December 2023 was one of THE BEST months for me throughout 2023! Personally, my favorite season is the holiday season aka October->December of each year. December has truly been such a month filled with love and gratitude from all different avenues of my life. The Christmas cheer was truly just the icing on top of the cake of an amazing December (!!!!!).
Highs:
- I’ve mentioned a few times that I am currently apart of the Ignite Young Professionals Class of 2024 cohort via the Leadership Center for Excellence in Arlington, Virginia. Since starting the program, I have been a social chair for my cohort (!!!!). And, I planned my first happy hour at Ireland’s Four Courts in Arlington’s Courthouse neighborhood with my Ignite Young Professionals cohort (a special thanks to my classmates for recommending this spot, too!!). It was A BLAST to get to enjoy *none other than* fries and wine aka my comfort food and connect with my classmates beyond the classroom. Before happy hour, I got to *finally* visit to see the reclining Lady Liberty at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Arlington (MOCAA) for my site visit via Ignite Young Professionals. I have been wanting to see the iconic reclining Lady Liberty while she is here in Arlington, Virginia and SO GLAD I finally got to! All in all, a GREAT class day via my Ignite Young Professionals program and I look forward to future classes in 2024!
Visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Arlington
Happy hour at Ireland’s Four Courts
- November 2023 started off with a bang (here), as I started and completed the courses portion for my first-ever certification through work. I have REALLY enjoyed this certification that I am working towards and am OH SO appreciative of my managers, teammates, and company for supporting me in working towards it. Early in December, I presented my briefing for my certification (the FINAL step!!!!) in achieving this certificate AND it went REALLY well (!!!!!). Next step: being certified!
- Christmas fun included: dinner with Papa at Ozzie’s Good Eats with a visit to see the sweetest ladies (and champagne!!!) at Becky’s Boutique in Fairfax Corner, admiring aisles and aisles and aisles of wreaths at Nall’s Produce, seeing The Nutcracker with Stephanie at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia, attending the DAR Holiday Open House and meeting SOOO many DAR women from all across the United States and Santa at the DAR Library, a nighttime stroll at *none other than* the National Christmas Tree and The Willard Intercontinental Hotel to listen to some live Christmas caroling, a stroll through Washington, DC’s City Center with Haley, visiting Aunt Amy and her girlfriend Barbara with Papa while they were staying at the magical Gaylord National Hotel in National Harbor during golden hour, advent dinners at my Mom’s house, a holly jolly stroll with Liz at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens Winter Walk of Lights, dinner and Christmas tree admiring at Cafe Riggs with Briana, Christmas wine shopping at Giant, and a family dinner with my Dad’s side of the family at Ferry + Main at The Logan Inn in New Hope, Pennsylvania. And, AHHHHH the list could go on and on and on (!!!!!!). This Christmas season was SUCH A holly and jolly time and an amazing time to get in the holiday cheer, too!
Fairfax Corner Outing at Ozzie’s and Becky’s Boutique
Nall’s Produce
The Nutcracker
DAR Holiday Open House
The National Christmas Tree
The Willard Intercontinental Hotel
City Center
The Gaylord National Hotel
Advent Dinner at Mom’s House
Meadowlark Botanical Garden’s Winter Walk of Lights
Cafe Riggs
Christmas Wine Shopping
Ferry + Main
- Happy mail from Black Friday & Cyber Monday shopping started to trickle (here), early this December. Every year, my company is SO kind to give all of us employees a gift of our choice from a list to commemorate the year and holiday season. This year, I chose a Trina Turk candle, which I am SO excited to use (!!!!). And, I also received a quilted black Scout tote, Sprinkled with Pink custom monogrammed pouches, a shimmery J Crew Factory skirt that I plan to style year-round, and Draper James pajamas and sweatpants (which I have been LIVING in recently!!!). One of my biggest and most frequent purchases this Black Friday/Cyber Monday season has been … pajamas!
