worst sunday, the national mall, and other random things

who has church from 3pm - 6pm on fast sunday?! seriously. it was the worst. 

it was a lucky thing i found this street full of rainbow joy and the weather was nice while sara was in her meeting or the whole day might have been a flop. 

now i strategically stayed till tuesday morning so i could head into dc with sara on monday and get some tourist moments in while she was at work. after discussing what i'd already seen, she gave me a list of things she thought i would enjoy this time around. her suggestions did not disappoint.

stop #1 : tour the capitol

i had a bit of a rough time figuring out where the heck i was supposed to be for this tour but i finally found it with plenty of time to spare. it was interesting to walk around and see everything inside. i enjoyed hearing the stories our tour guide told us and also enjoyed taking a picture of that man below throwing up a peace sign for his own photo that was ironically being taken by his asian girlfriend.

stop #2 : the library of congress

did i even know what the library of congress was? no i sure didn't. 

it might have been my lack of expectations for this place but it was definitely my favorite surprise of the day. i probably stared at all the details of this main hall for a good 30 minutes. i could have stayed there all day! everything about it is gorgeous. 

 new lens doesn't quite let my whole head be in the frame with hand held shots, but i still tried. 

(brief instagram break)

stop #3 : the supreme court

they don't actually love letting people take pictures so i only took the two below. it turns out it was an "argument day" so i somehow found myself sitting in on a hearing for like twenty minutes with every single supreme court justice sitting (far) in front of me. i was in the back so if i didn't sit up way strait all i could see was their tall chairs swiveling back and forth and it was so funny to me. some of them were leaning all the way back with their eyes closed..turns out they get bored at those hearings too i guess. 

stop #4 : Archives of the US of A

it never really crossed my mind to go here so i'm glad sara is smart and put it on the list. let's talk about seeing the declaration of independence, bill of rights, and constitution with my very own eyes! also, while we are at it, let's also discuss how cool it was to see some hand-written letters by abe lincoln. i really enjoyed that part. 

 stop #5 : FIND FOOD

i realized at this point that my stomach was starting to eat itself and fatigue was kicking in so i pulled out yelp to try and find some sort of food truck or other local place to eat and it kept failing me. i gave up and finally just walked to potbelly's because there was no way i was going to eat some crappy pretzel or hot dog from a creeper street vendor. i added this part because i need everyone to know that their chocolate malt was the best malt i've ever had in my whole life and if i lived near a potbelly's i might get one everyday. also, i always think about getting a mediterranean sandwich when i see it places and i finally did it! it was delicious..or perhaps i was just starving? either way i walked out of that place a very full and happy girl. 

stop #6 : american history museum

i thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit "america on the move". so many great cars and trains! i also liked taking a picture with harry potter's robes (when you are by yourself you have to get creative), the first lady's exhibit (minus the part where i'm mad at them for spending america's money on lavish things) (yes, i just said lavish), seeing the star spangled banner, and other random things. what i didn't like was  looking everywhere for dorothy's ruby slippers and never finding them! sad.

stop #6 : smithsonian castle

i don't actually know if there is anything to do in there? i walked in and felt uncomfortable so i walked right back out haha

stop #7 : air and space museum

by this point it was about 4:45 and it closed at 5:30 so i just hurried to all the different exhibits and covered the entire museum real quick. i enjoyed seeing all the different planes and things but i was getting a little burned out and was okay when they said they were closing. walking around all day is all sorts of tiring!

 as i walked out there were tons of chinese tourists so i just listened to them talk and took this picture of us all together. 

 5:30 was a perfect time to walk out and catch the sun setting behind the washington memorial.

 sara was still working so i decided to walk to the memorial and enjoyed all of the sillhouettes i saw on the way

by the time i got to it the sky was pitch black and my phone had unexpectedly died. this combination did not make me feel too awesome, especially since that area is kind of creepy after dark, so i decided to walk to the lincoln memorial in hopes that it was better lit. i had a feeling this might happen so i had my charger, i just needed somewhere to plug it into. as i was walking past the WWII memorial i saw a park ranger station so i walked (ran) to it and luckily a guy was in there! i awkwardly tapped on the little window and asked him if he wouldn't mind plugging my phone in for a few minutes. he seemed very startled and confused but kindly obliged. about thirty minutes later i was in sara's car completely relieved that this stressful experience was over. if i didn't have my charger or that nice park ranger i have no idea what we (i) would have done!

to celebrate finding each other we went to cafe rio (!) and enjoyed noticing how every single person who came through the doors was mormon. sara wanted to watch some college football with friends and i wanted no part in that so i just went back to her house and accidentally fell asleep at 8 pm. i woke up around 10 pm and enjoyed looking at puppy pictures with our friend katy and then had a nice last sleepover with sara. she is such a nice friend! 

now, here are things that happened the week i got home from dc that i feel like blogging but not seperately. 

1. this very accurate portrayal of les mis using emoticons

2. kristin's birthday party. somehow everyone was gone and i was joining in on a tender moment with her and kellen as he gave her a birthday gift.  

3. i feel like i'm suffocating every time i look in my closet. HOW DID IT GET SO FULL

4. i really enjoyed walking into my boss' office to find this scene. 

5. i was in charge of our new year party so i did an all-you-can-eat pizza and bowling party. here on the east coast they have candlepin bowling which is basically skinny pins with baby sized bowling balls. i was awful at it. what i was NOT awful at though was farkle later that night. if i wasn't in texas i would have highlighted my "5,900" score to make it more visible. basically i kept rolling magic and got 5,900 points in one turn. this is unheard of and also helped me realize why i should and won't ever gamble. 

..i would be an addict.

 okay, that's all.