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just a couple random moments and gems for all of you....



spent some time at this place.

grandpa's first selfie!

beach time with my #superbestie.

mom sent me this picture of Raja and said "you should put it on instagram". apparently she wants to be famous.

probably my most proud sister moment.

had a wonderful Fathers Day-spent the morning in Woodbridge attending my dad's Stake Conference. afterwards my parents and i went over to my grandpa's and had lunch, THEN went up to my church meetings because i was accompanying Britt in sacrament meeting. it was a long day, but im so grateful that i got to spend time with my dad and grandpa. also, my hair was massive...i know.

how amazing is this photo? i mean really.

7-11 after the Nats game with Cindy.

God Bless America.

nom nom nom.

last but not least, a blurry photo of the super moon from Sunday. i had to document though, because i went down to the Mall with Caity and David to get a good view.

have a historical day friends!!!

Summer nights.

Y'all know by now that i love this time of year...It's only the end of June and I have already enjoyed numerous summer evening festivities. With more to come, of course.

It was our good friend Matt's birthday a couple weeks ago and he threw a garden party for the occasion, which we hashtagged #GatsbyGardenGala, in honor of Matt's love for "The Great Gatsby". It was enchanting. Also, Caity, Krystale and I all showed up in lace dresses. great minds?

Robyn and I have been wanting to watch the sunset at the Lincoln Memorial, and decided we needed to go before she had her 2nd surgery (#cancersucks). The weather was PERFECT. Love walks down the Mall. Also-I was on the struggle bus trying to take a blowing bubble picture...obviously.

Last weekend the Colonial wards combined with a YSA ward from Ohio to have a "summer soiree" at the Mount Vernon building. I love this building because it sits right on the GW Parkway and has a massive lawn with a view of the Potomac River. Again...another perfect night.

summer. you have my heart.

Jack.

About a year and a half ago, I was stuck in that awful period where I was doing a couple temp jobs but did not have consistent work. I had been out of school for about 7 months and was getting more and more frustrated that I didn't have a job. I had moved up to Arlington and was almost out of savings to pay my high rent and utilities. "Panic" is probably the best word to describe my daily life at this time... Anyway, my family was in California for Gavyn's baby blessing and my dad suggested that maybe I consider nannying. I hadn't really thought about it because I wanted a "real" job-but of course, there were hardly any openings and if there were, they were going to people who had 3-5 years experience. A couple months later, I became a part-time nanny for a cute family with a 4 year old girl and 1 year old twin boys. I also had another part-time job working for an electric vehicle association in DC so I was pretty busy, but I loved the days where I got to go to my nanny job.

Fast forward to June 2012. I was expecting to be offered a full-time position at my job downtown but I had to be let go completely because the budget was being cut. And my nanny job had ended a week earlier, so now I was back to having nothing.  In August I interviewed to be a full-time nanny for a cute family with an 8-month old boy (and massive but sweet 8-year old yellow lab), and started working for them the next month.

I love my job. I'll never forget a couple months ago-I came to work and it was the first time Jack had ever smiled and held out his arms for me when I arrived. There have been a lot of times where it has been really difficult, but recently I have really enjoyed watching Jack grow up. It is so fulfulling to watch him explore the world and take risks and learn how to do new things. It's also nice to have a flexible job-since my mom lives so close she's able to meet us sometimes for lunch or at the park. AND-now that its summer, we have been able to do a LOT more. Also-he's just the cutest. 

bubbles.bubbles.bubbles.

biggest hit? the water table.

its true. they're always cutest when they're sleeping.

these baby blues-i'll never get over them.

man and his dog.

wheels. the boy loves anything with wheels.

 

 

#travel2013: Duck Beach.

For the past several years on Memorial Day weekend, the Outer Banks of North Carolina have been overtaken by young single adult Mormons from all over the East Coast, and now from all over everywhere else. Dubbed "Mormon Spring Break", the Duck Beach experience now has a reputation and the more outsiders find out about it, the more they become fascinated by it. If you are intrigued, you might consider watching the insightful documentary, "Duck Beach to Eternity".

Anyway, I did not go last year because I was in California, and I did not think I would be going this year because G and I were supposed to be going to Hawaii (ugh, still not over it. THANKS SEQUESTER.) However, once I found out that I now had no plans for MDW, my friends and I started thinking about what we were going to do. Not many of our friends were going to Duck; everyone kept saying "I don't know if I really want to go, but I want to go somewhere." DC is a ghost town on MDW and we did not want to be stuck here when everyone else was gone celebrating summer's return. Well about a month or so ago, we all realized that we didn't have any plans, so everyone ended up deciding to go ahead and make reservations in open houses.

I was really looking forward to going. Not for a chance to go insane, throw some glitter make it rain, but more so a chance to SIT on the beach and RELAX. Caity, Krystale and I left Friday after work and actually made it there in pretty good time considering the stigma MDW traffic carries with it. We got there a little before midnight: as soon as I saw the ocean, I instantly became more carefree.

Saturday I decided that I was going to do a photo project over the weekend and start semi-mocking common pics you see from Duck. I present to you..."The Duck Beach experience."

The getting-ready-for-the-Glow in the Dark-party mirror selfie.

The chillin-on-the-beach-at-midnight pic.

The feet-in-the-sand pic.

The thighs pic.

The sampling-local-food pic.

The hot tub pic.

The walking-down-the-beach pic.

The ocean pic.

The beach selfie.

The name-in-the-sand pics.

The babes-in-bathing suits-on-the-beach pic.

The wading-in-the-water pic.

The time-to-go-home pics.

Joking aside, it was a very relaxing vacation. Here are some more highlights:

Saturday it was a tad chilly and windy, so this was my attire until it warmed up.

Anchors, anchors everywhere.

Loving my girl Krystale.

Sunday morning we locked ourselves out of our bathroom, so here we are watching a You Tube tutorial on how to successfully break back in. (We ended up having to go to the Ace down the street to buy a tiny screwdriver.)

I just like the sand here.

Andddd last but NOT LEAST, we stopped at Cookout in Norfolk on our way home. Always delicious.

I'm so glad I decided to go to Duck this year: I had a really nice time. The whole weekend my friends and I all felt very chill, loose, care-free and happy. There was no drama, no pressure, and no sadness. Our little groups of friends could do our own thing, but come together at night if we felt like it and party together, or just hang out. Probably my favorite moment was on Monday afternoon, when all the DC people ended up congregating at the same section on the beach-we haven't had a lot of opportunities to get that large of a group together since the ward realignment in January and it was nice to catch up, relax and laugh.

Needless to say, it was soooo tough readjusting back to normal life on Tuesday. Post-vacation depression is REAL and NOT FUN.

Until next time...