Bethesda Magazine: March-April 2014 by MoCo360

The Indomitable Man | Extraordinary Teens | Neighborhood Home Sales Bethesda Magazine • BethesdaMagazine.com • March/April 2014

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contents

march/april 2014

volume 11 issue 2

march/april 2014

volume 11 issue 2

FEATURES

106 Top Teens Meet the winners of our fifth annual Extraordinary Teen Awards—from a young woman who has been tapped to play basketball at Harvard to a young man who invented a device to help premature babies breathe. By Archana Pyati and Amy Reinink

120 The Indomitable Spirit of Adam Keys

72 We Don’t Know How She Does It Missy Lesmes manages to stay fit, keep a beautiful house, raise four children—all of whom attend separate schools—travel regularly for her job as a partner in a law firm, host neighborhood parties, maintain a coterie of good friends, and help out in the community. Is there anything this Chevy Chase woman doesn’t do? By Julie Rasicot

86 A Life on Ice Single mom Niki Ugel lives with her parents in Bethesda and spends much of her time shuttling her four kids—who include elite ice dancers—to and from their practices and competitions. It isn’t the life she imagined. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. By Cindy Rich

98 The Choices Moms Make All mothers make choices, and almost all wonder if those choices were right. We talk with 10 area women about juggling motherhood in the modern world. By Jen Chaney

COVER: Missy Lesmes photo by Erick Gibson. Makeup by Ewin Gomez and hair by Peggy Ioakim from Karma Beauty Lounge in Washington, D.C.; photo illustration by Amanda Smallwood

132 The New ‘New’ Downtowns The trend toward mixed-use development—with housing combined with restaurants and shops—continues with Crown in Gaithersburg and Pike & Rose in Rockville. By David Elfin

140 Is This the Next Bill Gates? Timothy Hwang was already making a name for himself as a student at Wootton High School. Now, the 22-year-old is inviting comparisons to the titans of tech with a smart new startup that’s attracting major-league investors. By Louis Peck

152 Mad Hot Ballroom The students in Einstein High School’s Latin dance club had a tradition to uphold as they entered the county’s annual Latin Dance Competition. But they also had something to prove to themselves and their families. By Archana Pyati

162 Running into Tragedy The writer was looking to set the record for completing consecutive Boston Marathons—but terrorists had other plans. By Ben Beach

170 Bethesda Interview Chevy Chase resident Tom Ridge—the former governor of Pennsylvania and the nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security—talks about the threat of terrorism vs. individual privacy concerns, and tells how he would reinvigorate the Republican Party. By Tom Shroder

amy moore

COVER

The young soldier from Pennsylvania lost a lot to the war: three limbs, four buddies and one marriage. But during his several years at Walter Reed, he has had two overriding factors in his favor: a family that has stood staunchly by his side, and a will that remains unbroken. By Kathleen Wheaton

12 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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F I N E P RO P E RT I E S I N T E R N A T I O N A L

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contents 253 Health 194

256 Follow the Leader Bethesda hairstylist Maggie Sprague shares the key to having long, golden locks like hers. By Leah Ariniello

258 The Survivors Club Cancer: It’s a word that strikes terror in most people. Five Bethesda-area residents tell how they survived it—and how it ultimately inspired them. By Rita Rubin

266 Straight Talk Can those hair products that smooth out women’s wavy locks be doing damage to them and their stylists? That’s what some safety groups fear. By Bara Vaida

194 House

Flotation tanks are being touted as the answer to everything from stress to fibromyalgia. A local writer tries one out.

301

Appropriations

By Maria Leonard Olsen

301 DINE

Designers are hosting a garden party— with florals turning up on everything from pillows to wallpaper.

278 Health & Fitness

301 Dining Review

By Carolyn Weber

Seminars, running events and support groups.

196 Reimagining

Calling all carnivores: Urban Butcher brings a new destination dining spot to Silver Spring.

Compiled by Cindy Murphy-Tofig

By Carole Sugarman

Calendar

the Rambler

304 Table Talk

For an Italian architect and her military doctor-husband, a 1940s Bethesda ranch house just needed a modern framework and some TLC.

Former Washington Redskins running back John Riggins talks about his cooking show, Riggo on the Range; an unusual bakery opens in Cabin John; and restaurant openings and closings in the area.

By Nigel F. Maynard

202 Designed to Work Three homeowners enlist help in creating their home offices—and get spaces that are clearly up to any task.

By Carole Sugarman

By Charlotte Safavi

L’Academie de Cuisine’s chef tells how to dress for success with the perfect vinaigrette.

306 Cooking Class

214 By the Numbers A look at home sales by neighborhood over the last five years.

274

By Brian Patterson

308 Dining Guide Write-ups on more than 200 restaurants.

stacy zarin-goldberg (dessert)

191 hOME

274 Let Your Troubles Float Away

14 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Ranked in the

TOP 100 NATIONWIDE

Readers’ Pick

Best Realtor

Out of 1.1 Million Realtors® By THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Steve Wydler ASSOCIATE BROKER

Chocolate Planned Weeks Ahead BA-Dartmouth, JD-Vanderbilt Spent Way Too Much Hopeless Romantic

2012

Hans Wydler ASSOCIATE BROKER

Roses Last Minute Reservation BA-Yale, MBA-Harvard Spent Way Too Little Hopeless

When it comes to Real Estate, these brothers stand together. Thinking about changing homes? Consider leveraging the Wydler Brothers’ expertise and unparalleled knowledge of our local real estate market. With over $700 million in sales, Steve and Hans lead one of the highest producing real estate teams in the DC metro area. Their savvy clientele include an array of Washington’s top leaders in law, business, politics, education and medicine. For your next move, Join the Family!

Maryland Office 301.986.6405 Virginia Office 703.873.5020 DC Office 202.600.2727 General 301.215.6444 x6405

www.WydlerBrothers.com

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contents Departments 20 To Our Readers 22 Contributors 28 Letters 30 Hometown A Chevy Chase doctor sets out to find the one woman who most influenced his childhood in Bethesda: the family housekeeper. By Steve Roberts

322

36 Suburban•ology Women of a certain age experience the beauty of being buoyant. By April Witt

40 My Stuff A couple of brew-it-yourselfers tell how they create their prize-winning beers at their Rockville home. By Michael-Ann Henry

A 17-year-old from Bethesda is making a name for himself in electronic dance music; Bethesda’s Cokie Roberts talks about her new book for kids, and more. By Maura Mahoney

50 Story of My Life She lost her child before she could even get to know him—but he left her with an important legacy. By Rebecca Glicksberg Skipper

52 Person of Interest Bethesda’s Charlie Barnett knows the score—in fact, he wrote it. The prizewinning composer talks about his work. By Virginia Myers

54 Work Related Bill Carey works at The Music Center at Strathmore by day, and at the hockey arena by night. As told to Rachel Chism

344 56 Re•Invention A Chevy Chase sculptor applies the principles of physics to his award-winning art. By Amy Reinink

322 Shop Talk Fashion is all about cuff love this season. Plus: A B-CC grad comes up with the Yes Man watch; and shop openings and closings in the Bethesda area. By Cynthia Hacinli

336 To-Do List Lily Tomlin brings her own laugh-in to Strathmore; Olympia Dukakis performs her one-woman show; and more happenings in March and April. By Cindy Murphy-Tofig

342 What Bethesda’s Reading Best-selling books in the area vs. those nationwide.

344 Driving Range There are breathtaking views, friendly folks and toe-tappingly good mountain music—all on Virginia’s Crooked Road music trail. By Virginia Myers

351 Once Upon a Time Columnist Drew Pearson was dishing dirt not only as a muckraking journalist—but also as a farmer in Potomac. By Mark Walston

352 Domestic Disturbances Our intrepid columnist sets out on the trail of that peculiar creature known as the Bethesdan. By Sarah Pekkanen

Special Advertising Sections 59 Attorney Profiles

177 Realtor Profiles

208 Before and After: Outdoor Living

235 Long & Foster Ad Section

281 Ask the Medical Experts

326 Summer Camp Chart & Ad Section

Tom Jones (Fiddler); liz lynch (work related)

42 People Watcher

16 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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LUXURY CONDOS IN HEART OF BETHESDA AT THE CORNER OF BETHESDA AND WOODMONT AVENUES

TheDarcy.com

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Sales by PN Hoffman Realty

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BethesdaMagazine.com

digital Edition

Blogs

Subscribers get free access to the digital edition at www.bethesdamagazine.com/digital. Included in this issue:

Get news and updates on local dining and on Montgomery County politics in the Table Talk and MoCo Politics blogs.

Props to These Pupils

what’s online

Archives Explore past issues and stories using our searchable database.

MAY 1, 2014 BETHESDA BLUES & JAZZ SUPPER CLUB Go to our website to buy your tickets to the hottest party in town!

B*Seen See additional photos from this year’s Top Teen winners, featured on page 106.

Step Up Find bonus snapshots from “Mad Hot Ballroom,” our feature about the county’s annual Latin Dance Competition, which appears on page 152 of the magazine.

Drumroll, Please! In April, we’ll be revamping our website and bringing you our new daily news service, Bethesda Beat. On BethesdaMagazine.com, you’ll be able to access additional features and exclusive content that adapts to your device, whether it’s a tablet, smartphone or computer.

Share photos from community events. Go to calendar@ bethesdamagazine.com to submit pictures for our gallery page.

enter to win our

Giveaways

Social Media Find us on Facebook and Twitter to learn about community news, special offers and contests. Follow us on Instagram to get the scoop on happenings in the Bethesda area at instagram.com/ bethesdamag. See what Bethesda Magazine is pinning at pinterest.com/ bethesdamag.

Newsletters While exploring the new site, check out Bethesda Beat, which will feature everything you need to know—from local news to the latest restaurant openings to an informed look at local politics to everything in between.

www.bethesdamagazine.com

Sign up to receive emails from our daily news service, Bethesda Beat, and to receive special offers from local businesses. Gmail users: Add Bethesda Magazine as a contact to ensure you receive our emails.

March

Harness your inner Julia Child. Starting March 1, enter to win a Le Creuset cookware package.

Enter giveaways online at: www.bethesdamagazine.com/ giveaway April

Mark April 1 on your calendar. That’s when you can enter to win a VIP table at The Fillmore Silver Spring or a suite at Warner Theatre.

michael ventura (teen photo)

exclusives

Celebrate with us!

18 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Great minds invest alike. C H E V Y C H A S E T RU S T WELCOMES AMY RASKIN

“As AllianceBernstein’s Director of Thematic Research, head of US & Global Growth Equity Research and Chief Investment Officer of AllianceBernstein Venture Capital Fund, Amy Raskin has been recognized as a leading thinker on global macroeconomic trends. That’s why all of us at Chevy Chase Trust are excited to welcome her as our new Chief Investment Officer. Our approach—and our reputation—have been built on the concept of customized thematic investing. So a like-minded professional will make a great thing even better.” – Peter Welber, President & CEO

And now, you can have one of the industry’s brightest minds—and a dozen of her peers—thinking about your portfolio. To learn more visit ChevyChaseTrust.com or call Stacy Murchison at 240.497.5008.

INV E ST M E N T MA N AGEMEN T

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F I N A N C I A L & E STATE PLAN N I N G

F I DUCI ARY & TRUST

FAM I LY W E ALTH S ERVIC ES

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to our

readers

The Mother Load My mother, Betty Jane Hull, was born

in 1925—which by my reckoning was about 50 years too early. Like most women of her generation, she was a stay-at-home mom, and like many, she chafed at the limitations. She was smart and college educated, but there were few substantive part-time jobs back then. When I was in high school, she finally went back to college to get her master’s degree and became a technical librarian at a robotics company. It was a good job, but it was hardly the kind of opportunity she could have had if she were in the workforce today. As a kid, I loved having my mother at home. One of my favorite childhood memories is of her waiting for me and my brother Josh to get home from school during the 1965 World Series. Back then, World Series games were still played during the day, which meant we would miss the first few innings while we were in school. When I arrived home, my mother, who was not a baseball fan, was sitting at the kitchen table with a yellow notepad, watching the game and writing down each play so that we wouldn’t miss a thing. My brother and I recently spoke about our childhood, which we both described with the same word: “ideal.” That was, we agreed, largely due to our mother. I wonder from time to time how different my mother’s life (and my childhood) would have been if she had had the opportunities that today’s women have. She certainly might have felt more fulfilled if she had had a professional career, but I have no doubt that she would have felt conflicted (and stressed) with three boys at home. In this issue of Bethesda Magazine, we write about the difficult choices that many mothers face: Should I work or stay at home? If I work, should I work part time or full time? In our stories, we look at the nonstop lives of two mothers—one single, one married—who are attempting to do

it all. We also hear from young mothers on why they’ve made the choices they’ve made.

In April, we will relaunch BethesdaMagazine.com and introduce a new daily feature, Bethesda Beat. The new site will be coded in HTML5, which means it will conform to the size of the device on which it’s viewed. Each month, more than 60,000 people visit our website, and nearly a third of them use mobile devices. With the new site, you won’t have to strain your eyes if you’re using an iPhone or iPad. Bethesda Beat will be a daily online service providing a quick read on local news, events and things to do. Each weekday morning, Bethesda Beat Editor Kris Coronado will pull together the news and happenings that matter most to local residents. She and Web Producer Lindsay Lithgow will then post Bethesda Beat at 11:30 a.m. on BethesdaMagazine.com. At the same time, an email will be sent to subscribers with that day’s headlines and links to the stories. For nearly 10 years, Bethesda Magazine has provided trusted, in-depth coverage of Montgomery County. Now, Bethesda Beat will be the trusted source for daily updates on important (and entertaining) local news. To sign up for the daily Bethesda Beat email notification, go to BethesdaMagazine.com. I hope you enjoy this issue of Bethesda Magazine—as well as our new website with Bethesda Beat. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please email me at steve.hull@bethesdamagazine.com.

Steve Hull Editor-in-chief and publisher

20 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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LD YE SO BU D Un

Georgetown, DC $1,337,500 Fabulous, 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath townhome with 2-car garage in Courts of Foxhall! Kathy Byars 240.372.9708 www.KathyByars.com

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Washington, DC | Maryland 202.552.5600 www.McEnearney.com

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Chevy Chase, MD Incredible 7,000-SF residence in the Hamlet neighborhood on almost an acre. 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. Allison Brigati & Kelly Garrett 240.475.3384 www.BrigatiGarrett.com

Bethesda, MD $1,270,000 6-bedroom, 4.5-bath Farmhouse. Great space, quality finishes in a superb location. Walk to Metro. Kathy Byars 240.372.9708 www.KathyByars.com

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Spring Valley, DC $1,499,000 Spectacular 1923 Craftsman home reborn in 2013 renovation. High-end finishes and fabulous open spaces. Craley Davis 202.355.3546 www.CraleyDavis.com

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contributors

Elegant Eco-Chic Living

Jen Chaney

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LIZ LYNCH D.C. photographer Liz Lynch chronicles a day in the very busy life of Missy Lesmes for our story “We Don’t Know How She Does It.” Like Lesmes, Lynch routinely juggles a lot. For this issue alone, she photographed former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, sculptor Barton Rubenstein and Strathmore’s Bill Carey. Lynch was raised in Northern Virginia and earned a history degree at George Mason University, where she discovered a passion for photography. “It was in the darkroom that I really fell in love,” Lynch says. “Watching my images appear in the developer bath was magical for me.” Lynch worked at National Journal magazine for 13 years. She’s currently a contributing photographer for National Journal, photo editor of The Almanac of American Politics and social chair for the Women Photojournalists of Washington.

CHARLOTTE SAFAVI London-born and Oxford University-educated, Charlotte Safavi frequently draws upon her Persian heritage in her essays and stories, which have appeared in publications ranging from The Washington Post Magazine, The (U.K.) Sunday Times Travel Magazine and The Economist to the 2012 anthology Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women. For this issue of Bethesda Magazine, however, Safavi focuses on another interest: design. She has worked as a writer and a stylist for a number of design publications, including House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, Renovation Style, This Old House, Romantic Homes, Cottage Style, Small Room Decorating and more. Her article on home offices in this issue comes direct from her own home office in Alexandria, Va.

courtesy photos

Ji ll Schwartz

Jen Chaney talks to several Montgomery County mothers in this issue about their ongoing attempts to achieve work-life balance, a struggle she knows well. As a full-time freelance writer and the mother of a 7-year-old, Chaney spends most days filing stories while evenings are spent making sure her Farmland Elementary School first-grader files his journal-writing assignments. A graduate of The College of William & Mary, Walter Johnson High School and Farmland Elementary, Chaney was a Washington Post staffer for 12½ years and wrote the Celebritology blog. These days, the North Bethesda resident primarily writes about film, television and books for the Post, New York Magazine’s Vulture, Esquire, Salon and other outlets. She can be heard on WTOP Friday mornings, praising or panning the latest movies.

22 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Only the best for the ones who warm your heart.

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Leah Ariniello, Lisa Braun-Kenigsberg, Roger Catlin, Jen Chaney, Stacey Colino, Joshua Cooley, David Elfin, David Frey, Cynthia Hacinli, Christine MacDonald, Maura Mahoney, Nevin Martell, Nigel F. Maynard, Gabriele McCormick, Virginia Myers, Maria Leonard Olsen, Brian Patterson, Louis Peck, Sarah Pekkanen, Archana Pyati, Amy Reinink, Steve Roberts, Rita Rubin, Charlotte Safavi, Bara Vaida, Mark Walston, Karen A. Watkins, Carolyn Weber, Kathleen Wheaton, April Witt Photographers & Illustrators

Erick Gibson, Lisa Helfert, Claudine Hellmuth, Paul Hostetler, Morgan Howarth, Alice Kresse, Liz Lynch, Laura-Chase McGehee, Amy Moore, Mike Olliver, Barbara L. Salisbury, Hilary Schwab, Michael Ventura, Richard Woods, Stacy ZarinGoldberg Bethesda Magazine is published six times a year by Kohanza Media Ventures, LLC. ÂŠ 2009 Letters to the Editor: Please send letters (with your name and the town you live in) to letters@bethesda magazine.com. Story ideas: Please send ideas for stories to editorial @bethesdamagazine.com.

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24 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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John Pearson Subscription price: $19.95 To subscribe: Fill out the card between pages 304 and 305 or go to www.BethesdaMagazine.com. For customer service: Call 301-718-7787, ext. 205, or send an email to customerservice@bethesdamagazine.com.

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For advertising information: Call 301-718-7787, ext. 220; send an email to advertising@ bethesdamagazine.com; or go to www.BethesdaMagazine.com. For information on events and reprints: Call 301-718-7787, ext. 207; or send an email to marketing@ bethesdamagazine.com. Bethesda Magazine 7768 Woodmont Ave., #204 Bethesda, MD 20814 Phone: 301-718-7787 Fax: 301-718-1875 www.BethesdaMagazine.com

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letters

The “discontent” article was one of the best articles I’ve read in years. It captured so many things in the community perfectly. One of the few times I can remember feeling like I learned something valuable (about life and myself) from such a short read. Great, great piece. Charles F. Mitchell Rockville

Term Limits

Happiness Is…

“We’re Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, So Why Aren’t We Happy?” your November/ December 2013 cover asked. I wish the article had spent more time pointing the way to a more positive future for all these allegedly unhappy folks among us. Albert Schweitzer got it right in 1935, when he told a group of students: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing

I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” So for those searching for a path to greater happiness, I suggest logging onto www. montgomeryserves.org, where you will find scores of opportunities to serve. Bruce Adams Bethesda Director, Office of Community Partnershops, Montgomery County

I am the subject of “Coming to Terms” (January/February 2014), and I wanted to make an important clarification. My husband and I decided to terminate our pregnancies because of a conglomerate of symptoms that would either result in our children being stillborn or, if they survived birth, the best prognosis was a 2-month-old developmental quality of life. The article states that we terminated because of hydrocephalus. This was, in fact, only one part of the brain abnormalities. It is suspected that the hydrocephalus was caused by a condition called ventriculormegaly

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(enlarged brain ventricles). The severity of the hydrocephalus caused another condition called anencephaly (absence of brain matter). In addition, the nerve center that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain (the corpus callosum) was only partially formed, which means that neurons are unable to fire to the opposite hemisphere if there is an incomplete pathway. Many people are born with hydrocephalus without additional brain complications, and one would never be able to tell. Hydrocephalus can be caused by a myriad of reasons and can occur during gestation or even in adulthood. For us, this was only one of myriad issues that resulted in a bleak prognosis for our children. I am so appreciative to Bethesda Magazine for running the article, as abortion is a touchy subject, despite it being the law of the land for the past 40 years. Situations such as mine reinforce to me the importance of choice. Julie Bindeman Rockville

Getting Out of the Spirits

I enjoyed Steve Hull’s “worst of ” editorial in the last edition (January/February 2014). May I add some additional comments about one of the items, the Montgomery County liquor stores? This has been a pet peeve of mine for years. Government does not belong in the retail business. However, as to the point about prices, I find the county stores are usually cheaper than their nearby D.C. counterparts. Additionally, the county seems to have stepped up its customerrelations efforts. The stores at Wisconsin Circle and Westbard especially employ very cheerful and helpful personnel. You mention the $30 million the county takes in from its liquor stores as the reason for their existence. I would argue the county would be money ahead if it privatized. Imagine the revenue it would reap from the sale of liquor licenses to private companies! If you add in what Giant and Safeway would pay to be able to sell beer and wine, and subtract the cost of renting and staffing the county stores, I’ll bet the revenue would

exceed the $30 million threshold. It makes no more sense for Montgomery County to be in the liquor business than it would be for it to sell shoes. Chris Core Chevy Chase

Corrections/Clarifications

The National Gallery of Art is not part of the Smithsonian Institution. “Requiem for a Peacemaker” in the January/February 2014 magazine suggested otherwise. In the wedding of Nina Bajaj and Zeshawn Uddin (“Weddings of the Year,” January/February 2014), hair was by Jean Jekel of Talio Hair Design in Washington, D.C. The name was misspelled in the magazine. n Bethesda Magazine welcomes letters to the editor. Please email your letter to letters@bethesdamagazine.com and include your daytime phone number. Bethesda Magazine reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Readers’ Pick, Best Nursery/Garden Center

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STEVE ROBERTS’

hometown

Dr. David Sherer has written a book about the housekeeper who was a surrogate mother to him. Inset: a family photo with Louise Johnson Morris, aka “Weezy” (back row, far right).

A Chevy Chase doctor’s quest for the woman who most influenced his childhood: the family housekeeper

After turning 50 a few years ago, Dr. David Sherer

examined his mental state and hated his diagnosis. His health was declining. His mood was darkening. He felt like a “prisoner” in a profession dictated by his parents during his Bethesda childhood. “I got very scared, and felt my life was heading in the wrong direction,” he tells me. Sherer did not react to his turmoil in the usual way. “I didn’t run off with the secretary or buy a Stingray,” he jokes. Instead he decided to write a book about the woman he called “Weezy,” an African-American from Macon, Ga., named Louise Johnson Morris who was his family’s housekeeper for more than 20 years. On the surface it was a placid and prosperous household. But to young David, it was a place marked by cold-

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Finding Weezy

30 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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ness and catastrophe. Morris was his source of warmth and stability, so central to his well-being that “she gradually replaced my mother as nurturer and caregiver.” And yet Morris abruptly left town while Sherer was away at medical school in 1981 and he never heard from her again. He never tried to find her, but he never forgot her either. And now he felt a question had to be answered, a debt had to be paid. “If I don’t understand what happened to Louise,” he remembers thinking, “I’ll never forgive myself.” His family was dismissive, even hostile. “The attitude was: Why are you stirring up old waters,” says Sherer, now 56. “Why don’t you let a sleeping dog lie?” But he couldn’t do that. “I felt, well, I’m tired of being told what I have to be and what I have to do…,” he says. “I’m going to poke this dog with a stick and see if it wakes up.” Sherer’s determination was driven by history. His father, an endocrinologist, had brought the family to Montgomery County in 1953 to take a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. They rented in Somerset before buying a house near the Burning Tree Club, which Sherer’s mother still occupies. Morris was so important to him because his parents were so absent. They fought constantly—over finances, fears, failures—and suffered debilitating physical problems. Whatever caregiving they managed was largely devoted to Sherer’s sisters, one of whom was chronically ill; the other, chronically rebellious. “Louise was the great equalizer, she was like ‘The Great Black Hope,’ ” Sherer recalls. “I’ve said many times that she saved my life. She filled a place that needed filling.” As we talk over tea one winter afternoon, I ask Sherer to describe Morris. “She was tall, about 5-10,” he replies. “She had skin like dark chocolate. It was like a Dove Bar. She was muscular but

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not in a muscle-bound way. She had these strong, sinewy arms that almost looked like she was a basketball player. And she had this smile like a million watts of sunshine.” When young David got home from school, she would be waiting in the kitchen. “You’d smell Louise’s fried chicken,” he says. “The first thing I would do is just kind of grab her, and she’d start her Southern talk. ‘Where you been, Old Man? Whatcha doin’?’ The humor would start, the fun would start.” Bethesda in the ’60s and ’70s, Sherer says, was filled with families like his— mostly professional, often Jewish, intensely focused on securing their status in a blooming, booming suburb. “You’re constantly pushed in certain ways,” he says bitterly. “You’re pushed to be a doctor. You’re pushed to kiss your relatives. You’re pushed to wear this kind of shirt. You’re pushed to pay attention to what the neighbors think. But there’s no pressure with Louise. It’s unconditional love. It’s a safety valve.” Sherer became an anesthesiologist, married a local woman, had a son, settled in Chevy Chase, 5 miles from his boyhood home. “Deep down I really wanted none of it,” he writes in his book. What he did want was to find Weezy, though he wasn’t hopeful. “I did the math,” he says. “I figured she couldn’t possibly be alive—and if she was, I couldn’t find her.” After many false starts, he decided to look for her son, Chester, who had lived with relatives in Washington while his mother worked for the Sherers. A website called Intelius located a handful of men named Chester Lee Morris, and for an extra 99 cents provided their previous addresses. One of them, now living in Baltimore, had once lived on Sunset Avenue in Atlanta. Sherer, who attended Emory University in the Atlanta suburbs, knew Weezy had relatives on Sunset. It has to be him, he thought.

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When he called, however, there was no answer. So the next day he drove to Baltimore and knocked on the door. Again no answer. He left a note in the mailbox: Call me, it said. I knew your mother a long time ago. That night Sherer’s phone rang. It was Chester. Yes, his mother was still alive. She was 90, living in a nursing home in Macon. A few weeks later, in February 2012, Sherer went to see her. He wasn’t prepared for the shock of meeting an infirm old woman. How could that be Weezy? he thought. “The last time I had seen this vigorous, strong, incredible woman. Then I see this poor stiff figure in a wheelchair with food coming out of her mouth.” He tried talking to her but got only vague responses. “I think she knew who I was,” he says, but he can’t be sure. He is sure, though, that he has paid the debt he owed her. When she died three months later, Sherer spoke at her funeral and recalled that debt. “Louise came into my life when I was 18 months old,” he said. “She raised me, often at the expense of her own son.” Sherer’s book, The House of Black and White, came out in February. He never solved the mystery of Weezy’s departure from his family. The author’s mother insists she was fired for thievery. Chester says she quit after failing to get a raise. “I still don’t know what the truth is. But you know what? It doesn’t matter,” Sherer says. What does matter is that he finished his journey. He found Weezy. And she found him. “Maybe she had waited for one of us to come see her and say goodbye,” he says. “And then she let herself go.” n Steve Roberts teaches journalism and politics at George Washington University. Send ideas for future columns to sroberts@gwu.edu.

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april witt’s

suburban•ology

Different Strokes I limp into the locker room and do a one-foot shimmy trying to change into my swimsuit without aggravating my injured hip. No luck. I wince as the spasm hits and grab onto the locker door to keep from going down. A petite brunette at the next locker smiles encouragement and says she’s been there. “Here,” says Carolyn Abbey, 50, of Chevy Chase, handing me a Pepto-Bismol-pink swim cap festooned with floppy white flowers. “We wear these. It’s fun.” The cap looks like the ones my grandmother gave me when I visited her in Fort Lauderdale as a child. It’s the unofficial uniform of Maggie Zimmerman’s Aqua Motion classes at Equinox in Bethesda. Wearing it as I step into the gym’s subterranean saltwater lap pool is like entering a time portal. For the next hour, about 20 other women and I laugh, splash and sing together loudly and largely off-key as we thrash around using the long, cylindrical plastic foam pool toys known as “noodles” for resistance and flotation. We ride the noodles across the pool like hobbyhorses, jump on them like pogo sticks and pump them like weights—all the while trying not to lose control of our noodle and whack somebody in the head. “Watch out for flying noodles,” Zimmerman warns. “Remember, the noodle is a powerful force. It’s resistance. Think of it like Pepco. It’s always working against you.” It’s a Sunday morning in the fall. I’ve come to Zimmerman’s water class because of an injury that has temporarily

precluded my high-impact, land-based exercise routine. I’ll return for the cardio and the company of women who know how to laugh and play as if they were still 8 years old. “It’s the only silly thing I do all week,” says Molly Peter, 60, of Bethesda, a real estate agent. “There is a buoyancy in the whole experience. I just fell in love with it.” Bethesda interior decorator Robyn Collins, 56, is a founding member of the class, which started meeting when Equinox opened three years ago. Class participants range in age from 28 to 72. “It’s an energizer for me,” Collins says. “It takes me out of my world. Whenever I walk in there in a bad mood, I leave feeling refreshed, clean and happy.” Zimmerman is the grand master of happy. An area native, she has been a fitness instructor at clubs, gyms and community centers around Bethesda since the 1980s. At 56, she has the lithe build of a college athlete. Sweet, effervescent and down-to-earth, she remembers every student’s name and calls out encouragement throughout class. Zimmerman is also a longtime crossing guard for Chevy Chase Elementary School. She’s known for using her big personality to stop rushhour traffic on Connecticut Avenue, even on a green light, to give kids safe passage. Wrangling a pool full of real estate agents, lawyers, lobbyists, federal officials, businesswomen, robust retirees, an artist and a chef is child’s play for Zimmerman. She does, however, go home hoarse some days from yelling over the laughs and splashes.

“Squeeze your buttocks, ladies, and I don’t mean reach around behind you and grab them,” Zimmerman yells. “I mean squeeze them from the inside. “Remember, you can hire somebody to clean your house. You can hire somebody to wash your car. But you can’t hire someone to squeeze your buttocks from the inside. Personal responsibility, ladies. Personal responsibility.” Zimmerman is expert at making her light-hearted Aqua Motion class serious exercise. It attracts some accomplished athletes, such as Kathryn Winsberg, 62, of Bethesda, a retired federal lawyer who worked at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and has run a dozen marathons and countless half-marathons in the last 12 years. “My motto is: ‘Don’t let the pink caps fool you,’ ” says Kathryn Tracy, 50, of Bethesda, who works in federal law enforcement. “People walk into the pool and see these Esther Williams-looking caps and get fooled into thinking this is a geriatric class. My cardio has increased tremendously by taking this class. People don’t realize how much of a workout this can be.” Several women say they came to the class for exercise, but committed when they realized they’d stumbled into an unlikely community. “I’ve taken a lot of classes in my life, but never felt about one like I do this one,” says Abbe Milstein, 45, of Rockville, a lawyer-turned-stay-athome mother who recently started Power

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Women of a certain age discover the benefits of being bouyant

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Up Mont, a volunteer group advocating for better Pepco performance. “I almost feel like I’m letting people down if I don’t make it to class. I want to be part of it. It reminds me of the team camaraderie when I played sports.” Collins, the group’s unofficial captain, came up with the idea for its unorthodox team uniform. She buys a different hue of flowered swim caps for the group every year and sometimes hands them out at class parties she hosts. Much like Halloween costumes, the goofy swim caps loosen inhibitions and lighten the mood. They’re equalizers. Young or old, fit or infirm, we all wear them and feel, at least for the moment, as if we’re one. “It’s like a Brownie badge or a sorority pin,” says Sondra Scott, 72, of Bethesda. Twice in the last three years, participants have worked together to save the class. Equinox management has temporarily reduced the number of times the group meets, from three times weekly to twice, citing budgetary priorities favoring larger classes. Aqua Motion fans have demanded reinstatement. A class that attracts predominately women over 50 doesn’t fit the image the gym portrays in its slick advertising campaigns, which feature photographs of fit, natty and naughtily posed young people, Peter says. She happens to be the gym member who launched a campaign last year demanding that Equinox remove from the side of its building a billboard depicting a scantily clad young woman crouching, doggie-style, atop a pool table. “Unlike all that fatuousness, this class is real,” Peter says. “It is about the real robustness of women.” So, week after week, I wade into the water and out of time. “Somewhere over the rainbow…,” Zimmerman is singing once again. Around the pool, floating women wearing flowered swim caps—the young and the old, the fit and the infirm—can’t help but join in. “…bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh why can’t I?” “Why? Why? Oh, why?” Zimmerman ad-libs. “It’s just not fair, is it?” n April Witt is a former Washington Post writer who lives in Bethesda. To comment on this column or suggest ideas, email april witt@hotmail.com.

38 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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myStuff Brew-ItYourselfers

Ridgely gave these bottles as wedding favors last summer.

On weekends when most people are sleeping in, Bill Ridgely and Wendy Aaronson wake at 5 a.m. to begin the four- to five-hour process of brewing beer out on the carport of their Rockville home. They’re constantly trying to perfect their techniques and fine-tune recipes. And their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Ridgely and Aaronson estimate they’ve won more than 100 ribbons and medals, including first place for their Scottish ale and German pilsner at the 2013 Spirit of Free Beer event in Falls Church, Va., last May. Ridgely, 64, a former information technology specialist for the Food and Drug Administration, started brewing beer in 1979, a year after home brewing was legalized by the federal government. Aaronson, 51, a scientist for the FDA, took up the hobby in 1983. The two met at Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP), a home brew club established in 1981 that now has about 300 members in the D.C. area. Learning from books and other home brewers, Ridgely and Aaronson both started brewing on a stove top. Now they use a commercial-style, all-grain system that typically costs $2,000 to $6,000. The couple brews about 200 gallons a year, the federal legal limit before tax implications. Their favorite: Scottish ales, because of their subtle flavor and low alcohol content. Ridgely and Aaronson say homemade beer can be as good as anything you’ll find in a store—maybe better. “Nothing beats the taste of something you made yourself,” Aaronson says. n

The main ingredient, besides water, in most beers is malted barley, or barley seeds that were allowed to germinate. It provides the starches and sugars that give beer a sweet taste to offset the bitterness of hops.

Yeast is added to the wort after cooling to initiate fermentation. Ridgely and Aaronson put most of the beer in glass jars where it will continue to ferment until it’s ready to be served in kegs.

Hops in pellet form are easier to use, Ridgely says, because they can be stored for a long time. The compressed pellets release bursts of flavor; it would take a lot of loose leaf hops to achieve the same result.

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Text by Michael-Ann Henry | Photo by Michael Ventura

Called the mash tun, this pot is where the hot water is added to crushed grain, specifically malted barley. The water’s heat converts the starches in the grain to sugars in a process called mashing. There is a false bottom that resembles a strainer and a spigot, so the “wort,” or resulting sweet liquid, can be extracted and moved to the next pot.

This coil actually has two tubes going through it—one for cold water and another for the boiling hot wort. As the water and the brew flow through their respective tubes, the heat gets transferred from the brew to the water. The result is cooled-down brew that can then be stored in a glass bottle or keg.

Ridgely and Aaronson use a mix of loose leaf hops and pelletized hops to produce a depth of flavor in their beer. The leaf hops lend an organic character to the taste, but they oxidize and lose quality quickly if not stored in an oxygen-barrier bag.

Although it’s called the hot liquor tank, this pot holds boiling water, not alcohol. After brewing salts are added and the water reaches the correct mashing temperature, Ridgely and Aaronson use the spigot at the bottom of the pot and a sanitized hose to transfer the water to the second pot.

In the brew kettle, they continue to boil the sweet wort for another one to two hours. They add hops, the female flowers of the hop plant, to create the distinctive beer taste. Boiling helps to sterilize the wort, and the bitter hops taste begins to balance out the sweetness of the malt. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness is released and the darker the beer will be.

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Go Figure

people

watcher

mothers with children under 21,881 Single age 18 in Montgomery County

By Maura Mahoney

18,371

Grandparents living with grandchildren under age 18 in Montgomery County

Source: 2008-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

A scene featuring “The Beast,” from Potomac filmmaker Virginia Wolf’s documentary on immigration

‘Her’ and Mr. Jonze

In 2007, Virginia “Ginger” Wolf traveled from her home in Potomac to Central America to learn more about the lives of people living in need. “I was flabbergasted by the extraordinary poverty,” recalls Wolf, an Emmy award-winning independent filmmaker. That trip resulted in the documentary A Bridge Apart, which follows migrants as they leave their homes and families in search of better lives in the U.S. Wolf describes the film as “a very visual representation of the suffering they are willing to endure to come to this country,” and says the journey on La Bestia, the Mexican train called “The Beast” that takes thousands of them to the U.S. border each year, is extremely dangerous. “Many of them die, more than 60 percent of the women are raped, and human trafficking and kidnapping have become huge problems,” she says. “More than 11,000 migrants are kidnapped crossing Mexico each year, many of whom are forced from the train.” In part, Wolf wanted to do the story because so many Americans “have no idea of what the people who are cleaning our houses or working in our yards have gone through.” The film premiered in November at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club, and Wolf plans to submit it to local and national film festivals.

Dance, Dance Evolution Bethesda’s Alex Young is just 17 and has only been doing electronic dance music for a couple of years. But in 2013, Vibe named him one of the “Top 25 Dance Music DJs Under Age 25.” Alex got his start in a DJ summer camp at Bach to Rock in Bethesda in 2011. At the time, he Alex Young was teaching himself the basics of music production by downloading a computer program and watching YouTube videos at home. He began uploading his music to SoundCloud, an audio platform that allows users to share and promote their recordings, and he quickly attracted the attention of the music industry. Alex says electronic dance music is “the ultimate outlet for musical creativity. You can do everything you want, on your own, at your own pace, on your computer.” Last fall, Alex dropped out of Bethesda’s Walter Johnson High School, where he was a junior, in order to concentrate on his music. He’s now being homeschooled. In December, he toured with Flosstradamus, one of the biggest acts in electronic dance music. Playing sold-out shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago in front of thousands of fans was “surreal,” he says.

Courtesy of cristina wolf; thinkstock (jonze); k. chambers (young)

Coming to America

Bethesda’s Spike Jonze (Walt Whitman, Class of 1987) has made plenty of quirky films, from Being John Malkovich to Adaptation to Where Spike the Wild Things Are. But surely none Jonze is quirkier than his latest movie, Her, about a man who falls in love with his computer’s operating system (think Siri on your iPhone). The movie, which won a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay in January, stars Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams and Rooney Mara, and explores questions of companionship, technology and love. In a recent interview with NPR, Jonze said the movie is about “our yearning to connect, our need for intimacy, and the things inside us that prevent us from connecting.”

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people

Jud Ashman

watcher

What’s on His Bedside Table?

Political commentator and news analyst Cokie Roberts says her new children’s book, Founding Mothers (HarperCollins, 2014), was born of “a lifelong interest” in the subject. The Bethesda resident previously wrote two adult books on the topic: Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (William Morrow, 2004) and Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation (William Morrow, 2008). The children’s book, which came out in late January, profiles 10 women, including Abigail Adams, Martha Washington and Phillis Wheatley, and has information about further resources and vignettes about women warriors and writers during the Revolutionary War. Illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Diane Goode of New Jersey, the book is geared to readers ages 7 to 12. “It is important that we understand that the country could not have been founded without women,” Roberts says. “It’s important for girls to recognize that, and it’s equally important for boys to know that.”

Brookeville’s John Muller has written Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent (The History Press, 2013). Muller, a librarian in the Washingtoniana Division of the D.C. Public Library, has worked as a local journalist, writing for The Washington Times, Capital Community News, Greater Greater Washington and other outlets. The book chronicles Twain’s sojourn in Washington in the late 1860s, as the humorist tried to earn a living as a reporter, working alongside other hard-drinking and irreverent characters before landing a publishing contract that led to his first book, The Innocents Abroad. “I tried to make Washington the city a character in the book, as well,” Muller says, with “the boarding houses, the bookstores, the social circles.”

Chevy Chase resident Allan Topol’s 10th novel, The Argentine Triangle (SelectBooks, 2014), brings back as its protagonist former CIA Director Craig Page, who goes undercover among Buenos Aires’ wealthy elite. He winds up discovering secrets from Argentina’s “dirty war” and confronting a power-hungry Argentine general, his henchmen and a double-dealing Washington lawyer who is the American president’s closest adviser. Along the way, Page becomes entangled with a young journalist and with an Argentine patriot who is trying to save her country from the general. Topol, a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., has traveled to Argentina three times over the past five years. “I just became fascinated by this exotic country, its history and the energy of its people,” he says. The book is scheduled for release on April 15.

All books courtesy of Barnes & Noble; clark day photography (ashman)

Book Report

In addition to being a Gaithersburg city councilman, Jud Ashman, 43, is founder of the Gaithersburg Book Festival, which takes place in May. What’s the best book he’s read recently? A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hogarth, 2013) by Anthony Marra, Ashman says. Set in Chechnya between 1994 and 2004, the novel tells the story of a fugitive 8-year-old girl and the people who try to help her. “It’s got everything,” Ashman says. “It’s dark, it’s got humor, beautiful writing, an interesting story and setting, and characters you love. It’s just a great book.”

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Early Adopter

Christine Koubek and Heather Katz

Bethesda’s Darley Newman sleds in Quebec with local David Jordan as photography director Greg Barna captures the scene for Travels with Darley.

On the Road Again Bethesda’s Darley Newman has racked up five Emmy nominations and numerous miles as the host of Equitrekking, the equestrian-themed series that airs on PBS. And now she has embarked on a new adventure: Travels with Darley, a travel and lifestyle series of short segments that debuted on the AOL On Network in January. Produced by DCN Entertainment, the team behind Equitrekking, the show focuses on food, culture and travel around the world. Newman’s husband, Chip Ward, is the co-producer and editor of the show. “We’ll continue to work with locals, to really gain insight into the best things to do, the best things to eat,” Newman says. “The show will provide practical tips and escapism.”

Almost Famous Former Potomac resident Lisa Panagos is making quite a name for herself in the entertainment industry. In November, she received the 2013 Hollywood F.A.M.E. Award for “Female Rising Star.” A triple threat who sings, dances and acts, Panagos attended the Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac and honed her dance skills at the Potomac Dance Centre and The Washington School of Ballet. She went on to win three LA Music Awards in 2012 for what she describes as “pop R&B crossover with jazz elements and electronic/dance remixes.” She has performed on Broadway and appeared in the feature film Donnie Brasco and on the NBC-TV series Law & Order. The F.A.M.E. Award represents a particular high for Panagos. Past recipients include Paula Abdul and Gwen Stefani. Lisa Panagos on the Panagos, who still red carpet at the 2013 finds time to reHollywood F.A.M.E awards turn home to see her mom, Mary Ann, is currently finishing up an album.

Courtesy of angela ward photography (koubek); Chip ward (newman); micky yeh (panagos)

When Gaithersburg’s Christine Koubek was growing up, adoption was something people didn’t discuss. Thankfully that’s changed. Koubek wrote about her own experience getting to know her birth parents in “Finding Ann Marie” in the May/June 2010 issue of Bethesda Magazine (the story can be read at BethesdaMagazine.com). Now, she and neighbor Heather Katz, who also was adopted, have started a website devoted to the topic. Secret Sons & Daughters: Adoptee Tales from the Sealed Records Era, which was launched in February (after nine months of work, Katz notes), is intended to “create healing and awareness through the power of stories,” Koubek says, as well as to help adoptees connect and discover their rights to medical records, birth certificates and ancestry reports — information previously denied to some.

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Potomac’s Norman Dreyfuss, actress Anna Paquin and Debbi Dreyfuss

The Producer Who knew? Montgomery County Planning Board member Norman Dreyfuss is a movie producer on the side. The former developer, who lives in Potomac, is executive producer of Free Ride, a feature film starring Anna Paquin, which opened in New York and Los Angeles in January with a video-on-demand release that same month. Dreyfuss got involved in the film through his son Brian, a Winston Churchill graduate who works as a Hollywood agent. Brian co-produced the movie. Set in the 1970s, the film is based on writer-director Shana Betz’s experiences as a child. It’s the tale of a mother (Paquin) who flees an abusive relationship, heads to Florida and becomes involved in the drug trade. Dreyfuss says it’s the fourth film he has backed for his son. The first was Brick, which starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 2005. “He’s very good at finding young talent,” Dreyfuss says of his son. And the movie? “It’s great,” Dreyfuss says. “Very emotional because of the family story, but also full of adventure.”

Kensington’s Pascal Tessier (right) with Scoutmaster Dan Beckham

When the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban on gay scouts at the beginning of this year, the organization made it possible for Kensington’s Pascal Tessier, 17, to become one of the first openly gay Eagle Scouts. Tessier, a senior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, demonstrated against the ban last spring and was the subject of a Bethesda Magazine story at the time (“Scouts Dishonor,” which can be read at BethesdaMagazine.com). Since then, Pascal has earned his final merit badges and completed his Eagle Scout Service Project, which involved reconstructing a walkway at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase. He received his Eagle Scout badge in February. Since gay adults continue to be banned from the organization, Tessier plans to “continue the fight for full inclusion.” He hopes to return one day as a leader for the next generation. “I love the life lessons [scouting] teaches,” he says. “It develops you into being a better person, and gives you all the skills you need to be a leader.”

Helping Hands There’s lots of evidence that young people today not only care about the world, they’re increasingly savvy about how to make it a better place. Take Ferris Garel and Kayla Friedlander of Bethesda. Ferris’ mom, Julie Garel, is director of a project on nutrition and wellness at Convergence: Center for Policy Resolution, and last summer she introduced the teens to Anum Fatima, a young Pakistani business student who was interning there. The teens, both juniors at The Field School in D.C., wondered how they could help poor people in Pakistan, and they ultimately came up with MicroFinanceKids, a person-toperson microlending network. Fatima identifies families living in some of the poorest areas in Pakistan who need money to build or run their businesses in order to send their children to school. Then Ferris and Kayla email their school community and family members for help. They’ve raised enough for three separate $500 loans—for a small grocery store owner, a small vegetable shop owner and an electrician. “I’ve always been interested in doing something like this,” Ferris says. Kayla says they’ll continue the program “until we go to college, and hopefully we can pass it along to someone else at school so it will continue to grow.” n Maura Mahoney lives in Chevy Chase. Send People Watcher tips to peoplewatcher@bethesdamagazine.com.

courtesy of pat rhodes (dreyfuss); pascal tessier; c. tracy friedlander

The Eagle Has Landed

Bethesda’s Kayla Friedlander and Ferris Garel created MIcroFinanceKids.

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story of my life

By Rebecca Glicksberg Skipper

Places in the Heart

A box sits on the top shelf of the

closet in my children’s playroom, and in it is a picture of a baby boy. No one has ever seen the photo other than my husband, me and the nurse at Georgetown University Hospital who took it the night I delivered him, stillborn, eight years ago. The box is pink and blue and contains other keepsakes, as well—a swaddling blanket, a teddy bear, tiny but perfectly formed footprints. They give you the box so you don’t leave the hospital with empty arms. But of course it does little to fill the hollow in your heart. In the days and weeks following the loss, I added whatever else I could—the sonogram pictures, the sympathy cards, the lid from the petri dish in which he was conceived. The pregnancy had been

hard-won, making its unsuccessful conclusion at six months all the more difficult to accept. We had begun the journey to Georgetown University Hospital 18 months earlier. In late 2003, after six years of marriage, my husband and I were ready to start a family. I’d had hormonal irregularities since I was a teenager, so I found my way to a reproductive endocrinologist fairly quickly. I arrived with energy and optimism. We hadn’t been trying long, and though I wanted a baby, I wasn’t consumed by it. We underwent the typical battery of tests. Conceiving naturally wasn’t a possibility for us, we were told, but with medical assistance it could happen. After a few failed attempts with low-tech procedures, we moved on to in vitro fer-

tilization. I became pregnant on the first round. I was 33. All things considered, we felt we had gotten off easily. Like many expectant parents, we proceeded with cautious optimism. We waited to tell out-of-town friends and family until well into the second trimester. We didn’t make plans for a nursery; there was no daydreaming in pink or blue. Six months in, there was still a long list of names, for both a boy and a girl. We wanted to be surprised. But not like this. My husband and I had lots of questions in the days that followed our son’s stillbirth. Each year, half of the more than 25,000 stillbirths in the U.S. go unexplained. But in our case, there were answers. A blood clot in the placenta had restricted intrauterine development, so the baby had stopped growing.

Thinkstock

A stillborn son leaves his parents a legacy of love

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We were thankful to learn that blood thinners and close monitoring could significantly reduce the risk of a recurrence in a subsequent pregnancy. But we had to wait awhile before we could consider trying again. In the meantime, I grappled with a question no one was able to answer. Was I a mother? I didn’t have the baby to define me as such, yet that night I had held my child, however briefly, and loved him still. When I came home from the hospital, I placed the box on the closet shelf and carried on. Occasionally I’d peek in it to remind myself that my grief was legitimate, that my son had once existed in a place other than my expectation. Six months later, we went back to the fertility clinic. This time it took longer for me to become pregnant. But in December 2006, I returned to Georgetown University Hospital, and this time walked out with my heart and hands doubly full: twins James and Hannah, the loves of my life. There’s no question that I’m a mother today. Even if you catch me out on rare occasions without one or both of them, the perpetually harried but happy expression gives me away. Sometimes I wonder if my first baby would have shared my son’s infectious laugh, my daughter’s mischievous smile. I’ll never know. But I do know he had a giving spirit; he gave me joy. And in holding on as long as he did, he gave doctors the key to bringing my children safely into the world. I haven’t looked in the box for several years now. It’s hard to reach, given all of the toys, puzzles and stuffed animals that have taken over the closet. But it’s also because I no longer need the reminder that my first son was real. The evidence is right here with me. My family simply wouldn’t have the shape it does today without him. n

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Rebecca Glicksberg Skipper is a communications consultant who lives in Cabin John with her husband and 7-year-old twins, James and Hannah. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 51

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person

of interest

By Virginia Myers

Charlie Barnett Knows the Score He should. He wrote it. Charlie Barnett is about to play one of his favorite tunes. “Listen to this,” he says, as if sharing a delicious secret. And suddenly you can’t wait to hear what he has cued up on his computer. This is a guy who has penned symphonies, scored award-winning films, played before large audiences, and written music for acclaimed poet Maya Angelou’s spoken-word performances. But his enthusiasm makes every song he plays feel brand new. At 62, Barnett looks relaxed and trim in jeans and a snug T-shirt as he discusses life as a composer and musician. A Mac Pro sits at the ready in his lightfilled Bethesda home studio, along with several guitars, a grand piano and a banjo. Bookshelves reach two stories up one wall; vintage album covers line another. The song Barnett plays, “Snow Day,” is one he wrote in 2011 and has listened to hundreds of times. Still, he follows each phrase, tilting his head to listen, then punctuating an especially jazzy note with a jab of his elbow. The tune, with its bouncy beat and smooth vocals, sounds like something out of the early ’60s. “I was born with narrow lapels,” he jokes. Take his symphony, The Blue Chevrolet,

which conjures up classic family vacations of the era, with its movement “The Detour, the Argument, and finally, the Map.” Victoria Gau, the Takoma Parkbased conductor who presented The Blue Chevrolet with the Capital City Symphony at D.C.’s Atlas theater in 2007, loves Barnett’s retro sensibility. “There’s really great energy in his personality, and that comes right across in the music,” she says. It also comes across on stage, where he plays piano, guitar and/or accordion for Chaise Lounge, a local sextet that has been around since 1998. Barnett describes the group’s music, which includes his own compositions as well as Frank Sinatra songs, as “equal parts dry wit and dry martini.” Writing film scores, though, is Barnett’s bread and butter. He has won several awards, including for Discovery Channel’s Raising the Mammoth in 2003 and for National Geographic Channel’s Treasure Seekers and the History Channel’s Holocaust: The Untold Story, both in 2000. And he wrote the score for the 2004 Emmynominated Paper Clips. The documentary followed small-town Tennessee middleschoolers as they collected millions of paper clips in order to grasp how many people were killed in the Holocaust. Barnett’s work also has been heard on popular TV shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Cosby

Show, Weeds and Royal Pains. Paper Clips producer Joe Fab, who lives in Vienna, Va., calls Barnett a great collaborator. Chaise Lounge singer Marilyn Older, an Alexandria, Va., resident, adds that he’s a lot of fun. “He finds a place of complete and joyful presence on stage that infects the band and the audience,” she says. Not bad for a kid who grew up in a nonmusical family. “We had no records in the house,” says Barnett, recalling his childhood in tiny Riverside, Pa. Nevertheless, Barnett played folk music with friends in high school. And after dropping out of Cornell and becoming

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richard woods

The composer—surrounded by all his instruments in his Bethesda home studio—is known for his retro sensibility. “I was born with narrow lapels,” he says.

a surveyor, he took off every Wednesday afternoon for piano lessons with jazz great Jimmy Amadie, who introduced him to a whole new repertoire in Philadelphia. “I was thrilled to be invited into this world of jazz, this club where we knew this canon of songs,” he says. Barnett eventually returned to college, played a few coffeehouses, graduated with a degree in English and taught music at the Severn School near Annapolis for three years. He did his first film score for a public service announcement about truancy and was hooked. In 1988, he and his wife moved to Bethesda to raise three daughters, all of whom are now grown.

(He since has divorced.) Meanwhile, he taught himself the movie-music business and began calling studios for work. By 1993, he was commuting between Los Angeles and Bethesda. These days, Barnett runs a small recording label, Big Kahuna; designs his own CD covers; tours with LA-based actor-singer Gia Mora in her show Einstein’s Girl; plays with traveling bands; and in his spare time, creates whimsical collages using vintage odds and ends like Boy Scout insignias and appliance nameplates. He also has served as an advocate for the arts in Montgomery County, including a stint as artist

in residence at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, where he mentored young musicians. It’s a lot of keep track of—kind of like all those notes and musical instruments in his compositions. So he creates lists to be sure he doesn’t miss a beat. Among his recent entries: Put out a box set with some cool packaging; get to be a good banjo player; write three new songs; and “visit Mom more.” n Virginia Myers lives in Takoma Park and frequently writes about the arts. To comment on this story, email comments@ bethesdamagazine.com.

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work related

As told to Rachel Chism

Night and Day Bill Carey, 69, music center liaison/ hockey statistician I have two jobs. My most recent is director of donor and community relations at The Music Center at Strathmore, and I’ve been doing that for 10 years. I interact with our donors, business sponsors, ticket patrons and artists, and enjoy all the concerts. My colleagues see me as a very outgoing liaison. But during the ice hockey season, I’m a little more serious. I leave early on game days to be at the Verizon Center by 5 p.m. For 30 years, I’ve been an off-ice official for the National Hockey League—a statistician, for [lack of] a better word. I keep track of shots on goal, missed shots, goals, assists, hits, penalties, giveaways, takeaways and time-on-ice per player. I’m expected to capture [the action] within two to three seconds of it happening. Off-ice officials are not enjoying the hockey game as fans; we’re responsible for a function of the game. It is critical that we track the statistics in real time, consistently, night after night, with total impartiality and integrity.

Bill Carey gets ready to slap a hockey puck onstage at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda.

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liz lynch

I’m a hockey fan. I’ll watch a hockey game morning, noon or night, college or pro. At my age, I’ve kind of seen it all. I’m from Ann Arbor, Mich., where I played hockey and officiated in the recreational leagues. When I moved to the Washington, D.C., area in the late 1960s, I helped create the hockey officials’ association for the hockey programs here. The organizers of the Washington Capitals’ franchise, in connection with the National Hockey League, reached out to the referees’ association to bring on our guys as office officials when the franchise was formed. We understand the game and are unbiased The highlight is seeing the skill of these superstar players (in Washington, we have Alex Ovechkin). When you see these guys come to play night after night and they continue to show these skills, it’s really something to watch. The NHL prefers that we do not interact with current players. But I have met Wayne Gretzky and a number of other NHL players and Capitals players since they retired. Seeing this one team every night, you pick up on [players’] idiosyncrasies and personalities. A perfect pass, a lastsecond goal—it makes the sport all the more exciting. The Verizon Center can get electric when a goal is scored. But we need to stay focused and credit the players appropriately. And then to see the artists come through Strathmore and perform for 90 or 120 minutes without an intermission—they’re very entertaining and sound wonderful. The performance season is from September to June, which corresponds with the hockey season. We have to stay for the shows, so if I’m not at the Verizon Center in the evening, I’m at Strathmore. I am constantly amazed by the talent of all the artists who have performed on the Strathmore stage. Both positions are great opportunities, not really [jobs], more of a joy, and a lot of fun to be a part of. n

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re• INVENTION By Amy Reinink

Barton Rubenstein stands with his kinetic sculpture “Field of Dreams” at Somerset Elementary in Chevy Chase.

The Science of Beauty Barton Rubenstein’s art is a study in motion and balance. A seemingly precarious, 10-foot-tall stack of steel shapes rotates in unison in “Circle Up.” Water cascades between bronze boxes in “Blairs Gateway.” And curvy, steel “dancers” sway in the wind in “Botero Ballerinas.” Dozens of Rubenstein’s water and kinetic sculptures dot parks, backyards and other outdoor spaces in the Bethesda area, from “Familia” in a garden at The Mansion at Strathmore in North

Bethesda to “River Twist” at the Blairs apartments in Silver Spring. His works, which can be found as far away as California and Utah, have earned the Chevy Chase artist numerous local and national awards, including a 2010 official citation from the Maryland General Assembly in recognition of his public art. Rubenstein’s unique aesthetic is grounded in a seemingly unlikely source: a background in physics and neuroscience, which he studied before turning to sculpture full time in 1994.

Growing up in Northwest Washington, D.C., Rubenstein, 52, loved working on projects with his dad, from tree houses to elaborate snow sculptures they built in the front yard. Family dinners were often spent talking about art and architecture—his mother was a curator and art historian for the Smithsonian. Rubenstein also loved astronomy and other sciences, and as a student at Sidwell Friends School in Northwest D.C., he discovered he had a gift for numbers.

liz lynch

A Chevy Chase sculptor applies the principles of physics to his award-winning art

56 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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re•invention

He majored in physics at Haverford College near Philadelphia, and returned to Sidwell after graduation to establish the school’s first computer lab. After a few years there, Rubenstein decided to pursue his doctorate in neuroscience at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. There, he immersed himself in researching how the brain perceives and interprets objects. “When we open our eyes, it’s just a lot of colors and lines, and yet somehow we make sense of it all,” Rubenstein says. “It’s really an astounding task.” Midway through his six years at Weizmann, Rubenstein met his wife, Shereen, during a research trip to Rutgers University in New Jersey. They married shortly afterward, and she moved to Israel for his final two years there. She recalls that every time they went out to dinner, her new husband would spend the night sketching detailed, professional-looking sculptures on napkins. So she wasn’t surprised when Rubenstein decided to defer an offer of a postdoctoral position at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda in order to spend a year making art. “I had more than an inkling that he would go in this direction,” Shereen says. “When he told me about it, I didn’t hesitate in saying he should definitely do it. …I really believed there was a good chance he would be successful.” Rubenstein never made it to that job at NIH. Instead, thanks in part to financial support from his family, he spent the year learning how to weld at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in the District, and fabricating his first seven sculptures in the small garage at the couple’s first home in Chevy Chase. He created big, metal designs that involved water—an undertaking for which his scientific background had uniquely prepared him. “There are only a few of us in the country that do this because there are a lot of headaches related to working with

water,” Rubenstein says. “You need to have a lot of knowledge about how water moves.” Rubenstein produced his first commissioned piece for roughly $6,000 about 18 months after he started sculpting, and has averaged four to six commissions a year since. Clients range from homeowners and businesses to universities and city governments, and they pay from $25,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars for Rubenstein’s sculptures. Rubenstein has applied his scientific mind to many areas of his artistic life. For example, his knowledge of kinetics helped him create a cable system that allows the various pieces of his sculptures to move in the wind without spinning in circles. His background researching neuroscience and the way the brain perceives the world also helped him relate to other scientists—experts in printing, holograms and other fields—when the National Academies asked him several years ago to help redesign the $100 bill in order to prevent counterfeiting. Rubenstein says he contributed to the design of a holographic barcode to the right of Benjamin Franklin’s image—a design that makes the bills difficult to duplicate. The new bill was unveiled last October. Rubenstein does all his welding, cutting and fabricating in a converted twocar garage behind his Chevy Chase home, where he lives with his wife and three children, ages 11 to 17. Years after turning down the opportunity to work at NIH, Rubenstein says he didn’t so much abandon his earlier career plans as simply never get back to them. “I never intended to leave science,” Rubenstein says. “I just felt really happy making stuff.” n Amy Reinink is a frequent contributor to the magazine who also writes for Runner’s World and other outdoor publications. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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Special Advertising Section

Ask the Attorneys

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Law Offices of Ellen L. Lee hilary schwab

See Profile page 67

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Geoffrey S. Platnick and Scott M. Strickler

Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, PA 12505 Park Potomac Ave., 6th Floor, Potomac, MD 20854 301-231-0924 | www.shulmanrogers.com

Rather than being only technically proficient, we think tactically and recognize that every family is different, which means every domestic case is unique. There is no single approach to a divorce, property or custody case. Our proficiency lies in developing a specific tactical game plan to accomplish particular objectives for each client. That might involve pre-divorce planning, the use of an investigator or an outside-the-box approach unanticipated by an opponent. We have strategies for every issue, including those designed to make a custody case stronger, a client present better in court and to select expert witnesses adept in particular issues.

Are there advantages to dispute resolution options? While litigation is sometimes a necessary means of resolving domestic relations cases, turning to the courts should most often be a last resort. This is not simply because litigation is expensive and

emotionally destructive. Courts are limited in the types of relief that can be awarded, while creative counsel can often work together to mutual benefit. For example, when settling outside of court, it is possible to take advantage of the tax code when structuring alimony and child support, enabling each party to end up with more money, or distribute the value of a business or real estate in tax-advantageous ways. Likewise, settlements make it possible to include provisions for children that the court lacks the authority to address, including the funding of college education, care for a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special needs or maintenance of life insurance. The Shulman Rogers Family Law and Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group has been selected by U.S. News & World Report as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;First Tierâ&#x20AC;? family law firm. In its November/December 2013 issue, Bethesda Magazine selected Scott M. Strickler, Geoffrey S. Platnick and Hadrian N. Hatfield among the top area divorce lawyers.

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What creative strategies do you employ in family law?

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Lerch, Early & Brewer Family Law Attorneys

Hilary Schwab

3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 460, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-986-1300 | www.lerchearly.com

When should I go to court for a divorce?

When should I see a divorce lawyer?

In the vast majority of family law cases, settlement is preferable to litigation for many reasons: it’s less expensive, less emotionally draining, there are more options for resolution and the couple decides rather than the court. That said, you may not be able to reach an agreement, so make sure you work with an attorney who’s skilled both in negotiation and litigation so you can draw upon his or her bargaining and trial experience as needed.

The time to see a divorce lawyer is when you first are thinking about a divorce or you suspect your spouse may be considering separation. It’s important that you are aware of your rights and responsibilities, and how separation or divorce could affect your children, your finances and your standard of living. In addition, there are things a person considering divorce definitely should and shouldn’t do, so you should contact an attorney early in the process to position yourself properly and avoid missteps.

The Family Law group at Lerch, Early & Brewer is respected as one of the best in Maryland and the District of Columbia. U.S. News named them “Top Tier for Family Law” in the Washington, D.C. area. Their experience in all areas of divorce law—litigation, mediation and collaborative processes; plus prenuptial, adoption and domestic partnership agreements—makes them a top tier choice for you, too.

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Patrick M. Regan, Esq.  Salvatore J. Zambri, Esq.  Regan Zambri & Long PLLC 1919 M St., NW Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20036   202-822-1880 | www.ReganFirm.com

The practice of law has become as specialized as medicine. It’s important that your lawyer specializes in personal injury and wrongful death claims and has the qualifications and experience to handle your claims. Check on qualifications by going to the lawyer’s website. Board certification is important and indicates that the lawyer not only has the experience but also has passed a specialized examination. Ask questions: Has the lawyer handled similar claims before? Does the lawyer have the financial resources to properly prepare your case? If possible, investigate the lawyer’s reputation with judges and other lawyers. As for me, I have been representing clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases for more than 30 years, and was selected as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which limits its

membership to the top one percent of trial attorneys in the country. I was a lead counsel for the passengers in the June 2009 Metro subway crash and I represented the family of slain New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum in their suit against the District of Columbia and Howard University Hospital, among other notable cases.

Will it cost me money to meet with a lawyer? Lawyers who specialize in personal injury claims should be willing to accept your case on a contingency fee basis. In other words, you will not pay a fee to the lawyer unless you receive funds through a settlement or verdict. The initial consultation should be free. Patrick M. Regan and Salvatore J. Zambri are partners of the firm. They limit their practice to representing seriously injured clients in medical malpractice, product liability and other serious personal injury and wrongful death claims.

Hilary Schwab

I’ve never hired a lawyer before, what do I need to know in order to hire a lawyer for an injury or death case?

62 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Family Law attorney Monica Garcia Harms (center front) can often address a client's sophisticated needs by collaborating with colleagues in other departments (L to R): Karen Shapiro and Don Sperling (business law); David De Jong (tax law); and Steve Widdes (estates and trusts).

Monica Garcia Harms Stein Sperling Bennett De Jong Driscoll PC 25 W. Middle Lane, Rockville, MD 20850 301-838-3230 | www.steinsperling.com

What are the benefits of having an attorney from a larger firm as opposed to a sole practitioner?

mike olliver

In family law cases, you spend a significant amount of time with, and divulge personal information to, your counsel. Establishing a connection with an attorney is essential. You must have confidence that your lawyer will take your and your children’s best interests to heart and will have the knowledge and resources to meet your needs. At a larger firm like Stein Sperling, we help clients with complex family law cases that also include tax issues as well as business ownership, real estate and estate planning considerations. I help my clients navigate their unique circumstances efficiently because of the connection among our attorneys, across departments. Attorney-CPAs at our firm answer tough financial and tax questions every client faces in a divorce. Experienced

business lawyers down the hall assist in valuing business assets or reviewing a business’s operating agreement. Knowledgeable estates and trusts attorneys advise my clients on pre-and postnuptial agreements or the division of retirement assets. In these cases, smaller firms or sole practitioners often consult a panel of outside experts, adding significantly to the time and expense involved in the case. To me, finding a lawyer and firm that can serve all your needs is essential. Monica Garcia Harms is a family law principal at Stein Sperling Bennett De Jong Driscoll PC in Rockville. She handles a variety of family law matters, including divorce, alimony, child support, child custody, property division, guardianships and domestic violence, as well as pre- and post-nuptial agreements. In November 2013, Harms was listed among the area’s “Top 25 Divorce Lawyers” by Bethesda Magazine. That article described her as a member of “the elite tier of private attorneys known for their skills in handling thorny custody issues.” BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 63

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Gary Altman, Esq. Altman & Associates 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 708, Rockville, MD 20852 301-468-3220 | www.altmanassociates.net

What is the most important thing to know about estate planning?

TONY LEWIS JR

Words matter. Every. Single. Word. Estate planning is about your future, in life and in death. What will happen if you’re unable to make decisions due to illness or disability? Will your family be provided for? What will become of your assets when you’re gone? Sure, it starts with your beliefs, instincts and wishes. But if those ideals aren’t carefully, professionally and legally translated into actionable words, you’re at the mercy of the law and life-altering mistakes can ensue. Your words shouldn’t be “boilerplate” or mimic a downloadable online template. Why? Because your words matter. We work to ensure they’re heard loud and clear, that they’re legal, and that they’re never misinterpreted. Altman & Associates provides superior personal service and legal excellence in the areas of estate, legacy and business planning. We work with our clients to design individualized, practical and tax effective estate planning strategies to preserve and transfer wealth.

Law Offices of Matt Simmons, Esq. P.C. 401 E. Jefferson Street, Suite 201, Rockville, MD 20850 301-444-4844 | www.hoyalaw.com

My partnership is collapsing. What do I do to protect my interests?

Since graduating Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University Law Center, Matt Simmons has been dedicated to providing superior legal services in the areas of complex business litigation, civil litigation, family law and transactions.

mike olliver

The first step is to hire an attorney experienced in such breakups. Former business partners often have a desire to retaliate against each other. Worse than divorcing spouses, separating business partners may fight over the last stapler. It’s my job to help clients keep a cool head, move past the anger and do the right thing. Taking the high road is the key to success in break-up litigation. This approach has paid off for my clients—and me—time and time again. I believe it was a strong contributor to the outcomes that led to my inclusion in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a group of trial lawyers who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements.

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(L to R): Jennifer Davison, Jonathan Dana, Katherine O'Rourke, Alexandra Harwin, Shirley Steinbach, Mary Pence, Mary McGuinness Saxon, Jacqueline Nelson, Richard Gray, Sarah Zimmerman and Marina Barannik.

Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP

hilary schwab

4800 Hampden Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-232-1252 1129 20th Street, NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036 202-466-8960 www.feldesmantucker.com

How do I choose a divorce lawyer who will help me focus on the future?

If I am facing a divorce, how can I best position myself and my children for the future?

In the midst of a divorce, it can be difficult to think clearly about tomorrow, yet the decisions you make will affect the rest of your life. It’s vitally important to choose a lawyer who will help secure your future. Divorce lawyers can be placed along a continuum, from those whose emphasis is on litigation as the best method to resolve the issues in a divorce to those who have developed their skills in settlement processes such as negotiation, mediation and Collaborative Law in addition to litigation. When you do your research on possible attorneys to represent you, look for expertise in the process choices that are consistent with your own values and hopes for the future.

As difficult as it may be, it is best if you can devote your energy to developing and implementing a concrete plan for the future. When it comes to your children, remember that you and your spouse will remain their parents after the divorce, and the most valuable gift you can give your children is two parents who can continue to work together to meet their emotional, educational and financial needs. Although emotions may be running high, try to avoid parental conflict and be mindful of how your actions may affect your children and your ability to be effective co-parents in the future. For more than 40 years the Family Law Group of Feldesman Tucker has been helping clients secure their futures after divorce. Widely recognized as top divorce lawyers in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia, our attorneys have been repeatedly honored by Washingtonian Magazine, Best Lawyers in America and SuperLawyers. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 65

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Spencer Hecht Hecht & Associates, LLC 1100 Wayne Ave., Suite 600, Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-587-2099 | www.hechtassociates.com

How do I know which divorce or custody attorney is right for me?

(L to R): Lauren S. Keiser, Esquire; Jennifer Jenkins, Paralegal; Spencer M. Hecht, Esquire; Megan Larson, Legal Assistant; Kimberly E. McPartland, Esquire; Virginia B. Joehl, Esquire; Jennifer M. Silverman, Esquire.

Providing aggressive, detail-oriented and responsive representation in connection with divorce, custody and child support disputes and litigation, our team’s wealth of experience and success has made us one of the largest family-based practices in the area. From high-asset divorces to high-conflict custody disputes, we are equipped with the knowledge, experience, and resources to protect your interests and needs.

mike olliver

The right family law attorney is one that understands your goals and objectives, is able to effectively communicate, has a firm grasp on the legal principles involved with your particular issues, has the resources to dedicate the time and attention your case requires and truly understands the importance of the case and attorney/client relationship. The right family law attorney is one that knows that every case is better settled than litigated but has the tenacity to advocate at the highest level in a court of law.

How do I select an attorney?

Rismiller Law Group LLC 51 Monroe Place, Suite 1406, Rockville, MD 20850 301-340-1616 | www.rismillerlaw.com

Located next to both the Circuit Court and District Court buildings and the Rockville Metro Station, our attorneys handle litigation in areas of family law, domestic violence, and civil and criminal disputes. We also handle collaborative divorces, mediation, business planning and formation, as well as wills, trusts and estate work.

TONY LEWIS JR

The attorney and client relationship has to function like a cohesive team. They have to work together and each has an important role. Trust is key. Clients have to trust that the attorney understands and is competent to handle the client’s unique situation. The attorney has to trust that the client will consider his advice and be candid with him. At RLG, we map out strategies to meet a client’s needs, and we emphasize the importance of the relationship at each turn, so that we are always working cohesively to maximize the client’s outcome.

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Ask the Attorneys

How can I make my journey through divorce as painless as possible? Let's face it: divorce is frightening, destabilizing and painful. Having an experienced, skillful and compassionate attorney by your side will help you maintain your equilibrium throughout the process by minimizing the pain and guiding you through the process. Your divorce will have a significant impact on your life and the lives of your children. A good lawyer explains the process, examines your options and constantly evaluates your needs. I consider myself a tough advocate and a compassionate confidante, drawing on my college major of psychology, my work as a counselor at a local crisis center and my 27 years of divorce litigation experience in Maryland's court system.

With the abundance of divorce information and forms available on the Internet, what is the downside to a do-it-yourself divorce? Don’t believe everything you read, especially on the Internet, where misleading and incorrect information abounds, and don’t cut corners at a crucial life juncture. If you work on your own, you may sign an agreement that isn’t in your best interests, just to be able to move past the pain of divorce. An attorney would never let you do that.

Hilary Schwab

Some people think that Maryland guidelines are formulaic but only one aspect of family law can be reduced to a formula: child support amounts for people earning under a certain income. An experienced attorney knows what is reasonable and what is not. I structure settlements that take tax implications into consideration. Divorce does not bring out the best in people, which is why you want a strong, knowledgeable advocate at your side. At the Law Offices of Ellen L. Lee, we counsel clients on the full range of family law services including divorce, spousal support, child support, custody, premarital, and post marital agreements and domestic violence cases.

Law Offices of Ellen L. Lee 77 South Washington St., First Floor, Rockville, MD 20850 240-552-6957 | www.attorneydivorce.com

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Ask the Attorneys

Special Advertising Section

What should I do if I’m considering separating from my spouse? After guiding clients through this difficult time for over 20 years, my best advice would be to choose a respected attorney who approaches family disputes with an eye toward problem solving. In addition to helping you identify your needs and goals, an experienced family law attorney will work with you to identify the process that best meets those needs and accomplishes your goals. While traditional litigation is sometimes necessary, other processes such as collaborative practice, direct negotiation and mediation offer alternatives to litigation that give clients maximum control over the outcome, foster effective communication, and allow you and your spouse to reach shared decisions and create forward-looking solutions for you and your family.

Weisbaum Law Firm, LLC

At the Weisbaum Law Firm we practice all aspects of Family Law, including prenuptial agreements, property division, childrelated issues, spousal support, and separation agreements.

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Steven M. Weisbaum

51 Monroe Place, Suite 1901, Rockville, MD 20850 301-279-0977 | www.weisbaumlaw.com

Andrea Hirsch The Law Office of Andrea Hirsch 1630 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20009 202-480-2160 | andrea@andreahirschlaw.com www.andreahirschlaw.com

How does a divorcing couple benefit from a collaborative process? The advent of the collaborative process is a welcome change for me. I now encourage my clients to consider the collaborative approach. It allows a couple to disentangle their lives in a respectful way, develop a forwardlooking orientation concerning themselves and their children, and communicate better. It is often less costly, both financially and emotionally.

The support of a team is a unique aspect of this practice. Other professionals, collaboratively trained, that may be called upon include mental health professionals and financial neutrals. Andrea Hirsch has been a family attorney for over 20 years in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

hilary scwab

The parties, each with his or her own collaboratively trained attorney, work together to resolve issues arising out of the separation. We attorneys ask ourselves, and each other, “How can we help these two people?” We’re not trying to “win it all” for our client or destroy the other party.

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Brodsky Renehan Pearlstein Lastra & Bouquet, Chartered 16061 Comprint Circle, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 301-869-1700 | www.brpfamilylaw.com

How do I select a family law attorney who is right for me? It’s important to first identify your goals in a family law matter and determine what you want to achieve when the matter is resolved. With this understanding you can then find an attorney who will give you objective and well-reasoned advice on how to attain those goals. Our firm works closely with clients to help them achieve their goals, both short term and long term, through settlement, and, if necessary, aggressive litigation.

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What should I do if I think my spouse is hiding assets in our divorce? You must hire an attorney that is experienced in analyzing and evaluating financial data, both hard and electronic. Understanding how to trace assets and cash flow to build a thorough understand-

ing of the information is critical. Most often a “thread” is revealed through careful review and analysis that will lead to the discovery of hidden assets. Our attorneys have a broad background and are adept at reviewing complex financial and electronic data to identify marital assets. Our firm has seen and experienced most circumstances in our 60-plus years of practicing family law. Brodsky Renehan Pearlstein Lastra & Bouquet is one of the most recognized and experienced family law firms in Maryland and Washington, D.C. The firm is committed to the aggressive and diligent pursuit of a client’s goals through settlement and, if necessary, litigation. Our sole focus on family law means our clients receive the efficient representation and dedication one should expect from their attorney. Our firm and attorneys have been recognized by Washingtonian, US News & World Report, Super Lawyers and Bethesda Magazine.

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Kuder, Smollar & Friedman, PC 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, #600, Washington, D.C. 20036 202-331-7522 | www.ksflaw.com

How is choosing a family law attorney different than choosing an attorney for other issues?

Our attorneys are committed to helping clients with family and personal legal matters in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. We are experienced litigators, skilled negotiators and trained mediators. The attorneys of Kuder, Smollar & Friedman, P.C. are recognized as “Top Divorce and Family Lawyers” by Washingtonian and as a “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News and World Report.

hilary schwab

Family law cases can be emotionally challenging, stressful and time-consuming. Most importantly, family law issues are personal and diverse. Look for attorneys who are willing to take the time to understand your situation and goals, and who have the knowledge and experience to work hard to pursue them. Look for counsel with experience not only litigating, but also pursuing alternative options for dispute resolution such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration or Collaborative Practice. Finally, choose a firm that works as a team. You will benefit from everyone’s experience and creativity.

