Happy Birthday Emily!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Today is my sister Emily's 28th birthday! Let me tell you a little about Emily... She is easily one of the most talented people I have ever met. She is great at EVERYTHING she does. She runs marathons, she's a genius - she goes to Law School (is on law review and getting a paper published), she is a very hard worker, runs a restaurant with Josh, has a great sense of humor, loves animals, is creative, likes to travel, is close to her family, always looks beautiful, is generous and kind hearted, is incredibly ambitious and overall a wonderful person.

These photos span about 2 decades - from little kids to grownups, multiple hair colors and a small sample of the many fun times we've had together..

Back in the day when Emily used to be taller than me

Santa! We all have identical hair color and all have brown eyes except for Jake.

This is the weirdest picture of us ever, but makes me laugh every single time.

Us at the beach. And that is definitely not Grayson in the picture - he might not have even been born yet at this point.

Sisters in Alaska circa 2001

Visiting Utah when I was a senior in high school

All I remember is that something very silly involving acting like a bee happened before this picture was taken.

At Amy's for family dinner

In Hawaii a few years ago

Being weirdos in the airport

My 20th birthday

Emily and her husband Josh visiting me at my apartment (or as Josh referred to it "a half-way house") in college

Some of the fam

Jazz Game

Haunted House

Pizza Factory of course! Had to throw in one of these pictures. Emily always was so generous in letting us eat the best food ever there for free.

Happy birthday Emily!

New Desk

The littlest things really can make the biggest difference. I just got to move to a new desk at work and I can't even believe what a difference it's made. It's only about 20 feet away from where I used to sit, but now I'm sitting next to big windows with a lot more space. Only a handful of people in this office get to sit near a window so I feel pretty lucky. Already people walking by have told me, "That spot is clutch" and "You've got some prime real estate LG" and I think they're right. I'm here 10+ hours a day (4 days a week) so I spend more time in this spot than just about anywhere else. All of this sunlight and room has made me enjoy work about 10 times more than before. Plus, I get to spy on the crazy people walking around outside in Chinatown - it's great.

I feel like I should bring in a few decorations to spice it up a little since it's pretty empty, but I've only been in this spot a day so I'll start working on that after I finish getting set up.

EU Embassies

This weekend the EU Embassies in DC opened their doors to the public, just like Passport DC last year, which is always fun. Mary, Whitney, Tom and I went and checked out Great Britain, Denmark and Italy's embassies. The UK was definitely my favorite because they went all out compared to the others and because I just adore England.

We started off at Great Britain and were greeted with London totes and Whitney spotted a few very attractive men. Then, as Mary said, we took the ol' girl for a spin.

How great is it that they have a telephone booth (or box as they called it) there!?

I love royalty

Picture with the Queen!

Why can't the rest of DC have grass this beautiful!? The embassy did a great job of making the yards look like an English garden

Roomies

We weren't allowed to go inside, but it looks gorgeous from what I can tell.

"Mind Your Step" - so British, I love it.

Italy had some seriously sweet cars on display such as this Viper.

So Denmark is the new Disneyland? Sorry Denmark, I'm not so sure.

Bikes and legos were the biggest themes at the Denmark embassy. I really love that they had a picture combining the two together.

Passport Weekend

So this post is actually from a year ago. Yes, you read that correctly. But it seems appropriate to finally post it now since these events are happening all over again. Last year Haley and I went to Passport DC which is a weekend where most of the Embassies open their doors and let people take tours, meet ambassadors, eat food and learn a little more about the culture of that country.

We visited Iraq, Japan and Nepal's embassies. I love living in DC for reasons like this. I'd never been to embassy prior to this event.

They even stamp your "passport" which I thought was cute.

My favorite Embassy was Iraq because we actually got to meet and take a picture with the ambassador and his wife. Both were incredibly friendly and charming.

Had my name written in Arabic. I know its correct because when we met the ambassador he looked at it and then said my name in English.

This little girl at the Nepal embassy and was the cutest thing ever.

Next up was Japan for Haley since she loves Japan.

Origami of course. I love origami. Most embassies displayed items or served that represented their country.

Japan also showed some invention demonstrations such as the one below.

This year's post is coming soon!

When in DC Tumblr

This tumblr cracks me up! If you've ever lived in DC I'm sure you will be able to appreciate some of these. Here are links to my favorite posts.

One. This is so true. The price differences between rent in Utah and rent in DC is staggering. I'm still getting over the shock.

Two. It's funny how the smallest things can you make so happy when it comes to the metro.

Three. I've gotten pretty good with the acronyms around here, but I still get annoyed when people through around the obscure ones and acts like other people just supposed to know.

Four. I'm just happy when the station is playing recognizable songs.

Five. Easily one of my biggest pet peeves ever. When I'm trying to catch my train and tourists are hogging up the entire escalator delaying everyone behind them...don't even get me started.

Six. This has never happened to me, but if it did that'd definitely be my reaction.

Seven. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eight. SO TRUE. One of my first driving experiences in the district led me here and it was pretty scary. Mom was with me and we didn't know what we were doing, but somehow managed to make it out in one piece during rush hour.

Nine. True that. Reagan has spoiled me with its convenience. I would almost rather pay more for a flight then have to find a way to get to Dulles.

Ten. Once again, it's amazing how happy the little things make you when it comes to the metro. For the most part it's really clean, fast and reliable.

This Weekend

I love love love that Spring is here! The weather is just right (when it's not raining) and I just want to be outside all the time. This weekend was pretty busy - took care of a few errands that have been on my to-do list for a while and also had fun doing the following...

Late night ice cream at Chick-fil-a. Court and Tom got the "first" rootbeer float there, otherwise known as rootbeer squirt. (Too much ice cream, not enough rootbeer.)

Went out to dinner and I apparently REALLY like potatoes since that's what my entire meal consisted of.

Played a little croquet at the mall.

Got a great present in the mail from Thailand :)

Celebrated Cinco De Mayo but eating at La Loma. My roommate, Whitney, is the one who introduced it to us and I HIGHLY recommend it. Standard Mexican food usually tastes pretty much the same to me regardless of where I go, but the chicken here had the most unique and delicious flavor. Everything tasted fresh and was overall just very, very good. Also, they're virgin pina coladas are great too. Definitely worth going to.

Had a delicious BBQ out on the porch. Watched Thor afterwards.

Overall, it was a great weekend in DC. Wishing it were almost Friday again.

Picture Catch Up

I have about 19 million blog posts that are half written sitting in my drafts box. It's really getting ridiculous. So in an effort to post SOMETHING today, I'm assembling a very random group of pictures that I've taken in the past few months (read: year) and getting them up here on the blog.

At beautiful Amber's wedding reception! The four of us on the left were all roommates and Jessica on the right lived just down the hall from us.

Homemade Crème brûlée. #FTW (for the win, people) I really like the boxed version from World Market.

At Matchbox pizza with Karli and two friends from high school.

Former roommies. I can't remember why we decided to take pictures at church. But I wish my hair were that blonde right now.

Only in DC are parking lots metered. What.the.heck. This is technically just outside of DC in Maryland, but still.

Georgetown is so beautiful. It would be so amazing to live in a row house in that area.

The original LG at work

Me and G!

Brandon and friends in DC for an overnight layover on their way to the Bahamas! So jealous I couldn't go too.

Doodles...missing California

Everyone in DC wears their work clothes with sneakers on the metro. It's so funny looking.

At a work party last year I had this caricature drawn of me. I didn't tell them what to do, he just started drawing away and I ended up with shopping bags heading towards a sale haha.