Weekend!

Well it has been an interesting two days because I’ve had the chance to explore A LOT more of this town.

On Friday, I got out of work early because of the Memorial Day holiday so that gave me the time to finally get groceries! So far, I have been eating at Chili’s for dinner every night, but that has gotten old pretty quick (seriously, take a look at that menu. Can anyone find anything healthy to eat?) Anyway, so I walked about two miles to the nearest Harris Teeter (in Pentagon City) to do my shopping. I proceeded to buy about 50 pounds worth of groceries and needless to say I was horrified at the thought of carrying them the 2 miles back to my apartment. So, off to the metro I went. However, finding the metro in that area proved to be a lot trickier with a 50 pound load, however people on the streets seemed to be more than willing to point me in the right direction…maybe it was because I looked so haggard and out of breath. Anywho, I finally made it to the metro with my bounty and toted it all the way home. My conclusion: shop with one reusable bag to prevent such a thing from happening, again.

Today was a really nice day. It started out fairly lazy, but by 1:00 I felt the urge to sight see. So, I decided to head to the Mall and check out the Smithsonian Museums. Well, its Memorial Day weekend so you can just imagine how many people had the same idea. After walking through 1/5 of the Museum of Natural History, I decided to spend the time walking around outside instead.So, I made my way over to the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial (Pictures at the bottom, as well as a picture of the Rolling Thunder). I’d have to say that it was probably the most amazing sightseeing I have ever done. The structures were much more than I had ever imagined they could be.Pictures just cannot describe how massive and impressive they are. I have never felt more like an American, it was just amazing. My favorite, by far was the Lincoln Memorial. I’ve read a bit about Lincoln and I have a soft spot in my heart for him, so seeing that just made me tear up. I’ll definitely be spending some more time in that area, hopefully sans the tourists.

After my touristy jaunt, I walked over to the area where I work to check out some of the restaurants there. I was really craving some chips and salsa, so I read the menus until I found a place that quenched my thirst. I ended up at this cigar bar/restaurant which provided me with my chips+salsa, some good beer and some good conversation with a guy who works at the National Archives. Although I smell like a cigar, it was a pretty good place that I might go to after work some day. The only disappointing thing about today is that I still haven’t gotten my first movie from Netflix, and because of the holiday it won’t get here until Tuesday. Sigh.

Plans for tomorrow: Put on some better walking shoes and head back to the Smithsonian once it opens. After that…who knows!

Day Two

So, today was my second day of work. It was a little less busy than yesterday, but still pretty hectic. I started out the morning by going on a tour with a lady from HR, where she informed me that I would need to take out my nose ring. I knew this day was coming, but it still took me aback for a second. Mostly, because I kind of forgot it was there...anyway, its almost all the way closed up, which I guess is kind of symbolic of the closing of the time in my life it represented...as weird as that sounds. The things I will do for my country! Haha.

After getting the nose ring situation squared away, I was taken on a tour of building where I am working for the NAM. There is actually a mall under there, which has a store in there that is similar to TJ Maxx and Ross. Heaven! I also became acquainted with some of the cute restaurants and shops down a side street near our building. I am really very lucky to be working in such a cool area of town!

After that eventful tour, I got to participate in my first webinar. It was weird. Its going to take a while for me to get used to this whole having conferences via the phone type of thing.

After that, I took a break for lunch and went to this cool organic restaurant, Funxion on that side street I mentioned earlier. It was pretty good, I had a salad and tofu chili...the tofu chili was actually PRETTY good! It was really cute and funky, so I may make another trip over there to try something else before the summer is over.

The afternoon was fairly slow, but I did get my badge to get into the DOC! No more metal detectors, at least to get into my work. I'm really excited about the work that we will be doing in that office. I feel like it is right in line with what I may want to end up doing with my life...which is kind of cool. So far, pretty awesome.

Uplifting story for today: I haven't had time to go to the store, yet, since I have been pretty tired from working. So, I've just been making use of the Chili's gift certificate that my mom gave me. Anyway, last night apparently I left the gift certificate at Chili's after I ate and I didn't realize it until I had to find it to pay my bill tonight! I asked the waitress, knowing in the back of my head that it was gone for good. Five minutes later, she comes out with it! Needless to say, I gave her a big tip!

I'll end my post with a few pictures from the area around where I work. All of them don't even capture how awesome the buildings are around here, but at least you can get a sense of them. The first is of my view of the Capitol Building as I walk to the metro. The next picture, although it looks like a cathedral, is of the oldest Post Office. The last picture is of the Herbert C. Hoover building, which is where the DOC is housed. It is going through construction right now, and is absolutely HUGE! It takes up two blocks...no joke.