Chiharu's shoes

This is Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota's installation of 350 shoes at the Sackler Gallery (ongoing exhibition), Washington DC. The Sackler itself is a pretty low key kind of museum (IMHO, more interesting for the very adjacent National Museum of African Art) but I really enjoyed seeing this piece.  Each unpaired shoe comes with a note from its owner. An exploration of identity, connection, belonging and emotion.

For sale or lease

I used to like street photography a lot. Real street photography, I mean, not just walking around with my iPad and taking pictures with Instagram. I'm hoping to go back to street style one day in the not-so-far future.

Wizards vs. Magic (Part 2)

I almost forgot that I still owe you Part 2 of Wizards vs. Magic. The photos are not great (it's Instagram after all) but it will help documenting the entertainment. And entertainment there was! Not a dull moment. Thinking back, maybe there was more entertainment show than there was actual basketball. Or something like 50/50. Every time-out, every stoppage of the clock by the referee, every break between quarters had to be filled with… errrrmm…stuff.

Interviews of the players, asking them wether they prefer ducks or horses for instance (true story!).

Because I think they trample you? :-)))

(Rubber duckies won)

A wedding proposal after a fake game where she had no idea. 

The Spot The Gecko game. This was all too fast for me and I didn't quite get it. There must have been a gecko somewhere in the audience, dunno.

The Hot Shot Challenge. One shot to get your mortgage entirely payed off!! Mr.Bradley missed the opportunity, unfortunately.

A choreography by the Wiz Kids.

After this, special guest Private Cooper who came back from the war (I can't remember which war it was he came back from, too many wars going on right now) gave a speech, and we all sang one more welled up national anthem.

The promise of free food chick-fil-a chicken sandwich….

And yes, that visiting player DID miss two consecutive free throws!! Free chick-fil-a chicken sandwich for everyone!!  

The Kiss Cam. The best kissing couple on camera wins two season tickets.

Rub. Got a little shoulder action (?) :-o  I think they won!!

The T-Shirt Toss. Always a favorite.

Well that was a very entertaining evening, thank you Wizards!!

The missing angel

Wizards vs. Magic (Part 1)

Choice of ketchup and mayonnaise for your burger

Wizards vs Magic! Has there ever been a better line up? :-)) I'm talking about Washington Wizards playing against Orlando Magic in the prestigious NBA league. This was a huge slice of American culture and I highly enjoyed taking part in the event.

It's been too long without faces in holes :-))

Time to get a big fat burger with fries and enjoy the show! But first, the national anthem. Stand up everyone.

How exactly?

I can't figure out the instructions. Maybe only the people of DC know how to operate this dream machine? Lucky them :-))

Happy new year everyone!

On the freezing side

The weather in DC was kinda stalactite/stalagmite like.

Wot? Cold drinks and ice cold water? Not even if it were a glass of Veuve Cliquot. Oh alright, just one glass of Veuve Cliquot, and then a hot chocolate please!

The DC catch

The Suitcase was on the heavy side again, but before you say anything, most of those are presents! (for other people, I mean) :-))

World Market is a sort of chocolate wonderland to me, very hard to resist anything in there.

I found that Tokyo Metro duct tape at Smith NRT (Delfonics) before even leaving Narita :-)) I mean, what could I do, just leave it there?

We Can Do It pens, We The People notebook, sealing wax and masking tape are from the museum shop at the National Archives.

I've tried the sealing wax and it's a bit tricky to use, I think it needs practice, but I'll get there.

Vintage office stationery supplies are from The Postal Museum (most of it seems to come from San Francisco so it's not really a DC special).

The Book Post rubber stamp is from Analog (Hi Melissa!), I was very happy to find that one.

Eye shadow and lipstick from Sephora (there is no Sephora in Japan. Well, maybe better this way).

A few cheap and beautiful second hand clothes from Crossroads Trading (a great shop in the very interesting U Street Corridor) and Analog.

Free postcards from The Postal Museum (they had a lot of free merchandise) and tickets for The Wizards, but I'll keep that story for another day.

I found that book at the Hirshhorn museum, almost ignored it, almost put it back on the shelf but decided to give it a go. I don't regret it, she's a genius and such a talented poet. A highly recommended read!

Well, that's it for now. Somehow I'm still jet lagged, waking up at 4am so I'll go have my second breakfast now. Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating...

Happy 300th blog post!

Marie's Suitcase is 300 bog posts old and I'm back from freezing DC with a new postage stamp designed at the Postal Museum, where I was able to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes: sticking my face through holes.

Museums are free in DC and really, really good. Enjoyed that immensely. Loved loved loved being back in the US for a bit!

This was the original design, I just noticed one can see my fingers holding the frame :-)) So unprofessional.