Bring Money

Today the weather was great and when the weather is great I hate to have to be stuck inside all day. I want to be outside laying on a blanket, or reading, or walking or exploring. Time wasn't going fast enough. When 5 o'clock hit I jumped up a little too eagerly, I needed to get out of the office and breathe! So I went exploring. I stopped by my favorite burger place and picked up my favorite shake and resumed my walking. Pretty soon I found myself outside of a used book store that I immediately fell in love with. I walked in and saw more books stacked in one place than I had ever seen. Old books with yellow pages, new books with crisp white pages, kids books, language books, you name it. It was there.

I met the owner. Our conversation went like this-

" I love this store, do you read a lot?"

" No, I look for books, find books, I buy books, pick people's boogers out of them and then I try and sell them."

"Oh?! So you own a bookstore and don't read?"

"Young lady, I didn't say I didn't read. I just don't read a lot."

This old man was kind of cranky but he was hilarious. He explained to me that I had ten minutes to explore three floors so I better get going. I wanted to take his picture but I'm sure he would not have let me.

"Well, you have a good night. I love your bookstore! I'll be back!"

"Bring money."

AHAHAHAHAHA. He really said that!!

The Good Eatery

Apparently there is this woman named Taza running around town blogging about how great The Good Stuff Eatery is... let me tell you she is right. These are my favorite burgers in the whole world and even though this meal is ridiculously expensive and costs more than anyone should ever pay for a burger, fries, and a shake its definitely worth it! Don't worry the fries are amazing as well....rosemary and sea salt... my roommates surprised me by taking me there for lunch cz I get so excited when I eat there. I force myself to eat it all and then I'm full for two days!

Snowy Capitol Hill

Most snow DC has had in about 100 years.

Kids

I'm not ready for them. All President's weekend I hung out with my youngest sister Mia. It was great I love her and she loves me. Everything was going good until Sunday morning when they brought Mia to me because she wasn't participating in Primary. I started talking to her and decided that I would just take her to relief society with me. Needless to say that as I picked her up and started walking this girl THREW UP all up and down my back. Now see my first reaction was to throw her off of me but then I just resigned myself to my fate and stood there and just let her throw up on my back and down my coat. If that's not love I don't know what love is. When she was done and I was smelling like crap I ran us into the bathroom and I set her down next to the toilet and I said if you need to throw up do it in there and than I ran to the sink and washed my hands. The conversation went a little something like this.

Nat: Mia(Gag) wash(gag) your (gag) hands (gag) ok?

I mean I could barely breathe I was gagging so bad I thought I was going to throw up myself.

Mia( who was no longer sick, miraculously): Naty!

Nat: (gag) What ? (gag)

Mia (Standing at the toilet): I don't know how to do this....

Nat: Girl me either! ( and yes I called her girl) Ok Mia you wait here. I'll be back. I'm going to clean up the throw up in the hallway.

Mia: Ok

I walk into the hallway and two seconds later I hear this horrible screaming from the bathroom. I run back in there all scared, " Mia! What?! What's wrong."

"I missed you."

I know other people would have been touched to hear this sentence but I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Here I was trying to clean up throw up and hold her hand at the same time. I had to drive home. What if she threw up in the backseat, who was going to take care of her, would I have to pull over, who was going to make sure my siblings got home. And the whole time I just wanted to know...which dry cleaner is going to clean my coat on a Sunday!!!???

All this to show I'm not ready for kids nor all the time they require anytime soon. I need some me time and lots of it!

The culprit on Sunday morning before "The Incident"

I still love her though.

Valentine's Day

I know I missed all the hype about Valentines day because I didn't get to post that weekend! I was busy for once! I went home to see my family and was reminded how much I love them and how I could never live without them. It ended up being the best Valentine's Day I've had in a while. I woke up to a great breakfast, spent time with my family, and got three books including Lunch in Paris, Apples for Jam, and The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman . I've been wanting these for a while so I was excited. I'm finished reading Lunch in Paris but I haven't received the others in the mail yet. Bummer. Anyway, I hope everyone's day was as good as mine.

