Going to a tea at the Historic Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Va., is everything little girls imagine tea parties are like when they put on their mothers' floppy hats and drink fruit punch out of tiny cups. As full-grown women, my girlfriend and I got to wear our pretty summer dresses and enter the elegant Southern-style manor where American royalty like the Kennedys once stayed. We got to drink tea from delicate rose-painted cups and eat peach scones topped with Devonshire cream.

The Capital Wine School provides the chance for an engaging night out with classes that allow you to meet interesting people, learn something new and taste fabulous wines. 

“We’re here to drink, dance, party and have a good time,” Queens of the Stone Age lead singer and guitarist Josh Homme told the crowd. “There ain’t no time for anything else.”

Trying to choose which performance we were going to see of the over 150 acts taking part in the Capital Fringe Festival 2014 was like trying to choose one chocolate out of the world’s biggest box. In its ninth year, the Capital Fringe Festival has every amalgam of drama, comedy, dance, solo performance, interactive theater you could hope for playing at 23 venues through July 27. 

Chock-full of distinctive restaurants, interesting retail stores and opportunities for fun – a piano on the sidewalk, a giant chessboard, an outdoor movie screen – the Mosaic District makes sure that once you’ve parked your car in their multi-story lot for your dinner-and-a-movie date, you won’t need it again until you’ve thoroughly enjoyed yourself.

We in the DMV are spoiled rotten. Why? Because we can wander down to the National Mall and take a gander at the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the United States, the Declaration of Independence, Dorothy's ruby slippers. For free. The Hirshhorn Museum has always been a favorite museum at the Mall because of its contemporary art, its outdoor sculpture garden and its general lack of crowds. It feels like the museum you can breathe in.

This was my family’s fifth or sixth trip to the tree-climbing and zip-lining adventure land in Montgomery County, and we’d ended every trip covered in sweat, showing off some impressive scrapes and bruises, and seriously psyched about our ability to look a leaf-strewn death in the face. Visiting The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring is like being in labor – the end result is so cool you forget about the screaming and crying that preceded it.

Stepping onto the grounds of the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Northwest D.C., is like being invited to take your time checking out the glittering jewels, gleaming furniture, sparkling objets d’art and beautiful gardens of the wealthiest and most glamorous woman you’ll ever know.

Eighties and '90s-retro dance nights are plentiful in the DMV and would seem like the perfect option for a fun night out for us In-Betweeners, a chance to embrace our past and dance like we did at prom. However, the popularity of these nights with the under-30 crowd has made me feel a little old and silly at them. And a little…annoyed, like the event has been co-opted by people who think we went around wearing neon all the time.

I intensely dislike the no-reservation trend at popular new restaurants. So when my husband and I walked into the no-reservation restaurant Rose’s Luxury on Barracks Row Saturday night and were gently informed that it would be a two-and-a-half hour wait, I reacted with an eye roll and a, “You’ve got to be out of your…” Once we sat down in this fairyland-like restaurant with its playful food and deep-down-to-the-root-of-my-taste-buds flavors, I knew even a longer wait would have been worth it.