Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom this last weekend. My brother, Tim, had never seen the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in bloom before so we decided to go on a little field trip early on Saturday morning. 

Since I had been to the cherry blossoms before I knew that we needed to get there as early as possible. Neither of us wanted to drive (because I knew that would be a crazy thing to do) so we got on the first train of the day at 7:00 Saturday morning. The closer we got to the city, the more crowded the train got.

I’m glad we left as early as we could. It was already pretty crowded by the time we got to the Tidal Basin but I heard that it got even more and more crowded as the day continued. 

We made it to the Tidal Basin and walked around the whole thing. It was beautiful! The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom!

 

I really like the pink cherry blossoms!

Look at all of those people already there at 8:00 on Saturday morning!

The pictures don’t really do it justice. It’s really hard to capture how cool it actually is. 

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial!

There were quite a few people getting professional photos taken around the Tidal Basin. I loved this lady’s dress so I had to take a picture. 

(Also I didn’t notice until later the couple on the left edge of the picture being all cutesy). 😂

A magnolia tree at the FDR Memorial!

I liked this quote at the FDR Memorial!

I liked the contrasting colors at the George Mason memorial!

The Jefferson Memorial!

After we finished walking around the Tidal Basin, we walked to a French bakery at Dupont Circle (a little over 2 miles away). We walked passed the Washington Monument on the way (where the beginning of a kite festival was happening). 

We made it to the bakery, Un je ne sais quoi. There was a line out the door but it wasn’t too long so we decided to wait. 

I sometimes daydream about food that I’ve eaten and loved. Recently I’ve been thinking about the delicious croissants I ate on my European trip last year. So did some research on the best place to buy croissants in the Washington D.C. area. This French bakery kept on coming up. 

Since Tim and I were in D.C., we decided to try it out. It did not disappoint.

We got multiple items and shared. 

I think my two favorite items were the Butter Croissant and Sugar Brioche. 

It was a good Saturday morning field trip and I’m glad I was able to enjoy the cherry blossoms and the nice spring day!

George Washington’s Birthplace and Colonial Beach, VA

Recently I’ve been dreaming of going to the beach. I did some research on the closest beaches to me so I could do a day trip one Saturday. 

I found that Colonial Beach, VA was probably the closest beach to me. I picked a Saturday with decent weather and invited a couple of my brothers to join me. 

We also found that George Washington’s birthplace was near Colonial Beach so we decided to go there too. 

We met up at George Washington’s Birthplace National Monument. It was a really nice day this day! It was sunny and in the 60s with a little breeze. 

It was fun trying to get a picture of all of us. ;)

The Washington family had owned this property since around the 1650s. They owned 10,000 acres at one point. Now it’s about 500 acres. 

George Washington was born somewhere on this property. They built a memorial house where they thought the house might have been located where Washington was born but now they have new evidence showing a potential different location. 

George only lived on this land until he was three years old but seven generations of the Washington family lived on these grounds at various times. It was fun to wander around the grounds, enjoy the scenery and learn some of the history of the place!

L and J being silly! 

The grounds of George Washington’s Birthplace were beautiful! 

This sign made me smile. :)

The grounds overlook Pope’s Creek which connects to the Potomac River. So beautiful and such a nice day!

Siblings!

A is adorable!

Certain children didn’t like getting their picture taken. 😂

Silly kiddos! 

Still on the grounds of George Washington’s Birthplace. 

After we finished walking around George Washington’s birthplace, we needed food. We bought pizza, dessert, and soda and then brought it all to the beach. 

It was a really nice day on Saturday!

I brought sandals with me to change into at the beach. 

Colonial Beach is along the banks of the Potomac River. It was a calm and rocky beach and I liked it!

L and J played catch for a little while. 

It was a nice relaxing time at the beach. We ate food, chatted, looked out at the water, put our feet in the water (it was cold) and walked around a bit. 

I am so glad I was able to go on this adventure with two of my brothers and niece and nephews on Saturday. It was a fun day with lovely weather!