Robert L. Baum Attorney at Law/Mediator/Collaborative Lawyer 401 N. Washington St., Suite 500, Rockville, MD 20850 301-601-0610 | www.bobbaumlaw.com

What is the best way to approach a new legal matter?

Bob Baum is a trial attorney, mediator and collaborative lawyer. He co-chairs the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Montgomery County Bar Association, is vice-chair of the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and is nationally recognized for his dispute resolution skills. He generally litigates only family law cases.

TONY LEWIS JR

Be wary of attorneys whose first reaction is “let’s file a lawsuit.” Litigation generally benefits lawyers and hurts clients, emotionally and financially. Having litigated numerous cases, I’ve seen the toll that trials take. I have also mediated hundreds of cases, with far better outcomes than would have been achieved at trial. The wisest approach to a case is to discuss all options: direct negotiations, mediation, collaborative law and litigation, in that order. Since 95-98 percent of cases settle out of court, an excellent negotiator or mediator is much more cost effective than a trial lawyer whose courtroom skills will never be used.

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(L to R): Alison Keller-Micheli, J.D.; Richard S. Chisholm, J.D., CPA; Robert P. Oliver, J.D.; Robert E. Ward, J.D., LL.M; S. Mona Reza, J.D., LL.M.

Robert E. Ward, J.D., LL.M. Richard S. Chisholm, J.D., CPA Ward Chisholm, P.C. 4520 East-West Highway, #650, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-986-2200 | www.rewardlaw.com

Why should someone consult a tax lawyer?

TONY LEWIS JR

Taxes matter. There are many sources for tax advice; however, only lawyers prepare the documents that commemorate the transactions in which tax issues arise. The documents determine who will be taxed and the amount of those taxes. Without a thorough understanding of the revenue laws, the documents will almost inevitably produce an unsatisfactory result. Successful outcomes require tax sensitive planning, skillful drafting and the ability to defend the planning when challenged by the tax authorities. Whether starting a business, selling a business, making a gift or transferring wealth at death, there are income, gift and estate tax consequences that, if recognized, can be planned for succesfully.

When should someone consult a tax lawyer? A tax lawyer should be consulted any time money or assets

are in motion and any time a taxpayer has to interact with the IRS. Every sale, purchase, gift and inheritance brings with it a tax outcome for both the payor and the recipient. Consulting tax counsel before a transaction begins gives the participants an edge in obtaining the best tax result. Finally, there is no substitute for tax counsel when dealing with the IRS. Fair treatment requires skillful, experienced representation. Ward Chisholm, P.C. is a law firm with offices in Bethesda and Vancouver, British Columbia. The firm focuses on tax, business, estate, cross-border and asset protection planning, and represents taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Tax Court. Bob Ward has been recognized by Washingtonian as one of the Washington Area’s “Top Trust and Estate Lawyers” and by Super Lawyers magazine as one of Maryland’s “Top Tax Lawyers.” Richard Chisholm was named one of the Washington area’s top business attorneys by the readers of SmartCEO Magazine.

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We Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Know H We went searching for Supermom. W 72 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Missy Lesmes is always on the go as she juggles the demands of work and family.

erick gibson (4)

How She Does It m. We found her in Chevy Chase. By Julie Rasicot | Photos by Erick Gibson and Liz Lynch

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It’s a late Saturday afternoon, and I’ve just finished pouring chocolate ganache over four cakes that are sitting on the kitchen table. Pasta boils in three large pots on the stove, and vegetables are strewn all over the counter, waiting to be sliced into crudités. My 4-year-old daughter bounces underfoot as I weave from table to counter to stove. I’m catering my first event— a 50th birthday party, with dinner and dessert for 75—and I’m frantic about getting it right. Suddenly, my husband rushes through the front door and throws a bloody towel onto the table, just missing the cakes. Seven-year-old Emily follows, holding bloodied paper towels to her mouth, with her forehead and knees scraped raw. Emily tripped and fell, Brendan says, and her teeth have sliced through her upper lip. She has to go to the emergency room, and of course I want to take her. I want to be there to hold her hand, to reassure her as she gets the stitches. But I have food to cook and a party to cater. So instead, I watch my husband and daughter head out the door, thinking, not for the first time or the last: worst mother EVER.

If I sometimes worry that I’m the worst mom, as I did on that day several years ago, a case could be made that Melissa “Missy” Lesmes is the best, a veritable Supermom, the kind of mother just about every woman I know aspires to be. A fit, petite, vivacious blonde, Missy is at age 46 a wife, a mother of four kids ranging in age from 11 to 18 and all in separate schools, a partner at a prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm whose practice takes her on the road several days each month, a party maven always up for a gathering at her Chevy Chase home, a longtime friend to women who

Missy works out downtown with personal trainer and former NFL defensive back Roger Brown.

profess she’s always there when they need her, and a woman who still manages to give back to the community. Ask about women who epitomize the Supermom phenomenon in the Bethesda area, and Missy’s name comes up time and again. That’s why I’ve come to her expansive, Craftsman-style home off Connecticut Avenue: to learn how she does it. It’s the morning of July 5, and Missy has taken the day off from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where she specializes in construction insurance litigation. She greets me at the door with a wide smile, looking trim in workout clothes, with perfectly styled hair and wearing makeup, then apologizes for how she looks. Her husband, Scott, lounges on the couch at the end of the great room, watching the day’s tennis matches at Wimbledon on a huge, flat-screen TV. Tall and broad-shouldered at 46, with receding brown hair, he’s a partner in corporate finance law at Morrison & Foerster in D.C., and also works long hours, but travels less. Missy tells me about her mother, a fastidious woman who reigned over the family home in Olney like a queen over her castle. “She was always perfectly

coiffed. She would never sit in front of you right now looking the way I do,” says Missy, who was 26 when her mother died of an aneurysm. “She was beautiful, the house was spotless; you could eat off our kitchen floor at any given time. That’s not the case here.” I’d have to disagree. Her French country-style kitchen appears pristine, with its ivory-colored cabinets and gleaming white tile. Then Missy, quick to laugh at herself, fesses up: She called her nanny/ housekeeper of nine years, Margarita Arcega, to come tidy up earlier. On weekends, Missy and Scott typically drive to the girls’ soccer games— Maggie and Anna are on different travel teams—or to Scotty’s Special Olympics basketball games. And the kids often have friends over, Missy says. Weekends are always busy. But weekdays? They’re madness. On weekdays, Missy rises at 5:30 a.m. to run on the Capital Crescent Trail or head downtown to work out with a personal trainer. She’s back home by 7 to make sure the kids are awake and getting ready for school. Anna, 11, is a fifth-grader at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda; Maggie, 15, is a sophomore at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory

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Typical morning madness: Missy reviews school paperwork for daughter Anna, 11, while nanny Margarita Arcega combs her hair. Below: Missy and Margarita check out Scotty’s school outfit.

School in D.C.; Scotty, 17, who has Down syndrome, attends The Heights School, a Catholic school for boys in Potomac; and Emily, 18, is a freshman at Southern Methodist University in Texas. On a given morning, Missy might drill Anna on math skills before she or Scott drives the girls to their schools. Margarita arrives by 7:15 to take Scotty to Potomac. Later, Missy stops at Starbucks for a venti Americano, then arrives at her spacious office by 8:30 or so, where piles of paperwork cover her desk, cardboard boxes full of case files line one wall and family photos and mementos occupy shelves on another. Missy spends her workdays juggling meetings, conference calls and emails before heading home around 7 p.m. Like lots of working couples with hectic schedules, she and Scott rely on a network of family and friends to keep the household running smoothly when they’re not home. With two substantial incomes, they can have Margarita work full time, though she’s not needed much as a nanny anymore. She cleans during the day, drives the girls to soccer practices, takes Scotty to a weekly program at Imagination Stage, and makes the kids dinner, leaving around 6 or 7.

Missy gets home between 7:30 and 8, about the same time as Scott—unless she has to pick up one of the children or shop for last-minute school supplies. She checks in with the kids, makes sure everyone has had dinner, then forages for something she and Scott can eat, which they usually do while standing around the kitchen island, catching up on the day. Scott often spends much of the evening helping Scotty with homework, which can require “hours and hours of one-on-one time” since the teen takes

regular classes and has only slightly modified assignments, Missy says. It’s important to the couple that Scotty lives as normal a life as possible. That’s why they worked so hard to get him into The Heights, knowing that few private religious schools accept special needs students. Missy and Scott began talking with Heights officials two years before Scotty was to start high school, working with the Catholic Coalition for Special Education, a nonprofit advocacy group that provides grants to support special education in Catholic schools.

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A Day in the Life

Here’s a typical weekday for Missy Lesmes of Chevy Chase during a 5:50 a.m.: Wake up. Make coffee.

6:30 a.m.: Drive to Blessed Sacrament Church in Chevy Chase, D.C. Meet a friend for a run.

7:30 a.m.: Drive home. Grab work clothes and shower gear. Wake daughter Maggie for summer class.

Making sure Anna and Scotty (below) get out the door on time is part of Missy’s daily checklist.

7:45 a.m.: Drive Maggie to class.

8:25 a.m.: Stop at Starbucks for coffee.

8:35 a.m.: Get to work. Shower and change.

9:20 a.m.: Sit at desk and make orthodontist appointments for kids, schedule furniture delivery, pay bills online.

Now, “we all work very hard at trying to have him do as much work in the same subject areas as the other guys are doing,” Scott says. “Scott’s taken a huge role in helping Scotty with his homework,” Missy adds. “[But] honestly? There were times when we’d say [to Scotty], ‘You just go to bed; we’ll do it.’ ” By 10 or 10:30, Missy and Scott go to bed, too. But they often take work with them. They usually turn out the lights around midnight—though sometimes Missy remains up hours later to finish a brief. Then the alarm rings the next morning and Missy does it all over again. But Supermom? Nah, she says. “I’m always feeling like I’m doing it halfway.”

It’s a safe bet that mothers of previous

generations didn’t feel the pressure that today’s moms do—especially those of us living in the high-achieving Bethesda area—to be the perfect parent, to do as much as or more than other moms do. Raising a family in Connecticut in the 1960s and ’70s, my mother kept a tidy house, cooked the meals and made sure my two brothers and I wore nice enough clothes. But she didn’t arrange playdates or make sure our summers were filled with enrichment activities. She didn’t feel compelled to attend my summer softball games, or even to drive me to them since the coach lived nearby and could always give me a lift. Missy’s mother didn’t let her life revolve around Missy or around Missy’s twin siblings, Jennie and Jeff, either. She didn’t help with homework or cut short

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“s

“slow” month in summer:

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9:40 a.m.: Start work.

6:40 p.m.: Leave work.

a night out to pick up the kids from a social event. “You could have friends over, but you’d have to clear it well in advance, and she’d want to know who it was and how many people. It was never even multiples,” Missy says. Attitudes about child-rearing began to change in the 1970s, around the time Missy and I were growing up. More mothers began entering the workforce, and people started worrying about parents spending “quality time” with their kids. These days, women make up 47 percent of the workforce. And the employment rate of married mothers with kids has jumped from 37 percent in 1968 to 65 percent in 2011, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of recent U.S. Census data. But conflicted feelings about working mothers persist. In a Pew survey in April 2013, 74 percent of adults said the growing number of working moms has “made it harder for parents to raise children” because the mothers aren’t home as much. Suzanne Bianchi, the UCLA sociologist who died last November, spent her career studying family dynamics and found that today’s working mothers actually spend as much as or more time on child-rearing activities than stay-at-home moms did in the 1960s. This “intensive form of child-rearing” intensifies the maternal imperative to do everything ourselves, Bianchi and others have found. “All women today are dealing with [trying to achieve] perfectionism, regardless of their family background,” says Silver Spring social worker Kathleen Smith, who often counsels Bethesda-area women dealing with emotional difficulties and addiction issues resulting from

7 p.m.: Attend board meeting for the Catholic Coalition for Special Education.

10:20 p.m.: Return home. Eat dinner. Check on kids.

11 p.m.: Read mail. Talk to husband Scott about his day and the board meeting.

11:45 p.m.: Go to bed.

Once the kids are gone, Missy gets ready for work. A stop at Starbucks (below) with husband Scott is a must before heading to the office.

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Friends ask Missy why

she pushes herself so hard. Why, for example, does she race 6 miles back to Chevy Chase after her workout with the personal trainer, rather than going directly to her office, about a mile and a half away? “I have to,” she says. “I can’t just go straight from the gym to work—then all

Family photos decorate the bulletin board in Missy’s office at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in D.C.

“I like going into work and having challenging things to do,” Missy says. hell would break loose, which maybe is just my own sense of things.” She laughs. Plus, “I need to figure out what’s going on. Catch up with the big girls, too, and fill out forms, permission slips.” It’s easy to sympathize; my own kids are always telling me to “just chill.” But by all accounts, Missy operates at an energy level far above the rest of us— even on our best days. She’s “a self-admitted Type A” who likes “to keep active.” Scott? He’s more of a “Type C,” she says. “I like to think of myself as a 50/50 partner in all of this, but that’s not to say that the management of the household is split 50/50, because it’s clearly not,” says Scott, who handles the bills and “grunt” work around the house. “Part of my role is to be the calming influence when

everyone is going 100 mph.” Missy’s need to be active dates to her teen years, when her stepfather, a builder, told her to get a job if she wanted money for the movies. She did, working throughout high school and college. “That was the point I realized I wanted to keep busy,” she says. And “once I started down that road, I started to realize I like having [money], so that motivated me a lot as well.” Missy graduated from Duke University and the College of William & Mary law school, then worked either full or part time as a lawyer while raising her family. She joined Pillsbury two years ago. “I like going into work and having challenging things to do,” she says. So much so that she often takes on extra tasks, such as helping to evaluate young associates.

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stress. “The pressure to excel at everything is pretty unrelenting.” Brigid Schulte, an award-winning Washington Post reporter and selfdescribed “harried mother of two,” spent more than a year researching a new book on that very topic, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time (Sarah Crichton Books, March 2014). “The standards on how to be a good mother have become so ratcheted up as to be crazy,” says Schulte, a 51-yearold Alexandria, Va., resident who admits to adding fresh lemon slices to powdered lemonade to fool other mothers into thinking she’d made the real thing. “Fathers don’t have the same standards.” Every day, women are bombarded with messages preying on their anxieties about not being good enough. Consider this recent radio ad for Math Made Easy DVDs: “I thought I was a good mother,” a woman intones, before explaining that her son struggled with math until she turned to the products for help. The implied message? That her son’s math struggles were her fault. A study published in 2012 in the Journal of Child and Family Studies by researchers at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., found that women’s “fear of being judged by others exacerbates the impact of feeling that one is not living up to the internalized societal standards of motherhood.” In a 2013 survey of 7,000 American mothers by TODAYMoms.com, 75 percent said their self-imposed pressure to be perfect was “worse than the pressure they feel from other moms.” But 42 percent also sometimes felt inadequate after viewing photos of meals, homes and craft projects posted by other moms on the social media site Pinterest.

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Scott and Missy celebrate daughter Emily’s high school graduation last June.

“I certainly have offered to take some of that off her plate, but that never seems to work for the long term. In her mind, it’s just more efficient to handle it.” --Scott Lesmes She and Scott also volunteer with several nonprofit organizations, including the Catholic Coalition for Special Education, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and Imagination Stage, which runs the program for kids with disabilities that Scotty attends. She also is the go-to party organizer for the nonprofits, chairing galas

for Imagination Stage and the Catholic Coalition even as she cooks and hosts parties for family, friends and neighbors. She and Scott promote an “opendoor” policy at their six-bedroom home, which was built by Missy’s stepfather about five years ago. “Don’t knock on the door,” they tell friends. “Just come on in.” When she and Scott were designing

their house, Missy insisted on an open floor plan for entertaining. So a great room runs across the back of the house, with a spacious kitchen at one end and a family room at the other. French doors lead out to a big backyard. It’s a sharp contrast to her mother’s stiff and formal style. “She was the kind of mom who you didn’t go in the living room, you just didn’t,” says Missy, who lets her own children decorate their rooms any way they want. “We had fringe on a beautiful Oriental rug, and she could tell if you walked in there because you’d mess up the fringe. She would totally call you out on it. She’d be like, ‘Who messed up my fringe?’ ” At the Lesmes house, the front door “is always swinging open,” Missy says. “Somebody’s getting married, and I’m like, ‘Great, we’ll have the party.’ Scott [will] look at them and he’s like, ‘Do we even know them?’ and I’ll say, ‘Well, kind of.’ ” Not that Missy’s laid-back, says Courtney Sullivan, a close friend who worked with her when both were associates in a D.C. law firm in the late ’90s. Courtney’s husband is former NFL defensive back Roger Brown, who was with the New York Giants when the team won the Super Bowl in 1991 and who happens to be Missy’s personal trainer. Courtney, who lives in Silver Spring, is no slouch in the achievement department herself at age 43: She has a 9-year-old son, a 16-year-old stepdaughter and 17-yearold stepson, and she has been prosecuting terrorists for the Department of Justice since 2003. But she likes to tease her good friend. “There’s an open-door policy with a hint of psycho perfectionism,” she says of Missy as the two of us sip coffee one late December morning at a Panera in Silver Spring. Missy knows she can be a bit nutty about things being just so. One morning before work, she was staring at two lamp cords trailing off a table in full view behind the family room couch. She decided she could no longer tolerate that the cords had to travel across the rug to its edge, then go under it to travel back to

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we don’t know how she does it

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the outlets right beneath the table. So she shoved aside the table, took a knife and made two slices in the rug so the cords could reach the outlets more cleanly and directly. Then she drove to work.

Even with all

lived there until the twins headed to college, then moved to Chevy Chase. Missy remains close to her siblings, getting together often with Jeff and his family, who live in Gaithersburg. Jennie and her family live in Austria, where her husband is posted with the State Department. In early December, Missy and Scott flew to Austria to help Jennie fly home for a visit after she said she was worried about traveling alone with two toddlers. The trip provided a rare opportunity for Scott and Missy, who will celebrate their 20th anniversary this spring, to get away together for a few days.

At home, Missy

is “the general,” Scott says. She schedules the carpools, doctors’ appointments and kids’ activities, and sets the tone for the household. “She’s not one to really ask for help. It’s just not her nature,” says Scott, who met Missy in law school and remembers her as driven even then. “I certainly have

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the family and work obligations that Missy juggles, she still manages to find time for friends. “She is the friend everybody goes to with their problems,” says Courtney, who remembers calling Missy late at night when she and her husband were going through a rough patch. “Despite how incredibly busy she is, she always had time for me as a friend,” says Maria Leonard Olsen, a longtime Bethesda Magazine contributor and mother of two who has known Missy for 14 years. “She’s intensely loyal, and someone who my kids consider a second mother.” Missy’s kids describe her as the “cool mom,” always willing to allow friends

over for late-night pizza and a sleepover. “All my friends, even coming home from college, they’re like, ‘We want to see your mom,’ ” Emily tells me during a Thanksgiving visit home from college. “Unlike a lot of my friends’ moms, she’s able to be a friend as well as a mom.” Emily remembers her mother taking care of high school friends who had been drinking. “She would never judge you. She would say, ‘I’m just here to take care of you and make sure you’re safe. That’s my job,’ ” Emily says. “My friends never took advantage of that—I never took advantage of that—you just respected her more.” Missy has always been maternal, Courtney says, probably because she lost her mother early, leaving a void that Missy had to fill. She felt so responsible for helping her stepfather care for her teenage siblings, who are 12 years younger than she is, that she and Scott moved to Olney to be near them. They

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we don’t know how she does it offered to take some of that off her plate, but that never seems to work for the long term. In her mind, it’s just more efficient to handle it.” Even so, things don’t always run smoothly in the Lesmes household. “There were a number of times we’d forget” to pick up Scotty from Imagination Stage, Missy says with a laugh. “They’d call us, ‘Can someone pick Scotty up?’ We’d call each other [and say], ‘You told me you were going to pick him up.’ ” Work deadlines are always pressing—litigation lawyers live by the court docket, with no control over their daily schedules—leaving little time for lastminute snafus at home. Like the morning Missy found herself “running around like crazy” trying to find “anything blue” for Anna to wear for school Spirit Day. She finally threw up her hands in despair and yelled, “Why did you not do this the night before?” Then there was the day in midNovember when she read an email from

a friend who had already finished her Christmas shopping. Missy felt a rising sense of panic and immediately began checking sales online. “I feel inadequate all the time,” Missy says. “I look at other people’s perfect lives and say, ‘Oh, gosh, how does she do it?’ ” Courtney remembers one of the few times she ever heard Missy have a meltdown. It was Christmastime a few years ago. Things were crazy at work, and Missy was trying to decorate the house, wrap gifts for the kids and prepare for her annual Christmas Eve open house, along with the family dinner she’d host on the holiday. She was writing a brief when she heard a loud crash around 2 a.m. “She goes downstairs, and the Christmas tree is on the floor, ornaments shattered,” Courtney says. “She called me and she was crying, ‘My Christmas tree just crashed. I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ It was just the symbol of everything.” Missy remembers staying up hours

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When I ask Scott if he considers Missy

to be Supermom, he tells me: “It’s just not believable that everything always goes off without a hitch and she handles everything so perfectly. She’s a wonderful woman, but everybody reaches their limit and we have a little reset.” Missy knows that ultimately she can’t totally control everything that happens at work or at home. “I love to put on a happy face and try to make things fun and happy,” she says, “but there are absolutely times when my head is spinning around and the kids can see it on my face when I walk in. They do know to back off.” She relieves the stress by socializing with family and friends and having a glass of wine or two. One Friday in late September, Missy and Scott stayed up past midnight, laughing and drinking as they choreographed a dance routine to Don Henley and Stevie Nicks’ 1981 hit, “Leather and Lace,” to perform at an upcoming party. Friday nights often find Missy throw-

ing an impromptu dance party with Scott and the kids; the time together helps her feel better about having to miss school events because of work. “That sounds kind of silly, but I feel like I try,” she says. “Maybe I overcompensate because I can’t be…I can’t be the perfect mom. I want to be, but there’s just not enough time, not enough hours.” Her friend Sara Knoll describes Missy’s house as “a train station; there’s people coming and going all the time.” A Chevy Chase mother of two who works for a communications firm in downtown Bethesda, Sara met Missy eight years ago when their daughters were trying out for a soccer team. We’re talking at Starbucks on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase, where she and Missy have come after finishing a 5-mile run on the Capital Crescent Trail. “If I didn’t see how happy and connected her family is, I would worry more,” Sara says. But, she tells Missy, “I feel that somehow you have the energy

to make it all work. I definitely worry that you don’t get enough sleep. But I never feel like: Oh, she’s working too much and not home enough. Your house is just like this happy place.”

A few nights before Halloween, I stop by Missy’s “happy place.” She arrived home from work at about 7 and is enjoying a glass of red wine with her motherin-law, Dorothy Shetterly, who runs a bed-and-breakfast in Purcellville, Va., and is visiting overnight. Dishes of Margarita’s roast chicken and mashed potatoes sit on the kitchen table for Anna, who’s still at soccer practice. Scott has taken Scotty on a lastminute trip to buy a Halloween costume. Missy has promised to wait for Anna to carve pumpkins in between her homework and finishing a school project later that night. Maggie flips through a book of elaborate pumpkin designs, declaring an intricate haunted house and a cat face to be her favorites.

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we don’t know how she does it

Still dressed in the white sweater and black pants that she wore to work, Missy decides shortly before 8 that she can’t wait any longer. “I’m just going to get those pumpkins ready,” she says, taking a carving knife to a large gourd on the counter. Dorothy laughs. She and Missy are cut from the same cloth, always needing to be busy. “Everyone says Scott married his mom,” Dorothy says. It seems as if Missy can’t relax for more than a few minutes. But Courtney later explains that carving pumpkins is “a way to unwind from the hyperdrive [of work]. For someone like Missy, who’s multitalented, all of that other stuff [she does] is an outlet for what you don’t get to do in a very highly focused career.” At about 10 that night, Missy emails me photos of four pumpkins she has carved with her daughters: the haunted house and cat face from the book, plus a monster and one with ghosts.

We all make choices. I chose to leave a

newspaper career and to work part time in order to be home with my kids. Over the years, I’ve often wondered about my choice as I’ve watched former colleagues advance in their careers. Missy and Scott both chose high-pressure jobs that require long hours but enable them to afford household help, a beautiful home and private schools for their kids. All choices, though, come at a price. Missy recalls a conversation she had with her youngest daughter last fall. She was preparing for yet another business trip to Tennessee, and Anna wondered if the family could move there so Missy wouldn’t be away so often. If we did that, Missy thought at the time, we wouldn’t have our house and all our stuff. “We want to live a certain way,” she tells me. “I think it goes back to that certain work ethic. If you want it, you’ve got to work for it. That requires long

hours. It will be interesting to see what my daughters think one day, whether it was worth it to them. I don’t profess to say that what I’m doing is the right way. It’s tough because I’m always racked with guilt about something.” When I ask Emily, who describes herself as “very, very close” to Missy, she tells me she used to get upset in elementary school whenever Missy missed a school performance. But her mother always managed to keep in touch throughout the day by phone or text. “She always kept me in the back of her head,” says Emily, who now appreciates how hard her mother works at home and in her career. “I want to be that kind of person that does everything, making our house that happy place.” n Julie Rasicot is the associate editor of the magazine. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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Niki Ugel and her youngest son, 6-year-old Dino, watch the skaters practice at the Rockville Ice Arena.

a life on

ice

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By Cindy Rich Photos by Lisa Helfert

Niki Ugel is a single mother of four who lives with her parents and spends her days shuttling her kids— who include championship ice dancers—to practices. It’s not the life she envisioned. ‘But it’s a good life,’ she says.

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a life on ice

The Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships are a few weeks away, and there’s a problem with Gigi’s costume. Her brother Luca’s hands are slipping on the fabric when he tries to lift her into the air. “I can’t hold her leg!” Luca Becker, 13, shouts from the ice. The music is playing, the coaches are watching and he can’t get the right grip on Gigi’s dress. He’s panicked. He and his sister are nationally ranked ice

dancers—they were the U.S. Intermediate Ice Dance champions in 2012—and in competition, they would lose points for a mishap like this. “OK, so we’ll fix it,” their mother, Niki Ugel, yells from the bleachers at the Rockville Ice Arena. Luca skates past his mom and says it again. They messed up their rotational lift. Now what? What are they supposed to do now? “You need to change your attitude,” Ugel tells him. She doesn’t like the nega-

tivity. “It’ll be fine.” When you’re part of a world-class training program and your coaches are former Russian champions, something minor can seem like a crisis. When you’re the mom, Ugel says, it’s your job to put things in perspective. Skating can seem like all that matters, but it isn’t. They fall on the ice and get fourth place instead of third? It happens, she’ll say, everyone falls. They miss a step in their compulsory dance? It’s not the end

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Ugel has clocked 216,000 miles on her minivan, shuttling her kids to skating practice and dance classes.

“Is it overwhelming? Yes. But most of the time it’s good overwhelming.” — Niki Ugel, speaking of life as the mother of four kids, three of whom ice skate

Ugel hangs out in the locker room as her daughters Coco (left) and Gigi get ready for practice.

of the world. The fabric on Gigi’s dress is too slippery? Relax, she tells Luca. She’ll go home and put crystals on the stretch material. Problem solved.

Sports are filled with stories of over-

bearing parents who scream at their elite-athlete kids for failing to perform perfectly or, conversely, who try to sabotage the competition (French-American tennis player Mary Pierce’s father famously once urged her to “kill the

bitch” she was playing). Ugel isn’t like that. She knows of moms who scope out the competition by researching other skaters. But as far as her kids are concerned, “this is their sport, not mine.” One of Luca and Gigi’s coaches, Alexei Kiliakov, told Ugel early on that when parents push too hard, their kids burn out. The skaters he trains are under enough mental and physical pressure on the ice. They need coaches to be coaches and parents to be parents. Which is fine with Ugel, who can’t remember a time she didn’t want to be a mom. When she was 11, she decided against her favorite sleepaway camp so she could stay home with her new baby sister. “My mom used to say she never had to change the girls’ diapers or give them a bath because I did it,” says Ugel, who

grew up in Rockville’s Flower Valley neighborhood and moved to Bethesda when she was 15. “We’d go on vacations and I’d be the one playing with the babies we met at the beach.” The oldest of five, she enjoyed the chaos of a house full of kids—piling into the car to go grocery shopping, boisterous family dinners, neighborhood kids sleeping over—and knew she wanted a big family of her own. At 44, she has four children— ages 13, 12, 10 and 6—and a Ph.D. But she wasn’t planning on being a single mom. Or a skating mom. She wasn’t expecting to live with her parents in the home she once shared with her siblings. “It’s not what I thought my life would be,” says Ugel, who graduated from Bethesda’s Walt Whitman High School in 1988. “But it’s a good life.”

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a life on ice

Ugel had a

Luca and Gigi Becker show their moves during the 2014 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, where they won novice dance gold.

grandfather, Dr. Arthur Ugel, a dermatologist in Chevy Chase, watches the Discovery Channel in his La-Z-Boy recliner, one of them often tries to squeeze in next to him. They call their grandmother “Mom” and Ugel “Mommy.” “The intention was for them to call her Grandma or Nana, but since they were raised in this house and I call my mom, ‘Mom,’ they copied me,” she says. “They’ll say, ‘Mom,’ and I’ll say yes, and they’ll say, ‘No, not you.’ ” When Ugel needs backup, she asks her mom. Can you tell Coco to sit still and do her homework? Can you please tell Dino to stop eating so much junk? “You develop a very intimate relationship, as though they were your children,” says Ugel’s mother, Dale, who works in her husband’s office. “You get angry at them the way you get angry at your own kids—and feel their happiness as you do with your own kids.” When three of the kids—Luca, Gigi and Coco—were all under age 4, things sometimes got tense at home. “There was lots of crying, diapers to be changed, stuff all over the place,” Ugel says. “There were times when I think

my dad got frustrated. Now my parents couldn’t imagine life any other way.” Like any family, they have their moments. Ugel recently fought with her mother about the kitchen countertop. “She thought I was buying too much beef jerky and not enough vegetables, and turned it into the fact that the juicer I use takes up too much space, and if I’m really a juicer, I wouldn’t eat so much beef jerky. That’s the kind of stuff we argue about,” Ugel says. Ugel’s parents help her kids with their homework; her youngest, Dino, often spends Saturdays with them while everyone else is skating. “What my children’s grandparents give to them—I can’t do that by myself. My kids are better people because of my parents,” says Ugel, who separated from her husband five years ago and divorced in 2012. “My mom taught me this, and it’s true: You can never have too many people love you.”

When the kids have an early-morning practice, Gigi, who’s 12, often leaves a note on Ugel’s bedroom door: “Mom, don’t forget to set your alarm for 4:50. I love you.”

Photos tAKEN AT THE 2014 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships BY Daphne Backman / ice-dance.com.

lucrative job in academia at the University of Texas at Austin when she decided she wanted something more. “I had a good friend, Charisse, who owned a nail salon and had these two little girls. I was at the height of my career, traveling all over the state doing presentations for teachers,” she says. “But all I wanted was Charisse’s life.” Ugel married in 1999, finished her Ph.D. in special education that December, and had her first child, Luca, three months later. She glows when she talks about the day he was born. “It wasn’t a fabulous birth—12 hours, episiotomy, no epidural,” she says. “But there’s nothing like that experience of your first one. ...That was the happiest moment of my life.” When it came time to go back to work and send Luca to day care, she couldn’t do it. Instead, she moved her family back to Bethesda to live with her parents for a while, and ended up staying for the last 14 years. She made her own baby food and nursed for as long as she could. “My dad would joke that people were gonna knock on the door and ask for Luca to come play football, and I’d have to say, ‘No, he’s nursing.’ ” Gigi, her second child, was born as Ugel was getting out of the elevator at Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C. Coco, also an ice dancer, came a year and a half later; then Dino, who’s 6. The only home Ugel’s children have known is their grandparents’ four-bedroom house in Bethesda. Until recently, when Ugel’s grandmother, Georgia Young, passed away, there were four generations living under the same roof. Dino liked hanging out in his greatgrandmother’s room, where he’d bring his Legos and blocks. “He would ramble, and she would just listen and play with him,” says Ugel, who named Gigi (short for Georgia) after her grandmother. “What could be better for someone who’s 94 years old?” The kids eat breakfast with Ugel’s parents every day before school. When their

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Photos tAKEN AT THE U.S. National Championships BY Daphne Backman / ice-dance.com.

Not that Ugel would oversleep. She stacks books on top of her alarm clock so the cats can’t step on the buttons, and sets her iPhone as backup in case they do. But things get so hectic sometimes that the reminders help. Ugel recently quit a fulltime job that had evening and weekend hours because she wasn’t seeing enough of her kids. Other moms were driving her kids to practice and bringing them home, and she found out through one of them that Gigi had dropped out of the student council race at school. “I didn’t even know she was running for student council,” says Ugel, who has her own educational consulting business. She hosts teacher trainings and helps parents navigate the special education system. “I need to work, I want to work, but not at the expense of being with them.” Now she’s back to driving everybody everywhere. Dino plays soccer pretty much year-round, which means practices and games three days a week. She tried to get him to skate so the kids would all be in one place, but he wants nothing to do with it. Some days her kids go from skating to school, then school to skating.

“Elena Novak, one of the renowned ice dance professionals...invited Gigi into this academy. I was like, ‘OK.’ I had no idea what a life-changing moment that would be.” — N iki Ugel BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 91

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a life on ice

“Sometimes they’ll start their homework in the car,” Ugel says. She won’t buy her kids cellphones or let them download apps on hers. “If there’s a book report or a science project due on a Tuesday, they better put in the hours on Sunday.” Ice dancing is like ballroom dancing on ice (minus the explosive jumps of pairs skating). Luca and Gigi skate to “Mr. Bojangles” for their Viennese waltz and the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” and “You Should Be Dancing” for their free dance. They take ballet three times a week with one coach, and ballroom dancing once a week with another as part of their training. They skate six days a week, including Saturdays at 6:45 a.m., and they don’t get home on Mondays until after 9. Ugel has 216,000 miles on her minivan, which she calls her office, and it’s littered with snack wrappers, ice skate guards, books, jackets and hats.

When there’s no milk in the refrigerator, Ugel’s kids don’t complain. They understand that their mom didn’t have time to go to the store. “She does everything for us,” says Luca, an eighth-grader at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville. “Her schedule revolves around us.” There are always a few extra kids at the house, often skating friends who stay for dinner or spend the night. Just like when Ugel was growing up. “What’s another meatball?” she asks. It’s a line she stole from her mother. Her kids miss out on birthday celebrations and movies because they skate so much. “I used to get a little upset, but over time I got more and more used to it,” says Gigi, a sixth-grader at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital in D.C. “I’m always with them at school, so it doesn’t really matter to me if I miss a party.” Being busy isn’t such a bad thing,

Ugel says, especially when you’re a preteen. “Some of the stuff that goes on at school, the jealousy and girl stuff, it just doesn’t happen to Gigi. She doesn’t have time for it.” The skating was a good distraction from their parents’ divorce, too. “All these changes were going on at home and they were at the rink,” Ugel says. “It almost saved them.”

Luca and Coco are sitting in the liv-

ing room arguing over the meaning of “babushka.” They’ve heard their coaches say the word, and Coco always thought it meant stupid. “Babushka means grandma,” Luca says. Everyone laughs. “The whole time you thought they were calling you stupid, they were just calling you grandma,” Ugel says with a smile, before adding, “I’m kidding.” The three siblings have learned some Russian, including a few curse words.

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a life on ice The coaches are tough on them—the kids are, after all, hoping to one day make it to the top. “It’s a long way away, but we truly believe Luca and Gigi can reach the Olympics,” says Kiliakov, a former skating champion in Russia, who has been coaching for 20 years. By “a long way,” he means 2022. “Both of them have a natural gift. You can tell them what to do and they do it.” When her kids skate, Ugel says she pretends to be unconcerned. But “I’m actually biting my nails and pulling my hair out.” She once found herself trying to calm Gigi, who had been cut by another skater’s blade and needed 43 stitches, while assuring Luca that his sister was all right. The ice skating started by accident. Ugel’s friends signed up their kids for lessons through the county at the Cabin John Ice Rink, and she decided to go along. She figured it would be nice for her children to know how to skate at birthday parties. Ugel put Gigi and Coco in lessons first; Luca played ice hockey and soc-

cer. When the lesson times at Cabin John didn’t work with her schedule, she moved the girls to the rink in Wheaton. The Wheaton Ice Arena is home to the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy (WISA), one of the best training programs in the country. (Practice now takes them to three separate ice rinks.) “Elena Novak, one of the renowned ice dance professionals, happened to have been Gigi’s coach for county lessons and invited Gigi into this academy,” Ugel says. “I was like, ‘OK.’ I had no idea what a lifechanging moment that would be.” Ugel knew nothing about ice skating—and didn’t have any star athletes in the family. Gigi, it seemed, was a natural. “Something that might take the average kid four or five lessons would take her one,” Ugel says. When Ugel brought Luca to the rink one day, the coaches encouraged her to enroll him, too. That way Gigi would have a builtin partner. “The idea of them being in the same sport was nice because they would all

be together after school,” Ugel says. Four years later, Luca and Gigi became the U.S. national champions in intermediate dance. And after moving up to the novice category—two levels from the top—they were ranked fourth in the country in 2013. Coco, a solo skater, competes nationally, as well. They look grown up on the ice, with their fancy outfits and one-foot turns (aka “twizzles”), but they’re still kids. The girls’ bedroom wall is covered in pictures of Taylor Swift; Luca’s is filled with Dallas Cowboys signs. They’re supposed to watch what they eat—if Luca can’t lift his sister, they can’t compete—but Ugel catches them cheating. There’s an argument before every competition. “She puts makeup on me,” Luca says. “Girl makeup.” “All the guys have to wear just a little tiny bit of blush,” Ugel says. If Gigi stays at a friend’s house, Luca asks her if she got enough sleep for practice. When they mess up on the ice, one often blames the other. Gigi will pinch

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Luca’s arm during a waltz; he’ll get mad and squeeze her hand too hard. Ugel rarely intervenes. By the time they get home, she says, they’re over it.

When Gigi came

home from school upset a few months ago because someone had copied her project, Ugel told her to take it as a compliment. “I said to her, ‘It doesn’t come easy to him. If he copied you and he feels like a million dollars, great. Good. Don’t think anything of it.’ ” Sometimes you have to flip things, Ugel says, to turn something bad into something not so bad. Most of her friends are married and have booming careers and a house with a white picket fence. She gets lonely. Money is tight. Her kids don’t have Uggs or get manicures. They wear hand-me-downs from friends. “I thought at this stage of the game I’d be taking care of my parents,” Ugel says, “not that my parents would still be taking care of us.”

“If you told me I could hire the best nanny in Washington to take them everywhere, I wouldn’t.”

—N iki Ugel

But these aren’t real problems, she says. A real problem is not having a roof over your head. She has four healthy children who treat people nicely. And close friends she has had since high school. There’s a piece of paper hanging on a tackboard in her kitchen that reads: “Mommy, I love you so much because: You help me. Your so nice. Your amazing. You take me to places. Your so pretty.” Coco wrote it one day for no apparent reason. “I’m well aware of how lucky I am,” Ugel says. “Is it overwhelming? Yes. But most of the time it’s good overwhelming.”

Ugel can’t seem to make a dent in her to-do list. A haircut has been on the list for three weeks, but there are other things she has to get to first. Email Dino’s teacher. Follow up on a job lead. Buy printer cartridges. Find Gigi white socks with reinforced toes. Get stationery so Coco can write thank you notes. Stop by Strosniders for a tiny screwdriver to fix Dino’s toy. Find new laces for Luca’s skates. “They have a lift where Gigi kinda does the splits in the air, but she puts one skate on Luca’s skate, so her blade keeps cutting his laces,” Ugel says.

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a life on ice She had a 10th birthday party for Coco at the house a few weeks ago, two months after Coco’s actual birthday, because she couldn’t find time to do it before then. “Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if they didn’t do this,” she says, “but I think the benefits and the rewards are good.” Her kids know how to win, or lose, with grace. They never wear their medals. At out-of-state competitions, they’ve gone bowling and swimming with skaters who’ve just beaten them. They know how to talk to adults—she’s strict about manners—and how to take criticism. They know how to be disciplined, how to deal with disappointment. “Every loss—every third, fourth, second place—those are the lessons,” Ugel says. “They’re learning what happens when you work hard—and that even when you do work hard, is the outcome always perfect? No.” She doesn’t like to talk too much about the Olympics. That’s a long shot, she says.

There are so many young skaters who are just as good as her kids. When Gigi’s school wanted to post a photo of Gigi and Luca on its website, Ugel politely declined. Her kids aren’t big on attention. Some parents throw stuffed animals onto the ice at competitions, but she doesn’t do that. She was touched when a stranger saw her kids perform in Colorado and tossed a teddy bear onto the ice with a note: Keep it up— you’re really great. “Somebody recognized them and liked them—and it wasn’t somebody we knew,” Ugel says. “Sometimes the moments are bigger for me than they are for them.”

When the Eastern

Regional Sectionals in Ashburn, Va., finally arrive in November, Luca and Gigi come in second in the novice category. Less than two months later, they surpass expectations by winning novice dance gold at the 2014 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston. Next year, when Gigi turns 13, she and Luca will be

old enough to travel internationally and potentially represent U.S. Figure Skating on “Team USA.” That would mean more juggling, more time away, more pressure. And Coco could be right behind them. That’s why Ugel values the time she has with them now. “If you told me I could hire the best nanny in Washington to take them everywhere, I wouldn’t,” Ugel says. “Some of the best conversations happen in the car. Today, Dino had smiley face stickers on his behavior chart from school and he was so excited to show everyone. He showed Gigi and Coco in the car, then we went to get Luca from school. When Luca got in the front seat, I pinched him, and he understood exactly what I was saying: Make a big deal out of the stickers.” n Cindy Rich is a former Washingtonian writer who lives in Rockville. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com.

CONGRATULATIONS to

Catherine Ronan Karrels ’86, voted Best Head of a Private School 2014, and to Hallie Martin ’14, Extraordinary Teen, in Bethesda Magazine. Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic, independent, college preparatory school for girls, Grades 1-12, with a coeducational Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and Early Childhood Program, located in Bethesda, MD. Multiple round-trip bus routes available in DC, MD, and VA.

www.stoneridgeschool.org 96 March/April 2014 | BethesdaMagazine.com

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Nicole Levine enjoys a moment at home in Bethesda with daughter Georgia, 7, and son Charlie, 6. Levine says her husband doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t share her feelings of inadequacy as a parent.

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the

Choices moms make For harried Montgomery County

doing this right? Even the ones

moms, achieving the perfect

who stay home full time arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

work-life balance can sometimes

immune to the stress and feelings

feel like a quest for the subur-

of self-doubt.

ban holy grail. On days when

We talked to 10 local women

soccer practices, unexpected

about their pursuit of mommy

illnesses and crushing profes-

equilibrium. Here are some of

sional deadlines converge, every

the experiences and insights

mother probably wonders: Am I

they shared.

By Jen Chaney | Photos by Amy Moore

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the choices moms make

Nicole Levine

39, Bethesda Children: Georgia, 7, and Charlie, 6 Status: full-time working mom; deputy director of Polaris Project, a nonprofit that combats human trafficking “There’s just something in us [moms] that’s attached [to our kids] in a way that dads aren’t. I’ve actually had this conversation with my husband. He loves our kids as much as I love them. [But] for me, [there’s always] that feeling of guilt [about not doing enough]; he does not feel that at all. He doesn’t feel guilty, thinking that he’s a bad dad. He doesn’t feel guilty, thinking he’s a bad employee or a bad husband. He’s just: This is the reality, and I operate the best I can in this reality and I balance the best I can. Anybody who thinks it’s not good enough: Walk a mile in my shoes. He’s able to let that go. But for whatever reason, especially on the mom front, I just cannot let it go. It’s sort of like when the kids were newborns and they would cry. My husband could sleep through it. There was no physical way I could sleep through it.”

Kim Richards

31, Bethesda Children: Aaron, 1 Status: full-time working mom; editor of Chevy Chase-based WeddingWire “You always feel like you’re skating on such thin ice. If one thing sort of doesn’t go your way, the tower of cards or whatever just falls. “Probably the worst time we had was in September. I had a big deadline at work on the day that we were moving, so my husband was handling the move by himself and I was going to work. The night before the move, my husband and I were getting ready to go to bed, all packed, and we said, ‘Wouldn’t it just suck if Aaron got sick today?’ [Then] we heard a cough from his room. He cried out, but then he was quiet. [I said:] ‘You know what? Let me just go check on him.’ I walked in his room and he was covered in vomit. Just absolutely covered. It turns out his entire day care got this stomach virus. Imagine: We’re moving the next day, so we had no place to go. I had to stay

home, clearly, [despite] this work deadline. Our new house…we had some construction going on there. Our old house—obviously, we were moving so we couldn’t stay there. Basically, we got a hotel room. “So I’m sitting there, trying to deal with this deadline issue. My son is in a Pack ’n Play, not too happy that I’m on the computer. My husband’s moving, so he’s out of commission. That was probably one of the worst days I’ve had since becoming a mom. Now we look back and it’s like a comedy of errors because all the worst things that could possibly happen did. But we made it. We’re fine. But oh, my God, it was so bad.”

Monica Garcia Harms

37, North Bethesda Children: Sophia, 5, and Stella, 2 Status: full-time working mom; family law attorney “I think women and mothers put added pressure on themselves. If my kids are ever really sick, I just want to be there to hear what the doctor

says—not because my husband’s not capable of doing that, but because I just feel like I want to be there and do that. I remember being in court and having to run to the doctor because I wanted to hear what the doctor had to say about my daughter who had been sick—she’d been vomiting. I had heels under my desk, and I remember putting on my patent leather heels versus my suede heels because I knew I was going to get vomit on them and vomit came off the patent leather heels better than the suede heels. I remember telling the doctor that, and her cracking up, saying: ‘Only a working mother goes through that dialogue in her head.’ ”

Stacy Lyn

42, Olney Children: Alex, 9, and Sammy, 7 Status: full-time working mom; afternoon drive anchor on WNEW (99.1 FM) “I always used to cherish my family dinnertime; you know, [I] thought that [it] was important to sit down together. But now that my schedule is: I do afternoon drive, I’m not home for dinner with my kids and after school. ...So now I plan it out. I plan my meals for the week. I go to the grocery store, and I cook in the morning. I basically get up at 5 a.m., go to the gym, get back and cook breakfast, lunch and dinner before most people are even awake. “I remember someone told me— when I first was debating taking this job and saying, ‘How am I going to do this without being at home after school with my family?’—they said that you make your own normal. I would think that, yes, normal is to sit down and have dinner with your family. So now I make sure in the morning I sit down and I have breakfast with them and talk. That’s our thing now. Everyone has a different normal, I guess.”

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Melissa Hurwitz

34, Bethesda Children: Jonathan, 3, and Rebecca, 6 months Status: stay-at-home mom; used to work in television production “When I went back [to work] part time, I kind of felt like I was stuck between two worlds: the ‘working mommy world’ and also the ‘stay-at-home world.’ Because I was working part time, people didn’t see me as either. When I left my position, I did feel like it was very isolating because there are so many working parents in this area. When I went to the parks and went out, it was mostly nannies. It made it very isolating, so it wasn’t an easy change. I definitely had to go out there and find the mothers and the children [to interact with].”

After practicing yoga, Lauren Davis of Chevy Chase sits with her 4-year-old, Georgia Mytinger.

Jill Wiener

34, Bethesda Children: Asher, 4, and Meryl, 2 Status: stay-at-home mom; former event planner for the Consumer Electronics Association; works part time at Crossfit Bethesda “Some of the challenges have definitely been that feeling of isolation, where [some] days the seconds are like hours going by. Asher was sort of an easy baby going to sleep, but really not an easy baby during the day. And it was really challenging. Having good friends I could rely on—[where I could] say, ‘I need to get out of the house. He’s been screaming for hours,’ and [they] would say, ‘Come on over’—was crucial to my well-being. “I’m a pretty social person by nature, and if I hadn’t had that…I mean, there have been days where I’ve said: Why didn’t I go back to work? We’ve all had those, for sure. And I think one of the toughest things about being a mom, whether you’re working or not, is I don’t know that anyone ever thinks they’ve made the perfect choice. Because I don’t think there is one.”

Lauren Davis

39, Chevy Chase Children: Georgia, 4 Status: full-time working mom; real estate agent for Washington Fine Properties “I’ll go through phases where I’m feeling stretched thin and I’ll go, ‘I’m not good at my job, I’m not a good wife, I’m not a good friend and I’m not a good mom.’ Because when you’re working and you’re doing these other things, you feel like something’s got to give. But the bottom line is: I don’t think the people in your life really feel that way, necessarily. You know, I think I do a good job masking that and making it work for the other people in my life and my job. I don’t think I’m dropping the ball. But it is an internal argument where you’re like: Wow, I feel like I’m stretched thin and I’m not good at anything.”

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the choices moms make

Heather Bruskin

35, Kensington Children: Sawyer, 3, and Abby, 6 Status: stay-at-home mom; former career counselor at MIT; holds part-time, volunteer job as president of Garrett Park Nursery School

Heather Bruskin of Kensington says she feels compelled to explain to others that she’s more than a stayat-home mom.

Ariana Kelly

35, Bethesda Children: Maeve, 9, and Leo, 6 Status: full-time working mom; member of Maryland’s House of Delegates representing the 16th District “Everything got so much harder when there were two. You think you’ve got it all under control. For me, my first child was just a great baby, and I thought I was the world’s best parent as a result. But, in fact, children just have different personalities. My second baby wasn’t as good of a sleeper and wasn’t as good of an eater. He’s grown into a wonderful, wonderful little boy, but those years with him were rough. For me, that was a really difficult time. And as happens with a tremendous number of women, I was having a lot of health issues. I developed some auto-

immune problems and this very rare, life-threatening allergy to the cold. People thought I was crazy. I went to the doctor and said, ‘I’m allergic to beer and popsicles.’ He said, ‘OK, little lady.’ But it’s true. It’s just this incredibly rare autoimmune disorder that people get when they’re postpartum. “Those stories are often lost because—from a policy perspective, I think about this all the time— we go through these crisis periods when we have young children where things are so hard and we’re spread so thin, fathers and mothers, particularly when they’re both working, that we try to just dig in, head down, and plow through. When we come out the other end and don’t need to pay for day care anymore and aren’t so incredibly stressed in our lives, we just want to forget that period and move on to the easy streets of older kids.”

“It is hard for me when I go to parties. Because, you know, people around here are always asking what you do and where have you worked, and those types of things. It’s a very status-oriented place. And it is still hard for me to say, ‘I’m just home with my kids.’ I don’t say it like that, because if you say I’m ‘just’ home with my kids, that obviously suggests something in itself. But I feel very quick to point out that I’m president of the nursery school and I do all these things, and I used to have a job that, from a status perspective, I felt good about it. You want to point out that ‘I’m still smart and I’m still capable, but I just have made these choices.’ …I feel confident in it, yet I always still feel a little self-conscious.”

Donna Attman

35, Potomac Children: Ryan, 6, Sydney, 3, and Sam, 5 months Status: full-time working mom; senior account manager for Clear Channel “It’s funny. There are times when I’ll go running into school and I’m dressed to go to work and there are moms in their gym clothes headed to the gym. They look at me and think: Oh, you look so great. You’re dressed, your hair’s blown out, you have makeup on your face. And I look at them and think: I would give anything to go to the gym right now for an hour. Maybe it’s just that grass-is-always-greener-on-theother-side mentality.” n Jen Chaney is a former Washington Post writer and the mother of a 7-year-old in North Bethesda. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamaga zine.com.

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Special Advertising Section

Culture

WATCH

Find all these events and more at DOandGO.org Disney’s Winnie the Pooh The Arts Barn, Kentlands March 8-23 Welcome to the Hundred Acre Wood in Disney’s delightful new show based on the beloved characters of A.A. Milne and the 2011 Disney animated feature film. Gaithersburgmd.gov/ArtsBarn 301-258-6394

SPRING CONCERT 2014

UNIQUE BALLET

Maryland Youth Ballet March 22, 1 & 5pm / March 23,1pm Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center Montgomery College Rockville, MD This Spring, Maryland Youth Ballet invites you to an enticing concert of classical and contemporary ballet. The program features our most popular of the Caroline series, Caroline Goes to the Rodeo, Alvin Mayes’ rhythmic Eirean Kente and a Petipa classic Raymonda, Act III. Three unique ballets that are sure to entertain enrich and engage audiences of all ages! Tickets $18-$28

Triple Delights Musical Arts International Inc. May 25, 3pm A riveting performance of Haydn and Faure Trios by Qing Li, Violin; Ken Ding, Cello; and Li-Ly Chang, Piano. Duo for violin-cello by Kodaly and Halverson. Ms. Li is admired as one of the country’s most accomplished orchestral players as the principal second of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

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Bethesda Film Fest

Connecting Hearts and Minds

Bethesda Urban Partnership March 21 & 22, 8pm Celebrate the work of local and regional documentary filmmakers with a formal screening featuring up to five short documentary films by filmmakers from MD, D.C. and VA. Tickets $10. www.bethesda.org or 301-215-6660

Coral Cantigas March 16, 7pm Temple Emanuel Cantigas’s choral harmonies explore new horizons and capture natural connections in the music from the Jewish, Arabic, and Latino traditions. Guest Artist: Intercultural Journeys, from Philadelphia. www.cantigas.org

MAIN STAGE EVENTS AT THE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

TWO EVENTS!

Cultural Arts Center, Montgomery College Silver Spring www.montgomerycollege.edu/cac or 240-567-5775

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Mastsers of Tradition

Tomas Kubinek

March 27 Masters of Tradition, Celebrating Irish Music in Its Purest Form

April 12 Tomas Kubinek, a Certified Lunatic & Master of the Impossible this exuberant oneman show is equal parts comic brilliance, virtuosic vaudeville, and irresistible charm.

2/12/14 1:41 PM

Special Advertising Section

Culture Watch, continued... Hatched (Theater for the Very Young) BlackRock Center for the Arts April 12, 10am & 1pm Treehouse Shakers use handcrafted puppets, music & movement to create an interactive theatre experience for children ages 0-6. Set on a farm, the audience will interact and play with the characters on stage.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING Round House Theatre 4545 East-West Hwy. April 2-27 August Wilson’s inspiring portrait of AfricanAmerican life in the ‘60s tells about ordinary people at a turning point in history. It’s 1969 and change is in the air. For the Memphis owner of a rundown diner in a dying neighborhood, the civil rights movement may be an impractical dream. Torn between gambling on an urban renewal buyout or selling his building to a predatory businessman, he’s caught between idealism and brutal reality. “Glorious storytelling” – New York Times www.roundhousetheatre.org 240-644-1100

Brian Ganz Plays: Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 National Philharmonic March 8-9, 8pm Brian Ganz, pianist; Michał Dworzyñski, conductor. Also on the program: Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 www.nationalphilharmonic.org 301-581-5100

www.blackrockcenter.org or 240.912.1058

Dance Bethesda Bethesda Urban Partnership March 7, 7-10:30pm FREE Dance Lessons March 8, 8pm | Dance Concert On Friday, Bethesda dance studios offer free lessons and dance parties. Saturday’s Concert features seven of the region’s top dance companies. Tickets $20-adults; $10-children.

AN INSPIRING TALE

www.bethesda.org or 301-215-6660

The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan The Victorian Lyric Opera Company June 12, 13, 14, 20 & 21 at 8pm; June 15*, 21* & 22* at 2pm *Special family-friendly Children’s Matinees With award-winning local performers accompanied by a fantastic full orchestra, VLOC will bring this swashbuckling favorite to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre’s stage! www.vloc.org

Outside In

Spring & Summer Camps

MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet April 18, 8pm “Outside In” brings award-winning choreographers to Montgomery County. See exciting new works and DC-area premieres from up-and-coming names in contemporary ballet!

Glen Echo Park Enroll Today for 2014 Camps! Bring your kids to Glen Echo Park for a summer of fun! Spring break & summer camps for children & teens are offered by resident programs in visual arts, music, theater, and more. www.glenechopark.org

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From family fun to date night...

DoandGo.org has it all!

DOandGO.org is a service of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County

2/12/14 1:42 PM

By Archana Pyati and Amy Reinink Photography by Michael Ventura

shot on location at stone ridge school of the sacred heart

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TOP teens Meet the winners of our fifth annual Extraordinary Teen Awards—12 of the county’s best and brightest students, chosen from nearly 100 nominees. This year’s winners include an awardwinning mathematician, a budding politician and several athletes who are attracting local and national attention. These teens show it’s possible to shine both in and out of the classroom.

The Skier

shot on location at stone ridge school of the sacred heart

Hannah Burr, Senior, Thomas S. Wootton High School

Hannah Burr’s

parents were understandably skeptical when she told them she wanted to spend five months of her junior year skiing at Waterville Valley Academy, a New Hampshire boarding school for high-level ski racers. “We made it clear that the only way this was going to work was for her to make academics her first priority,” says her father, Mike Burr. Not only did the North Potomac teen maintain her academics, she earned perfect scores on four AP tests and maintained a high GPA at Wootton while spending several hours daily on the slopes. At Waterville, tutors work with students to help them keep up with schoolwork sent from home. Hannah, now 17, started racing at

Pennsylvania resorts such as Whitetail and Liberty Mountain while in elementary school, after a ski instructor noticed how quickly she mastered basic skiing skills. Soon she was winning local races and attending offseason ski camps in Colorado, New England and other locations. In high school, she began spending a few weeks of each school year at Waterville, culminating in those five months during junior year. Hannah discovered at the boarding school that she was among a much more competitive field of skiers than those she had raced against at home. “That experience could really wreck people, especially at her age,” says Tom Barbeau, director of the alpine program and one of Hannah’s coaches at Waterville.

“She went after it in a way that was truly courageous, and her improvements were phenomenal.” Hannah attributes her successes, which include qualifying for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Eastern High School Championships in 2013, to determination and a willingness to work her way up from the bottom. “I kept an open mind, and strived for a nonjudgmental attitude,” she says. “I knew I was going to learn from the experience, and that’s what I did.” Hannah opted not to go to Waterville during senior year, instead skiing for Whitetail’s racing team. She plans to attend college in the fall and hopes to ski with a club team. —Amy Reinink

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Top TEENS

The Inventor Aaron Hendrix Senior, Georgetown Preparatory School

shot on location at stone ridge school of the sacred heart

When judges saw

Aaron Hendrix’s presentation that day in 2013, there was no question who would win the grand prize at the Global Health Design competition at Rice University. Aaron, a Georgetown Prep junior at the time, had fashioned a breathing device for premature infants out of leftover medical tubing. And the ingenuity of the device floored the panel, event coordinator Rachel Gilbert says. “His presentation was something you’d expect to see out of a college student.” That was no surprise to Adam DeDionisio, Aaron’s AP biology teacher. He advised Aaron on the project, a nasal prong adapter soon to be used in hospitals throughout Malawi. “It was basically me sitting back and watching as he brilliantly worked his way through a lot of these problems,” DeDionisio says. Now a senior, the Bethesda teen says he became interested in medicine after his parents told him that he’d required a ventilator to help him breathe as an infant because of a respiratory problem. His interest expanded to global health when, as a freshman, he traveled to Ghana with his father, Mark, to work with Unite for Sight, an organization that holds eye clinics for impoverished people worldwide. Aaron realized then that he had “a real desire to help people who are underprivileged and underserved.” “We would work 10 hours a day with no break, and he just approached the whole trip with a sense of optimism and determination that was really impressive,” says Mark Hendrix, an ophthalmologist. Aaron plans to study global health and has applied to Georgetown University, Brown University in Providence, R.I., and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, among other schools. Gilbert says Aaron’s response to winning the design competition suggests he has already realized his goal of helping underprivileged people get access to health care. “The grand prize was $500, and he decided to donate it back to the global health institute [at Rice], so the money could go toward renovation of a neonatal intensive care unit in Malawi,” Gilbert says. “We were really surprised and touched by that, and really impressed with his character.”—Amy Reinink

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The Basketball Player Kirby Porter Senior, Bullis School

shot on location at walt whitman high school

shot on location at stone ridge school of the sacred heart

When Kirby Porter was 2, her dad would

take her to a park near their home in Houston and laugh as she tried repeatedly to hurl a basketball into the regulation hoop. He laughed, that is, until the toddler made it. The shot was no fluke—Kirby shined as the only girl at a basketball camp with older boys shortly after making her first basket, and she has been excelling at the sport ever since. Now 17, the Chevy Chase senior captains the Bullis basketball team and has committed to play at Harvard next year. Jay Nolan, who has coached Kirby since she was 10 in Amateur Athletic Union basketball, says her ball-handling skills stood out even at a young age and have only improved over the years. A 6-foot-1 athletic powerhouse, Kirby used those skills to lead Bullis to victory in the Independent School League tournament her junior year, and was named a First Team All-ISL performer. She also was named an ESPN top prospect last year. Kirby’s coaches and teachers say she is less defined by her athletic skills than by the maturity with which she handles adversity, whether it’s stepping up to her role as captain to lead a team of mostly freshmen through a tough basketball season or coping with a six-month rehabilitation after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament during the summer after her sophomore year. Following that injury, Kirby expanded her interests beyond basketball, netting an internship with the NFL Players Association’s marketing and public relations department and taking classes through the Sports Industry Management program at Georgetown University. Bullis Head of School Gerald Boarman says Kirby stuns others with her poise, maturity and positive attitude, whether she’s working with students on the prestigious Bullis Conduct Review Board or giving campus tours to parents. “Students like Kirby—who is not only a premier athlete and community member, but a premier academician—make me get up in the morning with a smile on my face thinking about our future,” Boarman says. “She brightens your outlook on the world.”—Amy Reinink

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Top TEENS

The Musician

It began with drum lessons in middle school,

but Will Guerry’s passion for music soon included the bass guitar, piano and ukulele. Playing in a cover band as a Walt Whitman sophomore, Will realized he wanted to write his own songs, and took inspiration from Thom Yorke, lead singer of his favorite band, Radiohead. “Nothing’s more satisfying than creating something that is unique and totally yours,” Will says. Now, the 17-year-old senior is a member of another band, Mr. Mannequin, which recently released a second album, The Threshing Floor, with nine original songs. Will wrote all the melodies and lyrics on the album, and sings and plays bass on each track. Plus, he’s the band’s sound engineer and mixer. “I can’t tell you how much time he’s spent on it,” says Samantha Guerry, 47, Will’s mother. The music of Mr. Mannequin, which Will formed with a friend, blends rock, jazz and pop influences. The band began recording songs in 2012, using GarageBand software in a room at his

Bethesda home that Will had converted into a studio. In November 2012, the group released a self-titled album on iTunes. That album has sold more than 300 copies. In January, the band released the second album, which Will says features more risk-taking than its initial effort. “I’d rather have a small group of people really like the music I make than a large group of people who kind of like it,” Will says. Though Will would like to focus solely on music, he plans to attend college and possibly study international relations. He has applied to schools in New York and Boston, cities with thriving music scenes. When he’s not making music, Will is the right-hand man for his mom, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 20 years ago. He helps with daily chores, pushes her wheelchair when they travel, and carries her when she’s too tired to walk, Samantha Guerry says. “He’s always clear that it’s not a burden to have to take care of me,” she says. “He just makes it fun.” —Archana Pyati

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Will Guerry Senior, Walt Whitman High School

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The Social Activist Anna Collishaw Senior, Walter Johnson High School

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Anna Collishaw

, 17, has been keen on helping people in need since she was in middle school. Growing up in a comfortably middle-class Bethesda family, though, she figured she’d have to look beyond her own community for a chance to make a difference. So during her sophomore year at Walter Johnson High School, she got involved with International Partners, a Silver Spring nonprofit that facilitates trips for local teens to aid poor villages in northern El Salvador. Anna made her first trip in 2012, spending the summer digging trenches and hauling gravel to build a water storage tank. Last summer she helped to build a school in another village. And she plans to postpone college after graduation in June so she can work for a year at an IP agricultural center in Cuscatlán that trains Salvadorans to raise cattle. Anna says the trips have taught her that many people live the way her host families do, with no guarantee of food, water, shelter and personal safety. She was awed that people who have so little could be astonishingly generous—often sharing meals with her or giving her one of the few available beds. “They’re willing to give you what they have, which is basically nothing,” she says. Don Montagna, president of IP’s board of directors, says most teen participants focus on broadening their own horizons, but Anna “has a bigger vision of what [the villagers’] life situation is and what we’re contributing to them.” She developed that perspective, he says, by talking to Salvadorans about their own dreams and ambitions. “You’re in their lives for a short time, but they have such a profound effect on you,” Anna explains. Recently, Anna and her family helped her host brother, Alex, after he was detained in Texas for trying to enter this country from Mexico. The Collishaws contributed toward Alex’s $7,500 bond, and Anna and her mother, Mary, are now helping him apply for asylum. An honors student and captain of the Maryland Exiles U19 high school girl’s rugby team, Anna says her experience in El Salvador has taught her how privileged her own upbringing has been and fueled a desire to give back. “It’s given me a better sense of how the world works, what my role is and what it can be in it,” she says.—Archana Pyati

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The Dancer Hallie Martin, Senior Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

American Dance Institute’s School of Ballet in Rockville, 18-year-old Hallie Martin has earned her share of plum roles. In 2013 alone, she danced a solo in Paquita and the role of the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. For the Bethesda teen, these were hard-won accomplishments. After taking ballet lessons for four years as a child, she quit to play soccer and tennis and didn’t start dancing again until she was 13. Now a senior at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Hallie found that she had to work extra hard to catch up to her peers. “At first, it was frustrating being the tallest and oldest girl,” she recalls. “All the other girls were younger, shorter and better dancers.” Hallie spent several days a week taking extra classes and practicing, while balancing honors classes and duties as artistic director for the Stone Ridge yearbook. She even repeated a portion of the institute’s curriculum that’s the precursor to dancing on pointe, a milestone for every ballerina. To strengthen her legs and feet, she pointed and flexed her toes whenever possible—often while doing homework at her desk at home. “That’s where the patience came in,” she says. “I had to take my time since you don’t want to rush into pointe shoes.” Hallie says she learned tenacity from her brother, Travis, 19, who was diagnosed with learning disabilities as a child. The two relied on each other growing up; Hallie would help Travis with schoolwork, and he would carry her ballet gear and pick her up from rehearsals. Travis, now a freshman studying film at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., recently helped Hallie, who hopes to study dance in college, create a short video of her performances for her applications. Hallie’s work ethic caught the attention of ADI School Director Erin Du, who invited Hallie to join the ballet school after she auditioned in 2010. “She’s a great example to other students,” Du says. “She comes at [challenges] head on and is always very positive.” —Archana Pyati

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A senior ballerina with the

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The Farmer-Athlete Dunchadhn Lyons Senior, James Hubert Blake High School

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Blake High School

soccer coach David Edlow says having Dunchadhn (pronounced “Duncan”) Lyons on the team was “like having another coach on the field.” That’s because the 18-year-old Olney senior, who served as captain, consistently sacrificed for the good of the team last fall—whether it was playing an unfamiliar position to help balance the roster, or staying after practice to take extra shots with the goalkeepers. He was a first-team All-County selection by The Gazette and earned honorable mention for The Washington Post’s AllMet team in 2013. What makes Dunchadhn truly extraordinary, however, is what happens when he gets home from practice. “Most kids go home after practice and have something to eat and maybe watch some TV,” Edlow says. “What most kids don’t do after practice is go home and lift bales of hay or go to Irish-dance practice.” Lyons lives on a working farm with his parents, and has won county and state recognition for his dairy goat showmanship. During show season, he wakes before dawn to feed and milk the 30 goats in his care. After soccer practice, he feeds and milks them again. He served as captain of the Maryland State 4-H Dairy Bowl team in a 2012 competition focusing on dairy and agriculture that’s similar to TV’s It’s Academic, and was crowned king of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in 2013. When he’s not playing soccer or caring for goats, Dunchadhn is practicing at the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance in Silver Spring. He has danced since he was 5, when he became enchanted by a local performance of Riverdance, and has competed in two World Irish Dance Championships. A straight-A student, Dunchadhn says all of his activities have helped him build the confidence to pursue his passions, even when they’re not popular among his peers. “I don’t mind being different,” says Dunchadhn, who has been accepted into Stanford University and hopes to study engineering. “I think it’s important to do what you love and not really care what anyone else thinks.”—Amy Reinink

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The Mathematician

Shaun Datta thinks math gets a bad rap.

“A lot of people love puzzles,” says the 18-year-old senior, who attends Montgomery Blair High School’s science, mathematics and computer science magnet program in Silver Spring. “Math isn’t really different from that. It’s about looking at recurring patterns throughout nature or developing games” and algorithms to solve real-world problems. Take Python, the computer programming language Shaun learned in 2011 while interning at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville. Shaun, who lives in North Potomac, used Python to build simulations of protein mutations in the influenza virus to learn how drugs can fight it more effectively. Shaun has excelled in math and science since elementary school, and he further honed his skills in the competitive math magnet program at Takoma Park Middle School. That experience prepared him for the Blair magnet, where he has found a community of peers. “The thing I enjoy the most is talking about a problem with another person,” he says. Beyond the magnet’s college-level curriculum, Shaun also has taken online advanced calculus from Coursera and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The extra work paid off in February 2013, when

he was the winner in calculus at a Johns Hopkins University math tournament that drew top students from high schools along the East Coast. “[Shaun] is really good at goal-setting and putting in the right kind of effort to make sure he’s successful in what he’s trying to do,” Blair physics teacher James Schafer says. To prepare for a University of Maryland internship in nuclear physics last summer, Shaun read textbooks and spent lunch periods discussing the topic with Schafer. During the internship, Shaun contributed to a research paper to be published by his adviser, Dr. Thomas Cohen. In late January, Shaun learned that he was a finalist in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search for the research he did at Maryland. The teen, who has applied to top schools on both coasts, will compete for cash prizes in the final round of the competition in March. When he’s not studying, Shaun turns to music, often performing during Blair’s open mic sessions for students. “When I hear music I like on the radio…I try to put my own spin on it,” he says. —Archana Pyati

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Shaun Datta Senior, Montgomery Blair High School

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The Volunteer Chelsey Zane, Senior Winston Churchill HIgh School

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Two years ago,

Chelsey Zane and her parents volunteered to read stories to sick children staying at The Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. That’s when the Potomac teen met a girl from Ohio with a rare form of cancer. Inspired by how much The Children’s Inn had helped her new friend, Chelsey created an after-school club at Winston Churchill in the girl’s honor. The club, Friends of Friends in Need, is dedicated to supporting local and national charities and counts about 15 students as members. Since forming the club, Chelsey, now 17 and a senior, has worked with members to organize toy drives and dinners for Children’s Inn kids and their families; cheered runners who were raising money for a charity supporting military families in the annual Army Ten-Miler race in Washington, D.C.; and collected $200 for an organization that funds research on cures for childhood cancer. An AP student praised by teachers for her caring disposition, Chelsey has mastered the art of soliciting in-kind donations for her club from local businesses. On her first attempt at cold-calling in 2012, she convinced Whole Foods Market in Rockville to donate 52 gift bags for a Valentine’s Day party at The Children’s Inn. “At first I was nervous,” she says. But “because that [event] was successful, it gave me confidence to make other calls and do other projects.” Since then, Chelsey has persuaded several retailers, including Bertucci’s, Giant and Starbucks, to donate goods to her organization. She throws herself into each service project, even dressing up as Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz for a dinner she organized for families staying at The Children’s Inn. Passionate about math, Chelsey aspires to be an accountant for nonprofits and has applied to area colleges. She plans to spend this spring training club members how to work with nonprofits so they can keep the club going. “She’s an old soul,” says Christine Pellicoro, a Churchill guidance counselor and co-sponsor of Friends of Friends in Need. “If she can do something to improve someone else’s life, she does it.”—Archana Pyati

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The Advocate

Richie Yarrow

of Bethesda may be just 17, but he already has the résumé of a seasoned politician. His involvement in politics began at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, where he joined the student government association and became president in seventh grade. He focused on improving conditions at Eastern, but later grew interested in big-picture issues—including how the county’s public schools are funded and who decides which facilities get renovated first. Richie soon determined that the voices of students—those most impacted by these decisions—often went unheard. That’s when he pledged to become an advocate for his peers. “Students are the greatest stakeholders in Montgomery County public schools,” says Richie, now a junior in Richard Montgomery’s highly competitive International Baccalaureate program. Their “input is quite crucial to making sure school is run for students.” Since 2011, Richie has served with several regional and state education advocacy organizations, including the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations and the Maryland

Association of Student Councils. In 2012, he drew local media coverage when he became the first student to be elected as an MCCPTA officer. At Richard Montgomery, he’s also active in student government and founded the Jewish Club. In 2013, Richie suffered his only political defeat, when he ran unsuccessfully to become the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education. He had pushed for full voting rights for the student member, which would require a change in state law. Currently, the student member is not permitted to vote on the MCPS budget or personnel issues. Since middle school, Richie has visited about 50 MCPS schools. Outraged by the number of facilities that he thought needed repairs or were outdated, he began scrutinizing the annual MCPS capital budget, and he has testified for more funding before the school board. “He’s the kind of kid who reads the details, and not just the summaries,” says Karen Crawford, MCPS coordinator for student affairs. “He’s extremely concerned about how the budget impacts students.”—Archana Pyati

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Richie Yarrow Junior, Richard Montgomery High School

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The Swimmer Kyra Kondis Senior, Sandy Spring Friends School

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Swimming didn’t always come easily to Kyra

Kondis. The 17-year-old initially joined her neighborhood pool’s swim team when she was 8 to make friends after her family moved to Sandy Spring from North Carolina. “I thought it was the hardest sport in the world,” Kyra says. She swam with a club team over the following winter with the goal of keeping up with the 12- and 13-year-olds who seemed impossibly fast. Kyra, now a senior at Sandy Spring Friends School, found she could keep up with the older kids by the time she was 10, but that’s far from her only swimming accomplishment: She steadily worked her way up through the national swimming ranks, qualifying for the National Club Swimming Association’s Junior Nationals in 2012 and 2013 and placing last year. She plans to attend Southern Methodist University on a swimming scholarship in the fall. Kyra also is training for the 2016 Olympic trials. She wakes up at 3:45 a few mornings a week to practice at the University of Maryland before school starts at 7:40, and then leaves school around 3 p.m. to practice again until 6 or 7 in the evening. In addition, she often travels around the country for meets or training. Sue Chen, who coaches Kyra at Machine Aquatics at the University of Maryland, says Kyra’s unassuming demeanor and humble attitude belie a fiercely competitive and dedicated athlete. “She seems quiet, but she is a strong, strong girl mentally,” Chen says. Kyra is also an accomplished writer who often contributes poems to the Friends School’s literary magazine and serves as a tutor in the school’s writing center. Eduardo Polón, who taught Kyra’s AP Spanish class, says she manages her schedule “the way a professional would,” proactively handling conflicts when they arise. “She usually comes with a proposed solution, and often her solution leaves her with less time to study,” Polón says. “She’ll say, ‘I’ll be gone when the paper is due on Friday, but I plan to turn it in Thursday before my flight leaves.’ She doesn’t want or expect handouts. There’s a grace to the way she lives her life.” —Amy Reinink

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Top TEENS

You can see a slide show of this year’s teens at BethesdaMagazine.com.

The Altruist

When 10-year old

Scott Gerson showed up to volunteer for a Special Olympics tennis program seven years ago, Pamela Yerg wasn’t sure what to think. Kids younger than 16 rarely volunteer with the organization, and most teenage volunteers tend to prefer working with small children, says Yerg, area director of Special Olympics MarylandMontgomery County. Yet there was Scott, buddying up to adults with intellectual disabilities with “a maturity, compassion and enthusiasm I have rarely, if ever, seen before,” Yerg says. “He was small for his age, and it was kind of amusing to watch this tiny person getting along so well with these adult athletes,” she says. “We said, ‘This is an old soul in a young person.’ ” By middle school, Scott was coaching Special Olympics teams. In 2010, when he was 14, he was named Special Olympics Volunteer of the Year for Montgomery County. Now 17 and a senior at B-CC, the Kensington teen is a counselor at Camp PALS, a sleepaway camp for teens with Down syndrome, and will serve as camp director at Camp PALS Georgetown this summer.

B-CC Principal Karen Lockard says Scott is “a true humanitarian” who has inspired a sense of altruism among students through his leadership of the B-CC Special Olympics Club. Scott also pitches for the school’s baseball team. An AP Scholar with Distinction, he won the Harvard Book Award last year. Yerg says the best symbol of Scott’s success is his Special Olympics tennis partner, Al Richardson, a 32-year-old autistic man from Gaithersburg. The two have won six state championships, and Richardson has lost 50 pounds and become more social since he started playing with Scott seven years ago. “Scott has made a huge, transformative difference in Al’s life, and in the lives of all the athletes he works with,” Yerg says. Scott says he plans to study human development and psychological services next year at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and hopes to continue working with adults with intellectual disabilities. Yerg says she wouldn’t be surprised to see Scott become the CEO of Special Olympics. “This is someone who’s going to do really big things,” she says. n —Amy Reinink

Archana Pyati is a former chef and freelance writer living in Silver Spring. Amy Reinink frequently writes for Runner’s World and other outdoor publications. To comment on these stories, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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Scott Gerson Senior, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

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The Indomitable Spirit of

Adam Keys For a young soldier, war is a lesson in hard math: One best friend and three comrades, lost. Three limbs, gone. One marriage, ended. 130-plus surgeries, endured. But also: one family undivided, one will, unbroken. By Kathleen Wheaton | Photos by michael ventura

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Despite the fact his left hand was amputated following an explosion in Afghanistan, Army Sgt. Adam Keys has relearned the guitar using a custom-made pick holder signed by Pink Floydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Roger Waters.

