DC weekend with Laura

On Friday before leaving work for happy hour, a coworker asked me what I had planned for the weekend. “My little sister’s visiting!” I said. Him: “Oh. How little are we talking about? Like, 12?” Hmm... I guess I should start referring to my 22-year-old sister as “younger,” not “little.”

Anyway, Laura arrived later that night and we spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and catching up. On Saturday we headed downtown to do the whirlwind tour of Washington. We went to the Capitol first and wanted to go on a tour, but all of the people in line looked like they had special nametags, so we assumed that we hadn’t planned ahead enough to get tickets or something. Later on we decided to go back to ask one of the guards what the story was, and he told us that anyone can get tickets, but they just ran out 10 minutes ago. Whoops...



After our non-tour of the Capitol, we walked toward the mall to get back on the metro, but we took a slight detour because I had to pee. The nearest bathroom was in the United States Botanic Garden. After my beeline to the restroom, we wandered through the different geographic “locations” and admired all of the plants we couldn’t pronounce and didn’t recognize. The best part was that the indoor garden has a skywalk, so you can admire the rainforest from above. Pretty cool! Here’s Laura on the skywalk:


This is one of the things I love about DC—you’re just looking for a bathroom and then you stumble upon some amazing exhibit.

After we made it out of the garden, we took the metro north to Dupont Circle. The first order of business was lunch, then we followed the Lonely Planet’s recommended walking tour of Embassy Row. I tested Laura on her international flag skills, and she definitely scored higher than I did. Some of the embassies were very impressive, but others looked like just a random row house with a strange flag and unintelligible plaque outside. I wonder how you get onto the United States government’s A list when it comes to embassy housing. A Lonely Planet misprint had us wandering around Dupont Circle for a little longer than we planned trying to find the Spanish Steps, but after finally finding them (and being mostly underwhelmed), we got back on the metro to see the National Cathedral. Another Lonely Planet misprint, however, left us wandering around some random part of northwest Washington for about half an hour before we gave up on seeing the Cathedral and headed back to the Capitol area.

The sun was setting when we arrived at the Supreme Court, making for some squinty shots of us but some beautiful views of the building.



We couldn’t skip the third branch of the government once we had already visited the first two, so we headed over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We got to the back of the White House before the sun set completely, so we were able to get a couple of decent pictures.


By the time we got around to the front though, it was a different story... This was the best I could come up with:


We went home early because Laura wasn’t feeling well, so we weren’t able to eat at Jaleo. It might have been for the best though, because we were both pretty tired. It’s amazing how just a few months out of college can make your walking muscles shrivel.

Laura and I spent Sunday shopping instead of trying to run downtown again for a couple hours before her flight left. I had been wanting to get an indoor plant for a little while, so we headed to Lowe’s and each picked up a Bonsai tree. It’s pretty cute, but I’ve discovered, after a little online research, that a Bonsai tree is pretty much the most high maintenance houseplant you can get. That combined with my “gardening skills” probably gives the poor plant about a 15% chance at life beyond one month.

Pumpkins!

So it’s not quite Halloween, but Josh is going to be out of town on Wednesday, so we decided to carve our pumpkins a few days early. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and I first carved my pumpkin’s features way too small, so you couldn’t really see any light through the pumpkin. The candle even went out when I put the top on! So, back to the drawing board... but after gouging my pumpkin a little more, success!

While we were getting the camera set up so that we could sit behind our pumpkins, Josh’s pumpkin started to get a little asthmatic, so he had to resuscitate it while I fiddled with the camera.


But finally we got everything together.

A few pictures to go along with the previous entry

I took a few pictures at the Library of Congress last weekend, but the ones with flash looked pretty dark on my camera’s tiny screen, so I tried to take the next couple without the flash, which turned out to be a bad idea. Anyway, here’s the ceiling in one of the main rooms:


Here’s the floor of that same room, although a little blurrier...


I only took one picture outside while we were wandering around the mall—this was taken the steps in front of the Capitol, looking down the mall toward the Washington Monument.


Going downtown, especially to Capitol Hill, the White House, or the monuments, always makes me appreciate living here, even though I don’t actually live in the District. It’s easy to get cynical about politics and the politicians in particular, but walking around those buildings and getting to do things like read the actual Declaration of Independence at the National Archives always gives me a renewed sense of appreciation for the way our country was founded and what our current leaders do here.

And last, Josh’s dad took a picture of Josh and me at Cosi, enjoying our s’mores. :)

A few things

1. I graduated!!!!!!!!! I turned in my thesis on time, my advisor finally emerged from his house in the ’burbs to sign it, and I walked across the stage to accept my degree. Proof:

My family (minus my older sister, who’s in China) and Josh came for the weekend and sat through the blistering heat to see... mostly the backs of other people’s heads. They were gracious enough not to complain too much. :)



Although the Ph.D./Sc.D. graduates wear the funky robes & hats, the masters students look mostly like undergrads, with the exception of weird sleeve extensions on the gown. We joked that it was my bat costume:

My officemate put the sleeve extensions to good use: they held her lip balm, cell phone, and sunglasses throughout the ceremony.

My family, Josh, and I spent the rest of the weekend being tourists. Here we are in Beacon Hill:


2. Josh and I are going to eastern Europe for two weeks! I originally decided to go because a good friend of mine from high school is living in Prague, but since Josh was able to take some more time off from work, we’re going to be able to also visit Budapest, Krakow, and possibly Warsaw. I’m super excited about the trip, but since we haven’t had much time to plan for it, there’s still a lot to do before we leave on Monday.

3. I went home for a few days after graduation, hung out with my family a lot, and saw all of the remodeling that’s been going on at my parents house, which they’re getting ready to sell. I also picked up my car and drove it to DC so that it’ll be there when I start work in August. Have I mentioned that I accepted the Virginia job? It was a really tough decision, but I felt like I’d be missing a once-in-a-career opportunity if I passed up the job now. I’m not convinced that this is a place that I’ll want to stay for years and years, but it’s the best decision for me at this point.

4. I started apartment-hunting in DC earlier this week. I found two complexes in the Reston/Herndon area that I liked, but I wasn’t sold on either of them enough to fill out an application on the spot. Plus, I might end up rooming with two other girls that I met through craigslist, in which case I might end up further south, like Fairfax. I haven’t met either of the girls yet, although we have a “date” lined up for this Sunday. I’ve only been on one other girl date—the time I met my Houston roommate before we moved in together—so I’m not really sure what to expect.

5. Earlier this week I spilled milk on my laptop keyboard and ruined it. At first I thought it might dry out and be okay, but I still can’t get several of the keys to work, so I ordered a new keyboard through Dell yesterday. It figures—I ate breakfast and dinner in front of my computer nearly every day for the past semester and it was fine, but four weeks after school’s over, I dump something on it. My idiot mistake is costing me $35 and currently, some awkward use of a old external keyboard.