It finally got cold in Washington DC. And by cold, I mean circa 30, but it feels freezing here, lets be honest. Enough of my whining.

Wait, I'm not done. I have 600 pages of reading to do for one class. Oy. That doesn't count the paper proposal and reading for the other class. Ahh, I just see my free time dramatically decreasing with each passing day...At least I love LOVE LOVE my classes, so it is really all good.

On a more interesting and less whiny note, I went to the anti-war rally in Washington this weekend. It was quite the event. There were about 40,000 people there surrounding the capitol. They were screaming and chanting and had lots of signs and lots of other propaganda related items. It was really touching to see everyone at the capitol to stand up for what they believed in. Kiri was here too, and it was nice to see some of the Minnesotan pals!

We are starting this blog with some John Legend lyrics. I am now quite obsessed with John Legend. He is a black inner-city Frank Sinatra, and who doesn't love that?!?!?

From Where Did My Baby Go
I’m searching for the lover I knew
Have you seen her?
Where did she go?
Feels like I’ve just lost my only friend
Flames subsided, colors faded
Love just got so complicated
Wish that I could see her smile again
So if you see her out there, tell her I’m still here
Waiting for the day when she will reappear
Where did my baby go?

So cute. Carey hooked me up sweet with the John Legend and I can't believe how much I love it. Yesterday, furing the last workout of 5K training, week 3, I only listened to one song over and over because it pumped me up to run fast fast fast!

Let's talk about my Starbucks addiction. My family got me $50 worth of Starbucks giftcards and I have used over half of it in 19 days. I've had coffee almost every day and I got Starbucks TWICE today. Anyone else need to join a 12-step program with me??

I am doing my first assignment for Development Management, and it is a fact sheet about The World Bank. I got to choose my own donor agency and learn about it, sweet! It is not even like learning because this is something that would have been of interest to me anyways. Either way, it has been good to extensively scour The World Bank website and learn all about where the money goes and what it goes. We hear a lot of beef about the Bank when we were in India, some of which I initially believed. I do agree that in general, there have been some controvercial World Bank Projects, such as the Narmada River Dam, but there are other parts of this international lending agency that make me realize that it really is the international brain-powered factory of improving global development. LET'S HOPE I CAN SPEAK HINDI AND GET A JOB THERE!

It is Friday and I am not at work, thanks to the fact that I have every other Friday off. Such a beautiful thing. Love it!

As I look out the window, I realize that the annoying yuppies that live in Bethesda are not capable of walking their dogs without Starbucks. If they don't have it in their hands, I guarantee you they are walking towards Starbucks. It seems to be something like the North Star of rich people here.

In other happenings, it is week 3 of 5K training, and I realize that I really do hate it, mostly becuase I am a shitty runner and it has started producing sore knees. Good Lord, running basically kills your joints with every stride. You can tell when I worked out becuase I look like this the rest of the day. Oh well, I will keep going until I injure myself. Persevere!

My last thought live from Caribou is HOW THE HELL do such HOT women end up with such frumpy dudes? I don't get it.

I just got back from the grocery store and realized my Smartones Pizzas did not scan on sale, and instead of payng $2 like I thought, I bought 3 @ $3.59 and I am possed. I want my $4.80 back that they wrongfully stole!!!

I need to be less pissed about that, but COME ON SAFEWAY!!!!!!!!! BOO!!!

I just got out of my first Development Management Class. I have met my academic soul mates in my co-students. There are 3 or 4 returned Peace Corps volunteers, people interested in Islamic microcredit, people who are interested in international businesses, and everyone knew the names of a billion development agencies that I didn't even know existed. SCHWING!!!

Also I met a really cool girl who I ended up driving home because she lives right by me (yes!) who is finishing her last semester in MA International Affairs: Peace and Conflict Studies with an emphasis in the effects of political violence on children. She just got back from Africa and is stellar. I was about to become a lesbian and ask her to marry me, but she has a musician boyfriend, so I better not mess with that.

The only downfall is that there are no Indians in the class. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??
Either way, I am pumped about how the semester will go, and there is no final. Schwingalicious.

Catherine, Eric, and I had a stellar time in Philly. I forgot how fun it is that on the East Coast you can get somewhere else really cool in only 2.5 hours of driving. In Minnesota, the only place you can get in 2.5 hours is Duluth. Even though Duluth is one of my top 5 favorite cities I have been to thus far in life, it isn't quite as fun as a major metropolis.