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the indomitable Adam Keys

Combat engineer Adam Keys

awoke in September 2010 in a hospital bed at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s shock trauma unit in Baltimore and asked a nurse where he was. Moments earlier—in his mind— he’d been in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, riding in an MRAP (mine-resistant ambush protected) convoy truck with his best friend, Jesse Reed. Adam and Jesse, both 26, had attended high school together in Whitehall Township, Pa., and joined the Army in 2009. That December, they were deployed with the 20th Brigade of the 27th Engineer Battalion to a rural area southeast of Kandahar, where their job was to keep the roads clear for supply lines. On July 14, 2010, six Jesse Reed and Adam months into their in Afghanistan tour, the vehicle Jesse was driving hit an improvised explosive device and was flung into the air, ending a crumpled heap by the side of the road. Adam had been largely unconscious ever since. He still didn’t know that Jesse and three other soldiers—Chase Stanley, 21, Matthew Johnson, 21, and Zachary Fisher, 24—had died in the blast. Nor did he realize that he was a triple amputee. He’d broken his jaw, left shoulder, humerus and ankles, as well as sustained a severe concussion. The bomb had left his limbs intact, but a subsequent massive infection had nearly killed him and required the amputation of his left arm, an ankle and one leg above the knee. Eventually, he would lose the other knee, too. During two months of unconsciousness, Adam had swirled in and out of a twilight of crazy dreams. Occasionally he overheard someone saying that he wasn’t going to make it, and that made him mad. He wanted to argue with them, but he couldn’t seem to speak. When he finally could, thanks to a leak in his tracheotomy tube, it was 2 a.m. on

The Keyses were told that because his brain had been deprived of oxygen during the cardiac episodes, Adam might never wake up or be the person they remembered. “And we kept saying, ‘He will be,’ ” Julie says. Sept. 16. A nurse happened to be in the room checking on him. Startled and unsure what to say, she ran to get a doctor. That’s when Adam asked where his rifle was.

Adam Keys would undergo

more than 130 separate surgeries, as well as skin grafts and countless hours of physical therapy, during the course of his recovery. His mother, Julie Keys,

would daily be at his side. Julie was staying at a nearby Baltimore hotel on the morning Adam finally spoke, along with Adam’s father, Stephen, sister, Courtney, and wife, Rosie. When they arrived at the hospital later that morning, the trach tube had been reinserted and he could no longer talk. “At first, I thought I was still over there, and I couldn’t figure out how my

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After Adam was injured, Julie Keys quit her job and moved in with her son at Tranquility Hall on the Walter Reed campus. They prepare meals together (above) and Julie helps Adam with medical issues (inset).

family had gotten here,” Adam says, sitting in a motorized wheelchair at a Bethesda café last fall. “But after a while, I started to chill and figure it out.” That he recognized his family members at all seemed a miracle. In the weeks after the attack, neurologists had been reducing his sedation gradually, asking him to squeeze a hand to indicate awareness. There had been no response. Even if Adam were to survive, the Keyses were told, he would never be the same mentally. In addition to the concussion, he’d gone into septic shock, depriving his brain of oxygen. But Julie refused to believe it. “I said, ‘I’ve known him for 27 years and I’m sure he’s still in there.’ ”

A tall, slender woman with dark blond hair, Julie recalls the period before his awakening, her rounded vowels reflecting her Nova Scotia origins. “I had nurses coming over to me and saying, ‘I’m so sorry,’ ” she says as she sits opposite her son in the café. “And I said, ‘He’s not dead. If you can’t have some kind of positive attitude, you need to get out. I can’t have you here.’ ” She appears to have had that same clarity about what needed to be done from the moment she learned that Jesse had been killed. His wife, Heather, had called Julie at the medical lab where she worked, and she knew that she had to go see Jesse’s mother, Dolores. The two women shared a bond famil-

iar to mothers of best buddies. The Keys family had moved to the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania from Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 years earlier, after Stephen Keys was offered a job installing and repairing communications lines. Adam and Jesse became best friends almost immediately. In middle school, the boys cut their fingers to become “blood brothers,” Dolores recalls in a telephone conversation. At Whitehall High School, both played football. The team was OK, she says; “they didn’t lose all the time.” Jesse was short and fiery— “like a little bull”—while Adam grew to be 6-foot-2, cheerful and easygoing. “They were kind of a wild bunch in high school,” Dolores says. Nights when she woke to find Jesse gone, she’d call Julie; for sure, he’d be at the Keyses’ house. After graduating in 2002, the boys floundered somewhat; they shared an apartment while working construction and doing other odd jobs. Adam had long been interested in joining the military. In Nova Scotia, he’d been a Royal Canadian Air Cadet, and after moving to the U.S. he joined the Civil Air Patrol, both volunteer pre-military organizations for teens. But he couldn’t enlist without a green card, and getting one had become more difficult in the years following 9/11. By the time the green card came through, Adam had opened a pizza res-

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the indomitable Adam Keys

taurant. “I thought: This is good, he’ll make a success of the business and forget about the military,” Julie says. “But then the business failed, and he went to see the recruiter.” Though her father and grandfather had served in the Canadian navy, “I tried to talk him out of it—I’m a mother,” she says. “But I saw that it was what he really wanted.” Adam decided to join the Army because it offered parachute jumping, which he’d always longed to do. He did his basic training at Fort Bragg, N.C., and then went to airborne school at Fort Benning, Ga., before rejoining his unit at Fort Bragg. Jesse had already completed his basic and requested a transfer to Adam’s battalion so they could be deployed together—something the Army probably wouldn’t have granted if they’d been actual brothers, Adam says. Dolores had also opposed her son going to war. Jesse was her only child. But she concedes that the military gave both young men discipline and a sense of purpose. By the time they were deployed to Afghanistan in December 2009, both had married, and Jesse was soon to be the father of three. He’d adopted Heather’s small daughter, whose father had died, and the couple had a son together, Dylan, plus another on the way. His second son, who was named after him, would be born six weeks after Jesse’s death. Adam would become the child’s godfather. of July 14, Julie arrived at the Reed house to offer her condolences, but soon found Dolores comforting her. There was still no word on Adam, though Julie knew that he and Jesse often went on patrols together. Military protocol requires that families of the dead be notified in person before any other information about an incident is released. Julie went home, but she didn’t sleep that night. Each time she heard a car outside, she dreaded that it would stop in front of their house. At 5 a.m., she noticed that Adam’s wife, Rosie, was online, presumably scouring the Internet for news.

On the evening

Julie accompanies Adam to medical appointments on the Walter Reed campus.

Then at 7 a.m., the call came: Adam had been critically injured. He was being flown from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and from there would be transported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which was then still located in D.C. That July was a month of heavy casualties in Afghanistan, and it was six days before there was room for Adam on a transport back to the U.S. “We were on the phone every day with Germany, harassing the doctors and nurses, though I guess they’re used to it,” Julie says. The Army arranged for the Keyses to travel to Washington, and Courtney, 24 and newly married, flew in from her home in Folsom, Calif. The family was finally reunited on July 20, a Tuesday. Adam looked bad—his face was swollen, and he was unconscious—but at that point, “everything seemed fixable,” Julie says. He was scheduled for surgery to reset his ankles the following Monday. By Saturday, however, a virulent sys-

temic infection had set in. Infections are not uncommon among victims of IEDs, which may include unsanitary materials deliberately put into the bomb to make the blast more deadly. The bacteria that raged through Adam’s body is present in soil all over the world, says Army trauma surgeon Carlos Rodriguez, who has operated on Adam several times, “so we weren’t caught off guard.” Though they did their best to abrade the wounds in order to clean away possible sources of infection, he says, once septic shock has set in, little can be done other than to keep the heart pumping. By Sunday night, Adam was no better. Julie stayed at the hospital after the others returned to their hotel in Silver Spring. It was then that the doctors revealed the seriousness of Adam’s condition. His kidneys were failing, and the medication that kept his heart going was preventing blood from reaching his extremities. His feet, ankles and one forearm were beginning

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the indomitable Adam Keys

Shuttling Adam and his buddies downtown and then picking them up late at night “was high school all over again,” Julie says. “…And just like back then, you have to learn to let go.” to die; if they weren’t removed immediately, he would die, too.

The amputations “were all done

while I was out, so it didn’t really bother me,” Adam says. “It was harder on my family,” he adds, glancing at his mother, who smiles faintly. Though he made it through the surgery, he remained catastrophically ill. Putting his chances of survival at less than 1 percent, doctors at Walter Reed wanted to transfer him to wound specialists at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, but knew he wouldn’t survive the flight. Instead, they decided to send him to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where doctors had extensive experience in the type of surgery needed to repair soft tissue damaged by infection. It was only a 15-minute helicopter ride, but the trip had to be aborted twice when Adam went into cardiac arrest.

When he finally arrived in Baltimore on the third try, he was in even worse shape than doctors had anticipated. He “coded” four more times, Julie says, before he could be stabilized. The Keyses were told that because his brain had been deprived of oxygen during the cardiac episodes, Adam might never wake up or be the person they remembered. “And we kept saying, ‘He will be,’ ” Julie says. Over the next few weeks, she talked to him constantly. When she couldn’t think of anything to say, she read aloud from books. She started an online diary so that family and friends could follow his progress. “He moved his fingers today!” she wrote on Aug. 20. After a brief period in which his eyes were open on Sept. 2, she wrote: “I spent most of the night holding his hand. He seemed sad and just needed the contact. He didn’t try to talk, he just looked at me.” After Adam spoke and the trach was reinserted on Sept. 16, he was still too

drugged to be able to form words, and too weak to hold a pen. At last, though, he passed a swallowing test that allowed the trach to be removed. “I thought his first words might be, ‘Will you shut up,’ ” Julie says. “They were, ‘I love you,’ ” Adam says. He asked for ice cream cake, so the family went out and got a big one. From a strapping 185 pounds, he had wasted away and needed every calorie to combat infection. into winter, Adam’s speech became clearer with the help of speech therapy, but heavy pain medication meant that he was often confused. He’d complain that his feet were cold and Julie would have to remind him, as gently as she could, that they were gone. He still hadn’t been told that he was the only survivor of the bombing. “But I guess I sort of knew, in the back of my mind,” he says. He’d spoken by phone to

As autumn progressed

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the indomitable Adam Keys

members of his unit who were still in Afghanistan, and he told himself that the guys who were with him in the truck that day must be out working. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to ask. In December, his captain, first sergeant and platoon leader were due home on leave and planned to visit him in the hospital. Adam’s family decided that it would be best if he knew the bad news ahead of time, so Julie, Rosie and Courtney gathered in his room and told him that Jesse and the others had been killed. Doctors stood by in case he went into shock. He didn’t. But he didn’t want to be alone, so Julie and Rosie took turns sitting at his bedside all night. Along with Adam’s grief came a fresh resolve to survive. The best I can do is do my best here, for them, he thought. By the time the men from Adam’s unit showed up—sneaking away from a layover in Baltimore in the middle of the night—

he had rallied, and seemed more concerned about how they were doing than about his own heavy losses, Julie says. Adam learned that he was something of a celebrity when he arrived at the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed on Jan. 5, 2011. The doctors who had sent him to the shock trauma center in Baltimore had hoped he would survive, but they hadn’t expected such a full recovery of his mental faculties. “You know you’re one in a million, don’t you?” one of the neurologists told him. “Well, I couldn’t really see how bad I was,” Adam replied. Many people had tried to talk him out of doing rehab at Walter Reed, according to Julie, “because of the stories [published in February 2007 in The Washington Post] that it was dirty. But when I checked it out, the buildings were old, but clean. And the rehab center was just

amazing. Anything new in prosthetics, the latest technology, comes out there first. So I was adamant that he go there.” his return went smoothly, however. In February 2011, Adam developed another devastating infection. And Rosie left him. “It happens a lot—there are millions of stories like mine,” Adam says. “I guess you don’t really know how you’re going to handle something like this until you go through it. But my family stayed with me the whole way through.” For the Keyses, there was never any question that Adam was their priority. Julie quit her job to devote herself full time to her son’s care. Stephen, who had been laid off shortly before the attack, was able to remain at Adam’s side while he was critically ill. However, with Julie also not working, the family needed an income. He was offered a position in

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Las Vegas, but opted instead for a job repairing and installing cable lines in Fort Meyers, Fla. The hours are long and demanding, but Walter Reed is only a short flight away. Courtney moved with her mother into a Marriott hotel a block from Walter Reed. For five months, she helped her brother with everyday tasks such as shaving and brushing his teeth, and spent time with him listening to music and “just hanging out,” she says. Having earned a degree in biobehavioral health from Penn State in 2008, she was able to explain many of the medical procedures Adam faced, but she was terrified when he coded. Her CPR training had taught her that most patients, out of the hospital, don’t survive it. Courtney’s husband, who travels frequently for his job at Intel, visited when he could, but like her parents, she put her life on hold without a second thought. Being able to spend time with Adam was the upside, she says, of what was then a weak job market in California. The two siblings are 18 months apart in age and have always been close—even more so after the family immigrated to the U.S. In high school, Adam was universally liked, his sister says: “He was always a good person, but the injury seems to have made his outlook even more positive.” She adds, “I’ve asked him, ‘Adam, aren’t you mad?’ and he’ll say, ‘Well, what’s that going to do?’ It blows my mind.” he’s not so much positive as he is stubborn. “The minute I’m told I can’t do something, I want to prove that I can,” he says. While he was still in the ICU at the shock trauma center, he began talking about jumping from an airplane again. He’d jumped five times in airborne school and four more times at Fort Bragg. Now he wanted to make it an even 10. “They told me to just get it out of my head,” he says. “Which meant that I had to do it.” But first, he had to get out of bed.

Adam maintains that

In November 2011, after 15 months as an inpatient, including two months at BAMC in Texas while Walter Reed was consolidating its facilities and moving to Bethesda, Adam was finally discharged from the hospital. With Julie, he moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in Walter Reed’s Building 62, known as Tranquility Hall, which has 306 beds for wounded service members and their caregivers adjusting to life post-injury. Airy and light-filled, with wide corridors to accommodate wheelchairs, Tranquility Hall is also a lifeline for the families of the wounded. While Adam began physical therapy and took his first steps toward recovery, Julie bonded with others whose lives revolved around caring for their badly wounded sons, daughters or spouses. In the early evening, after supper, they’d gather on the building’s patio to “laugh, cry and pick each other up when we’re down,” she says. “They are from all walks of life, and they completely understand what you’re going through. You become very close, and it’s hard to say goodbye when it’s time to leave.” Adam learned to use four different types of robotic and mechanical hands and to walk on prosthetic legs. The “shorties” that he began on made him only 4-foot-10, but after 15 months, it was great to be upright and take a few steps, he says. As he progressed, his Facebook postings became increasingly upbeat: “What do you do when three quarters of your body is carbon fiber!?! SMILE and attempt to pose like Captain Morgan, haha!!” With his new friends, he began venturing out to explore the nightlife in Bethesda. Shuttling Adam and his buddies downtown and then picking them up late at night, or arranging carpools with other parents, felt like déjà vu, Julie says with a laugh. “It was high school all over again, all the things we thought we were done with. And just like back then, you have to learn to let go. When he was an inpatient, I’d gotten used to doing everything for him. But once we were in the apartment, he’d say,

‘Let me try that.’ And so I had to back off.” In downtown Bethesda, Julie says, Adam and his friends “can be a little intimidating, rolling down the sidewalk in their power chairs. But they love going out.” Favorite nightspots include Caddies on Cordell—“Great food, and enough

“Compared to what we’ve been through in the past three and a half years, everything else seems minor, nothing seems worth stressing over.” — Julie Keys TVs so you can see any game, plus it’s all on the ground level,” Adam says— as well as Haven Pizzeria and the Regal movie theater on Wisconsin Avenue. He’s dating again—a romance that he and his new girlfriend, whom he met in Bethesda a year ago, prefer to keep private for now. “They go good together,” his sister affirms. two years after the blast, Adam and his parents went to Fort Bragg so he could make a 10th jump with the Golden Knights, the U.S.

On July 12, 2012,

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Army Parachute Team. Julie suited up and jumped, too. Wasn’t that an extreme act of motherly devotion, even for her? They both smile. Actually, she explains, she’d racked up nine parachute jumps as a teen when her father was posted to South Africa. Adam had always been determined to beat his mom’s record. Which he did, for a few seconds—tandem jumping with an Army medic before she followed him. “I wasn’t really that nervous,” she says. “I was more focused on whether Adam had everything he needed for his jump.” Even more physically challenging for Adam was completing the Tunnel to Towers 5K race in New York in September 2012. The fundraising event honors firefighter Stephen Siller, who died in the 9/11 rescue operation. Money from the race goes to the Building for America’s Bravest program, to build “smart” homes for severely injured service members.

By race time, Adam had graduated to full-length prosthetic legs, and insisted on walking the entire route on them while pushing his wheelchair. The ordeal confirmed that his right knee, which he could not bend, was damaging his back by causing a swinging gait. So that knee would have to be removed, too. “I just had to accept the idea that nothing could be done to save it, and move on,” he says. “You learn not to get too attached to any one thing. If you dwell on it, you’re killing yourself.”

Spending nearly three and

a half years in and out of hospitals has meant letting go of many things: of friends who get better and move on, and of others who don’t make it. It has meant learning that healing isn’t always a straight line. It has meant attending a huge hometown parade in his honor in Whitehall Township, and being whisked, VIP-like, into a rehearsal of NBC’s Sat-

urday Night Live after he happened to mention being a fan while on a visit to New York City. It has meant being photographed with everyone from President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Bill O’Reilly, Tom Petty, Kevin Spacey and a half dozen Miss America contestants, beaming as they lean over his hospital bed. It has also meant days when one more surgery, one more minute of lying down, can seem unendurable. But he has surmounted the despair that plagues many wounded service members and veterans. “We’re very lucky,” Julie says, adding that that luck seems largely due to Adam’s inborn upbeat temperament. “It sounds awful to say, but this couldn’t have happened to anyone better,” Courtney says. “A lot of people would have a really hard time dealing with it, and he never did.” “There was a little depression for a cou-

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ple of weeks, and it seemed like a big deal at the time because I didn’t know how to bring him out of it,” Julie says. “But he came out of it himself. He wants to move on, move up and do what makes him happy.”

In October, Adam

had what doctors believe will be his last surgery, a procedure to repair his abdominal wall. “I’m pretty excited for him,” says Rodriguez, the Army trauma surgeon. “He feels like he can take his shirt off in public now. I think in a year, he’ll be doing really well.” At 29, Adam looks paler and thinner than he did earlier in the fall, thanks to the latest surgery, but he also has the restless, distracted air of a high school senior. “He’ll know when he’s ready to leave,” Rodriguez says. “Your body knows when you’re sick, and then it tells you whether you’re ready to go home.” Adam is still on active duty, now a sergeant as well as an American citizen—both milestones occurring while

he was in the hospital. Once he passes his medical evaluation and returns to civilian life, he says, he might do some motivational speaking for other veterans or open a bar. Or both. With help from Building for America’s Bravest, the Gary Sinise Foundation and other organizations, he’ll soon break ground on a 2,300-square-foot smart home on land he bought in Annapolis. He likes the city’s strong military culture and its easy access to Walter Reed for prosthetic repairs. With its views of the water, it’s also a version of the Halifax of his childhood, “but a lot less hilly,” he says. Adam’s injuries have changed his family profoundly. “Compared to what we’ve been through in the past three and a half years, everything else seems minor, nothing seems worth stressing over,” Julie says. “Little family dramas don’t get to me. Life is short. If you don’t like something, change it.” Once Adam has settled into his new

home, Julie and Stephen will be free to reimagine their own lives. With Courtney back in California and the mother of a son, Nolan, they have no reason to return to Whitehall Township, though they stay in close touch with Dolores Reed. “Julie has made so many sacrifices,” Dolores says as her grandsons, now 3 and 4, clamor for her attention in the background. “But I would have done exactly the same—any mother would.” Julie and her son are now among the longest-term residents of Tranquility Hall, a place that has “become home,” she says, and will be difficult to leave. But as they’ve learned, life is all about making adjustments. “With one phone call, your life changes completely,” Julie says. n Kathleen Wheaton is a frequent contributor to Bethesda Magazine. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com.

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Construction cranes are signs of progress at two mixed-use developments rising in the county: Pike & Rose in Rockville (left) and Crown (right) in Gaithersburg.

The New ‘New’ D City-style living or suburban convenience? Two rising developments—one in Rockville, the other in Gaithersburg—continue the latest trend by offering both. By David Elfin | Photos by Amy Moore

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Julia Gutierrez and Jord y Kane stand on the balcony of their new hom e in Crown.

’ Downtowns

Jordy Kane and Julia Gutierrez were looking for a new home that would offer a downtown vibe in a suburban environment. That’s what led them to Crown, a new, mixed-use development of homes, shops and restaurants on a former dairy farm just off I-270, Sam Eig Highway and the Intercounty Connector (ICC) in Gaithersburg. Kane, 28, and Gutierrez, 31, both accountants who had been renting an apartment in North Bethesda, bought a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom town house for $618,000 and moved in last October. They say almost everything they need is within walking distance, and they can hop on the Metro at Shady

Grove to get to work in Bethesda. “We really believe in the community,” Gutierrez says of Crown, which is being developed by Westbrook Properties and JBG Rosenfeld Retail. “We think it’s going to be very popular with a lot of people who are kind of like us. It has the best of both worlds: a suburban feel, with all the amenities you get from living in a city.” With Bethesda Row, Rockville Town Center and downtown Silver Spring now firmly established as gathering spots in Montgomery County’s southern half, Crown’s developers hope to fulfill the same need for people living in the northwest part of the county by offering

plenty of housing options, shopping and upscale restaurants such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House, seafood-themed Coastal Flats and the Asian-fusion eatery Asia Nine. The restaurants are expected to open this summer; LA Fitness and Starbucks opened last fall, and Harris Teeter opened in January. Similarly, Pike & Rose in Rockville

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the new ‘new’ downtowns

Pike & Rose will feature plenty of open space, including a garden-style public walkway lined with restaurants.

In late 2014, The Retreat is expected to open at Crown, featuring a 25-meter pool, a climbing tower and a fitness center, among other amenities.

is designed to be a throwback neighborhood where residents can walk to restaurants, grocery stores and fitness and entertainment centers. Under development by Federal Realty Investment Trust, the mixed-use project is now rising where Rockville Pike, Montrose Parkway and Old Georgetown Road come

together. Pike & Rose will focus more on entertainment, however, offering the area’s first eight-screen iPic theater, where filmgoers can be served a gourmet meal while watching first-run movies; a 250seat music venue operated in conjunction with The Music Center at Strathmore; and such trendy restaurants as the Cali-

fornia-influenced Summer House Santa Monica and Stella Barra Pizzeria. Other features will include a Sport & Health fitness club, which will offer an outdoor workout area with a third-floor view, and Muse Alley, a garden-style pedestrian walkway that will be lined with restaurants. The development is expected to include 1,500 residences, including apartments with rents as high as $4,000 per month for a two-bedroom unit, according to Federal Realty. Both Crown and Pike & Rose will offer the mix of urban and suburban lifestyles that developers are counting on to attract people who want a downtown atmosphere, but don’t want to live in Washington, D.C., or its increasingly urban neighbors. “As the county’s population has grown further north, Bethesda has become almost part of D.C. It’s very urban,” explains Evan Goldman, vice president of development for Federal Realty, whose holdings include Bethesda Row, Rockville Town Square and several shopping centers on Rockville Pike. “The White Flint/Twinbrook area is really the center of the county,” he adds. “...In 10 years, people will view this area very differently. They’re already shopping there. Then they’ll decide it’s where they can live and enjoy entertainment.”

David and Karen Axelrod, both in their early 50s, decided to move from Rockville’s Fallsgrove community to Crown after their daughter graduated from Richard Montgomery High School last June. The couple paid $584,000 for a three-bedroom townhome with three full baths and two half-baths and moved in last October. “We love this area,” says Karen Axelrod, a financial analyst who works at home. She says she and her husband, an assistant manager at a Potomac super-

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The lineup market, considered other more established developments nearby, but decided on Crown because they could walk to stores and restaurants and because I-270 is easily accessible. “We’ve been very happy here, and everyone we’ve met so far—while walking our dog—is very happy,” she says. “We’re just looking forward to the construction moving away.” Krista Di Iaconi, who oversees development of the shopping and dining district called Downtown Crown for JBG Rosenfeld Retail, says the 260,000 square feet of upscale dining and shopping is what Gaithersburg and the county’s life sciences and technology corridor had been missing. The nearby Washingtonian Center, a Gaithersburg shopping and dining complex that includes Rio Entertainment Center, has long been the big draw for area residents. “Rio has been very successful for the past 20-odd years, but there hasn’t been a place in this part of central Montgomery County—which is very affluent and very well-educated—for people to gather,” Di Iaconi says. “Bethesda evolved organically over time, and we believe Crown will do the same thing. Strip centers are wonderful…but you also need places to dine, hang out and have a mix of services and entertainment with pedestrian-oriented retail.” When completed in about a decade, Crown will include about 1,200 townhomes, 60 single-family homes and 70 condominiums, expected to range in price from roughly $500,000 to $1 million. It also will offer more than 500 apartments in Downtown Crown with monthly rents ranging from $1,400 for a studio to $2,600 for a three-bedroom, plus 73 rent-controlled units, according to the developer. Late this year, The Retreat, which will feature a 25-meter pool, a 27-foot climbing tower, a yoga studio and fitness

Here’s what on tap at the Pike & Rose development in Rockville and Crown in Gaithersburg:

PIKE & ROSE May 2014: The PerSei, offering 174 apartments Fall 2014: A number of shops and restaurants (including Del Frisco’s Grille, Stella Barra Pizzeria, Summer House Santa Monica, Protein Bar, Roti, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, Tanzy and Salt Bar); a Sport & Health fitness club; an eightscreen iPic movie theater; a small music venue (in conjunction with The Music Center at Strathmore); and 80,000 square feet of office space Spring 2015: The Pallas, offering 319 apartments 2016: About 200,000 square feet of retail (stores to be determined), plus about 350 residences and 1.4 million square feet of office space, as well as a boutique hotel and Rose Park

crown October 2013: Residents began moving into the nearly 400 townhomes and singlefamily homes in Crown West; Starbucks opened in Downtown Crown. December 2013: LA Fitness opened in Downtown Crown. January 2014: Harris Teeter opened in Downtown Crown. February 2014: Residents were to begin moving into more than 500 apartments in Downtown Crown. Summer 2014: Nine shops, including Downtown Crown Wine and Beer, and 12 restaurants, including Asia Nine, Coastal Flats and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, slated to open. One of three green spaces/parks will feature a farmers market, festivals and outdoor movies. 2015: Construction to begin on Crown East, including 350 single-family homes and townhomes, with parks and green spaces TBD: Up to 365 homes to be built at Crown Central 2022: Deadline for MCPS to decide if it wants to build a high school on 33 acres set aside for that purpose in Crown East. If not, the land will revert to the city of Gaithersburg for a park. 2024: Completion date for Crown. —David Elfin

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the new ‘new’ downtowns

Great American Restaurants CEO Jon Norton says Coastal Flats’ arrival in Maryland in August is generating buzz among customers in Northern Virginia. “We’ve been surprised how many customers at Tyson’s have said they’re excited that we’re opening in Gaithersburg,” says Norton, whose firm is also considering a location in the next phase of Pike & Rose. “We’ve been approached many times to come to Maryland, and Gaithersburg has always been a place that we had our eyes set on. The easy access off I-270 and Sam Eig will make us very accessible to the booming Gaithersburg market.” Roti, a chain of casual Mediterranean restaurants, is the only company so far that’s opening in both Crown and Pike & Rose. “There aren’t that many big, beautiful, new developments in the D.C. area. We’re a modern, on-the-leading-edge-of-cuisine brand, so both of these feel like a really good fit for Roti,” says Peter Nolan, chief brand officer of the Chicago-based company that operates several restau— Evan Goldman of Federal Realty, which is developing Pike & Rose rants in the Washington area, including one in Bethesda. Hamid Hashemi, who available in May, will range from $1,800 Assuming that new school is founded iPic in Florida in 2006 and has per month for a junior one-bedroom to built, it probably won’t be for a decade or expanded the chain of upscale movie $4,000 per month for a two-bedroom so. Meanwhile Crown will soon offer the theaters as far west as Washington state, with a den. The Pallas, an adjacent build- county’s first Ruth’s Chris Steak House says he chose Pike & Rose for his first ing with 319 units, will open next spring, north of downtown Bethesda, the first East Coast venture. “On the East Coast, Asia Nine outside the District, and the it’s probably as good a location as you according to Federal Realty. Rose Park, with fountains and a large first Coastal Flats on the Maryland side can find,” he says. Christopher Meers, executive partner lawn, will anchor Pike & Rose’s second of the Potomac River. “The question was when we’d go to at Lettuce Entertain You, which operates phase, expected to be completed in the fall of 2016. This phase will include a boutique Gaithersburg, not if,” says Arne Haak, Summer House and Stella Barra as two hotel with up to 200 rooms, about 350 a Walt Whitman High School graduate of its many brands, sees Pike & Rose as apartments, 200,000 square feet of retail and Ruth’s Hospitality Group’s executive the more viable of the two developments vice president and chief financial officer. because of its central location and Fedand 1.4 million square feet of offices. “Pike & Rose represents the first fruits “We think that the ICC makes Crown a eral Realty’s involvement. “Federal is such a good landlord, it of the White Flint Sector Plan, the first very robust area. …It’s far enough away plan that really helped the county take from our Bethesda location that it will was like, ‘How do you not get involved?’ ” a big step towards realizing the smart- serve the upper Montgomery County says Meers, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase growth development outside the tradi- market that hasn’t been well-served by High School graduate whose company also owns Mon Ami Gabi in Bethesda. tional locations of downtown Bethesda an upscale steak house.” center, as well as outdoor multi-sport courts, will open between Crown West, where the Axelrods and Kane and Gutierrez live, and the still-to-come Crown East, which will include an extensive trail network and a large park. The first phase of Pike & Rose will offer 150,000 square feet of retail (90 percent of which is already leased) and 80,000 square feet of office space, plus 174 apartments in the PerSei building, which will feature a pool, fitness center and a terrace with an outside fireplace. Rents for the units, expected to be

and downtown Silver Spring,” says Françoise Carrier, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board. Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz, whose city annexed from the county the land on which Crown is being built, is equally enthused about that project. “People will move there because it’s close to Metro and has a lot of amenities,” Katz says. “There will be restaurants that aren’t in the area. And we got a free high school site for [Montgomery County Public Schools]. At some point, there will be a new high school there.”

“The White Flint/Twinbrook area is really the center of the county. …In 10 years, people will view this area very differently. They’re already shopping there. Then they’ll decide it’s where they can live and enjoy entertainment.”

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“Federal will do for Rockville what it did for Bethesda. It will give a community feel to an area that’s off an eight-lane [road]. It adds a pedestrian element that doesn’t exist now. It adds soul.” Though Crown won’t have quite as urban a vibe as Pike & Rose, Westbrook Properties Executive Vice President Robert Zeiller says it still represents a sea change from the firm’s subdivision developments in Fairfax County. “What drew us to Crown was the ability to create a walkable community. Driving down to the Giant isn’t the same as walking down to the Harris Teeter,” he says. “People like to be part of a community and have everything at their feet. At Crown, you can walk to almost everything you need.” Still, some local restaurateurs say neither development may be a good fit for their businesses. Mark Bucher, founder of BGR: The Burger Joint, and Ted Xenohristos, who co-owns Sugo Osteria and the Cava Grille and Cava Mezze restaurants, separately declined to become part of either project—although Xenohristos is considering a location in Pike & Rose’s second phase. “Pike & Rose is a terrific development, but the rent is so high at $80 to $100 per square foot,” says Bucher, who pays less than half that for his locations in downtown Bethesda, Rio Entertainment Center and Cabin John Shopping Center & Mall. Crown costs less, at “about $60 per square foot,” he says, “but it’s grocery store-anchored, and Harris Teeter is a notch below Giant. And there’s no movie theater to bring people in.” Xenohristos says his company chose instead to open a Cava Mezze in Kentlands in Gaithersburg because Crown was too close to its Fallsgrove location. But he’s considering Pike & Rose because it’s “a completely different market” from Bethesda and Fallsgrove.

Both Westbrook Properties and JBG Retail see Crown as complementary to Washingtonian Center, rather than as a competitor. And officials at

Federal Realty say they aren’t concerned that Pike & Rose will cannibalize either Rockville Town Center or Bethesda Row, which they also manage. But Bethesda attorney David Hotes, a member of the Bethesda Business Roundtable, disagrees. “It’s entirely possible that [Pike & Rose] will further a trend of established Bethesda firms who have migrated northward towards North Bethesda and Rockville, given the traffic and congestion in downtown Bethesda,” Hotes says. “If [Federal Realty] is capable of pulling off a pedestrian and parking-friendly, Metro-accessible outdoor atmosphere with great shops and fine dining, there is no question in my mind that folks from points north who may have previously made the trek down to downtown Bethesda will think twice about continuing to do that.” Robin McBride, Federal Realty’s vice president for the Mid-Atlantic region, believes that mixed-use neighborhoods where residents don’t need to rely on cars to get around are the wave of the future. “As traffic gets worse and worse and people get tired of sitting on the Beltway, the desire for these type of living environments increases,” she says. “There are certain things you can’t do on your computer, [such as] sitting outside to have a bite to eat with a friend [or] having an ice cream cone at the fountain. We’re creating places that fight against where the [social] tide is going.” For their part, Kane and Gutierrez still gravitate on weekends to Bethesda, where Julia is a part-time exercise instructor, and they continue to dine out in Bethesda and Fallsgrove or at Washingtonian Center. But they’re looking forward to some of Downtown Crown’s 12 new restaurants opening in June. n David Elfin is a Bethesda resident and author of seven books on Washington sports. He’s currently the web columnist for Washington.cbslocal.com. To comment on this story, email comments@ bethesdamagazine.com.

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Timothy Hwang wants “to make a tangible difference on humanity, whether that’s having some sort of interest in politics or doing something in technology.”

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Is This the Next Bill Gates? Timothy Hwang was setting academic records and making a name for himself as a teen at Wootton High School. Now, he’s taking on the world with a smart new startup that’s attracting big-name investors and inviting comparisons to the titans of tech. (Did we mention that he’s just 22 and still in college?) By Louis Peck | Photos by Michael Ventura

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J is this the next bill gates?

Jonathan Chen remembers

when his friend, Timothy Hwang, announced that he planned one day to attend Princeton University. They were in fifth grade at Travilah Elementary School in North Potomac. “I said, ‘OK, Tim,’ ” Chen recalls, his tone at the time conveying friendly support coupled with a trace of skepticism. Two years later, the boys were following the election for the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education when “Tim said, ‘I’m going to be the student member of the board,’ ” Chen recounts. “And, what do you know: [Four] years later he was a member of the board.” The year after that, Hwang was on his way to Princeton. “I don’t know how he does it,” Chen says, “…but when Tim sets his mind on what he wants to do in the future, I’m pretty confident that he will get to where he wants to be.” Such confidence perhaps explains why Chen signed on to become chief technology officer at FiscalNote, the Bethesda-based information firm that Hwang started last year while still attending Princeton. This spring, if all goes according to plan, FiscalNote subscribers will be able to search online for legislation being put forth in all 50 states, along with a couple of hundred municipalities around the country. As the firm’s chief executive officer, Hwang eventually plans to expand this database to include cities around the globe. FiscalNote isn’t the first venture for the young entrepreneur. At age 22, Hwang has a résumé that would be the envy of people decades older. Little wonder that some predict he could be the Bill Gates or Steve Jobs of his generation.

The story of Hwang’s young life—

which includes taking and passing an unprecedented 22 Advanced Placement

exams at Rockville’s Thomas S. Wootton High School even as he deftly juggled many outside activities and interests— has elevated him to near-legendary status among students throughout the county. “He just had many credentials that other high school students did not have,” says Hal Zeitlin, an undergraduate at Atlanta’s Emory University who was a sophomore at Potomac’s Winston Churchill High School when Hwang served on the school board in 2009-2010. “The benchmark that Tim set when he was in high school is still there today.” Hwang was a mere 14 when he started Operation Fly, a nonprofit that raises funds to feed the homeless and provides scholarships to underprivileged children. It eventually expanded beyond Washington to three other cities, with an annual budget of $175,000, and remains in operation in the D.C. area today. Later, as a freshman at Princeton, Hwang founded the National Youth Association, which lobbies on legislative and regulatory issues that impact the millennial generation and has since grown to 750,000 members. As an undergraduate, he also started a consulting group whose offerings included analytic software for small businesses. He sold the firm, Articulance Consulting Group, in 2012, the year before starting FiscalNote. Both Chen and FiscalNote Chief Financial Officer Gerald Yao were Hwang’s classmates at Wootton. But his millennial peers aren’t the only ones betting on Hwang setting a goal and being

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Upon first meeting Hwang, “it took me about three minutes to realize this is not a normal person.” — Y.S. Chi, a top executive at Reed Elsevier and a FiscalNote adviser

able to deliver. So are some rather influential “gray hairs.” Among them: former Obama White House Cabinet Secretary Christopher Lu (a 1984 Wootton graduate) and Y.S. Chi, a top executive at Reed Elsevier, one of the world’s largest information and publishing firms. Both serve as FiscalNote advisers. Within months of its launch, FiscalNote had garnered nearly $1.3 million in investment capital from the likes of Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise. By this spring, a year after its start-up, the firm hopes to have $6 million to $10 million in outside investments. Asked why he chose to invest in a company headed by a CEO who’s still in college, Cuban says simply, “Smart people, smart idea.”

Those who know Hwang say it’s not sheer intellect that propels him, but rather a mix of motivation, organizational skills and strategic savvy. “He’s a very bright kid, but he’s not the brightest kid I ever taught,” says Matthew Winter, Hwang’s social studies teacher at Wootton. “It’s more self-discipline and organization. …He wanted to do things that other people wouldn’t even take on. “He was mature beyond his years. He didn’t look like a boy in a man’s world.”

It’s late November when Hwang sits for an interview at FiscalNote’s headquarters in an office tower on East West Highway. He employs humor with the ease of an aspiring politician—he briefly contemplated seeking a vacant seat in the Maryland General Assembly last

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Top: Hwang is pictured with Ed Grenier, president of Junior Achievement of Greater Washington (left) and Jim Volpicelli, a partner at Ernst & Young, after receiving The Ernst and Young Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009. Right: Hwang spoke on behalf of MCPS students at a 2010 town hall meeting sponsored by the Montgomery County Council.

summer before opting to focus on building FiscalNote—even as he discusses the firm’s business plans with the acumen of an MBA. But when asked what drives him to take on so much at such a young age, it’s his youthful idealism that becomes evident. “The motivation…is a willingness to make a difference—not just in the abstract sense, but actually to make a tangible difference on humanity,” he says earnestly, “whether that’s having some sort of interest in politics or doing something in technology.” In pursuit of that goal, he used to operate on three to four hours of sleep a night, causing his parents and friends concern when he was in high school. These days he aims for six or seven hours, “especially now that I’m working seven days a week.” Those seven-day workweeks include 80 to 100 hours at FiscalNote along with classwork on weekends as he pursues a bachelor’s degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. (“I’m pretty much done with my [academic] requirements,”

he says when asked about his graduation date. But “it’s not like a huge priority for me right now.”) He’s also under contract to write a book—he won’t say for whom—that he describes as “basically trying to link macroeconomic trends between large youth unemployment and entrepreneurship around the globe.” Three or four nights a week he sleeps in an 800-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Gaithersburg that serves as little more than a crash pad. “Other nights I’m either traveling or sleep in the office,” he says. Yao says he doesn’t know how his longtime friend does it. “I don’t know anybody else who handles as much as Tim tries to do,” he says. “I always worried he would burn out.” Yao himself is hardly a slacker: In addition to his role as CFO, he serves as FiscalNote’s de facto chief operating officer even as he earns a degree in sociology and finance from Emory. “I guess Tim is just really efficient at what he does,” Yao says. “I can’t really explain it. [But] I would not recommend most people trying this method out.” For his part, Hwang says, “I’m trying to get myself to be more of a balanced person.” But he acknowledges that his social life—which doesn’t include a significant other right now—is largely lim-

ited to attending the occasional film festival in New York, where he travels almost weekly on business. He also flies monthly to the West Coast to meet with investors, and has flown in recent months to London, Paris, Moscow and Beijing to attend open government conferences and promote the business. “It’s not an abnormal amount of travel for somebody who’s in business,” Hwang says with a shrug. “A lot of it is opening up new markets…being able to utilize government data for business intelligence.” Upon first meeting Hwang, “it took me about three minutes to realize this is not a normal person,” says Chi, a Princeton alumnus (class of ’83) who was assigned to mentor Hwang through the school’s Asian-American alumni association. “He not only dreams big, but he has this conviction that he can do it,” Chi says. “He looks at 10 different curveballs a day and says, ‘I can hit them all.’ ” Aside from Hwang’s obvious intellect, Chi was struck by the fact that he was “extraordinarily articulate for his age. Second, he has a natural calling to lead. He’s not a soloist. “This is a young man who really knows that he has a magnetic personality, combined with organizational skills to be able to handle more things than I have seen a young person handle before.”

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Jeeseong “Jay” Hwang chuck-

les when asked the secret to his parenting skills. “You might be disappointed,” Tim Hwang’s father says over dinner at a Korean restaurant in Gaithersburg. “I Looks like wood. mean, I didn’t do that much, really.” A modest, soft-spoken man, Jay Lasts a lifetime. Hwang emigrated from South Korea three decades ago to earn his doctorate in physics at Michigan State University. His son was born in East Lansing, where the school is located, in 1992. The elder Hwang jokes about the stereotype of Asian parents who tell their children “either you can go to law school or medical school, and do music.” Hwang, a biophysicist who works for Walpole’s cellular PVC material looks like real wood and it’s maintenance free. the National Institute of Standards See our fence, pergolas, arbors, lantern and mail posts, outdoor furnishings, window boxes and Technology (NIST), and his wife, and planters, also offered in natural wood. Visit our store nearest you. Michelle, who holds a master’s degree in computer graphics, clearly don’t fit the stereotype. Beltsville, MD 301-937-1100 • Potomac, MD 301-983-6040 When Tim was in middle school, he Serving MD, DC and VA • walpolewoodworkers.com • facebook/WalpoleOutdoors came to his father one day. He said “he wanted to have a serious discussion,” Jay Hwang recalls. “He said, ‘I don’t WW19363_ARL.BETH.MAG.Mar.indd 1 1/24/14 12:36 PM want to follow the [usual] path. I want to try many different things to see what I really want.’ So he did, and I supported In an uncertain world, his opinion.” Jay Hwang knows something about The Meltzer Group provides following the unconventional path. His something that is difficult to grandfather was a Christian pastor in come by: peace of mind. Korea in the 1930s who found himself persecuted during the Japanese occupaWhether it is individual life tion in the years leading up to World War insurance, estate planning, II. Nearly a half-century later, Jay Hwang’s parents encouraged him and his siblings property and casualty insurance, to immigrate to the United States during or an employee benefits package a period of political instability. and retirement plan services for “I tried to share with Tim the frustrayour business, The Meltzer Group tion that my parents and my grandparhas got you covered. ents went through,” Jay Hwang says. “It’s been really tough for them.” The family moved to Potomac in Call us today. 1996, when Jay Hwang, then doing post-doctoral work at Johns Hopkins The Meltzer Group has got you covered. University, became a guest researcher 301-581-7300 at NIST. He joined the NIST staff a year www.meltzer.com later, and worked at the Gaithersburg facility for more than 15 years before relocating recently to a NIST facility in Boulder, Colo. TM

Rest easy.

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Hwang was a mere 14 when he started Operation Fly, a nonprofit that raises funds to feed the homeless and provides scholarships to underprivileged children. The Hwangs raised Tim and his younger sister, Sharon, a chemistry major at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., as observant Christians. Jay Hwang recalls the impact of a trip that his son took to Guatemala with a church group while in elementary school. “The place he went to was a high poverty community,” Jay Hwang says. “He realized other places on the globe were quite different from the U.S.” At the time, expensive sneakers were a fad among kids Tim’s age. “We wanted to buy him [the] sneakers because he never asked,” Jay Hwang says. “He said no. He said, ‘I saw so many kids without shoes who were barefoot.’ ” That seminal trip led to the creation of Operation Fly in 2006. The 14-year-old Tim Hwang was too young to drive, so his father often took him and his friends

downtown on weekends to pass out sandwiches and supplies to the homeless. The group also used mass transit to reach the distribution points. After a couple of weeks, Tim Hwang’s organizational instincts kicked in. “In order to scale up the operation, I had my dad drive me up to Baltimore so that we could file as a nonprofit,” he recalls. As a 501(c)(3), the group was able to fundraise, with its members tutoring and holding frequent bake sales to raise money for the organization. That’s when “my wife and I realized that he wanted to make a bigger impact,” Jay Hwang says. “He talked about how he wanted to be a politician later on. Our perception of politics was not that great: One of the reasons we emigrated was the political system [in South Korea]. We had concerns, but we thought it might be good

to have him contribute to something political in a [positive] sense.” At 16, Tim Hwang signed on as a regional field organizer with the 2008 Obama campaign, working out of the Bethesda office but traveling extensively to coordinate with volunteers in North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It took him away from home on weekends, and he missed some school days. School administrators were “pretty lenient about it, and as time went on, they became more lenient,” Tim Hwang recalls with a chuckle. By his junior year, he was campaigning for student school board member among a middle school and high school electorate of more than 60,000 students, and he was rarely in class. Winter, the social studies teacher, remembers Hwang stopping by to pick up the latest classwork and, sometimes, to seek political advice. By senior year, Hwang was a member of the school board and taking courses at Montgomery College and the University of Maryland. “I didn’t have any more courses to take in high school,” he says. A year earlier, he’d passed his 22nd AP course at Wootton. Highly motivated students in the Montgomery County Public School system generally attempt to pass no more than one-third to onehalf that number. In 2009, the College Board designated Hwang a state scholar, noting that he’d passed the most AP exams of any student in the state that year. Hwang says he “self-studied” for seven or eight of the tests; others were based on in-school or online courses even as he ran Operation Fly and volunteered for the Obama campaign. “Freshman year, I didn’t find high school too challenging,” he says. “I just wanted to try to be in a place where I was really pushing myself. In high school, that manifests itself into taking a lot of incredibly challenging courses.” During his yearlong tenure on the board of education, which coincided with the height of the Great Recession, Hwang mobilized students to lobby the Mont-

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is this the next bill gates?

gomery County Council as the board of education sought to mitigate budget cuts. He successfully convinced fellow board members to reverse a policy mandating that a student with five unexcused absences fail a class, arguing that it was “counterintuitive to be linking a disciplinary issue with an academic issue.” Hwang fell short in the perennial effort to give the student member full voting rights on the school board. Even so, he built contacts with other student board members across the state as they lobbied the General Assembly on the issue. Board of education member Shirley Brandman remembers Hwang using a video blog and social media to educate and organize fellow students. “He is deeply aware of the power of the collective,” Brandman says. “But he understood that it just wasn’t about giving students a script: It was really about inspiring them and making sure they really understood the issues.”

Hwang’s school board experience inevitably led him to establish a new lobby for millennials, the National Youth Association, in 2010. “I essentially ran the operation out of my dorm room,” says Hwang, who served as president for three years before stepping down last June. Hwang’s impetus was to give students a voice in the cuts being made in education. “Why wouldn’t you involve the largest stakeholder in the system?” he asks. “When you extrapolate that to the national level, there are tens of millions of kids who are going to school and are perfectly cogent and articulate to talk about what they care about.” The group has a politically diverse board and has lobbied on issues ranging from student loan debt to youth unemployment. “I think so far our major impact has been showing people on both sides of the aisle that there is a lot we can agree on for millennials,”

says Erich Reimer, the NYA’s current board chairman. By the time Hwang left as president of the NYA, FiscalNote was a fully formed idea. During his time on the Montgomery County school board and as leader of the NYA, Hwang had experienced the frustrations of accessing the most up-todate information from state legislatures. “When I was on the school board, we would get reports every week or so, but that’s not fast enough,” Hwang says. And “at the National Youth Association, all I could do is get a bunch of interns and have them sit in front of computers and try to get the information.” FiscalNote adviser Lu, an aide to Barack Obama since the president’s days in the U.S. Senate, remembers being “struck that [Tim had] smartly identified a gap of knowledge in terms of state and local resources.” Hwang first approached Lu at a White House gathering in the spring of 2013,

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is this the next bill gates? several years after hearing him speak at a Wootton graduation. When Hwang started explaining the concept behind FiscalNote, “you realized that he had not only identified a niche that needed to be filled, but, for someone who was 21 years old, he had an amazing business sense and great technical expertise,” Lu says. Hwang also discussed the idea with Chen last March. Chen, who is completing a computer science degree at the University of Maryland, convinced Hwang to enter the idea in an entrepreneurship competition at the College Park campus. Even without an actual product to demonstrate, they won second place and $1,500—enough to get Hwang, Chen and Yao on a plane to California. There they gained admission to a Silicon Valley “accelerator”—a technology center that provides logistical support to start-ups—while sharing a room at a Motel 6. Ten weeks later, the trio returned to Washington and set up offices in

Bethesda in order to be closer to the potential client base. Today the company has 16 employees—with plans to add more—and charges clients anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 a month for access to FiscalNote’s database, depending on the corporation’s size and number of users. Hwang eventually hopes to add state and local regulations and court cases to the database, even as he seeks to design apps that could predict the likelihood of a particular law passing or yield a potential regulatory solution to a business problem. Hwang declines to say how many clients the company has or how much revenue it has generated. But at 22, he’s already a millionaire “on paper,” he acknowledges. And if all his plans come to pass, he could become a really wealthy man. For the time being, Hwang is focusing on technology rather than his longtime passion for politics. “Technology just moves a lot faster and tends to have

a lot more impact,” he says. “It’s just a lot more disruptive than politics.” But he adds, “I definitely want to go into politics at some point.” Chen, the elementary school friend in whom Hwang confided his early goal of attending Princeton, can see that happening. Two years ago, the young men were talking. Hwang “said he was going to be president,” Chen says. “I said, ‘OK, I hope that works out for you.’ His first goal was, ‘I’m going to be governor of Maryland, and then I’m going to be president.’ “And I don’t doubt him,” Chen says— with only the trace of a chuckle. n Louis Peck has covered politics extensively at the local, state and national levels for three decades, most recently as the writer of Bethesda Magazine’s online MoCo Politics blog. He lives in Bethesda and is on the faculty of Boston University’s Washington, D.C., Journalism Program. To comment on this story, email comments@ bethesdamagazine.com.

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mad hot ballroom Every dance has a story. And every dancer does, too. For the dancers at Einstein High School entering the annual Latin Dance Competition, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a story in search of a happy ending.

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Albert Einstein High School students Abrianna Rivera and William Martinez perform the cha-cha during Montgomery County Public Schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; annual Latin Dance Competition at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda.

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In a yoga studio at Kensington’s Albert Einstein High School, Manuel Ramirez is guiding 20 of his classmates through elementary salsa steps. Over and over, they practice the basic, the side step, right and left turns in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror, above which hangs a sign bearing the “Seven Secrets of Super Performers.” “1-2-3, 5-6-7!” says Manuel, the group’s de facto leader at age 18, as the teenagers swivel their hips in unison. He asks them to add a shoulder roll, and his counting picks up speed. Music blares from an iPod—a joyful mix of trombones and trumpets, percussive congas and syncopated piano. Everybody is concentrating on the moves, but Manuel insists they keep counting. “I can’t hear you!” he yells, walking around and adjusting elbows in line with chests. “Strong arms,” he urges them, and each dancer strives for the perfect posture. Perfection appears well within reach. It’s late October and Titanes Salseros— the competitive dance team of Latin American Students United (LASU), an after-school club—has a legacy to uphold. They’re the defending champions of Montgomery County Public Schools’ annual Latin Dance Competition, held each fall at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda and now just a month away. In 2012, Titanes Salseros—which combines a Latinized version of the school’s team name, the Titans, with the Spanish word for “salsa dancers”—won six out of eight categories in the competition. The contest awards prizes in both group and individual couples dances, from salsa to bachata to merengue to the cha-cha. Since 2001, the group has earned 46 first-place trophies. After the dancers finish their warmup, Paula Peró, an AP Spanish teacher and the group’s adviser, asks them to

“We’re not in gangs. We want to be professional. We want to be something else.” —Manuel Ramirez, pictured in center, with sonia rodriguez and william martinez

gather around in a circle. She reminds the dancers that they’re counting on each other. They need to forgo video games and outings with friends, she says, and focus on dancing, homework and getting enough sleep. “Even if you’re at the back of that stage, people can see you,” Peró tells them. “Everybody on that stage matters.”

In the days that follow, the team practices its three-minute routine every weekday afternoon except Mondays, when Peró has a standing meeting as chairwoman of Einstein’s World Languages Department. Technically, practices run from 2:30 to 5 p.m., but the group often rehearses until 7 or later. Their weekends are devoted to dance, too. “Most people see the performance,

but they don’t see the process,” Peró says. Parents who fret about grades aren’t always sympathetic to the dancers’ relentless schedule. Some, she says, “think we’re wasting time here.” Not that there’s time to waste. The team will have to dance brilliantly, and the more experienced dancers will become choreographers as well, creating steps for all the routines. “Coreo,” the kids call it. “It’s really stressful coming up with it,” says senior William Martinez, 18, who’ll compete in the group dance, cha-cha, the parent/student category and Jack and Jill, in which teens from competing high schools are paired for extemporaneous social dancing. The students get to choose the music for the group routine, according to the After School Dance Fund, the nonprofit

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Manuel Ramirez (left) and Sonia Rodriguez rehearse at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington.

that administers the competition. Titanes has selected an eclectic mix: “Yo No Pido,” a bachata by Dominican crooner Teodoro Reyes; “La Economía,” a hardcharging salsa about inequality by the now-defunct band La Excelencia; and a hip-hop number, “Menea Tu Chapa,” which roughly translates to “Wiggle Your Behind,” by Miami rapper Wilo D’New. Dancers will be evaluated not only on their precision, stage presence and chemistry, but on whether they capture the essence of each dance style. Salsa, rooted in the Spanish melodies and African rhythms of Cuban son, should be energetic and precise; bachata, from the Dominican Republic, sensual and full of longing; merengue, originating in the Dominican and Haiti, flirtatious and frothy like its namesake, meringue; cha-cha, a Cuban ballroom dance, crisp and poised.

Manuel and the seven other varsity dancers draw inspiration from multiple sources: YouTube clips of professional salseros and bachateros; dance “congresses” that draw professionals and amateurs alike; and the alumni team, Einstein graduates who compete in their own category at Strathmore. “Practice makes permanent,” Alicia Escoto tells the group one afternoon. A communications major at the University of Maryland, Escoto is a competition veteran at 20. “If you do it sloppily here, then you’ll do it sloppily that night,” she says. A few days later, the dancers explore formations they hope will appeal to the judges. After pulling up a dance formation app on her iPhone, Peró suggests the group start the bachata in a “V,” then transition to a “W” shape. This will allow the two less experienced couples to exit the

stage before the salsa, a complex and athletic number with multiple formations. After running through the routine half a dozen times, the group breaks to snack on Halloween candy and watch themselves on Peró’s iPad. “Are you together? Are your hands in the same place?” Peró asks, reminding them that the devil is in the details. The students call Peró their “second mom,” and spend more time with her than their own mothers before competition. Fellow teachers marvel at the number of unpaid hours she spends not only at practice but chauffeuring students home afterward, to Westfield Wheaton mall to alter costumes and shop for accessories, and to Baja Fresh in Wheaton on Tuesday nights, when the restaurant donates a portion of its profits to Titanes. Born in Argentina, Peró, 36, gradu-

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Wearing white, Sonia Rodriguez (left) and Abrianna Rivera wait for their assignments for the Jack and Jill category.

ated from Bethesda’s Walter Johnson High School in 1995 and studied education at the University of Maryland. She signed on to be the LASU sponsor after being hired at Einstein in 2000, partly because her husband, Miguel, worked long hours as a chef. Thanks to a more reasonable schedule, Miguel now tags along to practices and occasionally cooks for Titanes and their parents. Peró, who isn’t a dancer herself, says the students raise the bar each year. “They’re constantly pushing themselves,” she says. Will these kids someday be professional dancers? Probably not, Peró says. But they’re learning how to be comfortable in their own skins and around members of the opposite sex. Titanes Salseros “teaches its members to respect one another,” Peró says.

When the music’s playing, it’s dif-

ficult for Manuel to stand still. Short and lithe with an understated Mohawk, Manuel takes charge as a dance lead in an assertive but never overpowering manner. A taskmaster during rehearsals, he’s nonetheless quick with a joke or a hug. Despite his intuitive feel for dance, Manuel grew up playing soccer and fixing computers instead. When he arrived from El Salvador at 15, he spoke only Spanish. At first, he, his sister, Susy, and his mother, Yolanda Dominguez, lived

Members of Titanes Salseros warm up in their dressing room at Strathmore.

Dance team adviser and Einstein teacher Paula Peró gives Manuel Ramirez a good-luck hug before the competition. Sonia Rodriguez and Abrianna Rivera

with his uncle’s family in Wheaton. Manuel credits his uncle with keeping him away from the wrong crowd. “You’re not going to be living with this family [if that happens],” he’d tell Manuel. Manuel’s cousin, Luis, an Einstein junior at the time, had recently joined LASU and invited Manuel to a workshop. Though he was dabbling in break dancing by then, Manuel was reluctant because everybody spoke English. But conversations with Luis and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes at Einstein helped, so he kept showing up at practices. Three years later, Manuel scours the Internet for new choreography, down-

loads songs to his iPod and dances socially at Mr. Mambo’s, a salsa club near his family’s apartment in Silver Spring. Of all the students, Manuel is the most vocal about changing attitudes about Latinos through dance. Having lived in Langley Park, a working-class town in Prince George’s County that has struggled with gang violence, he’s painfully aware of negative associations that persist. “We’re not in gangs,” he says. “We want to be professional. We want to be something else.” In his hometown of Sonsonate, near El Salvador’s western coast, Manuel’s father, a police officer, would take him to crime scenes, showing him corpses to illustrate the reality of bad choices. His father remains in Sonsonate, while Dominguez, 42 and now divorced, focuses on building a new life here with Manuel and Susy, 14. Dancing, she says, has positively shaped Manuel’s character. “I’m proud,” she says. “When we came here, our point was to become a better family.” A caregiver for an elderly woman, Dominguez wants Manuel to attend college. He admits that school is not his strong suit; he was disqualified from Titanes for two quarters one year because he didn’t make the minimum 2.0 quarterly grade point average set by Peró. He promises to try harder, then adjures: “No, I’m not going to try to do better. I am going to do better.”

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mad hot ballroom Titanes Salseros performs a group dance for the competition’s “Best in Show” category.

An hour before the lights dim, every seat in the auditorium, including the balconies, fills up. And finally the competition Begins. At a Sunday brunch prepared by Miguel Peró for the dancers and their families a few weeks before competition, Sonia Rodriguez’s siblings are talking about how much they’ve missed her since she joined Titanes Salseros. Franky, 11, and 7-year-old twins Kathy and Fernando remember when Sonia, 16, had time to play. Now she’s either studying or at practice. She even skipped trick-ortreating on Halloween. Sonia almost didn’t join Titanes Salseros the previous year because her friends dismissed the group as “chanchi”—a slur similar to “wetback.” But once she tasted victory at a Dominion High School dance competition in Sterling, Va., Sonia was hooked. She has since “let go of those friends.” When her family moved from San Salvador to Maryland in 2002, Sonia spoke no English and cried constantly during the first two weeks of kindergarten. Now, like her bicultural peers, she replies in English to her Spanishspeaking mom and has adopted a typical American after-school schedule, pre-

viously packed with karate, swimming and cheerleading, now with field hockey and dance. Her parents support her extracurriculars as long as she keeps getting A’s and B’s. “I always tell her, ‘Darlo major,’ ” says her mother, Margarita Batres, 38. Give it your best. Sonia’s father, Francisco Rodriguez, 39, has worked as a mechanic for 12 years and still puts in 11-hour days, six days a week, to make all this possible for his family. He and Batres were attending college in El Salvador when Sonia was born, but had to drop out—a choice they’re determined Sonia won’t face. “I want her to have a future,” Rodriguez says. For similar reasons, William’s parents, Ana Mercado and Daniel Martinez, risked their lives crossing Central America and Mexico for the U.S., leaving Ilobasco, a town in El Salvador known more for its meticulously crafted clay figurines than for its economic opportunities. Martinez came first, and Mercado

followed, leaving William behind with her mother for four years while she and her husband established themselves in Wheaton. When William joined his parents at 9, he entered the U.S. without documents. But he was recently accepted into the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects him from deportation and allows him to apply for a Social Security number, driver’s license and work permit. “The idea was for William to have more opportunities,” says Martinez, a 40-year-old construction superintendent. Their son’s long hours with Titanes have caused friction within the family. But Mercado, 35, and Martinez concede that dance has given their shy son confidence. An aspiring architect/engineer, William always excelled in school, but acknowledges he “had such a hard time talking to people.” Titanes has changed that. He got a girlfriend—his dance partner, Abrianna Rivera, 15—though they recently broke up. “You gain this skill, and it’s something I can have for the rest of my life,” he says.

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Competition is a week

away. Rehearsal on this Saturday has been moved to Einstein’s spacious dance studio on the third floor. Peró has invited a friend, local flamenco teacher Alisa Bernstein, to critique the group routine and the individual couples’ dances. The dancers are in for an 11-hour day. “Menea Tu Chapa,” a purposefully “ridiculous” dance, as Bernstein puts it, requires attention. A part toward the end—16 counts in which the dancers aren’t doing much—needs fixing. Bernstein says she’s looking for “organized disorder,” choreographed moves that look improvised. “Give some moves, people!” Bernstein shouts. Together, she and the students devise a solution: The girls shake their hips and point flirtatiously toward the boys, clustered in the middle. The boys jump and shake their hips rhythmically until it’s time for them to perform their final “tricks”— lifts, dips and flips—with the girls, moves intended to elicit shrieks from the audience more than points from the judges. The group practices the new choreography half a dozen times. “I know you guys are tired, but I need to see some energy!” Bernstein yells. For the next hour, they practice tricks that demand strength, coordination and balance. Bernstein still isn’t satisfied. “You need to come out of the trick at the same time!” she demands, and eventually they do. The group spends the next few hours polishing entrances and exits, a luxury that comes with having the routine’s major choreography done. Meanwhile, the couples continue to work furiously to finish their dances. The day before, William and Abrianna practiced for an hour on an ending for “Let’s Get Loud,” a Jennifer Lopez hit that comes in the second half of their cha-cha routine. Finally it’s the Sunday before competition. Manuel and Sonia arrive at Einstein early to revise their salsa with steps that Manuel picked up the night before at Mr. Mambo’s. Zafire, a globe-trotting

The dance team poses with its collection of trophies after the awards ceremony.

“Everybody on that stage matters.” —Paula Peró, an AP Spanish teacher and the group’s adviser

dance team from the Bronx that Titanes members revere, was conducting a workshop there. As new partners, Manuel and Sonia also spend the morning working on their personal connection. Then in the final hours of the rehearsal, Manuel practices the bachata with Hlina Mitku, an 18-year-old junior from Ethiopia. Manuel and Hlina joined Titanes the same afternoon, and the rapport they’ve built over three years as dance partners is readily apparent. They want to challenge themselves with a trick—Manuel flipping Hlina—and they practice until they’re exhausted but get it right. “Remember, the judges are looking for good dancing,” Peró tells them. “They’re not just looking for tricks.”

Competition day arrives on an

overcast Monday, and Titanes Salseros has converted Einstein’s first-floor art gallery into a command center. Alumni dancers Johanna Orellana, 21, and Karen Carbajal, 23, are applying hot pink and lavender eye shadow on the girls and setting braids with copious amounts of hair spray. “What if I mess up and we lose because of me?” asks Krissia Osorio, 16, who’ll partner with Jovan Aquino, 17, in all three group dances today. “No,” Karen says firmly. “You’ve got to show that you own it, that ‘no one’s better than me.’ ” After lunch, Titanes Salseros boards a bus to Strathmore. They set up in a

dressing room, passing the hours until the competition by stretching, running through their routines and playing UNO. Students from competing high schools arrive, keeping to themselves except for Watkins Mill’s team, Las Olas, which drops by to wish Titanes good luck. “I’m afraid of Watkins Mill,” Manuel confides. “They always have something to give to the audience.” An hour before the lights dim, every seat in the auditorium, including the balconies, fills up. And finally the competition begins with individual couples’ dances: first cha-cha, then merengue, bachata and salsa. For each category, couples first crowd the stage and perform their routines simultaneously to the same music, selected by the After School Dance Fund. Then, each couple dances alone in a 20-second spotlight before the judges, who assign them a numerical score. The cha-cha contestants dance first, and William and Abrianna’s moves are fluid, their turns crisp and their steps synchronized. A difficult dance to make exciting due to its leisurely tempo, the cha-cha begs for hamming it up, which William and Abrianna do in their spotlight. Next, the merengue performers take the stage. Hlina and Levi Dias, a 16-year-old Brazilian, compete for Einstein. Offstage, both teens are introverts; onstage, they unleash all the extroversion the merengue requires. They execute their steps joyfully, oozing confidence through bright smiles.

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The bachateros follow, with Hlina and Manuel demonstrating all the passion of reuniting lovers. Hlina nails the flip while Manuel seduces the audience with his moves. Finally, the salsa dancers take the stage. Manuel and Sonia’s routine is stylish and complex, full of double- and triple-turns, shoulder shimmies and other “shines,” or clever footwork. The chemistry they’ve been working hard to establish comes through. The final dance before intermission is the parent/student category, in which contestants test their dancing skills with brave and willing adults. On a stage full of intergenerational couples, William and Abrianna’s mother, Glenda Bonilla, 39, dance their way through a rapid succession of songs. After intermission, Einstein is third up among the nine schools competing in everyone’s favorite category, “Best in

Show,” the group dance division. Titanes’ performance far surpasses the energy of rehearsals. “Yo No Pido” is bouncy and audacious; “La Economía,” brassy and precise; “Menea Tu Chapa,” as irreverent as dance coach Bernstein demanded. The audience goes wild during the boys’ salsa solo, full of flashy footwork and hand gestures, precise head snaps and bravado. Before they learn how they did with the judges, though, there are the alumni and Jack and Jill divisions. For Jack and Jill, couples dance while judges watch from the back of the stage, tapping couples on the shoulder to eliminate them. William, Abrianna and their respective partners are the last two couples eliminated before Manuel and Seneca Valley High School senior Allison Murillo are declared the winners. Then Ricardo Loaiza, executive director of the After School Dance Fund, announces Einstein as the winner in

the cha-cha, merengue and salsa categories. It’s hard to imagine the night getting any better—but it does. Titanes Salseros wins the most anticipated prize of the evening: first place in Best in Show. The team erupts, everyone reaching to touch the giant trophy Manuel holds aloft. The alumni, too, beat out their competition. After posing for photos, the dancers make their way back to the dressing room to clean up. “It hasn’t hit me yet,” says Levi, who can’t stop smiling. “It’s what happens when you practice,” Manuel says matter-of-factly. “I feel happy because that’s what we came for.” As they make their way to the bus, the teenagers wonder aloud where at Einstein they’ll put all their trophies. n Archana Pyati is a writer living in Silver Spring. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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American flags are draped over metal barricades near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon the day after two bombs exploded there.

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Running into

Tragedy The author was hoping to set a record for completing consecutive Boston Marathonsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; but terrorists had other plans

Pete Tschudy

By Ben Beach

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We were at about the 19-mile mark of the 2013 Boston Marathon when we heard there’d been two explosions at the finish line. We didn’t take it that seriously; people shout all kinds of things along a racecourse. But a mile later, a number of police vehicles roared past, and at that point we figured something really had happened. As we approached Mile 21 at Boston College, a dozen race volunteers in yellow jackets moved from the roadside to block the route. I made a tentative move to continue, but the volunteers insisted I stop. They told us that the course had been closed. Surreal. That was the word we started using. The fabled Boston Marathon, in its 117th year, had come to a screeching halt.

I’d been running a lousy race. I

should say: “walking” a lousy race. Just past the 10-mile mark, a “minor” calf injury nailed me. There was shooting pain, and I grabbed the shoulder of my longtime training partner, Phil Stewart, to avoid falling. A debilitating injury is always bad news. But this was especially bad news. I was on my way to setting a record for completing the most consecutive Boston Marathons: 46. And with 16 miles to go, I wasn’t sure I could even walk. It turned out I could. So I just walked

at the fastest possible pace and started doing the math. The Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which organizes the event, turns off the official clock at six hours. I needed to limp along at a 15-minute-per-mile pace to make that, so it would be tight. For the first time in 46 years, I was going to have family awaiting me at the finish line instead of in the Newton hills. Since Phil, also a Bethesdan, owns an outfit called Road Race Management, he’d been able to secure eight tickets for the bleachers at the finish. My wife, Carol, and seven other people in my cheering squad had decided to catch me at the 16-mile mark, before taking the T to the finish. They waited—and waited— wondering what had happened to me. When I finally reached them, my daughter, Emily, son Evan, and his wife, Ali, began walking with Phil and me. Meanwhile, Carol, her sister, her nephew and two friends hopped the T to go downtown.

After hitting that roadblock at

Boston College, I sat on a bench with Phil and tried to process the bizarre turn of events. Volunteers gave me ice for the calf and a space blanket. We heard that the explosions had killed three and injured at least 20. I thought back to when our bus had

arrived at the starting point in Hopkinton a few hours earlier. One runner had remarked on the recent troubled history of Patriots’ Day, created to mark Paul Revere’s famous 1775 ride warning of the British troops, and the traditional day on which the marathon is run. The Oklahoma City bombing (1995), the Waco siege (1993) and the Virginia Tech shootings (2007) had all taken place on or around that day. No one in the conversation had suggested a sequel, but that discussion suddenly seemed eerie. I tried to imagine the scene 5 miles away, but it seemed impossible. For thousands of runners—and certainly for me—that half-mile stretch of Boylston Street has always been a special place. It’s what we envision during hours of winter training; it’s where many of us have realized our dreams. But on this day, people apparently lay dead or badly injured along that same stretch of road. The one piece of good news came from my son Carter, a BC alumnus who was at the school with his girlfriend, Katie. Carol had called him to report that her train had been stopped before she could reach the finish line. She’d found a Best Buy in Kenmore Square, a mile from the finish, where she could watch the news reports. The volunteers told us that a bus would come fetch us. But Carter noticed

ben beach, en route to a record

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some people headed toward downtown Boston on a sidewalk and asked if I wanted to press on. I suspected we wouldn’t get far, but it made sense to try to reach the finish. So off we went, all seven of us. If other runners followed, I didn’t notice. From time to time, police forced us to detour from the route, but we got closer, trying to absorb the day’s events. We walked past a lot of crowded bars, where people were glued to the TVs. Again, the word “surreal” kept bobbing to the surface. After 45 minutes or so, we neared Fenway Park and Kenmore Square, about 24.5 miles from Hopkinton. That’s where my 46th trip came to an end. Two policemen weren’t allowing anyone near the crime scene. Half an hour later, we were reunited with the others, trading accounts of our journeys and discussing the “what ifs.”

courtesy of ben beach

Ben Beach with running companion Phil Stewart

michael ventura

I hadn’t set out to be a runner. As a young kid, I dreamed of being a major league shortstop. But after failing to make the baseball team in high school, I began running and realized that my body was more suited for distance running than for any of the ball sports. Then in April of my senior year, I stumbled upon a radio broadcast of the Boston Marathon. People were running

Beach’s running pace has slowed considerably over the past decade due to dystonia, a rare neurological disorder.

Had I been on schedule, my family might have been settling into their seats at the finish line at 2:49 p.m., when the bombs exploded.

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running into tragedy

26 miles in the sleet. I had a penchant for offbeat activities, and since I was going to be in the area for college, I set my mind on entering. Today, it’s hard to get into the race. It’s the one marathon in America that provides an entry form only to those who have run a fast enough time within the past year. (The BAA does save some spots for those who raise a sizable sum for an approved charity.) In 1968, though, there was no time requirement. You just had to be at least 18 and male.

If you’re a marathoner, you’re surely laughing at this sorry plan. Patriots’ Day 1968 broke sunny and warm. In those days, the holiday was on April 19, regardless of the day of the week. That year it fell on a Friday. I headed off to the Hayes-Bickford’s cafeteria in Harvard Square. For pancakes, right? No. Steak and eggs. Most of us mistakenly believed we needed protein rather than carbohydrates. On the bus out to Hopkinton, I listened to all the guys talking about their

I heard my brother’s harrowing account over the phone that evening as most of my family sat at a friend’s downtown apartment, watching the news. Racing authorities worried that women might hurt themselves. The biggest hurdle to entry was one Jock Semple. He was a masseur who was essentially in charge, and he was incensed to discover that running in his event was seen as a stunt by some fraternities. When I phoned to request an entry form, he was in the middle of a massage and asked me in a pointedly unfriendly Irish brogue, “What makes you think you can run 26 miles?” To be honest, I wasn’t sure I could; my longest run to that point was 5 miles. Though I didn’t have much of an answer, he sent me the form anyway. Compounding my inexperience was total ignorance about how to train. I was a coxswain with the Harvard crew, so I ran 3 miles a day with the oarsmen and charged up the stadium stairs. A month before the marathon, I bought my first pair of running shoes and started adding a mile per day to my workouts, with a goal of reaching 26 a couple of days before the race. Blisters brought me up short, but two days before the marathon I did run 20 miles.

races and training. I concluded that I had made a colossal mistake. The Boston Marathon was the first road race of my life—of any distance—and I was totally unprepared. I remember little about my trip into Boston that day, but the starting field of 1,000 seemed enormous. (Today it’s about 25,000, even with restricted entry.) I do remember my exhilaration as I headed down Boylston Street toward the finish and heard my name announced as the crowd cheered. I’d been hoping to finish under four hours—assuming I went the distance— so my 3:23 felt great. But I was beat up, and doubted I’d put my body through another marathon. Of course, I was back the next spring, and the spring after that.

As I walked the final miles of

the 2013 Boston Marathon, I wondered what I would have done if I’d been running along that last stretch when disaster struck. How does a marathoner turn around after 26 miles and not run the final 400 yards? And with a world record in sight, how could I, in particular, have

ignored the finish line? As I tried to imagine the scene along Boylston Street, I wondered if more explosions were in the offing, and if anyone I knew had been hurt. And yes, I wondered if my running streak had truly ended. It seemed a trifling matter compared to the day’s tragic events, yet it was hard not to consider. I’m not sure when I began to think of my annual appearances as a streak worth maintaining. I suspect it happened around my 10th Boston Marathon. My training went from seasonal to year-round. And by my early 30s, I had knocked my time down to 2:26 (in the New York Marathon, one of many others that I entered). I wasn’t the only person with a long Boston streak. In 1967, the year I heard about it on the radio, a 21-year-old from Pennsylvania named Neil Weygandt ran the race. He kept returning. Back then, no one was really tuned into these streaks. But in 2001, the BAA took inventory and discovered that Neil was No. 1 and I was No. 2 in running the most consecutive Boston Marathons. Neil also has run 100-milers and other ultra-marathons, and in 2012, all that mileage caught up with him in the form of injuries. He decided not to enter the 2012 race, so when I staggered through the 90-degree heat that Patriots’ Day, finishing in a humbling 5:56, I tied Neil.

I’d had my own physical problems.

One morning in June 2002, my left leg became balky. It seemed to lack the energy to take the next step. The problem worsened. I went to neurologists, orthopedists, chiropractors and physical therapists. I heard various theories and tried a number of potential remedies. Nothing worked. Then in 2006 I landed in the office of Dr. John Kelly, then a neurologist at George Washington University Hospital. After enduring yet another of those pins-in-the-back-and-legs tests, I heard a new word: dystonia. The third most common movement disorder after Parkin-

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son’s disease and “essential tremor,” dystonia is still so rare that few people have heard of it. Almost every patient has different symptoms. For unknown reasons, my brain had started sending a signal to my left hamstring to contract when I wanted it to extend for a full stride. As a result, my knee remains bent, and my right leg has to adjust. It’s not pretty, and 12 years later I’m still embarrassed by how awkward I look on the roads. Fortunately, there’s no pain. No direct pain, that is. Any runner knows that when the body tries to compensate for an unbalanced gait, injury is almost sure to follow. It did in my case, and I began to suspect that my running days were over. Yet somehow, after I drastically cut back my training, my body made peace with this weird stride. Through Kelly, I got into a National Institutes of Health clinic that specialized in dystonia. The doctors there have monitored me and given me exercises.