PS I was going to add pictures to this post but sadly it is not working at all...sucks.

Sweet Surprise

So not going to lie, I was laying in bed the other day thinking man, I'm missing out on all the great packages that Emily's mom sends and gosh I guess that's what happens when you don't live with her anymore. Buttttt today my roommates checked the mail (because I'm too lazy to ever go get it) and brought me back an amazing surprise! The good ol' Valentines day chocolate heart that apparently is a tradition in the James's household. All I know is I love these things. Thank youuuuu Mike and Teena!

Andi

Let me tell you about my roommate Andi. She's the youngest and when I first met her I was really worried that I would think she was annoying especially since she was in my room. That's right,MY ROOM, I was there first. You know what I'm saying? Anyway, I have since grown to love her and her sense of humor. Let me give you some background. She works for the DNC and over the weekend because of their winter convention she got to meet the President, TWICE, and hang out with Pelosi and her family for a day or so since they were snowed in! Not going to lie, the rest of us roommates snowed in at our apt were dying of jealousy. Although mostly we were jealous because she was with the Pres not necessarily that it was Obama. She is a rabid Obama fan and anything democratic lover. I would love to know how she became such a tree hugging liberal freak in the middle of Utah! Anyway we decided to get her back by hanging up all these Laura Bush posters above her bed and around the house that she hates and then we left. She came home before we did and got us back good.

We came home to this:

Needless to say I am having the time of my life with great roommates that make me laugh.

Just another day on the Hill (Capitol Hill)

So sadly I have no pictures of one of the best days in my life!!! Cameras were not allowed.

This morning I rolled out of my bed at 4 am in the morning, and I caught a cab at 4:40 in the morning with a taxi cab driver named John who quickly pointed out that he was a sinner redeemed by grace who considered himself an independent baptist who goes strictly off the old testament and who kept asking me whether I was Mormon or Christian and to whom I had to keep repeating sir...Mormons are Christian. That's why I could never be a missionary because I was getting super frustrated and angry. He wasn't listening!

Anyway, I arrived at the Capitol Hill Hilton at 5 am in the morning just in time to check my coat, miss breakfast, go through security and start ushering people in the ballroom for the National Prayer Breakfast.

The best things ever happened. Don't worry about it, I walked senate Majority leader Harry Reid to his seat... I was basically/literally brushing shoulders with Nancy Pelosi (she had to get to her seat), I was less than 50 feet from Pres. Obama, Michelle Obama, VP Joe Biden, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Madame Secy. Hillary Clinton, Tim Tebow, Chairman of the Joint Chief of staffs SGT Mullen, I mean I was in congressional/white house cabinet heaven. These people are some of the most powerful people in the world! BLOWS MY MIND.

My most favorite thing had to be Sen. Hatch's prayer. One of my roommates was talking to him later on in the day and he mentioned that he couldn't remember what he said which goes to show it wasn't scripted but rather a genuine pray directed by the spirit. I mean who would script this??

And my day got better....

I went to my first hearing at work where I learned about the budget for the Department of Commerce...crazy literally how people talk about millions of dollars and billions of dollars in a budget like I talk about tens and twenties. I can't even imagine how much money that is.

I got to go to Sen.Brown's (MA) swearing in ceremony where I watched from the gallery as Kerry, Brown and McCain and Biden all just mulled around and hung out until the actual ceremony took place.

Basically in less than a week I have seen Pres. Obama twice..more than some people will see any President their whole life time. I am so lucky and I love it. I could keep writing forever but I'll stop because I know this isn't exciting to anyone else but me really. Love you all. Ciao

P.S. The best part is that if it snows tomorrow... Snow day from work baby!!!

Boom Boom Pow!

I'm going to Black Eyed Peas Concert on Feb 23 at the Verizon. I am extremely excited cz if you know me than you know boom boom pow was basically the only song I listened to my last three weeks in Provo last summer. (I miss those days Mel, waking up me going to work, and you going to work in a sweatshop making bouquets.) One more band/group/solo artist I can scratch off my concert list.

