The wrong side of the White House

I've been to the White House three times since I've been in DC and didn't realize until recently that I was always looking at the back! So yesterday, my goal was to correct that dumb mistake of mine haha.

This is the back of the White House, which is much more photogenic than the front.

Here is the front of the White House.

Kind of far away, which makes more sense to me now. I wondered why they would have the front of the house so close to the road! I figured it would have been really awkward for the First Family...

It looks better when I zoom in. So beautiful! 

I also didn't realize how close the Washington Monument was to the front of the White House. I run past there all the time and it's less than a quarter mile away, I think. Yes, you can all officially say that I'm the dumb tourist! 

Anyways, that's all of the sightseeing I did in between classes. Well, besides sightseeing at Macy's, H&M, and Payless :) Looking for a fancy dress for a gala I have to go to on Monday and I'm not sure if anything I have with me will work. I guess I'll have to find something soon!

What was your worst dumb tourist moment?

Books and flowers

After my long run around the mall this morning and a good pancake breakfast, I went back to the mall for a fun afternoon!

I called my mom while I was walking to the mall and ended up walking around for almost 2 hours while on the phone with her. I saw the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, and the Lincoln Monument- all while I was on the phone! We talk a lot :)

After we hung up, I went to the National Book Festival. It was great to be in a place where everyone loves books as much as I do. 

I listened to a few authors speak, 

                                      

looked around the book store at the festival, 

and got a free tote bag from CSPAN!

I walked around the festival for most of the afternoon and then went to the Botanic Garden. 

Of course, I stopped to smell the roses :)

I know I post a lot of pictures of the Capitol, but I just go there so often! And it's so pretty! Everyone was sitting and playing in the grass in front of it today. 

I was extremely tired after walking all afternoon and running in the morning, so the rest of my day was spent in my apartment relaxing haha. 

What is your favorite book?

Are you the kind of person who walks or sits when on the phone?

Chocolate covered potato chips?

This has been another crazy weekend! On Friday, I had to go into work very very early to have a call with our CEO, but I left right after that and took the rest of the day off for sightseeing and class.

After work, my friend and I walked around the monuments and then met up with another friend to get lunch. We went to the Post Office Pavillion- I got Chinese food and then there was a Ben and Jerry's... so of course I had to get ice cream haha.

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I got Late Night Snack, mainly because it was Jimmy Fallon's ice cream :) It's vanilla ice cream with caramel and chocolate covered potato chips. Strange, but good! 

After that, we had to go to the Holocaust Museum for class. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take pictures in there. We didn't get to see the whole museum because our class focused on the propaganda exhibit. It's sad to walk through the museum and see how the Nazis used propaganda to convince everyone that they were doing a good thing, but I think it's good to learn about. 

Holocaust Museum Website

On Saturday, I went to volunteer at the Anacostia River to pick up trash. For The Washington Center, we have to do a civic engagement project to learn how volunteering helps everyone and my project is about the environment. It made for an early morning, but I met a lot of great people and ended up enjoying myself! 

Last night I went out to dinner with one of my friends and then we went to Dupont Circle. We wanted to go somewhere to listen to music and she heard about a jazz concert going on somewhere. Well we ended up at Kramerbooks and Afterwords.

There was jazz music, but it definitely wasn't what we expected- it was better! This is a bookstore that is open 24 hours on the weekend, but when you head to the back of the store, there is a bar and restaurant with live music. 

You can't see it very well, but where those "&" signs are at the top is where we were sitting. There is an upstairs section where two guys were playing jazz music. We met up with a bunch of other people from  our program and it was so much fun! We stayed there for hours just talking and listening to music. 

This morning I went for my usual weekend run around the mall and I'm planning on going to the National Book Festival and Botanic Gardens today! 

What is your favorite Ben and Jerry's ice cream?

Have you ever been to a Holocaust Museum? 

Y'all come back now!

On Saturday, TCU had an early football game! The game started at 12 and we heard that an alumni group here was meeting at a restaurant called Hill Country to have a watch party.

