Dad

A week or two ago marked two years since my dad died. I think about my dad everyday. Although I didn't always get along with my dad, it makes me sad that I can't call him up anymore and tell him about my travels (which he would love to hear about). Dad loved to travel. He passed on that love of traveling to all of his children. 

My dad was an outgoing person and would talk to pretty much anyone who would listen. (Sometimes it was a little awkward as a silent observer of some of these conversations.🤷😂) He always tried to make a connection with that person whether it be knowing the same person or having a common interest. 

I remember one time when we lived in Minnesota, we visited NYC. We were on the Staten Island Ferry and Dad struck up a conversation with one of our fellow passengers. They quickly ended up finding someone they knew in common. How crazy is that?! Talking to a random stranger far away from where we lived at the time and finding someone they both knew. Although I am not one to talk to random strangers on most days, I do think it's cool some of the connections my dad made because he talked to people.

My dad also enjoyed eating at Taco Bell. He liked getting one of the dinner boxes and a Mtn Dew Baja Blast Freeze. To honor him on his death remembrance day, a few of us family members in Virginia and Utah got some Taco Bell.

Most of us who were at Taco Bell in Virginia on that day!

Those who got Taco Bell in Utah on that Saturday!

Some more pictures from the Virginia Taco Bell peeps!

Ben thought it was funny to photo bomb us. 😂

 

 

After we finished eating at Taco Bell (in Virginia), we went back to my apartment where I had cookie dough ready to be baked.

Since Matt had called before they came over to ask if his family could visit, I decided it was a perfect time to make cookies. So I made the dough before they came and then we baked it after we got back from Taco Bell.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!  I love this recipe.

 

This picture of my dad and I was from a cruise I went on my with my mom, dad, and sister, Heather in 2018.

I am grateful for my dad and all of things he and my mom taught us kids growing up. I am glad for the time I got to spend with him as an adult whether it be when I visited my parents, they visited me, or when we got to travel together.

I think it will now be my new tradition to eat Taco Bell on Dad's remembrance day.

Surprise in Tennessee

My oldest brother, Nate, turned 50 this year. One of my sisters suggested that us siblings and Mom should surprise him for his birthday and show up at his home in Tennessee.We found a weekend that all of us could go (after his birthday) and then we had Peter say he was coming into town for work and was wondering if Nate was going to be in town that week. 

Once Nate confirmed he would be in town, we all bought our tickets to Tennessee. I wasn't there for the part where they actually surprised Nate, but Nate said he had no idea that all of us would show up at his house. Thankfully none of us had spoiled it beforehand. :) 

Although we were all only together for about 24 hours, it was a great time! I love my family.

Enjoy lots of pictures of my siblings, my mom and me!

On that Saturday that we were all there, we went to Fort Donelson National Battlefield, (a Civil War battlefield). I had been there a couple of times before and I love that place. The grounds are beautiful and the views of the river gorgeous!

We had a mini photo shoot at Fort Donelson. Although you can't tell in the photo, we were all sitting on a cannon. ;)

Selfie of all of us!

Siblings!

Mamachka!

We also went to a bird refuge. We hung out at this viewpoint for a while looked for birds, chatted, and then left. It was a really pretty area!

It was hot and humid this day but we went on a short hike. Thankfully, the hike was pretty shady so that helped make it tolerable (even though I still got hot and sweaty). ;)

We ate lunch at Subway and then headed back to Nate's house to hang out, take naps, and get ready for the rest of the day.

For dinner, we went to a place in downtown Clarksville called The Mailroom. I thought the food was pretty tasty!

In front of the restaurant we ate at that night (with Peter in the picture)!

(With Lara in the picture)!

After dinner, we needed ice cream! We found a place close to the restaurant we ate at so we went there.

I must admit, I was a little disappointed in my ice cream. I got Key Lime Pie ice cream. I had had Key Lime Pie ice cream elsewhere a few weeks before and loved that one! 

But this one did not compare at all. The lime flavor tasted fake, there were no chunks of pie inside, and the ice cream wasn't very creamy. Oh well. 🤷

Sisters!

Across the street from the ice cream place was this fountain. It was a cute part of town!

Before we went to dinner, we had had a little photo shoot at a nearby park. Although we had a photo shoot that morning, we wanted one where we looked a bit nicer too.

I am so glad that we were all able to make this surprise happen! It was a great time and I am thankful for the time we got to spend together (even if it was a short amount of time).

Music

I love music! I listen to music almost everyday. Recently, though, I've noticed that I listen to the same three or four playlists all of the time. I am okay with that because I really like the music but I decided I needed to switch it up a little bit.

Instead of choosing a random playlist on my music streaming service to mix it up, I texted some family members and friends and asked them what songs they have been listening to on repeat or just songs that they really like. I took their answers and compiled them into a playlist. I've been listening to the new playlist (switching between my old playlists and my new playlist) for a couple of weeks now and I love it!

Some of the songs and artists I knew, but there were a lot that I didn't know too. None of the songs that were recommended to me were ones that I had on my most frequently played playlists so it's fun to have a new playlist with all new songs (although I had heard some of the songs before). 

