coming home (via pioneer woman)

i saw these "coming home" images on pioneer woman and just loved them. happy memorial day coming up. i'm looking forward to being in dc for the holiday. the first image of the series with the newborn is so beautiful!)

skyperhooey

molly darling

pictures of philadelphia + valley forge.

please don't let these pictures be my only memory of philadelphia. for it was a delightful vacation with an unreliable camera. (luckily, my generous sister emily sent me her old camera and it works beautifully. i love it.) but last weekend we took a trip to valley forge and philadelphia. i liked philadelphia.

martha washington's china cabinet.

at Valley Forge. when we went to Valley Forge we went inside Washington's headquarters/home there. I loved the coloring in this little cabinet. I'm guessing it's not authentic. but what if it was?

a pretty package.

i got a pretty little package from ariel yesterday. i was so excited about it.

i can't wait to see what the wedding will be!

dc temple.

me and talyn. i'm really grateful she decided to come at the last minute

i really love this picture. me. people...teddy. robert. david.

because I heard it was pretty rare that young adults get to go to the temple to do baptisms, I was really excited that our ward was going last week. I couldn't believe how beautiful the DC temple is! the guy who gave us a ride even offered to take us on the east beltway to get the amazing view from faraway. it was spectacular. what if I got married in this temple? that'd be fun huh?

eastern market.

eastern market. camera = unreliable.

kailey + me.

our new DC friend, Katie, came with us to the Eastern Market, which is essentially a giant farmers market/flea market. I think I loved it the most. I love being outside with all those artists and farmers and crafters. the flea market had a few stands that I just loved including vintage linens and old maps. I really want something from both of them.

Katie and Kailey became friends with this little puppy on the right. his owner was the brother of this Indian man, Nandu. as I was talking with him I found out he was from Chennai and his wife was from Bangalore--which is about as close as it gets to where I was living in India last summer. it was so great to talk with him.

it seems almost every moment I find myself drawing parallels between India and DC. I'm not sure if it's just the traveling part, the being away from home, the city-life, or what. but I miss India more than ever and am talking about it constantly. I'm so sorry for all my Barlow Center comrades who have to hear me blab about it. Molly is going back for graduation! I'm eternally jealous. I am hoping to make it back to India soon.

Nandu was so kind and humble and talking with him put me in a funny mood--although he's been living in California for 25 years, he is still so Indian. I mean, he was Americanized in many ways, and I was only with him for maybe five minutes. but his essence was humble and warm and just looking in his eyes reminded me of how much I love Indians. he reminded me of the times I would look into the eyes of the children and feel so clearly the love of God. I was reminded last week of the line from Les Mis, "to love another person is to see the face of God." that's how I feel when I look into the eyes of Indians.

after the Eastern Market, we ate at Potbelly, a greasy-sandwich place, but apparently a DC must. it was delicious, and so greasy. after eating we did a little shopping and then went to the National Portrait Gallery and Gallery of American Art.

the museum was so amazing. I loved it. Kailey and I, both American Studies majors, just about died at the paintings and people we are so familiar with. we both regretted that we didn't remember more of it. I remember always wanting to see these paintings in person, and I just started a summer of it. some of the highlights were John Winthrop, Charles Wilson Peale, Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, John Marshall (such a cute little guy!), Gilbert Stuart, Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, George Catlin, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Smith & Brigham Young, Winslow Homer, Clover Adams, Betty Friedan, A. Phillip Randolph, Mary Church Terrell, too many to list!

I loved it. I saw Abbot Thayer's original "Angel" painting and giant print photos of Lincoln. it was breathtaking. I love it.

arlington cemetery on sunday.

the tomb of the unknown soldier:

"here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God."

when I first arrived there, the setting was so peaceful. a little bird lightly landed on the tomb memorial. he flew to the building behind us and started to sing. it was a mourning dove, koo-loo-koo---koo---koo.

I remember Mrs. Howell, my 11th grade US History teacher telling us how remarkable Arlington is, and that you can't see the end of the gravestones. I never grasped that fully, obviously, until I saw the same thing.

russell f. kaliey. russell b. peter. andrea.

"it is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

the national zoo.

was a bust. highlight? the otters. Russell and I were not impressed and only talked about the great zoos we saw in Brazil and India and Mexico. is that unpatriotic?

friday, april 30.

on Fridays, we have class all day from like 8-4 or so. "class" includes 2 or 3 "briefers," or speakers from the DC area who have something neat to share with us. after class, a few of us went down to the waterfront, where I plan to spend a lot of time.

also, my camera is super unreliable and often takes pictures with very light in them. so when I get them into iPhoto I enhance them, and some of them turn into this vintage looking photo. kind of cool, but still wish I had a reliable camera! I guess I'm planning on getting one soon. but for the mean time, here are some photos.

after the waterfront, we met up with a few others to go to Alexandria, VA--just a few metro stops away. it's a beautiful little town and King Street in Alexandria is an intern favorite, complete with old-time shops and restaurants, up-scale shopping and sometimes street performers. we ate at a Moroccan restaurant called "Casa Blanca" (go figure) for a pretty little penny. there was even a belly dancer which was fun. after Casa Blanca we went walking along and found a great crystal-glass player.

it was a lovely day.

mira.

kailey. mira. amy.

kailey.

me + annique on the metro! I love the metro.

me + julie and oliver. they're such a fun married couple slash I want them to adopt me.

amy. kailey. mira. trevor. sweeney = sweenalicious.

this guy was THE BEST! he had like 60 glasses with distilled water in them, and playing beautiful music. he played symphonies and John Williams. it was amazing.

library of congress.

russell. peter.

last week, Peter, Russell and I got our Library of Congress cards. I'm really excited to go there and research a little. I don't think I'll have any clue what I'm doing but...the first thing I'll look for is the original manuscripts of the NAACP meetings in the 1920s.