doing DC: cheering on the nationals

Coming from Ohio, I sort of know a thing or two about baseball. I mean, it is only where it all started...under technicalities, but who's going there? 

Anyway, thanks to those ten salaried players of the Cincinnati Red Stockings back in 1869, this girl grew up in a baseball loving family, in a state of baseball loving fans. Sure, we don't get along with the Indians fans up North in Cleveland, but that's a different story.

As a child I vividly remember attending games on the River - I was usually freezing, it always rained, and the Reds always lost. I even missed the big hitter of the time, Ken Griffey Jr.actually hit a ball for once, while getting Dippin' Dots. Let's just say I didn't have great luck at ball fields in Ohio. Even when we would go to the local minor league team, the Dayton Dragons it would literally POUR down rain. Pour. Every single time without fail.

You can see why I would be excited to go to a Nationals game here, but hesitant at the same time. However, my hesitation hasn't kept me from trying to earn redemption on the diamond. Maybe it's the team, maybe it's the players, or maybe my luck has turned around; I don't know what's changed, but going to a Nats game has become a top priority on fun things to do. I mean, just look at those cute presidents doing their run!

Last week I randomly had Wednesday off and decided to head into the city. The humidity had finally abated so the 90 degree weather didn't feel like 105 degrees so it was a perfect day to walk around. Hopping on the Metro, I was met with several people in the full Nats regalia and one Mets fan (loser). Fully expecting a night game, I was surprised to find out that it was starting in 20 minutes. With nothing better to do, I bought a ticket seven rows back from 3rd base and went to the game.

It took us nearly the whole game to get into it, but at the bottom of the 8th, down 3-1, we tied it up and then got the go-ahead score 4-3. It was exciting to say the least!

Getting to the ball park is seriously easy and pretty much hassle free if you're near a metro. Just take the Green line to Navy Yard-Ballpark. It cost me $3.60 to get to the ballpark from my stop all the way on the Silver Line - way less than any parking garage anywhere in the area. It definitely takes the sting off the cost of everything else INSIDE the stadium!



*All photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone

doing DC: botanical gardens at Christmas

When thinking of things to do in DC at Christmas, there's several that tops the list. Ice skating on the mall, the big lit Christmas trees at the White House and Capitol, theater performances...the list goes on. One place that doesn't immediately make that list, but totally should, is the National Botanical Gardens. 

My friend and I were in search of refuge from the rain on Saturday when we happened upon the gardens. She had never been inside before, so we popped in to dry off and were totally blown away at the displays inside. Each of the big name monuments was recreated using plants. It was like a mix between a gingerbread display and the Rose parade in Pasadena. 

More than 70 plants were used in the recreations, while there were five commonly used materials - pine cone scales, willows, screw pods, grapevine tendrils and acorn caps. They covered an acrylic-based foam with resin window cutouts and obviously took a LOT of time to create. They note that the Capitol took over 600 hours. Let's just break that down for a second....that's 25 days. That's almost a month. For one of these. Are you ready to be awed? 

 The White House

 Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

 Smithsonian Castle

 Washington Monument

 Botanical Gardens

 Capitol Building

 Library of Congress - Jefferson Building

 Supreme Court

Isn't that view breathtaking? It made me want to watch Frosty the Snowman...even though this would be the last place he should be. Karen on the other hand - boy that girl was a wreck! 

*All photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone

my best friend ELF weekend in dc

You may be asking "What exactly is this ELF in DC weekend you were instagraming, Sarah?" Well I shall tell you! You know when Buddy calls his dad and has a whole list of things to do? 

Etsy

"Ahhhhhhh now I know what you're talking about!" You're saying. I knew I only had one weekend in DC before going home for a well deserved Christmas holiday, so my very best friend that I've known since middle school came up to visit and we did a DC Christmas ELF in the city weekend. So we didn't make snow angels, eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough, or snuggle we did live life the Buddy way. 

We saw some Christmas trees...

 I refuse to show the White House tree because it was even more pathetic than the Capitol tree.

We saw some statues with buildings all decorated.

 Took our typical George selfie.

Saw the monuments recreated using plants

 Another view of the Capitol tree

 Ice skated at the sculpture garden...

And finally....saw Santa on the Mall before getting on the metro. 

I think Buddy would have been proud. 

*All photos besides the first taken by me with my trusty iPhone

friends weekend in the city

Hi! Are you out there? I guess I haven't been the best at actually staying on top of this space, but it was a long 14 days straight of working. Thankfully, it all ended with a fantastic weekend with two of my best friends. Now, I'm laid up in bed sick today, catching up on television wishing it was still the weekend!

Since we're from Ohio, it was basically mandatory that we don our scarlet and gray and cheer on the Buckeyes this weekend in Maryland. Let me just say, it was a great day to welcome the Terps to the Big Ten. Well, great for us anyway.

The picture that actually made it to the OSU Athletic's official Facebook page

We had great seats to watch Ohio State easily win 52-24 and met some great Buckeye fans in the process. 

Among the highlights of the day those has to be  of our third string quarterback straight up hurdling a Maryland player on a 17 yard run. It happened right in front of us and my only regret is that I don't have the power to rewind real-time and video tape it. It was that awesome. Thankfully though there's Vine and other people who got it on television. Let's just say that Cardale Jones found some flubber for his shoes for this move. 

