First, we had a private guided tour of the US Capitol. We were able to arrange this through our state senator. It was amazing. I fell in love with the beautiful architecture in the Capitol as well as all the other historical buildings. The attention to detail was just breathtaking! After the tour, the guide hooked us up with gallery passes to go sit in House of Representatives meeting room. They are good until the next Congressional session which I thought was quite nice. It was pretty neat to see the site where nothing gets accomplished LOL. Big Brother don’t come for me! Anywho we left there and headed to the historical Union Station. It houses an Amtrak station, shops, and restaurants. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets. The food was pretty good for a burger & fries joint. We left there and decided to go to the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum since it was right next door. My initial thought was this is going to be SO boring. Who wants to visit a museum about mail?! But it turned out not to be such a bad stop after all. Probably not somewhere I would visit again but interesting nonetheless. Did I mention to you all that we walked everywhere in this city?! I mean everywhere. I purchased a short trip Metro pass for my husband and myself (a cost of $70) and we used it 2 freaking times! Can you say waste of money? Anyway I guess you live and you learn. We will definitely not be purchasing one here in NYC. After we left that Smithsonian museum we headed a few blocks down to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. Now this is my idea of an awesome museum! There were interactive rides, flight simulators, planetariums, etc. It also housed a few NASA space shuttles and telescopes. We checked out all of the exhibits before checking out the Hubble at the IMAX theatre located in the museum. The film was cool…well the parts of it I was alert for. I am pretty sure I took a power nap during the show. We were pretty exhausted by this point in the day. It was around 5pm and DC was very hot…like 85 degrees! Well the power nap must have given us a second wind so we stopped for refreshments and went for a stroll around the National Mall. Afterward we decided that we would head over to the Obama residence AKA the White House. That was an experience like no other!

I felt like I was visiting another country LOL. There were policemen and Secret Service agents everywhere. There were people on top of the roof surveying the area. And of course there were people protesting in the streets in front of the gate. And then there were tourists galore. It was a little chaotic but of course it was worth the hassle since we had never seen the White House up close & personal. I took a couple of photos and headed across the street to the park while my hubby stood at the gate observing. I think he was secretly hoping he would get a glimpse of the POTUS but unfortunately that didn’t happen. After about an hour or so, we decided to head to dinner at a restaurant called Chop’t Creative Salad Company on 12th Street for dinner. It was just ok. I’ve had better salads elsewhere. While we sat there we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t bare to walk another mile that day so we hailed a cab back to the condo and got settled in for the evening. Whew! I’m pretty tired after writing this. I can’t believe we did all that in one day! But wait there’s more. But you will have to wait to hear about day 3. Our shuttle has arrived to take us to our hotel here in NYC.

Until next post,
Brittany

Once we left the Metro station, we tried to use trusty ole Google Maps to guide us for the mile walk we had to the condo. For the record, Google Maps sucks big time! We walked in a circle in Downtown Washington D.C. for at least a half an hour. And because we didn’t want to seem as though we were being defeated by Siri, we decided to keep turning around and crossing streets over and over instead of stopping to ask someone for directions. We were trying so hard not to look like scatterbrained tourists but I’m sure the fact that we passed the same people at a local bistro about 3 times was a dead giveaway. At one point we ended up in front of the White House. I turned to my hubby and said I’m sure we are not staying here tonight lol. Although I’m sure with all the rooms they have in that house, they wouldn’t have even noticed. After about 45 minutes we finally arrived at our condo. Yippee! I haven’t been so happy to reach a building in a long time! *Note to self: Next time take a freaking taxi! Save the city experience for after the check in!

After getting settled in, we decided we needed to eat to replace the 900 calories we burned trying to find the place so we headed out to find food. The aroma from a local barbecue joint met my nostrils on the street corner and I was sold before we even crossed the street. We met the aroma at a spot called Hill Country Barbecue and I am glad we did. First of all, the restaurant was themed after Texas Hill Country barbecue and I currently live in the Texas Hill Country so it was like I found a little piece of home in the city. Luckily that aroma that lured me in did not disappoint. They made one of the best barbecue brisket sandwiches that I’ve had so far. If you ever visit DC, be sure to give them a try! You won’t be sorry.

After lunch, we headed over to the International Spy Museum. It was pretty interesting! We participated in an interactive spy mission that tested our abilities to think quickly and be extremely observant. Afterward, we went to the School for Spies where we were given aliases and cover stories that we had to remember while there. We visited various exhibits about real life spies. One thing I found surprising was the fact that Julia Child, Josephine Baker, Edgar Allan Poe, and Daniel Defoe were all spies! That made me wonder who some of the modern day spies could be. And of course there was an exhibit about the most infamous fictional spy of all- Bond… James Bond! The exhibits were awesome. We walked that huge museum for hours!

