happy holidays!

I can't believe that 2010 is already coming to a close...what an eventful year it's been, both personally and generally speaking! This marks about 4 months of me being in DC (and kind of a grown-up), about 7 months since I left Wellesley, and 3 months until I turn 23, just to throw a few numbers out there. I am currently writing from the comforts of home in Princeton, NJ where I am spending Christmas with my beloved family, which reconvenes in its entirety far too rarely now that we're all off in different places doing our own thing: Jin's in Ithaca (yes, still) very successfully pursuing a Master's degree in Architecture, John and Jenn are in the middle of the junior year of college at Yale and Swarthmore, and Mom and Dad are insanely busy commuting between here and Seoul.

A number of exciting things have happened this month, including my being published as a co-author of an IWPR report on the impact of the healthcare reform act on U.S. rates of breast-feeding, a nighttime trip to the zoo, hosting my first party at my new home (finally), a trip to the White House, and my first karaoke outing!

The zoo trip was fabulous! I haven't been to a zoo since I was in 8th grade, so this was kind of a big deal for me. Some of my friends decided to humor me and joined me for an evening trip to see the ZooLights at the National Zoo. They put all sorts of beautiful (and ecofriendly!) light displays around the zoo and opened up some of their animal houses to the public! I'll have to take a trip during the day sometime so that I can see more of the little buggers, particularly since most of them were asleep when we went :)

A few of my friends and I went to karaoke on U Street in downtown DC, where my friend Scott and I performed a duet from "Grease". My voice may or may not have cracked a few times...but it was lots of fun and I hope to go back and do it again. The fun thing was that it was "costume" karaoke, requiring anyone who is going to perform to wear some silly article of clothing, resulting in the following:

December 18 was quite a wonderful day for me as I got to spend the morning getting ready for my party, and spent the afternoon in line for and inside the White House! Every year, the White House gets ridiculously decorated for the holiday season, and they open it up for self-guided tours. IWPR got something like 10 tickets, I believe, for staff to go and see it, and I got lucky and got a ticket! My friends/co-workers,Mallory, Elisa, and I went together and stood in the cold for about 45 minutes and finally got inside, and it was lovely and, in my opinion, worth the wait. Each room was impeccably adorned with all sorts of colorful, shiny trinkets, and there was a singing group from Tennessee in the lobby providing us with lovely Christmas-y tunes. Here are some highlights:

Unfortunately, I took very few pictures DURING my party but had fun with my housemates, Alex and Lisa, before the event as we got ready and awaited the arrival of our friends. I also invited my close friends from IWPR, Mallory and Annamaria over early, and they were kind enough to help us set up! Getting to work with them is definitely part of the reason that it's been relatively easy to get up in the morning and get to work on time! The party was fun, and I was particularly proud of the caponata and white bean dip that I had prepared as hors d'oeuvres. The caponata in particular was a big hit!

I have so much to be thankful for this year, and though I know that technically Thanksgiving Day is the day to write this, I think that any occasion to reflect on one's life is wonderful :)

Beautiful friends, wonderful family, an interesting and empowering job, good health, and so much more are a reason to be quite happy this Christmas Day! Happy Holidays to all!

MUT reunion!

When I was back at Wellesley, I had a network of friends through the ultimate frisbee community. I was particularly close with a group of very athletic, hilarious, wonderful people who were also all friends with each other and attended Dartmouth, Cornell, and Wellesley. One of them created a team called "M.U.T." which stands for "Mike's Ultimate Team" and used it as a way for us to see each other every once in a while and get together to play some ridiculously fun but high-quality ultimate. The last time we played together was the Summer of 2008, when we met up in upstate New York for a tournament called "Ow My Knee". We hadn't seen each other in months, we never practiced together, and we didn't care if we won or not. But we ended up beating all the other club teams to win the tournament!

However, we hadn't played all together in 2 years, and many of us hadn't seen each other in months. One of us lives in Colorado, one of us works in Wisconsin, a few of us are in Boston, a few of us in DC, one of us in Philadelphia...and it was about time for another reunion. So, this past weekend, we all got together at Mike's house and played in the local PADA Mosh tournament!

We didn't win the tournament like we did last time, but we sure had a wonderful time. It always feels like home when I see old friends again :)

novemBRRR

Happy November!

The new month has certainly brought autumn along with it (finally), and I find myself bringing out the heavy knit sweaters, colorful scarves and thick tights that I would have been wearing already if I still lived up in Wellesley, MA!

On Halloween weekend, some of my closest friends came to visit the house in time for the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally, and to celebrate Halloween! Here we are on the steps of my house:

After a breakfast of coffee, OJ, eggs and toast with jam and butter prepared by yours truly, we joined something like 200,000 other people on the National Mall in downtown DC to attend the rally. IT WAS SO CROWDED. IT WAS INSANE. But it was exhilarating! People brought hilarious, cynical signs, and there were thousands and thousands of people who held political beliefs similar to my own. To be honest, it was quite empowering and reassuring.

