Banana Pancakes...

Well lets say I need some banana pancake time... sometime to sit and just do nothing. I haven't been able to do that for awhile. Which really is the normal. So this weekend I went to New York with Brittain. We left Friday morning and took the bus up. It is a bit longer but a lot cheaper than taking the trains. Then we got there and made the way to the tour bus, we did the double decker bus tour all weekend. We went to the empire state building and then made are way into the theater district and saw rent. It was amazing. It is such a good and emotional and powerful and just great play. There are such happy and sooo sad parts and it is such an amazing story and the cast was great. Then we crashed and slept in which was very nice. Then we got back on the bus and went around central park and then we went around through the down town and went into Chinatown and to the trade center and then up to Rockefeller center and then ate dinner at the largest T.G.I.F. also the most expensive. Then we went through NY and Brooklyn at night. It was really cool. Got to see alot, focused much more on the architecture and it was great. Then we went to a comedy club and it was okay. One of the five comedians was great the others were ehh. Then sunday morning we went to the statue of liberty and eilis island. Now I have decided I want to create a family tree up both sides of my family since we dont have one, at least not that I know of. I don't know when exactly I will do this but sometime when I actually have free time. Which may not be anytime soon. Well then we went to the Sea Port which was a bit interesting and oh it rained and we got wet and well it was fun in some ways. We also went to the UN and had a tour there. It was amazing. Who knows maybe I will work on a staff there at some point. After that we went headed back. It was a relatively long bus ride. Didn't get to bed until about 130 and then I had to be at work at 830 for a 9am tour. Then I didn't leave until 730. It was a long day. I've been really busy at work and it will just continue that way. Although its all good. Some good things are going on and there is a bill to support towns/universities/others that are trying to pull away from using companies that are directly/indirectly affecting the genocide going on in Dafur and the Sudan. It is going to pass right through too which is great. Its nice when there is hope that are country is actually doing something good. Well now I am exhausted and I want to sleep. Get to sleep in a bit since I have to go to the Italian Embassy which doesn't open until 10am. Other than that I am just being very busy and very tired but all is good...

So basically what I need is to "sleep in pretend like its the weekend now, we could pretend it all the time..."

The most beautiful office on the hill...

Yep that is where I work...hehehe....it is a HUGE!!!! joke around here and everyone is getting picked on about it but it is still pretty cool.

http://thehill.com/cover-stories/the-most-beautiful-office-on-capitol-hill-rep.-mary-bono-r-calif.-2007-07-25.html

...if you want to see...

Of course it is all in your mind but why wouldn't that make it real...

Hehehe.... Well this weekend mostly involved reading Harry Potter. Which was amazing and that is all I have to say about that. I really just hope she keeps writing in general otherwise it would be a waste of talent. Other than that spent sometime with some Redlands people which is always nice. Thursday night I went and saw The Phantom of the Opera at the Kennedy Center. It was amazing at least as good as I remember it. The weekend was good although not too exciting. Today has been relativley eventful. Two tours and way too many phone calls while attempting to work. Other than that all is good.

Situation number three is the one that no one seizes and is often dismissed as fate...

So I have about 40 minutes to spend in the office before I run off and enjoy my Thursday night...Well lets see last weekend was pretty fun. Was out relatively late both Wednesday and Thursday night. Wednesday for a dinner with Redlands Alumni and other interns. It was fun, well once we finally found our group. Luckily I recognized someone who recognized someone else and so on. We eventually had dinner and it was nice to chat, learn more things about well the going ons here in D.C. as well as the past of the UoR. Then Thursday went with another intern to a job fair at the National Air and Space Museum. There were some interesting speakers and gathered info on abunch of government departments that I can look into later on. Since I really don't need to figure that all out quite yet. Although at this point I'm starting to look into law schools since I need to start preparing to apply when I get back from Rome. After those two exciting evenings I came home and crashed on Friday ate a nice and yummy dinner and watched two movies and went to bed. It was a very nice night. Then on Saturday I went with Rachel to Six Flags. It was lots of fun. Most of the lines werent to bad and we did all but one of the big rides. There was even one where you were laying down. So there were points that you only had the strap thing in between you and the ground. A bit creepy but also lots of fun. Sunday was pretty lazy. Went down to M street and watched while Rachel shopped. Then it was back to another week. It wasn't too bad. Nothing super exciting happened. I made myself meatloaf which I am very proud of. Went to a briefing. Did a bunch of work. Other than that it has been pretty basic. Which is not at all bad. Four weeks left and then I am home. Although it seems like it will go by quickly since I have big plans for two of the weekends at least. Well hope all is well with everyone...

Jack > Dave

Well we can get to my life later but I have decided that Jack Johnson is better than Dave Matthews for the sole reason that at Live Earth Dave Matthews only played one song and Jack played 7! yes that is a 7:1 ratio, so Jack wins! By the way I almost got to go to Live Earth NY but I'm glad I didn't cuz I would be soo upset that Dave Matthews only played one song. But nope and its okay since I had an amazing day anyways and the whole thing, all 9 concerts is online... http://www.liveearth.msn.com/ if you are interested.

Well this past week was great. I finally got a break. I had five days to enjoy live and be in great places with great people. Drove up to Jersey with Rachel my housemate on Wednesday. We have been getting along great, one of the few people that I have met here that I see myself being long term friends with. We have extremely different interests but know enough about each others interest to have good conversations about them but we are seriously the same exact person. We have the same personality, we both talk way too much, are very passionate yet somewhat obnoxious people. We even sleep the same, on our stomachs at the bottom of our pillows. We also seem to even though having very different experiences but have taken very similar lesson from them. It is really great to have someone who may not know me horrible well but really understands me and just how I think. By the ride home we were finishing each others sentences. Normally it takes me at least 3 months of spending way too much time with someone. So basically it is just great to have someone I click with.

So where I left off. We took a bit of a detour on our way up and visited Philadelphia or more looked at it and realized we went the wrong way. It allowed me though to for the first time in my life to go through 5 states in one day, not just in one day but in 4 hours. So weird. Anyways then I made it up to the Shore and enjoyed a nice evening with the family. I love being in quaint little places. Which would be the great thing about living out here is that I could just drive up to the Shore every once in awhile. Thursday looked as if it was going to be a nice day but not so much. Was chilly and cloudy so instead of the beach we went to go see Life Free or Die Hard. Which was a much better movie than I thought it would be, and I new it wasn't the first one but I had no clue it was the 4th so I now have all the Die Hard movies in my queue. Then we played baseballish on the beach which was lots of fun. I remember doing it last time I was out here but its a lot better when the youngest playing are 14 and not 8. 14 to 20 seems like a much smaller age difference than 15 to 8. Its still big but getting smaller. Then we did dinner at Pete and Elda's which was great, although I once again did not eat pizza there. I know I'm the weird child. Then later went to a cute coffee shop with just the girls and it was really a cute place, plus its open to 3:30am. I would love to have a place like it by campus. Friday we went to the beach and it really was a perfect day. Although I find that you have to pay $7 to get on the beach ridiculous. Yes in many (but not the best) places in SoCal you have to pay $7 to park at the beach for the day (or 7 hours) but you could also bring down 4 or more people in one car. So for my fam it would cost $28 to do a beach day. That is horrible. Defiantly the Cali better when it comes to that.Well it was great to spend the day at the beach, it was a Red Flag day with freezing cold water, but I still spent sometime good time in the water. Nothing keeps me out of the water (except for Jellyfish), and neither the cold or the waves were that bad. After the beach I was dropped of at the train station and made my way to Princeton. It is a gorgeous campus and area but the more Rachel talks about it the more I think the only go thing there is the academics. The Social scene seems horrible and clicky and just not much fun, they have no all school parties, only exclusive ones. That would ruin Redlands. Well we wandered around a bit and got Sushi for dinner. Then made our way into the city after waiting a bit too long for the train. Then I had a great college night. Just hanging out with a bunch of people in an apartment doing nothing special but having a good time. I miss those nights and Ive only been gone a month and a half. Then we attempted to sleep in but it did not really work. We then went down to the theatre district to see if we could get tickets to see Avenue Q, but we didn't win the lottery which is cool. So instead we wandered around Times Square for awhile and then at Lunch at the Hard Rock. I love Hard Rocks, putting three of my favorite things together music, history and well food. I'm really starting to think I want to do my Thesis on something in the 60s and it may tie what was going on it the world and how music/pop culture portrayed/affected that. Who knows let me know what you think. I just keep writing down ideas, sometimes when I go back to them I don't like them but the 60s just seem to stick. Well anyways...then we made our way down to canal street where I bought myself some pretty purses and I am oh so happy about that. From there we wandered down to Ground Zero. It was really cool to see it as well as the plans for what they are going to build. From that we grabbed are stuff and came home. Part of me wishes we stayed longer but I was so dead by the time we got home it was really good to have Sunday to catch up. I'm pretty sure I am going to make it back up there another week, with Brittian and possibly others, who knows. Katelyn might be there two so that will be lots of fun. I want to go up Thur and stay till Sun exploring and what not. I wont have anything till my tour at 11am on Mon so I can just get back late.