I met some really nice TCU alumni- I can't wait to spend more time with them at other watch parties! And the food was amazing. I had some really awesome BBQ, mac and cheese, cornbread, and sweet tea, basically typical Texas. 

The tea was served in mason jars! The picture is old colored, but I promise the food was good. If you are ever in DC and want BBQ, go here. We were at Hill Country for about 4 hours and TCU won! It was a great game and it was fun to cheer on the team with fellow Horned Frogs. Also, they had signs saying "Y'all come back now!" at the exit, but I forgot to take a picture :(

Afterwards, a bunch of us walked to the H Street Festival. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the place was extremely crowded. The festival was about 5 blocks long and it was impossible to walk through!

The festival had food trucks, businesses with tents set up, performers, concert stages, and more. There were quite a few interesting characters. The people on stage in the above photo were all dressed in costumes- some were performing, some were just standing there completing the look I guess haha. 

This band was my favorite! Their name is Dance Party- they had catchy music and were very entertaining! The guy on the right made the most hilarious faces the entire time. The lead singer is in the middle and he was all over the stage, twirling, jumping, and dancing. And they had someone on the left of the stage signing all of the songs, which I thought was amazing. 

All around a good day! TCU won the game, I met some amazing people and ran into some alum that I already knew, listened to good music, and got to experience a DC street festival. 

Have you been to a street festival before or do you have a favorite festival to go to?

Once again, did your football team win this weekend?

I'll always be a kid at heart!

I have great news for y'all! My internship is finally getting better! After talking through everything with my boss, internship advisor, and professor, things are looking up. It's still not exactly what I want to do, but at least I am doing productive things now.

This week went by really fast and I will try to start blogging more during the week, I promise! It's hard because I'm not allowed to discuss what I do at work since we are working with a variety of campaigns. And when I spend over 8 hours of my day with work, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for me to do exciting things to tell y'all about.

But highlights from this week include a surprise package in the mail from my TCU family! I was not expecting anything and then when I got a box from my friends (and future roommates!), it totally made my day! Sorry the picture is backwards.

I got cookies, nail polish, tea, a loofah, and Phineas and Ferb stuff! My friends know me so well :) I'll always be a kid at heart considering my love for Phineas and Ferb. My co-workers looked at me a little weird when I was eating P and F fruit snacks at work, but that was ok with me haha!

Another highlight is that my mom, my best friend, and my best friend's mom are coming to visit for my birthday! It's perfect because our moms are best friends too, so it is sure to be the best weekend ever. For our 16th birthdays, we went to NYC, so now we'll spend our 20th birthdays in DC. I can't wait!

This morning I went on a  long run again- it's a great way to sight see because you can see so many things on one run!

Now I'm doing homework until I go meet a bunch of TCU students and alum to watch the football game. Go frogs!

What would you need in your perfect care package? 
What is your favorite way to sightsee? Bus, walk, bike, run? 
What was your favorite birthday and what did you do? I loved my 16th birthday, but this one is going to be great too! 

Thomas Edison once said...

On Sunday, I went to the National Portrait Gallery. We were there for over 2 hours and didn't even make it through an entire floor! There is so much to see, so I'll have to go back to see the rest. 

The Presidents' Exhibit was amazing, but this was my favorite thing in the whole place. It's called "The Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon". Basically, it shows the six degrees of this painter and she has connections to so many famous people! Now, thanks to Facebook, there are only 4.74 degrees of separation. 

Today, I had my first day of programming (random classes)  through the The Washington Center. It went really well, but my meeting with my internship coordinator after did not. It seems I really have no option but to stay with my internship for now because my internship coordinator is not helping. 

This whole situation is making me think of the Thomas Edison quote: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." I think through school and this internship, I have found 10,000 jobs that I don't want to do when I graduate. But eventually, I will find the right job for me! 

But, I went to lunch and shopping with a friend after my unfortunate meeting. The rest of my afternoon totally cheered me up!

I got Qdoba for lunch and Georgetown Cupcakes for dessert! This is a Cookies and Cream Cupcake- and 100% of the proceeds went to help children! 

I also bought a DC mug today, I am such a tourist sometimes haha. 

Now I'm off to class! Wish me luck!

How was your Monday? 

