If You're Artsy and You Know It...

Ok, so I'm not a big artsy person in the traditional gallery-going, paint-splattered, hipster sense (I'm more into the performing arts - music, dance, theatre) but my trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum was much more awe-inspiring than I expected. This was in the Baroque room, I think...

There is an unexplainable phenomenon I invariably experience whenever I encounter some piece of natural or manmade beauty - be it a painting, sculpture, dance, song, architecture, poem, garden, mountainscape, etc. - I feel all warm, light, and beautiful inside. It's an amazing feeling I try to create as often as possible. This is why I chase after cultural and artistic experiences.

So some friends and I met up this past Saturday...

...and had fun taking creative pictures, nevermind the flustered guard who was trying to figure out how to use my [digital] camera. I hope we were at least somewhat amusing even if we did annoy him...

It was cool to be in the same room as some of those items, like this Monet painting - French Impressionism at its best

Or a tapestry from 1460 (32 years before Columbus landed in the Americas)!!! It's hard to imagine how different life and the WORLD was back then...

We didn't have time to see everything (I'll definitely have to come back when I have several hours to spare) but my favorite exhibit was the one with Edgar Degas' wax dance figures. New hobby in a museum: posing like the sculptures -

Hermes fountain!

Michaelangelo's David-Apollo

Dancer-poser at heart :P

My outing on Thursday was much more down my alley. I had my Black History Month activity of the week at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (arguably my favorite monument in DC).

Wish I could have taken pictures of the amazing dancers and the inside of the lush red and gold opera house (it was prohibited). I read about the group in my Intro to Dance class at BYU. Alvin Ailey started this all-black (now multi-racial) modern dance company in 1958 in New York City, sharing and celebrating the African American experience with performances using blues, spirituals, and gospel music (as well as other genres). They've become a highly-respected, award-winning, globe-trotting company. I felt beautiful, inspired, and privileged watching them :)

Also commemorated Black History Month on Friday when a group of friends and I met up at
Bread & Chocolate for dinner and share some poetry (Cory's great idea). I read a powerful poem I [partially] memorized for a BYU Public Speaking class - "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou, a very prominent black author & poet.

I got the turkey chili and corn muffin - good for chilly nights

Yay for old and new friends! (mirror pic)

Speaking of friends, I finally got to hang out with Andrea! We've been talking about getting together for months and finally did at a new frozen yogurt place - Tutti Frutti in Crystal City. Good conversation, cute place, delicious fro yo (I highly recommend this place! I got the soy taro, nutella, and salted caramel flavors topped with mochi)

Saturday night - went to the temple with the ward and for the first time in 2013! Beautiful as always and a great way to prepare for the Sabbath :)