#MANAGINGEDITOR

KATHRYN LYONS

Managing Editor at FamousDC

“My quotes are generally shorter than a press conference.”

Weather: We’re feeling prettayyyyy good about this weather! Presidents’ Day weekend is bringing us a taste of spring with mostly sunny skies on Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will reach the mid to high 60s and will be perfect for pretty much anything outside of your house or apartment. The lows will feel wintry as they dip into the mid 50s and 40s, but nothing that we winter warriors can’t handle. BONUS DAY: Clear skies and highs just below 60 on Monday will make for a solid end to your weekend bender.

Awesome events you can attend this weekend: Big Gigantic is bringing a party of exactly those proportions to Echo Stage tonight; Feel allllllll the elements tomorrow night as Earth, Wind and Fire take us back to September at the MGM National Harbor; Antibalas brings their legendary Afrobeat sound to the Hamilton tonight; Comedian Jamie Lee is making a pit stop at DC Improv this weekend as part of her “Weddiculous” book and comedy tour; Violinist Hilary Hahn is lauded for her exceptional talent. Catch her at the Kennedy Center tonight or tomorrow; Get weird tonight with the DC Weirdo Show – complete with sword swallowers, dangerous juggling and lots more; Check out this bocce tournament at Pinstripes in Georgetown all day tomorrow; Black Cat plays host to indie rocker Sinkane on Saturday night; If you’re looking for some good date ideas, look no further than Alexandria Restaurant Week, kicking off today!; A three day weekend calls for good times and even better brunch; Radiator at Firefly have your President’s Day brunch plans all set too, with special prices to commemorate the dollar’s value during past presidential administrations; Here’s a list of Presidents’ Day closures to help you while you’re boppin around to all of these awesome weekend events.

#WATCH

Harper Macaw is more than one of the best-smelling places in DC. It’s a chocolate factory that makes and sells its own chocolate in order to give back to rain forest restoration efforts in Brazil, a place that’s near and dear to co-owner Sarah Hartman.

#LOCAL

We’re still not sure what filter these artists are using; Pepco is begging you to keep your Valentine’s Day balloons to yourself; This spring-themed pop up bar is coming to DC, but it won’t be giving you allergies; So, does this mean we’re all getting an Audi? Let’s go, United!; Thanks for all the memories, Bao Bao!; Apparently delivery robots are now a thing in DC; File this one under “Unusual Old Town Headlines”; Let’s get this local squirrel on Twitter and give it an awesome name; It was an unusually quiet afternoon in DC yesterday. Here’s why.

#NATIONAL

Restaurants in several major cities shut down or cut back on service to demonstrate how businesses would suffer without immigrants; The Women’s March organizers are looking to continue reinforcing their message; In other squirrel news: You’re spending lots of money on a home security system when you could just have a squirrel instead; Rest in peace to America’s longest-serving House minority leader; Must be nice, Maryland; Leave it to Buzzfeed to bring us news we never knew we needed; This power company’s futuristic technology for trash disposal is effective, buuut also terrifying; Ok, this is a closer than we’re comfortable with, Russia.

#SOCIALSEEN

Give your living room the Hollywood star treatment with our DC neighborhood wall poster

We had a great time celebrating exceptional journalism at the 2017 National Press Foundation’s Awards Gala!

Martha Raddatz is even more impressive in person than she is on national television

Our friend Stuart Roy is definitely superhuman

The SOME Jr. Gala wasn’t only a success, it was a blast!

Did you get blown away this Valentine’s Day? We did.

#EDITORSPICK

The National Press Foundation Annual Awards Dinner celebrates excellence in journalism and FamousDC was honored to speak with some of the best in the business. Stay tuned for our newest FAQs video.

#TWEETOFTHEWEEK

#BIRTHDAYS

Famous birthday wishes to Sean Conner, Rep. Jared Huffman, Clyde McGrady, Tom Hawkins, Tom Pearce, Rep. Richard Neal, Diego Anez, Ed Yeilding, Rep. Bradley Byrne, Rep. J. Forbes, Alex Koos, Rep. Steve Womack, Christa D’Amico, Brandon VerVelde, Cliff Sims, Michael McCArlie, Deb Leising, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Suzan Delbene, Rep. Brett Guthrie, Bobby Panzenbeck, Tom Gibson, Rep. Filemon Vela, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Elliot Engel, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Raul Grijalva

