National Zoo and random wanderings

Once upon a time, Christian and I decided to go to the Zoo. We saw lions, and tigers, and bears- oh my!

 Christian's favorites were the elephant and the turtles.

 Meanwhile, I took a shining to this big guy. Isn't he adorable?!!

 After the zoo, we started wandering around downtown. Christian loved the architecture of the Old Post Office building and Ben Franklin's statue in front.

 We decided we needed to take a bunch of pics with the Washington monument too. We wanted to touch it, but it's roped off. Lame. But still good photo moments!

 Christian's patriotic moment :)

 My goofy moment :P

And one of the two of us. A wonderful day to wander through the city, see new things, and go a little crazy with the camera. Good times!!

Dinner at Violette Lock

Friday evening Christian and I went for a picnic dinner at Violette Lock! It was once part of the C&O canal system just off the Potomac River.

We saw lots of wildlife including turtles, birds, and flying fish! Or at least fish that jumped out of the water for their insect dinners :)



We walked around before we found our river side seating arrangements. This is me near the edge of the Potomac.



 It's a pretty historic civil war era site too, so Christian has now conquered this strech of river for the Union side- good thing he's one of the good guys :)

 Christian and I by the Potomac- a dirty river, but some great views!

 On our drive back, we witnessed the most amazing sunset I've seen in months! The camera doesn't capture just how awesome it was but just believe me when I say I was dazzled!

Wonderful dinner, beautiful sunset over horses feeding in their fields, and excellent company. I'd say it was a pretty perfect evening for this girl!!

Embassy Week!

Embassy week in DC!! Christian and I went down and hit up a few of the European Embassies. So much fun to see so many different cultures-and eating their food was yummo too :)

 Christian in front of the Dutch Embassy. He served his mission in the Netherlands, and to my untrained ears, his accent sounded pretty genuine. He even got interviewed and will soon be on their facebook page!

Tulips in front of the Dutch Embassy. So pretty!

 Christian and the epitome of dutchness- a bike!!

 This one's for you Greg. The UK Embassy had an awesome car display. Gotta love it!

The English phone booth- so Britain :) In all we went and saw Estonia, Croatia, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, and Sweden. A full day of walking and crazy metro riding and totally worth every minute!

My Life Lately

 So I know I've been a blog slacker lately. Here's a few moments to help illustrate what's been happening with me the last 2 months!

 My favorite Chicago dwelling family, the Hanks, came to DC for Kevin's marathon. I love it when my BFF Naomi is here, and since I like my cousin Kevin and their girls tons too, it was all around good times :)

 Right before they got here, I finished the jean quilt I'd been working on. I wanted them to have a blanket for their bed-good incentive!

 I week later, I took myself down to the Tidal Basin for the Cherry Blossom Festival. They were just blooming when the Hanks were here and a rash of warm weather was making the festival a short one. Still, glad I was able to see some of the beautiful cherry blossoms.

 Something about the blossoms just makes me all kinds of happy inside :)

Finally, I worked out my schedule at the hospital so I had 8 days in a row off, and so mid-Apri I went to Chicago to see Naomi and fam! We didn't take many pictures, although we did paint their kitchen and Naomi has those photos on her blog. It was so wonderful being there with Naomi, Kevin, Brooklyn and Lily. Love them so much! I'm so glad they let me be a part of their lives. Above is from our last night's trip to Carrabbas. Lily loves her spaghetti- and Kev was such a good sport when she decided to...share :)

My cutie pie's growing up so fast!!

Me and Naomi! I couldn't ask for a better best friend in the whole entire world. There's no way to describe how much I depend on her! She's so amazing, beautiful, giving, loving, and supportive. I'm so lucky to have a friend like her!

New Clothes :)

This one's for you, Mom. Because new clothes happen so rarely, I decided to share my recently acquired church outfit. I think it looks pretty nice if I do say so myself :)

Crime Museum!

I've made it a goal to visit as many museums while I can while I'm in D.C., so last Saturday Eve and I took ourselves to the Crime Museum!
We had lots of fun experiencing ways people were punished throughout history. So glad I didn't live in the Medieval Ages, but the stocks were fun to play in :)

I've always wondered what it would be like to be behind bars...

I think the perp is the blond one :)

The worst part is the drinking fountain is located on the back of the toilet. Disgusting!!

We decided the life of a captured criminal sounded boring, but learning about how to catch them sounded fun! Maybe I should change my profession- I did find one mistake in the exhibit. Something was mislabeled in the crime lab. I'll let you wonder on what and make it your mission to find it when you visit!!

So I guess it's official...

My car now sports Maryland plates. After having to pay for all that new licensing and registration, I think I'll stay here for awhile just to not have to go through that again!

I've been working full time again, but I've still managed to go see a few sites around D.C. Last weekend, I made it to the National Archives. Cool building- it houses the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Awesome! Felt like I had fallen into "National Treasure".

I also wandered through Chinatown for awhile and looked at the many different shops they have there. I love how the signs are in Chinese and English :)

I've also managed to put my Christmas presents to good use and finished one of the puzzles I received. Love puzzles :) Can't wait for the adventures that are sure to come here in Maryland!