Washington, DC

The newest exhibit at the Sackler Gallery opens tomorrow, October 11, 2008. This new exhibit is called “Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur.” This exhibit sounds pretty interesting in that it contains recently rediscovered “Indian paintings from the royal court collection of Marwar-Jodhpur (in the modern state of Rajasthan).” The exhibit is broken into three sections. One is paintings related to the Garden. One is paintings related to the Cosmos. The other part is about the kingdom of Marwar-Jodhpur and their court painting traditions of the 17th century. The main interesting thing is that very few have seen these works of art since they were created in the 1600s. This exhibit is one of the shorter temporary exhibits done by Smithsonian museums in that it is only going to be on display a few months until January 4, 2009.

Murder in the Executive Mansion is park of the Eleanor Roosevelt mystery book series written by Elliot Roosevelt. I really enjoyed this book for one because I tend to like mystery books. Secondly, I like the historical setting aspect of the book. This book’s main character is Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The story may not be real, but it does draw on several real historical events of the time period. The historical aspects include the royal visit from the King and Queen of England and some of the characters, such as the President and First Lady.

The main plot of the book is about one of the White House employees that worked for the First Lady being found dead in the White House after the King and Queen’s visit. The quest for the First Lady to help the police find the truth leads to some interesting things about the women’s past showing the woman was not as innocent as she appeared. The actual ending of who murdered her and why leads to an interesting use of the historical context of the time period. Saying much more than that would ruin the interest of the book and how it pulls you in to keep reading to find out why the woman was murdered.

Basic Information About this Book:

ISBN #: 0-312-955782
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Year of Publication: 195
Number of Pages: 242

If you have a suggestion of a D.C. related book that you would like to see featured in a future Book of the Week post, then please either comment on this post.

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Wrap Up of results from September 1-7, 2008

D.C. United (MLS)

9/3 vs. Charleston Battery Won 2-1
9/6 @ San Jose Earthquakes Lost 1-2

Washington Mystics

9/2 vs. Indiana Lost 68-79
9/6 vs. Detroit Lost 69-84

Washington Nationals (MLB)
9/1 vs. Philadelphia Phillies Won 7-4
9/2 vs. Philadelphia Phillies Lost 0-4
9/3 vs. Philadelphia Phillies Won 9-7
9/4 @ Atlanta Braves Lost 0-2
9/5 @ Atlanta Braves Lost 5-10
9/6 @ Atlanta Braves Won 8-5
9/7 @ Atlanta Braves Won 7-4 in 14 innings

Washington Redskins

9/4 @ New York Giants Lost 7-16

Upcoming

D.C. United (MLS)

9/13 vs. FC Dallas

Washington Mystics

9/9 @ Chicago
9/11 @ Detroit
9.13 @ Connecticut

Washington Nationals (MLB)
9/9 @ New York Mets
9/10 @ New York Mets
9/12 @ Florida Marlins
9/13 @ Florida Marlins
9/14 @ Florida Marlins

Washington Redskins

9/14 vs. Saints

Wrap Up of results from July 14- July 20

D.C. United (MLS)

7/15 vs. Atlante Lost 2-3
7/19 vs. Houston Dynamo Lost 1-3

Washington Glory (NPF)

7/17 vs. Rockford Thunder Won 5-1
7/18 vs Rockford Thunder Lost 2-7
7/19 vs. Rockford Thunder Won 3-2
7/20 vs. Rockford Thunder

Washington Nationals (MLB)
7/18 @ Atlanta Braves Lost 6-7
7/19 @ Atlanta Braves Won 8-2
7/20 @ Atlanta Braves Won 15-6

Washington Mystics

7/17 @ New York Lost 56-77
7/18 vs. Detroit Lost 62-99
7/20 vs. Seattle Won 89-57

Upcoming

D.C. United (MLS)

7/22 vs. Houston Dynamo

Washington Glory (NPF)

7/25 vs. Philadelphia Force
7/26 vs. Philadelphia Force
7/27 vs. Philadelphia Force

