Welcome to Russia

Four airports and three airplanes later, I made it to Russia! And guess what...there is lots of snow.

So much snow that everywhere we went today we were given little plastic booties to cover our shoes so that we wouldn't track snow and mud all over. So clever.

We journeyed around St. Petersburg a little as we went from place to place getting our documents in order. I snapped a couple of pictures just as we were walking, but there will be may more to come.

If you look closely, you can see The Church on Spilled Blood in the background of this photo:

Can't wait to go inside!

Russia Bound

Yup, this is happening...

I am off to Russia!

Rock n' Roll

This past weekend my Mom and I went to visit some of my Dad's family along with my aunt, Leann, in Memphis. My aunt, Tricia, took us around to see some fabulous sights, or should I say hear some fabulous songs? 

We started at the Rock n' Soul museum, where we learned the entire history of music in Memphis. AKA basically the history of rock n roll. It was awesome. 

The audio tour was so awesome in fact that Leann and my mother could not keep from dancing, as pictured below:

I myself couldn't hold it in once I ran into Elvis Presley's awesome duds. 

We ate Gus' world famous fried chicken. All I can say is that it was the best fried chicken I have ever had. Ever. 

We also toured Sun Studio where Elvis was first discovered and signed Here we are singing into one of the microphones that he used. 

Leann and I particularly enjoyed rocking out.

This is the booth where Elvis first signed with the label:

We also hit up Graceland, Elvis' home.

He certainly had a wacky sense of decorating. And, he had three TVs. Who needs DVR when you have three TVs?

Elvis and I:

You can't help but strike a pose when you see these great outfits:

So much style!

That evening we attended my cousin, Gracie's Cotillion ball. She looked excellent in her white gown.

The proud father with his sister:

How could we not after spending all day at Graceland?

We completed the evening with milkshakes and fries at Red Robin.

Talk about a rockin' trip!

Georgetown

We went to Georgetown in order to try a new Doner Kebab place that we spotted the last time we were there. I would have to say that it was the best one I have in the U.S. 

Then we of course had to stop by Georgetown Cupcakes for a little something sweet. 

Emily and I split the chocolate coconut and the oreo cheesecake because neither of us could decide which to get. The chocolate coconut definitely won for me. 

We happened to be there right as they ere filming for the TV show, so watch out to see if me, my mom, or Emily made any of the shots.

Megan's Finale

In order to send Megan off with a bang, we went into Georgetown for dinner and dessert. I tried to make Emily wear this outfit, but she wouldn't.

We ate dinner at The Tackle Box, which was delicious and then headed over to the Pie Sisters for pie. 

The pie was so good! I had an apple pie and a chocolate cream pie and loved them both.

After so much delicious food, we headed off to see the Jefferson Monument.

We love Jefferson!

Just doing some yoga.

A Day of Art

Before Megan left we spent the day in DC exploring the excellent art that is found there We started in the National Gallery, where we saw many of our classic favorites. 

Here's my mom with one of her favorites:

I love the colors in it.

I loved seeing this painting by Seurat:

Mostly because he even signed his name using little dots.

We took the epic passageway through space to the East Wing.

We hung out with some of my favorites there, including this one by Rothko:

There was a special exhibit on Roy Lichtenstein, who is one of my favorite Pop Artists. He is commonly known as the one who makes the big comic book pictures, but I assure you there is a lot more to his art than that. This exhibit was incredible. Everyone should go see it. 

Here is an example of one of his imitations of famous art with a Pop Art twist. It is based on The Laocoon.

Here he imitated Monet's cathedral paintings in different lights, but he did them with the same Ben-Day dots style as his comic book paintings. Incredible. 

Next, we headed over to the Hirshhorn Museum. To tie everything together, the statue out in front of the museum was by Roy Lichtenstein. Now, I had hallways thought that it was a representation of bacon, but I learned in the exhibit that Lichtenstein had a fascination with brushstrokes, so now it makes more sense - it is a giant brushstroke!

Frank Lloyd Wright's windows:

Sometimes Megan and I just need to be part of the art.

Great advice; however, I may need to work a little on both.

Just doing some thinking.

I love Washington DC!