Surprise on my car!

I went out to my car after work one day and found this taped on my passenger side door.

Well hello there, nice to meet you! :)

(I have some awesome co-workers!)

Life!

Hi! It's been awhile since I've posted. In case you wanted to know what I've been up to the past couple of months, you can read this post. It's not everything (obviously because that would be too hard to do) but a few of the highlights. ;) 

The pictures aren't in chronological order except the first two. 

On New Year's Eve Eve, I got dressed up, had my niece, Emma, do my hair and danced the night away at the Single Adult New Year's Eve Dance. It was a lot of fun! I went early to help set up and ended up staying for the whole dance. I loved it! I danced the fast songs with groups of people, I got asked to dance and I did some asking too. It was a lovely time!

I went to the musical Secret Garden at the Shakespeare Theatre in downtown DC with some friends. I really enjoyed the musical and I was happy to realize that one of the main characters in the show was the man that played John Newton in Amazing Grace that I saw on Broadway. :) (Click here to see the post I wrote about Amazing Grace after I saw it.) 

I flew to England and watched my nephews while their parents went on their 10th wedding anniversary trip by themselves. I plan on doing a separate blogpost about this. (Apparently I missed the memo to smile in this picture, because they were all smiling cutely while I was being silly.) ;)

I discovered a cute outfit that I owned. I had always worn this skirt with a white top, but decided to try it with black and I've decided I really like the black and pink together. :)

I've seen some pretty awesome sunsets near my house! There's a small lake in my neighborhood and I like to walk around it near sunset (especially after it's been rainy or partly cloudy that day.) This was one particularly beautiful evening!

One Saturday, my brother, Tim, and I discovered Mason Neck State Park. I had heard of it before but had never been. Tim and I went one day and did a nice hike. I really liked it! I'm excited to go again when it's a little warmer and when more things are in bloom. :)

Mason Neck State Park!

Mason Neck State Park! Although it was sad that the tree had fallen, I liked this shot with the one tree holding up the other and the way the sun was shining through.

I made a bunch of cookies for a work training meeting. I love baking and offered to make cookies for the meeting. While I was distracted by other things, my nephew, Adam, helped me out and made the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles for me. They were delicious!

I made the hot chocolate cookies. Just in case you didn't know from other posts, I love baking cookies! If you ever need or want cookies, I'd be happy to make some for you. :)

I bought a new rain jacket. I decided it was time for a real rain jacket. It rains enough here during certain times of the year and I knew I'd be traveling places where it rains quite a bit that I thought I should get a real one.

I've been trying to learn how to draw. I bought two of those How to Draw books that have the drawings in steps and I've been practicing a couple of days a week. I don't need to trace to draw, but I definitely still need to look at the drawings to do it properly. It's hard, but I'm really enjoying it!

I had a good turnout to FHE when we went to Silver Diner. I plan on doing a separate blogpost about my calling as mid-single FHE coordinator. (I bet you're so excited about that.) ;)

I made Baked Alaska for an international food night FHE! It turned out pretty dang well if I do say so myself. ;)

Even though all of my pictures are only good things, I've definitely had my ups and downs the past couple of months. I've had some pretty tough days but overall, it's been good. 

For the Beauty of the Earth!

In my high school choir, we sang a beautiful version of the song For the Beauty of the Earth arranged by John Rutter. I recently found the same arrangement sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I can't stop listening to it and I just wanted to share it with you all! 

Turn it up and enjoy!

And here's a beautiful picture to enjoy to go along with the song! :) (I took this picture while on a walk near my house one evening.)

Happy Christmas!!!

One of my friends shared this version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" on her facebook page and I had to share too.

I'd never heard the background story of this song before, although it's one of my most favorite Christmas hymns. It just gives the song even more meaning.

Merry Christmas friends and may your soul be filled with peace and joy at this time of year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Christmas Time!

There's a lot to do in this area around Christmas time. I wanted to share some of the cool things there are to do around here at Christmas (and things I've been able to do this season). :)

ZooLights- I got a group of friends together and we hopped on the metro and went to ZooLights. It was fun! It required a lot of walking, but I'm always okay with that. :) It's free to get into and I would recommend the metro since parking can be a pain.

Mount Vernon Candlelight Tour- I've been to Mount Vernon before but only during the daytime. When one of my friends invited me to go with her and another friend on the candlelight tour, I couldn't pass it up. It was really cool to see the grounds lit up by candlelight and be able to see the house decorated for Christmas. Once we were inside the house, there were people dressed in period costume who would tell us about an aspect of living at Mount Vernon during the time George Washington did. And how can you not like seeing Aladdin the camel on the grounds?! It was fun! It costs money, but it was worth it!

Christmas concert at the National Cathedral- The National Cathedral has amazing acoustics so the concert was awesome! There was a brass band as well as a couple of choral groups and it was so good! It cost some money, but it was worth it.

Holiday Market- I've been working in downtown D.C. for a couple of days a week for the last two weeks. I thought that I would do something fun after work while I was working downtown. One of the days I went to the holiday market near the National Portrait Gallery and walked around. They have some pretty interesting and fun things to look at! I may or may not have bought some stuff while there. :)

The National Christmas Tree (near the White House)- On the same day I went to the holiday market, I walked to the Ellipse (near the White House) to see the National Christmas Tree. They have the big main tree and they have little trees to represent every state and territory of the U.S. with ornaments that represent something special about that state on it. There are train sets set up around the main Christmas tree and it's kind of fun to just stand there and watch the trains.

The temple lights and visitor's center- How can you go through Christmas time and not visit the temple?! The lights are beautiful and the nativity scenes inside the visitor's center are always unique!

The National Botanical Gardens Christmas exhibit- I did this after work one day and it was lovely! I'm having a hard time describing this one, but it is really cool! It's free to get into and it's beautiful!

Merrifield Garden Center Christmas shop- I already did a blogpost about this one, but if you like looking at or buying Christmas things, you should visit this place!

Cookie Making and Caroling- I feel like cookie making and caroling is a part of Christmas for me. For FHE, one week we got together to make cookies one day and then the next day went caroling to people in our ward and brought the cookies with us! What's better than bringing Christmas cheer to others with music and treats?! :)

Happy Christmas Eve friends!

Merrifield Garden Center Christmas Shop!

A friend introduced me to the Merrifield Garden Center Christmas Shop tonight and can I just say how much I loved it?! :)

I had no idea this shop existed at Christmas time and it seriously is so cool! It's a big shop and it was fun to just walk around and look at everything, although I did end up buying something too. I needed a tree topper for my little Christmas tree and found the perfect little angel there. :)

So if you like Christmas stuff, you should visit this place! I went to the one near the Mosaic District, but I believe there are others in the area too.

A song!

I love this instrumental version of "If You Could Hie to Kolob" arranged by Lex de Azevedo! It's beautiful and I find it calming to the soul!

Happy Sabbath!