It has been two weeks since Drybar, a well-known blow dry saloon in Manhattan, opened its doors in Washington. Actually, two salons — one in D.C., another in Bethesda. So we wanted to check in with female journalists, bloggers and publicists around town about their thoughts about it. Will it make their lives easier? Do they even care?

“It’s about damn time!” said Pamela Sorensen of the “Pamela’s Punch” blog. “I’ve been to the one in Studio City because of Pacific Punch a few times and am totally addicted. I met with Alli Webb last year at her Sunset Boulevard location and had a great conversation with her. She’s brilliant, down to earth, a savvy businesswoman and gets the simplicity and convenience of what women want when it comes to an easy style.”

Sorensen, who thinks Drybar is a “no-brainer” says she loves the “bar” theme from the style names, to the services, to the elements within the salon. The yellow, gray and white scheme is fun and cheery and the stylists are excellent.”

Washingtonian‘s Fashion Editor Kate Bennett, something of a blow dry connoisseur, also sings the new salon’s praises. “At the end of the day, women here are busy, but we also like to look good,” she said. “I can’t see any reason not to celebrate a one-stop blowout shop with a $40 price tag for fabulous hair. As someone who gets blowouts 2-3 times a week (yes, I do) I’m sort of waiting for Drybar like a kid waiting to open presents on Christmas morning. There, I said it.”

Her colleague, Washingtonian Editor-at-Large Carol Joynt was lukewarm on the concept, although it looks like she could wind up there every so often… Read more

Quotes of the Day

“The Banana is the perfectly named fruit.” — former CNNer Larry King. Can Piers make him an assistant or something?

Journo comes across dead body

“En route to Louis Armstrong park for treme brass band and we see a dead body on a lot.” — Roll Call‘s John Stanton at Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

Attention grabber

“National Zoo to live-tweet artificial insemination of panda.” — Drudge Report.

“Like dc to want her barefoot and pregnant” — WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin in reaction to WaPo writing a story on the panda possibly being replaced if it doesn’t get pregnant. To the above Drudge tweet, Rubin remarked, “Perfect assignment 4 Anthony Weiner.”

“For 340 new followers I’d have live-tweeted my vasectomy.” — Consultant, NBC Washington Contributor Chuck Thies.

Since when did HuffPost become a cheap knockoff of Maury Povich and Tyra? In a Monday tweet they ask: “Did you reinvent your life after a personal trauma? #breakover Tell us about it.”

Eavesdrop Café

“At cafe eavesdropping on a guy getting performance review. I think his boss should be fired. This is painful.” — NPR’s Sonari Glinton.

Oh, you got Uggie too?!

“Lisa Lerer, you got a picture with the artist dog too!??!?!?! you won the weekend I think.” WSJ‘s Victoria McGrane to Bloomberg’s Lisa Lerer. And this from Barron‘s Washington Editor James McTague: “Cannot believe that my pix with the dog from the film “the Actor” has not become a Twitter sensation. Must be the dog.”

A shoe-in for an invite to next year’s pre-WHCD garden party: “This tweet’s for @haddadmedia #letsfindacure” — CBS’s Christine Delargy.

Blogger recounts therapy appt.

“Best part of therapy today was my therapist stopped to hunt down & kill a fly that was disturbing my peace. #youknowyouhaveproblemswhen” — blogger Pamela Sorensen who writes Pamela’s Punch.

From L to R: Budding Fashion Reporters Jocelyn Luddy and Reilly Folsom.

WHCA President David Jackson (USA Today) and NYT’s Mark Leibovich

What’s a party with Washington’s media elite without bourbon, beer, wine, Food Truck quality mac ‘n cheese and 11-year-old fashionistas to put guests in the hot seat?

The view from the American Gas Association offered guests a perfect shot of the Capitol. The crowd at last night’s WHCD party thrown by QGA and FD blended White House correspondents like CNN’s Ed Henry, Ebony‘s Kevin Chappell, The Hill‘s Sam Youngman and USA Today‘s David Jackson , USA Radio Network’s Connie Lawn, and Politico’s Julie Mason with Fortune‘s Tory Newmyer, Politico‘s Amie Parnes, RealClearPolitics‘ Erin McPike, Roll Call‘s John Stanton and NYT‘s Carl Hulse. Let’s just get one thing straight: NYT‘s Mark Leibovich has heard all the “bcc” jokes out there. And yours will not be special. Welcome to the first party leading into WHCD weekend.

The food was catered by D.C. food trucks of lore CapMac and Sauca and guests were dying over the mac ‘n cheese. Dessert was Good Humor ice cream bars from a cart complete with an umbrella. One partygoer remarked that the party could have been held on an outside corner. But a party outside wouldn’t have allowed for the two-station open bar, where bartenders made unsolicited repeat drinks for many of the journos. One guest called one of the bartenders “the motherf*cking man.”

