That's The Last Time I Get That Far Behind On Blogging!

I would like to start this blog off by saying how incredibly sad I am that someone (assuming the feds?) took my video of Obamas motorcade at the state of the union address off. For those who didn't get to see the video, I give you my deepest apologies, and for those who did...well then great! :) Though I am sad it was taking off, I am happy that our government is on the look out cause I obviously caught something on the video.

Also, I haven't blogged in awhile, my apologies again. So this blog might be a tad bit long. I've been very busy and have a lot to talk about :) So given that I understand how hard it can be sometimes to read things about other peoples lives when it goes on and on, I'm going to let you pick and choose what you want to read by labeling everything at the beginning of each paragraph with what it will talk about :) As some may know, one of the new popular social media craft blogs "Stumbleupon" allows you to "stumble" across your specific interests. So use that idea with this blog post and "stumble" across your interests of my life :P

NEIGHBORHOOD ENGAGEMENTS:
This past Tuesday and Thursday my group (a random group we were all put into) and I started our DC engagements. While I am here we are all required to do 24 hours of community service. I have done a lot of community service so far in my lifetime, but doing community service here is so much different. Here I'm not helping out with a 5K, a Walk for something, or just a company that needs help with an event. Though those are still great acts of service, what I'm doing here in basically just experiencing a whole new kind of community service. Here I am volunteering to help out with those in need. When you think of DC, you think of Washington, DC the states Capitol and politics politics politics. But in my experience living here in just this short week, I've learned that there are two parts/cultures to the states capitol; Washington & DC. One is the regular federal Washington that you all know of, and the other is the part that you don't really think of when referring to here. Obviously I knew coming here that there is a lot of homeless and poverty, but it's easy to be caught up in the reality of being in DC and to come in naively not thinking necessarily about the poverty it holds. So this past week, and this up coming week the program has set up our neighborhood engagements with an organization we are going to help out. Then after that we choose what to do with our remaining hours.

This past week my group was put with an organization called "Age-in-Place". Basically in a nut shell it is a free service available to all persons of 60 years and older, of low to moderate income, who are living in their homes in Washington, DC ward 4 & 5. The service is provided by volunteer teams, and the service includes; yard work, house cleaning and painting. So on both Tues. & Thurs. my group and I cleaned house for two elderly woman. Both were so unbelievably sweet and were so grateful for us. We were able to do something for them that they can no longer do, and what was even better was that there were about 6 of us, so we were able to accomplish A LOT. We didn't do any yard work, but we were able to get things done inside. On both days we all divided up and took different rooms. Me and one of the girls took the living room both times, and others would take bedrooms, bathrooms and the kitchen. We cleaned blinds, vacuumed, re arranged things, threw out tons of things, dusted, polished, etc. The houses were sparkly clean when we left :)

This upcoming week my group and I will be working with elderly people again but for a different organization. After that we decide what we want to do with the rest of our community service. At the moment I am thinking about working in this pregnancy clinic that is here. Another one of our groups has been volunteering at, and have really enjoyed it.

 Us with Mrs. Adams. She is 89 years old and has been living in her house since the 60s. This is also my group that I do the community service with (we get partnered up in specific groups)

 Then this is us with Mrs.Vaden. This woman had SO many clothes and shoes that her and Sarah had to go through so she could get rid of some. She had the hardest time getting rid of her shoes, she had to close her eyes every time Sarah put the shoes in the bag. 

NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
Last week we decided to venture off on Wednesday to the National Cathedral. I knew this church was beautiful, but when I walked in I honestly couldn't shut my mouth. It was so big, the architecture was absolutely beautiful, and the details on the walls were so intricate. The reason why we went there was for Evensong. This is when the Cathedral choristers sing, and there is also a little service that goes with it. It was so peaceful sitting in these pews that are built for a giant, and just leaning my head on the back, closing eyes while listening to the choir. It was beautiful and it was so easy to think about the beautiful creations the Lord has made. The voices of the people in the choir were heavenly, and the majority of them were actually really young, though they didn't sound like it.

