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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Philly

A bunch of us went to Philadelphia on Saturday and it was way fun. 16 of us went in 2 cars and a van. I was in the van with 7 of my good friends out here. It was a 7 seater, but 8 of us ended up squeezing in and it was a blast (I know Mom, I'm irresponsible). The van didn't leave till 9:30ish for various reasons, so we didn't get to Philly till a bit after noon. We went and saw the Liberty Bell before meeting up with everyone to go through Independence Hall. They took us only to two rooms in the building - one was the court room and the other was the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where both the Constitutional Conventions took place. That part was a little emotional for me. It was fantastic. They even had the same chair George Washington sat in at the front of the room. It really was amazing.

After Independence Hall we split up again because the other two cars had already eatten. The 8 of us went down to a place called Jim's but not before stopping in at a place called Condom Kingdom that we happened to park outside of. It was quite possibly the funniest store I've been in. There was a tree near the entrance that was decorated with condoms and the ceiling had giant sperm with smiles on their faces swimming around. It was hilarious. At Jim's we waited in line for about half an hour before getting our Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches which were magically delicious. Mmm...

After lunch we headed over to the art museum where Rocky ran up the steps. We took pictures with his statue (yep - a statue of a movie) before running up the steps and jumping at the top. No worries - we weren't the only ones doing that so we didn't look quite as moronic as we could have. It was pretty funny though. There were two wedding parties taking pictures because the building is amazingly beautiful, art people going in and out of the building all sheek and posh, tourists and school groups running up the steps and jumping/yelling at the top, and real boxers/runners going up and down just like Rocky did. Holy crap, it was awesome. We all hung out there for a bit and waited for another car to meet up with us. We entertained ourselves by looking at the amazing view and lick slapping each other. Alright, the lick slaps were just between Ben and me but it was still entertaining.

After the Rocky steps we headed over to Cape May in New Jersey but by the time we got there is was dark and the water was icey cold. A few of us went in but I didn't stay in the water too long because it was so incredibly painful. Angela completely soaked her pants and played in the water for a while cause she had never been in the Atlantic before. During the ride to dinner she placed Aaron's jacket over her legs and took her pants off because she was so cold. Good times. But Cape May really was beautiful. There was a lighthouse right there and it was all misty and dark and eerie. I love the ocean. I for sure want to go back there during the day before I leave.

The day trips we take are probably my favorite part of being out here. I've been to West Virginia a couple times, Cape May, Philly, Williamsburg, and North Carolina. Although I still need to get to Gettysburgh, Monticello, Amish country, Scranton, and NYC. We've got NYC planned out and it won't be too hard to make it out to everywhere else I want to go. Exept maybe Savanna, GA. I do want to go down there but that'd take some convincing of others on my part and I don't know if I care that much.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Life Plans!

It's official. I'm going into social work. At least I hope so. I still need to get into the program at the U and that won't be decided for a while, but that's what I'm planning on. The U is really the only place I'd want to go. Utah State's program isn't credited yet, I have absolutely no desire to go to BYU, UVU, or SUU, and none of the other programs in neighboring states look that appealing. My friend Bryan has a couple friends visiting out here right now and one of them is finishing up her second year in the program at the U. She said as long as I write a good sob story and have good grades I shouldn't have a problem getting in so hopefully that happens. So yeah, right now I'm just trying to figure out if I can save enough money while working and living in Logan or if I should just move back in with my parents. Moving in with my parents makes a lot of financial sense since I want to pay off my loans before I go back to school, but Logan is just so much fun and all my friends are there. I'll probably just end up living in Orem but going up to Logan 3 out of 4 weekends...

On a random note, I finally bought my cap and gown for graduatin. $37ish, but whatev. Weird taht in just over a month I'll be a college graduate. I don't feel old enough for this stuff...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Life plans?

So I may or may not have decided to do with my life. I think I'm going to be a social worker. My friend John has on occasion mentioned that I should look into it so it's always been in the back of my head. It was moved to the forefront recently when I was talking to my friend Bryan about not knowing what I want to do. I told him that when it comes right down to it, I just want to help people. As long as I feel like I'm helping people I can be happy in my choice of career. He asked me if I had considered social work and I told him that I kind of had. I started thinking about it and reading my patriarchal blessing and it just makes sense. More sense than anything I've come up with so far at least. The U has a master's program where I could get a MSW with an emphasis in international social work. With that emphasis I could work with refugees or even work abroad if I ever wanted to. At the same time, with the master's in social work, I could be a regular social worker anywhere. Seriously, anywhere I go I can be a social worker. With the jobs I was looking into previously, it wasn't like that at all. So I'm getting pretty excited. I think I'm going to go home after my internship, find a job related to social work, work for about a year and pay off my student loans (easy to do if I maybe move back home - are you down with that, Mom?) then start school in the fall of 2010. I just need to make sure I apply other places too cause the program at the U had 300 applicants this last year for 120 spots. Kind of intense, but that would be my first pick at this point. The more I think about this, the more I like it.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hilarity

http://13.media.tumblr.com/GZbqLZ3AXjukb4n6IYrha3Olo1_500.jpg

Updates and Struggles

The last couple of weeks I've been going to Bible Study on Fridays during lunch with my friends. The Senate Chaplain, Chaplain Black, teaches it and it's totally awesome. There have only been a couple of things I haven't agreed with that he's said and everything else is amazing. I took notes today and will from now on because he is just so fantastic. Plus, they feed us which is why I was convinced to go in the first place. There's an institute at 12:30 but apparently Chaplain Black is better. I still feel like I'm getting spiritual nourishment.

