spring break week one

I apologize in advance for the ginormous amounts of pictures in this post, these are the select I've chosen so you can imagine how many are actually on my phone!  A lot has happened in the last few days, kicking it off with my 26th birthday. This means I round up to 30 now. Dislike. But I did get to see my sweet little nephew! Daniel took me out for breakfast and then on a tour of New York in the helicopter.  My brother Will told me not to tell his wife that because he couldn't compete with that present! Unfortunately even though we've had the most beautiful weather lately my b-day was pretty nasty out but luckily I have nice filters on my phone that make my pictures still look good!

My awesome pilot!

Statue of Liberty

George Washington Bridge

Ground Zero with one of the new Freedom Towers being built on the left.

My delicious strawberry shortcake french toast from green eggs cafe.

The next day I was off to Washington DC for a conference with my friend Trish that we got scholarships too.  I loved that I got to be in NY, Philly, and DC all in 24 hours!  I loved the conference, there were thousands and thousands of people there it was nuts. And it was in the fanciest hotels I've ever seen in my life. Daniel drove down after the conference and we got to see some of the sights and visit my old roommate Christine.  Such a fun time!

Some DC architecture.  DC really makes Philly look dirty.

Me an Trish went to the zoo on one of our lunch breaks - I wish Philly's was free too!

I love how happy elephants look.

Of course my favorite, the gorillas . . . I really could stare at them for hours.

So Trish called me over cause there was this giant gorilla standing like an inch from the glass up on this podium, everyone totally thought it was fake until it moved. He looked right at me and was like two inches from me! I was so excited that I scared him away but it was awesome.  There was a reflection on the glass so I couldn't get a picture :(

We stayed with one of Trish's friends and they told us the cherry blossom festival was three blocks from their house - turned out to be more like 3 miles.  Our feet were so blistered from all the walking I ended up having to wear boots the last day of the conference because every other pair of my shoes was too painful - 8 blisters in all.  Since it was so far away it was pretty dark by the time we got there so the blossoms weren't that impressive.  Could've been the painful walk that left me disappointed too.

Daniel came and we headed to Virginia to visit Christine.  We ate at Cafe Rio (twice) and saw the Hunger Games.  Cafe Rio was full of mormons, it was so funny.  We even saw the same family in there again when we went the next day.  Daniel I spent awhile walking around Arlington cemetery.  It was supposed to be raining the whole day but we lucked out and it ended up being a gorgeous day.

Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. 

Battle of the Bulge, where my grandpa was captured by the Germans.

This is where JFK stood and told someone that he could stay here forever.

And here he rests with Jackie O and their two infant children.

Then we headed off to Georgetown for some shopping and . . . 

cupcakes of course.

This is me at my happiest.

Our choices were red velvet, peanut butter fudge, and chocolate mint crunch.  Definitely worth the 40 min wait.

It was such a beautiful day we spent awhile just sitting by the river and enjoying the sunshine.

Eiffel tower at Restoration Hardware

Next we had dinner at Serendipity - did you know they have a $1000 sundae that involves vanilla beans flown in from Tahiti, cocoa beans flown in from Venezuela, and 23-carat edible gold flakes? Daniel and I are going to celebrate our lottery win with two of those.

Their signature frozen hot chocolate, not my thing but Daniel liked it.

An accidental find on the way home, the Washington National Cathedral. Unfortunately it was closed so we didn't get to go inside but it was still pretty from the outside.

and last but most definitely not least (actually another accidental find), the temple of course.

Such a fun trip, but it was very nice to sleep in our own bed again last night.  So grateful I didn't have to be at work til later.  Now for my second week of vacation, looking forward to lots of doing nothing!