International Dining in DC

Rosemary's Thyme

1801 18th St.  NW

Washington DC

This restaurant is a staple along 18th st.  connecting Adams Morgan to Dupont.  They have great Brunch and dinner menus.  The wait staff this particular night wasn't so good on their toes as they were late getting to our table, but made up for it with getting us food and drinks promptly.  They have a lot of dishes that you could share with friends to make a cheap dinner. 

Pictured is the trio med as a starter and the three cheese borek

not pictured is the Calamari and the Mediterranean pizza.

Garden Art

Awesome Street Art

Jazz in the Park

Ahhh.. Summer is here when you know Jazz in the Park arrives!  

The Jazz in the Garden Series begins its 11th season May 27. The free concert series features an array of jazz artists performing a range of styles—from swing to progressive to Latin—every Friday evening from 5:00 to 8:30 at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, rain or shine. Please see our current listing of concerts and other musical events at the Gallery.

Tonight don't miss out on seeing

Origem (Brazilian Jazz)

Bring your own food and drink!  They will make you throw away your bottle of whatever you have.  They have bars but there is always lines and expect lines for the restrooms or should I say porta-potties  

I usually take my picnic out to the mall where most smart people know you can still hear the music and see the monuments and do whatever you like.  It's always a full house and hard to find room for your blanket.  

See you all there tonight.

Rolling Thunder

It's Memorial Day weekend, and that means there are plenty of events going on in and around DC.  One of the biggest events to take over the city is the Rolling Thunder Rally, which has happened every year since 1988.  The meaning behind Rolling Thunder is that the roar of the motorcycles announce their arrival into the city, a sound not unlike the 1965 bombing campaign against North Vietnam dubbed Operation Rolling Thunder.  Starting off with only 2,500 motorcycles in the first year, the event has attracted people world wide to converge on our nations capital to witness and see the sights of the war memorials and to take the time to support the POW/MIAs that were never found.   

This is an awesome sight to see, I've been several times in and out of the rally.  I've gone with my father who rides a Harley Davidson.  It is quite a scene to witness, but be aware you might want to wear sunscreen and bring ear plugs.  Have a safe Memorial day.

SPOT LIGHT

Sorry I had too!

Sola Nua (Swampoodle)

The local theater company Solas Nua is known for it's creative use of uncommon spaces, setting up nightclubs in an abandoned warehouse to taking audiences on field trips.  In this new production, "Swampoodle", that will take you through the Uline Arena telling the story of actors trying to put on a show about Swampoodle, DC's historic and forgotten Irish neighborhood.

Uline Areana

M St & Delaware Ave.  NE

New York Ave Metro.

SOLASNUA.ORG

BREADsoda 3 year Anniversary

Kinda hard to believe it's been 3 years since they opened their doors.  Come out Monday night May 23rd and celebrate.

Breadsoda

2233 Wisconsin Ave.  NW

Washington DC

7pm - 1am

ICON: Bjarke Ingels

Bjarke Ingels (born October 2, 1974 in Copenhagen) is a Danish architect. He heads the architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group which he founded in 2006. In 2009 he co-founded the design consultancy. In his designs, Bjarke Ingels often tries to achieve a balance between playful and practical approaches to architecture.

Explaining his design ideas, Bjarke Ingels states:

“

Historically the field of architecture has been dominated by two opposing extremes. On one side an avant-garde full of crazy ideas. Originating from philosophy, mysticism or a fascination of the formal potential of computer visualizations they are often so detached from reality that they fail to become something other than eccentric curiosities. On the other side there are well organized corporate consultants that build predictable and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems to be entrenched in two equally unfertile fronts: either naively utopian or petrifyingly pragmatic. We believe that there is a third way wedged in the nomansland between the diametrical opposites. Or in the small but very fertile overlap between the two. A pragmatic utopian architecture that takes on the creation of socially, economically and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective. Bjarke Ingels studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and the Technica Superior de Arquitectura in Barcelona, receiving his diploma in 1998. As a third year student he set up his first practice and won his first competition. From 1998-2001 he worked for Office of Metropolitan Architecture and Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam. VM housing in Ørestad, Denmark In 2001, Bjarke Ingels returned to Copenhagen to set up the architectural practice PLOT together with Belgian OMA colleague Julien de Smedt. The company rapidly achieved success, receiving significant national and international attention for their inventive designs. They were awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2004 for a proposal for a new music house for Stavanger, Norway. Their first major achievement was the award-winning VM Houses in Ørestad, Copenhagen, in 2005. Despite its success, PLOT was disbanded in January 2006 and Bjarke Ingels created Bjarke Ingels Group, BIG, while his former partner founded JDS / JULIEN DE SMEDT ARCHITECTS. With BIG, Bjarke Ingels has continued the ideology from PLOT and has several major projects under construction or development both in Denmark and abroad. These include BIH House in Ørestad and the new Danish national Maritime museum in Elsinore, hotel projects in Norway, a highrise designed in the shape of the Chinese character for 'people' for Shanghai, a masterplan for the redevelopment of a former naval base and oil industry wasteland into a zero-emission resort and entertainment city off the coast of Baku, Azerbaijan,[3] shaped as the seven mountains of the country, and a museum overlooking Mexico City. Under the BIG Banner Bjarke recently published "Yes is more - an archcomic on architectural evolution". On 24 July 2009, he spoke at the prestigious TED event in Oxford, UK. He presented the case study “Hedonistic sustainability” in the workshop Manage complexity - With integral solutions to an economy of means at the 3rd International Holcim Forum 2010 in Mexico City and shall be a member of the Holcim Awards regional jury for Europe in 2011.

