13th & Columbia NW Metrobus accident

Yesterday afternoon, I drove past (rather, was blocked from driving past) the intersection of 13th & Columbia Streets NW where a Metrobus heading down Columbia towards 14th, had hit a car going up 13th.  In my opinion, it looked like, for once, it was the car's fault.  It was positioned as if it had attempted to pull out quickly in front of the bus, with passenger side almost perpendicular to the front of the bus.  Both drivers were on the phone when I witnessed the scene, so it must have just happened.  Can't find anything so far in way of other reports.

Call to Digital Photographers - Italy

I wouldn't normally post a call that's as far away as this one, but it looks like such a fantastic opportunity for digital photographers.  The Art Museum of Chianciano, Italy is hosting multi-faceted event, which includes workshops and classes with 5 world-renowned photographers, an exhibition, and at the end of the program, a series of awards will be distributed.  The "tutors" are: Lonnie Schlein, Chris Warde-Jones, Gerard Bruneau, Marcello Mencarini, Zoltan Nagy.  You can read more about them here .  More information about the program is here.

The exhibition will be pre-juried, but the workshop is open to all.  Of course, these have a pretty nice fee on all of them.  However, if you can get yourself a decent flight price, the Museum has set up four-star accommodations for participants, for a reasonable 400 euros (read: $575) for the full week of events (September 18-25, 2010).

Photography & Illustration Awards

Applied Arts magazine is currently accepting entries for its Photography & Illustration awards.  This seems to be about commercial work, but there is a "conceptual" category for photographers.  In any case, this is a different call than the usual.  More info. here .

Inspiration from Wedding Blogs

Since we got engaged, I've become an avid follower of wedding and craft blogs, looking for inspiration and diy ideas.  A fabulous low-budget wedding takes a well-read, well-researched bride.  Here are some of the blogs I've been reading this year:

For "Wedding Porn":

• Offbeat Bride - "offbeat" (for lack of a better word) wedding shots; inspiration to do my own thing!
  
• VintageGlam Weddings - a must-read for everyone aiming for a vintage-inspired wedding; these brides have done it well
  
• Perfect Bound  - lots of gorgeous real wedding shots

For DIY Ideas and handmade items:

• Etsy Wedding Street Team - cool artists who have amazing wares to sell on Etsy; I find out who to buy from and find inspiration for my own DIY projects
  
• Etsy - find your own top picks for inspiration
  
• ArtsAFire - ditto
  
• Green Wedding Shoes - there's some wedding porn in here, but mostly it's about highlighting interesting diy ideas and decor setups

For "green" wedding ideas:

• Earth Friendly Weddings - keeping me in the know about eco-friendly brands to support and ideas for wedding decor

From other real brides:

• Bridal Buds - commiserating about difficult wedding decisions and information on diy projects
  
• Offbeat Brides Tribe - a community formed by Offbeat Bride, where real brides share their advice in message boards and article posts

One Stop Wedding Shops:

• ritzy bee blog - This blog has all of the above and more and with a feature called "Vintage Wednesdays," I'm sold!
  
• The Washingtonian - everything I need to know about etiquette, planning and everything in between; plus, local vendor and event guidance.
  
• Martha Stewart Weddings Blog : everything!!  duh.

To keep updated on local bridal events and sales, I usually stick with ritzy bee blog (above) and District Weddings , which as far as wedding porn goes, is a bit too conservative for my tastes (a la DC style), but every once in a while, they post a great local sale.  It's from these sites that I found other resources like: FiftyFlowers, The Flower Exchange, SaveOnCrafts for DIY projects and budget-minded brides.

What are some of your favorite blogs for wedding inspiration?

Date Night Restaurant Hopping

Fiance and I finally had a day off together, so we decided to have a night of restaurant hopping.  We started at Tuscana West because we'd read about their happy hour and wanted to grab a drink before our 7:30 reservation.  One problem -- there was no bartender!  I know it was New Years Day..... BUT, it seems very strange to me not to have a bartender besides a server who runs behind the bar whenever they see someone, WHILE tending their own tables.  He had no idea what the happy hour deal was, and we were starting to get annoyed.

We sat at our table and our server was pretty lame.  He just took our order, and then he never touched our table again.  Instead, it was the busser who replenished our bread, cleared plates, refilled water, etc.

Le bruschette ai funghi, our appetizer, was out of this world.  The mushrooms were perfectly cooked in wine and garlic and layered on top of crostini.  The unbelievably soft bread is carried in a large basket from table to table.  Fiance got the Tri-Colore Lasagna for his entree, and I got one of the gnocchi dishes.  For me, the sauce was far too garlicky -- to the point that I was getting a salty sensation out of the dish.  The gnocchi werevery fluffy, and I could tell they were fresh.  Fiance really liked his lasagna, but also felt that the sauce was pretty salty.

When it came time for dessert, our server took a long time to get back to us, and when he did, he brought a sampler platter to show us each dish.  His descriptions: "Here is our tiramisu.  It's the best tiramisu, we make it here.  Here is a chocolate cake.  It's just a regular chocolate cake.  We buy it."  Holy salesmanship!

