NYC!

Last week was jam packed with loads of fun!  I have been busy so I am just now getting around to posting about it!  Last Friday I went into DC again, I rode the Metro by myself (which was an experience!) I went and met my friend Bri that has been here doing an internship and she was leaving Saturday! I am glad that I got to see her before she left!

We went to the Washington Monument.  It was dusk and it looked so awesome. I have heard from quite a few people that everything is so much cooler at night! I believe it!

After that we walked to the Lincoln Memorial.  I had only ever seen pictures and movies.  It was so much better in real life! 

The Korean Memorial was our last stop for the evening.  I didn't know much about the Korean Memorial before I went there, but I learned so much just from being there.  I didn't take any pictures because my camera is terrible in the dark and that memorial had hardly no lighting because they want it to be as real as possible.  The statues are 6ft.  They are pretty close to regular size because the person that designed it wanted you to become a part of the memorial.  It was really cool.  

I can't wait to go back to this memorial and spend some time here during the day and get to see all of the names and the faces that are carved on the wall behind.  

That was pretty much the end of the night, we just walked back to the metro.  Funny Story:  I rode the train with Bri and her friends until their stop and then I had to get off to switch because my stop is the very last one.  Well as I am getting off the train this creepy OLD man comes up to me and starts rubbing my shoulder (He was pretty much petting me) and said " Sweetie, that is the prettiest blouse that I have seen in such a long time.  It is just so pretty..." As he is gushing over my t-shirt, I am being thoroughly creeped out. and feeling pretty violated by this guy!  I just thought "Excuse me strange old man you are touching me and I don't care for it!" while really just saying thank you.  What do you do in that situation?  Really? I think I may need to invest in some mace or  something! Weird!!! I am really glad that I wasn't alone at that point but I also had to get on the next train, ride it to the last station, and walk through the parking garage ALONE.  I was pretty freaked out by the time that I made it back to my car!  

On Saturday morning I got up super early and hopped on a charter bus and headed to NYC to meet Amanda who was in Connecticut visiting her mother in law.  It was SO good to see her!  They picked me up at Penn Station and then we went and spent the afternoon at Time Square. 

  This is at M&M world.  They had 2 of these huge walls of M&M dispensers.

 We put these glasses on Spencer at M&M world.  He was not pleased and didn't think that we were as we thought we were.  He was so good all day! 

This is the huge carousel inside of the Toys R Us 

 At the Toys R Us  we got matching tattoos for the day.  You really can't see them at all but it was of Tinker Bell. There was a guy there demonstrating them so of course we had to try them!

They drop the ball from right here, you can see it at the very top.

Here is a better picture of the ball. Its pretty cool, but I could not even imagine be at Time Square on New Years Eve! 

We took this picture as we were heading back to the car.  After we took this picture that camera went MIA for 3 days.  I am so glad that Amanda finally found it because we didn't take any pictures with my camera because it was faster to just use one, and we used hers.  I wouldn't have had any pictures to show! 

 We did a drive by "shooting" of the NYC Temple.  It really is pretty awesome, it just kind of sneaks up on you.  Its not like everywhere else, that you can see it for a long ways a way.  I couldn't get a great picture because I was in the car so this was the best I could do.

We spent the rest of the weekend in CT because it rained :( Then I headed back to DC on Monday.  It was such a fun and busy weekend.  I would really like to go back to NY soon and see more! It was so amazing but I am definitely not a city girl! It was so busy and there are so many people and it smells really bad.  I don't think that I would like to live there, but its fun to visit! 

First Trip to DC!!!

Today was a super fun day! I went to DC for the first time today.  The lady that I work for rents out a room in the basement.  Bianca, the girl that is renting it is an intern at the Smithsonian, and she is leaving on Thursday.  Today she offered to take me into DC and show me around a little, and teach me how to use the Metro and bus system.  What an adventure! 


First we went to the Library of Congress.  Tours and listening to people talk for a long time is not really my thing, this was really interesting! There was so much to see, and the building is so beautiful! 

This is right outside of the building.

This is the staircase.  The docent said that they carved these there because they wanted it to show that the library is for everyone, children included. I was only to get these two, but they go up and down the whole staircase, and each one is different.

All of the above pictures are in the Library of Congress. The ceilings are AMAZING!  There is so much beautiful art right on the ceiling.  A lot of it is mosaic.  I can not even imagine how long it would take to do that.  All of the floors are marble, and there are a lot of carvings.  It was definatly a lot better than I was expecting it to be! 

After the Library we went and got lunch.  We went to a place called We The Pizza.  It was a fun little shop and this was the BIGGEST slice of pizza I have ever seen, and it came with two! It was really yummy! 

After we went there, we went and took a tour of the Capitol Building.  There is a girl in my ward that is and intern for her Senator and she took us on our own private tour so we didn't have to go around with the big huge crowd.  It was great and we got to see a few places that the big tours don't.

This picture was actually taken from inside the Library, but it was the best one I got of the Capitol today, because we met our tour guide Natalie in another building and then took all of the underground tunnels in and out, so I was in it, but never up close to it outside. 

Everything in the Capitol Building is beautiful as well. This is just one of the halls, but all of them are painted like this.  It is incredible. 

This is the top of the dome, but pictures just can't do it justice! 

In the Capitol there are two statues from every state, and Utah's is of course Brigham Young.

After we the Capitol, we headed to the Postal museum.  It was pretty cool. No tours you just wander around and read stuff.  

When we were done there, we hopped on a bus and headed to Georgetown.  It is a cute little place, with lots of little shops but everything seemed super expensive! 

We went to Georgetown Cupcakes (aka DC cupcakes) as seen on TLC.  It is a fun little shop. 

This was the line to get in, and rumor has it that it is actually really short.  It usually is a 40-50 minute wait.  We only had to wait for about 15 minutes.

As it turns there are two other cupcake shops in about a 6 blocks radius, so we checked them out as well too! This one was called Baked and Wired. 

Then we went to Sprinkles, and got their free cupcake, for knowing the word of the day.  It was a carrotcake cupcake that was very sweet. As of yet, it is the only one that I have actually even tried, but I have a lot of taste testing to do! Haha, I'll be spending extra time at the gym this week, that's for sure! 

It was a fun day with LOTS of walking!  Hopefully now I will be able to get around on my own a little bit and start exploring a little more!  

I have had a few ups and downs since I have been here, but all in all, it has been good, and I am really enjoying it! I love my job, and I think that I will Learn a lot! I miss everyone at home, but I know that this will be a great experience for me! I'll let you know about my next adventure!