This came on and I thought of you. Remember when I went off to my first Girl Scout camp and you wrote me a letter and hid it in my bag? And remember how you said in the letter to look for the brightest star at night and you would too? Well . . . that's kind of hard when we're 9 hours apart, so you can just listen to this instead.
(Also, don't forget that the ticket lottery starts this week!)
We have been singing this song all day. All week, actually. (Except I only knew the chorus until tonight when Carly finally showed the song to me.) It's been a pretty great batch of final days. Lunch at We, the Pizza (and a shake from Good Stuff, extra thick). White House Christmas tree lighting. Botanical Gardens' Christmas decorations and trains. Staying up late talking. Cupcakes. Long run. African Art museum (which only reinforced/strengthened my determination for Uganda in June). Dinner at Busboys and Poets.
Took this for you, as promised.
Partying with the Obamas
Brie, tomato, and spinach sandwich
We finished off the night at the Lincoln Memorial. Beautiful. Grand. One of the park rangers gave us a little speech about the symbolism of the memorial---it was the perfect way to end our experience. It took like 20 minutes, so I won't say it all, but basically the main message was that the purpose of our lives is to make the world we live in a better place. He said that we will each make an impact in some way and that our memory would be preserved for those that we influenced, just as Lincoln is remembered. It was deep, touching, and a little cheesy. Great way to say goodbye.
Tuesday night was quite the event. After going to Sprinkles to get a cupcake (I got a black & white cupcake), I went to a little place called Busboys and Poets with Matt and Kelsey. It was great--decorated, balloons, high energy, lots of cheering whenever blue showed up on the screen. We found an open spot in a little corner to watch the numbers roll in. A {very drunk} man named Tony kept saying to us, "it's just a television show. That's why they're waiting to reveal Florida." I got a few interesting looks thanks to my Romney pin. It was fun, just as I would imagine an election event, but kind of like being at a BYU-U football game in LaVell stadium with the Utes losing.
Kelsey and I decided to leave at 11:00 and waited at the bus stop for a while...until we called and found out that it stopped running after 9:00. So we started walking toward the metro, and once we got to Chinatown we heard honking and some yelling. We peered into a nearly-empty restaurant and saw people jumping up and down on the screen, so we figured some big numbers must have just been called for the Dems. Then a man came out of Fuddruckers and yelled, "OBAMA!!!!" Soon the streets were filled with people cheering and honking. My heart sank a little.
It was a long metro ride home. As we came out of the metro and got onto Pennsylvania Ave, crowds of students were running toward the White House. More crowds of people. More yelling and cheering and honking. That was the night.
Side note, Kelsey showed me a beautiful website. Click here. It's awesome. She also showed me a delicious song:
I have a paper due tomorrow morning. [Don't ask me how long. Don't ask me when I started. Don't ask me how it's going with my existent-but-nonexistent ADD.] I am working on it right now. So naturally, all I can think of are things that I want to share with you/tell you about.
1. I watched some good SNL skits the other day that you will enjoy. Just click here and here.
2. I have a jar of daisies sitting on my desk. They make me happy.
3. I need to take a moment to brag. Just a teeny bit. I ran 5.5 miles in 45 minutes today. FIVE-POINT-FIVE. That's an 8:18 mile!!! Now, for those of you who may be dropping in and do not know my running history, I will explain. I love to run. I run nearly every day. I have for about four years. But, I am not very athletic ( . . . and replace "very" with "whatsoever"). And, well, to just put it simply, I don't think I have ever averaged below a 9:00 mile. (And granted, I did get passed up by another girl, but she doesn't count because I'm pretty sure she was going 16584 miles an hour.)
Anyway, I know that you are all very, very impressed. But, this achievement could be due to several factors. (Or three to be precise.) A big pasta lunch. A large supply of oxygen. And steam that needed to be burned off. Badly. I also listened to the same song for the entire run--which may sound weird, I know, but that's the best way for me to run in the zone.
4. Your sweet son/favorite child sent me a birthday card in the mail. It was great. He is great. He needs to get an assignment out in D.C. already.
5. Here are a few songs that you will enjoy. The first is thanks to Lohren Merrill's blog. The second is thanks to Pandora. The third is actually more because Stevie would like it so you can listen to it for him. (And Jon will like it--so Tricia, I assign you to show this to him.)
I cannot believe that dad's visit has already come and gone. It seemed so far away at the beginning, felt so normal while he was here, and seems unreal now that it's over. I am just going to do a quick recap of dad's visit with a few pictures before finishing up some homework. He'll fill you in on all the details tomorrow. I'll just say now that we did not do much that many would deem as "exciting," but we did what we like. He's seen a lot of D.C., and I just wanted to spend time with him.