I fail at taking pictures of myself.

This weekend was a blast! I left work a little bit early on Friday so I could get my weekend started off. I went to dinner with a friend at Roti and then roamed around Union Station with a group of girls from my school. We ended up getting cupcakes from Crumbs, which were delicious!

CBS news

I got the Peanut Butter Cup cupcake. The cupcakes were way bigger than at Georgetown Cupcakes. I would say that Georgetown has better cake because Crumbs' cake was a little dry. But Crumbs' frosting was AMAZING! 

On Saturday, I woke up early (like I do every day) and went for a run around the mall. I wanted to make it to the Reflecting Pool, since it finally got refilled!

I tried taking a picture of myself in front of the pool, but I failed miserably. 

This was the best one, even though there is a random little kid in the background. Just ignore him haha. The rest of the ones I tried to take had my finger in the way, were blurry, or didn't have me in them. I never realized how hard it was to take a picture of myself on my phone! 

The metro near my apartment was down this weekend, so my friends and I walked over 2 miles to the National Geographic Museum because they were having free admission and a festival! Although it took us an hour to walk there and over an hour wait in line, it was totally worth it! 

We went to see the 1001 Inventions Exhibit, but I ended up liking the Titanic Exhibit more. The top photo says "For every two saved, four perished." It was really sad to think about. And the bottom photo is a replica of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean. 

After getting dinner and then having to find our way back to the apartment in the pouring rain, we went back out later to find a place to watch the TCU game! The first place we went to couldn't get the game on, but the second place could. Unfortunately, the second bar didn't want to let me in because they were having a private party and I'm underage. But we decided to ask the host of the party if I could stay and he let me! It never hurts to ask. 

We met some TCU alum at the bar, who were all really nice! And TCU won! It was a great game- wish I could have been there, but it was still awesome to watch from here. 

Did your favorite college football team win this weekend?

Can you take good pictures of yourself on your phone? I obviously can't... 

Positives and Negatives

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days! It's difficult because I can't talk about what I do at my internship (privacy issues) and I've been very busy this week. Although there are some negatives about this week, I didn't want to be a complete pessimist, so I'm adding some positives into this post too :)

Positive #1:
I really like the other interns that work with me! It's a great group of students and I'm enjoying getting to know them this week.

Negative #1:
My internship sucks. Sorry for the terminology, but it really is ridiculous in a bad way. They are having me do really pointless tasks, even though none of the other interns have to do dumb tasks. I'm basically an unpaid assistant right now.

Positive #2: 
I finally got a roommate! We are still missing two roommates, but I like the roommate I have now. She is so sweet and laid-back, so I can tell we will get along well this semester.

Negative #2:
I'm thinking about quitting my internship, but only if I can find another one. I'd rather have an internship where I'm at least doing normal tasks like faxing stuff and emailing people than the internship I have now.

Positive #3:
My dad was here this week to help me through all of it. Luckily, I have amazing parents who both let me vent to them about anything. Every night after work this week, my dad and I went out to dinner, while I vented about my work and he vented about his (although he complains a lot less than I do).

So I hope I didn't bring y'all down too much. I'm trying to be positive and hope it will all work out, but it's a little hard to do that when I'm at work for 9 hours a day. But at least I thought of 3 positives to balance out the negatives! :)

Please tell me that y'all are having good weeks! I love hearing good stories/news right now!

My weekend was full of surprises!

My weekend was literally full of surprises! Here is a list of the good ones :)

Surprise 1: Breakfast with neighbors

I woke up to a text on Sunday morning that my neighbors were making breakfast for a big group of girls from my apartment building! It was nice to meet people and eat good breakfast food- we made french toast, eggs, and bacon. Yum!

Surprise 2: Free tickets to the theater

I also woke up to another good text on Sunday! Two friends had tickets to the Shakespeare Theater Company and had two extra tickets- so I invited another friend and we all went to see "All's Well That Ends Well". 

Surprise 3: Natural History Museum

There were so many cool fossils! This is the evolution of whales. They went from being small with hands and feet (the top fossil), to longer with no hands and feet (the middle one), to so long that you can't even see the whole thing (the bottom one) in this picture! 