WEEKEND FESTIVITIES
This past weekend was really rather adventurous. It started off with going to the movies on Friday night to see  "One For The Money" with Kathryn Heigl. I don't usually do this, but hey since I'm already talking about it why not write a short movie review! So this movie just came out this past Friday (1/27/12) and stars Kathryn Heigl (like I said), Jason O'Mara, Sherri Shepherd, Daniel Sunjata & Nate Mooney. Heigl plays the role of Stephanie Plum who is a spunky born and bread Jersey girl. Though she lost her job 6 months ago, and recently lost her car to the debt collectors she still keeps her jersey attitude in check, and doesn't really worry.  However, of course she is desperate for some cash so she turns to her sleazy, greasy cousin for a recovery agent position at his bail bonding company. Getting the job she decides to take on Vinnie's (her cousin) most expensive case; reeling in former cop and murder suspect, Joe Morelli. The fact that there is a hefty paycheck involved if she gets him is only half the reason she wants to throw him in jail. The other half is because irresistible Morelli had the pleasure of seducing her and then dumping her in high school. So she now finds it necessary to throw him in jail. Only knowing how to use pepper spray and never have touched a pair of handcuffs, she finds out her job isn't as easy as she thought when she ends up involved with more than just one murderer. This movie is thrilling, and hilarious. It's a cute movie, but if I could do it over again I would just rent it :)

Anyways... One of the many things I am going to miss when I leave in May is the Eastern Market. This is a market only a few blocks from me (very convenient). I would compare it to the world market in Cleveland really. It is open all week long, however, on the weekends is when all of the vendors come and it turns into an even bigger market! There are all sorts of things being sold; one section might be hats and scarfs, another is cards and jewelry, then there are sections for fruits and sections for vegetables. I went with my roommates earlier in the day (it was a roomie outing :). I ended up coming back with hummus, black bean dip, salsa, and lots of fruit. It is all SO good. Although it better be good considering it's all I'm going to be eating for awhile since I went through almost $200 in my first week :( In my defense to of spent that much though is backed by the fact that first shopping trips always cost the most because you have to buy all the staples. :)

Later in the afternoon this past Saturday I got to meet up with a friend of mine whom I went to high school with. She goes to American University here in DC. We met up at a place called "Dans Chili Bowl", which is this little chili place that I guess they say is "Home of The Famous Chili Dog"! I've also read that a lot of celebrity cooks from the food network have visited there. The fun thing is that it's only here in DC! So you all will just have to come here if you want to try it :) And trust me, it's worth it! Cassandra and I both got chili cheese fries and they were de-li-cious! Then she took me to this little random frozen yogurt place called "Mr. Yogatos", and I don't think I could have gone to a cooler frozen yogurt place then this! This is why...


Rules of Yogato:

1. If Mr. Roboto comes over the speaker system and you sing along,
   you get 10% off yogurt.
2. Try your luck with a trivia question. Get it right for 10% off, but get it wrong and 10% is added.
3. If you will wear a yogato stamp on your head, you get 10% off.
4. If you can recite the Stirling battlefield speech from Braveheart in a great scottish accent, you get 20% off yogurt.
5. Order a yogurt for 30 consecutive days and we'll name a flavor after you.View 30 Day Champions
6. If a customer suggests a topping or flavor which is then adopted, that customer receives a 5% discount for life.
7. If anyone can stump Steve on trivia regarding Seinfeld or "The Rock," 10% off yogurt.
8. Anyone wearing a kickball uniform and has played hard (evidenced by dirt on their knees) will receive an automatic 10% off yogurt.
Rules 9 and 10 added on Mr. Yogato's first birthday!!!
9. Reenact the entire 47-second Michael Jackson Thriller dance for 20% off. Perform a shorter choreographed dance (such as the Hitch Q-Tip dance) for 10% off.
10. Dress up like 80's tennis legend Bjorn Borg and receive 25% off. Sing "I'm Too Sexy" by RSF in his Swedish accent to bump it up to 50%.   
11. Seinfeld Mega-Challenges:

