I Choose Happiness

Before you get too deep into this post, I'll give you fair warning: It's all about me. Instead of reflecting on the fun things I've seen or the places I've gone, I felt the need to take some time tonight to reflect on myself and how I have changed over the last few years into who I am today. Yes, it's a little self indulgent, but hey, it's my own blog and I did warn you!

This last week has been very reflective for me. Whether that was because I found the time to work out every day and had endorphins running through me or because my time here in DC is coming to an end is unclear, all I know is I had quite a few opportunities to see myself in a new light this week. I wrote at the very beginning of this blog that high school freshman Jennifer wouldn't recognize Jennifer today, for many reasons. Not only have I grown up and become more confident and independent, I've found a way to stop worrying about the little things in life that bother me or upset me and instead, just be happy.

Looking back, I was pretty unhappy my first few years of high school, but (and maybe this is a stretch) I feel like a lot of freshmen and sophomores are. You're always worried about who you're friends with and how you look and what people think of you. I worried about all these things like any other fifteen-year-old girl and it took me years to get over this. Maybe it's a part of growing up that we all have to go through and we all outgrow it. I'd like to think I outgrew it sooner rather than later, but I can't say that for sure.

I believe that you can't fully experience joy and happiness until you've felt genuine pain and sadness and in the middle of my high school years, just as I was starting to get over those middle-school insecurities, I did. I know I've led a pretty privileged life; I'm blessed in so many ways. I haven't really faced tragedy or death or trauma in my twenty years of life, but I've known what it means to be hurt and to feel like your world has stopped spinning. I know what it's like to get off the phone and cry for three days straight because just as you thought things were going to work out, everything changed. But I've also known what it's like to have people in your life who will bring you back from that pain and hurt, who will let you cry, then come into your room and hold you until you stop shaking, or meet you at Peachwave on a moment's notice to make you laugh and tell you everything is going to be okay.

Following that sadness, I found joy with my friends, with basketball, and with my life. I found that it didn't really matter who I was friends with, because I knew that the girls I called my friends had my back, no matter what. I didn't care if people thought I was lame because I went to a Tim McGraw concert with my mom and dad, because I know I had way more fun with them than I would have had with anyone else. Once I got to college, I experienced those freshman jitters and played the "I'm-busy-texting-someone-not-sitting-here-by-myself-waiting-for-someone" game my fair share. But, finally, after being on my own and experiencing life as an adult here in DC this summer, I've found that place where I don't want to worry about what people think or how I should feel. It's not worth my time and energy. I'd rather be happy.

There are a lot of negative people in this world and a lot of people have good reasons for that negativity, but for the life of me I can't understand why someone would spend so much energy on being unhappy. In my opinion, it takes way more effort to constantly be thinking about how things could be better than it does to just accept your life the way it is and be grateful for it. Life isn't perfect. Yes, I wish I looked like the Nike models that Health Magazine Instagrams every morning, but I just ran three miles and enjoyed every bite of the peanut butter and nutella sandwich I had for desert. Yes, I wish I had someone to dance with at country concerts and hold my hand as he walks me home at night, but I have friends who will dance with me and make fools of themselves with me long after any guy leaves. Yes, I wish I was going to be home next weekend for my grandma's birthday so all six of my cousins could be in one place for the first time in years, but I'm having an experience that few people are lucky enough to have, living in the nation's capitol, walking past lawmakers on my way to work.

There are things I could easily complain about. If I chose to, I could sit here and complain all day, but I don't, because who wants to be unhappy? Instead, I choose happiness. Trust me, it's a lot more fun!

Congressional Offices, 9/11 Reflections, and a Little Bit of Country

Hello again! I know it's been a while since I last wrote, but that's because I felt like I hadn't done anything interesting enough to share with you all—until I sat down and remembered everything that's happened over the last two weeks.

Probably one of the most enjoyable things I've done all summer at work happened last week, when one of my offices (Townsend Public Affairs) had clients in town and I was given the opportunity to attend meetings with them at the Department of Education and at two different Congressional offices. The best part about it was that yes, I was there as an intern, but I was a part of the meetings just like my boss and the congressional staffers in the meetings. The most fascinating part of the meetings, however, was not the conversations that took place, it was the offices they took place in.

I'd been in two Congressional offices before that day and both were as you would expect: tidy, slightly cramped, representative of the Rep's district, etc. However, the first office we entered with our clients was one of the most fascinating experiences I've had in DC. It was a disaster!! Never in my life have I had such an urge to go into someone else's space and start cleaning up so badly! This particular Congressman lives in his office (I was told) while he is in DC and he had just returned from his home in California so there were half-unpacked suitcases lying haphazardly around the office, along with dozens of boxes, trinkets, garbage, and other random junk lying on the floor. The walls were another story. The poor guy seriously needs someone with a little interior design savvy to tell him that not every single space on the wall needs to be covered with something. I saw everything from medals to a guitar to a surfboard stuck to the walls of this office. I would've felt bad for the guy because he clearly didn't understand how unprofessional it was to be meeting with constituents in an office as trashed as his, but he was incredibly rude, so I didn't have much sympathy.

