December always brings a full calendar to the DC area, and it seems there is an endless stream of parties, food, and shopping to be had. Everyone can be a socialite in December!

SHOP TO IT (SHOPPING AND INDULGENCES)

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, right? Two sparkling events are happening this week from the diamond industry. The Baubles and Bubbles event at Chas. Schwartz & Son in Mazza Gallerie tonight will feature special pricing on $5 million worth of diamonds (from 2 to 10 carats). Talk about bling! Mervis Diamond is also having their annual trunk show this weekend in Tysons. Stop by for a fabulous opportunity to get something sparkly for that special someone.

SCENE AND BE SEEN (EVENTS AND PARTIES)

Friday night just keeps getting better. Start the night at Midtown where they are rolling out the red carpet to host a charity event for Becky’s Fund, which is sure to be a blast. A $20 donation to fight domestic violence is suggested, and the happy hour starts early at 5 PM.

After that, make sure you stop by the City Tavern Club from 8 PM to midnight for a not-so-naughty drink in honor of the 75th Anniversary of Repeal Day. The Repeal Day Ball is a classy soiree featuring some snazzy drinks and jazzy costumes, so make sure to dress the part (sophisticated cocktail attire is recommended). It may be a recession, but we can still drink to old times. Visit www.dccraftbartendersguild.com to purchase tickets. Can’t get enough of the CTC? Their annual Santa Soiree is Saturday night. This black tie event is sure to be an affair to remember.

Get into the holiday spirit by taking part in a DC tradition. The Mormon Temple’s (no, not the Magic Kingdom) Festival of Lights is happening right now at their Visitor Center. Be dazzled by displays of Christmas cheer. For those with a wilder side, make sure to check out Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. Cuddle up with that special someone with date night at the National Zoo this Saturday, December 6th. Tickets are only $30 per couple for FONZ members and $40 for non-members. Starting at 5:30 PM, warm up the night with hot chocolate and gingerbread men, and a cuddly plush animal gift.

A personal note, the Alexandria Singers will be having their annual holiday concert, “A Mall and the Night Visitors” on Sunday, December 7th at 3 pm at Bishop Ireton HS in Alexandria. Come out for good family fun and an entertaining musical event. Yours truly will be there with bells on. Purchase tickets online at www.alexandriasingers.com. Make sure you mention my name when you buy!

EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY (FOOD AND DRINK)

Holiday treats include on of my favorites, cookies! Check out Rock Creek at Mazza on Saturday, December 6th for Baking for the Holidays the Rock Creek Way at 10 AM. For $65 per person, you can enjoy a class from the pastry chef for healthy holiday desserts, including cookies and gingerbreads. That’s a deal when you factor in lunch and goodie bags! Santa will also be making an appearance at the mall from 9-10:30 AM, so come early to get in the holiday spirit!

A new matchbox is opening in DC. For those who love the Chinatown staple for great pizza, brunch, and more; make sure to visit the newest location at 521 8th street SE (near E). matchbox opens on Friday night.

P.S. For more great events - check out my latest issues of The Scene in Bisnow.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, and if you’re not too full, then it’s the opportune time to take advantage of some killer sales and wicked parties.

SHOP TO IT (SHOPPING AND INDULGENCES)

Black Friday is tomorrow, and more than ever stores are seeking to draw consumers in with huge discounts, online and offline. If the thought of waking up at 4 am to hit the crowded malls makes you queasy, then look for online discounts.

With Black Friday comes Cyber Monday, and here in DC you can attend an event by Shop.org to help the cause for online shopping. Shop.org will provide lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, laptop computers with high-speed Internet access, and will raffle off thousands of dollars in gift cards to shoppers. Shop@Lunch made easy.

Tax free shopping in DC this weekend on purchases that are $100 or less. Stock up on gifts for yourself and others. Look for more local deals from Washingtonian. Bethesda Row is a great place to start the shopping fever!

Shop for a good cause next Wednesday, December 3rd. The Carpenter Shelter for the homeless in Alexandria benefits, while you save! 50% of the proceeds go directly to The Carpenter Shelter. Shop goodies from local designers showcasing their chic apparel, accessories, jewelry, arts and services at HUGELY discounted savings (up to 70% off). 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM at the Westin in Alexandria. Check out the event on Facebook for more details.

Ann Taylor Loft, J. Crew and Banana Republic are featuring sales with up to 40% off. Stock up on professional looking winter wear.

• Ann Taylor Loft has 40% off already marked down sale prices.
• J. Crew offers an extra 20% off from mark downs if you enter the code EXTRA20 online through December 1.
• Banana Republic has 40% off of cold-weather items (think sweaters, gloves, etc.) through December 1.
• Work off those holiday pounds with cute and comfy clothes from Lucy. 40% off outerwear and up to 30% off already marked down items through December 2.

Looking for a special holiday or New Year’s Eve dress? Check out one of my favorite stores, Cusp, which has great sales and is offering free online shipping with with the code THANKS and an order over $150. Stock up on cute gifts for under $50 such as hand-knitted purple gloves ($34), a Bobbi Brown limited-edition lip gloss trio ($45), and shine on with super shimmery Lippmann Collection gold nail polish ($15).

Pre-order the latest book from Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling, set to release on December 4. The Tales of Beedle the Bard are sure to delight, as all five of the wizarding fairy tales that appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are featured in this treasury of tales. Barnes & Noble is offering it for $7.59 for B&N Club members. An extra 5% will be taken off if you order online. Amazon is even cheaper with a standard edition for $7.14. For the really hardcore fan, a special hardcover collector’s edition is offered for $100.

For some family holiday fun, check out the Polar Express in IMAX at the National Museum of Natural History. Check out http://www.si.edu/imax/ for details and showtimes.

SCENE AND BE SEEN (EVENTS AND PARTIES)

Thanksgiving weekend features parties all week. A few highlights:

WEDNESDAY

• The exclusive Shadow Room is having a pre-Thanksgiving bash tonight. RSVP for complimentary admission (which means free for ladies until midnight, and free for gentlemen until 11PM with RSVP). Absolute Addiction is promoting.
• The newly redesigned Eyebar is having its own Thanksgiving Eve bash, with no cover and open bar for all, starting at 10 pm. Gobble, Gobble! Go to Primo Productions for more detail.
• Itching for a Dewey Beach reunion? Head to Clarendon Ballroom for their annual Thanksgiving Throwdown, featuring Kristen and the Noise. HiBall events sponsors. Come early for $10 admission, and get in for only $5 with two canned goods. Prices increase through the night.

THURSDAY

• Spend time with your family you turkey!

FRIDAY

• My friend (and new Wizards girl) Lyndsay is hosting an event at Midtown on Friday night. (For those who don’t know, Midtown is the new Play.) The Little Black Dress party is sure to be filled with beautiful people, so make sure you dress to impress.

In other news, select summer 2009 shows are now on sale at Wolf Trap. Take advantage of purchasing Disney’s High School Musical tickets (which are sure to sell out) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. TLOTR will feature the complete film in HD with performances by a live orchestra, chorus, and soloists. HSM will be arriving on September 1-6, 2009 and The Lord of the Rings is coming August 28-29, 2009. For more fun and to purchase tickets (including Riverdance and 42nd Street), go to Wolf Trap’s website.

EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY (FOOD AND DRINK)

Thanksgiving is all about food. And, what better way to celebrate food than to share with others. Washingtonian is creating a Thanksgiving recipe box, where readers can submit and share their favorite family recipes.

This is a great time to think of others. Consider volunteering at a local shelter or food bank. Many need extra help for the Thanksgiving holiday, but consider volunteering at another time. Help is needed year round. If you can’t volunteer your time, please volunteer your dollars. Check out Food and Friends, Capital Area Food Bank, So Others Might Eat (SOME), Bread for the City, and the DC Central Kitchen.

Union Jack’s new Ballston location is hosting a grand opening next Thursday, December 4th. There will be a free buffet to sample food, and lots of fun to be had for all. Could be a great overflow spot for Rock Bottom’s Wednesday night $1 beer debacles.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting information for a contest to win a 1 lb. box of Enstrom’s toffee. If you’ve never had it, I highly recommend you get into it. More to come…

NOTE: Posted this a bit early this week with the holiday in mind. Check back every Thursday for a weekly round up.