This prompted us to leave and try Zaytinya for dessert instead.  We sat at the bar for delicious cocktails, as per usual.  The Aphrodite's Pear and the Greek Sidecar were impeccably made, and it's an added plus when the bartender takes the time to pour it right in front of you.  For dessert, we had the Turkish Coffee Chocolate -- with a touch of cardamom, we were completely sold!  An added plus - Mike Isabella (of Top Chef fame) came over to the bar several times to talk to someone he obviously knew.  We were psyched to see one of our favorite contestants!

We finished the night at Cafe Citron, but since it was New Years Day, the place wasn't quite as packed as we're used to.  The bartender though, was a total pro, and even when busy, was right there when we needed the next drink.

Snow Storm 2009 in DC

Hey!  I never posted any of my pictures from snow storm 2009 in DC.  What an awesome weekend that was!  With DC completely shut down and stuck in the house, Fiance and I quickly realized we had no means of sustenance.  So we decided to make the trip to Giant by foot and on the way we stopped at the 3-day old (at the time) and brand new Columbia Heights staple, Pho Viet:

 

When we walked into Giant it looked like this:

As we walked home, this was the view around 14th & Park NW.  It's so awesome to live in the city!  The streets are filled with people in a snow storm.

The construction we all love so much...

Then we took Bella out to play.  She loves the snow.

One Stop Vintage Shop

Yesterday, I stumbled upon the best one-stop shop for all of my fashion needs!  Modcloth.com is maintained by husband and wife Eric and Susan (the founder), and it's abundant with fantastic choices for the lady who likes a little artsy twist to her clothes.

I recently made the conscious decision that there would be no more buying from mass produced brands -- (semi-)unique finds only!  After the wedding (ha!  when I'm not broke!)  I'll be buying everything from here!

The $10,000 Wedding Invitations

My lack of posting has been because of all the work it takes to plan a $10,000 wedding -- I'm thinking it probably takes more work than a wedding with no boundaries.  In any case, one of the major hurdles we found was invitations.  No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't find invitations that we liked, which weren't $400 and up.  We wanted something with some personality and nothing that's too obviously wedding.  I had all kinds of problems finding a place online I could design them and get them printed until..... Zazzle.com.

We came up with this invitation and were so pleasantly surprised at the quality of printing.  We also designed the reply cards and to cut costs, we put two to a card, cut them at home, and then ordered corresponding green envelopes

 at Paperandmore.com for just $22.  Overall, guess what we spent on everything -- $155!  Not bad AT ALL.

I just ordered postage, so they'll be going out this week!  Everything seems much more real when you're finally sending the invitations.

Two big items!

Tomorrow is opening night for I RAN Home (In America), an exhibit I curated with Isabella Hughes featuring three Iranian-American artists.  We aimed for a non-political, more culturally and aesthetically focused approach.  It looks awesome!  Don't miss it at The Fridge tomorrow night!

The other item is that one of our sponsors Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant is offering a chance at winning a $100 gift card and 2 tickets to the Redskins vs. Giants game if you become a fan of their Facebook page by November 27.  The catch?  The raffle doesn't happen until there are 1,000 fans... so invite your friends!

New Beginnings... Again

As the periods between posts have gotten longer and longer, so my life has been crazier and crazier.  Basically, I took what I thought to be a huge risk, which was, to leave my job... in the ARTS (ya know, one of the harder fields to feel steady in!).  I thought it was a risk because I like stability and security. Well, not those things really, just, having a plan.

But, I was able to leave because I realized that I did have a plan.  I just got into graduate school for the spring.  The plan is to attend.  If I want to attend, I'll have to make more money until then.  So I left, and I'm working part-time at a far more lucrative job, actually.  This was the main reason.  But, the other plan was to curate and work on some independent projects.  I've begun this immediately, in full force and have launched several exciting things set for very soon.  Stay tuned!

Taking the risk now, while I'm young, not yet.... married, and not toooo tied down, is the way to go.  Now is the time to experiment, dabble, and figure out what the heck I want to do.  Visual arts is not specific enough.  I need a function, an angle, a plan.  I think I'm getting there.

So, everything has been the right decision, as I knew all along, but was deathly afraid to concede in case it all turned right around on me.  No matter what happens with money, I know this was the right thing - career wise, for me to do.  I am so happy writing and being creative and working PR.  Though at times, I feel like I'm on call 24/7, I'm also challenged and... more importantly, completely free to conceive and produce my own vision, ideas and priorities.

And while I now, cannot wait to get married to Fiance, I can only hope that the wedding... and the finances somehow fall into place, and so, for now, planning activities are just a bit on pause.  I should, in the next two weeks, know exactly how we're doing to then begin to put down the rest of our deposits.

In the meantime, this blog is going to become increasingly unfocused, but still about my interests: i.e. contemporary art, curating, living green and of course, booze.