Volunteers needed for First Night Del Ray

We need some volunteers to help with First Night Del Ray, A Kids Old Fashioned Carnival night at the Mt. Vernon Recreation Center, Commonwealth Ave.  The time we are open is only 6-9pm on December 31.  If you can volunteer, you will receive a free adult pass to all First Night activities in Alexandria. 
  
This is a kids night -- and we need help with the carnival games.  We have plinko, photo booth, corn hole, gone fishing, count the jelly beans -- and many more.  We need at least two people per game. 
  
If you can help out, please drop me an email at pmiller1806@comcast.net .  This is the 2nd year for this venue,  Last year was a smashing success so we are doing it again.  Since we close at 9 PM, it allows volunteers to go to Old Town and visit venues there before watching the fireworks on the waterfront. 
  
Hope you can help -- we greatly appreciate it!!!  (If you cannot volunteer, hope you will come -- kids get in free, adults need a badge will be sold at the door!) 
Many thanks! 
Pat 
  

FROM THE DEL RAY Listserve

Caregiver Resources & Support Workshop

Senior Services of Alexandria is teaming up with AARP for an informative
Caregiver Resources and Support Workshop on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at
Immanuel Church on the Hill, 3606 Seminary Road in Alexandria from
9:30 am - 12 Noon. 

Participants will hear from local experts from AARP,
Insight Memory Care Center and Griswold Home Care on the importance of
making a plan, the various options available for health care, and resources
and support for those serving as caregivers.

Retired Major General Antonio Taguba will kick-off the session with insights
gained from his personal experience serving as a caregiver for his elderly
parents. To help others, General Taguba now advocates for caregivers and
their families as an AARP Community Ambassador. 

This event is free and open to the public with light refreshments served. 

Please RSVP online at seniorservicesalex.org or call 703-836-4414, ext. 110.  

21st Annual First Night Alexandria

Fireworks, Over 175 Live Shows at Largest Family-Friendly
New Year’s Eve Party in the DC Region

The largest family-friendly New Year’s Eve party in the region takes over Old Town Alexandria with more than 175 performances at 28 venues in Old Town and one in Del Ray, with live music, dancing and children’s activities. The afternoon’s Seventh Annual Fun Hunt is joined by all-new activities for couples and families. First Night’s fireworks finale returns with a spectacular display over the Potomac River at midnight. Afternoon activities from 2-5 p.m. Performances from 7 p.m.-midnight. $20 before December 14; $30 after. Children under 12 and active military are free. 703-746-3299, FirstNightAlexandria.org. #ALXFirstNight

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ALEXANDRIA, VA – A spectacular fireworks display over the Potomac River will ring in the New Year as part of First Night Alexandria, the largest family-friendly and alcohol-free New Year’s Eve party in the Washington, DC region. All of Old Town will be buzzing with activity from 2 p.m. to midnight. Afternoon activities and the Seventh Annual Fun Hunt will be followed at 7 p.m. by more than 175 live performances at 28 indoor venues in Old Town and one in Del Ray.

Each year, revelers stroll Old Town Alexandria’s historic streets among art galleries, historic sites, churches and even retail shops that have been transformed into cozy performance venues. Intimate concerts at Principle Gallery and Imagine Artwear will entertain guests while the Torpedo Factory Art Center and the George Washington Masonic Memorial rock with dancing to great bands. Old Town’s many restaurants and pubs welcome First Night fans, with a choice of eateries catering to families with children or folks looking for an upscale date night. First Night hotel packages make for an attractive long weekend in Alexandria, and provide a chance to take in even more arts, shopping and culture in the city. A complete New Year’s Eve getaway can be planned at VisitAlexandriaVA.com/FirstNight.

ENTERTAINMENT 7 PM to MIDNIGHT

The main event begins at 7 p.m. with live performances at 28 indoor venues in Old Town. The city’s most musical evening features rocking rhythm and blues, traditional Irish music, acoustic folk and more.

This family-friendly event is chock-full of activities for kids throughout the night, including face painting, a moon bounce, clowns doing balloon sculptures and interactive games. Children’s performer Groovy Nate will bring his unique blend of music, movement, puppet skits and comedy to First Night, and the Old Fashioned Carnival in Del Ray will feature games, music, prizes and more. The Battle of the Local Stars returns in 2015, with teenage musicians competing for a paid performance spot at next year’s event. Alcohol-free venues keep it fun and accessible for all ages – and children under 12 and active military are free.

AFTERNOON ACTIVITIES 2 to 5 PM

Daytime activities kick off at 2 p.m. at locations throughout town, including the seventh annual all-ages, brain-teasing Fun Hunt. Additional First Night activities range from tasting events to interactive art lessons and pet-friendly gatherings hosted by the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. Returning kid-friendly activities are presented by the Torpedo Factory Art Center, The Art League, the Alexandria Archaeology Museum and Hooray for Books!

EVENT DETAILS

WHAT:        First Night Alexandria

WHERE:      Event: 28 venues in Old Town Alexandria, VA 22314
                   Headquarters: Durant Arts Center, 1605 Cameron Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
                   Fireworks Finale: Unit block of King Street and along the waterfront, Alexandria, VA 22314

DATE:         December 31, 2015

TIME:         Afternoon activities: 2-5 p.m. including Seventh Annual Fun Hunt
                  Performances: 7 p.m.-midnight at venues throughout Old Town Alexandria, VA 22314
                  Fireworks: Midnight along the Potomac River at the foot of King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

INFO:          FirstNightAlexandria.org; VisitAlexandriaVA.com/FirstNight; 703-746-3299

ADMISSION: $20 before December 14, $30 after, children 12 and under and active military free

                   Where to Purchase Admission Badges:
                   > Online at FirstNightAlexandria.org/tickets and pick up your badge at the Alexandria Visitors Center (221 King St.) beginning December 21; or pick up your online-purchased badge on December 31 beginning at noon at the Durant Arts Center (1605 Cameron St.) or beginning at 2 p.m. at the Torpedo Factory Art Center (105 N. Union St.). Badges will not be mailed.
                   > Badges may be purchased at the Alexandria Visitors Center (221 King St.) from December 2 to 31. Online purchases can also be picked up at the Visitors Center beginning December 21.
                   > Every venue will sell badges beginning 15 minutes before the first performance. Cash only on December 31 with the exception of the Durant Arts Center (1605 Cameron St.), Torpedo Factory (105 N. Union St.) and the Visitors Center which will accept credit cards.

Police Searching for Missing Teen

MISSING: Leidi Granados Gutierrez

The Alexandria Police Department is asking for your assistance in locating Ms. Leidi Granados Gutierrez. She was last seen in the area of West Glebe Road around 8:30 a.m. this morning, December 10, 2015.

Ms. Granados Gutierrez is a 16-year-old Hispanic female, 5'3”, 160 lbs., with long black hair. She was last seen wearing a yellow shirt and gray shorts.

If you see her or have any information regarding her location, please contact the Police Department immediately at 703.746.4444.

New TWIG Cook Book

Are you looking for affordable and new gift giving ideas? The Twig, Junior Auxiliary of Inova Alexandria Hospital is pleased to offer our new cookbook, “Alexandria-Favorite Restaurants-Best Recipes.” 
Share great recipes for Buzz Bakeshop’s red velvet cupcakes, Clyde’s jumbo lump crab cakes, the Landini Brothers’ carbonara or recipes from 41 Alexandria restaurants. 

This 144-page spiral bound cookbook is now available for purchase. Single copies are $25 with tax, and may be purchased online at www.thetwig.org or at The Twig’sThrift Shop, 106 N. Columbus Street, Alexandria. Orders of 50 or more will receive a10 percent discount and not be charged sales tax. 

