#esraa

I’m really excited to finally write about my trip to D.C. I drove 3.5 hours from Jersey to D.C. to meet up with Esraa. If you aren’t caught up, Esraa lives in West Virginia now with her husband. We literally talked about doing a weekend getaway for months and what better reason to go than to support our friend from Rutgers, Mark, at his event. I’ll get into the event details in a bit; first let’s just get right into arriving to D.C.

We booked a really nice Airbnb in NOMA. What that means to you, probably nothing lol but apparently that is a good area to be in. The apartment was very cute and just what we needed. A major plus is the location had a pool so we definitely took advantage of that.

We arrived on a Friday night around 5pm. After getting the keys to the room, we immediately started looking up places to eat. Starving isn’t even the word to describe how hungry I was. I mean I didn’t really eat or drink much while driving. However, I will say shoutout to Chic-Fil-A for holding me down in Delaware. I had to pee a river and those nuggets were awesome.

Anyways, so we were in the mood for sushi and noticed Mark recommended a place called “Himitsu”. We trusted his judgement and took an uber there. No lie, I can’t even say I was disappointed. I mean they didn’t have sushi but the food was really fresh and tasty. Don’t knock octopus until you try it. Amazing !

Okay soooo I can sort of get into the event details now because after we ate Esraa and I went to help our friends, Mark and Danny, get supplies ready. The event is called “Spladr”. Yes, it is exactly what you are thinking of. Splatter paint! Imagine having a white canvas and using as many artistic tools you can think of to paint what’s on your mind. That’s it! A really dope concept with the right people to host it.

Skipping to the next morning, well almost noon lol we got up to get a wrap and sandwich from a store across the street. It was really relaxing to not have to wake up super early. After that we stopped at Starbucks a dozen times, but we finally made it to the pool. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because we met so many different people. They were giving us great suggestions on where to go for food, drinks and music. We needed this because googling everything doesn’t help much.

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After tanning and relaxing by the pool, we got ready for dinner. We made a reservation for “Pearl Dive Oyster Palace”. Not sure if anyone reading this has ever been here, but let’s just say oysters are not my thing. First reaction to eating oysters is I think I will pass lol The texture is just not for me but I had to try it at least once. We also ordered a crab soup which was really good even though it was a creamier texture than I thought it was going to be. For our entree, Esraa had the catfish with grits and I ordered a shrimp po boy sandwich with fries. The menu didn’t have too many options that I would prefer since I’m not really into fish, but the shrimp came out pretty good.

The plan after dinner was to meet our friends on “U Street”. This is like the strip where all the bars are. We ended up at Rose Bar. The music was really good and we had a fun time. That henny though was on another level lol; I could barely finish my drink. Oh and I wish we could get a dope picture of the group, but everybody wanted to have shaky ass hands. One of the best pics is this selfie Esraa and I took with a random guy. His name is Cam, go check his IG: filmore_cam. We don’t even know this man but the pic came out cute.

Waking up early Sunday morning, we packed all our things and headed out to the Right Proper Brewery. This was my first time ever going “beer tasting”. I like beer sometimes, but you would be surprised at how many people were at this DC Beer Week event. I could barely finish my small cup, while everyone around me was probably on their 5th beer. It was interesting though hearing about the different types of beer D.C. has to offer; it varied from sweet to sour flavors. We wanted to try as many stations as possible at the event but we were a little behind schedule. We had to skip out on the wonton station. But we did get homemade ice cream; it was soooo good. The flavors we tried were chocolate brownie and brown sugar. If we didn't have to go somewhere else right after I probably would have bought a pint size so I could bring it back home It was that good !

After the beer tasting we rushed straight to the “Spladr” event. The event was at “Big Chief”. The spot was really dope and had a good vibe. As soon as we walked in, we suited up to protect our clothes from the paint. I wish I had my phone to record us during the event, but I really wanted to enjoy the moment. Each person had a station with a white canvas on top of a crate. Around the canvas were different color paint bottles, brushes and sponges.

Esraa and I got the deluxe experience so we also had access to spray paint and acrylic paint. Each session is about an hour; of course as you finish your painting you are free to enjoy the day party event in the next room. The event had a bar and really great music from the DJ. As you can see above, we decided to just have a photoshoot on the roof lol. (Go to my photography tab to see more photos) It was also nice to see familiar faces from our Rutgers days. I’m looking forward to see where they have the next event. In the meantime, if you want to see more videos and pictures about the experience, then make sure to check out “Spladr” on instagram.

Right after this picture, we ran out lol. It was already 6pm on a Sunday and we had work the next morning. We started the long drive back to NJ and West Virginia. Overall, the long drive was worth the fun we had in just a short weekend.

If you’ve been to D.C., what did you like the most about it?

NAME AESTHETIC 

Esraa: Arabic- Night Journey