Cruisin'

More music! More music!
It's been awhile...sorry...but here is some music that has been on my radar.

Country & rap? I'm diggin this.


Phoenix's new album dropped last week, so I've been reviewing it. The lead singer's voice sounds fake to me, it's so smooth. I wonder if that's why I keep coming back; it's so different! I'm not a huge fan of their new album as a whole, but I do think I like "Emergency."

Other music samples from their new album:


And then who doesn't love JT? But really. Who doesn't? We'll talk and I'll change your mind.

Allie's Visit

Allie came into town a couple of weeks ago and it was such a fun week! We went to Nandos a few times=another friend converted. My goal is if I get enough Nandos followers from the west, maybe I could get one over there...?!
We saw the Natural History Museum and the gem room. I think that was her fav ;) Then MY favorite, the American History. She got to see the cherry blossoms.  And the monuments at night. I even got the chance to hail a taxi for the first time! I snagged these pictures from Allie of our adventures.

'Arry Potta! And Barbie!

We both hate dinosaurs.

One of my favorite moments from her trip was when we were sitting in the theater about to see "The Host." It's a Stephanie Meyer movie, so there were groups of girls out on GNOs. Allie and I were sitting behind a big, bald man and when I saw him I thought it was nice of him to humor his gf and come see "The Host" with her. But then the credits started and he was still sitting by himself. Way to see that movie even if no one else wanted to join you, man. No shame. Anyways, a preview for "Conjuring" came on and it looks like a freaky movie. Viewer discretion is advised: 

So the preview comes on and Allie closes her eyes and plugs her ears. I love scary movies, so I'm half watching through my fingers. The ladies in front of us are shifting in their chairs and there is a general moaning of fear throughout the theater. But this guy in front of us is audibly freaking out. At the part when the lady goes to investigate the noise (as they always do), he starts saying things like, "Woman, you're CRAZY!" and "No no no no don't go down there! WHAT are you doing?!" And at the climax of the preview with the hands, he and I both scream SO LOUDLY. And then we laughed through the whole next preview. It was a nice bonding moment and I gained respect for the man who went to see "The Host" by himself and wasn't afraid to be afraid.
We got an awesome tour of the Capitol--the best one, yet! It was the intern's very last tour before he was heading back to Oregon. It was nice talking to people from Oregon and reminiscing about all of our favorite places. We also got a good tour of my favorite LOC.

Tourist shirts!

It was so fun having her around! I wish it didn't have to end! Miss you, my friend.

Making Friends in Philadelphia

Hello, again! Time for more pictures!
After Liberty Bell, we walked in the rain and sheet and snow to the iconic LOVE statue. Yeah, we were freezing and had to hang out at an interesting McDonald's for a few minutes with hot cocoa, but the statue park was cool!

City Hall

reminds me of Paris

statue park

the courtyard had game pieces statues

this is me in the monopoly wheelbarrow 

this me realizing that it was a bad idea to get in said monopoly wheelbarrow because it was soaking wet

sorry

this was the random guy who took our LOVE picture

Barry.

We then ate at the City Tavern, where the founding fathers ate after conspiring against the king. All of the waiters were dressed in period clothes and we drank from mugs. Were we in the 21st century, or the 1700s? I don't know. It felt so real.

candlelight dinner

mead mug and a hunk of meat

But my favorite part of the day was when Ashley and I became foreign celebrities. We wanted a picture together, so I went to a group who seemed like they could help us out. They also looked like they might want a picture as a group, so I tried to initiate a photo taking swap with hand gestures (they didn't really speak any English). Apparently, that was lost in translation and it turned into them taking pictures WITH us. Like, "cool look at us in America taking pictures at a famous American place with these American girls." They took turns taking pictures with us and we just went with it. We never did get a picture with just the two of us...

with our new friends

 I had so much fun in Philly with Ashley! Thanks for the fun touristy day, girl :)

Parte Dos

Part two of my trip to Philly with Ashley! Again, these are all Ashley's picts.
We had lunch at Sonny's (I know, I know it's not Pat's or Geno's...we didn't find out we were supposed to go there until after the fact). We had cheesesteaks and it was yummy!

We checked out Ben Franklin's former house and his first post office.

just connecting with history

the framework of Ben's house

Franklin court. Post Office on the right

 They have a similar framework idea for the old President's House. This was the first place of the Executive Branch before it moved to DC.

We had our tour of Independence Hall and Congress Hall. Which was really really cool.

tourists 

first supreme court room and a very good nps tour guide

where they held the continental congress

coolest place EVER

Ben checking emails between sessions

#historycomesalive

view from the top of independence hall of the mall

first congress

first senate

We hopped over to Liberty Bell.

tah dahhh

cracked

Holy picture overload, Batman! I think I need to continue this in another post.

On the playground is where I spent most of my days

Sooo I had this really awesome post drafted on my trip to Philadelphia aaand Blogger deleted it for being too awesome. But really, it was like 30 pages long with pictures and historical facts. So now I'll take it in parts so Blogger doesn't flip out again.

PART ONE

Ashley and I sang the theme to "The Prince of Bel Air" all day. Actually, just the first line because it says Philadelphia and that's the only one we know. All of these pictures are Ashley's because it was raining and snowing on us all day and her camera is waterproof. We were braving the elements that day.

We tried really hard to sleep on the bus because we were up really early. That was difficult, but we sat up on the top of this double decker bus and had an awesome view driving into the city.

soooo earrrllyyy

lower east side dc

classic bus sleeping pose

or you can try the fetal position

We went to the Philadelphia Mall for our tour of the main historic parts of the city.

1. Independence Hall/Old City Hall/Congress Hall

Old City Hall

Independence Hall

Congress Hall and Philosophical Hall

 2. Second and First Banks of the US

Second Bank of the US

3. Library Hall

Library Hall

love the cobblestone roads!

 4. Carpenter's Hall (where they conspired)

mid-town

 5. Christ Church

founding fathers went to church here

this font is like 400 years old or something crazy like that

6. Elfreth's Alley (the oldest neighborhood in America that is still a working neighborhood! Since 1702, 3,000 people have lived there. Very cute and old.)

7. Betsy Ross' House (no one is sure if it actually happened here, but they make money off of it, anyways)

 8. Ben Franklin's Grave (if you flip a penny onto the grave and make a wish, it will come true. Ashley's rolled off the grave, so what does that mean...??)

my wish is somewhere down there

Well this is about half-way! More to come about this very cold/very fun day.