birthday!

My best friend and my husband and I left on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend in Washington D.C.!
It was the perfect birthday getaway. Becky had never been, and what better way to spend a birthday celebration than eating out at great restaurants every meal, bike riding around the city, and visiting our favorite monuments?

Right before we left on Friday we had a bunch of cards and boxes delivered for my birthday, and one of them was from my mom, containing three amazing dresses from Ruche and the most amazing blush pink boots, which I'll be wearing very soon.
This dress is one of them! I love it. I've been wanting to snatch up one of their Aztec print dresses for a while, and now I have three of them. I love this one in particular because it reminds me so much of Arizona, my home state and soul home.

One of the bloggers I met through Cara Box, Amanda (see her blog here!), told me about a trip she took to Scotland, and how she remembers writing in her journal that if people had soulmates, then maybe they also had soulhomes - and if so, Scotland was definitely hers.
I absolutely love that idea. I felt a similar connection to Ireland when we went, and it's so poetic to think that Ireland and I were destined to meet.

But if I have only one soulhome, it's most definitely Arizona.

Dress (shop!)/sunglasses (shop!): Ruche, Bangle (shop!): gifted/Kate Spade 

I love this best friend bangle from Kate Spade -- Becky and I made a pact to buy it for each other randomly, and I gave her the gold version on New Year's Eve last year, and she gave this silver one to me for my birthday.

Despite the government shutdown, we were able to have an amazing Saturday in DC!
We even got to witness some fervent patriotism, as busses of veterans arrived and people cheered them on into the WWII memorial while the rangers stood by the open barricades, stating that "the park is closed", but not stopping anyone from entering.
It was a rather powerful display!
At one point, Michelle Bachmann moved the barricade and led a large group of people up the steps into the Lincoln monument - it was open for about ten minutes before the police arrived.
Crazy stuff!

While in town, we hit some of my favorite food spots: Oyamel, Good Stuff Eatery, Filomena, and Georgetown Cupcake!

Here are a few snapshots of the day:

(Yeah, we even saw a fox - happy birthday to me!)