Shows, a Narwhal, the Sky and Winter Lanterns!

I must admit the first half of January was a bit rough. I did a lot of crying and staying at home watching movies.

Although the first half of the month was hard, I am doing much better now. And can I just say that I am sooooo grateful for my friends and family!

Below are some randoms photos from this month.

I received an unexpected package from my sister, K, with a stuffed narwhal, a narwhal blanket and chocolate. :)

I love going on walks in my neighborhood. If I go out at sunset I can get some cool shots. The sky is just so pretty!

I went to see My Fair Lady at the Kennedy Center with Cat, Rachel, and Shari this month. The actors were awesome, the staging was cool (a rotating set piece), and the costumes were beautiful. I'm actually not a big fan of the story line but I still really enjoyed the production!

I also saw Silent Sky at Ford's Theatre with two of my co-workers, Heather and Sandy. It was sooo good! It's a relatively unknown show so I didn't know what to expect but I ended up really liking it. It was funny and interesting. It's based on real life about Henrietta Leavitt, an astronomer at Harvard University in the early 1900s.

Part of the reason why we went on this particular night was because the playwright was going to talk after the show. She was a very interesting person! I enjoyed listening to the answers to the questions people asked her.

One day I was looking up shows at the Kennedy Center and saw the announcement about Winter Lanterns for the Lunar New Year. The Kennedy Center had these beautiful, colorful lanterns set up outside in celebration of the New Year. :)

They had Chinese Four Symbols lanterns that represent four mythological creatures who are the guardians of the four cardinal directions and appear in the Chinese constellations.

The Azure Dragon of the East.

The White Tiger of the West.

The Vermillion Bird of the South.

The Black Turtle of the North.

They also had a lantern for each of the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac. I was born in the year of the Pig. Isn't he cute?!

And the lanterns continued and they were beautiful! I really loved this whole exhibit!

 Under the sea!

 Beautiful flower lanterns!

 Mushrooms!

 So whimsical!

 I loved these panda lanterns! So cool!

 Aren't the pandas just so cute?!

I really loved the Winter Lanterns! It was seriously so cool!

After Heather and I were done looking at the lanterns, we got some food at an empanada food truck on the grounds. I got one empanada and fries and both were delicious! (I loved this exhibit so much I went back the next evening with my brother, Tim.)

Overall I've had a decent month with it's ups and downs. And I'm grateful for the things I was able to do.

End of December Activities!

December was a good month! This post will have the rest of the Christmasy stuff I did in December. :)

I went to the Bull Run Festival of Lights with my friend, Rachel. I'd never been before and it was cool! You drive really slowly through the park as you look at the lights.

 It was hard to get pictures that weren't blurry.

I really enjoyed the lights and would say it was worth the drive and money to go! 

Walking out of work one day the clouds looked like this! Aren't they beautiful?!

 Another dramatic scene!

Although I've seen this show at Ford's Theatre before (about 7 years ago), I went again with my co-worker, Heather, who had never seen it before. I, of course, was okay with that since it's a good show with a good message and they do this show every year so they change it up too.

 The production was fun! The actors were awesome and the staging fun!

In case you don't know, I love Brian Stokes Mitchell. :) One of my friends let me borrow her Brian Stokes Mitchell / Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert DVD.

I actually have this CD and listen to it all of the time at Christmas time but I had never watched the DVD. I watched it and loved it! It had a different power watching it than it does listening to it and it was awesome!

A few months ago, I had mentioned to a couple of my friends a restaurant I had been wanting to visit in D.C. that the Washington Post food critic recommends to people all of the time on his weekly online chat. One of my friends decided to make a reservation for four of us to go on New Year's Eve. :)

So we went to Unconventional Diner for dinner on New Year's Eve and it did not disappoint. For the appetizers we got Kale chips and Cornbread muffins with habanero butter. The kale chips were okay. The cornbread muffins were amazing though! They were warm and moist and that butter was oh sooo good.

For my main dish, I got meatloaf and it was delicious! The meat was tender and flavorful and I would totally get it again. :) And everyone else really liked what they each got too!

Outside of Unconventional Diner afterwards. For dessert, we stopped by Insomnia Cookies in Georgetown. 

Then Cat, Rachel, Kara and I went back to Rachel and Cat's place and talked and laughed and ate the cookies and drank sparkling cider and watched the ball drop on Times Square. It was a lovely night full of awesome company and delicious food! 

Happy New Year! :)

Christmas Activities!

I love the Christmas season and I really like the area I live in! There are always a lot of Christmasy things to do. :) I don't get to do everything I'd like to but this year I've done some things I've never done before as well as some of the things I usually do.

The first Saturday in December, I did Christmasy things the whole day and it was awesome! I only got pictures from one of the things I did that day.

I started off the day going to my ward Christmas breakfast. I don't always go to this but this year they asked me to help out, which I was happy to! Having a job to do helped me to stay the whole time and I'm glad I did; it was fun. ;)

After the breakfast, I had some time to run errands and relax before my next event.

I had heard of the Wolftrap Holiday Sing-a-long and had been wanting to go for a few years now, but it never ended up working in my schedule. But this year I could go and I was so excited for it! I convinced two of my friends to join me and it was awesome! (I didn't get a picture with them, but Shari and Karen came with me).

