#reverb10 Day Nine: Party Time

 DC Life, Travels  No Responses »
Dec 102010
 

What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010?

Last month, Mr. T and I went to an amazing party sponsored by the National Defense University in honor of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It gave me newfound respect for Secretary Gates, and it left me pondering the nature of patriotism and the sacrifices of our men and women in the military.

But I’m tired. I’m just not up to musings on the nature of citizenship at the moment, and I suspect you’re even less in the mood for reading my half-baked patriotic platitudes.

So, instead, how ‘bout I share some photos from Mr. T’s 10-year law school reunion? The dinner was pretty dull. But the setting in the Smithsonian American Art Museum was awesome! End result = we took a lot of pictures. Here are a few:

Mr. T and I posed with a random statue

I had never been to the museum’s 3rd floor — turns out I was missing some cool modern art and a peaceful sitting area for future visits

Mr. T with his friend Steph (a law professor, environmentalist, and all-around genius). What is IT? We don’t know, but we promise we left it alone!

Dinner was held in the Museum’s dramatic glass-canopied Courtyard

And enhanced by some crazy/cool mood lighting

Our camera has built-in “art filters,” including one for “grainy black-and-white film.” We had fun playing around with the filters (did I mention dinner was boring?) and were still at it as they cleaned up and kicked us out at the end of the night!
What was your most memorable event in 2010?
 Posted by Tara at 3:35 am

Friday Favorites: Local Discounts

 Bargains, DC Life, Useful Stuff  4 Responses »
Jan 222010
 

There has been some controversy lately regarding mommy bloggers who fail to disclose behind-the-scenes marketing payments.  I am against this practice — if only because no one sends ME free stuff.  However, I do believe uncompensated, unbiased user reviews make the Web a better place.  I couldn’t live without Web reviews of all sorts.  And this year I’ve vowed to give back by sharing more of my own.**

In other words, meet our new feature: Friday Favorites!  Friday Favorites will cover my go-to products, websites, foods, shops … whatever I’m appreciating in any given week.

This week: my favorites Web sources for local deals and specials.

(piggy bank here)

The first three sites offer coupons for significant discounts off local restaurants and services (beauty salons, fitness classes, car detailing, etc.).  The sites emphasize group action; a certain number of people must sign up before each deal is “activated.”

Groupon – The best known of the local-deal sites, Groupon offers daily deals for dozens of cities in the US and Canada.  I find their deals the most tempting, but rarely make it to the (surprisingly funny!) website in time to purchase before midnight.

Living Social – Atlanta, Austin, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

What’s the Deal – DC only. Deals aren’t as frequent; on the other hand, they’re posted longer so it’s easier to sign on before they disappear.

While group coupons are the latest craze, some old-school sites are also worth a visit:

Goldstar Events – Boston, Chicago, DC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle.  Offers half-price tickets for music and theater performances, sporting events, seminars, and more.  Great for trying something where you wouldn’t necessarily pay full price.  (Our own Goldstar experiences include Wizards tickets, Native American Dance at the Smithsonian, and a thoroughly enjoyable cannibalism musical.)

For DC theatergoers, there’s also a half-price ticket site with week-of-performance deals.

Restaurant.com – $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10.  Toward the end of the month, they often discount their certificates still further, to an amazing $2-4.  The certificates are good for a year, but we recommend making plans within a few weeks; otherwise, it’s surprisingly easy to forget and let them expire.  All major US cities.

** So … er … it’s a bit ironic that this is my first big strike for uncompensated reviews.  When I visited each site for background information, I discovered that a few give some small credit to refer people who join the site and make a purchase.  I used referral links where applicable, because why not?  But referral fees are not the reason for my enthusiasm — I genuinely didn’t know about them until after I wrote this post!!

 Posted by Tara at 4:55 am

And Suddenly, DC is Popular

 DC Life, Television  3 Responses »
Jun 032009
 

My hometown is currently having a teen-makeover-movie moment. Personally, I was OK with DC when it was the geeky kid with glasses, the one in the sensible clothes who bored people at parties with a little too much policy talk. But then the coolest boy in school claimed DC as his own. And suddenly, all the other kids want to hang out here too.


(Yes, this IS my best Photoshop effort. Also, I had a crush on Patrick Dempsey in this movie and therefore called dibs long before all the McDreamy nonsense.)

Need proof? Among other things, DC is the hottest new site for reality shows. First there was CW’s new July show Blonde Charity Mafia (based on a group called Late Night Shots, which, don’t even get me started). Sarah Jessica Parker is producing a new HBO show based on Washingtonienne (fiction, and it apparently shoots in Baltimore, but it fits my theme so we’ll run with it). Mr T and I recently learned that a producer from The Real Housewives of New Jersey is moving into our building, and sure enough it appears The Real Housewives of DC is in the works. And now local hiring has begun for The Real World: DC.

Let’s face it — when these shows hit the air, I will watch. After all, this is my town. But I strongly question how much “reality” will actually make the air. It was the “Real Housewives” that first got me thinking: I am the only “real housewife” I know (by disability, but still). And based on other incarnations of the Bravo series, I predict the chosen women will not even vaguely resemble my own real life, in all its sleep-deprived, baby-weight, hoping-to-make-it-to-a-museum-someday, living-in-700sf-so-you-can-afford-Capitol-Hill glory.

