{Girls Trip} - Christmas 2023 - Nutcracker Ballet in West Palm Beach, FL

Wow, what an evening, as we celebrated Year 9 of our annual girls' trip to see the Nutcracker! I am so thankful for these girls and the tradition we have, but even more so for the memories we've been given because of it...

After five years in Atlanta at the historic Fox Theatre (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019) and then three Covid+ years at The Greenbrier (2020, 2021 & 2022), I decided to take our show on the road, or take to the road to see our show! Since we were already planning to be in Florida for a trip with extended family, I decided to give Miami City Ballet's production a try and catch it in beautiful West Palm Beach.

The girls and I rolled in just in time for dinner at the Restoration Hardware Rooftop Restaurant (M and I ate at the one in New York City earlier this year)...

From there, we headed over to the Kravis Center for the show!

I so look forward to this special time with my girls each December...

From the show, we headed over to the Holiday in Paradise display...

to catch a glimpse of Sandi, the world's only 35 foot, 700 ton sand tree...

and take a ride on the ferris wheel, too!

Wonder where we'll end up next year?!?!? Until then...

{Girls Trip} - Christmas 2022 - Nutcracker Ballet at The Greenbrier

 Oh, what FUN!

A few years ago, I started the tradition of taking my girls to Atlanta to see the Nutcracker at the historic Fox Theatre each December (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). Sadly, it was decided that after a 24 year run, 2019 would be the final year that The Fox would host the Atlanta Ballet production.

Since for me, the uniqueness of the venue is just as important as the performance itself, a couple years ago we switched it up and spent a couple days at The Greenbrier! It's one of my favorite places to visit, AND it also hosts an annual Nutcracker performance!

This year, the girls an I left early Wednesday morning and stopped to grab breakfast at the Krispy Kreme Headquarters in Charlotte, NC...

While in the neighborhood, we visited a couple of our favorite murals...

Doughnut Wall by Gina Elizabeth Franco

Krispy Kreme Headquarters

We continued around to the back of Jeni's South End to one of our favorites...

Confetti Hearts Wall by Evelyn Henson

Be kind...

or, not... Bless...

On the way out, we saw a new one...

Life Rocks When You're a Gem by Unknown Artist

Rowan

From Charlotte, we continued north and grabbed lunch at one of our favorites, The Village Coffee Shoppe...

at The Draper Mercantile in Draper, VA...

 

From there, we continued on and had a fun find in tiny Union, WV...

At last, we made it to our final destination, The Greenbrier!

We got checked in...

and were pleased to see that our room overlooked the North Entrance...

and is situated right above the North Lobby...

After some down time, we headed over to the Bowling Alley for some fun!

I took the first game...

but we added bumpers for game two, and the girls took over...

L won the second game thanks, in part, to her back to back strikes!

After bowling, we headed over to our escape room reservation...

We had sooo much fun, but this one was TOUGH!

Not exactly how it went down...

MUCH more accurate... We got out, but we had A LOT of hints...

We ended up "escaping" with less than a minute to spare!!

We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we grabbed a little fresh air outside...

and got a little silly with the light displays, too...

before heading over to The Forum...

{The brussels sprouts were YUM!}

and then retiring for the night...

The next morning, we headed over to ice skate first thing...

and then grabbed lunch at a restaurant that was new to us, Sam Snead's...

Smart restaurant...

After lunch, I surprised the girls with manicures at The Greenbrier Spa, M's first!

I almost fell asleep in the Relaxation Room (basically, the waiting room)... It was sooo quiet and peaceful!

M chose a light blue...

L's appointment was a little later, but we were happy to head back... 

She chose a white with a sparkle topcoat...

THIS time I brought a book to read while waiting in the Relaxation Room!

Afterwards, we took the scenic route back to our room...

and rested up before dinner at one of our favorites, Draper's...

Next, we headed back to the room...

to get ready for The Nutcracker...

danced in Colonial Hall, by members of the nearby Beckley Dance Theatre...

We checked in on my favorite drapes...

and headed back to the room to turn in after another full day!

On our last morning, we hit up the indoor pool first thing...

before heading back to the room to pack up.

We took one last wander through...

{This right here is my favorite sofa!}

before bidding farewell...

and heading out to downtown Lewisburg, WV to grab lunch at The Stardust Cafe...

where EVERYTHING was delicious!

What a wonderful getaway with my favorite girls!

Until next year...