16 Notes for 16 Days (and a few more than 16 photos) - Part II

11. Way back in May (Oh, that feels like forever ago), Amber, Melissa, Kara and I decided we wanted to see a show at the Kennedy Center. How we narrowed in on Mary Poppins, I'm not sure, but it was a fantastic choice for all! They all thought it amazing that one of my life goals is to work at the Kennedy Center without ever stepping foot inside. I'm sure you all know my first choice would've been to see an opera or the NSO, but I was in no way disappointed by the show or the company!! Check out Amber's take on the evening here.

We changed into cocktail attire in the 4th floor bathroom, primped, and made our way to Kara's new condo on the metro where we dropped our cars for the evening adventure. The metro carried us into the city for a great pre-theater dinner at Notti Bianchi that was timed to perfection for our show. Our server was great, the food was pretty good, and the atmosphere quaint, but we couldn't stay there much longer than for photos.

L to R: Kara, Amber (Nibs), Me, and Melissa (M)

Kara was excited about the show, and she's even more excited about our plans for Legally Blonde: The Musical at Wolf Trap in a few weeks!

The Kennedy Center was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the restaurant, and we made it just in the nick of time for the Overture. I was in a fairytale land, and not because I was watching Mary Poppins. The John F. Kennedy Center, the epitome of arts and culture in America....

And don't I just fit right in! :) Bright, colorful... LOVE it! Speaking of bright and colorful, I missed the black memo.

How is it no matter where I live, I always have beautiful friends?? 

I got yelled at by the usher for taking photos with my cell phone before the show started, so this is the only photo I could sneak of the theater itself, and it was after the show. We discovered while getting yelled at that a mother/daughter pair was sitting to our right that had been with us at the restaurant. We struck up conversation and learned about Caitlyn and mother Courtney who were at the same quaint (small) restaurant, and ended up on the same shuttle and metro with us. It was all a coincidence, but we had fun laughing with them.

12. True story (as if all the other ones had been fake, right): the metro....not so cool late at night. And no, it's not because it's unsafe, expensive, or difficult. It's because it's stifling hot, extremely slow, and very delayed between trains. We just barely missed the train as we were coming in, and that kept us waiting 20 minutes for the next train in the unbearable heat.

The face that can get us just about anything, and yes, we know it. ;)

It must have been 100 degrees in there, and the air was completely stagnant. To make matters worse, as we're sitting innocently taking photos of our misery and complaining about our desire for diet coke (Nibs) and coke (me), Melissa looks over to the next bench and says, "Ummm... I just saw a mouse." My feet are instantly off the floor, and we all have a good laugh at our disgust. Needless to say, we were all delighted when the train came at last!

13-16. As if my month hadn't had enough excitement, this past weekend was my dear friend Kay and her perfect-for-her husband Greg's wedding. We decided to make it a girls weekend with our plus one's, and were so delighted that we did! Lucy flew in to DCA, and I took my first technical vacation time off from work in the afternoon on Friday to go pick her up and make the 3.5-5 hour trek through Northern Virginia to Blacksburg where the wedding was being held at the German Club Manor at Virginia Tech. Once we all arrived to the hotel, we quickly got ready and headed out to the downtown area for dinner and evening festivities. I was so delighted to see and catch up with Lucy, Danielle, and Margaret, especially Margs since I hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving weekend.

Check out Margaret's fabulous body wave in her hair. <3

A perfect angel...

Between this photo and the next one, a not-so-nice fellow I'd been seeing for the past month tried to put a damper on my evening, but no, no, no, that was not happening. And no, no, no, he is no longer happening either.

Since my battery is about to die, I will truncate my 16 notes here, but I promise to give you more details about the wedding (and tons of photos) and the million other things that have been going on in my life tomorrow. I'm giving up on the notes though, back to normal Faulknerian thoughts tomorrow. xoxo

16 Notes for 16 Days (and a few more than 16 photos) - Part I

This month has been one of the busiest I've ever experienced, with exception going to the second semester of my senior year. At least then I was a college student who could sleep in when absolutely necessary. Many of you have asked, "What happened to the blog," "Did you give up on it," "Did you decide you'd been in the city too long to still be writing about your experiences?" No, friends, I've just been SWAMPED. However, it's been a fun ride, for the most part. I'll start where I left you last...

