H and I talked about going to a Panthers game in Charlotte, since last year we went to an away game in Foxborough, but we had trouble planning a weekend trip since the games were all on Thursday nights, Sundays, or Monday nights. I saw that they were playing the Falcons on the Sunday before Christmas, and we decided to drive to Charlotte for the game as part of our convoluted weekend-before-Christmas plan.
The weekend before I went home for Christmas, I wanted to do something to get in the Christmas mood. One of my DC bucket list items, a visit to Marjorie Post’s mansion near Rock Creek Park, Hillwood, sounded perfect! I love a good mansion tour, and I knew it would be all decked out for Christmas.
I’ve seen lots of cute outfit ideas for Thanksgiving Day, but since my family Thanksgiving celebration spans several days and cities, I needed several cute, versatile outfits that weren’t exactly what I wore last Thanksgiving. We also planned to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day and hike Sharptop Mountain on Friday, so I knew if I didn’t pack well I would have to raid my mom’s closet for activewear.
For official fall activity #2, I was ready for some serious hiking. I knew the weather this weekend was going to be perfect for it—bright and cool, but not too chilly—and so H and I set out to enjoy the great outdoors. H chose where we would go, since he’s more familiar with the local hiking scene than I am, and he picked Great Falls, a relatively close national park with good hiking trails and stunning views of the Potomac River waterfalls and rapids.
I finally reached the halfway mark on my DC Bucket List! I was ready for a *fall* activity and H and I had been saying we would visit the winery where my cousin’s girlfriend works for ages. My cousin’s girlfriend said she would love for us to come see her at work, although my cousin was in Richmond and couldn’t join us.
The weekend that I ran the 4 Miler was also a fun trip to Lynchburg—after we finished the 4 Miler we had the rest of the weekend to eat delicious food, explore downtown Lynchburg, and hang out with my family and H’s family. Lynchburg is the quintessential small town, so I saw tons of old classmates and family friends at the 10 Miler and 4 Miler. Downtown Lynchburg especially is way cooler than it used to be, so we always have to check out what’s new.
This weekend was my second time running the Virginia 4 Miler, which is held in concurrence with the iconic Virginia 10 Miler in Lynchburg. My parents always have people over to watch the race since they live on the course, so it’s special for me to have my family and neighbors cheering me on. I ran the 4 Miler last year and was hoping to beat my time this year.
We spent Sunday of my girls’ weekend in New York in Brooklyn. The friend I was visiting lives in Brooklyn, so she planned our day. After our Sunday exploring, I see why Brooklyn was the birthplace of hipster culture—everywhere we went was cool-without-trying. During our day in Manhattan I had a vague idea of where we were, but, unfortunately, I totally lost track of which neighborhoods we visited in Brooklyn.
One of my best friends from college moved to New York City after graduation, and I finally went to visit her this past September. I’ve only been to New York twice before, once on a school field trip and once for a job interview, so I was ready to be a total tourist. This girls’ weekend was the perfect opportunity.
For our second wedding of 2018, we traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia the first weekend of September to see one of H’s best friends from childhood get married. Despite the buckets of rain that fell throughout the weekend and realizing the week before that the dress I had planned on wearing wouldn’t work, it was a perfect country garden wedding.
Sudden Claireity 