Other guests in the crowd: QGA’s Jack Quinn and wife, Susanna, FD’s Jackson Dunn, Stacey Bowlin, Jared Allen and Mary Kathryn Cover, Terry McAuliffe, QGA and FBDC’s Matt Dornic, WaPo‘s Amy Argetsinger, SELF’s Marc Adelman, Pamela Sorensen of Pamela’s Punch, The Hill‘s Christina Wilkie and Emily Goodin, CNN Publicist Edie Emery and Megan Grant and TWT’s Emily Miller.

Miller said WHCD week makes her feel like an awkward teenager. “It brings out the worst 16-year-old in me,” Miller said, explaining that her worries go like this: ‘”Why wasn’t I invited to that party?’ or ‘Was I too fat for this dress?’” She adds, “At least I was invited to the pre-pre-pre-pre-pre party.”

The fashionistas at the party were Jocelyn Luddy (daughter to Jack and Susanna) and her friend, Reilly Folsom, who were testing out their journalistic skills by interviewing female party guests and Adelman. They’re trying out for a fashion blog out of San Fran called StyleBistro.com. They asked their subjects questions about what uniform they’d want for work if they had to have one and what styles they missed and didn’t.

The girls in flowered skirts and white T-shirts weren’t amateurs. They had practiced their questions for days. They cajoled by saying funny things like, “Come on, I want all the deets.” As the pair interviewed USA Today‘s Jackie Kucinich, the whole scene became so focused that photographers like Roll Call‘s Tom Williams began snapping pictures of the interview. Afterwards, Kucinich and Argetsinger (also interviewed by the girls) second-guessed their answers that involved Pappagallo purses and culottes.

Alec Jacob contributed to this report.

More pictures and guests after the jump…

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QUOTES of the DAY

Tschida gets backhanded (?) compliment

“Complained about looking old. Photographer said “Just don’t get another facelift.” ANOTHER? weird but kind of a compliment i guess.” — ABC7′s Stephen Tschida in a Monday tweet.

Publicist woes: Her head is exploding

“Fever, chills. burning throat and exploding head only made tolerable by the care and snuggling of a soft, purring cat who actually seems to give a damn.” — D.C. Publicist Wendy Gordon in a Monday tweet.

Overly ambitious spell check

“My phone just changed a misspelling of don’t to dong. No, autocorrect. No!” — Politifact founder Matt Waite in a Monday tweet.

Advice for CPAC  sickies

“BTW tip for everyone sick from #CPAC – use that antibacterial stuff after shaking hands with people #campaigntrick.” — D.C. Social Media employee Matt DeLuca in a Monday tweet.

Gossip girl watching – what else? – gossip TV

“Finally catching up on all that #gossipgirl. Yay!” — Washington Examiner‘s Nikki Schwab in a Monday tweet.

Conservative blogger bashes MSNBC’s O’Donnell

“Watching some douchebag on Lawrence O’Donnell. “Hey, let’s do an entire segment about a competing network.” #GeniusProgrammingStrategy” — Conservative blogger and former TWT Editor Robert Stacy McCain in a Monday tweet. (Of course, FNC never does this.)

Bras are so handy

“CPAC11 nerd alert. When business cards fall out of your bra as you unpack because you didn’t have anywhere else to put…” — Houston Chronicle blogger Kat McKinley in a Monday tweet.

Tapper’s wife joins Twitter

“@jaketapper I signed up for twitter for you on V day. Love you!” — Jennifer Tapper, otherwise known as @MrsTapper, in her second ever tweet. She’s the wife to ABC News’s White House Correspondent  Jake Tapper. She was first featured on Gawker Monday for opening the account. To which MSNBC’s Savannah Guthrie remarked: “Well this is a pleasant surprise: @MrsTapper makes her appearance on Twitter. now that’s love. #valentinesday.”

Valentine’s Day Dinner with ‘Stanford‘

“Deciding where to go for dinner tonight last minute with my Stanford Blatch.” — Pamela Sorensen of Pamela’s Punch blog in a Monday tweet. Stanford Blatch is Carrie’s gay best friend character from “Sex in the City” who has been referred to as the “Fifth Lady.”

QUOTES of the DAY

D.C. blogger chills out in Caribbean

“Last full day and night in http://www.mustique-island.com/ then back to cold and real life!”–Washington/LA “Pamela’s Punch” blogger Pamela Sorensen in a Monday tweet. She’s traveling in Mustique, an island in the southern Caribbean.

