Washington DC Recap: Day 3

 We were having such a great time in DC we decided to extend our trip a few hours, which was the perfect decision as it gave us a chance to have an almost four hour brunch with our dear DC friend Kim.  Kim is a great gal pal from my time at Wake and most famously remembered by the large hot dog she was given in Vegas (but that's a story for another blog post I think). 

We met up with Kim in Georgetown, which is not the easiest of locations to get to from where we were staying but oh-so-worth it!  Kim was sweet enough to treat us to the most amazing brunch at Sequoia in Georgetown, right on the water.  The only tough part of this day was that weather had drastically changed and we were ill prepared for near freezing temps and wild wind.  

As unflattering to us as this top photo is, it really depicts our level of cold and tiredness on our commute to Georgetown.  

Do you see that? That amazing-ness?  Yeah, thats a PORTION of the brunch table of sweets.  

 

 Georgetown, you are adorable.  If you want a Charleston-esque, King Street feel in the DC area, look no further than this cute little neck of the woods. 

It was a GREAT three days in our nation's capital.   We cannot wait until our next visit!

Washington DC Trip: Day Two

We knew the forecast for day two of our trip was going to be dicey-with the morning being rainy and the afternoon a bit sunny and 60.  We decided to get up early, head to the city for breakfast, and then hit the museums while the weather was rough.  The museums open at 10am so we grabbed breakfast and head to American History Museum only to find the line was packed!  We waited (in the rain, blah) for about 45 minutes to get into the museum.  (Pro Tip: if you don't have any bags, you can bypass the line and get in the no bags line which is much shorter.  We wish we had known this and not brought bags with us.)  

The American History Museum had my favorite exhibits and was well worth the wait.  I loved the exhibit about each of the wars and would suggest someone (my dad!) could EASILY spend an entire day in here.  

 It also had an exhibit devoted to the American Presidency which featured a part dedicated to the First Ladies, including their china patterns and gowns.  Had I not been with a boy who wanted nothing to do with this part of the museum, I could have spent a good hour just in this section. 

 Michelle Obama's gown (above) and Laura Bush's grown (below). 

 They had a great exhibit to transpiration which caught this car and train lovers heart. 

 Lunch was a nice break and a chance to visit a restaurant a bit familiar to me!  Our friend Pete used to work at Jaelo, a delicious Spanish Tapas bar owned by Jose Andres.  Rich got the Sangria and we split three tappas plates.  They recommended three per person but we felt like the three between us was the perfect lunch amount. 

 The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Natural History Museum, which thankfully had a much shorter line!  The museums were open till 7:30 on this day which allowed for a bit more of a relaxing stroll. 

 This museum had SO much it actually overwhelmed me!  I'd suggest taking it in chunks if you are lucky enough to have more time in DC and given how short the line was, I think it would do-able to do that. 

 Once the weather cleared up a bit we grabbed the bikes and biked down to the Capital Building. 

 All the biking, metro-ing, and walking were killer.  We were pretty exhausted.

 I mentioned on Day One the biking docks we used to dock our bikes.  This is an example of what the Capital Bike Share Docks look like.  This one by the Washington Monument was packed when we went to dock our bikes thanks to the Kite Festival. 

 It was hard to get a good photo of the tons of kites flying on the mall.  There were food trucks everywhere we grabbed fro-yo and took a seat to enjoy the kites. 

We metro-ed over to Eastern Market and grabbed pizza at Matchbox.

We enjoyed the market area, very diverse and lots of young folks and bars.  We were just too tired to stay out that night after the day we had (getting older ha!)  but would put this part of DC on our list for next time. 

Birthday Week Adventures: Savannah

My Birthday celebration lasted three day this year thanks to my awesome husband who attempted to keep the party rolling well past my actual day.  Unfortunately I got a pretty nasty bug and wasn't able to celebrate much more than two days.  Nevertheless we got to celebrate my birthday with my favorite things: food and adventure!

 

 My birthday dinner was at Fish House this year which is the same restaurant that has been the backdrop of a few great celebrations for us in Charleston, namely where we celebrated Rich coming home from overseas, our engagement, and now my birthday!  They have my favorite shrimp and grits recipe in all of Charleston.

For dessert we were served the most delicious molten chocolate cake to share. Chocolate is a food group for me.

 After dinner we partook in my most favorite activities these days, binge watching our new favorite show Parenthood in our pajamas.  This is 31 y'all...

 

We were supposed to go our with friends  Friday to celebrate my birthday but unfortunately I was way too sick to go out. We stayed in Friday night watching the news on the awful Paris attacks.

 Saturday took us on a bucket list item of a day trip to Savannah. We had a perfect day to go visit, great weather, and a wonderful chance to just walk around and see the city.  We loved all the little parks and squares and walking around into little stores.  While we enjoyed the city, we still vote Charleston as our #1 Low country City, but we may be a bit biased.

First Annual Fall Flannel Friends Fest

Maybe I am extreme, but each passing year I miss my college friends a whole heck of a lot more.  Maybe it is that we are all getting older, moving around the country, getting married, having babies, and buying houses, but I long (desperately sometimes) for the days when we could all be a quick walk across the Quad from one another.  Friendship in adulthood takes intentionality so it was my hope I could organize a nice mountain weekend for us all to enjoy fall in the North Carolina mountains.  

Lo and behold, 9 friends were able to join up for 4 days of fun and flannel and fall and food (so many F's).  Also, of note, board games absolutely get more fun with age. Here are a few of my favorite moments from a weekend with my favorite friends:

 

 Is the Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Kristen?  Hard to tell from that awesome light holding!

 

 Wait, did someone say hot tub on deck overlooking the mountains?  Yes please!

 We didn't have enough dry firewood to make the fire pit successful, but we were able to get 'smores going in the fireplace inside.  (chemicals included!)

 

 Rise and shine with some cinnamon apple toppings for our Saturday morning pancake breakfast. 

 Fellowship y'all.  This is what life is about.  Saturday morning with my people all around one table. 

 Our house was surrounded by some hiking trails.  Word is there was a bear there a few days later.

 This weather was actually my favorite day. The clouds were all around us creating this beautiful mist in the valleys.

 If you haven't played the game of Quelf, you may be a bit confused by all these upcoming photos. If you haven't played Quelf, I can say that is your next addition to your holiday/birthday present list!  Hilarious game.

Fabulous fall leaves in Blowing Rock, NC for the day.  

Our cabin escape for the weekend-YES y'all, God is GOOD.