S ENIOR

Like many with dystonia, I receive Botox injections in my leg every few months. (Hold the jokes; I’ve heard them all.) The Botox interferes with that signal from the brain and, in my case, stops my left foot from banging into my right ankle bone. My current running regime is a far cry from marathon training. I run three days a week, typically 4 miles one day, 7 another, and then do a stairs workout since dystonia doesn’t affect me on stairs. I do those either in the Elm Street parking garage in Bethesda or at my office near the State Department in the District. To make up for that paltry schedule, I commute by bike, lift weights, use an elliptical trainer and Exercycle in my basement, and swim in the summer. I get about 12 hours of exercise per week. Running is a different experience now. Because I’m so much slower, I’m at the back of the pack with the Elvis impersonators, the jugglers and the guys dressed up as cheeseburgers. But the sport is too

LIFESTYLE

• I NDEPENDENT

AND

much a part of me to give it up. That’s why I’d returned to Boston yet again in 2013. Carol had organized a party at Uno’s, a mile from the finish line, the night before the marathon, and 40 friends and family members celebrated what we figured would be my 46th trip down Boylston Street about 20 hours later. I knew, of course, that anything can happen in 26 miles. Anything.

It turned out to be a good day to

have a calf injury. Had I been on schedule, my family might have been settling into their seats at the finish line at 2:49 p.m., when the bombs exploded. That night, when I called my brother Randy, I found out that he and his wife, Jenny, had been there at that awful moment. It was so crowded near the finish line that they’d decided to move a bit to have a better vantage point for pho-

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running into tragedy

tos of me finishing. A couple of minutes later, the first explosion occurred about 50 yards away, accompanied by a black ball of smoke. “We thought it might be part of the celebration,” Randy told me. Seconds later, another explosion occurred in about the same area, and everybody started to run, he said. Police pushed them along the street as they wondered if a third bomb was about to go off. They saw state police in camouflage uniforms with assault weapons, running to the scene. I heard my brother’s harrowing account over the phone that evening as most of my family sat at a friend’s downtown apartment, watching the news. We were still shaking our heads and, like the rest of the world, wondering who had planted those bombs and why. I thought about the runners who had given up a chance to finish and, pushing

aside their exhaustion, rushed to help injured spectators. And I thought about all the medical professionals who had volunteered to staff the finish line tent to treat blisters and cramps—and ended up dealing with lost arms and legs. The three people who died and almost all of the injured were spectators. I didn’t know any of them. Many of my friends feared that I might have been among the victims, and when I finally saw my email accounts, they were jammed with questions and expressions of concern. Technically, my streak had ended. Under the circumstances, though, the BAA concluded that anyone who had reached halfway would be deemed to have completed the marathon. Many people ask if I intend to return. Absolutely. I’ll show up on Patriots’ Day as long as my body allows. I wouldn’t

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know what else to do on the third Monday in April. I want to extend the streak and, if my luck holds, set the record for the most Boston Marathons completed. The great Johnny Kelley finished 58 of them. It’s more than a little sobering to realize that I’m at least 13 years away from that day. Assuming I don’t miss any, I’ll be 76. Sure, all of us will be thinking about the possibility of another bombing. There’s no way to ensure that a terrorist won’t show up somewhere along those 26 miles. But we can’t live full lives if we avoid all such possibilities. I plan to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and take what comes. n Ben Beach is a writer and editor at the U.S. Department of State. He lives in Bethesda. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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Chevy Chase resident Tom Ridge, shown here in the D.C. office of his international consulting firm, has been a congressman, governor of Pennsylvania and the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Secretary of Homeland Security.

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bethesda magazine interview

By Tom Shroder

liz lynch

How Tom Ridge Sleeps at Night Tom Ridge was midway through his second term as Pennsylvania’s governor when terrorist hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa., on 9/11. Less than a month later, President George W. Bush asked the Vietnam veteran and populist Republican to direct a new domestic security effort. A little more than 15 months after that, Ridge became the first Secretary of Homeland Security, a post he held for two years. It was the second time Ridge had, in a sense, been drafted to aid in a war effort. In 1970, he was attending The Dickinson School of Law when he received a notice from the U.S. Selective Service System. Ridge served as a staff sergeant in the infantry and saw combat until a ruptured appendix brought him home. He became the first Vietnamera enlisted man to win election to Congress in 1982, where he served for 12 years. With the broad shoulders and square jaw of a gridiron hero, Ridge was said to have been high on Bush’s list of potential vice presidential candidates in 2000, but his pro-choice stance on abortion made him unattractive to the party’s right wing. He was also considered as a running mate by John McCain in the 2008 election before McCain made the surprise choice of Sarah Palin. After stepping down from Homeland Security following Bush’s re-election in 2004, Ridge founded Ridge Global, an international consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and security issues. His posh, fifth-floor office overlooks the Farragut North Metro station in the District, to which he commutes from his home in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chevy Chase. On the de rigueur Wall of Fame in his office, Ridge, 68, can be seen gripping and grinning with such luminaries as Bush One and Bush Two, as well as Pennsylvania’s favorite son, Arnold Palmer.

Q&A Of all the pictures on the wall, the one that most impresses me is the one of you and Arnie.

Anyone privileged to serve in public office has the opportunity to meet some remarkable people in their life, and he has become a very close friend. As great a golfer as he’s been, as accomplished an entrepreneur as he’s been, he’s just a remarkable man to hang with. Do you play with him?

He’s knocking on 85 now, so he doesn’t play much. But I played in the pro-am at Bay Hill with him for 10 years. Can he still shoot his age?

Ummm, he can if he’ll move up front [to the short tees]. He won’t?

Well, he does with his buddies, but Arnold Palmer wants to be Arnold Palmer at 35. One quick Arnold story: Several years ago, it’s one of those beautiful fall days in Pennsylvania, soft white clouds, blue sky, leaves are turning, walking down the fairway. He just stops in the middle of the fairway. He says, “Look around. This is my office. Now you can understand why I like to go to work every day.” [Ridge laughs.] What’s the closest you’ve come to having that kind of feeling about a job?

Governor, no question. Of all the opportunities I’ve had to serve, this is the government enterprise where you inherit the infrastructure, but you are responsible for the team around you to promote the agenda for which you are responsible. You can be as much or as little a change agent as you want to be. It is the most exciting political job in America. How do you think being governor would compare to being president?

I think the federal bureaucracy is a lot more independent [than the state bureaucracy]. And it seems the ideological divide is much greater than it was way back in the ’80s, when I was a congressman, and so the BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 171

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tom ridge ability to fashion the kind of collective mindset and to build bipartisan consensus is much, much more difficult. Do you see the level of animosity in Congress as being something unique in history, or more of a recurring theme?

There have been so many stories written about the intense debates, personal assaults, physical challenges that have happened in Congress throughout history. So I guess the notion that there’s a constant tension that sometimes rises to even occasionally personal assaults, and certainly personal insults these days, is not new. It certainly seems to be far more intense, but I think what has happened in the 21st century—with global communications and telecommunications—[enables] an internal dispute [within Congress to become] a national one. All of a sudden, people are taking sides, and I think the tensions are exacerbated. People turn on TVs these days not to be informed and educated, but to have their own point of view ratified. I think that has created a deeper divide and a bigger challenge for those who accept the need to bring people together from both sides. What was the greatest gift and greatest challenge of where and how you grew up?

My father made a critical personal and financial decision not to accept a couple of promotions from within his company so he could continue to raise his family in northwestern Pennsylvania. He was a traveling salesman, and he was good. As a young kid, I used to travel with him. So I guess the greatest gift that I had as a young man growing up in a smaller community was—it’s going to sound corny—but just the constant support and encouragement and opportunity that my parents gave me. Learning to appreciate relationships, learning to appreciate simple things the community offered. I’m the kid that played Little League baseball but also had the paper route. I also caddied at the same time. I remember vividly getting done caddying at a country club, my dad picked me up, I put my baseball uniform on in

the back seat, he’d go to the field, help line the field. The Ridge kids were pretty blessed. My father worked two jobs all his life, never owned a new car, we never took big vacations. That was not important, because we did so many other things that were available to us. What is the one memory of Vietnam that you think of most often?

There are a couple, but I’m not going to share them with you. [He pauses.] I guess the one I remember most is the first time we were out on patrol and encountered the enemy. I remember we hit the ground and the guy next to me—there’s a little humor here, but it didn’t seem funny at the time—he said, “You just got your first medal. Now you qualify for the Combat Infantry Badge.” I said, “I didn’t do a thing. I just got shot at!” And he says, “That’s all you have to do!” What about the Bronze Star you were awarded?

We just ran into some bad guys and saw them before they saw us, and we prevailed, and they didn’t. Why someone would even think that particular incident was worthy of that kind of recognition, I don’t know. I didn’t ask for it; I’m grateful for it, but seriously, there was nothing particularly heroic. Did you have any problems adjusting to civilian life?

Very few, but there were some. By and large, [though,] no. One reason, I think: I was probably older than most of the men I served with. I was the only college graduate in my entire company of men. I think that was a huge emotional and intellectual advantage. And, of course, I came back home to that environment that I left, a very nurturing, loving family. My dad, my idol as you can tell, wrote me a letter every single day I was in Vietnam. Obviously they didn’t have daily delivery, but I’d get packages. He had this old black typewriter—he was a hunt-and-peck guy—and he’d type me out a play-by-play description of the Super Bowl. After the war, I had a couple of private moments. You can’t help not…

Did you learn anything about yourself in combat?

I was never a very good athlete; I got cut from the baseball team. I know I could have been the 12th guy on the basketball team—I swear today I could have been that 12th guy—but I got cut. I’d never been pressed physically and emotionally the way I was challenged in the military, and I was more than up to it. If it was a pass/fail test, I passed with flying colors. I’ll let someone else grade it. I draw from my experiences as a soldier, but I don’t dwell on them. Where were you, and what was your first reaction on 9/11 when you learned of the attacks?

I was in Erie, Pa. My mother was in the hospital. I was visiting her that morning—she wanted Dunkin’ Donuts—and as I was pulling into the driveway, state police told me the first plane hit. Then the second plane hit, and I’m back at my house immediately. I’m calling my chief of staff. By then you know it’s not an accident. I’m talking to my chief of staff on the phone. I said, “You better get our emergency operations center up. I’m coming in.” But it took me three hours to get clearance; they couldn’t even get a state police helicopter cleared. I’m talking to my chief of staff and listening to [NBC’s] Jim Miklaszewski trying to report on what he’s hearing, and he said, I’ll never forget, “I’ve heard a loud explosion on the other side of the Pentagon. Excuse me, I have to go investigate.” Three. And finally I got to Harrisburg, I hopped on a Chinook and I went to Shanksville. Four. Incredible day. What did you see at Shanksville?

At certain times I close my eyes and see [it again]. I expected—because when commercial aviation accidents are reported, the tragedy unfolds and you see—major pieces of fuselage and tail and the engines. [But] nothing. A big smoldering hole. There had to be dozens of emergency vehicles. All these volunteer firemen from all over just rushed to the scene thinking maybe they could help. Now this is hours after it happened. They’re not in a daze, they’re just there trying to understand. [But there was] nothing! No engines, no wings, nothing.

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tom ridge As Secretary of Homeland Security, were you constantly learning things that made it hard to sleep at night?

I wouldn’t quite put it that way. The access that I had to intelligence relating to terrorist threats against America and our interests was, I think, beyond the average person’s comprehension. I was asked that question within a couple of months [of assuming the post]. My answer was this: “I don’t sleep much, but I sleep well.” I had the inside knowledge that in spite of all these threats—we’d get a threat matrix some days a couple pages long, some days a couple dozen pages long, on just the terrorist threat—that my country was responding in a very impressive and aggressive way. Do we have to give up any of our freedom or privacy to maintain a reasonable degree of safety?

I don’t mind being inconvenienced. I do mind if you step on my privacy toes. I heard this from good, decent Americans many times during the Patriot Act debates: “I

don’t care if you’re listening in to my conversations, I’m not doing anything wrong.” My hopefully respectful response was, “Yeah, you do care. Nobody has a right to listen in to your conversations unless they have probable cause to do so.” I felt that way then, I feel that way now. I would draw a line in the sand and not erase it. Do you think the threat of terrorism is receding or expanding?

I think the threat of terrorism has grown. I think that and cybersecurity are two permanent conditions that the broader world community is going to have to deal with forever more. We can’t be breathless about this. We can’t be so concerned about the prospects [of more attacks], as horrible as they are, [that we become] preoccupied with eliminating all possibility that those ever happen again and just kind of surrender how we live, what we do. The security measures we build into our communities [can] begin to become a gradual infringe-

ment of that right of privacy. It’s about managing the risk, and risk management is not a mindset that is acceptable to a lot of people, even though day in and day out in their own lives they manage a lot of risks. They put an addition on the house, they don’t increase their insurance. They go down to the store, but it’s only a mile away so they don’t bother putting on their seat belt. We just have to accept the reality that the terrorism threat is a global scourge. We’ll deal with it. You get to the point where you start infringing on my rights, and that’s when the returns start to diminish. That’s when we have to say: OK, the risk is there, enough is enough. You were on the short list for vice president.

Yeah, a couple of times. I’ve been a bridesmaid! [Laughs.] Do you think John McCain could have fared better with another VP candidate?

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Yes, no question. I’m not going to say anything bad about Sarah Palin, but I think there were opportunities. John McCain and I are very close friends; I’m never going to second-guess my buddy. [But] I think that there were a couple of other individuals who would have added the kind of gravity and experience that would have added to his credibility, number one. Number two, there was a John McCain and a John McCain story out there that I wish they would have told, about John as an individual and as a leader. I wish they had framed the campaign around him a little differently. You’ve run for office eight times and never lost. Ever see yourself running again?

I’d like to retire undefeated, like Rocky Marciano. [Laughs.] No, probably not. I think the door is pretty much closed for a lot of reasons. I love what I’m doing, I’m able to effect some change, I chair the National Organization on Disability, I love that challenge, and I keep my  

hand in the game politically with some of the think tanks. I was invited to speak to the Log Cabin Republicans [a gay conservative organization] at a fundraiser in November. I accepted it with relish and I laid out my vision for what I think the 21st-century Republican Party should be—that it be the nonjudgmental conservative party—and I talked about the social issues and I talked about immigration. The role I hope to play in the political community and within the Republican Party [is to make the point that] before we worry about the messenger in 2016, we better have an appealing message. So right now my focus is not on candidacy or candidates, it’s on what’s our message. Right now, it’s not particularly attractive, especially to young people or Hispanics. I think we are dead wrong when it comes to this immigration debate. We’re wrong for social reasons, for economic reasons, for political reasons. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve encountered immigrants—there’s an awareideas that work

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ness among new entrants to this country about the political system, how important it is to them, that astonishes me. It makes me feel good about them and this country, and it annoys the daylights out of me that my party is being perceived as anti-immigrant. I know they’re opposed to illegals, but the perception is that we’re anti-immigrant generally. That’s a bad place to be, and it’s the wrong place to be. Thank you, Governor, for taking the time to do this interview.

I’ve been out of politics so long, it’s nice to think a group of people might be remotely interested in what I have to say. n Tom Shroder is the former editor of The Washington Post Magazine and author of Acid Test (Blue Rider Press, September 2014), a forthcoming book about the effort to rehabilitate psychedelic drugs as a treatment for PTSD. To comment on this story, email comments@ bethesdamagazine.com.

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Special Advertising Section

Profiles

Real Estate Agents What made you decide to get into your line of work? In the 1980s, my husband and I purchased, renovated and rented property in and around the Washington metropolitan area as a hobby. When interest rates were 17-18 percent, we became proficient at creative financing. By the third year, we knew more about structuring deals than most agents we worked with. It made sense for us to get our real estate license and represent ourselves in our investment property purchases. Quite by chance, I discovered a real talent for real estate sales and decided to make this my career.

What’s a challenge that you’ve faced in your life and how did you overcome it? There have been numerous times where I have sold homes for sellers who have called me after many failed attempts to sell. It’s very gratifying to help clients achieve their sales goals and be able to move on with their lives. We have many happy clients who have sent letters of appreciation years later to express their continued happiness in their new lives and homes.

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It’s very gratifying to help clients achieve their sales goals and be able to move on with their lives.”

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Andy Alderdice, Realtor W.C. & A.N. Miller Realtors, a Long & Foster Co. 4701 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816 301-466-5898 | andy4homes@gmail.com www.andy4homes.com

What makes you different than others in your profession? My clients are my top priority. I don’t take on so much business that a listing or buyer becomes a number or works with an assistant. My clients work directly with me at all times, so they have the best experience possible with knowledge I’ve gathered over the last 20 years.

What’s an example of a time when you helped a client that you’re particularly proud of? Recently, an owner in Bethesda was moving after living in her home for 50 years – a very delicate transition. With my resources, I brought in groups to help her sort through her treasures to sell, donate or keep. We had contractors freshen the home for sale and located the perfect buyers. The owner was thrilled I found a family that would love and care for the house, and the buyers were excited to continue the legacy. It was a perfect combination of my extensive list of resources, expertise and know-how.

How would your clients describe you? “Andy Alderdice is the very best Realtor and has moved us into and out of 3 homes in the last 10 years. She has found us buyers and has identified perfect properties. She takes the time to really appreciate what you want and doesn’t waste your time. She has impeccable taste and never gets agitated even when indecision and uncertainty sets in. She knows the business and the area having grown up here.” - Vikki S., client

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What are your interests outside of work?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Margie Halem, Realtor ® Long & Foster Real Estate

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I’m connected to all my clients, sellers and buyers. I am emotionally and intensely involved with their families and their issues. That’s just my nature.”

What makes you different than others in your profession? I care so much about every one of my clients and work tirelessly for them. Whatever their price range, they receive my highest degree of service and professionalism. It’s been 28 years and I’ve enjoyed wonderful success—thanks to my supportive husband and three grown sons.

How would your clients describe you?

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I’m connected to all my clients, sellers and buyers. I am emotionally and intensely involved with their families and their issues. That’s just my nature. I’m very hands-on and attentive. Here are some recent comments from clients: “She had excellent knowledge of the housing market in general, was very familiar with all the areas we were interested in looking, had a great understanding of current trends but maybe more important was her willingness to gain an in-depth understanding of exactly what we were looking for.”

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How do you employ new technology to help clients? This is a networking business, particularly if you’re selling a home. So we are very tech-savvy and involved with social media–Twitter, blogging, Facebook, Pinterest… We put your listing on as many websites as possible. We are very connected throughout the community, with our colleagues and past customers and clients, so personal phone calls are also an integral part of our platform.

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

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It is extremely satisfying to watch one of our agents help someone buy their first home or to share the excitement of a client who is discovering and enjoying a neighborhood they didn’t know about until their agent showed it to them."

Their goals are our goals. We have no others. As a real estate company, we are uniquely and completely client-focused. We foster a culture of collegiality and professionalism – not competition – among all of our Realtors. Indeed, real estate agents from other firms consistently tell us; “We love to work with McEnearney agents because they are so well trained and professional.” We also make sure that our agents have the most up-to-date information on market conditions, trends in the marketplace, technological tools and legislative updates. I have had the pleasure of being a licensed Realtor in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 1997. As the Managing

Broker of McEnearney’s D.C. office, I am able to draw upon my 16+ years of local experience to advise our agents how to best help our clients. It is extremely satisfying to watch one of our agents help someone buy their first home or to share the excitement of a client who is discovering and enjoying a neighborhood they didn’t know about until their agent showed it to them. When I am not busy with real estate, I love spending time with my daughters Betty (age 9) and Katie (age 7) and husband John (ageless), and our new chocolate lab puppy, Bix. I also sneak away to play on my USTA tennis team, volunteer at the girls’ schools, my church (Chevy Chase United Methodist) and the Chevy Chase Historical Society.

hilary schwab

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Yasmin Abadian, Realtor Long & Foster Potomac Village 10200 River Road, Potomac, MD 20854 301-983-1212 | yasmin@LNF.com www.TeamPotomac.com

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you? I hold nothing back – I say it as I see it. I feel that I am hired to do a job and part of that job is to give advice and share my expertise about the market, and that is what I do. At the same time, I totally respect the client’s opinion and their ultimate decision, too.

Hilary Schwab

What makes you different than others in your profession? One of the key differences is that I feel the agent/client relationship must be a good fit. There needs to be total trust and respect between my clients and me. I don’t take on every client who calls me, and I won’t list a house or work with buyers in areas where I don’t have strong, solid expertise. This is too big an investment and a lot of money is at stake– not to mention one’s family home.

“

I feel that I am hired to do a job and part of that job is to give advice and share my expertise about the market, and that is what I do.”

What are your interests outside of work? Besides my family, I love to grow and I’m constantly looking for ways to learn, not just about my business, but also about life. I go to every seminar and workshop I can to learn how to improve my business and myself. I’m also truly fascinated by human nature. My background is in psychology and health. Recently, I spent a year getting certified as an integrative coach, and currently I’m taking an online course in positive psychology. I also love to move, so that means any form of exercise. My favorite is yoga, but I also enjoy Pilates, cardio kickboxing, hiking, kayaking and biking.

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Special Advertising Section

Sarah Funt, Realtor ® Long & Foster Real Estate 4650 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 2014 301-509-1283 | (o) 301-907-7600 sarah.funt@longandfoster.com | www.sarahfunt.com

What brings you the most satisfaction in your work? Ninety percent of my business comes from satisfied clients who share their experience with friends, family, and colleagues. It's very satisfying to consistently have so many wonderful referral and repeat clients.

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you? I'm very passionate about what I do. I love to manage a new listing that needs renovations. Working with my team of experts, I make sure my clients get the best value for their renovation dollar, and that their home sells quickly and for the highest and best price. Having more more than 22 years experience as a Realtor, I am a great resource for buyers and sellers alike. Fairness in skillfully negotiated transactions is my strong suit. All this has helped make me consistently among the top 50 out of the over 10,000 agents in the company.

How would your clients describe you? Fun to work with. Very knowledgeable. Endless energy. And I'm always looking out for their best interests. From my clients: “I really admire your equanimity under fire – your strength and your seasoned approach...” (N. Hathaway) “We felt so taken care of by you through the entire process...” (The Kellers) “Sarah is amazing...I will never use another Realtor.” (J. Grinnell)

“

All this has helped make me consistently among the top 50 agents out of 10,000 agents in the company."

Being involved in the community I have lived and worked in for so long is important to me. For the past 20 years I have been worked with cancer related nonprofits. I currently serve on the Advisory Board for the National Foundation for Cancer Research, a Bethesda-based cancer research organization. Chairing their annual golf tournament, Golf For The Cure, for the past 6 years has been a satisfying and worthwhile experience. I also enjoy spending time with my dog Cooper (pictured above).

hilary scwab

What are your interests outside of work?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Catherine Arnaud-Charbonneau & Claude Al Charbonneau Real Estate Specialists Evers & Co. Real Estate Inc. 7032 Wisconsin Ave., Chevy Chase MD 20815 Catherine: 301-602-7808 | Catherine@eversco.com Claude: 202-657-8010 | Charbonneaurealty@gmail.com (o) 301-656-1800 | www.eversco.com | www.DCteamRealtors.com

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you?

“

When clients hire one of us, they get an entire team working on their behalf. We’re dedicated facilitators and problem solvers, offering full service for both residential and commercial needs. We believe in honesty, hard work and have a vast local, national and international network. We’re full-time Realtors; this is our life, what we love doing, and client satisfaction is our priority. We’re not in the business to flatter our egos. We are here to make deals and a good transaction is when everyone goes home happy.

hilary scwab

What’s an example of a time when you helped a client that you’re particularly proud of? With 37 years of experience, we never stop learning. As we work around the clock, and literally around the globe, we combine time-tested techniques along with new technologies, plus social media, to give the best customer service available today.

We’re full-time Realtors; this is our life, what we love doing, and client satisfaction is our priority.”

How would your clients describe you? Past and present clients are always surprised at our tenacity, our energy and the vast resources we gladly share. We believe the best publicity is word of mouth; therefore we make clients our focus. We respect and enjoy working with our peers; it is important for us to negotiate in good conscience, in a courteous environment. This line of work is all about people getting together to make a deal, so that both sides are pleased.

What are your interests outside of work? We always appreciate getting together with friends and family to share a good laugh, wine and cooking a big meal. And yes, with a name like this… we speak French!

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

The Eric Stewart Group Long & Foster Realtors 795 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 301-424-0900 | eric@ericstewartgroup.com ericstewartgroup.com

What made you decide to get into your line of work? In 4th grade I started my career selling pizzas. I built a regular customer base who ordered from me every few weeks. It was in the summer of 1987 after I graduated from the University of Maryland that my entrepreneurial drive turned to real estate. I learned about the business through early morning basketball games with friends. Twenty-six years later I am supporting my family and enjoying it so much. I love helping people make their dreams come true. I love negotiating and getting top dollar and fast! As Eric Liddell, the famous runner in “Chariots of Fire” said, “I run because I feel God’s pleasure in it.” So, I sell real estate for the same reason.

What brings you the most satisfaction in your work? Exceeding my client’s expectations brings me the most satisfaction. My approach is both personable, professional and surpasses the market details of real estate. I help my clients clarify their vision and motivation for moving and work with them to achieve their goals. Because fiduciary duty is of utmost importance to me, I protect the best interest of my clients with the highest degree of ethical professionalism. Seeing my clients reach their goals is both rewarding and exciting.

What makes you different than others in your profession? This is my 26th year as an agent in the Metropolitan area. I have been through ups and downs in the market and know how to negotiate the waters of any situation adroitly. I have been hosting a weekly radio show on WMAL 105.9 FM for nine years, educating listeners on real estate.

I am currently co-founding a nonprofit organization to mobilize and coordinate volunteer support and provide a social network for widows and widowers. Serving as the President of Widow Care, I enjoy fusing my business experience with my passion to strengthen our community.

courtesy photo

What are your interests outside of work?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Barrie Kydd, Realtor ® Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 120, Bethesda, MD 20814 (cell) 301-325-4040 | (office) 240-497-1700 Barrie.Kydd@LNF.com | www.BarrieKydd.LNF.com

What is your professional background? I am a licensed Realtor in MD and D.C., and have always held customer service-oriented positions in management of sales and business development. Meeting with customers throughout the U.S., I provided a unique combination of communication and contract negotiation skills. I enjoy people and am proud of my work with clients from all walks of life.

What made you decide to get into your line of work? Starting my own business as a Realtor was a natural fit. I’ve been buying, selling and managing properties since 2000, and have over 25 years of experience in marketing, sales and customer service.

What should your clients know about you? I’ve lived in Montgomery County most of my life. I currently live in Bethesda and know and love this area. I’m committed, driven and efficient – always passionate about finding the right fit for each client and their lifestyle. I support numerous local philanthropic endeavors, such as the Children’s Inn at NIH, the Montgomery County Humane Society, Montgomery County Hospice, JSSA and AIPAC.

How would your clients describe you? As someone who puts her clients' needs first! I listen to my clients and I’m sensitive to what’s important to them. Whether a first-time homebuyer or experienced homeowner— my clients receive my undivided attention and expertise. Here are what two customers said:

hilary schwab

“My recent dealings with Barrie Kydd were of an exceptional nature… My condominium was sold within two weeks—without a hassle.” - Ursula T. “Your knowledge of the area and strong attention to detail helped to make the process painless and efficient.” - Becky H.

“

Whether they are a first-time homebuyer or experienced homeowner— my clients receive my undivided attention and expertise."

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Special Advertising Section

Ingrid Dallaire, Realtor ® Long & Foster Real Estate 4650 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-455-6962 | (o) 301-907-7600 Ingrid.Dallaire@LongandFoster.com | www.IngridDallaire.com

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you? I believe homeownership is the cornerstone of financial health in the long term. I’m committed to working with clients to help them meet their homeownership needs and dreams, whether buying or selling their home. I find my work very rewarding and worthwhile.

I have a Master’s degree in business, and spent years in corporate America before entering real estate 12 years ago. I’ve lived all over the U.S. and Europe, and over 30 years in the D.C. area. I have the temperament, background and skill set to serve my clients and negotiate successfully. All my clients are in transition—young couples starting out, empty-nesters scaling down, divorcees separating, people relocating to the area—and I believe my personal and professional experiences bring a unique understanding to their needs and sensitivities.

Hilary Schwab

What makes you different than others in your profession?

Jack W. Wang, Realtor Towne Residential 4919 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814 (cell) 240-731-9919 | (office) 301-656-1730 jack@townedc.com | www.townedc.com

What makes you different than others in your profession? I love educating my clients and making sure that they are informed buyers/sellers in every transaction. From the first-time homebuyers to clients who haven’t been in the market in a while, I enjoy simplifying what is perceived as a complicated process for them. I answer their tough questions thoroughly so that they can feel confident and comfortable when making one of the most important decisions of their lives.

My clients would say I am loyal, knowledgeable and responsive. From the moment we meet and decide to work together, I am there for my clients 100%. They would also say that I look out for their best interest every step of the way and provide them with invaluable service. I am easy to work with, and most importantly, I listen to what they want.

mike olliver

How would your clients describe you?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Mary Noone, Realtor Towne Residential 4919 Bethesda Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 (mobile) 240-461-3928 | (office) 301-656-1730 mary@townedc.com | www.townedc.com

What made you decide to get into your line of work? I love the challenge of modernizing and adding value to spaces. Whether shifting furniture and upgrading colors when selling or visualizing rooms in a new home, I have an eye for helping clients through what can be an overwhelming process. Add my corporate background, a love for numbers, negotiating and building relationships, Realtor fits my skill set perfectly.

mike olliver

What’s an example of a time when you helped a client that you’re particularly proud of? We finally found my client that perfect home. Within the week, we got their current home on the market with every curve ball: water in the basement, power outages…their home sold in six days with multiple offers. Real estate can be emotional and I love taking the burden off my client and into my hands. My job doesn’t end at real estate – it ends at my client’s happiness!

Dawn Gontkovic, Realtor Towne Residential 1228 1/2 31st St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20007 (mobile) 917-450-3296 | (office) 202-333-2303 dawn@townedc.com | www.townedc.com

What brings you the most satisfaction in your work? It pleases me most to know I have truly created value in someone’s life, simply by listening to them and helping them to make major life decisions. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a vast and diverse group of people from around the world. No matter how you live, where you come from or what is most important to you, I find the simple things leave the best and lasting impressions.

mike olliver

What makes you different than others in your profession? I’m in the business of building relationships based on trust – not just selling and buying homes. I take care of every detail personally from staging and preparing a property to list, to even helping decorate for a new buyer. I like to use White Glove Service with every client – regardless of the size or value of a property.

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Special Advertising Section

Sondra Mulheron & Pam Schiattareggia, Realtors® Long & Foster Real Estate 4650 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 Sondra: 301-785-9536 | Pam: 301-802-7796 | (o) 301-907-7600 sondraandpam@gmail.com | www.HomesBySondraAndPam.com

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you? We are a sister-in-law team that complements one another resulting in seamless transactions for our clients. Sondra is a third-generation Washingtonian and Pam has lived in the area for over 25 years, thus offering extraordinary knowledge of the local market, neighborhoods and community resources. We work with a variety of different buyers and sellers providing incomparable attention to details, expertise and education on the market and real estate process.

“Sondra and Pam are a professional, innovative, extraordinarily hardworking team dedicated to their clients.” “They are dynamic, on the pulse of the market, unrelenting in their determination to serve their clients, and their business ethics and principles are unparalleled!”

darren higgins

We strive to exceed our clients' goals and expectations. That’s what drives us to be the best agents for our clients, and why we are in the top 1 percent of Long & Foster agents in the Maryland/D.C. region. Here is what some clients have said:

Gail Horne, Commercial Realtor ® Long & Foster Real Estate 4650 Easy West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 (c) 240-620-7728 | (o) 301-907-7600 gail@gailhorne.com | www.gailhorne.com

What is the one thing that your clients should know about you? My clients should know that I love my work. It makes a difference. I focus on details, genuinely care about the results, and enjoy learning about their business needs and goals. A client selling commercial property or offering commercial space for lease needs a commercial agent. This is equally important for businesses leasing or buying space. I offer the ability and resources to provide outstanding services to local and national companies whether they’re large or small.

I’m a strong blend of tenacity, creativity and a pinch of humor. From the first meeting I’m fully engaged. There’s no one-size-fitsall approach to finding the right business location and negotiating through a transaction. Every client is unique and important, and I take that to heart.

Hilary Schwab

What makes you different than others in your profession?

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profiles | Real Estate Agents

Paul Biciocchi, Principal Broker Forum Properties 10411 Motor City Drive, Suite 500, Bethesda, MD 10817 301-518-6999 | paulbiciocchi@hotmail.com www.forumpropertiesinc.com

What makes you different than others in your profession? Having been in the brokerage business for 35 years, I have experienced every kind of “market” there is. Experience counts once again! Right now, it’s very easy to make a bad buy or sell, and I’ve seen this many times over the last four decades. I’m not interested in just making a sale but assisting in a shrewd investment. My experience, coupled with unparalleled service and integrity, has been the backbone of my career.

Hilary Schwab

How would your clients describe you? Exceptionally service oriented… Incredibly involved in the transaction… Exceeding expectations… My clients know I believe real estate is a service business and not just a sales business. As a result my referral business continues to flourish with satisfied clients across Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. It's a pleasure to buy and sell for them again and again.

Jacqueline Band-Olinger & Jill Balow, Realtors Greystone Realty 3833 Farragut Ave., Kensington, MD 20895 Jacqueline Band-Olinger: 301-928-4669 | jolinger@greystonerealty.net Jill Balow: 301-233-5596 | jbalow@greystonerealty.net (office) 301-244-4705 | www.greystonerealty.net

What makes you different than others in your profession?

mike olliver

Our full-service approach leaves no stone unturned in optimizing the buying and selling experience for our clients. Our team is small enough to be personal, focused and efficient, yet big and connected enough to bring any resource to make each transaction smooth and successful. We approach business as real estate coaches and partners, because we know this is not just a transaction, but a personal, life-changing event. We work with you to tackle each phase including custom-staging a home, innovative marketing, friendly open houses and expert negotiations, to ensuring a final signed contract that exceeds your goals and expectations. The process for you is seamless, and we approach each relationship with patience, open communications and unprecedented commitment to meet your needs. We take on every challenge, predict every step and manage every detail. The result is a quickly growing list of satisfied customers.

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Special Advertising Section

What made you decide to get into your line of work? Initially, real estate afforded us flexibility in our schedules that allowed us to work but also carve out time to be there for our families. We enjoy being with and meeting new people. Every day brings us new and different challenges too!

Marie McCormack, Nancy Mannino & Steve Hicks Licensed in D.C., MD & VA

Bethesda All Points – WC & AN Miller, a Long & Foster Company 4701 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816 Marie: 301-437-8678 | Marie@LNF.com Nancy: 301-461-1018 | Nancy.Mannino@LNF.com Steve: 202-669-1151 | Stephen.Hicks@ LNF.com

Finding just the right home for our clients and providing a smooth transition for our sellers is incredibly gratifying. We love providing our clients with exceptional service, our market knowledge and hands on approach. Most of our business comes from referrals, so receiving recommendations from our clients is a testament of their appreciation and satisfaction with our work.

mike olliver

What brings you the most satisfaction in your work?

Vicki Porter, Realtor W.C. & A.N. Miller Realtors, a Long & Foster Co. 4701 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 20816 301-325-2965 | vicki.porter@longandfoster.com www.vickiporter.net

What makes you different than others in your profession?

My commitment to service, negotiating experience and understanding of the market are an added asset. I love helping people buy and sell in Bethesda where I grew up and also raised my children!

tony lewis jr

Homebuyers look at houses online and imagine themselves living inside. When I work with buyers, I walk them through the process and guide them through the obstacles. I connect them with lenders, home inspectors and contractors, as needed, that will go that extra mile for them. We work together to submit a winning offer. Working with sellers, my role becomes one of a general contractor as I help connect them to an organizer, painter, stager and others, as needed. As your ‘general contractor,’ my role is to help coordinate all of the different areas of home selling and extraordinary marketing so you get the maximum return on your investment.

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Reimagining the Rambler | Flower Power | Home Sales Trends

Bethesda Magazine

March/April 2014

Home Offices That Work Homeowners enlist designersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; helpâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and get spaces that are clearly up to any task

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march/april 2014

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Designers are hosting a garden partyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with florals turning up on everything from pillows to wallpaper. By Carolyn Weber

196 Reimagining the Rambler For an Italian architect and her military doctorhusband, a 1940s Bethesda ranch house just needed a modern framework and some TLC. By Nigel F. Maynard

COVER STORY 202 Designed to Work Three homeowners enlist help in creating their home officesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and get spaces that are clearly up to any task. By Charlotte Safavi

214 By the Numbers A look at home sales by neighborhood over the last five years. Home COVER PHOTO by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg

morgan howarth

194 House Appropriations

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EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

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house

appropriations

Petal Pushers

By Carolyn Weber

Spring is almost here, and our yards and parks will be in bloom soon. But why wait for nature when you can have flowers inside right now? From the walls and the ceiling to tabletops and furniture, florals are everywhere. And with inspiration from the fashion runways, retailers are serving up some new and refreshing styles for the season.

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4 1.

Set a stunning spring table with the contemporary, impressionistic pattern of greens and blues in Lenox Floral Fusion porcelain dinnerware. The dishes are microwave and dishwasher safe, and a four-piece place setting—dinner plate, accent plate, bowl and mug—is $72 at Macy’s in Westfield Montgomery mall (301-469-6800; www. macys.com).

If colorful blooms aren’t your style, opt for a neutral expression with hundreds of capiz shells forming a lotus flower pendant light. Each petal is trimmed in polished nickel. The fixture is 15 inches in diameter, needs no hardwire installation, and is available for $199 at Pottery Barn in Mazza Gallerie (www.potterybarn.com).

New hardware can perk up an old dresser or bathroom vanity in a flash. This sweet little ceramic blossom could also add unique, vintage appeal in a nursery or a little girl’s room. The Lenten Rose knobs are 2 inches in diameter, and come in green, lilac, rose, orange and coral (pictured) for $12 at Anthropologie in Chevy Chase (301-654-1481; www.anthropologie.com).

Wallpaper with big, bold patterns is back in style. Brighten up a dull bedroom or bathroom with the splashy pink flowers of Rue de Seine wallpaper from designer Anna French’s Zola collection for Thibaut. It’s available in six colors, including pink on beige (pictured) for $49 a single roll through Rockville Interiors (301-424-1900; www. rockvilleinteriors.com).

Real flowers are wonderful, but they wilt and fade so quickly. This chic, compact little arrangement is crafted of polyester and silk, so it will always look fresh, and you never need to change the water. The pale pink and green faux-floral arrangement from the John-Richard Collection is $250 at Neiman Marcus in Mazza Gallerie (202-966-9700; www.neimanmarcus.com).

A splash of color on a solid sofa or armchair is an easy seasonal update. These elegant silk throw pillows add a pop of bright blue, this year’s hot hue, with accents of green and red. The 12-inch-by-18inch rectangular pillow is $79 and the 18-inch square pillow is $84 at Arhaus in North Bethesda (301-230-2973; www.arhaus.com).

What’s more appropriate than flowers in the garden? A classic William Morris print adds panache to these basic planting utensils. The Cray garden tools set includes a hand trowel and cultivator claw in a gift box for $35 from www.aldeahome.com. n

Carolyn Weber lives in Silver Spring and frequently writes about architecture and home design. Send product ideas to carolyn.weber@ bethesdamagazine.com.

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Reimagining the

Rambler An Italian architect and her military doctor-husband put a contemporary slant on a 1940s Bethesda ranch house

By Nigel F. Maynard |

Photos by Morgan Howarth

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When Paul and Livinia Fici Pasquina purchased this 1,100-square-foot home in 2000 (top left), they spent nine months on a DIY renovation to make it livable. A more extensive renovation five years later (pictured here) included a second-floor addition.

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reimagining the rambler

When Paul Pasquina met Lavinia Fici in 1991, it was love at first sight. “I was a senior in medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda and doing my last rotation at a military hospital in Vicenza, Italy,” says Pasquina, a physician who has been involved with many of the programs that care for military service members, particularly those who’ve suffered the loss of limbs, traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. “One weekend, I went to Rome, and as I was walking down the street, I was struck by lightning when I saw my future wife turn toward me.” Pasquina approached her through a friend since he spoke no Italian and Fici spoke no English. “I didn’t really know what to think,” Fici says. “I remember wanting to communicate more with him—but even despite the language bar-

rier, we both knew immediately that there was something special about our paths crossing that evening in Rome.” Having instantly hit it off, the two exchanged addresses. Fici, who is originally from Sicily, was working at the time on a master’s degree in architecture at the University of Palermo, which made a relationship difficult when Pasquina returned to the U.S. But the couple overcame that challenge: They wrote often and saw each other about four times a year. “I had to convince her to marry me over the next five years,” Pasquina jokes. Finally, in 1996 , Fici became Fici Pasquina.

The story of how the couple found their first house follows a similar arc. It was 2000 when they happened upon a neglected 1940s ranch that they decided they had to have. “At the time, we were renting a place in Bethesda, so we rode our bikes to the Taste of Bethesda and came up to this neighborhood where we saw this rundown old home that needed some tender loving care,” says Pasquina, a retired U.S. Army colonel who is chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Uniformed Services University’s medical school. “We saw the ‘For Sale’ sign out in the front and we called the Realtor and

michael ventura (family photo)

Paul and Lavinia Fici Pasquina pose with their daughter, Sikelia

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brighten the interior. “We basically gutted the entire house and did all the work ourselves except for the electrical and plumbing,” her husband says. The couple completed the initial renovation after about nine months of working nights and weekends, and felt they had a house they could be proud of and enjoy. And they did for about five years. But then it was time to start a family, and they needed more space. Moving from Bethesda was not an option. The couple loves the area. Plus, Pasquina works nearby at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. After exploring available listings in Bethesda, they decided that the best idea was to build on the lot they already owned.

Fici Pasquina designed the house with a wing-shaped copper roof, shown here above the sunroom.

met him that evening. “There had already been a couple of bids on the house. But for whatever reason, those fell through, so they called us back and we jumped at the opportunity.”

Located in Bethesda’s Rosedale

neighborhood, the 1,100-square-foot rambler looked every bit its age. “When we entered the place, it was in such bad shape that anybody else would have said, ‘Oh, boy! Where do I start?’ ” says Fici Pasquina, an associate professor of architecture at The Catholic University of America in Washington and head of her own firm, Xhabition. “But

when I entered, I said, ‘It’s beautiful!’ My eyes had already seen the place with the transformation.” Rolling up their sleeves, the couple began a DIY project to make the singlelevel, two-bedroom, two-bath home livable, redoing the interiors and the kitchen. “The remodeling consisted of opening up main living areas to adapt to more contemporary living,” Fici Pasquina says. This included increasing the square footage of the living areas, enlarging windows that face the backyard patio, reclaiming the original oak floors that were buried under carpet, and painting everything basic white to

The decision to build a bigger home raised a critical question: Should they raze their house to the foundation and start from scratch? Or enlarge the existing structure? Starting fresh was the easier route, but the couple favored preserving the house (and their earlier renovation) and simply adding to it. Naturally, Fici Pasquina handled the design work. “Maybe it’s because I’m European and I carry this baggage of ‘Do not touch what you already have; it’s history,’ ” Fici Pasquina says. “I also like the challenge of starting something from something. It’s always better to have a constraint. We could have torn down the house and built a new one, but that would have been too easy. It’s much more difficult when you’re looking at a building with a sense of respect for history.” Fici Pasquina also considered it more environmentally responsible to “recycle” the existing building. Still, she wanted to add to it in a way that would contrast and blend with the neighborhood at the same time. To that end, she built a steel skeleton around the original brick

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reimagining the rambler

Industrial-style materials—including cast-in-place concrete, steel framing and exposed ductwork— create a loft-like feel.

Most of the home’s walls are made from translucent fiberglass Kalwall panels that have been filled with Nanogel insulation.

home, but made the new structure completely independent. “I did not touch the 1,100-square-foot original house,” she says, “but I incorporated it into a more modern envelope.” With its black steel framing, wingshaped copper roof and street-facing frosted fiberglass walls, the house strikes a dramatic pose in the neighborhood. The architect built the remaining walls of the house with cast-in-place concrete, which allows large, uninterrupted spans

with no support columns. The interior reads like one big loft, thanks to the open floor plan, but it exhibits other industrial-style features, as well: exposed ductwork, concrete floors (embedded with radiant heat), and a dramatic steel staircase with cable railings. In the kitchen, stainless steel appliances and a Fireslate countertop continue the industrial feel. “Fireslate is a concrete-like material that’s used mainly for fireplaces and appli-

cations with high heat,” Fici Pasquina says. “I thought it would be a good thing to try out for the counters. Before I specify things for clients, I always try them myself.” The first floor remains largely intact, with a kitchen, living room and dining room, but Fici Pasquina converted one of the bedrooms into a study and turned the garage into a studio. She designed an entirely new second level, adding two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a large, open sunroom. “There are essentially no doors in the home,” she says. “There are two bathroom doors because we had to have them, but I just don’t like doors.” The home’s interior is very much in line with the urban loft motif: It’s sparsely decorated with black leather sofas and white Barcelona chairs by German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, with red textiles adding pops of color. Fici Pasquina is especially proud of the new home. Not only did she design the addition, but she also served as general contractor and brought on a variety of roofing, electrical and plumbing subcontractors to help with various stages of construction. “This was quite a learning experience for me as an architect to being fully involved in all aspects of turning what you envision in your head to the eventual living space,” Fici Pasquina says. Now measuring about 3,500 square feet, the home offers ample space for the Pasquinas and their 6-year-old daughter, Sikelia. It also allows them to stay in the neighborhood they love. “A home is where you hang your hat and…[is] made up of the love inside the four walls, but it sure is nice spending that time in a cool place,” Pasquina says. “I won the lottery,” he continues. “Not only did I get a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter, but I get a great living space and Italian food, as well.” n Nigel F. Maynard is a Hyattsville-based editor and freelancer who writes about architecture and design. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com.

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Alexa Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gloomy library was transformed into a bright and airy office that doubles as a family room at her Bethesda home.

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Kitty Carnahan’s office

Alexa Smith’s office

Jennifer Stier’s office

Designed to Work Three homeowners enlist help in creating their home offices—and get spaces that are clearly up to any task By Charlotte Safavi Photos by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg

His, Hers & Theirs For several years, Alexa Smith resigned herself to working on a laptop, surrounded by her three kids in a noisy kitchen. There simply wasn’t a suitable office in the Bethesda home that she and her husband, Larry, bought in 2007. There was, however, an infrequently used library with builder-grade dark cabinets and a manly desk floating in the middle of the room. It was “the husband’s lair,” says Rockvillebased interior designer Kristin Peake, who in three months last year transformed the space into a bright and airy office/multipurpose room where Smith can now work in quiet. Peake previously collaborated on the kitchen and master bedroom with Smith, who works from home running her own firm, A. Smith Marketing, and is also chief marketing executive for London-based fashion designer Patricia Gomez-Gracia. “My client was looking to create a place to work when she was home, as well as a place for everyone to hang out when she was done,” Peake says. The library, accessed through French doors off the foyer, was the first room visitors saw when they entered the house, and it created a gloomy impression. “It didn’t feel open, warm or light like the rest of our home,” Smith says. “It was heavy, masculine and dark…more my husband’s style than mine, which tends to be more Californian.” Bethesda Magazine HOME | March/April 2014 203

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designed to work

Smith persuaded her husband, a Washington, D.C., attorney, to go along with the office overhaul. Meanwhile Peake dissuaded Smith from ripping out the woodwork. The designer knew that with the right modifications, the wood could come to define the room. “We restructured the mostly closed cabinetry to suit everyone’s needs, including improving office storage and adding a TV function,” Peake says. “I also opened up some bookshelves to let the room breathe.” Once the cabinets were reconfigured, they were painted Farrow & Ball’s “Castle Gray,” which has placid blue-green undertones. And in a nod “to masculinity” to placate Larry for relinquishing his man cave, Peake installed leather cabinet pulls and textured sea grass wallpaper. In addition to covering the walls, the wallpaper was applied to the ceiling, making the newly painted coffered woodwork pop. A neutral sectional in a durable cotton/linen blend was selected for the corner opposite the TV. And the yellow glass base of an existing lamp inspired the yellow and blue botanical print fabrics chosen for the office chair’s upholstery and the sofa’s accent pillows. “The rug was another layer in the soft, buttery palette,” Peake says. Its honeycomb pattern is repeated in the fretwork on the base of the marble coffee table. “We didn’t want a typical coffee table or ottoman,” she says. “This is nice and open, while sturdy for the kids to do homework on.” A large mirror hung on the wall facing the foyer creates visual expansion, and a Moroccan side table brings a touch of the unexpected. Linen Roman shades, with blue-green banding, add coziness and privacy. “It’s now a soothing, quiet, comfortable space,” Smith says, “where I can shut the French doors and be productive and creative.”

Repurposing furnishings, including an Oriental rug and an antique French refectory table, helped reduce renovation costs at Kitty Carnahan’s Chevy Chase home.

Lightening Up When Kitty and Ira Carnahan bought their house in Chevy Chase in 2012, they figured they could share the library as an office. Ira is an equity analyst at an investment firm in Baltimore and occasionally works from home. And “I work for our two children, Callie and William,” Kitty jokes.

But the couple needed some design direction, so they enlisted Chevy Chasebased designer Sue Burgess to help. “I found the overall space dark and depressing,” Burgess says. “The out-ofdate and mismatched cabinetry was done in different stains, and the lighting was poor. I ended up tearing out

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an entire wall of cabinets that projected too far into the room, eating up valuable floor space. They were originally designed for housing an obsolete, enormous TV.” On the plus side, the library’s sloped, cottage-style ceiling had decorative potential, and there was a warm and cozy wood-burning fireplace. Though Kitty Carnahan is partial to dark wood, she trusted Burgess to refinish the cabinetry and wood trim in a white Benjamin Moore paint with a satin finish. Recessed lighting was also added to brighten the room. And Burgess introduced texture by covering the walls and ceiling in chamois-hued raffia, creating a neutral, yet cocoon-like, effect. “Raffia is expensive,” says Burgess, who completed the six-week job last March. “But we didn’t need much of it because of all the built-in bookshelves and fireplace paneling. With the ceiling’s odd angles, the raffia brought so much charm to the room.” Repurposing furnishings from other parts of the house helped keep costs low, as well. The Oriental rug was originally downstairs. Two existing bergère chairs and matched ottomans were reupholstered in a subtle animal print to give them a fresh look and placed on either side of the fireplace. One of the best examples of repurposing was the homeowners’ antique French refectory table, which had served as a dining room table in their previous home. Burgess turned it into Ira Carnahan’s desk. Kitty Carnahan’s existing desk, a bland reproduction, was simply painted white. The library occupies a separate landing, straddling the home’s upper and lower floors, allowing the couple quiet and privacy for work, and enabling them to keep track of their two children. “It’s a delightful room now,” Kitty Carnahan says. “I’m so glad Sue talked me into going lighter.”

Vibrant orange-and-yellow ikat fabric provides a punch of color to the home office in Jennifer Stier’s Potomac home.

Room to Grow David and Jennifer Stier were thrilled with the Potomac house they purchased in 2011—except for one thing: It didn’t come with an office or library. Jennifer Stier, who is employed by a New York City-based software company, was working from home while raising their daughter. But without a designated workspace, she had to improvise. “I’d been working in an upstairs bedroom,” she says. “But when I got pregnant with my second daughter, I decided to use that as a nursery and move my office down into the sunroom.” The sunroom, located between the living and family rooms, had been used as an informal sitting area by previous homeowners. French doors separated the space from the living room, but it was completely open to the family room. Bethesda-based interior designer Marika Meyer, who earlier had helped the Stiers renovate the rest of the house, began the month-long project last fall. She added another set of French doors to seal off the sunroom completely when needed. She also finished the flooring in a walnut stain to match the other rooms. Bethesda Magazine HOME | March/April 2014 205

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designed to work

Office Do’s and Don’ts Designers Marika Meyer, Sue Burgess and Kristin Peake offer these collective tips on designing an office: ■ Do personalize your home office and make the space comfortable and inviting. It should be a room in which you enjoy spending time. ■ Do keep clutter at bay with built-ins. ■ Don’t underestimate the amount of storage you’ll need. Think of everything from files to pens to paper to computer gear. ■ Do design a space that’s based on how you work, such as desktop vs. laptop computer, reading vs. computer work. ■ Do make sure the desk is big enough for your needs. ■ Don’t neglect lighting. A functional workspace must have appropriate task lighting. ■ Don’t compromise on comfort for your desk chair. You’ll be spending a lot of time in it. —Charlotte Safavi

“It’s the perfect place for an office,” Meyer says. “The doors are transparent, yet they close for quiet. And it’s on the first floor in the home’s public space, rather than in a bedroom. It’s nice to have a delineation between work and private areas.” As part of the redesign, dated cabinets were replaced with ones that matched those elsewhere in the home. This was especially important, Meyer says, because “the sunroom shares sightlines with the living and family rooms.” Meanwhile, Jennifer Stier’s desk, with its neoclassical details, was brought downstairs and paired with a leather armchair. A lamp with a Lucite base provides desktop lighting at night. Meyer also installed built-ins on three walls, creating two additional desk areas with customized task boards, as well as concealed storage space. “I’d really wanted something to grow with our family over time,” Stier says of the two built-in desk areas. “It’d be my office by day, but become a place for my girls to

do homework in the afternoon when they start school. In the interim, it’s also an art-and-craft room.” The task boards are covered in ikat fabric in vibrant orange and yellow, the color palette for the office. “We added the punch of orange because it works so well with the colors in the adjoining rooms: red in the family room and blues in the living room,” Meyer says. New curtain panels in yellow, striated cotton warm up the space, while previously installed Roman shades control glare. And a textured, honey-tinged grass cloth was used on the walls. “The sunroom’s such a fresh, energetic space now,” Meyer says. As for Stier, she feels lucky “that when I’m not in my NYC headquarters, I get to work out of my fabulous office.” n Charlotte Safavi is a freelance writer living in Alexandria, Va. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com.

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BEFORE & AFTER :

Outdoor Living

AFTER

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Before

16815 Budd Road | Poolesville 301-972-8810 | fineearth.com

Fine Earth won a “Grand Award” for this backyard in Northwest D.C., The project included bluestone terraces, exquisitely crafted fieldstone walls, beautiful plantings, irrigation, carpentry, lighting and drainage.

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before & after | OUTDOOR LIVING

AFTER

Before

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To solve the challenge of flooding in the basement resulting from adjacent properties draining into the backyard, American Plant created a dry well along the boundary. A patio with walkways creates a dynamic relationship between the house and the yard.

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before & after | OUTDOOR LIVING

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AFTER

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Before

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Hawkins Signature Landscapes performed a total renovation of this house in Bethesda, starting with a landscape design to achieve casual elegance. Hawkins now maintains this project.

Highlights: › Custom stonework with a classic porch setting › Lush ground covers, perennials and mature plantings › Semi-circular drive with cobblestone edging › Low voltage lighting for night-time aesthetics

210 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

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Special Advertising Section

before & after | OUTDOOR LIVING

AFTER

Before

Johnson’s Landscaping Service, Inc. 7201 Brookville Road | Chevy Chase 301-656-6414 | info@jlsinc.net | www.JohnsonsLandscaping.com

Johnson’s Landscaping Service, Inc. was asked to transform a small “drab” outdoor space into a space worthy of entertaining guests and family. Johnson’s designed and installed a new deck, paver patio and outdoor lighting to create a warm, inviting and fun gathering space for our clients’ family and friends.

Highlights: › New deck with bench and walk-up bar › New paver patio › New outdoor lighting Bethesda Magazine HOME | March/April 2014 211

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before & after | OUTDOOR LIVING

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AFTER

Rowan Landscape and Pool Company, Inc.

Before

16643 Frederick Road | Mo unt Airy 410-489-0707 | sales@rowanlandscape.com www.rowanlandscape.com

This new home’s backyard had no privacy or appeal. Rowan designed and built this all inclusive private retreat to be enjoyed by the entire family.

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Special Advertising Section

before & after | OUTDOOR LIVING

AFTER

Before

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Data provided by MRIS. Statistics generated Jan. 22, 2014. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

by the

NUMBERS

Home Sales Trends in Nearly 500 Neighborhoods

Are housing prices heading back up? In what neigh-

borhoods are homes selling the fastest? The following charts answers these questions and more, including: the number of sales for single-family homes, average prices and average number of days on the market (DOM) in nearly 500 Bethesda-area neighborhoods from 2009 to 2013. The neighborhoods included had at least five total sales during the last five

years and at least one sale in the past year. The totals for each ZIP code reflect all sales in that ZIP code, not just the totals for the selected neighborhoods. Also, real estate agents entering sales data into MRIS are not required to follow a standard nomenclature, possibly resulting in inconsistencies in subdivision names. As a result, some of the historical data may vary from that published in previous years.

2012

2013

2009

2010

2012

2013

$870,875

$513,500

$570,000

$653,500

$659,400

132 74

$870,875

$513,500

$570,000

$653,500

$659,400

132 74

Alta Vista

$783,908

$827,666

$675,625

$842,494

$925,277

Alta Vista Gardens

$1,025,525

$728,050

$852,312

$856,240

$837,875

107 82

102

Battery Park

$1,107,833

$1,007,500

$717,741

$824,750

$981,928

135 73

Bradley Hills

$1,092,625

$1,239,111

$1,642,875

$1,535,714

$1,320,590

132 55

Bradley Village

$735,050

$740,000

$1,377,183

$985,000

$1,772,916

Columbia Forest

$984,229

$1,226,312

$1,058,000

$1,296,500

$1,232,174

100 53

118 20

Edgemoor

$1,845,364

$1,679,350

$2,359,437

$1,927,500

$2,470,363

English Village

$1,532,500

$1,169,416

$853,400

$1,449,833

$1,099,875

177 94

Glenbrook Knolls

$673,000

$643,250

$625,000

$865,000

$784,800

Glenbrook Village

$732,479

$1,012,811

$799,657

$739,233

$792,277

105 46

Glenwood

$706,000

$769,271

$887,833

$664,000

$928,700

Greenwich Forest

$1,115,000

$1,097,800

$875,483

$1,409,666

$765,333

113 10

Grosvenor Woods

$960,000

$940,000

$947,833

$951,500

$983,333

159 47

107

Ligon Knolls

$852,500

$767,500

$972,625

Locust Hill Estates

$768,733

$631,666

$770,555

$855,000

$1,040,000

228 61

Lone Oak

$1,462,500

$506,000

$1,020,000

$978,500

$938,666

229 91

Longmeadow

$728,000

$737,500

$760,000

$705,000

$625,000

Maplewood

$714,166

$738,375

$732,345

$654,833

$712,900

Maplewood Estates

$653,625

$673,333

$640,000

$662,200

$701,300

101 41

Maplewood Manor

$754,900

$685,000

$597,500

$777,000

Meadowbrook Village

$785,000

$705,000

$821,333

$857,000

$755,000

2011

2013

2012

2011

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Glen Echo 20812 Glen Echo Total

Bethesda 20814

303 123

214 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

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The Fleisher Group Long & FosTer reaL esTaTe, Inc.

BREATHTAKING COLONIAL IN THE HEART OF BETHESDA

Welcome to this sensational home built by acclaimed Hemingway Homes and fully customized by the owner to include today’s finest materials and expert workmanship. Four exquisite finished levels include six bedrooms, six full baths and two half baths including a sumptuous Master Suite with large sun-filled siting room. From the outstanding gourmet chef’s Kitchen with large custom center island and adjoining Morning Room, to the wonderful Family Room with ten foot coffered ceiling, to the private Library and formal Living and Dining Rooms with custom millwork, no detail has been spared in presenting this home of distinction. Further enhancing the home’s appeal is a fully finished lower level complete with fabulous Recreation Room featuring custom built-ins and full service bar as well as a complete Guest Suite with full bath. Professionally landscaping and extensive hardscape embellish the private backyard that also includes a 42 foot heated salt water year-round lap pool. Ideally located in the English Village community, the home is minutes to the heart of downtown Bethesda with all of its fine shopping, restaurants and theaters. Offered at $2,895,000.

thef leishergroup

Marc Fleisher

www.thefleishergroup.com 202.364.5200 x 2927 (O) 202.438.4880 (C)

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by the

NUMBERS 2011

2012

2013

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

$637,428

$959,250

$883,333

$887,166

$657,006

$618,230

$657,937

$577,000

$804,342

$873,036

Page Hill

$758,500

$679,500

$858,166

$655,000

100 NA

Parkview

$534,600

$598,800

$600,000

$580,200

$658,500

111 179 64

Parkwood

$820,041

$775,706

$719,392

$749,164

$768,428

Rosedale Park

$816,428

$827,321

$941,780

$882,000

$853,863

125 25

West Chevy Chase Heights

$1,160,428

$660,000

$1,130,833

$987,675

$1,177,817

102

Westboro

$728,700

$767,000

$738,812

$822,316

$1,112,699

Wheatley Hills

$927,500

$750,000

$1,340,000

$1,020,000

$1,218,333

Whitehall Manor

$717,400

$1,085,583

$1,570,000

$1,074,666

$1,816,666

166 49

Wildwood Knolls

$724,450

$650,000

$759,000

$729,000

Wildwood Manor

$687,500

$672,311

$657,222

$709,750

$907,393

Wyngate

$554,466

$520,000

$485,000

$774,821

294 NA

263 92

$879,730

$979,883

$911,863

$1,062,399 71

2013

2012

2011

North Bethesda Grove

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

North Bethesda

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Bethesda 20814 continued

Total

186 187 195 193 197 $881,599

109 3

Chevy Chase 20815 Bradley Hills

$753,750

$1,463,750

$1,256,500

$1,164,125

$1,649,000

127 53

Brookdale

$832,500

$945,000

$815,000

$925,000

$968,066

Chevy Chase*

$1,260,781

$1,300,898

$1,321,468

$1,436,382

$1,396,733

113 73

Chevy Chase Manor

$709,375

$1,183,333

$1,040,833

$1,217,400

Chevy Chase Park

$812,000

$1,216,588

$1,050,000

$1,118,333

Chevy Chase Section 3

$1,950,000

$896,000

Chevy Chase Village

$1,485,000

$1,637,222

Donnybrook Estates

Drummond

Dunlop Hills

Kenwood

Martins Addition

Meadowbrook Village

North Chevy Chase-Kenilworth 4 Norwood Heights

Orchardale Park View Estates

120 33

106 NA

$964,662

$1,007,500

119 43

$1,705,833

$1,627,000

$1,099,250

119 228 75

$570,961

$557,000

$2,700,000

$2,150,000

$2,650,000

$911,800

$818,750

$892,564

$809,125

$850,000

128 19

124 16

$2,075,000

$2,166,812

$2,178,350

$2,514,615

$2,427,634

210 292 38

$1,225,000

$816,143

$1,013,750

$1,335,677

$1,269,094

171 42

$649,500

$785,000

$737,616

$675,000

124 6

$715,625

$666,100

$768,333

$736,877

$870,818

$1,940,000

$2,339,200

$756,166

$1,313,750

$1,307,500

188 82

159 56

$698,333

$867,333

$740,000

$774,500

$880,400

$470,000

$751,666

$695,000

$845,000

107 12

Parkcrest

$663,750

$753,833

$748,745

$737,500

$840,000

243 48

184 195

Pinehurst Village

$777,500

$873,143

$910,500

$680,000

$956,714

Pt Bethesda Out Res 2

$606,888

$845,900

$659,285

$848,730

$842,592

Ridgewood Village

$895,833

$720,000

$1,203,898

$1,025,000

$870,000

297 209 42

Rock Creek Estates

$842,500

$610,000

$764,500

$562,000

$630,000

110 242 31

Rock Creek Forest

$665,809

$767,257

$633,150

$601,496

$664,571

104 44

Rock Creek Knolls

$593,666

$666,843

$530,000

$745,000

$740,333

169 64

Rolling Hills

$650,000

$640,000

$693,000

$629,000

123 222 NA

197 54

Rollingwood

$923,000

$935,916

$1,118,214

$1,026,466

$1,084,031

Sacks

$886,250

$1,082,950

$855,000

Somerset Heights

$1,115,772

$1,170,444

$1,402,350

$1,308,750

$1,276,058

Springhill

$681,333

$791,817

$871,000

$665,000

$723,750

Town of Chevy Chase

$1,311,075

$940,000

$881,250

$1,231,029

116 24

West Chevy Chase

$1,691,750

$935,563

$1,103,500

$1,127,857

$1,540,591

214 239 227 229 252 $1,087,304 $1,120,925 $1,161,880 $1,243,502 $1,224,959 96

Total

86 9 3

216 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 216

2/7/14 2:46 PM

The Fleisher Group Long & FosTer reaL esTaTe, Inc.

INCREDIBLE NEW CONSTRUCTION

Welcome to this sensational new home constructed by renowned Bethesda Builders and features approximately 6800 square feet of unparalleled finishes. From the wide center hall Foyer with custom paneled walls to the incredible gourmet chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kitchen with expansive center island and designer granites, to the adjoining Family Room with coffered ceiling and gas fireplace, to the sumptuous Master Bedroom Suite with spectacular Master Bath highlighted with transitional details and materials, this extraordinary home reflects expert workmanship and exciting design. Further enhancing the homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appeal is a deluxe secondary staircase, two beautiful main floor powder rooms, and dramatic outdoor covered Loggia with wood ceiling and column design that overlooks a breathtaking backyard. A large finished lower level includes a double Recreation/ Exercise Room and fabulous Guest Suite with luxury bath. Ideally sited in the desirable Glen Echo community, the home not only provides a bucolic setting with pool-size backyard, but is also convenient to the heart of Bethesda and downtown Washington DC. Offered at $2,350,000.

thef leishergroup

Marc Fleisher

www.thefleishergroup.com 202.364.5200 x 2927 (O) 202.438.4880 (C)

Untitled-1 1

2/7/14 1:59 PM

by the

NUMBERS

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

$767,500

$701,500

$1,054,000

$820,000

$913,500

$1,095,000

$915,666

$815,000

Brookmont

$970,800

$898,100

$1,401,715

$1,056,544

$982,463

103 44

142

Crestview

$515,428

$653,700

$729,000

$685,737

$733,083

Fairway Hills

$666,128

$692,925

$721,642

$692,000

$742,900

Fort Sumner

$928,000

$1,000,500

$862,500

$990,000

$1,156,666

121 102 27

Glen Echo Heights

$1,073,858

$926,920

$1,130,741

$1,029,496

$1,164,902

153 60

Glen Mar Park

$902,388

$722,100

$899,650

$754,250

$919,095

Greenacres

$667,785

$622,033

$950,375

$769,090

$763,800

High Point

$980,642

$870,500

$974,800

$917,500

$761,666

Mass. Ave. Hills

$1,038,500

$1,276,666

$996,271

$1,041,675

$892,500

147 47

Pt Bethesda Out Res 2

$899,000

$1,087,500

$1,095,000

$1,468,354

100 342 131

Springfield

$882,977

$1,098,045

$964,333

$945,076

$958,000

Sumner

$1,269,561

$1,089,927

$1,050,033

$1,031,689

$1,094,062

Tulip Hill

$973,333

$1,055,000

$1,392,500

$1,432,300

$1,262,750

139 185 5

Westgate

$796,000

$881,200

$849,000

$886,250

$791,666

Westmoreland Hills

$1,192,750

$1,209,022

$1,196,272

$1,191,750

$1,266,916

Westwood

$854,200

$902,500

$926,000

$986,250

$1,070,666

216 38

Woodacres

$817,236

$862,131

$875,953

$849,857

$865,788

Yorktown Village

$962,500

$918,250

$1,011,700

172 168 155 165 201 $964,753

$950,740

$1,021,093 $957,463

$1,030,198 76

Al Marah

$1,160,000

$1,235,000

$1,060,000

$1,081,250

$1,004,142

123 13

198 175 42

Alta Vista

$897,500

$740,000

$655,000

$802,577

Alta Vista Terrace

$891,214

$943,944

$966,107

$856,500

$984,350

109 31

Arrowood

$1,209,500

$1,300,000

$1,252,500

205 NA

204 38

Ashburton

$643,071

$647,273

$617,727

$654,550

$662,092

Ashleigh

$1,269,250

$1,522,166

$1,013,732

$926,792

280 99

Avenel

$1,734,000

$1,666,550

$1,329,987

$1,292,999

$1,291,416

195 199 128 188 65

Ayrlawn

$783,714

$895,051

$854,333

$998,564

$918,270

105 56

Bannockburn

$972,375

$900,000

$1,032,500

$1,166,300

$1,138,250

Bannockburn Coop

$1,081,875

$607,442

$583,900

$1,036,916

$1,148,000

141 10

Bannockburn Estates

$1,357,100

$1,090,625

$1,109,714

$1,233,333

$1,043,333

179 93

Bannockburn Heights

$1,065,500

$2,100,000

$1,129,333

$1,378,583

Bradley Hills

$940,380

$1,507,000

$1,021,980

$864,500

$936,888

140 294 28

Bradley Hills Grove

$1,640,555

$1,534,395

$2,317,666

$1,666,420

$2,141,727

205 33

241

Bradley Manor

$933,000

$827,000

$1,030,000

$1,177,000

$797,500

Bradley Park

$1,114,777

$768,600

$1,020,800

$836,250

146 15

Bradley Woods

$684,000

$1,233,057

$665,000

$1,328,333

$1,185,750

105 120 40

Bradmoor

$775,152

$848,730

$873,766

$829,653

$1,054,014

107 38

Burning Tree

$1,586,250

$2,418,333

$2,010,000

$1,595,000

$1,977,000

350 214 190 320 162

Burning Tree Estates

$715,750

$989,250

$817,800

$882,666

$979,020

141 31

Burning Tree Manor

$790,000

$944,833

$772,500

$720,000

$797,500

135 71

Burning Tree Valley

$1,077,250

$849,871

$1,504,285

$1,056,410

$1,925,000

118 53

Carderock Springs

$833,692

$903,237

$788,879

$809,370

$839,010

Charred Oak Estates

$1,004,150

$706,072

$891,265

$828,458

$1,074,975

105 66

2011

2013

$698,500

2012

2013

2012

2011

Brookdale

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

American University Park 2

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Bethesda 20816

Total

Bethesda 20817

110 NA

39 143

136 51

106

118 52

218 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 218

2/7/14 2:46 PM

If You Want to Sell Your Home, Work with Someone Who is SELLING Homes.

301-983-1212

There is a Difference!

WEB: www.TeamPotomac.com EMAIL: Yasmin@starpower.net

$22,000,000 Sold in 2013!

10313 Logan Drive

13728 Canal Vista Court

11204 Greenbriar Preserve Lane

10300 Gary Road

9404 Falls Bridge Lane

7924 Robison Road

10005 Ormond Road

10301 Snowpine Way

9220 Scott Drive

910 Lawton Street

9478 Turnberry Drive

9704 Brimfield Court

14305 Stoneview Place

9417 Thrush Lane

10728 Lady Slipper Terrace

902 Havencrest Street

10248 Hatherleigh Drive

5120 Strathmore Avenue

1111 23rd Street, S3A

5705 Chapman Mill Drive

5981 Valarian Lane

10107 Pleasant Fields Ct

12120 Gatewater Drive

301-983-0060 POTOMAC VILLAGE OFFICE

Untitled-1 1

2/7/14 2:25 PM

by the

NUMBERS

2011

2012

2013

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

$859,500

$695,333

$767,916

$756,750

$900,863

$816,666

$904,250

$876,500

$1,001,643

Cong. Forest Estates

$925,000

$1,088,333

$1,535,000

$753,500

144 146 238 NA

126

Country Club Village

$640,000

$922,500

$720,000

$1,155,000

$1,043,125

112

Courts of Wyngate

$761,550

$799,000

$763,900

$822,333

Devonshire

$1,075,000

$704,833

$647,000

$1,036,333

182 25

Edgewood

$671,666

$842,000

$783,500

$831,250

$1,212,500

English Village

$1,099,750

$882,916

$1,176,950

$1,062,062

$1,294,142

137 47

113

Fernwood

$640,583

$630,428

$628,750

$726,395

$743,569

Foggys Pasture

$870,000

$785,000

$759,000

$923,500

$1,100,000

Georgetown Village

$484,490

$466,200

$448,188

$562,928

$594,449

120 21

Green Tree Manor

$635,571

$651,400

$709,237

$710,440

$757,980

Greenwich Forest

$1,063,714

$660,000

$730,833

$1,124,080

$937,700

Hendry Estates

$538,333

$925,237

$812,120

$864,800

$924,291

Hillmead

$927,991

$917,292

$842,500

$1,030,400

$925,500

121 142 30

Huntington Terrace

$804,166

$949,133

$1,028,615

$1,005,294

$1,088,111

Kafauver Tract

$1,478,000

$1,100,000

$910,000

$1,819,500

$1,451,000

189 28

486 467

Kenwood Park

$1,009,688

$942,500

$925,777

$1,048,875

$1,108,846

Landon Woods

$1,592,525

$1,094,166

$1,012,714

$1,389,615

$1,189,285

258 65

107 20

Longwood

$1,130,000

$885,000

$1,567,100

$1,126,333

952 98

Lybrook

$814,500

$863,750

$1,583,333

$1,830,000

184 161

Marymount

$525,000

$534,000

$471,666

$584,983

Mass. Ave. Forest

$881,000

$780,000

$892,500

$1,010,000

$1,255,000

134 35

Merrimack Park

$633,763

$778,675

$792,916

$797,357

$1,155,000

Oakmont

$599,000

$1,098,333

$746,250

$589,500

$837,500

Oakwood Knolls

$888,857

$946,136

$1,004,666

$874,222

$1,149,406

Persimmon Tree

$2,016,900

$1,800,500

$2,013,333

$1,544,975

$1,737,500

Potomac Outside

$1,083,100

$1,170,823

$962,000

$1,147,700

$1,183,221

114 36

Pt Bethesda Out Res 1

$875,000

$942,250

$1,262,500

$704,000

$1,290,375

133 144 83

Redland Knolls

$1,000,000

$1,276,333

$1,246,000

$1,163,500

$1,432,500

145 8

River Quarry

$2,082,138

$1,492,469

Smithfield

$1,303,666

$1,137,666

$1,246,250

$1,075,000

271 NA

127 105 6

Sonoma

$752,250

$618,333

$1,048,637

$822,966

$955,400

Stratton Woods

$598,333

$631,237

$671,000

$657,000

$673,166

The Palisades

$1,715,000

$1,298,888

$1,155,000

$1,726,333

165 112 63

Wilson Knolls

$1,825,000

$904,125

$745,450

$845,400

Woodburn

$915,500

$684,500

$1,023,722

$1,382,000

$793,000

126 4

Woodhaven

$738,970

$853,110

$962,666

$1,126,666

$881,200

181 40

Wyngate

$737,095

$718,961

$709,772

$834,616

$926,428

116 33

$986,673

$967,630

$961,647

$1,041,063 93

2013

2012

2011

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Cong. Country Club Estates 3

Subdivision

2010

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Bethesda 20817 continued Cohasset

Total

357 373 356 408 460 $924,996

25 122 18

211 152 64

30 86

140 22

Cabin John 20818 Cabin John*

$1,400,000

$1,221,667

$720,500

Cabin John Gardens

$517,000

$403,750

$602,400

$577,500

Cabin John Park

$1,069,000

$814,250

$916,156

$1,305,357

$1,068,368

218 50

148 62

Pt Bethesda Out Res 2

$441,000

$750,000

$1,500,000

$540,000

$869,466

$862,333

$878,178

$1,241,542 $899,476

110 66

Total

164 42

307

220 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 220

2/7/14 2:46 PM

Paradise in Potomac

This perfect Mitchell & Best 5 bedroom home features gorgeous updates, stunning views and a fabulous walkout Lower Level. Situated on close to 5 acres with mature trees, brick patios, covered terrace, a black bottom pool & charming gazebo. Just minutes to Potomac Village & easy access to DC! For an appointment to see 13 Wetherfield Court, please call Cindy at 301-493-9878.

The Souza Group of Long & Foster Real Estate

Cindy Souza

301-493-9878 Direct Cindy.Souza@LNF.com

240-497-1700 Office www.Souza-Group.com

Find us & like us on Facebook! Facebook.com/cindy.Glenn.souza

Tauber_Souza_1403.indd Untitled-6 1 1

2/11/14 11:29 10:32 AM

by the

NUMBERS

2011

$539,666

$406,500

$552,750

$550,833

107 117 4

$313,572

$276,315

$270,124

$301,666

$343,237

130 56

Burgundy Village

$270,000

$190,000

$292,500

552 NA

College Gardens

$580,250

$588,785

$555,400

$578,401

$611,466

Croyden Park

$316,980

$270,742

$281,200

$359,400

$310,500

Englands

$222,000

$180,333

$504,391

$402,037

$438,201

285 32

309 69

Fallsgrove

$920,392

$904,214

$933,375

$942,892

$992,277

192 1

Fallsmead

$740,000

$790,000

$713,000

$750,000

Glen Hills

$679,181

$850,402

$761,030

$895,000

$954,000

129 60

100 93

Glen Mill Knolls

$632,500

$841,000

$1,154,000

$1,300,000

$840,000

121 83

Glen Park

$608,200

$525,000

$597,000

$634,166

$658,333

109 66

106

Glenora Hills

$591,000

$589,666

$521,000

$525,000

112 NA

Harriett Park

$354,000

$306,250

$252,800

$211,750

$339,666

Janeta

$601,666

$259,000

$512,500

151 NA

King Farm

$716,250

$744,000

$776,600

$745,700

$551,881

127 57

King Farm Irvington

2013

2010

$481,750

2012

2009

2012

2011

2013

2012

2011

Burgundy Knolls

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Bealls

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Rockville 20850

$630,688

$678,333

118 NA

149

King Farm Watkins Pond 8

$771,112

$825,000

$785,100

$817,500

$830,211

Lakewood Estates

$793,687

$992,000

$975,000

$1,022,250

$949,666

S elling the AreAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Finest ProPerties

engliSh eleganCe

SenSational Styling

Bethesda/ Greenwich Forest. Stately new colonial with Tudor accents, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, fabulous designer kitchen/ family room; 2 car garage and options for customization. $2,495,000 Eric Murtagh- 301-652-8971 Karen Kuchins- 301-275-2255

Chevy Chase/ Martins Addition. Rare opportunity to build your dream home with award winning Chase Builders, featuring high style and quality craftsmanship throughout. $2,195,000 Eric Murtagh- 301-652-8971 Karen Kuchins- 301-275-2255

DeSign & Style

Chevy Chase. Exciting new home from the Kelley Company features high-end finishes, charming details, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, built-in garage, village location. $2,049,000 Eric Murtagh- 301-652-8971 Marina Krapiva- 301-792-5681

C raftSman S tyle Town of Chevy Chase. Wonderful 7 bedroom, 5.5 bath colonial with designer kitchen, first floor family room and library, 4 floors of living space and a beautiful rear deck. $ 1,789,000 Ellen Sandler- 202-255-5007 Susan Berger- 202-255-5006

Up town 202-364-1700

B eth e sda/Ch e v y Ch a se 301- 656- 1800

D owntown 202-464-8400

B lue mon t/VA 540- 554- 8600

Visit Us At www.EvErsCo.Com 222 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 222

2/7/14 2:46 PM

Lisa Bennett and deb Levy

Best Mortgage Broker and Best Bank Bethesda Magazine Readers’ Pick Again This Year!