After the rally, we got a delicious lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then headed home to rest, watch a movie, and then prepare to head out on the town to celebrate Halloween. I haven't really celebrated Halloween in years so this was a change of pace, but it was hilarious. We ordered plastic Viking hats and wore them as a group costume, which resulted in the following:

It was SO nice to see everyone in one place (though Colette was missing...I sincerely wish she could have made it), and to hang out all together like we were back at Wellesley.

nostalgic elation

My friends and family, you've seen me happy before. But photos from Regionals from the end of the club season have just been posted at ultiphotos.com and the photographer, Kevin LeClaire, captured some frames of the happiest I have ever felt in my entire life.

I know that sounds like an exaggeration, considering that it was from an ultimate game, and I feel weird saying that the "happiest moment of my life" was from a sport and not from seeing my family after being abroad for a half year, or getting into college, or graduating from college, or landing my first job...nope. Instead, the happiest moment of my life was scoring the tie-breaking, winning point of the semifinals game of the backdoor bracket at Club Regionals, putting us in place to vie for the last spot to Nationals (which, as you know, we didn't make). It was a risky throw from my teammate into the front corner, where I laid out and caught the disc to win the game for my team.

If that isn't pure joy, I don't know what is. I remember diving, catching the disc, landing, and then realizing what that meant: that we had won the game! I got up and started screaming and jumping around as I tossed the disc in a sort of spirited celebration, and my teammates came screaming and running onto the field. Elation. That's what that was!

It's been three weeks since Regionals...*sigh*...I miss my Renegades.

cameo

This weekend, I spent a lovely, warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon in downtown DC with Sara (again). I have to say, it's been indescribably wonderful having one of my best friends living nearby, though our homes are more than an hour part, so it's not super convenient, but close enough so that I get to see her regularly. Over time, I've increasingly understood that it is not the building, the room, or the address that make a home, but the people and the relationships that you build with those people. So, really, having her nearby has been like being home :)

We went to the NSF's National Science Expo, which was a blast, though it was intended for people about...a third our age. Not only was it fun, we learned some things!

We learned about how light energy can be converted to sound at Cornell University's booth:

We learned how forensic specialists use devices such as this one to test for the presence of certain elements in materials (like our rings), saw ourselves in infrared vision, and observed sun arcs and the second layer of the sun...it was purple!

We also looked at special exhibits at the Hirshhorn Museum, including a cool set of installation pieces called Colorblock:

But the craziest part of our day had yet to begin! After we walked through the Smithsonian Castle and into the gardens out back, we saw a group of people working on a movie. So, Sara asked what they were filming. They were competing in the "48-Hour Movie" competition where they were given a plot and 2 days to make a film. They were using random volunteer participants as characters...and he asked us if we'd be interested! We said yes, of course! Little did we/I know that it would involve a scene with a group of about 10 high school students dressed up in zombie outfits (covered in fake blood). They were very nice and fun. The scene involved me:

1. Lying on the ground surrounded by the zombies:

2. Being lifted into the air as an offering to the gods:

3. And then get catapulted into the air by the zombies:

It was ridiculous. And random. But so fun and definitely added character to our day in the city! And you know what's awesome? When you have an educational, hilarious, sunny, liberating, relaxing day in the city with one of your best friends and you don't have to pay a cent for any of it. I really like Washington, DC :)

published.

This afternoon, my supervisor at work, the Research Director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, called me into his office in a quiet, rather serious-sounding voice, so I was worried that something was wrong or that we had found some gross error in one of our projects. He told me to pull up a seat and then turned his computer screen towards me.

He had the title page of the final draft of a report that we had been working on pulled up on the screen, and he asked, "Would it be alright if I did this?"

And he typed my name in as the third of three co-authors for the report to be released in the next few weeks.

[ cue internal freak-out, squealing, screaming, clapping, and overall excitement ]

"Sure, that would be great" I replied, calmly.

THAT'S RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM OFFICIALLY A CO-AUTHOR OF ONE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN'S POLICY RESEARCH.

I can't tell you what it's about as the content of our reports are confidential until the official release date, but I'll let you know when it's available to the public!

a weekend at Pemberley

Before I moved to the D.C. area, one of my best friends, Sara, and I joked about naming her family's home "Pemberley", after the peaceful rural retreat in Pride and Prejudice. I would spend the weekdays at my own more urban home, and after a long week of work, join her at Pemberley, her "country estate" for a weekend of leisure.

