The DC area is actually a pretty great place to live. We have numerous museums, most of which are free, and some landmarks of American history in our many memorials and monuments. Unlike mindyklasky, I almost never go to any of them! In fact, now that my company moved to Arlington, I hardly go into DC at all.

But last night I went to a really cool Washington place, the Bohemian Caverns in Northeast DC, a jazz club with a storied past. Jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and John Coltrane have played there. The place is distinctive; you descend narrow, winding stairs into a basement room transformed to a cave-like setting. The restaurant upstairs serves (very yummy) nouvelle Southern-style food. A friend and I went to dinner and then caught a show by another friend and co-worker who goes by the stage name of Changamire. The show was wonderful, but it was also neat because here was this woman I work with every day— a nice woman, but she's so quiet, she's almost shy— on stage wearing a slinky dress and dangling earrings, and filling the room with a mellow sound. She did a long set of several numbers, some original, some old favorites. Georgia on my Mind was probably my favorite, but her version of My Favorite Things was wonderful because she took something familiar and made it new and different and yet somehow still the same song— almost like she herself was new and different and yet still the same person.

It was a wonderful evening. We really should do that again.