Things to Do: Hawthorne Premiere Party

Recently, I was invited to a series of events celebrating the premiere of the third season of TNT's hit show, Hawthorne, featuring Jada Pinkett-Smith. The next event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14, and of course I had to share it with you. See below for the details and to RSVP.

You are cordially invited to the Washington, DC Metropolitan area HAWTHORNE Watch Party!

Hosted by: April Watts, http://www.whwrocks.com/

This exciting and casual evening will be featuring a showing of the Season 3 premiere episode of TNT's hit drama series, HAWTHORNE. Guest will also enjoy free cocktails, wine, light tapas and giveaways! A videographer and photographer will be present to capture this fun and engaging event!

To RSVP, contact Alisa Reese at reesehomes@gmail.com. Please let her know you found out about the premiere party through "She's Savvy". Hope to see you there!

National Harbor Restaurant Week (2/15-27)

If you love Restaurant Week as much as I do, you'll jump at the opportunity to take advantage of Restaurant Week at Maryland's National Harbor.

This year's event begins today, February 15, and runs through Sunday, February 27, 2011. Like the RWs in DC, Bethesda, and Alexandria, it's $20.11 for a 3 course lunch and $35.11 for a 3 course dinner.

I believe this is their second year hosting the event and since they've added several new restaurants over the past 12 months this is the perfect time to take advantage. Some of the restaurants included are: Rosa Mexicano, National Pastime (in the Gaylord Hotel), Ketchup, and Grace's Mandarin. I'd also suggest Cadillac Ranch, not so much for the food, but for the chance to ride the bull. Yes, they have a mechanical bull and it's quite hilarious to watch people get thrown off of it. After a few drinks, you may even want to try your luck.

For more information about National Harbor Restaurant Week and to see the menus of those restaurants participating, click here.

Find Today's Daily Deal on Your City's Best Things To Do at Groupon.com!

Things to Do: Watkins Park Festival of Lights

Growing up I remember my neighbors going all out for Christmas.  We'd walk through our neighborhood to check out the nicely decorated houses and see which of our neighbors successfully outdid everybody else.  We even strolled around as a group singing Christmas carols, boy have times changed.

Now for the holidays, when I look around and I may see one or two houses on my way home that have decorations and lights, and I live in the suburbs.  What happened?  Every year when I'm feeling a little holiday spirit deficient, I head to Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

This year Watkins Park celebrates it's 24th Annual Winter Festival of Lights.  It's a driving tour and only costs $5 per car.  You slowly drive throughout the park which is filled with various displays of lights.  It's fun for a family visit or even a date.  Typically, I'd say the drive takes about 20-30 minutes depending on the day and the traffic. See below for more information.  

Friday, November 26, 2010 – Sunday, January 2, 2011
5:00 - 9:30PM (nightly) Watkins Regional Park301 Watkins Park Drive (Rte. 193)
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
301-699-2456
http://www.pgparks.com/Festival_of_Lights.htm

Find Today's Daily Deal on Your City's Best Things To Do at Groupon.com!

Things to Do: Holiday Wine Soiree

A fellow tweeter, Melanie Spring, aka @Sisarina, came up with an amazing idea. She's hosting a FREE blind wine tasting at her office in Bethesda, MD.  The event/tweetup will be held on Sunday, December 12, 2010 from 5:00-9:00PM.

All participants are asked to bring 1 or 2 bottles of wine ($8-$25).  The labels will then be covered to allow guests to do a "blind" taste testing and vote on their favorites.  After the event, all of the participants will receive a listing of the top choices, along with how much each of the wines cost and where to buy them.  Additionally, food will be provided by Chef Tony's Restaurant in Bethesda.

For those of you who tweet, use the hashtag, #DCTweetup...
"#DCTweetup is a ‘non’-networking event for locals to put a face to a Twitter handle. It’s a relaxing evening of networking with your neighbors, local business owners and meeting new friends. This is not your typical ’state what you do & hand over your business card’ event. #DCTweetup is for the introverted & extroverted alike to share in great conversation, relationship-building and fun."

For more information and to register, http://dctweetup19.eventbrite.com/

Sisarina Headquarters
4925 St Elmo Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
240.479.9743
http://www.sisarina.com

Wegmans Comes to Prince George's County

Today, October 24, at 7:00AM, marks the opening of the newest Wegmans.  It is located in the newly developed Woodmore Towne Centre off of 495 (Exit 17) and 202 in Lanham, Maryland.

The people of Prince George's County, MD, a largely African-American suburb of Washington, DC, are excited about this highly anticipated new grocery store along with the other retail outlets that will be coming to the area soon, including Costco and a JC Penney (I'd prefer a Bloomie's or Saks but that's better than nothing).  Best Buy opened the last week of September, which was much needed after the closure of Circuit City in 2008. 

