Sidewalk - 1 ; Bandalino Pumps - 0

They just don't make shoes like they used to. I have truly destroyed every pair of shoes I brought with me this summer. Granted, I suppose high heels aren't really made for walking 5 miles a day. But still! I was on my way to work yesterday after my meeting on Capitol Hill and my Bandalino shoes gave out. Yep, I snapped a heel. I really didn't think that ever happened to anyone. - I know what you're thinking - Sure it could happen... but never does. Oh, it does ladies and gentlemen. It sure does. So yes, I was hobbling around the streets of D.C. in my skirt-suit until I found a CVS and bought super glue to piece myself back together for work. (PS - this only fixes the problem for about 15 minutes.) and now I have no black heels for work. Boo.

Winding Down

Sorry for the delay in posting... the internet in my apartment has been anything but friendly and cooperative lately. I have a few pictures and things to post from last weekend, but you'll just have to wait for those until my internet gets fully functioning again and I can post it from my home computer.

This has been an average week, but things have been picking up while I have been hustling around trying to finish assignments before I leave next week. - Next week! When did that happen?!

Most of my time has been spent on finishing up my portfolio for The Washington Center... only one more page to go! I had my Public Policy Dialogue meeting on Capitol Hill yesterday. It's just another program requirement, I met with an aide in Senator Casey's office. It was an interesting experience I suppose, not quite what I had expected though.

I'm planning on doing some final sight-seeing this weekend. Then next weekend will be full of packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye.

Less than 3 weeks to go!

Yesterday I had a meeting with an aide in Congressman Murtha's office for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Advocacy group that I have been working with. I was accompanied by two other students, and we gave a brief presentation on our group's core beliefs and urged Congressman Murtha to support our cause. The meeting went really well and it was exciting to be meeting on Capitol Hill and lobbying with Congress. (or staff members anyway)

Today I had my midterm evaluation at work (only a little late.) It went really well and my boss gave me some great feedback about my previous weeks. Currently I am working on about 8 different cases at work, as well as finishing up assignments for my portfolio that is due at the beginning of August.

My roommate from Cal came to visit last weekend. It was so wonderful having her here. It really helped lower my stress level which was possibly the best gift in the world. (Thanks H!) I also got to see my family. One of my brothers just moved to Baltimore so I helped move him in to his new place... by that I mean I showed up as soon as the truck had been unloaded. (Good planning, I know.) It's hard to believe that was just last weekend, it seems like it was months ago. I'm excited for the upcoming weekend, I don't have very many left!

I can see why he'd think I was a ninja.

It has been another busy week. At work, I've been doing a lot of work involving getting guardians appointed to adults who are deemed unable to make their own medical decisions. Yesterday I had to run around to get forms signed and notarized, and then I accompanied the attorney of the case to the courthouse to file for an emergency guardianship appointment. A note about the courthouses in D.C. - if anyone needs to be there for a hearing or anything else, make sure you get there early because you do have to go through security... and I think they like to pretend it is an airport because they take it a bit too seriously. I've never had a problem with security before, but yesterday the guard made me practically empty my bag because he was seeing something suspicious on this little x-ray monitor. For everyone who doesn't know me, I carry a very large bag that contains most of my life, so this wasn't a quick process. The item he was so suspicious about... was not a knife, or a sneaky set of nunchucks... it was my set of keys. Keys sure are suspicious, bet no one else ever carries keys in their bag. I guess I should leave them in the office today because I will be going to a court hearing this afternoon and I think I'd feel guilty holding the attorney up again today.



It has been a really good experience working on these cases this week because even though it isn't an area I would want to work in full time, I definitely want to do pro bono work on the side when I have my license. So it has been a good opportunity for me to learn about ways I can help the less fortunate later on... plus all of the field trips get me out of the office for a little while :)

Eastern Market

Last Sunday I went to a place called Eastern Market. I highly recommend visiting to anyone who has the opportunity. It is an awesome outdoor market that I bought a few paintings at. It is like a giant outdoor flea market, but instead of people selling junky old stuff that no one wants, it is full of artists selling their creations. There are a ton of artists selling paintings, drawings, and various things like that but there are also people selling pottery/ceramics and blown glass. There are even a lot of people selling beautiful antique wooden furtniture and little wooden carvings. The best part is you get to haggle the sellers on their prices which is always fun. I bought two paintings off of one of the artists there. He is incredibly talented and creates beautiful pieces. I could have bought everything at his booth - especially because he was very nice and let me talk him down big time on his prices. Here is a picture of one of the paintings I bought to help me remember my time in D.C. (don't mind the picture quality. I'm too lazy to take a better one... and no this is not hung very crookedly on the wall, it is just sitting on a table and I took a crooked picture.)

"You've taken a lot of bites out of this apple, and now there is nothing left but the core."

On Friday I spent my entire morning in court awaiting the hearing my boss had for her nutty case that I mentioned previously. We ended up waiting 3 hours for our hearing to be called before the court because the court's docket got a little over-booked that morning. So I sat in the court room with my boss from about 9:30 to 12:30 waiting. I'm really glad we had to wait though, I got to watch and listen to a bunch of cases. A lot of them were sentencing hearings for criminal cases. The first one I heard involved the sentencing of a 65 year old man who had been convicted of buying and possessing child pornography. It was interesting but definitely hard to listen to at times, especially when the judge began reading statements made by the victims (the 8-10 year old children who were abused and photographed) and their parents. The next criminal case I heard involved a large man from El Salvador who had acted as the enforcer to a group of men who made a business out of dealing cocaine and selling illegal guns. This enforcer was charged with several counts, including being an illegal alien in possession of an illegal firearm, drug charges, and selling sawed off shotguns.

