gimme them bright lights, long nights, party 'til the sun is risin', high rise, overtime. ♥

Hiiiii.

I must apologize for missing 2 weeks of blogging! Life has been going by way to quickly. I only have 7 weeks left of this adventure! :( The closer i get to leaving the more i don't want to leave, but at the same time seeing my Mom this past weekend made me miss home. As much as I'm always trying to get away, there really is nothing like home.

I guess the best thing to do would to be to start where i left off. I keep putting off blogging because i have so much to say, and i can't recap all of it sufficiently.

Monday, March 9th.. We had another Presidential Lecture series for programming and then we had class.

Tuesday, March 10th.. I went to work & then i went to Reading Club with the girls from Chantilly. Its a program that Natalie our Grad intern put together with a BWUFA member. Every other Tuesday we go to this members house, have snacks, and read a book with the girls. Then they learn how to do a fun task while there, for example bake cupcakes from scratch or how to knit. (Both of which i had no idea how to do..) Its a good way to get the girls out of Chantilly, get them reading and have them experience new things.

Wednesday, March 11th..I went to work and then I came home. I don't think the 11th was a very exciting day.. haha.

Thursday, March 12th... I went to work and then i met up with two of the civic fellows Andy & Erica who are also interning down here through the Washington Center, a former civic fellow Erinn, and Mike Hannahan one of our bosses. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and catch up on how everyone is doing. Life has been so crazy i haven't seen Andy & Erica besides programming. It was fun to see Mike and hear about how things are going at Civic and in Mass. All in all it was a fun night.

Friday, March 13th...I watched greys & hung around with Michelle & Sabrina. Fridays are usually lazy days because we're so tired from the week!

Saturday the 14th.. Sabrina and I went to Baltimore with Michelle to pick up her friend from the airport. Although i didn't see much of Baltimore it was fun to get out of the district for a little while. We even got a glimpse of mountains! We got up super early, so after a nap we went to Arlington Cemetery. We saw the changing of the guards and our boy JFK.

After this we went to the American History museum. I really liked this museum, as much as i like art i tend to like artifacts more. Besides, they had the old Dumbo ride from Disney.. which was pretty much my favorite ride when i was five.

That evening, Sabrina & I went to Ultra bar with the gang. I have a super interesting story if you ever want a good laugh. Inquire within if you'd like to know.


Sunday, March 15th..I didn't do too much of anything. I studied for my midterm and caught up on some chores. We then watched the Reader, it was verrry good, but i'd also like to read the book. I have a huge summer reading list for myself.

Monday, March 16th..For programming we went to the Newsum (because basically arts & advocacy program is the best) and it was super fun. I liked it alot, because like i said i like artifacts. They had the unibombers house which freaked me out.. haha. And they had a September 11th exibit. They also had a huge photography exhibit which i loveddd. I love photography.


Tuesday, March 17th..Happy St. Patrick's Day! In the morning i went to TWC with some Mass kids to meet Boston City Councilor Rob Consalvo. He was a pretty cool guy, not gonna lie. He was very funny and was also a TWC intern back in the day for our man Sen. Ted Kennedy. I went to work (after making a quick trip to my fave salad place.. chop't!) shortly after and then went to a meeting at Fairfax County G'vt to talk about the grants and measuring outcomes. We had girl's club later that night! yayyy. We talked to the girls about abuse & their body rights. After girl's club i went to Arlington with Natalie and met up with some of her fun friends for a drink.

Wednesday, March 18th..I went to work & then i went to the Landmark education forum at work. Sabrina & Andreaa met up with me. The landmark education program is basically a program that is about self-expression and leadership and unlocking problems. It was pretty cool.

Thursday, March 19th..work & then i met up with some of the crew for happy hour at The Front Page in Dupont Circle. They have 1/2 price apps until 7, $2 coronas all night & $3 bottom shelf mixed drinks until 7. It was good to get together with everyone after a long week and have some nachos. But i did make sure i came home in time to watch some greys (which has been SO good lately!)

Friday, March 20th..i went to work, we went out to Mt. Vernon Inn for Teresa's last day ( i love field trips, especially when they involve food!) and then i met up with My Mom!!! and Pam! They were at the DC home & garden show when i got out of work which wasn't what i expected. I got a really cool scarf though.. and good chocolate haha. I don't know what that has to do with either homes or gardens but i'm happy. We stopped by my apartment so she could see where i sleep and then we went to hard times cafe because i kind of love it there.

Saturday, March 21st..we checked out the monuments because you can never get enough of those babies.

Then we went to bucca di beppo for a lot of italien goodness.

Sunday, March 22nd..we went to Target! Can i tell you how much i miss target? Its really sad. I don't even like chain stores, but i always go to target when I'm at school. My target isn't metro accessible, so Mom took me.. haha. Then we went to Georgetown to a flea market and then Old Navy. The shopping problem is in our genes. We then went to dinner on King St and called it a night.

