washington weekend

i managed recently to find round trip bus fare to D.C. for $1 (hashtag boltbus VIP), so that meant another trip down to visit my friend emily. we had such a fun weekend. my first order of business was getting a sweet pork salad at cafe rio, but other delicious highlights included thomas sweet ice cream, baked and wired, &pizza, founding farmers (those beignets tho), and bluebuck pancakes at eastern market. my diet starts tomorrow.

i also checked out the library of congress, botanic garden, phillips collection, and hirshhorn museum. all of them are free and pretty great. i was excited at the hirshhorn to see quite a few works i learned about in my feminist art class, including the shirin neshat exhibit and barbara kruger installation. the photo above of the busts is actually "lick and lather" by janine antoni (1993-94), and i was so psyched to see it in person. they are self-portraits made of chocolate and soap and antoni actually licked the chocolate and washed the soap in the bath to wear away the features and comment on femininity and physical appearance. so amazing. i love them.

we went to see everest and pawn sacrifice (i recommend both) and it made me miss when emily and i were roommates and all we did was watch movies together. also she lent me her copy of into thin air by jon krakauer because as soon as we got out of the everest movie i wanted to read it. it's amazing so far.

but my favorite things we did all weekend were definitely visiting the national zoo and riding bikes around at night. i am obsessed with the clouded leopard at the national zoo. it's the prettiest animal i've ever seen and SO CUTE. we rented bikes from the capital bikeshare and rode all around the monuments and the national mall. i hadn't ridden a bike in forever and it was the best. we rode during the day too but nighttime was amazing because the streets and sidewalks were so empty and quiet and the monuments are stunning all lit up. it was so much fun. new york is number one in my heart, but D.C., you are up there. be back soon.

america, the beautiful

this past weekend i took a very pink and patriotic spring break trip to washington, d.c. to see both the cherry blossoms and some friends of mine. my friend emily visited me in new york last month, so this time it was my turn to go see her. it was the perfect escape from new york's dreary weather and it had been almost three years since my last visit to d.c. so i was pretty psyched to be there.

we visited a bunch of the monuments and saw all the beautiful cherry blossoms at the tidal basin. i'd always wanted to see them in bloom and they did not disappoint. it was really hard not to take five million pictures. i also visited the national gallery of art, which i love and recommend, as it has a wonderful collection and surprisingly comfortable couches. if i'd had more time i would've gone to the hirshhorn and the smithsonian american art museum too. bless you, d.c., for your free museums!

i also visited the united states holocaust memorial museum. it was definitely a very moving and powerful experience and brought back the memories and emotions of my visit to the dachau concentration camp in germany. i highly recommend touring the holocaust museum if you get the chance. i think it's an important testament to a piece of history we all should feel more deeply, and maybe the most incredible part is at the end of the exhibition where you can watch videos of holocaust survivors telling their stories. i was so touched by the video of gerda weissmann klein (including her story of how she married the american soldier who liberated her from a concentration camp and 350-mile death march) that i looked her up and read all about her when i got home. she wrote a memoir called all but my life that i will definitely be reading.

we crammed a lot of good food into one weekend, but the highlights were definitely 2 amys neapolitan pizzeria and founding farmers. i am still dreaming about their beignets. i also enjoyed my meals at good stuff eatery, golden brown delicious, and we, the pizza. next time i come to d.c. i want to go to baked and wired, burger tap & shake, eastern market for blue buck pancakes, and of course, cafe rio for a good old sweet pork salad. i love you, food.

another fun part of this weekend was seeing my friend hannah and her husband rob. they drove up and met us to see the cherry blossoms together. we hadn't seen hannah since before she got married, so it was a very happy little reunion. i'm so glad i got to make this trip! i love the east coast and i hope if i write enough of these posts i can convince all my friends to move out here. (if you're reading this, please move out here.) see you soon, d.c.

empire state of mind

lauren and i spent friday in new york, our favorite city. our dad went to the temple and we hung out in the flatiron district. we went to the empire state building, ate shake shack in madison square park, and then stuffed our faces at doughnut plant. it was delightful.

lauren made the cute video above and i've probably watched it a million times. she also just redesigned my blog for me and taught me how to make my blog posts look a bajillion times better with html. lauren is my little sister but she's always upstaging me with her talents. hopefully that doesn't sound bitter; i'm just constantly impressed by her and everything she has taught herself to do. lauren has this drive and determination and i'm really excited to see her grow and thrive at BYU. we leave this friday for utah and i can't wait to have both my sisters in provo with me! it's going to be so much fun. lauren, i sure love you!

east coast summer

this summer has been a very busy one. while it's nice to relax, i enjoy having a lot of things to do because i like to make the most of my time at home. working full-time is a bit exhausting but i've still managed to do a lot of neat things on the weekends. this summer my family and i have made trips to new york city, philadelphia, monticello, and washington d.c. as well as doing other fun things more locally. there are only a few weekends left of my summer before i head back to utah for school, and i will be spending them in upstate new york visiting my dad's family, at the beach, and then in sunny southern california when my family heads out west to vacation and visit my mom's family. i can't wait!

i thought i might do some posts on some of the day trips we've taken and fun things we've done this summer. my very favorite thing about living on the east coast is the proximity to so many amazing places!