In some ways, that’s kind of sad. Sure, my life doesn’t offer much by way of trendy shopping or fabulous fundraisers. But when Mr T and I walked the dog last night, within 20 feet we were greeted first by a Congressman and then by a trio of African-American homeless people. To me, juxtapositions like that speak volumes on the real DC. It may not make for good TV, but personally I find that reality — the real reality — all the more interesting.
 Posted by Tara at 10:54 pm

Inauguration … The View from Our Couch

 DC Life, Photography  No Responses »
Jan 202009
 

This week marks an exciting time to be a proud resident of DC.  But it’s strange to be surrounded by historic events when you’re not allowed out of your house!  Most of my exposure to this weekend’s Inaugural events has come from TV and the Web, just like for everybody else.


I do get the occasional man-on-the-street update from Mr. T.  He returned from walking Zoe late last night with tales of National Guard members guarding our block.  Earlier, he reported lots of frantic people trying to catch cabs in the cold.  Revelers pass our front door loudly at all hours (we have a convenient-but-not-quiet location between the building’s front door and elevator), including a few hearty souls who left at 4:00 this morning to reserve a spot for the day’s festivities.


Although we live a mere 5 blocks from the Capitol, Mr. T and I watched the swearing-in on TV.  We did hear the cannon salute, and the Bush helicopter leaving after the ceremony.  So there’s that.  (Now the sounds outside are almost entirely emergency vehicle sirens.  Mr. T’s theory is that today’s estimated 2 million visitors are starting to succumb to exhaustion and cold.)

The Capitol looked fantastically red-white-and-blue this morning.  But I figure we’ve all seen the same photos, so here are a few from Inaugurations past.  Here’s hoping that when we look back on archive photos of this Inauguration, some 30 or 40 years hence, we will remember today as the start of a flourishing period in this Nation’s history.



How are you marking today’s historic events?
 Posted by Tara at 2:59 pm

An Election, and a Midnight Pilgrimage

 DC Life  7 Responses »
Nov 052008
 

[Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, everyone — I am writing at 4 a.m., still on a high after this historic night.]

Yesterday, in the midst of voting, my mother was so overcome with a sense of history that she cried.  It took me much longer to appreciate the excitement of this election.  Voting itself was less than eventful — we walked one block and were out the door in 5 minutes.  Later, we had dinner near the Capitol, soaking up a bit of party atmosphere as Hill staffers cheered and downed shots when key states were called. But then we went home to watch TV, with no plans beyond maybe snapping a few photos of the dog in an election tiara.

And then came Obama’s historic, amazing acceptance speech.  Which left me in tears. And when our President-Elect was done speaking, somehow sitting quietly at home — even with a dog in a tiara — no longer seemed enough.  So we put on our coats, grabbed the dog and an umbrella, and made a midnight pilgrimage to join the jubilant crowds gathering outside the White House.

Quite simply, I have never seen anything like tonight.  Even before we reached the White House, the streets were lined with cheering pedestrians and honking drivers.  Some drivers waved victory signals to the crowd.  One cheering, honking driver dangled a poster of Obama out the car window.  (And suddenly those accident statistics all make sense.)

The crowd outside the White House was an incredible mix of humanity.  People in business suits, partying students, aging hippies, middle-aged married couples, sleeping children, journalists.  The occasional dog (Zoe made friends with one fellow in a “Pugs for Obama” t-shirt).  Black people and white people.  People conversing in a variety of foreign languages….  The watching police seemed nervous, and in a way I can’t blame them — it was, after all, a rowdy, spontaneously formed mob directly outside the White House.  But the wonder of it all was that no one seemed to have an agenda other than to marvel at the moment and to share some joy with the crowd.  Some people waved flags and signs. Some beat cheers on the lampposts.  A couple of random girls gave us “Hugs for Obama.”  But most people just stood in the crowd, looked around, exchanged nods, grinned and maybe cheered.

I got teary again at both the spectacle and the many shades of meaning behind it.  (Among other things, having a baby on the way makes every event feel that much more historic, with everything a statement on “the world our baby will be born into.”)  And then we went home.
 Posted by Tara at 4:35 am

Happy Birthday, Union Station!

 DC Life  No Responses »
Oct 222008
 

As a former New Yorker, my heart will always belong to Grand Central Station and its lovely astronomical ceiling.  (I used to own an umbrella with an image of the ceiling; I loved it THAT much.)

But DC’s Union Station wins an easy second place. And it turns 100 this year — not bad!

Union Station was the largest train station in the world when it opened in 1908 — a time when nearly everyone traveled by train, so it was likely the first thing a visitor would see when entering Washington, DC.  The monumental Beaux Arts design covered more ground than any other building in the United States, featuring grand open spaces befitting the station’s role as gateway to the Nation’s Capital.

Union Station has always served as a hub of commerce as well as transportation — besides the usal stores and restaurants, the station has featured services as varied as Turkish baths, an ice house, hotel, mortuary, bowling alley, and YMCA.

(Image source one, two)

Sadly, the once-great building fell into such disrepair by the late 1970s that part of the roof collapsed and toadstools grew inside the station.  The station was closed in 1981 and in danger of being razed. Instead, a public-private partnership restored the building to its former glory and redeveloped the station as a bustling hub of shops and restaurants.  Between its transportation functions (Metro, Amtrak, and local commuter lines), the variety of commercial services (including even a movie theater and a post office), and the tourists who drop in just to see the building, Union Station now enjoys 32 million visitors a year.

As with all historic train stations, I love to imagine the days when train travel held a bit of magic, the entrance hall served as a bustling waiting room with endless rows of benches, and you might easily spot a dignitary or celebrity traveling in and out of town….

And when I paused to freshen up after my trip?  I would have looked like this:

(Image source one, two)
 Posted by Tara at 5:03 pm
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