The best way to spread Christmas cheer...

...Is singing loud for all to hear!  So true.  Let's just say that a group of 30 Mormons living together in the middle of Washington DC makes for very musical metro rides, shopping trips, homework nights, and so much more.  We are loud. Way too loud. Even for this city...

But it's okay- because it's the holidays!! DC is absolutely gorgeous all decorated for Christmas- even more gorgeous than usual, if that's even possible.  I love it. This week is the lighting of the Capitol Christmas tree AND the White House Christmas tree- and I'm stoked for tonight's Christmas tree lighting in Georgetown and Parade of Boat Lights on the Potomac.   Last night we went to the Temple for the Festival of Lights- I've gone every year of my life since I was born. Seriously. 

It's one of my most favorite Christmas activities- and it never disappoints (although I was bummed for like 5.3 minutes last night when I found out that the "live nativity" is no longer live. Apparantly the volunteer Mary and Joseph got too cold last year and due to unsafe weather conditions, they were replaced with mannequins. Please. Man up, Joseph. But then I got over it when I realized they still had the huge plastic camel, which is all that really matters).

My friends are really cool.

Ever since we've entered the month of December I've been having mini-emotional breakdowns when I remember that this is the month that I have to leave DC.  Luckily I managed to snag an internship that is one week longer than everyone else's and I get to stay with my Grandparents for a week- which will be awesome-but it's still not long enough.  I don't want to leave.

On our way home from church (all shoved into a van, stuck in traffic on Wisconsin, surrounded by cute little Georgetown houses and Christmas decorations) someone asked "What has been everyone's favorite part about this semester?"  It was fun to hear everyone's responses- there were a lot of BEACH replies (of course, because we went to the beach in DE, and DE is where it's AT), Gettsyburg/Harper's Ferry trip, Mount Vernon, Washington Monument, Good Stuff trips, etc.  But after we all said our favorite thing we started reminiscing on small things we did as a group that really made our DC trip special.  Later I dug through some old pics and thought about all of the good memories (it's sad because this totally sounds like a eulogy or something- and I'm still going to be here for two weeks...)- but here's a few fun things we did that I failed to document.   Okay, to be honest, I failed to document a lot of things- sorry.  I had such grand aspirations for this blog. Oh well!

Here is our fun group playing ultimate frisbee on the National Mall. IN THE RAIN. Epic night.  We probably played ultimate at least ten times in the park across the street from our building- but this night was by far the most fun.  We actually had a group of tourists stop and watch us play- that's how good we are. yeah.

sorry for the bad quality- it was dark, it was raining- and oh yeah, these aren't my pics. I'm really good at pirating people's photos... usually. I didn't do the greatest job on these...

I love this shot- I don't know what happened to the girls version (which is probably a good thing... sweaty girls with wet hair aren't as cool looking as sweaty guys with wet hair. let's be honest.)

So much fun.

 This is the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear- with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The day before Halloween. It was incredible.  So much fun- we heard The Roots, Ozzy Osbourne, Cat Stevens, and so much more.  Thousands of people showed up- it was definitely one of the few times in my life I've regretted being short.  I couldn't see anything until Adam put me on his shoulders- and then I saw Kareem Abdul Jabar!

So all throughout the Capitol there are little wooden signs everywhere that say "authorized personnel only" or "closed to public" or "restricted area". Those are my favorite places in the Capitol. This is one of those places:

The speaker's balcony. Best view in DC.

Library of Congress with Adam, Britt, and AJ

Future Secretary of Defense?

Halloween Dance Party

This is one of my favorite group pictures- we are standing in front of the Brigham Young statue in the old House of Representatives chamber in the Capitol.  I walk by this statue almost every day- it was so fun to see it with my friends!

Remembering our nation's heroes on Veteran's Day at Arlington National Cemetary.

Phew. Well, there will be plenty more pictures as this semester draws to a close and we try to cram everything fun left into one week- I can't wait!

Oh, and in honor of Harry Potter night, which was one of the best nights here at the Barlow, here is my roommate's favorite picture:

For Real.

Blue Ridge Adventures...

Southern Virginia. Buena Vista. SVU.

That's where I went last weekend.  Isn't it gorgeous?

That's who I saw last weekend.  Isn't he adorable?  The young one, not the old guy... For those who are not baseball fans, this is my little brother with one of his most favorite people in the whole world: Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.  We got to meet him last week when he came to speak at SVU, which is my brother's small college in Charlie's hometown of Buena Vista, VA (pronounced b-yoonah vista, as I was so kindly corrected by the locals... of course, my brother has lived there for three months and still says "bonah vista". oh well.  baseball is his strong point, not vocab).  It was probably the best day of my brother's whole life.  And not just because I was there :)

SVU is gorgeous.  I was so impressed by the beauty of the mountains and forests and I liked the small-town feel.  But I was starting to feel DC-withdrawal after my four days there-it was weird to not ride a metro anywhere, not hear sirens and cab horns at 3am, and actually be able to see the stars in a dark night sky.  We had a bonfire one night and it was so fun to be out in the woods, singin and roasting marshmallows over the flames with Andrew's buddies.

