1. National Aquarium: on Memorial Day my husband and I got up and decided to take a spontaneous mini road trip to Baltimore to visit the aquarium. (Having a car makes it so easy to do stuff like this!) Baltimore is a quick 45-minute drive from DC so it’s a great little day trip. The aquarium was a little pricey ($39.59 for adults) but it was awesome! It’s really well laid out and the exhibits are very nice. We managed to see every exhibit in the place, but I think the jellyfish were my favorite. I always enjoy seeing sharks and turtles , too. And the rainforest exhibit! They have tamarins, sloths, and birds just hanging out in there! You can see more of my aquarium pics in my Instagram slide show.
2. National Gallery of Art: this week I made it a point to see some art at the East Building of this Smithsonian Institution. I went to the main National Gallery during a DC visit several years ago, but hadn’t seen the the East Building’s modern art collection yet. I arrived 15 minutes after opening time on Wednesday morning and the place seemed to have more security guards than visitors. It was amazing to have the museum mostly to myself for a short time. I saw basically the whole museum in an hour and a halfâthe collection is fairly small, but really nice. They have pieces by artists such as Picasso, Monet, Modigliani, Georgia O’Keeffe, Matisse, Lichtenstein, Warhol, and so many more. I particularly enjoyed the special exhibit on FrĂ©dĂ©ric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism, which runs through July 9. I put a couple galleries of my favorite pieces on Instagram, but I was particularly taken with the below painting. I failed to get the name of the artist or paintingâwhoops! I find the piece very soothing, which is not something I often feel when I look at modern art. So lovely.
3. Maison LadureĂ©: this Parisian bakery recently opened a small shop in DC’s Union Station, which happens to be not far from my apartment. So I had to pick up some of their world famous macarons!* These goodies are not cheap (I got a box of 6 for $21), but I was in the mood to treat my husband and I to something nice. How beautiful are these macarons? I can’t wait to try them!
4. Homegrown Tomato: my first tomato grown on our deck finally ripened enough to eat this week. And it is actually really good! Very sweet and juicy. The tomato plant is not in great shape, but there’s another, much smaller tomato ripening on the vine right now and a couple other tomatoes are just beginning to grow. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to get some more yummy tomatoes from my plant!
5. Brass Mirror: our entryway needed a little jazzing up over our console table, so I ordered this Threshold round mirror from Target for less than $50. It’s simple, nothing too fancy, and opens up the space very nicely!
*Not to be confused with macaroons, which are entirely different cookies.
