Culpie

Culpie is a curious guy, and loves discovering new and unique places and organizations. He was thus excited to check out Kossuth House, where a going away party he attended last Friday was held (And of course Culpie, like all of the penguins, loves a good party, although he prefers that they don’t involve friends leaving the area).


Donning his party hat, Culpie waddled down to Kossuth House, barely escaping the rain, thunder and hailstorm. Once safely inside he discovered that Kossuth House is home to the HungarianAmerica Foundation. He admired the various Hungarian handicrafts, caught up with friends, had some Hungarian wine and snacked on nuts and Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles (a secret guilty pleasure). He made certain to avoid the large plates of open faced cold cut sandwiches, which rather frightened his vegetarian self (but were popular with the other guests).

Kade

Kade immigrated to the United States from Berlin, Germany. Before moving to Washington he resided on the fifth floor of the Kaufhof des Westens (KaDeWe). There he had many friends to play with, and late at night they often snuck up to the gourmet floor, where they could choose from over 3000 wines, 1300 cheeses and 300 truffles and pralines. He highly recommends stopping by the KaDeWe if you happen to find yourself in Berlin (just don’t forget to ask him for his shopping list before you go).


Kade also frequented Berlin’s many museums, so he was pleased to end up in a city with many fine cultural institutions of its own. One of his favorite museums is the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where he recently viewed the exhibition William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008. After checking out the wonderful photographs he attended the 1869 Society’s Cultural Cocktails. He had lots of fun catching up with friends and partaking in Barefoot Wine’s wine tasting. As usual, he gravitated towards the bubbly (paired with popcorn, another favorite treat), and made certain to position himself near that tasting table all evening. Kade was excited to hear that the 1869 Society is now supporting ArtReach, which offers free arts education programs in local community centers, including THEARC and the Sitar Center. He can’t wait until the next 1869 Society event, and is really looking forward to Fall Fête on October 24.

Tess

While Tess, who hails from London, is not a diagnosed shopaholic, she finds it hard to resist a good sale. She was therefore very happy to join in on a recent family outing to the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets. Her favorite store there is Saks Off 5th, although she generally has better luck at the Off 5th in Arundel Mills…and who can resist the charm of a mall with both a Medieval Times and an Egyptian themed movie theater.

The Leesburg outlets, while lacking in such fine amenities, are not, however, all shopping and no play, and Tess was able to take a quick ride with Snoopy before heading home.

Tommy

Tommy, like many of the penguins, enjoys meeting up with his friends and going out for sweet treats. Recently he made a snack date at ACKC, where he always has such difficulty choosing between the fancy truffles, Kingsbury chocolate bars (so many yummy kinds!) and fleur de sel caramels.


He also loves their different hot (and frozen) chocolate drinks, but the humid DC day had made him really thirsty, so he opted for a lighter iced coffee (he could not, however, resist the almost as big as himself chocolate croissant).


After his feast Tommy decided to wander up 14th and down U Street for some window shopping. He was happy to run across some lovely penguins at Urban Essentials, and is hoping to save his pennies and take one (or both!) home with him.

Rocky and Chilly

While Rocky tries to avoid the suburbs as much as possible, he is always willing to trek out to Virginia to see the exhibitions at the Arlington Arts Center (he thinks that all art loving but suburb fearing DC residents should do the same). Friday he attended the opening of PARADOX NOW!, an exhibition of eight contemporary artists who approach history as a fluid dynamic, affected by the present and subject to revision. He enjoyed Anna Lucas’s film Little White Feather and the Hunter, and is considering purchasing the companion book.


Rocky also liked Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill Project, and had a great time making his own penguin hundred dollar bill!


Like Rocky, Chilly enjoys attending opening receptions at galleries. Saturday he stopped by three very different openings and saw lots of good stuff! He first popped by the Hamiltonian Gallery’s opening of new. (now). He especially liked the work by Lina Vargas De La Hoz (who knew a raincoat could be so versatile...).


Chilly then headed down 14th Street to see Not From Concentrate: A Juicy Art Exhibit, organized by The Pink Line Project. He is a great fan of The Pink Line Project and the many fantastic art events it organizes and promotes (he thinks that everybody should be a fan on Facebook). The crushed fruit photographs by Joshua Yospyn made him very hungry, so he was happy that tasty mini cupcakes (pink icing of course!) were provided.


This gave him more than enough energy to head to his final destination of the evening, the very very fun block party for the opening of Irvine Contemporary’s Street/Studio exhibition. His favorite murals were those by the Berlin based artist Evol.


Chilly had a wonderful time checking out the art (you should too) and catching up with fabulous friends, who had snuck in some bubbly from the nearby Whole Foods…much tastier than the block party keg beer!

Sparkly

Some people choose their wine by the label, Sparkly chooses his cereal this way. It should thus come as no surprise that he’s a fan of Walmart’s Great Value Sugar Frosted Flakes. And, while it may not be fashionable to admit it, he loves Walmart. Sparkly can spend hours waddling up and down its many aisles, picking up things that he may or may not need. Because DC has no Walmart, he makes certain to stock up on goodies whenever he happens to be somewhere there is one.


His most recent Walmart shopping spree was in Culpeper, where he also dined at The Stable. The monster sandwiches were tasty, and he loved the restaurant’s Civil War themed décor. It did sadly mean no penguins, but he thought the dogs were rather cute.

Peggy

Peggy may be a resident of career-oriented DC, but she thinks that life is much too short to get caught up in the rat race. Not only does she like to live in the moment, she knows the value of taking time to smell the roses. Friends and family are very important to Peggy, and she often meets them for long walks/gossip sessions.


Although she avoids the suburbs when possible (city snob that she is), she does occasionally meet up with friends in Clarendon, where she grabs a cup of coffee at Le Pain Quotidien and plays in neighborhood gardens.