Community Meeting in Arlandria

The Alexandria Police Department will be holding a community meeting at the Cora Kelly Elementary gymnasium on Monday, December 14 at 6:30 p.m. to address community concerns in the Arlandria, Lynhaven, Hume Springs, and surrounding areas. Please join us in an ongoing discussion to further the communication between the Police Department and the community.

Holiday Happenings in Del Ray

TREE LIGHTING IN DEL RAY December 5:

Del Ray Celebration of the Holidays

Annual Holiday Tree Lighting, Luminarias,

& Visit with Santa Claus!

Saturday, December 5  at 6 pm

 

Events are free & at the Del Ray Farmers Market

Corner of Mt. Vernon Avenue and East Oxford Avenue

And along Mt. Vernon Avenue

Sponsored by the Del Ray Business Association

 

·    Enjoy thousands of Luminaries along Mt. Vernon Avenue

·   Sing holiday carols at the Del Ray Farmer’s Market led by "The Shrinemonters"

·   Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate provided by Evening Star & Buzz Bakery

·   Sit on Santa’s lap and have a photo taken (please note that last year pictures were finished by around 7 pm.)

·  Visit businesses that will be open late for shoppers & offering holiday specials

· Enjoy special performances by the TC Williams High School Choir

And, in the true spirit of the holidays, we are collecting needy items for Carpenter's Homeless Shelter.  If you could bring and donate any of the following, it would be great to show how much the community cares about others.  Please bring any of the following to the Tree Lighting and  drop in the marked boxes:

· Disposable diapers

· Wash Cloths

· Toothpaste & Tooth Brushes

· Deodorant
· Razors/shaving cream

· Metro Smart Trip Cards

· Food – canned goods (soup, vegetables, ramen, easy mac)

Please note that volunteers are needed as follows: 

Sat. December 5 at 1 pm to fill & distribute the luminarias (bags with sand & candles) along Mt. Vernon Avenue, 4 pm to light them and at 10 pm to extinguish & pick them up. Meet at Mt. Vernon & E. Oxord  To help, email pmiller1806@comcast.net

Beginning December 5th Vote for Your Favorite Tree . Twelve trees along Mt. Vernon Avenue have been adopted and decorated by area non profits. We invite you to Walk the Avenue and look at all the trees and then VOTE for your favorite in the Best Decorated Tree Competition!  Each tree will have a sign with a number on it. Pick which one you like the best and then go to www.visitdelray.com beginning the evening of December 5th to cast your vote for your favorite. Voting will be open until Christmas Day, December 25 and the winning non-profit will receive $500 from the Del Ray Business Association.

Special thanks to Mike Anderson and Bill Blackburn from Pork Barrel BBQ , Holy Cow and the sushi bar for donating our beautiful 25-foot tree at the market and to Cathy Puskar who has arranged a crane and cherry picker to get the tree up for all of us to enjoy. If you see them, be sure and tell them thanks!!

We'd also like to thank  Cathy Puskar  who arranged with  Pulte Homes and Velasquez Contracting, Inc.  to get the tree put up for all of us to enjoy.  

FRONT PORCH HOLIDAY MOVIES

The Front Porch will open at 5pm on Saturday, December 5 with a special menu and hot drinks cocktail menu . All will be adult and kid friendly . Movies will start at 6 and continue on thru the evening.

HOLIDAY SIP & SHOP:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry at Del Ray Towers Holiday Sip & Shop, Saturday, December 5 from noon to 3 pm in the DRT Kitchen.  Jewelry, pet accessories, nail designs and much more all from artistic residents of the Del Ray Towers.

DEL RAY HOLIDAY MARKET:

Find something for everyone on your list at the Holiday Pop Up Market.  Find us at the corner of Mt. Vernon Avenue and Hume Avenue.  Saturday, December 5 th and Sunday, December 6 th from 11 am to 4 pm.  Truly Life and PawsGo, will be there!

