Summer Highlights 2024

One of the traits of happy people is keeping a gratitude journal so I wanted to jot down all of my highlights from the past few months. I'm stomping my feet over here because it still feels like summer because I love warm, sunny days and not having to wear a sweater or jacket. I've had a long summer doing summer things. The last 5 years all of my international vacations have been in the winter time so I spent the entire summer in DC. Here are all the fun things I did this summer!

MJ at National Theater

I saw the National Tour of the Broadway Musical. It's a high energy show that is a bio-pic show of MJ's life. The story line is of the 1992 Dangerous Tour and how he came up with the concept and the pressure it took to put the tour together while simultaneous telling his life story of some of the things that shaped him with his family and the Jackson 5. It feels like MJ is on the stage singing and dancing on stage. You learn about how he was raised and his father's impact on him. The set design and lighting for the show are amazing! It had all the songs I loved from MJ and some songs I didn't know. To be able to recreate MJ's famous dance moves was incredible! The show is currently touring, so I highly recommend you see it if it's coming to your town!

Now I want to see the Cirque Du Soleil - Michael Jackson ONE Experience. I wore a sheer black top and sequin pants because that seemed like what MJ would wear.

DC Bike Ride

I've done a couple fun races in the past like Electric Run and The Glo Run, but this time I signed up for a citywide bike ride! It's a social ride (not race) of 20 miles of car-free biking through the city just sounded too fun to miss! We had to be there at 6am to pick up the bike and get into the start corrals. It took us almost 3 hours with pit stops and photo stops. The map is below, we rode from the Archives, past the African-American museum, the to Lincoln Memorial, to Arlington Cemetery, past the Kennedy Center, then through Georgetown on the Whitehurst Freeway, the entire length of Haines point which was flooding, then on 395 past the Pentagon! Yes we shut the freeway down! There were DJs along the route and people of all ages and levels participated. A few even brought their pet with them. It was very social as everyone was friendly. It was stress free navigation with all the roads closed for us. Bathrooms and snacks were available along the route.

Cirque du Soleil: OVO

I saw this show which is about when a ladybug catches the eye of an insect in the neighborhood and instantly falls in love. Ovo means egg in Portuguese. This timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects represents the underlying thread of the show. Acrobatic acts and tumblers do twists and flips that defile gravity. I will say nothing tops Cirque Du Soleil's "O" show that I saw when I was in Vegas last year.

Yards Park Concert

I gone for at least 10 years. Love it better than Jazz in the Garden. On Friday nights they have cover bands that perform concerts and you get the breeze from the water. Some years you can bring your own alcohol others they check bags. Everyone just comes and makes a picnic in the grass.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Is a 700 acre marsh that is a hidden oasis that has exotic water lilies and lotus that are almost as tall as humans. It's a real hidden gem in the middle of DC. I visited during the Lotus & Water Lily Festival in July to see the blooms then we walked along the bike path to get our steps in for the day.

IlluminAsia | Asia After Dark

In May the National Museum of Asian Art had an afterhours style program to kick off NMAA’s annual IlluminAsia festival in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! The program had musical performances, food, we learned how to make origami. Plus, the museum stays open late until 9pm! It unfortunately rained so the outside portion was cancelled.

Smithsonian Solstice

Smithsonian marks the first Saturday of summer—Solstice Saturday—by staying open late and hosting programs and performances throughout the day and night. The museums stay open until 8pm, 10pm, 11pm, and midnight depending on the museum. There was a glow-in-the-dark arcade party and a dance party with a reggaton DJ. This year the heat at night was excessive, the humidity was so bad. I have to remember to wear my neck fan next year.

Gym

Since I work from home, I decided to join a gym to get out of the house every day. Now I take zumba classes 3x a week and then a combination of pilates and yoga the rest of the week. I still ride my peloton and weight lifting at home. But there's nothing like pilates and yoga in person with form correction from an instructor. I also bought a package of 6 reformer pilates classes and occasionally pop into 305 Fitness, both offered at my gym. And I also went to a weekly sunset rooftop aqua aerobics class which had such a fun vibe! They have a sauna that I visit 3x a week. They also have social events and I'm meeting new people so its been great! This pic is at the pool with a MerMan from the opening of a new location.

Books

I read a lot of great books this summer, this was taken at my favorite park in San Francisco.

Movies

Since the pandemic I rarely go anymore, only seen two movies this year: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and this summer I couldn't wait to see Bad Boys: Ride or Die which was the 4th movie in the franchise with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as two detectives in the Miami Police Department. As a Regal movie theater member, movies are only $8 on Tuesdays, so that's the only day I see movies! Next movie I want to see is Wolfs with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

I tried out some new bars this summer. I went on a quest to find a pumpernickel bagel in my city by trying out a handful of new to me bagel shops. I did the embassy open hour tour and visited Tunisia and Australia. Now I watched the Summer Olympics in Paris! I like to watch the synchronized diving, synchronized swimming and beach volleyball. Now I'm watching Emily in Paris, Sex and the City and The Real Housewives of OC.

Summer Bucketlist 2024