The Big Apple!

Alright, so we're a little behind on this "blogging" thing. Give us a break- -we are just so busy being great interns :) About two weeks ago, a group of about 20 interns went to New York City for the weekend. We had a blast! Of course we hit all of the main touristy sights, we'd never been there before! I figure this is an easier story to tell in picture form...so here it goes!

Here's the gang in front of Radio City Hall!
Right after we got tickets to Chicago! 4th Row!!

Randy and I in front of the LATE NIGHT SHOW!
Jonattan, Randy and I at Rockefeller Center. This turns into an ice skating rink in the winter... how fun is that?!?

Waiting for Chicago to start- we're so excited!

On Saturday, Randy, Becca and I decided we were going to take a tour around NYC. Here we are on the top of the double-decker tourmobile. We had a blast! Becca and I in front of the Empire State Building!!! #1 on the top 10 list of NYC attractions. KLEIN vs. KLINE :) Becca and I in front of the Washington Square Arch. Unfortunately, the entire park was under construction, so we couldn't walk around it- -bummer! This is in the Soho area of NYC...we are just so trendy!
The Flatiron Building...at the intersection of Fifth Avenue, 23rd Street and Broadway. Ground Zero. This was unbelievable to see. Everything around the area is still standing, including a little church across the street. It was difficult to imagine the way it used to be 7 years ago.

Bec and I at the "Charging Bull Statue"/Stock Exchange. This was quite the tourist picture spot- -we basically had to run over people to get in front of this monumental bull! In Battery Park, overlooking the New York skyline. If you could look left of me, you would see the Statue of Liberty! DYLAN'S CANDY BAR! This is a huge candy store owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter. Literally, all the candy you can imagine! Yummy! We got caught in a huge storm right after lunch, and hid in Dylan's Candy Bar for refuge until it passed. Doesn't this look like a movie though?!? Nice photography Bec!In Central Park looking for Strawberry Fields. Note the HUGE umbrella Randy bought from a street vendor after our rain escapade! This saved us from a very wet night!
At Jazz Standard- a trendy little Jazz bar. The performer for the night was Freddy Cole- Nat King Cole's brother!

On our way home from a great weekend! Viva New York!

Watch for green skies!

Well, we are back up and running! This has been a crazy week! Earlier in the week, there were tornado warnings and extreme storm warnings. At work, they made us turn off our computers and step away from the windows in case anything happens. What I've learned so far... if the sky turns GREEN- - get down, a storm's brewin'! After a long day at work, Becca and I decided to go running. Sure there had been awful storms all day, but the skies had finally cleared up...we thought. About 2 1/2 miles into our run, the Gods opened the heavens and it RAINED, RAINED, RAINED!!! We had the best run of our lives and ended up running 8 minutes miles all the way home!

This past Saturday we went to Georgetown and checked out the campus. It quite possibly could have been the hottest day to ever hit Washington D.C.! We had to duck into stores about every 15 minutes just to cool off- even if we didn't want to go shopping there. We walked all the way to the campus, which is so gorgeous! Georgetown was founded in 1789, the same year that the U.S. Constitution took effect. It was fun to walk around inside the little classrooms and see hidden courtyards. It's not very big, but there is tons to see!

Diane, Marko, Megan, Becca and I sitting on the steps leading up to Georgetown.

Becca, Me, Randy, Diane, and Megan sitting in the auditorium at Georgetown.

Meagan standing in one of the courtyards- -so pretty and enchanting!

We have also finished our nighttime tours of the monuments! Last week we went to this trendy restaurant called Vapianos. It is a fun Italian joint located right in Dupont. After dinner, Marko and his friend Megan (visiting from UTAH!!), Randy, Becca and I went and saw the White House and the Jefferson Monument at night. It is amazing how close you can get to the White House on the front side. The back is the view normally seen; that is where all of the press conferences and meetings happen. Also, Jefferson is a monument that everyone should visit! It is absolutely gorgeous! You can just sit on the stairs and look across Tidal Basin to see the top of the Washington Monument sitting above the trees. I could sit there forever.

