DC to NYC

 My new adventure this week was New York City. DC is at a prime location so I'm trying to take full advantage of that while I'm here. A group of ten of my friends and I bought bus tickets and got a sweet deal on a Marriott Hotel by Times Square. The total with transportation and two nights at the hotel was under a hundred dollars.  I don't think a trip to New York could get any cheaper than that.

We wanted to make the long weekend in NYC as long as possible.  So, we woke up at 3 a.m. Friday morning, left our apartment building at 4 a.m., boarded our bus at 5 a.m. and got to New York by 9:30 a.m.  I was impressed we pulled it off. It was so early and a good majority of us only got 2 hours of sleep the night before.  Thank goodness for bus ride naps.

This picture was taken right after we got off the bus and realized how cold it was.  The first day was SO cold.  My fingers would literally freeze if I took my glove off for more than 30 seconds to take a picture.  But we were in New York so we didn't let the cold stop us from having a good time. 

First stop, Grand Central Station.  It was a very grand building.

On the ferry to Lady Liberty. My hair and the wind are a dangerous combination. 

The ferry is a must in New York.

The Statue of Liberty in all her glory. 

You can see the cold in this picture, but the frozen ice chunks made for a cool view. 

 We saw the most amazing sunset on the ferry heading back to the city. You can see the Statue of Liberty to the left of the sun.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day hands down. Usually my favorite breakfast food is french toast or waffles. However, we went to a bagel shop Saturday morning for breakfast, and we all couldn't believe how good our bagels were, especially the creme cheese on them.  In the containers behind the glass the creme cheese looked like gelato.

When we planned on going to the toy store, FAO Schwartz, we thought we'd be in it for 15-30 min max.  We were there for over an hour, maybe two, I lost track of time.  There's something so fun about big toy stores, like really large candy.  Or maybe it was just us who thought so.

Try and tell which one is me.

Even though it was covered in snow, we took a stroll in central park.  We stopped at this bridge and fed jelly beans the to ducks int he water below.  New York ducks love jelly beans, who knew?

Jane and I got stopped by Darth Vader and this other animal looking thing in Central Park.  We just thought they were being friendly when they asked to take a picture with us.  No, they just wanted our money.

Got swept off my feet. 

We saw Tiffany and Co. and immediately all the girls wanted to go inside.  Some of the guys in our group weren't so thrilled about it.  It had 5 stories of luxury.  When I was on the engagement floor I actually heard someone who was trying on a ring say, "no, it's not big enough." The ring she had on was probably already $30k.  On the way out my friend Jadeyn spotted the most gorgeous thing in the whole store, the doorman ;).  I call him Mr. Tiffany.  He had a sweet British accent and was quite charming.  We couldn't resist not taking a picture.  Wedding announcements coming soon.

A very wet Times Square.

I saw Les Mis on Broadway!  It was amazing, definitely one of my favorite things I did while in New York. 

We were able to get really close seats, which just made the experience that much better.

On Sunday we went to the chapel in the Manhattan temple for church. The temple is definitely a building that sticks out amongst those around it.  For one thing, most buildings don't have a golden statue on top.  

This is the Freedom Tower by ground zero.  We went into the new 9-11 museum.  It took 3 hours and I still didn't get through everything.  It was very surreal hearing the voicemails from passengers on the planes, seeing pictures, and seeing remnants of the buildings. 

Ground Zero.


To experience the trip for yourself, click HERE.

Whiming

About a week and a half ago I signed up for a half marathon in DC, kinda on a whim. I've concluded that life is just more fun when you do things on a whim. I'm usually really into planning (everything), and being prepared is my thing. But sometimes you just need to forget about being logical and do things on a whim.  Life is too short to always be logical.   

The race is on March 14th. I decided to do it late, and only gave myself four weeks to train for it. We'll see how this rushed training works out. My friend Matt is doing the race with me. He's really nice to do it with me; when I first asked him, his response was a straight no.  But after some persuasion, and with my irresistible charm, I got him to agree to it. Having someone to train with really helps to be motivated to run in below freezing weather, at night, after a long work day. I honestly don't think I could do it on my own.