- The joys of Christmas have been SUCH A HIGHLIGHT for me this December 2023. Whether it be eating off of Christmas china that I thrifted in November, enjoying Christmas trees both at home and while out and about, hearing Christmas music everywhere, or sipping drinks in Christmas mugs, the simple joys of Christmas have been such a blessing. I truly LOVE getting to enjoy the magic of Christmas and *even* simply saying to someone “Happy Holidays!” Or “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukah” and vice versa. There is SO MUCH to be thankful for and enjoy, whether at home with the Christmas decorations and Hallmark channel via simply being in the moment to seeing a Christmas tree through somebody’s window. Needless to say, people are SO MUCH KINDER to each other this holiday season and there is SO MUCH joy to be enjoyed this December and beyond (!!!!!).
- Papa’s first-ever trip to TJ Maxx happened on December 2 (!!!!). Surprisingly to all of us in the family, Papa had NEVER EVER been to TJ Maxx before then. Papa needed a new neck scarf for the projected snowy and cold Winter here in the Washington, DC area, so I decided to take him to TJ Maxx. Luckily, Papa successfully found what he was looking for AND made in impulse buy, too! LOL!!! It was a FUN FUN FUN time (!!!!).
- Every Christmas Eve Eve, my Papa and Aunt Amy and I dine at Mike’s American Grill. We all enjoyed cocktails and taking, took in ALLLL the Christmas decorations and vibes, and savored the special moments together. I am SO grateful for this tradition of ours and excited to continue it into 2024.
- My best friend from college Alanna celebrated her Masters in Education graduation weekend from NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. SOOOO many of me and Alanna’s college friends got together to celebrate Alanna (!!!!). I hadn’t seen Alanna and everyone else since 2022 and early/Summer 2023, so it was SOOOO nice and needed to be able to visit and see everyone after quite some time for a GREAT occasion. I ended up staying with my best friend Shivani and her amazing family, where we got lunch with my college roommate Sophie and had a much-needed amazing visit with her, too. I ALSO got to dine at SOOOO many new-to-me or haven’t dined at before places in Raleigh on this trip (here). All in all, my weekend to Raleigh was SOOOO needed and an extraordinary blessing.
- Being in good health has been a major blessing for me this December 2023. In December 2022, I went to the doctor’s for my annual check-up and ended up with a major lab mix-up and a whopping 3 blood draws within 10 days. It was nerve wracking and my doctor and family and I even suspected that something major was going on with me, which made for A LOT of stress and anxiety during an already stressful, yet joyful time. HOWEVER, this December 2023, I am happy to be in good health via lab results and my check-up at the doctor’s office. Through it all, I feel extremely blessed to have a great doctor and family to support me and ensure that I am in good health (and a MAJOR shoutout to the lady who works in the lab for always being kind and fun to talk to when getting something as daunting as blood drawn whether in 2022 or 2023!)
- I hosted my first-ever Christmas Party (!!!!) and several of my friends came to enjoy some holiday cheer with me! At my Christmas party, I popped a *very* much-belated bottle of Veuve Cliquot that I had picked up at Target earlier that week to commemorate my promotion at work in October 2023. My Christmas party was such a special time to get together with SO many of my friends that I LOVE so very much. I also LOVE that many of my friends have become friends and want to hang out since meeting one another at my Friendsgiving (here) from November and my Christmas party!
Lows:
- As a result of ALLLL the fun activities in December, I experienced major fatigue throughout the month. Unfortunately, that led me to cancel a few outings (including going to National Harbor a second time with Liz and attending a Holiday Party) during the month of December. Personally, as exciting as the month of December is, sometimes our body experiencing lots of fatigue is a message to us to simply slow down.
- I late December, I met up with my amazing influencer bestie Emily of @loveemilydarling on Instagram (GO FOLLOW HER!!!) which was AMAZING. Emily is SOOO sweet in real life and so are her parents. However, the circumstances logistically of us meeting up were super tough on me and those circumstances caused me to shut down emotionally due to stress. We sadly did not get a picture this time around meeting up, however, I do look forward to meeting up with Emily in the future and REALLY appreciate how kind, compassionate, and understanding she is in real life. Moreover, I REALLY look forward to getting to grow in my friendship with Emily in 2024 and beyond!!!!! <3
- Grief is HARD for me as we approach December 24 and 25. Year after year, I always struggle with grief during this time of year, as much as I enjoy it and find joy in it.
December 2023 was truly a month to remember. I feel lucky to have ended 2023 on such a high month and look forward to what 2024 will bring!!!!
XOXO – Katie <3
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