• Challenge 1: Bring any Seinfeld minor character into the store for a picture with the Yogato tie and receive 10 free yogurts or all-you-can-eat for a week.
• Challenge 2: Create an edible Yogato pasta-structure (i.e. Fusilli Jerry) and receive a discount in percentage points equal to the height (in cm) of the figure.
• http://www.mryogato.com/

Real fun right?! I was so happy that Cassandra told me about it, because it was just too fun. We ended up getting the stamp on our foreheads, and un-scrambling their word of the day! It was great hanging out with her and catching up :) She told me a lot of fun low key places in DC, which was very much appreciated! Obviously coming to DC to visit all of the Smithsonian's, and memorials is wonderful, but being a resident here it's fun to know about all the other cool things there is to do. 

DOWNTON ABBEY NIGHTS

Now I don't know if any of you have ever heard of "Downton Abbey" or not, and if you haven't you better stop reading my blog right now and go watch a trailer for the episodes! About 20 or so of us here in the apartment building have become addicted to this show, and will schedule nights around watching it. It's that good I promise! I don't want to spend too much time explaining it, but it's a British show with the first season set in the time era of the sinking of the titanic, and the second covers the years 1916-1919. The third season comes out in Fall of 2012. The show has won a lot of awards too! It seriously is so addicting because of how wonderful it is. So I think you all should go on and watch a tailor on PBS.org. Seriously, forewarning I'm not done writing yet, so it's either my life or Downton Abbeys :P

 Like I said... It's an all apartment event :)

WEEKEND FESTIVITIES CONTINUE...

Church on Sunday was fabulous! I am proud to say that I visited my first African American Baptist Church, and oh my lanta was it a blast! I swear there was never one dull moment. When you hear about an African American church you usually will be told that there's a lot of arm raising, loud singing and lots of joy to praise the Lord... and well, that's a pretty safe accusation to go with! We had so much fun going, and yes, we were the only white people there. It was wonderful, I know that I'll for sure be going back. We raised our hands just as high and sung just as loud as if we had been going there for years! After church, since we were already in China Town we stayed for the Chinese New Year parade! It was a lot of fun to experience between all the colors, and dragons. Check out my fun pictures! 

Start of the parade

Miss District of Columbia

Wizards cheerleaders

I wanted to take this time to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog! It's a great feeling to be told "I've been following your blog" :) Continue reading, and I hope you all enjoy!

State Of The Union Address

While I am here in D.C. I plan to take as many opportunities and go as many places as I can. I want to take advantage of my time here and never sit around just doing anything. So, so far every night I have been out in the city doing something. Tonight was the state of the union address, and so OF COURSE I was going to head on over to the capitol (given that it's only 8 blocks and all :) and see what I could get into! Before the state of the union address even begun you can hear the parade of sirens outside my window, knowing that they were escorting "people" there. Then just walking outside of my apartment you could already see all of the lights from the police cars all around the capitol. There were tons, and obviously I didn't expect anything less. The cops lined the entire perimeter of the capitol building, with each one standing 10 feet apart. Walking down there was rather intimidating because we had no idea where exactly we could walk, and which streets we could turn down. They had so much blocked off, and there were so many cops and FBI everywhere. It was actually really cool to see, and very surreal. At first I kept on worrying about doing something wrong, until I started hearing the words of Joey (my boyfriend) in my head..."don't be worried about doing something, because the worst they can tell you is to leave". Of course he only means that for legal things :P I thought about that a lot especially when we walked around the perimeter of the capitol building umpteen times and knew that the security was probably starting to recognize us. One of the girls in our group kept saying that we probably looked suspicious for continuing to walk around, especially because FOR SOME REASON there was hardly anybody else out doing what we were doing! We opted to believe that we were probably the only  ones out circling the capitol because we're total tourists. Honestly though, I still don't understand why nobody else wouldn't want to be outside the capitol where the state of the union address was happening. They could have DVR'd it like us.

