the Tabard Inn Hotel and Restaurant

On our previously mentioned "stay-cation," we stayed at a funky inn in DuPont Circle called the Tabard Inn Hotel. It's also a kick butt restaurant, which we had a fantastic dinner at Friday evening (unfortunately don't have pictures of that, it was a wee bit too dark). Quirky is an understatement in describing this place! Check it out:

a gorgeous church!

Two weekends ago, Brad and I had a "stay-cation" for his birthday. It actually didn't even feel like a "stay-cation," since we pretty much only go into D.C. for work, hardly ever on the weekends (I just can't stand the tourists!) We stayed at a B&B in in the DuPont Circle area. On Sunday, we attended Mass at the cathedral, St. Matthew's. I absolutely adore taking pictures of beautiful churches, so I snuck a few of this gorgeous one.

The plaque where JFK's body rested during his funeral Mass at St. Matthew's. It reads: "Here rested the remains of President Kennedy at the Requiem Mass, November 25, 1963, before their removal to Arlington where they lie in expectation of a heavenly resurrection." Pretty interesting to see. Also, St. Matthew's is where John-John did his famous salute.

a space to call my own

As you have read previously (here and here), I'm doing a big art show in DC at the end of May called Artomatic. On Saturday, I went down to the building where it was held for a quick orientation and to pick out my spot. I found the most perfect space! I'm on an 8x8 wall, the second floor, between the elevators and stairs and my row ends at the women's bathroom ;) I'm the second wall in, but it faces these huge east facing windows, so I get beautiful sunlight.
I'm already full of ideas of what to do with my wall and the 4' in front of it - thinking a little rug, a little table with a book for people to sign up for my email newsletter (note to self: begin writing email newsletter!), maybe a weekly raffle drawing for a free print, and, of course, loads of business cards.

Also, a quick shout out to Paul, my new photographer buddy who has answered all my 50 million questions about Artomatic and has really been a huge help in calming my nerves about this whole thing.

Below are some pictures of my space. Next stop: Home Depot to buy some paint!!

my wall :)

view from the elevator bank - my wall is the first one lit up from the sunshine, immediately to the right of the woman in the middle, standing in front of the column

if you were coming out of the ladies room, this is what you'd see :) My wall is the first sunlit one on the right hand side

what the lighting bracket on my wall will look like

Who sponsors your birthday?

Why not the American Cancer Society? Visit www.morebirthdays.com to find out more

A b&w birthday

The pictures I took when we celebrated Brad's birthday were a bit inconsistent (thus is life learning a new camera), so I converted a bunch of them to black and white. He says he's "old" so "black and white is fitting." Silly boy...

Next up: pictures from our birthday "stay-cation" last weekend!

Five On Friday

(I thought I'd try this as a way to try to keep up with posting on my blog. Basically you're supposed to write five random things for your Friday entry)

1. While I am normally skeptical of infomerical products, I took a leap this week and bought the PedEgg randomly when we happened to be in Bed, Bath & Beyond. I'm not going to lie. It is the BEST PRODUCT EVER! It will seriously cut down on the number of pedicures I have to get. I am so hard on my feet, between flip flops, pointy toe heels and barefeet. This amazing little egg really helped with the rough spots on the bottom. Try it if you have feet issues. It is worth the $9.99!

2. My Dad was here visiting this week. He arrived last Friday and left yesterday. And we had a great visit. We didn't do anything remarkably exciting, just brunching and lunching and shopping. But it was still super fun to hang out. I love it that I'm now and adult and that hanging out with my Dad is fun :)

3. During Congressional recess, things normally slow down in D.C. for people both on and off the Hill. Not this recess. I'm not sure what this recess was thinking, but it has been as busy as, if not busier, than ever. Thanks a lot recess!

4. The weather has been totally wack-a-doodle in D.C. lately. It was 40 degrees and raining on Wednesday and now it's 70 degrees and sunny. I wish it would be 70 degrees and sunny all the time.

5. If you haven't checked it out already, head over to ACS CAN's web site and check out the annual accomplishments report for 2008. Another staff member and I put a many long hours into making this thing beautiful. I'm just glad it's done!

Artomatic pics

So yesterday I talked about my photography and how I'm entering this big photo exhibit at the end of next month. I thought I'd share with all of you the pictures I think I'm going to display. Your feedback is GREATLY appreciated!

Random Ramblings

Something that has been on my mind lately: my photography.

This picture:

has pretty much become the "face" of C Photography. It's on my business cards (which I need to order more of!), it's hanging in the front window of this restaurant, it's hanging in my living room, it's the image next to my name in a big art show I'm going to be in from May 29-July 5 and, undoubtedly, it'll be hanging up in my display at said art show.

But what is C Photography, beyond this image? I'm not an fantastic lifestyle photographer, like my friend Erin or a successful and talented wedding photographer like MK. I bill myself as a travel photographer, since most of my most awesome pictures come from my travels around the world and around my neighborhood, but am really more of a "stuff" photographer. Really. I actually am not that good at taking pictures of people.

I still feel like I'm trying to find my style, which no one ever told me you had to do. I know that I like architectural details, especially windows and doors. I know that I like bright colors and high contrast black and whites. I know that I love my wide angle lens and what it lets me do with buildings and big skies. But other than that, I don't know much.

I know I'm not too good at marketing myself, which I'm hoping Artomatic will help me work on a little.

I know I'm honestly scared to death to do this show, even though there are over 900 2-D artists and a bunch of cool performing artists, many who have done this before, but many more who have not, right there with me. I'll explain the awesome scariness of Artomatic: I basically am given a wall. It's in a newly constructed, not yet occupied building. It's up to me to paint it, light it and make it mine. 900 or so other artists do the same thing. It's open to the public May 29-July 5. People can buy my pieces, if they choose to. It's basically a huge building that right now is filled with nothing, but will soon be filled with art. Luckily, I have an awesome husband to help me out with the handistuff, and the marketing, and the framing and the generally trying to be awesome and look like I know what I'm doing.

I guess I'm just thinking aloud at this point, and you're probably bored with the random ramblings that go on in my head at any given moment. But there you have it. The first blog post in three weeks. I promise the next one will not be so introverted. In fact, the next one will probably have pictures from Brad's birthday, which was last Friday. The pictures from that are still on my camera :)