Cleaning the Temple

So yesterday I did something I have never done before. Our stake was in charge of volunteering to clean the DC Temple. Having no job and kids I would have felt guilty if I didn't volunteer and I was excited to see the temple from a different perspective, however I was not excited to get up at the crack of dawn in order to do it. LDS people always seem to be early birds but not just early birds super early birds because unlike in Utah the temple isn't 15 minutes away so you have to get up even earlier to travel to get there. But after my initial sleep interruption grumpiness I was excited to clean the temple. I was given a white jump suit and the assignment of cleaning the women's locker room. In the middle of my shift the temple practiced an emergency evacuation. That was interesting we got to exit through this hidden back door in the temple and listen to the workers give scripted instructions- some of which were very amusing. Then we went back in and completed our cleaning assignments. When we were finished we found we were trapped because there was wet cement that had just been poured all around the temple. Luckily we found a tiny path on the side of the temple that had not yet been done so we got to our car ok. It was different to be working in the temple that way. Temples are beautiful inside and out because of the spirit and also because people keep them clean -every inch it seems like and that is alot of work.

NYC trip

The next morning we had to figure out how to get into the city. We were only an hour outside but our guidebook warned against driving in NYC even for a day. So Brad found a nearby train station that would take us into the city. That was an experience! We transfered to another bus in Newark and ended up having to run to barely catch our next bus on a different track. When we got into NYC the bus station was entirely confusing and thank goodness for kind New Yorkers we were pointed in the right direction and headed off for an adventure. Having both been to NYC before we wanted to go a little off the beaten path. We started at 125th street Harlem- reccomended by our guide book for all of the unique aromas of food. They have cleaned up Harlem quite a bit since the 90's when it had it's dangeroous reputation. The guide book was right you walk along 125th street and are bombarded with all kinds of delicious aromas and quite a few people selling jewlery- sticking with tradition I got some unique earings. For lunch we had one of New Yorks famous street vendor Gyro's and mango sold right on the street, yum! Here is a picture of Harlem

After exploring Harlem Brad mentioned he had never been on the Staton Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty so we took the metro to the Ferry and took a ride. Here he is with Manhattan behind him
After the Ferry ride we headed to China Town for the highlight of the trip- Hand Bag Shopping. I found a perfect bag knock off of course and even haggled down 10 dollars. Then we headed to Little Italy to get some Cannoli. Here I am with my bag, and here is Brad trying his first Cannoli.

It's the best treat in Little Italy. After dessert we headed for dinner. My favorite memory of China Town before when I was in New York besides the hand bags of course was the soup dumplings in China Town. So we went in search of those and to my delight found some. Yum
After dinner we raced for the train station- got lost yet again and then got on the right train towards our car and then drove home happily exhausted. What a fun trip!

Our Trip

Wow what a weekend adventure we have had. We left friday afternoon and headed out to Philadelphia. I drove because Brad had gotten up really early to go to work, and it was a good drive until Philadelphia. We took a bit of a wrong turn and I don't think GPS systems account for one way streets so we ended up in what you would call the slums of Philly. It was very interesting- there is nothing like this in Utah, and a little un-nerving. So we locked the doors and Brad took over driving. We got to Liberty Square about 4 in the afternoon. We walked around and saw the sights except Independence hall- you had to have a ticket for that. But we got a pcture of the building. Here I am standing in front if it.

We also saw the famous liberty bell. It was really cool to read how it has been a symbol of liberty throughout the revolution, emancipation, womens rights, and civil rights movements. Here is Brad standing in front of it- you can even see the crack

It was also really cool to walk around Philly and imagine who all had walked there before- a bunch of rebel patriots who become the founding fathers. DC doesn't really have this feel because it is rather new compared to Philladelphia. After touring Philly we headed to a nearby park and had a picnic dinner. Then we drove to Rareton, New Jersey where we stayed the night.

Wedding Pictures

So I have finally gotten around to getting our wedding pictures. My awesome cousins Jess and Adam were the photographers. If you want to view or order pictures they will be available for a couple more months at this website evergreenstudios.lifepics.com and the event code is Mary Jefferson. Thanks Jess and Adam!

Arlington, KramerBooks, & The Library of Congress

I started my day with a walk through Arlington Cemetery. What an incredible place, rows and rows of white tomb stones as far as the eye can see. As I walked through the cemetery I couldn't help but think about all of the War Memorials I had previously seen and especially the powerful words on the Korean memorial "Freedom is not Free." I wasn't really paying attention to the time and so was really lucky when I got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier- it was right at the start of the changing of the guard. I was touched by the sharp clean uniforms and movements of the guards and how they honored the Unknown Soldiers. After this I took the metro over to Dupont Circle to check out DC's famous bookstore Kramerbooks & Afterwords. I had lunch in the cafe and browsed the book store. I like book stores like this more than your chain Barnes & Noble, Borders, ect. It actually reminded me of a book store Brad and I found on main street in Park City (right by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory). We went in to do our usual browsing and found big fluffy cats walking around and even sitting on some books, it gave it such a homey feel. No cats walking around Kramerbooks but same type of atmosphere. Then I took the metro again over to the Library of Congress. I am beginning to feel very confident with the metro system. The Library of Congress was like a greek temple and artistically amazing. I took a tour and learned about all of the symbolism throughout the building. Cousin Wendy said when she was is DC she could spend hours in the Library of Congress. I guess I'm not as intellectual because I got bored with the library after a couple hours. Oh well, we all can't be mesmerized by libraries.

Tagged- All About The Boy

Cousin Kiley tagged me and so here goes, but some of these answers may be influenced by the fact we are still in our honeymoon stage of marriage.

1. What is his name? Brad

2. Who eats more? Definitely Brad- he is nearly twice my size

3. Who said, "I love you" first? Me!

4. Who is taller? Definitely Brad

5. Who is smarter? Hmm, I think Brad is smarter in general, but I am smarter with understanding people.

6. Who is more sensitive? Probably me, he tries to be a tough guy but sometimes can be really sensitive.

7. Who does the laundry? C'est moi

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Brad

9. Who pays the bills? So far both of us, but I am the book keeper.

10. Who cooks more? C'est moi

11. Who is more stubborn? I don't know, I know we both are determined type of people but with eachother we seem quick to empathize and compromise.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I think its a tie

13. Who has more siblings? Brad-5 older siblings, he is the baby.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Don't know again, I think we both have a leg in the pants.

15. What do you like to do together? Travels and adventures-new things, new places, new people, play games (especially scrabble), and working out

16. Who eats more sweets? c'est moi

17. Guilty Pleasures? Mine is decorating & shoes, Brad's is reading the news (in all kinds of languages) and Gingerale.

18. How did you meet? He moved back from Turkey and checked out his old singles ward (mine). We met at a linger longer- they work!

19. Who asked whom out first? Brad- it was quite surprising in this day and age of boys who don't date.

20. Who kissed who first? It is debatable:) But it was while we were making brownies.

21. Who proposed? Brad- we were playing a question game (I ask a question, then he does, ect.) and he got more of a serious look and asked me. I was completely shocked.

22. His best features and qualities? His smile, green eyes and build. He is always opening my mind to new things and inspiring me. He can be a kid and has a great sense of humor. He cares a lot about people all around the world and really wants to do his part to make the world a better place.

23. Tag you’re it. Who do you tag? The Shields, Jayne, and Rozzie

DC Temple, Iwo Jima, & Georgetown

We had another busy weekend with a few tourist attractions. Saturday we went to the DC Temple. It was just beautiful. It was our first time at the temple since our wedding. I can't believe we are nearing two months. Time certainly flies. Inside the DC temple is an incredible mural I could just look at for hours. It has left a lasting impression on me- as art often can do. Sunday we visited the Iwo Jima memorial, again very impressive and touching. I didn't realize it would be so huge but it really does justice to the famous photograph and what it represents. Then we drove over to Geogetown and Brad showed me around the campus. I think it was one of the hottest days plus humidity in DC and so we just walked around a bit and then came home to an air conditioned apartment- ah the blessings of modern living.

Cat Pictures

And this is what happens when boys learn how to blog...help us all!

And here is Brad after a hard day at work

Here is Mary getting up in the morning and uttering her first morning words.

Viva L' Arts

So I spent the entire day in one museum- broken into two buildings. The National Gallery of Art is a must see whether you are an art lover or not. I happen to enjoy art and so it probably took me a lot longer than the average person. It helps to have a knowledge of greek mythology and biblical stories in order to understand a lot of early art periods. I did learn Madonna is the name used in all art depicting Mary the mother of Jesus. And the greek and roman perception of a beautiful Venus is not the skinny anoresic western view we seem to have- Go Greeks! I saw the only Da Vinci on this continent, and some other famous paitings and sculptures (Monet, Degas, VanGogh, Rodin, Veneer, and more.) I still think my favorite is the Impressionist works. Though I do love the scupltures by Rodin. The day was topped off with lunch with my friend Maria who works in the library side of the Gallery. We dined inside on the roof (it was too hot to dine outside) but still had a great view of the Mall outside. Lovely day with L'arts.

The Big 3, Chinatown, and Who's who in the US

So I had another fun adventure in DC. It started with my first (on my own) metro transfer. This may not seem like a big deal but given the fact that I didn't really know where I was going I was proud of myself. When I got out of the subway I could not figure out which way was north and was lost in what direction to walk until a metro worker saw me staring aimlessly at my map. It was at this point that I realized how much I use the mountains to orient me- thank you Salt Lake. So my first stop was the Archives Building where I stood in line for an hour to see the Big 3 (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights). It was very worth it and made me realize how inspired the "rebel" patriots were- if you think about it, it is amazing that over 200 years later we are still using the theories of government and freedoms a group of "rebel" patriots came up with. In this aspect they were definitely inspired men. After touring a bit more the Archives building I headed up the street to Chinatown for lunch. Now Chinatown kind of has a shady reputation so I was careful and a little nervous to walk into a basement restaurant on my own so I followed another tourist couple in- just to be safe and had a good (pretty cheap) lunch. After lunch I headed to the National Portrait Gallery or as I like to call it the "Who's who in US History." It was a review of my US History class and was fun to see so many familiar names in portraits. I saw all my favorite authors, actresses, all of the US Presidents- including the famous portrait of George Washington, and even Joseph Smith & Brigham Young. It was funny on the label for Brigham Young it said "notorious for his many wives"- no comment about how polygamy isn't practiced anymore. No wonder why so many people think Mormons still practice polygamy. The day ended with another transfer on the metro to get home, but this was during rush hour. Whoa! Busy! I had to stand the whole way to my stop. After all of the walking and standing of the day I was exhausted when I got home, but Brad ended the day perfectly by making dinner. So nice.

Oh Shenandoah I long to see you....

Or is it hear you? Anyhow this past weekend we took a trip to the Shenandoah National Park. Lucious green rolling hills with the river running through, a very beautiful valley, relatively cooler temperatures, and lots of wildlife. I can see how it inspired the famous song. We found a nice hike down to a waterfall and when we were talking to a ranger about directions he said "oh and you'll probably see a bear." What! We left on our hike and spotted a deer, some amazing colored fungus, and then sure enough a BEAR. We were walking along and I had a rock in my sandal so I sat on a rock to get it out when Brad said "Uh, there's a bear." I turned around and right in front of us was a black medium sized bear. For a moment we all just looked at each other and then Brad said we better keep walking. So we walked and talked-did what the ranger said to do, and Brad snapped a photo of the bear walking away. Whoa. Welcome to Shenandoah. We found the waterfall, it was beautiful and had an amazing view of the whole valley. I'll never forget Shenandoah!

Mr. Dennis

So it just occurred to me this Blog is mostly about my adventures in DC while Brad is working on his Internship. So this post is dedicated to him and his exciting day to day life. As mentioned before he likes to get to work early. He walks- just a short 8 minute walk, and in order to get into his building he places his hand on this screen-just like in the movies. What he does all day is somewhat classified but it is basically reading the news all over the internet (in persian and arabic) and writing short summaries for the governents own Wickapedia type search engine. It is also like a specialized Think Tank type of position because he is on teams with other people working on specific projects. He seems to really enjoy his work though sometimes he is a bit discouraged in his Persian compared to native Persian speakers he works with. So in his spare time he studies his Persian, sometimes he asks me to quiz him and that is quite entertaining with my Persian pronunciation. He also plays with his new favorite toy- his Push Up bars (see photo). Then of course I keep him entertained with tourist attractions and social engagements.

A Good Walk...

So it is what the tour book said. Most of the tourist sites around DC are well spread out and require quite a bit of time to walk from site to site. For my walk I started at the Washington Monument- got my ticket to later go up in the Monument. Then I took a walk up to the WhiteHouse snapping photos of buildings and statues along the way. When I got to the WhiteHouse I thought it was smaller than in pictures but very pretty. A lot of the DC workers were having lunch outside across the street in Lafayette square. It made me laugh how they were basking in the sun when it was 92 degrees plus humidity. That is the luxury of an airconditioned work building- I guess. Needless to say I found an indoor airconditioned cafe where I had my lunch- I had a Stromboli (type of pizza in a breadstick) which was my first. After lunch I explored some museums and walked down to all of the War memorials. They were all very moving (WWII, Vietnam, and Korean) but I will never forget seeing my reflection in the Vietnam memorial, and the words of the Korean memorial "Freedom is not Free." Very powerful. Finally I was able to see and go into the Lincoln Memorial- also very moving. Lastly I made my way back up to the Washington Monument and went up in it 500 feet (I think) and looked out over the city and where I walked. At this point I was exhausted and came home. Despite the humidity and distance it was a very good walk.

A daytrip to Annapolis

So after recovering from the 4th, we headed out Saturday morning to Annapolis. Once again thank you mom and dad Dennis for letting us use the GPS system. We got to see some 18th century historical houses. One of which will always be remembered because the guy who had it built did so as a gift for his fiance and then she jilted him right before the wedding and he died as a bachelor. Brad is posing as him in front of his house. Annapolis was beautiful, lots of Art, statutes, and memorials on the city streets. We had lunch on the dock, and then finished the day with some black history museums. It was very moving after our 4th of july celebration reflecting on the price many people have paid and still pay for freedom and in the words of Thomas Jefferson "for the pursuit of happiness." What a blessed nation we live in.

The DC 4th

We had an incredible 4th of July. It started with a breakfast in our ward parking lot- yum. When we were trying to leave our car was attacked with balloons by the local primary (very different from a singles ward). We took an afternoon metro ride into the city and found a place to sit and watch the concert and fireworks right in front of the stage on the steps of the capital building. They were great seats, and then began the wait- Brad actually fell asleep. Somewhere online I read that mini concerts before the main concert would start at 5:30. Um wrong. At about 5 :45 we asked a nice Indian family sitting next to us when the concert starts and they said 8:00. Great another two hours and nothing to eat in sight, we were going to watch the mini concert and then go eat and come back for the fireworks. Whoops. So we asked the nice Indian family if they could hold our place and we found a nearby hot dog stand, grabbed some food and then had to wait in line to get back in the Mall (where the capital is). An hour and a half later we made it back in, miraculously our seats were still saved. About this time it began down pouring and all of us on the steps put up our umbrellas creating a huge wall against the rain. About 5 minutes before the concert started the rain stopped. The concert in the words of Brad was "just a bunch of has-beens" But it was still cool and then came the fireworks with the orchestra playing the 1812 Overture and then Stars and Stripes Forever. It was very moving- seeing the fireworks just above the Washington monument and hearing this music. Then the event was over and the real event of the night (the metro run) began. Brad was very smart and chose the metro at the very top of the mall to get on. We had to wait in line to get into the station but got on the first metro we saw which was really lucky because most people we passed were denied because it was so full. I even got to sit most the time. Once we reached our metro stop it was pretty much smooth sailing getting home.

