Rain, rain rain...

I don't mind umbrellas or Wellies. (I LOVE wearing Wellies, actually.) I don't even mind rain, but dreary days usually usher in a time of over-thinking, which is very inconvenient when you have a book review, experience project, packing, a mid-term, and additional reading to do all before Thursday. At least I was able to get in a fairly relaxing week beforehand!

The week of St. Patty's day was pretty cool. The Friday before, two friends from KC came to visit, Josiah & Caleb. Their welcome to DC experience consisted of the Capitol City Brewing Company for dinner, then a late night Grand Opening of "Dangerously Delicious Pies!", which opened a few blocks from the house. Saturday opened the door to rain again, but Saturdays are grocery days, so I took them to Eastern Market with me. There, they were able to experience DC's most famous farmer's market, craft fair, & flea market (the latter of the three weren't open due to the downpour). After we sucessfully hunted down fresh produce, the rain thankfully stopped.   The parade was on Sunday, a fairly chilly, dreary day, which warded off the usually crushing crowds, giving us a great view of the show! Then, after a bone-warming cup of soup at Cosi (think Panera Bread), Georgetown was calling for pedestrians, so I showed Josiah and Caleb around for a few hours.
Monday ushered in an adventure of a whole new level. My favorite band in the WOLRD (yes, no exaggeration) was playing at Jammin Java in Vienna, VA, a suburb of DC. In order to get to the concert, we had to take the orange line of the metro to its very last stop, and then take a taxi to the concert. We got there all right, and the concert was SLAMMIN!! (pics coming up next) So after the amazing concert, we stayed afterwards for about an hour so I could talk to the band. (The boys were soooo nice to wait while I was freaking out about meeting them again.) By the time we left, it was just 10:30, so we ended up missing that bus, but it runs every 30 minutes, so we were fine, right? HA wrong. We ran down the street to Giant Supermarket to grab a snack, successfully missing the 11pm bus as well. After catching the 11:30 bus back to the station, we were met by a disconcerting sight: the gates were closed.
NOOOO!!!!!
NOW how are we going to get home?? By taking 3 buses over 2 hours and walking from the Old Post Office Building and Museum to the house...about 2 miles at 2 am. That's how. Work the next morning at 5 am? haha. Oh boy were my coworkers amused :) (I love my bosses, my coworkers, my job, they're all amazing!!) So after getting home from work, going for a run, taking a nap and cooking dinner (spinach, parsley & goat cheese omelets, yum!) I walked the guys over to my church, Capitol Hill Baptist, and we all went bowling at Fort Meyer! :) FUN!! Josiah showed us all up, but who cares who wins when you've smuggled a gallon ziplock bag of homemade blueberry muffins, oreos, pringles, doritos, M&Ms, and twizzlers into the bowling alley? haha

Spring has sprung!!

Well, spring has at least poked its head out of the ground.Saturday was the first day that reached above 50 degrees! The Eastern Market & DC's Flea Market was thriving! Twice as many dogs, babies :D, vendors, people just out walking around, or sitting on the curb chatting... Yes, I just said curb-sitters were awesome. in fact, my roommates & I joined them after getting FABULOUS coffee at Perigrine Espresso down the street. (This committed coffeeshop didn't close during the Snowpocalypse! The employees just walked to work! wow. talk about work ethics!!)
So far, the weather's been holding to the "Spring-is-almost-around-the-corner" standard, for which I am thankful. Goodbye Snow! Goodbye Biting wind that takes feeling out of fingers and toes! Hello Sun and flip-flops! (or flippy-floppies, whichever you prefer). Hello Japanese Cherry Blossoms! (you can be sure that I'll have a proliferous amount of pictures during the Cherry Blossom Festival) Hopefully the festival will happen on time this year. The uncharacteristically hard winter DC had has damaged about 4 of the Japanese cherry trees rooted around the Tidal Basin. Luckily, most of the others are fine, but the budding might be delayed. However, the rest of DC seems to be bouncing back quite nicely!
Coming home from work yesterday, I passed by this guy wearing one of the coolest tshirts I've ever seen! (ps-i want one. haha) It was all black, and in white lettering, there were the words,

"iSurvived 

Snowmageddon

Washington, DC 2010"

I most definitely am googling the shirt to see where I can get one! haha (after being under weather induced house arrest for a week...at least everyone in 510 C NEEDS one!) What brave soul DOESN'T need this?

And now for something completely different...

Usually, I'm absolutely PSYCHED about the weekend, but this week, I get to fill out a truckload of paperwork in order to start the "paid" part of my internship...oh boy... haha.

On the bright side, THERE'S NO SNOW!!! Other than the snow that is still sitting around from the Snowpocalypse, we aren't getting any more! We still have wind, and cold (as shown by my previous post...) but there isn't any new snow!