More importantly: Coburn’s beard is gone

“Am very disappointed Sen. Coburn decided to shave. Come on senator! The facial hair caucus needs more members.” — NBC’s Chuck Todd in a Monday morning tweet on Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Less importantly: Coburn ‘disgusted’ by media

“I’ve pretty well been disgusted by all the media, right and left, after this episode,” Sen. Coburn declared Sunday on NBC’s MTP.

Networks and outlets compete for preconception

“..Americans increasingly customize their information, picking up radically different perspectives from whichever sources they trust – Fox News or MSNBC, Newsmax or Huffington Post. There is very little shared experience in the nation now; there are only competing versions of the experience, consumed in such a way as to confirm whatever preconception you already have, rather than to make you reflect on them.”– NYT writer Matt Bai in a Sunday “Week in Review” piece.

Not sex, Twitter followers

“Just joined the Mile High Club…by which I mean thank you to my 5280th follower.” — TPM‘s Brian Beutler in a suggestive weekend tweet.

Buttry gets anal

“Even I am not anal enough to fix the typo in my last tweet when it was the night before (but still anal enough to let you know I noticed).” — TBD‘s Community Engagement Director Steve Buttry in a sequence of words we’re sure he intended due to his surname. The stinging mistake? “Excellent piece on violence, not viokent rhetoric.” (Considering the sensitive nature of his weekend — “I just had blood drawn and spat into a tube to contribute DNC for a genetics study” he wrote, citing leukemia and MDS in loved ones as the reason — we hope things went as well as possible.)

Blind quote…

“And Pareene? What a d–k…” — A longtime D.C. journo remarking on Salon’s Alex Pareene after we published this item late last week.

Reporter contemplates tattoo

“I wonder what kind of tattoo I should get now that my story assignment has been changed to the DC Tattoo Expo.” — ABC7 Reporter Mike Conneen in a weekend tweet. Conneen told FishbowlDC that he never wound up with one. “I’m still tattoo-free,” he DM’ed me. “But I did get a free bottle of sea salt nasal spray. …Apparently it has some connection to sea salt moisturizer and other products for new tattoos.”

WaPo’s correction of a correction

“Classic: WashPost correction today says that the paper misspelled the Washington Capitals as the ‘Capitols’ in a previous correction.” — U.S. News & World Report‘s Paul Bedard in a Monday morning tweet.

Scribe meets Roller Derby

“First time I’ve ever been to a roller derby. This is pretty cool, though I have no idea what’s going on or who’s scoring.” — NJ “The Hotline’s” Executive Editor Reid Wilson in a weekend tweet.

Journo’s fantasy is shattered

“Just was FB friended by someone named Lani Anderson. For a sec, I thought it was Loni Anderson, and that my boyhood dream had come true.” — former TBD GM and digital consultant Jim Brady in a recent tweet. (This one fell through the cracks. It’s from last week.)

NBC reporter claims he handled White House snack drawer

“Hey @savannahguthrie @chucktodd @athenajones let the record reflect that on 1-15-11 @ 1641 viq did replenish the snack drawer in WH booth” — NBC’s Mike Viqueira in a weekend tweet.

The Sweet’N Low Police

“Well-dressed old woman trying to steal sweet’n low at my local deli. ‘They fell!’ she says, when caught. They didn’t fall.” — Digital Producer for CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” Steve Krakauer in a weekend tweet.

Tschida is so ‘DOPE’

“Photographer keeps calling me DOPE! but kinda weird. Think it’s a term of endearment. Seems to be enjoying himself. laughing a LOT!” — ABC7′s wild train rider Stephen Tschida in a tweet from last Friday. 

Weird coincidence

“‘Restaurant critics pay in cash,’ the stranger next to me at lunch tells her friends — just as I’m peeling off twenties for my meal.” — WaPo‘s Food Critic Tom Seitsema in a Friday tweet.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Buying thinner socks so I don’t have to go home and change. #tbdnight” — (M. Rumsey i.e. xmattiusx) in a weekend tweet. (A shining example of why local journalism is working so well.)

WJLA’s Rebecca Cooper, Yeas & Nays Nikki Schwab and Katy Adams, HyperLocal’s Lee Brenner, HuffPo’s Peter Cherukuri, Washington Post’s Katherine Boyle and Fiona Zeblin, Express’ Sara Schwartz, Revamp’s Daniel Swartz, Pamela Sorensen, and Hot 99.5′s Samy K are just a few of the media types who joined Jeff Dufour for UrbanDaddy’s holiday party last night.  Held at AGAINN, the group was treated to specialty cocktails, small bites and a sampling of  Johnnie Walker’s entire collection of Scotch.  Party pics below.