The judge was a no-nonsense guy which made all of the hearing interesting. He called people out on their garbage stories and statements. A funny example was a guy who had been recently released from prison after serving time for drug use. A month following his release he tested positive for marijuana in his drug test and back he went. At the hearing his attorney argued that even though he tested positive he didn't smoke marijuana, he just came in contact with it. This defendant decided to take the witness stand and I have to say this was a poor decision. It all would have went much better if he had just kept quiet. He said he walked into a room of his house where his kids and their friends were smoking pot and he took in the second hand smoke then immediately left. Well, that started a whole new mess for him and his family. But basically, the judge flat out told the guy he doesn't believe he didn't use the drugs again and sent him to prison for a weekend to think things over.

The title of this post is a quote from this judge when he was talking to a repeat offender who had come before this particular judge 9 times. As for our hearing, it went pretty well. We got about half of the plaintiff's charges dismissed. A thing about this plaintiff - she is acting as an attorney pro se, meaning she is representing herself. Not the best idea because none of the motions she files are correct and none of her charges are even applicable in the state of Virginia. The judge told her she needs to consult with an attorney and refile things correctly or he will throw the entire case out. Let's just say the plaintiff did not take kindly to this advice and did not hold back from telling the judge just what she thought. It was definitely an interesting learning experience and the highlight of my week. I'm a little sad about the fact I won't be here for the next round of hearings for this case, I know they certainly will be better than any prime time tv drama. It's too bad they don't allow food in the court house, because these hearings certainly would have matched well with a tub of popcorn and unlike movie tickets, they are free to the public.

It's a Sunshine Day

I just wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I have had a wonderful morning on the metro. Don't worry, that isn't sarcasm you are sensing. It is a beautiful sunshine day; I actually got a seat on the train - shocking. The train was not crowded at all - ludicrous. And the driver of the train was possibly jollier than Santa. Normally the train conductors are grumpy and yelling about passengers being near the doors or inaudibly mumbling about the next stop, but not this fella. He was cheery and welcomed everyone on board at each stop. He was enthusiastic and made everyone smile. When people got off the train he wished them a beautiful and safe morning. He rubbed off on the passengers too, no one was dishing out death stares or shoving or stomping on toes. And, I shared a seat with a nice old gentleman who wished me a wonderful day when I got up from my seat to exit the train. I got off the train and exited the metro station and there was a man singing pleasantly on his guitar and people were happily accepting the pamphlets that volunteers were passing out, rather than giving mean looks and stomping away as usual.

I'm not sure what is going on today, but it has been the most pleasant morning I have ever experienced in D.C... possibly the most pleasant morning I've ever experienced anywhere. So I hope you all have a wonderful morning as well. I just wanted to let everyone know that people in D.C. aren't always cranky and the metro can be a pleasant place. And I wanted to let everyone know now, at 9 AM, before a long day makes me grumpy and bitter :)

We're Half Way There...

It's hard to believe another 4th of July has come and gone. When I was younger I always hated when the 4th of July rolled around. I loved the celebrations, but beneath the fireworks and picnics was the dooming fact that summer was half over. After the 4th of July, summer is gone in the blink of an eye and it's back to school we go. These days I don't hate the end of summer quite as much as I used to... probably because I don't get to lay around by the pool all day anymore. That ended sometime in high school, gotta feed that bank account.

The 4th of July this summer does signal my half-way point in D.C. Only 5 more weeks to go. It has been flying by so fast. Last week was a fun work week for me. My supervising attorney let me tag along with her to a court hearing on Wednesday. I got to sit in the Judge's Chamber for a meeting between the judge and opposing counsels. I really wish there was no such thing as privileged information because this case we are working on is probably the most entertaining thing in the world. People can't write fiction this good. You know what they say, there's nothing stranger than people. We will be returning for another court hearing this Friday so that should be interesting. Other than attending court, I have been working on getting some documents together for some other cases. I've also been trying to hunt down a doctor who may or may not have run away to the Caribbean... I wouldn't mind taking a trip and hunting him down in person - expenses paid by the firm, of course :)


As for the 4th of July Celebrations that I had mentioned earlier, I did have a fun weekend celebrating Independence Day in the nation's capitol. My boyfriend and I went to the parade in the morning and then went paddle boating around the Jefferson Memorial (view pictured on the right.)

At night everyone gathers at the National Mall (and I mean everyone, it was definitely crowded) and they shoot fireworks from the Lincoln Memorial. We watched from towards the back so we could have a quit exit and beat the crowds... and by that I mean my boyfriend pulling my arm out of its socket while he dragged me through a crowd for over six blocks to the transfer metro station. It did pay off though, we beat the crowd so mission accomplished.


I hope everyone had a fun holiday weekend. For everyone who was unable to watch fireworks in the nation's capitol here is a little recap of them for you.