Yep, I’m counting Monday in there too – it’s a long weekend for most of us (and you should expect us here at We Love DC to push our usual weekly items out a day as well) and we’re going to grab hold and enjoy it as best we can.

Nicole: In an exciting addition to last weekend’s activities, I went to Ikea and subsequently stayed up until 4am framing things, including some fantastic photos by Claude Taylor and photo collages by Matthew Parker. But this weekend I’m taking it to the next level and hanging everything after a trip to Ace hardware. Saturday night I will be celebrating my best friend’s birthday all over Dupont Circle. Look for us at Buffalo Billiards, Lucky Bar and anywhere that will serve food after 1am. I’ll be the one in the cute dress with the Band-Aids on all her fingers. 

Natalia: I can’t help but feel that summer has seriously slipped away from me, without a BBQ sauce stain or sand in my shoes to remind me of it. So making up for it in the last possible weekend. Friday, I am finally going to make it to Jazz in the Sculpture Garden, and pick up goods for a picnic from Seasonal Pantry on the way. Saturday, a few of us are going camping in Shenandoah, to get out of the city and into the woods, with plenty of grilling, hiking and the promise of good views matched with equally impressive sundown drinks. Hopefully, we’ll all make it back in one piece by Monday.

Addison: Lake, dock, boat, beer

Joanna: In honor of a bygone summer and my Isaac-battling friends down South, I’ll be starting this weekend at Jazz in the Garden to hear some good ole Louisiana funk. Saturday morning begins with a well-earned free drink from Northside Social before heading over to the Arlington Flea Market – but it needs to be coffee free (even decaf), so suggestions are welcome. The rest of the weekend will be a mixture of writing and watching other people’s writing at the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage festival, where local playwrights unite for a peek at everyone’s latest work.

Tom: This, I hope, will be the weekend to end all weekends. Okay, that’s too high a bar, but the sentiment is present. This weekend, we’re barbecuing at the house, so preparatory grocery runs to various purveyors of barbecue supply are in order, including Wegmans, 13th Street Meats, DC Brau, and Whole Foods, plus the ever awesome Schneider’s of Capitol Hill for the adult beverages. I’m hoping to finally make it to bike through the Capital Crescent Trail, also, as my 60-mile ride last weekend has me jonesing for more biking and not less.  Much of this will require a car, though, so I’m hoping Eurowerks (né Volkswerks) is done with my trusty steed by then, or I’ll be racking up the Zipcar bills. Monday, I will be raising a cold one for all my friends who do the hard work this city requires to keep it moving, and sweating out the last details before the launch of our Boston affiliate on Tuesday. Happy long weekend, folks!

Don: My firm intention is to celebrate this Labor Day as ironically as possible. I’m considering seeing if I can find someone else to work the muscles to inflate my lungs so I don’t even have to do that. If I’m forced into activity it’s going to be of the most bourgeois sort I can manage. Farmer’s market. Some fried eggs on hash. Beer on the patio or whatever outdoors place I can drag my moldering carcass to early in the weekend – CWG thinks we may get some dampness late Sunday and Monday. Maybe some baseball.

Meanwhile, in a nearby city…

Drea: I’m headed across the pond tomorrow for a hard-earned vacation in Italy, BUT if I was staying I’d dodge all the moving trucks city wide. (Fat chance). I’d head out to Harvard, MA, a beautiful little town, to see my nephews. When I returned, I’d try one of the new restaurants that’s on my watch list like Hops N Scotch or the Tip Tap Room. On Sunday, I’d do a little shopping and eating in the South End, hitting up the Buttery for a coffee before heading to Hudson and Flock to look for new wares.

Jarret: I’ll be kicking off my Labor Day weekend with Friday night beers on the patio of the Sail Loft in the North End. Oh, yes, they have Oreos on-demand. Saturday will be fancier: a former Boston College roommate is getting married at the Boston Harbor Hotel, where there’s sure to be a lot of BC love following Saturday’s football opener against Miami. Never has maroon & gold paired so well with black tie. Sunday will be devoted to launching We Love Beantown– “excited” doesn’t begin to describe the feeling. As a proper send-off to summer, I’m planning a picnic on Georges Island for Monday: cheese always tastes better in the briny air atop a Civil War rampart.

Dan: This weekend I will be focusing on the launch of We Love Beantown. I might go for a bike ride or two.

Dave: Interestingly, this isn’t that different from a We Love Weekends post I’d add in the fall if I was still down in DC, there are just fewer miles I need to travel to make it happen. Friday night, I’m dusting off every solo cup and paper plate I have, testing the grill and loading up my car with tents and chairs to head over to Chestnut Hill and tailgate the crap out of the Boston College football season opener on Saturday. Sunday will involve a long run that takes me from the South End to the Museum of Science and back, along the Charles River. Monday, I’m going to bravely adventure across the river (I’m on the good side) to catch a colleagueplaying at Middle East. And, when all is said and done this weekend, I get to be part of a great team of people – who have put in a bunch of work in the last few months – to push a big shiny button that will pull the curtain back on We Love Beantown.

Don Whiteside

Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.

Hmm, guess I just did.

My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.