Summer o' Fun #4 - Birthday, Amusement Parks, National Dance Day!!

Well here is the fourth and final installment, for a while! I know you're probably sick of reading all about my adventures, but I'm recording it for posterity's sake as well.

We went to one of the Smithsonian museums and we were trying to act out the artwork.

There was an entire room dedicated to peacocks. It was beautiful.And we wanted to pay tribute to it. hahahaI love Emily and Clark for their willingness to be a peacock!We went to the National Folklore festival that was on the National mall. I love DC for the fact that you can ditch work any day of the week and attend something wonderful!

Helped my friend Shandi make some Texas cookies...that Texas pride.

One of my favorite sister missionaries who went home a few weeks ago. She is GREAT!!

Dianna kicked off my birthday week by taking me to dinner and to this amazing little place called Artfully Chocolate. Truffles and every kind of chocolate you can imagine, but the best was their chocolate shakes made with real melted chocolate and syrups and other goodness. YUMMY!! My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Anyone who has talked to me about it knows that I refuse to work on my birthday. It's just not right. Maybe this stems from the fact that I never had to go to school on my birthday because it was in the summer. I don't know, but my goal is to be doing something more fun than working on my birthday. Last year I was in Guatemala eating the most amazing chicken nachos from Mono Loco. This year it fell on a Wednesday and I couldn't work a trip in, so I decided to take the day off and go to the closest amusement park, Kings Dominion. Several friends were kind enough to ditch work with me and made it one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Truly, I was queen for the day and it was fun! :) Especially my "birthday cake" which was a huge funnel cake with ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream on top. More deliciousness.

Then came my lovely little birthday gathering put together by my roommates. Christina made me the most AMAZING cheesecake! I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends in my life. I really don't know how I'm so lucky.

So the last weekend in July was a CRAZY one!! To say the least. It started with Bree having some time off from work and wanting to do something fun. I was happy to take some time off to play and we decided to meet up in Hershey, PA to go to Hershey Park finally fulfilling a dream I have had since grade school. I'm actually not joking about that. There were these Hershey track meets at my elementary and if you won at school and then state you got to go to Hershey, PA for the nationals and you got to go to Hershey Park of course. I had some really talented friends who went a couple of years in a row, but I just wasn't that fast and couldn't jump that far. So I never got the chance to go. Until now!! I invited my friend Seth to come with us and we had a GREAT time!! I love amusement parks!!

When we decided to meet up in Hershey, we were just going to go back to MD that night and stay with Stacy and Aaron. But then we found out that Carrie Underwood was going to be on the Today show summer concert series on Friday morning. So of course we changed our plans and instead drove to NJ, arrived around 1:30am, slept for 3 hours, got up and drove into NY where we stood around for a while to see Carrie. But it was totally worth it!! Loved it all. The drive back to DC later that day was a bit rough, but we survived.

Next up in the weekend of fun was National Dance day. I hope you all know what I'm talking about, but if you don't, July 31, 2010 was declared National Dance Day by the U.S. government. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton made it official in the DC celebration on the National Mall by presenting some plaques or something to the one and only Nigel Lythgoe!! The TV show, So you Think You Can Dance, also had two of their choreographers (my favorites!!) Napoleon and Tabitha, choreograph a dance for the occasion that would be performed all over the country. We of course learned the dance and participated in the flash mob on the mall that day. It was EPIC!! There were also a lot of dance performances by local dance groups that were incredible. Russell, the winner of SYTYCD was there and gymnast Dominique Dawes. Sigh, it was a dream come true.

Christina was understandably excited about seeing Nigel in person!!

There were quite a few peeps there to celebrate!
Congresswoman, Russell, Nigel, Miss Dance USA, Dominique Dawes!!

My fellow dance day entusiasts!!

I have an obsession with The Legwarmers!! This is my third concert in less than a year, and I will probably go again in the next few months. I can't get enough. If anyone has a love for 80's tunes and awesome concerts, come out and visit and we will go!!

It's amazing what a crimper and a lot of hairspray can do for a girl!

Look how amazing these girls look!

Yes, I heart them.

Sigh, the love of my 80's life, Cru. We chatted with him again after the show. I'm officially a groupie.

Next was my roommate Lindsey's bday bash. And my dear cousin Adam and some friends came to visit. Well they weren't technically there to visit us, but we gave them food and shelter and they more than repaid us by being some of the best, most entertaining

house guests we've ever had. So much fun!

The Air Force memorial. Our Super Hero picture. Christina wasn't supposed to move...

Yes, we were laying on the sidewalk around the tidal basin at midnight on Sunday night, singing. A random couple who was out walking actually came and joined us for a minute.

Our dear friend Shannon turned the big 3-0 and we wanted to help her celebrate in style. She wanted to have a Mad Hatter tea party, so that's what we did. Together with her roommates, the whole thing was delightful. I had a great time creating a somewhat crazy cake. Lots of bright colors, etc.