Washington DC 2014

Happy Monday, friends! I can't believe it's been so long since I've last written. These last few weeks have been fairly uneventful – which I guess is why I haven't posted in so long. I've sort of fallen out of my reading routine, which makes me sad, so I'm hoping to start that up again. That'll give me some new material to write about.

Anyway, I wanted to share my recent trip to Washington DC! This past week was Spring Break for my brother and I, and we spent it in the nation's capitol. We stayed with my mom's cousin and her husband, who had just moved to DC in August. He's a physician with the state department, and they are usually stationed overseas at different embassy locations. They've lived in Mexico, Greece, Ethiopia, and South Africa. I'm jealous, too.

We spent Friday traveling. On Saturday, we watched the cherry blossom parade and competed in the DC Challenge, which was basically a big photo scavenger hunt, with our relatives. It was fun, although I was completely unaware that it was a race. As in, you have to run. As in, I almost had a heart attack and died right on the National Mall. As in, I was thisclose to vomiting everywhere. We ran upwards of 9 miles in an hour and a half, which was challenging, to say the least. Also, I was so focused on how much I hated running and how hard it was, I wasn't paying attention to the cherry blossoms, which was a mistake, as a storm wiped them out before we were able to see them again. Woohoo for rambling sentences.

On Sunday, my brother and I woke up bright and early and headed off to church. St. Patrick's, which is located in the midst of skyscrapers and office buildings, was built in 1792 to serve those building the White House. HISTORY IS COOL. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures of the inside.

Afterwards, we headed up to Mount Vernon.

18th century poop holes

The blacksmith was really good looking, whoopsies.

Shoutout to this girl who walked right in on my shot

Slave cabin

16 sided barn

These pictures really did not do the Potomac justice.

We took a tour and got to go in the greenhouse. They served us punch, nbd.

We went to the zoo on Monday. However, we only ended up staying about an hour. It was so packed we weren't able to see anything, and all the screaming children were really getting to me.

I did manage to take a couple pictures, though!

A house spotted on our walk back from the zoo. I thought it was cute. I'd love to live in a place like this.

We went to the art museum instead. I took one picture before I saw that photography was prohibited. 

We then took a walking tour with our cousin Rachel. It started at Ford's Theatre, and took us to various places around the city that all had to do with the Lincoln assassination. The tour was really well done. An actor portraying a detective who led the investigation way back when took us to all the locations, and described everything as if it were happening right then. I wanted to do this on Monday specifically, as it was the anniversary of the shooting,

The Petersen House, which is where Lincoln died. 

Our wonderful tour guide.

The back of Ford's Theatre

A hotel that catered to Southern sympathizers.

Tuesday was pouring, so we decided to hit a few museums. We first. toured the Air and Space museum for a little over an hour

Amelia Earhart's jacket. I'm obsessed with her, she was amazing.

After Air and Space we went to this little restaurant called the Protein Bar. We walked by it Monday night while doing the walking tour, and it looked amazing so I made sure we stopped there. I had a quinoa black bean bowl, and my brother had a chicken burrito. Delish.

Then, we went back to Ford's Theatre to tour the inside of it. 

There was this amazing street musician we saw while waiting in line. 

But, like, can we talk about how bangin' this guy was? So what if he was a co-conspirator to one of the most horrific moments in American history? He looks like a Greek god mixed with a male model. Mmmm.

After Ford's Theatre, we went to the Natural History Museum. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

Wednesday was our last full day in DC, and we wasted no time. Our first stop was the National Museum of American History.

They had this really cool exhibit about food and the history of food in the United States.

Shoutout to my own Fresno Bella, Shannon. Insert cheeky emoji here.

Julia Child's Emmy

My favorite picture to ever exist, taken in the America on the Move exhibit.

After the museum, we walked past the monuments.

We then walked all the way to Georgetown. This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. Everything about Georgetown screams charm and history. I love it.

We then picked up a dozen cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake to surprise our relatives. 

We took the cupcakes to Rachel's house and ate them along with her homemade strawberry ice cream. It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip. 

I had a blast, and I can't wait to go back. I'm hoping to visit my relatives before they move again (it sounds like they'll be stationed in Istanbul next!). Hopefully I can convince my cousin to come with me.


Thanks for reading! Sorry for all the pictures. Except I'm not really sorry at all. Zing.


Xoxo, Autumn

#4.4: Read 25 New Books, #6.2 Read BuzzFeed's 21 Best YA Books of 2013 – Rose Under Fire

ZINGGGGGG I FOUND MY MISSING LIBRARY BOOK PRAISE JESUS LOLOLOL WHAT ARE LIBRARY FINES

It was under my television. Where it has been for over a month. Like I said, what are library fines?