Maryland was a beautiful campus...and that's about where I'll leave it when speaking about Terp town because my mom always taught me if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say it at all. Okay well I will say this - for any Maryland fans that plan on going to Ohio next year for the game, I probably wouldn't shout "special ed" when we do an O-H-I-O chant around the stadium. It's rude, insensitive, and just down right moronic. Just because we beat you doesn't mean you have to devolve to that form of human when we rightfully claim our spot on your stadium. Or then mockingly ask a parking attendant if it's okay to run us over as you leave the parking garage. Let's just say it felt pretty good to beat you after all of that. 

Anyway, after a great win on a beautiful day, we headed off to my favorite town, Annapolis for the night. 

My favorite boutique, Brown Eyed Girl, quoting one of my favorite shows as a teen - One Tree Hill

 I will never, ever, EVER tire of this view

After a quick change in the car (Ohio State beat Navy in the first game of the season) we walked around town and ended up at my favorite tea salon, the Reynolds Tavern - a place I will fully detail soon...ish, and then at Acme Bar - apparently the place a lot of Navy kids hang out at to watch football. I think it perfectly summed us up, a spot of ladylike tea and then beers at a rowdy bar surrounded by TVs with football. 

The downside was about ten minutes after being in the car on the way to Annapolis, my throat started to hurt and I got a raging headache with no medicine to take. Then it just spiraled down into a full blown sinus infection. My body was apparently not on the same page my social life was on. 

Even though I felt terrible Sunday, there was no time to rest! Everyone was leaving that night so we squeezed in some time in the city. 

 Friends who selfie with presidents together, stay friends forever

First we spent some time in my favorite museum, the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum. They have a great new mini series of portraits of famous people during the 60s - if only you could take pictures! I've found my new favorite portrait. It's of Julie Andrews by John Koch and it really is practically perfect in every way. 

 Then we went over to the National Gallery of Art to catch the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in America - the Ginevra de' Benci. I still don't know how I've been there twice and missed this, but that's why you bring an art major with you to museums. You learn all kinds of things! 

With me fading quickly and my throat aching, we made a pit stop to Pitango's gelato shop. Amanda wanted ice cream all weekend, Anne found it on Urban Spoon, and I savored it as all meds failed. It was a great team effort! By the way, the black tea paired with milk and honey gelato is heaven. 

We had time for one last place and headed off to Ford's Theater and the house where Lincoln died, something I haven't done yet and then it was sadly time to drop Anne off at Union Station so she could get back to Philly. 

It was a great weekend full of laughs and great times and I only wish it had been longer and that my other Ohio friends could have made it! Even though we may be in different places now, I know I'll always have amazing friends, whether we be together or apart. 

*All photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone - except the Vine video

doing DC: Smithsonian national museum of natural history

When I first moved here, I went around visiting all the Smithsonians - what's better than free museums? The National Museum of Natural History is a great place to see all kinds of dead animals. Sorry did that come out wrong? Well...I'm not sure there's a better way to put that...I mean, take a look for yourself:

 

And then there's a bunch of bones...Ross Gellar would love this museum.

 The megalodon could basically swallow me whole. And by basically I mean it could.

Rhino bones

And then there's my favorite part of the museum - the rock collection. It's pretty extensive...

The famous Hope Diamond. I'm actually not as impressed as I thought I should be.

But then you get to this super weird part about mummies...yeah we get straight up dead bodies going on at this museum. I'm not even going to show you those pictures because they give me the creeps looking at them. 

On a whole, the Natural History Museum is full of great exhibits to explore. On a good day, you can also walk by the live exhibit going on of the Smithsonian team getting a new T-Rex ready for 2019. So far, I've yet to see anything cool going on, but technically you should be able to see them working. 

Getting there is incredibly easy. You take the Orange/Blue/Silver line to the Smithsonian stop. Once you're on the mall, look right to your left for the big domed building. It's open daily from 10a.m. to 5:30p.m. Taxidermy lovers will really appreciate the work here. 

*All photos taken with my trusty iPhone

doing DC: the U.S. botanic garden

Did you know you could visit the jungle, desert and view 5,000 types of orchids all in one day at one place in the Capitol? D.C.'s really great for things like that, and a trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden just outside of the Capitol building can bring you all of that and more.

Growing up I watched my mom spend hours and hours every weekend and nights after work in the summer playing in her flowers. Although I haven't quiet yet acquired the same appreciation for dirt under the finger nails and sweating through a shirt in the blazing sun (read - not at all) I have gained an appreciation for beautiful flowers and the talent it takes to grow them and nurture them into living.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my time there sending pictures to my mom saying "Next time you come we have to come here because you'll love it!"

Getting to the Garden is easy. Take the Orange/Silver/Blue line to Federal Central SW metro stop and follow it along Third Street SW for two blocks, cross Independence Avenue and continue one more block to Maryland Avenue. Look toward the Capitol and you will see the glass dome of the Conservatory. The Conservatory entrance is on Maryland Avenue. The Conservatory is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. while the National Garden (the outside part of the Conservatory) is open until 7 p.m.. 

*all images taken by me with my trusty iPhone