Our feet were aching by the time we finally left. Luckily for us, there was a beautiful art sculpture garden near the museum. We sat on a concrete bench for a mere 15 minutes before a security guard starting yelling that we all needed to leave. Apparently things shut down in D.C. at 5 pm sharp! And they mean that doggone thing! So we left and headed to the National Mall to chill in front of the Capitol Building for a while before heading back to the condo for the evening. My hubby was exhausted so I am allowing him to get all the rest he wants to while we are here in DC. We will be heading to NYC on Friday afternoon and there will be NO rest for the weary once we get there!

Well as you can probably tell from this novela I just penned, I am just a little bored. I guess I will wake him up shortly so that we can determine what we are going to do for dinner.

P.S. I am going to try to blog my exploits during my vacation rather than after the fact. That way I feel like I am taking you guys along with me! Unfortunately, I am blogging from my travel sidekick- my iPad so I won’t be able to show you my awesome photos until we return home. *Note to Apple* include an SD card slot on the next iPad! I’m sure that will be on the iPad 356 coming out later this year.

Hopefully your brain did not explode from all the words that are coming out of this post. Leave me a comment down below and let me if you plan to follow along for my vacation adventures.

Until next post,
Brittany

I’ve really gotten into the exercises. Now…. if I could only get my diet under control, I would be in business! If you guys have any great healthy recipes, please feel free to share.

P.S. School is out for summer which means that I am “on vacation” for 4 whole months. I’m sure I will have to find a job or find something to do before then because I will probably go crazy from boredom. Until then I will have LOTS of time to devote to CA! I’m sure you all will keep me motivated

Until next post,

The naming process in my mind has been the equivalent to naming a child. Although my blog is only in its infancy and has not fully come to know its name, purpose, etc, I still feel weird about changing the name everyone else has come to know her as. (Yes I just gender assigned my blog!)  But on the other hand, a name is significant in social media. People can sometimes determine if they want to read a blog based on its name and classification in the blogosphere. I don’t know guys. I’m at a loss. I would love to hear your thoughts about the name.

Have you ever had this dilemma or have you always been in love with your blog’s name? Have you changed your blog’s name in the past? What was the outcome? Share!

Until next post,

On another note, I was thinking about vlogging this trip for a change. I always take like a million pics but I think I really want to take you guys with us this time. I will have to sell the hubster on the idea. He doesn’t really like filming or taking pictures in public for some reason. We are total opposites in that area. So what do you guys think? Would you rather see pictures or video of our vacation for a Travel Thursday post? Let me know in the comments below!

Also if you have any suggestions about where we should eat, shop, or sights we should see, etc in any of these cities, please feel free to share!

Do you have any upcoming travel plans that you are stoked about?

Until next post,

I found this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt very intriguing. We have all had our moments when we feel less popular, less talented, or dare to say it less blessed than someone else in our lives. Sometimes we even let that feeling of inferiority cloud our thinking. That can lead to you losing your mojo. You know that inner spark that makes us each unique.  I just wanted to encourage you to stop doubting your potential! God gave us all unique gifts. Just because you may not be able to do something someone else can, it doesn’t mean that you are inferior to them. It only means that you have been blessed with a different skill set. There is nothing wrong with that! I would like to challenge you to give yourself a verbal praise whenever you feel inferior. So for instance ” I might say “I may not be great at singing but I’m one heck of a dancer!” Or ” I may not be the best public speaker in front of a large crowd but I am pretty awesome at giving presentations in a small group setting!” You will be surprised at how positive thinking and speaking can lift your spirits!

Have a wonderful Monday all

Until next post,

The past few weekends have been a blur. It’s a good thing that I am obsessed with snapping photos with my iPhone or I may have forgotten about a lot of the good and not so good things that I have experienced in the last few weeks.

Here is a break down of the photos you see.

1 & 2. Getting my exercise in.

3. Lunch at Olive Garden

4. I finally made it to the beach in my hometown area I love the beach.

5. The view from my grandmother’s hospital room on the day she passed away.

6. Hanging out with my nieces.

7. Got to see one of my childhood friends who I hadn’t seen in MANY years! He surprised me and came to my grandmother’s funeral .

8.  Lots of flying to and from Texas.

9. My poor swollen face from a root canal. People lie. Root canals are painful especially if you are hard to get numb. I hope to never have to get another one-EVER!

10.  Dinner on the lake with some of my husband’s coworkers in honor of a coworker who passed away unexpectedly.

11. Dinner date with my love at an old school fish camp. The food was so good! The decor…not so much.

12.  My Easter swag

13. Easter brunch at MiMi’s Cafe. These roasted chicken crepes were so delicious!

14.  I participated in the Relay for Life with my husband and his coworkers in honor of 5 members of my family who passed away from cancer. Only made it to 12:30 am though LOL.

15. My hubby and I went to a hot air balloon festival. Unfortunately it was too windy for the pilots to actually fly the balloons so they just used the propane flames to light up the runway instead.

