I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. This post of my December in Review is always my favorite to write each year. With December being such a cold month, I love highlighting all the fun things I did to experience the sparkle of the season. One unexpected gift I got was that I wasn't planning on putting up a Christmas but my neighbor left for vacation a week before Christmas and gave me her full size tree with lights!
1.
Richmond
The first weekend in December I took a day trip to Richmond to shoot my Christmas content (pic above). It was my first trip to Richmond and easy to do on the train. I visited two art museums that were both were free.
The Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU is a small modern art museum with frequently rotating exhibits. The
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is a huge museum with an impressive collection of art from around the world. I wished I took a tour and had a full day to explore.
2. Georgetown Glow
For the past 6 years Georgetown has exhibited public light art installations during the month of December. I met up with some friends for dinner and hot toddies then we walked around to see all the art displays. We unfortunately picked the coldest night to do this.
3. Yards Park - Light Yards
For the past 5 years, Yards Park has exhibited outdoor public light art installations during the month of December. This year it was set to music for an illuminated adventure through Airship Orchestra.
4. Enchant Christmas
Is a Christmas Light Maze and ice-skating rink that set up in stadiums in DC, FL and WA. I didn’t think I wanted to go at first but kept seeing my friends pics on social media both here in DC and in FL so I finally decided to go. We could only get tickets for the 9:30pm entrance which once again fell on a cold night. First we stood in line for a long time to rent ice-skates, you could only pre-reserve them online for kids but not adults. We got fun cocktails in a light bulb, the baseball stadium blasted Christmas music and honestly we had so much fun! Next thing we know they announced it was closing time so we quickly took all our pics and a friend remarked on one of my pics that she’s surprised I had no people in the background as it was so crowded when she went. Ahh…the benefit of being the last people there at closing time.
5.
DC Drink Passport My friend buys the DC Drink Passport which lists 66 restaurants that give you 2-for-1 drinks. It worked out well for just one of us to have it so that every time we go out we get half price drinks. The passport is arranged by neighborhood so every time we go out to dinner or brunch with friends, we hit up a couple more spots afterwards for drinks. Just one drink at each place but it allows us to try out new spots. Some places allow you to order whatever you want while other places list a specific cocktail and that’s fun to because you try something you wouldn’t have before.
6. City Center Ice Maze
For the past few years City Center has done some incredible ice projects for one weekend only. It’s for such a short time because the ice melts as DC doesn’t get that cold. This year it was an ice maze. We were lucky and went on a rainy day so there was no line, later the line was all the way around the block! Last year they had ice sculptures and the year before an igloo!
7. Botanic Gardens
Every year the US Botanic Garden has a train display, thousands of poinsettias of all different varieties and plant based recreations of iconic buildings in DC. I went to check that out and a new life sized plant sculpture outside that functions as a maze.
8. Union Station Christmas Tree Lighting
There’s quite a few tree lightings in the city but this is the only on indoors. They had a choir singing and it was quite lovely.
9. This month I’ve had more brunches/dinners with friends including one to my first Michelin Star restaurant. I think we’re all gearing up to get those last lbs in before we start our new years diet both financial and dietary. lol
10. I have been taking a year of weekly salsa lessons now. I also tried out Barry's Bootcamp and F45 Training but decided I like Orangetheory the best which I’ve been going to regularly for 3 years. At work I lead a Zumba class twice a week, well when I say lead I mean I curate a youtube playlist for us to watch. lol I saw this funny meme once that said “I only became a yoga instructor to make people listen to my playlist”. I’ve gone on two Zumba cruises but don’t have anywhere to take classes since they are only in gyms in my city. This has been a really fun adventure for me as my Zumba classes only have music I like that are pop or hip-hop.
Next month I’m traveling to Mexico and am so excited about that! Happy New Year!
