Birthdays & Friends

A new year has started - at least in my little world. :) I had my 29th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Looking back over my 28th year, I have to say that it was a great year! Full of adventure, new & old friends, and learning. I left on my first travel nursing assignment 2 days after my 28th birthday, and now, I'm a "seasoned" travel nurse (having done it for a year). I'm looking forward to what this year brings into my life as I continue on this journey.

My birthday was a great day. I got to sleep in (very important after working 4 days in a row!!), cleaned a little/did a little laundry, and relaxed - pretty much a "me day"!! :) Since I'm not a huge fan of cake, I decided to make my own birthday concoction of ice cream, fudge sauce, and peanut butter M&M's. (the picture below)

It doesn't look spectacular, but it was YUMMY!!!! :)

Late that night, one of my best friends from Texas flew up here to spend some time visiting our nations capitol. How fun!! To be able to stay up late enough to pick her up from the airport, I drank LOTS of caffeine. So, needless to say, after picking her up, we were both still WIDE AWAKE!! We decided to drive downtown and take some pictures of the monuments all lit up. I drove around and she poked her head out my sun roof or out of her window to snap some pictures. Luckily, there's not much traffic around 2AM downtown!! :)

The Jefferson Memorial

Over the next several days, we proceeded to see most of the sights in Washington, DC . . . much to the dismay of Mandy's tired feet! :) We got to go to the International Spy Museum. I highly recommend this museum (even though it's not free) if you like spy movies/books or mysteries. It's very fun and interactive. My "personality" was Gretta, a German astronomer. :) Being a lover of mysteries, this was probably my favorite thing we did!

Me & Mandy in front of the International Spy Museum

Another day, we rented a paddle boat and played around in the Tidal Basin in front of the Jefferson Memorial. Per Coast Guard regulations, we "got" to wear very cute life vests, which you'll see in the picture below. :) It was a little windy that day, so steering and paddling was a bit of a challenge, but it was VERY fun! Mandy was able to get a few more pictures of the Washington Monument (making the total somewhere near 20) :) while we were out in the water.

Me in the paddle boat in front of the Jefferson Memorial

The last day of tourism, Monday, we got to take a Capitol tour and then went to the Library of Congress. On the short walk from the Capitol exit to the Library of Congress, we passed a woman on the sidewalk trying to feed one of the squirrels running wild there. Amazingly enough, the squirrel bit her instead of taking the food. (shocking, huh?!?) :) The part that blew my mind is that she didn't learn her lesson from this pain and went back for more!!!! As we passed her & her friend, she was leaning down to try again. When we were a little ways down the sidewalk, we heard her yelping again in pain - from what I'm assuming was yet another bite from the squirrel. The phrase that came to my mind was: Bite me once, shame on you; bite me twice, shame on me!! Some fools never learn. :) Anyway, we went on (full of laughter & amazement at some people's stupidity) to the Library of Congress. (Kinda ironic if you think about it - leaving ignorance behind as we enter the Library) This is a GORGEOUS building!! Apparently, I have been there before - a LONG time ago when our family came up here on summer vacation. My focus that trip was counting ALL the stairs we went up and down (totalling around 2000?). :) So, not remembering this building, I was very impressed this time with the detail of the decorations. I read a great book by David Baldacci earlier this year (The Collectors) where one of the main characters worked in the rare books division of the Library of Congress. Because of this, it was especially fun for me to see this building. :)

Inside the main gallery of the Library of Congress

It was a wonderful week catching up with an old friend and seeing the sites of DC. What a fun way to start out the 29th year of my life! I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in the remaining 11 1/2 months of this year. :) Have a wonderful day!