Do your thing, honey...

I can't believe that today ended my second week of working in the Senator's office, don't things just progress along at an outrageous speed? My vacation home was wonderful, I got to see almost everyone that I wanted to see with some notable exceptions. But I won't note of them here, you know who you are. I said my goodbyes, to Dana, to Mel, and though I didnt know of it then, to Emma as well. Yes, our lil Emma is moving to Florida, totally beating Mel and myself for the "farthest from NJ" award. And we thought we were jetsetters. So effing wrong.

Sadly, the second I got back to DC, I felt amazingly sad, like I lost everyone all over again. A sort of light clicked on and said "hey, you weren't wrong, those people are all awesome" and I just started missing everyone to the same extent I had right after graduation. It didn't help that my friend/roommate Naomi, sort of my last friend in DC moved out that friday for her fantastic new job in NYC. I wish I had a reason to move to New York, no offense to DC, but its really got nothing on the big apple. Anyway, I picked myself up from that and went to a mixer, made some new friends, and hung out with some old RUers as well. I will not die alone! and you were all so worried.

Work is amazing, I sort of have to pinch myself. My responsibilites are menial, but simple and lends me a lot of free time to read and get caught up on current events (not featuring 10 year old murder cases featuring a beauty queen) And despite being new and a little shy, my boss has told me that the staff thinks that I am "wonderful". I'm skeptical, because I have yet to to dazzle them with my stellar wit...ahem...moving on.. Everyone in the office is fun and young, and probably the most polite people on the planet. Arkansas sure grows them good.

I met Senator Lincoln last week, and she was probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. She greeted me with a smile and a big hug and said she was so excited to have me as a part of the team. It was totally disarming. I've met about half a dozen Senators and even more Congressional members, and none of them were as personable or down to earth as my boss. It was refreshing.

Im excited for when the Senate comes back, because it's been a little slow and uneventfull..and i want to get my glimpse of the famous names that roam these halls. I'm amazingly happy, my work days fly by so quickly, it doesn't even feel like a job. Sort of feels like the first internship i ever had, except this time, i get paid. I'm just really eager to learn about how everything works here and get integrated into all the politics.

Also, big news. When I was on vacation, I found out I got the house that I interviewed to live in. I'm moving Sept 1st to my new place in Eastern Market. The neighborhood is great, two blocks from metro, great price (cheaper than where I am now) and the house is decent sized, which I am sharing with two other girls plus a dog and a cat. We have a guest room...hint...come visit me, random person reading this. I just can't wait to move out of this hell hole. Plus my new walk to work is phenomenal...along the lines of "hey theres the capitol building, hey there's the supreme court".

this has dragged on long enough. I leave you with this daily show clip that I have looked for for ages. I remember taping this episode and bringing it over to Mel and Liz's sophomore year. we all had a good long laugh. I'm now addicted to YouTube. Thanks Internet.

i love you guys immensely

-rach-meister

I'm in the sky tonight

Yeah, it's late, but I'm all wired now because I've been cleaning and packing, and both activities boost my energy instead of wearing me out. I'm a freak, go figure.

Today took forever to get done. It was my last day of work, and despite the fact i came in a little late and left early, it dragged on forever. I don't think I've ever been so happy to leave a place before (except maybe home before going back to RU all those times) The people were great, the job was just crap. No worries, its done.

After work I had a final meeting at my new job at the Senator's office, meeting with the Chief of Staff. I was a little intimidated, but she seemed nice and said she thought I would be a good addition to the team, so it ended up being a positive note in my day.

After that was a last dinner at The Dubliner with Dave and Nicole. Both are leaving DC for good this weekend, so I will be arriving back from my vacation solo. I see it as both a good and blah situation. I'm going to miss having people i know around, but at the same time I was quite aware that I kept myself from branching out and meeting new people because I had that security. Now I'll be forced to be more social, and i'm sure it'll work out in the long run. I don't regret doing what I did, having dave and nicole around helped me feel stable, even when everything else seemed so crazy and confused, especially with the job situation. Moving away was hard enough, and it was nice to have some constant in my life inundated with variables.

I'm heading to Jersey tomorrow morning. I love that my vacation consists not of "getting away" but of visiting the people I care the most about. My to do list consists of the following:
- going to the NJ State fair with las chicas
- much needed haircut
- saying good bye to Dana who is leaving us indefinitely to the wilds of Texas
- 1 to 2 trips to New Brunswick to hang with Roomie & Company
- hanging with the Deli Crew
- trip to NYC to see the nephews

all this and much, much more.

I get back to DC the morning of the 13th via amtrak, to prep before my big first day as a Senate Staffer. hot damn.

I am floating in a sea of happiness
hope I'm seeing you soon

rachelle