Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Love the City

I have intense DC love, and I've only been here...less than three weeks?

When I first started looking at colleges halfway through high school, I envisioned a small liberal arts school in a big city. Unfortunately, those schools come with a large price tag, and I just couldn't justify sacrificing gazillions of dollars in loans when I could get a great education at a state school. Snobs, judge away. I've enjoyed my experiences with football and basketball games, tailgating and being (somewhat) anonymous.

But I absolutely love being here in DC. I've found, at least in the past few weeks, that just reminding myself that I'm in the city makes me automatically happy. Rough day at work? No worries, I'm in DC and not back home. Stupid drama got me down? It's all minor.

I guess the thing is that I've been planning on being here for almost a year and a half, and so to finally live out what I've dreamed of is fantastic. All summer, working four jobs, I just thought about how everything would be okay when I came to DC. And you know what? It really is. I know at some point I'll really miss my home, my family, my friends. At some point, there might be too much stress or too much drama and I can't just tune it out. But for now, a gimme a cup o'joe, a view of the skyline and we'll call it good.

So what's the lesson? I like big cities? I knew I belonged in a city from the start? Let's be a bit less grandiose: just being in DC makes me happy. Oh, and working for your dreams is totally worth it.

Lots of City love,
Thing Two (aka the main poster)

Monday, January 25, 2010

Lesson Three: Get lost and find yourself

Thing 2, last week: "If you don't update the blog soon, it's going to become my blog."
Thing 2, tonight: "I've updated 6 times and you've updated once. You need to update."

So here I am world. It's not that I don't have nice, introspective things to say, it's that a.) I'm lazy and b.) I feel kind of stupid admitting that the biggest lesson I learned this past week is that you can get homesick even in an awesome city like DC. The combo of intense boredom at work (8 hours of maintaining a perky, please-give-me-work glow is exhausting, especially when you're punctuating that time reading lawyer blogs about how no one in their right mind would go to law school... hey depressed about my future).

While Friday evening ended up being a lot of fun, as Thing 2 outlined, by the end of the night I was fighting off wallowing in missing my family, friends, and boyfriend (please don't hate me, even though I hate people who act like I was acting). Saturday morning I tried and failed to work out, and was kind of planning on spending the day on the couch, continuing to wallow. But Thing 2 talked me out of my blues and convinced me to walk up with her to Dupont Circle. I figured I would read my book (I'm reading The Camel Club series, not the most literary books I've ever read, but they're fun and take place in DC) in a coffee shop somewhere, but the weather was nice so I ended up mosying all over Dupont Circle and into the neighborhoods of Georgetown. There is something so romantic about wandering sans ipod and cell phone glued to ear, just enjoying watching people go by and turning whenever you feel compelled to mosy in a new direction.

To be sure, I have google maps on my phone, so I'm never really lost, but I've found that when I'm feeling emotionally lost, it helps to sort of get lost physically (and safely), to sort out what's bothering me and ultimately remind myself that a.) it's okay to be sad and to miss the people I left at home. In fact, it's good that I miss them - they mean the world to me and if I didn't miss them I'd be much more concerned. b.) having said that, I have to not let the random bouts of homesickness that I'm sure will strike from time to time keep me from enjoying this once in a lifetime opportunity. And the best way to reconcile those two lessons is to wander through the back streets of Georgetown, pretending to be a local, but ultimately give myself away as I smile while passing embassies and an old cemetery that I've decided is probably where Oliver Stone lives.

Best,
Thing 1

Edit: When wandering for miles, wear comfortable shoes. I decided to break in a new pair of flats and got a 3D blister that Thing 2 had to perform surgery on, and I think I fractured my instep.

I got a job and have income, don't hate me.

I got a job. A paid one, but not a legit one. Just your basic food service-whatever-it-pays-my-bar-tab-and-grocery-bill job. And so my lesson: working seven days in a row, even if 5 of them is unpaid office work, is tiring.

The weekend started out great, with increased work activity. I got to go to a couple of meetings and had some cool assignments.

After happy hour, we traipsed to a district comedy club with some college friends for a laugh. I've never been to a comedy club so here comes lesson two: its a blast!

Lesson Four: Harris Teeter rocks. But you can't go there on a Sunday night, because it will be packed. As if grocery shopping weren't obnoxious and overwhelming as it is, I had to wade through the sea of incredibly slow moving shoppers to get my $20 worth of groceries. I was overwhelmed and frustrated, until i swiped my VIC card and realized how much money I saved. I can't imagine the people who don't sign up for the bonus cards...grocery stores practically give away money!

Lesson Five: The Bachelor is fantastic. Judge me if you want.

Love from the only poster who posts,
Thing Two

Thursday, January 21, 2010

This week

Things I learned since Monday...
  • Leather shoes need to be broken in before wearing
  • The Political Animal Blog on the Washington Monthly site is AMAZING
  • I am a news junkie
  • I'm good at finding my way
  • I'm good at training people
  • political analysts often seem smarter than the ones actually calling the shots. Who knows, Maybe they actually are.
  • It's been a hard week to be a Democrat.
  • Health care needs to get pushed through.
...and I need to get SLEEP if i'm going to survive work days without 10 minute naps!

Happy Friday!
Thing Two

Monday, January 18, 2010

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

And history is way cooler when you get to experience it!

inscription (well as far as I could read, anyway):
"I have a Dream"
Martin Luther King, JR

Happy 4 day work week!
Thing Two


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Restaurant Week? Yes Please!

As newly anointed DC-area residents, we decided we would try and take full advantage of fun local events. We arrived just in time for restaurant week! In search of more exotic cuisine, we chose Marrakesh Place, a swank Moroccan restaurant. This was my first time eating Moroccan, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But with a three course prix-fixe menu for only $20, I figured it had to be good!