Growing up in Prince George's County, my parents were always forced to shop elsewhere, mainly across the bridge in Virginia, to find department stores and supermarkets that were of a higher quality than those offered to residents of the county.  Now, many years later we are finally getting something no other surrounding area has, Wegmans, and everyone is excited. 

While a new grocery store may not seem like much, Prince George's County has been without for so long it's nice to see we are finally being afforded the same opportunities as other affluent communities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

To read the press release for the Wegmans Woodmore opening, click here.  To learn more about the Woodmore Towne Center development project, click here.

If you aren't familiar with Wegmans here's a little blurb I pulled from their website.

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., is a 77-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The family-owned company, founded in 1916, is widely recognized as an industry innovator. For 13 consecutive years, it has ranked high on the FORTUNE magazine’s list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work for,” placing #3 in 2010. 

Wegmans

9001 McHugh Drive

Lanham, MD 20706
240.487.5400

Charitable: Seniya Fleming Cell Phone-A-Thon

A friend sent this to me.  If you live in the Washington, DC area and are able to attend please do so.  If not, the family will be accepting donations.  Please read the touching story below.

We are a charitable organization comprised of the friends and family of SeniyaFleming, the first child in the world to be documented with an extremely rare syndrome. We have come together to form the SeniyaFoundation, Inc. to raise funds for future diagnosis and treatment of medical illness as well as for her general care. We need your help to achieve this goal. Seniyawas born with only part of her Chromosome 1 gene, which is passed down from both parents.

Both of Seniya’s parents have all of their genes but due to this missing information in her DNA, Seniya has:

•holes in four of her heart valves
•fused arms (her arm and forearm bones are fused so that she has no elbows)
•no thumbs with an extra finger tip on her right hand
•a cleft palate such that her tongue rests in the back of her mouth, making it hard to breathe, chew, and drink. Due to these unexpected challenges, Seniyahas spent a lot of her life at John Hopkins Hospital.

At only two years old, Seniya has undergone:
•quadruple bypass heart surgery
•unsuccessful surgery to create a thumb from the extra finger on her right hand Seniyais now confronted with the beginning stages of facial deformities, which are likely to cause blindness. To correct these deformities and prevent blindness, doctors will have to operate in an area that contains her facial nerves. Therefore, the surgery could also lead to blindness and/or could also cause Seniyato lose her ability to smile.

Despite everything that Seniyahas endured in her first two years of life, she continues to laugh and give love to everyone. However, as she grows, her medical needs will increase. As you might imagine, Seniya’smedical condition requires much time and attention as well as many resources. Unfortunately, Seniya’sneeds has necessitated to full time on the spot care and attention that has resulted in her mother having to leave the workforce and her father to hold down several jobs in order to support their family of six.

The situation is further complicated by Social Security’s denial of the benefits to which she is entitled. At this time, we are seeking contributions to assist the family as they continue to try to provide for Seniya’sneeds without the benefit of public assistance.

This is why the SeniyaFoundation, Inc. would like to invite you and your friends to come out and participate in our Cell Phone-A-Thon by expecting and accepting our call on your cell phone that we will be making on:

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
6:00PM
New Community of GOD In Christ
12435C MattawomanDrive
Waldorf MD 20601

We will need volunteers to come out to the church and help make calls to the individuals in their contact list and request donations this support will help the family make this Cell Phone-A-Thon a success. If you are willing to volunteer and own a laptop please bring it with you to help with the processing of the donations.
 
If you cannot make it, you can also make donations online via Seniya'swebsite: www.helpingseniya.org

Things to Do: Taste of Gaylord

Throughout the month of August, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center is pleased to offer a Taste of Gaylord.  Stop by Fridays this August from 5:30 - 7:30PM, for your opportunity to sample food and drinks from all of four of their acclaimed restaurants for a great price

If you're not familiar with the Gaylord, it is located at the National Harbor just south of Washington, DC and across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Alexandria, VA.  The Gaylord is a 300-acre waterfront destination, mainly frequented by convention goers and tourists.  As an effort to attract more locals, it doesn't say that anywhere but I'm sure that's the reason behind this promotion, they are hosting the Taste of Gaylord on July 30, Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27.

Here's more information I found about the event...
Savor the flavor of Old Hickory Steakhouse's Ossau-Iraty Artisanal Cheese with a glass of Honig Sauvignon Blanc, then get your crunch on with some Crispy Fried Calamari with Citrus Emulsion and a Moon Bay Breeze cocktail at Moon Bay Coastal Cuisine, followed by Lobster Fritters and Red Sangria a la Pienza Italian Market. Finally, wrap your lips around a juicy Steak Sandwich with Onion Sauce and polish it down with a Loose Cannon IPA Maryland craft brewsky at National Pastime Sports Bar & Grill. After you taste the offerings from all four restaurants (for a mere $15), take your pick and dine in any one of them -- and get 10% off your bill! Now that sounds like a Gay[lord] old time!


