high/low lights

Today took me to the Chinatown neighborhood of DC for an Aveda appointment.  Was delighted by this crosswalk with all the Chinese Zodiac animals. 

After our wild week of tornado watches and winds, it was nice to walk around on a mild spring day.  The Metro ride is always interesting~it feels a bit like the montage from Father of The Bride II where one person looks out the car window and sees only loving/ideal families and the person looking out the other side of the car sees only hellions.  There are equal mixtures of children/homeless/tourists that fall into both of those camps on weekend rides.

One of my favorite things to do is to wander a city~slightly unknown makes it even more of an adventure. One never knows what will unfold.  Today~I stumbled upon this incredible diner and I had just enough time before my appointment to have lunch.  I will definitely be going back.

My hairs have been going to the Aveda Institute since my Seattle years~they're a great company and by allowing students to practice on your head, it's much cheaper than other salons.  Have always had a great experience, so today was felt odd as my student was brusque and almost yanking my hairs around.  

Began to chat and she finally told me that she has four kids (4, 6, 8, 10) and she spent the past two days being with her ex-husband in the ICU.  To say that she was spread thin and a little stressed is to barely scratch the surface of her life.  She graduates this month from the Institute and is cramming for state boards and trying to juggle motherhood/school and now, a very sick ex.

Despite her exhaustion and stress, she did a fab job with my hairs.  Other people's stories~always worth hearing.  (I may make an exception for the teenager who was telling the entire subway car about her life. With SnapChat illustrations.)

And to amuse myself while sitting in traffic, I counted 23 different state license plates on I-95 this afternoon~only two were on a U-Haul and a semi~that's a whole lotta melting pot going on in this region.