Restaurants with Friends

I don't eat out super often, but when I do I tend to eat at the same few places. I'm okay with that most of the time, but I do like to try new (to me) restaurants occasionally too. 

I thought it would be fun to invite a few friends to join me in trying new restaurants.

So a few friends and I get together every few months and eat at a restaurant that one of us hears about that has good reviews. Last year we went to three new to me (and to most of the people in the group) restaurants. This year we’ve been to one so far.

Lazy Dog (February 2024)

Pazzo Pomodoro (May 2024)

Bar Taco (August 2024)

Carnegie Diner and Cafe (March 2025)

I enjoyed my food from all of the above places and would return to any of them for another meal! 

In the picture above we're at Lazy Dog.

Sometimes not everyone can join us so we just go with whoever is available that day. In the picture above we're at BarTaco. They had good tacos and delicious churros!

My friends are awesome and I am glad they're willing to try new restaurants with me. 

Ukraine

I’ve been debating in my head whether or not I should post this blogpost. But I’ve decided to just post it.

I’ve tried to not get political on my blog but I have some things I need to say.

The other day the current president of the U.S. claimed that it was Ukraine’s fault that Russia invaded Ukraine. Are you effin’ serious? Russia invaded Ukraine because the Russian president wanted to invade Ukraine. It was an unprovoked attack and Russia is still there attacking Ukraine for no reason.

Ever since he whowillnotbenamed became president for his second term, I have been more anxious and angry than normal. I feel like every day there’s something new and terrible that has been said or done by the president or one of his cronies and they’re not leading the country down a good path.

I try not to dwell on it too much each day but it’s hard not to some days. With all of this being said though, I do have some hope that things will get better. I don’t know how or when but someday. If I didn’t have at least a little bit of hope, it would be really really depressing.

Here’s one link and another link to my previous blogposts I wrote about some of the people from my mission in Ukraine. 

Tarzan Soundtrack

Recently I was reminded of the Tarzan soundtrack (1999 animated movie version). I haven’t heard the music from that movie in years but I remember I used to love that CD! I would listen to it on repeat. Since I was reminded of the music, I’ve been listening to it again and again and I remember why I loved it. It has great music!

Honestly the music is making me teary eyed. I think it’s a combination of nostalgia and the music is just awesome but I love it!

If you need a change of music for an hour or so, I highly recommend listening to this soundtrack, all of it, even the instrumental songs. It’s awesome!

Anxious

I’ve been feeling anxious recently. Although I try not to talk about political things on my blog, I will mention some things today that are really stressing me out that may or may not have to do with politics.

I have a job as a contractor for a government agency. Since the change of administration a couple of weeks ago, there are certain things that our department can no longer do until it gets approved by a presidential appointee. 

We can barely do any of our tasks we need to right now. The thing is is I have no idea how long it will take to get the approval. Will it take another week, a few weeks, a couple of months? As of right now they are still paying us but how long will that last? If it doesn’t get approved soon, will they put us on unpaid leave until it gets approved or will they just fire us all? These are just a few of the concerns I have going through my head right now. 

I have been working on updating my resume and will start looking for a new job. Unfortunately that’s what the current administration would like us to do, become so worried about the status of our jobs that we start looking for other jobs and quitting on our own. Then they don’t have to fire us like he whowillnotbenamed would love to do to most of the government workers. You may not want to ask me how I feel about this unless you want to hear a few cuss words. 

I know things are a bit different for me as a contractor (as opposed to a regular government worker who I think have it harder) but it does still affect me and the other contractors. I really do not want to lose my job again. (I got laid off a few years ago when our project didn’t get a new grant to fund our work.) But we will see what happens in the next little while. Maybe our work will be approved next week and we’ll be able to work like normal again. We will see.

And I just want to say I don’t write all of this to start an argument about politics. I write this because this is my reality right now and I’m writing it for my own records.

And so my blogpost will have picture in it, here’s a cute picture of my brother’s cat, Ash.