To purchase your discounted tickets for the low price of $15, click here.  Note: you will need to create an account on What's the Deal DC to purchase the tickets at the discounted rate.

Things to Do: Linganore Wine Festival

One of my favorite local wine events, the Linganore Wine Festival, will begin its summer series this weekend, May 29-30.  If you're in town for the Memorial Day holiday, I'd strongly advise you to check it out.  If you can't make this one, the next festivals will be held in June, July, August and October.

The wine festival will be held at the Linganore Winecellars Vineyard in Mt. Airy, MD which isn't too far from Frederick, MD (about an hour outside of DC and 20 minutes from Baltimore).

The wine festival is $15 for adults, $10 for children 18-20, and FREE for those under 18.  For adults, you will receive a wine glass and have the option to sample nearly 20 different wines.  You can also purchase wine for your drinking pleasure while you relax and listen to the musical entertainment. 

My personal favs are the blueberry and raspberry wines, they're amazing and I'd especially recommend them if you like sweet, dessert wines.  In addition to the wine tastings, there will be food and art vendors.  If you'd prefer to bring your own food that's fine, you just can't bring any outside alcoholic beverages.  Make sure to bring chairs and/or blankets.

The first musical performance typically begins at noon, but it's suggested you get there around 11, because the earlier the better.  This festival always has a huge turnout so it's better to get there early to get situated in a good spot then to sit in traffic and miss all of the fun.

For more information about this festival and those upcoming, visit http://www.linganore-wine.com/PDF/festflyer.pdf. Cheers!

Things To Do: Maryland Small Arms Range

The other weekend I took a trip to the Maryland Small Arms Range (MSAR).

It was my first time going and I'd been wanting to go to that shooting range since one of my twitter friends/high school classmates mentioned that they had Ladies Night on Mondays. They offer FREE entrance, usually a $15 fee, for unaccompanied ladies on Mondays, you just have to pay for the gun, ammo, and the particulars (safety glasses, earplugs, targets.

I threw on some casual clothing and headed to the place. The address says it's located in Upper Marlboro (MD), but I would consider the area Clinton. It definitely was a little confusing to find but we finally made it. When we arrived, it was evident that everyone else had the same idea as us so we had to wait for about 30 minutes. The crowd was very diverse. There were a few couples, some rednecks, some thugs, some weapon-aficionados, but everyone was there with the same purpose to do a little shooting. The time we had to wait gave us a chance to explore the facility.

Come to find out, the shooting range was only a small element of the MSAR. When you walk in, it's like a mini-warehouse of guns, knives, clothing and protective gear, and everything weapons-related you could imagine. They displayed all of the guns they had available for rent. While I was investing online, I made my mind up that I wanted a Reuger just because it was old-school and classy looking, hey I'm a girly girl so I was all about shooting something small and cute. The guy at the desk dashed my hopes and dreams by saying he wouldn't recommend it for a first-time, hey he would know better than me, so we switched to a Sig Sauer 380. He gave me red headphones to match my top, so that made me feel a little better about not having the gun I wanted.

When we got into the actual area where the shooting takes places, I thought I was going to go deaf or have a heart attack. Depite having on these serious headphones, I could hear every single shot fired and couldn't help but jump. My ex loaded the gun, we put up a target and got to shooting. My aim was a little off as shown by my marks/mismarks on the target but it I don't think I did too bad for a first-timer.

All in all, we had a great time. I came out with my ears ringing a little but we had fun and I look forward to going again.

Sidebar: The photo above is me. I had planned on doing an infamous Charlie's Angels pose when I got in there but the feeling of holding an actual loaded gun, kept me from doing so. Maybe next time.

Gorgeous Prince George's

I moved to the suburbs of DC with my parents right before starting kindergarten. We lived in a nice house in a diverse neighborhood located in what was once referred to as "PG County", please call it Prince George's County.

Growing up, most of my friends had two working parents and were raised to respect our elders and taught morals and values. At that time we went to our local schools because they were safe, our teachers lived in our community and you could get a good public school education. Boy, have things changed.

As I got older I noticed there seemed to be a shift. Gradually, a certain demographic, mainly older Caucasian who moved there to retire, began to move away and others started to move in.

When it was time to go to high school, I decided to go to a public school that was known for it's Science & Technology program versus going to a private school like my parents wanted. I would definitely say at first it was somewhat of a culture shock even my school was only 5 minutes away. Here I was used to living in my own little world, where everyone lived in a house and had 2 middle, upper-middle class parents. I wouldn't say that I was sheltered, I was very involved in church and various activities, but was always surrounded by people who were for the most part like me. High school definitely prepared me for the real world and for being able to relate to all people regardless of their background and socioeconomic status.

