Pictures!

I'm on a roll tonight with this blogging! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Be sure and keep reading the other posts below the pictures for lots of weekend posts!



^^^ The Old Post Office Pavillion and clock tower I went up to.



^^^ Look Closely (click photo to enlarge)... The white circle is the White House. Now look even closer....the faint green circle shows the top of the steeples of Healy Hall. Healy Hall is directly outside my apartment window across the street. I could see where I live! :)



^^^ Still investigating as to if i suddenly was in Paris, or if there is another Eiffel Tower.



^^^ Another view from the clock tower



^^^ From the clock tower...don't know what it is though!



^^^ The view...



^^^ The stairs leading from the Old Post Office Pavillion Clock tower to the Congress Bells



^^^ The Bells



^^^ Inside Pentagon City Mall



^^^ Random



^^^ Hilary, Me, and Katie having some fun. :)



^^^ One of a few famous stars by a theater downtown




^^^ Overlooking Old Town Alexandria from the top of the Metro Station



^^^Parrots in Old Town Alexandria.
(I could have had a picture with one on my shoulder for like $10 but I'm too cheap!)



^^^^Ronald Reagan Airport from the Metro



^^^ Enlarge the picture and see the flock of birds!



^^^ By far my favorite sign on the Metros...I HATE Esca-LEFTERS!!!




^^^ A picture just for fun...Gotta love those tourists outside my apartment in awe of campus!


That's all for now folks!

Until next time...

Stephanie

Oh the Places I've traveled.....

A few have asked what all I've done, and/or where all I've been. So, below is a map of the metro system. The purple dots around a station means I have actually traveled TO or FROM that station on the metro. The yellow dots mean that I have been in the vicinity of that metro station either via bus, car (when I go on nursing home site visits mostly, or walking). Most stations I have been to numerous times, but that's asking a bit much for my to remember EVERYTHING! Click on the graphic below to blow it up. Unfortunately, I can't get it so you can clearly read the station names, but it you want to see a clear map of the stations go to www.wmata.com and look at it.

Now of course I have been through alot of the areas in numerous forms: walking, bussing, taxis, etc, but the color coded circles on the map show overall where I have been, and how many different metro stations I have actually walked out of into the area.

Stephanie

Winding Down...

As the Washington D.C. summer comes to an end, so must the list of things to do....Suprisingly, after this weekend, I only have a couple things left on muy "list" and they are restaurants so it won't be the end of the world if I don't get to go there.

Saturday I got up and headed to Pentagon City Mall to return something and walk around one last time. Then I jumped on the metro and headed towards downtown and the Federal Triangle area. I had to be down at the Ronald Reagan Building by 7pmish to get my ticket for the Capitol Steps Comedy Show with the rest of the group, so I had a couple hours to explore. I first went to Old Post Office Pavilion. There where a few shops and eateries. The main highlight was the clock tower which holds the Bells of Congress and above that has an aerial view of the entire city and beyond. It was a fairly clear day and the sites were just amazing!

Then I moved onto the Metro Center area of downtown and went to a couple of shops before heading to the show. The show (Capitol Steps) was absolutely hilarious! I have a video of a couple scenes of it on my camera. I'm working on figuring out how to get it viewable from this site. After the show some of us had dinner at a nice little bar/cafe type place nearby. We were sitting under a canopy luckily because it started pouring. To say the least- it was worth the cab fare to get home instead of buses/metro. By now it was after 11pm, but we still found some fun for a few hours.

I slept in today for a change. Jenny and I decided oto go to Eastern Market for a couple hours and check it out, and have lunch at a nice little European cafe called "Bread and Chocolate". It was pretty good. I wanted to go to Old Town Alexandria still so we took the like 40 minute metro ride there and basically walked down to the water and went to a couple of shops and then left. Unbelievably, it is already 7pm! Where has my night gone?!?!

For sake of time and sanity, I'll be posting pictures in another post soon.

Stephanie

Another week gone by...

And how fast the weeks are flying! It is so sad to think that in one week I will no longer have the need to update this blog. :( One good thing though is that I can go back and print out each entry and put it in a scrapbook of memories from the summer. Ok, enough reflecting (I'll do some more next week).

So...it seems like every night has been a late one, and every morning an early one since last week. Sunday night we were up pretty late chatting at the hotel, then I had to get up early since 4 of us had to get through the shower, and I had to get to work. I got there by 10am which wasn't too bad considering the commute and all from the hotel. Monday at work was a busy day and I worked a little late since I had come in late. I made it home and headed down to Georgetown (the shopping area) to get a pedicure. You all know me well enough that this is not a usual thing for me, but wearing sandals EVERYDAY ALL DAY for 7 weeks straight does horrible things to your feet and I have no other option.

Tuesday night was class as usual and I honestly can't remember what happened.

Wednesday night I worked late because I went to a family council meeting in Maryland at an enourmous continuing care retirement community. This place was amazing! Check out www.erikson.com for all the sites they have. Side Note: I requested information on the two Michigan locations and my Dad informed me the Friday I got a slew of bags of a bunch of binders sent to me via priority mail from like every one of the Erickson communities in the U.S. That should be entertaining to come home to and see. Maybe my parents will take a picture of the mess of mail and I'll post it.

Thursday I got up early (yes, LATE night and early morning) and was at work around 8am to get some things done early because I know my afternoon was full of meetings back to back...after work was class, and then John and I worked on the puzzle some more.

Friday I went into work early again and had meetings in the afternoon again. I hate Fridays, as they always appear unproductive! Kaja (pronounced Kaya), a staff member at NCCNHR, made my afternoon though by once again sharing her stash of Lofthouse Sugar Cookies with me. :) Friday evening I met John in Dupont Circle on my way home for a nice dinner. Then we came home and did our laundry and worked on the puzzle. Fun times...friday night in Washington D.C. spent doing laundry and a puzzle. Nice....

And that officially catches me up on ym blogging. Sorry, nothing too exciting has happened this week. I only took a couple pictures too, and nothing really worth posting. So for now, I am going to go find some picture moments and make the most out of my last weekend in Washington D.C. Tonight we are all going to see Capitol Steps- a DC political comedy of some sort. It's supposed to be pretty good.

Until Next time--

Stephanie

P.S. Stayed tuned for a posting on "I know I'm not a tourist anymore when..."

Here we go.....

Where to start...I haven't been home hardly at all- let alone at my computer!! So last Tuesday night as I think I mentioned our class was cancelled. John and Holly and I went to Old Glory and had some good ol' fashioned BBQ for dinner. After waiting for over 40 minutes only for John to go question where our table is, did they discover they gave us a light buzzer thing but never put us in the computer or something! THEN, to add to it they were out of the yummy sounded chicken I wanted.

Last Wednesday night we had a "mandatory event" that was seeing this show called "Dog Sees God". It was a parady about all the Peanuts characters as teenagers. Let me just sum it up: -Snoopy was put to sleep because he had rabies and had eaten his best friend, Woodstock, to death. --Charlie brown was dismayed over Snoopy's death and only Sally, his sister, showing up at his funeral. --Sally was a messed up girl at first, but really came out as a great character in the end. --Linus was a druggie, who smoked his blanket's ashes after Charlie and his friends burned it only a few months earlier (they let him keep the ashes to it though). --Lucy was in a psycho jail because she had gotten pregnant, then had an abortion and the next day some 'red head' in front of her in class pissed her off so she set fire to the red head's hair in front of her. --Marcie and Peppermint Patti were preppy-like cheerleaders who thought they were all that, AND in my book they are still questionable lesbians. --Schoder (piano guy) was a 'geek' and everyone kind of ignored him after his Dad commited suicide of something. --Charlie and Schoder made up and then made out- yes, made OUT. lol. --The two later made out in front of everyone else at a party, then everyone attacked- mentally and physically- Schoder because they thought they they ruined Charlie Brown, but in reality Charlie Brown was the one who started making out first. ---All I can say is this was a very interesting play. It kept people laughing, but I think some people in the group are still disturbed by the homosexuality and sex in it, and the fact that it was mandatory we went.

Thursday night was class as usual and then John and I hung around the apartment and played slideshows for each other on our laptops.

Friday I went to a workshop called "Medicare Academy". It was very interesting. The other intern at NCCNHR, Tori, went with me. Afterwards we decided to stop off in Chinatown for a happy hour drink at Legal Sea Foods. Good times, and good conversations. I headed to home to change for the evening, but first ran into David, a friend from home in Dupont Circle. I directed him and Mike to Five Guys and a Burger in Georgetown for dinner and continued home for a quick shower. Then I met up with my good friend Rob and a friend of his. We ate at the Daily Grill- worth EVERY penny (even if i was Rob's penny), then headed next door to a club for a bit. We ended in Georgetown at the Ritz Carlton for a drink which was really nice. Saturday I got caught up a little on sleep and then headed out for the day around 11am. I intended to get alot done on "my list" downtown, but that never happened. I started out by heading to Union Station and the National Postal Museum. The museum was so cool! I actually went through and read everything in the museum and not just skimmed things. It was very facinating to read about the history of the postal service from the early days. They also had a family day thing going on that was really neat. Here are a few pictures I took at the museum and around Union Station:



















Saturday evening John and Holly and I cooked an awesome dinner of BBQ chicken and cornbread. It was probably the best food I've had in a while. Then we began digligently working on a 1000 piece puzzle John bought at the Native American Museum. It didn't get THAT far in like 4 hours. Later John and I headed out around 11pm to go take some pictures of some of the sights downtown. We got some decent pictures. It was a nice night for a walk, just a little muggy out. I even had him singing Tommorrow from my favorite movie- Annie with me.














Sunday morning I got up fairly early to go meet David and Mike again. We spent the day down on the National Mall finishing all the things they still wanted to cram in before leaving. We ate dinner at the Hotel Washington on the rooftop terrace with one of the most incredible views of the city....pictures are below...then we stopped back at my apartment so I could grab a couple things and we headed to their hotel for the night. I can't tell you how good it felt to get in the swimming pool and hot tub that night, and to take a shower in a non-mold stained tub the next morning! I felt clean finally and didn't have to wear my sandals in the shower.

Me in the fountain I seem to love!!



Reagan airport at night....the view from the guys' hotel room.



From the Hotel Washington...notice the plane!!



My FIRST, yes MY FIRST ice cream cone since I got here...pints of Ben and Jerry's doesn't count!!


Another view from Hotel Washington...



For sake of posting overload, I'll save this week's events for another post. It is getting late and the pillow is calling my name!

Until next time... Stephanie

National Postal Museum...

I'll be posting more later (I know, I know, I keep promising this but I really will!)...but I spent a couple of hours at the National Postal Museum today. It was one of the best museums I have been to in Washington D.C. i haven't downloaded the pictures yet, but I did get some neat "fact cards". I got one of these everytime I printed a postcard (those of you on my list should be getting one soon!) Anyways, here are some interesting facts.

Did you know that...

--Some postmasters made and used their own stampts, called "Postmaster Provisionals," severeal years before the introduction of adhesive postage stamps by the United States Government in 1847?

-On July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong cancelled the first piece of mail carried to the moon with a postmark which read "Moon Landing, USA"?

--A sled dog was used to carry mail in Alaska until 1963 when it was replaced by an airplane?

--It was a mail coach which brought into existence the old Boston-New York-Philedelphia-Baltimore turnpike, the first great American highway?

--Horse drawn carriages were used to deliver mail in Philadelphia as late as January 31, 1955?

--Over the years, postmasters in larger offices have had cats on their payrolls to protect the mail by keeping their offices free of mice and rodents, compensating the felines with food and shelter?

That's all for now....stayed tuned. I am trying to make the most of my last two weeks in Washington D.C. which means not much time at the apartment or on the computer!

Steph

The woes of transportation...

I love this city, the idea of public transportation, and not having to fill up youe gas tank every few days because you are "still hoping" that gas will go down a few cents before your $5 (or less than 2 gallons of gas) runs out. I KNOW there are others like me. It's funny though you know...I hate putting gas in, yet it doesn't even phase me that a bus ride costs me $1.25 (but includes a 2-4 hours free transfer to ride more buses or get home in that time period), or anywhere from $1.35 to $3.60 (ONE way) to take the metro.

The metro is a little quicker than buses and you don't have to stop every other block, but then again buses go more places. If you have the time, buses are so much better I think. Personally, the metro gives me a headache. I have to position myself on the car to be facing forward....some seats are backwards because the train goes both directions...and if I have to stand, I have to face the forward direction too. It makes me quesy not to. I can't read because it makes me nauseated with the lights in the tunnels flying by me. So that leads me to shutting shut my eyes if I am going more than a couple of stops. If I don't shut my eyes, I let my mind wander to what everyone else is doing to try and avoid noticing the lights flying by on the outside of the car. And that leads me to the humor of this post:

"Weird things that people do on the metro...and/or the bus".

1. Soduko puzzles...not just from a book, but printed from the internet (how weird). I guess the guy was probably on his way to a business meeting and printed them off at work for his way there??

2. Guy balancing his checkbook. Random.

3. People reading various things from the daily Express newspaper, to a book.

4. Lady in fornt of me sketching the guy sitting in front of her. Now that's just plain creepy- as far as I know they were NOT together.

5. Guy in the front corner of the car 'sneaking' his lunch....you know it is breaking the law if you eat or drink on any of the public transportation...and you can get fined pretty well for it.

6. Younger kid trying to get his shoe laces unknotted.

7. A babysitter and her friend with 4 screaming kids mad because they have 2 more stops until the zoo stop! And they were throwing fits!

8. Can't forget random people sleeping against the window, or that one time on another journey that the lady was sleeping and fell out of her seat--NO lie!

Ya....so people do weird things on the metro or bus...most of my stories are from my journey from downtown to Rockville, Maryland on the red line...a route I have taken 2 or 3 times now....and it is a good 30-40 minute ride which provides alot of time for fun observations.

That's my post for the now....maybe later tonight or tomorrow I will finish telling about my week....stay tuned!

Stephanie

Alive!

