I marvel at Michelle Obama's taste. Sure, her own dresses and jackets are fabulous. But the first lady's real feat is clothing herself and her daughters to perfectly compliment each other. Constantly. In basically every public appearance. Think how annoying that must be?

I've been noticing this for months. Whenever Michelle, Sasha and Malia step out together—be it at a mid-summer campaign stop or one of the more recent inaugural events—they match. On election night, they all wore red and black, with Michelle in both colors, Sasha in all black, and Malia in predominantly red. On the fourth of July, they were all wearing red, white, and/or blue. At the Democratic convention, Michelle and the girls were dressed in rich turquoises and purples—god forbid there might be burnt sienna in that mix. I mean man, that would be hard on the eyes!

Now the first lady and her girls don't match perfectly like creepy triplets.Today was one of their least coordinated public appearances in memory. Then again, Michelle Obama's outfits will likely be scrutinized for centuries to come, whereas the girls' clothing won't. But all three ladies donned colorful coats. And like usual, they looked fabulous—and not at all like creepy triplets.

More pictures below...

Renegade98, Afagen, Ava Lowery, Flickr Creative Commons

So I had the pleasure of spotting the back of Al Sharpton's head last night—unmistakable!—at The African American Church Inaugural Ball at the Grand Hyatt at 1000 H Street. The event was to honor twenty five "Keepers of the Flame," who have been influential in the fight for civil rights over the years. Among the honorees were Dr. Maya Angelou, Donna Brazile, General Colin Powell, and Della Reese-Lett. I'm not sure how many of these people were actually in attendance. As you can imagine, it was a very long program, complete with choir performances and impassioned speeches. The event started at 6 p.m., I believe. I arrived around 10 p.m., and the ballroom was still packed.

A slow trickle of guests were leaving the building as I arrived though. Before I even reached the ballroom, I was immediately struck by the preponderance of fur coats draped over peoples' arms and shoulders. I have never, ever, ever seen so much fur in my entire life. Thank god PETA or the Humane Society were not holding events next door. Their nights would have been ruined.

Image by Echoforsberg, Flickr Creative Commons

Bobby Lentell and Colette Valery, happy to bike around in this god-awful-freezing weather.

Last Tuesday night, I saw a very odd sight while walking down 18th Street south of Adams Morgan. About ten of those modern day/all-weather rickshaws descended past me, all in a row, pedaling off into the night.

My god, I thought, they'll never find riders if they hang together! What dumbies!

There was more to it, of course. These vehicles are called pedicabs. I learned this, as well as other details about this strange inaugural subculture on Saturday night. In search of Chicagoans, I heads out to the Billy Goat Tavern on Capitol Hill. There, I encountered Bobby Lentell and Colette Valery, two independent pedicab drivers from Chicago and Denver, respectively. They had both arrived in Washington D.C. in the last couple of days, and there were others like them coming from Austin, Chicago, New York, and other cities.

Valery said the line of pedicabs that zipped by me the other day were probably riders from a visiting company training to get used to the weather and hills in D.C. (Washington is pretty hilly compared to other locales, according to Valery. ) For Valery, who is independent, this is the first destination in a grand journey through the American south to Tampa for the Superbowl, then onto Mobile for Mardi Gras, South Padre Island for spring break, and Houston for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

In D.C., the local pedicab culture is still simmering gently. But, according to Lentell, it's "on the up and up."

Not at Central last night around 8:30 p.m.

Michel Richard's Central probably needs no introduction at this point. The place was named one of the country' top new restaurants last year by the New York Times. The newspaper also listed D.C. among its top destinations for this year by citing its restaurant scene. And guess whose smiling mug appeared in the shot next to the blurb?

Given all the buzz, I thought surely there would be some celebs seated around the back tables, away from the windows, close to the open kitchen. Yooo-hooo, Rihanna...I see you!

Boy was I wrong. I arrived at Central around 8:15, expecting to wedge myself into a spot at the bar. Turns out, there were open tables in nearly every corner, and no U.S. Weekly cover girls.

I asked a waiter what gave. He said that the restaurant was slammed right after the concert ended until about 7:45, but there were no celebrity sightings. City Paper Food Writer Tim Carman offers this explanation: Perhaps people were scared off by the location, too much effort to go all the way downtown...

Image by Express Monorail, Flickr Creative Commons

• At The Creative Coalitions Inaugural Ball on January 20 at the Harman Center for the Arts: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Elvis Costello and Sting. 
• At The Recording Industry Association of America's Charity Ball on January 20 at Ibiza: Rihanna, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette. 
• At the Inaugural Purple Ball on January 20 at the Fairmont Hotel: Kate Walsh, Ashley Judd, Ed Harris, Josh Lucas, Amy Brennan, and Patricia Arquette. 
• At the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's Ball on January 19 at the Harman Center for the Arts: Russell Simmons, T.I. LL Cool J and Young Jeezy.

Tonight, I headed to the Billy Goat Tavern looking for rowdy Chicagoans. Billy Goat is the D.C. outpost of a famous Chicago dive chain. I thought it was a new spot in town, but I quickly learned otherwise: The place has been around for three and a half years. 

