Last day of work!

"being cool" (page 43)

Now, I'm not sure exactly what the book is referring here to, but currently, I'm thinking this in temperature terms. I mean, I don't know who doesn't hope to be a "cool" person in the sense of personality, but when you're experiencing constant 90-100 degree weather with 60%-100% humidity EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE all ya want is a little cool air!

Soon, however, I'm going to get my wish! Today was my last day at work. WHOA! I can't believe it. Here is Karla and I with our thank you cards from the internship site :-D

What a great internship. Seriously, Karla and I lucked out so much. We're always telling people how much we appreciate our job--To the people at work and people in the program! We got to learn a lot in the office and in direct service, not to mention bake every Friday, so it was pretty much the best job ever. And we really lucked out having each other as intern partners. I guess they've never assigned two people to Rachael's at once before, but I'm sure glad this year they decided to! They even baked us a cake to send us off :-D At the left is me in front of the day shelter building. It's a little blurry, but you get the idea. That's where I've been going every weekday for the last 8 weeks!

This week was pretty hectic, as usual. But what else would you expect? Monday night after class, Julie, Alison, and I got together to make dinner, which was fun. Tuesday night Kate and I went to Five Guys for dinner, which was delicious, after our very last Georgetown class of the summer...Crazy! Last night, Wednesday night, Alison and I went to take picture on the gigantic adirondack chair that's outside of a nearby school and got fro yo as well. Each night I've worked on my final papers for my class too, and I finally finished those today...Success!

Dinner making with Alison and Julie

Five Guys burger...it'll change your life!

Photoshoot with Alison on the adirondack chair...My favorite :-)

The nearby stair case that was used in filming The Exorcist...Scary!

Tonight, Alison's Dad is getting into town, so I'm going to go out to dinner with them and adopt myself into their family for a night. Tomorrow is GRADUATION! Crazy! Perhaps a little silly for only 9 credits, but I can't believe how fast this summer program went by. My brother, Jon, is coming to watch the ceremony I believe and then we're going to grab lunch after. Then I've gotta pack up all my stuff and plan on spending the evening with my roomies, Sherrald and her roommate, Andrea, and hopefully Dani! :-) One of my roommates, my in-room roommate, left this morning, actually. She decided that she really wanted to go home so she took off a couple days early. On Saturday, good ol' Ginnykins is coming to pick me up so our week of fun can begin! And then that night, she, myself, Dani, and Sherrald are going to a Paramore concert...Tee hee!

I've really gotten a lot out of this program, but it's definitely time to have a bit of a break. I'm really looking forward to my week with Gin and then I'm REALLY looking forward to going home :-) Life will be hectic from the start, but I'll be in the Big VT with my favoritest people in life, so all will be right!

I can't believe it's the last week!

"credit cards" (page 222)

I now officially have no idea what this woman is talking about. I think that credit cards are an issue in our country--How is it a good idea to LOAN basically anyone money? I mean, maybe the base idea is good, but it needs some major tweaking. Not to mention, although I had fun in the last 4 days, I will be unhappy with my money statement. Sigh. So, I'm a bit confused on this one.

HOWEVER, the last week has been great! I can't believe how fast it flew by. It was pretty standard--Work, classes, a financial planning seminar, our last internship seminar class...Surviving. Last Thursday, a few of my friends came over for a wine night, which was really fun! We, of course, stayed up far too late and Friday was a rough morning to get up. I could've slept in, but instead Julie and I (the girl in the picture to the right) got up and went to volunteer for Alison at the Y (where she interns) because we love her that much. Admire the 3 of us below:

After volunteering I took off for work, and then met up with Alison in Dupont Circle to head over to the modern sculpture garden for "Jazz in the Gardens". It's held every Friday. Well, we're idiots and got totally lost, but after walking about 1.5 miles in over 100 degree weather, we eventually got there and met up with everyone. It was really fun! Everyone came back to the dorms and hung out in various places all night. Below (from left to right) are Alison, myself, and Kate (my roommate) at Jazz in the Gardens.

Eating at Ben's Chili Bowl on the way home....A famous DC burger joint!!

On Saturday I slept in a little and then got to Skype with Miss Monika, my sister who is a brand new mommy, and finally "meet" my little nephew, Mr. Bodester, on the computer! MAN, I cannot wait until they move back to the States. Can we please LOOK at the little man to the left? WHO HAS SEEN A CUTER CHILD THAN THAT? I think no one has, if I do say so myself. Nice job, Oma and Opa on the outfit choice :-)

After chatting with my sister and nephew I took off for Dupont Circle because ANDREA is in town for the next two weeks! CRAZY! I can't believe that girl and I have been best friends for the last 11 years. And I love how it went right back to "normal". We had such a blast! We got some food and went to a really great museum. Good thing we got lost in the 105+ degree heat....Sigh. Then, I took off for a BBQ with Kate (my roommate), and Sherrald and her roomie at Dani's Aunt and Uncle's. Dani's parents were there too, as well as a couple of Dani's other friends. It was so fun! We really had a blast. Great food, good laughs, and then there was me quite literally falling asleep in between my turns during the washers game we were playing outside.

