HOTEL GUIDE: Kimpton The Forum Hotel in Charlottesville, VA

      I recently got the chance to stay at Charlottesville's newest boutique hotel, Kimpton The Forum Hotel, located on the property of the University of Virginia. It's always great to be back in my former home city for a weekend, and I love keeping tabs on what's new in the area. The Forum has guest rooms with an air of modern luxury, and one of the best and most unique locations of any hotel in Charlottesville. The hotel was quite busy the weekend that I visited, and there was such a diverse clientele of guests. I saw business travelers, young families with children, older folks and lots of 20-30-something friend groups who looked like they were in town for weddings or UVA events. 

      I spent a fall weekend at The Forum with my good friend and fellow influencer Caroline Coleburn. Fun fact: Caroline and I met in Charlottesville almost five years ago when I was living and working there as a morning radio host, and she was a morning reporter for a local TV news station! I'm now doing radio in Virginia Beach, and Caroline is on TV in Richmond. It was extra special to visit my former city for a weekend with a special friend like Caroline who I met during my time there.

TRAVEL GUIDE: Ultimate Charlottesville VA Guide

     I'm so excited to finally share all of my Charlottesville recommendations in one place on the blog! I lived in Charlottesville for about three and a half years between 2018-2021. I am kind of in the minority for living in Cville in that I didn't attend the University of Virginia, or move to the area for a job associated with UVA. But despite that, I was absolutely charmed by the area, and had a great experience making Charlottesville my home for part of my 20s. Charlottesville is a great destination for a weekend trip for wine lovers, history lovers, food lovers, nature lovers.... it's true, Virginia is for Lovers! 

5 Instagrammable Murals in Charlottesville, VA

      I'm not sure if it's because I am a blogger and always looking for cool spots to take photos, or just that I'm a fan of color and street art, but I sure do love a good mural! I've enjoyed finding them in the various places that I've lived over the years: Charlotte NC, Burlington VT, and of course my most recent former home, Charlottesville VA! 

     For a small city, Charlottesville has a really good amount of street art. I enjoyed finding my favorite murals over the past three years, and today I wanted to round them all up for you! If you're visiting Charlottesville, here are the best murals for Instagrammable photos.

4th of July Wedding Outfit.

     Originally I was planning to share two 4th of July themed red, white and blue outfits on the blog before the holiday this year... this casual patriotic outfit, and today's outfit! But the quick timing of my unexpected new job and move to Virginia Beach had me get behind on blog things. Today's is dressier and I feel like it would be the perfect thing to wear to a 4th of July weekend wedding. Anyways- better late than never to share this right?! Maybe some inspiration for next year? Haha!

Charlottesville Going Away Party.

      As much as I wanted to leave Charlottesville and move on to a new radio job in a larger city, I knew that leaving would certainly be bittersweet. During my almost 3.5 years in Charlottesville, I was so blessed beyond measure with incredible people in my life. Never in my life have I had such a close-knit group of friends.

     There was no way that I was saying goodbye to Charlottesville without a proper going away party. I'm excited to share a little recap and some photos with you today! I also wanted to share about the special bucket list for Virginia Beach that my Charlottesville friends helped me make.

My Interview on the Like a Local Podcast!

       Popping in quickly today with some fun news: I was interviewed last week on a podcast! If you've ever wanted to visit Charlottesville or are curious about local attractions in the area, this episode is for you.

Monticello Wine Trail: Merrie Mill Farm

      I love visiting local Virginia wineries, and it's always a treat to visit one that's brand new to the Charlottesville area. I was so charmed on my first visit Merrie Mill Farm that I knew it needed its own winery review blog post!

Monticello Wine Trail: Glass House Winery

     I am so excited to finally bring you a full review on one of my very favorite Charlottesville wineries! Glass House is not only an incredibly unique and beautiful place to visit, but the wines are phenomenal as well. It's a must-visit in my opinion if you're coming to Charlottesville! 

5 Charlottesville Wineries to Visit in Winter.

     I've become quite the fan of visiting local wineries since I moved to Virginia a couple years ago! While I do think my absolute favorite time of year to visit wineries is in the summer (I love seeing all the grapes growing on the vines!), they are still fun to visit year round. Checking out Charlottesville area wineries in winter also has some advantages- namely the fact that it's not tourist season so they're not nearly as busy in the colder months! Winery visits from December-March are more of a cozy and intimate experience, which is still fun and special in a different way.

     Today I'm sharing five local wineries that I think are more ideal to check out in the winter months! I'm highlighting these five wineries for two main reasons: 1) they're all easy to drive to. Some wineries on the Monticello Wine trail are definitely off the beaten path (think long and winding dirt roads with no cell service), and winter just isn't the best season to attempt getting to some of those. The ones I'm featuring today are all located just off main roads and are easily accessible in all seasons. 2) They all have good sized indoor tasting rooms. On days when the weather is too cold to be outside, you don't want to be cooped up in a tiny tasting room at a winery that mainly has outdoor seating. These five all have fairly large and very cozy indoor spaces for guests to enjoy!