That was my big adventure. Today we were out of session which was nice and there wasn't much else going on. My tour didn't show up and the most productive things I did were organizing about 200 letter by date and writing Dani a letter. Well things are good. I'm half way done. Only 5 weeks left and I'm home. Seems like I just got here but there is part of me that can't wait to get home. Well I am sure it will come soon enough yet too soon.

Love ya All,
Meg

Love You...Love this town...

Its been a good weekend. I had friday off which was nice, slept in, got my laundry done, and went to the holocaust museum. Obviously the later is what was truly exciting. I have waited about 6 years and two weeks to do it and it was definalty worth it. I spent over 3 hours wandering around the museum and it is amazing, and so moving. Really reminds you to look at your life and go "life really is great", that whole perspective thingy. It was millions of times better than the Museum of Tolerance (the copycat in LA). I would def recommend it to anyone coming out here, even if you are not a history person. Then came back and just crashed for awhile, went to dinner with a bunch of my housemates and some of their friends, including our new housemate Julie who is from France and interning her for the summer. Then saturday was nice and causual. Woke up around 10ish and wandered to find the blockbuster that no longer exists. But instead found whole foods and came back and made french toast out of french bread for lunch. Then was lazy the rest of the day not doing much. Baked brownies and watched Phantom of the Opera, and read a lot ( I have now finished 5 books since I've been here). Oh by the way I have missed reading so much. I get to do it everyday which is great. Atleast when I commute which is at minimum and hour. Commuting is not the most stressful activity in the world if you have a book. Although that would not work in Socal since reading and the freeway do not mix well. Today started with going to church which was at 11 problem was I woke up at 1045, oh and its about an 8 minute walk. It was okay though. It was also the best mass I have out here so far. But im pretty picky. Then we went over to a friends house while waiting for people and watched wimbelton and Batman and Robin. Making fun of the later people were suprised that I actualy like Ice Man as my governor and who like him to run for Senate next (yes that would be a fun campaign to work on), maybe I won't leave Cali right after I graduate or just come back for a bit (since boxer isn't up for 4 years). But anyways so we then walked to foggy bottom, a metro stop about 2 miles away and then went to the Smithsonian Folk Festival. It was on Northern Ireland and a river area in Asia. Interesting but nothing too exciting but Im glad I did it. Im pretty sure Im from Southern Ireland but I have no clue. I think that is where the catholics are from but if you want to fill be in just let me know. At somepoint I want to get to know more about our family heritage, maybe Ill start doing that in my free time. Who knows... On the way back I did a bit shopping another 2 mile walk. But I found a pair of steve madden flats for $20, which makes me ohh soo happy. Then I came back had some dinner and crashed from all that walking. Plus this week I am going to go back up to the Jersey shore and visit the fam and then I finally get to go to NY this weekend and then get to see Great Britain, well maybe not Great Britain the place but Great Brittian the person is more than likely going to come out and spend a week with me. Which is great since I miss her and def miss all my friends so very much.

Basically life is great but Im tired so good night and to quote a country song. To all of you reading this "There's only one four letter word that will do ... Love You..."