"Rose Justice is a young pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. On her way back from a semi-secret flight in the waning days of the war, Rose is captured by the Germans and ends up in Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi women's concentration camp. There, she meets an unforgettable group of women, including a once glamorous and celebrated French detective novelist whose Jewish husband and three young sons have been killed; a resilient young girl who was a human guinea pig for Nazi doctors trying to learn how to treat German war wounds; and a Nachthexen, or Night Witch, a female fighter pilot and military ace for the Soviet air force. These damaged women must bond together to help each other survive.

In this companion volume to the critically acclaimed novel Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein continues to explore themes of friendship and loyalty, right and wrong, and unwavering bravery in the face of indescribable evil."

Two thumbs up. I'm dying to play Rose in a movie (if any movie producers are reading this … hi). When I picked this up I had no idea it was a companion novel to another book, so I'm definitely planning on reading that one. Weeee.

#4.2, #4.3: Read 25 New Books, #6.1: Read BuzzFeed's 21 Best YA Books of 2013 – Fact of Life #31, This is What Happy Looks Like

Like I said in my last post, I've read a few books the past several weeks, and I'm happy that I'm one step closer to completing my 101 in 1001 challenge!

This post has been a long time coming, even longer because I've temporarily misplaced (lost) the book I'm currently reading, and I was originally planning to include it in this post. I've spent hours looking for it, and I haven't located it yet, which is frustrating because I was in the middle of an exceptionally exciting part. Also frustrating because it's a library book and I can only renew it two more times. Lolz.

Anywaaaaay, back to the two books I have read.

Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega was the first book I picked off the library shelves, and consequently the first book I ended up reading.

(I forgot to take pictures before I took it back to the library, so here's a fuzzy, pixelated image I stole from the Internet)

(Fact of Life #129: Some people put you where they want you to be, not where you actually are.16-year-old Kat Flynn believes in going with the flow. She practices yoga, works with her mom at Abra’s Midwifery, and watches the Perfect Couple in the hall at school. But when she finds herself in the middle of the Perfect Couple’s drama and some drama of her own (including an unexpected romance), Kat has to decide whether going with the flow is really the best way to come back to herself.)

This book was cute, written like typical high school/teenager girl novels (I quite these kinds of books, sue me), but unlike typical high school/teenage girl novels, this one had a setting and plot that was unlike any I'd ever read before. You don't typically think of teenagers and midwiferies belonging together. Regardless, it worked, and I really enjoyed reading this.

The second book I read was This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith.

(Again, I forgot to take pictures, so here's another stolen-Internet picture for you.)

(If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. 

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?)

I thought this was decent. The plot was slow-going, and it honestly felt like nothing was really happening the entire book. One thing just sort of evolved into another, and there weren't any definite, clear, crisp changes (did that even make sense? Lol, crisp?). I did like the general plot though, and I think this could have been amazing if it were written a little differently.

Fun fact: I wrote a play several months ago, and my main characters where named Graham and Ella. So. There's that. 

Once I find the library book I've temporarily misplaced (lol, I should just say lost), I'll be back with another book post. Until then, I'm hoping to find a few recipes from Pinterest to make, so hopefully I'll have those up soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Autumn

#5: Go to a Comedy Show; #6: Meet Someone Famous

Remember that one time I went almost three weeks between blog posts? Because I don't (wink wink).

But in all seriousness, I'm back after an unplanned hiatus! I apologize to the - 4 people that read this blog. To put it simply, I was off the Internet machine because my depression flared up (that makes it sound like it's a rash or a bad case of cystic acne, but lol), and when it does that, I try to stay off social media/electronics in general. Instead, I watched television and read a few books (expect a blog post on that).

Anywaaaaaay, I am able to cross two things off my 101 in 1001 list, which is why I'm writing. On Tuesday, the 25th, I saw Colleen Ballinger's Miranda Sings show, and met her for the second time (with more than 1.345 million combined subscribers, I consider her pretty famous).

For anyone who doesn't know, Miranda Sings is a character created by the lovely Colleen Ballinger, poking fun at Internet singers and those trying to acquire fame via YouTube. Don't let Miranda's atrocious singing fool you, though. Colleen is a very talented singer herself, and earned a degree in Vocal Performance from Azusa Pacific University. Colleen also has a YouTube channel, entitled Psychosoprano, which has nearly half a million subscribers (I actually like Colleen more than Miranda, don't tell on me).

Colleen's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PsychoSoprano
Miranda Sings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1OFDlfdRb6ma1ZGZd07gWA

The show was FANTASTIC. I saw the show last April, but so many things were different. That's one of the great things about the Miranda shows, they're always evolving, but still incredibly entertaining. This time, I was able to meet the majority of Colleen's family (Rachel, Chris, Jess, Bailey, Jacob, and Parker), whereas last I only met Josh (not complaining, though!)

Here are some pictures (I took these all with my iPhone, so I apologize for the cringe-worthy quality):

Waiting

Rachel!

She sang Love is an Open Door from Frozen with Jake. 

Queen.

I love how Colleen incorporated her awkward childhood pictures, as she calls them, into the show.

Anti Porn Unicorn Horn

She literally took the shirt I bought out of my hands and started signing it. Precious.