Photo Journal: An Outsider's Insider's Tour of Washington DC

When I think DC, I think mammoth tusks and the Hope Diamond, the Austrian crystal chandelier at the Kennedy Center's Opera House, the marble pillars of the Lincoln Memorial, and my out-of-town great aunt standing under the two-inch overhang of a hot dog stand during one of those sudden Chesapeake downpours.

But this February, a lovely friend (and DC native) gave my mom and me such a unique experience in the city and its surrounding areas that I realized that I had never really been to DC. Our trek felt like a Travel Channel episode with distinct and personal experiences around each corner, including beautiful Oxon Hill Farm, the Frederick Douglass House, the eclectic & historic Eastern Market, and the delicious Founding Farmers. 

Enjoy the photologue! 

Oxon Hill Farm

Iconic porch at the farmhouse.

Rural landscape

Drowsy cow.

Pastoral

Collage

Frederick Douglass's house on a hill overlooking DC. A much-coveted location, the famous abolitionist lecturer bought this house while U.S. Grand Marshall and Ambassador to Haiti.

Death mask

Elegant living room. The man had impeccable taste.

Bust of Frederick Douglass

The majority of furnishings in the house are original. My friend, who is a professional researcher on African American history, remembers seeing a photo of Frederick Douglass with this same checker board.

Travelling trunk. Look for the name.

Fabulous landmark: the giant Chair.

DC Rowhouses. Sigh.

Huh?
Actually, this would be perfect for a scavenger hunt: "Green-eyed monster."

Entering the Eastern Market. Open every Sunday.

Bustling flea market + antiques and hand crafts.

Old cash register at one of the stands. 
And finally, someone who knows how to hang a horseshoe so the luck doesn't fall out.

Thomas Calomiris & Son's.
And mysterious number 4, as in.... four daughters? Fourth generation? Four calling birds?

Eliza Doolittle...

Functional Decor at Founding Farmers

Tea at Founding Farmers. Love the one-person teapot by ForLife.

Rotisserie chicken & red potatoes. Perfection... and gluten free.

Shrimp and Grits (not gluten-free). My mom loved this dish.

Rotisserie chicken, this time with classic collared greens.

View of the U.S. Capitol.

How to Have a Smashing Crepes Party

So, in my last post, I had sketched my experiences with fiddling around with crepes - or, as one of my more French-savvy friends pronounces it, "cleps." It turns out that my crepe-frying beginner's luck was put to good use at the party, for which my friend Sarah wisely quadrupled her crepe recipe!

We had already pillaged the local grocery purveyors (Messrs. Safeway, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's) for a variety of sweet and savory toppings:

• Strawberries
• Raspberries and blackberries
• Sliced mango
• Strawberry Chobani yogurt
• Melted Ghirardelli chocolate
• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles
• Mango slices
• Bananas
• Nutella (divine with sliced bananas!)
• Gluten-free granola from Trader Joe's
• Ham
• Goat cheese from Whole Foods
• Goat cheese and herb spread
• Cava's red pepper and hummus spread

Wow, a lot more sweet than savory. What a horrible problem. :) Interestingly, our guests devoured the strawberries faster than any of the other toppings!

The Crepe Bar

Berries and Chocolate Crepe

The decor for the party was simple but elegant, inspired by Anthropologie's eclectic style and the crisp spring weather. Thanks to Whole Foods' floral department, fresh sprigs of purple-blue snapdragons and tufts of fun green bushy stuff made a nice bouquet for the side table. 

Construction Site

Riviera Blue Splash

I stuck small white and blue flowering "mini-bushes," technically Riviera Blue Splash from Homestead Gardens into various small glazed pots and even a large empty lantern, scattered an array of battery-powered votives in an army of miniature lanterns around the dining room, and added a few semi-tarnished silver pieces for extra character. My friend (whom the party was honoring) smuggled back a centerpiece from a wedding she'd attended the day before, and voile! Gardeny-springy-bohemian-decor! 

Decor on the Side Table

I deliberately omitted all pink from the decorations, since it was after all a co-ed party. It's not my favorite color, anyway. But at the same time, the guest of honor was a girl (still is), so why not keep it feminine?

