DuPont Circle, I may love you.

Not only have I fallen in love with my internship at Washington Life, I have sort of fallen in love with the area in DC where the office is located.  Its in the residential area of Dupont Circle, surrounded by embassy's.  On any given day I pass the embassy's of France, Ireland, Darfur, Loas, Greece, Haiti, and Syria (and thats not even all of them).  To say the least, these residences are incredibly beautiful, and I feel lucky to be able to see them every single day.

Another part of my daily walk that I have really come to love is the staircase that I walk up and down for lunch and to go home.  Its like a cut through, but for some reason it reminds me so much of this book called  The Secret Garden that I read when I was young.  It truly is nothing like that book. However, for those few minutes that I walk up and down those stone steps I feel like I am not in the Nation's capital.  I feel like I am in some little dream land.  I cannot wait to see it when the weather is warm and the fountain (complete with water coming from the lion's head!) is working, and there is lush green vegetation everywhere.  I'm excited just painting myself this mental picture.

This picture is taken from a pretty far distance.

I'll take one of the fountain when its a nicer day in DC.

My thoughts on public transit.

I hate it.

Anyone who thought it would be a good idea to build an inadequate amount of parking decks, yet encourage as many people to take public transit to be "green" is a moron.  I mean, really?  The time and gas I waste driving to the metro in Vienna is pretty much equal to driving into DC for the day.  You may be wondering why I don't just do that?  Because parking tickets are 30$, and I'm not made of money (no matter what I've led you to believe).  And to top off my issues with public transit, I found out today that VRE no longer offers youth discount tickets to people 21 and under.  Are you KIDDING ME?! I was so very angry upon learning this information.  The commute is, and always will be, the worst part of this internship.  Always.

I'm not interning tomorrow because I'm a baby, and I'm scared to drive in icy conditions after my wreck.

Can't wait to see what next week has in store for me, though! Keeping my fingers crossed and feeling exponentially grateful.

Um, what?

Today, I got to look over the photos from the shoot last week.  Are you kidding me? This was one of those "pinch me" moments.  I really got to help pick photos for a spread in a magazine? Yes, I really did.

Even though public transit makes me want to fight everyone in a 10 mile radius, days like this make it worth it.  Days like this are good enough to make me forget that I'm totally screwed for this semester and will have to take summer classes.  Days like this make me forget that I spent 20$ on commuting, and that I am so exhausted I don't even want to do my homework.  I just come home with a smile on my face because I feel like the experience I'm getting at WL is pretty much unparalleled by anything I would be learning in classes at Mason.

Days like today make me wonder how I got so lucky, and feel very grateful that I did.

Success.

I'm finally albe to be confident in knowing that I am not the only one who gets strangely ... intense... hangovers.  I'm not alone in feeling sick for 9 hours after having a few drinks, and that makes me happy.

Yesterday at my internship we went to a little restaurant called Sweet Green, and now I'm obsessed.  Thank you, Kelly Fisher.  It is healthy, hearty, and inexpensive.  Its organic and they also have ice cream! Talk about my dream restaurant.  I wish everyone I went to school with (including myself) had more time so that we could go enjoy the wonderful things I'm being introduced to in Dupont Circle.

In unrelated news, I start my first day of classes today.  In one hour and forty minutes, to be exact.  Its going to be a longggg day, but hopefully a good one!  And hopefully this day leads to a great semester!  

See? Even I can think positive thoughts sometimes.

P.S. Happy 22nd Birthday Megan Cadow!

My life, currently.

Maybe a little background for this blog would be a good idea...

Well, I'm in college.  Last semester wasn't busy, but this semester... wooo.  I'm taking 5 classes and interning at Washington Life in DC.  And ironically enough, WL is the reason I decided to start this blog in the first place.

Yesterday, myself and some other interns were at a photo shoot with our amazing bosses, Karin and Kelly, as well as an amazing stylist (and possibly a living superwoman) Lana.  Now, I wouldn't consider myself a "hick", per say, but I am definitely not from a big city - nor do I handle a large city well without google maps.  However, yesterday and the day before are days that I many never forget for a few reasons (see below for a picture).

On Wednesday I was asked to go with Lana to help pull clothes for the shoot on Thursday.  With little knowledge of what to expect outside of watching The Rachel Zoe Project, I did my best to not let Lana down.  Starting our day around the Friendship Heights area of DC we pulled clothes and accessories from a few different stores.  Eventually Lana went to pick up her youngest from school, and met me back an hour and a half later.  We continued to pull and pick up until about 7:30 pm, possibly later.  Even though it was a long day with lots of walking in the cold, at no point did I wish for it to be over.  All I did was call my mother and gush about how wonderful of an experience it was today.  I mean, really? Pulling Valentino, J. Mendel, Burberry, and pretty much everything in between?  In that moment the nagging question started to sink in.  Was I really helping pull clothes for a photo shoot? Wasn't I lying in bed 5 days ago with my puppy running through possible scenarios of what a day as in intern at WL would be like? The truth is, I was doing that exact thing.  But, having an opportunity like this never crossed my mind.  I felt, and still feel, so grateful for that opportunity.

Thursday rolls around and I'm exhausted.  I basically chug coffee and make my way to the shoot and am absolutely floored when I arrive.  Beautiful hotel, clothes everywhere... my first photo shoot.  For the majority of the day I just wanted to help out but there was one moment where it kind of hit me.  In this moment I was watching one of the women be shot in a $17,000 J. Mendel gown in the restaurant of the Jefferson Hotel (really, just google that hotel. Amazing.), and I just... could not believe this was my life.

Sort of lame, but if someone would have asked me 6 months ago what I thought I'd be doing, my answer would not have included the words photo shoot or magazine.  I'm living a dream right now. I want to remember, and possibly blog, every detail.