L to R: Jessica Gibson, Pamela Sorensen, Heather Guay and friend

Pamela Sorensen, founder and editor of lifestyle blog  ”Pamela’s Punch” raised a glass to her website’s fourth birthday last night at the Sofitel in downtown DC.  Guests such as WJLA’s Rebecca Cooper, Politico’s Kiki Ryan, Heather Guay, Mary Kathryn Covert, Glenn Ballard, HuffPo’s Stephanie Green, Examiner’s Katy Adams and Nikki Schwab, CBS’s Christine Delargy, Jessica Gibson, Victoria Michael and Coventry Burke joined the babelicious blogger for a champagne toast at her Parisian-themed party.  Happy birthday to the Punch!

Kiki Ryan and Rebecca Cooper

QUOTES of the DAY

Photo credit: ABC’s Jake Tapper from Jakarta. Caption: “Coverboy”

Oh, baby

“Off my plane 5 minutes and a sober stranger has already called me baby. Hello, New Orleans.” — Bloomberg TV‘s Lizzy O’Leary in a Monday tweet.

So wrong (but funny)

“This may be a first: Just fixed a typo that read “public hair” when writer actually meant ‘pubic hair.’” — Washington City Paper‘s Managing Editor Mike Madden in a Monday tweet. Read the story he was referring to here. It’s by Moe Tkacik. The headline is: Author Sara Marcus: “Who Wants A Senator With Pubic Hair?”

‘It’s not him, it’s me’

“Trying to summon up the whatever-it-will-take to write a Conan review tonight. It’s not him, it’s me.” — WaPo‘s Hank Stuever in a Monday tweet.

Snappiest part of Bush-Lauer interview

“I resent it, it’s not true and it’s one of the most disgusting moments of my presidency.” — Former President Bush in an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer Monday night on his memoir, Decision Points. Bush was discussing the moment when singer Kanye West said he didn’t care about black people.

Emptiness fulfilled

“I knew there was something missing in my life for months … and now it’s returned. @ConanOBrien.” — Pamela Sorensen of Pamela’s Punch blog in LA and DC.

Serious flattery for D. Shuster

“Good morning and thank you for accepting my friend request. I’ve have long admired the way you report by going straight for the truth. You asked the questions we all wanted to ask when you interviewed the movers and shakers in DC. Sir, you are missed.” — A Facebook message to suspended MSNBCer David Shuster on Monday.

Pamela Sorensen, founder and editor of  “Pamela’s Punch” will strap on a party hat and raise a glass Tuesday, November 16th 2010.  Sorensen and her Washington lifestyle blog will be toasting to four years of online adventures with a Parisian-themed party at the Sofitel in downtown D.C..  Guests to the fete will indulge in Perrier Jouet champagne and hors d’oeuvres and have a shot at winning a Parisian vacation.  Congrats to Pamela and the Punch!

National Journal’s Matt Cooper hides from the paparazzi behind one of Arianna’s book-themed pillows. 

Arianna Huffington made a splash last night at the home of Tammy Haddad.  Guests such as actress Geena Davis, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Rep. Dennis Kucnich and wife Elizabeth, Richard Wolffe, Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Hilary Rosen and  MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan flooded Haddad’s Foxhall backyard to toast Huffington’s new book, “Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning The Middle Class and Betraying The American Dream.” 

The event, which Huffington joked was like an “Obama backyard party” played host to hundreds of the city’s political and media set who mingled over cocktails in the brisk fall weather.  One of the most popular topics of conversation was Howie Kurtz‘s recent announcement that he will leave the Washington Post for a new gig at the Daily Beast.  Several guests agreed that Yahoo’s Michael Calderone seemed like the only viable option to replace WaPo’s longtime media beat writer. 

We caught up with Calderone who admitted that he wouldn’t spill to Fishbowl if he was in talks with the Post but joked that, “Marcus [Brauchli] hasn’t even returned my calls about Kurtz leaving so it’s safe to assume that he hasn’t pursued me to replace him.” 

Also spotted at the backyard book bash were HuffPost’s Peter Cherukuri, Sam Stein and Mario Ruiz, Qorvis’ Kelley McCormick, SKDKnickerbocker’s Emily Lenzner, National Journal’s Matt Cooper and Taylor West, Janet Donovan, Tim Burger, Bloomberg’s Ha Chan, Politico’s Kiki Ryan, NYT’s Jeff Zeleny, Daily Beast’s Kirsten Powers and Dr. Marty Makary, Pamela’s Punch blogger Pamela Sorensen, ABC’sPolson Kanneth, Jim Courtovich, CBS’s Christine Delargy and The Hill’s Emily Goodin.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Arianna Huffington. 

Geena Davis, Michael Calderone and more after the jump. 

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