Let the deb Levy - Lisa Bennett team Make Your Homeownership dreams a reality in dC, Md and Va (and Anywhere Else in the U.S.A.) Purchase New | Downsize | Buy a Vacation Home | Refinance senior Mortgage Banker deb Levy • NMLS# 481255 • 202-292-1581 • deblevy@ eaglebankcorp.com Loan Consultant Lisa Bennett • NMLS# 482234 • 202-292-1582 • lbennett@ eaglebankcorp.com

Maryland • Washington, DC • Virginia • www.debbielevy.com

Untitled-1 1

2/7/14 1:52 PM

by the

NUMBERS

2009

2010

2012

2013

$1,360,000

$746,000

$973,333

$790,000

139 NA

$201,944

$195,375

$234,375

$299,250

$266,484

110 98

Maryvale

$214,453

$203,394

$200,818

$227,571

$254,336

New Mark Commons

$559,500

$624,666

$532,500

$598,625

$625,721

104 32

109 23

Potomac Oaks

$880,000

$872,500

$856,333

$870,625

Pt Rockville Twn Res 1

$453,500

$526,250

$576,380

$590,896

$656,388

107 49

Rockdale

$327,500

$277,500

$338,500

Rockshire

$599,278

$600,433

$629,334

$618,444

$637,944

Rockville Estates

$543,333

$597,555

$540,000

$562,967

$620,500

Rockville Heights

$560,000

$774,500

$480,000

$538,750

$817,333

107 514 65

Rockville Park

$365,333

$375,750

$332,375

$400,250

$374,500

Rose Hill

$844,000

$738,600

$896,500

$905,000

$935,083

109

Roxboro

$312,666

$430,428

$430,580

$382,500

$624,166

184 107

West End Park

$486,567

$521,821

$553,831

$548,800

$563,566

111 73

Willows of Potomac

$971,000

$1,018,909

$1,007,600

$1,010,400

$1,143,125

Woodley Gardens

$549,837

$537,550

$548,333

$563,624

$594,591

Woottons Mill

$569,333

$600,537

$985,000

$618,800

$778,500

163 76

$575,901

$659,559

$624,510

$639,247

2011

2013

2010

2013

2012

2011

2012

Average DOM

Lincoln Park

2010

2009

Average Close Price

Lakewood Glen

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Rockville 20850 continued

Total

216 217 181 186 211 $570,600

101 57

North Bethesda/Rockville 20852 Franklin Park

$358,725

$360,833

$327,257

$360,533

$364,040

114

Heritage Walk

$850,000

$875,000

$909,485

$986,766

139 120 NA

112

Hungerford

$415,145

$442,309

$415,471

$461,415

$442,454

Luxberry Courts

$464,900

$473,500

$455,200

$506,154

Luxmanor

$996,285

$1,051,318

$1,277,107

$944,937

$1,122,000

104 101 68

Montrose

$531,666

$525,857

$580,000

$554,400

$600,000

133 65

Montrose Park

$362,333

$400,000

$405,000

Montrose Village

$655,000

$700,000

$758,450

$825,000

140 5

154

Montrose Woods

$738,750

$684,000

$675,500

$688,428

$729,222

Neilwood

$750,000

$872,000

$793,333

$830,000

North Farm

$703,500

$754,000

$776,000

$749,750

$837,800

Oaks at North Bethesda 0

$1,236,497

$1,220,000

$1,575,000

116 NA

Old Farm

$670,710

$678,846

$716,980

$735,752

$787,115

Old Georgetown Estates 1

$1,225,000

$843,666

$1,238,750

$872,500

$735,000

147 32

Randolph Farms

$271,633

$328,666

$298,000

$345,666

$373,000

110 21

162 21

Randolph Hills

$307,576

$326,282

$308,744

$343,544

$363,472

Tilden Woods

$645,983

$651,400

$651,928

$662,453

$714,118

Timberlawn

$815,000

$927,499

$844,000

$1,102,500

$1,004,500

452 71

Wickford

$850,000

$918,333

$839,450

Windermere

$910,833

$918,750

$920,000

$956,250

$1,005,600

124 118 122 153 163 $557,648

$612,906

$599,266

$609,828

$637,524

Avenel

$1,786,242

$1,289,928

$1,309,390

$1,341,522

$1,665,452

274 119 76

Beallmount

$1,340,666

$1,013,333

$975,000

$1,200,000

$1,095,000

134 339 185 107 149

Bedfordshire

$813,500

$823,283

$796,812

$777,164

$813,000

Bells Mill Estates

$1,118,333

$1,123,333

$1,189,100

Total

Potomac 20854 163 107

224 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 224

2/7/14 2:46 PM

2013

2009

2010

2011

$730,000

$771,400

$743,000

$881,000

$750,386

137 51

$770,166

$622,450

$607,500

$705,000

$757,250

Bradley Farms

$3,725,392

$1,250,000

$3,100,000

$2,042,500

$4,050,000

123 3

Camotop

$1,538,000

$1,850,000

$2,293,750

$2,100,000

240 488 398 242

Clagett Farm

$1,169,666

$1,217,500

$1,200,000

$1,216,000

$1,325,500

Concord

$900,000

$1,345,411

$861,666

$1,280,000

358 NA

234 344 72

Copenhaver

$791,250

$791,633

$875,253

$816,346

$861,875

171 63

Darnestown Outside

$1,505,000

$1,002,872

$1,297,800

$665,583

$1,127,186

140 73

219 166 92

East Gate of Potomac

$742,125

$812,883

$835,080

$898,250

$924,333

Esworthy Park

$975,000

$1,042,500

$1,052,500

$1,275,000

142 147 112 0

Falconhurst

$3,014,799

$2,455,625

$3,007,142

$2,151,000

$2,737,500

201 143 182 215 250

Falls Farm

$904,777

$972,500

$934,166

127

Falls Orchard

$696,340

$674,000

$675,000

$645,000

Fallsmead

$691,000

$750,333

$725,750

$719,985

$726,250

Fallsreach

$865,000

$898,166

$853,750

$911,683

$924,583

140 96

Fawcett Farms

$793,500

$948,333

$1,187,666

$1,176,000

$1,004,168

330 77

Fawsett Farms Manor

$1,198,333

$1,277,000

$1,090,000

$1,146,000

$1,215,333

116 145 92

Fox Hills

$732,625

$823,000

$791,447

$816,779

$819,773

Fox Hills West

$747,700

$788,250

$760,142

$829,666

$791,528

2013

2012

2011

2013

2012

Beverly Farms

2011

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Bells Mill Village

Subdivision

2010

2009

No. of Homes Sold

303 74

329 147 723 84

65 70 98

33 17 11

Top producer

Beverly Piccone Resident Realtor & Neighborhood Specialist Serving the Luxmanor/Windermere Community for more than 20 years

Recognized for her professionalism, knowledge, attention to detail and exceptional personal service, Beverly is a full-time real estate consultant whose success has been built on repeat and referral business.

Coldwell Banker

7272 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda O. 301 718-0010 Beverlypiccone.com Bpiccone@cbmove.com C. 301-512-0213 Bethesda Magazine HOME | March/April 2014 225

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 225

2/11/14 3:30 PM

by the

NUMBERS

2010

2011

2012

2013

$1,280,600

$1,358,333

$1,265,000

$1,425,000

$1,361,500

$1,352,785

$1,207,500

$1,100,000

$860,000

$1,187,250

198 121 148 63

106

Glen Mill Village

$925,000

$1,105,000

$1,188,500

$955,000

254 42

157 NA

Glen Oaks

$864,985

$884,222

$898,666

$879,428

$978,000

Glen Park

$570,000

$672,000

$630,750

$570,000

$700,000

167 166 42

Great Falls Estates

$1,465,000

$2,437,500

$1,872,500

$1,393,333

$2,736,250

161 101 18

124

Green Briar Preserve

$1,600,000

$1,557,012

$1,635,000

$1,675,000

$1,610,333

Heritage Farm

$1,073,000

$920,000

$1,103,500

$980,000

156 14

Highland Stone

$607,816

$632,017

$646,428

$663,576

$704,400

Hollinridge

$685,000

$872,725

Horizon Hill

$640,785

$753,027

$665,118

$671,727

$679,453

110 79

Inverness Forest

$785,708

$714,500

$740,666

$749,310

$840,214

108 34

Kentsdale Estates

$1,371,280

$1,398,750

$1,566,250

$1,550,000

$1,884,575

141 304 133 87

116

Lake Normandy Estates 8

$833,125

$850,400

$837,627

$775,666

$958,972

Lake Potomac

$1,040,250

$1,365,833

$1,220,000

$1,200,000

154 85

Marwood

$2,437,500

$1,900,000

$2,133,000

$1,760,000

121 139 126

Mass. Ave. Highlands

$1,160,833

$1,116,666

McAuley Park

$1,239,531

$1,177,666

$1,475,000

$1,283,333

$1,394,363

Merry Go Round Farm

$1,925,000

$1,792,500

$1,857,500

$1,550,000

1091 265 268 50

Montgomery Square

$579,172

$649,500

$642,166

$633,250

$632,436

Normandy Hills

$1,055,000

$1,132,000

$1,064,666

$1,090,000

130 36

Oldfield

$697,500

$730,500

$647,500

$779,875

$872,827

128 26

Orchard Ridge

$682,566

$669,166

$724,850

$731,125

$740,000

Palatine

$2,191,400

$1,563,600

$2,159,199

$1,900,000

$2,030,577

239 247 166 154 27

2011

2013

2012

2010

2013

2012

2011

2009

Average DOM

Glen Mill Knolls

2010

2009

Average Close Price

Glen Meadows

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Potomac 20854 continued

177 42

Pine Knolls

$958,650

$1,227,500

$1,141,875

$958,400

$954,875

102 604 93

Piney Glen Farms

$1,458,500

$1,236,666

$1,220,000

$990,000

$1,448,750

117 52

Potomac*

$5,300,000

$1,057,500

$1,650,000

$1,721,250

468 100 42

383

Potomac Commons

$836,666

$802,750

$736,125

$753,200

$796,607

Potomac Crest

$1,170,000

$1,142,333

$1,020,000

$1,286,000

127 NA

189 26

Potomac Falls

$1,682,500

$2,102,089

$1,845,000

$2,251,250

$2,103,055

106 442 166 179 83

Potomac Glen

$980,000

$1,018,374

$1,034,443

$957,953

$1,107,758

Potomac Hills

$1,300,000

$944,750

$717,500

$1,413,400

314 NA

179 60

120

Potomac Manor

$2,100,000

$1,955,000

$1,945,600

$1,373,333

350

Potomac Outside

$1,295,628

$1,211,593

$1,386,640

$1,171,177

$1,419,962

163 110 114 97

101

Potomac Ranch

$1,189,898

$1,200,000

$2,190,000

$1,555,000

232 123 127 133

Potomac View Estates

$1,340,000

$1,195,205

$1,391,666

$1,308,333

$1,424,666

297 55

Potomac Village

$1,139,875

$1,030,950

$1,114,000

$1,109,666

$1,066,142

153 160 88

Potomac Woods

$583,000

$651,694

$626,090

$714,909

$662,875

Red Coat Woods

$742,550

$775,000

$857,500

$825,000

107 24

Regency Estates

$591,161

$588,555

$599,823

$600,473

$644,007

Regent Park

$633,000

$627,500

$672,854

$743,285

River Falls

$1,099,500

$1,197,541

$1,179,333

$1,120,588

$1,191,285

180 93

River Oaks Farm

$1,724,250

$1,783,250

$1,333,333

$1,518,000

$1,280,000

172 604 247 91

Rivers Edge

$1,037,500

$1,114,375

$1,200,000

$1,055,000

$1,190,215

129 464 46

Roberts Glen

$717,500

$742,500

$870,000

$749,500

$605,000

149

Saddle Ridge

$1,250,000

$1,126,000

$1,416,500

$1,151,750

247 NA

133 163 41

Saddlebrook

$495,000

$527,666

$601,666

$650,000

32 NA

13 NA

171

108 64

288

114 31

226 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 226

2/11/14 3:31 PM

ST. INIGOES $3,945,000

Fully-restored historic Cross Manor features a 4 BR, 2.5 BA home and 2 guest homes with 3000’ of waterfront, a pier, barns, pool, and tennis court on 110 acres. ttrsir.com/id/SM8172431

DAVID DeSANTIS +1 202 438 1542

WEST END, DC $3,450,000

This custom-built 2 BR, 2.5 BA 2,700 sf penthouse offers an expansive floor plan, a deck with stunning views, and 2-car parking. ttrsir.com/id/DC8224596

MICHAEL RANKIN +1 202 271 3344

SEVERNA PARK $14,900,000

This gated 20-acre compound offers amenities such as a library, fitness room, home theater, wine cellar, swimming pool, guest home, 350’ pier and two 3-car garages. ttrsir.com/id/4457372

DAVID DeSANTIS +1 202 438 1542 MARIA-VICTORIA CHECA +1 202 669 2590

WHITE PLAINS $3,295,000

CLEVELAND PARK, DC $2,950,000

KALORAMA $2,750,000

BRANKA SIPCIC +1 202 236 0678

MICHAEL RANKIN +1 202 271 3344

JONATHAN TAYLOR +1 202 276

Fox Lair Farm is offering beauty, privacy and refinement. Spread over 50 acres, the estate feature a charming pond, guest house, 2 barns, stables and facilities for staff . ttrsir.com/id/4390400

This renovated 6 BR, 5.5 BA Colonial features an eat-in kitchen, finished LL, spacious master suite, patio, outdoor kitchen, putting green, and garage. ttrsir.com/id/DC8185699

This fully detached four/five bedroom home faces Rock Creek Park and offers 4,000 finished interior square feet and a private flagstone patio. ttrsir.com/id/4507809

ARLINGTON $2,695,000

BETHESDA $1,545,000

CHEVY CHASE $1,395,000

JOHN ERIC +1 703 798 0097

ZELDA HELLER +1 202 257 1226

This Colonial in Lyon Village has 6 BRs, 5.5 BAs, 6400 sf, gourmet kitchen, full-house entertainment system, outdoor kitchen, walk to metro, shops and restaurants.. ttrsir.com/id/AR8191145

This 6 BR, 4.5 BA residence has been expertly designed, with features that include a 2-story foyer, office, finished lower level, 2-car garage and swimming pool. ttrsir.com/id/MC8233245

Tudor residence featuring 5 BR, 3.5 BA, gourmet kitchen w/ expansive deck, open entertaining spaces, lower level with theater and recreation room and fenced yard.

ttrsir.com

Untitled-1 1

©MMXIII TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, licensed real estate broker. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Equal housing opportunity. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Price and availability subject to change.

2/10/14 1:27 PM

by the

NUMBERS

2010

2011

2012

2013

$1,400,000

$1,270,025

$1,227,750

$1,350,000

$1,280,600

$1,520,000

$1,495,000

$1,675,000

$1,732,500

157 22

Timberwood of Potomac 1

$700,000

$680,000

$652,500

$790,000

121 12

Travilah Meadows

$850,000

$1,276,250

$830,000

$1,450,000

427 127 15

Willerburn Acres

$761,000

$780,000

$856,833

$768,000

$1,035,384

Williamsburg Gardens

$962,500

$1,129,166

$850,000

$1,044,000

$993,700

115 279 227 310 46

Willowbrook

$823,600

$794,500

$703,333

$723,333

$825,750

Windsor Hills

$1,028,333

$1,120,000

$851,666

$934,650

$961,666

Winterset

$850,000

$1,040,714

$1,400,000

$1,043,000

$1,224,333

$1,067,313 $1,016,328 $1,142,066 99

2011

2013

2012

2010

2013

2012

2011

2009

Average DOM

Stoney Creek Farm

2010

2009

Average Close Price

Stoney Creek Estates

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Potomac 20854 continued

Total

382 434 394 418 500 $1,045,363 $993,475

108 109 7

N. Potomac/Gaithersburg 20878 Amberlea Farm

$919,275

$945,000

$885,000

$865,000

158 20

Ancient Oak

$582,333

$603,364

$618,162

$570,911

$557,761

100 101

Belvedere

$1,378,333

$1,151,500

$1,180,833

$1,465,000

213 66

134

Big Pines Village

$1,000,000

$989,166

$820,000

$868,000

$1,050,666

Bondbrook

$635,000

$562,500

$816,000

$612,500

164 62

Crown Pointe

$899,230

$910,578

Darnestown Hills

$651,500

$684,750

$598,333

$797,500

$717,250

251 69

324 476

190 49

228 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

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2/7/14 2:46 PM

Gibson island, Md

$1,985,000

Exceptional French Normandy chateau built in 1926 on an exquisitely landscaped 1.4 acre lot. The architectural details in this 4 bedroom estate are too numerous to list here. Please see www.GibsonIslandChateau.com for photos and details. Gibson Island on the Chesapeake Bay is only 1 hour from Downtown Bethesda, 25 minutes to BWI airport, and is MAGICAL!!!

Proudly Represented by: ElliE shorb 240-338-8919

bEthEsda / bannockburn Located in the Whitman school district and close to the elementary school, community pool and C & O Canal, this sprawling five bedroom, four and one half bath colonial with a main level professional office and huge family room addition is situated on a generous over-sized landscaped lot with patio.

Proudly Represented by: diana kEElinG 301-537-3703 dana ricE 202-669-6908

The Bethesda Office extends a warm welcome to:

Veronique Sriqui and Randa Mostehy

Interested in a career in Real Estate? Alanaâ&#x20AC;Ś the only Manager you need to know! Alana Lasover, Branch Vice President 7272 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda 301.718.0010

CB_1403.indd Untitled-6 1 1

Owned and Operated by NRT, LLC

2/11/14 11:24 10:34 AM

by the

NUMBERS

$708,233

165 101 126 149 87

$428,000

$465,866

238 53

102

Dufief

$596,357

$545,633

$581,033

$517,772

$622,577

Dufief Mill

$636,750

$685,375

$683,000

$682,769

$712,750

131 10

Dufief Mill Brook

$590,000

$517,500

$735,000

$705,000

$737,725

124 1

Dufief Mill Estates

$633,500

$682,483

$657,500

$698,333

$677,700

Farmlands

$877,000

$1,100,000

$982,666

$1,047,600

Fernshire Farms

$435,000

$356,450

$482,400

$507,300

$495,642

Gaithersburg Town

$402,900

$525,000

$471,250

355 NA

Haddonfield

$845,500

$740,000

$838,700

$850,000

$902,500

110 54

232 100

Highlands of Darnestown 4

$548,000

$600,000

$729,166

$632,100

$644,583

345 164 81

Hunters Trace

$467,900

$450,000

$456,800

$473,316

Kentlands

$709,722

$764,135

$741,408

$729,163

$718,076

100 118 67

Kentlands Gatehouse

$824,900

$902,500

$877,000

$722,900

$858,750

197 21

Kentlands Hill District

$712,833

$671,400

$726,750

$735,550

$750,250

Kentlands Midtown

$529,900

$531,000

$615,500

$550,000

$763,333

Kentlands Upper

$791,875

$615,000

$908,000

$750,000

$944,000

120 1

Lakelands

2013

$630,750

2012

$821,277

$420,266

2011

$499,270

$375,000

2010

2009

$719,777

2013

2012

2011

2013

2012

2011

Diamond Courts

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Darnestown Outside

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

N. Potomac/Gaithersburg 20878 continued

139 NA

$762,304

$739,382

$770,450

$733,248

$755,029

Lakelands Great Seneca 3

$524,000

$584,750

$565,000

$609,950

116 NA

Mills Farm

$490,555

$493,250

$496,800

$567,600

$547,706

Mountain View Estates

$591,475

$825,000

$580,000

$575,355

$651,477

212 101 87

Natalie Estates

$840,000

$870,000

$790,000

$807,500

Orchard Hills

$561,000

$572,500

$591,475

$562,666

$581,800

165 40

Owens Glen

$599,000

$676,000

$650,000

$606,666

$739,500

170 179 3

Parkridge

$510,000

$464,500

$489,000

$493,500

$570,000

259 8

108 150 37

Parkridge Estates

$528,150

$605,000

$590,466

174

Pheasant Run

$496,300

$438,250

$439,880

$451,700

$510,166

Potomac Chase

$661,458

$645,030

$646,445

$627,234

$683,884

146 51

Potomac Grove

$722,500

$793,966

$766,625

$733,900

$712,250

128 53

Potomac Ridge

$479,333

$537,293

$520,892

$522,875

$614,500

Quail Run

$716,666

$847,000

$860,833

$739,500

$685,759

102 115 60

Quince Haven

$596,000

$603,333

$668,000

$606,500

$673,120

Quince Orchard Estates 1

$575,000

$529,875

$580,166

$552,500

$635,000

142 65

Quince Orchard Knolls

$457,453

$560,600

$592,448

$564,895

$561,633

136 46

104 43

Quince Orchard Manor

$391,544

$409,833

$438,545

$443,857

$454,154

155 73

123 41

Quince Orchard Park

$516,387

$540,136

$513,387

$568,650

$569,550

Quince Orchard Valley

$446,285

$417,392

$499,400

$480,982

$453,462

Rollinmead

$1,006,250

$900,000

$800,000

$897,000

322 NA

Seneca Highlands

$1,140,000

$665,000

$735,000

$1,150,000

217 22

107

Seneca Park North

$470,000

$439,000

$370,000

$427,000

Stonebridge

$753,818

$752,321

$702,650

$747,750

$826,183

Washingtonian Village

$360,000

$498,000

$447,500

$480,000

$533,333

127 93

Washingtonian Woods

$637,649

$682,433

$679,483

$692,330

$644,925

West Riding

$406,500

$426,966

$443,000

$428,530

$473,999

179 28

Westleigh

$569,250

$594,133

$572,066

$629,702

$645,823

Willow Ridge

$553,166

$744,000

$723,625

$620,000

$784,737

159 79

$617,818

$649,445

$643,964

$681,540

Total

282 310 295 318 379 $612,420

15 24

284 198

230 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

pages_HOME_BTNexpanded.indd 230

2/7/14 2:46 PM

www.oneilldev.com • 301.840.9310

Since 1975, O’Neill Development has been remodeling and building homes throughout the Washington region, including the Eastern Shore. Our broad range of experience includes projects of all types and size including seamless remodeling and fine new homes.

Whole house remodel in Bethesda, MD (Before and After)

New shingle house, Potomac, MD

Now in our fourth decade; we continue our quality remodeling and new construction throughout the Washington Metropolitan region and the Eastern Shore. Our latest offering is a new home being completed at 106 Newlands St in Chevy Chase Village for spring delivery. This classic 6 bedroom house captures “Old Chevy Chase” in style and design. It features broad hallways, 2 laundry areas, generator, wine cellar, optional exercise/theater room, master bedroom office/sitting room. Sale is being handled by Sondra Mulheron 301-785-9536 and Pam Schiattareggia 301802-7796 Long and Foster Real Estate, Inc.

www.HomesBySondraAndPam.com

106 Newlands Street, Chevy Chase MD

O’Neill Development Corp.

We continue our focus on energy conservation and green building. After successfully completing and selling the first “Passive House” in the Washington Metropolitan area, we have begun construction on our second and third passive houses. One is a private residence being built under contract in Rockville and the other is a modular passive house under contract with the Housing Initiatives Partnership (HIP) for sale to a low/moderate income buyer in Prince Georges County. “Passive” construction involves a super insulated structure with constantly re-circulating fresh air and even temperatures throughout. It is designed with an integrated system that is built to dramatically reduce heating and cooling energy cost with air quality, health and comfort taken into account.

BM_ONeillDevAd-01112014_FIN.indd 1

2/12/14 2:15 PM

by the

NUMBERS

$812,000

$712,500

$636,125

$697,500

$773,600

105 66

Chevy Chase View

$762,142

$845,923

$788,666

$834,470

$882,583

109 220 124 72

Garrett Park Estates

$498,565

$496,175

$510,883

$525,073

$569,492

Homewood

$389,103

$422,480

$427,681

$408,187

$444,808

Ken Gar

$246,000

$222,666

$290,000

$301,000

135 NA

Kensington*

$606,650

$703,831

$649,825

$726,875

$757,670

143 100 45

109 60

Kensington Estates

$737,115

$694,555

$737,300

$726,181

$709,153

Kensington Heights

$403,630

$376,471

$418,647

$461,615

$469,376

105 120 140 71

Kensington Knolls

$489,000

$386,000

$435,730

$330,366

$409,083

Kensington Terrace

$975,000

$440,000

$476,500

$564,166

$461,000

213 86

Kensington View

$421,666

$337,044

$362,250

$607,500

$355,000

162 61

217 60

Larchmont Knolls

$764,500

$725,000

$860,000

$750,000

106 NA

Newport Hills

$410,000

$399,687

$406,071

$372,477

$402,375

155

North Kensington

$218,125

$387,900

$350,096

$367,000

$385,400

125 100 123 201 28

Oakland Terrace

$384,571

$291,250

$460,250

$368,500

$330,333

101 46

Parkwood

$683,096

$622,656

$631,670

$685,068

$680,647

100 45

Rock Creek Highlands

$768,500

$865,000

$733,000

$839,775

$827,857

Rock Creek Hills

$768,104

$779,605

$736,069

$832,085

$846,991

Rock Creek Palisades

$382,691

$403,843

$364,569

$396,396

$439,281

102 65

116 49

Warners/Kensington

$447,500

$493,150

$314,500

$504,666

White Flint Park

$553,000

$641,666

$572,750

$510,500

$641,866

$536,626

$537,843

$581,912

$591,314

157 22

2013

2012

2011

2013

2010

2012

2009

2011

2013

2012

2011

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Byeforde

Subdivision

2010

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Kensington 20895

Total

200 196 207 218 235 $552,447

Garrett Park 20896 Garrett Park Total

$751,433

$608,964

$710,950

$607,066

$924,031

$751,433

$608,964

$710,950

$607,066

$924,031

Silver Spring 20902 Arcola

$470,500

$341,937

$414,625

$372,083

$403,125

230 86

Arville

$352,500

$334,500

$350,000

$406,000

141 24

169 7

Blueridge Manor

$359,950

$359,666

$353,000

$390,000

151 NA

161 2

Cameron Heights

$310,812

$202,012

$315,500

$311,771

$294,857

132 65

Carroll Knolls

$289,223

$302,203

$296,310

$314,524

$369,830

Chestnut Hills

$266,007

$279,000

$270,000

$283,316

$266,944

124 41

Chestnut Ridge Manor

$326,625

$326,583

$291,666

$334,400

$352,340

College View

$353,333

$374,681

$457,000

$503,283

$402,461

206 27

225 46

Conn. Ave. Estates

$212,910

$248,323

$239,307

$250,150

$264,907

Conn. Ave. Hills

$277,500

$262,450

$254,419

$305,153

$367,000

223 25

Connecticut Gardens

$247,853

$262,750

$307,750

$294,040

$320,576

184 76

Evans Parkway

$272,666

$432,625

$365,000

$396,324

$440,000

124 49

Forest Estates

$397,550

$435,312

$430,636

$402,033

$431,562

Forest Glen Homes

$360,000

$355,000

$354,333

$404,333

$428,750

Forest Grove

$520,000

$441,333

$460,000

$458,333

$525,000

232 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

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2011

2012

2013

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

$425,000

$411,400

$404,375

$433,100

$422,100

$293,800

$296,000

$305,000

$322,250

$346,950

Glenfield Manor

$395,057

$367,250

$386,500

$398,333

$364,444

111 50

Glenview

$372,980

$395,886

$318,000

$378,850

$423,000

104 106 30

Highland Woods

$265,583

$264,300

$254,966

$228,750

$289,666

Kemp Mill

$400,000

$525,000

$506,666

$534,700

154 75

Kemp Mill Estates

$374,057

$381,618

$370,710

$358,434

$398,469

140 66

Kemp Mill Farms

$385,000

$437,250

$589,425

255 NA

186

Kemp Mill Forest

$461,500

$507,500

$480,000

$522,500

$514,347

206 44

151

Kemp Mill Hills

$337,500

$395,000

$352,500

$410,000

Kensington Heights

$292,500

$462,000

$235,666

$344,500

$405,000

159 33

107 5

Kensington Knolls

$322,750

$298,000

$373,333

145 48

Kingswell

$241,487

$222,988

$259,800

$242,875

$282,000

McKenny Hills

$388,778

$415,125

$360,062

$393,318

$377,750

Northbrook Estates

$365,611

$334,133

$307,666

$417,000

$372,785

Oakland Terrace

$428,333

$439,216

$327,500

$378,250

$405,333

179 139 145 69

Pt Wheaton Out

$319,840

$308,666

$370,112

$285,300

$413,333

131 53

Regnid

$272,466

$259,900

$360,000

$330,000

$404,333

180 95

Rock Creek Palisades

$504,500

$522,000

$580,668

113 NA

Springbrook Forest

$761,000

$517,580

$473,333

$567,700

$536,225

107 81

114

Stephen Knolls

$267,500

$335,733

$336,332

$312,450

$355,714

Weismans

$161,196

$194,693

$231,584

$219,142

$201,675

Westchester

$401,500

$490,000

$382,750

$362,166

$420,000

165 22

Wheaton Crest

$270,491

$268,853

$242,278

$306,400

$347,833

Wheaton Forest

$268,500

$306,433

$271,900

$260,600

$316,928

102 58

Wheaton Hills

$309,601

$274,593

$285,822

$284,324

$302,767

102 65

Wheaton View

$383,400

$407,500

$323,000

$394,750

$315,000

102 81

$325,941

$319,864

$339,981

$367,571

2013

2012

2011

Glen Haven

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Forestvale

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

355 312 292 314 321 $313,872

Total

25 56

Silver Spring 20910 Blair

$421,541

$393,633

$462,958

$448,346

$444,054

Capitol View Park

$466,746

$386,750

$522,954

$422,714

$440,351

109 79

Carroll Springs

$530,000

$400,000

$337,000

$520,000

$522,975

106

Dilles/Linden

$509,166

$356,666

$337,450

146 NA

Forest Glen

$583,000

$457,200

$524,917

$548,632

Forest Glen Park

$503,375

$500,833

$405,128

$412,225

$517,500

Forest Glen Station

$683,846

McNeills

$471,500

$621,400

$672,500

$449,000

$506,400

Montgomery Hills

$629,000

$407,000

$399,247

$481,000

$531,167

120 80

North Woodside

$516,778

$550,000

$505,362

$466,000

$556,000

Northmont

$370,333

$409,250

$419,800

$430,980

$456,250

120 37

P&B/Linden

$100,000

$315,000

$305,000

392 NA

Pt Wheaton Out

$399,333

$361,000

$375,777

$511,487

$352,620

110 61

109 65

Rock Creek Forest

$480,624

$490,700

$431,666

$522,916

$538,275

218 108 7

Bethesda Magazine HOME | March/April 2014 233

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by the

NUMBERS

2011

2012

2013

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

$446,785

$467,374

$524,562

$506,208

$577,500

$326,437

$339,900

$420,000

$353,708

Saratoga Village

$245,000

$265,500

$485,000

$561,666

Seven Oaks

$550,000

$650,000

$617,071

$678,833

$494,250

Silver Spring*

$527,500

$461,807

$493,022

$456,583

$564,500

Sligo Park Hills

$412,675

$487,300

$465,500

$469,373

$544,570

South Woodside Park

$546,666

$686,250

$472,200

$629,416

$621,000

141 34

Takoma Park

$414,500

$425,542

$425,000

$459,333

$460,100

134 90

Woodside

$598,922

$610,261

$570,501

$600,720

$594,565

132 66

Woodside Forest

$538,604

$562,500

$595,750

$602,523

$540,262

Woodside Hills

$365,000

$635,000

$404,280

$425,000

$499,333

Woodside Park

$745,727

$636,882

$658,518

$642,653

$762,136

108 61

$487,760

$508,326

$508,840

$536,384

2013

2012

2011

Rosemary Knolls

2010

Average DOM

2009

Average Close Price

Rosemary Hills

Subdivision

2009

No. of Homes Sold

Silver Spring 20910 continued

Total

176 161 186 212 202 $480,902

Upper Northwest DC 20015 American University Park 3

$635,833

$734,500

$706,500

$757,500

167 4

Barnaby Woods

$630,000

$720,000

$850,000

$1,410,000

200 11

Chevy Chase

139 137 123 135 153 $883,236

$859,916

$884,145

$977,072

$987,273

Hawthorne

$737,687

$899,500

$738,083

$970,500

114 41

$850,669

$884,391

$963,471

$986,424

Total

$746,500

147 148 125 144 162 $872,744

Upper Northwest DC 20016 American University Park 71

$830,503

$855,001

$885,631

$903,819

$963,098

Chevy Chase*

$791,666

$830,202

$991,666

$895,220

$1,033,257

Spring Valley

$1,803,616

$1,834,751

$1,545,317

$1,512,763

$1,468,216

146 126 75

Wakefield

$950,000

$741,556

$778,500

$740,000

152 30

Wesley Heights

$1,615,533

$1,531,250

$1,684,687

$1,559,683

$1,456,719

116 51

131 130

$1,174,961

$1,220,519

$1,281,775

$1,258,964

Total

188 207 210 199 187 $1,257,419

9 56

*Subdivision name reflects listing information as entered into MRIS by real estate agents.

About MRISHOMES.COM Data for this section was provided by MRIShomes. com, the only home search website in the Mid-Atlantic region powered by MRIS—your local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Directly connected to the same database that real estate agents use to manage their listings, MRIShomes.com provides up-to-date information about each property for sale or rent in your area. The site is updated continuously to include information about price changes, open-house times and more.

To narrow your search even further, MRIShomes. com offers lifestyle search filters that allow users to find homes based on walkability, highly rated schools, family friendliness, nearby stores and more. Commuters can search for homes based on drive time to and from their offices. Through the mobile app, nearby homes, rentals and open houses can easily be found using MRIS’s patented GPS search technology. Register for a free account and your preferences will be saved for future use. You may also opt to be notified immediately when a new listing that meets your criteria hits the market. Once you’ve found homes that you

are interested in, you can save the listings, or contact the listing agent directly for more information. With MRIShomes, you’re always just a click (or tap) away from a local real estate expert who can help you navigate through the purchase or sales process. Visit www.MRIShomes.com or download the MRIShomes mobile app to your phone or tablet by texting “MRIShomes” to 87778. Or search for MRIShomes in your app store.

234 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HOME

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Office Name

[ home]

Welcome

to The Long & Foster® Companies’ exclusive “Showcase of Homes” As the home of the best-trained, best-equipped agents in the industry, we are positioned to provide unsurpassed service and expertise to today’s real estate clients from contract to closing and beyond. No matter what your real estate goals are, Long & Foster agents can help you take advantage of historic real estate opportunities. Enjoy browsing the following pages, and when you’re ready to take the next step, we welcome you to contact one of our sales offices or expert sales associates.

Readers’ Pick— Best Real Estate Agency

In Bethesda In the Washington Metro Area In the Mid-Atlantic Region Independent Real Estate Company in the Nation Seller of Luxury Homes in the Mid-Atlantic Region

Celebrating 45 years of real estate success! Our company was founded on the principles of integrity, honesty, innovation, and customer service— values we continue to support today.

LongandFoster.com

11852-MKTG Bethesda WELCOME PAGE.indd 1 Untitled-1 1

1/28/14 9:05 AM 2/7/14 2:41 PM

March 2014

Rent or Buy: How to Make the Decision Choosing to become a homeowner, generally one of the biggest financial decisions in your life, should never be taken lightly. While homeownership lost some of its allure during the housing crisis, the 2013 National Housing Pulse survey by the National Association of Realtors showed 80 percent of consumers believe buying a home is a good financial decision. Purchasing a home is both a financial and emotional decision and one that must be made in the context of your individual circumstances. While no one knows with certainty where they will be in the future, buying a home requires long-range planning for your career and personal life.

ownership, you need to think about how ready you are to commit to a community and property. If you’re uncertain where you want to live or know that you want to change careers or could be relocated, renting a home may be the better choice for you.

Crunch the numbers

For many, buying a home is tied to establishing a family and settling into an area with good schools and recreational amenities. For others, buying property in an urban area guarantees continued easy access to cultural amenities and nightlife.

When you first start comparing whether to rent or buy, you should consider rental rates and home values in your community. Research from Trulia in September 2013 found in East Coast cities from Richmond, Va., to northern New Jersey, it was 31 to 47 percent cheaper to buy a home than rent. The research takes into consideration mortgage rates, taxes and projected rent increases and assumes you’ll stay in your home for at least five to seven years. When comparing your monthly rent to your potential mortgage payments, you should also take into consideration the other costs of homeownership, including condominium or homeowner association fees, property taxes, homeowners insurance and maintenance costs. Conversely, homeowners can take advantage of tax deductions not available to renters, and paying off your mortgage helps build wealth and results in an asset you can live in or sell in the future.

Consider the emotional aspect of becoming a homeowner For most people, buying a home isn’t just about money. If you hope to buy a home to live in long-term and enjoy the pride of

Untitled-1 2 11852-MKTG March 2014 Bethesda Advertorial.indd 1

Many homeowners appreciate that they can do anything they want to their home without requesting a landlord’s permission. If you love the idea of personalizing your space or want to take on the challenge of renovating, you’re ready for homeownership. If you’re less convinced that you want to complete do-it-yourself projects but want to enjoy a sense of permanence in your home, consider buying a new home or a condominium where some maintenance tasks are handled by the condominium association.

Assess your financial readiness for homeownership If you’re emotionally ready to settle into a home, you need to match your vision for the future with the reality of your finances. While lending standards vary, there are common guidelines borrowers are required to meet. Generally, you need to show a lender that you have the ability to repay your mortgage on time. Mortgage lenders also will review your credit, income, assets, job history, tax returns and debtto-income ratio before approving you for a loan. They’ll also likely check your rental payment history for the past 12 to 24 months. Establishing a strong credit history and a credit score of 720 or higher will help you qualify for the lowest mortgage rates. You can evaluate your financial situation by obtaining your free annual credit report at annualcreditreport.com and checking for errors and negative information.

2/7/14 2:41 PM 2/5/14 11:21 AM

Should you rent or buy in ... Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia & West Virginia Buy: It’s actually 31 percent cheaper.

Baltimore, Maryland Buy: It’s 47 percent less expensive to buy than to rent.

Virginia Beach & Norfolk, Virginia, as well as nearby North Carolina communities Buy: You’ll save 40 percent when buying.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Buy: You’ll save 40 percent if you buy instead of rent.

Raleigh, North Carolina Buy: It’ll cost you 38 percent more to rent a property versus purchasing one.

Wilmington, Delaware, and nearby New Jersey and Maryland areas Buy: It’s 45 percent cheaper than renting.

*Source: Trulia (http://trends.truliablog.com/vis/rentvsbuy-summer-2013/)

To increase your chances of a mortgage approval, save money for a down payment. You should also try to reduce your debt so your minimum monthly payments on recurring debt and your prospective mortgage payment (including principal, interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance) are no more than 43 percent of your gross monthly income.

Balance expectations and reality One lesson many homeowners face is that what they dream of owning isn’t always what they can afford to own or what they can find on the market. A lender will qualify you based on the financial picture you present on paper, so it’s important to establish a personal budget for your mortgage based on what you can afford to pay. If you plan to start a family and want one spouse to work less, you should take that into account when signing on for a mortgage payment. If you want to vacation often or continue your weekly golf game, you’ll need to work that into your budget, too. As one of your first steps in becoming a homeowner, you should meet with a real estate professional. Your agent not only can help with your home search, but also with finding a lender with a great track record of competitive rates, as well as exceptional customer service. After receiving mortgage lender referrals, you should meet with your selected lender to get preapproved for a loan based on your credit profile. Once you have an idea of your price range, you can work with a real estate agent to find properties that meet your needs and desires. Unless you have an unlimited budget, you may have to compromise on your expectations. A good real estate agent can help you work through your list of priorities and show you homes and communities that work for you. You can

also choose to wait and continue to rent while building up your savings and increasing your income so you can afford to buy what you truly want.

Plan for future sale or rent Even if you believe you’re ready to buy a home and stay in it for a decade, you never know when a job opportunity or life change will mean your “forever” home no longer works for you. To prepare for the possibility of moving earlier than planned, you should always look at any home with an eye toward its future resale value or investment potential. If you purchase a home that would appeal to renters, such as a home near public transportation or near a college campus, you’re more likely to be able to rent it in the future. Those same attractive features could also make your property lucrative to sell. If you’ve decided to become a homeowner, Long & Foster Real Estate can help you find and finance a home. Representatives of Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC, part of The Long & Foster Companies, are available in most Long & Foster offices in the MidAtlantic and Northeast regions to assist prospective buyers with financing. All Long & Foster Realtors also have an array of local, trusted resources such as moving companies and contractors that can help make your move as smooth as possible. The company also has a property management division to assist homeowners who decide to turn their home into an investment property. Working with experienced professionals who can guide you along the path to homeownership makes the transition from renter to homeowner easier.

About the author

Jeffrey S. Detwiler is president and chief operating officer of The Long & Foster Companies, parent company to Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., the largest independent real estate company in the United States, and Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC, a full-service mortgage banker. From extensive, neighborhood-level market information to Long & Foster’s core services companies, providing mortgage, settlement, insurance and property management services in a streamlined manner, Long & Foster offers the services necessary to make today’s real estate transactions manageable for owners and investors. *The information contained in this article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial or investment advice.

11852-MKTG March 2014 Bethesda Advertorial.indd 2 Untitled-1 3

2/5/14 11:22 AM 2/7/14 2:41 PM

Bethesda All Points Office #1 W.C. & A.N. MILLER REALTORS® Office • #10 Long & Foster® Office for 2012 Kat Conley Witowski

●

301.943.3865

●

Kelly Bohi

#2 Individual Sales—Bethesda Miller #69 Agent Companywide —Long & Foster

●

#3 Individual by Units Sold—Bethesda Miller

● ●

●

301.580.4991

Kelly.Bohi@LongandFoster.com

Kat@LNF.com

2011 Realty Alliance Award Recipient, Top 5 Percent North America

●

Call Kat for any of your real estate needs.

Helping buyers and sellers in DC, MD and VA Your relocation expert for over 10 years Top Producer Bethesda All Points Office Your Massachusetts Avenue Corridor Neighbor I can simplify your home buying and selling process to take the pressure off of you!

Call Joan & Welene for a Private Showing of their Listing

Anne Emmett Laura Emmett

●

202.422.6374

Anne and Laura call Bethesda home! For in-depth knowledge of the Bethesda market and superior service, call Anne and Laura Emmett. ●

●

#1 Group in Bethesda All Points Office Licensed in MD, DC & VA

Lydia Chopivsky Benson

●

202.365.3222

LydiaBenson@StanfordAlumni.org

●

Joan.Healey@LNF.com

301.466.2515

Laura.Emmett@LNF.com EmmettHomes.com

●

Joan Healey 202.302.3232

●

Anne.Emmett@LNF.com

Selling homes in MD, DC and VA Commitment to excellence Driven to succeed Taking care of client’s needs throughout the entire process

Welene Worthington Goller Elegant Georgian home with large rooms and wonderful 301.320.5064 goller1@verizon.net garden views. 4 finished levels, 4 bedrooms, 4+ baths.

#9 Agent Washington Metro Region Chairman’s Club Serving Washington • Maryland • Virginia Cell: 301-452-1409 Direct: 301-320-8430 www.HillSlowinski.com

A portion of all listing and sales proceeds will be donated to your choice of either The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or MCPAW — Montgomery County Partners for Animal Welfare.

Mary Lou Dell

●

301.404.5554

MaryLouDell@aol.com I’d love to work with you. Call me when you’re ready to buy or sell. And watch me periodically on News Now TV at Noon talking about our local real estate market. Licensed in MD & DC

4701 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 301.229.4000 | LongandFoster.com

11852-MKTG Bethesda Mag Mar 2014-Bethesda All Points.indd 1 Untitled-1 4

1/27/14 2:42 PM 2/7/14 2:41 PM

Bethesda All Points Office #1 W.C. & A.N. MILLER REALTORS® Office • #10 Long & Foster® Office for 2012 Sharron Cochran SCochran@LNF.com

301.351.4517

l l

Congratulations to Susan Sanford and her Extraordinary Team!

www.SCochran.com

#1 INDIVIDUAL MILLER AGENT 2012 l

#92 Agent Companywide—Long & Foster

The #1 Miller Office #10 Long & Foster Office Companywide 2012

2012 Realty Alliance Award Recipient, Top 5 Percent North America Staging, marketing, and negotiation expert

Susan Sanford

VP, Managing Broker Office Direct:

Let my experience work for you!

301.320.8300 ssanford@LNF.com

W.C. & A.N. Miller REALTORS Bethesda All Points Office is the flagship office for Miller Realtors Companywide. We are home to successful and top-producing agents seeking an executive approach to their business as well as new agents ready to launch successful real estate careers. Call me for a confidential interview to find out why top producing and new agents join my office and choose to stay!

Andy Alderdice Top Sales Associate 2013 301.466.5898

andy4homes@gmail.com www.andy4homes.com l

Outstanding Service Award Winner

Chevy Chase

$1,050,000

Updated and expanded! Enchanting, light-filled 3 bedroom, 4 full bath home with beautiful landscaped, large, level backyard! Moments from Bethesda and Friendship Heights, METRO and popular Norwood Park! Nancy Mannino 301.461.1018 Nancy.Mannino@LongandFoster.com

A 5th generation Washingtonian assisting many MD, DC and VA residents in the sale and/ or purchase of their first and subsequent homes since 1994.

NG MI ! CO OON S

Bethesda, Maryland First time on the market! 5 bedroom, 3 full baths, 4 levels in Springfield. Eat-in kitchen, hardwood flooring throughout, newer windows and large rooms ready for your personal touch. Convenient to D.C. and shopping.

Call her to schedule a private consultation.

Ted Duncan Providing Personal Attention to Every Detail Since 1992

Lynn A. Stewart

301.785.7966

MOVING YOUR HOME . . . “FOR SALE TO SOLD”! l Your Bethesda residential specialist l Your expert Buyer’s Agent in MD & DC l Your Top Producer l Your go-to help for “right-sizing” l Your Certified Negotiation Expert l Your neighbor! l Licensed in MD, DC & VA

l Ted@LNF.com Knowledge and ability to clearly explain all aspects of home sale l Unparalleled pricing of homes l Countless examples of negotiating ability to get the best results for you Providing a spectacular experience in the sale of your home. l

EXPERIENCE TRUST RESULTS Ilissa Flamm 301.455.6522 ilissa@LNF.com www.ilissaFlamm.com Licensed in MD, D.C. & VA

Potomac, Maryland

$1,274,000

Updated and expanded 4 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom Colonial in River Falls. Hardwood floors, open floorplan, landscaped yard, 1 block to pool and tennis, and Whitman School district.

Manor Country Club

301.580.4552

Lynn@LynnStewartSells.com

Upper brackets

This is your opportunity to own one of the most distinctive and unique homes in the sought-after community at Manor Country Club. Elegant and graceful, this 5 bedroom home is situated on over one acre of majestic trees and professional landscaping with sweeping golf course views. Extra-large room with bath over garage with separate staircase is perfect for home office, guest suite, or teen room. Full community membership available to enjoy two golf courses, pools, tennis courts and club house amenities. Please contact me to schedule a personal tour of this exceptional property. Carole Egloff 240.401.1200 cell | 301.570.4664 | Carole.Egloff@LongandFoster.com

4701 Sangamore Road, Bethesda, MD 301.229.4000 | LongandFoster.com

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Phyllis Wiesenfelder 301.529.3896 | PhyllisW@LNF.com www.Phyllis.Wiesenfelder.com

® ®

SOLD

SOLD WITH MULTIPLE OFFERS

SOLD

4713 Drummond Avenue • Chevy Chase, Maryland

4508 Dalton Road • Chevy Chase, Maryland

4712 Cumberland Avenue • Chevy Chase, Maryland

SOLD

SOLD WITH MULTIPLE OFFERS

3714 Fulton Street, NW • Washington, D.C.

5610 Warwick Place • Chevy Chase, Maryland

5413 Surrey Street • Chevy Chase, Maryland

SOLD

SOLD WITH MULTIPLE OFFERS

5156 Linnean Terrace, NW • Washington, D.C.

4511 Cumberland Avenue • Chevy Chase, Maryland

1525 Q Street, NW • Washington, D.C.

Thank you to all my friends, clients and neighbors for a highly successful 2013.

www.PhyllisWiesenfelder.com Top 1% of Long & Foster Agents, MD/DC Region Bethesda Gateway Office 301.907.7600 | LongandFoster.com

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Potomac

Voted one of the Area’s Top REALTORS® by Readers of Bethesda Magazine in 2012 & 2013

$2,375,000

Classic country farm house on a picturesque 4.75 acre lot located in the heart of Potomac Village.

North Potomac

$949,000

Price reduced! Colonial on 2 acres with heated pool, spa and lighted tennis court.

Lyn Moritt, Lisa Frazier, Ying Chen, Katelynn Whitlock, Margie Halem, Amy Gordon, Kendall Strang Unikel, Lori Silverman

301.775.4196 Licensed in MD | DC | VA Please view our listings at MargieHalemRealtor.com. Text MARGIE1 to 87778 to download my free home-search app

MargieHalemRealtor.com Potomac/Avenel

$2,495,000

Bethesda Gateway Office | 301.907.7600 (O)

Gated Rapley Preserve Community. Natelli built.

Elegant

Eco-Chic Living

MargieHalem@LongandFoster.com

Jill Schwartz Real Experience. Real Relationships. Real Estate.

Bethesda

$5,525,000

Magnificent custom home under construction on 1.2 acres in Lybrook/ Burning Tree neighborhood. Formal gallery, spectacular custom kitchen, caterer’s kitchen. Wine cellar and theatre. Four garages, courtyard, pool with guest home/cabana.

Potomac

$1,349,000

Spectacular, expansive colonial on a private cul-de-sac in prestigious Clagett Farm. Grand 2-story foyer, formal dining and living room, sun-drenched family room open to gourmet kitchen. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths up.

Ranked in the Top 100 of Long & Foster Agents, MD/DC Region #3 Individual Agent for 2013, Bethesda Gateway Office LEED AP, ECO-Broker, MD & DC

301.758.7224 (cell) | Bethesda Gateway Office 301.907.7600 JillSchwartzGroup@gmail.com • greenlongandfoster.com LongandFoster.com

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Bethesda Gateway Office ® ®

SALES OVER $1.2 BILLION IN 2013 — MORE THAN $1 BILLION FOR THE 10TH YEAR www.BethesdaGatewaySales.com | mobile: m.BethesdaGatewaySales.com H Street Area, D.C. $899,000

Chevy Chase, Maryland

106 Newlands Street, Chevy Chase MD

$3,200,000

O’Neill Development Corp.

Bethesda, Maryland

Gorgeous, renovated and expanded 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath rowhouse boasting hardwood floors, an open floor plan, gourmet kitchen, owner’s suite with bath, plus a finished lower level! Rooftop deck with monument views. Minutes to shops, restaurants and new trolley cars! Paula Nesbitt 240.731.3369 Paula@BannerTeam. com

$1,575,000

Stunning new home in Chevy Chase Village built by Brendan O’Neill. This exceptional home offers 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a designer kitchen, master suite with sitting room, a wine cellar, lovely detail and upgraded finishes throughout. Sondra Mulheron & Pam Schiattareggia 301.785.9536/ 301.802.7796

Fabulous new home by award-winning Churchill Classics. Impressive floor plan featuring 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths and numberous ameniites for today’s living. Closein location near downtown Bethesda shops and Metro. Sondra Mulheron & Pam Schiattareggia 301.785.9536/ 301.802.7796 SondraAndPam@gmail.com

Kensington/Parkwood, Maryland $1,275,000

Chevy Chase, Maryland

Totally renovated Arts & Crafts home featuring hardwood floors on 2 levels, gourmet kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, 5 bedrooms, 3 full + 2 half baths, garage, and fenced yard. Owner’s suite has en suite bath with jetted tub. Paula Nesbitt 240.731.3369 Paula@BannerTeam.com

Lovely French 6 bedroom, 6.5 bath country home on large lot with pool. Living room with high beamed ceilings, country kitchen. Wide-plank wood flooring, leaded glass windows, arched doorway, skylights. Rear terraces and decks overlook south-facing garden. Mary Ann Corette 202.256.5501 corettem@aol.com

Lucky buyers purchased this elegant, updated Colonial on an exquisite double lot with award-winning perennial gardens. Updated baths, custom built-ins, deck with trellis, solarium/family room adjacent to kitchen. Very unique property! Damian Buckley 202.438.6080 damian@LNF.com

$885,000

Bethesda/Cabin John, Maryland $1,150,000

Bethesda,Maryland Maryland Potomac,

Lucky buyers purchased this light-filled Colonial with a large galley kitchen opening to a solarium overlooking a beautiful rear garden. Spacious living/family room, library/den. Convenient to shops, restaurants and parks.

One-of-a-kind contemporary nestled in the woods. 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, fabulous, versatile spaces. Wonderful master suite with screened porch, possible in-home office, two fireplaces, lovely wooded views. Close to the canal, shopping and restaurants. Eleanor Balaban 301.229.7990 eleanor.balaban@LNF.com

Classic 4-level, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath brick level Spectacular Colonial with contemporary flairsplit boasting with modern updates.kitchen Expansive living and room/dining 2-story foyer, gourmet with island stunning room opens to renovated kitchen and with built-ins. granite, master suite. Custom paint, lighting stainless appliances and breakfast bar. Family room Charming brick patio bordered by evergreens. with built-ins, garage, finished lower level. Rear deck, professionally yard.301.215.6907 Donna Karpa &landscaped Sharon Owens John Bragale 301.503.1300/ john.bragale@LNF.com Donna.Karpa@LNF.com

Kent, D.C.

SOLD!

Damian Buckley 202.438.6080 damian@LNF.com

$2,799,000

Chevy Chase, D.C.

SOLD!

$1,075,000

$749,500 $1,149,999

4650 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 301.907.7600

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Wendy Banner & The Banner Team ® ®

Potomac, Maryland

301.365.9090 | Wendy@BannerTeam.com www.BannerTeam.com

$4,395,000

Bethesda, Maryland

$3,500,000

® ®

Potomac, Maryland

$1,650,000

Breathtaking custom built home on 2 professionally landscaped acres in the privately gated village of Rapley Preserve at Avenel offering approximately 11,000 finished sq. ft. of sun-filled, luxurious living and the finest of finishes and entertainment space! 7 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half baths, 4-car garage.

This stunning New England style colonial on 2 acres backs to Congressional Country Club PGA Golf Course and offers amenities galore including an in-ground pool, pool house, and guest house! 6 bedrooms, 7 full, 2 half baths, and 5 car garage. The Banner Team & Christy Bakaly 301.412.8830

This brick contemporary home sited on a 1.29 acre lot in Normandie Farm is perfect for formal entertaining with a soaring two-story living room, expansive dining room, and family room. Enjoy the private yard from the enclosed stone patio or sunroom. 5 bedrooms, 4 full and 1 half baths. 3 car garage.

Potomac, Maryland

Customized colonial on 1.75 acres! Features open floor plan with 5 fireplaces, wide-plank hardwood floors and newly refinished 1st floor. The landscaped lot offers a fenced yard, salt water swimming pool, gazebo, patio, deck and 2 car garage. 6 bedrooms, 5 full baths.

$1,595,000

This spacious Avenel colonial is located on a quiet culde-sac and features 4 finished levels of generous living space on a professionally landscaped lot with a tandem 4-car garage unique to this Prescott home! 5 bedrooms, 5 full and 1 half baths.

This magnificent and meticulously maintained home on a private 2.2 acre lot in Potomac features a dynamic open floor plan, hardwood floors on 2 levels, and a whole house generator! 4 bedrooms, 4 full and 3 half baths, 3-car garage.

Potomac, Maryland

$1,349,900

Enjoy stunning golf course views from this renovated Avenel contemporary. Two-story walls of windows, hardwood floors on 2 levels, a 2-story great room with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace and a sunroom with access to the stone patio backing the 6th fairway! 4 bedrooms, 4 full and 2 half baths.

$1,219,900

Fantastic, renovated end-unit town home in River Falls has been updated through-out! Features include a gourmet kitchen, 4 bedrooms, 3 fabulous full and 1 half baths. 2 fireplaces, rough-in elevator, lovely yard with brick patio and a 2-car garage.

$1,350,000

$830,000

This Copenhaver/Cold Spring Colonial features a gourmet kitchen with Silestone counter tops, family room with floor-to-ceiling fireplace, main level office/5th bedroom, owner’s suite with deep skylights and en suite bath, fenced yard, patio and hot tub! 4/5 bedrooms, 2 full and 1 half bath.

4650 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 301.907.7600 | LongandFoster.com

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Bethesda Office ® ®

Arlington, Virginia

$1,990,000

Entertainer's delight. Dramatic Turnberry Tower 14th floor 2,200+ square foot condominium. Expansive views of DC and beyond. Custom upgrades. Luxury amenities galore. Garage parking. Perfect pied-a-terre. Turnkey is an option. Jan Brito 301.646.5774/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Bethesda, Maryland

$2,595,000

Close in Bethesda custom home to be built by Tulacro Development. Walk to Bethesda. 6 bedroom, 6 baths. Large level lot. Elevator, wine room, so much more. Still time to customize. www.AdamGelb.LNF.com. Adam Gelb 301.922.2922/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Bethesda, Maryland

$2,450,000

New construction near downtown Bethesda, 7,400 sq. ft. floorplan, kitchen with Taj Mahal granite and Wolf appliances, huge master suite with luxury bath and walk-ins, all bedrooms ensuite. Finished lower level. Cindy Souza 301.332.5032/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Chevy Chase, Maryland $1,200,000

Bethesda, Maryland

$1,250,000

Five bedroom, 4.5 bath home in Alta Vista, on a culde-sac street. Soaring ceilings, oversized and Palladian windows, and hardwood flooring throughout. Open family room with vaulted ceiling. WydlerBrothers.com. Hans Wydler 301.986.6405/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Bethesda, Maryland

Townhome condo with 2 finished levels, 4,000 sq. ft., 10" ceilings, hardwood floors, crown molding, granite countertops and music system. Sun-filled, open space with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, 2 car garage, 2 private patios and balcony. Chana Sky 240.447.7000/ 240.497.1700 (O)

$1,225,000

Five bedroom, 3 bath home in Westmoreland Hills. Features: living room with marble surround fireplace, updated kitchen that opens to back patio, and amazing master bedroom with sitting room. WydlerBrothers.com. Hans Wydler 301.986.6405/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Potomac, Maryland $3,000,000 Close-in Potomac. Magnificent private 4 acres gated estate with pool, tennis court and 4 car garage. Host grand receptions at this unique property with approximately 12,000 sq. ft. of living space. Parvin Navid 301.325.6401/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Potomac, Maryland

$1,899,000

Magnificent gem in close-in Potomac. Over 5,500 sq. ft. living space on 2+ acres. 2-story marble foyer, gorgeous family room w/fireplace, Chef’s kitchen, cherrywood library, unique courtyard & indoor pool. Your dream home awaits. Asmeret Demeter Medhane, MBA, MSC 301.266.6612

Potomac, Maryland

$1,499,000

Stately custom home on 2 acres backing to Stoney Creek. Two story foyer, formal living room, dining room, cherry paneled library. Expansive deck from family and breakfast rooms. Grand kitchen. Spacious owner’s suite and bath. Jan Brito 301.646.5774/ 240.497.1700 (O)

Poolesville, Maryland

$1,875,000

It’s been years since 25+ acres has been available less than 10 miles to Potomac Village! 2002 custom home in MoCo Ag Reserve surrounded by 450 acres of protected land. Trails, riding arena, barn and personal Par 3 golf course! 20K watt generator. Cindy Souza 301.332.5032

Washington, D.C.

$1,950,000

Wonderful location and high-quality home. 5 bedroom house that has been immaculately maintained. Great light and beautiful sunroom to peaceful backyard. Adam Gelb 301.922.2922 adamgelb@lnf.com

7700 Old Georgetown Rd. #120, Bethesda, MD 240.497.1700 | LongandFoster.com

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North Bethesda/Rockville Office ÂŽ ÂŽ

Annapolis, Maryland

Rockville, Maryland

$1,3000,000

$949,900

Silver Spring, Maryland

$539,900

Live the waterfront lifestyle in this quality-crafted Annapolis home with deep water pier. Custom built transitional with open floor built for recreational living. Enjoy boating, crabbing, fishing and skiing. Less than 1 hour from DC. Jennifer Holden 443.803.7620

Absolutely stunning and rarely available Barclay model featuring 1st and 2nd floor master suites, 2 story foyer entry, library, separate dining room, 2 story living/ great room, gourmet island kitchen with many special touches and moldings throughout. MaryAnne Fiorita 301.529.0090 www.MaryAnneFiorita.com

Expanded split foyer with garage on well manicured corner lot in Kemp Mill Farms. Hardwood floors on main level, custom deck off large dining room, two fireplaces and daylight lower level with two bedrooms.

Rockville, Maryland

Washington, D.C.

Kensington, Maryland

$539,000

$499,990

Fantastic location! Sun-filled 2 bedroom, 2 bath close to Connecticut Ave., Dupont and Adams Morgan. The building and unit were renovated 2009-2010. Spacious living room, separate dining room, foyer entry, wood floors and washer and dryer in unit. MaryAnne Fiorita 301.529.0090 www.MaryAnneFiorita.com

Wonderfully renovated luxury brick townhome featuring a spacious living and dining room with new hardwood floors, kitchen with new granite countertops and much more. Linda Kim 301.461.1200

Barbara Ciment 301.346.9126 www.Ciment.com

$374,900

Charming split level features recently refinished hardwood floors, fresh paint throughout, updated HVAC and new carpet in family room. Close to Rock Creek Park and major transportation routes. Bill Calomeris 301.370.3962 www.CalomerisGroup.com

Silver Spring, Maryland $349,900

Great houseColonial on fenced lotcontemporary featuring updated kitchen, Spectacular with flair boasting updatedfoyer, baths, new Berber carpeting, hardwood floors, 2-story gourmet kitchen with island and stunning brick fireplace lowerpaint, level with office and or guest suite. master suite. and Custom lighting built-ins. Close to Kensington District and I-495. Charming brick patioHistoric bordered by evergreens.

One of the largest townhomes in Longmead nestled on a quiet cul de sac. Features include 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, open floor plan, foyer, table space kitchen, finished family room on lower level and step out to private backyard.

Tom Corcoran Donna Karpa &301.938.7567 Sharon Owens 301.215.6907 www.CorcoranGalleryofHomes.com Donna.Karpa@LNF.com

Joanna Argenio 202.258.2273

Kensington, Maryland Potomac, Maryland

$369,900 $1,149,999

Silver Spring, Maryland Bethesda, Maryland

$349,000 $825,000

A large and expanded 3 bedroom, 3 bath 3,000 with a square superMeticulously maintained and updated bath home in master suite. 4Recreation room on level, foot featuring large bedrooms andlower 2.5 baths, work shop, garage and much main-level more. large table-space kitchen, office, family room with stone fireplace and exit to deck, enormous master suite with luxury bath. Joanna Argenio301.469.9111 Tom Whiteman 202.258.2273 Tom@TomWhiteman.com

6000 Executive Blvd., #100, Bethesda, MD 301.468.0606 | LongandFoster.com

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Chevy Chase Office ® ®

Chevy Chase, D.C.

Woodley Park Office

202.363.9700

202.483.6300

20 Chevy Chase Circle, NW, Washington, D.C.

2300 Calvert Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

$1,099,000

Chevy Chase, Maryland

$825,000

Chevy Chase, Maryland

$849,000

Classic Chevy Chase home, beautifully renovated from top to bottom. 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 fireplaces, wonderful chef’s kitchen, dining room with coffered ceiling, fabulous master bedroom suite with luxurious bath, great above-grade lower-level, large yard with stone patio. Margaret Babbington 240.460.4007

Center hall brick colonial on a quiet cul de sac in Martins Addition section. Features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, sun room, finished lower level, fireplace, and hardwoods. Lovely yard with private slate patio and your own grape garden!

Adorable and updated 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath bungalow in Chevy Chase. Walking distance to Brookville Market and shops. Fully finished lower level, kitchen addition, front porch, back patio and lovely landscaped yard.

Cheryl Kurss 301.346.6615

Gaithersburg, Maryland

Kalorama, D.C.

$2,999,900

Located in the booming Science and Research Area of Montgomery County. Real potential — zoned for residential or commercial use. Historic barns on almost 2 acres, main barn is over 17,000 sq. ft. with 2 silos and room to park at least 77 vehicles. Barbara Fagel 301.351.5558

Rockville, Maryland Maryland Potomac,

$515,000 $1,149,999

New York style in this 2-bedroom, 2-bath Spectacular Colonial withluxurious contemporary flair boasting condo with Gorgeous layout, custom 2-story foyer,den. gourmet kitchenstyle withand island and stunning features suite. and creative add loads special master Custom design paint, lighting andofbuilt-ins. touches. brick Openpatio floorplan, chef’s kitchen, balcony, Charming bordered by evergreens. washer/dryer, and garage parking. Full service building, concierge, pool, billiard Owens room, gym, and more. Donna Karpa & Sharon 301.215.6907 Peggy Speaker 301.452.4445 Donna.Karpa@LNF.com

$2,095,000

Chevy Chase, Maryland

$725,000

Top to bottom renovation of classic 4,500 sq.ft. Victorian townhouse into 4 luxury, 2-bedroom units. Gourmet kitchens with granite and stainless steel, hardwood floors, high ceilings with recessed lighting, rear decks on 3 levels, separate metering. Great location only blocks to Metro and Adams Morgan! Roby Thompson 202.238.2885

1,300+ sq. ft., 2 bedrooms, 2 baths at the Carleton. Open living room, formal dining room and updated eat-in kitchen. Huge balcony with western exposure. Master suite with walk-in closet and double vanity in bath. Lots of windows. Full service building in the heart of Friendship Heights. Sam Solovey 301.404.3280

Rockville, Maryland Maryland Potomac,

Petworth, Bethesda, D.C. Maryland

$224,900 $1,149,999

Large updated 1-bedroom condo with garage parking, Spectacular Colonial with contemporary flair boasting extra storage and private patio. close 2-story foyer, gourmet kitchen withIdeally island located and stunning to Grosvenor Metro inpaint, the full-service master suite. Custom lighting andcommunity built-ins. of Grosvenor Convenient to Bethesda and Charming brickPark patio11. bordered by evergreens. Rockville shopping, dining and great performances at Strathmore! Donna Karpa & Sharon Owens 301.215.6907 Susan Fagan 202.246.8337 Donna.Karpa@LNF.com

$659,900 $825,000

This is a charmer!! Stunning 3,000 sq. ft.,3,000 4 bedrooms, Meticulously maintained and updated square 3.5 total renovation! Wonderfuland layout with foot baths, home featuring 4 large bedrooms 2.5 baths, formal living and kitchen, dining, huge family office, room family off of large table-space main-level gourmet hardwood master room withkitchen, stone fireplace and floors, exit to gracious deck, enormous suite, windows masterinteresting suite with bay luxury bath. and loads of light. 2-car parking. Tom Whiteman 301.469.9111 Roby Thompson 202.238.2885 Tom@TomWhiteman.com

LongandFoster.com

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The Creig Northrop Team ® ®

410.884.8351 | CNorthrop@NorthropTeam.com www.NorthropTeam.com Maryland’s #1 Real Estate Team

14512MANORPARKDRIVE.COM $3,500,000

11604RIVERROAD.COM

Impressive estate home custom built in 2013 by Artistic Design Build Inc. features include high-tech Savant Smart Home System, 5-level elevator ad sophisticated mechanicals! State-of-the-art appliances.

Palatial custom built multi-generational home with two identical wings; 18,000 sq. ft. total. Exquisite architecture and custom finishes, state-of-the art security and lighting systems, stunning inside and out!

Lavish NEW BUILT estate design features; state-of-theart kitchen with double center islands and Thermador appliances; 2 family rooms with gas fireplace; separate in-law suite.

4919SUNDOWNROAD.COM

All brick Colonial with spacious indoor and outdoor living, 3-story indoor pool with kitchenette and full bath, workshop and storage, large 1,500 sq. ft. multilevel rear deck, wooded privacy with bridle path.

18804QUARRYMENTERRACE.COM $1,100,000 Stunning Colonial boasts 6,000+ sq. ft. of open living, grand formals, gourmet kitchen, bright and airy morning room, rec room with wet-bar, media room with projector and 3-zone audio. Outdoor oasis with spa tub and heated pool with waterfall!

11933KIGGERJACKLANE.COM

4911SUNDOWNROAD.COM

2700VIRGINIAAVENUENW105.COM $1,700,000 Welcome to Watergate West, a full-service luxury residence offering first-class amenities and convenience! This unit showcases a gourmet kitchen, floor-to-ceiling sliders, picturesque Potomac River views, and en-suite bedrooms. Co-op fee includes utilities/taxes/cable and security.

6202MAIDENLANE.COM

$1,050,000

Close to downtown Bethesda, NIH, Navy Medical Center and Walter Reed. This exquisite home with 3,500+ sq. ft. (based on appraisal) is sure to impress. New additions: au pair/in-law suite with separate entrance, and master bedroom with 5 closets.

$3,300,000

$1,200,000

$875,000

Stunning Colonial boasts 6,600+ sq. ft. of spacious living with designer accents, grand formals, study with French doors, and inviting sun-filled family room with 2-story stone gas fireplace.

13505MAISTONELANE.COM

® ®

$2,500,000

$850,000

All brick Colonial nestled on 12.6 acres offers majestic pastoral views! Inside, you will find Brazilian cherry hardwood floors, library with built-ins and dual-sided wood burning fireplace, tall and wide 2-car garage, fenced rear with deck, and newly installed roof.

Clarksville Office | 410.531.0321 LongandFoster.com

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Rehoboth Beach Office ® ®

Milton, Delaware–Sub-Division Lots $3,600,000

Lewes, Delaware “Bayfront” Lot $1,295,000

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Zoned AR1 with road frontage on Hudson Road. In close proximity to Route 1. Easy access to Lewes and Rehoboth Beaches. Preliminary approval received from County for 60 lot sub-division. MLS 602457 Mike Kogler 302.236.7648/ www.Mike.Kogler.com

Extraordinary large bay-front lot in the private community of Cape Shores in Lewes, Delaware. Private beach, pool, tennis, Bay-front pier. Lot #92. One of the best communities in Lewes. MLS 595383 Mike Kogler 302.236.7648/ www.Mike.Kogler.com

Classic beach cottage. “North Shores” offers a private beach, pool, tennis, yacht basin, marina, and year-round security. 5 bedrooms, 3 baths. Stroll to state park, bike to town, abundant outdoor living space. MLS 605949 Mike Kogler 302.236.7648/ www.Mike.Kogler.com

Bethany Beach, Delaware

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

$1,250,000

Fenwick Island, Delaware $1,599,000 Ocean block — prime location! 2 owner suites, steps to sand with lovely ocean views, open floor plan and decorated by a top Delaware designer. Gourmet kitchen with granite, stainless appliances. Multiple wraparound decks! Owner is Delaware Realtor. Linda Lizzio 202.997.1664 Linda.Lizzio@LNF.com

$1,795,000

$534,900

New Listing! This beautiful, quintessential Bethany retreat is located in the heart of town and just ½ block to the beach! Open floor plan with lovely gourmet kitchen and 2 owner’s suites plus 3 bedrooms. Relax on the large screened in porch while you listen to the ocean at night! Linda Lizzio 202.997.1664/ Linda.Lizzio@LNF.com

3 bedroom and 3.5 baths. Move-in condition with incredible 1st floor master suite, private back yard, office, hardwood floors, outdoor living area, elegant 2nd floor master. East of Rt. 1 with access to Rehoboth Beach without getting on Rt. 1. Totally renovated and convenient to everything! MLS 609704 Call Dean Donovan 302.670.2658/ dean@wlucks.com

New Listing! Rehoboth Beach!

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

$1,149,900

4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 half baths. Over 4,600 sq. ft. Great room, 3-season room, home office. Granite counters, hardwood floors, stainless appliances. Inground swimming pool. Call or text: Bill Cullin 302.841.7147 www.KingsCreekHome.com

$274,900

3 bedroom and 2.5 baths. Rambler east of Rt. 1 near Breakwater Trail! Entertainer’s house with flow from living room, kitchen, sunroom to the pergola out back! Mature landscaping and community pool. MLS 608991 Candy Williams 410.991.0999 candy.williams@longandfoster.com

Views of Ocean North Shores! $849,900 2 bedroom, 2 baths, 5th floor, Unit 504. Unobstructed ocean views, tile baths, swimming pool, elevator, security, parking garage. All terraces have ocean views! Call or Text: Bill Cullin 302.841.7147 TheHenlopen504.com

Rehoboth Beach! $379,900 2 bedroom and 1 bath condo. Adorable downtown condo! Walk to the beach and restaurants! Dedicated in-town parking space. Enclosed porch to people watch! MLS 595536 Call Candy Williams 410.991.0999 buyabeachplace.com

37156 Rehoboth Ave. Ext. Rehoboth Beach, DE 302.227.2541 | LongandFoster.com

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$1,250,000

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12216 Seline Way. The kitchen, breakfast room, family room, and sunroom enjoy nature views and access to multi-level decks. 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car garage, fireplace, hot tub, lofted ceiling, skylights, and wet bar. Churchill Schools.

1167 Orlo Drive. 6 bedrooms and 7.5 baths in this estate with master suite on first floor. A Jeffersonian serpentine wall outlines manicured gardens. Lower level hosts entertainer’s kitchen, courtyard walk out, homerun CAT-5 System, and backup generator support.

Bethesda, Maryland

Potomac, Maryland

Eric Stewart ◆

301.424.0900 703.879.1551 800.900.9104

$1,150,000

$995,000

6106 Goldtree Way. Elevator townhouse, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and a 2 car garage. Living and dining areas create comfortable living spaces in this modern dwelling. Updated kitchen, elevator, and vaulted ceiling perfect the home.

6 Canfield Court. 4-5 bedroom, stately Colonial. 3.5 baths, updated baths and kitchen, large lot plus walk out basement to large usable yard.

Alexandria, Virginia

Potomac, Maryland

Website:

EricStewartGroup.com Email:

Eric@EricStewartGroup.com ◆ The Eric Stewart Group has more than 75 years of combined real estate experience. As one of the top groups at Long & Foster Realtors®, one of the top 200 agents in the country, and in the top 5 in the DC Metro area, we have the experience to get you the results you need.

$1,175,000

$950,000

2420 Taylor Ave. Modern and cheerful. 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, and detached garage. Updated kitchen and fenced-in backyard provide for private patio dining. A serene atmosphere.

9001 Copenhaver Dr. 4 sides brick Kettler Colonial with 3,600 sq. ft. and a full basement. Hardwood floors in two levels, 4-5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. Cold Spring and Wootton schools. Copenhaver subdivision.

Potomac, Maryland

$2,350,000

8200 Kingsgate Rd. Sanctuary on a Stream with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. This ultra-contemporary home is ideally situated in the Whitman School District. Quiet and close, environmental and exciting, bells and whistles on all 3 levels.

$800,000

1528 Blue Meadow Rd. Perfection in every detail. 4-5 bedrooms, 3 full baths, maple kitchen with granite, high end bathrooms, open spaces, built-ins, 4 levels, fireplace. Truly turn key built in.

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The Key to Great Locks | Letting Your Troubles Float Away Bethesda Magazine

March/April 2014

The Survivors club Inspiring stories from local people whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve overcome the Big C

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Bethesda Magazine

march/april 2014

274 256 Follow the Leader Bethesda hairstylist Maggie Sprague shares the key to having long, golden locks like hers. By Leah Ariniello

COVER STORY 258 The Survivors Club Cancer: It’s a word that strikes terror in most people. Five Bethesda-area residents tell how they survived it— and how it ultimately inspired them. By Rita Rubin

266 Straight Talk Can those hair products that smooth out women’s wavy locks be doing damage to them and their stylists? That’s what some safety groups fear. By Bara Vaida

274 Let Your Troubles Float Away Flotation tanks are being touted as the answer to everything from stress to fibromyalgia. A local writer tries one out. By Maria Leonard Olsen

278 Health & Fitness Calendar Seminars, running events and support groups.

Health Cover photo by laura-chase mcgehee

thinkstock

Compiled by Cindy Murphy-Tofig

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Breast Cancer Support Group, 6:30 p.m. May 20 and June 17. For patients and caregivers. Better Breathers Club, 6:30 p.m. May 8. Suburban Hospital, 8600 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda. The club supports people with chronic lung disease, including pulmonary fibrosis, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Open to family members and friends. Free. www. suburbanhospital.org. Ovarian and Gynecological Cancer Support Group, 6:30 p.m. May 21 and June 18. Holy Cross Hospital Professional and Community Education Center, 1500 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring. For current patients and survivors. Free. 301-754-9124, www.holycrosshealth.org. Bereavement Support Group, 6 p.m. Wednesdays, June 11-July 30. Holy Cross Resource Center, 9805 Dameron Drive, Silver Spring. The eight-week group is for people who have recently lost a loved one.

