WEEKENDERS....WASHINGTON DC PART 1

for my birthday treat nick had arranged a short weekend trip to washington. as soon as we got out of the station we were met with the view of the capitol, it was stunning. despite the heat and humidity that made for rather an uncomfortable trip being drenched in sweat, we had an awesome time. there was so much to see and learn. we will definitely be back washington.

we got to watch a proposal happen

tourist paraphernalia

the marble floor that allows for overhearing conversations on the other side of the room

j edgar hoover building

N.B. the holes in the j edgar hoover fbi building you can see above were drilled into it ready for the building to be  covered in marble, but after he died they didn't bother as felt it was too expensive.

A TRIP UPSTATE

a few weeks back was memorial weekend, meaning 4 days off. this holiday is known as the unofficial start to the summer with the beach packed full of new yorkers wanting to escape the humid city for the sand and sea, but not this year as it poured and poured (with rain).
on the monday we woke up to sun and so decided to take our chances and head upstate along the hudson river to a place called cold springs, on a friends recommendation. we took the train, along with a lot of other new yorkers wanting to escape the city, from grand central. we arrived and it seemed everyone got off at the same stop. we spent the day sauntering around the village (it was just one main road running through the centre, so didn't take too long), in and out of all the antique shops, drinking coffee and lazing and walking along the river. after the day though we felt slightly bored and bemused as to why it was such a popular stop. we returned back home only to find out from friends that we had missed cold springs main attraction. hiking. whoops. oh well, maybe next time!

got the tickets. are we ready?

craving the city much?

spot the welsh emblem? you can take a girl out of wales, but not the welsh out of the girl.

LITTLE GOINGS ON

in manhattan anything goes. and i mean anything. i've started to become accustomed to things i see or hear, so i've been trying to keep vigilant recently for some fun posts.

today on my walk home from work i passed a man with his pet parrot on his arm, on a leash. just casually walking his parrot. standard.
then a woman bumped into me on the street, brushing her teeth with a mini toothbrush. life is so fast pace in new york city that sometimes you just gotta walk and brush. its the only way.

*we've been on some fun trips in the past two weeks so some interesting posts coming soon*

TIME TO LEARN SOME LESSONS

'don't tip toe through life, run, skip and dance.'

they say that travel broadens the mind, and never has this felt so true since moving here. i had no idea how small minded i was. the first few months i spent constantly moaning about anything that was slightly different to home. 

'the tube is so much better than the metro. its such an old fashioned system.'

'they're so behind with banking, some places don't even use chip and pin.'

'tipping everything and everyone is so ridiculous.'

'british is best'. or so i thought.....

actually the metro system runs 24 hours a day which is incredibly convenient, its so much cheaper and doesn't get as busy as the underground. some places may not have chip and pin, but i have a 'speed cheque paying in' app on my phone that allows to pay in a cheque by taking a picture of it, pretty cool huh? and the tipping....well, i'm ashamed to say, i'm still not there with that one...i'll have to keep you tuned on the progress of that.

i'm surprised at how long its taken to broaden this little mind of mine. its really made me take a long hard look at myself and i've had to learn a lot of lessons, some harder than others, but i thought i'd share a small one with you here.

whilst having no work visa for the first few months i spent a lot more time than i was used to at home. therefore i spent more time than i was used to doing housework. this made me see how easily i turn every little task into a chore thus sucking any fun out of my day. i dreaded the weekly grocery shop and put it off for as long as i could. i seemed to be constantly washing up throughout the day (why didn't we prioritise a dishwasher in our apartment search?). for some reason i saw these tasks as preventing me from living my life. 

so in a bid to live life to the full, enjoying the smallest of tasks, i started trying to make an event out of everything. nick and i take a trip to our local market to buy fresh bread at the weekend. i save the washing up until the end of the day and put on some music to have a washing up dance party. i buy food online from the comfort of my sofa with a cup of tea (ok, for those that know me, its not tea, its more likely a cold glass of ribena!).

most of the time its been my attitude towards the task that has changed more than the task itself and at times its ended up costing a little more or cost me more of my time, but as a result i get to skip and dance through life's more mundane tasks. 

THE BRIDGE OF ALL BRIDGES

brooklyn bridge. one of the oldest suspension bridges in the states. at one point it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. its become an icon of new york, a tourist hotspot. but i just didn't get it the first time we saw this bridge. we walked the entire length from manhattan to brooklyn, but i didn't understand what all the fuss was about. 

until now. you see, unlike most bridges, theres a method to enjoying all this bridge has to offer. brooklyn bridge trumps all other bridges because of the incredible manhattan skyline views it displays and so is meant to be walked FROM brooklyn TO manhattan so that you can admire the incredible sky line the entire length of the bridge, instead of walking with your back to it (like we did the first time). 

brooklyn bridge is a tourist attraction and so it can get busy. unpleasantly busy. and so its good to go weekdays during term time, earlier in the morning, or later in the evening. the best is a romantic stroll watching the sun set.

and so with this new found knowledge we took my sister and brother in law on a beautifully windy (hence the wild 'work in progress grown out bangs' look) cool day. nick was in charge of the camera, and granted he had some help with the settings, but didn't he do well? 

LOST IN TRANSLATION

my sister asked me the other day if i think in dollars instead of having to revert everything back to sterling and my answer was not what i had expected. 
when we first arrived we thought everything was super expensive, mainly because at first glance the number (even though in $) is more than you expect from £'s. but i've got used to that. the problem i have now is differentiating between expensive items and bargains, both in dollars and pounds. i seem to have lost all concept of the true value of a product. is $4.95 for a gallon of milk reasonable? i just have no idea. maybe, with more time, my sense for this will return, but for now i guess i should make the most of being blissfully unaware of the earth shattering price for my milk.

the other money troubles i've run into on this journey have been rather more embarrassing. the first four months i looked like a tourist when paying with change. i would inspect each coin closely, only to see 'one dime' printed onto it and be none the wiser as to its value. and so i would defer to my touristy ways - i'd hold out all my shrapnel to the shop assistant who would then have to pick her way through my change to find the correct amount.  i have since learnt that a dime is 10cent and a nickel is 5 cents.despite my new found knowledge i still can't pay correctly with my loose change because its the size that fools me. a dime (10c) is the size of a 5 pence coin and a nickel (5c) the size of a 10 pence. so i've decided to employ fear avoidance tactics. i don't use change. only thing is that we are gathering a rather hefty stash of shrapnel now........

BOSTON

'do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.' romans 12:21

boston have been in our prayers this week following the bombings on monday and then the massive manhunt yesterday as boston city was on lockdown. however, amidst this terror i was amazed at the stories of people overcoming evil acts with good; runners continuing to run past the finish line to hospitals to give blood, others running towards the blast to help those injured and neighbours rallying around each other during the lockdown.

and so i want to show you the beautiful city of boston in response to this horrendous act of evil. the city that is steeped in the history of america's fight for freedom. we visited boston one cold weekend in february and followed the red brick freedom trail to learn about the courageous people of boston who fought for their freedom. we also went back to our university days and walked around harvard's campus. 

lets celebrate boston's bravery and courage they've modelled so well this present week and years gone by.