Pictures

Dad mentioned last week that he wants to see more pictures of my new life in DC! So here's an update:

The days here have been beautiful. It has gotten colder this past week, but there's still blue skies and very few clouds with enough of the sun shining!

Mary is my exploring buddy. Neither of us had been to the American Indian Museum because it had never strongly appealed to us, but it ended up being quite the gem! It houses artifacts from the time of the Conquistadors, and the Aztecs and Incas - people and time periods I've been studying since I was eight and we moved to Venezuela! So cool.

It's been fun reconnecting with Stephanie Schmitt. We've known each other for almost two decades now! We had lunch, and then she invited me to a club on U Street (it's the place to be on a Friday night) where I saw her friends' band play. She is so sweet and I'm so excited to be living in the same area as her! And where would I be without old friends, as well? I followed Chelsea to BYU, so it's only natural I follow her across the country to DC, too! That's her and me at the Chinatown Gate.

 Leaving the museums behind for a couple of days, I ventured to Arlington Cemetery, two miles from where I live, and Dumbarton Oaks Park in Georgetown in the District. The Park was so beautiful - even in February - and it had a magical, mystical feeling about it. I half-expected to spot a white rabbit in a waistcoat!

Cupcake Connoisseur

DCers take their cupcakes very seriously; just watch "DC Cupake!" Seeing as I take very seriously my conversion into a true DCer myself, I have made it a priority to sample the three most popular cupcake stores in DC, in Georgetown. The winner? Georgetown Cupcake. The line is almost always out the door, apparently for good reason. The frosting is amazing! Baked and Wired is a close second, with their huge delights. I tried the Elvis, a banana nut cupcake with peanut butter frosting, and the Tessita, which is hazelnut frosting with dulce de leche underneath - yum! Sprinkles is number three, with their moist cupcakes. You can just call me the cupcake connoisseur.

Georgetown Cupcake

Baked and Wired

Sprinkes

Alas, though DC can be classy, with their cupcake shops in Georgetown - ritzy! - DCers also know their... burgers! I have been to no less than three popular burger joints in the past three weeks. The first was the sports bar a block from my house that sells half-price hamburgers on Monday. They were pretty good. The second was Ray's Hell Burger in Rosslyn, where I ate with my friend who took the Metro from Maryland so we could eat at this place. I got the small Hell Burger and it was a good size. De-lic-ious! I also like to consider myself somewhat of a burger connoisseur becaue I flipped burgers during college, at a place that was famous for its meat that we got fresh every morning. Yesterday, I went to Johnny Rocket's for dinner in Georgetown and I wasn't expecting much from a chain restaurant. But oh my; behind Ray's Hell Burger, Johnny makes one fantabulous hamburger. Who knew DCers' palates could be so delighted by classy cupcakes as by bodacious burgers?!

A day in the life of...

 Wake up and listen to my theme song: “Brighter Than the Sun” by Colbie Callait

Get lost on my way to a meeting with an Economics professor from Utah State that I met at Mom and Dad’s ward in Logan.

Improve networking skills and simultaneously, coincidentally, make a friend in my ward.

Decide to take Phil (my car) on a drive by the river, then onto the Jefferson Memorial.

Diddle daddle while making my over the Memorial, then rushing through viewing it because that diddle daddling cost me precious time.

Stand, gazing out over the Potomac River, and almost burst with exhilaration just thinking of the fact that I live in DC! I confess I laughed out loud; I couldn’t contain it.

Learn about George Mason.

Speed home, straighten hair, eat lunch (leftovers, of course, cuz I’m living on a budget).

Speed walk to the Metro because I still can’t figure out how long it takes to get to certain places in the city.

Waiting for the train, an old man tells me I’m “gorgeous.” A Metro worker motions for me to take the next train, one without the old man. I laugh, then get really serious when I think about the creeps that creep in cities like DC.

Listen to my theme song on repeat all the way into DC and almost miss my stop.

Get lost on my way to my interview, but it’s okay because DCers take care of each other, and I was half an hour early anyway.

Review interview questions on a park bench, alongside a hundred other people, because it’s 57 degrees outside.

Buy a cookie at Subway because the bathrooms are only for customers, and it’s nearly impossible to find a place to pee in DC! Sit and people-watch as I make phone calls and eat my cookie.

Give the guy in the Metro stop playing jazz music on his saxophone some change.

Go to my friend’s house in Crystal City to help her prep for an interview.

Come home and let my roommate convince me to drive 20 minutes for Café Rio. Time and space take on new meanings living in a city, again.

Take Phil to a girl in the ward’s house to see what $890/month gets you. Feel better about staying where I’m at.

Freak out and call Mom, Katie, Jen. Email recruiters so they don’t forget me.

Listen to theme song, set space heater on its highest setting because the house heater is broken again, and go to bed.

And I thought unemployment meant I was going to be bored!

I drove in D.C. today! And it was awesome and only slightly scary and I felt so empowered, like I can do anything. :-D

Today I said, "This feels like home." Big moment for me!

My room!

Isn't it stellar?! I just adore it. I have my Van Gogh wall (four paintings) and blue theme. I found this ratty old chair in the basement, cleaned it up, and threw a sheet over it and stuck it in the corner by the window. I love it. :) The only thing that's lacking is my bookshelf (yet to be built) and all the books I brought with me! Those may have to wait till I move into a bigger place, which will hopefully be summertime... But for now, I'm comfortable. :)

One year ago...

One year ago I had no idea what I was going to do with my major - or my life - and no idea where I was going to live once I graduated; though I knew it wasn't going to be Utah. This is just one more way in which the Washington Seminar changed my life. It gave me personal and professional purpose, as well as a wicked place to live.

Now that I'm here f'or reals, people are constantly asking me, "Why D.C.?" to which I reply, "Why not?" And being here, everything feels so comfortable! I don't adore the place (you can see the front of the house in a picture below - eek!), but it's all right, and even quaint in its own way. I have made one friend and she's someone who it feels like I've known my whole life! Even the interview I didn't get because my data entry test scores were too low (sorry I'm not good at just sitting at a desk, Law Firm!) feels totally comfortable.

My ward seems pretty cool. I've been hearing amazing things about it for a year now, so I have high expectations. Institute was pretty fantastic. I'm taking Teachings of Joseph Smith and I love that we don't have a set text; just various readings. I'm really looking forward to this class.


2011                                                                                                                           2012

As for the job search, I met with a few recruiters last week and they all sound pretty hopeful about finding me a job. I feel like I can finally understand what Katie meant when she talked about enjoying her unemployment last year. It really is quite freeing! Yesterday was what I call my Memorial Day, because I took the metro to the city and started walking. For hours. I saw the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, Jefferson Memorial (from afar), D.C. Qar Memorial, and the long-anticipated Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, which was awesome. It's a three-part sculpture with him carved out of a piece that is carved from the middle of the stones, if that makes any sense. It's quite lovely. I also had lunch at the White House. :) That is, in front of the White House. I love living in D.C.!


I also visited the law firm where I interned last year, which was a very rewarding experience because all they did was praise me for about an hour and tried to convince me to come back to work for them. It was an amazing experience, for which I will forever be grateful, but now is the time for me to break out into the legal field and branch out a little more. I'm thinking white collar/corporate...?

(Not all of my attempts at self-picture-taking were successful.)

This is to convince people to visit me for the Cherry Blossom Festival in early April!

New pics from my new life!

I was finally able to download the "before" picture from my phone:

I didn't get a "before" picture, but here's the "after:"

And yes, those shutters open up to a mirror! Proud of me? :) Mom talked me into buying it and I love it!

If I Were Queen by My Brightest Diamond

"Above all, you must illumine your own soul with its profundities and its shallows, and its vanities and its generosities, and say what your beauty means to you or your plainness, and what is your relation to the everchanging and turning world."
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Color Test

WHITE: You value law, order, community and light. You love to protect the social order and the rule of law. At your best, you are just and protective. At your worst, you are authoritarian and dogmatic. Your symbol is a sunburst.

The Personality Test

I think it was Katie that convinced me to do this. So here are the results. It's says I'm a visionary. Hmmm....

PERSONALITY

INTJs easily understand complex relationships and use these insights to organize their world in logical ways. They believe in themselves and won't be swayed easily from their viewpoints. When they go into action, they are business-like and at times impersonal. INTJs like order and can be determined in their drive to see their inner vision realized. Being visionaries, INTJs enjoy the complexities of new challenges and become bored quickly with unchanging routine. They are independent and may appear a little difficult to get to know until a deeper relationship has been established. The term judging does not mean judgmental (being critical or negative) - the emphasis is on making decisions. People with a preference for Judging want their lives to be predictable so they make decisions quickly. Judging-types tend to be organized. Law is a good occupation. In INTJ's occupations, they often work by themselves or in one-to-one situations. The job rewards them for wanting to understand their work and to take the time to delve into it. In other words, they are working with their strengths.

Preference Clarity Graph Preference Clarity Strengths

Update

Pulling a Katie: pictures in the mirror

Dinner at roommate Lori's house (purple skirt) in Salt Lake

Sammy (wearing black in the last picture) decorated all our doors with wrapping paper and stockings!

I'm done with classes! I'm not sure it's totally sunk in yet. These are all the books I studied for my 40-page paper and 15-page paper. Eek!

Shake It Out by Florence + the Machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0nX61rIs&ob=av2e

I love interning here. Once in a while I'll wake up on the wrong side of the bed (at 7:00 in the morning!!), come to court, and not want to be happy because I think of how everyone I deal with are criminals and rule-breakers who have no respect for the law, so they should not be respected. But the vast majority of the time, I believe everyone should be treated with respect and deserve help when needed. So many people come into the courthouse extremely nervous because they don't understand what's going on or what they need to do. That's when I turn on my smile, sit up straighter, and ask if they have any concerns that I can help them with. I just love helping people! Even the big scary men that come in for domestic violence charges (though I want to hit them with the giant hardback Utah Code book) deserve our respect and aid. We give surveys to defendants who have talked to the judge, and one question is what the most helpful part of the court system was. Several people have asked for my title (intern) or first name so they can write it down. I've been called delightful, an angel, and today I was thanked profusely for my "friendly face." Helping people using the law has to be the greatest thing ever. I am so excited to work in DC in the legal field. I talked with a professor at the law school and she said that most people who go into law say they want to "help the world," but that I was different because I seem to genuinely want to help "people" - individuals, one-on-one, personally. She said that's unique and just awesome. Now if I could just get a job as a paralegal!