...maybe it's a sign that Spring is just around the corner?

all right, Spring may be a few blocks up and just around the corner, but none the less...

This past week was REALLY busy, but my first full week at work went great! (Last week we had off for President's Day.) I'm able to take a shuttle from Archives 1 (downtown DC) to my job at Archives 2 (College Park, MD) every morning and evening, so it's FREE as opposed to spending $7 a day on the metro. (and as much as I love the metro system, they're raising their prices again...yuck)

This weekend marks the 4th week I've been in DC! The past month has gone by so fast! I can hardly believe I've been living in DC for that long! (on a sadder note, it also means that I'm a month closer to ending the term. :( sad face) 

...BUT, my boss at NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) wants me to see if I can stay over the summer, extending my time in DC by three months! Now to find an apartment...this will be difficult in a city where $1500/month is cheap. eek! (hello apartment listing magazines, you're my best friends)

Wake me up when the winter ends.

Autumn has come and passed,
its golden tones can never last.
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Like the seasons come to pass
Seven weeks have gone so fast.
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Here comes the ice again
Falling from the stars.
Frozen in my pain again
Snow walled in the cars.

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Autumn has come and passed
its golden tones can never last.
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when Spring began
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Here comes the ice again
Falling from the stars.
Frozen in my pain again
Snow walled in the cars.

Autumn has come and passed
its golden tones an never last.
Wake me up when the winter ends.

Unlike the winters from the past,
Twenty inches fall so fast.
Wake me up when the winter ends.
Wake me up when the winter ends.
Wake me up when the winter ends.

"AC"ed DC

Washington is cold,

Imagine living in a

refrigerator.

Haikus are awesome...

sometimes they are confusing.

Help find my lost sock.

I will write this post

entirely in haiku.

So what do you think?

yes...that's what I thought.

All right, so according to the Enterprise, I am not allowed to write the whole post in haiku...  fine :P

“You’re an archivist . . . ? 

Oh yeah, I know what those are— 

National Treasure!” 

^haha...thanks. Well yes, archivists were shown in national Treasure but we do NOT normally (more like, EVER) do anything like what was done in National Treasure. 

"Organized Chaos. 

We guard Past for Future’s sake. 

Our sleeves, tinged with dust. "

Brittany Parris

Whether it be papers, photos, books, video clips, or artifacts, archivists organize it all for researchers or exhibits. I am working with Navy Deck Logs from World War 2 - pretty fun! Ok, that was a lie. It's not THAT fun. 

My first day of work was Tuesday, the first normal day in the Federal Government after Snowpocalypse.  Apparently, you need a badge to get IN and OUT...and I didn't have a badge...Ooooh boy. Luckilly, the front desk called my boss and she came down and got me :) haha. I'm looking forward to this semester! After a few weeks on the Deck Log project, they're going to move me on to a project of my own! Pretty. darn. exciting!!

Speaking of exciting:

YEEEAAHHH!!!!!!!!

Last night's Olympic competitions were the best yet!!! Men's Snowboarding Halfpipe!!! YEEAAHH!!

As usual, Shaun White was amazing. Pulling off an amazing 46.8 points out of 50 in his first qualifying round, and eventually won gold with the freaking amazing score of 48.4!!! 

YESS!!!! GO SHAUN WHITE!!!!!

Of course, I never doubted him for a second :) Out of all of the athletes, he's my favorite :)

. . . 

AND AS I WAS WRITING IN THIS BLOG, EVAN LYSACEK WINS THE GOLD IN MEN'S FIGURE SKATING!!!! THIS ENDS THE WORLD CHAMPION V. OLYMPIC CHAMPION CURSE & THE USA'S 22 YEAR MEN'S SKATING GOLD MEDAL DROUGHT!!!!

best.

night.

ever.

*~~*Snowpocalypse*~~*

All right, I've been slacking! I know! I'm a horrible person...well, blogger at least ;) BUT these past few weeks, I've been CA-RAZY busy!!! 
Normally, winter is one of my favorite seasons (fall being my first), but when the total snowfall for the past 5 days is around 35-40 inches, it starts to annoy you. 

apparently, the Snowpocalypse called for a raid on Target. This was what most of the shelves looked like:

The snow started falling early evening Friday and didn't stop til early Saturday morning. By Friday night, my roommates and I were already starting to feel the cabin fever, so we decided to walk down to the Washington Monument. . . in the snow. 

not our smartest idea...

BUT Ladies and Germs, WE, five brave yet reckless college students, made it the the monument!!!

While trekking through unimaginable flurries of snow, biting wind, and a RIDONKULOUS amount of ice an slush. . .  

We, the few, the proud, the brave. . . the slightly dimented, were able to see several of DC's sights covered in the beautiful blanket of snow.

