The Washington Post's Reliable Source posted an item this afternoon about actor Rob Lowe, known for roles on The West Wing and NBC's Parks and Recreation, who was spotted in Georgetown this morning.

RS reported that the actor was seen "breakfasting . . . with a pretty blonde lady, a child and a younger man."

But had RS checked Lowe's Twitter feed, they would have realized that Lowe is in town checking out colleges for his son:

It began simply enough seven years ago, when Germantown resident Frank Warren decided to embark on an experiment: He distributed postcards around the Washington area to complete strangers. Warren inscribed the postcards with the following instructions: “You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything—as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative.”

Warren’s initial idea became PostSecret, a Web site which now receives millions of hits a week. The ongoing project fills Warren’s mailbox with hundreds of postcards every week, from which he chooses a few to post on his blog. PostSecret has produced five books to date, and last week Warren launched his newest project: an app for mobile devices. The PostSecret app takes Warren’s project to an entire different level of connectivity, allowing users to create and share secrets on the go. Within three days, the app had processed over 50,000 submitted secrets, and it’s currently the bestselling social networking iPhone app in the country.

We caught up with Frank Warren recently to discuss the origins of PostSecret, how Washington has changed since he started, and how the app could render the blog obsolete.

Michaele Salahi's husband reported her "missing" to police today. She has since called police assure them she's okay and working through "family issues." Photograph by Rachel Cothran

TMZ is reporting that Michaele Salahi, of Real Housewives of DC and White House “party crasher” fame, is missing. Her husband, Tareq told TMZ he last saw Michaele at their home around 11 AM yesterday when she was headed to a hair appointment, to which she reportedly never showed up. Tareq also told TMZ he received a phone call from his wife last night from an unfamiliar Oregon number in which she told him she was heading to her mother’s home, which is just a few minutes away. Tareq told TMZ when he called Michaele’s mother, she was unaware of such plans. The Huffington Post is reporting that Michaele has already called the police to confirm that she’s unharmed and dealing with some “family issues.” So is this a real missing persons report or just another publicity stunt?

A quick look at the Salahis’ upcoming schedule leads you to believe the latter. The Salahis are scheduled to hold a grand reopening for their recently bankrupt winery Oasis Vineyards Friday, September 23, through Sunday, September 25. The fundraiser, held in conjunction with DC’s Most Fabulous magazine—which, incidentally, doesn’t have the most fabulous Web site we’ve ever seen—is designed to benefit multiple sclerosis. They have $50 and $100 non-refundable tickets (plus fees) available, a portion of which goes toward MS research. A large donation gets attendees into the invite-only VIP section of the event. The Eventbrite page also lists a disclaimer that by attending the event, you’re consenting to being taped for a television show.

On the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, media memorialized the day with articles, television specials, and broadcasts of events of remembrance in New York and Washington. But advertisers also took the opportunity to remember the day by publishing print ads in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Let us know in our poll below what you think of advertisers’ decision to mention the anniversary in their ads.

So here we are: More than a week after the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 30 French journalists, exhausted and bored, camped out in front of 153 Franklin Street, the Tribeca townhouse where DSK is on house arrest. (Previously, he had been staying in an apartment at 71 Broadway in lower Manhattan.) We wait for him to walk outside. We wait for his wife, Anne Sinclair, to go shopping. We wait for his lawyers to chat with us. And we wait some more. Most of us haven’t slept much since May 14. At 7:35 PM that day, a marathon began. And we don’t see the end yet.

I was in a cab that Saturday night, on my way to DC’s E Street Cinema with my husband and a friend. Just before the end of the ride, I received an e-mail on my iPhone. New York Times breaking news: “The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, got arrested on an Air France plane. He is suspected of sexual assault.” I shouted a very bad word in French that I wish I could translate as “OMG” . . . though it’s probably closest to “WTF.”

I had just written a profile of DSK for The Washingtonian, explaining how this man who was relatively unknown in Washington was a hero in France. Many on the left hoped he would return and run for president in 2012. It’s hard to overstate how much excitement there was about that possibility—people saw him as a savior for France, a proven leader on the world stage. The French knew he’d had extramarital affairs, but that hadn’t hurt his reputation as a political leader.

It was too late to update my Washingtonian story to reflect Strauss-Kahn’s arrest; the magazine had already been printed. But while the piece was out of date by the time it arrived on newsstands—he was suddenly no longer unknown here, nor was he the likely next French president—I have heard from many people that the profile adds perspective to the news. It shows how much Strauss-Kahn lost and helps explain why the French were so shaken by his arrest.

If the Opera Ball was hands down the most opulent event of the weekend, the third-annual Ball on the Mall Saturday was its younger, less exclusive, and arguably more fun counterpart. Roughly 750 of Washington's young and beautiful crowd showed up for a night of dancing, drinks, and optional dinner in a large double tent right smack dab in the middle of the Mall. 

The L'Enfant Society-hosted ball raised approximately $515,000, according to a spokeswoman for the Trust for the National Mall, which combined with proceeds from the Trust's annual luncheon, adds up to a total of $1.8 million now earmarked for restoration projects aimed at making the National Mall "the best park in the world."

Attendees ranged from lawyers and public affairs professionals to real estate developers and Hill staffers. We'd estimate the average age of the crowd was about 28, an unusually young gathering for such a charitable event of this size. Spotted cutting a rug: Venturehouse Group CEO (and Washington Kastles owner) Mark Ein, former Mitt Romney spokesman Kevin Madden, and not-quite reality star Katherine Kennedy. With dance music ranging from the Jackson 5 to Miley Cyrus to early '90s radio hits (the DJ certainly knew his audience), the ball was legitimately jumpin' by about 9:30 PM.