Washington Nationals (MLB)
7/22 @ San Francisco Giants
7/23 @ San Francisco Giants
7/24 @ San Francisco Giants
7/25 @ Los Angeles Dodgers
7/26 @ Los Angeles Dodgers
7/27 @Los Angeles Dodgers

Washington Mystics

7/23 vs. New York
7/25 @ Atlanta
7/27 vs. Conneticut

Crystal City Takes Flight, April 2008
Photographer: Kjersti Wasiak

While you may notice most Photo of the Day posts feature photos taken by me, I encourage others to submit their photos to be featured in an upcoming Photo of the Day post. It does not matter if the photo is great, as long as it is not blurry, is related to D.C., and is otherwise appropriate then I will feature it. To submit a photo send me an e-mail at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net with the subject line of D.C. Photo. In the e-mail attach your photo and include your name, date of the photo (just month and year is necessary), website you want me to link to, and a description of the photo, especially including location of photo when it is not obvious.

Top 5 Photo of the Day Posts of 2007

photo, D.C.

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Celebrate Friends of the National Zoo’s 50th Birthday: This family day event is at the National Zoo this Saturday, April 12. It starts at 10am and the first 1,000 visitors get free cupcakes. The activities include animal themed games like Bowling Armadillos.

Cherry Blossom Parade and Street Festival: The Cherry Blossom Festival comes to an end this weekend, but before it does there is the parade and street festival. The parade will be from 10am to noon and the route is on Constitution Avenue from 7th Street NW to 17th Street NW. The street festival will be from 11am to 6pm. The location is Pennsylvania Avenue between 10th and 14th Streets NW and 12th street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues.

New Newseum Opens: The New Newseum opens tomorrow with a block party from 7am to 8:45am and the Newseum opening at 9am. Read more about the opening and what the museum has to offer in my blog post earlier today here.

The Smithsonian Craft Show: This annual craft show is being held April 10-13, 2008, at the National Building Museum. Hours are 10am to 6pm on Friday, April 11; 10am to 6pm on Saturday, April 12; and 11am to 5pm on Sunday, April 13. It costs $15 to get in for adults and $12 for seniors, students, Smithsonian Associates, and military.

Check out weekend sports playing in D.C. on the Sports Events Coming Up This Week post.

These are just few events this weekend. If you have any that you know about in the D.C. area this weekend that you would like to share, then please let us know in a comment to this post.

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St. John’s Episcopal Church located across the street from Lafayette Square, which sits in front of the White House. Its street address is 1525 H St. NW. This Church was built back in 1816. When it was built the only other structure that stood on Lafayette Square was the White House. The Church was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also worked on the White House porticos and the Capitol Building.

This church is sometimes called the Church of the Presidents because of the history it has related to U.S. Presidents as well as its near proximity to the White House. Since it has been in existence every U.S. President has attended at least one service here. Some Presidents were even regular attendees such as James Madison. Pew 54 is reserved as the President’s Pew when the President attends service here.

This historic church not only has a famous designer and has been visited by almost every U.S. President, but its historic connections go even deeper. For example, the bell in the steeple was cast by Paul Revere’s son. It is the only Revere bell in Washington, D.C. that has been in continuous use since it was installed in 1822.

The Church is worth a visit not just to feel the history of this building, but also to view the beautiful stained glass windows.

You can wander the church daily, but you can also see it via a tour. Tours are led most Sundays after the 11am (10:30am during the summer) service. You can also contact the church office at 202-347-8766 to request a tour at a different day and time.

Since beginning this blog and moving to the D.C. area this year I have begun to really explore my favorite city and attend some of the fun events held here. This is my top five things I did and wrote about in this blog this year. Click the links of the five things to read the full posts I wrote about them.

5. Green Festival 2007: This was a fun festival to go to and learn about all the different kinds of green products that are out there. The best part of the festival was tasting the different food products available. I especially enjoyed the chocolates and buying some bars of my favorite brand of dark chocolate, Dagoba.

