Nelson Sisters celebrate the Younger One.

We kicked off the celebration by being with youngsters - an auditorium full of them to be exact!

The usher escorted us to the front row, on the aisle. The performers were dancing on the stage while playing ukuleles and guitars as a pre-show when we arrived.

Following this toe-tappin' and knee-slappin' time, the production of THE HUNDRED DRESSES

(at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts and performed my the Chicgo Children's Theatre ensemble) was underway. If you read my New Year's blog, you will know I have a special connection to this children's book story written by Eleanor Estes in 1944.

It was just so good.  Diann humored my birthday wish to go to a children's play performance

with no rolled eyeballs.  That's the mark of a truly supportive sister to go to a play with only kids in the audience when we came with no kids ourselves. She's a keeper, that's for certain!

Following the 10:00 AM show, we walked to a nearby French restaurant for lunch: BISTRO ZINC.

The food was just delicious and the wait staff very attentive.

And look what the end of the meal included!

A flaky cherry tart! Ooh la la!!

Seeing as we are the sisters who exchange themed gifts, I couldn't wait for the next part

coming up: the "reveal" of theme 2017. We headed out to the City Nest from here.

Oui!! It's the theme of P E A C E and also my Word of the Year.

Wrapped in cheery turquoise and yellow papers with accents of grey and white, it was perfect

for banishing the blah of this winter season grayness.

Did you notice all the cute tags on the gifts? Yep, she made them!

Each gift had a special connection to the word peace. A set of three blog-to-book(s) featuring the adventures of the Nelson Sisters was the cherry on top this birthday treat.

Am I not one lucky mademoiselle to have her for my soeur?

The National Gallery of Art last November.

Above:  West Building

What a museum and what a collection housed in the National Gallery of Art!  In both the West

Building (opened in 1941 and home to works by the old masters such as Botticelli, Carpaccio, 

Durer, and da Vinci; also home to impressionists such as Monet, Manet and Morisot) and the East Building (opened in 1978/reopened in 2016 and home to works by modern and contemporary artists such as Rothko, Calder and Picasso) this place inspires!

Below: East Building

Certainly, I could go on and on and on about the collection.  But not this time.  I'm choosing to highlight a special exhibit I saw - and was blown away by in the West Building. It was the 

work done by Stuart Davis. Born in Philadelphia in 1892, he began his formal art training in 

NYC at the Robert Henri School of Art at around 17 years of age. He was a painter.

His subject inspirations were common objects such as salt shakers, kitchen appliances, spark plugs and cigarette packages.

Cubism played a huge part in his works.

Can you see the salt shaker here?

How about th kitchen mixer?  It's the white form towards the left side.

Something for the mouth?

But I liked his Parisian Street scenes the most.

His colors.  His colors.  His colors.

It was also interesting to see how he reworked his ideas.

Leaving this gallery made me feel like a champion of this artist! And we have something in common to boot --- I like to rework ideas and projects, too.

Note:  this exhibit closes March 5, 2017.