"Too Much Fun, Not Enough Homework"

The title quote was my response whenever someone asked about my week. It's reeeeaaally hard to be motivated to do homework when you find your classes dull. I got through about 80% of it...there are so many other fun & interesting things to do!

Lately, I have been utterly speechless with gratitude for where God has put me in life (DC, grad school, job, ward, apt) and the way He's arranged my life for maximum growth and joy. I reviewed the list of reasons why I moved to DC and came to realize they are all being fulfilled! (see "Remembering Why I Came")

1) God's will
2) Career opportunities
3) Education opportunities
4) Big LDS Community
5) Cultural richness
6) Historical richness
7) Waterfront
8) Greenery
9) Diversity
10) East Coast city life

I have a strong belief in 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Wednesday - Went to an event called "SNCC Women Then and Now". GW is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and 50th anniversary of the March on Washington with an initiative called "Pro[Claiming] Freedom". As a Black history nerd (See "Black History Kick-Off"), I feel so happy to be at a university (DC reasons #2 & 3) that actively commemorates and educates others about it (DC reasons #6 &9). I met up with Porschia after work and we were both in awe listening to these courageous women talk about their experiences on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights Movement!

Porschia ended up buying the book Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC and getting all their autographs haha. I had to leave early to meet up with friends for dinner at this crazy place called Honey Pig! It had loud Korean pop music playing on flatscreen TVs and pictures of their raw meat selection all over the walls, with the strong scent of grilling meat wafting from every table. A full sensory experience.

They give you endless side dishes - kind of like Olive Garden but with kimchi and garlic bean sprouts instead of salad and breadsticks.

It was my 1st time trying Korean BBQ and I was glad we went with a bona fide Korean! We ordered bulgogi, spicy pork belly, and some other kind of pork...which all comes raw and a waitress comes flip it once in a while and chops it up for you. Mighty tasty carnivorous fare.

Friday - treated myself to what I lovingly call "cafeteria slop" at GW Hospital (where I work). It reminded me of my mom's yummy Chinese comfort food.

After work, Cory invited me to go with his buddy Michael to a free jazz concert at the Kennedy Center. It was a beautiful but chilly day!

I seriously never get tired of this place (DC reason #5). This concert was by a group of musicians from Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program, playing original compositions they wrote/rehearsed within 12 days.

I was overwhelmed by another flood of gratitude that the Lord brought me to a job/grad school (DC reasons #2 & 3) that is in such close proximity to this cultural center and the waterfront (DC reason #7).

After the concert, I split off to go ballroom dancing for the first time in 5 months at Chevy Chase Ballroom (DC reason #10). I wanted to go when I was mourning my absence at Dancesport (see "Confessions of a Former Competitive Ballroom Dancer") but had a good distraction with my New York trip instead (see "The Big Apple: Bitten"). I was bracing myself for coldness and haughtiness from the young exclusive crowd like last time (see "Changes Not So Small") but this crowd was much friendlier and inviting! What they lacked in sheer number, they made up for in warmth. I got asked to dance almost every song, whereas last time I had to initiate every dance. I had a blast dancing waltz, foxtrot, triple swing, hustle, tango, quickstep, samba, and cha cha again :)

Saturday - Made it to the Temple this month right before my big trip next week! (stay tuned) Had a wonderful time getting to know/catching up with Elizabeth, Bobbi, and Heather :)

That evening, I met up with Cory to "compete" in our March Madness Ward Activity (DC reason #4), which was held in the gym and consisted of various stations of fun/funny/ridiculous games such as "Junk in the Trunk", where we had to dance/shake to get the ping pong balls out of a kleenex box strapped to our derrieres.

I only asked Cory to take pics but he took the liberty to film it also (see Facebook video). No shame.

This was my least enjoyable one - putting gobs of petroleum jelly on our noses and trying to get as many cotton balls as we could into the next bowl.

There were lots of other games I didn't get pictures of...but we did do the photo booth!

w/ Jeff & Ashley, the blue spirited photographers :D

I love balancing air balloons almost as much as I love throwing water balloons (bring on summer! And DC reason #8!) -

Super fun activity; I think the ward should do these game nights every 3 months instead of once a year!

Sunday - Rode the metro to Catholic University of America to attend my 1st mass! We were greeted by lots of graffiti at the metro stop - lovely.

The National Basilica on campus is actually the biggest Catholic church in the United States! I had wanted to go last week for St. Patrick's Day but couldn't make it (see "Girl Got Green"); turns out today was Palm Sunday and the place was packed.

Not surprisingly, it is huge and ornate inside, with very interesting art that had lots of words in it. It was so different from an LDS church service in so many ways. They gave us palm leaves at the entrance...we had no idea what to do with them haha. I really liked the incredible operatic singing, but the strong incense was a bit much for me. I came home with lots of questions for my Catholic roommate Gaby haha. Good eye-opening cultural experience, but we had to leave early to get to our church meeting on time. I love being a Mormon :)

Let's see how long it takes me to catch up with homework...

