In today's Closer Inspection, Ben and I pay a visit to the Vienna crystal and mineral shop, Terra Christa. Definitely an intriguing experience. The place is packed with bins of beautiful stones and gems I'd never even known existed. Since CI is limited to one page, I'm sharing some extra tid-bits we learned from owner Ruth Van Landingham and her daughter Michele Barlock. 

These striated lines in this large chunk of tourmaline ($145) aren’t hand-carved, that’s the semi-precious stone’s natural patterning. A protective stone and chakra balancer, Van Landingham says this would be a great asset in a psychologist’s office since it helps ground spiritual energy. “People will come in and buy it when they think they need protection,” says Barlock. “They generally tend to be people who work in offices where they feel like there’s some adversaries in their work environment. They’ll come in and look for the tourmaline for the grounding and protection.”

Amethyst is also a popular stone, right up there with clear and rose quartz says Barlock. It also guards against what she calls psychic attacks. “ A psychic attack would be if someone has ill will for you, sometimes we can feel that. They’re attacking you on an energetic level versus physically coming up and shoving you.”

Ancient Greeks wore amethyst to prevent drunkenness. However, if you’ve already knocked back a few, don’t count on it to sober you up. “It’s too late,”  laughs Barlock.

These fluorite worry stones ($10) are cut with an indentation that’s rubbed by an anxious owner’s fingertips. “Fluorite brings order into chaos,” says Van Landingham. “Gymnasts will work with this because it clears the mind and focus. It gets the chatter out of the way. Fluorite is probably one of our most popular stones.”

 Fluorite is also great for reducing electromagnetic stress, says Barlock. What about all of those Washingtonians tooling around with hi-tech gadgets? “If you wore fluorite earrings while on a cell phone that would be perfect,” she says. 

I know, I know, I've been writing a couple posts that have to do with various excursions from my Weekend water-themed cover. Sue me. (Actually don't, I'm pretty broke as is.)

Just had to give the amazing folks at Fluid Movement a quick shout out. After all, it's not every day you get to see a bunch of oddballs attempt a musical in a pool. If you're free the weekends of July 23 and 30, you should head up to B'more and give them a looky-loo. Need more convincing? Look at these silly vids below.

Another suggestion in my water-logged story?

Hiking to waterfalls in Shenandoah Valley. After purchasing the Shenandoah National Park Association's $2 paperback, Hikes to Waterfalls, Sean and I headed out to the park to check out the park's second largest falls, White Oak Canyon Falls.

Located at mile marker 42.6, it's not the most secluded of trails -- it's pretty popular actually, we ran into several couples walking their dogs --  but truly is a real beaut. Besides, the further you go, the more privacy you get. Here are some videos I shot if you're thinking of checking out the falls. Definitely a good time. 

One small tip? Remember while it's easy to hike down to the falls, don't forget you have to hike back up! Boy was I pooped!

In this week's Weekend cover story in the Washington Post, I ginned up some water-themed excursions that weren't typical ideas (Think water ballet over paddle boats, or waterfall hikes over hipster hijinx). To that end, Sean and I stopped by Jack's Boathouse where we joined a mass of 125 people (!!!!) for their twilight tour.

Starting at 7 p.m., we paddled on the Potomac for an hour and half. (Ladies -- I'm all about girl power, etc., but definitely bring a dude to do the brunt of the paddling!). 

At first I was a little skeptical about having so many people on the water simultaneously -- thinking it would be a massive acquatic version of bumper cars -- but that turned out not to be the case. Aside from one couple who seemed determined to hit us (four times!) Sean and I had plenty of space to maneuver along the water. All in all, I found it very relaxing and a lovely way to end the week. Want to see what it's like? Some rudimentary video below.

Every so often when I'm testing a recipe for the Washington Post, I run into an ingredient that's hard to find (yes, I'm talking to you coconut filled with water). 

After filling up my cart at neighborhood Giant for the ingredients for three varying recipes, I thought I'd escaped complications this time. Against all odds, I'd been able to locate possible troublemakers such as Agave nectar syrup and mustard seeds. Little did I know a little nemesis had it out for me.

Shrimp, such a harmless word, yet such a difficult bugger to track down when you're searching for raw, colossal, wild, peeled and deveined Gulf shrimp.

When the seafood dude at Giant told me they only had frozen, that I would have to defrost the suckers and then peel em, I didn't panic. I headed to Whole Foods, surely they would have it, right? Almost. I was walking away with a package of peeled, deveined and colossal shrimp when it occurred to me ... were they wild? I went back to the counter check. Nope, they were farmed. Drat!

Before driving down to the Maine Avenue Fish Market (I didn't want to get caught in D.C. rush hour) I decided to be smart and call a couple of other local stores, speak to the fish monger and have them verify whether or not they had my little guys before driving out there.

Eureka! The fella at Harris Teeter told me he had them. Are they wild? Yes, they're wild. I get to the store: They're not wild. (!!!!)

God help me.

Deflated, I made my way back home, resolving to hit up Maine Avenue the following morning. On a whim, I pulled stopped in a Safeway along the way. There was no way they'd have it, I figured, if Whole Foods or the Teet didn't. But you never know.

That's when I met Ralph.

Did he have what I was looking for? Nope, he said. In fact, I'd have a really hard time finding them anywhere. (No kidding.)

He must have seen the look of defeat that came across my face. Four stores, four failures. 

Then it happened. Just as I turned to leave, Ralph said, "You know, if you want, I have these shrimp that are exactly what you're looking for, but they would just need to be cleaned and deveined. If you can come back later in the afternoon, I could do that for you."

It was like I'd won the lottery. Ralph man, you totally rule. I came back in a few hours and my shrimp were ready. He didn't even charge extra. I think I've found my local fishmonger. 

In my latest Closer Inspection, Ben and I paid a visit to D.C. Central Kitchen to check out their recently released truck farm. No joke, it's a working garden in the back of a Dodge Ram. 

Ben snaps a photo of the truck farm team.

(Left to right). What started in December became a reality this summer due to the dedication of Joelle Johnson, Stephen Kendall, Karli Hurlebaus and Abbie Steiner.  Go see the result of their hard work Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the People's Garden!