A Tourist's Guide to DC + Giveaway!

Happy Friday, my loves. So I shared this post over at Life with Lolo earlier this week but it's too good not to had to share with you all too! Anyways, if you didn't know, I live and have lived in the DC area for over ten years now and I absolutely love it! So if you're ever visiting the DC area, I'll tell you what I love to show off about my city.

The Touristy Spots

Ok, honestly, I'll just briefly touch on this. DC is a HUGE tourist town. I'm actually a crazy fan of the hop-on, hop-off buses so you can take your time at one place that interests you or skip other sights entirely. If you don't have tons of time, the main place you have to go is the National Mall! You can hang out with Lincoln at his memorial, see the reflecting pool, walk up to the Washington Monument and observe it in all it's beauty and glory. But honestly, if you have the time, go see all the memorials, they're beautiful and you'll get a great workout! Check this out if you want to do a walking tour. 

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The Museums

I don't know how many big cities can say this, but we have world-class museums that are FREE to enter. So, yes go to these too! The Smithsonians are huge so one museum can literally take an entire day if you want to. My top two favorites are the National History Museum (hello, who doesn't want to see the Hope Diamond?) and the Air and Space museum.

Another neat thing, if you're going anytime during the summer, the National Gallery of Art offers free jazz concerts every friday! You can bring a blanket, camp out, and listen to some jazz. Pro tip: you can buy pitchers of sangria there!

What else to do?

Fine, you don't like touristy things or the museums? Well there is always the zoo (again free!), you can go to a Nationals Game for as little as $5. If you go see a Nat's game, definitely go sit at the Red Loft bar, it's better than the nosebleed seats and the bar is RIGHT there! Or you could also enjoy a stroll down the street of Georgetown if you like to shop.

The Restaurants

So, by now you'll definitely be hungry right? Here's some of my top picks around different neighborhoods of DC. Ted's Bulletin serves good american cooking and also breakfast all day. They even make their own pop-tarts! They're out in Eastern Market but also on 14th St. If you like Tapas, definitely check out Jaleo in Penn Quarter. They have over 70 options and most are pretty reasonably priced!

Heading over to Capitol Hill, you can also try out Good Stuff Eatery (I actually ate at another location in Virginia but I'm sure it's the same food) where you can try out Spike Mendelsohn's hand crafted burgers. P.S. Spike Mendelsohn is a Top Chef finalist!

Want something a bit fancier, try out Le Diplomat for classy french cuisine. Since it's nice weather out, you can sit on their adorable patio, too! If you like meat, definitely go to The Partisan in Penn Quarter. They have amazing charcuterie that's provided by the butcher right next door! And as a perfect segway, they have an awesome brunch menu there too! Oh for the love of brunch! But I'll let the bitches speak to that. They're the pros.

The Bars!

My favorite part! So unless you want to relive your college days I would suggest staying away from the ultra-preppy Georgetown and rowdy Adams Morgan neighborhoods. But no judgement, if you want that type of night, by all means go for it!

You'll typically find me around H or U St. There's H St Country Club if you want to play a little bit of games while you're drinking, there's also the Biergarten Haus, which keeps a dozen German brews on tap.

Around U St, a new favorite of mine is the Fainting Goat or Marvin's. The Fainting Goat is big 2-level bar with great prices and awesome craft cocktails. Bar Charley is a nice new place that I've been going to. It's great for a date night and with economical prices, that's a bit of a rarity in the area.

Then two places get noteworthy mentions because of their views: The POV and Brixton. Brixton is on U St and has three different floors, but their top rooftop level has an amazing view of the city. POV is in the W Hotel and it's more club like than a typical bar scene. You'll be paying about $11 for a gin and tonic and you'll have the best view of the city. Definitely somewhere to go to at the beginning of the night and then head somewhere else for cheaper drinks. Beware, you'll most likely have to wait in line for both of these...

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If any of you are in the area or visiting, seriously, hit me up, I love to show people around the town and am always happy to give suggestions! Happy travels.

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Lastly, a giveaway!

Uncustomary Art // Small Towns and City Lights // SEDiva Abroad // Kate the (almost) Great // Sweet Magnolia // Venus Trapped in Mars // Lot 48 // Alanna & Company //  Seeking Sunshine

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Linking up with: Friday Favorites, Little Friday, Oh Hey Friday, High Five for Friday

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Travel Size Essentials

Good Morning everyone! Please welcome Tif from Bright on a Budget! Today she's sharing her travel essentials. So glad I got this post HTML before I left for my trip! I definitely grabbed some of her suggestions before I left.

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 When I travel, I liked to be prepared for everything but pack as light as possible.  While I usually fail at packing lightly (evidently carrying multiple pairs of shoes weighs a lot), I have found 6 travel-sized essentials that I can slip into my bag without taking up much space.  I'm flying out to Vegas later this month, and you can bet that each and every one of these items will be packed!

1.  Nail Polish Remover Pads There's not much worse than having to pack a big bottle of nail polish remover, unless you spill said bottle of nail polish remover all over your stuff.  I've had it happen to me one too many times, so I was thrilled to find these individually-wrapped nail polish remover pads/wipes at Target.  These are super thin and you easily slip several into a makeup bag or quart-sized baggie. 

2. Venus Snap Razor Not only is this little razor cute, but it's also convenient too!  What sold me on it is the travel case.  I like knowing that I'm not going to accidentally cut myself on my razor when rummaging for something down in my travel bag. 

3.  Disinfecting Spray Flat out, I don't leave on a trip without my disinfecting spray.  I couldn't find this one online, but it is available in the travel toiletries aisle at Target.  I'm a germaphobe, and I like to spray down the shower, sink, and remote control (at the very least) as soon as I hit a hotel room.  These little mini spray bottles are perfect for those airport baggies!  And while we're being honest, I usually carry 2, because 1 just isn't enough. 

4.  Small/rollerball perfume Once again, the smaller the item, the less that's going to douse your clothes when it dumps out!haha Also, perfume bottles can just be heavy.  I like this to grab a small perfume, such as a roller ball, sample size, or just a small bottle to toss in my bag for trips. 

5. Makeup Remover Wipes When I travel, I usually am exhausted by the time I make it back to my room.  I like to plop my little travel-size package of makeup remover wipes by my bed to make it easy to take off my makeup. Otherwise, I'd probably not take it off most nights I'm traveling, and that just makes my face a hot mess.  This little travel pack from Neutrogena is perfectly sized, and they don't irritate my skin.  Win-win in my book! 

6. Z Palette The personal-care items that take up the most room when I travel are my cosmetics.  A lot of makeup containers take up a lot of space. To cut back on that, I like to depot some my makeup and keep it in a Z Palette.  I have the small Z Pallette from Sephora, and you can fit several eyeshadows and blush in it!  It's ultra compact and slips right into your bag.

I hope these travel-sized essentials help you to make more room for other things on your next trip! What are your must-haves for travel-sized essentials???

  Tif is a twenty-something attorney, mom, and dedicated bargain hunter who blogs about beauty, life, and style.  You can visit her over at Bright on a Budget.



Say hello to this month's sponsor:

Las Vegas Photo Tour

So I've been in Vegas since Thursday for work and it's been really interesting so far. I think the weirdest thing for me is walking down to the convention center at 6:30 in the mornings to people drinking, gambling, and tons of bright flashing lights. No coffee can prepare me for that in the mornings!

So glad that I brought my Fitbit with me! maybe this week I might actually beat someone. I still have two more days in Las Vegas, so you can keep track of me via Instagram.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Travel in 2015

As I've said before, I'm lucky that I get to travel so much! I get to travel for my job and of course, I travel personally too. Anyways, I've told you where I've been in 2014, but what's more exciting is where I'm going!

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So I've already been to San Francisco/Santa Cruz in January, I went to New Orleans in March and I'm about to leave for Vegas.

1. Las Vegas. This will be a work trip so I'm glad that they're paying for my hotel room in the Venetian. I hope I get to go out and play a little bit. I'm also super frustrated that Brittany won't be there the weekend I'm there. How dare she?

2. Nashville. Personal! I'm visiting my bestie down in Nashville and hopefully will get to meet up with a couple others while I'm down there. I'm super excited to visit and have only heard of great things. I'm also super excited to try some of the suggestions that Ash has posted about!

3. Dewey Beach for Memorial Day. Personal again! This will be a short little road trip with my girls. It's party central at Dewey that weekend. Last time I was there, I remember we were lined up to get into one of the most popular bars on Memorial day and they had staff handing out sandwiches saying, "This will be the last thing you remember." Yikes. I plan to get in some beach time rather than just drinking and staying in bars the entire time. 

4. Jamaica! Wow I have a lot of personal travel this year! We haven't finalized the plans for this one yet but we are checking out resorts. Right now we're looking at RIU which we went to one in Cabo and it was great and also Sandals. It would be really nice to have a nice couples retreat without any children interrupting us. Have any of you ever been to Jamaica? Any tips?

5. San Antonio. Work! This is for our drawn out Annual Meeting, which is good because I can basically go explore each night if I'm not totally exhausted. I hope to get to see the Riverwalk, but other than that I'm really not sure what else to do. Again, if any of you have been, I would love some recommendations!

6. San Diego! For work. I'm really excited to go to San Diego, I might try and stay longer than my work trip which is only 2.5 days. Primarily because it will be November and cold in the District, but also because I have a few friends to visit there and want to check out the city. For some reason, people tell me I'd love San Diego (or maybe that's because everyone loves San Diego?)

Are you going anywhere good this year? Or do you have any suggestions of what I should go see when I'm traveling?

