WEEKEND!

Sorry, extreme fatigue set in last night as I hadn't gotten more than 4 hours of sleep a night all week...you can only do that for so long before even coffee doesn't keep you alert! Above are some pictures of the park across the street from where I work (more on FB) at the end of this lawn you can see over all the buildings and see the Washington Monument in the distance.

Yesterday was great at work. With there only being 5 of us (including myself) in the office, i'm working almost completely independently and am doing as much as anyone else in the office. Yesterday I did some mailing stuff- stuffing envelopes, stamping, sealing etc, but I also got to listen in (and contribute a little!) to the conference call with the membership committee which consisted of people calling from all over the country in addition to Great Britain and Australia! It was really cool and very informative but left me with a very long to-do list! After that I compiled a list of all of the member emails that were no longer working, scoped the internet and our database to find another way to contact them, and started the arduous process of calling every member with a falty email. That took a few hours but it was nice to get to talk to some of our members. I also finished writing multiple letters regarding our new website resources, membership renewal, etc that will be sent out to 1,700+ people. Not too shabby! The best part about yesterday was that I actually got to interact with my coworkers. Anita, our boss, was out of the office yesterday and today and so the environment was a bit more relaxed. Not that Anita isn't great- because she's been a big help in the office, but everyone talked a lot more and I really like the women I work with. A big plus is how casual our office is- I've still been dressing up a lot but it's nice to know I won't necessarily have to most days (considering the forecast for the weekend is 90 degrees, muggy, humid and rainy I'll be just doing whatever to survive!).

After work I went to the courthouse metro stop in Arlington, not too far from where we live in pentagon city and met my mentor, Tyler for the first time. He's only 23 (graduated from VU last year) but was a big help. We got coffee and he talked to me about post-grad options and what he does working in a senator's office on the hill. We're going to try to meet every week and I'm lucky to have such a great mentor! By the time i got home at 8 i was exhausted, but since Katelyn and i had marinated chicken the night before we decided to broil it and make dinner for basically the first time since we've been here. Being exhausted, we both weren't in our most sensible minds and forgot to move the salt and pepper shakers off the stove top and the plastic tops melted into jiffy-pop-shaped forms (see previous post for photo!) As hilarious as it was, we managed to throw together really delicious chicken, corn, salad and some bread and had a nice dinner. After dinner, we all 4 collapsed and had our eyes set on the weekend!

Work today was great- especially because I got to leave early around 230! Now that 3 of us are home early from work, I made brownies for one of the boys suites down the hall since my friend Omar lives there and I'm trying to be a good neighbor and congratulate them on completing the first week of work (it was a challenge!). Katelyn and i are considering exploring the blocks around us, and later the 4 of us are going to a highly recommended Thai place for dinner, and then maybe a free Jazz concert where a lot of our coworkers will be. It's great to know we can actually sleep in tomorrow and YAY FOR THE WEEKEND!