Today, the 23rd.. i woke up this morning not feeling well. I hadn't really felt well all weekend and today i realized i had a sinus infection. So after breakfast, we called the doctor and picked up some antibiotics. Thank goodness that Dr. Mom was in town! This afternoon Mom and Pam left :( and i went to programming. It was the Presidential Lecture Series with active and inactive Congressmen from different states. I liked this one the best out of the ones we've gone to so far. Tonight i came back home and just hung out because I'm drained.

Steph's corner.. i don't even know how to classify this: So while I've been down here.. I've collected some pretty fantastic friends. Today, I'm going to talk about two particular friends Sabrina & Rachel. As you've seen in past entries, Sabrina is one of my wonderful roomies & Rachel is from the 413. Sabrina has brought us in the wonderful world of calling people "the city dump"... you call someone this when they are less then attractive and/or do something that doesn't please you. This probably isn't politically correct but it tends to be pretty hysterical. The girls and I were talking about "spring cleaning" and going to "the city dump" because we're getting rid of all of the things and baggage we have collected through the years and throwing it away. They basically make me laugh so hard i fall to the ground and make my life a little better each time they open their mouths.

spin that record babe, just dance ♥

heyy,

So i think this weeks theme was neighborhoods. Sabrina and I had always criticized D.C. for the simple fact that we didn't feel at home. Every corner you turn is an office building or national something or other. We needed to see homes and shopping places. During this week, we got a chance to see some and we realized people really do live here.

Wednesday, March 4th.. i went to yet another conference for work. It was held at the Fairfax County g'vt center and was held by the Woman's group. It was really empowering and inspiring. They talked a lot about what if a women ruled the world, and a lot about woman's rights. A lot of people always talk about how there isn't a different between women and men and how we've reached equality. Well, I've got another thing coming to them. Women still make only 77 cents to every dollar a man makes.. and the majority of people in power are men. Women usually don't get the chance to reach their full potential because a lot of places don't offer enough time off to raise a family. Most women have to choose between one or the other, or taking a lesser career with a family in mind. The conference also talked about how women are too hard on each other and we need to band together instead of rip each other apart. SO. TRUE. How can we rule the world if we are criticizing each others outfits and calling each other names? Take for example, Hillary Clinton.. i heard more women bash her and rip her down then men did. And most of the woman's dislikes were about her outfits, or how she came off as "bitchy". We need to come together ladies, because if we can't do it no one can. So that is my rant on woman haha. After the conference, i came home and slept because i was one sick girl.

Thursday the 5th, i took a sick day from work. Later that night i thought i was feeling much better, so i went into the district to meet up with Amy, a fellow Northern Berkshire county resident and Papa Bose's former interns. We had dinner at a place called Stars, which has singing waiters and waitresses who perform every 15 minutes. It was really fun, Amy is probably one of the sweetest people ever and I'm glad we got a chance to get together while down here.

Friday the 6th, i woke up going strong. I felt better and felt that I could go to work. I went to work and got some projects done. But by 2 i was starting to crash. Ms. Coates being the wonderful women then she is told me to go home and get some rest. I went home and crashed and woke up feeling much better. Sabrina, Michelle and I made our way down to an International fair that the Washington Center hosted for the international students to showcase their culture. It also had some pretty great, free food. After this, we went back to the apartment and hung out and girl talked.



Saturday the 7th (Burd's 21st Birthday!) was a very busy day. Michelle and I went down to King St for some St. Patty's day action because Alexandria celebrates it early. We went to a dog show that was unimpressive.. the dogs were cute but the owners were crazy. We then found a stoop to stand on and watched the parade. We were very pleased with the amount of Boston Red Sox apparel we saw. Sabrina then joined us after taking the dreaded practice LSAT and then Rachel and her gang joined too.

Sadly my camera died during the parade, so all of my adventures from the day are unrecorded! :(
After the parade we made our way to Georgetown. I forgot how much i liked Georgetown until we were crossing the bridge. I lived here for 10 days the summer going into my junior year of high school. Sabrina and i were pleased to find our first neighborhood-feel place. We walked around and found a good grill to get some food. After a day of 70 degree weather and much walking around, we called it a night and headed back to Braddock for a movie night. We watched catch me if you can.. which i had never seen, i thought it was verry good.


Today (the 8th)we got up nice and early to head to Columbia Heights (neighborhood #2!) for some brunch at Red Rock Pizza. We (Audrey, Sabrina, Fransisco, Brendan & I) met up with Audrey's co-worker Carrie. Today was another lovely day in the high 60's, Red Rock had a patio that we could sit on for some laughs and eggs.

