I am a sucker for Spring! A fun fact about me is that I am a Spring Baby – born in May. One of the biggest highlights of Spring since moving back to the Washington, DC area is that there is *none other than* the iconic cherry blossom festival with places ALL around the city and beyond to see these gorgeous blossoms bloom. The Cherry Blossom Festival is a BIG deal for myself and my fellow Washingtonians, alike, along with many who come to visit from around the world. On my Instagram (follow me @_thepinkchickadee!), I shared a bit on my stories about the early peak bloom of Washington, DC’s cherry blossoms this Spring.
This morning, the National Park Service (NPS) announced that the cherry blossoms are expected to peak on March 22-25 on March 1 and The Washington Post reports that they are expected to peak March 23-29 on February 28. While both of these announcements from NPS and The Washington Post have overlapping dates yet aren’t exactly the same, their predictions are ONLY predictions that one person can go off of. What most people (including myself!) like to do is use the estimated peak bloom dates as a blueprint for planning our adventures to see the cherry blossoms. This year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is planned for March 20-April 16, 2023. These National Cherry Blossom Festival dates are planned with a wide enough range of dates to both attract visitors from out of town and to ensure that peak bloom is within those scheduled dates. Read more about the National Cherry Blossom Festival and ALL of their events here: https://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/
What is SO monumental about this year is that we are expecting an early bloom. The other weekend, I was in Raleigh, North Carolina visiting my friends in honor of my best friend Alanna’s Birthday Weekend. Alanna and I went on a walk nearby her house in North Raleigh to see some trees and flowers starting to bloom. It was BEAUTIFUL and I got to take some photos while on our gorgeous walk on that overcast Sunday afternoon. Winter can be a tough time for many of us. The weather is super cold which makes it harder for me to want to do literally anything including going for a walk as the sun also sets before I finish work on a typical day. At the same time, after Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, Winter just feels boring, too, as there’s isn’t much to do and it’s a tougher season for businesses and people, alike. Not to mention, as a fellow single lady, Valentine’s Day can sometimes just SUCK and the hype around it isn’t so much fun for me either. However, I do like Galentine’s Day and love all things self love and empowerment. So, that all being said, I am SUPER happy to have an early bloom this year, just like many other people that I know!
Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, I am starting to feel revitalized. I always feel so much refresher and ready for new beginnings when Spring comes, as odd as it sounds. The National Cherry Blossom Festival, to me, is an opening to warmer weather, new beginnings, and a happy warmer season ahead of us. Last year was my first year truly getting to experience the National Cherry Blossom Festival (well, besides going a few times as a kid and once on a Sunday morning with my best friend Haley in high school!) that I can remember as an adult. I truly had an amazing time getting to go to the National Cherry Blossom Festival and see what ALL the hype was about. Many special memories were made on solo adventures and with my best friend Shivani. I am SO excited to be able to spend it this year with my blogger bestie Lindsay of Sunshine and Stair Climbs, college besties Cassie and Caroline and Shivani, my family members aka Papa and dog Rosie, and high school classmates Haley and Laura and James. Much fun is to be planned and already planned and I am SO excited to see the cherry blossoms sooner than expected this year!! Read more about my experience at the National Cherry Blossom Festival last year here: https://pinkchickadee.com/2022/04/02/my-experience-at-the-national-cherry-blossom-festival-2022/
February was a ROUGH month for me. I got into an accident around 8pm that was a bit traumatic for me. The accident was not my fault either. Luckily, I was not injured and my car wasn’t totaled but it took a major mental toll on me and still is to some extent. What sucks is that during that time, I was gaining a lot of confidence when it came to driving, so it was horrible to feel that it was robbed from me via that accident. I ended up taking 3 days off of work to communicate with insurance and process it all. It sucked. So, long story short, an early bloom to me is like a breath of fresh air and hope for new beginnings and more happy memories to come.
XOXO – Katie <3