Holiday Weekend

For someone who claims to enjoy writing so much, I sure as heck don't do enough of it, as evidenced by my failure in updating this blog. I promise you, it's not because of a lack of topics; I've got a list about two miles long of cosas...er, things, to write about (one of which is how it feels to leave Spain behind.) But, I figure, enough with coming up with excuses, because my thoughts aren't going to write themselves, and just about every vacation's memories have been lost due to my laziness.

For the first time in two weeks, I am faced with a day sans obligations. Last weekend we were on vacation on Chicago, and this week has been full of work and socializing in the city. Not that I'm complaining, of course. It's just that I've learned to appreciate much more the prospect of sleeping past 10 a.m. that is greeting me once I finish this entry.

My birthday was just amazing. Our office treated me to lunch, and as I bit into my half-pound sirloin burger, I realized I hadn't done that in quite some time. The interns got off around 2:15, so Megan and I were touristy and just walked around snapping photos of the Capitol and the Supreme Court before meeting up with the office for happy hour, where I underwent the rite of passage of being carded (and passing, obviously.)

That evening brought us to a tapas restaurant where me and 12 friends snacked and sangria'd the night away. Not only was I so happy to see and celebrate with the friends I hadn't seen in half a year, but two of my newer friends, one from Spain and the other intern in my office got along swimmingly with everyone else.

The next day brought us to America's birthday, and this year some friends and I finally decided to ring it in in the heart of it all - the nation's capital. So we wandered the city until we finally made our way down and secured a spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, three hours before the show was to begin. And although I knew the whole time that I was doing this mostly just to say I had, there were moments when I was seriously questioning my sanity (right around when my butt went numb from sitting on a ten-inch wide marble step with my back and legs getting soaked from the water droplets dripping off our umbrellas.) And after some near flare-ups with angry people around us yelling at the crowds to move out of the way, the fireworks began and any resentment was pushed aside.

Despite the fact that a huge cloud or smoke plume was blocking half the fireworks, they were still pretty impressive. I never knew fireworks could be that humongous or that loud. I do think the entire thing would be more worth it if the weather weren't so wet and you came with a picnic meal, and gave yourself more than three square feet of space in which to spread four people, but hey, I did come out with a story to tell.

Today Jenna and I met up with our friend Mary from Spain. After lunch it was back to the Mall, where we saw the Vietnam, WWII, Jefferson, FDR and Lincoln Memorials. (Just a friendly reminder: When walking around D.C. in the humid summer months, no matter what, keep a water bottle handy.) After Mary left, Jenna and I watched the pilot episode of West Wing, a show I can't believe I didn't watch before and am excited to dive into.

That's enough of the "Dear Diary" business for now. Tomorrow I promise I'll have something more substantive to write about, but for now, all I can think about is finally closing my half-drooping eyes and not opening them for another twelve hours.