Sponsored by Holy Cross Home Care and Hospice. Free, but registration required. Call 301-754-7742 to register. www.holycross health.org. Hope Connections for Cancer Support, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. Free. 301-6347500, www.hopeconnectionsforcancer.org. Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Join peers to discuss the challenges of living with cancer as a young adult. Advanced Cancer Support Group, 3 p.m. Thursdays. For patients whose cancer has metastasized.

Advanced Meditation Seminars, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday, May 2-3 and June 6-7. The Mindfulness Center, 4963 Elm St., Suite 100, Bethesda. Weekend meditation immersion. The class is for those interested in deepening their meditation practice, or for those taking it as part of meditation teacher training. $149. 301-9861090, www.TheMindfulnessCenter.org. Suburban Hospital Lambert Building, 8710 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda. 301896-3100, www.suburbanhospital.org.

SEMINARS/ WORKSHOPS

Safe Sitter, 9 a.m. May 3, June 7 or 18. The daylong babysitting course for 11- to 13-year-olds covers handling emergencies, child-care techniques, behavior management and first aid. $95.

Guided Mindful Meditation, 11:30 a.m. Fridays. Hope Connections for Cancer Support, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. Meditation can help lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety. Classes are free. 301-6347500, www.hopeconnectionsforcancer.org.

CPR for Friends and Family, 5 p.m. May 6. The three-hour class is designed for members of the general public to learn CPR for adults, children and infants. Automated external defibrillators also will be discussed. No credentials are earned. $75.

The Cottage at Curry Manor A ResidentiAl Assisted living PRoPeRty

The New Pinnacle of Refined Residential Living. A Welcoming, Caring and Elegant Place to Call Home. The Cottage at Curry Manor is a one-of–a kind Refined Residential Living residence in the heart of Bethesda, Maryland. The Cottage is beautiful inside and out. It is nestled on a private street in a lush green and woodsy setting. Housed in a spectacular home on a gated estate, the Cottage at Curry Manor accommodates up to eight residents in individual Suites or shared Suites for couples, each with a private bath. A highly responsive staff and management team will anticipate and fulfill resident’s specific and individual needs. The Cottage has been approved by the State and County as an Assisted Living Facility.

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follow the

LEADER

Letting Her Hair Down A local stylist reveals the key to her long, lovely locks

By Leah Ariniello

Stylist Maggie Sprague applies highlights to customer Katy Hall at Franz Sebastian Salon in Bethesda.

A Rapunzel look-alike,,Maggie Sprague has golden, silky, waist-length hair straight out of that well-known fairy tale. You’d almost suspect magic is involved, but the 36-year-old hairstylist at Bethesda’s Franz Sebastian Salon says diligence is the secret to keeping her hair healthy—despite repeated bleaching and coloring since age 17. A stylist for 19 years who specializes in blondes, Sprague says that her hair darkened as she got older, an experience shared by many of her clients. So she turned to chemicals to recreate the flaxen look of her youth. But lightening those darkened locks requires special attention to ensure hair doesn’t become over-processed, brassy and frizzy, she says. Sprague has kept her own hair vibrant and glossy with a dedicated regimen that involves meticulous coloring techniques and methods that restore and protect her tresses. “I make sure to really care for my hair,” says Sprague, who lives in Garrett Park. “It takes work for it to look good.”

SOURCE: Clairol (based on 2012 data)

Mike Olliver

About 60 percent of women in the U.S. color their hair.

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What SHE Does colors with care

Sprague lightens only the top half of her head, leaving her natural, light-brown color underneath. Every six weeks she selectively targets her hair’s new growth, partly with a Redken bleach product that makes her natural color six shades lighter. She also applies “a brightener,” which she describes as a gentler approach than the bleach, using Redken color that lightens sections of her hair by three shades. Sprague carefully monitors the progress of the products on her hair.

The Payoff: Less hair damage. By minimizing the use of harsh bleach and targeting only new hair growth for lightening, “I’m able to give myself a light, sun-kissed blond look with a lot less damage,” Sprague says. Keeping a close eye on how the products are working also ensures a good result. If the bleach is removed too soon, hair can take on a brassy look; but leaving it on too long can destroy hair, turning it into “cellophane noodle,” she says.

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washes and dries selectively

Sprague favors hair products sold in salons, such as L’Oréal Professionnel shampoos and conditioners, including the company’s Lumino Contrast line. She shampoos her hair every seven days or so, occasionally rinsing it with water if she’s particularly sweaty from a workout. Following a shampoo, she smothers her hair in conditioner, twists it into a bun and lets it sit for 10 minutes while she’s still in the shower. Sprague generally air-dries her hair. When using a blow-dryer, however, she dabs on styling products, such as Phytodéfrisant botanical straightening balm or Moroccanoil volumizing mousse, before drying with hot air. When her hair is nearly dry, she attaches a nozzle to the blow-dryer and aims the air downward onto sections of hair wrapped around a ceramic-based brush. She finishes with a blast of cool air.

The Payoff: Sprague says her hair is silky, rarely tangles and has no split ends. She gets about 5 inches cut off twice a year to manage the length. Less frequent washing allows the scalp’s natural smoothing oils to work their way down the hair shafts. When Sprague does wash her hair, the high-quality ingredients in her shampoo and conditioner are gentler and more moisturizing than those generally found in drugstore products, which she says tend to harshly strip hair and coat it with wax. Also, keeping the conditioner on for 10 minutes allows the shower steam to open the hair cuticles, which absorb the product. Less blow-drying means less heat damage. When Sprague does use a dryer, her styling products smooth and help protect her hair. Using the ceramic-based brush helps accomplish the same while causing less heat damage than a metal brush would. Finishing with cool air adds shine, she says.

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Stays healthy

Sprague doesn’t smoke. She eats a healthful, well-rounded diet, including healthy fats, and reduces stress with exercise.

The Payoff: Lush, full hair. Sprague says she has noticed that extremely thin clients or smokers tend to have dry, brittle hair.

guards against sun and surf

Mike Olliver

Sprague mostly avoids the pool and ocean, and wears a hat to shield her head from the sun. If she does take a dip in the pool, she’ll immediately wash her hair with a chlorine-removing treatment such as Malibu C Swimmers Wellness. After an ocean swim, she’ll put conditioner on her hair, wrap it into a bun and cover it until she gets home to wash it.

The Payoff: Sprague avoids the drying effects of pool chemicals, saltwater and sun. Pool chemicals also can tinge blond hair green. ■

Leah Ariniello of Bethesda frequently writes about health. To comment on this story or suggest subjects, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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cancer:

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the survivors club Meet five Bethesda-area people who’ve overcome the Big C—and inspired others because of it By Rita Rubin Photos by Laura-Chase McGehee

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the survivors club

call them

cancer survivor-thrivers, local people who’ve beaten the odds and gone on to inspire others—from a man diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma who now competes in triathlons, to a TV reporter whose battle with lung cancer has made her an outspoken advocate of research into the disease. They represent a growing trend: Fewer Americans diagnosed with cancer are dying from it. U.S. death rates for all cancers combined fell 1.5 percent per year from 2001 through 2010, according to the latest “Annual Report to the Nation,” a collaboration of the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. The biggest declines were in lung, colorectal, female breast and prostate cancer. If you ask local cancer survivors why they’ve lived to tell their stories, they cite a variety of reasons: first-rate medical care, positive thinking, the support of family and friends. But perhaps it’s just amazing luck. Though positive thinking can help improve cancer patients’ quality of life, research into whether it helps them live longer has been inconclusive, says Dr. Jeffrey White, director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Rockville. Anecdotally, however, two oncologists at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville say they’ve treated cancer patients who appear to have benefited from alternative, or “complementary,” approaches. Dr. Manish Agrawal tells of an adult patient with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare tumor that forms in bone or soft tissue and is more common in children and teens. The chemotherapy used to treat this cancer is “very tough,” Agrawal says, usually requir-

Dr. Arnold Friedman Potomac Brain tumor, diagnosed in 2004

ing that patients be hospitalized for all 12 rounds. But this particular patient was admitted only once. On the advice of his brother, who was in remission from a type of leukemia, the man took ginger to combat nausea from the chemo, Agrawal says, adding, “I was really surprised at how well he tolerated the treatments.” Increasingly, cancer patients are interested in integrating alternative, or “complementary,” therapies into their treatment plans, say Agrawal and his partner, Dr. Paul Thambi. Shady Grove Adventist’s new Aquilino Cancer Center, Montgomery County’s first freestanding comprehensive cancer center, hopes eventually to bring in a doctor who specializes in integrative oncology, Agrawal says. Already, he says, “there’s yoga, there are nutritionists, there’s a healing garden” for meditation. And, Thambi adds, the center plans to offer cooking classes to help patients and their families learn about foods and spices that might have a beneficial effect. “This is definitely part of taking care of cancer patients,” Agrawal says.

In 2004, Dr. Arnold Friedman went

to the emergency department at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring with a severe headache, and walked out with a diagnosis of glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain cancer. He was 56 years old, and statistics showed he would be lucky to live to 58. The emergency room doctor recommended neurosurgeon Greg Rubino, who met Friedman and his wife, Carol, at the hospital within hours of his diagnosis. “Greg, you’ve got to save me. I’m too young to die,” Friedman told Rubino, who now practices in Louisiana.

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Friedman and his wife, Carol, enjoy a walk in their Potomac neighborhood.

“But I’ve got to be me when I wake up.” If not, Friedman said, “let me go.” Rubino would have removed the tumor immediately, but Friedman had taken aspirin for his headache, which could have increased his risk of bleeding during surgery. So he and his wife returned to their Potomac home for a few days. Their son and daughter came home from college. “We hugged and we cried,” Friedman recalls. “At that point, we knew it was bad. I’m an oral surgeon, so I know what a glioblastoma is. The odds are terrible.” According to the American Brain

Tumor Association, 70 percent of people diagnosed with a glioblastoma die within two years. Yet in April, it will have been 10 years since Friedman was diagnosed. During that time, he walked his daughter down the aisle, celebrated the birth of two grandchildren and traveled the world with his wife. Since completing radiation and chemotherapy nearly eight years ago, he has been cancer-free. But “you’re never over it,” Friedman says. “I still look over my shoulder.” He knows someone who died from a glioblastoma recurrence 20 years

after the cancer was first diagnosed. So when Friedman goes in for his 10-year checkup, “I’m going to get into that MRI machine like it was the very first time.” He’ll hold his breath until he gets the films back, throws them up on a light box and sees for himself that there is no evidence of cancer. Friedman, who had retired from his dental practice before his diagnosis, works out at the gym almost every day and believes that staying fit has helped him stay healthy. He’s probably on to something: A growing body of scientific research suggests that exercise can have a positive impact on cancer survival. Friedman also has taken it upon himself to act as an ambassador to the newly diagnosed, now that he’s years beyond his frightening brain tumor diagnosis. After all, he and his wife will never forget those bleak first weeks and months. “We never thought we would laugh again,” Carol Friedman says. “For the first six months, I don’t think I slept. I watched him breathe at night.” Her husband remembers needing to talk to someone who’d been through a similar experience. “I needed to know that there was someone out there who was living more than six months after this horrible diagnosis,” he says. So years after his diagnosis, the Friedmans posted their story and contact information on a website for people with brain tumors. “It becomes your responsibility to offer people hope,” Friedman says. A tumor “not only robs you of healthy brain tissue, but takes away your hope.” He and his wife get calls from newly diagnosed patients around the country. And thanks to a local TV appearance after the late Sen. Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in 2008, Friedman is still occasionally recognized by strangers. They approach him and his wife when they dine at their son Dennis’ restaurants, Newton’s Table in Bethesda and Newton’s Noodles in downtown Washington, D.C. “The thing that I like to tell people is: It’s about hope,” Friedman says. “If you have hope, you’ll find the strength to go on and fight.”

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the survivors club

Greta kreuz

northwest d.c. lung cancer, diagnosed in 2012

When veteran reporter and TV anchor Greta Kreuz returned to Channel 7 within weeks of undergoing lung cancer surgery in April 2012, she made a cardboard sign to wear at that morning’s news meeting: “Not dead yet.” “There was this really awkward silence,” recalls Kreuz, whose story, “Lung Cancer: Not Just for Smokers,” won a 2012 Emmy. “I said, ‘You guys, I’m OK. It’s just a little blip.’ ” After she was diagnosed in the spring of 2012, Kreuz says, “I Googled lung cancer, and I sat at my computer and cried because the statistics were so dismal.” Lung cancer kills more Americans than

colon, breast and prostate cancers combined, according to the American Cancer Society. The organization estimated that nearly 160,000 Americans would die of lung cancer in 2013, accounting for more than a quarter of all U.S. cancer deaths. And not all its victims are smokers. Every year, 16,000 to 24,000 Americans who never smoked die of lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Kreuz, who never smoked, says she gets asked “over and over and over” whether she had. On top of the dismal statistics, Kreuz had seen her older sister, Lise, who had smoked, die of lung cancer in 2004. By

the time Kreuz’s sister was diagnosed, her cancer had spread to her brain, and she died nearly three years later. The earlier lung cancer is diagnosed, the better the chances of long-term survival or even a cure. Kreuz had gone in for a routine physical and happened to mention to her doctor that she occasionally felt a tugging sensation in the middle of her chest. “He said, ‘It’s probably nothing, but I want you to get a chest X-ray.’ ” That tugging sensation, which had nothing to do with the tumor, may have saved Kreuz’s life. As a result of the X-ray, she was diagnosed with stage IB lung cancer. Only stage IA has a lower risk of spreading, but the survival rates are nearly identical— just under 50 percent at five years. Considering that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths, research into the disease is greatly underfunded, says Kreuz, who has become active with advocacy groups such as the Washington, D.C.-based Lung Cancer Alliance. “A big part of that is the stigma,” she says. People assume “you must have been a smoker, and therefore you deserve it.” Every three months now, Kreuz gets CT scans as part of a research study, and they’ve always been clean. But she had a persistent cough for a while late last year and eventually started getting breathless when climbing stairs or hills. Kreuz learned on New Year’s Eve that tests showed she had lung cancer again. “It was kind of a shock,” she says. The prevailing opinion is that this is a small, new primary cancer, not a recurrence of her first one. At press time, Kreuz was hoping to schedule surgery for midFebruary at Johns Hopkins. “I think the most important thing is that people hold onto hope,” says Kreuz, mother of a 24-year-old daughter who lives in New York and an 18-year-old son who’s a senior at Washington’s Gonzaga College High School. For Kreuz, that includes organizing “Team Greta” to run a 5K this fall. Friends from around the country have vowed to join her, she says. “There’s so much good that’s coming out of this. It’s just really cool.”

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Andre Margutti

Silver spring hodgkin lymphoma, diagnosed in 2010

Andre Margutti’s doctor told him

that the radiation therapy he received for Hodgkin lymphoma would probably leave him infertile. “My level of testosterone was very low,” says Margutti, a 34-year-old Silver Spring resident who was diagnosed with the blood and lymph cancer in July 2010. “My mind was thinking: This is in God’s hands. If it is meant to be, if God thinks that I’m the right person to have a child, I will.” Margutti’s wife delivered their daughter, Gabriella, this past November. “I wasn’t even planning to have a child, and then it just happened,” he says. “I was told so many things [when diagnosed with cancer], and I just didn’t believe anything.” He didn’t believe that his chance of surviving the cancer, which was already at an advanced stage, was only about 35 percent. Nor did he believe that a risky stem cell transplant was his only hope.

Margutti enjoys life with his infant daughter, Gabriella, in their Silver Spring home.

After consulting with several doctors, he opted instead for steroids, radiation and chemotherapy. It was pain in his left leg that spurred Margutti to see a doctor in the spring of 2010. A native of Brazil who moved to the United States when he was 20, Margutti assumed the pain was related to his training for a Brazilian jujitsu competition, and the doctor prescribed antiinflammatory medication. The pain went away for a while, then worsened. Margutti tried massage and acupuncture, which provided brief periods of relief. But those respites became shorter and shorter. Eventually the pain got so bad that he couldn’t walk. His roommate, who had been his best friend since age 9 and was his partner in a new contracting business, called an ambulance, which took Margutti from their Burtonsville home to Laurel Regional Hospital. He received morphine for the pain and underwent

PET and MRI scans. “You have a bunch of marks on your liver and your spleen, and a big mass on your back,” a doctor told him. “We need to do a biopsy to see exactly what kind of cancer it is.” The results revealed stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma, the most advanced form of the cancer. He was transferred to Prince George’s Hospital Center, and his jujitsu friends raised $40,000 for his first month of treatment. In remission for nearly three years, Margutti today is in better shape than ever. In 2012, he competed in his first triathlon, the Events DC Nation’s Triathlon to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He did it again last year, raising thousands of dollars for research. “My life after cancer is improved so much: my career, my company, my health, my daughter, my wife,” Margutti says. “I cannot complain about anything in life.”

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the survivors club

Doctors found no evidence of cancer in her right breast, but Murphy wanted them both removed. “At my age, I just didn’t want to take a chance of having to go through it again,” says Murphy, who turns 44 in March. “I didn’t want to live with a fake breast and then be always wondering about the other side.” Her double mastectomy Bethesda was followed by about a year breast cancer, diagnosed in 2011 and a half of chemotherapy. “I had a nice, built-in support system,” says Murphy, whose husband, Dan, works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Friends in the Murphys’ Wyngate neighborhood organized meals, transportaMary Murphy and son Kevin, 8, in tion, whatever was needed. their Bethesda home She scheduled her work, selling new custom homes in Bethesda, around chemo and With her three children back in Some question whether it should even vice versa. If she received a treatment on Wednesday, for example, she knew that school, Mary Murphy scheduled check- be called cancer. ups that she hadn’t managed to squeeze It could be a lot worse, Murphy she’d be starting to feel sick by Thursday in during the summer. She saw her den- remembers thinking. Then it did get afternoon. When the homes began going tist, and she visited her primary care worse. The next day, after an urgent on the market about six months after her doctor, who nudged her to get a mam- phone call from her doctor’s office diagnosis, she switched her chemo to mogram across the hall. It was Septem- about the need for further testing, she Mondays in order to show houses over ber 2011, and Murphy, a Bethesda real found herself lying in an MRI machine the weekend. “I would go to work on the weekestate agent, was 41 years old. while headphones blasted “Stairway to Murphy had started getting mammo- Heaven.” The irony wasn’t lost on Mur- ends. I would wear a wig and put a lot grams in her 30s, a decade earlier than phy, who had actually asked to listen to of makeup on, and put on my eyebrows,” most women, because her aunt had died classical music to drown out the noisy says Murphy, who was completing the last step in breast reconstruction this of breast cancer at 38. Now, this latest machine as it scanned her breasts. The mass in her left breast turned out past February. “I had to put on a happy mammogram revealed a mass in Murphy’s left breast. Probably “ductal car- to be an invasive Grade 3 tumor, too face. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for cinoma in situ,” or DCIS, the radiolo- big for a lumpectomy. A biopsy showed me. Most people wouldn’t know what I gist told her. DCIS is the earliest form of it was HER2 positive, a type of breast was going through unless they saw me breast cancer, confined to a milk gland. tumor that tends to be more aggressive. on a day off.”

Mary murphy

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The Rockville resident had a history of the disease in his family.

vaughn clarke

rockville prostate cancer, diagnosed in 2011

Brains and basketball run in Vaughn Clarke’s family. So, apparently, does prostate cancer. The cancer had already spread by the time Clarke’s father was diagnosed in 1990, but he survived another seven years until his death at 70. It wasn’t until his father was diagnosed that Clarke learned his paternal grandfather, whom he’d never met, had died from the disease. For reasons that aren’t clear, black men like the Clarkes are 60 percent more likely than white men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. In addition, the organization says, their tumors tend to be more aggressive, making them more than twice as likely to

die of prostate cancer than white men. Though Clarke was diligent about getting screened regularly, he never dwelled on his family history of prostate cancer. That—and the fact that he felt fine—was why he was stunned when his doctor told him in March 2011 that tests revealed he had what appeared to be an aggressive form of the disease. “I went outside my body and looked down at some guy talking to me,” says Clarke, a retired 60-year-old Rockville resident who stepped down as chief financial officer of Fannie Mae a decade ago. “I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I could see his mouth move.” He hadn’t brought his wife, Shawn Jones Clarke, with him to the appoint-

ment because he hadn’t told her that he might have the same disease that killed his father and grandfather. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to deliver uncertain news,” Clarke explains. “I thought I could go through part of the treatment without her knowing.” But his urologist, Dr. Barry Aron at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, warned Clarke that his wife would never forgive him for not telling her right away. That was on a Friday. Clarke told her on Sunday. Like many men who learn they have prostate cancer, Clarke’s first reaction was that he wanted it cut out. But surgery carries the risk of impotence and incontinence. After a long talk with Aron, Clarke opted for hormone and radiation therapy. Aron referred him to radiation oncologist James Bridges at Shady Grove. The two hit it off, Clarke says, because they both had been college athletes. Bridges played football at Notre Dame, and Clarke, who went on to try out with two National Basketball Association teams, played basketball at Brown, where he studied economics and math. Clarke, who has completed treatment and is feeling fine, has two sons, 26 and 24. His older son is attending law school, and his younger son plays professional basketball in Denmark. He told them about his diagnosis when they were both home a few months afterward, in July 2011. “You guys are going to have to keep this in the back of your mind and start getting checked earlier,” Clarke told them. Although he didn’t even want to tell his wife at first, Clarke ended up agreeing to go public in a 2012 ad campaign about cancer treatment at Shady Grove. He was featured in radio commercials. His face appeared on the side of buses. Even men he barely knew would call to talk. “I really felt if I had an opportunity to help somebody else,” he says, “it was the best thing I could do.” n Rita Rubin is a former medical writer for USA Today. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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t Talk

Women spend thousands of dollars a year to achieve smooth, silky hair. But are the chemicals used in those treatments safe? By Bara Vaida Photos by Barbara L. Salisbury

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Several times a month, hairstylist Heather Fritz leads a client past Salon Nader’s row of sleek styling chairs and into a back hallway. She closes the door to the Bethesda salon, then cracks open another door, letting fresh air into the hallway. She turns on two fans as her client sits in a salon chair that has been placed there and drapes her with a black cape. Next, Fritz puts on goggles. She offers her client a pair, too, as well as a mask to cover her nose. Only then is Fritz ready to apply one of the hair smoothing treatments that transform wavy, frizzy hair into smooth, silky tresses—treatments that have become wildly popular in salons across the country. Fritz takes these precautions because fumes emitted during the treatment have sometimes caused clients to cough and their eyes to tear up, though Fritz says the fumes don’t bother her. Other clients have complained about the odor of the chemicals, as well, so salon owner Nader Lofti now has the treatments applied in the hallway. “My clients are educated people. They have done their reading and want to do this treatment. But sometimes they still ask me, ‘Is this good for you?’ ” says Fritz, a petite

ical methylene glycol, which releases formaldehyde when combined with heat during the smoothing treatment. Formaldehyde is a key component in many smoothers because it helps seal the protein keratin into hair, smoothing cracks and damage in follicles and giving locks a shiny, smooth effect that lasts for about 60 washes, or roughly two months. Formaldehyde is produced in trace amounts by humans when we breathe. It’s norEyal Uzana, co-owner of EYMA Salon & Spa in Bethesda, mally present in air indoors applies formaldehyde-free and out at low levels, usually straightener to a client’s hair. less than 0.03 parts per million (ppm), according to the National Institutes of Health’s woman who has worked at Salon Nader National Cancer Institute (NCI). In elevated concentrations, the chemfor seven years and in the hair industry for 30 years. “I say, ‘You have to make up your ical is an effective disinfectant and preservative that’s widely used in medical own mind about these things.’ ” laboratories and in manufacturing autoBethesda area spend mobiles, building products, household thousands of dollars each year to have products, textiles and wood products. When formaldehyde in the air meachemicals—from smoothing treatments to dye—applied to their hair in the name sures above 0.1 ppm, the chemical proof beauty. Though research suggests that duces a pungent odor that can cause eye, these chemicals are safe if applied prop- nose and throat irritation and aggravate erly, their odors and the physical reac- allergy and asthma symptoms, says the tions they cause still leave some custom- National Cancer Institute. Some people ers and stylists wondering about health also become nauseated and dizzy. Breathing high concentrations of problems arising from long-term use. “If you think about all the chemicals formaldehyde over extended periand the constant particles that are air- ods has been shown to cause nose and borne, I get concerned,” says Bethesda throat cancer in rats, and may cause resident Andrea Kessler, whose hus- leukemia in humans, the NCI says. The band, Bruce Marks, owns the salon Last chemical is classified as a carcinogen by Tangle in Washington, D.C. “I do a lot of the International Agency for Research research to try to help Bruce find the saf- on Cancer. To ensure that formaldehyde concenest products, but it isn’t always that easy to get accurate information from the trations remain at safe levels, the Occupational Safety and Health Adminis[salon product manufacturers].” Hair smoothing treatments—includ- tration (OSHA), the federal agency ing the popular Brazilian Blowout—cause responsible for the enforcement of safety the greatest concern among salon owners and health laws in the workplace, has set and their clients. The vapors that can trig- a ceiling of 0.75 ppm over an average ger watering eyes are caused by the chem- eight-hour period.

Women in the

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Uzana now uses a formula he and partner Massimo Quartararo created.

Until 2011, one company that made smoothing treatments labeled its product “formaldehyde-free,” and others made no mention of the chemical in their products, according to the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental health and advocacy organization. But after testing the air in salons across the country, OSHA found elevated levels of the chemical in salons using the treatments. In April 2011, the agency issued a warning to hairstylists and salon owners that the fumes released during the treatments could reach unsafe levels for stylists in salons that aren’t properly ventilated. An October 2011 report by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, a D.C.-based cosmetics safety standards organization, concluded that methylene glycol concentrations in smoothing treatments used in salons across the country were releasing formaldehyde gas at levels that were “2.5 fold to 5.7 fold” beyond what

Eyal Uzana says he “didn’t feel right” and the smell made him sick when he used the Brazilian Blowout on clients several years ago. Within months he stopped offering the treatment. was considered safe by the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists and were “unsafe under present conditions of use.” The Review, which is overseen by a panel of scientists, industry and consumer representatives and Food and Drug Administration officials, recommended that manufacturers of smoothing treatments reduce the concentration of methylene glycol in their products so that formaldehyde releases would be well below OSHA’s safety level. It also recommended that salons install ventilation near workstations where the treatment is being applied. Following that report, several man-

ufacturers have been reformulating their ingredients, says Robert Golden, founder of the Potomac-based environmental consulting firm ToxLogic and a consultant for the Professional Keratin Smoothing Council, which represents four large manufacturers of the hair smoothing products. The council is planning to report on its efforts to the Review in June, Golden says. Its data will show that the industry has totally reformulated products so that the formaldehyde released into the air measures .3 parts per million, he says. That level would be considerably lower than the .75 parts per million considered safe by OSHA.

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Many salons continue to offer

smoothing treatments in the meantime. They’re both popular and profitable—with fees ranging from $300 to $600, depending upon the salon and the length of a customer’s hair. “It you aren’t offering it, it hurts business,” Kessler says. Still, her husband doesn’t require his employees to provide the service, nor does he offer the Brazilian Blowout at his salon. Instead, he offers a keratin smoothing treatment, Kenra Smooth, which says its ingredients are “OSHA compliant.” And he spent $2,000 on improving ventilation to make sure odors don’t linger. Other stylists say they aren’t given the option of declining to apply the treatments even though they worry about health issues. A stylist at a salon in the White Flint mall who asked not to be named says she often doesn’t feel well after applying the treatments. But “I have no choice but to do them because we get paid by commission and I need the money,” she says.

Bethesda resident Bruce Marks, owner of Last Tangle in Washington, spent $2,000 to improve ventilation in his D.C. salon.

Industry assurances

about smoothing treatments have satisfied many Bethesda-area salon owners, who say they feel comfortable with the products they use on customers. “The consumer is pretty educated in this area, and all the information is out there,” says Lofti, owner of Salon Nader. “It’s there for people to decide whether they want to choose it.” But some salon owners remain skeptical about hair smoothing products, especially in light of the safety history of the popular Brazilian Blowout treatment. In 2009, federal and state regulators began investigating the product made by North Hollywood, Calif.-based GIB after stylists and consumers claimed their eyes became irritated and they suffered nosebleeds when using it. In its October 2011 report, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board singled out the Brazilian Blowout as containing

In March 2011, OSHA issued a warning to hairstylists and salon owners that the fumes released during the treatments could reach unsafe levels for stylists in salons that aren’t properly ventilated. excessive amounts of methylene glycol and formaldehyde. Then in 2012, GIB was found by California’s attorney general to have falsely stated that its product was “formaldehyde-free” and was fined $600,000. It was also required to add a warning label to its product about the potential for formaldehyde emissions and the need for proper ventilation.

Later in 2012, GIB agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by hairstylists and consumers who claimed harm from using the product. The suit was finalized this past January. GIB didn’t return a call seeking comment. Last fall, actress Jennifer Aniston made headlines when she debuted a new, shorter hairdo and explained to Elle UK

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that she cut her hair after she “did this thing called a Brazilian and my hair did not react really well to it.” Though Aniston didn’t specify that she used the Brazilian Blowout, her story reignited concern among some Bethesda area salon owners about the safety of hair smoothing products.

Three local salon owners—Eyal

Uzana, co-owner of EYMA Salon & Spa in Bethesda; Margy McHale, owner of Aurelia Salon and Spa in Gaithersburg; and Gail Cohen, owner of Salon Central in Bethesda—all recall the strong smell and eye-irritating vapors produced by GIB’s Brazilian Blowout. Because of that, and the company’s mislabeling of its product, they’ve stopped offering treatments containing methylene glycol to clients. Uzana says he “didn’t feel right” and the smell made him sick when he used the product on clients several years ago. Within months, he stopped offering the treatment. He now offers a keratin hair smoothing treatment that he and his partner, Massimo Quartararo, formulated. The product, Research in Beauty’s Nano-Complex, doesn’t contain methylene glycol. McHale also stopped offering the Brazilian Blowout product because she “didn’t feel good” when using it. “It was frightening,” she says. Now she offers two brands of hair smoothing treatments, Amino Fusion F450 and Surface, that don’t contain methylene glycol. Cohen says several of her stylists coughed and complained about sore throats after using the Brazilian Blowout. She, too, stopped selling it and now uses an Aveda smoothing product without methylene glycol. The three salon owners haven’t heard complaints about eye or throat irritation from these alternative smoothing treatments, and they think the results are as good as those from products containing methylene glycol. Other salon owners continue to offer smoothing treatments with methylene glycol, though, and simply provide

What About Hair Dyes? In the 1970s,

a number of chemicals in hair dyes, such as coal tar, were linked to cancer in animals and were banned from hair products. Multiple studies conducted since 1980, however, have found limited and conflicting evidence of a link between the personal use of hair dyes and cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Some studies have shown people using hair dyes have an elevated risk of cancer, but many others do not, the institute says. Meanwhile the Working Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that hair dyes are “not classifiable” as cancer-causing to humans. Some consumer groups still worry, however. “While there is absence of evidence of harm [by hair dyes], there isn’t great data showing the safety of [using] these products either, especially when you are pregnant,” says Alexandra Gorman Scranton, director of science and research for Women’s Voices for the Earth, a Missoula, Mont.-based group that aims to eliminate toxic chemicals from the environment. “I also think there is great economic incentive by those who make hair dyes to make sure that the data don’t show it” to be harmful. The Personal Care Products Council, a trade group in Washington, D.C., that represents 600 cosmetics and personal care product companies, not surprisingly disputes that. Last June, it noted that more than 50 studies, including those published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed no association between hair dyes and cancer. The council also says prominent pregnancy and women’s health organizations—including the March of Dimes and the Motherisk Program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto—have said there’s no evidence of harm from using hair dyes during pregnancy. It further notes that hair dyes have been independently tested and found safe by scientists in the European Union and Japan, and by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also has weighed in, saying that using hair dyes during pregnancy is “believed to be safe” because little dye is absorbed through the skin. “It’s tough to try proving a negative,” says Linda Loretz, chief toxicologist at the Personal Care Products Council. “Studies involving hundreds of thousands of women simply don’t find harm.”—Bara Vaida

proper ventilation when they do so. Stan Sokolowski, co-owner of Rockville-based Kindle & Boom, says his salon performs hair smoothing treatments—but only on Mondays, when few of his 30 employees are working, which helps minimize concerns about formaldehyde vapors. No stylist is forced to perform the treatment, he says. Cindy Feldman, owner of Rockvillebased Progressions, places freestanding air extractors near workstations where clients are getting Brazilian Blowouts. She also hired an environmental consulting company, Enviro-Tech Services Inc. of Rockville, in June 2011 to test the

air in the salon while the treatment was being applied. Enviro-Tech found that the level of formaldehyde released inside the salon met OSHA’s safety standards, says Hassan Samii, manager at Enviro-Tech. “I wanted an untainted opinion on whether it was safe, and I got one,” Feldman says. “The issue of my employees’ and guests’ health is very important to me.” n Bara Vaida is a freelance health writer based in Northwest D.C. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesda magazine.com.

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Let Your Troubles

Float Away Could flotation tanks be the answer to everything from stress to fibromyalgia? To find out, slip into the saltwater, in the dark, preferably nakedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and shut the lid.

thinkstock

By Maria Leonard Olsen

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let your troubles float away

I was in a state of bliss.

Floating in warm, salty water in the dark, I was overcome by a sense of serenity and total relaxation. Banishing random thoughts from my mind, I meditated and enjoyed the faint background sounds of soft, classical music. I was in a therapeutic flotation tank, a 9-foot-by-5-foot white fiberglass chamber containing about a foot of water that was nearly body temperature. The tank was located in the basement of Kimmie Keller Boone’s Bethesda home, where she opened Hope Floats, a flotation therapy spa, in April 2013. Friends had talked about the benefits of floating, from tension reduction to the promotion of clear thinking. Studies in the U.S. and abroad have shown that flotation therapy effectively lowers blood pressure, speeds healing, relieves pain, eliminates addictive behavior and lowers stress, among other palliative properties. Having suffered from anxiety and depression, I was interested in ways to reduce stress and decided to give floating a try. After arriving at Boone’s home one day last summer, I undressed and showered—clients are encouraged to float naked—before stepping into the tank through an angled door at its head. I tested the door to ensure that I couldn’t be locked in, and then I tested the water to make sure I wouldn’t sink. At first, I was self-conscious and anxious about feeling claustrophobic. But those feelings disappeared as I began to relax. Boone says a handful of clients have initially felt claustrophobic, but they were able to enjoy the flotation experience before the end of their visits. Clients who are anxious about being in enclosed spaces can try leaving the tank door open at first, and then propping it partway open with a towel. I decided to have music piped in, but Boone says most clients prefer quiet

while experiencing the suspension of gravity that comes from being in the dark and floating in water containing 800 pounds of Epsom salt. The salt creates buoyancy, helps draw toxins from the body, sedates the nervous system, reduces swelling, eases muscle aches and also serves as a natural emollient, according to the Epsom Salt Council, a trade group. That sensation of buoyancy and the other therapeutic benefits of floating are contributing to the growing popularity of flotation spas around the country.

The nation’s first flotation tank

was designed in the 1950s by Dr. John C. Lilly, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda who was studying the effect of sensory deprivation on the human mind. People who participated in his experiments reported deep levels of relaxation, which created an interest in the use of flotation tanks for therapeutic purposes. Currently, flotation tanks are more common in Europe than in the United States, with most flotation spas in this country located on the West Coast, according to Floatation Locations, an online tank directory and resource center. Hope Floats is one of 152 similar businesses operating in the United States, according to Floatation Locations. But Boone says her tanks are the only commercially available ones in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Last fall, 350 clients were regularly visiting the tank in Boone’s basement, so she moved the spa to a commercial space on Battery Lane in Bethesda and expanded services to include another tank and an infrared sauna. The new location opened in late October. The 50-year-old Boone says she became interested in floating in December 2012, when she began making weekly visits to a tank at a spa in Manas-

“When I get out of the tank, I have

serenity that lasts.”

—Hope Floats owner Kimmie Keller Boone

sas, Va.—the closest location at the time to her home in Bethesda. “I was searching for a way to increase my overall sense of well-being, and help with my persistent anxiety,” she says. She went there several times before deciding to buy her own tank. Boone won’t say what she paid, but prices range from $7,000 to $35,000, according to Floatation International, a company that provides information and services for tank manufacturers and flotation centers.

Flotation tanks aren’t for everyone; concerns about hygiene and cost are potential deterrents for some people. Currently, there are no local health regulations governing the operation of flotation tanks. However, Hope Floats maintains a sterilization and filtration system, and the water is tested frequently and filtered after each use, Boone says. Clients are asked to shower

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mike olliver

Kimmie Keller Boone sits atop a flotation tank at her Bethesda spa.

before entering the tanks, but no one monitors whether they do so. The cost of floating—$70 an hour— can seem prohibitive, especially considering that some of Boone’s clients believe the benefits of floating are cumulative. Ranging in age from 16 to 60, her customers come for a variety of reasons and from as far as Pennsylvania and Delaware, she says. Marshall Strisik, a 40-year-old lawyer who lives in Bethesda, started visiting Hope Floats last summer to soothe a pinched nerve in his neck that he suffered while training for a marathon last April. He underwent three months of physical therapy, but found floating to be the most effective way to relax his neck muscles. “The soreness has become less and less severe,” Strisik says. “And the cumulative effects of floating have been amazing. Over the past four months of float-

ing once per week, I [have become] more calm and have an easier time finding peace in my meditation practice.” The Fibromyalgia Flotation Project, run by an international group of scientists and entrepreneurs, has documented the efficacy of floating as a treatment for fibromyalgia sufferers, finding that it significantly decreased the participants’ pain and stress. “We have two clients who have fibromyalgia who say that this is the only thing that helps them,” Boone says. Flotation therapy also has alleviated symptoms of her 13-year-old son’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she says. And “my sister, who is claustrophobic, said it cured her of that malady.” Boone finds her own sense of peace while floating, too. A recovering alcoholic and single mother of four, she works as an intervention coordinator for people suffering from addictions. Floating—which she tries to do three times a week—helps

her connect with her inner self. “When I get out of the tank, I have serenity that lasts,” she says. “I feel like I am more clear-minded.”

When I climbed out of the tank, I

felt calm and refreshed. Floating comes as close as I can imagine it would feel like to be in the womb. It’s difficult to describe what it is like to experience sensations of security, buoyancy and peace while also feeling alert and mentally acute. I alternated between wanting to philosophize and wanting to sleep. I plan to float again, especially during particularly stressful times when I want to stop the world—at least for one blissful hour. n Maria Leonard Olsen of Bethesda is a lawyer and a longtime contributor to Bethesda Magazine. To comment on this story, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

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health & fitness calenDAR

RUNNING/WALKING EVENTS Stepping Out/I Love to Walk, 8-9:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, White Flint Mall, 11301 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda. Free. Register in Centre Court, across from the Hallmark store. 301-231-7467, www. shopwhiteflint.com/info/seniorprogram. The Adventist Healthcare Walking Club, 8-9:30 a.m. Tuesdays, Westfield Montgomery Mall, 7101 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda. The free event is open to people of all ages and fitness levels. Register to become a walking club member from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the food court. Registrants receive a gift and invitations to free health screenings and events. 301-315-3030, www. AdventistHealthCare.com/WalkingClub. Rise and Shine Walking Program, 8:309:30 a.m. Wednesdays, Lakeforest Mall, 701 Russell Ave., Gaithersburg. Free. 301-8963100, www.suburbanhospital.org. Piece of Cake 10K, 9 a.m. March 30. Seneca Creek State Park, 11950 Clopper Road, Gaithersburg. Celebrate the Montgomery County Road Runners Club’s birthday with a run through the park. A quarter-mile and a half-mile young run begin at 8:45 a.m. Free for club members; $10 for nonmembers 18 and older; $5 for nonmembers younger than 18. www.mcrrc.org/piece-cake-10k. Ben’s Run, 8:30 a.m. April 5. Stonegate Elementary School, 14811 Notley Road, Silver Spring. A 5K and a 1-mile run/walk begin at the same time. Fee is $25; $30 at packet pick-up April 4 or on race day; free for children 5 and younger. Runners also may create fundraising pages and collect online donations. Proceeds benefit Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. www.bensrun.org. Holy Child 5K Tiger Trot, 8:30 a.m. April 13. Connelly School of the Holy Child, 9029 Bradley Blvd., Potomac. Proceeds support the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department and health and wellness programs at Connelly School of the Holy Child. Fee before April 4, $30, or $25 for students 19 and younger; from April 5 on, $35, or $30 for students 19 and younger. www.holychild.org/tigertrot. Pikes Peek 10K, 7:50 a.m. April 27. The race starts on Redland Road, near the Shady Grove Metro station, and ends at White Flint Mall. A 1K kids’ run-around and

Compiled by Cindy Murphy-Tofig

a 50-meter tot trot begin at about 9:30 a.m. in White Flint’s parking lot, near the entrance to Cheesecake Factory. Fee is $40 through April 24; $45 from April 25 through race day; $15 for 1K or 50-meter races. www.pikespeek10k.org.

FITNESS EVENTS Hope Connections for Cancer Support, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. 301-6347500, www.hopeconnectionsforcancer.org. Free. Gentle Yoga, 10 and 11:15 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Stretching, breathing and relaxation exercises can help improve muscle tone and stress management. Pink Ribbon Pilates, 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays. This class for breast cancer patients helps with regaining strength and mobility in shoulders and arms, and helps improve energy levels. To register, call 301-493-5002. Destination Maternity, Westfield Montgomery Mall, 7101 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda. 301-754-8800, www. holycrosshealth.org. Prenatal Exercise, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, April 22-May 27. The classes incorporate muscle toning, stretching, strength training and cardiovascular work and are designed for women at any stage of pregnancy. A permission note from a health care provider is required. $50. Moms on the Move, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, April 22-May 27. The six-class session combines yoga and Pilates to help build strength. The class is for women at least six weeks post-delivery. No yoga or Pilates experience is necessary. $50. Postnatal Yoga/Pilates for Moms & Babies, 11 a.m. Thursdays, April 24-May 29. The six-session course is for mothers and babies ages 6 weeks to 9 months. The class includes mother‑baby postures and massage designed to strengthen, stretch and tone. Please bring a pouchtype baby carrier to class. A permission note from a health care provider is required. $50.

SUPPORT GROUPS Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Rockville. 301-921-4400, www.montgomery

hospice.org. Events are free and open to Montgomery County residents. Registration required. Six-week support groups are $25 for county residents who are not Montgomery Hospice family members. Grief, Forgiveness and Regret, 6:30 p.m. March 11 and 18. Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Rockville. The two-session workshop is for anyone grieving the death of a loved one. Afternoon Grief Support Group, 1 p.m. Tuesdays, March 11-April 22. Trinity Lutheran Church, 11200 Old Georgetown Road, North Bethesda. The six-week group is for anyone grieving the death of a loved one. The group does not meet April 15. Parent Loss Support Group, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, March 18-April 29. Bethesda United Church of Christ, 10010 Fernwood Road, Bethesda. The six-week group is for adults who have experienced the death of one or both parents. The group does not meet April 15. Child, Adolescent and Teenager Grief Support Group, 6 p.m. Wednesdays, March 19-April 30. Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Rockville. The six-week group is for children ages 4 through teenagers who have experienced the death of a parent or sibling. A parent/guardian group meets during the same time. The group does not meet April 16. Evening Grief Support Group, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, March 20-May 1. Hughes United Methodist Church, 10700 Georgia Ave., Wheaton. The six-week group is for anyone grieving the death of a loved one. The group does not meet April 17. Dementia Support Group, 6:30 p.m. March 12 and April 9. Arden Courts Memory Care Community of Potomac, 10718 Potomac Tennis Lane, Potomac. For patients and family members. Free. 301-983-3620, www.arden-courts.com/Potomac. Prostate Cancer Support Group, 7 p.m. March 17 and April 21. Suburban Hospital, 8600 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda. For patients and family members. Free. 301896-6837, www.suburbanhospital.org. Heart to Heart Support Group, 7 p.m. March 20 and April 17. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, 9901 Medical Center Drive, Rockville. For patients with heart

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problems and their family members. Free. 800-542-5096, www.adventisthealthcare.com. Hope Connections for Cancer Support, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. Free. 301-6347500, www.hopeconnectionsforcancer.org. Caregiver Support Group, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Caregivers get help coping with the stress of a cancer diagnosis and learn how to address their own health and well-being. Advanced Cancer Support Group, 3 p.m. Thursdays. For patients whose cancers have metastasized.

A Dental Experience Like No Other We offer a variety of dental solutions for those people who experience fear, anxiety, or simply have a busy schedule. Our uniquely skilled dentists are hospital trained in sedation dentistry so you will be in safe hands as you drift off into a relaxed sleepy state and wake up when it’s all over! Sedation dentistry enables us to comfortably accomplish more care in each visit.

Bladder Cancer Support Group, 6 p.m. March 20 and April 17. For patients. Lung Cancer Support Group, 12:30 p.m. March 24. For patients and caregivers. Diabetes Support Group, 12:30 p.m. March 26 and April 23. Holiday Park Community Center, 3950 Ferrara Drive, Wheaton. For patients and family members. Free. www.suburbanhospital.org.

SEMINARS/ Workshops Parent Encouragement Program (within Kensington Baptist Church), 10100 Connecticut Ave., Kensington. 301-929-8824, www. pepparent.org. Unless noted otherwise, classes are held at the Kensington location. Why Won’t Teens Do What You Tell Them to Do? 7 p.m. March 3. St. Rose of Lima Parish, 11701 Clopper Road, Gaithersburg. Learn what goes on in the teen brain and body during adolescence and what parents can do to foster more cooperative behavior. Fee: $30; $27 for PEP members. Communicating with Teens and Talking About Sensitive Topics, 7:30 p.m. March 4, 11 and 18. Learn how a parent’s communication style can greatly affect how much a teen hears on sensitive subjects, such as drug use or sexual behavior, in this three-session class. Fee: $90; $81 for PEP members.

We promise our gentle care and genuine concern will make you smile! We are here for you when you are ready to take the first step in your dental transformation. Just schedule an appointment online or call Bethesda Sedation Dentistry at 301.530.2434. Dr. Deb Klotz, Dr. Rob Schlossberg and the team at Bethesda Sedation Dentistry are looking forward to meeting you. Please check out our new website BethesdaSedationDentistry.com and see why we were voted one of the Best Dentists by the readers of Bethesda Magazine.

Help! My Child Doesn’t Sleep! 7:30 p.m. March 5. For parents of children ages 6 months to 6 years. Learn ways to prevent—or resolve—sleep problems such as bedtime battles, poor napping or

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health calendar climbing out of the crib or bed. Fee: $30; $27 for PEP members.

Internet use on electronic devices. Fee: $30; $27 for PEP members.

Managing Anger: A Parent’s Guide, 9:45 a.m. March 5, 12 and 19. Learn how to change your thoughts, words and actions for more positive outcomes in this three-session class. Fee: $90; $81 for PEP members.

Hope Connections for Cancer Support, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. Free. 301-6347500, www.hopeconnectionsforcancer.org.

Can Do Kids Fair, 1:30 p.m. March 8. Children practice skills they know and learn new ones, such as sewing on a button, painting or making a healthy snack. The event is designed for children ages 3 to 10 with their parents. Fee: $15 ($50 maximum per family); $13.50 ($45 maximum per family) for PEP members. Turn That Thing Off! 7 p.m. March 15. Learn how to set reasonable limits on screen time, and make those limits work. The class is designed for parents and children ages 9 and older. Fee: $12; $9 for children. Free for PEP members. Managing the Internet in the Age of Handheld Devices, 7:30 p.m. March 19. The workshop offers guidance on how to develop a plan for managing children’s

PResented by

Touch of Massage, 6:30 p.m. March 18. Learn how to apply firm yet gentle pressure to improve circulation, ease muscle aches and improve flexibility. Dress comfortably for class and bring a pillow, a beach towel and two hand towels. Fee: $45 per couple.

Look Good, Feel Better, 1 p.m. March 4. Cosmetologists hold a workshop on skin care and makeup application, plus teach how to use wigs, scarves and hats. Guided Mindful Meditation, 11:30 a.m. Fridays. Meditation can help lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety.

Let’s Beat Procrastination! 7 p.m. March 19. Recognize your procrastination patterns and learn techniques to get things done and ultimately reduce stress. Fee: $20. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, 9901 Medical Center Drive, Rockville. 800-5425096, www.adventisthealthcare.com.

Suburban Hospital, 8600 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda. 301-896-3939, www. suburbanhospital.org. Mindfulness Meditation, 6 p.m. Wednesdays, March 5-19. An instructor will guide participants in the basics of meditation to focus on posture, breathing and energy. Fee: $45.

Baby-sitting, 10 a.m.-noon March 15 and 22. The two-class session is for children 11 to 15 and covers basic care of and accident prevention for infants and children. Fee: $35. Home Alone, 10 a.m. March 29. The class prepares parents and children ages 8 to 11 for brief times when the child will be left home alone. Children must attend the class with a parent or guardian. Fee: $15. n

Safe Sitter, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 15 or March 22. The class teaches 11- to To submit calendar items, go to 13-year-olds about handling emergencies and child-care skills. Fee: $95. FEB14_BETHESDA_MAGAZINE_AD_v1_Border.pdf BethesdaMagazine.com. 1

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Medical Experts tony lewis jr

Drs. Courtney Campbell & Alicia Spoor Audiologists at A&A Hearing Group See Profile page 291 Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 281

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Sunrise Medical Laboratories

We partner with physicians while caring for patients.”

What do most patients not know about getting lab tests done? You have a choice of laboratory in which you can have your lab work performed. Similar to how you choose your pharmacy, based on location, wait times and insurance participation, you can select which lab you visit. All that’s needed is your doctors’ order for lab tests, either on a laboratory requisition form or a prescription pad slip. Sunrise Medical Laboratories is an in-network provider with most major insurance including Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid and many more. We are proud of the minimal wait times at our clean, comfortable and convenient patient service centers.

Will my doctor receive my results in an accurate and timely manner? Sunrise Medical Laboratories is an established local laboratory that provides top-notch service to our providers. We’re a leading edge facility utilizing the latest technological advancements for testing and support. We’re able to interface with most Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) for secure transmission of laboratory results. Other methods of results reporting are available. Since our laboratory is locally based, we offer a market leading turnaround time on testing to area physicians, which ensures they will have your lab results as soon as possible in order to make informed decisions regarding your diagnosis and treatment. We partner with physicians while caring for patients. Being a local laboratory also means that our client services and billing departments are ready to assist patients and providers with any questions or concerns they may have regarding their lab tests. Seamless service, effortless convenience and compassionate care support patients when it matters most.

tony lewis jr

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10401 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 305, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-897-5728 | www.sunriselab.com

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Dr. Jessica Kulak, Dr. Shervin Naderi

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5454 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1655, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-222-2020 | info@nadericenter.com www.NaderiCenter.com

Newer, advanced techniques help preserve the structural integrity of the nose so that patients can breathe well after surgery and look good with natural yet beautiful results.

hilary schwab

Dr. Naderi, I have seen bad nose jobs all around Bethesda; how can you guarantee I will not end up with an odd-looking rhinoplasty? You are absolutely correct. There are plenty of poorly executed rhinoplasties. Some are due to poor healing but most are due to old, outdated techniques being used by surgeons who have not embraced nor understood the proper way to perform a structural rhinoplasty. Newer, advanced techniques help preserve the structural integrity of the nose so that patients can breathe well after surgery and look good with natural yet beautiful results. Natural doesn’t mean big or wide or bulky. It just means a nose that does not look pinched or over-resected. Ski slopes belong on mountains, not on women’s faces!

Dr. Kulak, I have noticed some very prominent scars on the faces of my mother and aunt and some of the women in our social circle. I believe these are from previous facelift surgeries. Are there any ways to do a facelift without leaving visible scars? I have seen plenty of those same results. Each surgeon uses a different technique and no two facelifts are exactly the same. Most plastic surgeons have been taught to keep their facelift incisions in front of the hair, or along the hair-skin border in the back of the neck. I prefer to cover and camouflage scars by using a more sensible approach in which I place most of the incisions into the hair, inside the ear or into creases. That way my patients can wear their hair short or in a ponytail if they want to. Also, the right amount of tension on the closure makes for very thin, unnoticeable scars. Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 283

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Paul McNeill, MD, FACS Capitol Vein & Laser Centers 6410 Rockledge Drive, Suite 500, Bethesda, MD 20817 301-760-3027 | www.betterlegsbethesda.com

How common are problems with veins? Varicose veins and venous insufficiency affect quality of life for 20 million Americans. The good news is that treatment is done in the office and there is little or no discomfort. Some people wonder when they should seek help. Signs of venous insufficiency include bulging varicose veins and skin discoloration. More serious symptoms include leg fatigue or leg pain and swelling. These happen so gradually that they are often dismissed as normal aging.

How are varicose veins treated? Healthy veins carry blood from the legs upwards to the heart through a series of one-way valves. The valves protect the legs by not allowing gravity to pool the blood. Failure of these valves allows blood to remain in the veins, building pressure that causes problems.

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Relief from the discomfort and unsightly appearance of varicose veins improves quality of life tremendously.â&#x20AC;?

Vein treatments are easy to undergo and are covered by insurance. Patients with varicose vein problems tell me that they are often so tired from daily activities that by the end of the day all they want to do is rest. Relief from the discomfort and unsightly appearance of varicose veins improves quality of life tremendously. Anyone who has questions about the severity of their vein problems should not hesitate to make an appointment to learn what can be done.

Tony Lewis jr

Veins with leaking valves are treated by inserting a catheter up the vein. Heat seals the vein closed. Bulging veins either regress spontaneously or we remove them, in the office, through tiny nicks in the skin under local anesthesia. Patients can drive to and from the treatments by themselves, and return to normal activity promptly. Legs are looking and feeling great in no time at all.

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(L to R): Sandy Hunter, Amanda Lafelice, Tricia Terlap, Lisa O'Connell

Gail Linn, Au.D. Potomac Audiology

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11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 105, Rockville, MD 20852 240-477-1010 | gail@potomacaudiology.com www.potomacaudiology.com

We do know that people begin to change the way they interact with the world when they have a hearing loss.”

A neighbor recently told me that he was told untreated hearing loss can cause the hearing loss to get worse faster. Is that true?

tony lewis jr

This is a question I have been asked many times. There is research that shows when the auditory system is not stimulated properly due to hearing loss, deterioration can occur. However, this is an area that needs more research. But there are many more compelling reasons to not let hearing loss go untreated. We do know that people begin to change the way they interact with the world when they have a hearing loss. Some people will sit back in a corner or start staying home because they feel left out. Others may dominate the conversation because they cannot hear or listen. Many describe feeling embarrassed, nervous, stupid and insecure because of their hearing loss. I’ve known people to stop

travelling because they cannot hear announcements in the airport, avoid the theatre and restaurants, and simply become increasingly isolated. I had one gentleman years ago tell me he threw away his antidepressants after he got hearing aids. Dr. Frank Lin from Johns Hopkins released a study in February 2011 showing a relationship between hearing loss and dementia. Lin stated that, although they are not sure of the underlying relationship between dementia and hearing loss, they think, “the strain of decoding sounds over the years may overwhelm the brains of those with hearing loss, leaving them more vulnerable to dementia.” The overall answer to your question about untreated hearing loss is that there are many negative effects when not addressed

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Arthritis & Rheumatism Associates, P.C. 2730 University Blvd. West, Suite 310, Wheaton, MD 20902 301-942-7600 Other offices located in Chevy Chase, MD, Rockville, MD and Washington, DC

Angus B. Worthing, MD, FACR

Rachel Kaiser, MD, MPH, FACP, FACR

What is the difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis?

Do rheumatologists treat osteoporosis?

OA can affect one joint at a time – a knee, a hip, the big toe or the thumb base – or many joints in progression. RA is usually symmetric and involves multiple joint areas: most commonly hands and feet, but nearly any other joint can be affected. Both diseases cause stiffness and can cause joints to swell, but the stiffness of RA is most prominent in the morning, often lasting more than 30 minutes. It can also cause problems outside the joints, including fatigue, dryness in mouth and eyes, rashes and low blood counts (anemia). OA is more common, as it affects 1 in 8 Americans, while RA affects only 1 in 100.

Yes we do. In fact, we often work together with other physicians such as internists, gynecologists and endocrinologists to come up with the best plan of care for our mutual patients. Our initial visit usually involves a detailed discussion about the causes of osteoporosis, as well as the benefits and risks of various treatment options. We take a careful history of patients’ risk factors for osteoporosis, including early menopause, steroid exposure and history of fractures. We review prior bone density tests (DEXA) in detail and we can also perform DEXA Tests in our offices. Sometimes we need additional lab tests. We then decide together on a course of treatment based on the patient’s history and preferences. Options not only include medications, but also lifestyle changes such as weight bearing exercise and smoking cessation.

michael ventura

Osteoarthritis (OA) is thought to be caused by local injuries or wear and tear over time. By contrast, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, caused by the body’s immune defenses – the infection fighting system – turning against the body and inflaming joint tissues.

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Paul Ross, DPM The Podiatry Center 8218 Wisconsin Ave., Suite P-14, Bethesda, MD 20814 301-656-6055 | drpaulross@aol.com www.paulrossdpm.com

What sets you and your practice apart from others?

tony lewis jr

We offer the combination of being remarkably sophisticated in our technology and training as well as having a warm, kind and well-trained staff. The Podiatry Center is state-ofthe-art and the most current facility in the area in the use of diagnostic imaging and our in-office certified ambulatory surgery center. We also will recommend surgery only after we have exhausted all conservative care – and we have a myriad of non-invasive procedures and modalities to treat and hopefully eliminate your foot problem. We deliver a wide range of services with care for bunions, diabetic issues, heel pain, sports pain and more. Not only will we address your foot issues with treatment program and the highest quality of care, our goal is to educate each patient because we believe you deserve to have the information needed to make good choices about your foot and ankle care.

Rachel Cohn, Optometrist Wink Eyecare Boutique 1095 Seven Locks Road, Potomac, MD 20854 301-545-1111 | drcohn@wink.net www.wink.net

supplied

I can never seem to find glasses that are quite right for things like night driving. Can you help? We’re offering i.Scription® technology by Zeiss, which offers a new, higher quality of vision in glasses. Using special high-tech mapping, i.Scription® lenses are customized for each individual eye. Every eye is as individual as a fingerprint. An exam analyzes “higher order aberrations” that are complex refractive errors that are unique to each human eye. So in addition to correcting near- or far-sightedness and astigmatism, these lenses made with this technology go further, providing additional corrections for each eye profile. The bottom line is you see better at twilight and at night, without any reflections or halo effects. One study showed that a driver wearing fully customized lenses like i.Scription under nighttime conditions saw a person in the road 25 feet sooner than the driver wearing only traditional lenses. This innovation allows us at Wink to provide an even higher standard of care. Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 287

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Margaret Sommerville, MD, FAAD, Medical Director Chevy Chase Dermatology, LLC 5530 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 830 | Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301.656.SKIN | chevychasedermatology.com

What are some of the challenges you encounter in your cosmetic dermatology practice? We are surrounded by many examples of poor taste when it comes to cosmetic treatments. Most of my clients are accomplished, professional women whose credibility would be affected by an artificial, grotesque look. They’re absolutely afraid of looking like a “real housewife” from TV. I take the time and reassure patients that I share their desire for a subtle, incremental approach. Sometimes less is more, and not every wrinkle needs to be erased in order to achieve an attractive look. An “over-filled” face with loss of contours, or telltale Spock-like brows with frozen forehead, can not only make one look unnatural, but older. If no one can tell for sure whether you have had any cosmetic enhancements, but your face looks youthful, healthy and natural, then your beauty and individuality is respected.

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If no one can tell for sure whether you have had any cosmetic enhancements, but your face looks youthful, healthy and natural, then your beauty and individuality is respected.”

Most of us already know about the undisputed benefits of prescription-strength retinoids such as Retin-A®, or Renova® , as well as the necessity for daily sun protection. Procedure-wise however, I’m really excited about the Forever Young BBL® broadband light treatments, which can alter gene expression in skin making it more similar to youthful skin, according to a 2012 Stanford University study. These “rejuvenated genes” may be responsible for halting skin aging progression in patients who undergo at least one full-face treatment per year, according to another recent study. Broadband light treatments are great for hyperpigmentation, sun spots, broken blood vessels and fine lines. Another excellent, minimally invasive collageninducing treatment is the new fractional micro-needling technique with Dermapen®. It takes a lot of research to compile treatments for every skin type with the least risks and the most benefits, but that’s what makes my job challenging and fascinating.

mike olliver

Are there any treatments that can effectively prevent further skin aging?

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Faisal M Bhinder, MD Capital Digestive Care | Birns, Gloger & Witten, MD 9711 Medical Center Drive, Suite 308, Rockville, MD 20850 301-251-1244 | capitaldigestivecare.com/bgw

I have chronic heartburn, should I be concerned? Occasional heartburn, caused by acid reflux, is common and often responds well to over-the-counter medications. Many patients are able to control their acid reflux through a combination of lifestyle changes and medical therapy. Those requiring additional care should see a specialist. Left untreated, acid reflux can damage the lining of the esophagus and increase your risk for developing serious complications such as Barrett’s esophagus, which can lead to esophageal cancer.

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How can esophageal cancer be investigated and evaluated? Difficulty swallowing or unanticipated weight loss can be symptoms of a more serious problem and an upper endoscopy may be necessary for initial investigation. Advanced techniques, such as endoscopic ultrasound, can obtain high quality ultrasound images of the organs and tissues inside the body or guide biopsy procedures, providing information about the extent of disease in the esophagus or adjacent tissues and lymph nodes.

Ann Marie Stephenson, DO, MBA Capital Digestive Care | Associates in Gastroenterology 9420 Key West Ave., Suite 202, Rockville, MD 20850 301-251-9555 | capitaldigestivecare.com/ag

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Is colon cancer preventable? Yes. In fact, colon cancer is one of the only cancers that is preventable. Most of us know we should have a colonoscopy at age 50. But certain risk factors may indicate screening at an earlier age. In 2009 the American College of Gastroenterology changed the guidelines for African Americans, recommending screening earlier, at age 45. Despite this recommendation, colon cancer remains the third most commonly diagnosed cancer among African Americans. According to the National Cancer Institute, although colon cancer is decreasing, the rate is decreasing much slower in African Americans. One contributing factor is African Americans are less likely to be screened than the population at large. Know the guidelines and your risk factors and talk to your doctor about screening. Colon cancer often begins as a small polyp that, if found soon enough, can be removed and keep you cancer free.

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Pantea Tamjidi, MD Tamjidi Skin Institute 5454 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1045, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-652-4828 | www.tamjidiskininstitute.com

What can I do to reduce my waistline fast? If you want to lose one dress or pants size very quickly, find out more about Liposonix. While liposuction and surgical fat reduction procedures bring some surgical risks and recovery downtime, the Liposonix treatment is non-invasive. We use ultrasound energy to penetrate through skin layers and focus on fat tissue without affecting your skin or surrounding tissues. You can get back to your normal activities immediately after the procedure. Liposonix allows us to focus on particular problems areas and get results in just a one-hour session. If you need a little help getting to your desired shape, Liposonix may work well for you, targeting fat in your abdomen and love handles without surgery. On average, it can reduce your waistline reduction about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in a single treatment.

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If you need a little help getting to your desired shape, Liposonix may work well for you, targeting fat in your abdomen and love handles without surgery.”

We offer a powerful array of treatments with Botox, fillers, laser therapies and chemical peels, but one thing you may want to learn more about is JUVÉDERM VOLUMA™ XC. This is an injectable gel that lasts up to two years. It’s the first filler that’s FDA-approved for deep injection in cheek areas to correct age-related volume loss. The filler is hyaluronic acid, which is a naturally occurring, hydrating substance found in your skin. Side effects are mild and similar to other filler agents available in the U.S. VOLUMA provides a smooth, natural look and feel and, as they say, everyone will notice, but no one will know!

Hilary schwab

What can you do to give me a younger profile and smooth out my age lines, wrinkles and folds?

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(L to R): Andrea Liacouras, Au.D.; Shannon Wrabel, Au.D.; Krystle Hanna, Au.D.; Ross Cushing, Au.D.; Jenifer Cushing, Au.D.; Caroline Pirtle, HIS; Courtney Campbell, Au.D.; Alicia Spoor, Au.D.

A&A Hearing Group

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Offices in Chevy Chase, Rockville, Montgomery Village and more. 301-907-0002 | info@aahearinggroup.com www.aahearinggroup.com

tony lewis jr

It’s always important at the first sign of hearing trouble to consult an audiologist who can recommend the proper course of action.”

I’ve recently noticed that my mother’s television is turned up quite loud. Is a hearing aid a good choice for her?

I clearly have some hearing problems. Is there any way around a bulky hearing aid?

Without knowing your mother’s particular situation, I can’t say for certain, but it sounds like it’s time to have her hearing screened. Our practice provides free consultations for all new patients, including someone like your mother. Upon making an appointment with our office, she would be provided a free hearing screening and hearing aid assessment by one of our audiologists or specialists.

Absolutely! Hearing aid science has come a long way – even in the past five years. Today’s hearing aids are smaller, lighter and much more discreet than ever. In fact, we can recommend and fit hearing aids that you can wear in the shower, connect to your cell phone, use without batteries or are completely invisible.

It’s always important at the first sign of hearing trouble to consult an audiologist who can recommend the proper course of action. Our team is always accepting new appointments and would be happy to have your mother schedule a time.

We pride ourselves on helping our patients choose the right hearing aid for their hearing loss. And whether your hearing aid style is inside or behind the ear, it’s our top priority to make sure that your hearing aid is comfortable and fits you perfectly.

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Ralph V. Boccia, MD, FACP & Victor M. Priego, MD Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders 6410 Rockledge Drive, Suite 660, Bethesda, MD 20817 19735 Germantown Road, Suite 255, Germantown, MD 20874 301-571-0019 | www.ccbdmd.com

Cancer treatment changes all the time. What makes CCBD different?

Created with patient care and convenience in mind, we have locations in both Bethesda and Germantown. We make every effort to schedule visits within 48 hours and integrate top medical science facilities into an attractive, healing environment that welcomes family participation. We accept most insurance plans and offer free financial counseling to ensure that no one goes without resources to receive treatment.

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This is the era of “tailored cancer therapies,” where treatments are designed specifically for each individual and their cancer, which enhances effectiveness and minimizes side effects. We at CCBD are committed to that end, and our clinic is staffed by medical professionals who are dedicated to healing and hope. We are widely recognized for our compassionate and expert care, with board-certified oncology and hematology specialists and our cutting edge clinical trials.

How do concierge internal medicine practices differ from traditional practices in managing common medical problems?

Aimee Seidman, MD, FACP, CMD Marcia Goldmark, MD Rockville Concierge Doctors 15020 Shady Grove Road. Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20850 301-545-1811 | drseidman@rockvilleconciergedocs.com www.rockvilleconciergedocs.com

Because we see far fewer patients than in a traditional internal medicine practice, we have the time available to focus on prevention (i.e., osteoporosis, smoking cessation, heart disease, etc.) through both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic approaches. Having more time per patient allows us to focus our efforts on wellness in addition to sick care. Thus, we are very proactive with each patient’s personalized care.

Tony Lewis JR

Internal medicine physicians are trained to see a variety of disorders ranging from colds and flu to complicated diseases. Busy internists in traditional practices often don’t have the time to address patients’ problems in detail or their health as a whole. For example, heart disease is the number one killer of Americans, yet the focus is typically on treatment. The focus in our practice is comprehensive cardiovascular disease prevention and management with an emphasis on patients taking control over their own health.

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Duane Taylor, MD Le Visage - ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC 6410 Rockledge Drive, Suite 650, Bethesda, MD 20817 301-897-5858 | levisage@onebox.com www.levisageentfps.com

Tell me about you and your training, and what you enjoy most about your practice? I have been in practice in the Metro DC area for almost 25 years and currently serve as the Medical Director for Le Visage ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery. I am trained in two specialties: Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. My practice includes a blend of outpatient surgery and office-based procedures, as well as the management of medical conditions covered by my two specialties. I really love what I do and enjoy the opportunity to educate my patients on the best options available to manage their conditions. I use a variety of informational and multimedia tools in my practice to make sure patients are comfortable with understanding their conditions and treatment options, however these are all supplemental to one-on-one interactions with me.

What are some of the treatments that you offer in the office that are minimally invasive and have little downtime and their indications? On the aesthetic side of my practice the use of dermal fillers such as Restylane® and Radiesse® to reduce the folds and lines around the nose and mouth are effective, popular and safe options for patients. The use of injectibles for the forehead and frown lines (Botox®, Dysport® and Xeomin®) also allow for wonderful rejuvenation of the upper third of the face. Microdermabrasion is another procedure that I offer that contributes to healthier skin.

hilary schwab

For those with sinus problems, the use of balloon dilation of the openings to the sinuses for selective patients has proven to be a great alternative to larger surgical procedures. This can be done in the office with local anesthesia and minimal discomfort. All of these procedures are performed by me.

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I really love what I do and enjoy the opportunity to educate my patients on the best options available to manage their conditions.” Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 293

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Roni W. Ford, MD; Anne E. Rothman, MD; Geeta M. Shah, MD Center for Cosmetic & Clinical Dermatology

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6 Montgomery Ave., Suite 322, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 301-977-2070 | forddermstaff@yahoo.com www.fordderm.com

Whenever we treat with neurotoxins or injectables, such as Botox®, we strive to relax the facial muscles that produce wrinkles. However, we do not over treat, avoiding the frozen or “deer-in-the-headlights” look that can appear unnatural.”

Yes! It’s not only possible, it’s a priority in our practice. Whenever we treat with neurotoxins or injectables, such as Botox®, we strive to relax the facial muscles that produce wrinkles. However, we do not over treat, avoiding the frozen or “deer-in-the-headlights” look that can appear unnatural. With fillers such as Juvederm® and Restylane®, we use the latest injection techniques, such as deeper injections in the areas of volume loss, to produce a natural look. This way your result is beautiful and natural without looking “overdone.”

How important is it to have a yearly skin exam? Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and its incidence

is rising. For this reason, it is extremely important for everyone to see a dermatologist yearly for a full skin examination. Skin checks can be done any time of year, however many people like to come in the winter when their skin is paler and new growths are easier to identify. Skin self-examination is also an important way to identify growths of concern. For self-examinations, we suggest checking for the A-B-C-D-E’s of melanoma: A - asymmetry or odd shape B - border irregularity C - color variation D - diameter larger than 6 millimeters (the size of a pencil eraser) E - evolution or any change in an existing lesion During a self-examination, if you notice that any of these criteria are present in a skin growth, have it checked by a dermatologist.

darren higgins

I’m considering cosmetic treatments for my facial line and wrinkles. Is it possible to have a treatment that looks natural?

294 March/April 2014 | Bethesda Magazine HEALTH

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Ask the Medical Experts

Special Advertising Section

Gary Mendelson, Au.D. The Mendelson Group 11604 Bunnell Ct., South, Potomac, MD 20854 301-299-6714 | gdmendelson@comcast.net www.iheargreat.com

What is an audiologist and what can they do for the patient? I’ve been asked this question many times in my practice. An audiologist is a doctorate level individual who is extremely knowledgeable about hearing, sound and balance. An audiologist runs diagnostic evaluations that determine what and where a hearing loss and dizziness come from. Once they have an answer to what is wrong with one’s hearing and or balance, they can effectively offer advice for a solution on how to proceed. Solutions can range from recommending a physician and medical treatment to hearing help with special auditory and physical therapy, family counseling and/or hearing aids.

If I need a hearing aid, how do I know which is best for me? Answers about the best hearing aid for you should come from the audiologist you work with, not with an order by phone or online outfit, or even insurance companies that sell discounted hearing aids to their members. There are many brands – with different quality – of hearing aids on the market. The best one is the one that your audiologist has the greatest knowledge of and feels the most comfortable with fitting to your ears and needs.

tony lewis jr

With the advent of the digital hearing aid, most if not all of these digital hearing aids can be programmed with thousands of variations to the loudness, quality and timbre so as to make your hearing aid comfortable and helpful to your lifestyle. And the only one who can do that is the audiologist who is most familiar and comfortable with that brand.

“

Answers about the best hearing aid for you should come from the audiologist you work with, not with an order by phone or online outfit, or even insurance companies that sell discounted hearing aids to their members.”

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Ask the Medical Experts

Special Advertising Section

Zidi Berger, MD Women’s Wellness Institute 10215 Fernwood Road, #401a, Bethesda, MD 20817 301-493-7880 | www.celbankmd.com

What is regenerative medicine?

(L to R): Katherine King, Stem Cell Counselor; Zidi Berger, MD, Medical Director; Susan Berg, Practice Coordinator

Now it is possible to store healthy cells in a FDA registered facility in the U.S. for future personal use in Regenerative Medicine. Our medical office offers collection of samples in a simple office procedure.

hilary schwab

Regenerative medicine is the practice of restoring normal function to a body organ or system, utilizing the body’s own healing mechanisms, the most important of which is adult stem cells. These cells replace damaged or diseased tissue in the normal course of healing. There is an explosion in clinic research around the world involving using large quantities of your own stem cells to create rapid cures for injury and illness. Alzheimers, heart disease, stroke, blood disease and many others are showing promising results.

Diane Colgan, MD Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 10411 Motor City Drive, Suite 615, Bethesda, MD 20817 301-299-6644 | www.dianecolganmd.com

Why choose cosmetic surgery? The purpose is to provide choices of surgical and nonsurgical procedures that will reshape normal structures of the body in order to improve appearance and self-esteem.

Be sure your surgeon is board certified and has specific training in plastic surgery. Ask how many procedures he or she has done in the area you are considering. Is your surgeon on the medical staff at the local hospital? Is the facility accredited, especially if it’s an office or ambulatory surgery center? Have a thorough understanding of the surgery and what your surgeon can and cannot accomplish. One visit to a surgeon’s office is usually not enough. Take a spouse or significant other with you to be sure you hear everything important about your surgery. Following this list will help you make the right decision.

hilary schwab

How do you know if you have picked the right and best plastic surgeon for your needs?

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Ask the Medical Experts

Special Advertising Section

Hooman Azmi, MD Optimal Medical Care 11119 Rockville Pike, Suite 316, Rockville, MD 20852 301-230-8989 | www.omci.us

What does Optimal Medical Care offer patients? As an internist with more than 15 years of experience in medicine and a hospitalist caring for patients at Holy Cross Hospital, I am passionate about offering quality primary care to patients. This means efficient coordination of care between specialists and avoiding redundant testing and visits. If the problem can be solved in our office, we take care of it, and if there’s a need for further specialized care, we coordinate with excellent specialists to help you regain your health efficiently. In this process, we stay with you all along. We provide “Optimal Medical Care” for patients 14 years and older, including prevention and treatment.

What do you do in the way of medical prevention services? I strongly believe disease prevention is a major part of practicing medicine. Therefore, I perform thorough annual physical evaluation and based on age, gender and medical history, I complete appropriate screenings with our efficient and friendly staff.

darren higgins

When a 60-year-old woman with history of diabetes and cardiovascular disease comes in for annual examination, we may obtain an ECG, an echocardiogram or a Doppler of lower extermities. But we look at all systems. She may also need hearing screening and ear washing and measuring of eye pressure for glaucoma. She needs a skin exam and if there’s a suspicious lesion, we offer skin punch biopsy and make the connection with the dermatologist if needed. We also obtain blood, urine and stool collection for lab tests. All necessary vaccines (Pneumonia, Shingle, Influenza…) are offered. Mammography and Dexa scan will be ordered, and OB/GYN consult for Pap smear test and pelvic exam. Although she may have a diagnosis, we do a comprehensive evaluation. We integrate all aspects of prevention and treatment, and that is “Optimal Medical Care” for our patients.

“

“If the problem can be solved in our office, we take care of it, and if there’s a need for further specialized care, we coordinate with excellent specialists to help you regain your health efficiently.” Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 297

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Ask the Medical Experts

Special Advertising Section

Jennifer Parker Porter, MD, FACS Chevy Chase Facial Plastic Surgery 8401 Connecticut Ave., Suite 107, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-652-8191 | jportermd@chevychaseface.com www.chevychaseface.com

What are your go-to procedures for rejuvenation?

Hilary schwab

Rejuvenation can be surgical or nonsurgical. Surgical rejuvenation with a facelift or eyelid surgery is great if you have time for recovery. For those who do not have that time, there are many nonsurgical options that have little to no down time. Of course, Botox® and fillers are great to rid wrinkles and soften the lines of the face in an instant. One of the newest fillers, Juvederm Voluma®, is revolutionary because it volumizes the cheeks and restores a youthful look that lasts for two years. DermaPen® is a skin treatment that can be done monthly to improve fine lines and reduce acne scars, which typically get worse with age. Broad Band Light (BBL®) treatments help fade sunspots on the face, hand and chest, thereby rejuvenating the skin. There are many other options that can be explored based on the patient’s individual needs.