The cops were surprisingly very nice. I thought they would be like every other cop in all of the buildings here where they're rude and have no sense of humor. Depending on what side of the capitol you were on, you either; couldn't take a picture, could take a picture, or were aloud to take a picture but had to continue to walk while doing so. I only knew this because I would ask every cop before I took one. Seriously though, these cops were really nice. We would stop and talk to them and ask them which was the best way to take that would get us closer to the building and closer to the action when the President was done speaking. They were more than willing to talk to us, and some even joked around with us. One awkward and embarrassing moment was when we were walking and I was looking at the capitol because I still can't get over the fact that I live by it, and this cop across the street from me standing guard waves. Now I'm sort of tagging behind the group because I'm walking slower looking at the capitol, so I know that he waved in my complete direction. Although, during those couple seconds of thinking about what just happened I couldn't understand why in the world a cop standing guard would  wave at me. So instead of waving back, because I honestly had no idea if he actually waved at me and didn't want to look like an idiot, I looked to the other side of me. I thought maybe he was waving at another cop on the other side of me, but then I instead found myself with the group ahead of me and nothing besides me other than a building. So I looked back at him and he was laughing, and the cop next to him was laughing, and I felt like a total idiot. Then he waved again at me with a huge smile on his face. Seriously though, besides the fact that I felt totally stupid because I did the whole "look behind you thing because you don't know if they're actually talking to you", I just could not understand why in the world this cop wasn't looking out for other things...ya know, like crazy people. It was rather humorous though and my group got a good laugh.

While taking our laps around the capitol waiting for Obama to finish, I learned a lot about DC security. Now I'm sure they are trained professionals, and can do their job well, but this is what I learned about them; They are overly friendly, and all of the ones that are sitting in there police cars, fire trucks, or the cars that tail behind the "important cars" like to sit and play on there cell phones a lot. I don't think that I saw one law enforcer whom was seated inside of there vehicle, not on a phone. Although I could give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are all republicans ;)

Fortunately we rounded the right side of the capitol in the right place at the right time, because as soon as it let out we ended up right at the entrance of the road where everyone would be leaving. Again, I want to mention that we were seriously some of the only ones there (there were only 4 of us in my group that went out btw). There were maybe a total of 10 other people who were standing where we were. I guess living in DC, the politicians just don't phase them anymore. Really the only reason I was there was because I was secretly hoping that someone would be extra nice and let me interview them :P We watched as 5 cop cars in a row would start coming out of the entrance, and the lead cop car would flash his cop light and the black escalades would make a complete 180 and zoop out of there spots to get in line behind the cop cars. Then their sirens would sound all the way down the road until we couldn't see them anymore. Then people dressed very fancy would walk out and past us to get to their cars. To make what has already been a long enough blog entry shorter I'll just cut to the chase and say that we ended up standing there long enough to see 2 limos with the presidential seal on them leave with tons and tons of cop cars all around it. If you watch the video below you can see what I'm talking about. I started taping not realizing what was going on, so it's a little shaky and all over the place. When it gets to the end you'll see that somebody walks in front of me and you can't see the ending, and all you hear is talking. When that happens just turn the video off. Unfortunately I don't have any of my cool editing software here to cut all of the out.

Also, check out my new capitol picture up where my blog title is at! First off, I actually got a picture of the capitol that fits all the way across, and second, it's my own picture instead of one from google! It's a picture I took tonight while the State of the Union Address was going on :)

Trust in your neighbor

While I am here I'm required to go to 5 church services; 3 on the hill, and 2 off the hill. Then of course I can go to other churches after that. So on Sunday three of us girls ventured out to head to church! Originally I was going to go with other people to a church that's by the Marine Barracks, but I over slept. Go figure right? So my one roommate Chaunte and one of the other girls in our apartment building invited me to go with them. Unfortunately, the three of us girls just so happened to be ones that "followed" our groups around during our scavenger hunt, rather than "lead". So we have no idea how to get around since we haven't figured it out ourselves. So we set out  to go find this little church in Arlington Virginia. Luckily we found our way to Union Station, however when we got down in the metro we had no idea what train to take where. Now, I would have at least thought they would have figured out what train we were supposed to take where, haha but they didn't. Then I was just the tag along so I didn't know anything about where we were going.

