Cold Days Spent Indoors

January has made a statement with its bone-chilling temperatures reminiscent of last year's polar vortex.  A week ago, we spent what we thought was a cold day (ended up being sunny and beautiful) indoors at the U.S. Botanical Garden and then the National Gallery of Art, two of our old standbys. The holidays are a great time to go visit both.  The botanical garden was teaming with visitors there to see the holiday trains and recreations of D.C. landmarks made of plant materials.

Afterwards we ambled over to the National Gallery for BB's favorite roast chicken lunch and found a a few treasures to bring home from their gift shop, one of the best in the city.  The National Gallery also is beautifully decorated for the holidays, so if you're thinking about next year, put it on the list. By the way, for awhile the National Gallery set out crayons and paper in the cafe for kids to use during mealtimes.  I thought this was a great idea and we went almost weekly for lunch and an art visit.  But they abruptly stopped doing this and the boys were really disappointed.  If anyone from NGA is reading this, bring back the crayons!

Our trip to the botanical garden reinforced one of the home refresh ideas I've been having for the last year - to add greenery all over the house. I'm not great with plants and they can be really expensive, so I'm starting off slow.  I started with succulents and other heartier varieties that I've been able to maintain.  I've been forcing bulbs now that it's Winter.  But I want to try more varieties and go bigger.