Ready for Game Day!

We have had Jonah now for almost two months and have had so much fun getting to know him. He is really a sweet little dog and he just loves to cuddle and be loved on. So far I've resisted the urge to dress him up. I just didn't want him to be to be too prissy.  We were at Target the other day and I just couldn't pass up this $1 football jersey. As you can tell from this picture, Jonah wasn't very happy! I have since tried to put it back on it him, but he just freezes up and looks miserable. Oh well! 

D.C. Trip

This is the Treasurey Department.

1600 Pennslyvania Ave. will soon have a new occupant. There is no telling what will happen on Nov. 4!

I was so excited to see the new WWII monument. These pictures don't do it justice. There are hanging wreaths dedicated to every state along the outside of the monument and in the middle there is a huge pool and fountain. It's beautiful! I would suggest seeing it at night for the full effect.

No matter where I live I will always be a TN girl!

Julie is from the great state of Kansas!

Me and Jules walking toward the Lincoln Memorial

Honest Abe

Apparently, the new way to see D.C. is by Segway?

At the end of July I (Ashlee) went to D.C. for a fundraising conference with my work. Even though I've been several times before, this was the first time I was actually able to stay in D.C., rather than in Viriginia. My hotel was in the Georgetown area, which I love. A lot of the embassies are in and around this area. The old brownstone row houses are beautiful and it's fun to imagine all of the special meetings between dignataries and elected officials that might have taken place over the years behind their walls. The best part about the trip was getting to hang out with my dear friend Julie, who was one of my roommates in the Czech Republic in 2004-2005. She is in law school and was working for a human rights organization over the summer. We were able to hang out a lot over the 5 days I was there. It was so great to catch up and hear about the awesome work she is doing with refugees. She is going to be a great public interest lawyer!

I never get tired of visiting our nation's capital. I wish that every American would go there and just take in all of the monuments and history that is there. Especially for the majority of people in Seattle, I think it would be good for them to go there and experience how great our country is, despite it's flaws. No, things aren't perfect, but we have so much here to be proud of!

The Newseum

Before leaving for D.C. I had heard that there was a new museum dedicated to news and the media. Being a certified news junkie as well as a journalism major, I really wanted to try and make it to the Newseum! Pretty clever, huh?
It did not disappoint! Anything and everything you want to know about all types of media is on display there. Including a display of pulitzer prize winning photos, newspaper front pages that change daily from all 50 states, lots of interactive displays and a special exhibit about the media's role with the FBI in some of the biggest crimes of the past 100 years. They even had the Unabomber's shack that he lived in on display! There is so much to see so you definitely will need more than just a couple of hours to be able to take it all in.

Jules and I posed with gangsters before heading into the special exhibit on the Media and the FBI!

Great view of the Capitol from the Newseum

Tim Russert's famous whiteboard from the 2000 election. I miss watching him!

This is the radio/tv tower that was on top of one of the WTC Towers

You have to visit the Newseum if you to to D.C.

Lake Eleanor & Grand Park

We decided to take advantage of the fleeting days of summer and go for a hike at Mt. Rainier National Park. Little did we know that because the temperatures were in the 70s that the mesquitos would be out in full force! I had brought and sprayed some bug spray on before we started, but my husband said that he didn't need any. After we were on the hike for about 30 minutes it became evident that we weren't just going to encounter a few bugs here and there. We ended up being barraged by mesquitos for the next 2 hours. So much so that we ended up turning around half way through our hike. Poor Casey was being eaten alive! There were probably 50 bugs surrounding him at any given time. It was crazy! I even ended up with a few bites. I think we will wait for the temperature to drop before we head out on another hike.

Ashlee at Lake Eleanor

Ashlee at Grand Park

Us at Grand Park

Mt. Rainier