Randy Wood, Meg, Becca and Mark Mijic at the White House.

- -Sorry it's blurry...don't judge too harshly!

Megan (Marko's friend), Me, Marko and Becca looking over Tidal Basin from the Jefferson stairs. [If you look closely, you can see the Washington Monument in the background]

A few nights ago, we went and saw the Korean and Vietnam memorials all lit up at night. They are striking monuments!

We are still loving DC and have many, many stories to come! And guess where we're going this weekend...NEW YORK CITY!!! Stay posted because I'm sure we'll have a great post! Ciao!

-Meg and Bec-

6:45 on a thursday

A curious fact unique to D.C. : a man can stand in the street with a cardboard sign, letting his eyes peek out and claiming he would make a better President than Bush, and nobody laughs. (except the girls from Salt Lake City, who were entertained by him to the point of necesitating photographic documentation).

Celebrate good times!

Alright, so we are doing very poorly with this whole "blogging" world. Last weekend was Memorial Day, and it was absolutely wonderful being here in the Capitol for all the events. We went to Arlington Cemetary and heard President Bush speak. There were flags at every gravesite and it was such an overwhelming sight. It was awesome to see all of the flags and service men in uniform who protect us everyday and have done so much for all of us. On Sunday, we went to church, and the visitors were introducing themselves; one man stood up and introduced himself and his wife Gladys...well, as it turns out, it was Gladys Knight!! We went to the National Memorial Day concert that night and saw her perform. It was fantastic! Don't be fooled when people introduce themselves non-chalantly...they usually have something to hide!

Here we are in Arlington Cemetary after the ceremony where President Bush spoke.

Our friends Sarah and Andrea also came in this weekend! It was so great to spend some time with them!! On Friday, Becca, Sarah and I went to Old Town Alexandria. It is what I expect the "Park City" to Salt Lake City. There are all of these fun shops and little restaurants lining every road. We hit the major stops...such as George Washington's townhome, the Tavern where GW celebrated his birthdays, the City Hall, Christ's Church, etc. We had a blast! However, we have to go back, because they have a ghost tour at night that we absolutely can't miss. We'll update on that little excursion later! We also took Sarah to the Jazz concert in the Sculpture Garden in the Smithsonian. They have these concerts every Friday, and they are really fun. Everyone just brings picnics and spends time with good friends.

Sarah and I at the Jazz festival in the garden. Don't we look like city-women??

And...the biggest news of all...I (Meagan) turned 21 yesterday!!! I'm officially legal..as much as that means :) Last year on my birthday, we were in Prague on study abroad...this year Washington DC- -I can't to see what June 1st brings next year!

Here at my little birthday party with cake and everything!!!

True Story

Once upon a time there was a little country girl with curly locks who moved to the big city. She was given a security pass to get through the locked doors at her office building and was warned not to use one of the staircases, because the security pass didn't work on that staircase. One day, she decided to be very brave and use the stairs even though she had previously always used the elevator because the warning about choosing the right staircase or being locked in forever scared her to death. She was feeling confident that day because she had just finished a project that the big trendy boss man had been impressed with. In her confidence, she felt she was finally ready to use the stairs. She remembered the warning, and with logic that only she understands, figured that if she got to the top of the staircase and realized there was no security swipe pad, she would simply go back down, admit defeat, and take the elevator. However, the ominous clunk of the lock behind her as she walked into the stairwell gave her chills, which proved valid when she got to the top (no swipe pad) and found a locked door, then turned and realized she couldn't get back out either. Ten shaky minutes and several hundred futile breaths later, she had sore knuckles from knocking on both doors, and she realized that she could die here and nobody would ever find her body! Shaky turned to pure panic as she started experiencing claustrophobia, a rare condition for someone from the wide open country air. Then, she made the life and death decision that she would walk all the way down the staircase to the lobby and pray for a way out. Let me tell you, that receptionist has never looked so good! haha. moral of the story... as an intern, you are always the dumb one. Never forget it.

