This weekend marks the happiest D.C. has been in eight years, when this bluest of blue cities grudgingly had to allow access to a Republican president whose victory in the 2000 election was still questioned by many.

Yes, we have to share our space with hordes of tourists who don’t know escalator etiquette (please stand on the right, leaving the left for those who don’t want to wait) or Metro etiquette (don’t block the doors, either as a passenger continuing on to a later stop or as someone hoping to get on the train) and who clog our restaurants. But since they’re here to celebrate something that our residents are ecstatic over, we’ll welcome them and try to cut them some slack.

Yesterday, I managed to squeeze into a fancy dress long enough to determine that I don’t need to buy a new one for Tuesday’s Hill Ball. Hooray! Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that I do need to find some shoes. Each time I go to a fancy event the shoes that I wore go to Goodwill as I continue the hunt for the perfect pair of dressy shoes suitable for city walking.

Today we’re heading down to the Mall for the concert of Famous People. U2, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, JT, Pete Seeger, and others all singing for free. How could I not be there? We’re currently finding our warmest layers — my heaviest sweater is coming into rotation, as are my wool knee socks, and Rudi’s thermal bottoms. And I tracked down hand and foot warmers yesterday, so hopefully we’ll be good. I did not finish the pair of mittens I started yesterday, but I got further than one might have expected.

Tomorrow, we’re volunteering over at RFK for a little while to help put together care packages for soldiers (and hunting for the aforementioned shoes).

And Tuesday we’ll venture out for a bit to see a bit of the scene, but our Northwest D.C. crew are expecting to turn back eventually and find a bar to watch the action on t.v. We’re heading over to Cap Hill for an unofficial ball, complete with swing band, so Rudi and I are hoping to spend time dancing.

We’ll update as the weekend progresses!