This will teach me to update more often!!!

Wow! What a weekend it has been! And to be honest, it isn't over yet, but I figured I better get an update in here now and I'll do another one Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

First I'll start off with a few pictures from the Kennedy Center from last Monday night. We went to the Presidential Scholars performances- it was basically a ceremony that reminded me a lot of graduation. About 10 people spoke and then the read and introduced all 140+ recipients. They were high school seniors who excelled in the arts. Then about 20 of them were performing- piano solo, singing, acting, etc. To be honest, most of us left after 6 or 7 performances because it had been over 2 hours, there was no end or intermission in sight, it was nearly 11pm, and most of us hadn't been home since we left for work before 9am. I know the award was a really big deal to the recipients and their families, but at the same time many of us were frustrated because the reason we went to it was because it was a free event and we were told it (an event at the Kennedy Center) was something we had to experience. But it was just not where some of us cared to be after a long day of work, and nearly having to swim to the event because of all the rain.

In this first picture, its the color guard coming in and all of the people behind them were the recipients....




Kennedy's head.....kind of creepy! (This one's for you mom!) ;)


As I briefly mentioned earlier, Thursday night after class brought another night of homemade brownie baking, and then instead of movies in the guys' room, it was cards in the girls' apartment. We had quite a crowd. I swear- people smell brownies from scratch baking or hear about it and they come a flocking. Before games could begin, we had to make the brownies. John is such a good helper - right Holly? He even did some of the dishes!

On an attempt to pose for an awesome picture, we were having technical difficulties and both kept laughing. The third time was a charm though....as Holly is standing next to us saying to make sure I don't really put my mouth on it! haha...





And then the evening got going....it started quiet with a game of Egyptian ratscrew...then we got creative and moved on to Texas Hold Em' Poker. The trick was nobody had any chips, so we used what else- CEREAL!

Here's a shot of part of the group playing...




This is a cool picture of all the "money". I think this is as we were counting out cereal for everyone. Lucky Charms were worth 1, Apple Jacks 2, and the marshmellows from Lucky Charms 5.



The evening ended with a Shag dancing lesson for Hilary by John in our living room. (And I'm sure the girls downstairs just LOVED us when they started Shag dancing at 130 in the morning right above their heads!




Nobody realized how late it had gotten so quickly, and I know I had a rough time getting out of bed in the morning Friday...and I wasn't even out of bed yet when a friend two-wayed me from home at 730 or 745am (you know who you are ;) ). Fun times are worth little sleep once in a while I guess.

Oh, here's a photo I promised of the cysts that grew in the guys' ceiling the other night and drained with water. This is a result of all the rain we were getting last Sunday and Monday. If you look closely (click the picture to make it bigger), you can see the water still running from the middle one. When I took this picture the one on the far left hadn't fully developed into its largest size yet. And the one on the right was mostly drained so it had decresed alot in size.




Friday night I headed to Chinatown to meet up with Kelita, an old YSA staffer for Happy Hour. It was a really neat restaurant. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria and just did some catching up. Then I met up with John down on the National Mall and we just walked around and hung out. We walked all over and finally ended up at Union Station. While in Chinatown (for the second time that night) I wanted to eat at Hooters, but John told me we couldn't because his mind would go places it shouldn't. We then came to a very interesting little rotisserie shop. I'm not sure I would ever buy anything here, but I guess this is true city life??















Here's a random picture on our way home going up one of the longest metro station escalators. Some funny things in the photo....(click on it to make it bigger so you can see). Look at the middle escalator. The lady in the reddish-pinkish shirt with her hands on her hip and the large man in front of her, look like they are going to kill one another. Follow that same escalator up and the guy in the green and navy striped polo is John. He was clueless that I was 1/3 of the way down on the ground still and he was going up. You will also notice that surprisingly, most people are using what we call "escalator etiquette"...that is, they are standing on the right, and walking on the left. Now the people who like to run up these things are nuts in my book, but I guess if you're in a hurry you've got to!














Saturday morning I met up with a friend from home and her daughter and son-in-law. We went to the Holocaust Museum. We were fortunate to get our hands on tickets for the permanent display. They are free, but handed out on a timed basis to keep only a certain number of people in there throughout the day so it isn't overcrowded. It was very interesting, but not quite what I was expecting. After we parted ways, I headed off to Pentagon City Mall to do a little window shopping, and go across the street to a couple stores for some supplies. I also decided that after 4 weeks of all this walking everyday I deserved a pedicure...and got one for the first time ever. I loved it. My feet feel so nice. :) Here's a pretty picture of my sparkly toes! :) And nobody even start with me about the fact that I am getting a tan line across my foot from wearing my same sandals nearly every day....they are too comfortable NOT to wear!

















Saturday night I took an easy and just relaxed around the apartment. I also got John to watch part of 40 Year Old Virgin with me. Sunday I slept in for a change and went to Ben's Chili Bowl with John for lunch. I've been there before when I have come to D.C. but haven't yet this year. It is one of those places people always say you have to go to and eat, but you and your stomach will probably be regretting it a little later!

Here's another picture for mom....this random house on our walk to Ben's Chili Bowl had this display in their front window.














We came back to Georgetown and I hopped on another bus and went to the Ballston Mall in Virginia. It was about a 25-30 minutes ride which wasn't too bad. I liked the mall because it was more of a normal everyday mall with stores I have actually heard of before. And, I found my first dollar store which was exciting. It is disgusting, but I bought a broom so we could finally sweep the kitchen and bathroom! Then I got stuck in a horrible storm that came out of nowhere...along with my 5 bags including some very heavy stuff from CVS and my broom sticking out. A guy told me how to get back to the metro and bus station a few blocks away by taking the over walk through some buildings so that was helpful. There was tons of construction on the corner and the bus stops were screwy so I finally just took the Metro back to Rosslyn and took a cab home from there because I couldn't walk that far with everything- and I'd really be in trouble if it started to rain again! The trick was to find a D.C. cab in Virginia instead of an Arlington one because D.C. cabs charge based on a zone system, Arlington uses meters and you get screwed over most of the time.

Finally made it home and squeezed in a brief siesta before some of Jenny's friends got here from Philly. A lot of us in the program didn't work today because of the Holiday tomorrow so we all went to this club called "Home". After standing in line outside forever and getting patted down by a security guard a little to much for my comfort level we got in. And the screwiest thing is we couldn't figure out what the hold up with the line was because there was like no one in the place where we got in. Weird.

Here's a picture of me, Rachel, Saline, and Justin on the bus on the way there... the drive defiantly thought we were nuts!! Rachel and Saline are in the NSCS program...Justin was a guy that came with Jenny's friend from Philly.




Well that about gets us to today, Monday. I definitely slept until about 11:30 this morning due to a very late night and have since been taking an easy today. I think Jenny and I are going to head down to Georgetown and see the Devil Wears Prada movie and get some ice cream. The biggest decision the rest of the evening will be whether we want Hagen Daaz, Ben & Jerry's, or Hershey's Ice Cream! :) Any ice cream is good though!!

Tomorrow, the 4th of July, will be a hot, humid, and busy day. The plans have not been made yet, but most likely will include the parade, and fireworks and spending the afternoon on the National Mall with 5 million other people. There'll be lots of picture taking I'm sure!

Until then....


Stephanie