Pelosi, Clinton and Kerry (oh my?)!

So lots has been going on! I apologize for not posting for a while. I just can't seem to sit down and do it. This could end up something of a lengthy post since I've been so absent. So take a seat.

Firstly, let me just rant for a minute. I'm at my favorite coffee house right now, bumming off their internet because Comcast is run by a bunch of freaking idiots. Basically, I haven't had cable or internet for over a week and Comcast is taking their sweet time trying to fix it. I know, I know. I'm a diva. I realize this. But give me a second to defend myself. How frustrating is it trying to hack into your neighbors unsecured internet connection for 10 minutes, moving your computer 3 cm to the left, right trying to get that ONE precious bar of glorious internet. And when you do, any sudden movement, if you swat a fly and accidently tap the keyboard- it's gone. Gone I tell you. Then there's the cable. I've missed about a week and a half of Conan, several reruns of Seinfeld, not to mention the countless showings of crappy movies such as The Mummy and The Wedding Crashers, things I rely on everyday to get me through. Anyway. This is frustrating, but I'm trying to channel my inner Buddha to get me through.

Let's see, most recently I suppose would be my birthday, 21! My good friend Marie came to town and we, along with Daniel of course, went out to celebrate. We hit up a happy hour at a delicious Mexican restaurant, and when I ordered my first legal alcoholic beverage they of course did not even ID me. Perfect. Anyway, we hit up a few more bars downtown and called it an evening to go home, enjoy my wonderful Argentinian wine and eat eat eat birthday cake! Most enjoyable.

While Marie was here, we did a few awesome things, including touring the Capital where we saw Nancy Pelosi!!!! Whhaaattttt. Okay, so there we were in the Statuary Hall, chillin, while all of a sudden Pelosi and her gang of stiletto/blackberry-ing followers trotted past. So cool. The capital was pretty too.

On that topic, Daniel and I went to a forum today at the Senate offices on the ICC (International Criminal Court) put on by Christopher Dodd. After the forum, we wandered around the Senate offices and bumped into Mel Martinez, John Kerry, and Jeff Sessions to name a few. Okay, their offices! But still, we saw their receptionists. Every office was like a scene from The Devil Wears Prada. Snazzy carpet, wooded furniture and two receptionists on either side of the Senator's office on hands free phones. "I'm sorry, Senator ---- is busy right now, he's constructing a bill on ----, can I take a message?".

Washington DC has made me a nerd.

The 4th of July was awesome. Our good friends Eric and Crystal were in town so we met up with them at the national mall, which was pretty decked out with different festivals. It was the annual Smithsonian Folklife festival and this years theme was different American roots, so they had regions from around the world in sections with their food, dance etc.. After eating in South America and drinking at a pub in Wales, we decided to stake out our spot for the fireworks, where we saw this:

The next day Daniel and I went to the national cathedral to pay tribute to our nation's cathedral- but more importantly to that West Wing episode... It was beautiful. We sat through a choir session, saw the tomb of good ol' Woodrow Wilson, and sat in the garden and read for bit. I tried to channel my inner sophomore year art history, and attempted to explain the arches, the stained glass window stories, and exterior architecture to Daniel but I'm pretty sure he didn't buy anything. Why does my memory have to suck so much?

Last month I went to a meeting with Hil-dawg (AKA Hilary Clinton). I was like 6 people from her! She was introducing a new phamplet on international human trafficking statistics. It was like a rock concert with nerdy human rights activists. Loved it.

What else? We've had a few more visitors... Julie, Amy and Marrissa from the Ecuador trip came over for the IC convention a few weeks ago. We grabbed some sushi. Love those girls. Dre and Heather (Daniel's brother and brother's girlfriend) from NYC came for the weekend. We went to the National Archives and saw the Dec. of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and a lot of other crazy things.

This Sunday we are going to Baltimore for an Art Festival called Artscape. Should be fun.
The weekend after, we'll be hitting up NYC for our part of the bargin with Dre and Heather.
After that we'll be having a few more visitors including Mom and Emily!, another friend from school, and after that we start wrapping up to leave :(

Weirdddddd.

Love to all-