What have I not been doing?

Posting to this blog! ugh! So I am a little behind on my blogging, but a lot has happened since I last posted. Here's a quick run down:

1. I began volunteering with StreetWise Partners every Wednesday night. My mentee is a wonderful lady named Shirley. Every week we go over soft job skills (writing a resume, cover letter, job searching, etc) and computer skills (Word & Excel).  I am amazed at the dedication and determination of our mentors and mentees, and I am so happy that I am a part of such a great organization.

2. Thanks to my new electric toothbrush I got for Christmas, I received a clean bill of health from my dentist :)

3. I found out I didn't get into Wharton, but am excited at the renewed prospect of moving to California! I am looking for jobs out there currently doing finance in the alternative energy industry.

4. My good friend Lizzie (whom I used to live with) had her bachelorette party in NYC. From our hotel we had AMAZING views of Times Square.

5. To buy into the huge Cherry Blossom Festival celebration, I attended a (thankfully not so touristy) event called Cherry Blast. It was probably the most unique thing I have done in DC! Cherry Blast incorporates art installations, interactive art, music, and dancing all in one big warehouse. I saw a lot of very "interesting" people and had a lot of fun. Here is a link to some pictures. The one below is of inside the elevator....

6. The day after the Cherry Blast extravaganza, I biked to the Washington Memorial to participate in another Cherry Blossom Festival event, Yoga on the Mall.  It was hosted by Lululemon, the notoriously expensive yoga store, and had some people that could do some crazy head stands! This was only my second yoga class ever and it was incredible.  I have always been leery of doing yoga in case I really like it and then have to shell out $100 dollars a month for classes, but I am slowly caving in.... It is relaxing yet engaging. It really gets you centered and more aware of your body, plus it's HARD! Such a good workout :) Over 100 people attended, and the pictures look awesome!

7. EASTER this year was spent with my favorite guy :) I was greeted with a bouquet of wild flowers at noon, and invited to a one of a kind Easter grill out later in the day. Kavan and I tried out this, oh so refreshing, gelato place, and then grabbed some food at Whole Foods. Kavan is definitely the creative chef of the relationship, and I am always eager to see what kind of stuff he cooks up. For Easter he ended up fixing apple, cranberry, raisin, and guyere stuff pork tenderloin on the grill with roasted asparagus (I contributed some home-made hummus). Needless to say he outdid himself, as usual, and I spent the remainder of the day being quite content.

OK I think you're caught up for now, but the weekend is right around the corner so expect another update soom!

Luck of the Irish

Every March comes one of my favorite holidays of the year, St. Patrick's Day.  Although my fashion of celebration has changed from my childhood days, pinching people without repercussions to drinking Irish whiskey. Being surrounded by shamrocks, pots o'gold, and GREEN sucks me into a whirlwind of uncontrollable jubilation.  St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday, but that didn't stop my friends from celebrating last weekend. I decided to bake a cake for the occasion, Andes Mint Chocolate Cake.

 AMAAAAAZING!

Unfortunately we've ran across a problem now... Should I bake another cake for the ACTUAL St. Patrick's Day??? There's this awesome pistachio cake recipe that's been haunting my daydreams today... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pistachio-Cake-III/Detail.aspx  What do you all think???

My vote is whoever thought that this wasn't a good idea is crazy, YES!?

It's Sunday.... and you know what that means....

LAUNDRY!

Well, it was Sunday when I started this post at least hehe Yesterday Kavan and I took advantage of the 60 degree weather and took out Ruby for a spin. We took our little joy ride to Great Falls, VA, and got the 2 slices of pizza and a pop $5 special.  It's so exciting to think that Spring is just around the corner! 

However, the Winter hasn't stopped us from exploring the sights and sounds of DC. Saturday night was the opening of an art exhibit, DCist Exposed, made up entirely of photographs taken around DC. Here's a link to the winners, some of my favs are below:

 

This in the park near my house. The ducks love lining up on the last tier of the fountain in the Summer.

You can look at the ones I picked by clicking on the following link http://www.flickr.com/photos/29778597@N08/galleries/72157623580797308/ .

One more week until my spring break! And I think I'm going to try and get ahead in work for my classes so the more time I can start reading this book I have to write an analysis on. I did have plans but thing's came up and got canceled.

Hell Raisers on the Hill

Need I say more? ;) J/K!

The beast that is the Monetary Policy Report (MPR) is finally over once again! This was the third MPR that I prepared charts for and definitely the last. I contemplated which of the Chairman's testimonies I wanted to attend as a last horrah, and decided upon the House. While the representatives may not pose the most insightful questions, they do indeed have the more entertaining ones. Unfortunately the most entertaining rep. of them all is at the beginning of the program instead of providing much needed comic relief near the end of the four hour ordeal. 

Ron Paul, who is very outspoken against the Fed, is beginning to scrape the bottom of the barrel for anything he can get to smear on the Fed's reputation. I felt very privileged to be present for a world premiere of one of these. Everyone was sitting there bracing themselves when it came Ron Paul's turn to speak. We were waiting on the typical "the Fed is illegal" and "end the Fed" soliloquy, but what we received was quite a treat.  Over the course of about 2 minutes Ron Paul accused the Fed of 1) being involved with funds in the Watergate scandal, 2) funding Saddam's nuclear program, and last but not least 3) bailing out Greece.... At first there was shock and awe with a few snickers. Everyone in the audience was looking at each other in disbelief. Chairman Bernanke, after an audible pause, stated that those allegations were "absolutely bizarre", and like a child who can't hold their breath any longer, everyone busted out with giggles.

I've attached a link to a brief story at the bottom.  As it was, I also enjoyed Barney Frank's reaction to Ron's accusations. He whole heartedly agreed that these were events that most definitely needed to be looked into by their committee, especially noting that they occured under the Nixon and Reagan presidencies ;) hehe Ohhhh politics..... So that ends my long saga with the Monetary Policy Report. At least I got to see my favorite representative Barney Frank show people what's what one last time.....

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/02/24/ron-paul-on-watergate-saddam-hussein-and-the-federal-reserve/?KEYWORDS=ron+paul

 

Barney Gettin Ready for Business

 

The Hearing Room

My Buddy Ben

A Resolution...........

Welcome welcome welcome!

I don't know about you, but I am a big fan of New Years Resolutions. This year, after hurriedly stumbling through writing essays for business school, I realized that my writing skills have really declined. Thus, one of my resolutions is to become a better writer this year. In order to reach my goal, I am commissioning myself to write something, a letter, poem, story, or blog entry, once a week.

That is where this blog comes into play. I thought it would be fun to create a blog with Mere so we can keep in the loop with each other's adventures! (and new pets) Lucky for me, Mere agreed, and now we are underway! All I can say is, enjoy :)