This past weekend, just in time for the glorious arrival of Autumn, I did just that! Sara graciously invited me to her home to spend the weekend, and it was WONDERFUL. I brought an overnight bag with me to work on Friday and then met her at home, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner that we all helped prepare, consisting of avocado, tuna, and vegetable sushi, seaweed salad, and some un-matching but delicious hors d'oeuvres of hummus and tzatziki with crackers and bread. Yum!

The next day, we did some lovely outdoorsy autumnal things like go fishing at Little Hunting Creek:

Go to a pumpkin and mums sale to buy pumpkins to carve, mums to decorate the front door, and dry corn and a hay bale to make an autumnal scene in the front yard of Sara's house:

Drink mulled cider w/rum and carve pumpkins out on the patio to put outside on Halloween:

And make s'mores and toast marshmallows in a fire pit outside, while listening to Sara's brother play guitar:

What a perfectly relaxing, beautiful, delightful weekend!

friends :)

I competed with Renegade at Regionals last weekend and we lost in the game to go to Nationals by 5 points. A painful loss, but what a great season, what a great team. I've come out of this season having learned so much more about ultimate, in better shape than I've been in a long time, and with a whole bunch of new friends. What could be better than that?

Humans really are incredible. I've learned over the years that it's people, friends, family that make me feel that I am at home. I have to say that I miss my family a little as it's been some time since I've seen them, but getting to read their emails, hear their voices, and having the company of some wonderful, beautiful friends, old and new, are enough to make me happy and make me feel like I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.

*This is totally unrelated, but I realized I forgot to share a picture of my new cleats! I broke through my old ones at Sectionals (the inner seams of the body of each shoe broke open), and had to duct tape them together for the second day...about time for new ones! I stuck to the trend of brightly-colored cleats and got white and orange Nike Mercurials. Very comfy! It only took about one practice to break them in and I had zero blisters!

belief in humanity

A gay Rutgers student killed himself by jumping off of the George Washington bridge after his roommate secretly posted live webcasts of him in intimate relations with another young man. The roommate and his accomplice, a female 1st-year student at Rutgers (all parties involved are/were freshmen at Rutgers), have been charged with counts of "invasion of privacy", which could lead to prison sentences as long as five years.

As one would expect, this horrible event has led to widespread discussion of internet safety, the trouble with social media networks, homophobia, privacy issues, social stigmatization of homosexuality, youth depression, bullying, the definition of a hate crime...and there have been calls to lock the 18-year old homophobes away, to charge the two of them with hate crimes, to pass stricter internet regulation policies, to expand education on how to use the internet appropriately, and more.

-

I read part of a series of essays today. It's titled "Women and Revolution", and it consists of the juxtaposition of a controversial essay by Heidi Hartmann (the President of IWPR) titled "An Unhappy Marriage: Marxism and Feminism", and a series of essays that critique it. There is one feminist economist who responds to the paper by writing about how with the progression of scientific methods and tools to delay or alter women's reproductive biological processes, sexism will recede because women will no longer be so restrained by their sex.

-

These stories sound unrelated. Shut up, I know that they both have the letters "s", "e", and "x" in them. I'm talking about the dissolution of any foundation upon which anyone in our world could base their faith in humanity, courtesy, compassion, or kindness. Why is that we have to resort to iron-fisted regulation of cyberspace and the ingestion of contraceptives or commitment to a surgical procedure to be able to expect humanity from our fellow citizens of a global community?

That's not right. Get some manners. Learn how to treat people with respect and an ounce of kindness. No one asked you to be friendly. No one even asked you to be remotely pleasant. Just try not to be a horrendous human being.

yet another epic to-do list!

as i said in my last post...which i posted within the last 30 minutes, a to-do list is in order! if you remember, i did this before i left to study abroad: i made a list of all the things i hoped to do in france, and now i'm going to do the same thing for the d.c. area! it gives me a sense of accomplishment and reminds me to take advantage of the things i see around me. here we go!

- attend the H Street Festival on Sept. 18 [x]

- go to a free Millenium Stage performance at the Kennedy Center

- go to the Lucky Bar at Dupont Circle for a free salsa lesson

- attend the National Book Festival on the Mall on Sept. 25 [x]

- go to a concert [x, La Roux at the 9:30 club!]

- perform at an open mic night

- go to the Eastern Market

- attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival [x]

- go to Kramerbooks to listen to live music on a weeknight [x]

- host a party at my house [x]

- wear my green floppy hat in downtown D.C. in a non-ironic way

- go on a trail run in Rock Creek Park

- eat at Julia's Empanadas [x]

- compete in a local race, at least a 5k

- see the sunrise in downtown D.C.

- attend Chinese New Year festivities in downtown D.C.

- try Ethiopian food [x]

- watch an independent film [x]

- go to a national embassy[x, Sweden!]

- run a timed mile, try to get under 5:20 (my fastest mile time to date)

from our nation's capital...

