Happy Easter!

This March went by ridiculously quickly. The weather wasn’t as beautiful at the beginning of the week but April began really warm and bright. I finally finished the project I was working on in the archives, which I consider an awesome achievement, because it was 167 boxes full of information. I also learned some techniques for using Photoshop. This is one of the archives center's quieter weeks because two of my advisors are on vacation and no students are coming for any more spring breaks.
           
However, as quiet as work has been in our area, the museum has been super packed. The cafeteria is practically standing room only, and sometimes its not even worth trying to find a place. On the upside it has been warm enough to eat outdoors for a few days.
           
Wednesday the 31st I went to the Phillips Collection to look at the major exhibition right now called Georgia O’Keefe’s Abstraction. The Phillip Collection was established in 1921 and was the first museum of modern art. It was founded by Duncan Phillips, with his mother, in honor of his father and brother. It’s not a government run organization, so it does charge, but I went with the intern group so it was free. It’s on display through May, but other pieces of art are there besides the O’Keefe exhibit and one of the most famous paintings there is Pierre-Auguste Renoirs’ Luncheon of the Boating Party, which is definitely worth seeing on its own. I did have a few flashbacks of my Art Appreciation course from junior year of college, and was in awe that these were THE paintings I learned about.           

I haven’t been able to see as many cherry blossoms as I would like, but I did get a few snapshots Saturday:

Friday night, I saw an awesome cover band called Lost in Paris, at the Clarendon Grill, in Arlington, and they just furthered my current rock band obsession. Saturday I spent all day walking around DC, from Adams Morgan to Georgetown, from Dupont Circle to The National Mall. I was on the search for music by the original 70’s all-girl rock band the Runaways, which has a movie coming out as well. I received a free screening for 2 on Monday in Georgetown. In my explorations around the city I went in to two really cool different record stores, Crooked Beat Records, in Adams Morgan, and Melody Record Shop in Dupont Circle. The record store in Georgetown had closed down, so that was a long walk for pretty much no reason. I also went to my first pawn shop called Crown Pawnbrokers, on 14th street, and it was really kind of cool. I almost put money down on a bass guitar, but I held back today. All that walking Saturday tired me out, so I ended up missing the fireworks that evening, but next week my mother and nana should be here!

Next week I have a renovation tour of the American History Museum and maybe I’ll have a new bass guitar.

~K