The sing-a-long was awesome! It's free and they do it every year. The U.S. Marine Corps Band is there to play a few songs by themselves and then to accompany us as we sing. As we went to our seats, they gave us a book with the lyrics to the songs we would be singing. There were two hosts that led us in the singing and the majority of the concert was just the audience singing our hearts out. :)

I think I need to make the Wolftrap Holiday Sing-a-long part of my regular Christmas traditions. :)

The hosts were funny, the singing awesome, and the band rockin'! (The three pictures above this were from the Wolftrap sing-a-long).

Right after the sing-a-long Shari, Karen and I headed toward Ashburn where we went to the D.C. Temple Choir concert. The choir was awesome! (I know four people in the choir). Overall this Saturday was just so great and it made me so happy. :)

Every year, one of the things I do at Christmas time is go to the holiday market in downtown D.C. I picked a day after work that I could go, convinced one of my co-workers to join me, and left right from work.

I love looking at all of the cool, creative stuff they have at the market! I usually look at all of the tents on one side of the market and then at the end turn around and go down the other side so that I don't miss anything.

It wasn't as crowded as I've seen it before, which I was okay with (I think the threat of rain scared people from coming that night). It ended up not raining, which was great!

I didn't get a good picture of the market but I liked the JOY sign and this nutcracker decoration that they had in the middle of the market.

I ended up buying a few things at the market including a dulce de leche filled churro. That churro was soooo good!

This is still the night of the holiday market. I wanted to see if we could see the Christmas Tree at the Capital Building from the Mall but alas it was too far away from the part of the Mall we were on. But look at how cool the Washington Monument looked that night. :)

I knew Lara and Glen weren't going to be in town for Christmas so I wanted to see them sometime in December before Christmas.

One weekend I was able to drive up and visit them. One Saturday morning, I set my GPS to avoid toll roads and made my way to them! Can I just say that I loved the roads it took me on?! I was on country roads in Maryland and Pennsylvania and it was beautiful!

We had some good laughs, good conversations and good times while I was visiting Lara and Glen and family. :) I'm so glad I got to visit them for the weekend!

I went to church with them on Sunday and then I made my way home.

Another holiday tradition I have is visiting the National Christmas tree on the Ellipse in front of the White House. One Sunday after church I decided to go.

This year I did it a little differently. I went before it was dark to look at all of the little Christmas trees and the train sets etc. Then I waited outside of the crowd for the lights to come on.

 I live in a cool area!

 I loved just standing there watching the train sets go around.

After I was finished looking at the trees and train sets around the tree, I made my way over to the happenings going on at the Menorah.

The day I went downtown happened to coincide with the first day of Hanukkah. They were having a celebration for Hanukkah with singing and speeches etc. I stood there for quite a while listening and got to see them light the candle for the first day of Hanukkah.

This picture was taken right after they lit the shamash and then the first candle for the first day of Hanukkah. It was really cool to see and I was trying to enjoy the moment without my camera.

After the celebration at the Menorah was over, I made my way back to the Christmas tree. I sat on a bench outside the crowd to wait for the lights to come on. When they finally did, it was beautiful!

I was glad that I'd seen all of the stuff around the tree while it was light out because the crowd around the tree was crazy now that it was dark. I got some pictures of the lit tree and then headed home.

Isn't it beautiful?!

I'm grateful for the things I've been able to do thus far this month! Some other things not pictured here, a cookie exchange with cooking club, cookie baking and delivering, a book exchange with book group, cookies and caroling party at a family's house, movie watching at the theater and at home, The Nutcracker performance with some girls in it I know.

Pretty Autumn Pictures and Misc November Pictures!

November was a pretty month! I went on morning walks in my neighborhood and saw some beautiful autumn scenery.

Enjoy some of the scenery pics as well as some miscellaneous pics from November.

I love this shot in my neighborhood I took one November morning!

 And another one.

 And another one. Isn't autumn time beautiful?!

 This was one day as I was leaving work.

Another day leaving work. The sky can be so colorful and beautiful!

Sometimes I'm reminded of what a cool place I live in. My brother, Tim, mentioned one day that Norm Lewis was going to be at a free concert at the Library of Congress and asked if I wanted to go. I agreed to go, because how could I not?!

The concert was in a small theater at the Library of Congress with a Broadway star for free. It was soooo cool! Norm Lewis was amazing! :) He was funny and that man knows how to sing! I saw him in The Music Man at the Kennedy Center a few months ago too and he is just so cool! :)

As I've mentioned before Lara and Glen and family moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania. I'm sad that they moved farther away but I'm glad they still live within a few hours drive so that I get to see them occasionally still. :)

One day they came to Virginia so that Adam could get his driver's license officially. I got to have a quick dinner with them before they left town. I'm glad I got a chance to see them, if only briefly.

I was going to have Thanksgiving with just my friends, Rachel and Cat this year. But a family in our ward invited us over to their house, which was awesome! I was put in charge of making rolls. And I loved it!

I made sweet potato crescent rolls and they turned out pretty dang well, if I do say so myself. ;)

I love baking and I really enjoyed making these rolls.

November was a good month. I don't always take pictures of the things I do, but November was a good month full of good friends, good food, beautiful scenery, awesome family, and fun entertainment etc.