Saturday, March 24, 2012

Last Visitors and Wrapping Up

The House wasn't in session last week so it was pretty slow at work.  My Aunt Jean, cousin Judy, and her partner, Olivia, came to visit over the weekend.  I took them on a tour of the Capitol on Friday, and we had a nice lunch at Cosi afterward.  Unfortunately it was a bit of a gray day, as you can see in the picture.  They headed to the National Portrait Gallery, and I headed back to work.  I met up with them later to eat dinner in Chinatown.  We tried Nando's Peri-Peri, a Portuguese restuarant.  It was very good, and I'm impressed with myself that I have now tried a type of food that Ben hasn't.  That is a pretty incredible feat if you know my brother!  Their menu was mostly chicken and sides, and you could get it at varying degrees of hot.  I had a chicken breast and a grilled corn on the cob.  Then, as you must do in DC, Judy was interested in getting a cupcake somewhere.  We were all much too stuffed right after dinner to go, so we took a walk back to Union Station to help with that.  There is a cupcake place in Union Station, but by the time we got there they didn't have much.  So we had some treats at possibly my favorite place ever, Au Bon Pain, instead.
All of us in front of the Capitol
Saturday I got some errands and school work done in the afternoon.  They went on a bus tour around to some of the famous monuments and places in DC.  Judy and Olivia had some friends in DC they were going to have dinner with so I got Aunt Jean all to myself for dinner.  I introduced her to Potbelly's (yum!), and we had a good time.  Then I got home and saw a story on Facebook on Obama celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the Dubliner.  I could not believe it!  It is an Irish pub in the Phoenix Park Hotel, where Jean, Judy, and Olivia were staying.  I had just gotten home from taking Aunt Jean back to her room there, and it's only a few blocks from where I live.  I can't believe he was so close to where I was, and I missed him! Oh well.

On Sunday, they decided to rent a car and go to Mount Vernon as well as drive around to a few other places.  I went along, too.  I absolutely loved Mount Vernon when I came to DC in high school so I definitely wanted to go back.  It was a gorgeous day - cool in the morning and sunny in the afternoon.  We first ate lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn, then walked around the gardens and some of the surrounding little rooms, and finally toured the mansion, went to the tomb, and everything else.  Afterward we tried to drive through Arlington National Cemetery, but it was already close to 5 and they were closing.  We went to the Pentagon Memorial and drove past some beautiful cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin!  We returned the car, had dinner at Armand's across the street from my house, and watched The Descendants at the hotel. 
Me at Mount Vernon
Aunt Jean at Mount Vernon
Gorgeous flower in the Mt. Vernon gardens
Picture of the Capitol my aunt bought me
Me and Aunt Jean at Dinner
Aunt Jean, Judy, and I at Dinner
There's less than a month left!  I got most of my remaining schoolwork done this week so I can relax the rest of my time here and not feel guilty about doing fun things.  I just have one 2 page theater review to do after we see 1776 next week, a short journal entry to write, and then my two final presentations for each class.  Things are really wrapping up.  I am getting excited to go home, be with my family, graduate, hang out with my friends, and do some summer activities!  Hopefully I'll find a job somewhere along the way, too :]

Everything is blooming in DC, including the infamous cherry blossoms, so I decided to go out this weekend to get some pictures before its past the peak.  Mother Nature is being a jerk though, as it was rainy all today and will be tomorrow, too.  The rain didn't deter me, but the sun would have really made for better pictures.
Awesome purple tree in front of Capitol
Tulips at Library of Congress
Tulips at Capitol
Cherry Blossoms at Tidal Basin
Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms
Me with the Cherry Blossoms
Washington Monument with Cherry Blossoms
Thankfully I went when I did, because it started to rain pretty hard around lunchtime when I was finishing up and going to go eat and do some shopping.  It was only sprinkling when I was walking around in the morning.  Shopping was a failure.  I didn't get anything I was looking for clothes-wise, though I did get groceries.  Tomorrow I may attempt to shop again a bit, then probably just relax and do some final edits to my research paper and final theater project.  I can't believe next time I post, it will be April!

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