Our First Fourth of July in DC

We enjoyed a super fun and successful, first 4th of July in Washington, DC. We had a great group of guests and lots of fun things to do. As usual though, the long weekend didn’t feel so long after all.

On Friday evening M. and I decided to return some things from the wedding. We had a few duplicate gifts so we brought them back and received store gift cards which we’ll be using over the next year, I’m sure. We enjoyed a relaxing dinner together and chatted about M.’s upcoming Bar Exam and our visions for his future career. My mom and sister ended up arriving to DC relatively early so after they enjoyed a quick dinner together nearby we met up, grabbed some dessert to-go from the Cheesecake Factory and spent a little time with them in their hotel room.

After visiting with my mom and sister we stopped by the hotel M.’s brother was staying at to say a quick hello and then made our way home to do a few last minute preparations for our guests. I must say, M. did an excellent job making our kitchen absolutely sparkle!! :)

Saturday morning we drove out to our parents’ hotels to start the day! M. dropped me off at my mom’s hotel so that we could spend the day shopping. We decided to start at the mall and then make our way to the outdoor shopping since the weather was so beautiful! We found some GREAT deals at Bloomingdales and probably spent an hour and a half sitting in the shoe department trying on all sorts of fun heels and sandals. I ended up buying a cute pair that I’ll be able to wear for the rest of the summer and into the fall (you can actually see them in the photo to the right)! My mom and sister also scored a few great pairs! We tried on a bunch of dresses in the dress department. C. and I spotted these feathered numbers which I am officially obsessed with. They're WAY to expensive for a "wear-once" cocktail dress (even though I'm not on the hunt for one at a slightly discounted price), but how can you not love the feathered skirts! We also found some GREAT Kate Spade necklaces on sale and couldn’t resist! We had a quick soup and salad at Panera and then drove out to the outdoor shopping where we mostly just enjoyed “window shopping.”

M. spent the day touring around DC with his parents, Aunt, and brother. He also attended that Nats game with his dad! We all ended up meeting at the apartment before walking over for dinner. We visited one of our favorite spots which I’ll have to write about more later! The food was delicious as usual, but the company was even better. It was so nice to sit down and enjoy a meal together.

After our guests went back to their hotels for the night I started baking for the next day. Peanut butter blossoms, cupcakes, and brownies were all on the list! I also made those delicious chocolate dipped pretzel rods and “decorated” them with red and blue M&M’s.

Sunday morning I was up early to get the kitchen ready for all of the cooking that was to come and to get ready for brunch with my mom and sister. We went to Founding Farmers (a restaurant I have been looking forward to trying) downtown, and boy did we enjoy a fun breakfast!! We decided to do a lot of splitting so that we could try many different items from the menu. To start we had the “popcorn-of-the-day” which was cinnamon sugar, the “bacon lollies,” and the “banana fluffer-nutter.” Wow! Not only was the presentation super fun, but the food was DELICIOUS. **Even though my mom always made us “gourmet” sandwiches for lunch everyday at school, I always envied the kids with the banana, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches – it’s official, I was missing out.** Yum! For the “main course” we split a spinach, mushroom, and cheddar “pan scramble” accompanied by hash browns and toast with homemade strawberry jelly, and the New Orleans style stuffed French toast. These dishes were both so delicious, but the French toast I could have eaten for days and days and not gotten full.