4. Holiday Display at United States Botanic Gardens: Of the different holiday displays I saw around D.C. this holiday season this one is was my favorite, although the trees on the White House Ellipse almost made the top five list as well. The display is amazing inside the gardens with the replicas of Washington, D.C. buildings made out of plant materials. Outside there is the large train display to be enjoyed.

3. National Treasure Event at the National Archives: This event was a lot of fun because even though I had already seen the whole Public Vaults exhibit in the past this treasure hunt allowed me to more fully enjoy the exhibit. It got you to really look at the things on display or watch the clips or even listen to the tapes played. It was a relatively easy thing to solve, but a lot of fun to do.

2. Madame Tussauds in D.C.: This October the Madame Tussauds Museum in D.C. opened and I went to it on opening day. It was the first time I had been to a wax museum and was pleasantly surprised to realize how photography friendly this museum is. I loved that you could take all the photos you wanted and even use flash, which is something you cannot use at many other museums for good reason, though.

1. National Book Festival: This was by far my favorite thing I was able to do this year. I had thought of going to it ever since I got a poster for the event in early summer. That was before I knew I would be for sure living in the D.C. area. This event was so much fun. I especially enjoyed going through the Pavilion of States and collecting all the stamps/stickers on the map. Of course, collecting all the free goodies such as pencils and bookmarks was also a lot of fun. I certainly hope to attend this again in 2008.

best of 2007, 2007, D.C.

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone enjoys their holidays. If you are looking for something to do with the family over the holidays or to escape the family in D.C., then check out the things below that I have posted about Christmas in the past month.

National Christmas Tree and State Trees on the White House Ellipse: I originally wrote about this here. I have seen it both at night and in the daylight this year and both times it was fun. It is of course more fun in the daylight if the weather is cold, but either way stop by the Yule Log to warm up if you get cold.

My favorite holiday thing in D.C., though, is the holiday display at the United States Botanic Gardens. The replicas of different D.C. buildings are made out of different plant sources. They are all quite amazing, especially mixed with the different poinsetta plants. The holiday train display out front of the gardens is also spectacular to see and a big hit with the little ones. For trains lovers you may also want to check out the train display at Union Station.

There is also the Capital Christmas Tree, Zoo Lights, and the Holidays at Mount Vernon that I wrote about here.

Now for something D.C. related you can do nationwide this Christmas is go see National Treasure: Book of Secrets featuring scenes set in D.C. as part of this treasure hunt related to missing pages in Booth’s diary.

Christmas, White House, Merry Christmas, holiday, D.C.

The President’s Daughter is a mystery book with many different types of mystery worked into it, although it mostly revolves around solving a murder. This book is has setting all over the Northeast U.S., but the murder and most of the climatic moments occur in the D.C. and Arlington area. The main plot is about a journalist who lost his job at the Washington Post because he refused to tell his sources on a revealing political story that is little elaborated on in the book. Out of a job and having trouble getting publishers to accept the book based on the story he lost his job over he accepts an offer from an old professor to get his book published if he firsts writes a biography of a 1970s fictional U.S. President. The journalist takes it thinking it will be a simple book to research and write about a President believed to be very moral. However, in his research he discovers the President had one moral slip that led to an illegitimate daughter. The journalist discovers who she is and learns that she does not know her parentage since her mother was killed by a hit-and-run shortly after her birth and she was raised by her mother’s college roommate. The story unfolds with some suspense in who the person is that killed her mother, especially after the daughter has a similar almost hit-and-run accident. Overall the book is quite enjoyable, easy to read, and keeps your attention as long as you get past the beginning of the book, which is a little slow in grabbing one’s attention.

Basic Information About The President’s Daughter:

ISBN #: 978-0-345-44739-5
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year of Publication: 2002

If you have a suggestion of a D.C. related book that you would like to see featured in a future Book of the Week post, then please either comment on this post or e-mail me at kjersti.wasiak@451press.net

Weekly Themes

book, mystery, president, D.C.

