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.

It's official! I'm a TFAS alum!

(Yeah, yeah, I sort of disappeared there for a bit.  Friday got way too busy for me to have time to blog, and I didn't pull out my computer once while Mom, Mommom, and I were in the city, so here I am, playing catch up.  I'm saving the story I had to tell until after I get through the recap of the last days in DC.  It's really not that big of a deal.)

Graduation day.

I had to wake up at 7:30 to beat the other girls in the bathroom to get ready.  Naturally, I was done way too early, so I left earlier than I planned to head down to where the photos were being taken of each institute.  My institute had the last photo time slot, so it was a bit of standing around and waiting.  I got a complete stranger to take a picture of me because some friends wanted to see me all dressed up.

Remember this dress? :)

The whole program had a ceremony, and then each institute broke off for their own program.  I finally got my hands on this.

And then it really sunk in that it was official.  I really survived this intense program.  Afterwards, I got a few pictures.

This is Haley.  She's kind of my hero.  I have no idea how she does what she does, but she's seriously one of the sweetest people ever!

And this is Remley.  I told her since I got a picture with her on the first day, I wanted one with her on the last day, too.  Thankfully, she obliged my love for pictures. :)

This one I just got because Georgetown pretty much stole a piece of my heart this summer.  I can't wait to go back!  Hopefully next time I do, I'll be a graduate student. :)

Then, I went back to change, eat lunch, and finish packing.  Mom and I decided I would totally move everything out of my apartment that day and stay in the hotel with her and Mommom that night so we could avoid the 400 people who would be trying to move out the next day.

They arrived about 2:30, and it took us about an hour to get everything loaded into the car.  It was a tight squeeze, but we made it work.  We took my books to the local UPS store to mail them back to the company I rented them from, and then drove to the hotel (the one on Georgetown's campus across the street from Henle) for a bit.  We relaxed for about an hour, and then walked down to The Tombs for dinner, which was a special request from Mom.  On the way back, we went by the bookstore and Mom insisted on buying me some Georgetown goodies.

After that, I got ready for the TFAS graduation party.  I stopped to get a picture with my favorite friend from the program, Chris, because he decided he didn't feel like going to the party.

Then, I went to the party, hung out with friends, danced like an idiot for about an hour, and got pictures with some people before I decided to go back to the hotel because I was exhausted.  It was a good day, but hard to say goodbye to some people I may never get to see again.

Sarah

Cody, or as many refer to him, "Codes"

Reed, sorry it's blurry, but this kid really looks like a blond Danny Zuko. I think it's the hair.

Jonathan

Kristen, the girl who was the emcee at Trivia Night on my birthday and got the whole room to sing for me

When I got back to the room, I finally got to take a shower and get the six inches of sweat off me from the moving out and dancing.  It was a really good ending to an amazing summer.

Thank God for social media.

I have so much to write about.

But that...is going to have to wait.

I had a long day.

My last day at my internship.

Packing.

And lots and lots of boy drama.

Man, I can't wait to get back to NC!

Tomorrow is graduation, so expect lots of pictures.  I'll try and get the pictures up from today, too.  Sorry for completely failing at blogging today.  I say as if anyone actually cares that I blog every day.

I know I'm weird.  I need sleep now, though.  Tomorrow is also going to be a long day.

My last thought: I freaking love finding out that even when I told Louis and Chris I didn't need their protection, they still had my back the whole time and were willing to protect me anyway.  Because, as it turns out, I did need their protection.  It's a long story.

A story that will have to wait.

You can call me a tease, it's okay.  I know you love me.

Back and Forth

My emotions have sort of been going all over the place today.

Part of the day, I've been in a really good mood.  Because I love my internship, because I love TFAS, because I have amazing friends.  Lots of reasons.  Then part of the day, I'm scared.  Really scared of what is going on with my liver.  It's been back and forth, back and forth, back and forth all day long.  Not very helpful when you're overtired.

I guess part of it is I'm frustrated with myself for still being afraid when I know who God is and that He loves me and is taking care of.  I know I shouldn't be afraid, because as Phoebe put it, "As a believer, the worst thing that could happen to us (death) is really the best thing that could happen to us.  The prize of the upward call of Christ is being in paradise with Him."  And she's so right.  And I know that in my heart.  I know God is going to take care of me no matter what this CT scan says.  So why can't I just stop being afraid??

Oh yeah, because being Christian doesn't make me any less of a human.

Honestly, as self-centered as this sounds, I think I'm more scared of not getting to go back to Campbell on the 19th than I am of dying.  How stupid is that?  It feels stupid to me, to be scared of missing school and not be scared of dying.  I feel even dumber for worrying about something that is probably going to turn out to be nothing.  And you'd think that after everything I've been through, I'd be used to this by now, but I really don't think a story like mine is something you ever get used to in any sense.

I don't even know if what I'm saying is making any sense.  Basically, I just can't figure out how to quit worrying, even though I know worry is from the enemy, when I know in my heart and soul that God's got me in His hands.  He's taking care of this.  He's got a plan for whatever's going to happen, and nothing I say or do is going to change that.  He hasn't left me yet, and He never will.

Focus on the facts of the matter, Mal.  Fact number 1:  God is here.  Fact number 2:  God is taking care of me.  Fact number 3:  God has put tons of people in my life to keep me pointed in the right direction.

I'll quit rambling for now.  I need sleep.