For those who actually check this thing on a daily basis I AM alive! I hope to update on Thursday sometime. I worked until nearly 11pm on Monday, class was cancelled Tuesday so a fwe of us went to a nice dinner at Old Glory for some BBQ and then i had a project to work on for a friend, and tonight I worked until 7pm before going to one CRAZY play about the Peanuts gang in their teenage years. That will defintly have some explaining about the vulgarness of the event in another post soon!

To bed I said!

Steph

White House, Nationals Baseball, Botanical Gardens, Sculpture Garden, and more!

What a weekend! I made a list about a week and a half ago of all of the things I want to do yet while living in Washington D.C. and I have slowly but surely been crossing them off my list! But wouldn't ya know, at the same time, I continue to add to my list. Get ready because as usual this i a jam-packed entry with tons of pictures. Don't forget to click on the pictures to see them bigger- especially the flower pictures!!

Friday afternoon I went with the D.C. Ombudsman office to a nursing home site visit. The visit was very touching to me, and heartbreaking. The things going on there and way residents were sitting around was horrible. And I say this from my own perspective as we walked through the building, not the Ombudsman's opinions. I could see things clear as day. It really makes me appreciate the facilities I work with at home and the care that is given there. On a lighter side, I don't think I have ever been to this large of nursing home- 296 beds!! The place was huge!

After the site visit, I met up with Courtney (my freshman roomie) and her family for dinner in Chinatown. Then we went to the White House since Courtney didn't get to go there on the tour they were on earlier....haha...long story short we got there and took a couple of pictures and then the secret service was swarming and kicked us off Pennsylvania Avenue and the park behind it. Sirens were screeching and as we stood across the street from the park they began blocking the road....5 or 6 firetrucks, EMS supply trucks, Ambulances, and TONS of police cars just shut things down. Oh ya, and we can't forget about the huge group of roller bladers who went by and a police SUV literally was inches from hitting one guy...he had to catch himself on the hood of the SUV so he didn't completely fall down. Now THAT was a close call! We stood there for about 50 minutes watching and waiting for someone to come in or go out but nothing ever happened. The firemen were even all out of the trucks in their full gear for some reason. Then randomly after 50 minutes it was like "Ok, you can go back in now to the park...
"

After the White House we said our goodbyes and I headed home. I traveled through Dupont Circle and stopped to listen to the musicians playing for a bit. Later that evening Holly and I went out for a couple of drinks in Adam's Morgan...then main reason I wanted to go was for the JUMBO slices of pizza!



Saturday was somewhat of a lazy day. I slept in and did laundry for the most part. I also did a lot of computer updating work for various things, and a little research for an project at work. Then around 4pm we headed out to the Nationals Game at RFK Stadium. It was a very slow moving game, plus the Nationals were losing. A lot of us left after about 5 innings.

In this first picture, the sky looked so fake...can you say "Truman Show??". I seriously had to stop and think if we were in a dome or if it was real!



Rachel and I...



The stadium....pre-game (nobody is even here yet!)



The best for last......me and Geico the Gecko. :)


After we got home a few of us headed down to Georgetown. We ended up at Mr. Smith's...an awesome bar that had a live piano man. He was taking tips and requests of songs that had the entire bar singing! Fun times. After awhile I ended up in the courtyard of the apartments talking with some others from the program. It was such a nice night out...night that soon turned to morning.

The girls and I on our way out...



Sunday morning a few of us went to brunch at Martin's Tavern....yes, the place that JFK proposed to Jackie. We didn't sit in the same booth though because we wanted the outdoor seating. After brunch I headed down to explore the National Mall area and check a few more things off of my list of things to accomplish. I went to the Sculpture Gardens, Botanical Park and the Botanical Gardens (indoor), as well as various other little gardens hidden through the Mall. I also went to the US Navy Memorial. It was a nice afternoon. Below are various pictures of me with the pretty flowers, and just the pretty flowers. YES- I took all the photos of the flowers...I am so proud how well they turned out!









look at the bee...



I love this fountain...



Sculpture Garden



Pretty...


Outside the Native American History Museum (I think)



One of my favorites...the colors were amazing...



Weird catcus.


Couldn't find the sign for these, but I am almost sure it is the same flower I have pictures of from St. Kitts a couple years ago.


Another bee....



Daisy...



Cool....Purple..my FAVORITE!


Wiith all the Catcus plants!



I swear...this is my Sadie dog! She must have lost the weight mom wants her to and she is filthy (because she just spent an entire week at the lake for the 4th of July) :)


Alright that's all folks. It is 12:30am and I have to work in the morning at 8:30. Not to mention that I have to leave for Maryland at 4pm for a family council meeting/trainng in the evening...BUT...I get to ride in a real car again! A friend is picking me up at the metro in Maryland and driving me to the meeting. :)

Until next time....

Stephanie