Matt and I did a seven mile run tonight around the National Mall.  It was 10 degrees, but with the wind chill it felt below zero. Lincoln was looking over us while we ran.

I got a library card to the Library of Congress!  It was super easy to get and so worth it. With a library card you have access to all 37 million books. I started on book 1 this weekend, only a few million to go. 

Proud owners of library cards. 

The Library of Congress main reading room. Just being in it makes me want to read.  

This weekend Jane's friend, Angie, came to visit.  She was so fun and we all had a good time getting to know her. It turns out she's in my ward this summer too, I'm excited. We went to a little french restaurant in Georgetown and got the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted. 

Mmmmm... 

We braved the cold and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. 

Jefferson has a pretty nice view. 

I went to Chinatown with my friends for a Valentine's celebration. 

We rented out a room at "Wok in Roll" for Karaoke and sang our hearts out all night long.  A very romantic Valentine's Day if I don't say so myself. 

Partying hard, karaoking harder.

I went with some friends to get some delish crepes in Georgetown. I need to remember the saying, "a moment on your lips forever on your hips."

It snowed Monday night and we decided to embrace it. 

I went to The Hamilton for lunch today.  My work payed for it; I never say no to free food.  It was a really fancy restaurant and the food was great.

A warm almond fudge brownie for dessert.

The Cherry on Top

Connections make life better.  Being connected with the right people is what gets you the job you've always wanted,  is what opens up the opportunities you never thought you'd get, is what gives you the perks that you don't deserve, and much more. Connections are the cherry on top of life. Coming to DC with 28 other BYU students who are also doing internships means that I have 28 new connections. This week my connections got me an exclusive tour of the Capitol.  A couple of my friends work there so they have badges that can access most of the Capitol.  It's all about the connections. 

We first went onto the balcony of the Capitol that overlooks the National Mall.  It was a very cool and unique view. 

The biggest American flag I have every taken a picture in front of. 

A random hall in the Capitol.  I thought it looked cool so I took a picture. 

The scaffolding really brings out the dome of the Capitol. 

We went to the Library of Congress after the Capitol since there's an underground tunnel that leads right to it.  We've all have already been to it but it's such a pretty and intricate building that it's worth going to more than once.   Majority of the floor in this building is made up of tiny tiles, each placed individually to create different designs.  I'm amazed every time by the floors because I just think of how long it must have taken them to lay all of it. 

On Saturday morning my friend Teresa and I went to a french bakery.  That round thing on the right is french toast.  It was SO delicious.  I've thought about it every day since I've had it and want to go back this weekend. 

Over the weekend we also went to Old Town Alexandria.  It's a neat historic little town and is really pretty. I loved it.  When you get off at the metro for Old Town Alexandria the first thing you see is this temple.  It's the George Washington Masonic Temple.  We didn't know what to expect going in, but it was a very interesting experience. We noticed that there were a lot of similarities to our LDS temples.  

(Teresa, me, Jadeyn, Jane)

George Washington statute. 

The Masonic ceremony room. 

Their symbols. 

This gavel was in one of the cases there. As it reads, it was carved from stone taken from King Solomon's Quarries and the handle of the gavel was made from olive wood grown on Mt. of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane. 

On the free trolley in Old Town Alexandria going down to the waterfront. 

The doc was a fun place to be and had a great view.  We already planned on when we're coming back. 

(Jane, McKay, Me)

I converted Jane, Jake, and JD to Vanilla Bean Frappuccinos from Starbucks (no, they don't have any coffee in them).    

We took our frapps down by the river in Georgetown, even though it was quite chilly and it's a cold drink. 

On Monday night I helped plan FHE.  We did a Mr. Barlow pageant. It was so funny and turned out better than we expected. All the guys got really into it which made it very entertaining. 

Jane, Katie, and I with all the contestants. 

This is the typical group of Bachelor fans who watches the show every Monday night.  Six girls and McKay. 

It has been a fun and crazy week, and next week is New York City!