A DC Sampler

This is the Barlow Center where I live. My room is the right half of the top floor. It's a beautiful building and a great location.

These pretty shop fronts line the georgetown canal and boardwalk. Isn't it charming?

These are friends Jason in the back, Elise in the front, and Emily on the left. A crazy night of bowling.

Baked and Wired: An awesome cupcake shop on the Georgetown canal. I would go there everyday if I could. The cupcakes are amazing and very unique. My favorite is a birthday cake that is a chocolate cake with buttercream icing with sprinkles.

This is the Georgetown University Citadel that is now a classroom and office building. Isn't it so amazing? And don't I just belong there?

This is the backside of the citadel. I'm standing in a beautiful courtyard facing the cute chapel. I want to go back in the spring.

One Saturday I went to the Eastern Market and strolled through all the stalls and the market. It was really cool. I thought this mirror shop was interesting.

The interior of the Opera House in the Kennedy Center. I saw a free show there that was a showcase/forum type setting where multiple broadway writers and lyricists came to the show to talk about how they developed their ideas. The man who wrote Wicked was there. He performed a couple songs and shared with us the evolution of one song. He sang for us the first draft, second draft, and the final draft. It was really interesting and very entertaining.

A group of us went to the DC temple to do a session. So amazingly beautiful.

After the session, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. The missionary couple are the Blanchards. They're the CES missionaries at the Barlow and the building managers. I definitely got the chocolate, coconut creme cheesecake. So delish.

This was one of the first sunny, somewhat warm days so I went exploring on the waterfront of the Potomac, which is actually very close to where I live. Here I was standing on a boardwalk and looking back to the Kennedy Center. It looks like the Independence Visitor Center, no?

This is the Smithsonian Castle, where I usually eat lunch. There's a great discounted cafe for Smithsonian employees.

Lincoln Memorial. A very inspirational place.

Here's Kristen, Elise and I kicking off Valentine's day. They are so cute! Elise gave me a beautiful tulip and Kristen made valentine's day cupcakes!

Valentine's Day is my FAVORITE holiday!

HELLO! Many of you know that Valentine's day is my favorite holiday and New York City is my favorite city, so why not share the two together with a bunch of friends and create the best Valentine's day ever?!!!! We took the Chinatown bus for $35 round trip! So cheap and totally worth it. We left at about 4:30 pm on Friday and got to NYC at 9:30 pm. I went with friends Kristen, Elise, Heather, Mike, Sage, Andrew, and Ali. When we finally got to the apartment we were staying at (THANKS KRISLYN!!!) we were starving so we...

That's a slice of Chicken Marsala Pizza.

The next morning we headed to Times Square to get our Broadway tickets

Group pic! I was so proud of us...we were out and about by 8:30 and got a great start to the day.

After we scored our tickets (cheap prices, no line, and on Valentine's Day?!!!) We took the free ferry to Staten Island and had lunch there at a cute little hometown fisherman restaurant.

After the ferry ride, naturally we wandered through the Financial District and stopped at the new World Trade Center Gallery. I didn't pay to get in, but it looked really nice.

This was a tribute to Firemen who lost their lives on 9/11.

Cool corporate art. You know me...always on the look out.

Next stop...TIFFANY!! We dragged the boys in to show them our favorite engagement rings. They were miserable, but later that night we got our payback when we happened upon the Ferrari dealer on Park Avenue. Seriously.

After Tiffany, I stole away to the Museum of Modern Art (my heart wouldn't rest until I did). Guess what?! I got in FREE with my Smithsonian Institution badge and I got Andrew in free too. It was really fun. Probably in the top three favorite events of the weekend.

They were installing this show, which looks really interesting.

This piece I fell in love with in my textbook long ago. I was delighted to see it in person. It's much larger than I anticipated. It is a Matisse and it is called The Piano Lesson. I plan to hang a framed print of this painting above my piano someday.

Hello romantic lights on Rockefeller Square!

This was our Valentine's dinner right before we headed off to our shows! THE most delicious rolls I think I've ever had.

OH YES...I saw The Phantom of the Opera on Valentine's Day. Kristen was my date. It was so fun to see so many people dressed up. The show was AMAZING! I'd never seen it before! I've been swoony ever since and I sing the songs to myself all the time! A couple of my favorite parts were 1) the first time the theme chords starting playing and the chandelier lights up and swings out into the audience. 2) The underground lake scene with all the candles and mist and the boat. It was so wonderful!

To complete our most romantic Valentine's Day ever, we went to Serendipity, a super cute, famous cafe with $15 dollar sundaes. I was IN LOVE with the decor and got a good idea of a future career option...I want to be an art dealer for private restaurants and cafes and other types of corporate art. Just a thought, but I really think I could do it

Kristen was the best Valentine ever!

Andrew and I shared this bad boy and it was delicious.

ok so that was Saturday. Sunday I woke up early and Kristen and I headed out to the Met! AH! It makes my heart sing!

I studied these Roman wall paintings recently.

This is the European Sculpture Court and this facade used to be an exterior facade that opened up to Central Park. Now it connects two wings of the Met.

Church was not far at all from the Met. Kristen and I walked through beautiful Central Park (it wasn't even that cold, thank goodness) and attended the Manhattan 8th Ward in this beautiful Temple/church building.

After church, we couldn't get enough, so we explored the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. So beautiful. Sometimes I wish I was Catholic, just for the pure romance of it all.

Sunday night I couldn't refrain from hitting up the long awaited for Max Brenner experience. Imagine with me if you will...a restaurant dedicated for chocolate lovers. A menu of chocolate desserts. Walking in to the divine scent of chocolate churning in large vats. Kristen and I waited 30 minutes to be seated and while waiting swooned over the Valentine's Day decor, which included fresh flowers, lots of red twinkling lights, pink shiny wrappers, lots of LOVE signs and more! It was the happiest place on earth.

THIS is what I ordered. A crepe with bananas, hazelnut creme, chocolate sauce, fresh fruit, ice cream, and a beaker full of chocolate sauce. HEAVEN!

That was my dinner.

Monday, I forgot to take pictures, but we went to Sylvia's for breakfast. It's a famous soul food joint in Harlem. I ordered waffles and fried chicken. I'm so healthy I know. Then we went to Chinatown where I got my CLASSY knock-off Chanel bag, but I love it! This pic is of the whole group with Krislyn, who is super cool and tons of fun to hang out with. She has a GREAT apartment and put up us four girls. It was just perfect!

These are some pics of the city as the bus was rolling out.

And here are Kristen and I bidding farewell to New York City on board our Chinatown bus. It was a perfect weekend, but I'm already planning my next trip so stay tuned!