The Mickelsen Ladies Go To Washington

Last weekend my mom, and two sisters came to visit from Washington state. I anticipated this visit for quite some time! The weekend was great--full of shopping, site seeing, eating, walking, touring, girl talk, sleepovers, and rain. Honestly, we could have done without the rain. I loved, loved, loved spending the weekend with my favorite girls.

Here we are in Georgetown, perfecting the credit card swipe. Kidding. Dad you would have been impressed with our frugality.

One of my greatest memories of our girls weekend, was pillow talk at night. Mom and Lesley shared the bed, and Lauren and I on the air mattress. We rarely fell asleep before 1am the entire weekend.

Here we are checking out the First Ladies exhibit at the American History Museum. The First Ladies inauguration dresses were gorgeous!

Lauren and I give Abe a visit. Definitely one of my favorite monuments in the District.

And a visit to the White House...

Enjoying the night life in Georgetown...

Their first full day in the city, was indeed a full day. We started out at the National Archives, ate lunch at Union Square, toured the Supreme Court, Capitol, Library of Congress, then visited the Natural History Museum, took a short break for some hot chocolate at Adam's, and then off to Georgetown for shopping. While they were here we also visited the Holocaust Museum, Mt. Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, National Cathedral, and the DC Temple. Thinking about all we accomplished in the four days they were here kind of makes me laugh, and very tired.

Here we are posing in front of the Capitol.

Thanks for coming to see me! Lauren, I am glad you got to witness a two-story McDonalds :) Know that your always welcome back!! Start saving for girls weekend 2010.

This past weekend was a first for my Honda and I.  We drove together to NYC for Mel's bridal shower.  I tell you, it definitely beats taking the bus!  Thanks to some dear friends in Brooklyn, we avoided Manhattan parking fees and traffic!  

It was so great to catch up with Melissa and Nat!  Almost a holla house reunion...I even brought season 1 of the holla house, just in case!  We met for brunch in the village,  at a yummy place called, blue ribbon bakery.  I couldn't get enough of the bread!  Two of my girlfriends from graduate school also attended the bridal shower.  I love going back to NYC, seeing my girls, and walking the city streets.  I get giddy everytime.  

Holly, Bryndee, Me, Nat

Saturday night, Adam and I went up 70 stories, to view the city from the Top of the Rock.  It was fun to learn more about John D. Rockefeller, and how Rockefeller plaza came to be.  It was a beautiful view of the city!  You can see the Empire State Building in the back of this picture.  

What would a trip to NYC be without a picture in Time Square?!?

One of Adam's good friends was so kind to let us stay with them for the weekend.  Sunday afternoon we all participated in a blind chocolate tasting test.  We made Adam wear a blindfold to ensure the results were pure, and non-biased.  Included in the testing were the following brands of chocolate: Lindt, Symphony, Droste, Perugina, Hershey, Ghirardelli, and Milka.  The first round of tasting was simply to get a tast of the variety of chocolates placed before us.  During the second round, we taste tested our favorites, to clarify our rank order.  The purpose of this taste testing, was to see what chocolate we enjoyed best, without knowing what brand of chocolate it was.  My results: 

1. Lindt

2. Sypmony bar with toffee/almonds

3. Milka

4. Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate

5. Hershey Milk Chocolate

6. Droste

7. Perugina

I kind of loved this test for several reasons: a. it was an excuse to eat chocolate.  b. it was fun to learn my favorite kinds of chocolate.  c.  it cracked me up at how seriously we took the test! d. As I write this post, I can see that Adam is rubbing off on me...really, an entire 2 paragraphs dedicated to chocolate????? :)

Most Dramatic Season EVER!!

Last Monday night was the Bachelor finale.  Many of you know, that we get a little obsessed with show.  Last season we fell in love with my fellow Washingtonian Jason, and thrilled to learn he was our next bachelor!  Every bachelor finale, we, or "the girls" host a finale party.  

Let me first introduce you to the ladies.  Every Monday night we gathered at our place to watch Jason and his quest to find true love.  Please note the Seattle Space Needle in the background.  I didn't want to throw it away.  I think it could be a good addition to the decor in our home.  I don't think my roommates were fans of that idea :)

Instead of the usual greeting with roses, we each got a Washington Apple (Jason is from Kirkland, WA). 

It couldn't be a Washington state themed party without Mr. Rainer!

or Pike's Place Market...