Marrakesh Palace is up in Dupont Circle, which is a fabulous neighborhood. It's a designated historic district, and you get a really happening vibe. We saw two Starbucks on our walk from the Metro, so I'm guessing there's lots of young, highly-caffeinated, hipster-types. On a side note, I'm disappointed that I haven't found more independently owned coffee shops. I'm a huge supporter of local businesses, and while DC is thriving, I'd like to find more cool and unique coffee shops.

Back to lunch. For an appetizer, I got the Chicken Bastilla, which is "filo dough stuffed with chicken, almonds and eggs, drizzled with powdered sugar and cinnamon." It was fantastic! The chicken, almonds and eggs on the inside was perfectly accentuated by the flaky filo dough and set off by the sweetness of the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Thing One got Beef Cigars, which are "wrapped filo dough over marinated ground beef in Moroccan herbs." While the beef was well-seasoned and quite tasty, we both agreed that the Chicken Bastilla was superior.

For our main dish, we had four different choices. I had the Sword Fish, which was baked in "famous Sharmola sauce with veggies." Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed. The fish was cooked perfectly, but the "famous" Sharmola sauce seemed like a glorified and spicy version of marinara, not at all my favorite. The portion was generous, and I couldn't (and didn't necessarily) want to finish. It was served with carrots, yellow peppers and herbs. Here's the presentation:



Thing One had the Lamb Tangine, which is "braised lamb with with prunes, sesame seeds and almonds." The lamb literally melted in your mouth, and Thing One described the sauce as "savory." The combination of tender meet and savory sauce led us to agree that it was by far the superior meat. Here's the Lamb Tangine:



Looks good, eh? Our friend had the Chicken Couscous, which also came in the options of vegetarian or lamb. She wasn't crazy about the chicken, which came on the bone, but she enjoyed the rest of the meal. It was packed with veggies, including chickpeas, peppers, zucchini and carrots.


Yum! We had chocolate cake for dessert, which was more like chocolate mousse cake, and Thing One had Baklava which was drizzled in chocolate and let's be serious, how can you go wrong when you add chocolate? We also had Moroccan coffee, which was espresso with a little bit of milk added to it. Our waiter kept our water glasses filled, and was attentive. For $20, we were able to get a fantastic meal in a swank restaurant. Apparently, there's belly dancing in the evening but we unfortunately missed that in the afternoon. There were only a few other tables filled when we were there.

I guess most restaurants book up early for Restaurant Week, we made our reservations last Sunday so I don't know if anything is still open. You can check Open Table, which is an overall useful service for making online reservations. For more information on Marrakesh Palace, check out their website.

Happy Eating!
Thing Two

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Oh I don't know where that is, I'm new here.

As Thing Two's sign off might have indicated, there are in fact two of us writing this blog. So it's my turn to introduce myself in abstract terms and impart upon you nuggets of pseudo-wisdom.

However, at this point I don't have so many actual lessons to talk about, since I haven't actually started my internship, though not for lack of effort. They just hadn't contacted me about whether or not I passed the background check, which is rather late notice considering I already have begun paying rent on my apartment. But this afternoon while I was shopping at H&M I was told I can start tomorrow.

Since I haven't worked at all, my DC discoveries are more related to getting lost and wandering until I find a metro stop, and after three days of doing that, I am decently acquainted with Penn Quarter, Capitol Hill, Foggy Bottom, and Georgetown. Okay, so I haven't ventured around much. But I've taken pretty much every wrong turn you can take and have still had a great time wandering this wonderfully walkable city. I mean between basking in the sunshine and seeing the Magna Carta, today was pretty bitchin'.

Maybe someday I'll become a real intern with a badge and shit, and then I'll have something useful to say.

Until then,
Thing One

45 degrees is warm

...and wearing cute shoes on the subway is overrated. This morning, I tucked my heels in my bag in favor of comfort, something that is actually a rather occurrence. I typically say "no pain, no gain" when it comes to shoes and fashion, but this morning, I strutted my stuff in my (gag) supportive shoes. While I felt mildly self-conscious, my feet were thanking me all day and I couldn't wait to put my travel shoes back on at the end of the day.

On that note, my northern roots cause an inward smirk every time I see a more southern-type bundled up in their down knee-length coats and Uggs. 45 degrees people, its practically springtime! Forecast for tomorrow is 50!!! Hallelujah warmer climates!! One thing I definitely don't miss from home is the endless amounts of slush that make the only possible shoes to wear waterproof.

The Chick in the Rockin' Kicks,
Thing Two

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Divine Revelations

As an unpaid intern in our nation's capitol, I figured the latest adventure in my life had to be accounted for. I also wanted to share my brilliant witticisms and biting sarcasm, because, let's be serious, I'm funny as hell.

So, as this is a learning experience, first and foremost (I mean I'll end up with college credit), I figured the best course of action was to document what I learn. Every day, busy or slow, brings new revelations about what I like and, more importantly, what I don't like. And new funny happenings (duh). In the end, we're all here to figure out if this is right for us, right?

So...thus far:
-I really am not a hardcore fan of research. As in no way is a PhD or dissertation of any sort in my future. I think.
-I like juggling multiple projects. I enjoy being so busy I'm overwhelmed, and would rather have a huge to-do list than being so caught up on my blogs its not funny at all.
-And finally...I'm just gonna say it: Yes, princess, I am better than you because I'm here to find a job not a husband. Also, your over-sized earrings and too-short dress are out of place in a professional setting. FYI.

Signing off: Thing Two