Day 2: What I wore today

7:00 a.m. - Jammies                      8:30 a.m.- To the Gym                  10:30 a.m. - Normal Clothes

30 Day Picture Challenge - Day 1: Self-Portrait

 

Hi my name is Allison and I have been a slacker.

I feel like I don't blog anymore and my poor camera . . . feels so un-loved.

So I have set out to fix that problem with a 30 day picture challenge.

 

Day 1: Self-portrait

 

Apparently I'm supposed to introduce myself.

My name is Allison . . .

I hate pictures of myself. ha. kind of ironic for this first challenge.

I took about 60 pictures trying to not act awkward so I decided to hide behind my camera.

 I'm about to graduate with my degree in Marriage and Family Therapy

I have a fantabulous hubs. We have been married almost 5 years.

We live in Cleveland where Boyd is in his 4th year of Podiatry school.

We don't have kids. I work with kids. We want kids.

 Can't wait to have them so I have cute things to take pictures of.

That is about it.  

Ford Museum

 This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Henry Ford Museum up in Dearborn, Michigan. It was a lot of fun. The museum was very well done and we had a blast hanging out with Carrie and her girls.

  "I'm a hot dog!" "EAT ME!" 

Em especially wanted Boyd to come eat her. 

Her exact words were "Allison, will you take a picture of Boyd eating me" 

 I love cool cars

 I love that coral (the color) is becoming popular again. I love this color. 

I took a picture of this VW just because I liked the color. 

So . . . 

I have this thing for Corvettes

I love them

 A Lot

The museum also had a fun collection of racing cars

 including this beauty. The Goldenrod . . .

Seriously love these girls. They are so much fun.

 The museum had other cool things like furniture, lighting, stoves, you name it.

 (Check out the flash in the middle camera.)

I love the progression of the camera.

 This is Abe Lincoln's Chair 

(yes, the chair from the Ford Theater)

 BIG TRAINS!

 This train looks like a bunch of stage coaches  ha. 

One thing I really enjoyed about the museum was the "kid friendly" aspect. 

This is a play garage where you can pretend to fix cars.

You can even climb inside the car

 

Boyd especially loved the paper airplane activity. 

They give you instructions on how to build a paper plane and then you get to fly it!

haha. 

 Thanks for the fun Carrie!

Washington D.C.: Lost

Have you ever been to Washington D.C.? 

Have you ever been lost? 

Story of our whole trip!

Our dang GPS would tell us to turn right, however it when we went to turn right there were too many options like right-straight, slight-right, right-right, and right-right almost turn around. AHH!

We got sooooo lost so many times it was insane. 

BUT

Because we got lost we found Ewagema.
Boyd has always wanted to go to Ewagema. 

When we got there the walk just wasn't worth it. 

Saturday morning we were driving around and missed our turn and some how ended up back on the highway. Boyd was trying to figure out a way to turn around when we saw a sign for Ewagema! It was a miracle. Maybe we were supposed to get lost. We talked to Boyd's dad later on and asked why they never went to Ewagema. He said that he couldn't ever find it. Haha.

 It was a lot bigger than I imagined.

Next we revisited Abe in the day time. He is still super cool.

 Since we still had our AWESOME bikes we rode up to the Botanical gardens.

Then we rode to the Capital. 

I was putting the camera in the bag and still had my finger on the shutter. 

Then we rode to the Library of Congress. It was fantastic on the inside. 

 Our last pit stop was a drive by cathedral shot.

The end. 

We had a ton of fun. 

I'm sure glad we were able to squeeze this trip in.

Washington D.C. : Best $14 I have ever spent

Hands down the best $14 I have ever spent involves renting a bike. 

Seriously? You bet! 

Washington D.C is big. As in painfully, limping, whiny pants, I didn't want to walk anymore, big. Everybody warned us that we would be doing a lot of walking. Boy, I should have believed them. I have never walked so much in my entire life! I even wore really good shoes. At the end of the day we were both so tired and sore we could hardly crawl into bed.  Thank goodness for this "capital bikeshare" thing. You pay a $7 rental fee for 24 hours. It's "free" for 30 minutes and then $2 for 30-60 minutes. You just check in your bike to these nifty stations and go on your way. We rode these bikes ALL OVER. (literally. Do you see that map behind me? we pretty much covered the whole thing)
At first we tried to get away with just one bike. I think they purposely put the pedals under the seat so two people can't ride a the same time. Lame. At that point I didn't really care so we ended up getting two. Still totally worth the $14. 

 I look like a dork but I love these bikes so much.

You know the phrase "it's like riding a bike"

Well, I haven't ridden a bike since I was 12. 

It was hard. Pushing off. Peddling without wobbling. Trying not to be scared of the cars zooming by you. Peddling fast enough to keep up with Boyd without your bike rattling. Stopping. Eventually I got the hang of riding but it was quite the sight when I first got on. Boyd was pretty fearless when he started copying the "regular commuters." He would pick a person (wearing appropriate biking attire, with an appropriate bike - not a bikeshare) and follow them. He soon realized I just couldn't keep up when I got left behind at a stoplight. woops.

I realized that these bikes saved my life when we rode past a group of people walking. I overheard a girl saying "OH, I wish I had a bike, my feet are killing me" 

HA HA. (seriously, I laughed out loud and yelled "it's totally worth it" back at her) 

Washington D.C. : Day 3

 Our day started out at Jefferson. 

It was close to where we parked. 

Word to the wise: Free parking south of the Mall, near Jefferson. 

Next we went to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

If you are ever in D.C. I highly suggest going here. 

It was really fascinating and fun.

We got a sneak peek at the new $100 note.

We saw what $40,000,000 looks like in a stack. 

Apparently I'm only worth $1,444,600 in $100 notes

Boyd is worth much more. 

 

I'm a total sucker and purchased a $1 note for $5. 

It was "lucky money"

2013 is the year of the snake, also my year. I couldn't resist. 

I look so Asian. Wait, I am so Asian.

 Ahh, we finally got a picture in front of the Washington monument when it wasn't dark.

Next, we were off to the Natural History Museum. 

 This is Boyd's "dinosaur" face. 

One of my absolute favorite parts of D.C. was the gem exhibit. 

WOW!

That topaz is 22,892.5 carats. 

Let me repeat that

twenty two THOUSAND eight Hundred Carats!

 I spent quite some time in this room. It was simply fantastic!

After the natural history museum we were exhausted. 

I wanted to see the white house 

 I didn't have the energy to walk there  

didn't want to spend the money for the metro ride there and back

didn't way to pay for a taxi or rickshaw

Didn't know what to do. . . 

I'll post later on about how we got there. 

But we made it to the white house!

(at least the back of it)

Still completely exhausted we made it to Lincoln that evening. 

On the way back to the car we spotted this guy. I don't remember who he was. Anyone? 

I'm glad Boyd lets me take funny pictures of him next to strange statues.