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11.10.2008

two nights, two dinners in philadelphia

I have a dear friend visiting and it’s always great fun to show D.C. to guests. We walked down 16th Street yesterday afternoon, past the Scottish Rite Temple and the National Geographic Society. At the corner of 16th and Eye Streets, with St. John’s to the left and the Hay-Adams hotel to the right, we stopped for the light and took in Lafayette Park and the White House.

There’s electricity in the air these days, a post-election spark the likes of which I’ve never detected in all my years in Washington. Yesterday it hit me that the collective release over the outgoing administration has a ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead quality to it. I shared that thought with my friend, and we laughed as we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the National Gallery of Art. We went to the Pompeii and the Roman Villa exhibit. I highly recommend it. From there, we walked up Seventh Street, one of my favorite stretches in town, despite the near eradication of the Chinese establishments that constitute Chinatown.

While my friend took a yoga class yesterday morning – she teaches yoga in Middletown, Connecticut – I got caught up on this and that. I found this two-nights sweeps over at Discover Spas with Julie Register, a neat spa website for anyone interested in that world. It’s for two nights at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia, and includes a spa certificate and dinner at two of Philadelphia’s best restaurants, Tangerine and Parc. This prize does not seem to include air, but that’s fine by me. If I were to win, we’d just hop the train.

Otherwise, I’m trying to get out more. I attended an opening last week at The Corcoran, and this week I’m attending a press reception at the Embassy of Ireland and then on Thursday I’m going on my own to an Embassy Chef Series at the Mexican Cultural Institute. I’ve been overly interior of late, a bit of a shut-in. It’s time to get out and circulate.

To enter, click HERE. The sweeps ends November 23, 2008.