Holidays, part 2
Jan. 2nd, 2011 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalAnd now for the rest of my holiday adventures, which are so numerous and awesome that they required TWO whole posts (my therapist would be so proud)!
(Icon especially for Kelly, who immediately craves cupcakes every time I say the word.*g*)
Kelly arrived on Thursday and immediately re-traumatized Chelsea. The poor dear, she's met Kelly before, but that was a couple years ago, and she'd already had quite a rough week. So while she hid under the bed and gathered her nerves, Kelly and I went out and did the touristy thing. We went to the Old Post Office, which looks so pretty all decorated for Christmas and has a great view of the city from the clock tower. It's like going up to the top of the Washington Monument, except better, because you can get the Monument IN your pictures:
This one looks kinda foggy because I had to take it through glass.
The rooftop terrace Kelly and I both covet. :)
After that, we visited the Natural History Museum, which I haven't been to in years. Y'all know how I tend to only go to museums when people from out of town come to visit me, and it's not one of my parents' favorites. Anyway, so it was basically all new to me, and I mostly took pictures of the cats (because who am I?):
Conquering my fish fear is much easier when they're behind glass:
Easter Island dude!
We also went through the gems and minerals exhibit, where I found two of the minerals I made during my chemistry research in college (my mother's skis and my father's tennis racket aren't the only things that can be found in the Smithsonian!), and attempted to see the Hope Diamond, which is a little bit like trying to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, i.e. hold your camera above your head and hope for the best.
After a hard day of sightseeing, we relaxed with happy hour and then dinner at a swanky restaurant, which was half price thanks to Living Social, aka the best website ever. The food was amazing, but I think the thing that impressed us the most was the booth we sat in, lol. It was rather sofa-esque with armrests that swung out so that you could slide into the booth, and then closed back up again, so it was like you were sitting on a sofa at your table. Kelly really wanted to take a picture of it, but we figured that would be a fancy restaurant faux pas. :)
We spent most of Friday watching Being Erica (yay, another convert! \o/) and then went to Old Town Alexandria for New Year's Eve. Much yummy delicious pizza was eaten, and much merriment was had. The bar we went to had live music and gave out funny hats, noise makers, beads, and free champagne at midnight. When we came home, I tried to take a picture of Chelsea wearing the Happy New Year tiara, but she was uncooperative. (She's also apparently terrified of cheap noise makers.)
Even though we weren't particularly hung over the next day, we still went out for hangover brunch and then saw Black Swan, which will probably merit a discussion post once I've caught up with my pre-Christmas reviews.
So, how did you ring in 2011? Here's hoping it's better than 2010!
(Icon especially for Kelly, who immediately craves cupcakes every time I say the word.*g*)
Kelly arrived on Thursday and immediately re-traumatized Chelsea. The poor dear, she's met Kelly before, but that was a couple years ago, and she'd already had quite a rough week. So while she hid under the bed and gathered her nerves, Kelly and I went out and did the touristy thing. We went to the Old Post Office, which looks so pretty all decorated for Christmas and has a great view of the city from the clock tower. It's like going up to the top of the Washington Monument, except better, because you can get the Monument IN your pictures:
This one looks kinda foggy because I had to take it through glass.
The rooftop terrace Kelly and I both covet. :)
After that, we visited the Natural History Museum, which I haven't been to in years. Y'all know how I tend to only go to museums when people from out of town come to visit me, and it's not one of my parents' favorites. Anyway, so it was basically all new to me, and I mostly took pictures of the cats (because who am I?):
Conquering my fish fear is much easier when they're behind glass:
Easter Island dude!
We also went through the gems and minerals exhibit, where I found two of the minerals I made during my chemistry research in college (my mother's skis and my father's tennis racket aren't the only things that can be found in the Smithsonian!), and attempted to see the Hope Diamond, which is a little bit like trying to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, i.e. hold your camera above your head and hope for the best.
After a hard day of sightseeing, we relaxed with happy hour and then dinner at a swanky restaurant, which was half price thanks to Living Social, aka the best website ever. The food was amazing, but I think the thing that impressed us the most was the booth we sat in, lol. It was rather sofa-esque with armrests that swung out so that you could slide into the booth, and then closed back up again, so it was like you were sitting on a sofa at your table. Kelly really wanted to take a picture of it, but we figured that would be a fancy restaurant faux pas. :)
We spent most of Friday watching Being Erica (yay, another convert! \o/) and then went to Old Town Alexandria for New Year's Eve. Much yummy delicious pizza was eaten, and much merriment was had. The bar we went to had live music and gave out funny hats, noise makers, beads, and free champagne at midnight. When we came home, I tried to take a picture of Chelsea wearing the Happy New Year tiara, but she was uncooperative. (She's also apparently terrified of cheap noise makers.)
Even though we weren't particularly hung over the next day, we still went out for hangover brunch and then saw Black Swan, which will probably merit a discussion post once I've caught up with my pre-Christmas reviews.
So, how did you ring in 2011? Here's hoping it's better than 2010!