Today I went and saw the National Christmas Tree at night. It was cool to see it with the lights and the little state and territory trees with lights. I however think the little trees are somewhat more enjoyable in the daylight because they are easier to admire the ornaments when it is light out. It was also a cold evening tonight for looking at them, but that just made the Yule Log more enjoyable to huddle around and feel the warmth of the fire. Since I had already taken photos of all the trees I only took a few photos of the National Tree lit up. I did remember my camcorder finally on one of my outings and did some short videos of the train and looking at the ornaments of some of the trees. Too bad I did not think of bringing it when I went during the daytime. If I did that the video would have been much better, as my camcorder is pretty low quality for dark videoing. Oh well, the video below at least gives an idea of what the train and trees look like at night in a better way than photos considering I forgot my tripod and would have had mostly blurry photos if I tried to do night photos of these trees. Anyways if you are in the D.C. area before the end of the year then you should definitely check out the trees no matter what time of day you are able to fit it in. One benefit of the nighttime is the music performances on the stage and the daytime benefit is what I mentioned before of getting a better look at the different ornaments the trees have.

d.c., christmas, white house

All over the city there are special displays, decorations, and performances celebrating the holiday season. This weekend I visited the special holiday display at the Botanic Gardens, which is a must see thing during the holidays, and the Norwegian Christmas at Union Station. That is just the start of the things that you can do to get in the holiday spirit in D.C. Continue reading for just a few more of the holiday going ons in D.C. over the next few weeks including Christmas tree lightings. (more…)

The article in the home section of the Washington Post caught my eye today because the headline was “The Greening of Christmas.” Not only was the going green advice on making your holiday more environmentaly friendly interesting, but it also mentioned how the White House is going green with its Christmas decor. For one the lights on the National Christmas Tree will be LED lights, which are way more energy efficient than the previously used incandescent ones. Additionally, the White House will save energy by turning off all the holiday lights in the evening after official events end, although they will leave the lights on the tree in the blue room on. I read the article in the paper edition of the newspaper, but hopefully you can also find it on the Washington Post’s website if you want to learn about how to make your holiday more green from wrapping presents to what kind of tree is most environmentaly friendly.

November Comment Contest

Christmas, environmentally friendly, going green, D.C., white house

Lafayette Square is located in front of the White House on the opposite side of Pennsylvania Avenue. The park was originally meant to be part of the White House grounds, but became separated from what we now know at the grounds of the White House when Pennsylvania Avenue cut through the grounds in 1804 making the park separate from the White House grounds. Over the past two centuries this park has been used for many different things including a race track, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, site for protests and celebrations, and an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812. The way it is seen today as a park dates to the landscaping and statues that were placed here in the 1930s.

There are five statues in the park. The one that is in the center is the one that does not exactly fit with the others in the square and it is also not Lafayette who the square/park is named after. This statue is of Andrew Jackson and dates to 1853. The other 4 statues were added in the 1930s and are dedicated to foreigners that helped the American Colonial Army defeat the British in the American Revolution. Among these statues is in fact one of General Lafayette, who was a Frenchman. The other statues are of General Rochambeau another Frenchman, General Thaddeus Kosciuszko from Poland, and Major General Baron von Steubun from Prussia. Note that the General Kosciuszko statue at the time I last visited Lafayette Park in early November 2007 was surrounded by a fence and you could not really see it.

While the statues in themselves make this park worth a visit, it is also a good place to see the White House from. From the park you can see the front of the White House. You can also walk across Pennsylvania Avenue, which is closed to vehicle traffic here, and go right up to the gate to see the White House.

Lafayette Square, park, D.C., White House

This restaurant is located not in the D.C. metro area in Alexandria, Virginia. It is conveniently located in Potomac Yards shopping center, where there is also a movie theater. Of the dining options in this shopping center this is probably the best sit down option for before or after a movie or shopping. Although it is good, I would not say it is worth going out of your way for, but rather just including it in a trip to the other things at Potomac Yards. Continue reading for more about this restaurant’s selection and my experience dining here. (more…)