San Francisco Bound

As I said in previous posts, I'm super lucky that my job is able to send me all around the States to travel. So yesterday I jetted out to San Francisco. I don't think I've explained this before but I am somewhat of a meeting planner. I always struggle with the best way to describe what I do. I work for a medical non-profit on the education side, which means develop educational programs (aka medical conferences) that provide CME (continuing medical education) to doctors so they can continue to be certified! Yay, all good things! Anyways, if you ask me anything about room blocks, BEOs, or anything of the sort, I will point you in a different direction. I love my job and it's perfect for me since I love planning, organizing months (if not years) ahead of time, and coordinating all the small things into one big perfect finalized meeting. Also a plus side is that I get to go to amazing hotels and cities fo' free!

 The top level of my two story suite at the JW Marriott in Scottsdale.

This will be the third year in a row that I've gone to San Francisco (twice for work, once for pleasure). If you have never been to San Francisco, do not be fooled by the weather. Many think that since it's part of California, it will be nice, mild, warm, and sunny all the time. Think again! San Fran has wild winds from the bay that chill the temperature down about 10 degrees on any given day. Fortunately, this trip is work trip that will turn into a pleasure trip for the last three days. Unfortunately, when it's a weird mix of different activities such as work, exploring the city, and doing touristy things I always struggle with planning on what to pack, without overpacking! I just found this amazing outfit planner on Team Wiking! Thank god for her printables. But I'll type out my finalized my packing list:

Clothing:

• 1 pair of jeans (that can be dressed up to go out on the town.)
• 2 work dresses.
• Black tights.
• Two short sleeve blouses and one long sleeve blouse (can be worn to dinners and work receptions.)
• T-Shirt
• Grey Cardigan.
• Long Sweater.
• Leggings.
• Scarf.
• Wind-breaker.
• Yoga Pants and workout top.
• Belt.

Shoes:

• Black Pumps.
• Brown Boots.
• Nude Flats.
• Running Shoes.

Electronics: 

• Portable speaker because I can't go anywhere without it.
• Kindle.
• Work Laptop.

And finished product (without my toiletry bag) actually looks pretty empty! Yay for not overpacking! I'll let you know how it goes once I get back home. Lastly, don't forget how to pack without wrinkles (tips from a Cup of Jo)! Anyways, please let me know if you have any suggestions for things to do or great restaurants that I could go to! I'll talk to you on the flip side.

2015 Upcoming Travels and Review of 2014 Travels

I am very lucky to have an amazing job that send me all across the country! I've had a mix of personal travel and work travel but they've all been great experiences so far.

1. Scottsdale, Ariz. One of the best work trips so far! All rooms in the hotel that we stayed in were suites! My suite was two stories,had a full kitchen, and two bathrooms. Unfortunately, I barely spent even 6 hours a day and at that I was only sleeping there. I'm also super thankful that we went in February. I was able to go out to the pool and play tennis in shorts and a tank top when I was there! I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer. I get to go back there in 2016 and it can't come soon enough. Fun fact: Arizona doesn't have daylight saving time changes. 


2. New Orleans/Mardi Gras. Let me just say that Mardi Gras was fun, and I'll probably not go again. It was just a giant cluster of ages 16-60 drinking tons of hurricanes. For some reason I was picturing something else, but I am not sure what I was imagining it to be. Unfortuantely, we missed a lot of the parades because we got snowed in and our flight was delayed one whole day :( We did however get to go on a swamp tour, meet up with friends in the city, explore lots in the French Quarter, and eat many beignets. 






3. Puerto Rico. One of our most active vacations so far. The boy and I went with another couple and were able to stay with his aunt. We visited the biolumenescent bay, the El Yunque, Old San Juan, and went to a ton of the beaches. Drank a ton, partied a lot, and had a blast. One thing though is the food! So rich and heavy! I loved it at first but by the third day I was dying for a salad and there were none in sight. How Puerto Rican women stay in shape is a mystery to me.






4. Charleston. Just a quick trip for July 4th. Not many good photos, but we visited with friends, brought our pup, and watched fireworks.


5. San Francisco. So I've been to San Francisco before actually but we mostly stayed out in Marin County for a family vacation. I however did a bunch of sight-seeing like going to see the Golden Gate Bridge, went to the Presidio, went to Fisherman's Wharf and the Ghiradelli Square. This time I was able to go to the Off The Grid food truck festival (I love food trucks) which was awesome, we briefly visited the SF Jazz Center, went to Pier 39, went to this neat lounge that you had to slide down to get into, had some sketchy moments walking to reception parties, and I lived in the Moscone Center (with the rats...). This next time I go back I need to go to Alcatraz! It's a beautiful city that has tons of places to explore. 






6. Chicago. I really wish I had more time to visit the city. I stayed around the Magnificent Mile.  I was able to visit Millennium Park and see the bean, go to the Riverwalk, and go shopping, but there are so many museums and sightseeing opportunities that I missed out on. It's a must to go back, and maybe sometime when it doesn't snow or have 30 ft. waves.
   
   
   


7. Miami (leaving this week!)

They've all been great and I always wish I have more time to explore the cities than I actually end up having, but now I have a great excuse to go back and spend more time there!

Next year's trips, that I know of, include San Francisco (again) and Santa Cruz, New Orleans (again), Las Vegas, San Antonio, and San Diego. I'm definitely ready for 2015!