After almost dying of boredom from spending my first 3.5 days in the area unpacking, grocery shopping, decorating, and then sitting in my house, I had an AWESOME 1st weekend in the D.C. area. It began with a free ride to practice instead of the 1.5-hour trip to practice that I was originally anticipating, and then practice with Renegade from 11:00am - 2:00pm at the D.C. polo fields by the National Mall! Now, if a good 3 hours of ultimate isn't a good way to start the weekend, I don't know what is.

One of my beloved Whiptail teammates, Pnut, who graduated 2 years earlier than me was in town for practice (we're playing on the same team), and so Pnut, our captain and friend Puppy, and I spent the entire rest of the day and night together wandering towards Dupont Circle and then stayed the night at Puppy's place. Luckily for me, I had brought an extra change of clothes in case I didn't want to ride all the way back to my house in Silver Spring in sweaty ultimate clothes. So prepared! We got DELICIOUS empanadas from Julia's Empanadas for a lunchtime snack and then spent a good couple hours

sitting on the steps of the Dupont Circle fountain and listening to free live musicians perform some beautiful but unrecognizable covers of some old classics like "With or Without You",

"Summertime", and "Something".

The next day, I had originally planned to go back to my house. However, it was an absolutely exquisite day, and I was already in downtown D.C., so I called up a friend and asked him if he wanted to meet me in the city and do touristy things. We met at the Washington Monument and began our day chock full of sightseeing and walking from there!

What an enjoyable day! We saw the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Washington Memorial (though we didn't go up to the top), the White House, Chinatown, the National Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian Gardens, and we took a look at a couple floors of the Hirshhorn Museum before heading our separate ways for the evening. We also took an incredibly satisfying lunch break at an Indian buffet. Sounds risky? Not at all! It was INCREDIBLE. Here are some photographs of my day: the arched walkway at the front of the EPA, B.B. King's handprints in cement (!!!), and my friend Nick looking slightly peeved as I took a picture of him perusing the guide to the sculpture garden.

What a fabulous weekend! I guess one of the perks of not being in college anymore is that when I'm done with work or when I don't have work...I don't have work! I'm so excited to continue to explore DC and the areas around it in the months, the year to come! A to-do list is most certainly in order!

(new) home, sweet home

Welcome to Prichard Road! This is where I will be living for the next year of my life! It is located in Silver Spring right before you cross into the next town over, Wheaton-Glenmont. It is a quiet, very diverse neighborhood with lots of commuters and young families. We live within walking distance of pretty much everything we could possibly need because we live very close to the Westfield Shopping Center where there's a Target, a Starbucks, tons of clothing stores, a gym, a CVS, a Giant Foods grocery store, a Verizon store, and tons more! We're also about a 6-minute walk away from the closest metro stop, making it super easy for each of us to commute to work, since we all work in DC.

Here are some pictures of my new home: our house's number sign, our living room (the first room you encounter upon entering the front door), our kitchen, and my bedroom. Notice that I have my usual decorations up, the prayer flags, the tapestry on my bed, the photo collage...my personal home touches : )

I also had my first team practice with Renegade yesterday night, and it was tons of fun! I exited the metro stop in the SW quadrant of DC and found myself right next to the Smithsonian building and could see the Washington Monument to my left. The Department of Agriculture was right behind me. While other people who live in the area may be used to it and jaded to this, I couldn't help but grin when I realized and said to myself, "this is my home for the next year." The walk to the fields brought me right next to the Washington Monument and along the Potomac River from where I could see the Jefferson Memorial. We scrimmaged for most of practice and as we lost daylight, the sun set in a magnificent showing of bands of red-orange with purple streaks, with the Lincoln Memorial beginning its nighttime glow as we finished our game. Marvelous!!! I only wish I had had my camera to document the view.

So far, so good! I begin my fellowship at the IWPR on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, and I cannot wait! It is starting to get a bit boring trying to keep myself busy around the house and "relaxing". I was never good at that : )

wedding bells and lobster

As if signing a lease, graduating from college, and obtaining a policy research fellowship weren't enough to make me feel like an adult...I attended my first wedding where the bride or groom was a friend of my age! My friend Claire married her handsome, very funny and kind Chilean fiancé, Oliver, in Portland, ME in a lovely cathedral church on August 28th. I have to admit, that thinking about the wedding almost made me more nervous than the thought of moving to DC, just because it was a moment that seemed so distant in terms of life experiences.

It was perfection.

I drove up from NJ with Sara, and the two of us, Colette, Libby, and Steph all stayed in an adorable room full of beds at Colette's grandparents' home in Cape Elizabeth which was only about 20 minutes away! As weddings tend to be, from what I hear, it was a lovely opportunity for us to have a mini-reunion before we all headed our separate ways indefinitely and to celebrate a friend's beautiful future with her husband!