Every week, there are a ton of events that I want to go to - whether it’s a festival, concert, new restaurant, or party. The holidays are coming up, and there will be more fun things happening than I can imagine. For now, just a few highlights. The list will become more robust over the coming weeks. Think of this as Daily Candy marrying the Going Out Gurus.

SHOP TO IT (SHOPPING AND INDULGENCES)

Stop by Sephora for some yummy calorie-free treats. Philosophy is serving up goods that range from hot cocoa bath and shower gel, s’mores, gingerbread, and cranberry scented lip gloss. Don’t forget to indulge in the pumpkin pie. You can stay fresh, clean, and fat-free with these delicious products.

If you’re looking for something a little cheaper, Bath & Body Works is running a special on their Signature Collection scents online. Buy 5 for $25. I’m a fan of Black Raspberry Vanilla, Sensual Amber, and Pearberry. It’s not part of the Signature Collection, but Vanilla Bean Noel is a great once a year scent to stock up on for the holdiays. I usually buy at least three.

Love bling? Go to the International Gem and Jewelry Show at the Dulles Expo Center for FREE if you’re a Goldstar member. Find a sparkling holiday gift for yourself or a loved one. Friday, December 19 - Sunday, December 21.

SCENE AND BE SEEN (EVENTS AND PARTIES)

Jack’s Mannequin (and other guests) will be performing tonight at the 9:30 Club. If only I had heard about this event sooner, I would have definitely tried to make it. The show is now sold out, but check out 9:30 Club for the latest and greatest, including a three-night show in January by Thievery Corporation.

Sports and fashion collide with the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund’s Fashion Forward event. Tomorrow night from 7 pm to 11 pm, join Washington Redskins and Wizards girls at the hottest spot in town, Shadow Room, for a charity fashion show. Mingle with some of DC’s best philanthropists and party people, all in one spot. Tickets are $50 in advance and $60 at the door.

The 14th Annual BB&T Classic is December 7th this year. Always a good time, the schools competing include Virginia Tech vs. Navy and Maryland vs. George Washington. A local crowd favorite, make sure to get your tickets now. The tournament benefits the Children’s Charities Foundation. Tickets are $15, $40, and $125 from Ticketmaster.

Fun for the whole family. One of my favorite childhood books, Miss Nelson is Missing!, will be shared at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. This musical comedy is sure to please kids and adults alike. There’s plenty of time to see it. The show runs November 22, 2008 - January 4, 2009.

For the more grown up side, Hi-Ball events presents their annual New Year’s Eve blow-out will be held at National Harbour this year. Big Night DC will feature multiple floors, open bars, live music, and more. All-inclusive tickets are at their cheapest right now. A general ticket is currently going for $109.99, and VIP tickets are going for $169.99. While it may not be the cheapest event in town, it will certainly be the largest. Although, you may want to skip NYE this year in favor of an Inaugural Ball ticket. If you are looking for another big party alternative, check out the Downtown Countdown. Tickets range from $119-$200, with group rates available.

EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY (FOOD AND DRINK)

My friend Mar wrote up a great review of Georgetown Cupcake. Whether you prefer Georgetown Cupcake, Hello Cupcake, Buzz Bakery, or CakeLove…there is certainly not a cupcake shortage in this town. With this economy, a cupcake is a sweet treat that won’t break the bank.

Speaking of money, there are a ton of recession specials around town. If you’re into the post-college kickball scene, head over to Kelly’s Irish Times for a $15 all-you-can-drink special featuring Miller Lite, Miller High Life and Blue Moon. Every Saturday night from 8 pm to 11 pm.

Taxi drivers beware, there are multiple Thanksgiving bar tours this weekend. Who knew it was time to give thanks and…drink? On Saturday, November 22nd, residents in DC, Maryland and Virginia can enjoy a full day of bar hopping across the metro area. The 2nd Annual Bethesda Fall Bar Tour and Upper East Fall Bar Tour (in DC) are sponsored by Lindy Promotions. Get $2 Miller Lites, food specials and more for just $10 per ticket. The Turkey Trot Tour in Arlington is sponsored by the Arlington Athletic and Social League and is only $5 (free if you’re a member). Features $2 Miller Lites, $4 Wild Turkey and Coke, and food specials.