Our next meeting was with the office of a freshman Rep from California. Let me tell you, if you thought being a freshman in school sucked, being a freshman Congressman is even worse. This office was located on the fifth floor of the building (the elevator stops on the fourth floor so we had to find a hidden staircase to make it to the fifth floor) and was so small that there was not even enough room for us to meet with the legislative aid we were scheduled to talk with in the office. Instead, we were led across the hall to (literally) a storage closet. They had done their best to make the room seem more like an office with couches, a coffee table and one of those Japanese screens, but there was no hiding the shelves full of boxes, filled with papers and other things that did not fit in the office. Once I got over the shock of the Congressman whose office was so small we had to meet in the storage closet across the hall, I felt bad for him; it's not his fault he's new to Washington! The entire day was an eye opening experience that few Americans actually get to see. Congress definitely isn't all fancy offices and business dinners at the Capitol Hill Club!

In addition to work, I have had some time to finish up my list of tourist destinations I wanted to visit this summer, most recently the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, which I visited last weekend. Getting off on the Pentagon Metro stop is a little eerie on the weekends, especially as you walk from the Metro to the memorial, around the outside of the Pentagon building. The strangest part about it was that there were barely any people there. I passed by a few uniformed officers on their way in and out of the building, but the silence (especially after being in the city for so long) was slightly unnerving.

The Memorial itself was very well done. It is located on the side of the Pentagon building where the attack took place. I was struck by how stark the color differences were in the old parts of the building and the new parts that were rebuilt. The Memorial was built as a timeline, beginning with the date and time of the attack, going backwards in time. There is a small water feature representing each individual who died, in order of the year they were born. I believe the youngest was born in 1995 or 1997 and the oldest was born in the 30s or 40s. More than anything, the dates signified the senselessness of the aimless killings that took place that day, throughout the country.

I enjoyed having the opportunity to visit the Memorial for a lot of reasons, one being that it was nice to take a moment of silence, with the handful of others who were there, to remember that day in American history. It also meant more to me to visit a Memorial for an event that happened during my lifetime. For my generation, this is the defining political/national event of our lifetime. We didn't live through Vietnam or Korea or WWII and we weren't alive when JFK was killed or the Challenger went down; the moment that changed the way we see the world happened when we woke up on September 11 and went to school and began to understand what had happened. For me, in the fourth grade, it didn't mean much except that we had a moment of silence and went back to learning about the Oregon Trail, but looking back, that was probably one of the moments in my life that altered my innocent view of the world. To have the opportunity to reflect on that was important for me, especially with the two-toned Pentagon building in the background.

In addition to work and being a tourist, last weekend my roommate and another friend and I escaped the city for some much-needed country music at the Blake Shelton concert in Bristow, Virginia, an hour away from the city, by car. I must say, I had a hard time accepting the fact that I was at a country concert in Northern Virginia, but it was fun all the same! Blake is the best and if you haven't had a chance to see him before, you should definitely make an effort to do so at least once. Not only was I comforted by the carefree, easygoing vibe of the concert, it was nice to see some of the surrounding area, from a car as opposed to a metro. Virginia and Maryland really aren't that bad! They're a lot more green than California, at least!

Me and the roommate at Blake Shelton!

Sorry this turned out to be such a long post—concise writing has never been one of my strong points, but I'm trying to work on that! Hopefully I'll have time to update you on my last three weeks in DC before I make it back to the beautiful pacific northwest, but for now, I'll just wish you all a happy monday and say I'll see ya'll soon (as my Texan roommate would say).

Mom and Mere Mere Take DC

This holiday weekend was definitely a highlight of my summer so far, (I would probably get dirty looks from across the country if I didn't say this, but it is true!!) because I finally got to see family! My mom and grandma were in town for the Fourth of July weekend and it was an incredible break from intern/dorm life. We ate in real restaurants and slept in real beds and it was amazing.

They arrived Wednesday night. After surprising them at the airport, I showed them how to use the Metro system and we began our journey to the up and coming U Street area for dinner. I’d heard a lot about U Street, but this was my first time seeing it and it is definitely a fun area. It would probably be more fun if I were seven months older and could actually go in the restaurants/bars, but that’s beside the point. We enjoyed a wonderful Mexican dinner at U Street before taking the Metro back to the main part of the City to tour the monuments on the Mall after sunset. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and World War II Memorial before calling it a night.

We woke up feeling patriotic and ready to experience the Fourth of July in the nation’s capitol the next morning. The Fourth of July parade was similar to the Memorial Day Parade and I didn’t necessarily think it was worth standing in the sun and 90-degree heat to watch, but we did. Check that off the list. We then stopped by the White House, but were ushered away from the fence by the Secret Service as soon as we arrived, presumably because of the event that was about to begin on the White House lawn. Mom was not pleased. Later that afternoon, because everyone needs a burger on the Fourth of July, we stopped at Good Stuff Eatery, the best burger place in DC. We finished off our evening by listening to the Capitol Concert (Barry Manilow!) in a garden near the steps of the Capitol Building and watching the fireworks with hundreds of thousands of other people on the Mall. The Fourth of July in DC was definitely an experience, but to be honest, I would take take a barbeque at home with friends and family any day.