 

the U.S. Capitol through the blizzard

In front of the Congress side of the U.S. Capitol

The Smithsonian Castle

The Capitol Hill Reflecting Pool

 another shot of the Washington Monument.

Finally, after making it back to the house (barely) we all sat down to a (semi) friendly game of Scrabble and a nice, hot pot of my homemade hot chocolate :)

Therefore, thanks to Scrabble, hot chocolate, and our well satisfied pioneer spirits, we survived the first Snowpocalypse!!!!

The SECOND one, however, was another story. We were all stuck inside for an entire week!! 

Snowpocalypse: It's Real

 this was the snowfall from the FIRST Snowpocalypse,

 and this was the result of Snowpocalypse II.

During our imprisonment in 510 C, we came to realize that Dorothy was wrong, there WAS someplace like home...anywhere BUT home!! It brings to mind a childhood memory: Muppet's Treasure Island!!

!!!!!!We've got CABIN FEVER!!!!!!

Yes, we had it bad. All of us were DYING for entertainment...so what did we do? Well...

 

we played cards.

and more cards

watched the Super Bowl,

(party animals, aren't we?)

and laughed at the poor schmooks who were actually OUT in the weater!

yes, that's a corgi :) LOVES!!!

Sadly, even with our makeshift forms of entertainment, there were still casualties.

Poor Jeff, we'll miss you.

FINALLY, after the Snowpocalypse II had ended, we ventured out into the alien landscape that was once Washington. It was the first time any of the Smithsonians had been open since the Snowpocalypse, so we walked to the Air & Space Museum! :)

From the Wright Flyer to a replica of Amelia Earhart's plane to a model of the plane that broke the sound barrier, we saw it all!

among the planes, there was this steam powered bike...

can we say, "steampunk?" haha :)

Their suits have come a LOOOONG way, haven't they?

W00T!!!! 

my favs :) 

pics of the REAL R2 and C3PO will come when I finally visit the National Museum of American History :)

 

The Wright 1903 Flyer! 

BUT...

Hold your applause til the end of this segment and try to contain your excitement,

THE

BEST,

MY FAVORITE,

AND MOST AMAZING EXHIBIT:

THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS!

The plane that Charles A. Lindburg used to fly the FIRST SUCCESSFUL Solo Trans-Atlantic Flight (from New York to Paris) in 1927! For 33 hours, it was only him, the Spirit, and the open skies (and storms, rain, sleet, hail, and the entire Atlantic Ocean underneath him...). 

His autobiography, simply entitled "We," refers to him and The Spirit of St. Louis, and focuses on his love of flying.

This man was (and still is) my childhood hero.

Every single chance I could, I studied him, did book reports, biographies, papers, you name it!

. . .

. . . 

Oh yeah, and there was other stuff at the museum, like the Mars station. 

Haha, I got kinda caught up in Lindburg :)

1 Way Tickets

me w/ my luggage at BWI

In a way, 1 way tickets say a lot about a person. You can come to one of three conclusions about a person who has a 1 way ticket.
1. He/She isn't very organized and doesn't know when their trip should end.
2. He/She is passionate about the trip and doesn't want to create a deadline for their holiday.
3. They're moving.

Well my 1 way ticket is a combination of all three. I'm passionate about my move to Washington DC, and don't want to slam a deadline on my move there, and I'm not quite sure when my internship ends.
So, here I am, sitting on the couch of my new home for the next 4 months, with no return ticket. I don't mind at all! My roomies are awesome, the house is nice, and our apartment is EXTRA sunny with a view of Stanton Park, and I have an awesome internship starting soon!
My cooking skills are going to improve immensely over this semester. Already, I'm trying out new recipes, making my own up, and getting comfortable with grocery shopping on my own :) I have a pot of hot chocolate on the stove right now!

The flight coming up to DC was great: not too long, not too short, quiet, fairly smooth, and I was able to read the entire time! (huzzah to Alice in Wonderland) We got into Baltimore around 3:30, and got to our hotel around 5, just in time to freshen up and go eat! There was this AWESOME restaurant down the street from our hotel called Georgia Brown's, which specialized in Southern Cuisine. Oh wow I'd never stuffed myself like that in my life! Fried Green Tomatoes, Carolina Gumbo, Virginia Peanut Chicken, MmmmMM!!! :)
I think that Union Station is going to be one of my favorite places EVER! :) The building is BEAUTIFUL, with lots of stores and restaurants inside. There's an AMTRAK station so that I can visit my family and friends near by, and it's only a 5 minute walk from my house! w00t!

a view of the Capitol

pics of my apartment

the view of Stanton Park

my mode of transportation for the next few months

So that's what's up in a nutshell! :)