hot times, summer in the city

Tomorrow marks the first official day of summer. Over at my Fedscoop column I've made a list of 10 warm weather pastimes in Washington, D.C.  You can read the list here. 

When the sun goes down, a picnic at a concert, winery or outdoor movie night is a favorite way to celebrate summer. 

What are you looking most forward to doing this summer?

my afternoon with prince harry

Last week, I got a blast-from-the-past email from a friend whom I haven't seen or spoken to in years.

She'd been watching TV coverage of Prince Harry's Washington, D.C., visit and thought she saw me in the background, stalking the royal uncle-in-waiting as he roamed the halls of Congress.

"I know that's something Patra from 8 years ago would do," she said, "was it you?"

If the MI6  has a file on me I wouldn't be surprised. I tend to make the paper(s) when the Brothers Wales dominate American headlines. I can't deny it's odd behavior for a lady of my age, but if the ginger prince came to your office wouldn't you try to catch a glimpse?

With just a little shame, I admitted to my friend that it was likely me, as the photos seen on the front page of UK Daily Mail (and also on CNN, HuffPo, WaPo, Gawker, USA Today and People) would confirm.  

In defense of all us curious anglophiles, I will tell you that the welcome we gave Harry was indeed hospitable but hardly the Beatles-crazed mania you read it was.  UK Daily (one of my favorite reads; I was highly amused to make its print) reported that police escorted us all back to our desks. That didn't happen (but should security have tried, I was ready to test the Reese Witherspoon I Am An American Citizen defense). Though mocked globally, our curiosities obstructed no one's justice. 

barrel oak - best virginia winery for lingering

October is Virginia Wine Month. As if one ever needs an excuse to drive south into my favorite part of the DC-region.........

I went with some friends recently to visit an old favorite, and to check out a new concept in Virginia wine drinking...a seated tasting (read all about that over at my Fedscoop column!).  The day ended with dessert at Barrel Oak winery which has now officially become my favorite place to linger long time. 

There views are so nice, but the grounds....once there you just don't want to leave! There are plenty of tables and chairs for guests. Outdoor food is welcome, but there was a barbeque stand selling plates of food when we were there and a super fun band playing. People were dancing between wine tastings. It was picture-perfect fall!  There are firepits galore around which everyone sits and sips and makes friends. I can't wait to go back here for the John Marhsall Tasting Experience.  

If every you visit the D.C./northern Virginia area and you like wine, do not plan a trip this way without spending a day hopping from vineyard to vineyard. I promise you'll adore everything about it... even if it isn't Virginia Wine Month! 

antrim 1844 for a DC-area girlfriend getaway

On Saturday, I  set out  for a night away with girlfriends at Antrim 1844, a bed & breakfast in central Maryland, to celebrate my friend Mary's upcoming birthday. 

Entry into the mansion at Antrim 1844

"You're going to be very close to the Mason-Dixon line," Dan told me, jokingly, "so be very careful!"


An hour later, I checked into a room named after a Union spy.


Antrim is elegant and cozy, and the trees that shield it from a highway enclave guests into a garden that keeps old Civil War secrets....

The gardens at Antrim

...and modern day wedding vows. A couple got married while we were there, and we watched from our rooms.

It is no wonder couples choose to wed at Antrim; it is terribly romantic. Lucky guests get to snuggle into soft robes....

and fall into fluffy feather beds.  I want to come back with Dan in the winter to enjoy the fireplaces....

Besides, what's not to love about an inn that offers Nora Roberts on the bedside table?


Not just for lovebirds, Antrim proved a great (and inexpensive - we took advantage of the 1776 package good now through mid-July) girlfriend getaway. I can't recommend it more if you live in or around Baltimore and Washington. An easy drive beyond the Beltway and you're taking afternoon tea in a country smokehouse! That's what we did, as its offered daily to overnight guests. 

Don't fill up on the sweets and savories, however. Though the treats are delish, you'll want to save plenty of room for dinner at the award-winning Smokehouse Restaurant (more on that tomorrow!) where the food and service is fantastic! Dinner for the pre fixe menu is not included in the room price, but the experience is worth the splurge!

After six courses and three hours of  leisurely dining, we slid back into some comfy clothes and headed out for a round of marathon girl talk in the garden....

