Wickett and I decided that we needed to get out of the area and city feel for a bit so we hopped into the car a drove just a ways up. There’s a spot called Fort Marcy that we thought we’d explore.

Despite not finding any ruins of the fort itself, like walls or building remains, we did find 2 cannons.

We decided to see what we could find just past the trench surround the fort’s prior location.

What we did find was a fenced off area with a run down house. Maybe it was a shed. I couldn’t tell so we high tailed into a different direction with a more clearly marked path.

We came to a small creek. It was quite enjoyable to just sit and listen to the water running. No one was around so it was lovely. As you can tell, there is a bridge over the area so there were cars going over  the whole time. But being from a city area (and having younger brothers) I could zone out and just listen to the nature.

Wickett get super excited about the creek. He never likes playing in lakes and water in general (I suppose it reminds him of bath time) and I was thrilled that he was taking the lead to cross the creek!

There was no path at all to cross, it was just a bunch of scattered rocks. So to make it to the other side to the path, we had to find our own steady rocks to hop across on. Wickett started out and we made it halfway before he fell! I had my phone in my pocket to not drop it into the water (like Wickett) so I didn’t get a picture of that.

We made it across, walked a bit further until we saw some deer and turned back. I tried to join the herd, but they thought I just looked funny!

It was recently Labor Day weekend. Famously, it is known for BBQs and pools and soaking up the last days of summer. Well, I didn’t really do any of that. The boyfriend and I have a list of things to do and we decided to check off an item: walking around Arlington Cemetery. I hadn’t been since I was probably 13 so I was glad to get to exploring again.

I know that it is a place of respect and mourning and can be a bit morbid, but I still think that the cemetery is a beautiful place. I don’t know if that’s because at young ages my mom would take us to cemeteries or what. But there are some great views of the city from here too.

Naturally we went to the Kennedy graves with the eternal flame.

There were some really cool graves and headstones that we passed as we walked around.

Isn’t nature so cool?? I couldn’t pass up this picture showing that nature doesn’t care about humans and what we put on this earth. It will just pass us by and take over again like we were never here.

Anyways….

We went by the tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guard was happening.

I got a little teary eyed at this point because there was a group of Honor Flight individuals there. My grandfather was able to go on an Honor Flight to DC in the years preceding his death. There was video of him going to the airport and arriving in DC and going to different monuments. Unfortunately, I was unable to be there for him at any of the stopping points and it is something I regret to this day.

After this, we walked around several different performance or auditory arenas.

We even saw the memorial to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.

All in all, it was really a beautiful day to be wandering outside and getting a piece of history. And even if paying respects and seeing history isn’t on your agenda the sights and exercise alone should be enough to get you out here.

Inserting classic picture of shoes now.

I know that being in my mid 20s means that I will have lots of friends and potential family members getting married. I’ve slowly started going to more and more weddings and this year I went to 3. 2 of them I was the main invitee and 1 of them I was the plus 1. It was a blast this year and I can’t wait for the few I already know about next year!

First up was one of my old roommate’s wedding. In college there were 3 of us girls living together and 1 of us was already married. So now there are 2 married roomies… and me. Don’t worry, no ring on this finger. Just a bottle of wine in my hand!

ANYWAYS… Here are some of the pictures of us from that night! Roomie love galore!

There were some delicious cupcakes. And cute little customized napkins for them. And then we also found that our old college bar was being used at the photo booth to hold props and what not!

Wedding numero dos I was a plus one. It was the wedding of my man friend’s friend. It was a small wedding but it was still a fun one! Unfortunately, there were less pictures taken at this one so I don’t really have a lot to share.

There was a joke that when I got cold and borrowed his jacket that I looked like some sort of manager. So a picture was taken.

The last wedding was the largest and I knew both the groom and bride pretty well. The bride briefly lived with me for a summer and before she the groom hung out with me before and after the summer. We had a great summer trivia team also. So I was thrilled to see them at their joyous wedding.

I even caught the bouquet despite my attempts to never catch one. Dang it she basically threw it straight to me! And I got a great picture with the bride and groom too. I love and miss them terribly.

The rest of the night was filled with dancing and singing and drinking. It was such a blast!

 

I had the fortunate experience of getting a tour of the library at Catholic University and the basilica there. I had no idea there was such an impressive church in DC! And it is rarely advertised, which should be a crime.

But we started off walking the grounds at Catholic University.

