another good day in the city

Today was wonderful. I spent the morning organizing the kitchen and putting away my dishes that had been sitting in a box on the floor. I always feel so accomplished when I finish an organization project. My mom says I should be a professional organizer...

After laying around from my hard morning of work, I decided it was time for an outing. I got out my Lonely Planet city guide and thumbed through the "sights" section before deciding on the National Gallery of Art. I took the metro down to Constitution Avenue and then walked to the museum. A couple things occurred to me as I walked around in awe of the art, the building, and the people around me.

a) The art is beautiful. But who decided that these are the pieces that should be in a museum? There are so many talented artists in this world, but so few have their work displayed for any/everyone to see. Also, do artists want this many people to see their work? Did Monet even consider the idea that one day hundreds of 8th graders would walk by his painting while on a yearly field trip? Is that what he wanted? I love Monet. Alot! But I wouldn't even recognize his work if someone hadn't put his art in textbooks or donated his pieces to museums. I could go on, but I would end up talking in circles as I so often do.




b) Second to Monet, my favorite piece I saw was "La Condition Humaine" by Rene Magritte. It just makes me smile. Maybe because it resembles a photograph, maybe because it's clever, or maybe because it captures the sky on a beautiful day. Whatever it is, it will definitely bring me back to the museum soon!




c) While I was walking through a room of Picasso, I said hello to one of the men "guarding" the work. I'm not sure what those people are called... After asking where I was from, what I was doing here, why I moved to DC, etc, he told me about a free event that evening. The National Gallery of Art sponsors a free jazz concert in their garden on Fridays! How cool is that?!?!? Someone please come visit me so we can go to the garden and have a picnic while listening to music in downtown DC! :)

In summary, I love DC more and more everyday. I still don't have a job, but I'm confident that all things come in time.

Smiles and hugs!

chilling out, maxing, acting all cool

Today has been very laid back. Now that I've got my room in order, I feel like I can get the rest of my life in order. I did some "tasky" things today- called the cable company, walked to the post office and the bank, picked up some more groceries. I'm loving that I can walk everywhere. The weather is absolutely beautiful and there is so much to see! I walked by Howard University today and seeing college students made me miss Carolina. I even saw some prospective students walking around. I wanted to stop and talk to them and tell them how amazing college is. But I'm pretty sure they would have thought I was crazy. So I just smiled.

I'm feeling much better about things today than I did earlier in the week. I think that having a place to call home has really helped. I'm getting along wonderfully with my new roommates. I think we're all going to go to dinner or something soon.

I've been watching Enchanted for the past hour. I think it's time for some sort of art project or organization activity. Goodness knows I can't just sit here.

Much love!!!!!!!

The roller coaster of change

So I graduated from college over a month ago. Despite my plan to take time to rest, I feel like I've been going nonstop since graduation. While I haven't been bogged down by studying, baby-sitting, RAing, IVing, etc, I've still been busy. I went from Chapel Hill to DC to Chapel Hill to home to the beach to home to DC, and the list goes on. Now that I'm in DC for the third time, I plan to stay for a while. However, I'm not sure how much rest I'll get. I don't have my car so I'm always walking somewhere. Anyways... Here are some pictures and thoughts regarding the past couple weeks.



My sister graduated high school! Woohoo! I went to Myers Park graduation for the fourth (and hopefully last) time. She had such a big smile on her face as she exited the arena. Here we are afterwards...








My brother helped my mom and I pack up the truck this weekend. He did a great job! Nothing broke on the trip. But everything got soaking wet. You'll have to contact me for details. I don't need this embarrassing story posted for the world to see.








I've spent the last couple days unpacking and attempting to organize. We all know that organization is basically my favorite hobby, but that doesn't lessen the overwhelmingness (new word!?) of unpacking. Slowly, but surely things are coming together.







I'm happy to be here most of the time. Yesterday I had a burst of "what in the world am I doing here" feelings. I think those are normal. I think back to my first week at UNC and this feels similar. I feel anxious and overwhelmed and confused, but all of those feelings are wrapped up in excitement for the future. If DC turns out to be as amazing as my Carolina years, I have alot to look forward to!

I'm off to organize! Love and miss you all!

Job first, Decorating second

So I've spent the past couple days visiting friends and family that I will miss very much while I'm off on my DC adventure. Here's a summary of the week's festivities (in list format, of course).

a) I spent Wednesday night with my cousin's family in Concord. The newest member of the family, James McCray, is 2 weeks old today!!! I got to play Simon Says, power rangers, hungry hippos, and play-doh with the older boys while their mom tended to baby Mac. Oh and on Thursday morning I woke up at 7am to a 6yr old staring at me. I guess he likes getting up early now that school is out and he doesn't have to...

b) Being in Chapel Hill has been bittersweet (luckily the majority of it has been sweet). I love being here and visiting with people, but I'm reminded of the change that is to come. I'm not a college student anymore. I've always thought it was funny when people said that after college comes the real world. Aren't we always living in the real world? I mean sometimes I feel like my life is a movie, but I'm constantly reminded that everyday is as real as can be. I got some good advice from a wise friend today.
1. College is good, but the "real world" is better. I'm not sure what's so great about it, but I'm super excited to find out!
2. Get a job, and then decorate. I'm so ready to move into my apartment and at night I can't sleep because I'm thinking about how I'll arrange things, or what curtains I should get, or what sort of photos will hang on the wall (photos are the best form of art in my opinion). My friend reminded me that I have plenty of time to decorate. Hopefully I'll be in this apartment for a while. If I do everything now, I won't have fun projects to look forward to later.
3. This isn't so much advice as an important self-realization. I usually have to make a major decision in order to make smaller decisions. It's like junior year when I felt like something was wrong, I needed a big change- so I changed my major. And while life didn't suddenly seem perfect, I felt like I could take on what was thrown at me. Today my friend told me that all year long she had been trying to get me to make some sort of decision, and here I am making a big life decision. So I think now that I have the big life decision out of the way, the other things are going to slowly work out. Hopefully that means everything will work out with the UHAUL truck. I booked one online, but the local branch doesn't have record of the reservation. Thank you internet.

c) I'm going to cook-out tomorrow! I'm not sure if they have cook-out in DC, but I'm going to guess no. There are CVSs and Starbucks on alternating corners, but I'm pretty sure neither of those places sell banana pudding milkshakes...

I miss North Carolina already.

opening and closing doors

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. When I send my resume to potential employers and don't hear back from them, all I can do is tell myself that it wasn't meant to be. I rely on external forces so that I don't have to be the one to make a decision. So when doors are opened and remain open and it's up me to make a decision, I kinda freak out. I went up to DC to look at apartments this week and after looking at two that were definitely not what I was looking for, I found one that I love! It's a cute row house on a quiet street near downtown. It's basically what I imagine when I think about apartment living. I found out today that I can live there... all I have to do is say yes. That three letter word means so many things. If I say yes, I'll move to DC sometime in the next couple weeks, which is definitely something I want to do. But then I think, well what if there is something better, what if I'm not on the right track, what if I really shouldn't move to DC? I could keep thinking about the what ifs or I could say yes. And move. To a city. Which is what I've wanted to do for basically all of college. But saying yes closes alot of doors. It closes doors to jobs outside of DC. It closes doors to other living situations. It closes (hopefully temporarily) the North Carolina chapter of my life. I'm going to follow the 24-hour rule and sleep on it.

Reasons to move:



1. Culture!!!











2. Georgetown is gorgeous! I think I will always
want to live near a college campus.











3. Who doesn't love IKEA!?!?