Bad and Good

Whining: The Bad

The 31st cannot come soon enough.

Not because I'm ready for this year to end or anything.  On the contrary, this year has been incredible, and there are several days I wouldn't mind the least little bit reliving a time or two or a thousand.

But simply because that is the day I am going to see my neurologist and hopefully (HOPEFULLY!) getting a plan in action to figure out why this latest migraine medicine quit working and I have had only about 7 days in the past 4 months where my head did not hurt.  The appointment was originally going to be on the 26th, but Mom made me move it because the 25th and 26th are the only days Holly and Michael could get off of work.  Having to wait five extra days wouldn't normally frustrate me much, but when I'm in this much pain, five extra days absolutely sucks, even if it is for a good reason like Holly coming home.  But I'm trying to be positive and do as a friend suggested and praying that this move of the date will be a divine appointment and something really helpful will come out of it.

Gratitude: The Good

I started Radical, and I can already tell it's going to be a life changer!  I can't thank my sweet friend Laura enough for sending it to me!  In fact, I think I'm going to read another chapter or two before I go to bed.

The Wolfpack won. :)

I've spent a LOT of time talking to a certain sweet guy the past couple days, and that always makes my life a bit brighter. :)  Yes, it's this guy, and I hold to what I said before - when there is something worth telling, I will tell.  He is special, and I'm doing my best not to let my heart or my dreams get away from me.

Matt is working on Christmas (yeah, I don't get it, his restaurant was closed on Thanksgiving but is open on Christmas), but he says that when we go up to Raleigh on the 31st, he will make sure I see him somehow.  That's very sweet of him since he works so much, but we haven't seen each other since the beginning of September, but thankfully, his restaurant is only a mile and a half from my doctor, so it shouldn't be too hard to work out since my appointment is at 2:30 and his shift doesn't usually start until after 3:00.

I emailed to get the information for the summer internships at the French Embassy in DC for this summer.  You know you're blessed when working in DC is your back-up plan.

The Vespers released a new song today.  I may or may not have known about it for a while now, and I also may or may not be completely in love with it.  I couldn't be more proud of my friends if I tried. :)  Say hello to "Please", which, in my opinion, is one of their best songs to date, if not their absolute best.

Homeward bound. Finally.

To be honest, Tuesday came and I was ready to go.

Mom asked me if I was sad to leave, and I said no.  Because I wasn't.  I wasn't sad to leave because I know I'll be back there one day.

It's easy to say goodbye when it's not the end.

I was ready to get back to NC because getting to NC meant I was closer to getting back to Campbell.  And Campbell is my home.  I'm not gonna lie, it was weird to be in NC after being in the big city for almost two months, but that small little campus is my home.  It's where my family is.  And I'm so okay with being back in this house for a week and a half because it's getting me one step closer to there.

We left around noon and got back just before 7:00.  That includes a lunch break, and it was raining some of the time, so it was pretty good timing.  The day started off hilarious because it took Mom, Mommom, and 3 valets to get the rack on top of Mommom's car loaded.  After that, it was pretty peaceful...until we got home.  During the drive, though, we finally got through to my doctor's office who said they'd set up a CT, and we got a call from Holly saying she and Michael are coming to visit this weekend. It took Chelsea all of 30 seconds after we pulled in to start screaming.

I chilled out the rest of the night because I was exhausted and lazy.

NC, it's good to be back.

Monuments, Memorials, Monday

Today, we started by going back to the Navy Memorial so I could introduce Mom and Mommom to my awesome coworkers.  Carrie gave them a tour of the Memorial because she has all of the historical details that I knew Mom would want to know memorized, and my mind was kind of fried by this point.

I also got a picture with Morgan, one of the other Ops boys who cracks me up. :)

After more than an hour there, we went over to Potbelly to get lunch, because I wanted one more of those amazing salads.  We took our time, and then went over to the Capitol.  Sam, an intern from Natalie's office (my mentor), gave us a tour, and he went way more in depth so I saw a lot I didn't get to see when I went with Natalie.  It was awesome.

The ornate ceilings reminded me of Versailles.

These gold plates mark where men who became Presidents' desks were when they served in the House. Fun fact: John Q. Adams is the only president to serve in the House AFTER he was president.

