Holiday Round Up
Weather: For those of you still in DC, Old Man Winter is giving you a tiny break from the blustery action. This weekend will bring temperatures that range from the high 30’s to low 50’s along with a chance of rain showers on Saturday. The good news is that your Christmas will be merry and bright! Although chilly, Sunday’s skies will be as clear as your brunch plans. Enjoy the holiday weekend, DC!
Awesome events you can attend this weekend: Don’t miss out on Zoo Lights at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo!; Be sure to check out ‘A Christmas Carol’ to really get you in the true spirit of the holidays; Everyone deserves a warm meal on Christmas! Lend a helping hand by delivering meals with the Food & Friends organization or help out by donating a few canned goods; Give a furry, four-legged friend a home for the holidays by joining the Lucky Dog Animal Rescue foster program; Join the Give-a-Gift program with The Jewish Social Service Agency to ensure every child, parent and senior citizen receives a gift during the holiday season; You can even donate a few dry or canned goods to the Capital Area Food Bank while you’re grocery shopping at any Whole Foods location; Donate to the Santa Clause Anonymous organization and provide Baltimore families with gift certificates that will help them out with some holiday shopping.
We’ve got your New Year’s Eve covered too: Ring in the New Year as they do in New Orleans at the brand new Vieux Carre on K street; Experience a Venetian style NYE at Flavio in Georgetown; If you’re looking for a more mellow New Year’s Eve, Mellow Mushroom has you covered; Enjoy some Southern Hospitality along with your champagne toast this NYE.
#LOCAL
This local woman’s holiday cheer is giving us a reason to ride the Metro; There’s an app for that; From Sweetgreen to sweet cocktails, new eateries abound throughout the District; DC weather is seriously moody this year; Just another sports injury that we can’t quite pronounce; Wait, Jumbo Slice is a sober thing?; Even Shake Shack is going gluten free.
#NATIONAL
Is Jack Frost paying you a visit this Christmas?; Our senators are getting into the holiday spirit; You know you’ve always wanted to rage with Charlie Brown and his crew; You’re not ready for the holidays until you watch these; Drone delivery has officially launched (see what we did there?); Bill Gates just keeps winning…even at Secret Santa; These Christmas jams aren’t played enough!
#ICYMI
The Sweetest Engagement
Famous for DC: Miracle on 7th Street
Confessions of a Capitol Hill staffer: The week before Christmas
If FamousDC was a part of the Electoral College
It’s the sweetest time of the year!
Dash, dance and prance to our holiday playlist on Spotify!
Ten ways to experience DC during the holidays
There’s a new and innovative CAVA in town
#EDITORSPICK
If there was ever a time that the hustle and bustle of Capitol Hill came to a pause, it’d certainly be the week before Christmas. But what exactly goes on while Congress is gone and Hill staffers are nowhere in sight? How did we even obtain this information? Well, all we can confirm is that there might be a creature stirring and giving us the inside scoop.
#TWEETOFTHEWEEK.
“If you’ve never made a mistake in your life, then you have not achieved as much as you could have — had you taken more risks.”
#BIRTHDAY
Famous birthday wishes to Keith Krosinsky, Bo Creason, Claire Kennedy, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, Tim Miller, Steven Holcomb, Jeremy Wattles, Rep. Michael Burgess, Bella Dixon, John Conard-Malley, Corey Elizabeth, Jill Barrile, Andrew Tolliver, Jinyoung Lee Englund, Paul Rigney, Senator Ted Cruz, Whitney Neumann, Senator Rob Portman, Brittany Morris, CJ Steadman, Xiomara Ayes, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Ryan Clendenny, Rep. David Loebsack, Mary Emma Clendenny, Chrissy Cowart, Rep. Adam Smith, Noelle Clemente, Jason Woodside, Katherine Seder, Jim Billimoria, Winston Wilde, Senator Jeff Sessions, Liz Lowery Norvell, Jim Long and Lauren Hagen.
#FAMOUSFORDC
FamousDC is immensely grateful to our readers, partners and supporters – we can’t wait for an amazing year ahead!
