Greetings from California! I'm actually here for a work conference and working pretty much non-stop throughout the weekend. Since the conference is at the Disneyland Hotel, I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of fun (and Disney magic) though. Like during our staff work dinner Friday... After a long day of stuffing conference bags and making sure everything was set up, we all had dinner together at Wine Country Trattoria. The food itself was not highly memorable... I love Disney but fine cuisine isn't their forte. What was great about the dinner was that the restaurant is located inside California Adventure Park, one of the two themed parks at the Disneyland Resort complex, and we had ...
Around the USA
Postcard from NYC: “Bird Watching” in West Harlem
Let's be honest, I'm a city baby and any flying animal that's not a pigeon is a pretty exotic bird for me! Bird-watching is not an activity I typically engage in... unless the birds in question happen to be drawn on urban walls that is ;-) Thanks to the Audubon Society and the Gilter & ____ Gallery, the Washington Heights/West Harlem neighbourhoods is just the perfect spot to catch a flock of colourful birds! All in graffiti of course... Right now there are a few dozens murals of varying scale scattered around uptown Manhattan, and eventually the goal is to have street artists and muralists paint over 314 different species of North American birds that a sobering 2014 Audubon ...
Weekend Highlights: Road Tripping in Pennsylvania and a Brewery Wedding
It's wedding season! How many do you have lined up for the summer? Over the weekend, we headed to Berwick, Pennsylvania, to see our good friend David tie the knot at a local brewery. This being me and Berwick being in the middle of nowhere, I broke the trip up and squeezed in a little (rainy) keystone state sightseeing... We left the day before the wedding and spent a night at the Candlelight Inn in Ronks, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It rained the entire ride up but cleared up just enough by the time we got to Lancaster Central Market for a late lunch. Lancaster Central Market is the oldest continuously operated farmers' market in the country. It's smaller than Reading ...
Postcard from the District: Mr Brainwash Mural at Union Market
You know the first lady is pretty cool when you find out about new murals from her instagram feed ;-) Michelle Obama marked International Women's Day and the first anniversary of Let Girls Learn, a U.S. government initiative aimed at educating girls around the world, at Union Market. She was joined by famed Los Angeles-based French street artist Mr. Brainwash, who had been commissioned by The Girls Lounge to do a mural on the theme of women education. The murals are full of colorful hearts, similar to the bleeding hearts/love wall graffiti by James Goldcrown, portraits (including renderings of Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein) and inspiring slogans like "Life Is Beautiful," ...
Postcard from Chicago: Treats in the Streets
During my latest trip to Chicago, I stumbled upon this really awesome piece of street art. And by stumbled, I mean I had researched the artist in advance, figured out it was the most accessible piece I could get to given where I was staying and my tight work schedule and ubered there ;-) Artist Jim Bachor has been filling the city's many potholes with whimsical mosaics since 2013. In a nod to Belgian surrealist painter Magritte, one of his pieces states "this is not a pothole" in black and white tiles. I loved his most recent series, “Treats in the Streets,” because it combined two things I love: street art and food! The treats in this instance are classic frozen treats mosaic, like the soft ...
So You Wanna Visit the White House…?
I'll always remember the first time I toured the East Wing... it was the morning after I met my now husband. I told him I had to make it an early night because I was supposed to be at the White House at 8AM. You know, a typical D.C. excuse ;-) I'd only been in the U.S. and in Washington for 6 months and it was all very exciting for me. I've been fortunate to go inside the White House a few more times since then. And while bowling at the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley at 1600 Penn* is still on my DC-to-list with slim to no chance ever getting crossed off, I did get to go to the West Wing once and tour the building once during the holiday season. Here what you need to know if you want to visit ...
Helping Raise/Raze Come to Life at Dupont Underground
I had a ball - lame pun intended - volunteering at the Dupont Underground with some of my friends this morning. This was actually my first time in the abandoned trolley station which plans to open its doors to the public on April 30 with its first art exhibit, “Raise/Raze.” "Raise/Raze" was the winning project of Re-Ball!, an open design competition for a site-specific installation in the underground space using the more than 650,000 translucent plastic balls from the National Building Museum's "Beach" installation. So today we helped built the installation by glue-ing a bunch of these balls ...
5 Things I Ate While I Was in Chicago
Another week, another express work-cation, this time to Chicago in the mid-west. I'd been to Chicago a few times before, including for a hot 16 hours last July 4 and back in 1994 during one of my very first trip to the United States. Despite having a lot of meetings, I tried to squeeze in as much sight-seeing as I could in 36 hours, including catching the Van Gogh's Bedrooms exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. And eating of course... Here are some of my favourites from my express “work-cation” in Chicago: LIQUID ENERGY AT INTELLIGENTSIA COFFEE First things first after a 6AM flight from Reagan to O'Hare, I needed caffeine! But not just any coffee would do. I wanted some Intelligentsia ...
Tips for Enjoying Cherry Blossom Season In DC
Spring is coming! Every year the highlight of the season in Washington is, of course, the annual blooming of the district's 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees. The whole town gets cherry fever and hundreds of thousands of tourists (and locals too) descend on the Tidal Basin and the National Mall to admire the delicate white and pink flowers. This year, peak bloom will hit between March 18-23, 2 weeks earlier than originally anticipated due to the recent warm temperatures. This means most of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from March 20 to April 17, will probably happen sans-blossom. Regardless, here are a few tips for navigating this huge Washington, DC event. SET YOUR ...
Postcard from NYC: 5 Things I Ate Last Week
Other than a week in Portugal for Thanksgiving, I don't have a lot of trips planned this year. At least not fun trips... So I'm determined to make the most out every single work trip I have, starting with the one I just took last week to New York City. And that, of course, includes enjoying some good eats around town. There's no shortage of restaurants in Manhattan. If anything the options are limitless and a bit overwhelming when you don't have a lot of free time. Since I stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown many of the spots I ended up at are concentrated in that part of town. Here are some of my favourite eats from my last "work-cation" in New York City: ALL THE PINK PASTRIES AT ...