#FAMOUSFORDC

We’ll admit: Chris Thorne’s business card is pretty damn cool; How is Meredith Hill’s color TV treating her?; Safe travels, Jenny Kay! Get tan enough for all of us; Is Caleb Randall-Bodman still reading this?; Adri Jackson crushed it last night; You don’t have to travel to Vegas to join Josh Harbusky and the Grassroots Professional Network Seminar – watch the event right here; Is Ed Yeilding ready for a big weekend?; Diego Anez is becoming a master of party bus planning; Taz Jones can’t wait to hang with Lisa Leonard this weekend; Safe travels to John Haley, Hallie Williams, Samantha Smith, Will Marty and the huge crew headed to Cuba this weekend; Congrats to the National Press Foundation on an amazing Awards Dinner; Dan Punaro: this is your THIRD shout out in 3 weeks…are you listening?; Catharine Cypher is our favorite. Congrats on crushing it!; Congrats to George and Alden Barsness, Patrick Brennan, Caroline Westerman and the entire SOME Jr Gala Host Committee on an amazing event!; Eli Yokley is everywhere on Capitol Hill all at the same time; GIFT IDEA: DCanter’s wine concierge service: trust us; Jonathan Grella is an expert on both the travel industry and operatively timed naps; We’re going to miss Paige Gress!; We’re not saying FamousDC had the coolest table at the NPF Awards Dinner last night, but…ok FamousDC had THE coolest table at the NPF dinner last night; If you aren’t playing Prince nonstop, you’re doing Spotify wrong; Clyde McGrady looks GOOD in a wig #ClydeWigPics; The world has more carbs in it thanks to Bubba Atkinson; Lauren Hagen might go on a picnic this weekend; Show Saturday who’s boss, Christa D’Amico; Lisa Kramer’s desk looked pretty floral this week; John Scofield can really chat it up after a heavy spin class; Ask Shoshana Weissmann about her thoughts on men who can sew; Sami Gilkes is breaking out the old school Outkast jams this week; Got any recommendations? Shawn Pasternak is hunting for a book club; Congrats Rachel VerVelde on her role as new Chief of Staff for Congressman Glenn Grothman; Thanks for coming by our office and visiting former Secretary General Nathan Imperiale, Santa Margarita High!; There’s nothing wrong with a little Game of Thrones bromance, Andrew Riddaugh and Scot Seplowe; Sarah Hudson may not have her bags in hand, but she does have cocktails; Taylor Bush sure is good at being a sommelier; Cole Davis, we’re ready for your karaoke debut; Kathryn Lyons owes Josh Shultz a public apology for messing up a v important dance performance; Tell Cliff Sims happy birthday and Roll Tide!

#MAKINGMOVES BY S3 PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Congratulations to the newest members of the S-3 Public Affairs team, which include Hill veterans Kate Dickens & Todd Wooten. Dickens most recently served as chief of staff to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Wooten joins from the Senate Finance Committee; Obama alumnus Blake Androff, who headed communications for the Department of Interior, makes a move back to the Hill to work with the DPCC; Cameron Coursen joins Burson-Marsteller as a senior director in the health care practice; The Washington Post welcomes Ron Klain as a contributing columnist to focus on DC issues. Klain is notably the former chief of staff to both former Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore; Penny Lee joins 1776 as chief strategy officer; Hap Rigby makes a move from his staff role on the Senate Commerce Committee to Wiley Rein; Gregg Birnbaum is the new politics editor for NBC News digital. He makes the move from CNN Politics; Rachel VerVelde will serve as the new chief of staff to Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI); Congratulations to Shana Teehan as she heads to Sen. Luther Strange’s office to be his communications director; Timothy Martin, former legislative director for Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) joins Wilmer Hale’s public policy and legislative affairs group; The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation welcomes Gordon Lambourne as VP of communications. Lambourne previously worked as Marriott’s SVP for global public relations; Nicole Gustafson and Grisella Martine join the National Association of Broadcasters as vice presidents of government affairs; Misty McGowen makes a move from API to the House Transportation Committee to serve as director of outreach and coalitions; Patrick Burgwinkle joins the DCCC as deputy communications director. He previously worked as a regional communications director for Hillary for America; John Mancini joins Quartz as its global news editor; The international Republican Institute has announced Sam LaHood as its new director of government and external affairs; Hannah Fine joins the office of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to serve as digital director; Perry Bacon Jr., previously a senior political reporter with NBC News, joins FiveThirtyEight to cover the Trump administration; Susan Lagana makes a move from her role as director of public affairs and advisor to the secretary of transportation to Burson-Marsteller, where she will serve as a managing director in its public affairs and crisis practice; The Biden Foundation adds Danielle Carnival, Katie Collins, Greg Simon, Mala Adiga and Lucy Moore; The Biotechnology Innovation Organization welcomes former majority staff director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee Gary Andres as senior executive vice president of public affairs. Congratulations!; A big congratulations to every award winner at last night’s National Press Foundation Awards Dinner, including ABC’s Martha Raddatz (Sol Taishoff Award For Excellence in Broadcast Journalism), Louisiana State University’s Steve Buttey (Chairman’s Citation), The Advocate‘s Peter Kovacs (Benjamin C. Bradley Editor of the Year Award), Clark Hoyt (W.M. Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award), the Washington Post‘s Darrin Bell (Clifford K. & James T. Berryman Award For Editorial Cartoons), the Washington Post‘s Kevin Schaul, Zoeann Murphy, Samuel Granados, Kay Downs, Emily Chow and Griff White (Best Use of Technology in Journalism Award), The Houston Chronicle (The “Feddie” Award For Reporting on Federal Rules and Local Impact), Jay Newton-Small (Everett McKinley Dirksen Award For Distinguished Reporting of Congress) and once more the Washington Post (Innovation in Journalism Award).

#BYE

We’ll miss you, Bao Bao!