A Fine, Fall, Friday Afternoon on the Town

I cracked.

I bought "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, 

and I'm going to read all 757 pages before the movie comes out. 

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Just kidding!

As of late, many of the metro stations have been decked out in giant "Lincoln" movie posters with giant quotes telling me:

"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" etc... and basically I get really giddy every time I see one. D.C. has officially made me a history junkie. That being said, I am super excited for the movie to come out. So, after months and months of my uncle encouraging me to read the book, I took a beautiful walk through downtown D.C. today to pick up the book. I had this awesome moment where I felt like Meg Ryan going to pick out my favorite book and read it over lunch as the leaves fell off the trees... Although, when you consider that I bought it from Barnes and Noble, that kind of makes it look like I support the guys at "F-O-X."

That being said, I loved perusing the bookstore, and didn't even want to ask for help for the sole fact that I love just taking my own sweet time in bookstores, looking for what I want, and finding what I didn't think I even needed. :) However, when I finally did ask for help, the nice lady asked me if I preferred "a movie cover or the book cover?" I guess I must have a little love affair with paper and ink, because I stuck with the original. Ever since, I've been enthralled! It's a great book if you get a chance to thumb through!

My lunch consisted of a quick jaunt over to Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street. I don't think I've heard one bad thing about it since arriving in the district, and the rumors held true! It's fabulous. The food was very filling, so fortunately for me, my order fed me for lunch and dinner!

This place has fed the likes of Barack and Denzel if that tells you anything!

What can I gather from this run to Ben's? My time in the district has also converted me into a foodie. :)

Finally, my last stop for the day was to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I have to admit that I probably prefer the American History Museum over this one. However, the Harry Winston exhibit definitely pulled out all the stops. Girls, meet this bling:

This is the Hope Diamond. And no, this is not the actual size. It's BIGGER! Let's just say that in the exhibit itself I found: sapphires, rubies, emeralds, tiaras, bracelets, yellow diamonds, Tiffany (I love me some Tiffany), pearls, you name it! But as you can tell from this photo: diamonds are truly a girl's best friend!