New Year's Eve at the Metropolitan in Annapolis, MD

 

I realize that Annapolis is not the first place you'd think I'd go for New Year's Eve (especially when I live so close to DC). But tickets to most NYE parties in DC cost at least $60, sometimes twice that, and last year when my boyfriend and I ponied up the dough, we actually spent most of the night not even at the party. So this year we knew we wanted to do something different. When we saw that the Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge was hosting a party that only cost $10/person, we thought, "What the heck! Even if it's not that good, we only spent $20."

But it actually ended up being a really great party! For one, I was SO surprised by how many young people were there! There were several hundred people there, most of whom were in their 20's and 30's. Most of the girls were wearing cute sparkly dresses (like I was), and the men made somewhat of an effort to dress up (i.e. They thought, "If the shirt has buttons on it, it's dressed up," even though half the shirts there were flannel...). The young scene definitely made the party seem like the cool and hip place to be that night!

This is the dress I wore! Image from http://goo.gl/sVsDU8

With these shoes. I got these in 2011 for $15 from a Rainbow shop in New York!

There were three bands playing that night, all of which were pretty good! Walking Sticks opened up the night with their indie sound, Pressing Strings was next, and Little Bird finished out the show. I was rather impressed with all of them; who doesn't appreciate live music? I also bought this cute magnet as a souvenir. I'm totally going to try to make my own sparkly bottle-cap magnet!

This restaurant is one of those cool venues that has multiple levels, so you can go upstairs or downstairs depending on what kind of mood you're in. The restaurant was on the first level, and then the bar and stage for the bands was on the second level. When you went to the rooftop, there was another bar and DJ Ian Zimmerman was blasting current hits (and some throw backs like Prince of Bel Air). I love places like this because it feels like you're attending more than one party all at once!

Plus we got the champagne toast and a free shot, which was Piehole whiskey. They had all sorts of flavors, like apple, cherry, and pecan. Yum!

Image from the Piehole website

 What a fun way to ring in the new year! I can't wait to see what adventures 2015 brings!