When it came to rowdy Chicagoans, the Billy Goat disappointed. There were none. I did, however, find two very pleasant Oklahomans, who were staying across the street at the Washington Court Hotel at 525 New Jersey Ave NW. And guess who else was staying there, they claimed? The Boss! They said people at the hotel had told them that Bruce Springsteen had a room in the building, and was going to be playing at the 2009 Garden State Inaugural Gala, also held at the Washington Court Hotel. I could confirm one of those details. 

The New Jersey state gala is going to be held at hotel on January 20. The announcement claims "top notch live musical entertainment by the ‘B Street Band,’ the number one Bruce Springsteen tribute band for over two decades...as well as surprise celebrity guests."

As for the Oklahomans, they had a unique distinction to share themselves: They were Democrats from Oklahoma, a state in which Barack Obama didn't win a single county. Seriously. 

"We held signs up for Obama," recalled Terry Day from Oklahoma City. "You can't even imagine the names people called us." He would not further describe the names.

Day, who was joined by his co-worker Carl Dahms, works for the local union of the American Federation of Government Employees. 

"I worked overtime to pay for my ticket to get here," he said.

The Boss, I'm sure, cannot boast the same.

Image by envisionpublicidad, Flickr Creative Commons

For a brief moment in mid November, my roommates and I pondered renting out our house for the inauguration. A few half-hearted e-mails later, we dropped the subject and never posted anything on Craigslist. Good move. This morning, we encountered a terrible, totally unpredictable problem: Our pipes are frozen, and we have no water. Seems the downstairs neighbors moved out earlier this week, and lowered the heat significantly, thus causing the blockage. 

Normally, I would not be sharing such mundane details about my house's plumbing. But it occurs to me that perhaps others, who are readying their homes for guests (paying and non-paying) are encountering similar issues. If so, I—clearly—feel your pain. 

Image by Grant MacDonald, Flickr Creative Commons

We never knew how it would end up. But we had hope, and we had dreams. Dreams of Mexican vacations. Dreams of finally landscaping our backyards. Dreams of, you know, just generally avoiding debt.

Fresh off Barack Obama's glorious win, we Washingtonians dared to advertise our homes for ridiculous sums for the inauguration. Some of our dreams came true. Most of them will not.

In mid-November, my friend told me that she and her roommates were listing their house on Craiglist to rent out during the festivities. At that point, the market was untested, and most of the stories about the inauguration sublet phenomenon told of $5,000 deals.

It seemed too good to be true. So I wanted to follow my friend's story. She lives in a lovely townhouse in Northwest close to bars, supermarkets, a gym—it's quality urban living. On my first post of The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, I posed a question: Easy cash, or enormous hassle? If you've been reading the updates, then you know the answer. If not, I've decided to repackage the entire series below.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 1
November 12, 2008

The roommates first list their home for $11,000 for a week's stay. They expect to spend some money "just readying the place (new sheets, cleaning costs, possibly some “bells and whistles,” like wine and food in the house for arriving guests.)" They don't tell their landlord about the plan.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 2
November 13, 2008

The first advertisement goes up, and the roommates anxiously await for their Craigslist account to fill up. They get receive no serious responses, and after two days, they drop the price to $10,000. They continue waiting.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 3: Interest and Infighting
November 14, 2008

The roommates get a response from a woman who wants to bring 17 college students to stay in their four-bedroom home. Also some roommates start questioning whether others are doing their fair share in the drafting, re-drafting and posting of the advertisement. They want a bigger cut of the check (if a deal is made).

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 4: Exuberant Exchanges After a Response
November 18, 2008

One roommate responds to the college rep with a lengthy e-mail extolling pretty much everything—restaurants, shopping, parks—within a two mile radius of the house. The lady doesn't write back. Ever. So that's that.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 5: Tricks of the Trade
November 25, 2008

The roommates lower the price again to $9,000. No responses. They start messing with the wording of the headline, highlighting a nightly rate, instead of the lump sum for the week.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 6: Nothing, Nothing, Nothing
December 3, 2008

The trickery does not work. The roommates receive no responses. Strangely, people actually start contacting me hoping for tips and advice about getting their Craigslist advertisements noticed. On this front, I most likely fail them. With little else to report, I note: "In the District alone, there were more than 500 listings for inauguration sublets posted yesterday."

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 7: Scammers, Opportunists Take Over
December 17, 2008

After a hiatus, the roommates decide to repost their advertisement on several websites. They receive a bunch of non-serious responses from scammers, weirdos, and people promoting their inauguration internet ventures.

The Inauguration Rental Chronicles, Part 8: Hope Dies
January 15, 2009

The roommates descend into all out warfare after the house's drainage system fails. Tensions that arose earlier in the rental process—and that have existed all along—intensify. One roommate declares that she is miserable and moving out. The roommates decide to focus on finding a longterm roommate and officially abandon their hopes of an inauguration rental.

Image by Stewart Leiwakabessy, Flickr Creative Commons