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Monday, March 26, 2012

l'opera and Danny's Birthday Celebration

One of our amazing friend, Rachel, works at The Kennedy Center here in Washington, DC.  She graciously provides free tickets once in a while and we try to take advantage of this opportunity a few times a year.  Recently, we went to see Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, which was excellent.  Directed in a modern way, this opera was excellent and delightful!  I would recommend to anyone!

Waiting for the show to start

JFK Statue

Hall of States

Last weekend was Danny's birthday.  We did a quiet dinner the night of his big day, but went on a couple of brewery tours with some friends the next day, which happens to be St. Patrick's Day.

Homemade chicken Parmesan, Cesar salad and a bottle of red!

He wanted a lot!

Rum Cake...with a LOT of rum!


The following day, we headed out to NE DC to DC Brau and Chocolate City Brewery.  DC Brau was a great tour and had a fun little tasting area and yummy hot dogs.  Chocolate City Brewery was more like some one's garage, but we were able to take home some yummy growlers of beer to share.
DC Brau

Scotty and Leah and the bday man


With Selma and Tayo (they didn't get the memo on the green)



The extent of our Chocolate City Beer tour- uhhhh...here is like where we make the beer.

The whole crew with the brew man himself.

We topped off the night at Blaguard, where Nic was decked out in his finest! :)
I am so proud to be Danny's fiance and look forward to many many more birthday's with him! 

LYYFF!!

xoxo,
Jza Jza

Thursday, March 8, 2012

OAR and the Shot-Ski!

Last week,we went to the O.A.R. concert with a few friends at the 9:30 Club.  We had a blast!  I love O.A.R., as does one of my besties from college, Corey, and my friend from work, Lindsay.  A local band to the DMV area, many members of the band went to The Ohio State University.  The three of us sang all night while our significant others bopped along and enjoyed the show. 


Getting ready for the show to begin!

Our spot- pretty good!




Corey, Erica and I


Since it was a long night, we kept it pretty low key for the rest of the weekend.  Our friends ditched us for brunch (just kidding, Elizabeth!) so we both took multiple naps on Saturday.  See, I told you guys we were boring!  This is why there have been a lack of posts.

We did go out to celbrate Nic's birthday for Sunday Funday and headed to a favorite, the Biergarten Haus.  Schnitzel, Bratwurst and Beers...Oh My!  Oh and a shot-ski.


We parked on Wylie Street!  (My dog's name is Wylie)

Preparing the shot-ski

Discussing Tactics...

Epic fail for the short ladies in the middle!

Danny and the birthday Boy

Elizabeth and I!
It was a nice relaxing weekend with the perfect amount of fun, which we needed to prepare for a crazy busy week!

Xoxo,
Jza Jza

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Special Event- CEB Celebrates 2012: Spy Games

Instead of a company wide end of year party, Corporate Executive Board celebrates with a week long event in Q1- which ends with a blow out party for all.  This year I was lucky enough to be a part of our Spy Games celebration.  The entire week was revolved around training to be the ultimate James Bond-like spy.  

The week involved competitions on wii Mario Kart, scavenger hunts, video contests, etc.  I planned the Rochester and Boston office's events and was in an amazing team of 4 who planned the biggest party at our headquarters here in DC. 

We had a photobooth with spy props, a "Casino Royale," spy themed food like Dr. No's Veggie Dumplings and Mata Hari Tempting Noodles, two sushi ninjas, a secret room, James Bond and the ultimate signature cocktail- Bubble07...

007 Gobos- part of an intense lighting display used through out the space

Our James Bond impersonator and I

During the week our staff took their own spy photo and gave themselves spy names.  Mine was Oksana Darlington.  Try yours here: http://www.tnt.tv/games/spynamegenerator/ 

Our staff with the Bubble07

Casino Royale


Setting up for our signature cocktail!

Frankie handing out our "confidential cards"- which involved a clue to get to the secret room!


Covert Coconut and Chicken Skewers

Double Agent Mousse


Triple Agent: Green apple with Camembert and a chardonnay shot!

Dr. No's Vegetable Dumplings

Goldfingers with Top Secret Sauce

James Bond Strawberries

Macaroni Impossible

Mata Hari's Tempting Noodles (in mini Chinese take out boxes)

Russian spy blini and caviar

Our sushi ninja!


Thunderballs with Tzaziki sauce
Our Secret Room was truly a highlight for me!  We hid clues in fortune cookies, the confidential cards, reader boards and by word of mouth.  We pipe and draped our classroom so that it was truly dark and you couldn't see what you were trying to find!  Once inside the secret "Golden Lounge," you had to pass a fingerprint test by a foreign spy in a trench coat and fedora.  You were rewarded with Goldeneye rum cake balls and another signature cocktail, the Goldfinger "martini".  We had a gold lighted bar, gold tables and chairs, unique music, gold lighting and gold balloons for extra ambiance!

Walking through to the secret lounge...
Our Golden Bar and Top Secret Bartender

The Goldeneye Rum Balls

The Gold room (still in the daylight) and the finger print machine

Goldfinger Pineapple Champagne Martinis


Our finger print lady

Once back in the regular party space, we had a huge four sided bar and a small bar by the excellent DJ, Chris Laich.  Our servers all donned our custom sunglasses and tuxedos (very James Bond) as they passed the hors d'oeuvres and signature cocktails. Our photobooth was a huge hit and we even got in on the fun!

Mini lounge overlooking Washington, DC

We had seven pieces of antique spy equipment- here is a missile launcher!

Photobooth Props!

Photobooth getting set up

Custom Decals hung through the entire building




Uplighting and CEB gobo




The people who brought you the week-long Spy Games!


The party planners and our photographer!

Looking forward to more custom events like above and more posts to come!! :)

Xoxo,
Jza Jza