Greetings from California! Before leaving Washington Thursday morning, I attended one of those only-in-DC events that reminded me why I love living in the city so much. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat down with Catherine E. Fitts, Curator of the Supreme Court, and Clare Cushman, Director of Publications of the Supreme Court Historical Association, to dish out about their personal eating habits as well as reflect on the food traditions and culture of the U.S. Supreme Court. The panel was a part of the Smithsonian’s ongoing Food History Programs at the National Museum of American History (same as the Battle of Paris anniversary event I attended recently). Not only was ...
Local DC
Weekend Highlights: Packing, Crabs & Macarons Glacés
In France, in May, it seems that every other weekend is a three day weekend (because it is). Here in the United States we get one May bank holiday for Memorial Day. I rarely get to take advantage of the time off though because my huge annual work conference always falls right around that time. This year is no exception. I'm off to Anaheim on Thursday. It's been a while since my last trip to California, so I actually decided to stick around for a few days afterwards and I'm SO excited. Now I just need to find a place to watch the France-Romania game on June 10th in Venice! I can't believe the Euro cup starts next week!! So I had a pretty low-key weekend, getting everything ready for my trip ...
Pow! Wow! D.C. – Murals in Progress in NoMa
Famed Los Angeles-based French street artist Mr. Brainwash recently painted an awesome mural on the wall of Union Market (read more about it here) and was quoted saying that he'd be back in the District because “Washington, D.C. needs it,” having so many “blank walls that could have messages for people to see life more beautifully.” Well, right now, a couple of blank walls in NoMa are getting some graffiti love as part of Pow! Wow! DC, a week long art festival. Most of the murals are still works in progress at this time, and Thursday night, I joined a (rather large) group of street art loving peeps for a walking tour of the neighbourhood led by local artist Kelly Towles who's been ...
Weekend Highlights: Street Art, Rain, Rosé and my Cat in a Hat
It was another rainy weekend :( I'm sure you're just as tired of this dreary weather as I am. We did get a bit of a break on Friday so I jumped at the opportunity to rosé (that's a verb right? lol) with a few girlfriends on my roof. With #LanguedocDay coming up on May 27th, I thought it would be fun to focus try different pink wines from that part of France. I already had a bottle of Chateau Lascaux AOC Languedoc rosé 2015 and a La Tour Boisee 2015 Minervois rosé that had been sent to me by a publicist and I picked up a bottle of Domaine Sainte Eugenie 2015 Corbieres rosé at my local wine shop Eye Street Cellars to round up the tasting. I love rosé and I'm especially biased towards those ...
Catch These French Films at Filmfest DC
In the winter months, I try to cram in as many oscar-nominated films as I can before the awards are given out. After that movie-binge, I typically take a needed break from the cinemas. Until April and Filmfest DC! Filmfest is the District’s first, largest and only international film festival. Between April 14 and 24, 2016 Filmfest DC will celebrate 30 years of delighting Washington cinephiles with a really impressive line-up of 75 movies from 45 different countries. As always, that includes a number of films from France and Belgium. Here are some of the French(-ish) or French-language films you can look forward to this year. THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT The poster claims that "G-d exist... and ...
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," ...
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 ...
A Taste of Spring: Cherry Blossoms Everything
Cherry blossoms season is almost done here in Washington. The actual blossoms faded away late last week. Who can blame them? It's been barely 40 degrees for the past two days... and don't get me started on the wind! But officially, the festival ends on April 17 so there's still more than an entire week to celebrate our city in boom and enjoy festival events, like the fireworks on the 9th, the Sakura Matsuri street festival and the official parade on the 16th, or all the different themed eats, which let's be honest are my favourites anyway! Now, I'm not a huge fan of the official "cherry picks" gimmick co-sponsored by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington that sees ...
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 ...
Christine and the Queens at the 9:30 Club
Have you heard of Christine and the Queens? Yes!? Then you know how awesome she is! You can skip the rest of this post and just click on this link to buy tickets to see her perform at the 9:30 Club on May 31. French musicians don't grace US stages very often, and when they do, we - Frenchies and francophiles - have a responsibility to go cheer them on. Otherwise, they won't come see us anymore ;-) If you have no idea who Christine and the Queens is then let me introduce you to the best French band you're not listening to right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs40yxHjTxQ Christine and the Queens is the androgynous alter ego of Héloïse Letissier, a stylish 27-year-old Parisienne who ...