Of course we went out both nights until 3am, making me feel like a grandma because I could barely keep up, but I held my ground. The first night we went out to two bars and met some or Eric's pals, as he is temporarily working in Philly until October 07 with a consulting firm. He goes home every weekend, but has a sweet luxurious apartment in the best part of Philly. Catherine and I couldn't believe that he lives in a two bedroom, two bathroon, with fancy kitchen, washer and dryer, plus a workout room and pool, AND that he DOESN'T pay for it! We kept trying to guess how much it would be in DC, but it was just too sad to think about how we could never EVER afford to live in an apartment that nice in DC, but it's all good.

On Saturday we went to Independence Hall and to the Liberty Bell, and we also walked around market street where I ran into my friend Diane from high school (what are the odds?!?!) because she is in med school out there. I couldn't get her number in advance to see if she wanted to hang out, but she was right there on the street!! She came out with us later that night when the big football game was on (philly vs louisana) but we didn't really care who won, so we were just pissed that the bar we were at wouldn't play music only the game. BOO!!

I saw the Rocky stairs. That was AWESOME. It is funny that I am obsessed with the movie Rocky Balboa, but even funnier that the famous Rocky stairs are really the stairs to an art museum.

One of the funnier moments of the weekend was us realizing Eric's apartment had a pool and hottub, but Eric not telling us to being our suits, so we were in Kmart trying to find swimsuits, even though there weren't any. We finally ended up finding a suit for Catherine at Burlington Coat Factory, a mismatch from last year, but it matched pretty well and it was so cute! I wished I could have gone swimming, UGH!

The best part a out hanging out with Eric at a bar is that you might lose him but all you have to do is find the only person who is 6'8'' over the crowd and BAM! you can find your friend. Good job being tall, Eric!!

Sadly, I have to go to work tomorrow and then I start school on Wednesday. Wow. How time flies. I will post pics from Philly when I get them from Cath!

I am going to Philly this weekend. It is my last weekend of freedom for 2.25 years because grad school starts on Thursday, and I swear I am going to actually do this degree program. HOLLA.

Best of 2006

I am compiling some top 5s for my best of 2006 (random) lists:

Songs:
1. The Moment I Said It- Imogen Heap
2. Hide and Seek- Imogen Heap
3. Easier to Lie- Aqualung
4. Talk- Coldplay
5. Money Maker- Ludacris

Albums:
1. Details- Imogen Heap
2. How to Save a Life- The Fray
3. Strange and Beautiful- Aqualung
4. Testimony- India.Arie
5. Continuum- John Mayer

Movies:
1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. Rocky Balboa (see it JUST for the training montage)
3. The Holiday

Food:
1. Blueberry Chicken Salad at Marshall Field's (okay, Macy's) marketplace.
2. Cream Cheese Wontons from LeAnn Chin- can someone please fed-ex me some?
3. Boca Burgers- I have a hard core love for these little guys.
4. Cheesecake Pudding- it almost tastes like cheesecake and it is only 2 points!
5. Popcorn, I eat it every day.

Car:
1. Halo, my Honda, of course!
2. Camry Hybrid, schwing!
3. Prius Hybrid, schwing, schwing!
4. Audi TT (2006) HOTTTT!
5. Smart Car- they are coming to the US, holla!

Stores:
1. MARSHALL FIELD'S
2. Target
3. NY & Company
4. iTunes
5. Banana Republic

TV Shows (this one is embarassing):
1. Er
2. Sex and the City (just because it is no longer new doesn't mean I can't still be obsessed)
3. Laguna Beach
4. Anything with Steve Irwin
5. Grey's Anatomy

Hottest HUNKS:
1. Saif Ali Khan (moment of silence)
2. Jude Law
3. Matthew McConnaughey
4. Josh Groban
5. John Mayer

It's tax season!

I'm not really that excited because my job has nothing to do with actual income tax filing, but it still means I have to do my taxes and hopefully get a refund. I was doubting that I would get a refund becuase I had a real big girl job for almost the whole year, but with my estimates I should get a sweet refund which I will use to pay my car insurance, holla!