What a fabulous weekend! On Friday night I headed into DC for a good friend from college’s birthday celebration. We started off with a couple drinks at Mate, and then headed to Lima to finish off the night. I had SO much fun, and I don’t even really like house/trance/club (whatever you want to call it) music, I’m much more a hip-hop kind of girl. We ended up getting a table at Lima and went through about 5 bottles of champagne and vodka. They brought out the bottles with sparklers attached, very fun! Yours truly actually drank a lot, which is a rare event considering the combination of unfortunate asian glow and the fact that drinking usually makes me not so much fun. This time though, it was all good, and 6 mixed drinks and 2 shots later I was still standing! Thanks to KassyK for her favorite drink (that I have inherited hehe) which started my night off right. Lima was a good time, and I actually ran into one of my old coworkers that I hadn’t seen in over a year, and also one of my sorority sisters. My only complaint was those damn stairs to the basement, I thought I was going to kill myself walking down them! We finally headed home and fell asleep by 4 or 5…let me just say that three people sleeping in a King size bed made my Queen seem pretty inadequate.

On Saturday I took a long nap and then headed to my friend’s house to order Chinese food and watch the Syracuse vs. Louisville game. Sadly, Cuse lost in the last minutes. When that was over I met up with some friends at Shirlington to see Notes on a Scandal. The movie was fantastically funny with a witty narration by Judi Dench, although it was a bit creepy at times. Not so much a story about the affair Cate Blanchett led, and more about crazy ass Judi Dench. Still, I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it!

Another great movie I saw was Waiting, which starred hottie Ryan Reynolds. Dane Cook also appeared along with some other C-list actors. The movie was definitely a hilarious reminder of my time waiting tables at various restaurants through college. There is just something about working at a restaurant…sometimes I kind of miss the craziness.

The rest of my weekend is supposed to be spent cleaning my apartment (which was supposed to happen last weekend but another long night out prevented that as well), but we’ll see how that goes. I also need to buy a new vacuum…which is turning out to be a great debacle. Who knew that finding a good one would be so hard? Every review I read sucks, and the really good ones are way too expensive. Ugh. Any ideas????

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this week as I think there are about to be some BIG changes to my world. We will see what happens, but it will certainly be shared!

Ummmm let’s just say that apparently I still have the ability to go out on a weeknight and act like I’m in college still. I didn’t know I still had it in me. I can still pretend I’m a rock star.

So last night I get a call from my friend who wants me to come meet some people in Arlington. Well, I haven’t been out in awhile so I’m like sure, why not? Well, I walk in the door and who do I see but one of my friends/hook up buddies. He was there with his roommate so I hung out with them for a little bit until I finally found my friends. Thank God or I wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to and would have just left.

I think I seriously ran into about every guy that I have either hooked up with or been on a date with the past year or so…kinda crazy. I even ran into Sara - yay! There was also a blog fan there, chicgirl - I met her at last December’s happy hour, she came to meet some other DC bloggers. So, then it was really funny to run into her again a year later! It was so crazy to see so many people I know there. I guess I really do need to go out more often!

The bar acutally got pretty packed by 11 or so, surprising one for a worknight and two for Clarendon Grill. There was a live band there that was fun, so that was good too. A few shots and beers into the night and good company made it seem almost like a Thursday night out in college, except instead of struggling through a 9 am class with the vision of a nap in the afternoon, I’m here at work struggling to make it through the day and actually accomplish something.

So while we were out I was talking to my hook up buddy and his roommate…and somehow it got on the topic of my boobs. I was saying something about how I liked them or whatever, and my hook up asked what I liked about them. So I told him (I’ll spare you) and then he asked me what my favorite part about myself was. I said my hair and skin. He was like, good answer…then he leaned in close and whispered in my ear “lips and eyes.” Yeah, um…that was kinda hot.

The night ended with a little high school-like rendezvous…but man, was it fun. *wink* Let’s just say that there was a lot of flexibility and agility involved. Hehe.

It seems that the Asian Mistress has gotten back into the going out groove, so watch out!

My friend A

My friend K