During the commercials, we took a timeout to play some party games.  First we have, pin the sideburns on Nicci:

Secondly, we have the game, "Who is Who".  I was pretty pleased with my performance in this game!

A little bubbly to celebrate the 2 minutes of excitement, until we learned Jason, one very confused man, dumped his fiance of 6 weeks for the runner up. 

Finally, there had to be a shout out to our Canadian girl, Jillian.  Bring on the bachelorette!

2 reasons why my weekend was so great....

1.  Two of my favorite people came to visit me from New York City, and London.  These boys are like family to me!

2.  BYU beat up on the UTES Saturday night at the Marriott Center (63-50)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A BYU victory, and UTE loss always brightens my day :)  Ra-ra-ra-ra-ra- GO COUGARS!!!!!!!!!!!!  
 

" No Your Not Hardcore, Unless You Live Hardcore!"

Can anyone guess what movie the following quotes are from?!

"I pledge allegiance to the band..."

"Nice pipes Tamika"

"Now raise your goblet of rock.  It's a toast to those who rock!"

ANYONE???  I maybe felt like I was in the movie, "School of Rock" last weekend, when a group of friends came over to play Rock band.   My dreams of becoming a rocker came true Saturday night!!  We busted out some Jon Bon Jovi,  Fleetwood Mac, and Steve Miller Band, to name a few.   For those unfamiliar with Rock band, it is a music video game, that allows players to perform in a virtual band.  Check out the intensity on these faces!!

WYR

Have any of you ever played Would You Rather??  Well if not, you are missing out.  Lately my roommate has been emailing a WYR for the day.   Let me show you how the game works.

Would you rather have an indelible grape Kool-Aid mustache

 

OR

 

have permanent Doritos residue on your fingertips?

Answers: 

1. I would rather have permanent Doritos residue on my fingertips!!  If

you were starving, you would always have access to a little taste of

Doritos!

2. dorito hands, imagine a guy going in for a kiss and the guy is like it smells like grape cough syrup or something and then he would just not kiss you...TRAGIC! I would just wear gloves to cover up the cheese residue and smell! ;) Ohh and are these cool ranch doritos or normal? 

3. Definitely doritos hands. You can't mess with the perfection of the face!

4. I have to agree with you...as much as it disgusts me to think of Doritos fingers, having a Kool-Aid mustache is unacceptable.  But how sick is it that my keyboard would be icky w/ Doritos-ness all over it.  SICK.  But its the lesser of the two.  I think you can choose which kind of Doritos...afterall, its a sign of your eatting them.

5. I would have each finger be a different flavor:

A.      Salt and vinegar

B.      Nacho Cheese

C.      Cool Ranch

D.      The spicy salsa one

E.       Plain Corn Chips

F.       Honey Soy Chicken

G.     Spicy Thai

H.      Kimchee

I.        Cheese Curry

I           can't believe that no one considered the money savings from licking your fingers for lunch or just the sheer pleasure of it all. It would certainly stop me from picking my nose… I would go Doritos for sure. That’s a no brainer. 

 6. Uhhhh.. that is an ingenious idea, though some of those flavors are sick and more importantly i think the issue warrenting discussion is that you need chip flavored fingers in order to stop picking your nose! :) 

 

  

 

"Country Road, Take me Home!"

Over Valentine's Day, and President's Day weekend I went with a group of friends to West Virginia!  I recognize I am a little behind with this post.  It was so nice to get away, and spend time with friends.   Meet the group:

and our lovely cabin....

Over the weekend, I found a new hobby: Horseshoeing.  We split up in pairs, and had ourselves a double elimination tournament.  Team MichAdam showed a strong performance.  Unfortunately, not good enough to keep up with Reed & Grayden.  

We went hiking, played some football, learned how to properly hold a gun with sticks...

The boys cooked up some delicious salmon...by far the best meal of the weekend!

Went Canoeing on the Lake

Somebody has good taste in flowers!! Aren't these tulips beautiful?!?

Participated in a poetry slam...you can never go wrong with Meatloaf! 

Played some rather competitive rounds of catch phrase!  Definitely a Michele favorite. 

I can't forget the heart-shaped pancakes on Valentine's Day.  After a few attempts, we produced the perfect heart-shaped pancake.   

Thank you Amber & Andy for planning a Wild & Wonderful weekend in West Virginia!!