Run away for Christmas... Day One!

Run away from for Christmas day one took us

to Joe's Crab Shack in Fredericksburg, Virginia!

Where we indulged in Lobster bisque for me, Clam chowder for him,

the Snow Crab bucket for me, and the Samuel Adams steampot for

him. Would we eat there again? Probably not. Why? Because for $75, it was

very little food and like Chinese, we were hungry again in less than an hour!

After our crabby-lunch we strolled through all of the downtown Fredericksburg

antique shops in the pouring rain, which was actually a lot of fun. Mainly since we

strolled prepared with our giant golf umbrellas, and we knew we had a nice, warm,

comfy room waiting for us at the Ritz -Carlton Tysons Corner. You know this is

a bit like coming home for us since Army dad was born and raised in Arlington, and

during our first year of marriage we lived just down the road in Reston. Of course,

that was 26 years ago, and not much about this area looks like it did back then!

Fortunately, not much at the Ritz-Carlton has changed though!

It's the only hotel in the area with all-marble bathrooms, and...

Deep bathtubs!

And, when I travel, this is what matters to me the most. Deep bathtubs,

down comforters, feather pillows and room service... I don't need much!

Except for those things, and my Lush bathbombs!

Yup, this is what I call ahead for, and base all my hotel decision-making!

After we checked in at the Ritz it was time to head out to Leesburg to visit

the Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware outlets!

Sooooo worth the trip! This WS outlet in Leesburg isn't as big as the

one we hit out on Long Island during our trip to New York last year...

But the prices were just as fantastic! And, I had the good fortune of visiting

during their after-Christmas/winter sales event. I picked up 10 bottles of my

favorite Winter Berry hand soap for only $4.00 a bottle, the holiday wreath

Bundt cake pan for only $12.50 and several sets of WS logo towels for only $7

After the Williams-Sonoma outlet I hit the Pottery Barn outlet just a

couple of doors down. Sadly, this PB outlet is scheduled to close forever on

January 22nd so it was horribly picked over. There wasn't nearly the selection

available at the PB outlet in Gaffney, although they did have several of these

large Santos objects left! Or, as someone I know calls them, Robot angels!

After breakfast in the morning we're headed to Leesburg and Middleburg to

explore their antique shops, and then we'll pop into DC to wave at the Capitol!