I had a friend visit from Saturday to Wednesday. Kayla (who I know from Utah State) came with her friend Fish (Felisha) and it was so totally fun. I wasn't able to get much work off - just Tuesday afternoon - but it was still awesome. We played frisbee with everyone, went shopping, ate out, and I stayed home while they saw all the monuments (I'm experiencing some monument fatigue). It really was awesome having them here. It's always a lot of fun when old friends get along well with new ones :)

So I'm having a struggle and if any of you want to give me some advice I will more than appreciate it. I've been trying to figure out if I want to go back to Utah and get a job in Salt Lake or stay here. Or even go somewhere like Colorado or California. Here is my dilemma. I do love it out here and I think as long as I could buy or rent a car and travel over to West Virginia or something every now and then I could handle the big city. However, I really don't think I'll enjoy this place NEARLY as much without the people who are here now. And granted, I'll meet more people, but it seems weird that I'd get along with them as well as I get along with some of the interns here. I feel like I really lucked out with this group. Plus, another strike against here, I really like my family and I'm missing my nephew and niece a ton. Not that I don't miss the rest of my family, cause I totally do, but for some reason it's harder with Taz and Elliott. I look at pictures of them posted by my sister and sister-in-law and I just want to go home for those few minutes. And as for the rest of my family, I get along with all of them really well and I consider some of them my best friends. I miss hanging out, watching movies, and eating Sunday dinner. But then I remember what I want to do for a job and possibly a career and I realize that the only opportunities for me are in big cities like DC or NYC. Places closer to home like Denver and San Diego are options too, but I feel like if I get a job not in Utah, it's going to be here since I'm here now and making contacts here. Boo. I just hate making decisions.

I'll end on a happy note. I might to to West Virginia again tomorrow! WOOT!!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Best Birthday Eve Ever!

Two very exciting things happened to me today. The first is I got to talk to my friend Nate Nash who just got home from his mission in New Jersey. He was one of my closest friends the first couple years of college and it was SO good to talk to him. He didn't seem awkward at all which was a bonus. Doesn't mean he isn't awkward, but our conversation was a good one. I'm so crazy excited to see him in April.

Second thing. Wait for it... I FREAKING SAW BRAD PITT IN PERSON!!! He was on The Hill today meeting with Reid, Murray, and Pelosi to talk about his organization that builds low income and sustainable houses in New Orleans. All day long I was joking with a few people about stalking him then one of my friends over on the house side found out that he had a meeting with Pelosi in her Capitol office at 3:30. I left my office at 2:40 to meet a few friends in the Crypt and figure out where to go from there. I didn't tell anyone in my office where I was going because, let's face it, going over to the Capitol to see Brad Pitt is a little stalkerish/creepy/something a teenager would do. Anyway, we made our way up to the Rotunda which is close to Pelosi's office. We were standing around for about 10 minutes figuring out the best place to be to see him when all of a sudden he walks into the Rotunda from one end (surrounded by his entourage) and out the other and into the corridor leading to Pelosi's office. He was about 20 feet away from me and I stared at him for about 30 seconds. Unfortunately we weren't expecting him so soon so none of us had our cameras ready which sucks. But holy crap was he attractive. He was shorter than I expected him to be (which, let's face it, I was more than ok with - I'm a fan of shorter guys) and just so incredibly good looking. He had a goatee (we all know I love facial hair) and was wearing a very expensive looking suite that was extremely well tailored and a vest under his jacket. I swooned. He was walking briskly so I didn't have the guts to go ask for a picture or an autograph but that's ok because I still saw him. I was shaking for a good minute afterwards as well. Oh so fantastic. I've had great birthdays the last couple of years. Last year I met Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords on my birthday and this year I see Brad Pitt the day before my birthday! Can life get any better!?

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Mardi Gras and Other Adventures

Mardi Gras this year was super fun. Granted, it wasn't an amazingly awesome time at Utah State, but it was cool for the short notice we had. We decided to have purple, gold, and green food since we didn't really prepare anything else. On our way home from work Mike, Bryan, and I stopped off at Rite Aid to see what we could find. I didn't get any inspiration since the Rite Aid in our basement sucks so I took comfort in the fact that the guys had food coloring. When I got to their apartment and started looking around, I found that they only had blue dye. I put it in the lemonade which turned it green. The pancakes I made turned out to be a very pretty blue that we ended up calling purple. When the pancakes got cooked they turned that golden-brown color pancakes turn so there was the gold. I still wasn't 100% satisfied, so I added more to my milk and called that gold as well. We ate pancakes and bacon and watched Arrested Development. It was awesome.

Another adventure I had recently was a trip down to Williamsburg and Jamestown. It was all pretty and colonial. We rented a car again (Prius upgrade for $7) and left DC around 7:30. Williamsburg took a couple of hours to get to so by the time we left there it was about lunch. After eating we took the ferry (Prius and all) over to Scottland island. Even though it was all cold and rainy, it was way super pretty. We just drove around for hours enjoying the scenery and the company. After a while we decided to head down to North Carolina for some dinner for the heck of it. We wend just over the border to Rowanoke and ate at this really crappy road house place. After dinner we just headed back up to D.C. cause it was pretty late by then. All in all though, it was a really fun trip.