Girl Got Green

I have always loved St. Patrick's Day. Not because I'm Irish or Catholic, but mostly because I'm fascinated by Irish culture (took Irish dance lessons in 8th grade :)) and [grass] green is one of my favorite colors (plus yellow & orange). Since I was a kid, I loved wearing everything green I owned on March 17. Now I own too many green things and had to spread them across 3 days of St. Patrick's Day weekend haha.

Friday - was going to go to a St. Patrick's Day social dance at Chevy Chase Ballroom but was too tired. So I went to bed at 10:30pm on a Friday night - that's what I get for burning the midnight oil all week! But at least I got to strut my green at work!

Saturday - went to the Stake Relief Society (the largest women's organization in the world, with about 6,000,000 members) Conference in the morning, where the theme was "Reach Upward" (hence the kites)

I heard some inspiring messages on looking forward with faith and not dwelling on the past (based on this powerful talk), and attended a great class in which we discussed the difference between happiness (pleasure-based, fleeting, superficial) & joy (takes work, long-lasting despite hardships & sadness, deep). I love what Sister Shelden said about our tendency to preserve our happiness but sacrifice our joy; seeking joy takes risk but the rewards are more bountiful. After all -

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)

That afternoon, I met up some friends in Dupont Circle for dinner at James Hoban's Irish Restaurant & Pub, named after the Irish architect of the White House.

We didn't experience the main activity of the holiday: drinking. Waters all around! (Mormons save so much money this way :D)

But the food was really good! We each ordered something different and sampled everyone else's (best way to eat): bangers & mash, shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, & [my] Irish stew. Yum!

However, considering the free flowing alcohol and copious amounts of 2nd hand smoke (from the party outside), I will be perfectly content if I never visit an [Irish] pub again.

After dinner, we walked through some charming neighborhoods to Georgetown, probably my favorite area of DC. We went to Serendipity for dessert, an extremely overpriced famous restaurant known for it's huge frozen hot chocolates.

Britt & Adam split the peanut butter one, and Cory and I split the oreo one. It was basically a gargantuan oreo slushie (with ice in place of ice cream). The bartender was surprised we finished them ha!

Then we went to the movie theater on the waterfront to watch Oz the Great and Powerful. I went for the makeup and costumes but was inspired by the good messages (the others' reactions ranged from dislike to amused).

I liked it so much, I wrote a separate blog post about it! (see "Oz the Great and Powerful: Goodness over Greatness")

After the movie, we walked along the beautiful lights along the waterfront :) I never get tired of these sights, especially the Kennedy Center breathtakingly lit up for the Nordic Cool Festival -

Sunday - I loved the green clothes parade at Church haha. Afterwards, my roommates threw a St. Patrick's Day shindig with Irish music and green food, decorations, and people (well, green clothes). Here's a small handful of us -

even my eye shadow was green!

So ready for spring...

The Big Apple: Bitten

Britt and I took a bite out of the Big Apple (aka New York City) this weekend!!!

I've only been there once in 2001 with my family, so it was very different going back as a young adult 12 years later. Britt & I met up after work at our bus stop in Chinatown for the 4.5 hour bus ride. I was SO proud of myself for only packing 1 backpack!

Got to Penn Station around 10:30pm and were too tired & disoriented to figure out the subway/bus so we took a taxi to our super hip hotel called "The Pod". I just cared about cleanliness & safety; the super hip design and art were bonuses! (bathrooms were public, but super nice)

I got the top bunk in our cozy room (it was actually freezing) w/ its itty bitty airplane sink haha

We woke up early the next day & got breakfast @ a cool deli a block away called Treehaus. This weekend was nothing if not gastronomically indulgent. I figured I'd walk off this huge serving of french toast, Canadian bacon, and strawberries -

Then we hopped the subway (way smaller and dirtier and older...I have a new appreciation for DC's spacious but crickety subway system)...

Walked a few blocks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Britt's pick), a behemoth of a building that makes the American Art Museum in DC look like a play pen.

Like I said in a previous blog post, I'm not traditionally artsy. But Britt and Cory M. have really encouraged a greater appreciation of art these last few months and I found myself marvelling at the huge variety of incredible works at "The Met". Here are just a few of the old, inspiring, unique pieces -

I couldn't resist buying this awesome book and beautiful journals as souvenirs (I'm an avid journal writer; journals just replaced keychains as my preferred souvenir).

So much art, so little time (only stayed 2 hours). Took a taxi to Times Square and enjoyed seeing the horses and carriages along Central Park. One came right up to my taxi window :D

I would describe the energy in Times Square during the day as absolutely palpable...

...historic (i.e. George M. Cohan statue - he was an extremely influential early entertainer on Broadway, as depicted by James Cagney in the 1942 biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy)...

...and entertaining (Michael Jackson impersonator)!

When I bought the tickets for "Newsies" online, I'd made the unbelievably careless mistake of buying tickets for March 2 instead of 8, so we got Nederlander Theatre early to plead our case to the ticket office worker to let us in somehow.

Thankfully, he was nice and told us to come back right before the show to see what was available. So we went to get lunch, praying hard all the way. We found an authentic-looking pizza parlor in Times Square where the dough tossers spoke Italian. Definitely a good sign. A slice was surprisingly affordable at $3.50!