So yesterday dad and I went to dinner at BTS, walked up through Georgetown, got ice cream at a place called Thomas Sweet (soooo good), and walked around some more. And walked and talked.
Today dad stopped by my office to pick me up. (I accidentally gave him the wrong room number, and he walked into the Senator Rubio's office asking for me.) We then rode the metro home, went to our respective residences to change, and went on a little jog to Arlington Cemetery.
[photo found on Google.]
[photo found on Google.]
After the run we went to dinner at Founding Farmers with Miss Carly. (Thanks to Carli Schneider, Washington Post, ladies that dad met, people at work, and strangers for making this recommendation.) It was delicious. We ordered a serving of their famous mac and cheese for an appetizer, and then I had chicken and waffles. Not going to lie, I was feeling pretty sketchy about the order at first. Trent got some when we did a birthday dinner for Meg, and I thought it looked really weird. But it was so delicious. So delicious.
And the company and conversation wasn't too bad either.
Dad's pot roast.
[please forgive my hair--it was a rainy day.]
I also showed him some songs from the new Mumford and Sons album:
We finished off the evening with more walking and talking and then hugged goodbye. I know that 9.5 weeks seems like a long ways away, but it will come soon. (Maybe too soon.) And then dad is going to teach me how to downhill ski. [yikes.] Can't wait to see you in two!
Just to give you a little peek into my non-exciting, normal side of life--right now I am in my pajamas, painting my nails and packing for our weekend trip. [I also figured I should post something for you because I don't know when I'll write next.] Here are a few songs that I am listening to as I get everything organized (and realize that I need to do laundry soon). I like them. Some you'll like, some you won't . . . but you can listen to them and imagine that you are here with me.
At approximately 11:43 p.m., I was standing near the Watergate Hotel with a few others dancing like I was Caden Rhoton. (Okay, maybe not that extreme.) We did an impromptu iPod dance party, where basically everyone gets the same playlist on their iPods, hit play at the same time, and dance. We danced for 26 straight minutes. It was great.
So, seeing as I was already tired earlier this evening when I talked to you, I am pretty pooped now. So, I will only cover what happened earlier this week, and I'll save entries (yes, plural because I will probably need to do two separate entries for today) for later.
On Tuesday evening, in honor of 9/11, our group went to the Pentagon 9/11 memorial:
It was really beautiful. I also went to a small commemoration on the south side of the Capitol earlier that day. That day was probably the most significant of the week.
Other than that, I just have a few miscellaneous pictures that were taken before today:
1. Kelsey attempted to do my hair.
2. I went with Kate and Amanda (girls from work) to get cupcakes for Amanda's birthday. I got a dark chocolate one. Mmmmmmm. I also found out that I am allergic to macaroons.
3. On Wednesday, we went to some national pork event on the Hill. I felt very official. They also gave us gloves to eat our ribs with.
(p.s. Mom, I have been given many compliments on this dress. Good find.)
That's all I have for you tonight. Sorry it's brief. But I will leave you with the song that ended my wonderful Friday:
You used the voice. You used the sad voice when I told you I wouldn't be writing a post until the long weekend was over, so I decided to whip up a quick little something for tonight.
I have only 21 days left for me to finish my "21 things to do before I'm 21" list . . . and sadly I don't think I will complete it. Here's the list--everything I have not completed is in red:
1. learn another
language
2. top of Eifel tower
3. ride on a gondola
4. graffiti
5. visit
Stonehenge
6. see a Broadway
play
7. Lake Havasupai
8. skinny dipping
9. go sailing
10. swim in the
ocean
11. humanitarian trip/Africa
12. swim with dolphins
13. straddle a
state line
14. run in some
event
15. go to a nude
beach
16. get up (and stay up) on water skis*
17. go to at least
2 foreign countries
18. Nauvoo temple/Carthage jail
19. walk the Golden
Gate bridge
20. go to a French
bakery
21. see a flower field -or- stay in a cute B&B
*I can't decide if this was completed
Granted, this list has been reformed/changed/adapted from the original. When I first wrote it I was about 13 or 14, and so I didn't really know what to write or what cool things were out in the world . . . so I felt it appropriate to change the list to fit other cool things that I did. So . . . maybe I will just do that. Although six of the seven that are still on my list are originals, so I feel lame for not completing those.
Whatever the case, I won't have another mile-marker birthday for 19 years, so I am going to live up the last three weeks before I become a true adult.
p.s. I woke up with this song stuck in my head and I am now going to bed with the same song stuck--that rarely happens:
