Good morning from DC! It’s nice to be home. 
If you’re just tuning in – I just finished up my 3rd semester of grad school on Tuesday and am now on winter break in the DC area for the next couple weeks. Hooray!
My parent’s house is all nice and decorated for the holidays and I’m currently enjoying a bowl of cereal on our Christmas mats. Life is good.
Man, I miss having a dining room table that gets natural light! The photos just come out a million times better.
Our dining room (and kitchen) in NC are in a windowless area – major photography fail. Will not make that mistake when looking for an apartment next time!
Anyway, sorry for the disappearing act yesterday! I got up early to pack and make the 5 hour drive to DC in time to meet my college BFF (and one of my bridesmaids in our wedding next fall) Turner for afternoon coffee! She was randomly in town from Philadelphia for the day for some school-related meetings for her Ph.D. program and had a bus back up to Philly at 6:45, so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to catch up.
We hit up a place in Clarendon called Northside Social. I like this place – cool vibe. It’s always packed, though.
We spent about 2 hours chatting away. It was great to catch up. I miss her!
My dad had a work dinner thing last night, so my mom and I were on our own for the night – we hit up our favorite Lebanese place (Aladdin’s Eatery) and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. Does anyone else do this?! I love it. Christmas lights make me so happy!
This house won out for most awesomely over the top:
We were impressed. 
I’m off to get in a workout and then it’s all hands on deck (aka… just me) for MISSION: CHRISTMAS SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA!!! I was so busy finishing up finals that I haven’t had a chance to do any shopping yet – here’s hoping the malls aren’t crazy crowded today. Tonight I’m going to my mom’s work holiday party with her as her “date” since my dad left this morning to go out of town. Should be fun!
Ta-ta for now, friends!