The Solo Tourist

So because a small town gets small after awhile and Brad is at work all day, I have become a solo tourist. Solo tourism has many advantages over group tourism. I will name just a few 1- I can take my time looking at all of the pictures in the Gallery of Art without my husband getting bored, especially in the modern art section. 2- I can skip things that don't interest me. 3- I can stop for breaks and have 2 hour phone conversations about my friends boy dramas...once again my husband would get bored. 3- There is something amazing about discovering a huge city by yourself, riding the metro, getting off on the right stop, and finding your way back home. I have to thank Mom and Dad Dennis for letting us borrow their GPS system. Priceless in DC areas. I am beginning to explore the national mall and have started out with the National Gallery of Art where I had lunch with my friend an employee who got us into this fancy restaurant on the roof. It was beautiful, it overlooked the Mall and the Capital building and thankfully was a breezy day:) I also started to explore the statues around the ground and lastly the National Air & Space Museum.

a cookie, a friend, and a discovered treasure

Perhaps I'm different than most people, perhaps I am not, but my ideal summer moments occur with little effort. This morning I walked to town to pick up some bread at the one and only Great Harvest. I was given a free cookie because it was my first time coming in so I took my treat and found my favorite reading bench to sit down and enjoy it. There is something about a park bench that cries out "come and sit, come and read, come and talk, come and enjoy your surroundings." For this reason I sat and enjoyed my cookie and then started on my book. I enjoy this particular bench because it is in the middle of the town square- though quiet,there always seems to be some activity. After getting through a few pages in my book an older retired gentleman came and sat beside me. What started as a light "beautiful weather we are having" conversation turned into a 2 hour tell me your whole life story type of therapy session. I was fascinated with this man's life. I was able to educate him a bit about Mormon history because of course he wondered about the whole polygamy thing. I was amazed by his faith and especially his love for music. After years of inactivity in the Catholic Church he was drawn to church one day, was incredibly moved by the choir and ever since has been a choir member. He invited me to his next performance. I felt after saying goodbye to him I just made a good friend in town. On my way home as I was digesting this delicious conversation I found a little antique shop. My Grandma Jefferson has helped me enjoy these type of shops so I went in. I found a corner of old Time Magazines. I started digging through them and to my delight found one of the original Time Magazines 1969 "On the Moon." It was the same I had seen hanging in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Priceless. Though small, these events are what summer tastes like to me...relaxation, friendship and simple appreciation.

Life in a Small Southern Town

So Brad and I are situated in a town just outside of DC called Herndon, Virginia. It is a small town in the midst of larger cities. The best way to describe it requires the reader to be Gilmore Girls literate. It is the Stars Hollow of Virginia- for those not GG literate readers it is a quaint small southern town with a historical feel about it. A day in our life in Herndon is as followed:

5:30- Alarm goes off Brad presses snooze until about 6- I still sleep
Between 6:30-7:00- Brad leaves for work (a short 8 min walk)- I still sleep
7:30- I awake (I justify myself sleeping in a bit because it's still 5:30 Utah time) and get ready for the day.
8:30- I walk a couple blocks into town where I begin my vacation. The first couple of days I explored the whole town. Now sometimes I go shopping, sit in the perfect reading bench by the trolley and read. Thursdays the town has Farmers Market and they also open their charity thrift store. Somedays I explore the latest in the library, and lately I've chatted with the town locals.
12:00- It get hots and I decide to walk home and have lunch
12:30- Read some more
1:00- Lately I have resorted to preschool days and have a bit of a nap
1:30- I run errands, update the blog, entertain myself
4;00-5:00ish Brad comes home and we make dinner. Most the time in the evening the town has stuff going on like free pool and a movie, concerts, and dances. We try to enjoy a lot of these.
9:00ish- We go running, biking, and do some working out and then it's time for bed.


Thus is a day in our life in Herndon the Stars Hollow of Virginia. Very layed back-sit on a rocking chair on your porch sipping lemonade type of atmosphere.