We really wanted to spend some time reading so I got a bit of quality time in with George R. R. Martin!

I still got a good view of the basilica and got to see some interesting books. I do love the stacks in libraries!

After a successful library trip (where both reading and napping occurred), we walked across the yard to see the basilica.

The inside was gorgeous. I don’t know how this doesn’t get put on lists of places to see when visiting DC. I mean, I know it isn’t exactly near a lot of other locations that are hot spots, but it shouldn’t be forgotten just because of that!

The crypts under the church didn’t really have a lot of dead bodies but it did have a lot of columns. And I got to meet the pope!

So as some of you may know, I fancy myself a bit of a nerd. I love being around other people who have passion for their fandoms and want to celebrate in all things nerdy. I take pride in being a nerd and take it as a compliment (not an insult) when someone calls me one. Everyone is a nerd about something, whether they want to admit to it or not.

So I decided to take advantage of the fact that Awesome Con (a type of comic convention) takes place in DC. I decided I would save the money of a 3 day ticket by volunteering. I’m so glad I did!

Volunteers are not allowed to be in costume/cosplay while working so I decked myself in a Star Wars tank top and headed to the convention center, fanny pack donned.

I was assigned to VIP registration and basically helped them with their tickets/badges and other needs. I also was the line police at times. Gotta keep these kids orderly!

Unfortunately, while working we are not allowed to take pictures. Which was so sad because I got to see some AMAZING costumes while working the front. Such as the family where the father dressed up as the joker and his wife and 4 daughters were all variations of Harley Quinn. They were adorable!

When I was off duty the first day I just walked around a bit but I worked until close so I didn’t see much. But after my shift on Saturday, I changed into a basic Beetlejuice outfit and got going!

First up? Adam West and Burt Ward did a Q&A panel and they were hilarious!

They retold stories of set mishaps and how many different ways Burt got injured. It was a roaring good time. The only stumper of a question was “What is your favorite ice cream?”.

After that I decided to hit the floor and see who all was around.

People put a lot of time and money into their cosplays and I respect each of them so much. It is so cool to see the creativity abound in these conventions. Everything from gender swaps to steampunk versions of your favorite characters.

There were some other panels I went to on Saturday and Sunday (Karl Urban is a gentleman and a star and should keep the scruffy look) but many of them requested no photography. And we respect that.

I did a little shopping before my highlight of the con.

I was going to meet and get a picture with Matthew Lewis. For those of you who don’t know who that is, he plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies. He is one of my favorite characters from the books as he gets a ton of character development and is the unsung hero. It helps that Matt got incredible attractive following the movies.

When I went up for my picture, I wanted to do something clever. Something different than all the basic pictures. So as I approached him, I asked if we could actually not smile in the picture and stand back to back. He grinned and said sure. And we did our best.

Goodbye world. I’m satisfied now.

There was a beautiful day in early April so decided to get outside and check out a local area of the Potomac. It’s called Great Falls and it’s due to the nature of waterfalls. When we arrived, we noticed just how busy it was and since Wickett was there, it was hard to get to all the sights.

We headed towards the main attraction of the park, the big falls.

Nature is truly so beautiful to behold sometimes.

And naturally I got a great picture with Wickett too!

I know that everyone says as a grad student you don’t really get a spring break, at least not like you get in your undergrad. But I was able to get a few days off to head north to New York City to visit a very good friend. We had lots of fun adventures which I will retell (some of) the tales.

The first night I was there it was Saint Patrick’s Day. So we went out and grabbed some beer in a kind of dirty bar (these are my favorite places). Following this we went to a burlesque show so obviously I can’t share those photos…

The following day we went for a walk around some galleries. They were so interesting, I need to walk through galleries more often. We even saw Zachary Quinto and his boyfriend Miles walking around! I almost tried to take a sneaky picture but he was out shopping and I didn’t want to be a bother. I just got hot and hyperventilated instead.

So what else did we do? Went to the Brooklyn Brewery. If you’re ever looking for something to do I would highly recommend it. You have to get there early because you cannot buy tour tickets ahead of time and a line will definitely form. But also, make sure you have breakfast or lunch because otherwise you’re bound to get drunk!

Then we took the ferry around Ellis Island and saw the Statue of Liberty. I had never seen it before so it was very exciting to me.

Overall, I’d call it a fabulous trip for me! Spring Break 2016 was a success!