working girl

This week has flown by! My brother came up from NC on Monday night. I was so happy to see him (and to give him a to do list)! He brought a dining room table from home so now the house is fully furnished. Hooray! He took the painter's tape off the ceiling and closed a window I couldn't reach. Thanks brother. On Tuesday, we went down to the National Mall to be tourists. Scott had never been to DC before so it was fun to show him around the city I now call home.













Yesterday was my first full day of work. It was a good day, but I left feeling exhausted. I think it was a combination of my current sleep deprivation (thanks to my new mattress...) and the overwhelming-ness that accompanies new situations. Today was much better! I got to meet with my team and talk about upcoming training! My current project is updating/re-formatting the training manual. Oh! And today there was a summer staff awards banquet. The theme was a rodeo and we had BBQ for lunch!!! Yay!

Tomorrow I'm leaving work a bit early to head back to NC. It's going to be nice to return to my homeland, but I'm not going to be there for long. I have a wedding on Saturday in Blowing Rock and then I'll be flying back to DC on Sunday. Just thinking about all the busy-ness makes me smile. August has always been an exciting month and I know that this year will be no exception.

Smiles and hugs always.

Yay!

I just called American University to let them know I was accepting the position. I start orientation on Wednesday! I'll be jumping in just as things are getting crazy- students will probably arrive in mid-August. I can't wait to meet people and be a member of an active college campus again.

I'm sure I'll have lots to share once I start the job, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the last couple days of unemployment.

Thank you everyone for everything!

Love.

98 degrees is cool as a band name, not a temperature

So for the last week, temperatures have been in the low 90s (in DC low 90s feels like high 90s). Today when I woke up, it was 68 degrees outside! I went out for a walk and it felt like a spring afternoon. Thank goodness for cold fronts!

In other news, I was offered a job at American University today as a Guest and Public Relations Coordinator for the Housing Department. I have to make a decision by Monday morning so I'll keep everyone updated.

I'm off to enjoy this weather!

Hugs and kisses!

I think I keep putting off updating my blog because I want to wait and post when I find a job. But clearly my life has not stopped just because I don't have a job. I've stayed busy in a relaxing way. This week I spent alot of time walking around the city. One day I came back and google mapped my route and calculated that I had walked 6 miles! So from what I've observed, the most common businesses in DC are: Starbucks, CVS, and Quiznos. I'm a huge fan of Starbucks, but don't have much experience with the other two. Maybe that will change in the coming months...

Yesterday I went to Target and printed the 200 best pictures from senior year to put into a photo album. They include IV friends, HJ RAs, children I love to death, and my family. Today I'm going to rack my brain for funny quotes and inside jokes to write in the margins of the photo album. Here's a couple of the pictures that made the cut.

In Blowing Rock with IV friends.

HJ RAs at Cameron's birthday dinner.

My cousin's daughter Sam at my graduation. :)

My general feeling now is that I'm on the right path... I have a safe place to live and 2 amazing roommates. I recently found a church and am going to get plugged into the Children's Ministry there. I've had multiple interviews and a couple call backs. I'm slowly making friends. So the important things- a home and a church- came first. The job and the relationships are coming soon. I can feel it. :)

today's random thoughts

1. I feel like I've moved to Seattle. I think it rains at least 4 out of 7 afternoons each week. I am definitely not in the permanent drought state of North Carolina anymore.

2. I am amazed by the structure of all of the underground tunnels that compose the Metro system.

3. The morning is my favorite time to walk around DC. It's the only time the city is quiet and still.

4. For the past 3 weeks I stayed within my geographic comfort zone (which consisted of my street and then 7th street to get to Chinatown in the South and the Metro to the North). On Friday, I went to Dupont Circle and walked down P Street to get home. I saw a Whole Foods, a Blockbuster, and a Wachovia. Once again, stepping outside of the zone led me to discover great things.

5. There's a new ABC Family movie coming on tonight! Back when ABC Family was the Family Channel, I'd watch Rescue 911 and The Waltons. Now, it's where I turn to get my fill of teenage drama. Oh how the times have changed...

patience is a virtue

The job search, like many things in life, is a waiting game. My secondary interview on Monday went well, but I still have not heard back from anyone. Hopefully I'll know by tomorrow.

Yesterday I started reading The Death of Innocents. It is much more intense and requires more thought than the book I just finished, The Namesake. (Sidenote: I didn't appreciate Carolina's summer reading selections until now. Both books provoke more questions than answers, but that is appropriate given Carolina's focus on the liberal arts.) Although the book is written by a nun who becomes a spiritual advisor for men on death row, I did not expect Christianity to be a central element of the novel. Here is one of the many insightful quotes from Chapter 1: This is the death house, where killing is done by quiet-spoken, polite people, who first serve you a fine meal and pray with you before they kill you. The book uncovers details of the moments before death as well as the neverending trial process.

OOOh! I almost forgot- I met someone from North Carolina today! I was checking out at The Limited (I justify shopping by telling myself I need "work clothes") and when the sales associate looked at my license, she told me she just moved here from Durham. Yay Raleigh-Durham! I think I will always be excited when I encounter someone else from the Tar Heel state. :) Can someone please send me some BBQ and Sweet Tea? K, thanks.

strawberry swing

According to StrengthsQuest, one of my strengths is connectedness. I like connecting other people with each other and I also look for relationships between topics. When I would sit in class listening to a professor's lecture, I would think about how what they were talking about was connected to something I had heard in a different class that same day. I can probably link things that most people think are unrelated. Anyways, this is relevant because today I realized that I will always link the new Coldplay CD with my first couple weeks in DC. Some other examples of my music to time period connections are: John Mayer with my trip to Australia in high school, Snow Patrol with my school of ed days, and Brad Paisley with my first summer away from home.

"Strawberry Swing" is one of my favorite songs on the CD... Here's some lyrics:
People moving all the time
Inside a perfectly straight line
Don't you wanna curve away?
When it's such...
It's such a perfect day

I just smile everytime I hear that- "such a perfect day" :)

Here's a synopsis of my one of many perfect days in DC:

1. I rode the metro downtown so I could go to a museum. The Museum of American History was closed for renovations, so I went over to the Holocaust Museum. This museum is different from others I've been to in that it directs your path. I liked that it followed a timeline, but there is just so much to see and read and take in that it was a bit overwhelming. I felt like I paid attention for like 45mins and then was just looking for the exit. There is alot to think about when walking through the museum- the people affected, the overall impact on history, why it happened, etc. I'll go back sometime and see what all I missed. My favorite part was listening to one of the museum guides talk about the architecture of the museum- there are many windows and skylights, but the only thing you can see through these windows is the sky and other parts of the museum. It is my understanding that the architect, a Holocaust survivor, designed the museum this way to create a feeling of being trapped. I can't even imagine the thought and mathematics and planning that went into designing the museum!

2. I got a call from the non-profit I interviewed at yesterday and they want me to come in on Monday for a secondary interview!!!! yay! yay! yay! Yesterday's interview went really well and after hearing more about the organization and the position, I can hardly contain my excitement at having a second interview! But I'm trying to keep myself grounded and remember that whatever happens will happen for a reason.

3. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival was occurring on the National Mall today. I walked around and sipped on a Lime Fizz (I had to walk probably a mile to find cash so I could actually buy the Lime Fizz... and it was so worth it!). Then I sat in the Texas Dancehall and listened to some country music and watched people dance. I sat there wishing I was under the age of 10 so I could go up there and dance around with my brother and sister. That is so the kind of thing we used to do.

Happy 4th of July!!!

I'm wishing you all many 'such a perfect days'.