Capitol Christmas

Christmas is a magical time of year. In DC.. it is a time filled with lights and trees! I decided to make my rounds and get in the spirit.

I started with ZooLights a few weeks ago and then moved on to the White House Christmas tree. Last year, we were lucky enough to get tickets to the Lighting Ceremony. This year... no tickets, but I just went to see the tree. It was a night of freezing rain... which meant no crowds. I loved it! 

Florida tree

The White House Christmas tree is one large tree surrounded by at least 50 others. Each state has their own tree represented on the White House Ellipse. Each state tree has ornaments made by children from schools in the state. 

The lobby of the Willard Hotel is decorated wonderfully. The night we went, they had a children's choir singing. It even smelled like Christmas inside, it was fun. (Fun Fact: I learned the other day.. the term "lobbying" comes from the Willard hotel lobby where people would wait for important government officials, who were staying at the Willard, to come down so that they could chat.)

The Capitol Tree is awesome... it is brought in each year from a different National Park. This year it came from Colorado. It is very awesome...however, they have already started setting up for Obama's 2nd Inauguration so the lawn is already blocked off with bleachers and stuff... this was the closest we could get. But it is still beautiful!

Can you spot Erin?

 

The last stop on my tour of Christmas, Arlington National Cemetery. Each year volunteers lay thousands of wreaths of the graves at the cemetery. As spectacular as the cemetery is on any given day, adding the wreaths just makes it even more amazing.

From our Nation's Capitol to you:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight. 

Jingle All the Way 8K

I did this on Sunday.

In case you were wondering.. 8k = 4.97 miles

I've been doing this "fitness" thing for a while now.. and I guess, its not so bad. Don't quote me on that though!

I've had a personal trainer at my gym since about March. I'm on my 3rd trainer now actually. First, was Kelly, she made it fun... we gossiped about people at the gym and chatted about life. It was like going to get your hair cut. We worked out but I didn't really realize we were working out. Then I left for Europe and when I came back, she had moved and I needed a new trainer. Enter Phil, the ex-military man who had big muscles and wanted to make sure I did, too. He came to each session with a written out plan and pushed me to do more than I thought I could. A few months ago, Phil got a job as a Federal Marshal and left the gym. While I was happy for him and his ambitions to further his career, this again meant...I needed a new trainer. So now we have Arien. He is big on cardio and kicks my ass every time. He especially kicked my ass the day after the Florida v. Florida State game. (Arien is a Seminole fan... this has been a challenge for us... but we're working on it.) He is intense and makes me do crazy shit.. like suicides in the parking garage. But, there is no way I would make myself do this crap on my own, so in my mind... paying them to tell me what to do is kinda worth it.

Next, I've signed up for the lottery to be able to enter the Cherry Blossom Run in April (we'll find out next week if I got in.) We shall see...

Zoo Lights

The National Zoo's annual event of Zoo Lights begins around Thanksgiving and runs through New Years Day. My friends and I went last night and while it was a very beautiful night..we were slightly underwhelmed. The most active animal we saw was the Sloth, beyond the few pictures I took, the rest seemed very scattered and not very well planned out. Its a free event put on by volunteers that makes all of its money from parking. I guess we were expecting much more but I'm glad we went and got a little bit of Christmas spirit.