I loved seeing this wall dedicated to the victims of Flight 93, whose bravery saved the lives of countless people at the Capitol on 9/11.

We were there for several hours, and then we went back to the hotel for dinner.  We ate a lot of room service, but that's because it was SO good!  We watched a bit more of the Olympics before we got ready for our monument tour.

The tour was supposed to start at 7:30, but didn't get going until just before 8:00 due to some bus mix-ups.  It turned out to be a good thing because our bus driver was awesome.  We didn't get off at most of the stops because we've all seen the memorials before and we could see them lit up from the bus, and so while the rest of the group was off visiting them, our driver took the three of us past some special places that weren't on the tour.

This was one special stop, the Octagon House, where the Madisons fled when the British invaded the White House and burned it during the War of 1812.

This was another, a drive by of the World Bank

Mom kind of insisted I get a shot of the Jefferson Memorial as we drove by since we weren't stopping there.

I love this shot because of the reflection of the Washington Monument in the river

I was so glad to go to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial since it is new and I love him.

MLK is so wise. 

Mom wanted a picture of her with this one, so I obliged.

One more quote that I loved.

And the awesome, and freaking HUGE, statue.

To give you an idea of scale....my mom is about 5'4".

<3

Then we got back on the bus, and we drove by the Iwo Jima Memorial, which honors the Marine Corps, and I got a picture of it in honor/memory of my grandpa.

We didn't get back to the hotel until almost midnight, and I took a shower, dried my hair, and crashed.  Oh, and my mom also shocked me and bought me my first ever alcoholic drink from the hotel bar.  I finally felt like she saw me as an adult at that point.  Weird.  I told Matt and he was even more shocked than I was.

Sleep was good.

This just in: I am a nerd.

We started off Sunday by going to the only museum I really cared about going to.

Anyone who knows me knows this isn't a surprise. :)

the bar where the famous sit-in happened at Woolworth's in Greensboro in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement

a cool statue of Jefferson...with the names of the 600 slaves he owned on the wall behind him

Apolo Anton Ohno's skates from the 2002 Winter Olympics where he won a gold medal

Bob Dylan's jacket...you can thank my mother's musical influence for my even knowing who Bob Dylan was, let alone caring about seeing his jacket

a computer from 1980. hilarious, if you ask me.

Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz

I was really excited about this exhibit. Total history nerd, I know.

boo. need I say more?

FDR's personal copy of the speech he gave the day after Pearl Harbor, with his handwritten notes and edits

Allied troops celebrating after they took back Rome

:) God Bless America.

Then, I, being the girl who had the presidents memorized at the age of 4 and asked for books on the presidents and first ladies for her birthday, had to go see the exhibits on them.

Michelle Obama's gown from the inaugural ball.  She has a way smaller frame than she appears to on TV, and this dress is even more gorgeous in person.

I'm cheesing hard here.  Fun fact, during the height of my presidential obsession, I wanted to be the first woman president.  When I realized how high-stress and high-anxiety I am, I got off that train.  Haha!

Chelsea Clinton's ballet shoes.  I took this specifically for my friend Louis who LOVES the Clintons.

Then we went by the Smithsonian Castle and the Air and Space Museum long enough for Mom to go in the gift shops.  Of course, we had to pick up some Obama gear. :)

Then, Mom and Mommom went over to the White House Visitor Center, and I went back to the hotel and took a 2+ hour nap.  It felt great.  I woke up to them bringing in dinner.

We chilled out, ate, and watched some more of the Olympics, and then I went for a swim.

Oh yeah...did I forget to mention this hotel has a rooftop pool?  It totally does.  It was great and wore me out enough that I was ready to go back to bed by midnight.

It's finally feeling like summer vacation.

Saturday can be summed up into a few main categories.

room service, for breakfast and dinner - man, I love not having to pay for stuff

switching hotels to one in the heart of DC

the Folger Shakespeare Library (Mom was in heaven)

Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was shot, and the Peterson house, the house across the street where he died

the Presidential box

the room where he died (not the original bed)

mourning memorabilia

a French bakery

and lots of Olympics watching

Not a bad day at all.  And exhausting in the good way that means I got some solid sleep.  The hotel we were staying at was REALLY nice, too.  Always a bonus.