I Heart NY!

"Popular...you're gonna be POP-U-LAR!" Di and I felt super popular after scoring front row seats to Wicked and meeting Glinda after the show! The most popular musical in the nation...and we got front row tix for $25 (okay $26.75 to be exact)! Diana "won" the lottery! What, you ask is the lottery? Well, you put your name in 2 hours before the show starts and 12 lucky people (out of the hundreds that line up) are drawn out to sit on the front row at a hugely discounted price (like $275 off)! All I have to say is AMAZING! It was well worth the wait...and we sure did wait to see it(I've literally been waiting YEARS to see this play)! We made friends with one of the ushers at the Gershwin Theater, and he showed us where to meet the actors after the show too...Glinda was beautiful in street clothes too!

Okay, so Di and I decided our weekend in NY should include Broadway...lots and lots of Broadway, so along with our Wicked good night, we got tickets to the matinee of Hairspray! It was awesome...if the new movie is anything like the musical, you can sign me up! Talk about a chick flick musical...it was so cute! It was heart-warming, funny, sweet, just an all-around good time (this coming from someone with a standing ticket-yes, I stood through the entire 3 hour production and still came out absolutely loving it)! Our NY Broadway fest was great! FYI-after asking a variety of NY tourists to take our pic outside the theater (to show us in front of the Hairspray sign), Di and I finally took this pic ourselves...its the only way we could get the Hairspray billboard in the background! Tourists may be nice, but they are horrible photographers!

We wouldn't be NY tourists without eating a dog off a street vendor! It was a pretty tasty meal...but if you're going to eat on the street, go for the gyros, much more filling and they are pretty darn tasty too!



Here's the beautiful Manhattan NY Temple! It's such a unique experience to go to church basically inside the temple! Bill and I ran into our good high school friend, Sister Anderson, who is serving her mission here! Its always fun to see friendly faces from home in the big city!



I "heart" NY! What a great tourist spot...Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, street vendors, Chinatown, you name it, NY has it!

Atlantic City or Bust!

Welcome to the Las Vegas of the east! Okay, so Atlantic City is definitely NOT Las Vegas, but it's still really fun! Strolling the boardwalks under the bright lights, posing at Caesar's Palace and eating Denny's breakfast at two in the morning-what's not to love! We spent Friday night strolling the casinos of Atlantic City (dad-you'd be proud...no gambling!) and enjoying the new scenery!






Sleeping quarters were a little tight...but I couldn't think of three girls I'd rather share a king size bed with than my roomies!



We spent Saturday in Ocean City at the BEACH! Salty air, sand in our toes, and cool ocean waves...BEAUTIFUL! Fireworks provided the perfect finish to the perfect weekend!

Sunday Dinner

After three hours of church, nothing beats sitting down to a good, home-cooked meal! My family has always been really big on having Sunday dinner together. Growing up we would ALL (as in cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandma, great aunts and uncles, etc) meet at my Great Grandma Alice's house and have dinner together-one of my favorite memories from my childhood! Even after my
grandma passed away,we would meet at my grandparents house with all my cousins and my dad's siblings for dinner. Today, I miss out on Sunday dinners in Utah, but still get to have dinner with my DC family! I have great friends here and we find a way to stand-in for the families we left back in the West!

Half-Price Burgers...a Monday Night Tradition!

Welcome to the Crystal City Sports Pub...home of the half-price burger! Talk about tasty! This little restaurant offers half-price burgers (four dollars plus tip) every Monday and Tuesday night! Try the Smokehouse- a burger with bacon is always good in my book!

My Country 'Tis of Thee...

The Fourth of July is probably the best holiday... parades, bbqs, fireworks, etc! And who could ask for a better place to spend the day than the nation's capital! I heart DC! The opportunity to spend the Fourth of July in Washington is pretty amazing! Watching the fireworks by the Washington Monument is pretty much the greatest! What a show! Although I still miss the fireworks at Riverside Park... you can really ooh and aah at each and every firework there :) The fireworks on the mall are quite the spectacle...it's like the grand finale fireworks for a full thirty minutes! I met some really great new friends and ate at a great little restaurant...the Matchbox is YUMMY! What a great day!

Republicans v Democrats

How much more American can you get than Congress playing America's favorite pasttime?!? The Republicans and Democrats went head to head at the annual Congressional Baseball Game. The Congressmen and women (a lady Rep had the best hit of the entire night) played a real-life game at RFK Stadium... talk about competitve! Slides, line-drives, out-field collisions, stolen bases...and in the end, as usual, the GOP came out on top!

We made "Go GOP" signs and made quite a scene with all of our cheering! We (mostly Bill and Jaron and some of the other boys) made such a racket that reporters, fans, and even the House Historian asked for pictures with our signs, and archived one of the signs for future generations-you can check it out at the House Museum! Although, many thought we were completely sloshed...it was a night of good, clean fun-DC style!

Baltimore

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is so beautiful! Old ships, cute restaurants, shops galore, and the National Aquarium! Fish, fish and more fish...

Historic Georgetown!

Now that I've joined the "real" world, I live for the weekends! Hitting the town after a hard week in the office is the best way to spend a Friday night...add good friends, and French food and life doesn't get much better!

Minglin' with Mitt

While my job isn't extremely glamourous...it does have some perks! Our chief of staff hooked us up with some tickets to a reception with MITT ROMNEY! Mitt is very charasimatic and personable...PRESIDENTIAL you might say :)

Memorial Day 2007

With my family 3,000 miles away, the next best option for Memorial Day was spending some time with the Commander in Chief! Even though President Bush doesn't have high approval ratings, the opportunity to see "W" is a once in a lifetime deal. Even with long lines, sweltering heat, and hundreds of tourist...there's no better place than Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day!

Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue
Concert on the Capitol steps









Spending Memorial Day in the nation's capital with great friends...PRICELESS!