>> Check out a slide show of ICE! and Christmas on the Potomac 

The Capital Weather Gang predicted some good snowfall for Washington this year, and if the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center has anything to do with it, they’ll be right.

The National Harbor hotel debuted its Christmas on the Potomac holiday event last night with a real snowfall inside its 18-story glass atrium. But that was just the beginning: The hotel will host more than 800 holiday events and displays this year, running almost continuously through early January.

“Our goal is to own Christmas in DC,” says general manager Phil Coffey.

How exactly? In addition to the indoor snowfall (6:15 and 9:15 nightly), the hotel has plugged in more than two million twinkling lights, erected a 60-foot Christmas tree made entirely of candy-like glass, created a fountain show choreographed to holiday music, hung 150-foot light banners to replicate the colors of the Northern Lights, and even built an indoor holiday train village. Though the tree will be lit every night at 6, the real pageantry will come on the weekends, when dancers and a choir join the festivities at 7 with a short holiday show of carols and traditional hymns.

• Richard Blais, a Top Chef season-four finalist, announced that he’s bringing his Flip Burger Boutique to DC’s Penn Quarter next year. The slogan for the restaurant, which Blais would like to make a nationwide chain, is “fine dining between two buns,” and the first location is in Atlanta. The menu there has 20 burgers, which include such ingredients as Japanese Kobe beef, foie gras, kimchee ketchup, and pickled apples. Sides include vodka-battered onion rings with beer honey mustard and veal-sweetbread nuggets. The molecular-gastronomy fanatic also has liquid-nitrogen milkshakes whose flavors include Krispy Kreme, pistachio-and-white-truffle, and foie gras.

A roomful of girls, sweet treats, and manicures on a Friday night? Throw in a pillow fight, and we’ve got ourselves a slumber party. Or a super-chic girl-powered event at Aloft Hotel (156 Waterfront St., National Harbor; 301-749-9000). New York DJ and party promoter Roxy Cottontail and the women of the Hey Girl Hey Web site host the soiree featuring cocktails, snacks, portraits, three female DJs, and free nail art by celebrity technician Naomi Yasuda. The free party starts at 7. E-mail getinvolved@thisisheygirlhey.com to RSVP.

For a night of alternative music, check out Hexagon (1698 35th St., NW; 202-333-7469) tonight when it presents Tim Hecker, Aidan Baker, Ecstatic Sunshine, and the Polygons. The show will be presented with help from Environmental Aesthetics. Tickets are $10 at the door, and the concert starts at 9.

Late November doesn’t really seem like the time be showing skin, but try telling that to the Wizards cheerleaders. Basketball fans can “support their team” tonight at the Liaison Hotel when the courtside ladies celebrate the release of their latest calendar. The evening will include a performance, runway show, and mingling with the short-shorts-loving squad. The $20 admission includes a calendar, and all proceeds benefit Wizards Care charity.

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Technology is great and everything, but sometimes we can’t help but miss the days when outrage was expressed through op-eds and cable news soundbites, not tweets. These days, if it isn’t healthcare it’s the deficit; if it isn’t the deficit it’s federal funding for abortion; and if it isn’t federal funding for abortion it’s the trying of terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian courts rather than military tribunals. It’s Twitter, y’all! How can you possibly delve into complicated policy matters in 140 characters or less? Plus, all the back-slapping, sycophantic RT-ing between party members is getting really old.

In other news, David Vitter saved raw oysters! We’re starting to worry about John Shimkus—when he isn’t constantly quoting passages from the Bible, he’s repeating himself. Repeatedly. Chuck Grassley is back! Zach Wamp knows his strengths, Bob Goodlatte is eating chips, Paul Ryan knows who your daddy is, Denny Rehberg is checking his facts (better late than never), Mary Fallin is looking forward to “Going Rogue” and John McCain is sarcastic. Only one question remains: What is this “stimulous” you speak of, Joe Wilson? It sounds fabulous.

Last month, the New York Times wrote that Richmond is “emerging as a new player on the Southern art and culinary scene.” Indeed, but why take a Noo Yawker’s word for it when you can slide on down I-95 and check it out yourself?

Next weekend, the Visual Art Center’s 45th Craft + Design Show kicks off under the rotunda at the Science Museum of Virginia. The building, once the Broad Street Station, is a work of art itself. Designed by John Russell Pope, the architect behind the National Archives building, the Jefferson Memorial, and the National Gallery of Art’s west building, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and alone worth the drive.

If you’ve ever been to the annual Smithsonian Craft Show, you’ll find that this one has a lot in common, except that Richmond’s show is 18 seasons wiser. There’ll be 75 superstar artists representing 17 states displaying works in fiber, glass, jewelry, mixed media, and wood. Says Karen Cauthen Miller, VAC’s special-events coordinator: “This show provides a unique opportunity to meet the artists, learn their stories, and collect their objects.” That intimacy is a major draw because half of the artists have never shown in Richmond. And lest you think it’s a fusty museum exhibit, a special partnership with Quirk Gallery (where Noah Scalin of Skull-A-Day fame displayed selections this summer) promises fun, youthful art at hang-it-in-the-kids’-rooms prices.

