YEEEESH.

it's been far too long since i've posted. weeks have gone by and I keep meaning to but it's been so busy for me!!!

Okay, first. the Fourth of July. Probably the coolest 4th I've ever experienced! I had the day off from work obviously, and was able to go to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home.  There, they had Revolutionary War re-enactors and it was all decorated to look very patriotic. It was hot, but we pushed through it!!! Later that night, we made our way back to the mall for fireworks. We saw them with the Washington monument in the background!! SO cool. While it was cool to be here on our nation's founding, I don't recommend it-- there were SOOOOO many tourists here all week (the tourpocalypse, as we called it) and made it very hard to navigate the city!

What is next?? I guess the next highlight would be my visit from Charlie! He came 2 weekends ago, and we had a great time. He was willing to do some off-the-beaten-path types of things, such as the National Portrait Gallery. This is one of the Smithsonian art museums, and has the original official White House portraits from almost every presidency. That was pretty cool for me; for him, they hit the nail right on the head. their seasonal exhibit was THE ART OF VIDEO GAMES. could it have not worked out any better? anyway, they had a lot on the development of graphics and even a few games you could play yourself! We each took a round of Pac-Man :) We also got to do the monuments at night, which i've come to enjoy as one of my favorite things to do. there are tons less tourists at night, and I think they look more elegant, anyway. Final bonus: its usually cooler outside! I also finally got to see the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial - this opened up in the fall of 2011, so it wasn't open last summer when I was here with my family! it is very unique, but very fitting for this essential figure in our nation's history. (there's us, at the bottom. Dr. King is HUGE!)

Finally, this past weekend, my cousin Colleen visited me!! We also had a great time. Her visit included  the secondTruckeroo, bike riding around the monuments, and Georgetown. I was glad I finally got to rent bikes!! i've been wanting to forever, and if the monuments are good by night, the second best way to see them is by bike - it's wayyyy too much walking to do!! they were able to transport us very well and we used them a couple times within our 24-hour rental period. We also did Georgetown Cupcake! It's a long story, but we ended up getting 6 cupcakes for the price of TWO! That's a steal :)


Having these two visitors these past two weekends was actually really great, because I got to do some things i have on my "DC Bucket List"! With Charlie, I had been wanting to do the Portrait Gallery and the Tidal Basin area (Jefferson, FDR, and MLK memorials). With Colleen, we took a tour of the Capital, walked around the Library of Congress, went to Georgetown University, and to the National Zoo. the Zoo is famed for its two Giant pandas! We saw them, but it was pretty hot so they were inside and pretty much dead from heat, haha.

And I'm going to take this time to dedicate a paragraph to Georgetown University. HOOOOOOOLLLLYYYY MOLEY that school. the grounds are BEAUTIFUL. the architecture is amazing. It's actually a Catholic University, which I did not know. we snuck into the mass that was happening in the chapel, actually. Fun fact: they use the same songbooks that my home church uses! little happy things. the school is absolutely stunning, and the fact that it's in one of my favorite neighborhoods definitely adds to its allure. however, its very pricey. so if I wanted to do grad school, i'd have to think twice about it there...yikes! but I was glad I went.
That picture to the right? oh, that's just the Georgetown student life building. no big deal. Why I go to school in a cornfield is beyond me.

And finally, a little work tidbit. I was able to go to another hearing this week :) this time it was in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was giving his semi-annual report to Congress. First, I was glad and honored to be covering a hearing as important as this one. Second, I'm extremely pleased that I found myself to be hardly confused or lost at all - I understood almost everything they were discussing, which means i'm up-to-date on my financial services industry lingo!!!

I sent this text to my mom that night: "Essentially, Bernanke testified that the industry is safer and stronger after the financial crisis. their employment numbers are not where they'd like them to be, but regulation is making the industry more transparent and accountable"
IMPRESSED?! :D