Paraguay!

Randomly stumbled upon the Paraguay Embassy!!!

I love how it is a random little townhouse. There are several other embassies around it as well.

Ford's Theater

Visited Ford's Theater with Chandler. Absolutely beautiful theater. One day I hope to be able to go to a show there.

Box where Lincoln was shot.

     

New York!!!

One absolutely crazy day!! Started at midnight. Kate, Camille, Kelli and I got on a bus at Union Station in DC. The 5 hour trip to New York was not fun. None of us could get comfortable or really get much sleep. 

Me by our bus as we first arrived in New York!

We walked around for a few minutes and then found some breakfast at one of the only open places.. McDonald's. Not what I would use as my first choose, but cheap and the smoothies are decent.

Time Square early in the morning before too
much traffic.

We walked to Rockefeller Plaza after that. Made signs and stood out in the crowd for the Today Show.

After being there for a few minutes we decided to take a cab to Battery Park. We wanted to get there early so that we could catch the first ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

From the Statue of Liberty.

Me and the Statue of Liberty!!

Beautiful skyline. I love big cities. They are so pretty and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

Once we got back to shore we made our way into the city. We stopped by the church on Wall Street and Broadway (National Treasure). That church has a graveyard which happens to be where Alexander Hamilton is buried. Then we made our way to the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Memorial.

      


Then we did a little bit of shopping. We all got small items. Which was good because then we did have a ton to haul around with us all day. I ended up getting some cute earrings. After shopping we went to Little Italy and had some lunch. The waiter even sang a song for one of  my roommates. We walked through SoHo after that. I brought some sunglasses on the street for $5.

Once done with that we went to Grand Central Station.

We then walked what seemed like forever to Central Park. And it was quite a walk. Once we got to Central Park we decided to take a little bit of a rest... basically we took a nap in Central Park. 

Once a little bit rested and renewed we went to J.W, Swartz. Which is a huge toy store. Then we walked to Carnegie Deli for dinner, which is across the street from Carnegie Hall. 

Sandwich from Carnegie Deli!! Super good!!

After dinner we walked back to Times Square for a few minutes. Went to the M & M' s store and the Hershey's store. Then we walked to where our bus picked us up to go back to DC. 

We got back to DC around 3 am and went home and to bed. Good day to have church at 3 pm because we could sleep in. Awesome day in New York!

The National Cathedral

The National Cathedral is such a beautiful building. The architecture inside and out is amazing. My roommates and I went on a Sunday morning/early afternoon. 

Gettysburg

My friends and I ended up doing the car tour. We went around to different point were events took place. It was pretty cool. And one in our group, Chandler, knows a bunch about the history so we got a history lesson as well!

These are the types of cannons that would have been used in the battle of Gettysburg

This is at the Gettysburg cemetery. There is a monument for Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address. This is were he gave the speech.

Our Dog

There are some rules that are a little weird but kind of fun. One such is that every congressional office is allowed to have a dog. Now not all offices have dogs, but the office I worked in does.

Kensington

Now I think that our office dog is absolutely adorable! She is some sort of a poodle mix (I can't remember exactly). But none the less adorable. 

She can only come in when we don't have lots of meetings in the office and such, so basically during Recess (when Congress isn't in session). 

My favorite pictures of Kensington are below.

Independence Day!!!

The 4th of July just another day passing. In other countries life goes on as any normal day would; in the United States of America it is a celebrated holiday. A day for celebration. The anniversary of our country's independence. An important day in history. Happy Independence day!!!

Had a wonderful 4th of July. We slept in a little bit then headed over the Potomac to D.C. and we caught the end of the parade. There were some cool floats.

After the parade my roommates and I went over to the Folklife Festival on the National Mall. Spent some time walking around there and seeing the cultural things. I got goat stew for lunch. Goat isn't bad but it's not a particular favorite either.
Then on our way up to the Capitol lawn to get seats for the concert we got rocket pops! (perfect as they are red, white & blue.)

The afternoon was spent fairly leisurely. Camille & I held our spot on the lawn while a few of the others with us went to get food (thank you or we may have starved). Got a good relaxing time in. 

The concert was good, we left a few minutes early so we could go and get a better spot to watch the fireworks from.

Here is a sampler of the fireworks: 

It was a great day and fun to spend Independence Day in the Capitol of our nation!! Happy 4th of July!!!