Front Row Bethesda

K- Each year Bethesda Row hosts the fashion show Front Row. This year the show featured author Aliza Licht of the book “Leave Your Mark” and the movie “Dior and I.”  Clothes were modeled from the local stores including Sassanova, Pink Palm and Wear it Well.

The show opened with a book signing event with Licht and if you purchased the VIP ticket, a reception with cocktails, tapas and little Georgetown cupcakes at Redwood. The fashion show itself was a lot of fun and showed some very cute and chic outfits and attendees got to walk away with a swag bag with a nice red lipstick, Essie red nail polish and some other goodies.

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Exploring Eastern Market

K- Sunday seemed the perfect day to walk around as it was a nice day and cooler than it had been the last few weeks so I decided to explore Eastern Market. It had been awhile since I had been there and I wanted to check out the produce and craft items.

Before I hit the Market I wandered through the flea market, which is every Sunday. There were some interesting items however I found much of it on the expensive side – well, at least for me! For example, there were old Mason jars with lids that started around $3 and went up depending on size and if it had a lid. Stands at the market included clothing, jewelry, copper pots and crafted mirrors.

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After the flea market I walked among the food and craft booths outside. Much of the produce was reasonably priced and looked delicious. Some of the people at the stands had samples of their tomatoes, peaches, and other fruits and vegetables as well as salsas and sauces. I tried a habanero sauce that was tasty and had a nice little kick to it.

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Inside the building, which according to Wikipedia was designed by Adolf Cluss and was in continuous operation as a public market from 1873 until April 30, 2007 – when the fire occured – I found more delicious food items including cakes, salads and cheese in addition to beautiful bouquets of flowers.

If you have a chance to walk over to the Eastern Market you can easily spend a few hours there and that’s not stopping to have breakfast or lunch at any of the stands or nearby restaurants. You can also get your grocery shopping done as there is everything there for a nice dinner such as poultry, beef, pork, fish, vegetables, fresh pasta, cheeses, baked goods, and whatever else you can think of… and you could set the table with a nice bouquet to boot!

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Hours of Operation

Tuesday to Friday – 7am – 7pm
Saturday –  7am – 6pm
Sunday –  9am – 5pm
Monday – CLOSED

 225 Seventh Street, SE    Washington, DC  20003

 

Hysteria’d

Outfit for make over: Ali Ro dress, Michael Kors shoes

Over the summer I went to an audition for an industrial film in Old Town and had quite a bit of time left on the meter after the audition so I decided to walk around. I ended up in the Shoe Hive and then Hysteria. While I was in Hysteria I bought a pretty, cream, silk blouse and a  cute teal jacket they had on sale was entered into a contest and that was it – I didn’t think any more about it.  About a week later I got an email saying that I’d won the contest. I was very surprised as I never win anything and wasn’t sure what to think about it. Next I got a call from Nina, one of the sisters who own the shop, to let me know that I had won a make over, which meant I could choose an outfit from their store, a pair of shoes from the Shoe Hive and would get my hair done by the Sugar House Day Spa and make up from Bellacara gratis. I was also able to choose the day I wanted to have all of this done and they would take photos to post on social media and possibly in the local paper.

As my size can be a bit difficult I talked to Nina about coming in beforehand to get an idea of what they had and what would look best as it might take time. She said “sure.” So I went to Old Town and Nina and I went through various lovely outfits through the store. I wanted it to be a joint effort to try something different that I might not normally choose for myself. We came up with a few things but nothing that struck that right cord as we wanted something fun, that could go from work to out and bold. She said they were getting some new items in and would pull my size now that she knew what I looked like and how things would fit on me. A week later she texted me photos of some dresses that looked like they met our “requirements.” I went in to the shop and tried them on and loved them! I had a hard time deciding so I chose one for the make over and bought the other.  Shoe Hive chose a pair of pretty, blue suede, sling-backs to go with the dress for the make over.

The day of the make over, I met Nina and her sister Suzanne at the shop. Debra, of Debra Fabian Designs, was having a trunk show at the shop and gave me a pair of beautiful fresh pearl earrings with garnets. I then headed off to Sugar House Day Spa to have Eleni style my hair.  She asked me if I wanted something in particular and I said “no” and let her know that whatever she wanted to do was fine with me – get creative! She decided to curl my hair. After hair, I headed to Bellacara for Meghan to do my make up. Finally, after make up, I dressed up and was complete.

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I had a great time with Nina and Suzanne and their shop has so many gorgeous clothes and jewelry. I also went next door to Shoe Hive and took a look at the new items they got in and fell in love with a pair of Tory Burch riding boots. Also, Bellacara was fun look around, they carry so many great lines like Molton Brown, Lipstick Queen, Skinceuticals, and T. LeClerc.

Hysteria

125 S. Fairfax Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22314

An Afternoon at the Mosaic District

C – The weather in the DC area has been unseasonably cool, so K and I took the opportunity to spend some time outside last Friday. We met at the Mosaic District — the area’s latest mixed-use development in Merrifield, Virginia. The interesting thing about Mosaic is that it’s a bit of an island. Not literally, of course, but the roads that surround it (Lee Highway, Gallows Road, Arlington Blvd. and Prosperity Avenue) are so busy that walking to the site from the nearby Dunn Loring Metro Station, while possible, may be a bit daunting. Once inside the perimeter, Mosaic boasts excellent eateries, eclectic boutiques, a luxury movie theater and the most remarkable Target ever. The whole area invites you to stroll — and that’s exactly what everyone was doing. K and I are consultants, so our schedules are flexible. How is it that so many people had time on their hands to hang out at 2pm on a Friday? The district is so pleasant, it practically begs workers to take a well-deserved skip day.

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K- While walking around the Mosaic District we decided to have lunch at Sweet Green, which has locations throughout DC, Virginia and Maryland and boasts that their ingredients are from local, organic farms. It wasn’t an easy choice with so many good restaurants in the area including Four Sisters, Matchbox and Taylor Gourmet. But we were in a salad mood so Sweet Green it was!

Sweet Green offers salads and wraps. You can choose from the ones they offer or make your own. We decided to choose from the ones they offer and sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I chose the spicy sabzi salad with organic baby spinach, shredded kale, spicy quinoa, spicy broccoli, carrots, raw beets, basil, sprouts and roasted tofu; topped with a carrot chili vinaigrette and a squeeze of sriracha. It was a spicy and refreshing salad, which I liked very much. I didn’t even mind the raw beets even though I really, really, dislike beets. I think it’s because with the salad mixture I didn’t really taste them. C- had the guacamole greens salad with organic mesclun, roasted chicken, avocado, grape tomatoes, red onion and crushed tortilla chips; topped with a lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette and a fresh lime squeeze. She is still talking about that salad!

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Mosaic District
2910 District Avenue
Fairfax, VA 22031

**Mosaic has an excellent Twitter feed: @MosaicDistrict. Follow them for information on free events like Films in the Park.