Adventures in DC: Part Two: First Visit

Okay...back to hard moments to put into words (because of their amazingness)...

Last Friday, I flew to DC to visit Ryan. I was so excited/nervous/anxious and a 4AM airport pick up time didn't help the anxiety!

Friday: Ryan's Aunt Val picked me up at the airport and we headed to National Harbor.  It was a great distraction waiting for Ryan to get back from class to get to know my new aunt-in-law (is that a thing?)!  National Harbor was gorgeous.  Every couple of minutes I kept remembering, I could go here all the time soon!  It is WEIRD to be on a vacation to a place you will soon be moving too.  See, hard to describe and I definitely do not sound like a word smith.  We met Ryan at the Gaylord Hotel (hello, gorgeous) and we ate at a great Mexican restaurant.  We were laughing with his aunt the whole time and it felt like the past month apart never happened, we picked up right where we left off. 

We then spent an embarrassingly long amount of time in the Peeps store!  (who knew that was a thing?  mike and ike's and peeps? HEAVEN).  I bought some socks (duh) and enough candy that we earned ourself a free peeps frame...something everyone needs, of course. 

Then we headed to the townhome that Ryan is currently living in with his friend Willie.  They will both be my roomies come January!  The townhome is beautiful and right at the end of the "green line on the metro" (I have to work on my soon to be city life lingo).  This weekend the owner of the townhome and her sister were visiting so it was a full house.  We then headed (on the metro...I'm already such a city chick) down to Chinatown where Ryan always gets off for school.  We walked around and ate dinner at...Chipotle!  We are so cultured.  We grabbed some cupcakes at Red Velvet Cupcakery, which were delicious!  We walked our cupcakes down half the length of the National Mall...Ryan was not happy with my request to walk the whole thing!

We ended up eating our cupcakes at the base of the Washington Monument.  It was a breathtaking experience.  We decided right then that we would, yearly, no matter what, always eat cupcakes once at the base of the Washington Monument (we can dream).  We headed home and started planning our next day!

Saturday: On Saturday, we woke up and took the metro to Chinatown again to go to Georgetown Law School so Ryan could study and I could...mostly pretend to study.  The school was phenomenal and it was such a great experience to finally see where Ryan is every day!  After the library, we went to Grand Central Station.  I am not ashamed to admit that this was one of the COOLEST places we went the whole weekend.  I was amazed.  The fact that you can take the Amtrak (or Metro) into the city and buy make up, food, JAMBA JUICE, and a new outfit all in one place (yea, I realize I just described a mall, I don't care).  I was thrilled.  A lot of that probably had to do with the shake shack we had just eaten. 

We then went back to change/get ready and headed back into Georgetown to eat at Founding Farmers.  It was as amazing as the recommendations we had received.  We started with a pot of fresh kettlecorn and a skillet of corn bread...be jealous.  We then had amazing entrées and for once all weekend...passed on dessert. 

Sunday: My absolute favorite day of the weekend.  Ryan and I went to Target to do his grocery shopping and then to Krispy Kreme.  Is there anything better than that combo? 

All I wanted was to have a normal Sunday with my fiancé!  We ran our errands and I kept thinking, oh my gosh, this is going to be MY target!  We went home and hung out with everyone at the townhome and I got some great leads on a job opportunity for when I move--which couldn't have made me feel any better!  We then went to Old Town Alexandria.  This is the point where I struggle to find the words to truly capture how wonderful it was.  On top of the gorgeous scenery, nothing beats a perfect Sunday afternoon after a wonderful weekend with my favorite person in the world.  We walked around the town from perfect cupcakes (The Lavender Moon) to a perfect dinner.

The dinner was...the BEST meal I have ever had.  Truly.  It wasn't even just the atmosphere and the company.  I fully intend on making Ryan go there with me at least once a month once I move.  Faccia Luna was amazing...I had pasta pillows...it had to be delicious! 

We spent the walk back to the car talking about buying a house in this neighborhood and where we would live and when we got home we participated in our favorite coping mechanism for sadness...parks and rec marathon.

 Sunday was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend.  If this snapshot is even a fraction of how happy our marriage will be, I know that I am the luckiest girl.

If you read all of this, I hope you don't feel like you were just reading a boring diary entry!  This was so much longer than I had anticipated!  I hope that all your thinking is, I am totally visiting Meg and Ryan after the New Year!

Happy Tuesday!

Megan