Bohemian Caverns

**I am already pretty selective with what I write on public domains. Most of the time I edit/omit/leave out/revise the things that I put on this blog because of various reasons that pertain to privacy of others and myself. However, due to the fact that I am now a government employee that comes in contact with a lot of classified material and attend sensitive meetings I am legally not allowed to share details with anyone outside of the permitted group. So if some of my posts about my adventures in DC seem somewhat disoriented or confusing, do not worry it is not because I am a horrible writer {or is it?..} but because I can not share everything I want to. That being said, I have now given myself the ultimate excuse to be a horrible writer. **

This week started off slow due to the fact that I was sick. 

Monday was MLK Day so no work! But I got sick and stayed home the entire day..hoping I would get better for work on Tuesday. 

While I enjoy working full-time it can be quite painful {especially since I am working 40 hrs and taking classes}. It takes me about 30 minutes to commute to work. I am usually at work at about 7 am. This means that I have to leave my apartment by 6:20 ish {planning ahead}. It isn't like I can just wear whatever I want to and look all gross. Nope, I have to wear business attire and make myself look presentable so that means I have to be up no later than 5:45. I can't remember a time that I had to consistently wake up that early! 

It doesn't help that DC is freezing cold. The cold isn't snow-winter-chilly kind of cold.

OOOHH no. It is this biting-down-to-your-bone-freezing-blast-of-wind-cold. I have gotten in the habit of wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves out everyday and I still come home not being able to feel certain parts of my body. 

So getting to work is slightly painful...

NDU is located on Fort McNair which has been the headquarters of the U.S. Army Military. Many high ranking military leaders actually live on this base including many four star generals. As you can imagine, security is pretty tight. The first day of work John and I got off our metro stop and a car was there to pick us up. We wouldn't have been able to get in without a CAC {security badge}. That first week of work was just filling out application after application, security check after security check. 

I had to list every thing I had done in the past seven years. This included the places I lived, schools I have attended, jobs I have had, friends I was in contact with, family members, places I had traveled...I was shocked they didn't want to know how often I ate oatmeal for breakfast or how many times I took the bus. 

They needed detailed information on every single subject...it was slightly ridiculous!

We finally got on the network and was given security badges. Each section of the buildings require swiping your badges and entering your social security number for the doors to unlock so as you can see, not having those badges made it difficult to get anything done. 

Fort McNair is old but very pretty. The area is spacious and hosts a myriad of different colleges, departments, and offices. I didn't come from a military background unlike my co-worker/intern who is in the ROTC himself so I have very little understanding of the ranking system let alone the different types of tanks/planes/guns. It has definitely been a great learning experience and eye-opener. I never knew how large the DoD {Department of Defense} and how many committees/programs/sections they have. It is so fascinating to be able to witness how this large facility functions.

One of my favorite things about the base is that President Obama and several members of the cabinet come to the gym facilities pretty often. 

The incident where Obama needed 12 stitches after being elbowed at a friendly basketball game happened at my work! 

Anyways, I was sick up until Thursday where I slowly started feeling better. It was just in the nick of time because the weekend was about to start! We had guest lecturers on Friday for class so we had to travel to the hill. 

There are three buildings that hold the Reps. Depending on how long you have already been in office, you get to be in different buildings. We toured Rayburn which holds the oldest and more experienced Reps. We got a lunch break and then continued to AEI. It is a non-partisan think tank.

While I would love to tell you how much I respect and enjoyed the guest lecturers, I can't mention them let alone what we discussed but be assured that it gave me a lot to think about :) 

Now that class was done and over with we had the rest of the weekend to explore! The roommate and I went to Georgetown to meet up with some other DCians for cupcakes. 

You thought Provo had it bad with all the recent outbursts of cupcake businesses? The East Coast is obsessed with these things. There are cupcakes everywhere! 

Georgetown Cupcake is pretty well-known and everyone highly recommends it so we decided to give it a try. To be honest, I was sorely disappointed. The cupcake was good but it was average. Nothing special. The frosting was too thick and because it was so popular the area was so crowded that it was hard to enjoy my visit. I doubt that I will be visiting again. 

We then headed to the Kennedy Center for a piano performance. The artist was Francis Farewell Starlite. 

That's right. 

He came onto the stage in complete black and wore Ray Bans the entire night. He was very...unique. 

His music was different but oddly enough, I really enjoyed it. He was very good on the piano and wrote most of his music so overall it was good performance. 

We got to meet him after the show and had our picture taken with him. He even signed my program. Up close, he looks so much like Edward Scissorhands and we all know how I feel about him.... 

After stopping at a quaint french cafe for hot chocolate and french bread {YUM} we decided to find a good jazz club. After several failures, we stumbled upon Bohemian Caverns.

Last night's performance consisted of a piano, drums, the bass, and saxophone so not a whole orchestra like the picture says but the interior looks exactly like it. 

It was great jazz music and we stayed until the very end. It will definitely be a frequent stop of mine. 

We headed back to the Barlow since it was getting late. When we arrived home, Tanner and I found the rest of the gang eating ice cream, playing ping pong and chatting. The boys pulled out their mattresses and decided to have a giant slumber party. Even though I went to bed, I guess they stayed up until 4 am chatting.

And they make fun of girls for being girls!
It is so nice that everyone gets along with everyone. 

 I am hoping to visit the National Cathedral tomorrow after church. I have heard that it is gorgeous and that they have mass at four every Sunday. I have always wanted to experience something like that. 

Now I am hoping to start on my homework that is due this week!