Things to Do: National Portrait Gallery and then some...

Today, I finally got back to my list of 'things to do' in DC before we leave.  I was just reviewing my list and while I felt like I was being really productive today, I actually ended up only doing one thing on my list.  One!!  But I did see a few things that I had wanted to see, but didn't think to put on my list.  So here's how my day went:

yep, this picture is crooked.  I would like to know how you take a good picture of an amazing building...or a good picture at all!

 I started out at the National Archives this morning.  I believe that I am a genius (I had to use spell check for genius, so maybe I am not such a genius after all :) for waiting to see the archives until today.  I have walked by several other times but have decided against going in because I could always see the line of people waiting to go inside.  Not today though!  I walked right in and right up to see the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Constitution and the Declaration of Independence all in about 15 minutes.  It was awesome! A few things of note from the Archives:  beautiful penmanship is non-existent now, all the documents were written on really large paper (why?), the Declaration of Independence is extremely faded ...so much so that even John Hancock's giant signature is slipping away, and the man who wrote the actual Constitution was paid $30 dollars for his work (what is today's equivalent amount?)

 

I obviously did not take this picture..but note the fade...

My next stop was the National Portrait Gallery & the American Art Museum.  They share a building so I had the pleasure of seeing both over the course of 3 hours.  I did enjoy the portraits of the presidents and a few of the more well-known people from history but I ended up just skimming by quite a few in the end.  Three floors of nothing but faces...and reading hefty paragraphs to find out who they were is tiring!

Kogod Courtyard- free wi-fi apparently

The building used to be the U.S. patent office...it is one Washington's oldest public buildings, being built only after the white house and capitol.  In 1865, Lincoln held his 2nd inaugural ball in this room.

It's not every day I get to see an Oscar in real-life..or ever come to think of it.  These were Katharine Hepburn's.

I love this...

 

Now this is something I see everyday. How'd you do it Norman Rockwell?

I met up with my friend Sara afterwards but she quickly abandoned me (j/k sara)  to go to a meeting she had forgotten about so I went into the National Aquarium.  Don't let 'national' fool you, this is not a free museum.  If someone were to ask if I would recommend it, I would definitely say no, no I would not.  It's not worth the $9.95.  Maybe I should have known it wasn't going to be good as it is in the basement of the commerce building--I guess they needed a little extra commerce going on to pay their bills. (heh heh, not funny? ok)  After reading the reviews a couple minutes ago, I would say that the only people that go into this aquarium are people that wander by and stumble in--like myself.  Had I read the reviews before going, I would have saved my $10 for half the entrance fee into the spy museum.  Only other thing of note about the aquarium is that I ran into a visiting Dane...I guess I definitely recognize danish when I hear it--just not all the specifics I am hearing :)

Most exciting activity of the day...

Purple Sea Urchin?  This actually may have been my favorite tank

 

Clearly the national aquarium is so dull that even this guy can't stand it and he lives here...

After that, I couldn't take anymore sightseeing in one day--until I spotted the Old Post Office.  This is another DC site that I have walked by many a time but never had taken the time to walk inside.  The 'pavillion' was nothing special--just generic Chinese, pizza, and kabob restaurants but the architecture is worth going in for a few minutes.  The trip to the tower is free so I walked into the oldest, glass elevator I have ever seen and prayed that there wouldn't be another earthquake during my 30 second ride.

Old Post Office

View from 9 floors up

towards half of the mall

Pennsylvania Ave

After today, that leaves the Jefferson Memorial, Spy Museum, Building Museum, National Cathedral, Zoo, & National Gallery of Art...I may be running out of time! 

And as if there were not enough pictures already, I will leave you with my favorite thing of the day, and a picture of me on this momentous day of sight-seeing.

Electronic Superhighway:Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii...after being in so many dark places in one day (archives, portrait gallery, & aquarium) I didn't want to leave this bright, fun piece of art.  All the states had tvs that depicted something well-known to that particular state.  Poor Idaho..every image was of potatoes.   This can be found on the 3rd floor of the American Art Museum.

Aww, another winning "stranger-taken" photo

Why I Love Etsy

Have you met Etsy? Etsy.com?   If not, you should.  Don't read any further, just go to Etsy.  But back to my reasons for loving Etsy.  

-It is the arts or crafts festival of my dreams.  Rather than just seeing things from your local area..or even your state or country, you can find unique, fun things from artists and crafters from around the world.  Much of it is reasonably priced as well.  

-Whether you can sew, make jewelry, paint..whatever you do, you can be sure to find inspiration in your area of interest.  

-If you can't do it yourself, you can buy it! I have yet to see a vendor with a genius idea and zero sales.  

-If you are searching for something very specific, you can probably find it--I believe their search function has magical powers :)

There are surely a million other reasons why it's awesome but I will get on with my post. 

I was searching for art prints to buy so I could do something like this (see below) in our next house

to read the owners blow, see here

And then I came upon a print that I could easily make something similar for myself...and so I did.  But then I thought, "Why stop there when I could take care of a few more upcoming birthdays"  

So unfortunately I cannot show you what I have been working on today, but I can show you another Etsy buy and inspired craft.

