Memories :)

Last weekend I went back to Utah for my friend Cecilie's wedding and I had SO much fun!! I loved hanging out with JuJu Bear, going back on the BYU campus, eating some delicious Utah favorites (Cafe Rio, Maglebys Fresh, BYU mint brownies), and everything else. Highlights include:

Hanging out with one of my best friends Ceci and meeting her adorable little boy Jacob

Seeing mission friends - the Houstons, Nanette Hoxsie, and chatting with President Watson

Seeing college friends - Shawna, Torrey, and others

And maybe one of the best parts was going to the new cannon center with my cousin Dan for breakfast! I realized that I am SO grateful for every chapter of my life!
This is my "you're getting married tomorrow" face!

Backstreets Back!

Last week I racked up a personal first...my first Backstreet Boys concert! I've done N Sync, done 98 degrees, but never the Backstreet Boys so I was pretty excited. My friend MJ wanted to welcome her 26th year of life with a blast from the past (at the concert she may have informed us that this was her 6th BSB concert!) But let me tell you - going to a boy band concert a decade after they were really cool was a hilarious experience. Here are my thoughts on the evening.

My first clue that going to the concert of a "has been" just wasn't what it used to be was when Brian's 6 year old son introduced them. Hm...kinda weird. The next funny thing was their dancing, it was TERRIBLE! Very cheesy, and actually kind of gross. I guess they feel the need to dance really seductively to still make a buck?? Their outfits were timeless...jeans, wife beater, and gray hoodies with their initials in red sequence. But don't worry, they are still making music (I didn't know this. I thought the concert was going to be all the old classics, like Shape of my Heart, Larger than Life, I want it That Way, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely, etc.). My personal fav's from their new album are the songs entitled: "PDA" and "I still wanna be single"...are you kidding me? And of course, we all felt really special when they said they would be nothing without their fans these past SEVENTEEN years!! I was 10 when they started! So funny. Nonetheless, we had a really fun time and the outdoor amphitheater was really cool. Funny to think that we lived during the whole "Boy Band" phenomena! We can someday tell our kids how cool they were.

I'm madly in love with Europe

Ever since I got on the plane to fly home from my study abroad in Europe 6 years ago (yikes!), I've been DYING to go back. I am so in love with the museums and food and cultural activities of Europe that I MUST go back, and soon. DC is so fun because there are always so many cool things to do. Last Saturday Lauren, Kim, and I went to the embassies of 13 of the EU countries, it was awesome! They were such troopers, I wanted to get a stamp from every embassy because I like dorky things like that. We saw some cool dancing in the Greece Embassy, had a polish sausage in the Embassy of Poland, heard some singers in the Embassy of Latvia, took pictures with the gals in costume at the Embassy of Finland, avoided the free bear at the Czech Republic's Embassy, and much more. It was so fun, probably one of the coolest things I've done out here! And it only fueled the fire inside to go back to Europe and visit! Here's some photos:Apparently I like to take dorky photos, or so I'm told. Whatever, I have a good time!

What are the chances??

A few weekends ago I went up to NYC because Doug and Heather were there for a conference and who doesn't love a good weekend trip to New York? It was a lot of fun, but had a hilarious twist due to the car bomb scare.

Doug's conference was right in Time's Square at the Marriott Marquis, so after seeing "Billy Elliot" Saturday night, we started to walk back to the hotel and all of Times Square was barricated off. Finally a few hours later they started letting hotel guests back into the area but we had to show our hotel key. They wouldn't let us into the hotel until 2am and when we got inside, they handed us a pillow and blanket and said we could sleep anywhere on the 4th or 5th floor (which only consists of conference rooms!) It was hilarious seeing all of these dermatologists laying on the floor sleeping with all of their colleagues, that's just not something you see every day! Here's the room full of "sleeping" dermatologists - the same room that earlier that day they were listening to lectures in.I'm still not sure how being on the 4th or 5th floor was safer than being in our rooms if there was a bomb on the street in front of the hotel. Aren't they equally dangerous?? Finally at 4am everyone was allowed to go back to their rooms for the night and we totally crashed, it was crazy.

Nonetheless, we survived our night and drownded our tiredness in some delicious food and amazing cupcakes the next day. The irony of this all is that 6 years ago, during the big Blackout of 2003 my parents, Julie and I were in New York picking Dan up from his mission and we stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. When the huge power outage happend, we couldn't go inside the hotel for 24 hours so they brought out pillows and blankets and we slept on the sidewalk!!! No joke. So the two times in my whole life that I've stayed at the Marriott Marquis hotel, I've had to sleep on the ground for one reason or the other. Heather and I just could not stop laughing....what are the chances?? So funny. I tried to take a picture where my face would say it all. I was honestly just thinking..."you've GOT to be kidding me. I've done this before...not again!?"

Birthday Festivities!

This was quite the birthday for me - I've now entered my late 20's! Wow, weird. Am I really this old? For whatever reason, the onset of the term "late 20's" makes me feel all this new responsibility of things I now need to be thinking about...I should now be starting to climb the ladder professionally, I should be investing, starting to save for a house, etc. I just don't feel old enough for this stuff!

The best part about last weekend was the fact that I spent my birthday with my parents for the first time since high school, 9 years ago! They were on their way up to Toronto for a medical conference and came to DC for a few days. We packed it in - took a tour of the White House gardens, went to Ford's theater, went to the Newseum, went to Mt. Vernon, saw a concert at the Kennedy Center, visited my office, went to a Nats game, went to some monuments they hadn't seen, and had some great laughs and delicious food. I loved having them here - it was fun to have my two worlds collide!My roommates put on an amazing birthday party! We had a bbq and outdoor movie in our backyard and my roommate Emily made the most adorable cake. Life is great, here's to another amazing year on the East Coast!

Green Thumb

Green has been my favorite color lately...it changes every so often. I was trying to think of how I can fit the word 'green' into all of my posts, so I'll post about my newly discovered green thumb! Tulips are my absolute favorite flower, so last fall I bought some bulbs and planted them. I think they turned out pretty good for my first time! Here are some pics:Also, there are so amazing tulip gardens around DC. Here's one along the Potomac by a Navy Memorial.

Going Green

With the warmer weather I've been wanting to ride my bike the 16 miles to work. I finally took the plunge last Thursday and LOVED it! Luckily, DC has amazing trails all along the Potomac so I got to ride into Georgetown and then along the river for most of the ride. My boss always says that since we're a wellness company, we should practice what we preach, so here's to you JR. I love Washington DC! Here are some before and after pics.