16. Hubby and I had lunch outdoors at a local restaurant on the lake yesterday.

17. I have been enjoying nature for sure. Isn’t this tree beautiful?

18. Guess what?  I took some flying lessons! Can you believe it? I’m sure you guys would never believe that as much as I complain about my fear of flying here on CA LOL.  It was really cool to pose with this private plane at the balloon festival.

Whew! That’s a whole lot of fun in a few short weekends. I think today will be a lazy day to recoup from all of these experiences. I think I will prepare an old fashioned southern dinner for my hubby and I to enjoy this evening and catch Django Unchained finally since I just purchased the DVD.

What have you been up to this Spring? I would love to hear about it!

Until next post,

What broke my heart even more was to see the pictures of marathon runners who literally had their legs blown off while crossing the finish line! What should have been a celebratory moment immediately turned into a moment filled with panic, fear, pain, shear terror!! You can check out one of the photos here -if you have a strong stomach. It was supposed to be a joyous holiday in Boston. But now because of some random perpetrator it will be overshadowed by traumatic injuries and death. God help this nation! It’s truly a sad day in the USA.

Thank God for the first responders and good samaritans who stepped in to help those injured. They definitely helped restore my faith that there is still some good left in humanity. My prayers go out to all the victims, survivors, and families affected by this atrocity. My prayers also goes out to the citizens of Boston. Your peaceful city was turned upside down today and life as you know it most likely has changed.

What are your thoughts about today’s events? Leave them in the comments below!

Until next post,

Related posts:

2013 Boston Marathon Explosions

Proving you belong there

Weekend Wrap Up

Tonight We Are All Boston

One of the most exciting things we did was renew our vows in a little Vegas wedding chapel It was so much fun and an awesome way to commemorate our 5th anniversary.

The sign says “to be continued” just in case you are wondering. I made it specifically for this photo op

When we initially got married, I had seriously considered just running off to Vegas and eloping but my hubby was gung ho on having a large wedding so we went that route instead. So when we planned to go to Vegas I knew that we had to renew our vows Vegas style. It was sweet moment that was just for the 2 of us.

After the very short ceremony (like seriously less than 5 minutes), we headed back to the hotel to change our clothes for a day full of fun!

First stop lunch at a Pampas, a Brazilian steakhouse.

I loved that the meat came out shaped like a heart

We opted not to get a car during our trip since Las Vegas is very pedestrian friendly. We did a LOT of walking in the heat. I would suggest that you carry very comfortable shoes (closed toe shoes preferably) if you plan to walk the city.

Off to see the sights!

On the replica Brooklyn Bridge

Perfect backdrop for my bookworm! Gigantic bookcase at the Cosmopolitan Hotel

Cool cakes at a bakery in one of the casinos.

Petting the sting rays at the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay casino! It was a very cool experience

 Las Vegas is like a million times more beautiful at night!

We finally got tired of walking so we decided to get a bus pass to finish our night tour of “old Vegas”  as it is referred to by the locals. It’s the original area of Las Vegas.

Surprisingly this was my hubby’s first ride on a city bus!

Guess what? We have our own street in Vegas!

When I saw the advertisement on this restaurant, I was a little disappointed. As a nurse, I want people to be healthy and this place seemed to prey on those who struggle with obesity.

Do you think I would make the cut? LOL!

Even the local McDonald’s gets its golden arches in lights!

Fountain show at the Bellagio!

Volcano eruption at the Mirage!

The newest hotel on the strip. Beautiful inside & out.

As with any trip we try to get the most bang for our buck. We like to save a few dollars whenever possible. For this trip, we participated in a short timeshare presentation to get free tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s KA.  The show was interesting but it was like in another language so I didn’t quite get exactly what was going on at one point. But I must say, all the acrobatics and technology in the show was amazing.

Got to meet one of the performers before the show. Not the most flattering pic but its the moment that counts.

Another cool thing we got to experience for the first time was spray paint artistry. I had never seen anyone create art in this manner. My husband and I were both in awe as we watched this artist create photo after photo of Las Vegas scenery. We were mesmerized (or maybe a little high from all the fumes being emitted). Either way if you ever go to Vegas, you will have to check out some of the many artists on the Strip.

We purchased one of the artist’s many masterpieces as a souvenir from our trip.

There were other unique street performers who were very entertaining.

This dude had no legs but he didn’t let that limit him! It was very cool to watch.

This guy caught me off guard. He was initially like a statue and then he started dancing all of a sudden.

The people are pretty friendly. I got to chat with an M&M and a Vegas showgirl.

And of course we ate, drank (non alcoholic beverages) and were merry throughout our getaway. One of my favorite restaurants during this trip was Serendipity 3. I was very excited to go here for the frozen hot chocolate specifically but the food was really good as well.

I fell in love with the decor in this restaurant. It was so whimsical and eclectic.

Of course there were some other ummm….antics but that’s all I’m going to say about that. Just note that we barely got any sleep during our trip but we planned to tire ourselves out for the long flight back home to TX. Overall we had a blast and we plan to visit Vegas again in the near future! It will definitely always be an anniversary to remember.

Until next adventure,