1. Lucy and I had a fantastic weekend together. It was as if we'd never left each other. We visited her friends who said, "We don't walk one street over to the McD's for safety reasons," but then laughed at us when we called a cab to leave their house late at night and go ten blocks. We also had some of the most delicious food ever! Belga Cafe on 8th Street... I highly recommend it. Well worth every penny of the $75 tab for the two of us at brunch. Please let it be known you can eat for much cheaper... we just decided to go all out with entrees, dessert, coffee, drinks... the works.

2. We were delighted to have Christina join us out with Lucy's friends for an entertaining evening with cool people. One of Lucy's friend's friends struck me as the perfect fit for a job I know of, and I'm thrilled that he'll be interviewing this Wednesday. We need another southerner at the NRA, even if it is a few floors down.

3. I also learned that the Capitol is most glorious in the late evening when no tourists are around and the stark white dome shines brightly in the sky. However, Capitol cops are a little intense, so avoid going with crazy, loud boys.

4. After Lulu left town, I packed my bags for a work trip which was only 35 miles from my house that lasted 6 full 24 hour days (well pretty much) with 45 Juniors and Seniors in high schools across the nation. Talk about an interesting week. Remember this post? The Youth Education Summit is run by one of my colleagues, and it's a highly selective scholarship program involving a week of speech, debate, touring DC, and learning about the NRA's programs.

5. I have to say... I got to enjoy some touristy things I'd been wanting to do for a while, but felt I was no longer touristy enough to experience them. :) Like seeing a piece of the Berlin Wall and the World Trade Center at the Newseum. Although the kids didn't really remember life before 9/11, it was a little too powerful of an exhibit for Amber and I, so we left the area before the tears started pouring in front of the kids, hence, no pics. We headed up to the rooftop for a gorgeous view of the Hill.

6. The kids were treated to a mock Friends of NRA event hosted by my friend and PA Field Rep, Kory Enck. They had real tickets, real prizes (including a $200 pair of binos), and fake moolah. They had a blast! My game got sold out, which I say has something to do with my bright smile and big green eyes. ;)

7. We got to tour the Pentagon (awesome) at a speed of light tour behind an army guy dressed in formal uniform walking backwards without looking back once. I had to seize a camera from a student and delete the video he took after the navy lady behind me quickly informed us photos of the Pentagon were strictly forbidden.

8. Ok, so, newsflash that is finally no longer confidential: Friends of NRA has a new TV show coming out on the Outdoor Channel, and my department has been tasked with the marketing, development, and just about everything to do with the show, including creating the new logo. We've got two incredible hosts and they get to drive around in this awesome truck courtesy of the Friends of NRA Event Services team. :) We saw the truck for the first time at laser tag, where my team won once and I killed Jeremy a billion times

8. We had a special treat for the kids on "Life as a Marine" day at Quantico, when Sgt. Wesley Plummer joined us for MRE dinners at the Iwo Jima memorial and for the 8th and I parade on the Marine barracks grounds around the corner from my house. Sgt. Plummer is one of the few remaining men alive that saw the first and second flags raised on Iwo Jima. He was an amazing man, and I loved his wife. We flew them both up from Texas specifically to be with the kids as a special guest.

9. There were lots of other things we did with the kids, but I'm getting exhausted just thinking about it. Let's cap it off with me telling you about the way it ended... We let the kids stay up til 2:00 signing these portrait frames, taking photos, and just having some free time hanging out. Then, I got tasked with taking the first departing girl to the airport in the city for her 6:45 flight, which meant we had to leave the hotel at 3:50... making my wake-up call 3:15. UHHHHH.... NOT happy camper here. But, it did mean I got to go right home after. So I got home at 5am, put clean sheets on my bed, crawled in it, put on my eye covers (courtesy of Sarah or Danielle), and slept til Tina woke me up at 1pm asking when we were going to lunch/dinner.

10. And I do mean lunch/dinner... We sat at Lauriol Plaza for 2+hours slowly picking at our giant salads and catching up on the week's events. It's been so great having her here! We might be making Sunday dinner a staple, whether it's lunch or dinner. At least until family dinners at the Converse Alumni House of DC start back up.

At this point of the post I will pause to allow you guys a break from my life to get back to yours. I'll post the rest tomorrow. xo