Washington DC | What We Ate

you know my friend kim is just one in a million. she always cheers me, and makes me laugh. she has a heart for adventures like mine and she is always up for anything. a couple weekends ago i had a wedding up in maryland where she lives and we planned a romp around dc the day after. i'll be honest, we mostly just ate. thats never a bad thing in my book though and we seriously enjoyed everything.

our first stop was brunch. (best meal of the day!) and we ate at founding farmers. the wait was suuuuper long and we ended up just sitting at the bar, but let me just tell you, it was totally worth it. i ate carrot cake pancakes and kim had chicken and waffles. we both tried each others and i truly don't know which one i liked better. its was so good and not expensive at all. so thumbs up and highly recommended.

dc is one of my favorite places to visit in the spring. the blossoms are huge everywhere and petals float around the streets. its just real cheery and makes you want to breathe deep. after brunch we headed to the washington monument for my favorite tourist activity. if you've never done it, next time you visit, scoot your butt right up to the base of the monument and put your fit up. its a crazy feeling. i love it! we started a trend while we were there when a group of older ladies decided they needed to try our trick. such loud giggles. i hope thats me when i'm older. 

we wondered around, visited the over crowded cherry blossoms and then drifted back towards the shopping. we passed shake shack and i mentioned i'd never been. kim told me we needed to have a snack there so we grabbed some shakes and fries. truth: i don't think i've ever had a better milkshake. it was like drinking velvet. or melted butter, or something fantastic and smooth like that. i'm a believer.

the best part of traveling all the time is the sweet visits in between jobs where i get to catch up with friends like kim. where i get to eat great food and take photos just for fun. where i get to see new places and old, and where i'm reminded a thousand times over to be thankful for my twenties and the ever growing mess of a human i get to be right now. hooray for travels, hooray for friends and hooray for milkshakes.

Buzzfeed List | Safehouse Coffee Roasters

my favorite coffee shop near my parents is also the favorite coffee shop of a bunch of young Indian men. they are here every time i'm here and they sit on the patio and drink tiny coffees and smoke cigarettes. each time i see them i always wonder if their cigarettes make the coffee taste nasty. because i can't imagine it making it taste good.

speaking of coffee! i am killing these buzzfeed lists! i've crossed off eleven so far and though i know there is no way i'm going to get to Hawaii this year, its really fun to try and get to all these places in my travels. on a recent trip to florida we drove (only a little) out of the way so we could try the coffee shop in griffin georgia. which apparently is very close to where one of my favorite wedding mamas lives and i'm real sad i was so close and didn't know!

georgia is a funny place. i didn't expect to find this kind of quality coffee in the middle of nowhere. honest to goodness, its right next to a county called Butts Co. we passed a bbq place called the hog father. its stereotypical south. and so we were very pleasantly surprised to have great coffee! they make all their syrups in house and the environment was quiet and cool. the girls running the counter were super helpful in our decision making and all in all i only have good things to say about it.

its worth going out of the way!

Travel Well | Oregon

you know so many people have told me that i should visit Oregon...i really had no idea how much i should. its beautiful. all the parts. so many adventures, i could spend a whole summer exploring the there.

i'm both ashamed and proud to tell you that when we visited the buzzfeed donut place in portland, it was so good that we drove the two hours back to get it again before i left. i'm so serious you guys...its worst it. its so worth is that i smashed three of them deep in my carry on to take them home to my sister. right now my mouth is watering thinking about it. gah. okay. Blue star donuts i love you forever and i need you in my life. okay i'm done.

for our day out in portland we grabbed lunch at a place called zeus cafe. i was so incredibly excited because they had a no hormones in their beef and that never happens and so i got to eat a hamburger in a public place. it really doesn't take much to make my day...

we walked around portland, toured a book store and ended up with Oprahs favorite chocolate. (which i brought home and i am still snacking on whoops.) we even found the sign to keep it weird. i liked portland! its a nice city, if for nothing else their coffee and their donuts...

my gosh why is Oregon so green?! washington always looks blue-ish to me but everywhere we went in this state i was amazed by how green everything is. you know i'm a big fan of nature so getting to see all these awesome places was a dream.

monmouth falls is probably one of the most instagramed things from Oregon and when we pulled up to it i had a little moment. its huge. its way taller than i thought it would be and really, you could just stand there forever and stare up at it.

right down the road from the waterfall is oneonta gorge and during the summer (when its not freezing...) you can walk all the way down through the gorge and there's a waterfall at the back. we climbed over a bunch of dead wood (and deer!) and sat at the mouth of it. Noelle was crazy and actually got in the water. (baby boy your mother is a champ and also nuts! be proud of her!) that was such a neat experience and you know how i love to climb things! i also got in a great hair whip...

i just want to lay in that grass all day and smell that fresh air.

on our last day ( and last day of shooting ahh!!) we ventured to cannon beach. i can't tell you how long i've been dreaming of going there and to see it in person was just too much. its just the most epic meeting of land and sea (to borrow uncle tom's words!) we even met some new friends (strangers) at the beach and i snapped their pictures. shout out to Laurens hair because its the real mvp. they were so nice and they are from austin which i love so now i love them!

Noelle figured out how many hours we had spent in the car while i was out there and i don't remember what it was but i know it was a lot. it didn't matter though because great conversation mixed with the greatest view out your window makes for the greatest road trips.

oh oregon, you are just the neatest and i can't wait to visit you again. for now i'll be dreaming of your donuts.