Growing up and until recently, Prince George's county was always touted as the Most Affluent County for African-Americans in the US. I've heard that Fayette County in GA, has since taken over the title but I have yet to find the research to prove it. I moved back to the county two years ago after living in FL for college, ATL for grad school, NYC for work, then back to ATL, by simply watching the news you can tell the perception of the county had changed.

The first thing I noticed was the new slogan "Prince George's County: A County of Livable Communities." What? Seriously what does that mean? A shelter is livable. A jail is livable. I don't know who came up with that but they should be ashamed of themselves, it's so degrading. Every time I see the sign posted up on the median driving home I just shake my head in disgust. Such a slap in the face.

For those in the DMV, if you haven't noticed there is an effort to completely do away with saying "PG County" instead please use the full name, Prince George's County. When I first moved back, I got corrected many times and quickly got used to saying the entire name. Trust me it's really easy plus it sounds better. Notice you never hear people from other counties say they're from CC (Charles County), QA (Queen Anne's), AA (Anne Arundel), etc. People used to say MoCo (Montgomery County) but you rarely hear that these days.

As someone in marketing, I understand the county is trying to rebrand itself in hopes of regaining the elite reputation it was once known for. I have to say I'm glad the National Harbor was finally built. I remember the protests and signs posted in people's yard back in the late 90s. It has brought hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs, high-dollar real estate to the county and is a destination spot for people from all over the world. Now if only we could get a "real" mall, sorry but Bowie Town Center doesn't cut it. I'm talking like a Tyson's Corner.

I love my county and I'm proud to be back in Gorgeous Prince George's but I'm still trying to figure out what caused the shift? Was I just blind to it living in my small community (if you wondering I grew up in Tantallon, if you couldn't tell, lol) or have things really changed so drastically in the last 10-15 years? Thoughts? Comments?

Domestic Violence 101

This morning I attended Regional Day of Service: Take a Stand Against Domestic Violence Symposium sponsored by the illustrious Prince George's County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

This event was planned several months ago, long before the entire Chris Brown & Rihanna incident. You don't know how glad I am that situation came to light because it shows everyone that domestic violence doesn't just happen to certain people of a certain age or a certain race, or even a certain socioeconomic class, it happens to everyone. I'm not saying at all that I condone what happened to Rihanna, I'm just glad the incident gained so much attention because it provided valuable exposure especially to children and teenagers who look up to the two celebrities. It provides a name and a face of domestic violence.

The morning began with comments from the Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey who provided a lot of information about resources for victims/survivors of Domestic Violence as well as ways in which we can all make a difference. He suggested emailing or calling our representatives to ensure when new domestic violence legislation is up for vote, they vote the way we want them to vote. We can make a difference.

Following, there were several break out sessions. I attended one on Advocacy & Outreach brought to us by the Outreach Coordinator at the House of Ruth in MD (not affiliated with the DC one). The presentation began with a video that included sound from an actual incident that occurred between a husband and wife. It was so real and so scary. You could hear the woman begging her husband to stop, but he kept hitting and slapping her. He told her if she told anyone he'd kill her and the person she told. At the end of the video, the words came across the screen stating that 2 weeks after its taping he had killed her.

It was very hard to hear something like that but it makes domestic violence so real especially to someone like me who's never been in that type of situation. As far as I know of I have only one friend who was in an abusive relationship but she's always said it only took him only once to hit her and she got out of the relationship and I've always been proud of her for that.

Watching the video and hearing the stories, you always think to yourself why doesn't the woman (and in some cases man) leave? Why does she accept the beatings and the verbal abuse? How could she love someone whose sole purpose is to be in control of her? But unless you're in that particular situation, it's hard and unfair to be judgemental because you're just an outsider looking in.

Today made me realize that I shouldn't ask questions like those, but I should be supportive and do my part in trying to see that laws are put into effect so domestic violence is taken more seriously. It's still crazy to me that if a man were to walk up to a stranger on the street and punch him, he'd be charged with assault and likely get locked up. But if the same man were to hit his wife, girlfriend, or the Mother of his child, someone he supposedly loves, often times he gets let off with just a warning and continues the cycle of abuse.

I think that it's interesting people fight for cruelty against animals and animal rights but the same compassion isn't there for the rights of battered women. Organizations like PETA can spend millions of dollars to have a commercial during the Super Bowl while most domestic violence organizations have limited funding and lack space for women seeking solace from their abusers.

The presentation made me feel very empowered like I could do something to make a difference. We can all do some thing whether we donate money, donate our time as a counselor, email our representatives, or write blogs to get the word out.

Remember, 1 out of every 3 women will be a victim of domestic abuse, if that's not a scary statistic I don't know what is.