Happy is getting harder and harder every day. What’s wrong? Happiness is something everyone wants yet most of us have trouble achieving. We teach our patients that, at its core, happiness is having a positive relationship with yourself and your environment. We realize our relationships with others require attention, but we expect to wake up every morning feeling energetic, clear-headed and optimistic and are disheartened, often chronically, when we don’t. We think happiness is supposed to be there the same way we expect our hearts to beat every day. The fact is, happiness needs to be cultivated, as it’s usually not just gifted. People often think you only visit a psychiatrist if you have a mental disorder like depression or anxiety. The truth is, all our practitioners practice psychotherapy and we’re helping many patients develop happiness by systematically teaching them the tools to cultivate and maintain happiness for themselves.

Washington Center for Women’s & Children’s Wellness One Central Plaza, 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 1212, North Bethesda, MD 20852 301-881-9464 | info@wcwcw.org | www.wcwcw.org

peter stepanek

(L to R): Valerie Relacion, MD; Jessica Lu, MD; Amanda Caruso, Office Manager; Wendy J. Hookman, MD; Joy Paul, LCSW-C

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Ask the Medical Experts

Special Advertising Section

Mary C. DuPont, MD, FACS DuPont Urology & Urogynecology Center

“

5530 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1510, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-654-5530 | www.duponturogynecologycenter.com

Recent trends in the use of thongs, bikini waxes and tight bathing suits have made women more self-conscious about their appearance.”

Why do women come to you, Dr. DuPont?

courtesy photo

Talking about very personal issues such as urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse or concerns regarding genital appearance can often be embarrassing and frustrating for women. I give them hope and encouragement by advising them on treatment options to restore their confidence and self-esteem. As a board certified urologist, who has trained with a world renowned surgeon and completed two fellowships in Female Urology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, I am one of the few specialized surgeons who can perform combination vaginoplasty and labiaplasty. Once normal childbirth has occurred, the pelvic floor muscles and vagina rarely returns to their pre-pregnancy state as a result of stretching and tears. Vaginoplasty is a surgical tightening procedure that can help restore pelvic muscle support, repair vaginal bulges from childbirth or simply improve aesthetic appearance. Labiaplasty reduces the size of the labia and is done for func-

tional reasons (such as to reduce discomfort during intercourse, exercise or when wearing tight-fitting clothes) or it is done to improve aesthetics (large or asymmetric labia or abnormalities due to injury, disease or after childbirth). Recent trends in the use of thongs, bikini waxes and tight bathing suits have made women more self-conscious about their appearance. Labiaplasty takes about one hour and is performed as an outpatient procedure. The advantage to having a combination surgery performed is that it is one anesthesia session and it usually results in considerable cost savings. These procedures are becoming increasingly popular and have a high satisfaction rate in my practice. It is very rewarding to hear so many of my patients say, “you have given me my life back.” If you are experiencing problems with urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, pelvic organ prolapse, or wish to discuss cosmetic gynecological procedures, please make an appointment. Bethesda Magazine HEALTH | March/April 2014 299

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2/13/14 11:12 AM

w Revie

dine Pleased to meat you

Urban Butcher brings another destination dining spot to Silver Spring By Carole Sugarman

Urban Butcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Raynold Mendizabal aims to appeal to carnivores, offering everything from house-made charcuterie to inventive entrĂŠes.

Photos by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg

Urban Butcher, the edgy new protein palace in Silver Spring, is a combination restaurant, bar, lounge, meat shop and curing room, serving house-made charcuterie, American artisan cheeses and inventive beef, pork, chicken and seafood dishes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of a growing number of next-generation steak houses that are popping up around the country. Instead of offering huge slabs of beef from Midwestern feedlots in a mahogany-paneled dining room, Urban Butcher procures local animals from yesteryear breeds, turns them into salamis, pastrami, sausages and hams, and dishes it all up in a relaxed, eclectic setting. A destination eatery, it provides a stark contrast to the safe, predictable and often boring restaurants in the Bethesda area. And for the most part, the food is really good. The man behind the meat is Raynold Mendizabal, a Cuban-born mathematician who honed his cooking skills at Pesce and Fujimar in the District and at the Latin Concepts restaurants (including the defunct Silver Spring eatery Ceviche). Most recently, he was the chef-owner of the two Black & Orange burger restaurants downtown. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 301

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dine review

Meltingly tender ox brisket sits atop a potato purée. Diners can choose to sit at this informal counter or at tables in the main dining room.

Chargrilled rustic bread is the perfect accompaniment for a selection of cheeses and charcuterie.

At Urban Butcher, any meal should begin with a selection of charcuterie items, served on butcher block boards. Go for the thinly sliced chorizo Espanol, emboldened with Spanish smoked pimientos and garlic; and the Greek-style loukanika, a traditional lamb sausage that gets jazzed up here with fennel pollen, orange rind and Aleppo peppers. I tried four cheeses, and particularly liked Dante and Marisa, two sheep’s milk cheeses from Wisconsin. But I doubt you could go wrong with any of the choices, which will rotate throughout the year. Another don’t-miss is the smoked bluefish rillette, a simple spread of house-smoked fish and crème fraîche served in a little jar. Silken, smoky and not-too-fishy, it’s divine slathered on a hunk of the chargrilled rustic bread that accompanies the charcuterie. And speaking of that bread, which comes from Lyon Bakery: It gets a splash of garlic oil before being singed on the grill, and is so addictive you’ll be tearing off pieces long after you’re full. The main menu, comprised of both small and large plates ranging from $5 to $26, is a bit confusing. There’s no logical organization by portion size, price or food category. Just take the plunge with the lamb tartare, a mound of house-

The blackberry lychee cobbler is a refreshing treat that’s topped with mint-infused shaved ice.

ground raw lamb mixed with a bright, citrusy dressing of lemon juice, fenugreek, paprika, thyme, garlic, cayenne and other spices. It’s served on homemade oval flatbread with a generous slather of hummus. Even those hesitant about raw meat should give it a try, as the flavor layers are both intriguing and compatible. On the opposite doneness spectrum, the ox brisket is cooked for 48 hours, resulting in meltingly tender chunks served atop a potato purée, sur-

rounded by a moat of honey-ginger jus and topped with a sprinkling of white and black sesame seeds. The “T” word can also be used to describe the thickcut, house-brined and steamed pastrami, with its rim of fat crusted with black pepper, mustard and coriander. No knives needed for either dish. In the category of happy-to-eat-again but not a wow: the juicy pinot noir sausages; and the beef empanadas, crispy half moons stuffed with ground beef, raisins, olives and dry salted Italian capers, served with a liquidy chimichurri that adds a mighty kick. Just so-so: the Chinese barbecued pork ribs, with their somewhat cloying honey and black bean paste coating; the dry lamb sausage; and the pleasant but nothing special Chianti-Finocchiona salami and pâté forestière. After 7 p.m., Urban Butcher serves roast suckling pig. I must say, I’ve never understood the hoopla surrounding the delicacy, and Mendizabal’s version didn’t do any-

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thing to win me over. Like every other time I’ve had it, it was salty, bland and fatty. The menu has five seafood dishes. The trout Milanese, a generous portion of crisp fish, paired nicely with the accompanying lemony arugula salad. Overzealous salsa verde and chili oil, however, drowned out the grilled calamari. By now you’ve probably figured out that Urban Butcher would not be a happy outing for vegetarians. There are a few vegetable side dishes (including fresh-tasting ratatouille with just the right consistency and a broccoli rabe that provides some greenery). But even committed carnivores might welcome a plant-based garnish or two. Desserts aren’t a high point here either. The best of the bunch, not surprisingly, features meat. That would be the maple bacon gelato, a creamy concoction with bits of bacon that hits all the right buttons for those who like sweet and salty. A conversation piece, the blackberry lychee cobbler with its dazzling spun sugar decoration provides a refreshing end, as well. Really it’s more of a parfait than a cobbler, though, layered from top to bottom with mint-infused shaved ice, vanilla ice cream, cookie crumbs, blackberries and lychees and finally, berry jelly. Given that the menu needs explanation, a knowledgeable waitstaff is key. Those I encountered were well informed and set a comfortable, casual tone. That’s in keeping with the space, which includes a living room-like area in the front, with a hodgepodge of easy chairs, couches and coffee tables; a bar (a nifty row of half doors with knobs forms the base); an open kitchen; and a retail counter. At the back of the room, the glassenclosed curing room is set at 55 degrees and packed with hanging salamis, hams and sausages that will mature and later be served in the dining area, a cheery yellow room with antique-y mirrors and mostly silver metal chairs. All in all, Urban Butcher is a smart, stylish new concept for the suburbs. No doubt Mendizabal will soon be bringing home the bacon. n Carole Sugarman is the magazine’s food editor. To comment on this review, email comments@bethesdamagazine.com.

urban butcher

8226 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, 301-585-5800, urbanbutcher.com

HOURS Open for brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Open for dinner from 5 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 p.m. to variable hours Sunday.

BEverages Eight craft cocktails, including a rosemary gin and tonic with house-made rosemary tonic water. Mostly craft beer list includes 12 drafts and seven bottles. Wine list comprised of 12 wines by the glass—but it was preliminary at press time, as the restaurant hopes to stock more than 60 mostly Old World bottles.

RESERVATIONS Not accepted for parties under 12

PRICES Charcuterie items from $5 to $7 apiece; small and large plates range from $5 to $26.

FAVORITE DISHES Smoked bluefish rillette, loukanika, chorizo Espanol, lamb tartare, ox brisket, thick-cut pastrami, pinot noir sausages, beef empanadas, ratatouille, maple bacon gelato

PARKING Street parking and public lots

A hodgepodge of easy chairs, couches and coffee tables establish a comfortable, casual mood at the restaurant.

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table

TALK

By Carole Sugarman

‘Riggo on the Range’ Among his many athletic ac-

ing from recipes.

John Riggins prepares Venison Rigganoff in his Cabin John kitchen. Inset: Riggins (left) and local chef Robert Wiedmaier.

What’s in his kitchen: Lots of counter space, walnut cabinets, copper pots, a Miele coffeemaker, a Traulsen refrigerator and freezer, a six-burner Montague Grizzly range (a restaurant-grade appliance he calls the “Corvette” of ovens) How he entertains: Guests gather

on stools at a counter overlooking his galley-style kitchen, drink wine and chat while Riggins cooks. In nice weather, he likes to throw meat on the outdoor Weber grill—an antelope filet was a recent hit.

What’s in his freezer: Elk, venison

and wild turkey

Where he eats out: Neighborhood places—the Irish Inn, Old Angler’s Inn, Fish Taco and Wild Tomato, all in Cabin John. Daughter Hannah works as a hostess at Wild Tomato. Where he shops: For Riggo on the

Range, Riggins “shops in the national forests for dinner.” At home, he stakes out Whole Foods Market on River Road and Giant at Westbard Shopping Center in Bethesda.

Get Your Bean Bun Have a hankering for yam mousse cake, green tea bread or red bean buns? Check out J. Brown Bakery, an attractive new Asian-style bakery in Cabin John that opened in December and is owned by Jae Lee, who also runs the Captains Market convenience store in the same shopping strip. J. Brown, staffed by Korean baker Sam Lee and Walt Whitman High School graduate and culinary

hopeful Justin Cable, sells an extensive selection of breads, buns, cakes and cookies, plus Western favorites such as baguettes, Danish, doughnuts and frozen yogurt. The milk bread, almond cake, butter cookies and rusks (made from leftover baguettes) are especially good.

7607 MacArthur Blvd., Cabin John, 301-229-0747

44Outdoors courtesy of amazon.com; courtesy photos

complishments, former Washington Redskins running back and Hall of Famer John Riggins may be best remembered for his 43-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XVII. But nowadays, the Cabin John resident is scoring points with a different passion—cooking. On his Comcast SportsNet TV show, Riggo on the Range, Riggins hunts and fishes (often with former players and coaches) around the country, then prepares the prey with chefs at restaurants or in his home kitchen. The show’s second season, premiering March 1, will feature an episode with local chef and restaurateur Robert Wiedmaier, whose restaurants include Mussel Bar and Wildwood Kitchen in Bethesda. Wiedmaier cooks wild salmon and trout that Riggins and retired college basketball coach Bobby Knight caught in Alaska. “I love food. I love to eat,” says Riggins, 64, of his transition from the gridiron to the griddle. When he’s not shooting geese on the Eastern Shore or wild pigs in Texas, Riggins lives in a modern retreat overlooking the Potomac River with his wife, Lisa Marie, and their two daughters, Hannah, 17, and Coco, 9. He prepares all the family meals, making the occasional smoothie for breakfast, slicing house-roasted roast beef or turkey breast for his daughters’ school lunches and whipping up homemade soups or pasta for dinner. For the most part, he improvises instead of cook-

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FoodD FIN

New Shop on the Block Hip, rustic and oozing with artisan sensibility, the Little Red Fox market and coffee shop covers all the bases: breakfast with locally roasted coffee and espresso, homebaked muffins, scones and interesting egg dishes; lunch with incredibly fresh-tasting sandwiches; and dinner with boxed meals made from scratch for commuters to pick Little Red Fox chef Anne up on their way home. Plus, Alfano and it offers beer and wine by the owner Matt Carr glass for an informal drink in the neighborhood, and a small larder of groceries, including organic milk, locally made Moorenko’s Ice Cream and homemade preserves and condiments. Located in the former Marvelous Market space on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C., the place has limited seating, but was expecting a shipment of outdoor patio furniture at press time. The brainchild of native Washingtonians Matt Carr and Anne Alfano—who both had desk jobs before building impressive résumés in the culinary arts—the Little Red Fox seems more West Coast than Washington. What a welcome addition. 5035 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 202-248-6346, www.littleredfoxdc.com

COMINGS

courtesy photos; Jena Carr, (little red fox)

82 Steak Out, a Parisian-style steak house with an American edge, opened in the former Tippy’s Taco House space in Rockville Town Square in February. In February, City Burger, a no-frills, family-oriented eatery serving oldschool patties and homemade ice cream, was set to open at 7015 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda. April is expected to bring a new tenant to the former Addie’s space on Rockville Pike: Helen Wasserman, Washington’s longtime doyenne of catering, plans to open Crave by Helen, a restaurant and catering operation with Asian and Western influences.

Macon Bistro & Larder is slated to open this spring in the historic Chevy Chase Arcade at 5520 Connecticut Ave. The restaurant will combine classic bistro cuisine with dishes representing chef/owner Tony Brown’s Southern roots. Denizens Brewing Co., a craft brewery, is gearing up to serve Americanstyle ales and Belgian and Europeanstyle lagers this summer at 1115 East West Highway in Silver Spring. The food will focus on American tapas, and the 7,500-square-foot space will include a dining room, an outdoor beer garden and a downstairs bar overlooking the brewery.

Charmed Bar creators Jen Burnstein (left) and Debbi Ascher

Charmed, I’m Sure Gaithersburg friends Debbi Ascher and Jen Burnstein, aka The Charmed Girls, claim to have come up with a “delicious way to live a charmed life.” It’s the CharmedBar, a fruit-and-nut snack bar that’s free of gluten, dairy, soy and refined sugars. It comes in two flavors—the dense, taffy-like Peanut Butter Cherry-licious, and Almond Butter Cran-dipity, a nutty, firmer mixture of almonds, walnuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, raisins and dried cranberries. The women developed the bar after searching for a snack they could eat without discomfort. Ascher, 49, has a gluten allergy and ulcerative colitis, and eats a very restricted diet. Burnstein, 38, has lupus and finds that eating foods high in carbohydrates and sugar adds to the inflammation and irritation caused by the disease. “To make a long story short, we couldn’t find a bar out there that we liked that we could eat,” Ascher says. The bars, which sell for $2.49 to $2.99 each, are available at Chevy Chase Supermarket, Village Green Apothecary, Go Figure Barre Studio, Dawson’s Market, Roots Market, West Wing Café & Bakery, The Natural Market and Kentlands Stadium 10 Movie Theaters. They can also be ordered online at charmedbar.com. n

Carole Sugarman is the magazine’s food editor. Send ideas to carole.sugarman@bethesdamagazine.com. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 305

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cooking CLASS

By Brian Patterson L’Academie de Cuisine | www.lacademie.com

Dressing for Success Vinaigrette is a dressing that can be sassy or sublime, lending flavor to more than just salad greens. The versatile mix of oil, vinegar, an emulsifier and seasonings can add punch to roasted vegetables, potato, pasta or bean salads, and even cooked meats and fish. Dijon mustard is a common emulsifier, which is essential to bind the oil and vinegar together into a smooth, creamy sauce. While vinaigrette will quickly break down the fibers of salad greens, it’s easily absorbed by starchier foods such as potatoes and pasta. It’s best to dress those foods ahead of time so they can marinate.

Spring Pasta Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette

Go for the Good Stuff Since vinaigrette requires few ingredients, using good-quality oils and vinegars will produce the tastiest dressing. n Oils: Use extra-virgin olive oil; nut, avocado and grapeseed oils also work. Store the oil in a squeeze bottle so it can be added easily when whisking the vinaigrette ingredients together. n Vinegars: Potent vinegars add the most flavor, so use sherry, red wine, rice wine or champagne vinegars. Balsamic vinegar is not a good choice because it can turn the vinaigrette dark, and the low acidity of aged balsamic vinegar isn’t strong enough to make a potent vinaigrette. n Extra flavor: A little chopped fresh garlic will add verve and flavor. Also try adding a dash of red pepper flakes or fresh chopped thyme, parsley or tarragon.

Mustard can’t hold oil and vinegar together indefinitely, so the vinaigrette may separate over time. Recombine the ingredients by shaking the container storing the vinaigrette or by reincorporating the broken vinaigrette with a new mix of mustard and water.

photoS by stacy zarin-goldberg

Helpful Hint

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To Make A Basic Vinaigrette:

ingredients (Makes 1/2 cup)

Technique

1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon water ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground pepper 1 tablespoon minced shallots 1 tablespoon minced garlic 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, preferably in a squeeze bottle

1. Place the mustard in a mixing bowl. Add the vinegar, salt, pepper, shallots and garlic. Whisk together. 2. In your dominant hand, hold a stiff sauce whisk. 3. In the other hand, hold a squeeze bottle of oil at the edge of the bowl. While whisking continuously with your dominant hand, squeeze in or add the oil in a thin stream directly where the whisk is beating the mustard and vinegar. The ingredients should begin binding together into a creamy sauce. If the mixture is too thick, add a little of the water. 4. If the oil and vinegar start to separate, start over in a clean bowl with a tiny bit of mustard and a few drops of water and whisk the broken vinaigrette into the new mustard mixture. 5. Store in a squeeze bottle or an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

To make the salad:

ingredients 1 pound cellentani or fusilli pasta Salt ½ cup vinaigrette 11 ounces cherry tomatoes, cut in half 1 each of red, yellow and orange bell peppers, chopped 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and chopped ½ red onion, chopped ¼ cup sliced fresh basil ¼ cup Kalamata pitted olives ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add a generous dash of salt. Cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente. 2. Strain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Rinsing the pasta will help get rid of excess starch. Drain thoroughly and put in a serving bowl. 3. Once the pasta has cooled, toss with the vinaigrette—don’t wait until the pasta is cold because it won’t absorb the dressing as readily. Add the cherry tomatoes, peppers, red onion, basil and olives. Toss together. Sprinkle cheese on top. Serve at room temperature or cold.

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dining

GUIDE

Check out the online version of the DINING GUIDE at BethesdaMagazine.com or download our app for free at the Apple Store. It’s browsable by category and updated frequently.

Bethesda 100 Montaditos, 4922 Elm St., Bethesda, 240-3966897, us.100montaditos.com/home. As its name proclaims, the Spanish-founded chain features 100 varieties of montaditos—mini sandwiches served on rolls. Ranging in price from $1 to $2.50, the sandwiches sport fillings from authentic (Serrano ham, manchego cheese, chorizo) to American (Philly cheesesteak, hot dogs and burgers). ❂ L D $ 4935 Bar and Kitchen (New), 4935 Cordell Ave., 301-830-8086, www.4935barandkitchen.com. Former Tragara Ristorante space gets a major redo, with a sleek, modern interior and a young chef-owner serving French and Indian fusion dishes such as spicy chicken confit and Tandoori pork chops. The popular upstairs private party room is now called “The Loft at 4935.” L D $$$ Aji-Nippon, 6937 Arlington Road, 301-654-0213. A calm oasis on a busy street, where chef Kazuo Honma serves patrons sushi, noodle soups, teriyaki and more. L D $$ American Tap Room, 7278 Woodmont Ave., 301656-1366, www.americantaproom.com. Classic grill menu featuring sliders and wings, from Thompson Hospitality, the owners of Austin Grill. ❂  R L D $$ Assaggi Mozzarella Bar, 4838 Bethesda Ave., 301951-1988, www.assaggirestaurant.com. Former Café Milano executive chef and owner Domenico Cornacchia offers a warm and elegant bar featuring tastings of mozzarella, both international and local. The restaurant also features Italian-inspired main courses and an extensive wine list. ❂  L D $$ Bacchus of Lebanon, 7945 Norfolk Ave., 301-6571722, www.bacchusoflebanon.com. This friendly and elegant Lebanese staple has a large, sunny patio that beckons lunch and dinner patrons outside when the weather is good to try garlicky hummus, stuffed grape leaves, chicken kabobs, veal chops and dozens of small-plate dishes.❂ L D $$ Bangkok Garden, 4906 St. Elmo Ave., 301-951-0670, www.bkkgarden.com. This real-deal, family-run Thai restaurant turns out authentic cuisine in a dining room decorated with traditional statues of the gods. L D $ Bel Piatto Pizza, 7812 Old Georgetown Road, 301986-8085, www.belpiattopizza.com. Entrées, calzones, strombolis and salads, along with a large selection of pizzas. L D $

Benihana, 7935 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-5391, www.benihana.com. Experience dinner-as-theater as the chef chops and cooks beef, chicken, vegetables and seafood tableside on the hibachi. This popular national chain serves sushi, too. J L D $$

Key: Price designations are for a three-course dinner for two including tip and tax, but excluding alcohol.

Bethesda Crab House, 4958 Bethesda Ave., 301652-3382, www.bethesdacrabhouse.net. In the same location since 1961, this casual, family-owned dining spot features jumbo lump crabcakes, oysters on the half shell and jumbo spiced shrimp. Extra large and jumbo-sized crabs available year-round; call ahead to reserve them. ❂ L D $$

Bistro LaZeez, 8009 Norfolk Ave., 301-652-8222, www.bistrolazeez.com. Terrific Mediterranean grilled dishes from local Arabic teacher Reda Asaad. ❂JLD$

$ up to $50 $$ $51-$100 $$$ $101-$150 $$$$ $150+ Outdoor Dining Children’s Menu B Breakfast R Brunch L Lunch D Dinner

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Bistro Provence (Editors’ Pick), 4933 Fairmont Ave., 301-656-7373, www.bistroprovence.org. Chef Yannick Cam brings his formidable experience to a casual French bistro with a lovely courtyard. ❂ L D $$$

Café Deluxe, 4910 Elm St., 301-656-3131, www.cafe deluxe.com. This local chain serves bistro-style American comfort food in a fun and noisy setting with wood fans and colorful, oversized European liquor posters. ❂ J R L D $$

BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon, 4901 Fairmont Ave., 301-951-5681, www.blackfinnbethesda.com. Dark wood and crisp white tablecloths signal an aboveaverage pub experience. The bar area can be noisy and crowded, but the two dining areas are relatively peaceful. ❂ J L D $$

Cava Mezze Grill, 4832 Bethesda Ave., 301-6561772, www.cavagrill.com. The guys from Cava restaurant have created a Greek version of Chipotle. Choose the meat, dip or spread for a pita, bowl or salad. J L D $

Black’s Bar & Kitchen (Editors’ Pick), 7750 Woodmont Ave., 301-652-5525, www.blacksbarandkitch en.com. Bethesda Magazine readers voted Black’s “Best MoCo Restaurant” and “Best Happy Hour” in 2014. Customers count on the impeccable use of fresh and local ingredients. ❂ R L D $$$ Bold Bite, 4901-B Fairmont Ave., 301-951-2653, www. boldbite.net. Designer hot dogs from the Venezuelan Roche brothers, with a menu that won “Best Menu Design” from the magazine’s editors in 2013. J L D $ Brasserie Monte Carlo, 7929 Norfolk Ave., 301656-9225, www.brasseriemontecarlo.com. FrenchMediterranean dishes and a mural of a Monte Carlo landscape transport diners to Monaco. ❂ R L D $$ Brickside Food & Drink, 4866 Cordell Ave., 301-3126160, www.bricksidebethesda.com. Prohibition-era drinks meet Italian bar bites and entrées. ❂ R D $$ Caddies on Cordell, 4922 Cordell Ave., 301-215-7730, www.caddiesoncordell.com. Twenty-somethings gather at this golf-themed spot to enjoy beer and wings specials in a casual, rowdy atmosphere that frequently spills onto the large patio. Bethesda Magazine readers voted Caddies "Best Bar Food" in 2014. ❂ J R L D $

Cesco Osteria, 7401 Woodmont Ave., 301-654-8333, www.cesco-osteria.com. Longtime chef Francesco Ricchi relocates from Cordell Avenue, turning out his Tuscan specialties in a bigger, jazzier space. ❂ L D $$ Chef Tony’s, 4926 St. Elmo Ave., 301-654-3737, www. cheftonysbethesda.com. Chef-owner Tony Marciante focuses on Mediterranean seafood tapas in what was formerly called Visions Restaurant. J R L D $$ City Lights of China, 4953 Bethesda Ave., 301913-9501, www.bethesdacitylights.com. Longtime Chinese eatery relocates to a different stretch of Bethesda Avenue, serving the same menu of familiar Szechuan and Beijing dishes. Red walls and chocolate-colored booths give the place a darker, sharper look. L D $$ Daily Grill, One Bethesda Metro Center, 301-6566100, www.dailygrill.com. Everyone from families to expense-account lunchers can find something to like about the big portions of fresh American fare, including chicken pot pie and jumbo lump crabcakes. ❂ J B R L D $$ Don Pollo, 7007 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-0001. Juicy, spiced birds and reasonable prices make this Peruvian

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chicken eatery a go-to place any night of the week. Locations in Rockville and Hyattsville, too. L D $ Faryab Restaurant (Editors’ Pick), 4917 Cordell Ave., 301-951- 3484., farandawaycycling.com/Fary ab/index.html. Faryab serves well-prepared Afghani country food, including Afghanistan’s answer to Middle Eastern kabobs, vegetarian stews and unique sautéed pumpkin dishes, in a whitewashed dining room with native art on the walls and attentive service. D $$ Flanagan’s Harp & Fiddle, 4844 Cordell Ave., 301951-0115, www.flanagansharpandfiddle.com. This stylish pub features live music several days a week and Tuesday night poker and Monday quiz nights. In addition to traditional stews and fried fish, Flanagan’s offers smoked ribs, salmon and traditional Irish breakfast on weekends. ❂ J B L D $$ Food Wine & Co. (Editors’ Pick), 7272 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-8008, www.foodwineandco.com. American fare at a stunning bistro in the old Uno Chicago Grill space. L D $$ Freddy’s Lobster + Clams, 4867 Cordell Ave., 240743-4257, www.freddyslobster.com. New Englandstyle seafood shack with fried specialties and a terrific beer menu. Bethesda Magazine readers voted its lobster roll the best in 2013. ❂ J L D $ Garden Grille & Bar (in the Hilton Garden Inn), 7301 Waverly St., 301-654-8111, hiltongardeninn3.hilton. com/en/hotels/Maryland/Hilton-garden-inn-washing ton-dc-bethesda-WASBTGI/dining/index.html. Aside from a breakfast buffet featuring cooked-to-order omelets, waffles, fruit and more, the restaurant offers an extensive menu, from burgers and other sandwiches to crabcakes, short ribs and pasta dishes. J B D $$ Geppetto, 10257 Old Georgetown Road, 301-4939230, www.geppettorestaurant.com. Sicilian-style pizza served in a casual atmosphere inside bustling Wildwood Shopping Center, plus classic Italian sandwiches and red-sauce dinners. ❂ J L D $$ Geste Wine & Food, 4801 Edgemoor Lane, 301-7181675, www.gestewine.com. Pizza, panini, subs and salads, plus a small retail area with reasonably priced bottles of wine. L D $

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Grapeseed American Bistro + Wine Bar (Editors’ Pick), 4865 Cordell Ave., 301-986-9592, www.grape seedbistro.com. Chef-owner Jeff Heineman, who develops each dish on the frequently updated menu to pair with a specific wine, also offers small plates and a 10-seat wine-room table. Its private dining room tied for best in 2013. L (Tuesday-Friday) D $$$ Gringos & Mariachis (New), 4928 Cordell Ave., 240-800-4266, www.gringosandmariachis.com. The owners of the popular Olazzo Italian restaurants in Bethesda and Silver Spring trade in the red sauce for salsa at this hip taqueria with edgy murals, dark booths and plenty of tequila. Starters include duck nachos, chorizo-stuffed dates and bacon-wrapped jalapenos, and the taco selection nears 15 different choices. Platters available, too. L D $ Guapo’s Restaurant, 8130 Wisconsin Ave., 301-6560888, www.guaposrestaurant.com. This outpost of a local chain has everything you’d expect: margaritas and chips galore, as well as a handful of daily specials served in festive Mexican surroundings. Perfect for families and dates. J R L D $

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dining guide Guardado’s, 4918 Del Ray Ave., 301-986-4920, www. guardadosnico.com. Chef-owner Nicolas Guardado, who trained at Jaleo, opened this hidden gem devoted to Latin-Spanish cooking in 2007 and has developed a following with tapas specialties like shrimp and sausage, stuffed red peppers and paella. J L D $

Kabob Bazaar, 7710 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-5814, www.kabobbazaar.com. The younger sister of a popular Arlington restaurant with the same name offers kabobs in every protein possibility, plus lots of vegetarian side dishes. Music on Saturdays and Sundays. ❂ J L D $

Hanaro Restaurant & Lounge, 7820 Norfolk Ave., 301-654-7851, www.hanarobethesda.com. Modern dark woods and lots of light brighten the corner location, and the menu includes sushi and Asian fusion main courses. The bar offers a daily happy hour and is open on Fridays and Saturdays until 2 a.m. ❂ L D $$

Kadhai (Editors’ Pick), 7905 Norfolk Ave., 301-7180121, www.kadhaimd.com. The popular Indian restaurant formerly known as Haandi has relocated to the old Uptown Deli space. L D $$

Hard Times Café, 4920 Del Ray Ave., 301-951-3300, www.hardtimes.com. Good American beer selections, hearty chili styles ranging from Cincinnati (cinnamon and tomato) to Texas (beef and hot peppers), and hefty salads and wings bring families to this Wild West-style saloon for lunch and dinner. Owner Greg Hourigan is a fixture in the community. ❂ J L D $ Haven Pizzeria Napoletana (Editors’ Pick), 7137 Wisconsin Ave., 301-664-9412, www.havenpizzeria. com. Crispy-crusted, coal-fired pies like the ones they make in New Haven. The white clam pizza is a winner at this eatery, which earned “Best Pizza” honors from Bethesda Magazine readers in 2014. L D $ Himalayan Heritage (Editors’ Pick), 4925 Bethesda Ave., 301-654-1858, www.himalayanheritagedc.com. Indian, Nepalese and Indo-Chinese fare, featuring momos (Nepalese dumplings) and Indian takes on Chinese chow mein. L D $ Hinode Japanese Restaurant, 4914 Hampden Lane, 301-654-0908. Chef Ky Khuu’s sushi specials shine in a dining room dominated by a large fish tank at this tucked-away spot that has been in business since 1992. L D $$ House of Foong Lin, 4613 Willow Lane, 301-6563427. With a (slightly) new name but the same Cantonese, Hunan and Sichuan cuisine, Bethesda’s longtime Foong Lin restaurant has relocated to the old Moon Gate space. L D $$ House of Milae, 4932 St. Elmo Ave., 301-654-1997. The Kang family, who own Milae Cleaners in Bethesda, bring simple Korean dishes to their first food foray in the old Plaza del Sol space. Chef “M&M” Kang prepares home-style fare such as bulgogi, galbi and bibimbap; also look for the Korean-style sushi known as kimbab. The kids’ menu has one item: spaghetti, made from the recipe of owner Thomas Kang’s former college roommate’s mother. L D $

La Panetteria, 4921 Cordell Ave., 301-951-6433, www.lapanetteria.com. For more than 25 years, La Panetteria has transported diners into a quaint Italian villa with its impeccable service and Old World atmosphere, serving such classic dishes as homemade spaghetti and veal scaloppine. L D $$ Le Vieux Logis, 7925 Old Georgetown Road, 301-6526816, www.levieuxlogisrestaurant.com. The colorful exterior will draw you into this Bethesda institution, but classic French dishes such as Dover sole meunière will keep you coming back. D $$ Lebanese Taverna, 7141 Arlington Road, 301-9518681, www.lebanesetaverna.com. The latest branch of this long-lived local chain is an elegant spot for dipping puffy pita bread into hummus and baba ghanoush. The rest of the traditional Lebanese mezze are worth a try, too, as are the slow-cooked lamb dishes. Voted “Best Mediterranean Restaurant” by Bethesda Magazine readers in 2014. J L D $$ Louisiana Kitchen & Bayou Bar, 4907 Cordell Ave., 301-652-6945, www.louisianabethesda.com. Former Louisiana Express chef José Blanco and veteran waiter Carlos Arana continue the tradition of the popular Bethesda institution in a larger, spiffier setting. The prices and Cajun- and Creole-style menu are pretty much the same, the fried items are still divine and the pain perdou and beignets remain a great way to start a Sunday morning. B R L D $ Luke’s Lobster, 7129 Bethesda Lane, 301-718-1005, www.lukeslobster.com. An upscale carryout with authentic lobster, shrimp and crab rolls; the seafood is shipped direct from Maine. ❂ L D $ Mamma Lucia,4916Elm St.,301-907-3399,www.mamma luciarestaurants.com. New York-style pizza dripping with cheese and crowd-pleasing red sauce, and favorites like chicken Parmesan and linguini with clams draw the crowds to this local chain. ❂ J L D $$

Jaleo (Editors’ Pick), 7271 Woodmont Ave., 301913-0003, www.jaleo.com. The restaurant that launched the American career of chef José Andrés and popularized Spanish tapas for a Washington, D.C., audience offers hot, cold, spicy and creative small plates served with outstanding Spanish wines. Voted “Best Small Plates” by Bethesda Magazine readers in 2014. ❂ R L D $$

Markham’s Bar and Grill, 7141 Wisconsin Ave., 240800-4700, www.markhamsbar.com. A brick-and-mortar eatery from the owner of the former One3Five Cuisine food trailer, Markham’s is a neighborhood spot offering many of the popular sandwiches and salads from the mobile operation. Look for Pakistani tacos, banh mi and a marinated flank steak sandwich, plus nightly comfort-food specials. The beige-andblack interior sports a handsome wine cabinet and photographs of old Bethesda. An outdoor patio includes a pergola and a 5½-foot waterfall. ❂ L D $$

Jetties, 4829 Fairmont Ave., 301-951-3663, www.jetties dc.com. The first suburban location for the popular sandwich, salad and ice cream eatery, which has two restaurants in Northwest Washington, D.C. Also look for one-pot “crock” dishes and an innovative children’s menu. ❂ J L D $

Matuba Japanese Restaurant, 4918 Cordell Ave., 301-652-7449, www.matuba-sushi.com. Detail-oriented sushi chefs and attentive service perk up this otherwise plain white-and-blond-wood Japanese restaurant that has been doing a steady business in downtown Bethesda for 30 years. L D $$

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar, 7263 Woodmont Ave., 301-215-8305, www.maxbrenner.com. It’s sweets-only at the newest location of this international chain. Chocoholics and dessert lovers will have a field day with the restaurant’s milkshakes, coffee drinks, hot chocolate, crêpes, waffles, fondue, ice cream and chocolate pizza. There are also “Fast Max” items to go, and a retail section offers fashionably packaged bonbons, praline wafers and caramelized nuts rolled in hazelnut cream and cocoa powder. $ Mia’s Pizzas (Editors’ Pick), 4926 Cordell Ave., 301718-6427, www.miaspizzasbethesda.com. Mia’s woodburning oven turns out Naples-style pies with a variety of toppings; homemade soups and cupcakes in a cheery dining room with yellow, green and orange accents. ❂ J L D $$ Moby Dick House of Kabob, 7027 Wisconsin Ave., 301-654-1838, www.mobysonline.com. This kabob takeout/eat-in mainstay was one of the first kabob places in the area. It makes its own pita bread. L D $ Mon Ami Gabi, 7239 Woodmont Ave., 301-654-1234, www.monamigabi.com. Waiters serve bistro classics such as escargot, steak frites and profiteroles in a dark and boisterous spot that doesn’t feel like a chain. Voted “Best French Restaurant” by the magazine’s readers in 2014. Live jazz Tuesday and Thursday nights. ❂ J R L D $$ Morton’s, The Steakhouse, 7400 Wisconsin Ave., 301-657-2650, www.mortons.com. An ultra-sophisticated steak house serving pricey, large portions of prime-aged beef and drinks. The restaurant is known for a top-notch dinner experience but also offers lunch and a bar menu. D $$$ Mussel Bar & Grille, 7262 Woodmont Ave., 301215-7817, www.musselbar.com. Kensington resident and big-name chef Robert Wiedmaier serves his signature mussels, plus wood-fired tarts, salads and sandwiches. Wash them all down with a choice of 40 Belgian beers, which won “Best Beer Selection” by the magazine’s readers in 2013. ❂ R L D $$ Nest Cafe, 4921 Bethesda Ave., 301-718-6378, www.nestwinebarcafe.com. Nest offers simple salads, pasta and pizzas. Among the best eats, however, are the crispy calamari and artichokes appetizer and the mussels and fries entrée. ❂ J R L (Wednesday-Saturday) D $$ Newton’s Table (Editors’ Pick), 4917 Elm St., 301718-0550, www.newtonstable.com. Modern American cuisine from up-and-coming chef-owner Dennis Friedman, whose creations were voted “Best Example of Plating as Art” by the magazine’s editors in 2013. ❂ J L D $$$ Oakville Grille & Wine Bar (Editors’ Pick), 10257 Old Georgetown Road, 301-897-9100, www.oakville winebar.com. Fresh California food paired with a thoughtful wine list in an elegant, spare setting may not sound unique, but Oakville was one of the first in the area to do so, and it does it well. ❂ J L D $$ Olazzo (Editors’ Pick), 7921 Norfolk Ave., 301-6549496, www.olazzo.com. This well-priced, romantic restaurant is the place for couples seeking red-sauce classics at reasonable prices. Voted “Best Italian Restaurant” and “Best Fried Calamari” by our readers in 2014. ❂ L D $$

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Original Pancake House, 7703 Wisconsin Ave., Store D, 301-986-0285, www.ophrestaurants.com. Dozens of pancake dishes, as well as eggs and waffles galore. Named “Best Breakfast” by the magazine’s readers in 2014. ❂ J B L $

Persimmon (Editors’ Pick), 7003 Wisconsin Ave., 301-654-9860, www.persimmonrestaurant.com. Chef-owner Damian Salvatore’s popular restaurant hes reopened, with more casual décor, lower prices and less formal fare. ❂ L D $$

Panas Gourmet Empanadas, 4731 Elm St., 301657-7371, www.panasgourmet.com. Baked, not fried, empanadas with a modern twist—think chicken pesto, smoked eggplant and chipotle steak. L D $

Pines of Rome, 4709 Hampden Lane, 301-657-8775. Local celebrities and families gather at this downhome Italian spot for traditional food at prices that are easy on the wallet. The white pizza is a hit, and don’t forget the spaghetti and meatballs. L D $

Parker’s American Bistro, 4824 Bethesda Ave., 301654-6366, www.parkersbistro.com. An all-American menu with vintage local sports posters, Parker’s offers a wide-ranging food and wine list, upbeat soundtrack and servers who take an interest in your happiness. ❂ J R L D $$ Passage to India (Editors’ Pick), 4931 Cordell Ave., 301-656-3373, www.passagetoindia.info. Top-notch, pan-Indian fare by chef-owner Sudhir Seth, with everything from garlic naan to fish curry made to order. Elegant ivory screens shield diners from street noise. Voted “Best Indian Restaurant” by Bethesda Magazine readers in 2014. ❂ R L D $$ Penang Malaysian Cuisine, 4933 Bethesda Ave., 301-657-2878, www.penangmaryland.com. At this Malaysian spot decorated with exotic dark woods and a thatched roof, spices run the gamut of Near and Far Eastern influence, and flavors include coconut, lemongrass, sesame and chili sauce. L D $$

PizzaPass (New), 4924 St. Elmo Ave., 301-657-5522, www.pizzapass.net. Waiters, or “pizza passers,” circulate with a variety of hot slices of pizza on their trays, allowing diners to choose their preferred topping. Informal and very kid-friendly, the restaurant also offers pasta and a salad bar. It’s all-you-caneat for a set price, with substantial discounts for the kids. ❂ L D $ Pizza Tempo, 8021 Wisconsin Ave., 240-497-0003, www.pizzatempo.us. Pizza with a twist, which includes toppings such as sujuk (Mediterranean beef sausage), pistachio mortadella and spicy beef franks, plus a wide selection of pides (boat-shaped pizzas). Salads, wraps, panini and entrées also available. Limited seating; delivery within about a 3-mile radius. L D $ Pizzeria da Marco (Editors’ Pick), 8008 Woodmont Ave., 301-654-6083, www.pizzeriadamarco.net. Authentic Neapolitan pizzas fired in a $15,000 Italian brick oven. ❂ L D $

Positano Ristorante Italiano, 4940-48 Fairmont Ave., 301-654-1717, www.epositano.com. An authentic Italian, family-run restaurant popular for private events, large and small. Colorful rooms are decorated with Italian landscapes, copper pots and hanging plants, and the outdoor patio is one of the most beautiful in the county. ❂ L D $ Praline Bakery & Bistro, 4611 Sangamore Road, 301-229-8180, www.praline-bakery.com. Two former White House pastry chefs opened this sunny restaurant with a tempting bakery takeout counter, full dining service and a patio. The food, which includes chicken pot pie and pralines, is French with an American accent. The magazine’s editors voted its desserts the prettiest around in 2013. ❂ J B R L D $$ Raku (Editors’ Pick), 7240 Woodmont Ave., 301718-8680, www.rakuasiandining.com. Voted “Best Sushi” by the magazine’s readers in 2014 and “Best Bethesda Restaurant” in 2013, this casual restaurant has bamboo walls that do little to dampen the noise, but the menu satisfies with everything from sushi to kung pao chicken. ❂ L D $$ Redwood Restaurant & Bar, 7121 Bethesda Lane, 301-656-5515, www.redwoodbethesda.com. An upscale wine bar featuring fresh, local food and California-centric wines in the heart of Bethesda Lane. Voted “Best Private Dining Room” by the magazine’s readers in 2013 (in a tie), Redwood features a frequently changing menu and in-season farm-

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dining guide ers market dinners. The interior décor makes the most of recycled redwood and “green” materials. ❂ J RL D $$ Rice Paddies Grill & Pho, 4706 Bethesda Ave., 301718-1862, ricepaddiesgrill.com. This cute copper-andgreen eat-in/carryout makes quick work of Vietnamese favorites like pork, beef and vegetable skewers infused with lemongrass and the classic beef noodle soup known as pho. L D $ Rock Bottom Brewery, 7900 Norfolk Ave., 301652-1311, www.rockbottom.com. The award-winning beers are crafted in-house and the menu is vast at this cavernous yet welcoming chain. The burgers are the real deal. ❂ J L D $$ Roof Bethesda (New), 7940 Norfolk Ave. 240-2457663, www.roofbethesda.com. Bethesda’s first fullservice rooftop restaurant and bar is a two-level extravaganza with a casual glass-enclosed dining room and bar on the second floor and a large rooftop space—serving drinks and lighter fare—directly above it. The modern American menu focuses on familiar dishes such as sea scallops, pork chops and shrimp and grits, elevated with simple twists. Craft cocktails and homemade desserts are taken seriously, too. ❂ J R L D $$ Ruth’s Chris Steak House, 7315 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-7877, www.ruthschris.com. A dark and clubby feel makes this elegant chain popular with families as well as the happy-hour crowd. Don’t skip the fresh seafood choices. D $$$ Sala Thai, 4828 Cordell Ave., 301-654-4676, www. salathaidc.com. This Thai mainstay cooks the classics and offers diners a nearly panoramic view of Woodmont Avenue through huge, curved windows. Live jazz Friday and Saturday evenings. L D $$ Saphire Café, 7940 Wisconsin Ave., 301-986-9708. A relaxing spot for tasting everything from Maryland-style crab soup to Argentine skirt steak, Saphire pumps it up a notch on Friday and Saturday nights with drink specials and DJs. Tiki bar open Wednesdays through Saturdays. ❂ J L D $ Satsuma, 8003 Norfolk Ave., 301-652-1400. Bethesda’s first yakiniku (Japanese barbecue) restaurant has built-in grills at each table. Diners select a cut— short rib, chuck rib, skirt or tongue—and prepare it themselves. There’s also an extensive sushi and sashimi menu, as well as interesting cooked dishes. L D $$ Shanghai Village, 4929 Bethesda Ave., 301-654-7788. Owner Kwok Chueng prides himself on personal attention and recognizing regulars who have been stopping in for his classic Chinese cooking for more than 25 years. Order the secret recipe Mai Tai. L D $ Shangri-La Indian and Nepalese Cuisine, 7345-A Wisconsin Ave., 301-656-4444, www.shangrilaus.com. Northern Indian and Nepali specialties such as butter chicken and fresh flatbreads known as naan shine here. J L D $ Share Wine Lounge & Small Plate Bistro, 8120 Wisconsin Ave. (in the Doubletree Hotel), 301-6522000, www.doubletreebethesda.com/Food-DrinksFun/Share-Wine-Lounge-Small-Plate-Bistro. Share some buffalo chicken sliders or avocado bruschet-

ta, or go for main courses ranging from Yankee pot roast to cedar plank-roasted salmon. B L D $$ Smoke BBQ Bethesda, 4858 Cordell Ave., 301-6562011, smokebbqbethesda.com. Pulled pork, beef brisket, smoked chicken, ribs and all the fixin’s at Bethesda’s only sit-down barbecue joint. L D $ South Street Steaks, 4856 Cordell Ave., 301-2157972, www.southstreetsteaks.com. Even transplanted Philadelphians will admire the cheesesteaks at this local chain’s third location. The shop also offers chicken cheesesteaks, hoagies (that’s Philly-talk for cold subs) and sandwiches called “Phillinis,” a cross between “Philly” and “panini.” J L D $ Steamers Seafood House, 4820 Auburn Ave., 301-718-0661, www.steamersseafoodhouse.com. Steamers brings Bethany Beach to Bethesda, especially if diners sit on the wraparound porch in warm weather with a bucket of crabs and some beer.❂ J L D $$ Stromboli Family Restaurant, 7023 Wisconsin Ave., 301-986-1980, www.strombolisrestaurant.com. In addition to a large selection of delectable hot Italian sandwiches called stromboli, this proud family restaurant/carryout features pizzas, subs and pastas at reasonable prices. L D $ sweetgreen, 4831 Bethesda Ave., 301-654-7336, www.sweetgreen.com. Founded in 2007 in Washington, D.C., by three newly graduated Georgetown students, the sweetgreen fast-casual chain—with its focus on local and organic ingredients—has expanded rapidly. The menu concentrates on salads and wraps (devise your own, or pick from a list), plus tart frozen yogurt. Look for eco-friendly décor, a healthy sensibility and a hip buzz. ❂ L D $ Tako Grill, 7756 Wisconsin Ave., 301-652-7030, www. takogrill.com. Families and sake connoisseurs seek out this eclectic spot where sushi, sashimi and other Japanese treats are fresh, and waiters are knowledgeable and friendly. L D $$ Tandoori Nights, 7236 Woodmont Ave., 301-6564002, www.tandoorinightsbethesda.com. Indian cuisine returns to the former Delhi Dhaba space. ❂ L D $$ Tara Thai, 4828 Bethesda Ave., 301-657-0488, www. tarathai.com. Thai goes high style at Bethesda Magazine readers’ pick for “Best Thai Restaurant” in 2014. With colorful murals of ocean creatures looking on, diners can try dishes ranging from mild to adventurous. ❂ L D $$ Tastee Diner, 7731 Woodmont Ave., 301-652-3970, www.tasteediner.com. For more than 70 years, this crowd-pleasing if slightly sagging spot has served up everything from breakfast to burgers to blueplate specials like steak and crabcakes. Open 24 hours. J B L D $ Taylor Gourmet, 7280 Woodmont Ave., 301-9519001, www.taylorgourmet.com. Upscale takes on Philadelphia hoagies and sandwiches. Italian flavors and top-notch ingredients. L D $ The Barking Dog, 4723 Elm St., 301-654-0022, www. thebarkingdogonline.com. A fun place for young adults, with drink specials nearly every night and bar food such as quesadillas and burgers. Salsa danc-

ing on Tuesdays, trivia on Wednesdays, karaoke on Thursdays and a DJ and dancing Fridays and Saturdays. L D $ The Burger Joint, 4827 Fairmont Ave., 301-358-6137, www.bgrtheburgerjoint.com. The burgers are good and the vibe is great at this frequently packed eatery next to Veterans Park. The non-beef burgers are good, too. ❂ J L D $ The Corner Slice, 7901 Norfolk Ave., 301-907-7542, www.thecornerslice.net. New York-style pizza, available by the slice or as a 20-inch pie. ❂ L D $ The Parva, 7904 Woodmont Ave., 301-312-6488, www. theparva.com. Latin-fusion cuisine with offerings from Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. ❂ D $ Tia Queta, 4839 Del Ray Ave., 301-654-4443, www.tia queta.com. This longtime family and happy-hour favorite offers authentic Mexican food like moles and fish dishes, as well as the usual Tex-Mex options. ❂ J L D $$ Tommy Joe’s Restaurant, 4714 Montgomery Lane, 301-654-3801, www.tommyjoes.com. Hot wings and drink specials abound at this friendly restaurant/ bar/nightclub featuring 20 big-screen TVs for game time. ❂ J L D $$ Trattoria Sorrento (Editors’ Pick), 4930 Cordell Ave., 301-718-0344, www.trattoriasorrento.com. This family-run Italian favorite offers homemade pastas, baked eggplant and fresh fish dishes. Halfprice bottles of wine on Wednesdays. Opera dinners at 6 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month feature a four-course meal and a performance for $50 per person. D $$ Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Café, 4870 Bethesda Ave., 301-656-2981, www.unclejulios.com. Loud and large, this Tex-Mex eatery packs in families and revelers fueling up on fajitas, tacos and more. Kids love to watch the tortilla machine. ❂ J R L D $$ Union Jack’s, 4915 St. Elmo Ave., 301-652-2561, www.unionjacksbethesda.com. This authentically decorated British-style pub is partially below street level. English dishes such as Welsh rarebit cozy up to burgers, salads and crabcakes. DJ and dancing weekends until 2:30 a.m. ❂ J L D $$ Vapiano, 4900 Hampden Lane, 301-215-7013, www. vapiano.com. Worldwide Italian chain offers reasonably priced pizza, pasta and panini in a chic cafeteriastyle setting. ❂ J L D $ Vino Volo, 7247 Woodmont Ave., 301-656-0916, www. vinovolobethesdarow.com. First non-airport location for the wine bar and shop that also features a rustic café serving small plates, salads, sandwiches, pizza and a few entrées. ❂ L D $$ Wildwood Kitchen, 10223 Old Georgetown Road (in the Wildwood Shopping Center), 301-571-1700, www.wildwoodkitchenrw.com. Attractive neighborhood bistro serving fresh and light modern cuisine from well-known chef Robert Wiedmaier. L D $$ Woodmont Grill (Editors’ Pick), 7715 Woodmont Ave., 301-656-9755, www.hillstone.com. Part of the Houston’s chain, offering such classics as spinach and artichoke dip and the famous burgers, but also house-baked breads, more exotic dishes, live jazz and a granite bar. ❂ J L D $$$

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Yamas Mediterranean Grill, 4806 Rugby Ave., 301312-8384, www.yamasgrill.com. Gyros, souvlaki, lemon chicken and other Greek specialties at this friendly and sunny café. ❂ J L D $ Yuzu, 7345-B Wisconsin Ave., 301-656-5234, yuzu bethesda.com. Authentic Japanese dishes, including sushi, sashimi and cooked tofu, vegetable, tempura, meat and fish dishes, prepared by sushi chef and owner Yoshihisa Ota. L D $$

Cabin John Fish Taco, 7945 MacArthur Blvd., 301-229-0900, www.fishtacoonline.com. This counter-service taqueria from the owners of Bethesda’s Food Wine & Co. features a full roster of seafood as well as nonaquatic tacos, plus margaritas and other Mexican specialties. The eco-chic décor is casual and attractive, and there are rolls of paper towels on every table to sop up sauce-stained fingers. Don’t miss the bread pudding. ❂ J L D $ Wild Tomato, 7945 MacArthur Blvd., 301-229-0680, www.wildtomatorestaurant.com. A family-friendly neighborhood restaurant from Persimmon owners Damian and Stephanie Salvatore, serving salads, sandwiches and pizza. Voted "Best Fish Tacos" by our readers in 2014. ❂ J L D $

Chevy Chase Alfio’s, 4515 Willard Ave., 301-657-9133, www.alfi os.com. Owner Anastasios “Tasios” Hatzitanagiotis welcomes families and casual diners to the elegant dining room of this northern Italian classic, located on the first floor of the Willoughby Condominium. The salad bar, pastas and homemade desserts are popular. L D $$ Capital Grille, 5310 Western Ave., 301-718-7812, www.capitalgrille.com. The upscale steak-house chain, known for its he-man-sized portions and extensive wine list, is located in The Shops at Wisconsin Place. L D $$$$ Clyde’s, 5441 Wisconsin Ave., 301-951-9600, www. clydes.com. Features a frequently changing menu of American favorites and a collection of vintage airplanes and cars, as well as a model train running on a track around the ceiling. ❂ J R L D $$ Indique Heights, 2 Wisconsin Circle, 301-656-4822, www.indiqueheights.com. Sumptuous silks, a fountain and sweeping vistas from the windows behind the bar heighten the feeling of an Indian palace, but it’s the cooking of chef-partner K.N. Vinod that keeps patrons coming back. ❂ R L D $$ La Ferme (Editors’ Pick), 7101 Brookville Road, 301-986-5255, www.lafermerestaurant.com. This warm and charming Provence-style restaurant is a popular choice for an intimate dinner or a celebration in one of several private rooms or on the heated patio terrace. Perhaps that’s why the magazine’s readers voted it the “Most Romantic Restaurant” in 2014 and editors named it “Best Restaurant for Am-

bience” in 2013. Classic French cuisine from onion soup to sweetbreads. ❂ R L D $$$ Lia’s (Editors’ Pick), 4435 Willard Ave., 240-2235427, www.liasrestaurant.com. Owner Geoff Tracy focuses on high-quality, low-fuss modern ItalianAmerican fare at this funky and modern space with a wine room. Pizzas, house-made pastas and fresh fish please business lunchers and dinner crowds. The magazine’s readers chose it as “Best Chevy Chase Restaurant” in 2013. ❂ J R L D $ Manoli Canoli Restaurant, 8540 Connecticut Ave., 301-951-1818, www.manolicanoli.com. Italian and Greek specialties at a fun family eatery that features a large prepared foods section, dishes made with olive oil from owner Stavros Manolakos’ family farm in Greece and homemade mozzarella on pizza and subs. ❂ J L D $ Meiwah Restaurant, 4457 Willard Ave., 301-6529882, www.meiwahrestaurant.com. This modern restaurant on the second floor of a Friendship Heights office building offers top-quality Chinese dishes that are hard to beat. A fountain sparkles on the outdoor patio. Sushi bar. ❂ L D $$ Mi Cocina, 5471 Wisconsin Ave. (in The Collection), 301-652-1195, www.micocinarestaurants.com. A Dallas-based chain serving Tex-Mex staples such as enchiladas, tacos and fajitas in stylish surroundings. L D $$ Potomac Pizza, 19 Wisconsin Circle, 301-951-1127, www.potomacpizza.com. This cheery, casual dining room provides a break from the ultra-posh shopping surrounding it. In addition to pizza, subs and pastas are popular. Beer and wine available. ❂ J L D $ Sushiko (Editors’ Pick), 5455 Wisconsin Ave., 301961-1644, www.sushikorestaurants.com. Washington, D.C.’s oldest and most respected sushi restaurant, opened in Glover Park in 1976, continues its tradition in a bigger, sleeker suburban outpost. ❂ L D $$ Tavira, 8401 Connecticut Ave., 301-652-8684, www. tavirarestaurant.com. Fish stews and several versions of bacalhau (salted cod) figure prominently on the menu of this intriguing Portuguese restaurant, which manages to be charming and attractive despite its location in an office building basement. L (except Saturday and Sunday) D $$

All natural breads made from scratch

Indulge in our s, e sandwicahnd soups, ts swee too!

4961 Elm St Bethesda, MD 20814 301-654-7970 Located in Bethesda, Gaithersburg, and Barracks Row (Capitol Hill)

Kadhai I n di a n Cu isi n e

The Tasting Room Wine Bar & Shop, 5330-A Western Ave. (The Shops at Wisconsin Place), 301-6649494, www.thetastingroomwinebar.com. A project of John Kent Cooke, son of Jack and owner of Virginia’s Boxwood Winery, the Tasting Room offers Boxwood as well as European wines, plus olives, nuts and charcuterie and cheese plates. Live music Saturday nights. ❂ L D $

Lunch 11:30-2:30 | Dinner 5-10

We offer daily lunch buffet

GarretT Park Black Market Bistro (Editors’ Pick), 4600 Waverly Ave., 301-933-3000, www.blackmarketrestaurant. com. Sublime American bistro fare served in a restored Victorian building next to railroad tracks; the building once served as a general store and still houses a post office. ❂ J R L D $$

301.718.0121 7905 Norfolk Ave. Bethesda, MD 20814 www.kadhai.com

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dining guide Glen Echo Irish Inn at Glen Echo, 6119 Tulane Ave., 301-2296600, www.irishinnglenecho.com. This historic tavern has been a family home and a biker bar, but its incarnation as the Irish Inn has been bringing smiles to faces and hearty food to bellies since 2003. Traditional Irish music on Monday nights and The 19th Street Band on every other Wednesday night. ❂ J R L D $$

Kensington K Town Bistro, 3784 Howard Ave., 301-933-1211, www.ktownbistro.com. Beef Wellington, duck breast à l’orange and other classic continental dishes from this eatery owned by Gonzalo Barba, former longtime captain of the restaurant in the Watergate Hotel. L D $$ Savannah’s American Grill, 10700 Connecticut Ave., 301-946-7917. A casual sports bar serving American bar food, including wraps, burgers, salads and ribs, and brunch on weekends, which spills out onto a 50-seat patio. ❂ J R L D $

North Potomac/ Gaithersburg Athens Grill, 9124 Rothbury Drive, 301-975-0757, www.athensgrill.com. This casual, friendly, familyrun restaurant in Goshen Plaza specializes in authentic Greek cooking, using recipes handed down through generations. Specialties like rotisserie chicken, chargrilled salmon with a lemon dill sauce and lamb kabobs are cooked behind the counter on a hardwood grill. L D $ Bonefish Grill, 82 Market St., 240-631-2401, www. bonefishgrill.com. While fresh fish cooked over a wood fire is the centerpiece of this upscale Florida chain, the steaks, crabcakes and specialty martinis make it a fun option for happy hour and those with hearty appetites. Bethesda Magazine readers selected it as the “Best Gaithersburg Restaurant” in 2013. R L (only on Sundays) D $$ Buca di Beppo, 122 Kentlands Blvd., 301-947-7346, www.bucadibeppo.com. The Kentlands outpost of this national chain serves huge, family-style portions of Italian specialties amid a sea of Italian kitsch. J L D $$ Burma Road, 617 S. Frederick Ave., 301-963-1429, www.burmaroad.biz. A good place to sample pickled tea leaf salad and other Burmese specialties. L D $ Coal Fire, Kentlands Square, 116 Main St., 301-5192625, www.coalfireonline.com. Homemade crusts fired by anthracite coal and topped with your choice of three different sauces, plus toppings. Salads, sandwiches and pasta also available. Full bar. ❂ L D $ Copper Canyon Grill, 100 Boardwalk Place, 240-6310003, www.ccgrill.com. Large portions of American classics like salads, ribs and rotisserie chicken at family-friendly prices are the bill of fare at this spacious chain restaurant. J L D $$

Dogfish Head Alehouse, 800 W. Diamond Ave., 301963-4847, www.dogfishalehouse.com. The first Maryland outpost of the popular Rehoboth Beach brewpub, the restaurant is packed with revelers and families clamoring for the Dogfish Head brews, burgers, pizzas and ribs. ❂ J L D $$ Famous Dave’s, 917 Quince Orchard Road, 240-6830435, www.famousdaves.com. This local outpost of a national chain offers smoked meat and hearty portions of classic sides such as baked beans and creamy coleslaw. ❂ J L D $ Growler’s, 227 E. Diamond Ave., 301-519-9400, www. growlersrestaurant.com. This turn-of-the-century building in downtown Gaithersburg is now a brewpub with regular and seasonal house brews and a full menu including pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and entrées such as Cajun rigatoni and steak frites. Live music Wednesday through Saturday. ❂ R L D $ Guapo’s Restaurant, 9811 Washingtonian Blvd., L-17, 301-977-5655, www.guaposrestaurant.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ J R L D $ HaKuBa Restaurant, 706 Center Point Way, 301947-1283, hakubakentlands.com. An elegant, modern Japanese sushi spot that also serves fresh fish and teriyaki and tempura dishes. Wood stools and a silver bar elevate the décor. Dollar-sushi happy hours Monday through Thursday; sake bottles half-price on Mondays. L D $$ Il Porto Restaurant, 245 Muddy Branch Road, 301590-0735, www.ilportorestaurant.com. A classic redsauce menu, elegant murals of Venice and an authentic thin-crust pizza at a friendly, unfussy Italian restaurant tucked in the Festival Shopping Center. L D $ Joe’s Crab Shack, 221 Rio Blvd., 301-947-4377, www. joescrabshack.com. This is one of three Maryland locations of the chain, which offers blue crabs from April through August and other varieties year-round, as well as chicken and burgers for landlubbers. Popular with families and young couples. ❂ J L D $$ Le Palais, 304 Main St., Suite 1, 301-947-4051, www. restaurantlepalais.com. Chef-owner Joseph Zaka trips lightly through the dishes of Brittany and Burgundy, adding a modern twist here and there. D $$$ Nantucket’s Reef, 9755 Traville Gateway Drive, North Potomac, 301-279-7333, www.nantucketsreef.com. Located in the former Stella’s restaurant, this casual New England-style eatery offers a wide range of reasonably priced seafood dishes, including raw and baked oysters, stuffed cod, fried Ipswitch clams, fish and shrimp tacos, tuna and salmon salads, and several lobster items. The décor is bright and nautical, with baby blue walls, white wainscoting, model ships and other seafaring décor. Signature cocktails are made with Nantucket Nectars juices. ❂ J L D $$ Not Your Average Joe’s, 245 Kentlands Blvd. (in Kentlands Square Shopping Center), 240-477-1040, www.notyouraveragejoes.com. Massachusetts-based chain serving creative casual cuisine. ❂ J L D $$ Potomac Pizza, 625 Center Point Way, 301-9779777, www.potomacpizza.com. See Chevy Chase listing. J L D $

Red Hot & Blue, 16811 Crabbs Branch Way, 301948-7333, www.redhotandblue.com. Hickory-smoked barbecue and a Southern attitude at a chain popular for its office party takeout and its family-friendly, kitschy roadhouse décor. J L D $ Rio Grande Café, 231 Rio Blvd., 240-632-2150, www. unclejulios.com. See Bethesda listing under Uncle Julio’s. ❂ J R L D $$ Romano’s Macaroni Grill, 211 Rio Blvd., 301-9635003, www.macaronigrill.com. Standard Italian-American fare served in a lively, family-friendly setting. Pastas, pizzas and house-label wine. ❂ J L D $$ Sardi’s Pollo a La Brasa, 430 N. Frederick Ave., 301977-3222, www.sardischicken.com. Yes, there’s chicken, but don’t miss the other Peruvian specialties, especially the ceviche. L D $ Star Diner, 705 Center Point Way, 301-921-8222, www.mystardiner.com. A modern diner with a ’50s feel. The massive menu includes everything from gyros to pancakes, chicken noodle soup and wraps. Tiki Bar on Thursdays. Live music Fridays and Saturdays. ❂ J B L D $ Tandoori Nights, 106 Market St., 301-947-4007, www.tandoorinightsmd.com. Downtown martini lounge meets modern curry palace in the Kentlands. A feast for the eyes as well as the palate, Tandoori Nights specializes in marinated meats baked in the eponymous clay oven. ❂ L D $ Tara Thai, 9811 Washingtonian Blvd., L-9, 301-947-8330, www.tarathai.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ L D $$ Thai Tanium, 657 Center Point Way, 301-990-3699, www.thaitaniumrestaurant.com. Authentic Thai food laced with lots of chilies and garlic as hot as you like. ❂ J L D $ The Melting Pot, 9021 Gaither Road, 301-519-3638, www.themeltingpot.com. There’s nothing like dipping bits of bread, vegetables and apples into a communal pot of hot cheese to get a date or a party started. The Melting Pot chain also offers wine, oil or broth to cook meat tableside and chocolate fondue for dessert. J D $$ The Wine Harvest, The Kentlands, 114 Market St., 301-869-4008, www.thewineharvest.com. Popular Cheers-like wine bar locally owned by the Meyrowitz family, with salads, sandwiches and cheese plates. It also has a Potomac location. ❂ L D $ Vasilis Mediterranean Grill, 353 Main St., 301-9771011, www.vasilisgrill.com. With soaring white pillars and a spate of inviting outdoor tables, the Greek restaurant serves the usual souvlaki and gyros as well as more interesting dishes such as grilled branzini (sea bass) and lamb chops. ❂ J L D $ Yoyogi Sushi, 328 Main St., 301-963-0001. A nononsense neighborhood sushi place with bright fish tanks, offering the familiar sushi, teriyaki, tempura and green tea or red bean ice cream. L D $ Ziki Japanese Steak House, 10009 Fields Road, 301-330-3868, www.zikisteakhouse.com. This large steak house on a busy corner charms patrons with its fountains, stone Buddhas and geisha mannequins. Food offerings include sushi, as well as meats cooked on a tableside hibachi. J L D $$

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Potomac Amici Miei, 1093 Seven Locks Road, 301-545-0966, www.amicimieiristorante.com. Chef Davide Megna and manager/partner Roberto Deias have created an upscale Italian neighborhood gathering place, with wood-fired pizzas, homemade pastas and creative salads. Happy Hour held Monday through Friday. ❂ R L D $$ Attman’s Delicatessen, 7913 Tuckerman Lane (in the Cabin John Shopping Center & Mall), 301-765-3354, attmansdeli.com. After getting its start on Baltimore’s Corned Beef Row in 1915, the landmark Attman’s Deli made an historic move and opened a second location in Potomac in July 2013. The menu at the nearly century-younger sibling offers the same legendary corned beef, pastrami and other deli specialties. Thirdgeneration owner Marc Attman is at the helm. J L $ Benny’s Bar & Grill, 7747 Tuckerman Lane (in the Cabin John Shopping Center & Mall), 301-299-3377. Familiar American favorites and old-time cocktails served amidst 1940s-era décor. L D $$ Brooklyn’s Deli & Catering, 1089 Seven Locks Road, 301-340-3354, www.brooklynsdelimd.com. From chopped liver to chicken soup, Brooklyn’s serves all the deli specialties, plus more. ❂ J B L D $ Elevation Burger, 12525-D Park Potomac Ave., 301838-4010, www.elevationburger.com. Fast-food burgers go organic and grass-fed at this Northern Virginia-founded chain. Veggie burgers, salads and grilled cheese available, too. ❂ L D $ Gregorio’s Trattoria, 7745 Tuckerman Lane (in the Cabin John Shopping Center), 301-296-6168, www. gregoriostrattoria.com. “Our food is like a warm hug with spaghetti sauce” is the slogan for this familyowned restaurant, where proprietor Greg Kahn aims to make everyone feel at home. The extensive menu reads like a hit parade of traditional Italian favorites, with all the familiar pasta, pizza, chicken, veal and seafood dishes; the gluten-free menu offers pizza, cheese ravioli and quinoa spaghetti and penne. J L D $$ Mix Bar and Grille, 9812 Falls Road, Potomac, 301299-3000, www.mixbarandgrille.com. The former Bezu restaurant has been transformed into a more casual concept, serving charcuterie and cheese plates, brick-oven flatbreads and other light fare. The space was gutted and renovated into a modern, hip and totally different-looking dining room, with Plexiglas chairs, tall white banquettes, oak walls made from old whiskey barrels, five big screen TVs, cobalt blue light fixtures and a 20-seat bar. Look for lots of wines by the glass and beers on tap. L D $$ MoCo’s Founding Farmers, 12505 Park Potomac Ave., 301-340-8783, www.wearefoundingfarmers. com. Farm-inspired fare in a modern and casual setting; this is the sister restaurant to the phenomenally popular downtown Founding Farmers. Bethesda Magazine readers chose it for “Best Brunch” and “Best Craft Cocktails” in 2014 and as “Best Potomac Restaurant” in 2013. ❂ B R L D $$

Normandie Farm Restaurant, 10710 Falls Road, 301983-8838, www.popovers.com. A fine-dining French restaurant, open since 1931, that strives to preserve its classical heritage while embracing new traditions. It offers quick service and crayons for children, a casual café option and a violinist at afternoon tea. ❂ J R L D $$ Old Angler’s Inn, 10801 MacArthur Blvd., 301-2999097, www.oldanglersinn.com. Open since 1860 and known for its refined American food and beautiful fireplaces and grounds, it features live music on weekends. ❂ R L D $$$

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Potomac Pizza, 9812 Falls Road, 301-299-7700, www. potomacpizza.com. See Chevy Chase listing. L D $ Renato at River Falls, 10120 River Road, 301-3651900, www.riverfallsmarket.com. The classic Italian restaurant has added more wine and greatly improved fish dishes to its menu of pastas and classics such as osso bucco and linguini with clams and eggplant parmigiana. ❂ J L D $$ Sugo Osteria & Pizzeria, 12505 Park Potomac Ave., 240-386-8080, www.eatsugo.com. The Greek guys who own Cava Mezze and Cava Mezze Grills partner with Mamma Lucia restaurants to serve Italian small plates, meatballs, sliders, pizza and pasta. Bethesda Magazine readers chose Sugo as the “Best New Restaurant” in 2013. ❂ R (only on Sundays) L D $$ Tally-Ho Restaurant, 9923 Falls Road, 301-2996825, www.tallyhorestaurant.com. A local fixture since 1968 serving a diner-style menu with Greek and Italian specialties. ❂ J B L D $ The Grilled Oyster Company (Editors’ Pick), 7943 Tuckerman Lane (in the Cabin John Shopping Center), 301-299-9888, www.thegrilledoystercompa ny.com. Chesapeake-style seafood eatery, featuring small plates, salads, sandwiches and entrées. Happy Hour from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday in bar only. Named “Best New Restaurant” by Bethesda Magazine readers in 2014. ❂ J R L D $

7750 WOODMONT AVENUE | BETHESDA, MD 301.652.5525 blacksbarandkitchen.com

Sit outside. Have a cocktail. What better way to welcome back the sun?

