When in Rome

The volcanic ash forced us to stay a little longer...no matter...more window shopping!

After all the gaudy churches, I yearned to spot clean lines!

Love this modern kitchen and the romantic in me loves these dishes. I might have to take up pottery just so I can recreate them!

What I might not be able to justify

40% off at NAU- I have a coat problem!
Might be a little too wintry for my Spring trip...
Maybe I'll buy it for him...I'll wear it until I find him in Florence! My husband will soooo not buy my plan...also where in the world does that fit into my "packing light" scheme.....ah decisions!
Dead sexy though, isn't it?

Do you get enough iron?

When I was in D.C I was stuck by the public sculpture and ornamental ironwork.

This was my state of mind! I wanted to be everywhere and see everything...I f only I could have split myself among all the sites...

Love, love love this!

Simple and elegant, no?

ornate but balanced by such a substantial and weighty building.

This brick work would be nothin' much to look at without this ornamental iornwork.

Classic and lovely.

Washington DC .... help me Nancy!

Huevos anyone? Should I drag everyone to Perry's?

Elliott Teel Photo
We are going to Washington DC for spring break!!! I'm embarrassed to say I have never been there before. We have so much snow right now in Telluride and Ridgway that it's hard to believe there might be cherry blossoms only a short plane ride away. I miss the dahlias, the hydrangeas, the tulips, and the cherry blossoms the most since moving from Seattle...love being so close to skiing/hiking/here though.

A good friend of mine who is from D.C. suggested the following itinerary. It is a fantastic spring board. Too bad we can't get tickets to do the white house egg roll on Easter! We'll be bringing my Mom who is full of fun and curiosity and our sweet 6 year old...Scott and I might go out for one fancy schmancy dinner. We'll need to see the mall lit up at night...

Here's where you come in!
Where are the modern boutiques? The great furniture places? The funky shops? I'd love to hear your "musts"! PLEASE!!!!
M.'s recommendations:
Day 1
The Mall and the Smithsonian Museums (be sure to see the Natural History Museum)Korean War Memorial/Vietnam War Memorial Tidal Basin at the Jefferson Memorial (lined by the cherry blossoms)Eat at Tenh Penh or Michel Richard's Central?

Day 2 Breakfast at Eastern Market (Saturday morning) on Capital Hill Capitol and Library of CongressNational Archives The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Day 3 Spy Museum (http://www.spymuseum.org/)Lunch at Full Key (Chinatown) or Jaleo (right by the Spy Museum)Newseum (http://www.newseum.org/)

Day 4 Sunday drag queen brunch at Perry's in Adam's MorganNational Zoo and Dupont Circle. Don't know whether you want to see the Holocaust Museum (http://www.ushmm.org/)? Amazing, but definitely adult content.Also to fit in: shows at Folger Theater or National Theater.Neko Case (ALT country) is playing on the 9th at the 9:30 club. She's awesome. Not COUNTRY, COUNTRY, twang, twang.

This sounds like a good restaurant. Any one been?

Ahhh Barcelona...my thweet "Barthelona"

Saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona recently.

WOW! Best movie I've seen in a long, long time! We were searching for a fun movie to see with friends and I knew it sounded vaguely familiar...

What I forgot about was that it was a Woody Allen movie. I have to admit he's not my favorite ...his personal life and personality tend to overshadow his work and cloud my perspective of his films. When My girlfriend found out what we were seeing she and her husband hid the fact until it was over. Clever I thought. There we were on the street gushing about how fabulous the film was when it slipped out! AHHHh -that is friendship though! She knew it would have possibly ruined it for me. I'm so glad she didn't say anything. We're both over the moon about Barcelona...we could live there in a heart beat. The scenes were beautifully lit and the interiors were delicious. Nothing to be critical about...I mightv flawless...there I said it. I LOVED a Woddy Allen film.

Mr. "you know who"

talking to the very beautiful cast...Love the wall treatment.

Ahh that Penelope...she's amazing and Javier...well say no more ladies. He had me at "hola".



These are a few pics of the fam in Barcelona from a few years ago.

Sophia loved the street performers.

Mmmmm...the markets, the Churches, the art and architecture, the food, the climate, the language, the night life, what's not to love?

This shot was right outside an amazing candy shop. the stained glass peacock was amazing. Art Nouveau every where!

Scott stopped at all the bakeries. I stopped at way too many irresistible candy shoppes. The presentation was completely over the top. At one point my usually patient-as -a-saint husband found the endless wrapping and embellishing of the wrapping to be too much...he knew the chocolates would be consumed as soon as we left the shoppe. He was pretty sure it didn't need to be fit for an empress....but he was wrong, so, so wrong -scroll down...

Our sweet and sweaty little empress.

I had a Tide To Go incident. A pigeon deposited an emerald green gift upon my lapel...good thing my mom had some stain remover handy- worked like a dream....I really need to look into paid spokespersonship....

I rarely look like P when I ride my bicycle...hmmm maybe I should reconcider my outfits. I'm sure that would do the trick.