I promised a much more cheery blog, and this one is filled with joy. You’re welcome.

One of my BFFs came to visit for a week, just in time for my birthday. If you’re wondering how many BFFs I have, it’s three plus Alex. So I guess four. I just talk about them so much it may seem like I have a million.

ANYWAY. I was somewhat sad I couldn’t spend my 24th with my sugarplum, BUT I had my Mega, and my family. I just realized the last time I was able to celebrate my birthday with my family was when I turned 18. Holy cow. That is depressing. But, I came home for Christmas every year! So it’s not like I didn’t see them for 6 years. For my 24th, we ate funfetti cake for breakfast, and spend the day at Kings Dominion. If you think cake and roller-coasters is a dumb way to spend a birthday, then you’re dumb and should stop reading my blog.

It did begin to rain towards the end of the day, so we didn’t get to go to the waterpark side, but we did get in a good 6 hours of rides. Worth it. 


Later that week, Mega and I went into DC to be tourists. Sammy came with us one of the days, and boy is he a trooper. We walked for miles and he didn’t complain once. This was our path: Washington Monument, WWII memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial (some idiot threw green paint all over it!), Korean Memorial, Arlington Cemetery (we made it just in time to see the changing of the guard), the Netherlands Carillon, Iwo Jima / Marine Corps Memorial, Einstein Memorial, and finally the White House. BAM. It only took all day, but we hit all the major sites. 

The second day we played tourists, I had to first visit the Turkish Consulate to pick up my visa. I had turned in my application the week prior, and was told it would be ready, but of course my brain started thinking of all these, “what if” scenarios, and I didn’t have back-up plan if my visa was not approved. I didn’t apply for a simple tourist visa. Since I will be working for a year, I needed to get a work visa, and something tells me they aren’t just handed out willy-nilly. I had all the proper paperwork, but there is still that little voice in the back of my head. BUT THANK GOODNESS, it was approved! I also thank goodness that the person who helped me the second time, did not help me the first time. He was a mr. grump-grump. 

With my visa all set, I was ready to celebrate with Mega. So we rented a couple of bikes, and rode around DC in style. Plus, our feet were killing us from the marathon the other day. Then we made our way over the the Holocaust Museum. When it comes to museums, I’m a reader. I like to read every little thing, and it takes me about 3 hours to get through the average museum (history major, duh!). But, since Mega is a browser, and has traveled in Europe and visited their Holocaust museums, and since I had already read everything in the DC museum twice, we were in and out in about an hour. If you ever get a chance to visit DC, you MUST go to the Holocaust Museum. 

You also should check out the Old Post Office Pavilion before Donald Trump buys it and turns it into a hotel (yea, I’m just as appalled as you are!). There’s a really nice view of the city from the top, and since the Washington Monument is still under construction (from an earthquake a couple years ago), it makes a perfect backup. And, it’s free! 

I think blogger has limits on the number of pictures one can post, but I hope I’m not close to my max…for your sake! 🙂

Those are BEAR sprinkles. BEARS. (Beets. Battlestar Galactica.)

My sister painted this sand dollar for me. She is amazing.

LOOK AT THE GUY BEHIND ME!

You can see the moon!

I didn’t take this. But I think it’s gorgeous and belongs here.

Robert E. Lee’s house at Arlington.

Women’s War Memorial

Reminds me of Alaskans

Capitol, from the Post Office Pavilion