Obsessive Cherry Blossom Photos

Before Devon went up to Georgetown and my first Labor Day trip to visit him, I had only been on Washington, DC once in eighth grade and absolutely fell in love with it. I've always dreamed of living there and for a while even wanted to go to Georgetown for medical school during my I-want-to-be-a-doctor phase in high school. I'm pretty sure these are the only reasonably cute pictures from that entire trip...

Ohhhh middle school.


Friday

I got into the Washington-Reagan Airprot at about 8:30PM. I was starved as I had been traveling for a few hours and hadn't really had time to get some food so we snagged a little something to eat. The only problem: the most convenient place to eat at that hour that was inexpensive and close was a fast food restaurant. Yes, I committed the cardinal sin of health. Gross. I got a Ranch BLT which was probably a rat burger but it hit the spot nonetheless. Afterwards, I checked into my hotel and we watched some TV for a while until Devon left since he had an early morning of football. I got ready for bed and got some much-needed sleep.

Saturday

I woke up early (and by early, I mean by college standards... 8AM) and got ready to explore Georgetown. That's always one of my favorite parts. I love to look around the neighborhood and all along dreamy M Street at the shops and even peeked in the window of Georgetown Cupcake!

Georgetown Cupcake.. adorable!

(Not my picture) A professional picture of M Street... with my favorite spot to grab a chai tea, the giant Barnes and Noble!

After a little while of walking around, I went to the Georgetown campus to meet up with Devon when he got out of football practice. After he showered and since we were both famished, we went to get a mid-afternoon meal at The Tombs. Definitely a Georgetown staple!

Waiting for our food

It's underground and has very basic but delicious food. My favorite meal is the soup and sandwich: grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup. Especially on a rainy day like that, it hit the spot! After walking around a little before it started to pour again, we went back to campus and watched some Hulu (aka our favorite way to 'watch TV' together via Skype while we're apart). Being a football player and a boy, Devon was already hungry again less than three hours after our meal at The Tombs so we went to the cafeteria for some food.  That evening we met up with a lot of the other football guys and watched the UConn vs. UK (thank GOODNESS UConn won!) Final Four game and hung out afterwards. It was so much fun to hang out with all of them, they're all such fun guys! :D

Sunday

Because the rainy, cold weather on Saturday, we did not get to go downtown to see those beautiful cherry blossoms so we had to go on Sunday! We went to breakfast and hit the metro. Once we walked out of the Smithsonian station, I immediately saw the first cherry blossom tree

and the Capitol!

Now, I'd like to note that before our walk down to the Capitol that day, this is the closest Devon had ever been to the Capitol. I know, right?! He lives there! Regardless, as we kept walking, the views got better and better!

Complete with protesters

and so of course we got a little touristy..

Also semi-posing with the protesters.

We got such a kick out of the protesters and how passionate they were. They were in qute the heated debate with some passersby while we were walking around the vicinity. (We were careful not to get too close!)  While walking down toward the Jefferson Memorial, we got a little hungry so we got a hot dog from one of the vendors. I usually avoid this type of street food, but it ended up being delish!

Lots of mustard! :)

 We finally made it to the center of the whole event... the Mecca of cherry blossoms!

Starting to get overcast by the Washington Monument

The beginning of the cherry blossom walk

 

And then came the tree photos... climbing into this tree was quite the feat. So many people were dong cute tree pictures but I may have picked the wrong one! I could barely fit! So ignore the awkward leg placement in these..

Devon got a little artsy with the Monument in the background ;)

He was such a good sport to be the photographer! He knew how excited I was to see these beautiful trees! We strolled along with waterside area and got some more cute photos!

I wasn't aware I had a 1970s setting on my camera?

My handsome boyfriend!

 We had a lovely afternoon walking around, chatting and enjoying the (very crowded) festival! I'm glad I could get him out of his Georgetown bubble! Soon though, it was time to get me to the airport as I had to catch my flight back to Florida!  We took the metro to the airport and had to say goodbye. Luckily (or maybe not so luckily) I'm getting more used to having to leave him so goodbye's have gotten exponentially easier than our first goodbye on July 29, 2010. I will see him again in a few weeks so it won't be too bad.. 

I was exhausted at the airport so I grabbed some Vitamin Water to perk me up!

It was very yummy and gave me the little energy boost I needed and I came back to Home Sweet Gainesville. 

All-in-all it was a lovely trip and in just twenty-two days, my friend Francesca and I will return for Georgetown Day and a little vacation before Summer A begins at UF!  This gives me something to look forward to and the separation a little more bearable.  Hope you had a great weekend as well!

Just a Tease

Here are a couple cute (and a little ridiculous) pics from my trip to tease yah for tomorrow's post!

Not really sure if he was ready for this one

Gotta love Capitol Hill protesters..

We had so much fun!!  I'll give you all the deets manana!  :)

Off I Go!

