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!

Last Week of L.A.

Alright, so I'm outta L.A. right now, I just spent a week in Tempe, AZ, and  a week in East Lansing, MI.  I will write about those next.  My time in L.A. is finished, but I had to write about one of the places I went during my last week, because it is definitely worth mentioning.

The Huntington Library, Arts Collection and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, CA. Amazing!

My friend in San Francisco told me that I could not miss this place and he wasn't lying.  This place has tons of art works, rare books, and more gardens than you could ever dream of.  Some of the gardens include - A Chinese Garden, a Japanese Garden, Rose Garden, Desert Garden, Lily Pond Garden.  There is an estate that houses Art pieces as well as several other Galleries on the property.  The House itself is gorgeous, and worth a tour by itself.  The library is for scholars, but they have an excellent exhibit that takes a look at many first edition books like The Canterbury Tales and Paradise Lost. 

It was such a cool experience, and I am so happy I went!

Chinese Garden

Japanese Garden

Relaxing

The House

Desert Garden

Lily Pond

Rose Garden

Rare books

If you are ever out here, be sure to visit this place!

Alright L.A., you've been fun, but it's time to move on!

First week of the New Year

Welcome 2014!  What a great year it's going to be.  I hope we all have wonderful and exciting experiences and adventures this whole year.

  New Year's Eve was a pretty crazy night.  I was going to spend it downtown in L.A. at Grand Central Park, but by the time I got out of my show, the park was at capacity!  It was nuts!  There were so many people everywhere.   We checked it out, but then headed back to the hotel b/c we needed a beverage to ring in the New Year.  The hotel bar was packed, so the majority of our company ended up going to the 4th floor.  The hotel has provided our company with a large room on the 4th floor with a microwave, a fridge, and tables and chairs.  We all brought our own libations and snacks.  Eventually people ordered food, and we had a nice big TV to watch the ball drop.  It was definitely a success!  I had a wonderful time. =)

Downtown before it go crazy

Then it got a little crowded!

 

So we had our own party at the hotel.

New Year's Day, I had off, and I pretty much just relaxed all day, and it was amazing!

This first week has been filled with hanging out with friends and eating good food.  I've been going to this bar down the street called Bunker Hill, delicious food and drink.
I also visited the Griffith Observatory where we watched the sunset over L.A. and then had GORGEOUS views of the city.  It was like the movies where they look at all the lights of L.A. from a hill top.  It was awesome.

Griffith Observatory

Pictures can't capture how stunning the views were

The ceiling inside

Sunday night was good too, went out with a few friends to dinner at Bunker Hill, then off to a few bars, including a dance club playing Latin music.  And, did we dance?  You bet ya!  Oh my goodness, I have not danced in so long, and I had such a good time!  Thanks to my friends for going into that crazy bar with me!  It was a great night and one I won't soon forget.
  I also went back to the garment district this week and picked up some items for work, as well as some new jewelry supplies for me.

A fun night out

Some of my new supplies from my shopping day!

All in all it's been a great first week of the New Year!  How's your Year going so far?