Adventures at the Smithsonian

One of my favorite parts about DC are all the museums! But the best part about it all was that you could just stop by and walk through one exhibit and not feel like you have to see the whole thing at once, resulting in museum-itis. Sometimes I would just stop by on my way home from work or spend a Saturday. There was so much to learn and so much to see!

The sun stone from the original Nauvoo temple!

I'm not sure who he is but he looked like he deserved a kiss.

The Harry Potter Robe! 

I don't make a very convincing president. Good thing I'm not going into politics!

DC Eats

I always knew that eating was a social event but I felt like we were always going out to eat in DC. There are so many different places to try and so many types of food. Needless to say that we ate a lot! 

At Good Stuff Eatery (Really good burgers and shakes) and We the Pizza. 

At Lincoln's Waffle Shop. It was right across the street from Ford's Theater and run by a cute Asian family that were a hoot.  

Mononucleosis = Mono = Death by Exhaustion

Right after my trip to Utah, I started feeling super tired. I started falling asleep at work. Once I fell asleep at an Education and Workforce hearing which was pretty bad. I was sitting directly behind the witness so the cameras for CSPAN would stop right on me. It was bad enough that my co-worker told me to get up and get a drink. I would even fall asleep while typing at times. It happened enough that I started documenting some of them...

1. I was making a list of people that had or had not attended a meeting that we hosted. Apparently I was dreaming while typing this one! 

       "No attended the meeting fur have fun while helping children" 

2. This one was actually an email to my boss. What can I say... I have heavy fingers. 

        "I had this in my schedule but just wanted to double check that I can go.       adfsdsdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff" 

I also started getting a really bad sore throat and my lymph nodes started to swell. It looked and felt like I had a golf ball stuck in my throat. 

After New York I decided that I couldn't take it anymore, so I went into the doctor. I was tired enough that I just grabbed a taxi, which is saying something because it cost a pretty penny. The nurse came in and checked for the flu and strep. After he left, I don't know what came over me but I just started sobbing. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted and nervous that they were going to tell me that I would just have to suck it up, but I just couldn't stop. It was pretty pathetic and really sad all at the same time. Both the tests came back negative. The doctor took one look at my throat and said that I had Mono. She prescribed ibuprofen, some steroids for the swelling, and a week of bed rest. I went home (still crying), packed a bag and caught another taxi to the DC condo where I stayed in isolation for a solid week. 

Under loving parental guidance, I drank a few bottles of water plus 4-5 of these bottles a day. 

I can now say that I have had mono and hope to say that I will never get it again! It was quite the experience. 

 

Stephanie and Emery sent me a care package which helped SO much. It included cards with band-aid men and a stuffed animal to keep me company. I LOVED it! 

The Big Apple

As part of the Washington Seminar program they gave us a three-day weekend with no classes or work called an enrichment weekend. My first thought for the enrichment weekend was to just sit home, rest, and go to a few museums. But when I have the option of doing something or nothing, I have always been taught to do something; so I decided to go to New York. Looking back, the low-key weekend in DC might not have been a bad idea. I have been to New York before with my family so I was just along for the ride and was excited to see whatever the group had planned.

We left Union Station at 6:00 am Friday morning and made the four hour journey by bus. I suddenly became very grateful for my gift of sleeping while traveling. We could not have had better weather. We hit the ground running and went straight to Ground Zero. I had not yet seen the memorial built there but it was stunning. I found the two large black fountains stunning and so symbolic of what occurred at that site. I think the place had an even greater impact after visiting the Newseum and seeing their 9/11 exhibit. The event was fresh in my mind and I was truly taken back by the magnitude of the attack and its impact on the entire world. 

Friday night was filled with the Museum of Modern Art and Time Square. When I thought of modern art I was thinking of the super funky art but I was surprised by how many artists I recognized including Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet, and Frida Kahlo. I really enjoyed the museum and the variety of mediums displayed. After the museum we grabbed food and ran to a performance of Wicked. I had seen the musical before but it was fabulous.

Saturday was another experience entirely. We started out the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was fabulous. We saw the largest Egyptian temple outside of Egypt and the self-portrait of Rembrandt. I had been tired all morning but during the subway ride towards the Brooklyn Bridge, my body decided that it could not take it any longer and I threw up in the middle of the New York Subway. So gross! I have always passed those throw up accidents in public settings and wondered "couldn't they have made it a few feet further into the trashcan?" It all makes sense to me now. I headed back to the apartment and slept the rest of the day. 

On the way home we went to church in the New York Temple. It was pretty neat!My overall take on New York City was that there were a ton of neat things to do there but I did not like how dirty and crowded it was. I cannot say that I absolutely loved New York City but I cannot say that I regret going.