Old Town Alexandria!

Today was a lovely day! I had the day off and decided to go to Old Town Alexandria via the metro. I loved it! I walked towards the waterfront from King St. metro and window shopped, (I did go in a few stores, though.) Here are most of my photos from today! Enjoy!

I really like this door! It was part of a church.

This was my first destination! It's called the Lyceum. It was built in 1839. It first started as an educational building, a place to study and to do scientific experiments. In later years, it was used as a hospital, a private residence, and an office building (not at the same time;). Honestly I found this little museum a bit boring. There were two small exhibits, but nothing exciting, in my opinion.

My next stop was the Torpedo Factory! I loved this place! It was awesome! It was first used to build torpedoes during WWI and WWII. Now it is an art studio. A bunch of different artists, photographers, weavers, jewelry makers, potters etc. have their studios here. They have all their supplies they need for their art and you can watch them as they work. They all have little exhibits showcasing their work. Any of the pieces are for sale. And it was just plain awesome!

After the awesome Torpedo Factory. I sat by the water and ate my small lunch and enjoyed the beautiful view! I contemplated going on a water taxi ride, but decided against it.

I made my way down Cameron St. away from the waterfront to the Carlyle House! I decided to take a tour. It cost a few dollars and it was worth it. I first watched a short video about John Carlyle, the original owner and builder of the house. (He was a rich merchant from England, who was one of the founders of Alexandria. He came to America in 1741. You can click here to learn more about this cool man:) A lady came in and gave me a tour of the house. I was the only one on the tour. It was a little weird, but I'm glad that I did the tour. It was very informational.

This is the full view of the house without me in it :) The house has been restored. Most of the items inside the house are duplicates, but there are still a few original things from the time of John Carlyle. It's beautiful on the inside and the outside!

After the Carlyle House, I was getting tired. But I remembered seeing this on my way to the waterfront and I decided I must stop there on my way home:) And I did.


These were the cupcakes. They were yummy! Honestly I think the frosting was the best part, though :) I don't even remember what kinds they were, but they were good!

I don't know why but I really liked this pillar of spiralness!


I didn't go here today, but this is the George Washington Masonic Memorial as seen from the King St. Metro stop. This will have to be a field trip for another day:)

This is me on the metro on my way home! It was a tiring, but an awesome and educational day!

Gratitude Journal!

So recently as most of you have probably noticed, I have had a bad attitude. I've realized this and I want to change it. But I don't know how to go about doing that exactly. I've been praying for help to change my attitude. I realize that it will not happen all at once and that I must work for it. I've heard about people keeping gratitude journals and Mom mentioned it to me one day. I decided that I should start one. One day I was at Michael's craft store and found a cute, little notebook for $1 to use as my gratitude journal.

I've been writing in it everyday for ten days now. Although I must say that I still have a bad attitude, I have definitely started noticing little things that happen throughout the day that I think "oh I should put that in my gratitude journal at the end of the day." Although some days have been really hard, I still find at least one thing that I can write about at the end of the day. I like the idea.

I do realize that I must do more than what I am doing to truly change my attitude, but it's a good start for me. Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mika yesterday and Lara today! And Tim and Tom on the 15th and Spencer on the 30th! And Lauren and McKenzie on the 17th and Andrew on the 5th! I think that's all. You all are awesome! :)

My Chacos Repaired!

So a few months ago, I found my Chacos looking like this:




And I was really mad.

I wore them all of the time. They're comfortable and cool! But I didn't get them fixed right after it happened, mainly because it was too cold to wear them anymore.

But just recently when the weather was starting to warm up again, I decided I should finally get them fixed. Thanks to Lara and Glen for paying for the repair of my Chacos! Now they're just like new! You can hardly even tell which one was fixed.

(Don't mind my white and not-so-nice looking legs)

I also found a pair of my sunglasses looking like this one day.

I have since bought a new pair of sunglasses. I'm not really mad anymore, but I do try to keep them away from the cute, but annoying little dog in the house :)

Poland!

On Saturday, Kristina called me and told me the sad news about the Polish president and his wife along with many other top members of the Polish government being in a plane crash and all of them dying. I was shocked. I wondered why all of those top officials were on the same plane. I wondered what was going to happen next (Who was going to become the next president of Poland? Was a certain other country going to try to take over Poland? etc.). I was sad for the family members of those who died and the Polish people in general. I thought it was crazy.

Although I have never been to Poland I feel a connection to the Polish people. I really feel sad for them. But I believe and hope and pray that they can pull through this great trial. This is huge. But they are a strong people! They can make it through this and I believe they already are on their way.

I Heart Desserts!

I love snickerdoodles! They are one of my most favorite cookies! Here's my favorite picture I've taken of them.

Check out some more yummy desserts at Iheartfaces!

Cherry Blossom Festival and the Newseum!

Today Cami, Emma, and I were up bright and early to head downtown to the Cherry Blossom Festival! (Cami and Emma were up at 6:00 and I was up at 4:50 (although not on purpose)). I have never been before and really wanted to go, but a lot of people told me to go early because it gets really crowded. We were at the metro by 6:45 and were in downtown D.C. by 7:30 AM. First we walked around the Tidal Basin and then we headed over to the Newseum! I really liked both of them! Thanks Cami and Emma for coming with me! Be prepared for lots of pictures :)


Chillin' by the Tidal Basin!

The cherry blossoms up close and personal!


A cool view of the Jefferson Memorial!

I really like the Jefferson Memorial!

We really liked the contrast between the white and pink blossoms!


A cool tree!

Up close and personal with the tree pictured above!

Part of the Berlin Wall at the Newseum! I really liked the Newseum and although it costs money to go, I thought it was worth it :)

This is one of the views from the top of the Newseum!


Another picture of the Berlin Wall!
On our way back to the metro, we walked past the Navy Memorial where there was a ceremony going on honoring those who had died in the line of duty. We didn't stay super long, but they put a wreath on the memorial, played the navy song, and prayed. It was pretty cool, even if we didn't see very much!