LADIES SHOPPING NIGHT:

Wednesday, December 9th the Del Ray retail stores will hold LADIES NIGHT OUT from 6-9 pm.  Refreshments will be served.  Ladies can enjoy disocunts and shopping locally!  Participants include Bellies and Babies Consignment (20% off everything), UpCycle Creative Reuse Center (20% off jewelry and tinker kits, and $5 to use at their gift wrapping station), Purple Goose (20% off store, 30% off holiday decorations), Greenstreet Gardens (20% off gifts and goods – not greenery) and FireFlies, Top it Off (offering $5 scarfs), and Kiskadee (20% off shoes and clothes).

 

UPCYCLE GIFT WRAPPING:

UpCycle Creative Reuse Center will have a gift wrapping station that will be open during their studio shop hours (check out their web site) from November 28 through December 19.  Use UpCycle’s selection of gift wrap, ribbon and bows to put the finishing touches on our holiday gifts.

KIDS PROMOTE ANIMALS FOR ADOPTION WITH THEIR ART:

Kids Promote Animals for Adoption with their Art - In the great hall of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria and UpCycle Creative Reuse Center have teamed up to involve children in helping to promote shelter animals that are available for adoption. The event will be held on Thursday, December 31 from 2-5 pm.  AWLA will have Shelter animals that are available for adoption at the Torpedo Factory Art Center for children to meet. They can select one animal to paint, draw or create collage to help publicize him/her for adoption.  Each artwork piece will be photographed and displayed on both organizations' Facebook pages for friends to "like." The artwork that receives the most "likes" for each animal will be added to the animal's AWLA and Petfinder profile and be viewed by a large number of people and help raise awareness to get the animal adopted. The winning artists will each win a personal tour of the Shelter by the Executive Director and gift certificates to UpCycle Creative Reuse Center. The top winner will get a "Paw-Party" at the Shelter with 15 of his/her friends.

PHOTOS WITH SANTA:

@home real estate lounge & design center is hosting free photos with Santa this Saturday, December 5, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at our office, 111 South Alfred Street in Old Town.

NEED A PLACE FOR YOUR HOLIDY PARTY?

Emma's Espresso & Wine Bar  is available to host private events for up to 50 guests - Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings from 6 - 10 pm. Perfect for holiday gatherings. Stop by for details or email Jackie@emmascoffee.com

DRBA & DRCA JOINT HOLIDAY PARTY HONORING MAYOR BILL EUILLE: Join the Del Ray Business Association and the Del Ray Citizens Association in a joint holiday celebration that is also an opportunity to celebrate Mayor Bill Euille’s decades of service to Alexandria!  Celebration will be upstairs at Evening Star, Sunday, December 6 from 6 to 9 pm.

INDULGE YOUR SENSES

 

DEL RAY COMMUNITY APPRECIATION EVENT!

INDULGE YOUR SENSES

December 6 at Bon Vivant from 4-6 pm

Complementary brief chair massages, intuitive & spiritual readings, mindfulness meditation & self-hypnosis lessons, samples of oils, soaps, & skin creams, stimulating brain activities, coloring activities for children & food tastings.

 

Brought to you by businesses at 2016 Mount Vernon and beyond!

Bon Vivant – Del Ray Psych & Wellness Associates – The Vital Body – Sunflowers Healing and Wellness – Your Blissful Journey – Kathleen Hanagan, LCSW – The Love And Business Sage – Sustainable Wellness – Maria Body Image Studio – Truly-Life – Blackbird Bookers

 

Raffle -- Enter the raffle to win prizes like Reiki sessions, coloring books and discounted services.

 

 

HOLIDAY ART MARKET

 

20 th Annual Fine Art & Fine Craft Holiday Market

Three weekends

December 4-6; December 11-13; December 18-20

Different artists every weekend

 

Friday’s: 6 to 9 pm

Saturday’s 11 am to 6 pm

Sunday’s 11 am to 6 pm

 

Del Ray Artisans Gallery at the

Nicholas A. Colasanto Center

2704 Mt. Vernon Avenue
, 703-838-4827

Community info on 95 Express Lanes

FROM THE ARLANDRIA NEIGHBORHOOD LISTSERV: 

Hello Arlandria Residents --

I work for Transurban, the Virginia Department of Transportation's private partner on the 95 Express Lanes project. As you might know, the state recently announced plans to extend the 95 Express Lanes about eight miles north<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/hot-enough-for-you-virginia-has-a-new-plan-for-interstate-toll-lanes/2015/11/19/8347d8de-8ef3-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html> on I-395 to the D.C. line. This project will convert today's two HOV lanes into three Express Lanes within the existing roadway.

We hope to meet with your association over the coming weeks to provide information about the project. We are happy to join one of your upcoming meetings and present, distribute informational brochures or take questions.

As public input from communities is key during the project development phase, we want to ensure you're kept in the loop from the very beginning and have project officials' contact information throughout the entire process. Your feedback is critical to advancing the project's final design and scope.

Please let me know when we can meet with your group over the coming weeks.

In the meantime, more information is available at www.395ExpressLanes.com<http://www.395ExpressLanes.com> or click here<http://395expresslanes.com/pdfs/brochure.pdf> for a brochure about the coming improvements.

Thank you,
Mike

Mike McGurk
Senior Corporate Relations Associate
6440 General Green Way
Alexandria, VA 22312
Phone: +1 (571) 419 6105
Mobile: +1 (571) 421 5364
Email: mmcgurk@transurban.com<mailto:mmcgurk@transurban.com>

T.C. Williams Teacher "For the Love of Reading" Fund Needs Your Help

We are trying to get books in students' hands before an author visit in March. 

***For the next 3 days if donor's use the code SPARK their donation will be matched***

Thank you for your support!

For The Love Of Reading

My students need the book All American Boys so they can read about characters, places, and themes that reflect their lives.

My Students

For students who have yet to have books change their lives, they often don’t believe me when I say it has happened to me. 

While all the students in our school have access to the library, and plenty of them take advantage of the resources we have, some of them go home to book deserts.

This project aims to give them a book(All American Boys) that can be the beginning of their own library--something they can keep, write in, own. 

My Project

We are very excited to be able to participate in the NOVA Teen Book Festival and while we would love for all of our students to participate in the day’s activities, our targeted students would have no way of getting to and from the events of the festival. This project allows us to bring the festival to our students by bringing two young adult authors to speak at our school. We really want students to fall in love with Jason Reynold’s compelling stories, and we also want them to catch his vision--to believe their words can change people’s lives.

Bringing Jason Reynold’s to our school, and giving our students a chance to own one of his books and come to the author’s visit ready to really talk about it, could be the catalyst for getting some of our students to see themselves as writers.

And giving our students a chance to talk to him about his writing process could help them start to consider themselves as potential writers.

Here's the link: goo.gl/HvYaX5 

Scottish Walk Weekend of Events

·      Heather and Greens Sales, The Campagna Center, 418 S. Washington Street

December 4, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, 

December 5, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm 

·       The Taste of Scotland, George Washington Masonic Memorial, 101 Callahan Drive

December 4, 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm 

·      Holiday Marketplace, The Campagna Center, 418 S. Washington Street

December 5, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm  

·      The Scottish Walk Parade at Market Square, King St.

December 5, Begins 11:00 am 

·       Holiday Designer Tour of Homes, Tickets at various locations.

December 5, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm 

·      Deck the Halls with Santa, The Campagna Center, 418 S. Washington Street

December 6, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm 

·      16^th Annual Boat Parade of Lights, The Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union Street

December 6, 5:30 pm

For more information visit

 www.ScottishChristmasWalk.com 

www.visitalexandriava.com

or 703-549-0111