replaced by every day

On Saturday Alan and I braved the winter cold and went out with some friends. "Going out" is something I haven't done much of recently, and since we didn't leave our apartment until after 9pm, it felt like even more of a special occasion. Look at us, staying out late the way young professionals are supposed to!

We took the metro downtown and met Kim and Daniel at the National Christmas Tree in front of the White House, and to my surprise, even at that hour, there was quite a crowd of people there, huddled around the nearby firepit, taking pictures, trying to find their specific state tree among the circle of regular Christmas trees surrounding the giant one. It was pretty impossible not to feel a little bit of the holiday spirit, especially since we were all bundled up with our heavy jackets, scarves, gloves, and earmuffs, with our breaths making thick white puffs in the air.

I had brought my camera with me, of course, outfitted with my new image-stabilization lens ("Kim and I both forgot to bring our cameras," Daniel said upon our arrival, "but we figured you'd have yours"; I'm glad I didn't let them down), and we took the requisite photos of the four of us in front of the big Tree. They came out about as well as I could have hoped, considering that it was nighttime, we were backlit by a giant glowing tree, and we had to get a random passerby who didn't know how to use my SLR to take it for us.

Afterwards, we walked the five blocks to Tonic Restaurant & Bar in Foggy Bottom, where we found a table right under one of the heating vents and defrosted with some beers. Alan left soon after to meet up with some other friends of his who were headed to Georgetown, while Daniel, Kim and I had another round, passing the time talking about work, how our Thanksgivings went, Christmas schedules, inauguration, and! plans for a possible weekend trip to New York City one of these days. When the bar started to grow empty, we finished up our drinks and got ready to head out, putting on our coats and warm things again. We walked to the Foggy Bottom metro station and waited for our trains: Kim's, a westbound blue line train, came first, so we bid her goodbye; Daniel and I boarded the next blue line train in the opposite direction and rode together a few stops before Daniel had to get off to transfer.

It was only then that I got out my cellphone to check the time and saw that it was past 1am. I had a missed call from Alan, too. After calling him back and learning that he, too, was on his way home (in his friend's car), I spent the rest of the train ride in the relative quiet of the late-night metro-riding crowd, my slight alcohol buzz wearing off, happy at how quickly and how pleasantly the evening had gone by. I think it was the first time I'd been on the Metro that late, and the first time I felt that I wasn't such a stranger in DC anymore.