 So there was this little elderly lady that was sitting on the bench waiting for her train to come so we decided to ask her where we should go. This little elderly lady jumped on up and went over to the sign to show us what to take and where to get off. She was so sweet and more than willing to help! Then she asked us where we were going, and obviously we said we were going to church. So this lady gets this HUGE smile on her face and goes, "well that's where I'm headed"! She said what church she goes to and how much she loves it there, and then said that we should go there sometime. The three of us girls looked at each other and kind of just decided, well, lets go with her now! This lady was SO thrilled, and had the biggest smile on her face, and I'm pretty sure she even clapped her hands! So on the Metro we road with Gladice!

Gladice has been living here in DC since 1984. I couldn't tell you how old she is though because she is a black woman, and black woman never age :P She had this little hat on, and was really short and just adorable. She talked and talked and talked on the metro and you could tell she was so excited that we were going to church with her. She even called her friends to tell them we were going with her. So after a 15-20 minute metro ride we arrived at the Silver Springs station and were on our way to a United Methodist Church in Maryland. It was about a 15 minute walk in the bitter cold, in which we ended up finding out later that Gladice took us the long way (she must have thought we wanted to see everything along that long walk) instead of the short cut we took on the way back. We arrived at the church, and went to go "powder our noses" in the "ladies room" as Gladice put it. 

The service was great, although the sermon was given by a missionary so unfortunately I didn't get to hear the pastor preach. The pastor at this church is a woman, and I've never had a woman pastor so I'm very excited about that! There were three baptisms; a baby, a 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl, all of which are siblings. It was the most precious thing I'd seen in a long time...I honestly think I had more tears in my eyes than their own mother :P Then towards the end of the service they were doing prayer requests, and since it's a bigger church they use a micro phone, that way everyone can be heard. So Gladice stands up next to me so she can get the microphone and goes, "I just wanted to pray for these three girls along side of me today. They are interns here, and I found them in the metro station and dragged them to church with me!" Everyone was laughing at her "found them and drug them here comment", and then they all started clapping for us three girls. It was amazing. Now, DC gets a lot of interns so I know we weren't the first interns to have entered that church, however so many people came up to us after the service and were talking to us and asking us where we are interning, and just really made us all feel welcome. 

After church we found out how spunky Gladice was as she joked around with us, and taught us how to properly j-walk. She gave us her business card on our metro ride back, and then proceeded to tell us how special we were because we were getting her actual "home" phone #. Of course we still have 4 other churches we have to visit (I'm planning on going to a african american church and a hip hop church!!) but the United Methodist Church will definitely be an option for our home church while we are here. We also found out that Gladice doesn't live to far from where we live, only  about 5 blocks, so the three of us are planning on calling her up and going to lunch with her! 

While living here in DC you of course always have to use good judgment and keep your head up. You have to be very cautious and aware of your surroundings. However, this doesn't mean that every single person here is bad and you can't talk to them.  So by meeting Gladice today, it just taught me about the kindness in strangers that you can rely on. You don't want to be too comfortable walking around the city (you don't want to let your guard down), but you do definitely want to have a healthy respect for it. Because really what it comes down to is that I am living in the district, in an area where people have lived there whole lives and the politicians and interns that come and go here are stepping into their territory. There is SO much more to DC than just politics, it's a city filled with many stories :)

Bag Tax

Yesterday (I didn't write a post yesterday so I'll make up for it today by writing two) we went through orientation learning everything from our building, to the city, to safety tips, and grocery shopping. I'm sure there was more too :)

Now, did you know that in DC when you go shopping they have a "Bag tax"? Yeah I didn't know that either. For every plastic or brown paper bag you use from the store, they charge you 5 cents! That adds up. So thankfully my mom bought me this awesome reusable bag! Thanks mom!

I almost started to feel green and then was like, seriously, I just don't want to pay 5 cents! :P 

So I am trying to be all responsible with the money that I have and come up with some kind of weekly budget. I need to be able to sit down and plan out what I'm going to buy from the grocery store because I really don't want to end up buying all of this food and never eating it. It's pretty hard buying for one person. So that is problem # 1. Problem #2 is that I have to decide weather I want to walk and get my groceries, or have them DELIVERED! Huuuge decision right? So all day yesterday I kept thinking, "walk, deliver, walk, deliver". I mean getting them delivered is just too cool! However, being able to feel my bread to make sure it's the softest one, or making sure I got the biggest piece of fruit is important! This decision is still unmade, I think once I actually have time to sit down and plan out what I want to make then I'll be able to decide. Until then, I'm going to continue to eat nothing else besides string cheese, carrots, and special K cereal. Yeah I need to get on my decision fast...

Yesterday also began our weekend long scavenger hunt! For those of you who didn't know this already, D.C. is made up of 5 quadrants. So the staff made a scavenger hunt for all of us and broke us up into teams where we have to visit one landmark from each quadrant of the city. They made a list of specific landmarks in each quadrants already for us, so all we have to do is decide what we want to see! This is also a competition between all of the teams and will be judged "whos line is it anyway" style. We have to take pictures of us when we get to the landmark and points are given on the most creative photos, and by who ever traveled the farthest. So my team and I started yesterday off by going to the Library of Congress, and the National Botanic Gardens. After visiting those two places we just headed back home because we realized we had no idea where we were going and thought we'd plan it out a little more carefully. So we strategically picked out where we are going, and how far and made a google map. 

 My very own Library of Congress card!

Botanic Gardens :)

So before I venture out into to freezing cold for another day of the scavenger hunt, I just wanted to add my first "cool fact". So cool fact # 1... Did you know that in the Target here in D.C. they have a special escalator for your grocery cart?! Check it out! 

Well I feel dumb, apparently the blog knew I was writing that for Thursday :P

Time To Move On In, & Boy Am I "Moving On Up"!

It's 12:30am so I'm sure the date will be for Friday, but obviously it's for Thursday :)

Whelp, I am all moved in! & honestly I wish I wouldn't of been scarce on my packing because me oh my is this spacious! I am so used to the typical dorm style of living...ya know, the whole having to get creative with what you have kind of situation. But I'm in an apartment made for 6, and there is only 4 of us (Thank you Jesus :) cause 6 would have been packed!). I was the first one to move in and of course that's always the best cause you get first dibs! So yes, I did of course pick the room that is made to have 4 people in it (Two big closets, dressers and bunk beds), and there are only 2 of us :) So a nice big closet for all of my clothes and HIGH HEELS ;) and a bunk bed where I can sleep on the bottom one month, then sleep on the top the next (not that I'm going to do that or anything). I absolutely love having cabinets in the bathroom, a coat closet, a linen closet and a kitchen! It's the little things like a coat closet or linen closet that I don't really think about until having lived in a dorm. I'm really moving on up in my lifestyle :P Check out my roof top view below! 

Now my roommates couldn't be more perfect! One is from Alaska, she's a gold miner and goes bear hunting (cool right?!). The other (my room roommate who I share a room with) has a mass collection of elephants; elephant stuffed animals, figurines, jewelry, shirts, shoes you name it! And why you ask does she have this lovely collection? Because she is a die hard Republican!!! She even owns a pair of REPUBLICAN TOMS! HOW cool is that?! Those are definitely something that's going on my birthday list! Mom did you catch that?? ;) She brought a wonderful bunch of really great political books too that I'm excited about getting to read. Also, she's from Kansas. Then my third roommate is from Southern California and is just cuter than a button (what does "cuter than a button" even mean?!)! She reminds me of my roommate from freshman year of college. 

We got to meet everyone tonight at a banquet which was a lot of fun. Everyone seems pretty cool. I talked to this one girl (the only other Ohioian I know of so far that's here) for about an hour! It's really neat how a lot of us are connecting already when it's only the first night being here. After the banquet about 12 of us headed down the street to seven eleven to get slurpees and then headed over to the Capital. Though I've seen it before, I stood in awe while standing across the street from it at night time. It's lite up and looks so white against the dark night sky...it's almost like a reverse silhouette. 