I still need (in no particular order):

• Lady Gaga
• Taylor Swift
• Carrie Underwood
• Rihanna
• Kelly Clarkson
• Maroon 5
• Mary J Blige
• Jay Z

Those are highest on my list but I am sure I'll keep adding.

National Symphony Orchestra

(Notice the huge Kennedy head on the left, kinda creepy)

Hall of Nations

I wanted to be a little more cultured so I went ahead and went to the National Symphony Orchestra concert at the Kennedy Center. I actually quite enjoyed it except for when the one guy started singing in German....So over my head. Apparently they have a tour you can take of the Kennedy center and a delish restaurant on the top floor. I need to go back and check those things out but when you are a broke college/not college student, you can't eat out at every restaurant. Know what I'm saying?

Updates on my life....

So I don't want to get back to Utah and have my Utah friends feel like they don't know me anymore so I am going to update you all on the little things that I have noticed that are new/changed:

1.I've switched to 1% milk.

2. Forget the honey nut cheerios it's Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Cinnamon clusters and I cut up strawberries and throw them in there! I love it.

3. I only eat out on the weekends ! Just something new I am trying. I've only been doing it three weeks but it's working!

4. I don't hate running as much as I used to... I actually feel kind of good when I run now.

5. I only eat rice like twice a week now! I miss the rice cooker.

6. I prefer Gaga to Britney! Sad but Brit doesn't get me as pumped as Gaga.

7. I don't even eat chips as much as I used to!! Crazy! I still love them but now I have apples with my sandwiches! Oh...and I've stopped adding the mayo and mustard to my sandwiches! Just trying to cut out small amounts of calories when I can especially cz I am not working out..like...ever.

Anyway... earlier I swear I had new things to share but now I can't remember them...Peace!

I forgot to mention....

I met Dan Rather.....

that's his signature...
All together now...

In case you are wondering he shook my hand 3 times..

I have a badge...

.....and it gets me wherever I want to go in the Capitol and Senate office buildings, and House office buildings and I take full advantage of it. I ride the trams that Senators use, I walk around the galleries after they have been closed to the public, I sit in the Capitol Rotunda and stare and stare ( I even know where the gas masks are hidden in case we are attacked..but I can't tell you.) and mostly I just explore and find all the offices of all the important Senators/ Congressman that I want. Hopefully I'll run into Obama one day! (Yeah, right. If I do bump into him I will probably be prosecuted for interrupting matters of National Security. But,a girl can dream, right?)I mean...sometimes I walk through these buildings with marble staircases and gold leafing and powerful people all around and I think gosh....I LOVE THIS!

One of the Hallways- just beautiful

My badge def wouldn't get me in there.

View of Washington Monument from the Senate Gallery

View of the Rotunda from Senate Gallery

Original Cornerstone that George Washington laid in full Masonic regalia

(We have got to say that when we give a tour)

Photo booth Fun

I have finally joined the throngs of people who have sat down with their Mac and wasted countless hours playing and taking pictures in Photobooth. Now if I could only figure out how to import the whole album into Facebook that would be great!......

I love GW

..and I'm not talking about Bush. I love George Washington our founding father, our first president, amazing general and all around great guy. If more countries had leaders like George Washington there wouldn't be as much corruption in the world! I had the opportunity to visit the George Washington Masonic Memorial and it made me love him even more!

Holocaust

So one of my favorite places in DC is the holocaust museum. I managed to make it there yesterday right before it closed. No other museum stirs my emotions like that one. Those poor Jews. How can some humans be so cruel?? I was walking through the propaganda exhibit snapping away and pondering over that question when I realized that you can't take pictures in the holocaust museum. Who knew?? I managed to get a few before the security guard tapped me on the shoulder and said," Ma'am, will you put the camera away?" And I said," OH..Yes, Sorry!"