Turkey Day

So my first official Thanksgiving away from home and came and went. As Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I thought it was going to be pretty rough on me to be away. But I guess when you have good friends, tons of food, and charades everything just kind of works out.

I made green bean hot dish for my dish and then went and had Thanksgiving with all the other interns staying out in DC. We seriously had a feat. It was amazing. Jason cooked a great turkey and we had home made potatoes and gravy, salad, stuffing, sweet potatoes, buns, wine, and a hell of a lot of pie. I haven't eaten so well in a long time.

After we ate we all sat around and played about 4 hours of charades. There is nothing like getting up in front of people and making a fool out of yourself. I got really tough things to act out like "summer nights" or "the beetles". Oh well, at least it was fun. One other great thing about Thanksgiving was that Maggie spilled her red wine. That, in and of itself, is not good but when it looks like a murder scene, great fun can be had.

Of course I missed my family and it was hard to be away from everyone but at least I was not alone and I was in a city that I love.

Georgetown

Georgetown has to be one of my favorite places in DC. It such a cute area with a lot of history and everyone is very posh and well dressed. There are many shops there that range from my what I could spend all the way up to thousand dollar shoes. It's so much fun to look at (but not to buy haha).

Last Sunday I went into Georgetown with Maggie, Adrienne, Theresa and Lovisa. It was a little cold out but it was still a beautiful day. I did a little shopping at H&M and got a very cute dress. I know, I really don't need a new dress, but it was too perfect to pass up. After that we all went up to Georgetown Cupcake which is a world famous bakery. I got two cupcakes; a chochlate vanilla cupcake and a red velvet cupcake. They were amazing!

Finally, on the way home, me and Theresa saw none other than TINA TURNER! AHHH!!! She had a concert that night in DC and we saw her walking into the Four Seasons in Georgetown. I wish we would have been fast enough to get a picture with her but, alas, I only have the memories. It was pretty sweet.

Thursday going ons...

So work has been pretty slow lately. I have been trying to find work for myself but I find that reading the health sections of newspapers has become my routine for every afternoon. It's not bad in the way that I keep informed on new developments but I wish I was actually working on something. I have been asking for more things to do but I guess everyone is kind of at a stand still except our president. I don't think she understands that we are all lacking in work because she is not very good at dolling out work and feels she can do it by herself. If anything I am being shown that it is better to give out work than to keep it on yourself.

So because of the lack of work, Brandel, a staff member, took me to meet her husband this afternoon for lunch. He works at the World Bank so he gave us a tour and then we had lunch together and spoke about how the World Bank works and what his job is like. The food was amazing because their cafeteria has food from all over the world. The World Bank represents 180 countries and is part of the UN. There are over 10,000 people that work there and 30% of them are over seas. It was amazing to see so many nationalities represented and the massive scale of the buildings. They do not occupy one building but FIVE full buildings in downtown DC. They have their own credit union, travel agency, dry cleaning, picture framing store, book store, and tons of other stuff right in the main building. It is like a universe unto itself. I ended up having sushi and some rice and green beans from the Korean stand. I was stuffed!

Now I am off to take a shower and get ready to go watch The Office. You got to love Thursday night TV!

Trumping Chipotle?

Today my friend Shuba and I went to get burritos. We were recomened by our other friend, Jason, to go to this little vendor on the corner of 15th and K. The place is like a little cart that can be wheeled around and, really, does not look very impressive. But even with its less than stellar looks there are usually at least 10 people in line for one of this guy's burritos.

Here is the run down on how you order the burrito:
1. Tortilla? It comes in wheat, spinach, tomato chili, and another one I can't remember.
2. Cheese or no? If you get cheese, he will melt it onto the tortilla when he warms the tortilla along with the rice for the burrito.
3. Black and tan? This means black beans and refried beans. You can order only black or only tan as well.
4. The Works? This contains sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. You can order them individually as well.
5. Fruity? There is this fruit sauce that can be put on the burrito.
6. Rictor scale? There is a scale from 1 to 10 on how hot you want the salsa to be.