A first timer to the show, I got a sense of the scene by catching up with two Maryland artists who made the cut: Joseph Craig English, a printmaker/painter/sculptor from Washington Grove, and Eric Burris, a metalsmith/jeweler out of Silver Spring.

We're looking for photos of happy pets for an upcoming issue of the magazine. Does your cat or dog have a cute smile? Email high-resolution photos—5x7, 300 dpi—to Cindy Rich at crich@washingtonian.com. Please include your pet's name and breed, along with your name and contact information.

When Dan Froomkin surveyed the fresh digs where he would set up shop for Huffington Post’s larger Washington bureau three months ago, he realized its potential: rooftop party central.

“I grew up in Washington,” he tells me, “and I have never seen a view like this. You have to see it.”

The roof on the building on Pennsylvania Avenue is a block from the White House and it was the setting for a small gathering when the office opened. Last Friday Froomkin hosted another gathering of reporters and sources.

The mood was less festive in the building next door where Newsweek houses its DC bureau. The money-losing weekly, owned by the Washington Post Company, had just announced another round of layoffs. The Washington bureau didn’t take much of a hit but the bureau already had lost its swagger: Newsweek had moved to smaller quarters; reporters and editors had been asked to move from offices to cubicles.

“Yes,” says Newsweek bureau chief Jeff Bartholet, “we’re facing the same financial pressures afflicting other news outlets. But until now, anyway, we’ve tried to find savings in Washington by cutting back on travel and by moving into smaller offices to save on rent.”

There have been several sob stories about the death dance of the traditional Washington news bureau, including those of the news weeklies. Gone are the robust bureaus for the Los Angeles Times, Newhouse News, and other once-healthy news organizations. Digital media bureaus now are taking their places with as many reporters and plenty of swagger.

“I mourn the loss of those bureaus,” Froomkin says, “but there’s a lot of optimism, a lot of energy in the kind of Internet journalism we are doing.”

Fast, loud, and schizophrenic, Robin Williams’s impression-heavy comedy routine is less a standup act than a one-man band, and it’s been making people laugh for 30 years. Now on his “Weapons of Self Destruction” tour, he’ll be appearing at DAR Constitution Hall Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21; both nights the show starts at 8. Tickets ($63.50 to $93.50) can be purchased here.

Kate Clinton uses comedy as a way to critique the world and invoke change—her tours focus on politics, social issues, family, and the economy. (Last year’s tour was called “Hilarity Clinton ’08.”) In addition to two decades of standup, she’s written several humor books, made television and film appearances, and participated in a stage reading of a Tony Kushner play with Olympia Dukakis and Madeline Kahn. She’ll perform at the Birchmere Friday, November 20, at 7:30. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased here.

The first performance of Seasonal Disorder, the holiday show by the Washington Improv Theater troupe Onesixtyone, will be at Source Friday, November 20, starting at 8. Opening-night festivities include a wine-and-cheese reception and backstage tour, both included in the ticket price. After the show, a discussion is scheduled with the cast and director. Your ticket will also get you free admission to iMusical, starting at 9:30 in the same theater. Tickets are $25; buy them here.

Friday, November 20, and Saturday, November 21
For Carine’s Bridal Atelier’s (1726 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-965-4696) three-year anniversary, is discounting all bridal gowns by 13 percent. Designers include Angel Sanchez, Carolina Herrera, Kenneth Pool, and Pronovias. Friday 11 to 7, Saturday 11 to 6..

At the bridal boutique Hitched (1523 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-333-6162), you can catch Anna-Maier Ulla Maija dresses at this weekend’s trunk show. Sample gowns will be available for viewing, but all the New York-based designer’s gowns are custom-made for each customer. Friday 11 to 6 , Saturday 9 to 5. To schedule appointments, which are required, call the store or e-mail appointment@hitchedsalon.com.

Sunday, November 22
A glitzy wedding cake isn’t just for photos—it has to taste as good, too. Custom Cake Design (8535 Ziggy Ln., Gaithersburg; 301-216-1100) is holding its monthly open house with more than 60 cakes on display. Brides can try 12 flavors as well as the company’s imported-Belgian-chocolate-fondue fountain. Noon to 4. Call 301-216-1100 to reserve a spot.

As a live-music fan, something funny I realized about planning a wedding is that the wedding ceremony is the “opening act” of the day. The ritual binding of you to someone for eternity, amidst the hoopla that is the wedding day, is the appetizer. It’s the biggest part of the day only to those on stage or those directly related to those on stage. A wedding ceremony is, ironically enough, a lot like the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Jimi Hendrix? Let me explain where I’m going.

Hendrix achieved fame in 1967 at the seminal acid-rock event known as the Monterey Pop Festival. (Remember footage of Hendrix on his knees stoking the flames of a burning guitar? It happened at there.) Hendrix and his band opened for the only act to ever record four number-one albums in a single year: the artistic juggernauts and the ’60s cultural icons known as the Monkees.