Where In The World Wednesday - Washington D.C.

I have spent a total of five nights in my own bed in the last two weeks. I do not tend to sleep well in foreign beds so I cannot tell you how excited I am to be home. Yes, even avid travel lovers enjoy the comforts of home and the ability to sleep in their own bed.

This is me in front of the White House in Washington D.C. right after my little brother obtained his Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University. As you probably guessed, he is clearly the smarter of the two of us. We took the slightly longer route while walking from his ceremony to Bistro Du Coin in order to swing by the President's home. If you like mussels, Bistro Du Coin is the place to go. On the advice of my brother's girlfriend, I had "Moules Roquefort" and they were tender and delicious and surprisingly not heavy. I expected Roquefort to be thick and rich, but this dish was divine in every sense of the word. Back to the photo, I love this picture because it captures me with a true smile. When someone points a camera at me and starts to count or says, "Smile!" I end up with this toothy grin that is somewhat squarish on the bottom half of my mouth and it just looks goofy and all wrong. My brother is a pretty cool cat and always makes me laugh.

The photograph to the right was taken at my brother's graduation just before the one above was taken. Notice how scholarly he looks in his graduation gown. We have had some really amazing times together over the years and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is going to make a huge impact in the world and I hope he doesn't become such a big wig that he doesn't have time to travel with me or visit anymore. <3

Where In The World Wednesday

I love this idea (an idea I got from Classy in Philadelphia) for two reasons: a) last week I turned 30 (yay!) and I realized that I have only stepped on the soil of 15 countries. That may seem like a high number to most, but to someone who HAS to show up to work every single day because I practically use up all of my vacation and personal days before I earn them, that number is very small; and b) because when I originally started this blog, I wanted to focus on writing about my travels. So far, I only have this one lonely post about my first night in Thailand and I only have myself to blame for that. Where in the World Wednesday is very simple. To partake, all you have to do is post a picture of yourself someplace in the world. It doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. It just has to be a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling. Sweet. I'm in!

I am going to start this off with 2 photos from my most recent venture in Thailand again for two reasons: a) because you can't tell where my boyfriend and I are in the photo below just by looking at it and, b) because I am insanely excited about this new feature and had a hard enough time narrowing down the country to choose images from much less the photo.

In the photo to the left, my boyfriend and I were on a 2 week trip to Thailand to partake in his best friend's wedding. This photo was taken on the morning of our 1 year anniversary while watching the sunrise on the beach in front of our hotel on Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. We were there for five days following our friend's wedding in Yasothorn. I wouldn't have wanted to be there with anyone else. I love this man with all of my heart and am incredibly grateful everyday to be his girlfriend.

This second photo was also taken on Ko Samui. Later that day, we rented scooters and drove to the other side of the island and rode elephants! Riding an elephant was the #1 "must do" item on my list. I was about as excited as and the 8km ride there seemed like it took an eternity. I thought scooters were faster than that. I guess not. Contrary to what most think, elephants do not stink like barnyard animals. In fact, they were surprisingly clean and didn't smell much like anything. Their skin is extremely soft (I thought it would feel tough and wrinkly) and they are so sweet and massive. It is easy to see how they earned their nickname, gentle giants.

Tomorrow, I head to D.C. to see my little brother accept his Master's Degree. I am excited as I have never seen cherry blossoms and they are in full bloom right now!