October 20, 2025 – October 26, 2025
Doing
Cherry Blossom Brass Band | Monday, October 20 – 7:30pm | Free | Gonzaga’s Aloysius Church – 19 I St NW, Washington DC 20001
Doechii – Live From The Swamp Tour | Tuesday, October 21 – 8:30pm | $136-$420 | The Anthem – 901 Wharf St SW, Washington, DC 20024, US
The Belle Époque Life in Paris: Olga Paley and Paul of Russia and their Avant-Garde Daughter, Princess Natalie Paley | Tuesday, October 21 – 5:30pm -8:00pm | $22 | 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20008
Pumpkinpalootza | Wednesday, October 22 – 4:00pm | Free | Alethia Tanner Park – 227 Harry Thomas Way NE, Washington, DC 20002
Exploring Portrait Mode: The Divine Selfie | Wednesday, October 22 – 5:00pm-7:00pm | Free | Japan Information & Culture Center, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution – 800 G St NW Washington, DC 20001
Quilt 101 | Thursday, October 23 – 6:00pm-7:00pm | Free | Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library – 5625 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015 – Meeting Room 1
CANCELLED (due to gov shut down) Night of the Living Zoo | Friday, October 24 – 7:00pm-11:00pm | $80 | National Zoo – 3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
The Addams Family @Yards Park | Friday, October 24 – 7:00pm-9:00pm | Free | The Yards Park – 355 Water Street Southeast Washington, DC 20003
Halloween Margarita Boo Cruise on the Potomac | Saturday, October 25 – 6:30pm | $35 | Washington Harbor – Georgetown 3050 K Street, NW Washington, DC
DC Brewers’ Guild Real-ly LocAle Invitational | Saturday, October 25 – 1:00pm -5:00pm | $40 | The Bridge District – 965 Riverfront St #150, West Sacramento, CA 95691
A Wizarding Halloween Cookie Decorating Class w/ Cake-wich Craft | Sunday, October 26 – 3:00pm-5:00pm | $65.24 | Shop Made in DC – 1304 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest Washington, DC 20007
Fall Plant Swap | Sunday, October 26 – 1:00am-2:30pm | $15 | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library – 901 G St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Reading
Megha Majumdar | A Guardian and a Thief: Oprah’s Book Club | October 14, 2025 | Literary Fiction | Knopf
Marie Lu | Red City | October 14, 2025 | Fantasy | Tor Books
Brandon Taylor | Minor Black Figures | October 14, 2025 | Urban Fiction | Riverhead Books
Jon Levy | We Survived the Night | October 14, 2025 | Biography, Autobiography | Harper Business
Quan Barry | The Unveiling | October 14, 2025 | Horror Fiction, Psychological Fiction | Grove Press
Susan Orlean – Joyride – with Marlon Winik | Monday, October 20 – 7:00pm | Politics and Prose – 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Erin Somers – The Ten Year Affair | Friday, October 24 – 7:00pm-8:00pm | Solid State Books600 H Street NortheastWashington, DC, 20002
Book Launch – No More Worlds to Conquer by Brian Gilmore | Friday, October 24 – 6:30pm-8:30pm | Sonkofa Video, Book & Cafe, 2714 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001
Lauren Woods Book Launch | Wednesday, October 22 -7:00pm – 8:00pm | Kramers – 1517 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC
Eating
Proper Bar | Dinner – American Bistro Dinning | $10-40 | 300 K Street NW DC 20001
The Liberty Tavern | Brunch, Lunch, Dinner – Modern American Cuisine | $15-25| 3195 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201
Bresca | Dinner – Contemporary Parisian Bistro | $15-100 | 1906 14TH ST NW, Washington, DC 20009
Amparo Fondita Honors Día de los Muertos – Special Tasting Menu – October 27 – November 9 | $65 per person: Amparo Fondita will celebrate Día de los Muertos with a limited-time, three-course tasting menu highlighting traditional holiday dishes from Yucatán, Central Mexico, and Oaxaca. The restaurant will also have an ofrenda (altar) with marigolds and offerings to honor loved ones who have passed. Guests are encouraged to bring photos of their departed relatives to place on the ofrenda.
Menu:
- Amuse: Corn tamal with caviar
- First Course: Xec Mayan Salad – a tart mix of jicama, cucumbers, and seasonal fruit (persimmons and apples) marinated in sour orange and dried chiles
- Main Course: Mukbil Pato – banana leaf–steamed blue corn tamal filled with duck carnitas and topped with Yucatecan salsa
- Dessert: Butin de Pan de Muerto
The featured cocktail, La Llorona, is a black margarita made with sotol, mezcal, huitlacoche, lime, chile de árbol, and activated charcoal.
Watching
Hedda | October 22, 2025 | Drama, Romance | Prime Video
The Monster of Florence | October 22, 2025 | Thriller, Crime | Netflix
Allen Iv3rson | October 23, 2025 | Documentary | Prime Video
Blue Moon | October 24, 2025 | Documentary | In Theaters
Regretting You | October 24, 2025| Drama, Romance | In Theaters
This weekend I had the pleasure of watching some films at the Middleburg Film Festival and I can’t believe I waited this long!! I went to Foxcroft Boarding school in Middleburg so I am very familiar with the area. I also am a big Sheila Johnson fan and she does everything with style and grace so I knew it would be a magically curated experience. I am definitely going to find a place to stay next year so I don’t have to drive back and forth each day but I did get to enjoy some really great films (and created a list of ones I want to watch next)
Movies I Enjoyed:
Christy (release in U.S. theaters on November 7, 2025)
Hamnet (Chloe Zhao got the 2025 Visionary Director Award) – Limited release on November 27
Left-Handed Girl (released in select theaters on November 14, 2025, and on Netflix on November 28, 2025)
A Private Life (Release date – January 16, 2026)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (in theaters on November 26, and will be released by Netflix on December 12, 2025)
Movies On My To See List:
- After The Hunt
- All That’s Left Of You
- Ask E. Jean
- Ballad of a Small Player
- Blue Moon (which was already on my list above lol)
- Bugonia
- Diana Warren: Relentless
- Eternity
- Good Fortune
- Hedda (which was already on my list above as well lol)
- If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- Rental Family (Met the director Hikari and she is a delight!! sad I had to work during her screening)
This is just a little snippet of my experience but I will do a longer dedicated about the Middleburg Film Festival and why we should all be attending!!