Unlike most people, I actually really enjoy packing. I am a very organized person so getting everything together in an organized manner like packing not only pleases me but also makes me more excited for my trip! I usually wait as long as possible because once I'm done packing, I'm ready to go and if I do it days ahead of time it's torture to see that packed bag but be unable to leave yet! I got all of my laundry done and made a checklist of what I needed to do before I left but didn't put all of my stuff in my duffel until this morning, just a few hours before I would leave :)

I lay out all of my stuff on my bed in categories. Hair appliances, shorts, pants, dresses, nice tops, casual tops (such as t-shirts), sweatshirts, shoes and leggings/socks/miscellaneous. Once they're all organized, I can place them in my duffel right where they belong :) Everything consolidated to only two bags -- you have no idea, this is a record of some sort for me, I usually have three or four bags even for a weekend trip!

Everything consolidated... like my Zeta pin? :)

My duffel bag is the Vera Bradley large duffel in "Totally Turq" (a Spring 2010 color), and my purse is a Longchamp Le Pliage tote. Both are perfect for traveling as they're both carry-on size and especially for its weight, the duffel is really easy to carry!

Once I finished all of my packing, I got myself ready. I decided to go with curls and tried something that is a little new to me: curling my hair with a straightener. It took a lot of practice and I think I burnt almost every single one of my fingers but I think I'm getting the hang of it! I used part of the large balance on my two Amazon giftcards to buy a very inexpensive but professional straightener, a 1.25 inch Cortex Professional Collection Black Tourmaline straightener which usually retails for $130 or so for only $30.00! Awesome deal from a wholesale retailer.

I already had a FHI straightener but it is a 2" straightening iron and too thick to do curls. This new one works great though! I learned from a YouTube video and tried it out earlier this week. Today's curls turned out tight so that they would fall into the right place by the time I get to DC.

Front view

I did larger curls so it would look more volumtuous

So far, six hours later, they're still in and just a little bit looser. I'm definitely a fan of the straightener over the curling iron! My curling iron curls usually fall in about an hour so I'm extremely impressed!

I'm obviously a little bored waiting for my plane...

Currently, I'm sitting at the terminal waiting for my flight! My plane takes off at 6:40 and I'll be in Washington at about 8:30. That's assuming I survive the landing.. I hate landings!  Wish me luck! :)

Color Me Spring

Despite picking off my nailpolish usually within twenty-four hours of application, I love nail polish. I try to change my nail polish color at least once every couple of weeks or even more often if I have a special outfit that I want it to match. :)  My absolute favorite brand is Essie. I can always count on Essie to have the most selection of colors in almost every shade imaginable.

How many different shades of red are there??

My favorite season. To coordinate my happiness that the warm weather is back (and right now, the perfect temperatures for a few more weeks), I love to pick out cute, bright shades of nail polish Though I have a bad habit of picking nail polish off sometimes within twenty-four hours of application, I am a sucker for it. Particularly if it comes from Essie. My favorite of their spring colors are

Little bit of lavender!

This turns out to be a beautiful light blue (hi Christine :D)

My favorite!

and in honor of the beautiful cherry blossoms I'm about to see in Washington, DC this weekend, I bought the brightest pink nail polish I could find at J. Crew ...

Perfect for the cherry blossoms, right?! I'm already sporting the color (and trying hard not to pick off the polish..yuck!). You can obviously tell I'm taking my excitement a bit out of hand... coordinating nail polish? Every detail is attended to :)

Speaking of Washington DC... I found the most fitting outfits this weekend while in Orlando with my family and my sister's friend Angela.

My little sister, Lexie, and me on Friday night after dinner

I had a very successful shopping trip at Premium Outlets (definitely the best of the outlet malls) and Mall at Millenia. (The best mall, hands down. They're even getting a Pinkberry!)

 

Now, as you can see, I went a little nuts on the same piece in different colors (ahem, Celosia cardigan, numbers 1 & 8) and the ever-popular chinos (#4 & 9). I now have these chinos in seven colors.. wow! Obviously they are a staple for me. I opted for some longer shorts this time because of my upcoming trip to Israel in July. I need modest shorts that cover the majority of my thigh so I went with the 5" chinos instead of my usual 3" chinos.  Number seven I already own in white (it was too cute to resist in plum!) and ten & six come from Vineyard Vines to celebrate the coming of my favorite season!

Most importantly out of all of these items... I found my cherry blossom outfit. Instead of going with a dress, I decided for a very springy skirt, sweater combination (think numbers 1 and 3). They're both from my favorite J. Crew. I can just imagine strolling with Devon through the cherry blossoms looking perfectly floraly (is that a word?) festive. Then, for dinner out (hopefully our favorite District Chophouse if we can afford it!), I'm going to go with the Double in Brass by The Lake & Stars Chiffon strappy dress (#2) from Urban Outfitters. This look is a little dramatic for me so I'm hoping that I will be able to pull it off with some super cute nude Steve Madden pumps that my mama is lovely enough to overnight to me :)

What do you think? All of this DC talk is making me more and more excited! I love the anticipation of a great vacation! Especially because ....

I miss my far away boyfriend and cannot wait to fill in that gap!  ^^   :)