Woodlawn and Pope-Leighey House

Ever since I've visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago, I've had a desire to visit his house in Alexandria. You can read about my trip to Pennsylvania, if you click here.

When I was looking up the Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, another house tour came up too, Woodlawn.

Woodlawn is a historical house completed in 1805 where the nephew of George Washington lived and is close to Mount Vernon (where George Washington lived). Back in the day when there were no trees, you could actually see Mount Vernon from Woodlawn. The first tour we took was of Woodlawn. Then we walked to Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey house. 

Woodlawn was first occupied by Major Lawrence Lewis (nephew of George Washington) and his wife Eleanor Custis Lewis. 

What a pretty entryway of Woodlawn!

I liked this bed!

And this one too!

 

I'm glad Rachel could join me on this little field trip!

A small exhibit in Woodlawn. Lawrence and Eleanor's son eventually sold Woodlawn to some Quaker families.

Look at this very intricate quilt made by some Quakers. 

Hopefully you can zoom in on the sign and learn a little more about the quilt. 

There is a lot of history at Woodlawn but I will not go into it all here, but it was an interesting tour and I'm glad to have learned about it. 

After the Woodlawn tour, Rachel and I walked to the Pope-Leighey house. This house was originally in Falls Church but was moved to the Woodlawn property in Alexandria to prevent it from being destroyed (I'll talk more about this later in the post). 

When I first saw this house, it immediately reminded me of the other houses I've seen of his. It is definitely Frank Lloyd Wright style. 

I liked the designs of these windows and it reminded me of Kentuck Knob. 

This house is only 1200 square feet. Loren and Charlotte Pope had the home built but they did not have a very big budget so it challenged Wright to make a more modest sized home. Eventually, the Pope's sold the house to Robert and Marjorie Leighey. 

At some point the house was going to be destroyed in order to build a portion of I-66. But Marjorie Leighey did not want that to happen so she brought it to the attention of higher up people in hopes of them wanting to help save the house too. Marjorie was successful in her plan and the house was moved to Alexandria.

I loved the built in shelves in the living area and the lighting from all of the windows!

Other tour participants listening to the tour guide talk about the house!

The dining room!

A view of the living area from the dining room. 

This was in the office! Look at all of those windows.

 

The kids bedroom!

I liked these built in shelves in the kids bedroom right when you entered the room.

The primary bedroom!

The other wall of the primary bedroom! 

The kitchen! Our tour guide said Wright clearly must not have worked in a kitchen much because the way he designed them was not very functional.

The front door of the Pope-Leighey house. 

I am glad I was able to visit Woodlawn and Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey house and learn some history about both!

Randomness

This year has been a bit of a stressful year. I feel like I haven't been able to get out and do as much stuff as I normally do. The move consumed so many months of the year (or at least it seemed that way) and now I have a leg injury...that it's been a little rough.

Below are some pictures of various things in my life that I wanted to share. 

I like to go on walks as much as possible. This was a time I went a slightly different route and found a nice trail back in August.

My nephew, L, graduated from high school this year and is now at a university in Idaho. I visited him before he flew to Idaho to start his next new adventure. 

Can I just say how crazy it is to see my nieces and nephews grow up so fast?!

I have more pictures than I'd like to admit of Ash on my phone. :)

My friends and I had a small gathering last month where we brought photos of ourselves as children and showed them to each other. It was fun to see what we all looked liked as kids and to see if we still look the same now. :)

I like this photo of me on a random Sunday morning. 
 

I've been having issues with my right knee. It sucks because I can't walk normally because of it. It's been very discouraging, but I've been trying to do what I can to help it feel better.

One Friday night earlier this month I went with some friends to see a show at National Theatre in downtown D.C. I went in with zero expectations and ended up enjoying it! It was cute and funny and the performers were excellent!

The friends I saw Maybe Happy Ending with.

I hope you all are having a nice autumn time!

Goodreads

I like to read books. I also like to keep track of the books I've read. I have a spreadsheet with the books I've read but I also like to keep track on Goodreads (for the connections with friends on there). 

I've used Goodreads for years even though I've had one big issue with them. They have never had the capability to rate a book with 1/2 stars. I even wrote an email to Goodreads years ago asking if they'd ever add 1/2 stars. They said no. That has always annoyed me but I kept on using them anyway. So whenever I have a book that I thought was 3.5 stars (let's say), I would rate it 3 stars and then write in a review 3.5 stars.

But this week, Goodreads FINALLY added 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 stars!!! I think they got enough complaints from their users that they gave in. For some reason when I saw the news about it, I was so happy! 

It's about time they got up with the times. 🤣 (I know there are multiple other book tracking apps that already have that capability). 

And I have now gone back and re-rated the books that I had with half stars with the half stars. Yay!

Do you use Goodreads, another app, or a spreadsheet (or something similar) to keep track of the books you've read (or maybe you don't keep track at all)?

If you're a reader, I hope you have lots of happy reading time!

Dad

Even though these pictures are from last month, I wanted to get them posted here on my blog.

It's been four years since my dad died. My family and I do something every year on Dad's birthday in memory of him. We usually end up going to Taco Bell because Dad loved Taco Bell. This year was no exception.