The Hunter’s Inn, 10123 River Road, 301-299-9300, www.thehuntersinn.com. A Potomac institution and a popular English hunt-themed spot for a big salad or hamburger lunch with friends or a filet mignon dinner with the family. ❂ J R L D $$ The Tavern at River Falls (Editors’ Pick), 10128 River Road, 301-299-0481, www.thetavernatriverfalls.com. Seafood-heavy pub menu served in a rustic setting; the tavern is owned by the adjacent Renato’s at River Falls and River Falls Seafood Market. ❂ J L D $$ The Wine Harvest, 12525-B Park Potomac Ave., 240-314-0177, www.thewineharvest.com. The second location of the popular Gaithersburg wine bar. See Gaithersburg listing. ❂ L D $ Zoës Kitchen, 12505 Park Potomac Ave., Suite 115, 240-328-1022, www.zoeskitchen.com. First Maryland outpost of a Birmingham, Ala., fast-casual chain, Zoës features Mediterranean dishes such as kabobs, hummus and veggie pita pizzas. Specializes in takeout dinner for four for under $30. ❂ J L D $

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dining guide Rockville/ North Bethesda A & J Restaurant (Editors’ Pick), 1319-C Rockville Pike, 301-251-7878, www.aj-restaurant.com/main. html. Northern dim sum, more bread, less dumplings, is the specialty at this hard-to-find spot tucked in the Woodmont Station shopping center. Warm-colored walls and modern lighting surround the young crowd as they dig into thousand-layer pancakes and fresh tofu. Named “Best Dim Sum Brunch” by the magazine’s editors in 2014. L D $ Al Carbon, 200 Park Road, 301-738-0003, www. alcar bonrestaurant.com/. Serving authentic Latin American fare across the street from the Rockville Metro station, this unassuming roadhouse has a loyal following for its arepas, empanadas and more. ❂BLD$ Amalfi Ristorante Italiano, 12307 Wilkins Ave., 301770-7888, www.amalfirockville.com. A family-run, redsauce Italian restaurant with specialties like white pizza and lasagna. The gazebo is a charming spot to dine during the summer. J L D $ Amina Thai Restaurant, 5065 Nicholson Lane, 301770-9509. Pleasant and bright, Amina Thai is run by a husband-and-wife team and bills itself as the first Muslim Thai restaurant in the area, using only halal meats and serving familiar Thai dishes. L D $ Benjarong Thai Restaurant, 885 Rockville Pike, 301424-5533, www.benjarongthairestaurant.com. This Thai food stalwart has a reputation for above-average food served in a gracious setting reminiscent of an upscale country home. L D $ Bombay Bistro, 98 W. Montgomery Ave., 301-7628798, www.bombaybistro.com. Bombay Bistro opened in 1991 as one of the first Indian restaurants in the area to combine high style, reasonable prices and a fresh take on traditional Indian, and it has been packed ever since. J L D $ Bonchon Chicken (New), 107 Gibbs St., Unit A, 301637-9079 and 301-637-9379, www.bonchon.com. International fried chicken franchise with Korean roots serves up wings, drumsticks and strips with soy-garlic or spicy hot garlic sauce, plus other traditional offerings, such as bulgogi, bimbimbop and scallion seafood pancakes. Red, black and white color scheme encompasses a bar, tables and booths. L D $ BRIO Tuscan Grille, 20 Paseo Drive, 240-221-2691, www.brioitalian.com. Look for Tuscan specialties served in a handsome setting. ❂ J R L D $$ Carbon Peruvian Chicken & Grill, 100-F Gibbs St., 301-251-1944, www.carbonperuviangrill.com. A Peruvian grilled meat mecca from the owners of the popular La Canela, also in Rockville Town Square. ❂ L D $ Cava (Editors’ Pick), 9713 Traville Gateway Drive, 301-309-9090, www.cavamezze.com. The dark and elegant Cava offers small plates of fried Greek cheese, octopus and orzo in cinnamon tomato sauce and martini specials. ❂ R L D $$ Cavo’s Cantina, 4007 Norbeck Road, 301-929-3501. Traditional Tex-Mex fare, from nachos to enchiladas and fajitas. J R L D $$

Chef Geoff’s, 12256 Rockville Pike (in the Towne Plaza), 240-621-3090, www.chefgeoff.com. Geoff Tracy branches out with his fourth eponymous restaurant featuring contemporary cuisine and something for everyone. ❂ J R L D $$ Cuban Corner, 825 Hungerford Drive, 301-279-0310, www.cubancornerrestaurant.com. Pork and empanadas shine at this small space brimming with ethnic pride (there’s a tribute wall to famous Cuban-Americans). Don’t skip the Cuban coffee or the Cuban sandwich, a sub bursting with ham, pickles and tangy mustard. L D $ East Pearl, 838-B Rockville Pike, 301-838-8663. www. eastpearlrestaurant.com. Hong Kong cuisine, including familiar dishes, as well as those for adventurous tastes. L D $ El Mariachi Restaurant, 765-D Rockville Pike, 301738-7177, www.elmariachirockville.com. Serving TexMex and South American food in a bright, pleasant space made lively with colorful art. In addition to the usual enchiladas, tacos and burritos, look for Peruvian seafood and Cuban beef specialties. ❂ L D $ El Patio, 5240 Randolph Road, 301-231-9225, www. elpatiointernational.com. This bustling café with pretty green umbrellas on the patio serves up the traditional meat-heavy dishes of Argentina, as well as pizzas and freshly made baked goods. Look for mouth-watering empanadas, beef tongue and sausage specialties. ❂ J B L D $ Far East Restaurant, 5055 Nicholson Lane, 301-8815552, www.fareastrockvillemd.com. This classic Chinese restaurant greets customers with two royal stone lions out front and sticks to the familiar Chinese-American basics. Check for daily specials. L D $$ Fontina Grille, 801 Pleasant Drive, 301-947-5400, www.fontinagrille.com. A trendy spot with its curvy maple bar and wood-burning pizza oven, Fontina Grille is a favorite gathering place for the King Farm neighborhood. Pizza, pasta and salads are the main attractions. Two-dollar pasta dishes on Monday nights, half-price bottles of wine on Tuesdays and ladies’ night on Thursdays with half-priced alcoholic drinks. ❂ J R L D $$ Gordon Biersch, 200-A E. Middle Lane, Rockville Town Square, 301-340-7159, www.gordonbierschrestau rants.com. The national brewpub chain prides itself on house beers and friendly service. The shiny bar is boisterous, and the menu includes bar favorites with some barbecue and Asian touches.❂ J R L D $$ Grand Fusion Cuisine, 350 East Fortune Terrace, 301-838-2862, grandfusionrestaurant.com. Something for everyone seeking a taste of the Asian continent, a full sushi bar, and Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean specialties. ❂ L D $ Hard Times Café, 1117 Nelson St., 301-294-9720, www.hardtimes.com. See Bethesda listing. J L D $ Hinode Japanese Restaurant, 134 Congressional Lane, 301-816-2190. See Bethesda listing. L D $$ Il Pizzico, 15209 Frederick Road, 301-309-0610, www. ilpizzico.com. Setting aside the strip mall location and lack of pizza (il pizzico means “the pinch” in Italian), chef-owner Enzo Livia’s house-made pasta dishes,

gracious service and extensive wine list make even a weeknight meal feel special. L D $$ India Garden, 1321-C Rockville Pike, 301-838-0000, www.india-garden.com. Decorated in warm shades of orange and yellow, India Garden offers northern Indian specialties such as tandoori chicken and the flavorful flatbread called naan, as well as vegetarian options. Daily lunch buffet. ❂ J L D $ Joe’s Noodle House, 1488-C Rockville Pike, 301-8815518, www.joesnoodlehouse.com. Despite the barebones service and dingy interior, Chinese ex-pats and many other customers consider the Szechuan specialties (soft bean curd with spicy sauce and hot beef jerky) among the area’s best examples of gourmet Chinese cooking. L D $ La Brasa Latin Cuisine, 12401 Parklawn Drive, 301468-8850, www.labrasarockville.com. A bold, yellow awning marks the unlikely industrial location of the popular La Brasa. Customers rave about the rotisserie chicken, lomo saltado (Peruvian marinated steak), Salvadoran pupusas and Tres Leches. ❂ L D $ La Canela (Editors’ Pick), 141-D Gibbs St., Rockville Town Square, 301-251-1550, www.lacanelaperu. com/. Sophisticated, modern Peruvian cooking shines in a yellow stucco building graced with curvy black ironwork. ❂ L D $ La Limeña Restaurant, 765 Rockville Pike, 301-4248066. Diners can choose dishes such as beef hearts, tripe and homemade pastries in this tiny but wellappointed eatery. And of course, there’s rotisserie chicken to go. L D $ La Tasca, 141 Gibbs St., Suite 305, Rockville Town Square, 301-279-7011, www.latascausa.com. The Rockville location of this regional chain strives to keep things interesting with 45 tapas dishes and six kinds of paella. ❂ J L D $$ Lebanese Taverna Café, 1605 Rockville Pike, 301468-9086; 115 Gibbs St., Rockville Town Square, 301309-8681; www.lebanesetaverna.com. A casual and pleasant family spot for lunch or dinner after shopping at Congressional Plaza or Rockville Town Square, Lebanese Taverna Café is a more casual offshoot of the local Lebanese Taverna chain, serving hummus, pita, falafel, chicken and lamb kabobs. J L D $ Lighthouse Tofu & BBQ, 12710 Twinbrook Parkway, 301-881-1178. In addition to numerous tofu dishes, diners at this Korean stalwart can try barbecue, stirfried specialties and kimchee, the national dish of pickled cabbage. L D $ Mamma Lucia, 12274-M Rockville Pike, 301-7704894; 14921-J Shady Grove Road, 301-762-8805; www.mammaluciarestaurants.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ J L D $$ Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro (Editors’ Pick), 1699 Rockville Pike, 301-816-0369, www.matchbox foodgroup.com. Mini-burgers and thin-crusted pizza in a super-cool space in Congressional Plaza. ❂ J R L D $ MemSahib, 4840 Boiling Brook Parkway, 301-4680098, www.memsahibrestaurant.com. Patrons eat the Indian country way, with their hands. MemSahib offers a buffet lunch and a six-course prix fixe dinner while belly dancers entertain customers. L D $$

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Mi Rancho, 1488 Rockville Pike, 240-221-2636, www. miranchotexmexrestaurant.com. A boisterous party atmosphere every night at a place serving standard Tex-Mex fare at good prices. The outdoor patio, strung with colorful lights, is the place to be in nice weather. ❂ J L D $

Pho 75, 771 Hungerford Drive, 301-309-8873. One of the Washington area’s favorite spots for the Vietnamese beef noodle soup known as pho. Soup can be customized with bean sprouts, Thai basil, chilies, lime, and hot and hoisin sauces. L D $

Moa, 12300 Wilkins Ave., 301-881-8880. A welcoming Korean restaurant in the midst of an industrial stretch. Try the seafood pancake appetizer—a satisfying, crispy frittata bursting with squid, clams, shrimp and scallions. L D $

Pho 95, 785-H Rockville Pike, 301-294-9391, www. pho95md.com. Pho, the Vietnamese beef noodle soup, is king here. Other offerings include fat ricepaper rolls of shrimp, noodles and herbs with a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. L D $

Mosaic Cuisine & Café, 186 Halpine Road, 301-4680682, www.mosaiccuisine.com. A diner with a soft European accent. Try the fresh Belgian waffles for breakfast. For those with hefty appetites, the waffle sandwiches are worth the trip, but don’t overlook the homemade soups or light dinner entrées. JBRLD$ Mykonos Grill, 121 Congressional Lane, 301-7705999, www.mykonosgrill.com. An authentic Greek taverna with whitewashed walls on a busy street, Mykonos Grill turns out legs of lamb and fresh seafood expected at any good Greek restaurant. ❂ J L D $$ Nagoya Sushi Japanese Restaurant, 402 King Farm Blvd., Suite 130, 301-990-6778. Cheery yellow walls decorated with shelves of Japanese knickknacks greet customers at this unassuming sushi spot in King Farm. L D $$ Nick’s Chophouse, 700 King Farm Blvd., 301-9268869, www.nickschophouserockville.com. Aged Angus beef cooked over an open fire is the specialty at this upscale spot, but seafood lovers can get their fill from big crabcakes. Separate bar menu. ❂ J L D $$ Niwano Hana Japanese Restaurant, 887 Rockville Pike, 301-294-0553, www.niwanohana.com. Clean Asian décor and elegant wooden screens greet diners at this friendly and busy sushi spot located in Wintergreen Plaza. Niwano Hana serves the usual sushi rolls, plus more creative options such as a Spicy Scallop Roll with mayonnaise and chili peppers, noodle dishes, teriyaki and yakitori, as well as a special crêpe for dessert. L D $$ Old Kimura Sushi, 785 Rockville Pike, Unit D, 301251-1922, www.oldkimura.com. A small restaurant serving an extensive sushi menu, along with noodle soups, rice dishes and tempura. L D $$

Pho Hoa Binh, 11782 Parklawn Drive, 301-770-5576. This pleasant pho restaurant offers the full gamut of variations on the beef noodle soup, plus about a dozen grilled entrées. The Vietnamese iced coffee is divine. L D $ Pho Nom Nom, 842 Rockville Pike, 301-610-0232, www. phonomnom.net. As the name suggests, the specialty is pho, but there are also grilled dishes, noodles and the Vietnamese sandwich known as banh mi. L D $ Pitchfork, an American pub, 800 Pleasant Drive, 301355-4979. American food with an emphasis on burgers. ❂LD$ Pizza CS, 1596-B Rockville Pike, 240-833-8090, www. pizzacs.com. Authentic Neapolitan pies offered in a sub-shop atmosphere. ❂ J L D $ Potomac Pizza, 9709 Traville Gateway Drive, 301279-2234, www.potomacpizza.com. See Chevy Chase listing. ❂ J L D $

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Setting the Gold Standard in Middle Eastern Cuisine for Three Decades

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the Caribbean and Central and South America. From Brazil, there’s feijoada stew; from Cuba, ropa vieja; and from Jamaica, curry shrimp and jerk chicken. The extensive bar selection includes 50 varieties of rum, 15 tequilas and six types of mojitos, plus sangria, margaritas and specialty cocktails.❂ J R L D $$

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Michael’s Noodles, 10038 Darnestown Road, 301738-0370, www.michaelsnoodles.com. Extensive Taiwanese menu at this popular strip mall eatery includes dim sum, mixed noodle dishes, noodle soup and unusual specialties. L D $

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Bacchus of Lebanon

WintEr Winter SPECiaLS SpecialS Sun-Mon-Tues 1/2 Price Bottles of Wine Sun-Thurs 2 Course Meal for $20 Friday Live Entertainment 7945 Norfolk Avenue Bethesda, MD 301.657.1722 www.bacchusoflebanon.com

“Voted best Best Pizza by the readers of Bethesda Magazine, 2014”

Quench, 9712 Traville Gateway Drive, 301-424-8650, www.quenchnation.com. Urban bar scene in the suburbs, with unique cocktails and contemporary American cuisine. ❂ J R L D $$ Rocklands Barbeque and Grilling Company, 891-A Rockville Pike, 240-268-1120, www.rocklands.com. John Snedden has perfected the art of barbecue since he first opened Rocklands in Washington, D.C., in 1990. This location serves all-American pork ribs, smoked chicken, brisket and lamb cooked exclusively over red oak and hickory. ❂ J L D $

Original Pancake House, 12224 Rockville Pike, 301468-0886, www.ophrestaurants.com. See Bethesda listing. J R L $

Rolls ‘N Rice, 1701 Rockville Pike (Shops at Congressional Village), 301-770-4030, www.rollsnrice. com. This Asian café serves more than 25 varieties of rolls, from a volcano roll (spicy tuna, white fish, salmon, tomato, jalapeno, fish eggs and vegetables) to a Philadelphia Roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado). J L D $

Oro Pomodoro, 33-A Maryland Ave., Rockville Town Center, 301-251-1111, www.oropomodoro.com. Freshly made Neapolitan-style pizzas, cheese and charcuterie are the draw at this modern, airy, goldaccented space. ❂ J L D $

Sadaf Halal Restaurant, 1327-K Rockville Pike, 301424-4040. An elegant alternative to the run-of-the-mill kabob places dotting the Pike, Sadaf is pristine, with lace curtains and glass mosaic tiles in front. In addition to kabobs, it offers Persian curries and fish dishes. ❂ J L D $

Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar, 11333 Woodglen Drive, 301-816-1100, www.paladarlatin kitchen.com. This small Cleveland-based chain covers the spectrum of Latin cuisine, with dishes from Cuba,

Sam’s Café & Market, 844 Rockville Pike, 301-4241600, www.samcafemarket.com. After filling up on the kitchen’s juicy skewered meats, have a gelato and check out the hookahs. ❂ J L D $

After eating our homemade pizzas you will think you have died and gone to Haven

7137 WISCONSIN WISCONSIN AVE. AVE. 7137 BETHESDA, MD MD BETHESDA, 301-664-9412 301-664-9412

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Setting the Gold Standard in Middle Eastern Cuisine for Three Decades

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Bacchus of Lebanon

WintEr Winter SPECiaLS SpecialS Sun-Mon-Tues 1/2 Price Bottles of Wine Sun-Thurs 2 Course Meal for $20 Friday Belly Dancing or Live Entertainment 7945 Norfolk Avenue Bethesda, MD 301.657.1722 www.bacchusoflebanon.com

“Voted best Best Pizza by the readers of Bethesda Magazine, 2014”

Original Pancake House, 12224 Rockville Pike, 301468-0886, www.ophrestaurants.com. See Bethesda listing. J R L $

Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar, 11333 Woodglen Drive, 301-816-1100, www.paladarlatin kitchen.com. This small Cleveland-based chain covers the spectrum of Latin cuisine, with dishes from Cuba,

Sam’s Café & Market, 844 Rockville Pike, 301-4241600, www.samcafemarket.com. After filling up on the kitchen’s juicy skewered meats, have a gelato and check out the hookahs. ❂ J L D $

After eating our homemade pizzas you will think you have died and gone to Haven

7137 WISCONSIN WISCONSIN AVE. AVE. 7137 BETHESDA, MD MD BETHESDA, 301-664-9412 301-664-9412

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dining guide Seasons 52, 11414 Rockville Pike, 301-984-5252, www. seasons52.com. A fresh, seasonal menu featuring items under 475 calories. Nightly piano music. Voted “Best Rockville Restaurant” in 2013. ❂ L D $$ Seven Seas Chinese Restaurant, 1776 East Jefferson St., 301-770-5020, www.sevenseasrestaurant. com. An elegant restaurant popular with politicians and local chefs and known for its fresh seafood and impeccable service. Specials include the paper hot pot, meals using ancient Chinese herbs and afternoon tea. Sushi, too. J L D $ Sheba Restaurant, 5071 Nicholson Lane, Rockville, 301-881-8882, www.shebarockville.com. Authentic Ethiopian cuisine, with lots of vegetarian and vegan options. L D $ Sichuan Jin River, 410 Hungerford Drive, 240-4037351, www.scjinriver.com. Terrific Sichuan cuisine served in a no-frills setting. Take the plunge with the authentic Chinese menu. L D $ Silver Diner, 12276 Rockville Pike, 301-770-2828, www.silverdiner.com. Shiny new digs replace the local chain’s first location a few traffic lights away. The latest food trends (think quinoa coconut pancakes) share company on the enormous menu with diner staples such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes. J B R L D $

that spans the cuisine from Japan to Thailand and the tiny islands in between. ❂ J L D $$ Tara Thai, 12071 Rockville Pike, 301-231-9899, www. tarathai.com.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ L D $$ Taste of Saigon (Editors’ Pick), 20-A Maryland Ave., Rockville Town Square, 301-424-7222, www.tasteof saigon.com. This neighborhood favorite focuses on elegant Vietnamese preparations. Tamarind soft-shell crab and lime steak topped with an egg are specialties, but a variety of noodle dishes and lemongrass skewers are also offered. ❂ L D $$ Ted’s 355 Diner, 895 Rockville Pike, 301-340-0088, www.teds355.com. The former Broadway and Hollywood diners get reincarnated again, this time by Virginia pizza restaurateur Ted Thedorou. J B R L D $$ Temari Café, 1043 Rockville Pike, 301-340-7720. Deep-fried oysters, classic rice balls and comic books to peruse while you await your order set this Japanese restaurant apart from the rest. L D $$ Thai Farm, 800 King Farm Blvd., 301-258-8829, www. thaifarmrestaurant.com. A tastefully modern dining room soaked in a soothing yellow light. The usual suspects are on the menu here, but chef’s suggestions include an intriguing broiled fish wrapped in banana leaf and stir-fried duck. L D $$

Spice Xing, 100-B Gibbs St., Rockville Town Square, 301-610-0303, www.spicexing.com. Started by Sudhir Seth, chef and owner of Bethesda’s Passage to India, this location offers lower prices, smaller plates and dishes reflecting the history of culinary influences on India. ❂ J R L D $$

Thai Pavilion, 29 Maryland Ave., Unit 308, Rockville Town Square, 301-545-0244, www.thaipavilionrestau rant.com. The soaring ceilings decorated with red chandeliers shaped like giant, stationary spinning tops give the feel of a modern museum. When the menu says spicy, believe it. ❂ J L D $$

Super Bowl Noodle, 785 Rockville Pike, 301-738-0086. Asian noodle dishes in super-size portions. ❂ L D $

That’s Amore, 15201 Shady Grove Road, 240-2680682, www.thatsamore.com. This local chain focuses on family-style portions of classic Neapolitan dishes like lasagna and chicken Parmesan in a more elegant setting than might be expected. Good for groups and large families. J L D $$

Sushi Damo, 36-G Maryland Ave., Rockville Town Square, 301-340-8010, www.sushidamo.com. A slice of New York sophistication, this elegant restaurant offers sushi à la carte or omakase, chef’s choice, plus beef and seafood entrées and an impressive sake list. L D $$ Sushi House Japanese Restaurant, 1331-D Rockville Pike, 301-309-0043. A tiny, plain restaurant serving fresh sushi. Lunch specials for under $7. It’s popular, so be prepared to wait. L D $$ Sushi Oishii, 9706 Traville Gateway Drive, 301-2511177, www.sushioishii.com. Charming sushi bar in the Traville Gateway Center offering friendly service and 24 specialty sushi rolls, bento boxes and a few grilled items. ❂ L D $$ Taipei Tokyo, 14921-D Shady Grove Road (Fallsgrove Village Center), 301-738-8813; 11510-A Rockville Pike, 301-881-8388; www.taipei-tokyo.net. These sister restaurants offer a sizable roster of Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes. Opened in 2003, the Fallsgrove Village location is the younger and sleeker of the two, with full sit-down service. The older sister, opened in 1993 across from White Flint Mall, is more like a noodle shop/cafeteria. L D $$ Tara Asia, 199-D E. Montgomery Ave., 301-315-8008. A pan-Asian offshoot of the Tara Thai family, dominated by a floor-to-ceiling mosaic and an 82-item menu

The Original Ambrosia Restaurant, 12015 Rockville Pike, 301-881-3636, www.theoriginalambrosia.com. When Ambrosia Restaurant lost its lease after 30 years, the original employees opened this location, which features an eclectic menu of breakfast, gyros, pizza, crabcakes and soups. J B L D $ The Potomac Grill, 1093 Rockville Pike, 301-7388181, www.thepotomacgrill.com. A spacious, nautical-themed restaurant with a fireplace, Potomac Grill specializes in seafood but also features serious steaks, burgers and salads. Look for daily specials featuring a catch of the day and several desserts of the day. J R L D $$ Timpano Italian Chophouse, 12021 Rockville Pike, 301-881-6939, www.timpanochophouse.net. A chain steak house with an Italian accent, Timpano is a favorite of wheeler-dealer business lunchers and nighttime diners looking for a high-quality steak or wellprepared pasta. ❂ J R L D $$$ Tower Oaks Lodge, 2 Preserve Parkway, 301-294-0200, www.clydes.com. The Clyde’s version of a lodge in the mountains. Well-prepared food runs the gamut of American desires, from burgers to fish. J R L D $$

Urban Bar-B-Que Company, 2007 Chapman Ave., 240-290-4827, www.iloveubq.com/. Urban Bar-B-Que Company, a tiny joint run by a couple of local friends with a winning formula, features finger-licking ribs, burgers and wings and a friendly staff. J L D $ Urban Burger Company, 5566 Norbeck Road, 301460-0050, www.iloveubq.com. Urban Bar-B-Que’s Black Angus burgers were so popular, its owners decided to open another location in 2007. The fullservice restaurant also offers killer fries, salads and wings. ❂ J L D $ Villa Maya, 5532 Norbeck Road (in the Rock Creek Village Center), 301-460-1247, www.villamayarestau rant.com. Traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex food for the whole family. ❂ J R L D $$ Woodside Deli, 4 N. Washington St., 301-444-4478, www.thewoodsidedeli.com. A second location of the venerable Silver Spring eatery and caterer that has been dishing up matzo ball soup since 1947. This one has a pickle bar. ❂ J B R L D $ Yekta, 1488 Rockville Pike, 301-984-0005, www.yekta. com. Persian cuisine served in a beautiful dining room. Check out the adjacent market after polishing off your kebab. L D $$ Yuan Fu Vegetarian, 798 Rockville Pike, 301-762-5937, www.yuanfuvegetarian.com. From tea-smoked “duck” to kung pao “chicken,” the whole menu is meatless, made from Chinese vegetable products. L D $

Silver Spring 8407 Kitchen Bar (Editors’ Pick), 8407 Ramsey Ave., 301-587-8407, 8407kb.com. With new chef Ed Witt, this sleek space across from the Silver Spring Metro prides itself on stellar service and from-scratch preparations, such as house-smoked salmon and home-cured charcuterie. It tied for “Best Silver Spring Restaurant” in 2013. J R L D $$ Addis Ababa, 8233 Fenton St., 301-589-1400 or 301589-1999. Authentic Ethiopian-style vegetables and fiery meats served atop spongy bread in communal bowls. Traditional woven tables and a roof deck add to the ambience. ❂ R L D $ Adega Wine Cellars & Café, 8519 Fenton St., 301608-2200, www.adegawinecellars.com. This light and bright blond wood dining room serves creative sandwiches and allows customers to choose from a small selection of wines by the bottle to take home. A fine place to stop for lunch, if only to try the eggplant fries. ❂ L D $ Asian Bistro Café, 8537 Georgia Ave., 301-589-0123, www.asianbistrocafe.com. A bevy of choices, from Japanese sushi to Chinese noodles and vegetarian dishes. L D $ Austin Grill, 919 Ellsworth Drive, 240-247-8969, www. austingrill.com. Fun and friendly service welcomes families and couples to this noisy, colorful Tex-Mex favorite. ❂ J R L D $$ Azúcar Restaurant Bar & Grill, 14418 Layhill Road, 301-438-3293, azucarrestaurantmd.com. The name means sugar, and it fits. A colorful Salvadoran spot decorated in bright purple and orange with Cubist-

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style paintings. The pork-stuffed corn pupusas are stars. Also look for more elegant dinners, including fried whole trout. L D $$

A historic firehouse has been given a makeover as an eatery serving 21st-century pizza, sandwiches, meat, seafood and vegetarian entrées. J R L D $

Blair Mansion Inn, 7711 Eastern Ave., 301-588-1688, www.blairmansion.com. The graciously restored, 19th-century mansion (formerly the residence of Abigail and Charles Newman) is best known for its participatory mystery dinner theater shows, but it also serves dinner à la carte for private events. J L D $$

Jackie’s Restaurant (Editors’ Pick), 8081 Georgia Ave., 301-565-9700, www.jackiesrestaurant.com. This lovable eatery serves modern American cuisine in a former-auto-repair-shop-gone-1960s-hot-pink. The Sidebar is a cocktail lounge; Jackie’s Back Room has live music and private parties. The restaurant tied for “Best Silver Spring Restaurant” in 2013. R D $$

Bombay Gaylord, 8401 Georgia Ave., 301-565-2528, www.bombaygaylordsilverspring.com. A neighborhood favorite serving respectable Indian fare for years. Lunch buffet. ❂ L D $ Copper Canyon Grill, 928 Ellsworth Drive, 301-5891330, www.ccgrill.com. See Gaithersburg listing. ❂ J R L D $$ Crisfield Seafood Restaurant, 8012 Georgia Ave., 301-589-1306. With its U-shaped counter and kitschy, oyster-plate-covered walls, this landmark seafood diner has customers lining up for the Eastern Shore specialties such as oysters and crabmeat-stuffed lobster that it has served since the 1940s. J L D $$ Cubano’s, 1201 Fidler Lane, 301-563-4020, www. cubanosrestaurant.com. The brightly colored tropical dining room of greens, blues and reds and the authentic Cuban cooking evident in dishes such as ropa vieja (shredded beef in onions, peppers and garlic) and fried plantains keep customers coming back. ❂ J L D $$ Da Marco Ristorante Italiano, 8662 Colesville Road, 301-588-6999, www.damarcorestaurant.com. This full-service restaurant has been a fixture in Silver Spring for years, with an intimate ambience for classic Italian pasta suppers. J L D $$ Eggspectation, 923 Ellsworth Drive, 301-585-1700, www.eggspectations.com. This Canadian import features fresh and creative egg plates in an elegant yet casual dining room complete with a fireplace and colorful Harlequin-themed art. It also serves great salads and dinners. ❂ J B L D $$ El Aguila Restaurant, 8649 16th St., 301-588-9063, www.elaguilarestaurant.com. A cheery bar and generous plates of Tex-Mex favorites such as enchiladas and Salvadoran seafood soup make this popular with families and others looking for a lively night out. ❂ J L $ El Gavilan, 8805 Flower Ave., 301-587-4197. The walls are bright, the music’s upbeat, the margaritas are fine and the service is friendly. The usual Tex-Mex fare is here, as well as Salvadoran specialties such as tasty cheese- or pork-filled pupusas. Live music on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. J L D $ El Golfo, 8739 Flower Ave., 301-608-2121, elgolfores taurant.com. Friendly, home-style Latin service is the hallmark, as attested to by the many Salvadorans who stop in for lunch and dinner. Pupusas, soups and beef dishes such as carne asada as well as more adventurous choices can be found in the charming, raspberry-colored dining room. ❂ J R L D $

Jewel of India, 10151 New Hampshire Ave., 301-4082200, www.jewelofindiamd.com. Elegant décor and top-notch northern Indian cuisine make this shopping center restaurant a real find. ❂ L D $$ Kao Thai, 8650 Colesville Road, 301-495-1234, www. kaothairestaurant.com. This recently expanded restaurant turns out top-notch curries, noodle dishes and vegetarian options, plus house specialties, such as Siam Salmon with Spicy Thai Basil Sauce. ❂ L D $$ La Casita Pupuseria & Market, 8214 Piney Branch Road, 301-588-6656, www.lacasitapupusas.com. Homemade pupusas, tamales and other Salvadoran specialties, plus a full breakfast menu and a small selection of grocery items. B L D $ LacoMelza Ethiopian Cafe, 7912 Georgia Ave., 301326-2435, www.lacomelza.com. Traditional Ethiopian cuisine served in a modern and attractive setting. J R L D $ La Malinche, 8622 Colesville Road, 301-562-8622, www.lamalinchetapas.com. Interesting selection of Spanish and Mexican tapas, plus a full Saturday and Sunday brunch featuring huevos rancheros, variations of tortillas Espanola and more. R L D $$

7101 Brookville Road Chevy Chase

www.lafermerestaurant.com

301.986.5255

for reservations

Unrivaled Italian Tradition and Authenticity

Sorrento trattoria

4930 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda 301-718-0344 www.trattoriasorrento.com

Search our Dining Guide on-the-go at

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Langano Ethiopian Restaurant, 8305 Georgia Ave., 301-563-6700, www.langanorestaurant.com/. Named for the popular Ethiopian vacation spot, Lake Langano, this longtime restaurant offers fine Ethiopian cuisine such as doro wat (spicy chicken stew) and tibs (stewed meat) in a cozy white- and red-accented dining room. Lunch specials on weekdays. L D $ Lebanese Taverna Café, 933 Ellsworth Drive, 301588-1192, www.lebanesetaverna.com. See Rockville listing. ❂ J L D $ Mamma Lucia, 1302 East West Highway, 301-5620693, www.mammaluciarestaurants.com. See Bethesda listing. J L D $$ Mandalay Restaurant & Café, 930 Bonifant St., 301585-0500, www.mandalayrestaurantcafe.com. The modest dining room is packed most evenings with families and large groups who come for the Burmese food, a cross between Indian and Thai. L D $ McGinty’s Public House, 911 Ellsworth Drive, 301-5871270, www.mcgintyspublichouse.com. Traditional Irish pub and restaurant features corned beef and cabbage, live music and dancing. Early-bird special, three-course menu for $15, from 5 to 7 p.m. Happy Hour from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. ❂ J R L D $$

Fenton Café, 8311 Fenton St., 301-326-1841. An out-of-the-way crêperie serving 31 kinds of sweet crêpes and 16 varieties of savory crêpes. B L D $

Mi Rancho, 8701 Ramsey Ave., 301-588-4872, www. miranchotexmexrestaurant.com. See Rockville listing. ❂ J L D $

Fire Station 1 Restaurant & Brewing Co., 8131 Georgia Ave., 301-585-1370, www.firestation-1.com.

Mrs. K’s Restaurant, 9201 Colesville Road, 301-5893500, www.mrsks.com. An elegant, antique-filled

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dining guide option for special occasions and sublime Sunday brunch. This historic restaurant beckons a younger crowd with the Wine Press, a European-style wine bar downstairs, which has its own more casual menu. ❂ J R L D $$$ Olazzo, 8235 Georgia Ave., 301-588-2540, www. olazzo.com. The Silver Spring location of the Bethesda restaurant draws crowds to its dark and intimate space with classic Italian-American fare and Tuesday martini specials. ❂ J L D $ Oriental East Restaurant, 1312 East West Highway, 301-608-0030, www.orientaleast.com. Be prepared to wait for a table and maneuver around carts filled with dumplings, noodles and spare ribs at this popular dim sum restaurant that caters to families and groups on weekends. Chinese standards for dinner, plus tripe and jellyfish. L D $ Pacci’s Neapolitan Pizzeria (Editors’ Pick), 8113 Georgia Ave., 301-588-1011, www.paccispizzeria.com. This stylish eatery turns out top-notch pizzas from a wood-burning oven. ❂ J (upon request) L D $ Pacci’s Trattoria & Pasticceria, 6 Old Post Office Road, 301-588-0867, www.facebook.com/Paccis Trattoria. Classic Italian dishes, including homemade meatballs and sausage, from the owner of Pacci’s Pizzeria, also in Silver Spring. L D $$ Parkway Deli & Restaurant, 8317 Grubb Road, 301-587-1427, www.theparkwaydeli.com. Voted “Best Deli” for 2014 by Bethesda Magazine readers, Parkway features a bustling back dining room, around for decades, that makes this popular spot so much more than a deli. Longtime waitresses greet regular customers and kids with hugs during busy weekend breakfasts. All-you-can-eat pickle bar. ❂ B L D $ Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza, 962 Wayne Ave., 301-588-7383, www.petesapizza.com. Sporting more stylish décor than its other locations (see Upper NW D.C.), Pete’s fourth and latest restaurant offers the same crunchy-crusted New Haven-style pizzas, plus pasta, panini and salads. This branch is the only one so far to offer fried calamari. J L D $ Pho Hiep Hoa, 921-G Ellsworth Drive, 301-588-5808, phohiephoa.com. Seventeen kinds of Vietnamese soup called pho can be customized to taste in this upbeat restaurant overlooking the action in the downtown area. L D $ Piratz Tavern, 8402 Georgia Ave., 301-588-9001, www.piratztavern.com. Decorated to the hilt with scabbards, skeletons and booty, this pirate-themed tavern opened by husband-and-wife graphic artists offers frequent live entertainment and a secluded back terrace. ❂ J L D $ Quarry House Tavern, 8401 Georgia Ave., 301-5878350, www.quarryhousetavern.com. A great dive that serves organic burgers and dozens of beers; frequent live music. D $ Romano’s Macaroni Grill, 931 Ellsworth Drive, 301562-2806, www.macaronigrill.com. See Gaithersburg listing. J L D $$ Samantha’s, 631 University Blvd. East, 301-445-7300, This white-tablecloth, Latin-Salvadoran spot in an industrial neighborhood is popular because of its wel-

coming attitude toward families with young children. The steak and fish specialties are good. L D $$ Scion, 1200 East West Highway, 301-585-8878, www. scionrestaurant.com. A contemporary American eatery from sisters Joanne and Julie Liu, who also own a popular Dupont Circle restaurant with the same name. Look for everything from wasabi Caesar salad to lobster reuben to spicy yogurt chicken. R L D $$ Sergio’s Ristorante Italiano, 8727 Colesville Road, 301-585-1040. A classic red-sauce Italian restaurant that manages to feel special, with soothing wall murals and high-quality service, despite a basement location inside the Double Tree Hotel. Ravioli with asparagus and cheese in a tarragon sauce is popular. L D $$ Sushi Jin, 8555 Fenton St., 301-608-0990, www. sushijinnextdoor.com. Spare, clean and modern, with terrific udon noodle soup and impeccable raw fish. L D $$ sweetgreen, 8517 Georgia Ave., 301-244-5402, www. sweetgreen.com. See Bethesda listing. L D $ Tastee Diner, 8601 Cameron St., 301-589-8171, www. tasteediner.com. A 1930s-era lowbrow classic open 24 hours and featuring friendly service and typical diner food. ❂ J B L D $ Thai at Silver Spring, 921-E Ellsworth Drive, 301-6500666, www.thaiatsilverspring.com. The Americanized Thai food is second to the location, which is superb for people-watching on the street below. A modern and stylish dining room with a hip bar in bold colors and good service add to the appeal. ❂ L D $$ Thai Derm, 939 Bonifant St., 301-589-5341, www. thaidermusa.com. This local favorite serves homestyle Thai food in a pleasantly modest dining room off a quiet street near downtown. The large menu includes noodle dishes like pad Thai and savory-sweet salads. Lunch specials daily. ❂ L D $ The Big Greek Café, 8223 Georgia Ave., 301-5874733, www.biggreekcafe.com. Owned by the Marmaras brothers, whose family operated the decadesold Golden Flame restaurant, the café serves a hit parade of Greek specialties, including a top-notch chicken souvlaki pita. ❂ J L D $ The Classics (Editors’ Pick), 8606 Colesville Road, 301-588-7297, www.theclassicsdc.com. The restaurant features great steaks and seafood served without the pomp in a basic white dining room. Serious drinks and fresh seasonal American fare. D $$$ The Daily Dish, 8301 Grubb Road, 301-588-6300, www. thedailydishrestaurant.com. A neighborhood favorite serving seasonally inspired, locally sourced comfort food. Full-service catering, too. ❂ J R L D $$ The Greek Place, 8417 Georgia Ave., 301-495-2912, www.thegreekplace.net. Big portions of better-thanaverage food at reasonable prices. The bifteki pita sandwich, a seasoned ground lamb and beef patty with tzatziki, tomatoes and red onions, is especially good. ❂ J L D $ The Society Lounge, 8229 Georgia Ave., 301-565-8864, www.societyss.com. Former collegiate and professional basketball player Jason Miskiri opened this restaurant and lounge with a Caribbean accent. ❂ L D $$

Urban Bar-B-Que Company, 10163 New Hampshire Ave., 301-434-7427, www.iloveubq.com. A fast and friendly spot to meet for smoked meats, especially the ribs. See Rockville listing. J L D $ Urban Butcher (New) (Editors’ Pick), 8226 Georgia Ave., 301-585-5800, www.urbanbutcher.com. Hip, eclectic setting provides the backdrop for this New Age steak house, with its home-cured salamis, sausages and other charcuterie, plus imaginative meat dishes made from local animals of yesteryear breeds. Space includes a lounge, bar, meat curing room, retail counter and dining area. Review, page 301. B D $$ Vegetable Garden, 3830 International Drive (in Leisure World Plaza), 301-598-6868, www.vegetable gardensilverspring.com. Popular vegan, vegetarian and macrobiotic Asian restaurant relocates from Rockville to a fresh-looking dining room done in pink and green. The health-focused menu features a wide variety of eggplant and asparagus dishes, plus vegetarian “beef,” and “chicken” dishes often made with soy and wheat gluten. L D $$ Vicino Ristorante Italiano, 959 Sligo Ave., 301588-3372, vicinoitaliano.com. A favorite neighborhood red-sauce joint that hasn’t changed in decades, featuring some fine seafood choices in addition to classic pasta dishes. Families welcome. ❂ L D $ Woodside Deli & Restaurant, 9329 Georgia Ave., 301-589-7055, www.thewoodsidedeli.com. Famous for its matzo ball soup, terrific clubs and Reuben sandwiches since 1947. J B L D $

Upper NW D.C. American City Diner, 5532 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202244-1949, www.americancitydiner.com. Retro diner complete with blue-plate specials such as Salisbury steak and stuffed peppers; malts and egg creams. Classic movies free with dinner. ❂ J B L D $ Arucola, 5534 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-244-1555, www.arucola.com. Authentic Italian in a casual setting, with a changing menu that includes creative treatment of traditional dishes, homemade pasta and pizza from the wood-burning oven. ❂ J L D $ Blue 44, 5507 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-362-2583, www.blue44dc.com. Classic American favorites in the old Senor Pepper space. ❂ J R L D $$ Buck’s Fishing and Camping, 5031 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-0777, www.bucksfishingandcamping. com. Hip takes on comfort food such as roast chicken (locally raised) and “camp” steak, with fun twists that include grilled chorizo and tempura squash blossoms, in an artsy-chic setting. D $$$ Café of India, 4909 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-244-1395, www.cafeofindiadc.com. Cute corner café with two levels of dining. Features an extensive menu, including vegetarian and Tandoori entrées, dosas, samosas, tikkas, curries and kabobs. ❂ L D $$ Chads Friendship Heights, 5247 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-362-8040, www.dcchadwicks.com. Neighborhood hangout sometimes compared to Cheers, but with a full menu beyond bar food, including salads, steaks, seafood and sandwiches. ❂ J R L D $$

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Comet Ping Pong (Editors’ Pick), 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-0404, www.cometpingpong.com. Landmark fun spot where you can play ping-pong or admire local art while you wait for your woodfired pizza. ❂ R L (weekends only) D $

with traditional fare like steak frites, bouillabaisse and braised lamb cheeks. R L D $$

DeCarlo’s Restaurant, 4822 Yuma St. NW. 202-3634220, www.decarlosrestaurant.com. Family-owned neighborhood staple, with traditional Italian menu and upscale/casual atmosphere. Signature dishes include agnolotti, veal Bolognese, broiled salmon and hand-made pasta. ❂ L D $$

Masala Art (Editors’ Pick) 4441-B Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-362-4441, www.masalaartdc.com. Fine Indian dining featuring tandoor-oven specialties and masterful Indian spicing. L D $$

Eurasian Hotpot, 4445 Wisconsin Ave., 202-9667088, www.eurasianhotpot.com. The extensive Vietnamese menu features pho, egg and rice noodle soups, vermicelli dishes, entrée salads, broken and fried rice entrées and choices for vegetarians. You can also devise your own soup by choosing among broths, meat, vegetables and starches. Then you do the cooking in hotpots brought to the table. ❂ L D $ Guapo’s Fine Mexican Cuisine, 4515 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-686-3588, www.guaposrestaurant.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ R L D $$ Jake’s American Grille, 5018 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202966-5253, www.jakesdc.com. Burgers, steaks and sandwiches in a restaurant named after the owner’s grandfather, an accomplished Navy test engineer. J R L D $$ Le Chat Noir, 4907 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-2442044, www.lechatnoirrestaurant.com. Cute, cozy neighborhood bistro run by French restaurateurs,

15th Annual

Maggiano’s, 5333 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-966-5500, www.maggianos.com. Old-style Italian fare that’s a favorite for large groups and private celebrations. J L D $$

Murasaki Japanese Cuisine and Sushi Bar, 4620 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-966-0023, www.murasakidc. com. Wide variety of specialty sushi rolls plus full menu, including teriyaki, tempura, noodle soup and other authentic Japanese dishes in tastefully understated décor. ❂ L D $$ Parthenon Restaurant, 5510 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-966-7600, www.parthenon-restaurant.com. Neighborhood eatery taken up a couple notches, with an extensive menu full of authentic selections familiar and exotic, including avgolemono (egg/lemon soup), tzatziki, moussaka, dolmades and souvlaki. ❂ J L D $$ Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza, 4940 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-237-7383, www.petesapizza.com. New Haven-inspired pizza with crusts that are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Salads, pasta and panini also served. ❂ J L D $ Range (Editors’ Pick), 5335 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Suite 201, 202-803-8020, www.voltrange.com. Celebrity chef Bryan Voltaggio’s extravaganza, featuring multiple open kitchens, 300 seats, an enormous

wine list, and one-of-a-kind small plates. The restaurant was chosen for “Best Cocktail” in 2014 by the magazine’s editors. L D $$$ Rosa Mexicano, 5225 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-7779959, www.rosamexicano.com. Upscale Mexican chain known for its tableside-prepared guacamole and stylish decor. J R L D $$ Satay Club Asian Restaurant and Bar, 4654 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-363-8888, www.asiansatayclub. com. Comfortable/casual with a menu that spans Japanese sushi, Chinese moo-shi vegetables, Thai curries and Vietnamese spring rolls. L D $ Tanad Thai, 4912 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-966-0616, www.tanadthaicuisine.com. Extensive menu includes noodles, rice, curries and vegetarian entrées, and even a Thai lemonade cocktail. ❂ L D $$ Tara Thai, 4849 Massachusetts Ave. NW, 202-363-4141, www.tarathai.com. See Bethesda listing. ❂ R L D $ Terasol (Editors’ Pick), 5010 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-237-5555, www.terasolartisans.com. Charming French café serving soups, salads, quiches and a few entrées, along with jewelry and pottery from local artisans. Live music on Fridays and Saturdays. ❂ JBLD$ The Dancing Crab, 4615 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202244-1882, www.thedancingcrab.com. Informal family restaurant that looks as if it has been relocated from the beach, with a fresh seafood menu that includes hard-shell and soft-shell crabs in season. ❂ J L D $$

April 11-13, 2014 The Bethesda Urban Partnership invites you to celebrate the diversity of literature with novelists, journalists, poets, children’s events and writing contest winners. All events take place throughout downtown Bethesda and are FREE!

William Martin, Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus, Martha Grimes, Michael Sokolove, Alice McDermott and more!

For a complete schedule, call 301-215-6660 or visit www.bethesda.org. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 321

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shop

By Cynthia Hacinli

cuff me!

▲

talk

Jeweled cuff with brass accents ($125 at www.jcrew.com)

The statement cuff can dress up jeans and a sweater or add a bit of edge to a runway-worthy gown. Fashionistas like to play with the trend by wearing a cuff on each wrist, stacking cuffs or clamping one on a forearm, but a single cuff at the wrist is all you need to pack a stylish wallop. Here are some of our favorites.

▲

▲ Cage cutout gold-tone cuff from Lisa Freede ($68.50 at South Moon Under at Wildwood Shopping Center in Bethesda and at southmoonunder.com)

Acrylic “horn” cuff with filigree design from Bellissima Jewelry ($36 at Sassanova in Bethesda and at sassanova.com)

All Courtesy Photos

▲

Double crescent moon cuff ($29.50 at South Moon Under at Wildwood Shopping Center in Bethesda and at southmoonunder.com)

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Be in the Know. BETHESDA Bethesda Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daily News Dispatch Coming in april

MAGAZINE.COM

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2/7/14 4:51 PM

shop

talk Oui Books

Jennifer Fulton’s French children’s bookstore Bonjour Mama

Call it a bookstore within a bookstore. Bonjour Mama is a pop-up children’s book dealer in the Kensington Row Bookshop in downtown Kensington. The catch? Most of the 300 books are in French (with a smattering of Spanish and Mandarin titles). The “Mama” behind Bonjour Mama is Jennifer Fulton of Kensington, who began selling French children’s books a year ago at bonjour-books.com as well as at local markets and events. Fulton, who is raising her 6-year-old son, Zach, to be bilingual, was struck by the difficulty in getting French-language children’s books in the area. Price was an issue, too. Fulton says that international shipping fees range from $8 to $10, which means you often pay double the price of the book. At the pop-up there are no shipping fees; online there’s a flat rate of $5, with free shipping for orders over $50. The pop-up debuted in early December and was such a success it will stay open through at least April. Fulton, a self-described language lover, calls Zach her “best reviewer” and says he decides where to display his favorite characters’ books. Her website, blog (bonjourmama.blogspot.com) and Facebook page (Bonjour Mama DC) are all aimed at connecting with other local parents with similar aspirations for their children. Now the shop is part of that effort, as well. “I want it to be a welcoming place that people can come to and read stories, sing songs and play a game of French Scrabble or French Monopoly,” she says. Kensington Row Bookshop, 3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, 240-383-9163, catalansdc.com

Bryan Morris runs a successful family business, Brothers Sew & Vac in Silver Spring. But he has another passion—doodling. Morris decided to take his doodles to the next level last year by silk-screening his intricate designs onto T-shirts for family and friends. He sells them through his company, B A Mindful Designs, for $35 to $40. Morris doesn’t have formal art training, but he has doodled for years. “I love DePandi the the surprise of how the piece grows and store and the changes into man something (upper left) new with every line, every curve,” he says. The T-shirts are made of soft, high-qual-

ity organic cotton, and color combos are fashion savvy: teal on ecru, lavender on leaf green, and white on black. Once silkscreening is complete, he adds signature handmade labels. The shirts are available at Dawson’s and the Stephen Anthony salon in Rockville; Whole Foods in Rockville and the Kentlands; at his store in Silver Spring; at an outpost of Brothers Sew & Vac in Bethesda; and at www.etsy.com. Though Morris also paints, writes and makes jewelry, he says he chose T-shirts as his medium “so I can offer my art to the masses at a reasonable price.”

Bonjour Mama photo by Jennifer Boggs

Do What You Love

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Zip It! No need to make like a contortionist when stepping into that little black dress. ZipHer, a device made of faux pearls, brass hardware and a shiny ball chain, enables you to slide up that hard-to-reach back zipper with minimal effort. Potomac resident Donna Taurman came up with the idea in 2009 after struggling with zippers following her divorce. She trademarked the name, then spent a year working with local jewelers. When

the design didn’t pan out, she next turned to Alan Leff, an electrical engineer in New Jersey whom she had met on Match.com. The romance didn’t take. But Leff, who owns an IT company, and Taurman, who works at Home & Design Magazine in Rockville, sent prototypes back and forth for six months until they had a concept that worked. ZipHer is ergonomically designed to withstand Kardashian-tight dresses. It’s long, strong hook is easy to remove from

Sasha Bella bows for ladies and gents

All Courtesy Photos

About Time When Nathan Resnick was a kid, he turned a profit collecting and selling his neighbors’ unwanted junk on eBay. That business spawned others for the Chevy Chase youth. Now at 19, he has launched a new endeavor: the Yes Man watch. Resnick, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase grad who attends the University of San Diego, came up with the idea last summer while interning at a sports merchandising company in Rockville. The internship was a snooze, so he decided to pour his after-hours energies into an idea for a watch with an adjustable leather band. Most leather watchbands have holes, which limit sizing options and can damage the leather. Working with a design-savvy friend in San Diego, an engineer in Budapest and a manufacturer in China, Resnick created a watch with an adjustable buckle on its leather band. That means you don’t have to struggle to find the right hole, sizing is more flexible and the leather doesn’t get worn out. Resnick sees the watch as inspiration for chasing your dreams. “It is a way to consider your use of time,” he says, and “to do more with it.” The watch face reflects those sentiments. A martini glass-evoking logo appears at the 5 o’clock mark, and the words “Be a Yes Man” run across the top. Resnick was selling the watch through a Kickstarter campaign in January. Afterward, the watches were scheduled to be available through beayesman.com for about $200 each.

zippers and it comes with gold rings that can be left on a zipper to expedite zip-downs. Taurman and Leff designed the packaging and a website (primaproductions.com) and hired an artist to create a stylized illustration of the “ZipHer Girl.” They sold their first ZipHer in late 2011 and have sold 1,000 since. ZipHer is available at primaproduc tions.com for $19.95.

Openings & Closings Sculpt Studio opened in late January, bringing megaformer Pilates, aka “Pilates on crack,” to 4900 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. Created by French bodybuilder Sebastien Lagree, the 50-minute classes include cardio and weight resistance. …Meanwhile PureRyde, a cycling and Pilates studio, is scheduled to open in the former Kae Robin & Company space in the Bradley Shopping Center, 6910 Arlington Road, Bethesda, later this year. …Leather clothing and accessories are the focus at the new outpost of Wilsons Leather, a national chain, at Westfield Montgomery Mall, 7101 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda. …Pigtails & Crewcuts, a national children’s hair salon that’s all about fun, opened at Rockville Town Square in September. Think airplane chairs, video games, movies, hair accessories and gifts, and kids’ hair care products. It’s at 107-B Gibbs St. …Also new to the Town Square is Liquid Blue Denim Boutique, offering jeans, casual wear, footwear and accessories for men and women. It was scheduled to open in February at 36 Maryland Ave. …Meanwhile Take 5, known for its fashion-forward clothes by international designers, has closed its 4920 Fairmont Ave. store in Bethesda and relocated to the Mosaic District in Fairfax, Va. n

Cynthia Hacinli lives in Chevy Chase and has written for GQ, The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler. Send Shop Talk ideas to editorial@bethesdamagazine.com. BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 325

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4 - 15

N. Bethesda

6 a

Georgetown Prep Sports Camps

Day

Coed

8 - 15

N. Bethesda

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Green Acres School Summer Camp

Day

Coed

3 - 12

N. Bethesda

D m

Language Stars

Day

Coed

1 - 10

multiple locations

F n

Lowell School Summer Programs

Day

Coed

3 - 14

Washington, D.C.

H r

Mercersburg Summer

Overnight

Coed

7 - 17

Mercersburg, Pa.

Oneness-Family School Summer Programs

Day

Coed

2 - 11

Chevy Chase

E c

Round House Theatre

Day

Coed

5 - 18

Bethesda, Silver Spring

I t

Spy Camp

Day

Coed

10 - 13

Washington, D.C.

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Summer at St. Patrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Day

Coed

3 - 14

Washington, D.C.

Summer at WES

Day & Overnight

Coed

4 - 14

Bethesda

Valley Mill Camp

Day

Coed

4 - 14

Darnestown

K g

WIS Passport to Summer

Day

Coed

3 - 16

Washington, D.C.

YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase/Ayrlawn Center

Day

Coed

4 - 15

Bethesda

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Special Advertising Section

Field trips

Water sports Horses

Essential information on summer camps

Specialties Website

Phone

One week of a variety of classes for girls (*HSPT and College Essay Writing are co-ed)

academyoftheholycross.org/summer

301-942-2100

Two, weeklong, full-day camps featuring a variety of sports (grades 1-9)

academyoftheholycross.org/summer

301-942-2100

Two weeks featuring classes and prep for Disney’s Mulan Jr. performance

academyoftheholycross.org/summer

301-942-2100

Volleyball training for youth, middle school and high school Outdoor swimming pool/swimming lessons, outdoor education and adventure, comprehensive early childhood camp program

●

The area’s top baseball camp. Learn directly from the Big Train college star players and special celebrity guests.

americanvolleyballcamps.com

202-885-3031

beauvoirschool.org

202-537-6485

bigtrain.org/summercamp

301-365-1076

Traditional activities: archery, ropes, arts specialty, tennis, water skiing, gymnastics, equestrian

●

campfriendship.com

800-873-3223

Equestrian, adventure, leadership, performing arts (Camp Up With People)

●

camphorizonsva.com

540-896-7600

Horseback riding, swimming, soccer, tennis, gymnastics, basketball, track and field, and more

●

camp-olympia.com

301-926-9281

Horseback riding, aquatics with private lake and two pools, sports, performing arts, arts and crafts

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camprimrock.com

347-746-7625

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301-868-1905

Riding, swimming, tennis, archery, dance, arts and crafts, hiking Sports, LAX, field hockey, soccer, volleyball Basketball, music, science, math, writing, language 60 activities across 3 camps, including swimming, art, sports, performing arts, science and nature, fencing, martial arts, archery, “True Life Adventures” and more

●

championsfieldhouse.com

301-838-7403

●

burkeschool.org/summer

202-362-8882

●

esfcamps.com/georgetownprep

301-493-2525

gpcamps.org

301-214-1213

greenacres.org

301-468-8110

languagestars.com

240-483-0083

GPCamps offers the following sports: basketball, golf, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, wrestling, baseball and football Daily, on-site swimming instruction; Create your own path in science & technology, sports, music and art.

●

Fun foreign language for kids in Spanish, French, Mandarin, German and Arabic, taught by native-speaking teachers. Special anniversary pricing. Horsemanship program, outdoor adventures program, onsite swimming pool, amazing race DC teen program, and extended programs into August including an aquatics camp Adventure camp, theatre workshop, dance workshop, young writers camp, swim clinics

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Exciting outdoor adventures, outdoor swimming, yoga, creative movement and a comprehensive early childhood camp program

●

lowellschool.org

202-577-2006

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mercersburgsummer.com

717-328-6225

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onenessfamily.org

301-652-7751

roundhousetheatre.org

301-585-1225

●

spymuseum.org/educationprograms/kids-families/spy-camp/

202-654-0933

●

stpatsdc.org/summer_programs

202-342-2813

Inspire creativity, exercise imaginations, promote artistic risk-taking and explore ways to tell stories through theater. Undercover missions, spy gadgetry, disguises, Ninja, secret briefings, real spies, tradecraft, code breaking, espionage history Sports, swimming, arts, theatre, language immersion, science and more!

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Sports, art, science, academics, swimming, theatre, technology, pottery, journalism

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Kayaking, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding, rock climbing, archery, air rifle, gymnastics and more. Transportation provided.

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Specialty camps, languages

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25+ different camps a week - travel camps, aquatics, sports, arts, science, teen, specialty

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w-e-s.org

240-482-0160

●

valleymill.com

301-948-0220

●

wis.edu

202-243-1791

●

ymcadc.org

301-530-3725

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summer camps

$150 OFF REGISTRATION

WITH COUPON CODE

BETHFAM150

Welcome to Camp Horizons... Right Down the Road! Camp Horizons – a premier coed sleep-away summer camp in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia offering a safe, supportive community in which campers can embark on new adventures and develop friendships that can last a lifetime. Three distinct programs for boys and girls: • Discover: Ages 6-8 • Journey: Ages 9-11 • Explorer: Ages 12-16 Visit our website, give us a call or schedule a tour. We can’t wait to welcome you home!

HARRISONBURG, VA USA • 540.896.7600 • CAMPHORIZONSVA.COM

Summer at E N G A G E • W O N D E R • C R E AT E

June 16 - August 8, 2014

BETHESDA BIG TRAIN & BCC BASEBALL SUMMER BASEBALL CAMPS 2014

Expert Instructors • Field Trips • Early Arrival • Extended Day

For more information, call (301) 365-1076

K–GRADE 6 Swimming • Sports • Art Tutoring • Engineering Spanish • French Mandarin • Science

Camps running from June 16th - August 15th

AGES 3 - PK 5 Swimming • Art Spanish • French Mandarin • PE Music • Dramatic Play

GRADES 7–9 Tennis Counselor-in-Training Basketball • Swimming

Big Train & BCC Baseball Summer Camp (Ages 5-12)

Big Train Advanced Development Camp (Ages 9-12) Big Train Pitching Camp (Ages 10-12) Washington Baseball Celebrity Camp (Ages 5-12) Garrett Stephenson Baseball Camp (Ages 5-12) Visits from current Nats players for select sessions!

Bonus for all campers!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT SUMMER 2014 CAMPS AVAILABLE AT: www.stpatsdc.org/summer_programs 202.342.2813 | 4700 Whitehaven Parkway, NW Washington, DC 20007

Big Train Family Season Pass to all 25 Big Train home games at Shirley Povich Field in 2014 for $62.50 to any family registering a child for the Big Train & BCC Baseball Summer Camp.

Fa mi ly Seaso

n Pa ss 16 th Season

2014

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summer camps

UNCOVER YOUR SPY SKILLS THIS SUMMER

SPY CAMP WEEK 1: MON, JULY 28TH - FRI, AUGUST 1ST OR WEEK 2: MON, AUGUST 4TH - FRI, AUGUST 8TH

Special Early Bird rates through April 15, 2014

Undercover missions. Spy gadgetry. The art of disguise. Ninja. Secret briefings. Meet real spies. CAMP HEADQUARTERS: 800 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004

DISCOVER MORE AT SPYMUSEUM.ORG/SPYCAMP.

ready... set...GO!

SPY297 SPY CAMP AD | Bethesda Magazine | 7” x 4.625” | Bleed: No | 4C

Join us for fun performing arts, sports, & enrichment activities!

June 16-27

grades 1-12 co-ed & all-girls morning, afternoon, full/extended day

summerstock summerenrichment summersports

4920 Strathmore Ave. • Kensington, MD www.academyoftheholycross.org/summer BethesdaMagazine.com | March/April 2014 329

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summer camps

Pleas e Imme Proof diate Camp Strawderman o 703-318-5509 ly! n@theFAMILYmagazine.com PERFORMING ARTS AQUATICS

HORSEBACK RIDING ARTS & CRAFTS SPORTS

Established 1929

In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Girls 6-17. June 22 - August 16, 2014.

VOTED “BEST OVERNIGHT CAMP”

Real mountain camping in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains. Riding, Swimming, Tennis, Archery, Hiking, Crafts, Dramatics, Nature Study, Indian Lore, Dancing, and Music.

Experienced Leaders. Cabins, 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks. For brochure, write or phone: Margaret H. Gouldman 10902 Brookwood Ave., Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

by a leading Family Magazine for the 7th year!

CAMP RIM ROCK.COM

301-868-1905 • www.campstrawderman.com

INFO@CAMPRIMROCK .COM · 347-RIM-ROCK

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Washington International School

UNDER THE BIG TOP aTION REGIsTR ONlINE s jaNUaRy 1 BEGIN

Early Bird: June 16–20 Session 1: June 23–July 11 Session 2: July 14–August 1 Last Call!: August 4–8

Ages 3–14 8:00 am–3:15 pm Aftercare Available

PASSPORT TO SUMMER

2014

Specialty Camps

CIT

Language Immersion: French, Spanish, Chinese, ESOL Ages 3 to 16 June 23 - August 8 www.wis.edu 202.243.1791

Lowell's “Eight Acres in the City” offers an expansive, relaxed camp with experienced teachers and caring counselors who understand child development and love to have fun. Highlights include: 2014 “Under the Big Top” theme Juggling • Tight Rope Walking Ride a Unicycle End of Summer “Circus Day” Summer Stage: Seussical: The Musical

Summer Programs Open House Sunday, March 16, 2014 1:00 pm–3:00 pm

1640 Kalmia Road, NW Washington, DC 20012 (202) 577-2006

www.lowellschool.org

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summer camps

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summer camps

Express Yourself Programs For Grades 7 - 12 Now in Bethesda!

2014

HALF & FULL DAY OPTIONS AGE S 3–1 1

SUMMER PROGRAM Creating Adventures and Lasting Memories!

Swimming, Outdoor Adventures, Gymnastics, Languages, Music, Drama, Cooking, Science, Field Trips and MUCH, MUCH more. For more information visit www.beauvoirschool.org/summer 3500 Woodley Road, NW • Washington, DC 20016

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SUMMER MUSICAL THEATER CAMP MON-FRI | 9AM-4PM DAILY | GLEN ECHO PARK

SUMMER IN THE CITY SPEND THE SUMMER AT BURKE! SUMMER PROGRAMS FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Edmund Burke School’s “Summer in the City” programs are fun and educational in a relaxed and convenient location two blocks from the Van Ness Metro in Northwest DC. For more information please visit:

www.burkeschool.org/summer

ES GR AD 1-6 Session 1 June 16-27, 2014 Session 2 June 30- July 11, 2014 (No Camp 7/4) Session 3 July 14- 25, 2014 Session 4 July 28- August 8, 2014 Session 5 August 11- 22, 2014

Musical Theater Center adventuretheatre-mtc.org 301.634.2270

4101 Connecticut Ave. NW Washington, DC 20008 | 202-362-8882

Summer Camps available from June 10-August 22, 2014

Visit us online. Registration starts January 2, 2014

www.ymcadc.org 301.530.8500

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summer camps Spanish

French

Mandarin

German

Arabic

我叫 Sean!

CREATE YouR own PATh!

Science & Technology, Sports, music and art Daily On-Site Swim Instruction Junior Camp: June 16 – July 25 Senior Camp: June 16 – July 3 & July 7 – July 25

Today’s Language Star. Tomorrow’s Global Trader. Enroll today in our Spring and Summer programs! Full-immersion, play-based foreign language programs for kids 1-10 years 7 DC metro area locations

One additional flex week of your choosing may be added to either Senior Camp session.

Bus Transportation & Extended Day Available

Green Acres School Summer Camp

11701 Danville Drive, no. Bethesda, mD 20852 www.greenacres.org • (301) 468-8110

Bring the world to your child.

Call 866-55-STARS or visit LanguageStars.com to enroll today!

Valley Mill Camp www.valleymill.com Call 301-948-0220

Kayaking Swimming Rock Climbing Horseback Riding and more... Transportation Provided Boys & Girls, Ages 4 - 14

Open Houses: 3/9, 3/23, 4/13 & 4/27 From 11am - 4pm 15101 Seneca Rd Darnestown, MD

WASHINGTON EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

summer camp for boys and girls Pre-K - Grade 8

9 Weeklong SeSSionS June 9 - August 8, 2014

Awesome adventures include archery, robotics, cooking, and hip-hop, and more. There’s something for everyone. Day camp located in the heart of Bethesda on the Washington Episcopal School campus – open rain, shine, or heat wave! Before Care and After Care available. Check out the Sleepaway Camp for children entering Grades 3 - 8.

For more information & to register online: www.w-e-s.org/summer 301-652-7878

5600 Little Falls Parkway, Bethesda, MD 20816

Open House

March 1, 2014 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

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to-do list

Compiled by Cindy Murphy-Tofig

March | April

Mar.

Estrella Morente, 8 p.m. March 19. This flamenco singer’s fan base grew after her appearance on the soundtrack of Pedro Almodóvar’s film Volver. $29-$60; $26.10-$54 for Stars members. Pat Metheny Unity Group With Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez, Ben Williams and Giulio Carmassi, 8 p.m. March 21. The jazz supergroup’s latest CD, Kin, was scheduled to be released in February. $39-$81; $35.10$72.90 for Stars members. Keb’ Mo’, 8 p.m. April 3. The blues musician returns with an evening of new music and fan favorites. $45-$55; $40.50-$49.50 for Stars members. Buika, 7 p.m. April 6. The singer’s sound blends the traditions of Moorish Spain with those of the tropics and Northern Africa. $38$58; $34.20-$52.20 for Stars members.

Sweet Honey in the Rock first performed in public in 1973 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the female a cappella group has been inspiring audiences ever since. Steeped in the musical traditions of African-American churches, the ensemble’s repertoire initially addressed the social injustices that fueled the civil rights movement and then expanded to cover the struggle for justice everywhere. The Grammy-winning group celebrates its four decades of music-making—Sweet Honey in the Rock 40th Anniversary Celebration: Forty and Fierce!—at 8 p.m. March 1 at The Music Center at Strathmore. Tickets cost $29-$70; $26.10-$63 for Stars members. For more information, go to www. strathmore.org or call 301-581-5100. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda

MUSIC Michael Adcock, 8 p.m. March 1. Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda. The pianist will perform Bach’s Italian Concerto and Chopin’s Sonata in B-flat minor, among other works. Free; donations welcome. 301-320-2770, www.washingtonconser vatory.org. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. 301-581-5100, www.strathmore.org. Michael Bolton, 7 p.m. March 2. The singer/ songwriter’s repertoire spans from soft rock

to Frank Sinatra and Motown. $39-$81; $35.10-$72.90 for Stars members. Murray Perahia, 8 p.m. March 4. The pianist has received Grammy awards for his recordings of Chopin’s Études and Bach’s English Suites Nos. 1, 3 and 6. Presented by Washington Performing Arts Society. $35-$105. Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, 8 p.m. March 8 and 3 p.m. March 9. Pianist Brian Ganz performs the composer’s noted work. Presented by the National Philharmonic. $28$84; children 7-17 admitted free with the purchase of adult tickets.

Hilary Hahn, 8 p.m. April 23. The violinist recently released a CD of pieces she had commissioned. Presented by Washington Performing Arts Society. $30-$95. Julio Iglesias, 9 p.m. April 26. The Madrid-born crooner’s performance is the highlight of the 2014 Spring Gala at Strathmore. Concert only: $58-$125; $52.50-$112.50 for Stars members. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. 301-581-5100, www.bsomusic.org. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg Plays Shostakovich, 8 p.m. March 6. The celebrated violinist plays Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1. $31-$94. Bach’s Brandenburgs, 8 p.m. March 15. BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney is a soloist in a performance of all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. $31-$94. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, 8 p.m. March 22. Violinist Baiba Skride is the soloist for the concerto. $31-$94. BSO SuperPops: Stayin’ Alive: One Night of the Bee Gees, 8 p.m. March 27. Join a tribute to hit songs from Saturday Night Fever. $31-$94.

Photo by Dwight Carter

Giving Voice to Justice

Bach’s Mass in B minor, 8 p.m. April 12 and 3 p.m. April 13. The magnificent Mass glorifies voice and instruments with brilliant harmonies. Presented by the National Philharmonic. Single tickets starting at $28; children 7-17 admitted free with the purchase of adult tickets.

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175 Master Artists

Fabulous Dining

Live Entertainment

A-RTS.ORG RockvilleTownSquaRe.com PARK TWO HOURS FREE WITH VALIDATION

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to-do list | March | April

Mar.

A Rose by Any Other Name Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis has captured the hearts of audiences with Rose, her onewoman show portraying a Holocaust survivor whose journey takes her from a Russian village to a Warsaw ghetto and eventually to the United States. Now she’ll be performing the role at 8 p.m. March 13 at The Music Center at Strathmore. The 82-yearold Dukakis, who won an Oscar in 1987 for playing another Rose, the feisty matriarch in Moonstruck, has performed the moving monologue on Broadway and in many other venues across the country for more than 10 years. Tickets cost $26-$70; $23.40$63 for Stars members. For more information, go to www.strathmore. org or call 301-581-5100. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda

André Watts Returns!, 8 p.m. April 5. Watts performs Grieg’s Piano Concerto. $46-$109. Itzhak Perlman, 8 p.m. April 10. Perlman is the soloist for Beethoven’s Violin Romances and is the conductor for Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. $54-$117. Off the Cuff: Mahler’s “Titan,” 8:15 p.m. April 25. Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, “Titan,” draws on the composer’s love of nature and influences from waltzes, funeral marches, folk songs and klezmer music. $29-$63. Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville. 301-8810100, www.jccgw.org.

THEATER/FILM

Jupiter String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. April 6. The quartet specializes in chamber music. $35-$40.

Bethesda Film Fest, 8 p.m. March 21 and 22. Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. The second annual festival will feature five short documentaries by local filmmakers. The evening includes a discussion with the filmmakers after the screenings. $10. 301-215-6660, www.bethesda.org.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, Rockville Civic Center Park, 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville. 240314-8681, www.rockvillemd.gov/arts.

The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. 301-581-5100, www.strathmore.org.

Composer Spotlight: Elliot Del Borgo and Friends, 3 p.m. March 16. The Rockville Community Band performs works by the late American composer/guest conductor, noted for composing music for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. No tickets required; $5 suggested donation.

Bring It On: The Musical, 3 and 8 p.m. March 29. The Tony-nominated musical takes audiences on a journey through friendship, forgiveness and determination, set in the competition of high school cheerleading. $39$81; $35.10-$72.90 for Stars members.

Music for All Ages: Animated II, 3 p.m. April 13. Enjoy a family-friendly concert of music from animated films and cartoons performed by the Rockville Community Band. No tickets required; $5 suggested donation. C.P.E. Bach’s Sensitive Side, 8 p.m. April 5. Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. In honor of musician/composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s 300th birthday, Bach Sinfonia presents music that explores emotional expression. $30; $27 for seniors; $15 students; free for children 14 and younger. 301-362-6525, www.bachsinfonia.org.

DANCE Celtic Nights: The Emigrants Bridge, 8 p.m. March 7. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. The ensemble intertwines beautiful ballads and striking choreography to form a link with Celtic heritage. $26$57; $23.40-$51.30 for Stars members. 301-5815100, www.strathmore.org. Dance Bethesda, 8 p.m. March 8. Round House Theatre, 4545 East West Highway, Bethesda. Dance companies in the region perform as part of a celebration of dance. $20; $10 for children 12 and younger. Also, free dance lessons will be offered in studios throughout Bethesda beginning at 8 p.m. March 7. 301-2156660, www.bethesda.org. Outside In, 8 p.m. April 18 and 7:30 p.m. April 19. Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. Choreographers from around the world will stage their works. $25. For tickets, email tickets@moveiusdance.org. www.moveiusdance.org.

Cirque Zíva, 8 p.m. April 9. The Golden Dragon Acrobats bring gravity-defying stunts, gymnastics and choreography to an energetic program. $26-$47; $23.40-$42.30 for Stars members. Two Trains Running, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, April 2-27. Round House Theatre Bethesda, 4545 East West Highway, Bethesda. August Wilson’s play paints a portrait of African-American life in the 1960s. $20$45. 240-644-1100, www.roundhousetheatre.org. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 8 p.m. April 23-26 and 2 p.m. April 27. The Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center, Montgomery College, 51 Mannakee St., Rockville. In Bertolt Brecht’s parable of the rise of Hitler, Chicago in the 1930s—with all its fear, corruption and unemployment—is the perfect place for a smalltime crime boss and his henchmen to make a power grab. Mature themes and language. $10; $8, students and seniors. 240-567-5301, www. montgomerycollege.edu/pac. Faith Healer, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, April 25-May 24. The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda. Irish faith healer Frank Hardy’s life is fraught with deception and self-denial. The audience learns how this affects him and those loyal to him. Presented by Quotidian Theatre Company. $30; $25, students and seniors. 301-816-1023, www. quotidiantheatre.org.

ART Waverly Street Gallery, 4600 East West Highway, Bethesda. Gallery hours are noon-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Free. 301-951-9441, www. waverlystreetgallery.com.

Photo By Christian Oth

Amit Peled and Alon Goldstein, 7:30 p.m. March 9. Cellist Peled and pianist Goldstein will perform works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert. $35-$40.

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. Mar

Queen Of Comedy Actress and comedian Lily Tomlin has been making us laugh for decades—from her ditzy characters on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In to her Tony Award-winning turn in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe to her portrayal of President Bartlet’s acerbic secretary on The West Wing. The 74-year-old comedic icon will revisit some of her most popular characters—plus muse about everyday life—at 8 p.m. March 28 at The Music Center at Strathmore. Tickets are $27-$81, or $24.30-$72.90 for Stars members. For more information, go to www.strathmore.org or call 301-581-5100. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda

24+24, through March 8. The exhibit will feature works by 24 gallery members and 24 guest artists. Serendipity, March 11-April 5. Figurative and abstract paintings by Ann Deutermann. Reception from 6-9 p.m. March 14.

Photo By Jenny Risher

The Individual and the Group: Encaustic Paintings by Rinat Goren, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through March 19. Goldman Art Gallery, Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville. The artist explores the boundaries between individuals and groups. Free. 301-881-0100, www.jccgw.org. Bethesda Art Walk, 6-9 p.m. March 14 and April 11. Various galleries in downtown Bethesda open their doors on the second Friday of every month. Free. 301-215-6660, www. bethesda.org. National Capital Art Glass Guild Juried

Members’ Show, March 30-April 25. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Glenview Mansion Art Gallery at Rockville Civic Center Park, 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville. The show will include glassworks that are blown, etched, stained, painted or fused. Free. Opening reception from 1:30-3:30 p.m. March 30. 240-314-8682, www.rockvillemd.gov.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Adventure Theatre, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. 301-634-2270, adventuretheatre-mtc. org. Tickets, $19. Miss Nelson Is Missing, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 11 a.m., 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sundays; through March 9. Miss Nelson’s class is terrible—so

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Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets, $10; group rates available.

Martha Grimes

11-13

literary Lights

DECEPTION IS MY GAME. - Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin KGB, Counterintelligence

Looking for a good read? Check out the 15th Annual Bethesda Literary Festival from April 11-13, which offers readings and panel discussions by local authors, poets and journalists at various sites in downtown Bethesda. Scheduled authors include: Peter Ross Range (Murder in the Yoga Store: The True Story of the Lululemon Killing, Hawthorne Books, 2013); Alice McDermott (Someone, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013); Martha Grimes and Ken Grimes (Double Double: A Dual Memoir of Alcoholism, Scribner, 2013); and David O. Stewart (The Lincoln Deception, Kensington, 2013). The free festival also will honor the winners of the essay and short story contests cosponsored by Bethesda Magazine and the Bethesda Urban Partnership. For more information and an event schedule, go to www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

terrible that she turns up missing. Miss Nelson is replaced by the petrifying Viola Swamp. Will the kids ever get Miss Nelson back? Recommended for children 5 and older.

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The Jungle Book, 11 a.m., 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sundays; April 4-May 25. Also: 7 p.m. April 4; 10:30 a.m. April 8-11 and 29 and May 1-2, 6-9, 13-16 and 20-22; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. April 15-18 and 21 and May 26; and 11 a.m. May 23. As the orphaned Mowgli discovers himself and his place in the jungle world, he is also being sought out by the Bengal tiger Shere Khan. Recommended for children 4 and older. The Puppet Co. Playhouse, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. 301-634-5380, www.thepup petco.org. Performances are 10 and 11:30 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Sleeping Beauty, through March 23. The tale of romance and adventure features frogs, fairies and, of course, a sleeping princess. For pre-kindergartners through fourth-graders. Hansel and Gretel, March 27-April 27. Enjoy the musical version of the classic German fairy tale. For kindergartners through sixth-graders. The Puppet Co.’s Tiny Tots program, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. 301-634-5380, www. thepuppetco.org. Performances begin at 10 a.m. and are 30 minutes. Recommended for children up to age 4. Tickets, $5 per person, including babies in arms. Old McDonald’s Farm, March 2 and April 2. Meet Al E. Cat and his barnyard buddies. Panda-Monium, March 8. Panda bears, a musician and a juggler are part of a Chinese circus. The Mother Goose Caboose, March 16 and April 16. Meet Mother Goose and her friends. Merlin’s Magic, March 19. The famous magician and his dragons put a new spin on old tricks. Teddy Bear’s Picnic, March 22. Baby Bear’s friends bring food for a picnic and entertain each other. Animal Crackers, March 29. A hound, dodo bird, bear and other animals perform in a vaudeville show. Snow Show, April 5. A snow bunny on skis, snowmen, snowwomen, a penguin and other friends salute snow. Baby Bear’s Birthday, April 13. Join Baby Bear as his friends perform circus tricks as a birthday surprise. Bunny Business, April 19. Bunnies, birds and flowers celebrate spring. Magic Toyshop, April 27. Teddy bears, dancing blocks and other toys come to life. Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. 301-280-1660, www.imaginationstage. org. Tickets, $12 and up. Rumpelstiltskin, 1:30 and 4 p.m. March 8 and 9; 11 a.m., 1:30 and 4 p.m. March 15; 1:30 and 4 p.m. March 16. The miller’s daughter is told to spin straw into gold, and Rumpelstiltskin is willing to help her—for a price. Can she solve Rumpelstiltskin’s riddle in time to help her family? For children 5-10. Cinderella: the Remix, 1:30 and 4 p.m. Saturdays, April 12-May 25. Also 11 a.m. April 16-19, 11 a.m. May 3, 10, 17 and 24 and 7

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p.m. May 16. Cinderella lives in the basement of her stepmother’s house, mixing beats and dreaming of being a DJ. But girls aren’t allowed to be DJs, so she disguises herself as a boy. Will she be allowed to DJ as her true self? For children 5-10. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, 11 a.m. March 8. The Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center, Montgomery College, 51 Mannakee St., Rockville. Laugh and sing along with Alexander’s misadventures in a musical based on the book. For children 4 and older. $7; $6, students, seniors and children. 240-567-5301, www.montgomery college.edu/pac. The Comedy and Magic Society, 8 p.m. March 28 and April 25. The Arts Barn, 311 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg. Come see magic and sleight-of-hand tricks in this interactive show. For children 10 and older. Tickets, $12-$15. 301-2586394, www.gaithersburgmd.gov/artsbarn. Croydon Creek Campfire: Spring Night Hike and Campfire, 7:30 p.m. March 29. Croydon Creek Nature Center, 852 Avery Road, Rockville. Hike into the forest at dusk to look and listen for signs of spring, then have a campfire treat. An adult must accompany children and all partici-

pants must register. $5 for residents; $6, nonresidents. 240-314-8770, www.rockvillemd.gov. Bugs!, 10 a.m. April 5. The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. A piano trio will perform music that soars like bees, butterflies and ladybugs in this performance geared toward children 6 months to 3 years. The event is part of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Music Box series. Pre-concert activities begin 30 minutes before the show. $10. 301-581-5100, www.bsomusic.org.

LITERARY Café Muse, 7 p.m. March 3 and April 7. Friendship Heights Village Center, 4433 S. Park Ave., Chevy Chase. Monthly literary program with open readings following featured readers. Free. 301-656-2797, www.wordworksdc.com/cafe_ muse.html.

SEASONAL FreshFarm Market. Hours are 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through March 30. Regular hours are 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays beginning in April. Ellsworth Drive, between Fenton Street and Georgia

April 28, 2014 • 6:30pm • Imagination Stage, Bethesda County Executive Ike Leggett honors the winners of the Roscoe R. Nix Distinguished Community Leadership Awards Neal Potter Path of Achievement Awards in Partnership with the Commission on Aging and The Beacon Newspapers

Avenue, Silver Spring. Offerings include produce, eggs, breads and pastries, honey and preserves. www.freshfarmmarkets.org. Bethesda Central Farm Market. Hours are 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays through March 30. Regular hours are 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays, beginning in April. Bethesda Elementary School, 7600 Arlington Road. The year-round market’s offerings include baked goods, fruits and vegetables, seafood and some meats. www.centralfarm markets.com. Egg Hunt, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. April 18. Meadowside Nature Center, 5100 Meadowside Lane, Rockville. Search for real eggs throughout the nature center, then dye and decorate what you find. $8, registration required. To register go to www.parkpass.org. 301-258-4030, www. montgomeryparks.org/nature_centers/meadow. Pike Central Farm Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays beginning April 26. 11806 Rockville Pike (between Old Georgetown and Montrose roads), Rockville. More than 40 farmers and producers offer fruit, vegetables, bread and other goodies. www.centralfarmmarkets.com. n To submit calendar items, or to see a complete listing, go to BethesdaMagazine.com.

Phil Andrews Doug Duncan Ike Leggett Come See the Democratic Candidates for County Executive in a debate

2014 Montgomery Serves Awards

for outstanding volunteerism in several categories with Emcee Andrea Roane, WUSA9 News Sponsored by

Adventist HealthCare • Ana G. Mendez University • Barwood Transportation BioHealth Innovations • Carl M. Freeman Foundation • Choice Hotels Comcast • Corporate Volunteer Council of Montgomery County Community Foundation for Montgomery County • County Executive Ike Leggett Covanta Energy • Fitzgerald Auto Malls • The Gazette • Jewish Community Relations Council Jewish Federation of Greater Washington • Johns Hopkins University Lerch, Early & Brewer • Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Properties, LLC • Montgomery College Montgomery County Muslim Foundation • RAFFA, P.C. • SG Enterprise/Sol Graham • Safeway Universities at Shady Grove (USG) • The Sanford and Doris Slavin Foundation Soltesz Associates • Southern Management Corporation • Verizon Washington Gas • Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) • Westfield Wheaton

Event is Free! Reservations are required & can be made at

www.montgomeryserves.org

When: Friday, March 7 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.