So theres one thing I'm not to sure about... and that's the fact that I already have blisters on my feet from walking! Now see, walking is pretty much all you do here and I was even wearing a comfortable pair of boots. Looks like I will be wearing my hot pink reebok reezigs with my business attire now :P

I better head to bed, luckily I have a long day ahead of me! (Sitting at home doing nothing was killing me haha) Hoping I will be able to sleep through these sirens all night! Oh the noises of the city :)

The Journey Begins!

I started my journey to the nations capital this morning at 4am. Mom, dad & I started on route 11 in a snow storm. Going only 40mph we road on icy roads, and almost got into several accidents due to crazy drivers and dads inability to stay awake. I, however, don't remember a thing :P I slept very peacefully in the back seat of the car until we arrived in blue sky, sunny Maryland stopping at Bob Evans for breakfast. I LOVE Bobby's breakfast! :)

I was excited when we started seeing the signs for Washington! But we weren't quite there! We had to stop at our hotel first :) Just to back it up a bit...my parents and I left a day before I actually had to be moving into my apartment. That way we could be sure that we got there on time before I move in. We are staying at a hotel called the 'Washington Suites" in Alexandria!

My cousin Katie lives close to D.C. so she met up with us for lunch at Teds Montana Grill in Crystal City! Their food is delicious, and their specialty...Bison! Now, if you haven't ever had a good bison burger than I highly suggest it because it is De-Li-Cious! My burger was called the "Spoon & Fork", because you literally need a spoon and fork to eat it. It had chilly, sour cream and cheesy goodness all over it! And for those of you who know me well...Yes, I DID eat meat! Haha and lots of it! :) So if you ever make your way to D.C. I suggest you to head on over to "Teds Montana Grill", you won't regret it!

 Mom & dad trying to figure out the metro cards :P

Dad & I freezing waiting for the metro  

My cousin Katie & I at Teds Montana Grill! :)

On the metro!

My glorious burger at Teds! Mmm!

Crystal City "sitting" on the wall painting haha

I guess I'm cheating a little bit because I have been to D.C. before and have already eaten at Teds Montana Grill. Although coming here this time is different. This time I'm not going back home after a couple days, and THIS time I HAVE to learn the metro instead of depending on someone else to do it for me. This time I'm staying for awhile! About 4 months that is. I'm going to become miss independent and own this city! During the day of course because it's probably not as safe at night :P

Well tomorrow begins a brand new adventure. I'll be headed up to Capital Hill to move into my apartment! And yes, you did read that right! On CAPITAL HILL in a luxurious 2 bedroom furnished apartment with a stocked kitchen and a roof top that I can go up on. Also, tomorrow I will get to meet the roommates I'll be living with for the next 4 months. I can't wait to meet everyone!

I know living in DC will definitely be a different lifestyle than I am used to. I'll be seeing things that might bother me, scare me and even intimidate me. With this I thought I would end with the verse that has been going through my head while preparing to head to DC. I'm sure you are all familiar with it :) It is Philippians 4:13 "I can do all this through him who gives me strength".  This is an encouraging, inspirational verse and is a good one to remember :)

I'm taking on Washington DC!

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog! This is my first attempt at a blog, so in my very first blog post I thought I'd mention that I am not quite done completing my layout due to the fact that I'm not quite sure what I'm doing :) It'll come along though I'm sure! 

As many of you know... I will be spending my spring semester of 2012 in Washington DC where I will be taking on an internship at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, and taking classes studying public policy. I wanted to create a blog where I can share my thoughts and adventures, so I hope that you all enjoy :) 

I've always had big goals  for myself (I'm a dreamer what can I say!). I knew from my very first semester of college in 2009 that I wanted to do the American Studies program in DC, and whelp, here I am in 2012 actually doing it! I'm very excited to embark on the experiences and opportunities and to grow through it all. 

So, here I go! Washington DC watch out, because here I come!