My trip to Washington DC has 
been amazing! Tuesday, I woke up quarter to 7 am and left to go to the airport around 8 am. I left Boston at 10 am and arrived in DC by 11 am – I entertained myself on the plane by reading some material that AMORC sent me the week before. I was in my hotel room by 12:30 pm. After I arrived I went to a french organic cafe called Le Pain Quotiden! Really good food for the price. In the late afternoon, I walked around National Mall and saw the Washington Monument which was cool, but unfortunately the earthquake that happened a few years ago in 2011, damaged it and its’ going to take at least 3 years to finish. So there was a big scaffold around the monument and the park area was closed. But I could still walk around it and take pictures. I intended to walk to the White House but somehow went the opposite direction and ended up at the Lincoln Memorial. But it took so long to get there since it was so bloody hot and humid that by the time I got there, I didn’t have the energy or time to walk up to the monument. I really needed to get back to the hotel to get ready for the reception. So walked around the monument and called a cab to the hotel.
Reception: It was so much fun!! People really had no problem coming up to me and asking me about my artwork which was really nice! I even got to sign my autograph again which is always fun. Then right before I was handed my check, someone who was working the reception came up to me and said that Joe Kennedy whose the congressman for the 4th district of Massachusetts wanted to meet me and see my artwork! The reception photographer was right there and snapped a few photos of us standing next to my work. He was so sweet! He asked me about my process, and I was busy explaining my process to him when they called me up to the podium I was not prepared to be the first one called up, should’ve known, but so not prepared! lol Some of my favorite moments besides the Joe Kennedy one; the mother of the grand prize winner came up to me and said that she really liked it and thought how similar they looked and said she’d buy it.
Wednesday Morning: I had brunch with the jurors at the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. The food was good and the conversation was great. Nothing too new came out of the conversation in terms of information, but it was nice to meet the judges and hear about their background and process with choosing the artwork. I had one of my fellow artists come up to me interested in a psychic reading, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it this trip. I told her to feel free to call me whenever she was ready.
Then we headed over to Flashpoint Gallery and had an interesting conversation with one of the curators of the gallery. I think that information was more beneficial to me. Gave me a new perspective on some things, one of the things I really liked that came out of that talk was if the opportunity isn’t there, make it happen! I’ve thought about doing talks and speeches and haven’t really thought of using my studio space or some other venue or use my studio space more than just a studio space. I have started to think differently about it with my opening, but that’s to be expected.
After, before I headed to my duck tour, I went to a souvenir shop near by and bought a frame, a Washington Monument sharpener and a pair of sunglasses. I had been meaning to buy a new pair and saw them for $6. Compared to department store prices that’s a bargain! lol They are also an ultra cool orange that goes with a lot of my summer outfits 🙂
Then I headed over to Union Station and boarded my duck tour. It was nice and relaxing and was able to see more of DC. I had never been on a duck tour which is why I decided to go on one here. For lunch I had a Starbucks coffee and slice of pound cake at Union Station before the tour. After a nap, I went and had a panini for dinner at Amorini Panini which was right next store to the hotel.
Tomorrow, I plan on hitting the Lincoln Memorial and maybe skipping the White House since you can’t get up close and personal with it anyway and head to the National Archives and see the Declaration of Independence.
Thursday:
Thursday morning, I went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, etc. Then I went up to the Lincoln Memorial and from there back to my hotel. My check out was at noon so I figured it was easiest to just go to the airport and hang out until my flight. As I was about to leave the hotel, I realized I had forgot my reception dress – so I ran back to the room and got it. My cab driver’s credit card machine got screwed up so he let me go for free. I managed to get to the gate OK and waited to 4 pm. Then the shit storm happened. My 1 hr flight was delayed 6 hours because of weather and equipment issues. By the time I got up to the counter to board the plane, my transfer ticket wasn’t in their system for whatever reason. By that time I was so worried that I wouldn’t make it on that flight I was literally balling my eyes out. The attendant made me WAIT until I was the last person in line to fix my ticket. I had arrived home by 1 am and was in my bed by 3 am. I woke up the next morning and packed my bags for California.
So there you have it! I’ll be doing a big photo dump when I will get the photos from the VSA people, which will be a few weeks. Ugh – the wait!
On Friday I left work early to go into Cambridge, MA for two receptions. The first one, at this year’s VSA competition (the one that accepted my works into the Smithsonian) from the Massachusetts chapter. I ran across the blog and am going to submit my story to it (when I have a chance to write it). I met the one of the members who connected me to this reception who happened to grow up in Longmeadow! Crazy. The reception was nice and the gallery was nice but small. Afterwords, I sent the executive director an email seeing if they’d let me do a solo show at the Open Doors Gallery (where it was held).