Before we knew it the clock ticked 2:00am - we'd outlasted even the wedding goers! Up by 9 then next day, there was breakfast (included daily for overnight guests from 8:30am-10:00am) to be had...

The rest of the day we lounged by the pool (which we had ALL to ourselves!)...

til it was time to drive back to real life. 


Do you have a favorite place for a quick girls' weekend?

It's the Climb: Capitol Dome Tour

Last Friday, there was a cancelation for a Capitol Dome Tour, and truly by chance, my office was lucky to fill it.

Looking at this picture, taken 152 feet above the Capitol Rotunda, still gives me a little bit of vertigo...and this wasn't even the highest point. Here I am on the balcony at the base of the tholos....

High enough to see the Maryland 'burbs.....though the Washington landmarks were much more sightly. Here's Patrick, the work hubs, holding Court, Supremely, on the exterior balcony of the Dome.

I've worked on the Hill for years, but never had the chance to make this climb.

I have a slight fear of heights, and a wild imagination that went into over-drive as I was winding my way to the top, giving the stairs a tight death-grip....

but I did it anyway, because it's a pretty big treat to score a dome tour (tours are not available for public booking, and only taken once a day). The up-close view of the dome's paintings....

and its architecture was worth a very real case of the willies. 

I am going to get a little D.C. nerdy here. I loved seeing this light....

When either the House or the Senate is in session, this light is always on. You can see it from the the top of the Capitol, all over the city. On September 11th, even when the government evacuated, this light stayed turn burning.

Confession....I had to rely on my co-workers for most of these photos. I was too chicken to look over the inside ledge. This is how I saw things from inside...

I wasnt as brave as these girls...

Dome you wish your collegaues are cute like mine? Hee! The photos don't do the experience justice...

but they will always be reminders to me of how lucky I am to get to do unique things like this!

The SEC in DC!

Few things are decidedly Southern in Washington, but I've found one's interpretation of the SEC is a quick clue for distinguishing the men from the beaus. 

Because I know most of my readers hail from below The Line, I'm guessing  your natural instinct (especially since we're at the start of football season) is to think the South Eastern Conference.

In this town, howevs, when you say you're a fan of the SEC, your sentiment could just as easily be mistaken for......the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trust me, this has happened...numerous times.

Luckily, there are a host of places around town that cater to the Southern football fan, and today over at The DC Ladies I'm blogging about where South Eastern Conference fans go to watch football in Washington. You can read it here...

Never Gets Old...

I was told years ago that when the view of the Capitol no longer excited me or the sound of the sirens on a motorcade didn't turn my head, I'd know it was time to leave town....

I just pressed my nose to the glass of my office window for a peak of the Presidential motorcade. 

No matter who is inside, it never gets old.

Good-bye...For Now

After all the friends who've left D.C. in the past two years, you'd think I'd be immune to the gloominess of having to say good-bye. I'm not.


In fact, when I picked up this cake last week....

 for this party....

in honor of these friends, Aaron + Becky...

I burst into tears.


Odd, because cake {especially icing} usually makes me SO happy!

Aaron and I go way back. Like, first big job out of college back. We met as two naive twenty-somethings in way over our heads producing newscasts in a mid-size TV market. When we botched that up, we became two twenty-somethings roaming the halls of Congress. Life, for a while, was one perptual episode of The West Wing and wide-eyed, we took it all in together.

It's not that I miss the many friends (that means you, Virginia!) who have already moved any less than I already miss Becky + Aaron.  I think my looming sadness about their departure has everything to do with how far from D.C. they are moving - to Phoenix! You don't need me or Rand McNally to tell you that Phoenix isn't AT ALL near Washington, but for dramatic effect, let me get specific: it's 2,302 miles.

Aaron + Becky's move to the desert had me feeling a little, well, deserted, 'til I stopped for a minute to realize that ALOT of my closest friends live the far away  - and yet, when we get together, even if it is just once or twice a year, it feels like time never passed! So, piggy-backing on yesterday's post, if I could add a third thought on friendship, it'd be in our world of gchat and email and expedia.com that distance doesn't matter. That is what I'm telling myself, for now, as I nurse the good-bye hangover of seeing yet another set of friends leave town.