These were my bridesmaids gifts--I bought them from a shop called "Steampunk cellar".
They appear to have closed down their shop so I cannot put up a link.

Then, for Christmas of 2009, I made a lot of pillows based on an owl pillow from here. 

But for my sister Holly, I made a special bat pillow since it was the year she was bitten by a bat and then had to go through the series of rabies vaccinations. 

Holly, looking thrilled on Christmas Eve. 

I am certain she will always think of that incident whenever she sees this lovely creature.  Do you Holly?  

Oh wait!  I can ask her in person tomorrow!  Holly is finally coming to visit Ed and I in DC.  Maybe she's been avoiding it because the last time she was here, she was hobbling across the finish line at the Marine Corp Marathon...but I could be wrong.  Anywhy...moving right along.  I think tomorrow I will post a recipe of Mac and Not Cheese here unless something more exciting happens :)  Until then...have a nice evening :)

Best Cupcake in DC

Disclaimer to those who stumble upon this blog and don't know me : my review is by no means scientific, exhaustive or a true representation of the 'best cupcake' in DC.  I am not a professional baker and am just offering my 'average cupcake eater' opinion.  

Since moving to DC, I have had more cupcakes than I had during my entire childhood.  Because there are so many bakeries that sell nothing but cupcakes, I have been looking for the best place to eat a cupcake in this town. The hunt began when my sister heather visited in March and continued with the bakery owners, uncle Doug and aunt Marilee and now, will hopefully be over because I don't think I can afford the new, larger wardrobe that goes along with eating 3 1/2 cupcakes (okay it was actually 4) in a day. Amy's one request for her trip to DC was to go to 'that famous cupcake place'. I figured why stop with one, when we could go to four!

@ georgetown cupcakes..before the sugar high really set it.

Baked and Wired: 1052 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, $3.50/cupcake

Baked and Wired's great location

This is the place the locals recommend but I can only figure it is for the coffee or the 'scene'. It is near the canal in Georgetown and is in a cool location up the street from the water.  The cupcakes are 'made from scratch' so have kind of a homemade look but the frosting was terribly sweet and not in a good way. My particular choice was fairly dry...It seems that they have too many options for the amount of customers they have coming in to buy cupcakes.   My biggest complaint though was not with the cupcake. I bought a bottle of water and then was sent to the other side of the store to their coffee counter to pick it up. After waiting in a 2nd line,  I was handed a bottle that was at room temperature.  It's 95 degrees out!  If I am paying for water, I want it to be cold!  Amy and Natalie's complaint: the creepy, giant santa claus that had a sign in his hands that read, "I like to watch you while you sleep"

"Teresa's Birthday Cake".  I don't know Teresa, but I wanted the maple frosting.  

Sprinkles: 3015 M Street NW, $3.50/cupcake

This cupcake store is a chain that started in Beverly Hills and now the founder of the store is a judge on cupcake wars..I do not watch cupcake wars and had not heard of sprinkles so I had no preconceived opinions about Sprinkles.  I ordered my personal favorite, red velvet.  It was nothing to write home about and the fondant decoration on the top was really dry and did not taste good.  I tasted the key lime pie cupcake that Natalie ordered and I found it to be bitter.  They had the most inefficient system for getting people in and out of their store. There was no line so I ordered right away.  Rather than pay right away, I was to step aside and wait while a 2nd girl bagged the cupcake and handed it off to yet another employee who rang me up.  What should have taken 1 minute, ended up taking 5.  Like I said...not efficient. 

Red Velvet Cupcakery: 501 7th Street NW, $3.25/cupcake

Red Velvet Cupcakery's storefront

This cupcake was really good, even though it was no longer in pristine, cupcake shop condition. I chose their seasonal special that was a white cake with strawberries in the middle. It had a lemon frosting with a blueberry on top.  This shop is really small and so their was no place to sit but other than that, it's a decent place to get a cupcake on the go.  They also have a chocolate vegan cupcake if that's what you do :)

Really good despite looking really ugly..I am not sure what happened on the trip home.

Georgetown Cupcake: 3301 M Street NW, $2.75/cupcake

Still smiling... despite the line.

They were the winners of our sunday cupcake challenge!  Their strawberry cupcake was so amazing!  It was moist and had the best frosting.  I have less than delicious cupcakes from here before but on this particular day, they were fantastic.  The staff is really friendly, and while we were waiting in line, they brought ice water out to their soon-to-be customers.  I suppose that they need to be super-nice to maintain their positive reputation, but I felt they were genuinely happy to see their customers.  (I would be happy too if this were my business :) Now, I just need to plan a trip on a Tuesday to get their maple cupcake...

So great. 

 If you want to read about my friend Lee-Anne's own cupcake tour while visiting DC, see here.  I agree with her assessment of Crumbs so much that it did not even make it into our sunday cupcake tour line up.  They are just too dry...save your money and go to my true favorite, Bayou near the courthouse metro. It's a restaurant that happens to sell the greatest red velvet cupcake (or RVC as we call it) around. Well, my guests have left so I will now have a chance to catch up telling my read diary about our weekend activities.  Hope you have a good one.