Exploring the West

Before I started my current job, I had never been to the West Coast. (I always joked the farthest West I'd gone was Iowa, and that it didn't really count!) Lucky for me, in the year and a half I've worked at my job, I've been sent out on two business trips to the West!

The first trip was great, but I only went out a day early to do some exploring in San Francisco and then was in Pleasanton attending meetings for the rest of the trip. The trip I just got back from a couple of weeks ago I was able to go to Seattle and Salt Lake City on business and then decided to have a fun weekend in San Diego with a friend!

It's definitely a toss up between Seattle and San Diego as to which was my favorite city. I loved Seattle because it was beautiful and walkable. I also got to spend a lot of time on boats during my trip thanks to my wonderful friend (and coworker). I was able to attend the Pink Boat Regatta on my last day in the city and it was incredible -- so much pink, boats, and love for breast cancer research!

I also spent a fair amount of time at Pike Market which was amazing and the food all over the city was unbelievable.

I loved San Diego because of the weather and the beach with mountains surrounding it! I also couldn't get over the cacti and succulents everywhere.

I also had the best tour guide around, who also knows all the great food spots. I definitely ate well the entire trip! Also, did you know that real tortillas are so much better than flour? I never knew!

I don't have many pictures from Salt Lake City, but it was also such an interesting place. I saw the Salt Lake City Temple for the LDS Church, drank a beer named the Polygamy Porter, and saw a indie film at a theater associated with Sundance. Everywhere I went in the valley, it was like the mountains followed us too. I want to go back someday to ski because I saw ski resort signs everywhere!

It was such a great trip and I feel so blessed that I was able to travel to three places that I've never been before to both work and play! Have you ever visited Seattle, Salt lake City or San Diego?

A Day in the City

Daniel and I traveled to NYC on Saturday for a day trip. We had the chance to go because of our work offering bus tickets into the city for $25 round trip. I loved the city my previous two times visiting and knew I couldn't pass up a deal like that so I bought us tickets.

It was about a two hour drive into the city. It's still odd for me to think that I live that close! We got to the city around 11:30 and stayed until 7 pm. Besides the fact that it started raining around noon and didn't stop even when we left, we had a delightful day.

Our NYC day in a nutshell:

First we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I don't have any pictures from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum out of respect because it just didn't feel right to publicize what I was witnessing in the museum. Hearing the voice recordings from that day and seeing artifacts from the buildings brought me to tears. The Memorial and Museum were so well done and so respectful. It really just made the attacks of that day seem so much more unreal.

On our way to and from the Memorial and Museum, we wandered around NYC on the streets and subways. We wound up at this little hole in the wall Falafel restaurant that Daniel found on google. It was so small it only had enough space to order! It was delicious though.

Christmas trees for sell NYC style -- on the side of the street!

We also got to see the famous tree in Rockefeller Center. It was raining so we didn't get a good picture together but the tree itself was breathtaking. Probably the only thing I've scene in NYC that the movies didn't lie about in size!

(Wizards of Waverly Place, anyone? Daniel didn't get it)

Radio City Music Hall and Time Square were both really packed areas and the umbrellas didn't help the chaos of people. We played a lot of umbrella wars.

Chrysler Building looking awesome against the rainy sky.

I wanted to find a pastry shop so badly. I had my heart set on Magnolia Bakery, but it was packed, so we googled some places and found Paris Baguette. It was delicious! Daniel and I ate the macarons (each for the first time!) on the bus ride home after having our delicious bento boxes.

Overall we had a wonderful wet day. At the end of it I was sufficiently soaked (you can just see the water on my face above!) but extremely happy. I hope we can find some way to make a trip back soon especially since it's so close!

Traveling to Washington, D.C.

After all the craziness that ensued after Spring Break, I finally have a breather to post about my Spring Break!

Contrary to what all my peers did in the search for some heat and sunlight, I traveled north for my break. I wound up visiting two states (Pennsylvania and Maryland) and getting the chance to visit D.C.--the perks of the north!

I visited D.C. the first time in 2001 and I was 7 years old. I didn't fully grasp the idea of the Capitol and I didn't understand a lot of the historical significance of the city--I mean c'mon I was 7!

This time Daniel and I tried to hit every spot I visited before along with a few extras like museums and such. There was so much to do, we still didn't have time to do everything!

Here's some of the best photos from our trip! We wound up taking a lot of selfies because neither one of us wanted to ask a stranger to take a picture of us together.

 Beautiful metal tree in a sculpture garden right outside of the Archives Metro station.

We rode the Metro all over D.C. because we got a day pass. It was a great decision because it saved us a lot of walking!

Silly little narwhal sculpture inside one of the Smithsonian museums. 

The Capitol Building was gorgeous from this vantage point. 

White House Selfie! 

While Daniel was at work all week I binged watched Bob's Burgers so we had to get Five Guys for lunch. 

Air and Space Museum! So many exhibits. We wound up not finishing them all. Also look, alchemical symbols!

Lots of selfies with me making weird faces, mostly because I knew I was bothering him by wanting to take them. The top photo and bottom left are of us walking by the reflecting pool which was closed. So unfortunate.

 Lincoln Memorial--There are so many steps up to this memorial that I had forgotten about. There were also people everywhere! It was so packed.

Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool--both of which were sadly under construction. The monument was being worked on the last time I was in D.C., so it's almost like it's never been fully fixed!

We visited Einstein's Memorial because we are nerds. We also new the equations listed on his workbook. Yay science!

When the day of D.C. was finally over, I ate dinner with Daniel's family at this amazing pasta place in Maryland. And the next day was my flight back home. Below is a picture of what Atlanta looked like flying into Hartsfield-Jackson.

Providence, RI

Over the weekend I attended the annual Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) Living-Learning Program Conference. 

The program guide and my nifty presenter name-badge.

I was one of a handful of lucky undergraduates who got to attend. As an undergrad I was also lucky enough to co-present a session on how to market a living learning community based on my experience helping recruit members to our program in the spring. It was an amazing experience.

The best compliment I got on the evaluation cards. I got a lot of love from them!

It was awesome getting called professional and well-spoken as an undergrad. The comment above isn't the only I got that was super positive about me. I just feel like bragging here a little because it's exceptionally cool that I got to present as an undergrad at this conference and that people loved it. We had people coming up to us the next day saying they loved us or that we were very helpful to them. There's a competition at the conference to be the best presentation because the best will be invited to speak at the National ACUHO-I conference in D.C. next summer. I think we are at least in the running which is amazing. And either way, we helped people with their own programs.

     View from my isle seat.                    New York and Boston signs. Take me to both!!

     Welcome to Rhode Island--the smallest place ever.

Traveling to Rhode Island was easy and fun. I like and dislike flying at the same time because I enjoy flying itself but I dislike not having control. We got a rental car at the airport and drove to the hotel. We passed a lot of signs saying New York and Boston. I got so excited because that meant they were close!

View from my bed of downtown Providence, RI.

Coffee delivered to my room each morning. It was delicious!

For the conference we stayed in the Omni Hotel in downtown Providence. It was an absolutely beautiful hotel. I slept like a rock both nights, despite the fact that I had to wake up before 8 am (way out of the norm for me). It was certainly an experience having a hotel room to myself for the first time. I realized it was the first time, in a very long time, that I had truly been alone. What an amazing realization!

Providence is beautiful. Look at these cute little New England stye houses!

The First Baptist Church.

Of course, while in Providence I had to tour the sites. I'd never been up so far North before so the New England-style was quite charming to me. I also got to visit the First Baptist Church in the United States (founded in 1638, built in 1775).

Sampler at Union Station Brewery. The beers were:

The nightlife consisted mostly of visiting local craft beer breweries. I had some interesting beer this weekend. My favorite brewery was Union Station because I had their sampler one night. They had this really tasty Starbucks Coffee brew. I also loved a cask-Maple Bacon Oktoberfest beer from them! Saturday night we also attended WaterFire which is an interesting experience. Basically they light a bunch of bonfires in the river. And just let them burn. It made a very pretty visual and made the city smell amazing with the smoke of 100 or so bonfires.

WaterFire in Providence.

My hotel was also attached to a mall so I did a good bit of shopping while there. I didn't even have to walk outside to get to it! There were stores like Madewell, J. Crew, Loft, Crate and Barrel, Papyrus, along with the classics like Macy's and JCPenney. I bought the most beautiful shoes ever at the DSW there. They are hand worn leather oxfords and even though I'm still in the process of breaking them in... I'm in love.

My beautiful Oxfords!

The plane ride home was an interesting one. Our plane got caught up in Tropical Storm Karen. I've never been so stressed or scared on a plane ride in my life. Lightening and rain and clouds... OH MY! Luckily we made it out safely. My boyfriend was tracking my flight and sent me this picture after we landed.

Scary red blob of storm. 

But to say I had a great time would be an understatement. I feel so blessed for getting the opportunity to go and present at the conference. I had such a great time getting to know more about the people I work with as a student assistant. It was an amazing weekend and I can't believe that it all happened in just a weekend.

-Kelly