The best part..

.. of an expected, but more or less unplanned visit to a good friend is that staying up until 1 a.m. or later (earlier?) talking about come what may after an evening hanging out and chatting and playing poker* doesn't necessarily interfere with any plans for the following morning. Because there aren't any. Or at least none that can't be changed.

Our plan for this afternoon begins with brunch, massages and facials, followed by a jog over to Georgetown to visit Lush and maybe get some henna, and then a run up to Capitol Hill to explore Stitch DC (oh, but I see they have a Georgetown store, too, so we might just go to that one since we'll be there anyway). Then there's the idea of going to Eastern Market for crabcakes. Mmm.

Yup, yup. The fun gets pre-empted tomorrow afternoon, though, when I have to head out to Potomac for the AIR/NCES Summer Data Policy Institute. Which I am looking forward to, just not as much as I am looking forward to today.

* I'm not, by nature, a poker player. I generally understand how to play, but have only actually played any kind of poker a couple times. Last night, the game of choice was Texas Hold 'Em, which I'd never played. But Kevin explained it, it's not that difficult a concept, and I'm a statistician by training** so games of chance make a certain intuitive sense. It was fun, and not only because my little pile of black chips kept growing. *smile*

** It runs deep into my subconscious, in fact. The first time I underwent sedation dentistry, the dentist checked in with me at one point and asked me to rate my comfort level on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being very uncomfortable. The next time he checked in with me, he reversed the scale and I "caught" him. I remember none of this - the drugs used for sedation dentistry keep you conscious and responsive throughout the procedure, but with absolutely no memory of what happened. It's a little strange, but far preferrable to the alternatives.