New York pizza (bucket list - check!)

Went back and after everyone went in and the show started, the ticket office worker (God bless him and his whole family) gave us 2 seats, one in the 6th row center and the other in the 9th row center (our original tickets were for the very last row in the balcony)!!! Britt and I traded seats at intermission. I just KNEW somehow that God would turn my stupid mistake into a miraculous blessing. Praise the Lord! I finally got to see my first Broadway show (an especially big deal for a girl who grew up obsessed with musicals. Bucket list - check!)!!

The songs, dancing, sets, lighting, and sheer energy were astounding. I loved that we were in NYC watching a musical set in NYC; it was an all American show for an American Studies major :) But what really moved me were the actors' bios. Almost the whole cast of young men, including the lead Corey Cott, were performing on Broadway for the first time. You could see the wonder, humility, and gratitude in their eyes. They were living their dream - they were making it in one of the theater centers of the world! They are some of the lucky few who could actually make a living by inspiring others with their magnificent talents. I was so happy for them. It was an extremely emotionally touching moment for me.

Afterwards, we subway'd to Chinatown, where we got our caricatures drawn. I had one drawn my last trip to NYC that turned out badly so I wanted to give it another chance...nope, not any better haha.

Walked down the [in]famous Canal Street where vendors were hawking counterfeit purses and watches every 5 steps...

It was dark by the time we got to Little Italy, where I've always wanted to go :)

Britt wanted cannoli and I wanted gelato, so we got both :D (bucket list - check!) I ordered the pistachio gelato but they accidentally gave me green tea flavor (which I love, but I swore off after I got baptized into the Church), so I sent it back and got the to-die-for hazelnut flavor Britt got. Italians sure know how to do dessert!

When we came out, we saw that we'd just eaten the #1 cannoli in NYC! Sweet!!

Rode the subway back to Times Square to catch the 8:30pm show at BIRDLAND!!! (bucket list - check!)

This was a last minute destination I saw in the "Newsies" playbill (Britt was a trooper to come along). I first heard about it when my high school jazz choir sang Manhattan Transfer's vocalese version of "Birdland" in 12th grade. Only diehard jazz fans like myself would flip over the opportunity to go to this historic jazz club, which started in 1949 and has relocated and even shut down several times, but is now restored to its former glory near Times Square. It was named after the legendary Charlies Parker, whose nickname was "Yardbird". Cedar Walton's Quartet was on that night.

We got free drinks w/ our admission (I got diet cream soda) and I got a shrimp po boy with sweet potato fries. Jazz clubs usually feature Cajun food because jazz originated in New Orleans.

It was a surreal experience. We also got a good taste of Times Square at night -

We felt very safe the whole time :D

Woke up early to get to church, forgot to check out of the hotel cuz we were rushing to get pics of the ultra cool decor -

Got to go to the Manhattan chapel/temple (bucket list - check!). It's so uplifting to be renewed by fellowshipping in the gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of a big city, and so comforting to be able to go to the same Church almost anywhere in the world.

We ran into 4 friends from our DC ward!

I KNEW I would reunite with someone I knew at church and it turned out to be 2 friends from different former wards who are now engaged to each other! Congrats, Nikki & Jordan! The world is remarkably small when you're Mormon :D It was also great to see Chelsea (a BYU roommate of 1.5 years) again!

Chelsea is interning for the Church's Public Affairs office and has an amazing apartment right next to the Church. Completely charming and awesome view!

She kindly let us drop our backpacks off and joined us for lunch from the scrumptious gyro food cart across the street. It was YUM-O good and way cheaper than DC food trucks - only $5! (I tried to avoid spending money on Sunday but the hotel didn't have a fridge to store food I could've bought on Saturday)

Then we strolled the few blocks to Central Park. I'd always imagined it full of green foliage, but I guess romantic comedies only film there in the spring/summer haha. We still had a wonderful time taking all sorts of pictures there. Who knew you could go bouldering in Central Park? If it weren't the Sabbath Day, I'd be all over that playground :)

Alas, it came time to catch our bus back to DC and we parted ways with Chelsea. Britt & I got to Penn Station early and walked thru several deli's to get dinner for the ride. I got a huge corn muffin (deLISH) and a huge slice of mushroom spinach pizza. Our bus was over 30 minutes late but we met some BYU-Idaho students (aka Mormons) in line :) Also, while waiting in line, Britt and I planned our next Big Apple trip in May, when the weather's warmer and the trees will be in their finery. I'm so grateful for all that we were able to squeeze into 2 days, and especially grateful to go back to a job that allows me to have incredible adventures like this one.

Random Realizations:
- Based on what I'd heard from people and seen on TV/movies, I overestimated these aspects of NYC: pace of life, dirtiness & danger of the subway, rudeness of the people. All pleasant surprises.
- Like my boss (a native New Yorker) said, D.C. really does seem like a small town compared to NYC. I feel like I can handle anything in D.C. now!
- I left DC for vacation; most people come here for vacation. I actually felt "home" when I saw the monuments on the way back Sunday night...How did my life turn out this way?!

Big Apple, consider yourself bitten. We'll be back :)