Charlottesville Apartment Tour: Before/After Pictures of My New Place!

     I'm excited to finally share the before and after shots of my new Charlottesville apartment on the blog today! I suppose "new apartment" is a loose term... I moved in during Labor Day Weekend which was already several months ago, and this apartment is much older than my previous one. 😂But either way- it's still my newest home! 

Afternoon at Glenmore Country Club.

    I've lived in Charlottesville for a year and a half now, and I still feel like there are so many new-to-me places to be discovered. For a fairly small city, Charlottesville and Albemarle County sure have a lot to offer! I recently made my first visit to a local country club. My friend Tyler is the Events Manager for Glenmore Country Club, and she invited me out one afternoon a few weeks ago to take some blog photos at her favorite spots indoors and outdoors around the club! I'm finally sharing these photos with you today, and I especially love the dress I wore. 

25th Birthday Recap!

    Last Friday, I turned 25! This year was my favorite birthday since turning 21- but I guess in full honesty, turning 21 will always be hard to top. 😉 25 is one of my lucky numbers so I've been excited for this birthday for a long time. Anyways, I normally share weekly recaps in my Midweek Ramblings posts on Wednesdays, but so much fun stuff happened with my birthday this year that I wanted to share it all in a separate recap blog post!

Monticello Wine Trail: King Family Vineyards

     Can't believe it's taken me this long to finally review my favorite winery that I've been to so far,  but better late than never! Time to take a virtual trip over to King Family Vineyards. I hope if you're local you've already had the chance to visit this incredible place. If you live outside of Virginia, enjoy this virtual tour!

Monticello Wine Trail: Barboursville Vineyards

     Barboursville Vineyards is one of the oldest and largest wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail, and I'm so excited to take you there virtually in today's winery review post!

Monticello Wine Trail: Chestnut Oak Vineyard

     A few weekends ago, my friend Liane came up from North Carolina to visit! On the Saturday that she was here, we were able to hit three wineries in one day- aka my perfect Charlottesville weekend. Today I'm recapping the first of three that we visited, Chestnut Oak Vineyard. 

Monticello Wine Trail: Loving Cup Vineyard.

     Spring is in full swing here in Virginia, which means it is definitely winery season! I've been to a few new-to-me wineries in recent weeks, so this month's Tuesday series on the blog will continue with my Monticello Wine Trail winery reviews.   

ONE YEAR in Charlottesville - Reflecting on My First Year.

    One.Year.In.CHARLOTTESVILLE!!! Wow. I feel like a year ago today I blinked... and then woke up and here we are. 365 days of being a Virginian. 365 days since I became a Southern Belle in Training for the second time. 365 days of true joy, and peace in my heart and soul. Obviously today's blog post had to be a tribute to my first year in the city that I'm glad to call my home! 

Monticello Wine Trail: Grace Estate

CHARLOTTESVILLE APARTMENT TOUR: Bedroom

    Wrapping up my Charlottesville apartment tour series today with my favorite room- my bedroom!

CHARLOTTESVILLE APARTMENT TOUR: Bathroom.

     I've been having so much fun sharing the different rooms of my apartment for my Tuesday blog post series this month!! Today we're tackling the smallest room (which actually isn't actually all that small): my bathroom! 

Photography by Meredith Sledge

    Similar with the living room and dining room/kitchen posts that I've shared, just about all of my decor in the bathroom is either from discount stores or is something older that I've had for awhile, so I don't have any exact product links for you! If you're curious where something is from, feel free to comment on this post or email me. 😊

     This apartment has the biggest bathroom that I've ever had! The amount of storage I have in here is crazy. I have way more cabinets then I need for storing bathroom things, so I actually keep some random household items in bathroom storage as well. Other than the floral towels pictured above, I didn't buy any new bathroom decor when I moved to this apartment! I think that whenever I do move next, it might be time to upgrade some things (like the shower curtain and mats), but for now everything was still in good shape. I love having bright accent colors for the bathroom decor- I feel like this room definitely personifies a bachelorette pad! If your bathroom doesn't currently have a lot of decor, I encourage you to try incorporating some bright colors in there! I do my hair and makeup for work each morning in here, and seeing all of the colors and fun decor always starts my day off on a happy note. 

     I guess that's about all that I have to say for the bathroom- this part of the apartment tour is very straightforward! You can check out the previous apartment tour posts; living room, updated living room with couch, and kitchen/dining room in the meantime. Next week will be the final post of January's Tuesday series, and I'll be finishing the apartment tour by sharing my bedroom! 

    Last week was pretty busy for me, so I took last Wednesday off from sharing my weekly Midweek Ramblings. I posted a poll on Instagram Stories asking if y'all would prefer if I switched them to one Monthly Ramblings post instead of doing them each Wednesday... and amazingly a lot of y'all voted to keep them each week! So Midweek Ramblings is here to stay for the time being, and returns tomorrow. 🙂

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese