Upside-down buttons!

I would like to take this moment to thank my roommate Daniela for making sure our time here in D.C. never gets boring.

On Tuesday we had to take the Metro downtown. I was lost, Daniela was lost, so luckily we had Rachel, who has been to D.C. a couple times before and is a Metro pro.

Anyway, we got some lunch, headed to the Metro and rode a few minutes to our stop. Then, this happened:

Peculiar gentleman (To Daniela): "Yo girl, your buttons upside down!"

Daniela: "What??"

Peculiar gentleman: "Yo buttons! Upside down!"

*He comes closer*

Me: "Um...let's get out of here?"

Peculiar gentleman: "But the buttons!"

Daniela: "Oh, um...what?"

Me: *motions  Daniela. Walks away in fear.*

And that was just the beginning. She attracted many a homeless man on the way back, and has caught the eyes (and phone numbers) of the guys here. Of course, she didn't ask for all this, it just kind of happened to her. 

So anyway, later that night, we celebrated Rachel's birthday! She's the baby of the group, just turned 19.

I felt like such a mom. Also, I was post-run. Hence the reason I look like that.

So the next day, we got up before the sun to take a day trip to Philadelphia!

I have to say, my first impression of that city wasn't the best. All I saw for the first five minutes were strip club billboards, but it got better. Eventually.

We trekked on over to the National Convention Center for some patriotic fun,

chilled with the founding fathers while they birthed our Constitution,

and then checked out Independence Hall. For whatever reason, I was never excited to see Independence Hall until I got to Philly. THEN I wanted nothing else. I was especially fascinated with George Washington's chair.

And at the end of it, all I really wanted...all I had wanted ALL DAY..

was a tiny Liberty Bell of my very own.

And guess what.

It even rings. Which is wrong, because the real one doesn't ring, but whatever.

So then today was magically the most beautiful day EVER. I'm talking sunny, breezy and a good 50 degrees warmer than it has been all week. So tooling around the city for a meeting with Open Secrets was a whole lot more enjoyable.

Also, meet the tallest escalator known to man. Did I mention I'm terrified of escalators? And heights?

Picture that scene in "Elf" when Will Ferrell is freaked out by the escalator, and lets all the other people on first. That's me.

So there it is! This weekend is something I have been looking very, very forward to...but more on that later.

:)