I loved spending time with my brother- we had a great time hanging out with his friends, watching movies, going to restaurants, hiking, attending a fireside, hearing Charlie Manuel speak, and so much more.

My favorite thing was definitely watching him play baseball.  I watched him for a few hours on friday and again on saturday- I love watching him play.  It's so clear that he loves the game. He puts his whole soul into every play- it's cool to see how dedicated he is to the game and to the team.

I've been watching him play baseball since he was six years old.  It was bittersweet to watch him play last week because it will be one of the last times I see him play for a few years.  This is his last season before he leaves on a two year mission for our church.  I'm so proud of him and the decisions that he's made in his life that have led him to this point- he is an amazing man.

I love my brother. He is my best friend.

and yes, that is a grape in his bellybutton...

autumn

I can't choose a favorite season.  I just can't do it.  Summer means beach and family, spring means flowers and Easter, winter means skiing and Christmas and more family, and fall means beautiful colors, crunchy leaves, hot apple cider, thanksgiving, pilgrims, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream, trick or treating, a new school year (or job), and the perfect running weather...
So maybe I am a little biased towards one season... or maybe it's just the fact that autumn on the east coast is the most beautiful sight EVER. 

Speaking of running (we weren't really speaking of running, but whatever), I'm in love.  With running.  I ran my first marathon last saturday, the Baltimore Under Armour Marathon.  It was the most incredible experience- to train so hard for 18 weeks and then to actually complete such a big goal was one of the best experiences of my life!  I had incredible support from my mom, grandparents, aunt, cousins, other family members, and countless friends who all wished me good luck, helped me de-stress, and cheered for me along the way.  I couldn't have done it without everyone!

I can't possibly give a recap on the past few weeks of my life- but I have some cool pictures that I've snatched from different people's fbooks... so here is life as an intern in pictures...

Some of the crew in Central Park

Me and Britt

Best day of work!  I'm walking through the U.S. Capitol and to my disbelief, there's the Gummow Family!

More NYC

Air and Space Museum- for some strange reason I look really short...

One of the most powerful rooms in the world

Rehobeth Beach with Bre

National Gallery of Art- I grew up with this painting hanging on my wall. Such good memories!

Good Stuff Eatery- I'm not sure if a single person was ready for this picture...

Love this place and these people.

I can't believe I'm more than halfway done.  I feel like I just moved here.  This is my home!  Especially since I get to see these guys about once a week:



Well, except for him:

Which stinks. But more on that later...

Bottom line: life in the district is sweet.  I love DC.



Oops...

I know this is probably the lamest blog you've ever read.  It's definitely the lamest-looking blog (i still haven't figured out how to make it cute... and even if I knew how i highly doubt i'd ever make time to do it).  And I know I should probably vow to be better at blogging and apologize for my three weeks of neglect... but let's be honest- I'm probably going to ignore this blog for another month after today's post.

With that being said, I do promise to put lots of fun pictures in this post.  That's good for something, right???

Introducing my new place of employment: the U.S. Capitol.

Okay technically I work here:

The Cannon House office building. But it is connected to the capitol by secret underground tunnels and I spend many hours each day in the capitol, so whatever.

 I am officially an intern on capitol hill, working for a member of the House of Representatives.  I get to give capitol tours, answer constituent mail and phone calls, process flag requests, attend meetings, briefings, and hearings, and pretty much spend my whole day in one of the coolest environments in the world.

For example, today I went to the White House. No biggie.



                                                 Me with my intern buddies, David and Megan. They are really cool.

Other than that, I don't have much else to report...

Oh yeah, I went to NYC this weekend.  That was incredible.

                     In Times Sqaure with some of the coolest people ever... (thanks aj for letting me swipe your pics...)

                                      My first time ever walking across the Brooklyn Bridge!

and of course, a trip to NYC is never complete without a stroll/statue climb in central park...

There will be more pictures to come- I promise!

We also took a day trip to Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry- I just love road trips!  We had such a fun day out in the beautiful western pennsylvania/maryland/virginia area.  The east coast is simply gorgeous.

Jefferson Rock, Harpers Ferry

Such a cool setting for a photo, right???  Cemetary dating back to the 1700's...

The beautiful Shenandoah River and valley

I could go on and on- we've done so many exciting things in the past month and visited so many incredible places that I don't even know where to begin... Basically, I'm in love with DC.

The greatest blessing of living here is definitely the fact that my family is so close.  I've been home twice now, I went to the beach with my family, my mom and sisters came to visit me last week and are planning a return visit for next week, my dad and I had lunch and dinner together at least twice a week for the past month, and my mom and I are having a girl's retreat in Baltimore this weekend.  Well, at least my mom is... I'm having more of a psycho-delusional insanity high-stress weekend. This saturday is the big day:

The Baltimore Marathon.

See you on the other side.