The Greatest Day EVAR.

Momma Sturke and I went on an adventure to Hillwood Estate last week and it was AMAAAAAY-ZIIIIING (in my best Oprah voice).

We went because it is Orchid Month and they're currently offering greenhouse tours, which is my idea of a DANG good time!

For those of you who don't know, Hillwood Estate is a ginormous property in Washington DC, owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post (heir to the Post cereal fortune). On the estate is a gorgeous greenhouse, gardens, and the main house, which features a ridiculous amount of bling and gorgeous-over-the-top-ness. The estate has been turned into a museum, which showcases her 15,000 piece collection.

Basically, homegirl was rich and she bought a lot of stuff. It is awesome stuff though.

I decided I want to own a greenhouse before I own an actual house. The one at Hillwood had five different rooms all filled with orchids!!! It makes my collection of 14 look pitiful.

Some gorgeous cymbidums!

Also fell in love with this giant elephant ear plant they had!

And these gorgeous Staghorn Ferns! They're 15 years old and were suspended from a beam. They are the coolest looking plants!

Having established a healthy amount of jealousy in our systems, we decided we were ready for what the mansion had to offer.

Besides, it looks pretty modest from the outside...

But DANG, I almost had the wind knocked out of me upon entering! A GIANT quartz chandelier hanging in the foyer and the rooms! Every room was more impressive than the last. 

Marge (I can call her that, right?) was a big collector of Russian art - Faberge eggs all over the place!

And the famous Catherine The Great Easter Egg

In the French Drawing Room admiring a Roentgen desk (every desk should have mother of pearl accents, non?) and a chair that Marie Antoinette once owned.

Now THIS is a dining room! Homegirl had a safe in the kitchen just to house all of the silver and enough sets of gorgeous china to make Williams Sonoma look like the clearance section of a dollar store.

Our absolute favorite! The Breakfast Room!

I also loved the kitchen - it had giant windows on the other side and loads of workspace. Totes the type of kitchen you have when you have people cooking for you, not people you're cooking for. :|

View of one of the gardens from the guest bedroom. Dang.

And the Adam Bedroom - named after the Adams Brothers, who made this kind of decorating scheme popular - the idea of matching everything. The entire room was this cream color and blue.

And finally, an unfinished portrait of Marge herself. I'd say "get it girl," but the smirk on her face makes me think that she already knows she's gotten it. She certainly doesn't need my approval!

Whatevs Marge, I've recently commissioned my first portrait. First in a series of 365, so that the public for ages and ages to come may admire my ability to spend money. 

Look out for my 365-days of Joj calendar - great for holiday gift giving!

Anyways, back to reality...

To avoid the nightmare that is rush hour traffic, we stopped by the Kennedy Center and checked out their Nordic Cool exhibit.

An awesome giant boat made out of hanging shirts!

And the coolest lamp I've ever seen: HORSE LAMP - part life-sized horse sculpture, part lamp.

Be on the lookout for HORSE LAMP when touring my future estate.

They even had a light show going on outside to mimic the Northern Lights.

So cool that it's Nordic Coooool. Check it out!