Southern in the City and The D.C. Ladies

A recent column in The Washington Post questioned whether or not D.C. is losing its "Southerness".  The beauty of this Capitol City is that it isn't just Southern. Because so few of us are actually from the District, because people come and go here as quickly as a political scandal, there is always a melting pot of cultures.

D.C. will always be an international city. D.C., desipte its East Coast placing, will always hint at the ways of the West. And, like those of us who move from Dixie to the District, D.C. will always be Southern.

I moved to Washington from Tennessee, and it didn't take me long to hear the secret langage - twang - that we Southerners can pick up like a dog to a whistle when we're transplanted from our native land, even in voices that have long since lost an accent. Like many people who live inside the District, I flew my state flag at my Capitol Hill home because I'm obnoxious proud like that. 

Nearly all the new friends I made were Southern. Nearly all the social events I attened had some Southern flair.  Though quickly I came to love the urban ways of living here that are so very different from the life I knew in Knoxville, ten years (and one move north to the Maryland 'burbs) later,  I still reconnect pretty regulary with my roots. And I still think DC holds plenty of Southern charm.

I'm excited to share that I've become a guest blogger for The D.C. Ladies. My first post about my favorite Southern town up this way is featured today, and you can read it here.


Whistlin' Dixie for the DC Ladies, I will be writing about "all things South'un."  I look forward to sharing with readers how even in the world's most powerful city one can quickly trade monuments for mountains, foie gras for grits, and Diplomats for down home Southerners.

Pearls of Wisdom on Election Day

If you live or work on Capitol Hill in Washington, you may have heard about the one week during the end of each year when, direct from Beijing, the infamous Pearl Lady sets up shop to showcase all her beautiful baubles - earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets - at very discounted prices.

A row house is filled with pearl jewelry (all rough-on-your-teeth real!) and the women who've been lucky enough to find out the address. The event isn't advertised...you just have to be in the know.

DC ladies think The Pearl Lady is a real gem!

Women pillage through the pearls, pushing and prodding. Even if you've no plans to purchase, sometimes like politics, it's just a fun show to watch.

So, because it's Election Day, and I feel like it's my civic duty...I'll spare you a big yard sign, an automated call or a debate on what I think you should do when you go behind the curtain today....

and give you the details about how you can shop with the Pearl Lady this month if you live in the DC area. 

Because no matter what your politics are, I think we can all agree that pearls make everyone look prettier....and smarter.

The Pearl Show

446 New Jersey Ave., SE - Washignton, DC

Thursday, November 11, noon to 6 p.m.

Friday, November 12, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, November 13, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday, November 14, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday, November 15, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday, November 16, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Cash or American Express, Visa and MasterCard only

 Photo ID, business card, and e-mail address required for credit card sales.

Happy Shopping!

Real Housewives DC Has My Vote!

I have never watched a full episode of Real Housewives of New York or New Jersey. As a result, and because I have so many brain cells on reserve,  I am totally going to indulge in watching Real Housewives of DC (before leaving tomorrow to visit my favorite  Real Housewife of Chattanooga!!!!)

photo credit: Buddy TV

Did you see these women on The View? On Kathy Lee and Hoda? From all the sneak peaks of these characters and the show, all I can say is....it aint C-SPAN.

Let freedom ring. Tonight at 10!

My Morockin' Good Birthday

The journalist in me is dying: posting on a "story" that happened weeks ago = old news. However, the historian in me, who blogs for posterity's sake, needed to get this night documented...

During our honeymoon, Mr. W and I took a day trip to Morroco - it was fabulous, esepcially the food.

Morocco, 2009

So, when it came time to decide where I should dine for my birthday, I decided to go with Marrakesh, a Morocan restaurnt in DC that I'd heard for years was a fanastic experiece. It was!

Several of my friends who I hadn't seen in ages all piled around tiny coffee tables to dine, family style, on authenic Morocan dishes. But not before washing hands, of course, since we didn't use any forks... 

Between fanastic plates of veggies, couscous, chicken, beef and lamb...

 

we also left room for a bottle or seven of wine....

and maybe even a toast or two.....

After seven course and two rounds of belly dancers (how I wish I had pictures of that!), it proved to be one of the MOST fun birthdays I have EVER had. I would absolutely go back to this place....as long as all my fave friends will join me again!

Julie and Fran - at what point did you trade husbands?