Posts Tagged ‘events’

Unreserved Seating

Bet you can’t guess when this photo was taken….

Title: Unreserved Seating
Photographer: Patten Wood
SIT-uation: July 4, 2009. It’s nothing like the inauguration crowds, but at least there’s a lot of quality lounging.

Weekend To-Do’s

Here’s my weekly weekend-y list. Not included, but a must: Buy tickets to next week’s Source festival, my favorite theater event of the year. The 10-minute plays are fabulous, but tickets can sell out fast.

* Friday

All day/night: While our country’s best film festival takes place in my great state of UTAH, film buffs seem to also love SILVERDOCS, DC’s documentary film festival. Tickets are still available for many of the shows tonight and through the weekend. Mag junkies should check out September Issue, a documentary on Anna Wintour and Vogue.

* Saturday

2 p.m.-6 p.m.: Satiate your hops and hog cravings at the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival at the National Harbor. If I go, I’ll avoid the World BBQ Bean Eating Championships, just in case one of the contestants gets a little, eh, overwhelmed. Tickets are $35, and include all beer, bourbon, and BBQ tastings. [tip: Young and Hungry]

4 p.m.: Those looking for something a bit calmer should try meditating in Lafayette Park. Take a Breath DC is sponsoring a 3000-person group meditation event in front of the White House to build a “violence free, stress free America.” If deep breathing doesn’t excite you, there’s always the chance Michelle and Barack may join the session. [tip: About.com]

* Sunday

1 p.m.-4 p.m.: Take a tour of a solar home in Bethesda, and learn how to green your own. This isn’t all that applicable for me and my renter’s status, but I really want to see this. [tip: We Love DC]

Weekend To Do’s

Welcome to the first WTD. Thanks to all the excellent blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader and all the local tweeters I follow, I do a lot of web sifting each week. During the week, you can access all my Google Reader starred items here and all my Twitter updates here; but each Friday, I’ll post WTD, a short list of the most interesting stuff that’s happening over the weekend. Did I miss something wildly exciting? Let me know in the comments of this post.

Friday

• Music: DCist tells us about this weekend’s Women in Jazz Festival. Watch five women jazz pianists compete on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. (Free; Friday, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.)

Saturday

• Art: district, schmistrict notifies us about the Mid City Artists event this weekend. Basically, 19 artists in the Dupont and Logan Circle neighborhoods are opening their homes or studios to show off their work. (Free; Times vary, but most are open from noon-5 p.m. on Sat-Sun.)
  
• Water: About DC mentions a long list of events this weekend, including the Dragon Boat Festival in Georgetown. What’s Dragon boating? This Fox 5 video will expain it. (Free; Races run from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sat., and 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sun.)

Sunday

• Food: WaPo tells us about the 14th Annual Taste of Wheaton. Take a wad of ones, as each bite of eclectic and ethnic food costs $1. (Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.) Or, head to Ballston for Taste of Arlington. Same thing: Entrance is free, but samples aren’t. (noon-5 p.m.)

Photo by: The Eggplant

Europe vs. World

I’ve lived in D.C. for almost four years, yet prior to this weekend, I’d only been inside three embassies. When you live just a hop away from Embassy Row and you write a blog called City Sifting, this is embarrassing. So I approached this year’s Passport DC (the day in which many embassies—35 this year—open their doors to the public) like I’d approach any important trip: I drafted an itinerary. This was really more like a sheet of printer paper scribbled with addresses, but the point is, we got to the first embassies before they opened and visited 6 in a matter of 4 hours. Yes, a City Sifting award for me (and Laura and Patten). The most entertaining experience was at the Embassy of Venezuela, with its calypso and may pole lessons (see video below); the biggest crowd pleasing embassy was Korea, with its totem-pole carving demonstration (pictured); the “most worth the wait” embassy was Indonesia, where we felt okay about our 20 minutes in line because of the sheer opulence and jaw-dropping quality of the building’s interior, especially the Art Nouveau staircase; and Colombia was, well, the biggest surprise—hidden on the corner of 20th and Q, who knew the non-remarkable exterior would house such a lovely collection of Latin American art? They had a Botero, my fave!

Missed Passport DC? More embassies will open up their doors this weekend for the European Union Open House. From 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, you can visit any of these 27 European embassies. I advise you to go early—crowds seem to triple as the day wears on. In the meantime, I’ve posted a video of our lovely calypso dancing lesson at the Venezuelan Embassy. For a few more photos, go to my Picasa page.