Hanging out before dinner

Enjoying being in a real house :-) Thanks Dani & Family!

Just, you know, me breaking Kate's door at the apartment that day....Whoops!

Sunday, I got my butt out of bed early once again (Andrea has an amazing effect on me), met up with Alison outside, and we went and picked up Andrea at Dupont. We headed to the Eastern Market, this really cool flea market, where I got these cool baggy, soft pants I've been wanting for a long time. Then we grabbed some brunch at this amazing cafe and walked on down to the Mall and went to the Air & Space Museum, which was really fun! Alison and I both got EINSTEIN TEE SHIRTS THAT GLOW IN THE DARK. Possibly the best decision I've made in recent times. After metro-ing it back to Dupont, we all got some ice cream while we waited out a CRAZY storm and then Andrea parted ways from us for about 2 hours so we could each take a little nap and I caught up on some reading. Then we all went downtown for a delicious dinner at Mei N Yu, which is a Chinese restaurant that is apparently one of DC's best. It was AMAZING. And the bathroom was SO COOL. Hehe.

Re-doing our on-the-bench Botanical Gardens photo 8 years later :-)

Alison, myself, and Andrea outside the Botanical Gardens

Just being my mature self in the Air & Space museum!

Adding to the collection of these photos!

I'M SO EXCITED ANDREA IS IN DC!!

Alison and I at Mei N Yu for dinner

After dinner I took Andrea up to my dorm and introduced her to my fish and showed her all my lovely photos. Then we just barely got her on the bus (imagine SPRINTING across campus as the bus was closing its doors....But we made it!). Then I had a nice weekend catch-up phone call with Dill and did some homework.

Tomorrow is work and then class, with Tuesday being my last day of class (I'm voting Alison and I wear the Einstein tee shirts). Then we've got Wednesday and Thursday for work (I really want to volunteer at this huge Y convention thing on Thursday) and then Friday is "graduation." WHOA! WHAT?! All week I'll be hanging out with Andrea and saying goodbye to people in my program :-( It's definitely time to go home, but I'll miss everyone! I get to see Jon this weekend and next week I'm staying at Ginny's and continuing to see Andrea and stopping to see some family members. In 2 weeks, I'll be home! YAHOO!

Good Heavens

"believing in miracles" (page 143)

Because I am now obsessed with being an aunt, this makes me happy because Mr. Bodhi is most definitely a miracle. What a precious child. No, but seriously. Have ya seen a cuter kid? I don't think so. But seriously, I feel like people take this statement way to religiously or seriously; while it obviously has a pretty deep meaning, I think it's important to remember the little miracles in life (or the pretty big ones, such as this beautiful new baby) that are absolute and we know happen, and remember to appreciate those.

Well, since Tuesday, a lot has happened, of course. When does it not in this crazy program? Wednesday was pretty low key and Thursday was great because I went to my friend's apartment at night....to study, which of course failed and we just ended up being ridiculous and watching music videos the whole time. Friday was great, of course, because it was FRIDAY! I got home and took a nappy poo, then went out with my ladies. Saturday I slept in for an immensely long time (little did I know what sleeping in Sunday would bring), did a little homework, and then headed off to Maryland for a Jack Johnson concert with good ol' Marian, Sherrald, and her roommate, Juliana. It was fantastic. He was one of the best, if not the best, live performers I've ever seen!!

Mer and I waiting for ze music to begin

SHERRALD!!

Sounds just like he does on his CDs....Love that!

Sunday I ended up sleeping in until an impressive 1:30PM. WHOA. I was exhausted!! It was fantastic to actually get some solid shut eye in...It was much needed! The majority of the day was filled with reading, then I took a hiatus to go to the grocery store and talk to Dill and make a phone call home. Unfortunately, I found out my poor baby Princey poo, my chubbers wubbers of a kitty, is not doing too well :-( We're waiting this one out, but it appears his kidneys are failing and it doesn't look good. I'm so sad!!

I've been putting together my essay outlines for my test Tuesday and today (it's the wee hours of Monday) I'm gunna head to work, head to class, and then study all night. It's going to be quite the week....Only 9 more days of work, though, and 12 days till I get to go home with Ginnykins....I can't wait!!

I'M AN AUNT!

Today a special something makes me happy.....MY NEW BABY NEPHEW!!!!!!!

WOW! A HUGE congrats to my older sister who gave birth at 2:30AM London time to her first child (the first kid to have a kid in ze family!), a stunningly handsome baby boy :-) We're still awaiting the name decision. Monika, I'm SO proud.

I've been pretty bad at updating my blog in these here parts. But I've been BUSY BUSY BUSY! Life has continued as usual...A.K.A. insane! Here are some pictures from work:

You can't really tell, but Karla and I now officially have our names included on the schedule :-)

Goofin' off on a Friday :-)

Baking with Karla for the ladies!

Last Wednesday, Channel 9 came to Rachael's and did a news story, and according to one of my aunt's, I was on TV twice! WHOO HOO! We had a really interesting panel on volunteering abroad last Thursday, which is something I'm definitely considering. As seen to the right, every night here is one of a kind. I do love my roomies :-)

Friday night I got to see MARIAN! She's finally back from New Zealand :-) She, myself, and her friend from high school got Thai food and heard all about Mer's adventures. When I got home I convinced three of my four roommates to go for frozen yogurt. I'm good at that! Saturday I got up early for the car wash at which I was supposed to volunteer (a fundraising committee I'm on), but it rained, so that didn't happen. It was a nice, sleepy, relaxing day, followed by a really fun night out. Sunday was a rough morning, getting up after less than 4 hours of sleep to do the car wash, but it was really fun.

We were desperate....We even washed bikes and dogs!

We finally reached our monetary goal after 4 hours

Great group!!

The rest of my Sunday was filled with homework and catching up on sleep, as well as frozen yogurt, of course. Yesterday I got the exciting news that MONIKA WAS IN LABOR. Finally, after a day of non-concentrating, I got the text that the baby was born! And man, is he a looker. I spent the rest of the night on the phone with Jon, KK, and my parents, and then finally got to talk to Monika today! Man, it was great to hear her voice. I can't wait to meet the little guy via Skype this coming week...I can't wait to meet him in person as soon as possible!! We're still waiting on the official name decision.

The rest of this week should be sleep deprived as usual. I made an amazing pizza tonight, so at least I won't have to deal with making dinner the next couple nights. I've got a panel on Grad School on Thursday and a visit to the Australian Embassy on Friday....Then this weekend it's off to the Jack Johnson concert with Dani, Sherrald, and Juliana!

Happy 234th Birthday, America!

"wet T-shirt contests" (page 97)

Well hm. This is interesting. I had to put this one in because it made me laugh. I mean, I guess she was about 32 by the time she finished, but when Ms. Kipfer began writing she was only in 6th grade, so I hope that this certain item didn't start making her happy until she was a bit older! Although these days, with the 100 degree heat in D.C., a wet T-shirt sounds great!!

WELL, as I usually say these days, WHATTA WEEK! I spent the rest of last weekend studying and doing some grocery shopping, and then the week was filled with work and classes finishing and starting again. Monday night I studied my butt off and then had my final on Tuesday. Hopefully it went well! On Tuesday morning, I went to a briefing at the State Department. We were some of the people first there, so we got to sit right at the table in the middle of the room. That's Karla and I to the right. On Wednesday I had a nice networking reception with my program, which was great. I got to meet an alum who gave us advice about getting out into the "real world" and I got some great food! Thursdays morning I went to a lecture on putting together an effective cover letter/resume, as well as surviving the interview if you get it! It was actually pretty helpful. I'm glad I went. On Thursday I also started my new class, Democracy and Voluntary Associations. I think it's going to be pretty good! And the course load is a little lighter, so I'm glad I have this class second.

Friday I went to work and had the usual great day of baking and such, and then DILLY came!! It was super exciting :-D Once he navigated public transportation (I was proud) and got to me, we came home and got settled in, then went out with two of my roommates and their significant others that were around for the weekend (the other 2 roommates went to Jersey Shore for the weekend). On Saturday, we got up and met my cousin, Veronika, for a tour of the White House. It was great to see her! Did you know you're not allowed to bring a camera into the White House? Because I didn't. So they wouldn't let me in (I let Dill go ahead), so I ran across the street to a park and hid my camera in a bush...Hehehe! It worked! It was really great to go inside and see our nation's "big house." Then Dill and I met up with Dani and Jeff for lunch at a little Greek place. It was AWESOME to catch up. Afterward, Dani came out to the museums with Dill for the day. Dilly got to see his dinosaurs :-D

Dill and I at the Natural History Museum

He got to see his dinosaurs!

My Belizean baby :-) Love this girl.

Me and my second boyfriend!!

Dill and I were pretty beat from the night before, so Dani, Dill, and I grabbed some ice cream and watched Taken, which I must say is a FANTASTIC movie. I'm now pretty much obsessed.

Yesterday, the 4th, was great. We got up and Dani, Dill, and I made an epic breakfast, and then picked up Juliana (Meg's roommate, but she's not here) and all headed down to the mall. We spent the first half of the day site-seeing (Dill wanted to go by the Hirschhorn, the modern art museum to see if they had any cool woodwork) and then found a place on the mall and settled in for fireworks! It was a LONG day. Katie and her boyfriend, Stephen, came to meet us around 5:30PM to enjoy the festivities.

Us three girls being silly with the statues that we ended up getting in trouble for touching...Whoops!

Dani and I goofin' off :-)

BELIZEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

The ladies attending the 4th festitivies

Dill and I getting ready to watch fireworks

It was quite the celebration!

The fireworks were AMAZING. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE. It was crazy. We ended up walking the 4 miles home because the metros were that crazy. Then we all hung out back at the room with Kate and Lori (who watched the fireworks from the Iwo Jima memorial). Then we all effectively went into comas after 2 full days walking around in the sun.

This morning, Dill and I slept in and then got brunch with Dani and Juliana. I finally got my pulled pork sandwich. YAY! Then Dill came grocery shopping with me and we came back to the apartment and made an epic pizza that I sent him off with as he left. He had to leave in the late afternoon to catch his flight back tonight :-( Sad. I miss him! But I'll get to see him soon :-D I did some heavy duty laundering and cleaning this afternoon/evening, and now I'm about to go make dinner and then work on my paper that's due Thursday for a bit. SHERRALD (AKA Miss Megan Fitzgerald) gets back tonight, so I think I'm going to head to her place to do a bit of catching up around 8:00PM. The craziness of the week starts tomorrow, yet again, but we only have 19 days of interning left...CRAZY!

I can't believe another week has passed!

"bingo games" (page 155)

Random, you say? Not really. The women where I work LOVE Tuesdays because Tuesday means BINGO DAY! It's so great to see how happy it makes them. The other day we got a huge donation and they all rushed in--Were they rushing in to try and grab the donation bags first? Nope! They were trying to decide which ones would make the best bingo prizes so each person could win them fairly. All of these things really give me a new appreciation for bingo games. Man, I love my internship location :-)

Well I legit can't believe another week has passed. What a whirlwind! Unfortunately on Monday my mentor cancelled on me for breakfast, but I used the time to study for the

midterm that I had on Tuesday. Tuesday morning, Lindsey, Chelsea, and I took off for the Capitol on a pre-arragned trip where we got to sit on the House Floor and listen to a Rep from Nebraska (I think) give us a short speech and Q & A session. Wednesday was Lindsey's 21ST BIRTHDAY, which was great, although drinking on a work night here is NOT a good idea, we all found out.

As we were all dying from hangovers on Thursday, we were sad to say goodbye to Chelsea's boyfriend, Ryan, who's been staying here all week and he's kind of become a family member! Thursday night was a girl's night for the first time in a long time and all 5 of us roommates piled onto the couch and watched "How I Met Your Mother" (TV show), which was fun. I also cooked up a storm all night, which was great! I'm really loving cooking. Friday night Lindsey had some people over as did I (Megan, Megan's roommate, and Dani, as per usual), but most of the roomies ended up staying in and chatting because we were exhausted from the week. Saturday was the World Cup qualifying game, so myself, Katie, Kate, and Lindsey took off and met Megan and Dani and a bunch of people Megan knew down at a sports bar in Arlington to watch. Too bad U.S.A. lost :-( But Sara, another Belizean baby, came into town and met up with us which was GREAT! After the game, Kate and I went to the free BBQ our program put on, which was fun. I met up with Karla, the girl I work with, and her son and nanny, which was really fun. Then I spent the night hanging with my Belizean babies and then watching The Time Traveler's Wife with Katie. What a depressing, but great movie. Now it's the wee hours of Sunday morning (just 10 minutes in), and I'm doing a little homework and updating this before I sleep.

Tomorrow I need to study ALL day (I have a final Tuesday and a paper due within the week, as well as a journal assignment and a ton of readings. Oh dear.) and hopefully get in a littl grocery shopping. And then this upcoming weekend is the 4th of July...And when DILLON comes! It is CRAZY how fast these weeks pass, although they drag on forever while they're going on....Only 35 more days! I really like it here and I love all my roommates, but I really miss Vermont and am excited to return home :-)