Happy Earth Day!!

     Today is Earth day!! Back when I was in elementary school, they used to hand out a small tree (or a couple little twig like looking things with roots on them) to everyone at the end of the day on Earth Day. Trees are so important for our environment and I loved having the opportunity to plant my own tree and watch it grow. The school unfortunately stopped doing this by the time I reached 5th grade probably due to budget cuts. I'm not sure how many people actually planted their trees, but I planted mine, starting in pots before moving to the ground in my backyard. Some didn't make it because the root was too tiny or I was not good about watering it, but there are 4 trees that did and I always like to go over to them in my backyard and see how much they have grown because I'm so proud of them for surviving (especially with my lack of watering over the last few years...). I'm not sure what type of pine trees they are, but their needles are soft which I love so you don't have to worry about poking yourself when you touch them.
         The other day I took a picture with my beautiful Earth day trees, most of which are now just a bit taller than me. Now I can look back at these photos and always remember my trees since I'm moving.

   So Happy Earth day!! I hope you find some way to celebrate this beautiful Earth we live on.

Easter Weekend MIMM #7

    Happy Monday! It was such a beautiful weekend to be outside, especially on Easter Sunday, which definitely made the weekend marvelous so I'm linking up with Katie for MIMM. Thanks Katie!


    Saturday I enjoyed what may have been my last zumba class at my current gym. It was a really fun class and even better was that I got to dance on the zumba stage again. After class I made sure to thank the instructor as I have really enjoyed her classes over the last year and a half.

      In the afternoon, I went to Target since they are closed on Easter. I always forget which stores are closed on Easter. As I was checking out, the cashier guy was telling me and the woman in front of me checking out about all the peep stories he had heard over the last couple days. Being Easter weekend, everyone was buying their last minute Easter basket goodies (including peeps, which I don't even like) and eggs to dye. In fact, my Target sold out of large eggs, but luckily still had some extra large eggs in stock. Well the guy was explaining that he heard if you put two peeps with toothpicks in them and put them in the microwave, it looks like the peeps are fighting and apparently peeps do not explode in the microwave, but I'm not going to attempt that. Maybe this is what people do when they don't like to eat them.

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         After all the peep stories, the woman in front of me was talking about how she has lots of food prep to do and I noticed all the groceries she had. Target was having a deal this week if you bought over $50 of groceries you got $10 off. I actually ran around the store quickly as I was picking things up to check if I was near $50, but I was only half way there with my stuff. Knowing I wouldn't need the coupon, I offered it to the woman in front of me and she was grateful. It makes me so happy when I can give away coupons I won't need. Sometimes I also leave them on the shelf near the item as well, hoping someone will take it and use it.

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            On Sunday, me and my sister got some tasty goodies in our Easter baskets. I also think we look very alike in this picture.

            Then one of my sister's friends came over and we dyed Easter eggs in the afternoon.

my cute Hello kitty Easter egg

     After dying eggs and taking selfies with our eggs (yeah we are a little weird), my sister's friend thought about displaying the eggs in a basket and then we had a little photo shoot. Thanks to my dad for taking the pictures!

       This little photo shoot was tons of fun. It was so nice outside! 

           A little later, I had to do a bridge over the egg basket. My sister's friend also captured this lovely photo as I was getting ready to go into bridge. I just happened to be in boat pose.

       Besides this Easter fun, we also made progress on putting up new storm doors on our two back doors. Holidays at my house usually means some sort of house project as well since that is the only time my dad gets time. I'd say it was a pretty marvelous weekend and my last weekend living at home. Moving next weekend!!

Cherry Blossoms and Mount Vernon

    The last few days of my trip were spent staying near Washington, DC. The last time I was in DC was 7 years ago! I can't believe it was that long ago as I remember the trip quite well. Here is me with the cherry blossoms back in April 2007.

      Alright back to 2014. Our first day, Brian, his parents and I took the train into the city in the morning and went to the Jefferson Memorial.

Then we walked around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms as they were just beginning to bloom.

       Our last stop for the day was the United States Botanic Garden. They had lots of beautiful orchids out for Easter.

       Our second day, we spent the morning at George Washington's Estate at Mount Vernon. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It was nice and sunny and the estate was gorgeous. I had some fun on the lawn doing some yoga and a bridge.

       In the afternoon, we went to Old Town Alexandria and the Torpedo Factory Art Center. If you ever get the chance to go to Old Town Alexandria, it's absolutely beautiful. There are also some amazing artists that sell their work at the Torpedo Factory Art Center.

         It was so nice to get away for a bit and I came back relaxed and refreshed, though with a lot to do as I prepare to move. Looking forward to my own apartment very soon.

Exploring NYC Part 2

    Our second day we took the bus down to the city in the morning and enjoyed dessert for our second breakfast at Cake Boss Cafe. I got a giant cookie which was delicious.

    Then we walked over to the Free Library. The inside was beautiful. As we walked inside the study room, I kept thinking how it must be so weird to be studying and have people constantly walking around you and taking pictures of the room.

      After that we took the subway down to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and the crown tours were all sold out, but that's ok since it was cloudy anyway. We still took the boat over the Liberty Island. We will just have to go back another time when the weather is nicer to get the crown tour and take more pictures.

   
        After that, we were hungry so we took the boat back to the city and found a deli to eat at. After eating we got tickets for the 9/11 memorial and the sun finally came out, which felt so good. I loved taking photos of the couple flowers on the memorial that people had left. Walking around the memorial was really peaceful. It was nice to see people respect the memorial and remember that day.

      At the memorial, they also have a tree called the "survivor tree" as it was rescued from the wreckage on 9/11 as an 8 foot stump and nursed back to health in a NYC park. Now it has been planted in the memorial site to grow. It's really amazing to see trees recover from such destruction.

       From there, we headed to Central Park for a bit and then went back to the hotel.

We also enjoyed Central Park once more the next morning before leaving the city. Our final morning it was so beautiful and sunny outside which was perfect for the park.

         Then it was time to head back to Binghamton, NY before our next adventure in Virginia and DC.