Girl Got Green

I have always loved St. Patrick's Day. Not because I'm Irish or Catholic, but mostly because I'm fascinated by Irish culture (took Irish dance lessons in 8th grade :)) and [grass] green is one of my favorite colors (plus yellow & orange). Since I was a kid, I loved wearing everything green I owned on March 17. Now I own too many green things and had to spread them across 3 days of St. Patrick's Day weekend haha.

Friday - was going to go to a St. Patrick's Day social dance at Chevy Chase Ballroom but was too tired. So I went to bed at 10:30pm on a Friday night - that's what I get for burning the midnight oil all week! But at least I got to strut my green at work!

Saturday - went to the Stake Relief Society (the largest women's organization in the world, with about 6,000,000 members) Conference in the morning, where the theme was "Reach Upward" (hence the kites)

I heard some inspiring messages on looking forward with faith and not dwelling on the past (based on this powerful talk), and attended a great class in which we discussed the difference between happiness (pleasure-based, fleeting, superficial) & joy (takes work, long-lasting despite hardships & sadness, deep). I love what Sister Shelden said about our tendency to preserve our happiness but sacrifice our joy; seeking joy takes risk but the rewards are more bountiful. After all -

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)

That afternoon, I met up some friends in Dupont Circle for dinner at James Hoban's Irish Restaurant & Pub, named after the Irish architect of the White House.

We didn't experience the main activity of the holiday: drinking. Waters all around! (Mormons save so much money this way :D)

But the food was really good! We each ordered something different and sampled everyone else's (best way to eat): bangers & mash, shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, & [my] Irish stew. Yum!

However, considering the free flowing alcohol and copious amounts of 2nd hand smoke (from the party outside), I will be perfectly content if I never visit an [Irish] pub again.

After dinner, we walked through some charming neighborhoods to Georgetown, probably my favorite area of DC. We went to Serendipity for dessert, an extremely overpriced famous restaurant known for it's huge frozen hot chocolates.

Britt & Adam split the peanut butter one, and Cory and I split the oreo one. It was basically a gargantuan oreo slushie (with ice in place of ice cream). The bartender was surprised we finished them ha!

Then we went to the movie theater on the waterfront to watch Oz the Great and Powerful. I went for the makeup and costumes but was inspired by the good messages (the others' reactions ranged from dislike to amused).

I liked it so much, I wrote a separate blog post about it! (see "Oz the Great and Powerful: Goodness over Greatness")

After the movie, we walked along the beautiful lights along the waterfront :) I never get tired of these sights, especially the Kennedy Center breathtakingly lit up for the Nordic Cool Festival -

Sunday - I loved the green clothes parade at Church haha. Afterwards, my roommates threw a St. Patrick's Day shindig with Irish music and green food, decorations, and people (well, green clothes). Here's a small handful of us -

even my eye shadow was green!

So ready for spring...