Two Weeks in June

I haven't written for the last couple weeks . . . here's highlights!

Wednesday 6/1: Went on a run along the C&O Canal path in the evening. It was sticky hot outside, but the fiery pink sunset was so beautiful that we wanted to keep running forever. Didn't have the time though, because we met up later with some of my old high school friends! Derek, Jeff, and Jeff's girlfriend Kim. We went to at a restaurant in Adams Morgan called Open City and chatted away. I love seeing old friends and recognizing what made us friends in the first place.

Thursday 6/2: Our anniversary! I also gave a Capitol Tour to the sweetest Hawaiian family. They'd been saving up for this DC trip for a long time, and they were all so excited to be there. It was a mom, dad, and their four kids. It felt like they were hanging on every word. After the tour, they all took turns giving me big hugs and saying "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" more times than I can remember.

Saturday (6/4) and Sunday (6/5): Took the Amtrak up to Baltimore for Brock's LSAT on Monday. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for a belated anniversary dinner, and moseyed around Inner Harbor. Also saw an Orioles game at Camden Yards--another ballpark crossed off our list! Check out photos #41-65 here.

Monday 6/6: Brock took the LSAT. He said it was crazy hard, but he couldn't have prepared any more than he did. I'm so proud of the diligence he's shown these past seven months throughout hundreds of hours of study and dozens of practice tests. We'll get his scores back in three weeks or so. 

Also, I toured the Capitol dome with some friends from work! I loved getting to see the fresco in the rotunda close up, and looking out from the top of the dome over alll of D.C. See photos #66-106 here.

Tuesday 6/7: We went on a mini-date in honor the LSAT being over. Rode bikes up to Adams Morgan where we ate at Amsterdam Falafel, and then headed down to Dupont Circle for a vanilla shake at Shake Shack. We drank our shake on a park bench and people-watched the goings--a trumpet player, couples holding hands, people dipping their toes in the fountain (see photos #109-120 here). Later that evening, we went down to the Potomac and sat on a bench together, watching little duck families waddle around on the dock.

Wednesday 6/8: In the afternoon, I went to a lecture given by David Brooks! He's one of my favorite columnists in the New York Times. His lecture was centered on how our social skills influence success--did you know that you can predict with 75% accuracy whether a child will eventually graduate high school based on how he interacts with his mother when he's eighteen months old? Crazy! He also spoke a lot of the nature of journalism today and the polarization of Congress. One of the best comments he made was about the current state of the Republican party, which he said has become far too individualistic. With so much focus on "You can pull yourself up by your boot-straps!" and "Become a self-made man!", he says the party often forgets about social context. Where we come from and the situations that surround us matter.

Friday 6/10: Started the day off with a lecture from an orthopedic surgeon who worked for the military in Afghanistan. He showed some gnarly pictures (as in, tumors LITERALLY exploding and infected on the outside of the body). It's amazing to me how normal those pictures were to him, and yet they have the power to make someone pass out. This doctor also had almost no tools to work with. He had his father mail him out a drill from Home Depot to use in surgeries.

In the afternoon, a big group of us headed to a lecture at the Israeli embassy. It was a snoozer, but what I thought was cool was getting a tiny dose of what an Israeli security checkpoint is like. It took our group of forty people well over a half-hour to get through security--and we were the only ones in line! Two by two, we were allowed into the security room. Showed our passports, walked through a metal detector, waited to be released. We could only bring in a pen, paper, and our IDs. No purses, no cell phones, no water bottles. I can't imagine having through go a checkpoint like that twice per day just to go to work (like Palestinians in the West Bank do).

Brock played on Brookings' softball team that night in their epic smackdown of the Forest Service (20-7!). We walked home from the softball fields at Tidal Basin, passing the Jefferson and FDR memorials along the way. It was a beautiful evening and I saw fireflies for the first time! Their little booties are so cute!

Saturday 6/11: We caught a morning showing of the movie Super 8. Except during a very tense scene near the end, the fire alarm went off! Everybody had to evacuate the theater, but we got free movie tickets (even though we were able to go back in and finish the movie).

That night we played games on Georgetown's campus with a bunch of friends from the Barlow Center. I don't know what the game was called--some version of Capture the Flag? Everybody kind of made up rules as we went along, so ended up being a massive game of Calvinball, haha.

Sunday 6/12: We gave talks in Sacrament Meeting at church, and I even pulled double duty with a lesson to the Primary girls right after! They're so fun--most of their families are new to the church and they have so many questions. Like "Why can't we have tattoos?" You'd think the answer would be easy, right? But how do you explain that to a girl whose daddy has tattoos and now they're worried that the Church doesn't like their daddy? 

Later that day I went to baby shower for my beautiful friend Helen! It was so great to see her and to meet all her wonderful family. I always love meeting my friends' families because then I'm like "Okay . . . that's why they're awesome."

Tuesday 6/14: NBD, it was only my BIRTHDAY! Brock surprised me in the morning with breakfast at Founding Farmers. (He'd called my boss the day before and gotten permission for me to come in late that day!)

At work, my co-worker made me an American flag birthday cake and we had a mini-party. How nice are they?! 

Brock and I caught a showing of X-Men: First Class later that night and even splurged on popcorn and Sprite--for $11! WTF?!? But I didn't care. IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY.