It's Almost 2012 and Things I've Done This Year!

Time flies.  I almost cannot say that last year in Taiwan I did (fill in the blank).  And that's so weird to me. This past year has gone by so fast, but yet at times so slow.  Time is weird. That is all I have to say about that ;)

But I would like to reminisce about some of the things I've done this past year.

1. I returned from Taiwan in January after teaching English to children there for 6 months.

2. I visited Kristina in Southern California for 2 weeks after getting back from Taiwan and contemplated moving there, but alas I did not feel like I should. 

3. I started cleaning out my room at Dad and Mom's house and threw away and donated a lot of stuff. (But I still have a lot more to go through, which will have to wait until I visit again.) 

4. I searched for a job wherever I could find one.  I was mainly looking in places where family lived. Minnesota, Southern California, Northern California, Virginia. 

5. At the end of February I got a job interview in Virginia at the Center for Population Economics.  At the beginning of March I got the job offer to work for them.  I accepted!

6. I flew myself and Matt back to Utah.  I packed up my stuff and Matt helped me drive the car to Virginia. 

7. I arrived in Virginia and stayed with Lara and Glen for a month or two until I found a place with LDS roommates 5 miles from my work, 3 miles from Lara and Glen's house, and 1.5 miles from a metro stop.

8.  I settled into my new place.

9.  Heather and Tim came to visit in June and we visited Charlottesville and it was awesome!  We went to UVA campus and Ash-Lawn Highland. (It was my first time ever in Charlottesville and I was super excited!) 

10. I discovered Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna and it became a sanctuary and a place for me to commune with nature and be by myself.  I bought a year pass and it has paid for itself numerous times over.

11.  I fell in love with Wolf Trap. I saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform there in June and went to two more shows there in the summer (Brian Stokes Mitchell and the National Symphony Orchestra and Peter Pan).

12. I felt my first earthquake ever.  It was a 5.9 quake and I was at work when it happened.

13. In October, I finally got to visit Monticello in Charlottesville and fell in love!

14. I saw "Hamlet" and "The Importance of Being Ernest" at a Shakespeare theater in Staunton, VA. I got to watch live on the big screen "Tosca" and "Phantom of the Opera."   I saw live at the Kennedy Center "Wicked" and "Les Miserables."  They were all awesome!

15.  For my 28th birthday in October, I went to Disney on Ice, princess-themed, dressed as a princess with fancy dress and all. (It was my first time ever to Disney on Ice.)  It rocked! 

16. I went to the National Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Ellipse in front of the White House.

17.  I saw "A Christmas Carol" at Ford's Theater and "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Shakespeare Theater in downtown D.C.

18. I visited Mount Vernon for the first time ever and bought a year pass.

Happy New Year!  May it be an amazing year!

The Clementine Post.

Clementines are awesome because they are small, easy to eat, and healthy. 

The end. 

Come to Bethlehem...

 And see Him whose birth the angels sing; come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn king.
(Angels We Have Heard on High)

Joy to the World, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her king!
(Joy to the World)

O, come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem.
(O, come, all ye faithful)

Hark! the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king!
(Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)

Hail! the heav'n-born Prince of Peace! Hail! the Son of Righteousness!  Light and life to all He brings, Ris'n with healing in His wings.
(Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)

I love music!  I especially love Christmas music!  May we all remember the true meaning of Christmas!  Let us remember the Savior's birth and life and Atonement.  Let us serve and love one another with selflessness!

Merry Christmas! 

A Christmas Carol!

 What a way to get into the Christmas spirit, an awesome production of "A Christmas Carol" at Ford's Theater in downtown Washington D.C.!

The show was lovely!  It had me laughing and crying and remembering the real reason for Christmas!

 This was the opening set for the play.  During the set changes, the actors sang Christmas carols which made me happy!  It added to the Christmas feeling.

 That decorated box seat to the right is where Lincoln got shot.

I love "A Christmas Carol!"  It teaches us that loving and serving and helping others really is the reason for the Christmas season (and life in general). (Of course the main reason for Christmas is to honor and remember the Savior and His life and His teachings and His Atonement and oh what a glorious reason to celebrate!)

But back to the play, it was so good!  Here are some of the things I learned from the play on Tuesday.  What has passed is past and we cannot change it. Do not dwell on the past but learn from it. 

Be happy!  Love, serve, live life, and be grateful for that which we have now.  Life is precious!

It is never too late to change!  We can start today to do what's right and to be happy! 

The group I went with to the play.  Nani, Mark, Jessica, Sara, Rich, Kara, Tana (minus Kelly and John who weren't there yet at this point).  What an awesome group! 

 My self-portrait shot!

And another shot of me just for the fun of it :)

I am so grateful for being able to see this play and for the Christmas season!  I am grateful for the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ and His example and that through Him we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. What a blessing to have this knowledge!

 John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Arlington, Shakespeare, and Work Christmas Party

Arlington National Cemetery

On Sunday morning, I was in awe of where I live!  My roommates and I went to Arlington National Cemetery before church on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day!

This was a 20 minute car ride from my house!

 This is the view from the JFK memorial at the cemetery!  Look at that view!

 The view from the Arlington house in the cemetery! The grave of Charles L'Enfant, the designer of Washington D.C.

 The tomb of the Unknown Soldier!

 There were over 20,000 wreaths donated and placed on gravestones at the cemetery!

They looked beautiful! 


Much Ado About Nothing

 On Wednesday I went with my visiting teacher to "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Shakespeare Theater across from the Verizon Center.  

This was the set of the play and the view from our seats. The theater is relatively small, so even though we were on the balcony, we still could see very well!

The play took place in Cuba in more modern day but it still was in Shakespeare language. 


I enjoyed the play!  It was humorous and fun and they had some pretty awesome dance and singing scenes :)
 

Rebecca and I after the show.

The theater has a young prose night geared towards young professionals between 21-35 years old, so the tickets are cheaper. This is a good and bad thing.  Good because they are cheaper and bad because it means I will probably go more often than I should :) 
 
Work Christmas Party

Today was our work Christmas party.  It was fun!  There was lots of food and games and chatting. 

Here's the one portrait I got with myself in it.  And yes it is a self-portrait :)

Me, Sandy and Wendy!

That is all for this post.

Christmas at Mount Vernon!

Yesterday I went to Mount Vernon for the first time and I loved it! There was so much to see and do and I didn't even get to half of it.  Good thing I bought a year pass, though, so I can go back whenever I want.  I am already planning on going there for Independence Day in 2012 and before that too.

In the visitor's center, they had a bunch of awesome Christmas trees set up!  The trees were decorated with ornaments that described an aspect of George Washington's life.  He loved books and learning.  He had a large library in his home with over 900 books, if I remember correctly. 

George Washington was a soldier.  How many different items can you see in this picture?

George Washington liked exotic animals and brought a camel to Mount Vernon for Christmas one year. This camel comes to Mount Vernon every Christmas season.

This is the National Thanksgiving turkey that President Obama pardoned this year that will live at Mount Vernon from now on. 

George Washington's house!  It's pretty spectacular and it's huge!

This is the view from the porch in the back of the house.  Look at that view! It's beautiful!  And they said that the tree there on the left is an original tree from when Washington was there.  

I couldn't take pictures inside of the house, but here's a self-portrait of me on the porch and the view.

Inside the house was pretty spectacular!  The flooring and the woodwork and some of the furniture and paintings were original pieces from Washington's time. (If I remember correctly).

They had a lot of guest bedrooms in their house.  One tour guide said that the Washington's once had over 500 guests stay with them in one year.  They fed them and entertained them and accommodated them with sleeping arrangements . (I cannot even imagine having that many guests in a ten year period, but especially not in one year.)

We also got to see the attic of the house which is only open for tours during the Christmas season. The attic has 4 bedrooms, including the bedroom that Martha Washington stayed in after George died.  (George died in their bed on the second floor and Martha could not handle living in there anymore after he died).  (The floor in the attic is fragile, hence why it is not open all year round.)

The back of the house.  As you can tell I am standing down a hill.

I thought this carriage was pretty funny!  A regular chair attached to the buggy part.  Washington actually used a buggy like this to get around sometimes.

Here's a carriage similar to one that the Washington's might have ridden in.

George and Martha Washington's tomb!

The inside of the tomb!

This scripture was on the inside of the tomb.  It made me happy :)

These bulls were just hanging out there on the estate.

The toilets.  I put this picture here for two reasons.  I thought it was funny that there were three toilets in one room.  Second, I found it interesting that there were drawers under the toilets so that they could pull out the waste and clean it out pretty easily and then they would use the waste to fertilize the gardens.  (A little gross but resourceful).

A side view of the house!

Prayer at Valley Forge! I really like George Washington for many reasons, which I will talk more about below.

I love this quote by Washington as he was resigning as commander-in-chief from the continental army, which goes a long with the picture above.

A gingerbread house of Mount Vernon!  All of the animals and trees and grass and house and people are all made of food.  It was very impressive!

 

 

 The back of the gingerbread house!  

I really liked Mount Vernon! It made me like George Washington even more than I already do. When I first got to Mount Vernon, they had a short orientation video and a video about George Washington. In the video, it showed Washington with so much hope and courage.  When all of the other military and political leaders were ready to give up and did not think they could win the war, Washington was so full of hope and encouragement and said we will not lose this war, because this is our land and we are fighting for our freedom and our families.  We must go on.  We cannot give up. 

He was humble.  He was full of hope. He was a man of God.  He was courageous.  He was intelligent. As I was talking to my roommate about this, she brought up that he seemed like Captain Moroni.  I agree with that.

In Alma 46 this is what it says:

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

 13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren...

Sounds like George Washington to me :) 

Temple Christmas Lights!

Tonight I went to the temple and did a session (which was lovely) then I walked around and looked at the lights.  Here are some photos I took tonight. 

 I like this shot.

 Aren't the temple and the lights beautiful?!

 1 John 1:5 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

 A self-portrait! (Apparently no AnnaLisa blogpost is complete without one:)

John 8:12 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."