The disgusting thing is that I have to file taxes as a MN resident, Maryland Non-Resident (meaning they take an extra 1.25% above and beyond residents) AND federal taxes (which I will be audited for, as an IRS employee). It sucks that we basically get audited every year, but I will persevere. I have learned so much about tax policy and tax forms in general that I could fill out a 1040+ schedules blind, sans-calculator, and one hand tied behind my back. I get some sweet deductions this year including a moving deduction, yeah! It is really basically no money, but a deduction is a deduction people!! Also, this is the first year that my mom will not be claiming me as a dependent, so there is another deduction for me! Deductions, deductions everywhere!

To be honest, pals, if you read the instructions for the 1040 at the IRS website, taxes are not very hard, so you should give it a try. If you have easy taxes, don't pay someone to do them when you could just do it yourself (like my mom always said)! Then again, I have done my own taxes every year since I was 16. Thanks, Mom for insisting that I learn and am not a tax baby!

In another note, I decided today was rest day from 5K training because I exercized every day last week except Wednesday and I have a pulled muscle. I am liking the training as my sore muscles have mostly subsided (well except the pulled one). Too bad I put "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" in the mail to return to Netflix, that movie is fo sho a timeless classic.

I really want the Akon CD, Konvicted. But I better finish buying my text books (school in 10 days!) first. The beauty of budgeting. I have made three excel different budget prototypes for the new year and I finally settled on one. I love being in control of my money, and I put every transaction I make into it and it totals my spending by catergory. Really, this is such an important way to see how you are spending your money!! It is hard for me to believe that some people my age that don't follow a budget or have a savings account. However, there must be people who are not able to save very much money, and sometimes, that is a fact of life, HOWEVER being in the habit of spending everything you make it hard to break.

Here's to financial success in 2007!

I am halfway through week one of 5K training. The only word to describe the process is

SORENESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I realize a 5K is really not very far, but when you are not a runner to begin with, it is enough of an endeavor for a person like me who hasn't ever really been much for running. This is not a New Years resolution or anything, but just something I should do. I lost a total of 34 pounds last year, but I want to keep going hardcore. I don't really think I look that different, but people tell me I look different, so who am I to argue? So, exercize it is (and fiber, LOTS and lots of fiber)!!!

Lucky for me it is 65 degrees here so I can exercize in shorts outside no probemo (even though everyone else has globes and hats on). Kya??? While this weather is slightly nice, I am honestly getting trick-ass sick of it. It is not even cold enough to wear a sweater in the morning, which sucks becuase the wardrobe of a Minnesotan contains a lot more winter clothes than summer, let's face it.

Here is my final paragraph on a totally unrelated subject. The Macy's out here SUCK really bad. It is like a disaster ran through the entire store and I cannot find anything anywhere. Washington, can't you put away your stuff when trying things on? Must you be ridiculous slobs all the time? It is bad enough I regularly have to walk through pee odor every morning at Union Station, but the mess taking over my retail therapy? That is just wrong.

I will be more happy tomorrow because it is Friday!!

Let me just say I had a fabulous time in MN. I saw almost everyone I wanted to see, which was commendable as I was always borrowing a random vehicle from either my Mom or my Grandpa. I listened to a lot of polka driving around in Gramps' Chevy Malibu...

Christmas went off without a hitch and I got some sweet stuff: a Rowenta Iron, some clothes, Starbucks gift cards, and Harry Potter I-IV!! I got a coat for my birthday too, yeah! I spent a lot of time with family, especially my Grandpa which was nice because I think he was really happy to have me home. For being home however, I was never actually at home. I bought LOTS of new clothes, holla! That is what happens when you go to an outlet store on your birthday....

Props to all my pals who came to the "Move over baby Jesus, it's my birthday 2006". Especially those of you who had to go work the next day! Double props to Liz for driving my drunk self to Perkins with the crew in the Maplehood.

I am sure the pictorial summary is MUCH more interesting than me writing about it (FYI the dude on the top is gay, no drama there people!).

In terms of New Years, I played it low key, but REALLY liked Rocky Balboa which I saw with Johnnie-Cakes (it was basically the only movie he hadn't seen). I am once again in awe of how different my life is in January 2007 than it was in January 2006, but most of those changes have been pretty darn good. I start classes in two weeks which I am pretty excited for (minus buying the books). Yay 2007!

I will write something much more funny and entertaining later, but after travelling, losing and recieveing my luggage at 4:30am, I am a tired, tired gal.