We definitely aren’t extremely jealous that POLITICO brought White Ford Bronco to their holiday party; We pity the fool who hasn’t received baked goods from Paige Gress; The U.S. Travel Association team crushed it in 2016 and fully deserves some P:TO; Sarah Ghessie is really good at wrapping gifts; Lisa Leonard’s doorman needs to cool it on the romance; Unconfirmed reports allege that Bubba Atkinson, Sam Smith, Hallie William, Brittany Bramell and other conspirators organized an underground 80’s party in Foggy Bottom last weekend. Sources tell FamousDC the night’s theme – “80’s après ski” – produced Instagram-worthy costumes and conduct; HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA: Michelle and Michael Warner’s wine concierge service at DCanter is a quick and easy way to make your special someone feel appreciated; Allie Freeman’s generosity as a friend is incomparable; Is Christa D’Amico just loving Florida?; All we want for Christmas is the grand opening of Sweetgreen in Old Town; Rachel Gordon loves gluten free bread – it amps up her sandwich selection; Paul Neaville…pass the cheese dip; We hope you got your smartphone working, Alex Parker; Banking is confusing, Mike Madden; The not-so-secret ingredient in Dave Tate’s hot sauce is…elves; The guacamole is a huge factor in life, Dave Levy; You can never see Rogue One too many times, Jeremy Kolassa; Josh Greenman has all of the social media birthdays memorized; Can you believe the iPhone didn’t exist in 2006, Chris Madden?; We feel the DC traffic struggle too, Griff Jenkins; The Hungry Lobbyist knows how to brunch the right way; Natasha Flint has an amazing Christmas sweater; Nothing says Christmas like guns and t-rex, Mike Dunkle; Congrats on your 3,000th tweet, Travis Briggs!; Cara Becker has a Christmas present with her name on it; The Sculpture Garden is a pretty cool place, Jamelle Bouie; Geoffrey Gauchet’s mom makes a killer gingerbread cathedral; Good luck in the Georgetown madness, Cameron Smith; Erin Lange is really good at scheduling holiday activities at work; Lisa King deserves a vacation; Katy Ricalde knows how to look absolutely fabulous for the First Family; James Wolfe better be ready for the holiday weekend!; Zac Smith is still really, really ridiculously good looking; Is the Snead family ready for Santa?; Lauren Hagen’s birthday is way cooler than yours; How was piano recital night, Sen. Ben Sasse?; Those Twitter hearts really threw off our game, Lauren McGaughy; Hope Emily Pasi is enjoying the brisk Erie weather!; Decaf coffee is overrated, Norm Kelly; Rihanna’s name is pretty complex, Raynell Cooper; Ask Dan Diamond about the guy who was singing Coldplay at the gym; We hope Brenna Williams is enjoying the Big Apple!; We had a cute line in here for Chris Gindlesperger and Adriana Brizuela about Zoo lights, but then they got engaged! Huge congrats to Gindy and Adriana, and thank you for the bounty of candy puns we’ll be able to make in the year ahead. Now that’s #AlwaysATreat!
#MEDIAMOVES BY BRYANT ROW
John Adams is continuing in his Digital Director position with The National Republican Senatorial Committee through 2018. Adams previously worked with the Targeted Victory team as their Project Manager and additionally participated in the McCain campaign as their analytics manager; The National Republican Senatorial Committee also welcomes Chris Hansen, Katie Behnke, Sarah Morgan, Katie Martin and Jessica Furst Johnson; The New York Times D.C. bureau welcomes Thomas Kaplan and Matt Flegenheimer as the newest additions to its team to cover congress; Bloomberg is adding to its White House, Trump and congressional teams with the additions of Kevin Cirilli, Jennifer Jacobs, Jennifer Epstein, Shannon Pettypiece, Arit John, Terry Dopp and Anna Edgerton; A big congratulations to Andrew Powaleny on his promotion to Director of Public Affairs at PhRMA, beginning in the new year. #DoBigThings; Fox News Channel is bringing on CEO and co-founder of Crowdpac, Steve Hilton, as a contributor to analyze political and tech policy; Steven Komarow has been promoted to executive editor and senior vice president responsible for CQ News at Roll Call; Kris Viesselman was also promoted to senior vice president and chief creative officer as she continues to serve as editor-in-chief; National Journal and The Atlantic alumna Juleyka Lantigua-Williams has joined NPR to work on the popular podcast, Code Switch; Congrats to Meira Bernstein on her new gig as press secretary in Senator-elect Maggie Hassan’s (D-NH) office. The team is also joined by Aaron Jacobs, who will serve as communications director; Blake Hounshell was recently announced as the new editor-in-chief of POLITICO Magazine. He most recently worked as Editorial Director; POLITICO has also announced that Tim Alberta will join the magazine as a national political reporter. He makes the move from his current role as chief political correspondent at National Review; Blue State Digital welcomes Amanda Liu as an operations analyst. Amanda was previously with the World Bank’s independent evaluation group; The New York Times has promoted Mark Mazzetti to Washington Investigations Editor, where he will lead a four person team. Mark most recently served as a national security correspondent (h/t Corinne Ginapol); Congratulations to Jordan Davis and Zach Hunter, who are moving from the National Republican Congressional Committee to serve at the Energy and Commerce Committee as Director of Policy and External Affairs and Communications Director respectively; And finally, best wishes and congratulations to Robin Gradison, who has been named the new Deputy Bureau Chief at NBC News. Gradison makes the move from ABC News, where she covered politics, the White House, congress and more for over 20 years.
#BYE
The FamousDC family has more to be thankful for this year than can fit into one email, let alone one section of an email. To our readers, supporters, friends and family: thank you for believing in us, for cheering us on, for laughing with (and sometimes at) us and for always making it your mission to advance ours. As we round out the last Round Up of 2016, we’re overjoyed with excitement for the year ahead, and we can’t wait to show you what’s in store. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to you all!