All of my siblings, my mom and I went to Taco Bell (where ever we live) on Dad's birthday. Below are the pictures of us eating our Taco Bell in our respective home states. 

Me in VA!

My Taco Bell meal!

Mom, Nate and Heather at Dad's grave in UT!

Lara, Glen, Adam and Tia in UT!

Kristina and Tom and kiddos in CA!

Peter didn't get a selfie but he did go to Taco Bell in VA!

Matt and Karey's kiddos in MD!

Matt and A in MD!

Tim in VA!

Dad and Mom on a Japan/Alaska cruise in 2018. 

I will forever be grateful for my Dad and all that he and Mom taught me growing up. They helped me to become the person I am today. I miss you Dad. 

Ice Cream

Can I just say I can't believe it's almost September?! Sometimes I'm just amazed at how fast time flies. Summer is almost over. Crazy! 

For a tribute to almost end of summer, I feel like sharing some of my favorite ice cream flavors. I love ice cream and I've found some go to flavors over the years!

I keep a list on my phone of the ones I've tried and the rating I give them. All of the ones I name in this post are the ones I've given 10/10 stars. 

Ben and Jerry's

Milk and Cookies

Americone Dream

Dairy Queen

S'mores blizzard

Royal Reese's Fluffernutter blizzard

Oreo Hot Cocoa blizzard

Jeni's

Brambleberry Crisp

Bruster's 

White Raspberry Truffle

Key Lime Pie

Cinnamon

Deep Dish Apple Pie

Rita's Italian Ice

Blendini with Key Lime Italian Ice, vanilla custard, and pie chips mix

Blendini with Grape (Nerds) Italian Ice, vanilla custard and Nerds mix

I hope you all have had a good summer!

What are your favorite ice cream flavors? Which one should I try next?

Haircut!

My sister, H, has become my official hair cutter. Since H lives in Utah and I live in Virginia, I only get my hair cut every couple of years. I do see H almost every year, but I just don't always need a haircut when I see her.

 I desperately needed a haircut this time around.

My hair had gotten quite long, but I felt like the ends weren't so great. 

Before the haircut.

After the haircut.

 

My hair straightened after my haircut!

I like my haircut and I feel like my hair looks healthier now. Thanks H for cutting my hair!

Utah Trip

So I bought a ticket out to Utah back at the beginning of this year. I chose June for multiple reasons, one of them being I knew it would be after my move. 

I hadn't visited Utah since 2022. I've seen my mom and my siblings who live there every year since then, but we always met up elsewhere. Since we had no planned meet ups for this year, I decided it was time to visit Utah again. 

It was a good visit with lots of family time. 

One of the days I was there, my sister, H and I woke up super early and drove to Antelope Island to go bird watching. We saw a lot of birds but I didn't get many pictures with my phone. H took photos with her nicer camera. 

One of the birds we saw was the burrowing owl. I didn't know that there was an owl that lived in the ground. The burrowing owl will find abandoned tunnels other animals have dug and use it for their homes.

H is an avid bird watcher and photographer so she knew exactly where to go to find the owls.

Another burrowing owl!

H and I also visited a historic farm on Antelope Island. I enjoyed walking around the farm. It was interesting to see and was in a picturesque location!

While on the farm we saw bison roaming in the distance. I enjoyed watching them because there were some little bison who were playing by running back and forth. It was cute to watch. 

Some old farm equipment

The barn!

H and I inside the barn!

After exploring the farm, H and I went back to the burrowing owls for one last look and then headed home. 

Right before the bridge to Antelope Island is a small rest area with this bison statue. We decided we needed a picture with the statue. :) 
 

A lot of time I was in Utah, I was just hanging out with my family, chatting, playing games, watching movies, going on walks, helping clean out rooms etc. 

We played Telestrations a couple of times while I was there. I love Telestrations and it's fun playing with all different ages and various drawing abilities. 😂 (My nephew and niece, A and E were on a team. E got home from her mission a week before I came to visit). 

L and G posing before starting a round of Telestrations.

 

 

J was a great Telestrations player!

All of L and G's kiddos ended up being in town while I was there since E had returned from her mission the week before. 

 

I was happy to see them all! It had been awhile since I'd seen a few of them. Also they used to live not too far from me here in Virginia and I miss having them close. 

All of us sisters and Mom were there while I was there. 

 

H and L and Mom live in Utah, but K was visiting from California with three of her kiddos for part of the summer. I always enjoy when us sisters and Mom can get together. 

 

My brother, N, also lives in Utah now. He just moved there a month or two ago from Tennessee.

I visited my dad's grave a couple of times while I was there. 

My adorable nephews J and I! They're silly sometimes. :)

 

 

My nephew, M, and Denali!

 

 

While I was there, K, M and I went to the mall in Orem to run some errands and then got ice cream at Handel's afterward. I had never been to Handel's before and thoroughly enjoyed my ice cream cone. 😋

 

 

Me and three of my nieces!

 

L and I!

 

 

Mom and I!

 

K and I!

 

Me, K, and Mom!

I am so glad I was able to visit Utah and see a few family members! I love my family and am so grateful for them.