly good plane.  I’m quite excited, even if this may be my last post on Earth (joking).  This is something I’ve always wanted to do, even though I have a seriously wicked fear of heights.  But I figure if I can do this, I can do anything (insert Rocky theme music here).  Pictures will be taken, so there will be photographic evidence to share with you all!  So around 10 am tomorrow morning, send out good thoughts into the universe, as I hurl myself out of a plane…a perfectly functional plane.

After an endless stream of apartment viewings (which included one woman claiming the apartment was “only three blocks to the Metro”…yeah, if you meant three blocks in dog years), I am happy to report that I have conquered the DC rental market and found a fabulous new home in Columbia Heights!  While it saddens me to be leaving the first neighborhood in DC I called home, I am unbelievably excited about my new condo!  I move in a few weeks, so my blog posts will probably be sporadic until mid April.  I will, however, try to post at least one entry a week, although they will probably be more about the food scene in DC and less about cooking (I am after all packing up a large percentage of my kitchen starting this weekend).  But as soon as I’m unpacked and settled in my new place, I’ll be back to whipping up food porn in no time (and it will certainly help that my new kitchen made me weak in the knees when I first saw it – almost as much as the Boy did when I first met him…notice I said almost).

With all this change in my life, I have decided to slightly tweak Adventures in Shaw (and no, I’m not changing it to Adventures in Columbia Heights…just doesn’t have that same ring, you know?).  I have always been a proponent of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement.  But since moving to DC, I have become more active in the local food scene and more conscientious about how I eat.   I now buy a majority of my groceries from farmers markets (including my meats, dairy, produce and even granola) and have become that oddball label reader during my increasingly rare trips to the grocery store.  With such changes in my personal eating habits, it seems only natural to reflect them in my little place in the food blogosphere. 

I will be highlighting more in season and regional produce in my cooking and am in the process of working with a fellow DC food blogger on a possible cross blog project (more on that once details are hashed out).  And although I adore my new blog design, I may be going back to the drawing board for a new look that reflects these changes.  Whew!  That’s a lot of changin’ for a girl who still has a blankie from when she was a kid (I can’t sleep without it…and have been known to threaten people who go near it).  Either way, please bear with me as Adventures in Shaw goes through some changes…I promise it won’t hurt too much!

Yes it was freezing; yes the logistics were not the greatest; yes a lot of people even with tickets to the Inauguration didn’t get in at all.  But it was worth every bit of hassle to be a part of history.  Being a part of the huge crowd and witnessing President Obama take the oath of office brought tears to my eyes.  We met some wonderful people and everyone was so excited, joyful and happy.  The video I took wasn’t the best (and I still can’t get the video I took of Obama’s Inauguration speech to upload to YouTube or Facebook) but it is one of my proudest possessions.  I am humbled and honored to have been there.  And I wanted to share these pictures with you.  Whether you agree or not with his political stand, at least marvel at so many people gathering to celebrate our country!

I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking this past week…I was sick for a part of it and then the Inauguration excitement took over the holiday weekend.  But I will be back tomorrow with the first installment of Bittman Thursdays and I’m still on the hunt for DC’s best burger (thank you for all the restaurant suggestions…keep them coming)! Next up, my review of DC Chophouse’s burger.

So as you all know, I live in DC and right about now is one of the most exciting times to live here.  The city is alive with hope and promise and I am moved to tears at the majesty of it all.  Being here at this time in history only makes me love DC even more (and I wasn’t sure I could love a city any more than I loved DC before all of this).

I took a bunch of pictures yesterday while out and about in the city and I wanted to share some of them with you.  It doesn’t matter who you supported in the election…what matters is we all come together and celebrate how far this nation has truly come.  This morning, we’re heading down to the Mall to watch the Inauguration of our 44th President of the United States…and I am honored to be able to say “I was there”.  And don’t worry, I will take TONS of pictures so you guys feel like you were there too…

Just wanted to introduce you guys to the newest members of the Shaw Girl family! This afternoon we went and picked up Roo (on the right) and Scout (on the left) from the Humane Society Shelter in Washington, DC, two adorable little sisters who needed a home. Roo is spunky and fiesty while Scout is a bit more reserved (but still sassy in her own right)! They’re scamps, they’re sweet and they’re oh so fierce!

It is with an unbelievably heavy heart that I write this post.  On Monday, my beloved Squeaker (known on here as The Diva) was put to sleep to ease the suffering she was going through.  She was not just my cat, but my absolute buddy through thick and thin.  She was there for every single moment of my adult life and helped me through some very low points.  I am at a loss for words that can adequately express what she meant to me but a very dear friend of mine sent me an email after learning of Diva’s passing.  Hopefully he won’t mind that I shared his words with you:

“Sadness and mourning allow us time to reflect on what has passed in our lives. Although I did not know your cat, I know you. If you’re anything like me, animals help maintain our sense of balance. Anyone who has loved their pet knows how important they are to keep a measure of sanity in a sometimes insane world. For a very long time, Squeaker gave you a sense of certainty and the amazing gift of unqualified love, that much I know. Now that that certainty is gone, you might feel off-balance. You will persevere.”

“Our love for our animals is painful in the end, that much is true. I know when I lost my dogs and my cat, I felt as if a piece of me had died too. For the longest time I couldn’t think of them without crying. It hurts, they are family. When no one else is there, they are there. Nothing is more valuable than the happiness they give. I’m sure Squeaker was no exception. The pain may seem unbearable now, but in the future you may temper that sadness with the shear volume of love your cat gave you. The happiness you two experienced will never be replaced. You can call yourself lucky that you had love without question. Nothing will ever replace your friend, but the memories of love, companionship, and happiness will live on in her place.”

DC is in mourning today as we are all dealing with the shock of Tim Russert’s passing yesterday.  He wasn’t just a great journalist, he was a devoted family man and a strong lover of all things DC.  He was a member of this community that I have grown to love and cherish; a Nats fan, a believer in giving back to his community (he was heavily involved in the Boys and Girls Club of DC, among many other charities in and around the DC area) and a true lover of politics.  

Every Sunday morning, I would pull out my Washington Post, turn on Meet the Press and munch on one of the many breakfast treats I loved to make.  Unlike a lot of the spin doctors of today’s media, Tim was a neutral host of Meet the Press, asking everyone the hard questions, regardless of their political affiliation.  He wasn’t an attack dog like O’Reilly but he didn’t let his guests off the hook either.  I wasn’t always a political junkie but when the bug hit me over a decade ago, Meet the Press became my go to show.  And Tim Russert had a way of explaining things that made politics more palatable to those who found it off putting.  He was approachable, yet still very much a newsman.  The void he leaves behind can never truly be replaced.  I shudder to think what will become of Meet the Press, but this Sunday, I plan a special breakfast in honor of Tim.  

And I raise my tea glass and whisk to him and his family….