Friday morning we tried to wake up early enough to beat the heat at Arlington Cemetery, but we soon realized that was not possible. We saw the landmarks, the massive expanses of graves and made a round trip back to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which I could easily spend hours, even days, exploring. That afternoon we returned to the Capitol for our scheduled tour and ran across the street to the Supreme Court before they closed – another place I could spend hours wandering around. We were lucky enough that evening to find a very good Italian restaurant for dinner (thanks Yelp!).

Saturday morning was our boat cruise to Mt. Vernon, the home of President George Washington. Not only was it interesting wandering around Washington’s home, I enjoyed checking out Old Town Alexandria, where we boarded our boat, and the view of the shore from the Potomac River. Mt. Vernon was a great experience, but it would have been slightly better had it not been the hottest thing I think I’ve ever experienced. But hey, we checked it off the list! Saturday night’s dinner at Busboys and Poets was just as good as the last two nights; I’ve been able to convince Mere Mere that there is no bad restaurant in DC.

On their final day, I took Mom and Mere Mere to Georgetown, where we made the necessary stop at Baked and Wired for Cupcakes and wandered through the stores and streets.

Thankfully, the trip came to an end without anyone melting or dying of heat stroke and without any tears. I’m so glad they both were able to visit, both for me and for them! I know it’s a weekend I’ll never forget and I hope they say the same. Thanks for the fun times you guys and I’ll see you in five weeks!

Politics, Baseball, and Thoughts of Home

Well, this week a slight wave of homesickness finally set in. I'm not sure whether this was the result of spending time with my boss and her kids or hearing about all the fun times my friends are having back home, but something did it and there came that point when I just needed a slight taste of home. Initially, that taste came in the form of a Chipotle burrito bowl because nothing reminds me of good times with friends like the familiar spice of Chipotle. Later, I found comfort in a most entertaining Skype date with my mom and my Aunty Dy. There's something about a day spent by the pool with your sister in the sun, with no kids, and a good bottle of wine that makes you a prime Skype date and believe me, they were!

I must have been here for just enough weeks to be settling in because my week was definitely too busy and too exciting to cause me to miss home too much. Early in the week, thanks to my CMC alumni mentor, I had the opportunity to talk with some lawyers who work in government relations in DC, each of whom offered a unique and interesting perspective on what it is like to work in law and politics in Washington, two fields I am becoming more and more interested in. Thursday morning I was lucky enough to attend a Golden State Roundtable Breakfast with one of my internships where many of the freshman Representatives from Central and Northern California spoke. As much as I loved feeling the camaraderie of the Californians in the room, I was happy to meet and chat with a fellow CMCer who happened to be from Oregon! (Insert cheesy phrase here about how much I love my school) I was supposed to finish off my politically-driven, networking-filled week with lunch at the Capitol Hill Club (the prestigious Republican Club in DC) with my boss on Friday, but when I arrived at the Club it was surrounded by at least five firetrucks and I was promptly informed that the fourth floor of the Club was on fire. We went and got cheesesteaks instead.

One of the most exciting events of my entire week was when my PeacePlayers boss offered me and my fellow interns his front row tickets to the Nationals game. Front row tickets right at third base weren't too bad for my first major league baseball game! Not only were the tickets amazing, it was a fun way to get to know my fellow interns even better outside the office and to feel like a local for a few hours.

The remainder of my weekend including surviving the monsoon that hit Friday (think high-speed winds, flash flood alerts, and thunder so loud you think the sky is falling), visiting the Supreme Court (which I will never tire of), and welcoming a new roommate, who I am so thankful to say enjoys listening to country music while we get ready as much as I do! I also had a chance to visit Eastern Market with my internship bestie, checking out the farmers market (and the baked goods :) and the amazing jewelry for sale at the flea market. If you're ever in DC for a weekend, this is a must-do!

Feeling a little sassy at the Eastern Market flea market

Luckily, this week promises to be just as exciting as the last with a CMC visit to the Nats game on Tuesday and the city basically shutting down for the Fourth of July on Thursday. Oh and did I mention MOM AND MERE MERE ARE COMING ON WEDNESDAY?!? I'm just a little excited, in case you didn't get that. But more on that wonderful weekend next time. For now, I'll wish those of you back home luck in surviving the heat wave coming through, keeping in mind that my sympathy is low since it's nearly as hot here but we are enjoying 70% humidity. Please enjoy the pools, the rivers, and your families for me. As much as I love being here in DC this summer there are some things you never get used to and the lack of nature and missing my family are two of those things. Keep checking in and I'll see you all soon. Enjoy your July!

Who in their right mind wouldn't be a little homesick after seeing this??