I'm pretty sure the folks over at City Center DC didn't anticipate that it would be 70 degrees outside when they planned a live ice sculpting event for December 12th. Despite the unseasonably warm temperature, the event was a ton of fun! While two sculptors worked on an ice dress and a Christmas tree at the Park at CityCenterDC, additional sculptures were slowly melting away in Palmer Alley! My favourite was the Birkin bag, of course ;-) Check out some of my pictures below. And while I'm pretty sure none of the sculpture survived the evening, you can catch more icy action at the National Habor where ICE! at Gaylord National features 2 million pounds of hand-carved ice ...
Better know the district
8 Ways Washington, D.C. Rocks the Holidays
Washington does Christmas pretty well! Here are some of the holiday displays I look forward to year after year. CHRISTMAS WREATHS AT UNION STATION In addition to the three large wreaths hanging in the three main archways in front of Union Station, there's other decorations including a giant Model Train exhibit inside in the West Hall and a 32 feet tall Christmas tree outside, both courtesy of the Norwegian embassy. In 2013, the tree was decked out with 700 shining replicas of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream. In 2014, the tree made a statement on the environment and was decorated with polar bears. I can't wait to see what the Norwegian embassy comes up with this year! (<-- ...
Life Goes On~Celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau in Washington, DC
I'm not exactly in a celebratory mood these days, but life goes on. Paris is about life, about being at a terrasse right now etc. Life has to go on and this week life includes the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau, which always takes place on the third Thursday of November (or midnight that Wednesday!) Here are a few, selected spots where you can partake in some Gamay-drinking in Washington, D.C. BITRO DU COIN Still THE place to be at midnight when Beaujolais Nouveau is released. It's probably too late to get reservations for dinner, but show up around 10PM when they start clearing out the tables. The Beaujolais typically starts pouring 11PM, which technically is well past midnight in ...
Is Ladurée Finally Coming to Washington, DC?
Do you know how long I've been waiting to write a post like this? Well, I've lived in DC for about 12 years and been blogging for 6... so that answers that question ;-) I had actually had thought I'd be writing a post like this announcing that Maison Kayser had finally nailed down some retail space in the District but it looks like Ladurée beat them to the punch (please be true, please be true). And I'm not going to complain about that (though I still would LOVE for Maison Kayser to open in the District pretty please!!!) {update: that's happening too soon! Hurray!!} News that one of Ladurée's signature pastel green coloured storefront would be opening in Georgetown appropriately broke ...
Off the Beaten Path: ToKi’s SYNTH SERIES 002 Yarn Installation
My (Southern Republican) husband always jokes around that he is very vanilla, and that I bring a little bit of spice, the rum raisin flavour if you will, to his life. I don't know about that, but I definitely bring him out of his comfort zone on a regular basis ;-) Like, the other day, for example, when I "dragged" him semi-willingly to an abandoned warehouse near the Rhode Island Avenue metro stop to check out an art installation by ToKi. Dragged him to this building: ToKi is a collaborative effort by two recent Howard University architecture graduates, Khai Grubbs and Toluwalase Rufai. Their latest work is a colourful art installation called SYNTH SERIES 002. Their main material: yarn, ...
Cat-Ladying at Crumbs & Whiskers
This isn't my first cat café post - cue in my previous posts on New York's Meow Parlour and Paris' Café des Chats. It's not even my first post about Crumbs and Whiskers - see post on the launch of its kickstarter campaign. But it is my first post on DC's eagerly anticipated cat café since it opened. And it's my first post since actually going there!! My friend Cecile who writes The Worldly Bites has Gentlemeow Club member status so we snagged 2 weeknight spots during opening month and went to go play with the kittiens last night. Let me take you through our experience at Crumbs and Whiskers... Cat café is actually a bit of a misnomer when it comes to Crumbs and Whiskers. Yes, ...
When You Wish Upon a Star Tree
Have you made your wish yet? Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Washington, DC art installation is back on the mall this summer. Making a wish is simple: head to the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden before Labour Day and find a dogwood tree across from Giacometti’s “Monumental Head.” Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper (pencil and white paper tags are provided). Fold it and tie it around a branch of the Wish Tree. I made my wish earlier this summer, though I’m still waiting for it to come true. Like the love locks in Paris, which are frequently removed by the city, museum staff will clear up the tree several times a week throughout the summer so that there is room for ...
Liberty Enlightening the World… For 130 Years
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty, this universal symbol of freedom, is technically French? Yep, one of America’s most iconic monuments was born in France to Mr. Frederic Bartholdi, a French sculptor who modeled her after his mother, and given to the people of America as a gift of friendship from the French people. 130 years ago today, she arrived in new York Harbour after a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces. These pieces took about a year to be reassembled and the 450,000-pound statue was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886, by President Cleveland. To celebrate the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty's arrival in the United States, google created a ...
Pick Your Own Tulips at Burnside Farms
Tulips are a beautiful symbol of spring. In Washington, tulips typically bloom right after the cherry blossoms have come and gone, but they were a little late this year, probably because we've had such a cold spring. Over the past 2 weeks though, their vibrant colours have been on full display across the city. And just outside of the District, a quick 45 minutes drive away, a farm in Haymarket, Virginia, plays host to one of largest pick-your-own tulips festival in the United States. Nicknamed "Holland in Haymarket," the festival typically runs late April to mid-May, depending on when the flowers actually bloom. Visitors pay an entrance fee of $3.00, and then there's a cost per stem ...
N Street Murals Project: 3 Buildings, 3 Artists
March 14 was a miserable day for a run. On top of that, the winter had dragged on so my husband's hadn't trained outdoors as much as he had wanted to. But rain or shine, in this case rain and lots of it, the D.C. Rock'n Roll marathon and half marathon was happening, and my husband was running it. And that could mean only one thing for me... I'd be out there cheering. My favourite spot on the route is right across the street from NPR, since that's an easy marker and it's close enough to home. After I spotted my favourite runner, I decided to make a detour and swing by the new(ish) Unleashed by Petco store in NoMa on my way home. And that's when I spotted a bright mural taking up an entire ...