I remember when I was younger my parents would take me (and my brother once he was born) to Marksville, Louisiana to spend the 4th of July with my family down there. Now, Marksville is probably as country as it gets but it’s always good time with family. Years later, my usual trip down to Marksville has been replaced with my stay here in Washington DC (I guess I can call it an upgrade). In my opinion, everyone should spend a 4th of July in DC. It’s something about being in the nation’s capitol that tugs on the American heart strings. It’s kind of similar to people going to NYC for New Years Eve (you just HAVE to do it!). I have to say my 4th of July was pretty splendid. I got to watch the view from a rooftop (thanks for the invite Ryann!) and I met a lot of really cool people. It was nice to spend some time with people who were my age and with very similar ambitions to mine. It makes for really good conversation. Although it was scorching hot outside, that didn’t stop anyone from relaxing by the rooftop pool with some drinks waiting for the fireworks to begin. When the fireworks began, they BEGAN!! I assumed that we would see the short fireworks show from the National Mall. Boy, I was wrong! If you did a 360 degree view around the rooftop you could see fireworks at every turn. Some were closer up and some were very far away but it was beautiful. It was like everyone was really celebrating at the same time. For a second it’s like all the labels and injustices in our country just stopped and we all celebrated being an American. It was wonderful. All though being on the mall would have been cool, I think being on the rooftop with friends was a great way to spend a great day. Just imagine fireworks radiating from every direction. It’s pretty amazing.

Happy 4th Everyone!

I’ve been in DC for almost a month now. I’m still working on making friends and creating relationships with people here. However, it’s pretty difficult when I pretty much go to work and go home every day (maybe that’s the problem). So I just wanted to tell everyone I really miss them. Here’s who I’ve been missing…a lot!!

The Bro and I!

MY mother (on the right!)

My LoveS. My LSs

Can’t forget about my high school “FRANS” (friends)

If any of y’all are in the witness protection program I’m sorry for revealing your identity…I really could go on for days and put all the pictures up of people I love….but for space I guess I’ll just stop here.

I love and miss you all!

Family!! (older picture)…not that it matters really

I’m still getting used to living without being quickly accessible to everything. Now that Lightning McQueen (my Mazda3) is no longer in my possession I have to live a little bit differently. I have to plan my travel more often here just because I have to do things like wait for the next bus. Of course, this is not normal for me. This is especially inconvenient when I need to do important things like go grocery shopping. So what am I supposed to do? Buy 2 items so I’m able to walk home…well that sucks! So my best friend Kristen gave me a great idea so that I could go grocery shopping, get everything I needed, and save money on public transportation. I took my suitcase to the grocery store by way of 10 minute walk to get there. I got my groceries (about 90 dollars worth…I don’t know how that happened honestly) and I put all my groceries into my suitcase. I realized on my way back how poor of an idea that was (no shade to Kristen’s amazing idea though). First, the suitcase was way too heavy so I couldn’t roll it on all 4 wheels (ya it’s a 4-wheeler).Second, it felt like 107 degrees outside. So here I am trying to roll this heavy suitcase filled with groceries and the wheels basically start shredding!! So now I’m rolling the suitcase (of course with still a half-mile to walk) on basically 2 wheels. I had to pray that I’d make it home and not just leave my grocery-filled suitcase there. It was so rough, I didn’t know if I’d make it. AND when I finally made it home after my 10 minute walk turned into about a 25 minute walk, my bread was SQUISHED!! OH THE HORROR !! I’m never doing that again…ever!

Here is evidence of the horror….so shameful