12.04 - in my heart is a Christmas tree farm
what’s going on in washington d.c.?
The Smithsonians are closed due to COVID, but if you’re still looking for a museum fix this weekend, downtown’s National Museum for Women in the Arts is hosting a free community day this Sunday from 12-5 p.m.
Holiday shopping? Shop local with these Washington Post-curated gift ideas and stores.
let’s talk food and drinks
Have you been wanting to check out cult favorite bakery Tatte but thinking it’s about 0.4 miles too west for you? You’re in luck - a second location of Tatte just opened in the south Dupont Circle area. While there, order the house latte that’s made with honey halva & cardamom.
A revolving conveyor belt restaurant import from Japan, Kura Sushi, just opened its first east coast location in D.C.’s Chinatown. The restaurant incorporates a high-tech conveyor belt and touch screen-based ordering to zip plates of sushi to your table. So far, diners are impressed - Kura currently has a perfect 5 star Yelp rating.
Look no further for a heated patio - Eater DC compiled a list of 24 spots with heatlamps, fire pits, and other cozy warming options.
what’s on our minds?
There’s some light at the end of a very long pandemic tunnel with news this week of continued success of the COVID-19 vaccine trials. While the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are yet to be approved, all signs indicate that they should be approved in the next few days. Once approved, government officials indicate that the vaccines will begin to be available within 24 hours. Supply will still be extremely limited at first, but if you’re curious as to when you may be eligible to be vaccinated, The New York Times put together an interactive estimate as to your likely place in line. If you’re “ordinary” per these criteria (and vaccine distribution goes according to plan), expect to get your vaccinations around April 2021 per Dr. Fauci. In the meantime - keep those masks on.
In a sign of some holiday spirit (and perhaps an increased interest in decorating the homes we’ve all been spending so much time in), D.C.-area Christmas tree sellers are reporting record business. If you’re still in the market for a tree, act fast - it sounds like many sellers are running low and likely to sell out in the coming days.
Quick links to other weekly #goodreads:
The Art of Building the Impossible - per The New Yorker, “The carpenter behind some of New York’s most elaborate—and expensive—homes….High-end New York real estate exists in its own microcosm, reliant on strange, nonlinear math. It’s as divorced from ordinary constraints as the needle towers that have risen to contain it. Even in the depths of the financial crisis, in 2008, the ultra-rich kept on building.”
Death in Clubland - per Elle, “When model Kimberly Fattorini died after a night out in Hollywood, everyone assumed she’d accidentally overdosed. Now her parents are asking, Is there more to the story?”
The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal - per POLITICO, “How a state that was never in doubt became a ‘national embarrassment’ and a symbol of the Republican Party’s fealty to Donald Trump.”
what are we watching/reading?
The Flight Attendant on HBO. Kaley Cuoco stars in this (loose) adaptation of a novel, The Flight Attendant, about a flight attendant who wakes up in a foreign country in bed with a dead man. The breezy thriller manages to be funny, gripping, twisty, and, most of all, a really enjoyable watch. 10/10.
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‘til next time -courtney