So my official order was a "wheat, cheese, black and tan with the works, fruity, and a 5 on the Rictor scale". And it was...........amazing! I loved it even if there was no meat in it. I suggest that anyone that comes to DC should find this stand and eat there. Next time, though, I think I will take about a 7 on the Rictor scale.

Trip Home

So, for all my fanatic readers... that means you Mom and Dad... here is a little recap on my little trip home to see you all. I officially love the fall in Minnesota but it was fun this year because I feel like I have experienced fall 3 separate times in one year. There was fall in New York, fall in Minnesota, and now fall in DC. It really feels like it should be late September, early October out here because of how warm it is. There are people outside in big wool coats and stocking hats on while I am walking around in a sweatshirt. People in DC need to toughen up!

Anyways, back to Minnesota, it was a great trip home that was very relaxing and it was great to see all the family again. Grandpa looked really good for all that he has gone through and that was a relief to see. My grandparents are officially the cutest couple ever.

One of the highlights to me was to see my niece and nephews again. They really grow up so fast that it's hard to be away for a longer period of time. Of course I miss everyone else but it's different when you come back and the kids actually look different than when you left them. Brady has grown up so much and Zac and Kenzie look so mature. It kind of blows my mind.

Otherwise, I got to go out to eat with the 'rents, go to target with Momma, and wrestle with my puppy and Pops. I can't wait till December 12th to see everyone again.

Election Time!

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time..." -Barack Obama's victory speech.

Now, I know that I have said before that Niagara was something I will never forget.... but last night has to be right up there or maybe even above Niagara.

It was pandemonium in DC last night. I have never seen or felt anything like it. I woke up and went to volunteer at Rock the Vote. Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan group that focuses on getting youth voters to get out to the polls. My friend Sarah does her internship there so I gave my day to calling people to make sure they headed out to the polls. Surprisingly many people were excited that I called and would actually talk about their volunteer work they were doing to get people to vote. Everyone was just to energized for what was happening.

At night me and 5 Swedish girls went out to Union Pub to go see the poll numbers start coming in. It was located right down town by Union Station and it was absolutely packed. It was defiantly an Obama bar but, hey, that was what I was looking for. Every time a new state would come in people to cheer and drink and hug. And, at 11:00, the place almost blew up people went so crazy! People we crying, screaming, jumping up and down. It was great to see the Swedes get so worked up over the election. Like my friend Lina said "This is not just about the US. People in Sweden are going crazy over this. This moment affects all of us." It really did feel like I needed to take in every moment because this was something I was going to tell my grandchildren some day. And can we just talk about that speech Obama gave?!? I have never been so moved by a speaker before. I'm not going to lie, I had tears in my eyes... but so did everyone else in the pub.

The girls and I proceeded to walk downtown to get a taxi because there were so many people around that we could not flag one down where we were. We ended up in China town and it was insanity! There were people dancing in the streets, banging on cars, chanting "Yes we Can!" and "Obama!". It was like something out of a movie. All the cars were honking and people were standing out of sun roofs just yelling about change and how this is out time. The atmosphere was just electric. This night made my trip to DC worth it. There was no better place to be... well maybe except Chicago.

I ended up going to sleep around 3 because it took us an hour and a half to flag down a taxi.

BOO!

Halloween... oh my.

WII had a party for all us interns. Actually, it turned into us just making political pumpkins and eating a lot of cookies. One thing I really enjoy is seeing the Swedish girls in the program get to experience American traditions for the first time. I don't think one of the girls had ever carved a pumpkin before so to see them being grossed out by the guts of the pumpkin was really entertaining.

Me and my friend Shuba made a Obama symbol pumpkin and we named him Barry. I was the carver while Shuba did the design. I have to say I am proud of my cutting skills. No blood was shed in the making of this pumpkin.

I was supposed to get dressed up fancy (not a costume, just nice clothes) and go out to Georgetown. Sadly, my body decided to come down with the 24 hour flu which had me laying in bed until Sunday. Fun times were not had... oh well. At least I got a sweet pumpkin out of the deal!