This is a meteorite from Tucson! A little piece of home :)

This is a view of the ocean room. It was so much fun to go to this museum, even though we didn't originally plan to go there. 

Surprise 4: The most surprising surprise! 

I was at Union Station shopping with my friends after dinner and I was on the phone with my dad. All of the sudden, I turned around and he was sitting on a bench behind me at the store we were in! I thought I hallucinated or something! He told me he was traveling this week, but not here! I'm very excited that my dad will be here for my first week of work! 

Did you have any fun surprises this weekend?
Looking forward to a short work week?

Part 2!

Yesterday was a full day! I woke up early to run, but unfortunately, it looked like it was going to rain. So I took my workout inside and ran into a friend at the fitness center- perfect timing!

Then I spent the rest of the day spending time with friends. We went to the Nationals baseball game! After their amazing win on Friday night against the Cardinals, we thought that it would be fun to see how they did. 

All of the presidents are their mascots! Everyone was trying to get pictures and since this was right next to the free shirt table, it was crazy. They also had a race and a dance during the game which was very funny. 

We bought tickets on Stubhub about an hour before the game and got awesome seats for only $12! 

It was extremely hot out, but luckily our seats were in the shade after the first inning. I didn't have any Nationals stuff to wear, but now I have a free shirt and a hat- they were only $5 after the game! 

They ended up losing, but at least it was a high scoring game! It was 10-9. But since tickets were cheap on Stubhub and are only $5 at the gate for terrace seats, I'm sure I'll go again! 

Today has been pretty relaxed so far. I woke up to a text from my neighbor, who made me and a few other girls in the hall breakfast!  We are going to make Sunday morning breakfasts a tradition, it was nice to cook together! 

Other than that, I've just done homework and went grocery shopping today. But in a few hours I'm going to the Shakespeare Theater Company- so excited! Hope y'all enjoy your Sunday! 

What is your favorite baseball team?

What is your favorite stadium? 

Any plans for your day off tomorrow?

First weekend in DC! Part 1

After my last orientation meeting on Friday, I went straight to my room to make lunch and plan the rest of my day. First stop was a walk to the Capitol. 

The walk is only about a mile or so- we are really close! I figure that I'll run to the Capitol and around the mall a lot this semester :) 

This is a fountain in front of the Capitol. I had already went there when my Dad was here, but of course I was up for an afternoon walk when my friends suggested it. 

You can sort of see the fountain and water in front of the Capitol here. The mall is being renovated, so some of the grass is dying. They are tearing up the ground and putting in new irrigation systems- I hope it is done before I leave so I can see the entire mall without construction!

We sat in the grass under the trees here. At this point we had already walked a couple miles and it was very hot out. Taking a break and looking at the Smithsonian Castle was perfect. 

After I got back from my walk to the Capitol, another friend asked if I wanted to go on a dry run to figure out how to get to our internships. She is interning at National Geographic, so we went into the gift shop near the museum. I thought this book was adorable! It has all of these cute ideas for kids to learn how to give and help others. 

I didn't take a picture of where my internship is (I forgot!), but I'll be sure to do that some time this semester :) 

Do you like going on walks to learn your way around a new city or do you look up directions to everywhere you need to go? 

What was your favorite book when you were a kid?

Before and After

Apartment before:

My room- my bed is right next to a huge window that takes up almost the entire wall. 

View from my window of a new apartment building across the street. 

Living area. And wood floors all through the living area and my room!

Table and kitchen.

My kitchen- it came with some stuff that I can use to cook, but I'll need to buy more for all the cooking/baking I like to do! There are no cookie sheets or oven mitts :(

After:

My room looks pretty much the same after- except that my bed is made now. 

My closet is organized though! It's weird that the shelf is so low because my clothes hit the floor, so I might have to figure out how to fix that. 

The rest of the apartment still looks exactly the same. I have no roommates yet :( I don't know where they all are, but it's ok because I haven't spent a lot of time in my room anyways. I'm trying to spend as much time as possible exploring and hanging out with friends. It's been great so far!

What was your first apartment like?