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!