#nycupcaketour

Yes I did do other things while I visited New York, but, let's be honest, a lot of my trip was centered around food. I believe that food is all part of the travel experience and NY is full of good eating opportunities.
I will get to the details of what else I did in NYC soon, but for now I will give you the deats on the sweets.
#1: Little Red Hen Bakery
Cupcakes: I got three minis that I think were: banana choco chip w/ chocolate/peanut butter cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate w/ chocolate frosting, and milk chocolate with a creamier frosting.
Verdict: I'm picky when it comes to frosting and it wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't the worst, either. The banana cake was my favorite.

cute store front

#2: Levain Bakery
Cookie: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Verdict: HOLYCRAPTHEBESTCOOKIEIHAVEEVEREATEN
No picture because it was gone so fast. But I'm not kidding. It was THE BEST.

#3: Magnolia Bakery
Cupcake: Chocolate with their whipped frosting
Sarah got: Hummingbird Cupcake
Verdict: Not a fan of the frosting. Way too sugary for me. The cake was moist. The bakery was cute!

c/o Sarah...Aubie eyeing her Magnolia's

#4: Serendipity 3
I tried their frozen hot chocolate for the first time!
Verdict: It lives up to the hype! SO good! However, I don't understand the idea of "frozen hot chocolate." Why not say gourmet milkshake?

c/o Sarah Motley

#5: Baked By Melissa

Cupcakes: Chocolate Chip Pancake, Cookies 'n Creme, Chocolate
Sarah got: Cinnamon and I can't remember what else, but Cinnamon is all you should worry about.
Verdict: These won favorite in NYC! They were moist and so cute and mini. Chocolate and Sarah's Cinnamon were my favs. 

c/o Sarah

#6: Billy's Bakery
Cupcake: Banana Nutella
Verdict: Needed more Nutella, but yummy, nonetheless! Plus, I picked it up sopping wet at The Plaza, which is just about the most perfect situation in a place like NYC to get a cupcake, if you ask me.

Winner of all for all of the earth and the universe: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies from Levain. They should be tested because I'm fairly sure that they put crack cocaine in my cookie. I don't remember the 3 or so hours post-consumption because I was in a chocolate/crack-induced stupor. Actually, it was longer than that because I couldn't eat it in one go. So it was a constant cycle of addiction-promoting ingestion and a involuntary sugar coma period until it was gone. Then I wanted more once the last cycle ended. Like a creepy sugary stalker looking for its muse, I couldn't stop talking about it. Chocolate nirvana smacked me in the face in the middle of NYC like a yellow cab. It was flippin' dang good.

a soiree and a morning at the white house

The African Soiree is the big closing event for the annual D.C. Francophonie Festival that The Smithsonian Associates is a contributor to. I got there early to help with set-up and got a taste of what it would be like to be a fabulous Parisian as I helped the interns from the French Embassy. Those kids have class. I also bumped into some of the tall African models. More class. The Soiree was a big party in the NMAA that had a cartoonist, food, henna, a performance by Kaissa, a fashion show of an African designer, and then dancing to music from DJ Pinstripes. Rhiannon was able to join me and we weaved our way through the crowds, got henna, and watched the fashion show. So fun!

Kaissa

interns wearing our African bead necklaces, ready to head home after a long event.

The next morning, my super cool WH intern friend hooked us up with White House Garden Tour tickets. I got SO CLOSE to the WH. #chillinwiththeObamas

Treasury

I think I asked a professional press person to take this picture for us

wut up WH?

great view from the WH lawn

West Wing/Oval Office

Michelle's garden

"...the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the year." -Thomas Jefferson

cute shot snagged from Vanessa ~ Vanessa, me, Taryn, Austin

D.C. has delivered on awesome weekends.

this is what it's like to live in a big city

This is what the romantic in me has always envisioned it would be like to live in a big city, summed up in one lovely spring day with Ashley.

Street art,

"If you lived here you'd be home now. But you still could not vote."

...tall buildings and roof top brunches,

...artsy neighborhoods with character,

...overpriced food,

...more street art,

...live, local music,

...festivals and tourists,

and monumental places.