Here is the list of songs and artists from my new playlist below:

Ameriican Requiem by Beyonce

Better Place by NSYNC and Justin Timberlake

Daylight by David Kushner

Fast Car by Luke Combs

Good to Be Alive by CG5

Beautiful Things by Benson Boone

Simple Things by Teddy Swims

Long Long Time by Linda Ronstadt

Change on the Rise by Avi Kaplan

Aberdeen by Avi Kaplan

All is Well (feat. Joy Williams) by Avi Kaplan

Too Sweet by Hozier

Stick Season by Noah Kahan

The Search by NF

Shadow by Livingston

Half Life by Livingston

Hate You by Jordi

Maniac by Conan Gray

Ghost Town by Benson Boone

Start Over (feat. NF) by Flame

Stars by Collabro

My Life by Imagine Dragons

Follow You by Imagine Dragons

Could Have Been Me by Halsey

Live or Survive by Tren

Civil War by Tren

Locked Away by Adam Lang

Legends Never Die by League of Legends and Against the Current

What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish

Sunday Best by Surfaces

Sunflower by Post Malone and Swae Lee

Happy Face by Jagwar Twin

Humble and Kind by Lori McKenna

Why Walk When You Can Fly? by Mary Chapin Carpenter

To the Mountains by Lizzy McAlpine

Let My Love Open the Door by Pete Townshend

Rise Up by Andra Day

Got My Mind Set on You by George Harrison

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

No Time at All by Andrea Martin and The Players (from Pippin)

Keep Marching by Shaina Taub and Original Broadway Cast of Suffs

June is Bustin' Out All Over by Renee Fleming and Carousel 2018 Broadway cast

 

Here are the songs that I have been listening to on repeat recently (divided by type of music).

Pop songs:

My Life by Imagine Dragons

Let You Down by NF

Way Less Sad by AJR

Glorious by Macklemore

The Lonely by Christina Perri

Songs from Korean Dramas:

Our Night is More Beautiful Than Your Day by NewJeans

True by Yaori

Shining (from Twinkling Watermelon soundtrack)

Christmas Tree by V

Classical/Instrumental Music:

Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part

Gassenhauer by Carl Orff

Concerning Hobbits (from Lord of the Rings soundtrack)

The Shire by Howard Shore 

 

Are there any songs that you really like and would like to share?

US Marine Corps War Memorial, Netherlands Carillon, and Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

As per my last post, I think you now know that I love tulips! 

Someone had mentioned the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington a few weeks before this day and that they had tulips there in March/April. Since it was the right time of year to see the tulips (and I had become slightly obsessed with them at the tulip farm a week before), I planned a field trip to Arlington to see them one Saturday in April.

I looked up things to do around there and invited a couple of my friends to join. Only one of my friends could come that day but it was a good field trip!

I decided I didn't want to drive in Arlington and have to deal with parking so I took the metro to Rosslyn and met my friend, Heather, there. 

Heather had a recommendation (from one of her coworkers) to visit a pizza place near Rosslyn for lunch. We went there first and got pizza. It was called Wiseguy Pizza. I really liked my slice of pizza. It was delicious!

In the same park as the Netherlands Carillon is the US Marine Corps War Memorial (also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial). Although I had been to the US Marine Corps War Memorial before, it had been many years. (I think I hadn't been there since I was a teenager visiting my sister and her family that lived in the area). It was cool to see the memorial up close again. 

This is a miniature of the memorial with the big memorial in the background.

It's a pretty iconic monument!

It was pretty windy this day but it was a nice day.

After we walked around the memorial a couple of times, we went to the Netherlands Carillon in the same park.

The view from the Netherlands Carillon.

Tulips!!!! I was so excited to see more tulips although I had seen some the week before!

I loved when there were a few red ones mixed in with the yellow.

Or yellow ones mixed in with the red ones. So pretty!

An accidental photo, but I liked the way it turned out. ;)

After we were finished looking at the tulips, we walked to the Arlington Cemetery metro stop to get on the metro to the Pentagon.

Actually the Pentagon was relatively close to where we were. I had done research beforehand to see if we could walk there from the tulips but it looked like there wasn't an easy way to get there walking. No sidewalks and along a busy road so I decided the metro was the best way to go one stop.

I had never been to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial before and I thought this field trip would be a perfect time to visit.

Although the area surrounding the memorial was kind of noisy with cars passing by and planes overhead, somehow the park felt peaceful.

 

Each person that died in the Pentagon or on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11/2001 had a bench with their name on it.

This whole family died on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. 

I read about them after I got back that day. It was a Mom and Dad and their two young daughters heading to Australia for a few months for the Mom's job. Reading about them and a few of the other people that died that day made me cry.

After spending some time at the 9/11 Memorial we tried to get to this memorial (the Air Force Memorial) but there didn't seem to be a good walking route to there. This picture is pretty zoomed in.

Some more tulips! (Heather took this photo).

Overall it was a good day! I am glad I got to see the Iwo Jima Memorial again and the tulips at Netherlands Carillon and the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

Thanks Heather for joining me on this field trip!