After that i split off from the group for my final encounter with the Staples rewards lady. I walked in, handed her the ink and she replied "what ink did you want?" When i told her, she said well the ink "i gave you was generic canon ink.. it should work in all printers." Well, when my computer flashed a message across my screen saying the ink wasn't compatible, i kind of got the impression that it didn't work. She then was shocked when i didn't want ink from her. I did get my money back though. Good riddance staples rewards lady, i hope we never meet again. After this glorious experience, i went to Dupont Circle (neighborhood #3!) for awhile i walked around (found a really awesome record store) and sat down to read for class in the sun. I then went to a drop in beginner hip hop dance class at a place called Joy in Motion...mainly for a different form of exercise. It was such a good workout. I can tell tomorrow I'm going to wake up soo sore. It was so fun though, i think I'm going to start going regularly. All in all i had a really awesome weekend and am so happy that spring is here! :)


Peace and Love
♥ Steph

You can talk all you want but my skin is really thick, i'm the leader of the crowd and my game is really slick... i'm unstoppable ♥

Hi Friends,

So lemme tell ya a little about my life.

Tuesday the 24th (Mama Laur's Birthday!), i went to work. My own personal goal for work is to create a book of activities, service learning projects, tourist attractions, and places to take the kids. So, whenever anyone wants to do a project with them, they can look in the book and it is mostly planned. Also, people can add to the book. I worked on that pretty much all day.

Wednesday the 25th, I went to work and kept working on the domestic violence workshop stuff. I'm creating a packet of healthy living tips for them such as nutrition, exercise, anger management etc. We also contacted associations for their free brochures. It doesn't sound like a lot but i worked on it pretty much all day.

Thursday the 26th, I went to work, and after work i went with the Director of Programs to Chantilly. We walked around talking to the residents about a computer learning center that is available free for their kids. I think this is one of the coolest things about BWUFA, they inform the residents about what is available. Then we met with a tutor, so he could meet his child in the child's home. This ensures that they will be comfortable when they're meeting and the parents can make sure they're comfortable with the situation too. After this we went to meet with a potential mentor, this meeting is to meet the person face to face, talk to them about the rules and get all of the paperwork. The Director let me run part of the orientation. After work, my roomie Audrey and I went to a restaurant called Las Tapas and had a fantastic dinner & wicked good Margaritas.

Friday the 27th, I went to work & wrapped up some of the weekly projects. Then my good friend Seth came down for the weekend. Friday night we went to Ultra Bar with Sabrina. It was a very good time, but very expensive. The club was super crowded too.


Saturday the 28th... we had a lazy day & then went to see some of the sights. Afterwards we went to King St. for some Hard Times Cafe action. They have the best chilli... which is saying alot.. because i usually dont even really like chilli. Seth, Sabrina and my good friend & fellow Mass resident Michelle hung out for the evening.

Sunday the 1st (hellooo March!).. Seth left early to head back to NY. I got up early and went to the mall to get my hair cut and they had a highlight special. So i got my hair highlighted too. The rest of the night i did homework. My roomies and i also created goals for ourselves and hung them on the fridge. This may seem silly, but i kind of love it. Mine are to start dieting again, going to the gym at least 5 days a week, stop buying coffee daily, stopping buying my lunch at work & only having 1-2 drinks while out. Our goals could be on anything. :)

Monday the 2nd...i woke up to SNOW! eww. We had programming which was "Career Bootcamp" I chose writing your grad school essay and applying to grad school.. since i have had a recent discovery that i want to change my life and go to grad school. It is pretty overwhelming stuff...haha. The workshops were pretty helpful, but ultimately i think that grad school is something you need to figure out on your own. Then i had class. Longg day. I've started to look up grad schools, i think i want to stay in Massachusetts since i'll get instate tuition.. which will be very helpful. And, i kind of love Massachusetts. Although, after living down here.. i wouldn't mind going to school here.

Today the 3rd.. i went to a conference for work! Yay office outings. We went to a conference provided by the Fairfax County government on determining outcomes. When working with a program that is run on a grant, there is a lot of evaluation and sometimes the program will become different by the time its done. In short, this conference was about evaluating what the program is, what your goal should be for it, and what the end result should be, but it is a little more complicated then this. I think it was a great experience and I'm glad i got to be apart of it. After the conference, we headed over to Chantilly. We took two of the boys from Chantilly to Buffalo Wild Wings, it was nice to sit down with two of the boys from the program. We then headed back to the Mews for girls club! I got to partially run it this week because unfortunately our Grad intern has the flu. We talked to the girls about nutrition. Now I'm home and feeling flu like myself. :(

Steph's grad school corner:
Now, I've told you about my future dreams of grad school. Ever since I've been down here, I've realized that i don't really like working behind a desk all day. The thing i look forward to and enjoy is running the programs, working with the kids and creating programs & collecting resources for the community. With this i think that i should pursue a career in social work. This will open a lot of doors for me. I could work within a school, within the health field, for a nonprofit or for a community coalition. From what I've read about social work it seems like everything that I was looking for in a major. Although, i do love politics, and I'm not closing the door on it.. i feel that the mixture between sociology, working with people and social justice of social work was what i was looking for.