Stuck in the District over Easter break? Don’t worry: there’s plenty of egg-cellent things to do in our fair city that will put the hip back in your hippity-hop!

Friday, April 22

10:00am – 12:00pm: Earth Day Party for the Planet. Visit the National Zoo for a day of recycling and frolicking with the animals! Activities will take place at the “In Your Back Yard” exhibit (a breath of fresh air from the NIMBY-ness of the neighbors). Eco-friendly crafts galore! 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008. Price: Free!

6:45pm & 9:00pm: Washington Film Institute’s Green Screen Kickoff Event. Feel like your bleeding-heart has become a bit atrophied this spring? These films will reignite your sense of righteous indignation over the state of our planet. See The Fourth Revolution at 6:45pm and The Nuclear Comeback at 9:00pm. Goethe-Institute, 812 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001. Tickets: $10.

10:00am – 1:00pm: Georgetown Family Fair at the Dumbarton House. Hoya Snaxa has closed its doors to the sweet tooth’s of Georgetown students, but you can still satisfy your cravings for ye olde desserts at the Georgetown Family Fair. Homemade sundaes and chocolate houses abound! 2715 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20007. Price: $10.

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If you’re into handcuffs…

If you and your significant other are particularly secure in your love for each other, or you’re hoping to get dumped, spend Valentine’s evening at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment’s “Crimes of Passion” exhibit. For $30.00, you and your loved one can be bound together and led through the museum’s collection of “crimes of passion” exhibit boards. Warning: NOT recommended for first dates.

Whoopie pie?

Tonight, an event that is especially dear to my Mainer heart: Zola Wine & Kitchen is holding a Whoopie Pie Eating Contest. The first-place winner will wow their Valentine with a hard-won couple’s cooking class and a bottle of wine. From 5 PM to 8 PM Friday.

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Art, wine, more wine

The Phillips Collection in Dupont is hosting “Phillips after 5” the first Thursday of every month from 5:00 to 8:30. Visitors can sip on wine while listening to lectures about the exhibits and soaking up the artsy vibe from the live jazz band. This week the features “Intersections” by Regi Müller, a modern artist who seeks to find the balance between the chaotic and ordered world and “Forces of Nature,” a new sculpture by Jae Ko that delicately bridges the space between the two galleries.

Honor By August

Next Friday, February 11, 2011, Georgetown Grad Michael Pearsall (COL ’06) and his band Honor by August will be performing at Iota Club & Café in Arlington. The group’s success has soared since they got their start in 2005, with tours all over the nation and performances with top artists including Bon Jovi, Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon. Beginning in February, they are returning back to where they got their start, performing exclusively in the D.C. and Northern Virginia area.

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And to finals we say “Feh!”

This weekend, the annual Washington Jewish Film Festival is ending. Bring your friends, sneak some gelt, and blow off some finals-induced steam at a Sunday
matinee of The Bagel: An Immigrant’s Story at 2:00 p.m.

Shop ’til you drop
Have finals got you down? Is the thought of holiday shopping is making you dizzy? At the National Portrait Gallery’s Downtown Holiday market you can both relieve some of your finals stress and knock some gifts off your list. The market’s 180+ venders, featuring a variety of artisanal crafts, and live music are sure to make a trip a solid day out.

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Before finals scrooge you over

Get your Christmas on with a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past. From now until January 2, Ford’s Theater is putting on a production of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Head on over before your finals try to put a damper on your holiday spirit!

Beat that bludger

Disappointed that Georgetown doesn’t have a quidditch team? Instead of getting your robes all in a bunch, grab your broom and fly to the National Mall (7th Street between Madison Avenue and Jefferson Avenue) this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to catch your very own golden snitch.

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The Deathly wait is almost over!

Disapparate away from 37th and O Street for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you don’t want to go to tonight’s midnight showing, grab your butter beer (err … buttered popcorn) and head to one of the many other screenings this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

A last chance to harvest

Take Friday afternoon off to enjoy the fall weather down at the Plaza Farm Market at the Woodrow Wilson Center, where free samples are accompanied with some classic farm-stand entertainment. Capital Harvest on the Plaza, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., closes for the season after this week.

Picture-perfect memories

If you’re in the mood for an intellectual trip, visit the Phillips Collection to view “TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art.” The exhibit, which collected 130 photographs that span 100 years of photographic art, may make you think twice about the artistic merit of those snapshots you took at the Tombs last weekend.

Brush up on your vocab

Art and language intersect at Thomas Müller’s “Neither Here nor There,” currently on display at the Project 4 gallery. Check out the exhibit, which closes on November 27, to determine if Müller’s word sculptures are cromulent works of art or just embiggened ceramic letters.

Project 4 is located at 1353 U Street NW and is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Skate into wintertime

Although winter means the earlier nights and the chillier winds, there is one thing that is sure to warm you up while you wait for Thanksgiving break: Ice skating.

The National Gallery of Art’s ice-skating rink opens this Saturday, November 13. Rink officials will be on hand with hot chocolate comfort you during this weekend’s brutal 60-degree weather. A student ticket and a pair of rented ice skates costs $9.

The rink closes at 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 10 p.m. on weekends.

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We’re back after a crazy Halloween weekend with events that veer towards the artsy:

Let your Hair down

Hair, which opened last week at the Kennedy Center, has multiple performances through the weekend. The musical classic, which focuses on culture, sex—and of course—long hippie locks during the Summer of Love, is a show worth the trek.

In honor of the musical’s 1968 opening, second-tier seats are on sale via Brightest Young Things for $19.68. (The tickets normally cost more than $65.) To take advantage of the sale, check out BYT or order through this link.

First Friday

This Friday is the first of November, which means that Dupont Circle art galleries stay open until 8 p.m. Every First Friday features a surprise addition, ranging from wine tasting to free food samples, so gear up for the weekend with a relaxing dinner and gallery tour on Friday.

A rocked out garage sale

Buy or sell old clothes at a punk-themed flea market at St. Stephen’s Church, which is located at 1525 Newton Street NW. While you peruse the market’s selections, you’ll also be able to enjoy live performances by Imperial China, True Womanhoos, and Tereu Tereu.

The flea market opens this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and requests a $3 donation.

Fotoweek beyond 36th Street

Fotoweek is not just a Georgetown Art Aficionados event—it’s happening all over the District.

Step off campus this Saturday and see how photographers captured “what it’s like to be young in D.C.” And because the gallery is located just down the road at 3333 M Street, there’s not excuse to skip the event!

This weekend there’s a lot happening on the performing-arts front, from Shakespearean classics and a reimagined Sabrina Fair to Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame. (His hair counts as performance art, right?)

Friends, Romans, Countrywomen

Never read the play? Maybe Mean Girls can jog your memory.

An all-female cast takes on Ancient Rome in a gender-driven spin of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Taffety Punk Theatre Company puts on a fierce interpretation of the tale of Rome’s most famous emperor, with actresses clad in all-black street clothes working amidst sparse décor, set to electro-punk background tunes.

Julius Caesar, which closes this weekend, is performed Wednesday through Saturday. $10.

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This weekend it’s crucial to take advantage of what’s going on outside of Georgetown. Partially because the weather is about to cool down, but mostly because some of the best annual events and festivals are about to wrap up.

Would you care for more bacon to go with your … bacon?

Speaking of wrap, we could really go for some bacon-wrapped pork and cornbread. (Sort of.) To celebrate National Bacon Week, Restaurant 3 is offering bacon-spruced dishes [PDF].

Ever try bacon cheddar soup, bacon fritters, bacon martinis, bacon waffles, or maple bacon ice cream? If not, skip out on Leo’s sub-par bacon slabs this weekend and celebrate the second annual glorification of America’s favorite greasy side dish in style.

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