The Lorien Hotel, A Few Hours In Alexandria, And My FTU Arrival

I am at the FTU!

As soon as my plan landed in DC, I called Josh to check in. “What took you so long?” he asked.

“Ummm…I just flew across the country?” I answered.

There was a long pause. “What?” he finally asked. “Where are you? I thought you were in Los Angeles!”

Oh my god. #badlisteningskills. No matter. I am having the time of my life here in DC! I spent Thursday night at the Lorien Hotel in Alexandria. This is a Kimpton property, and it is super luxe. I highly recommend it. I am an Inner Circle member due to the status match I did last month, and clearly Kimpton treats its elite members very well.

At check in, I was warmly greeted and thanked for the tweet I had sent earlier in the day.

One of the guys at the front desk offered me a glass of wine, which I gladly accepted. Another employee grabbed my bags and showed me up to my room. I had booked a King Deluxe, but they upgraded me to a Terrace Suite. The suite was spacious and comfortable. My only complaint is that the water pressure was not great, but the room’s good features more than compensated for that.

In the room, there were some of my favorite goodies waiting for me, plus a bottle of wine accompanied by a lovely note.

The clawfoot tub in the suite was perfect for a long, hot soak. The bed was super comfy. I woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for action. Since I had many hours before the FTU cocktail party, I decided to use them wisely. When I am at home, I don’t have/make time to get pedicures, so that is always a special treat for me. I hopped online to figure out where the best local nail shop was. Judging from the Yelp reviews, I decided to try a place called Sugar Scrub in Alexandria.

Sugar Scrub is located in a cute, residential neighborhood. There is ample street parking right outside the salon. Inside, they’ve got coffee and goodies (cupcakes, cookies, brownies…) to snack on while you are getting your nails done. I picked my polish (hot pink!) and sat down in a spa chair with a cupcake and People magazine. Then I waited…and waited…and waited. The entire process took forever. Seriously forever. Like 2 hours. I tried to enjoy the down time and focus on how nice it felt to simply relax, but all I could think about was how I was spending 2 hours of my life sitting in a nail salon! (Maybe this is another reason why I don’t get regular pedicures at home).

Finally my nails were done, and it was time for lunch, so I zipped over to King Street to grab a bite at Le Pain Quotidien. King Street is filled with boutiques, yummy places to eat, and interesting shops, so I pulled out my phone and found a few choice places I wanted to check out. In particular I zeroed in on consignment shops, because I find that different cities yield different kinds of awesome finds; you can score pieces in a new city that you wouldn’t be able to find in your hometown. The best spot I found was Mint Condition, which is a stellar consignment shop that I highly recommend. I snapped up a very unique top from BCBG Max Azria for a very reasonable $28.

And then it was time to head to the Hilton Tyson’s Corner for the FTU! My drive took forever (yes, I am impatient), but then I was there. And then I was nervous. But all of that changed when I saw a friend that I had made at the last FTU in Los Angeles, awesome Sean. Yay! I love Sean! When gave me a big hug, of course some of my nerves were gone. But not all of them. 😉

And now I’m walking downstairs to the cocktail party. Gary, Peter, ElleX, Angelina, Kristina, Cara, SilverSpringer, Tina, and FishingForDeals…I’ll be looking for you!