Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

Whether you are with your sweetheart or just friends, remember that you do you have people in your life that love you and that you love as well.  Also remember to love yourself because you are special and you ARE worth it.

I have many friends and family who are very dear to me, and this Valentine's Day I send my love to all them from across the miles.

On one of the sites I visit, there was a post for Valentine's Day asking people to write three things that they love about themselves.

I ask you to remind yourself of three things that you love about yourself.  Share them here or keep them to yourself, but something makes you special, and take note of that on all days.  

DC

Alright, so right now I'm at the end of the 2nd week in DC.  I only have 1 week left, but what an amazing time it's been so far.  There is so much to do in DC!  I've been enjoying the night life, the monuments and memorials, and all the MUSEUMS!  The Smithsonian museums are all free, and there is SO MUCH information in all of them. 
One of the first few days here, I walked down and saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Washington Monument.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

Korean War Memorial

We got much closer to the Washington Monument.

WWII Memorial

The American History Museum: DC

The American History Museum is one of the Smithsonian Museums, and one of the first ones I went to while here in DC.  Like I said before, all the Smithsonian Museums have SO MUCH information.  I always start off strong, and then a few hours in, my mind is just overwhelmed with information.
They have a really awesome exhibit happening right now all about the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.  It's the original flag that was made and flew over the fort where Francis Scott Key is said to have watched from a far as he wrote the lyrics to our national anthem.  The flag is not in great shape, and is in really low lighting to help preserve it.  It was a HUGE flag.  You couldn't take pictures, which is why I don't have any to show you, but it was a pretty cool museum.

They had lots of items on display from our pop culture.  I saw a puppet of Kermit, Bob Dylan's jacket, costumes and props from various popular America movies.  They had a lot of information on different wars with lots and lots of uniforms, weapons, etc.  Lots of information on all of our Presidents, all sorts of different, very interesting exhibits.

The Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz

Kermit!

It's cool, Bill Clinton was just playing some cards on my birthday back in 1998. 

One of my favorite exhibits in the museum was the one they had on the First Ladies.  They had a ton of the Ladies Inauguration Dresses on Display.  That was really fun to see!  Michelle Obama's was stunning!

First Lady Lincoln's dress

A very cool museum, and definitely worth a visit!

Tempe, AZ & East Lansing MI

Alright, we're going to lump these two cities together.  I had an amazing time in both, don't get me wrong, it's just a didn't do an enormous amount of stuff.  I relaxed a lot during the day.  I did however have a very awesome night life in both of these cities.

I went out an awful lot and sampled all the cities had to offer in that area.  We were on the Arizona State University Campus, so it was a college town.  They had a main drag with lots of bars/shops/restaurants.  I definitely walked it up and down, did some fun shopping, and was reminded of my own four years of college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Opening night in Tempe, they threw us a lovely party.

We went an saw some giant bunny art!

Mexican Chocolate Beer on tap....Amazing.

We went to try the beers at the Four Peaks Brewery....excellent.

Darcy and I at World of Beer.

Fun times

 In East Lansing Michigan, we celebrated the birthday of my friend Jarrett.  His birthday is actually on the same day as my Mom's, so it was easy to remember.  Jan. 22nd.  They had an opening night party for us on the same day as his birthday, so you know we had a good time.

We also had cars in this city, so we were driving to and from work, which was nice.  Plus, the hotel here had kitchens!  So we got to cook.  Now for touring individuals this is a HUGE deal.  We never get to cook!  We usually have mini-fridges and a microwave.....but burners and an oven!  My goodness, everyone was cooking up a storm that week.  This is also why I didn't do much, it was snowing a ton, and I had a kitchen to cook in.  It made it hard to leave.

The other most exciting thing about East Lansing was the fact that my Mother, sister and brother in law came to visit for a night and a morning!  It was sooo good to see them!  We did dinner between my two shows on Saturday night, they saw the show, we hung out after, and did breakfast in the morning!  It was such a great trip, even though it was short, we had a blast!

Jarrett's Birthday

Fun times in East Lansing

My Sister, Kelly, and Mom!

 All in all, the two weeks in East Lansing and Tempe were a fun and relaxing time!