Excursions

EXCURSIONS

Here we go again with DC excursions!  I love doing something out of the ordinary and going on an excursion especially something with in my city.  In this excursions based on the season of spring, I thought about three things to do while the weather is nice.

So This is the Park that takes up much of DC.  It is our central park, filled with creeks, old mills, tennis courts and baseball fields and mansions.  Well, your in luck because I found that Rock Creek Park has a horse center and you can also go on trail rides and if you're such a puss, maybe a pony ride!  HAHA  Click on the link to see details and pricing plans with the horse center.  Picture it you and a friends or a lover riding horses through the center of DC on trails around the park.  AWESOME!

ROCK CREEK PARK HORSE CENTER

___________________________________________________________________________

Canoeing on the Potomac River

Here are a couple of Boat houses located mostly in Georgetown.

Boat house at Fletcher's Cove

Jack's Boathouse

Thompson Boat Center

NGA: Venice: Canaletto and his rivals

Hurry up this exhibit will be ending May 30. 

Venice inspired a school of competitive view painters whose achievements are among the most brilliant in 18th-century art. The exhibition celebrates the rich variety of these Venetian views, known asvedute, through some 20 masterworks by Canaletto and more than 30 by his rivals, including Michele Marieschi, Francesco Guardi, and Bernardo Bellotto. Responding to an art market fueled largely by the Grand Tour, these gifted painters depicted the famous monuments and vistas of Venice in different moods and seasons.

Passes: Passes are not required for this exhibition.
The exhibition is on view in the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, Mezzanine and Upper Level.

This gondola is a rare 19th-century survival. When the American artist Thomas Moran stayed in Venice in 1890, he hired it for his personal use and brought it back with him to his residence on Long Island, New York. He enjoyed telling friends that the gondola had once been owned by the poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning, but the story cannot be corroborated.
The gondola (c. 1850) is on loan from the Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia. It was a gift of the Thomas Moran Collection, East Hampton Free Library, East Hampton, Long Island, New York.

CARMEN

CARMEN

MAY 18-22, 2011

Harman Center for the Arts
Sidney Harman Hall

Septime Webre closes the 2010.2011 season with his smoldering Carmen. This passion-filled portrayal of the feisty title character, set to Georges Bizet’s spirited score, is complemented by Pablo Picasso-inspired sets. This program also features the riveting Company premieres of TWB Associate Artistic Director David Palmer’s Passing Through and Edwaard Liang’s As Above, So Below, whoseWunderland captivated DC audiences

Performance Dates and Times:
Wednesday, May 18 at 8 PM (Preview)
Thursday, May 19 at 8 PM (Opening)
Friday, May 20 at 8 PM
Saturday, May 21 at 2:30 PM & 8 PM
Sunday, May 22 at 1 PM & 5:30 PM 

To purchase tickets by phone, please call Sidney Harman Hall at 202-547-1122 or visit the box office in person.

MODA for Men

Summer stuff for you men out there.  While you're walking down the hot steamy streets of DC, be sure to make your self look approachable at least with some of these awesome jewelry finds I have found.  Also sandals from Gucci, I really think the Roman looking sandal will make a big mark this summer for you fashion forward men out there.  Enjoy!

I mentioned it this summer, jewelry for men! David Yurman has a beautiful collection of very masculine pieces. Their dog tags, shown above, are definite favorites this season. They come in exotic stones, diamonds, metal, and wood and range in price from the Black Onyx Exotic Stone ($550) to the Black Diamond Chevron ($4510). The latter incorporates 6.74 carat black diamonds in a pave setting. Pave simply means that the diamonds are set closely together so that no metal shows. I love that these necklaces are rugged and understated. Joe Shmoe on the street may not realize that you dropped so much dough for one. The most important thing is that YOU KNOW.

Also instead of buying expensive, you can go economical and stop in at Urban Outfitters or check out the website for  the men's jewelry section, they are really up on their masculine looking stuff. 

You can also be more fashion forward and make your own jewelry!

As promised.  These awesome Gucci sandals

Garden Art

Meridian Hill Park

Yesterday was a wonderful day for the drum circle and just walking around people watching.

Awesome Street Art

I think I found a real one in an alley, and i'm not saying which alley.