Centerpiece and Garland

The mademoiselles

A Dickensian Christmas

"His own heart laughed, and that was quite good enough for him."

This Christmas, I took inspiration from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, designed a Victorian themed decor accented by literary details throughout a merlot and rosé color scheme. Old books, vintage silver, fresh roses and poinsettias, and handmade papercraft embellished the decor.

For Christmas dinner, we had Devonshire Crab Soup (delicious!), Annapolis crab cakes, Chebe rolls, and a fresh salad with baby arugula, sliced strawberries, and homemade balsamic dressing.

Natural-colored tapers in a vintage silver 

candelabra paid homage to the Victorian theme.

Handmade place cards

Dimming the room's ceiling light made candlelight the

 main attraction. A photo frame quoting A Christmas 

Carol emphasized the Dickensian theme.

Lush, multi-layered decor.

"Old Marley was dead: to begin with." 

~ First line of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Merlot-colored lace overlays were the perfect 

Victorian touches on the side buffet and the dinner table.

Fresh red roses in a cranberry glass pitcher stood 

alongside the poinsettias.

Handmade collage wall art, featuring a photograph of 

my great-grandmother Doris Stillman Frazier at 

the age of eighteen. So glamorous.

More handmade collage wall art. I raided fashion, 

decorating, and bridal magazines for the flower photos,

and used scrapbooking papers and embellishments for

everything else. I had fun drawing the elaborate ink 

borders on the red card stock.

Brainstorm of a Wanna-Be Event Planner

This year, I began watching David Tutera's My Fair Wedding. Incredible, so fun to watch, and the man's a genius, with the receptions he creates looking more like dreams, paintings, or theatrical spectaculars than predictable wedding decor. Plus, he gives each bride a wedding that suites who she is. So, that got me thinking... how awesome would it be to be an event planner! 

So, what aura would I want to create, if I could plan whatever I wanted and no one cared (like that could really happen with all those bridezillas!)? But every event planner needs a trademark look regardless of theme, right? Hint of a garden theme perhaps, since I love Winterthur and Longwood Gardens? Fairy tale because I'm a Disney buff? Old Hollywood due to my classic film love? A nod to Celtic style, since I love Irish music and culture and take pride in my Scottish heritage? Heck, if I go down the heritage route, I could just as easily pick Central American, Portuguese, the list goes on and on. Gah! 

And then everything started clicking. I don't know why it didn't click before. See, when I entertain, I am obsessed with using candlelight, whether it's blush-colored tapers in cranberry glass holders for a Southern-themed Thanksgiving, or those dramatic red tapers in my antique silver candelabra when I hosted a classic film night, or just a few glass votive holders on the stairs.

Soft candlelight for Thankgiving,
inspired by SouthernLiving.com

I love Mt. Vernon by Candlelight, Annapolis by Candlelight, Bruce Munro's "Light" installation at Longwood Gardens. 

"Field of Light" by Bruce Munro

I pretty much jump for joy when I see fireflies (nature's candleight!) or attend a midnight church service that has everyone holding candles. Dear me, have I discovered a hidden obsession? Whoa. Anyhoo, apparently candlelight's my thing. Hmmm....

Mount Vernon by Candlelight

And I love theater, opera, ballet, Broadway shows, you name it - and when I saw the 2004 film adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, I was mesmerized. But, it's not the opera house that I'd want to base my wedding reception on. Again, it's candlelight. After all, when I looked up some reception decor based simply on opera, or even Phantom of the Opera, I was surprised to find that I wasn't feeling all the red velvet. Love red velvet, but more as a hint than an overwhelming sea of it! But the beauty, mystery, and romance of the fabulous, candlelit Phantom's lair - with more emphasis on candlelight than lair, of course - would be a gorgeous ceremony and reception theme. Back to candlelight again! And the gigantic chandelier. I have always been in love with chandeliers, starting with the one my grandmother had hanging over her dining room table, and I have loved that aura of fire and crystal ever since. So, I've got candlelight and chandeliers in my head as a theme, and loving it. 

It would also let the bride wear a gorgeous formal gown, which is always cool. As long as there actually are not any references to Phantom of the Opera. Much as I love it, that would just be corny.

Here are a few fun idea pictures that I found on ProjectWedding.com: