posted to Flickr.com by spaceyjessie

Another hazy, hot, and humid weekend awaits Capitol Hill.  Yes, we can tell you are excited too.  Planning on spending time at a local pool?  Running through a sprinkler?  Or just standing in front of an open freezer?  Stay cool (or just look cool) at these weekend events.

Thursday

Ever wanted to learn to tango?  Head over to the North Hall of Eastern Market for “Eastern Market Tango” at 7:00 p.m.  The hour-long beginner class costs $10, and another $10 gets you the hour-long intermediate class at 8:00.  Then stay for the open tango until 12:30 a.m.  More information at http://www.tangodc.com/.

For a less physically-challenging evening, enjoy “The Valley of the Dolls” in air-conditioned comfort at the Atlas Performing Arts Center at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets are just $6.00.

Friday

Start your evening at Congressional Cemetery for some Native American storytelling with Tim Tingle of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  The event begins with a tour of Native American grave sites and ends in the chapel for songs and tales.  Wine and cheese will be served, and admission is free.

Party like it’s New Year’s Eve all over again at the First Annual Summer’s Eve Party at the Rock & Roll Hotel on H Street NE.  Tickets range from $15 to $50 and include food, music, giveaways, and various levels of beverage service based on admission level.

Before you get your groove on, stop by the Temporium Design Shop & Wi-Fi Lounge at the former R.L. Christian Library, 1300 H Street NE.  The Temporium opens to the public on Friday and will be open Thursdays through Sundays through August 15.  The space will feature clothing from a number of local designers with DJ Obeyah providing music on Friday night.

Saturday

Take the kids to the 5:00 p.m. screening of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at Atlas Performing Arts Center, or leave the kids with a sitter and see “Only You” at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets for both are $6.00.

Take in a performance of “Humor and Wonder” by the Ari-den Dance Company at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop at 7:00 p.m. in the black box theater.  The show combines organic dance movement with diverse forms of visual media.  Tickets are $18.00 at the door.

Sunday

Head back to the Temporium on H Street NE for a free performance by electric bassist and DC native BT Richardson from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Art House Open House, tonight from 5:30-8.

I hope everyone else is breathing a little easier now that it is back to our normal balmy (i.e. not hellish) weather. I’ll take some rain and a flooded basement with a smile this week, thank you very much. It looks like we might encounter a thunderstorm or two throughout the weekend, but if you’re out and about here’s a few goings-on to check out:

For all of you who “like” Eastern Market (in the Facebook sense), there will be a Fan Appreciation Event Saturday from 6 to 8 pm Update: the event has been postponed; a new date should be announced on their Facebook page in the next few days. Refreshments will be served and two free future events will be given away.

Our friends at CHAW have some things going on this weekend as well. Local poet Denise Derricotte presents her one woman show “Cousin Lulabele has Some Things to Say” this Saturday at 7 pm ($5 at the door). Also on Saturday, a local artist presents the exhibit “Hands of Time” from 5 – 7 pm (free).

On the topic of art, here’s an innovative way to push some real estate. John C. Formant Real Estate, Simplicity Staging, CITY Gallery and Studio H will be hosting the first ever Art House Open House Thursday from 5:30 to 8 pm. Local artists will be showcased at 610 Independence Ave SE. Perfect if your looking for some new art for your house or a new house for your art (free).

Over on the other side of the Hill, the Atlas Performing Arts Center is presenting “The Fourth Dimension: The Hip Hop World of DCypher” Saturday night at 8 pm. As they say, this “electrifying performance mixes high energy, provocative, and ‘culture specific’ pieces for audiences of all ages and walks of life” ($25).

For the more pastoral minded, the Folger Shakespeare Library is conducting tours of it’s Elizabethan Gardens Saturday at 10 and 11 am. Docents will show you around their garden, inspired by herbal references in Shakespeare’s plays and also incorporating plants popular in his time, including lavender, creeping thyme, and English ivy; a knot garden; and Shakespearean statues by American sculptor Greg Wyatt (free).

Originally Uploaded to flickr by katmere

I was in line somewhere in the Metro area, a museum I recall, and turned to ask a relaxed, jeans  and untucked oxford-wearing woman behind me where  she lived on the Hill. “I don’t,” she said. Yet, she had that “Hill look” that makes some people far away look as if they are our neighbors — and some who visit  seem just as assuredly not.

I sought to pinpoint that look, which seems communally  shared across generation, age, sex, orientation and ethnicity. I watched the cafe-sitters, the schoolyards, the shoppers, the bar-stoolers, the night crowd, the parks, the passersby, and the dog walkers. I asked shopkeepers, neighbors and I will ask you–what is the Hill look? Is it Frager’s-chic? Market-reconnaissance relaxed? East Capitol Conservative?

“Mommies in Danskos and elastic-waist Capris?” suggested a fellow Mom.

“Khaki cropped pants, tees of varying colors and Tevas.  Dress it up with belt and polo, footwear remains the same. I can’t keep track of how many women on the Hill sport this look,” said Hill fashionista and Prada-heel aficionado, Winnie Yagan.A lack of visible makeup, suggested another. Do people carry lipstick in their makeup bags anymore? Do they even have makeup bags, outfitted with a little mirror and a powder puff?   Missing a defined waist and certainly not set off by a pink, off-center bow topping spiked heels, as I saw  on  one young woman quickly pegged as a visitor to our cobble-stone and root-torn sidewalks. What is visible? Well,  there is quite a collection of little inked tattoos peeking out from ankles and short sleeves and necklines, shoulder straps, tank straps, bra straps and  the straps of many an overstuffed bag.  Ankle tattoos, clean Converse and the pedicured and painted toenail. The vanity here hits below the knee I believe.

Yet comfortable shoes are de riguer here for any pedestrian traversing  multiple sizes and angles of bricks and pavers, some even meant for horse hoofs, by golly!  Plus the sewer covers, glass shards and yes, doggy doo.  So, we see   flip-flops with skirts, with Chinos, with sundresses, light jeans, heavy jeans, with cargo shorts and loose tops. There are Adidas shower shoes with print smock dresses and squishy heels with  the escaped-the-community-garden look of oversized garden hats or  rubber-soled walking shoes with earth-tone pants paired with T-shirts given away as a promotion or event or cause, perhaps as recently as 10 years ago. (Yes, we remain proud of our causes and our colleges!)  Hill jeans… well, many seem to lack the commitment to be ankle-grazers, rollups or trouser length, and are a compromise of all three at times.

Comfort means lack of structure. Hair loose and natural or spilling from pony tails; maybe curling around the face, sunning itself. Air-dried hair, worn long or very short, with sensible color or streaked. I have spied more  youth with the spiked, mohawked and purple and pink hair of yore, but perhaps they are skateboarding in from hipper hoods or  are kids home from college.

Most people asked underscored the look of comfort among Hill denizens. Does this mean we are happy?  We walk, not worrying about losing the luster on some shiny leather shoes or the gleam on a lustrous black silk blouse. The residential Hill look isn’t tailored casual, as in haute New England and  it isn’t practiced, as in app developer throws-on-a -blazer.

Jay at Monkey’s Uncle on 7th Street SE took a nice  stab at defining the Hill “look.”

“I think lots of woman who live on the Hill have such a sense of belonging, a sense of truly being comfortable in their surroundings, or in who they will bump into on the street. They are willing to leave the house in a blouse with puke stains, or comfortable jeans that might not give them killer butt.  They will wear sensible shoes with a new skirt and a nice chunky necklace.  The familiarity, the sense of belonging, the ‘comfort zone’ that is created by the warmth of the Hill gives women a feeling that they won’t be judged, and therefore, let it all hang out.  That doesn’t imply slovenly, and in some ways is empowering.  When the focus isn’t on the outside, it lets the inner beauty shine through.  I would put the women of the Hill up against the power gals on K street or the privileged of Georgetown and Chevy Chase, and they would definitely hold their own! This is just the opinion of an aging gay man who loves the women he sees every day!”

Men look comfortable too, if not overly fit. (Although  muscle power seems to be growing here among the women.) One hipper and fitter-than-usual Hill stalwart we caught walking by noted people here can look comfortable because many, like himself, work from home. And, he said, the Hill is a “village within a city,” so the usual buckle-down big city dress code does not apply. Of course, soon you’ll be spotting a great male Washington look on the streets here:  rumpled but refreshing seersucker suits, straw hats and a tall lemonade on ice, that’s back on the porch.

Styles that stand out as more uncommon in residential Capitol Hill are strands of pearls (perhaps someone wandered off -campus from the Hart Office Building), fur, feathers,  pressed shirts and darted skirts, sleek blacks and grays, too-shiny or sleek anything, actually;  middle-parted hair, hosiery, and intentionally  tight clothing, unless offset by an unmade face and unstructured hair.

It is not as if we don’t have these things in our closets, but when we take them out, then look out the window and consider the day, back they go on the hanger or in the drawer, waiting for a boat cruise,  a horse race, a visit to a mother-in-law or a weekend trip to New York City. Sometimes we put our dandiest, brightest items in our front yard instead of on our backs or heads–the colorful  tin roosters, the sprightly garden figures, the rose and hydrangea blossoms, the robot sculptures, the Buddha heads, the signposts pointing round the world…

But the inordinate amount of tan-colored khakis paired with hunter green (washed many, many times) is almost a uniform here, for many men–and women–over 25. We aren’t all overgrown students at Brent Elementary! Let’s try salmon, beefsteak red,  or river blue or surfboard yellow, too! I did see an M&M-green polo atop khakis on a bright limoncello-colored  seat at Seventh Hill and maybe that was enough eye-popping color for one day. My eyes have grown used to the dusty, muted colors of the cloths, buildings, statues and  parks that  loosely clothe, but do not sheathe, the  Hill.

Photo by María Helena Carey

Recently, a friend was lamenting that we do not seem to have a gourmet cupcake option on the Hill.  And although I agreed and lamented along, I started thinking about it and realizing that it’s not exactly true.  While it is true that we do not have hip new places — with the exception of Curbside Cupcakes, which is Hill-based but which is not there should you need your fix of flour, sugar, and whipped deliciousness whilst strolling around our fair neighborhood — we have a great bakery that often goes overlooked.

Sure, there is no frou-frou Georgetown Cupcake, and no delightful Red Velvet.  There is no CakeLove; no Sticky Fingers; no nearby ACKC; no Baked & Wired either. Am I making you hungry yet?  Because I can keep mentioning new and fabulous cupcakeries all over the city, seeing how these joints are still popping up all over town, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down, in spite of Macarons trying to make it out of obscurity; but I digress. Much has been written and has been discussed when it comes to deciding which is the best cupcake around town, but this Hill bakery is seldom (or try, never) mentioned, perhaps because much like the landmark in which it’s housed, it could take for it to disappear in order for us to fully appreciate it.

Can you think of this tasty place?
It’s the Fine Sweet Shop at Eastern Market– a place I would like to think of as one of our best-kept secrets here on the Hill.  No other cupcake place — no matter how delicious it may be — can offer you a milkshake or a smoothie with your cupcake, for starters.  And the best part of the Fine Sweet Shop?  You can actually buy most of the ingredients for a meal while you also pick up a sweet treat.  From the most amazing homemade pesto to hot, just-baked bread that has that perfect crunchy crust, you can find them at the friendly stand at the southernmost tip of the Market.  Or you could buy some spicy sausage over at Canales Meats and pair it with the Sweet Shop’s heavenly biscuits and have yourself some biscuits and gravy for dinner.  Mm.. breakfast for dinner: dinner of champions.

If you’re feeling a little too tired for dinner, they also have excellent sandwiches.  But, let’s face it: you will most likely be lured first by one of their dainty and reasonable cupcakes (most cuppies are only $1.25 to $1.95); or perhaps it’s the amazing bread pudding, gingerbread, Russian tea cakes or even the black-and-white cookies (look to the cookie!).

Hill Freemasons sponsoring annual 4th of July Parade on Barracks Row, courtesy of Naval Lodge 4

When my friend invited me to a Ruth Ann Overbeck lecture on the Masons and the Old Naval Lodge on Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, I had no idea where I was going or what I would see, other than finishing up with a drink after the talk. I even went to the Old Naval Hospital by mistake, never having heard of the Naval Lodge, and was told to hightail it to 3rd and  Pennsylvania Avenue SE,  climb numerous flights of stairs and get ready for a lecture on symbols. I’d have a drink in hand in an hour, right?

A somewhat august group — some gray, many earnest — were gathered in the fourth-floor meeting hall with its vaulted ceilings, Egyptian Revival style and Masonic images of pyramids, obelisks and all-seeing eyes, when lecturer Gary Scott, a Freemason himself and Past Master of Naval Lodge No. 4, F.A.A.M., introduced the current Worshipful Master.

I turned for a better look. And then, the Worshipful Master was revealed to me.  He was a friendly, involved Hill Dad of three  better known to me as my friend’s husband. Whoa! Who were these Masons among us and what were they doing below symbols of winged serpents? How do I square this (a masonic -derived phrase) with the fact that they sponsor the 4th of July parade here? I sought to find out.

David Johnson, last year’s Worshipful Master, has been one of the early supporters of this blog  through his web hosting and journalism professorship at American University. “No, The Hill is Home is not a secret Mason project, but, yes, I host it on my servers and built the site and continue to consult with [THIH founder] Kate and everyone else as an aspect of my professional life as a professor of interactive journalism at American University,” Johnson said.

But to find out more about the Masons’ works and life here,  I sought out the most amiable Michael Webb, Worshipful Master of the lodge this year, and Mason of  only four years and asked him how he came to be involved in a secret society.  Did his kids know?  What ancient rituals did he perform when no one was looking?

He patiently explained the Masons are not  a secret society–they have a webpage and a Facebook page, after all.  Rather, they are, “a society with secrets.”

What’s not secret is that lodge members are deeply involved in community projects, especially Hill schools. The Naval Lodge itself was established in the Washington Navy Yard even before the District of Columbia itself was established.

There are about 225 current members of the Naval Lodge here, and many are local dads among us at PTA meetings, school auctions, the coffee shops, Tunnicliff’s, and Frager’s.

Several years ago, after some drifting from the community, a number of devoted community members rose to leadership positions in the lodge and rededicated the organization to reconnecting with the neighborhood. They declared that Hill schools were the key to our community, and, since then, the lodge brothers have raised thousands of dollars to support local schools through annual events like the Back to School Fun Fair and the Barracks Row 4th of July Parade and Family Festival, and Hands On DC.

On May 15th, the brothers of Naval Lodge will roll up their sleeves and put on their work gloves to support the annual Hands-On DC work-a-thon.  The Freemasons of the Nation’s Capital team is the only $10,000 sponsor for the event – made possible by a grant from the Masonic Foundation of the District of Columbia. Members volunteer their time and will also spend a day to spruce up Stuart Hobson Middle School.

And when I saw via his wife’s Facebook page that Michael had shaved his head, little did I know that he was participating in a St. Baldrick’s Day fundraiser event – shaving his head in solidarity with the cancer-stricken children  to raise money for childhood cancer research with the nine “shavees” from the DC Freemasons team who raised a total of $12,577 to help fight the battle against childhood cancer.

Later this month, Naval brothers will participate in the 1st Annual St. John’s Cup 2010 Fundraising Golf Tournament to raise funds for RiteCare – the Childhood Language Disorders Center of Washington, DC.  In June, Naval brothers will participate in the Susan G. Komen National Race for the Cure.

Freemasons are men only, with  no plans to change that,  and come from all professions and walks of life, just as they come from all creeds and colors. Most here are not masons or stoneworkers, although those that helped build many local buildings in years past, from the Washington Monument to Eastern Market itself were, indeed, members of the brotherhood.

Modern Freemasonry draws lessons from ancient architects and builders that are applied through allegory to guide men to be better “builders” of themselves and the societies they live in, according to Michael.

Although there are no formal tests, there are  standards of proficiency to become a Master Mason.  These are introduced gradually through education, experience, and ceremonies.

Every Mason must profess a belief in God and must swear oaths to the Book of the Sacred Law, which can be the Jewish Old Testament, the Christian New Testament or  the Islamic Koran.

Masons are forbidden to ask others to join the fraternity. Instead, interested men of good standing must “knock three times,” that is, show continued interest and seriousness, possibly joining the Masons for a dinner.

“Joining Freemasonry is making a permanent life commitment to live in certain ways. No one should be ‘talked into’ making such a decision,” Michael said.

The Masons here meet for dinner at 6:30 on the first and third Thursday of each month except July and August.

So what do they do at their meetings?  “In his most recent book,  The Lost Symbol,  Dan Brown states that we regularly drink wine from skulls in our meetings,” Michael said. “This is an outrageous lie!  We only do this at our semi-annual conventions,” he joked.

“Our meetings are either some form of masonic education – which, more often than not are open to non-masons; and degree work, the ritual of which is sacred and performed through allegoric play acting.  The big secret about Freemasonry is that Masons get out of Lodge what they put into it.  If you don’t attend, you don’t get the benefits,” he said.

“I joined Naval a little more than four years ago out of a genuine curiosity of the antiquity and a desire for fellowship,” Michael said. “Like many men that I have met, Freemasonry runs in my family – both of my grandparents were Master Masons.”

Oh, and I was wondering about how I should address Michael when he noted that, “Although my title is ‘Worshipful Master,’  the term ‘Worshipful’ is defined as ‘full of worship for the Craft’ rather than ‘one who is worshiped.’”  Phew.

The growth of a Mason is broken into three steps, called degrees: Entered Apprentice; Fellowcraft and Master Mason, which are composed of ceremonies and rites.  When taken together, this is what Freemasons mean by their ritual, “which is wonderful beyond words,” Michael says.

Okay, now we are venturing into an area where I cannot follow. Sorry, dear readers!

Have a question? Ask your friendly, neighborhood Freemason or post it here!

Enise Han sells silver and gold jewelry at Eastern Market

Neighbors come and neighbors go, and trust me, all of mine have been interesting characters, including the former drug kingpins of 14^th Street. The only one who has tempted my pocketbook is Enise, owner of Enise Jewelry and Silverado jewelry stores, and a stalwart of the North Carolina plaza at Eastern Market. Girls, you know her – she’s the indomitable Turkish woman who knows how to make her handmade sophisticated jewelry a wardrobe must and woos you with her wares featuring simple lines, graceful links, freshwater pearls, and neutral-colored gemstones.

Enise moved to the U.S. from Istanbul in 1980 to earn degrees in business administration, marketing and French at Indiana University before landing corporate positions at Erol’s Video, Subway, and McDonalds, and then with the first Bush Administration and a large department store chain in Turkey. She returned to the U.S. and broke into the jewelry business in 1997 by setting up a booth at the market. Remember the 90′s? When we all felt, if not indeed were, flush? Consumers were king and she rapidly expanded into shops at National Airport, Pentagon City Mall, Crystal City Shops, Fair Oaks Mall, Dulles Airport, Ballston Commons Mall, Tysons Corner Mall and Pentagon Row. All this from a woman who says she knew little about jewelry but had mastered adaptability.

Back then, most of her rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces were made in Taxco, Mexico, and featured colorful lapis, malachite, turquoise, and silver. These days Enise will adorn you in 18k gold-plated sterling silver and gemstones, and you can share company with shoppers like Desperate Housewives’ Marcia Cross,  CNN correspondent Christiane Ampanour, and Patti LaBelle.

I like her pieces because they’re simple and elegant, the kind of things that look perfect with anything — attention grabbers, not hoggers. The way she pairs amethyst, jade, aquamarine, and peridot with silver or gold linkwork works well with business neutrals, yet can add a dash of sophisticated sparkle to nighttime grownup clothes.

Photo courtesy of Enise Han

Enise says Eastern Market serves as great source of market research for her wholesale business. After closing the mall-based stores, she began to expand by selling to specialty stores and has teamed with Bloomingdale’s, Takashimaya, and Fifth Avenue’s Henri Bendel. She travels to New York at least once a month to work with personal shoppers and hold trunk shows, and can regularly be seen at those stores with, among others, ladies who lunch as well as the hipper broadcast mavens. Enise creates custom pieces for clients and happily adjusts budgets, colors and lengths, and has tailored pieces for many a wedding party.

Her use of gold references her Ottoman ancestry, she says, and reflects the East-meets-West position and attitude of her Turkish homeland. She hopes her work reminds people of the opulence of, “Istanbul’s grand palaces, colorful spice bazaars, and the treasures of the Aegean Sea.”

“We Turks have been making jewelry and using precious and semiprecious stones to adorn the ones we love for thousands of years,” she notes. “To me, creating jewelry is creating art.”

With so much work by jewelry artists to pick from at the market, Enise has a few tips for what to look for as you dress up your spring wardrobe. Her big tip is to use jewelry strategically, like using long necklaces to add length to a short neck and bring attention away from hips and to the front and center of your body. Chandelier earrings say, “look at my face and not my middle,” and sparkly cuffs, stacks of bangles and cocktail rings draw the eye to wrists instead of upper arms.

Which other vendors at Eastern Market would you like to see profiled by The Hill is Home?

Uploaded to flickr by Breakmould

This past July I issued myself a challenge:  to spend an entire month doing all my shopping and entertaining on the Hill.  I won’t lie — I had mulled over the things that might cause me to cheat, like going to a movie theater or needing a new pair of running shoes, but I never did.  Skeptical?  The best proof I can offer is that our one and only television died at the very end of June so we went without because my hubby couldn’t get to a big electronics store or order one online in time.  In the end, though, I received a happy surprise.  It was almost too easy.  There were actually more things to do than I could get to.  So I offer this experience to you, dear readers, to let you know that on the Friday after Thanksgiving you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to trudge out to a suburban mall or search for a parking space in Georgetown that, let’s face it, does not exist.  While you’re saving yourself time and hassle, you’ll also be doing something good for the neighborhood.  Our friends at Monkey’s Uncle told me about the 3/50 Project, a great philosophy for using your buying choices to support what’s important to you.  The 3/50 Project challenges shoppers to choose three independent businesses each month in which to spend $50.  This benefits our neighborhood because when you buy local, more of your money stays local — $68 out of every $100 to be precise.  It’s probably the best free gift you’ll give all year.

Where to start?
Our neighborhood offers a plethora of creative gift ideas.  Saturday and Sunday at Eastern Market is just the tip of the iceberg.  That’s the perfect place to pick up a gift in almost any price range.  But don’t forget all the other options!  Want to learn something new?  Check out a class at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street, SE).  CHAW has everything from photography and jewelry design for adults to music lessons and tumbling for kids.  You can also finally learn how to do all those tango moves you’ve seen in the North Hall at Eastern Market on Thursday nights with a gift certificate to Joy of Motion’s Atlas location (1333 H Street, NE).  Looking for a gift for that adrenaline junkie on your list?  The Trapeze School of New York, which has been camped out at the old convention center site the past several months, is in the process of building an indoor facility at 4th and Tingey Streets, Southeast near the Department of Transportation.  This is the last week for classes at the convention center site, so they’re winding down operations now but will be back up and running (flying?) in late January/early February with classes ranging from $45-55.  They’re already brainstorming some fun Valentine’s-themed classes.  I took a class in October and, despite being afraid of heights, found myself ready to sign up for more.

If you’re looking for a more mellow gift, try Bikram Yoga Capitol Hill (410 H Street, NE) or Capitol Hill Yoga (614 Pennsylvania Ave, SE) for those friends looking to release their inner yogi.  Or maybe some pampering from one of the many neighborhood salons.  Spots like Headlines (326 Massachusetts Ave, NE) offer a variety of services at different price points, along with indulgent spa packages.  And your manly man need not go downtown for his grooming.  Make him an appointment at Michael Craig and he’ll relish the classy, masculine environment.  They’re currently putting together their holiday specials, but the salon is currently offering a shave and a haircut for $65 (regularly $90).

Need something for the little ones?  Spoiled and Rotten Kid’s Boutique and Spa (1204 H Street, NE) is the place to go for your mini me’s mani-pedi.  Then there’s Dawn Price Baby (325 7th Street, SE), Monkey’s Uncle (323 7th Street, SE) and Merry Go Round (1244 H Street, NE) for clothing and accessories.

Though we may have lost our local movie theater (though I doubt there’s much sadness about that), we have a number of places to see live shows.  For the theater-goer on your gift list, pick up some tickets to H Street Playhouse’s Black Nativity (December 10 – January 3) or Constant State of Panic (January 13-31).  Just down the block, Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H Street, NE) will be staging Nobody’s Perfect (February 12-13) and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado (weekends, April 9-25).  Orestes, A Tragic Romp runs from January 27 to March 7 at Folger Theater (201 E Capitol, SE).  They wrap up their season with Hamlet from April 21-June 6.

There are too many fantastic local retailers and restaurants for me to mention, but rest assured they’ll all have great options the holidays.  So sleep in on Friday, have an extra cup of coffee and don’t stress… instead, go local!

What are your favorite gift ideas from local businesses?

Photo courtesy of Devi Studios

Welcome to a glorious weekend with leaves making their multi-colored descent to the ground.  Put down the rake and rather get out and enjoy a few of these activities throughout the weekend.

Thursday
Start the weekend a little early with a Thursday evening Mom’s Night Out visit to the 5th Anniversary celebration of Capitol Hill business Dawn Price Baby.  The store will host a celebration with food and drink catered by Marvelous Market, 25% discount on purchases and a raffle of exciting prizes provided by local businesses.  The raffle proceeds will benefit the local families at Mary’s House.

For more weekend activities, follow me over the jump…

Friday
You don’t want to miss the Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s version of Much Ado About Nothing.  (Read a review from The Hill is Home.)  There are performances all weekend and it’s worth a visit. The show runs through November 29.

Hopefully, you’ve voted and now you’re ready to attend The Hillys, the first Capitol Hill neighborhood business awards.  This community-wide celebration of Capitol Hill will take place in the North Hall at Eastern Market from beginning at 8 p.m.  There will be an open bar provided by Schneider’s of Capitol Hill, hors d’oeuvres from Marvelous Market, music, dancing, door prizes and winners in 8 different categories including Retailer and Restaurant of the Year.  Tickets are $70 for member and $85 for non-members and are on sale now at www.capitolhill.org.

Saturday
One event you don’t want to miss this weekend is Saturday morning’s Help the Homeless Walkathon. In one morning you can positively influence the lives of more than 12,000 people affected by homelessness in our area by joining tens of thousands of walkers taking part in the 5k walk around the National Mall and Tidal Basin. Your efforts can help end homelessness for our most vulnerable citizens.  Adults pay a minimum of $25 and youth 25 and under pay $15.  The morning begins with group calisthenics at 8:30 a.m. and the walk is under way at 9 a.m.  This is a great way to get in the Thanksgiving spirit, and who knows,  you might catch a glimpse of local celebrities among the walkers.

After the morning walkathon and a lovely brunch on Capitol Hill, you might be ready for hooperNATURAL: Hooping Beginner Workshop. The first hour and a half of this two-part workshop (part 2 is December 5) begins at 2 p.m. at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.  Come learn the foundational moves of Hooping, a hoopdance with roots in Hula Hooping that incorporates spinning a circular piece of tubing on the body (i.e., spinning around the waist, hips, chest, thighs) and also off the body with a Hoopnotica® certified instructor. It costs $25 per class if you register in advance and $30 if you just show up (price includes use of hoops in class). This class is part of the offerings of Healthy Motions.

After all that, you might need a break with something calm and meditative.  Why not venture to St. Mark’s Yoga Center for the Washington, D.C. screening of Asha Goes to India? With breathtaking cinematography and soulful music, this film will take you on a visual adventure through India- from the Ganges river, to the Himalayan mountains, to the temples, ashrams, and sacred sites that have enticed travelers and spiritual seekers for centuries.  The film is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday
Start the day with an exclusive Boogie Babes event: Brunch with Bridgette!  Beginning at 9 a.m. at Sova for a cost of $10 per family (covers the musician), the adults can enjoy $5 bloody marys & mimosas and delicious brunch items available a la carte.

For more family time Sunday afternoon, head over to the Atlas Performing Arts Center for the Capital City Symphony Family Concert: “What’s in an Orchestra, Anyway?”  Performances are at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Be sure to arrive early for the Instrument “Petting Zoo.”  Then, enjoy a musical tour of the orchestra featuring works by Shostakovich, Copland, Britten, Bernstein, and more!

If you’d rather spend your Sunday afternoon appreciating how close you live to Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore home, check out Scena Theatre’s 3 p.m. double feature of two Poe works, The Fall of the House of Usher and Tell-Tale Heart, at the H Street Playhouse.  Tickets are $25 for both shows.

If you’ve got other weekend suggestions on Capitol Hill, please let us know about them in the comments.

Photo by kodismom on Flickr

I was five months pregnant when I bought my first stroller. Reviews of the Baby Jogger City Classic were favorable, and the City came in my favorite female-friendly color: purple. By the time my daughter arrived 20 weeks later, my obsession with strollers was a full-fledged addiction. I had a total of two strollers waiting for her when she came home from the hospital that fall—a stroller for walks on the Hill and a frame stroller for holding her car seat. When my daughter was four months old, we added the affordable, nanny-share-friendly InSTEP Suburban Safari double stroller to our collection. By her seven-month mark, I had acquired my fourth stroller (though I did give away our frame stroller to make room for the Baby Jogger City Mini in our car’s trunk).

While I love my City series strollers, I have been known to obsess over and covet the many strollers one can find on the Hill. Read more after the jump.

A simple walk to Eastern Market often stirs up a healthy dose of envy. During the roughly ten-block walk from my home on the fringe of the Hill to Eastern Market, I can see any number of strollers: the high-end Bugaboo, the newly trendy UPPA Vista, the workhorse Bob Revolution, the European-inspired Bumbleride and, of course, the popular (and ever-present) Phil and Ted, complete with jump seat for baby one and baby two. These aren’t the only strollers one might spy at any of the parks where families find themselves climbing on jungle gyms and catching up with friends. The stroller market is saturated with three- and four-wheeled baby transporters.

New mom and Hill resident Lauren found herself more concerned with which stroller was best for her baby than any of the other things new parents plan for. “Deciding on a stroller was the biggest decision [my husband and I] made when I was pregnant,” said Lauren, who is the owner of three strollers. “It was certainly the thing we researched and shopped for the most. We would stop people—on the street, in the park, wherever—and ask them questions about [their] strollers.”

Like many Hill parents, Lauren recognized the need to find a stroller that was city sidewalk friendly—think air-filled tires with sophisticated suspension systems and large sun canopies that are standard on her City Elite—yet compact enough to fit into Hill homes and Hill lives, like a Maclaren Triumph. Add basic utilitarian need (a true jogger for a regular runner), and you find yourself with the need to own more than one stroller.

For many Hill families, need alone doesn’t drive us to add to our collections. Moms and dads also want to get behind a stroller that makes  the other moms and dads turn their heads. One Hill dad admits, “if I am going to take my kids to the park, I want to take them in a stroller that looks cool and has lots of cool features.” For dads, strollers are much like cars: the more bells and whistles the better.

Then, just when a family has found the perfect mix of utilitarian need and urban cool, they find out they are expecting baby number two. And the process starts all over again.

Do you ever wander through the newly re-opened Eastern Market and wonder about the history of the place?  Wish you had some of the “inside story” on the process of getting the market from a burned building to the great place it is today?

Join the Goethe-Institut Washington on Tuesday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. for a chance to talk with experts about the renovation and re-opening of Eastern Market, designed and built by German-born architect and revolutionary Adolf Cluss (1825-1905). This is the final event in a series of community forums about Eastern Market since a destructive fire on April 30, 2007 forced a restoration project that resulted in the market reopening in summer 2009. The focus will be on historic preservation aspects of the restoration and how they relate to Eastern Market as a living part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood and the city of Washington.

To RSVP and see the list of panelists, follow after the jump.

The Goethe-Institut’s friends in Cluss’ hometown, Heilbronn, have provided a visual presentation about the historic stone quarries that Cluss and his father worked for many years before the young Cluss left Germany for Washington.

The panelists for Tuesday’s discussion are:

• Tanya Beauchamp, Historian and Historic Preservationist, specialist on Cluss buildings
• Joseph Browne, Director, Adolf Cluss Project
• Curtis Clay, NCARB, AIA, Administrator, Office of Property Management – Construction
• Donna Scheeder, Chair, Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee
• Baird Smith, FAIA, FAPT, Quinn Evans Architects, which oversaw the restoration of Eastern Market
• Bill Gilcher, moderator

To attend the lecture, RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 168 or rsvp@washington.goethe.org.  To learn more about this free discussion, visit www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en5177780v.htm.