Pic Posts...Revised

Here we are on the Metro on our way to the Eastern Market...so fun!

Eastern Market: TONS of little shops set up selling everything imaginable!

Overlooking the Potomac right before we went kayaking! It was a perfect day!

At George Washington University! They were having their graduation services on Saturday and we were right in the middle of everything!

Pic Post

Here are just a few more pics from our adventures on Saturday. As you have probably read from Becca (seeing as she thinks she's an official blogger now...) we went to the Eastern Market in the morning and walked all around the flea market and grabbed some lunch around the area. Then we went kayaking on the Potomac around Roosevelt Island. Then we went and cooked dinner together in a big group and watched a movie. It is great living in our own apartments and being able to come and go as we please.

Kayaking on the Potomac

On Saturday we planned on seeing an Air Show but ended up Kayaking instead since the Show was full. I have to admit, I'm kinda glad we never made it to the Show...I kayaked on my first try! The lifejackets are quite a fashion statement, don't you think? Meg, why did you unzip yours? You could die! Especially since you and Randy tend to run into bridges with the side of your boat. . . hope they don't charge us extra for that! (Left to right: Clark, Maggie, Diane, Me!, Randy, Meagan).

My Turn

Okay. Meagan has been doing all the blogging so far but guess who got a keyboard? That's right. So here's life according to Becca as of our first Saturday morning in D.C. :

We just got back from a jog around The Mall (all the monuments ...so pretty!) So you can rest assured, we are getting our exercise. All our other attempts crashed and burned because we've been so tired in the mornings after our late night adventures. It was nice to get out and run. (That was for you mom! Have you been going?)

After a week in D.C. I have learned a few things. Number one on the list is NEVER walk to work in your high heels. Take flip flops and switch them out on the elevator. Number two- forget about personal space when it comes to riding the metro during rush hour. Number three- jaywalking is not against the law here. Number four- Stand on the right, walk on the left unless you want to get yelled at on the escalator. haha. And number five- it definitely rains in D.C.!

And Dad, just for you, I'll tell about how I know everything you could possibly know about the EECBG (energy efficiency and conservation block grant), Hillary's big win in West Virginia, Bush's remarks in Israel that infuriated democrats (and some republicans) and all about "going green," along with many other (useless? haha) facts that I never would have known at home.

D.C. is an amazing place to be. There is still SO much to see, but I've loved everything I've seen so far. I'm getting used to working in an office too. . . Yesterday we sent our paper to the printer so I got to do some editing which was exciting and scary. (I had to take one of the Senior Staff's copy back to him and point out all his grammar mistakes that I had caught. hahah!)

Okay, I'll wrap it up, we're heading out to Eastern Market and then to an Air Show. Should be fun! I wish I could put my pictures up but Meagan's camera cord doesn't fit in my camera...I'll work on it! Don't worry, I'll be blogging more now- I finally learned our password!

Monument Escapades

Hello everyone!!!

Tonight a few of us went to see the monuments at night all lit up. We ended up seeing the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and World War II. They were absolutely gorgeous! It was a beautiful day today, the sun was shining and it was so warm! Surprising, seeing as there were flood warnings out because of the rain the last two days. But...we are loving it all and don't ever want to leave!

The District

Well...we made it to the District! We arrived in a whirlwind. Here we are in our first apartment of our whole lives! Becca and I lucked out, because we were the first ones to the apartment, so we got to choose our rooms. Needless to say, we got the master bedroom (with a walk-in closet and connected bathroom). Tonight we met up with all of the interns and went to dinner and grocery shopping. We now know what it's like to live in a city and carry your groceries two blocks home. You would not believe how heavy spaghettti sauce is! We also got lucky with wireless internet in our apartment...so we don't have to install or pay for it- yes!!! Feel free to e-mail us at beckynmeg@gmail.com; because we can check it for free :) We'll check in later. Ciao!

Packing Up and Heading Out

Saturday is the day our adventure starts. We have Sunday to get settled into our apartment , get to know our new stomping grounds and get geared up for our new jobs, which start on Monday.

Wish us luck!