I'm here!!!

Hello all!
Happy birthday to me, I am in our nation's capitol! What a crazy long day it has been! It started by flying out of DIA this morning around 11:30am (our time) and getting here at 5pm (DC time...I lose 2 hours). Because of all the new flying regs, I had to pay a whopping $50 for one of my bags that was only 8 pounds over the 50lb. limit. I could have pulled out 8lbs, I suppose, but what an incredible pain. At least Frontier still lets you check two bags.
I had a very hard time leaving Mom this morning when she took me to the airport. She is so sweet, and seeing her get all choked up at my departure just made it harder to go. But, then I met up with my fellow intern, and we had a pretty bumpy flight to DC. The first thing I noticed getting off the plane was the overwhelming humidity. I felt like I was drinking the air rather than breathing it! But we took a cab to the Johnson Building and got all checked in. On the way, I saw the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building. The rooms are incredibly nice, with a TV, kitchen, Internet, etc. It is also 2 blocks away from the Senate Office building! What a stroke of luck to find this place.
As soon as we got here, we went out to get food. After walking almost 3 miles in the intense humidity to a Safeway store, we came home to find that there is a grocery delivery service at a local store. Oy.
But, after unpacking, grabbing dinner and beginning to settle in, I am feeling alright about everything. Already, I am realizing all the skills I have learned (mostly from France!) about surviving on my own. I feel totally at ease striking out and finding what I need in a totally new place. I am so grateful to have lived the life I have and been surrounded by people and environments that have taught me how to take care of myself, no matter what the world throws at me. So, with that, I think I will take a shower and crash.
Oh, and as much as I wish I had taken this picture, I haven't had a real chance to take any yet. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Tornadoes in the MW?

Hey folks, I leave for DC in one week! Shocking, isn't it?
I like writing a few blogs before I go just to get in the swing of it, obviously. I assume all of you in the Mountain West region are all still reeling from the craziness of the weather lately. Can you believe all these thunderstorms and tornadoes?
My mom and I spent the afternoon hunkered down with our family friend Henry Tanner, and his wife and their toddler (they were on their way to Denver and wisely decided to wait out the storm with us). We had nothing but think fog until about 4 and then the fog instantly cleared and the rain began pouring (Meanwhile we were watching all the destruction going on in poor Weld County and getting updates from friends and family in Laramie and Denver). There were tornadoes touching down all over, but seemed to clear out pretty fast. My mom and I even though it would be cool to run into town so I could buy some shoes.
Then came round two. As we were leaving Kohl's, the rain began coming down in sheets. We stood at the windows debating whether to run to the car when we saw a large funnel cloud dipping down and back up. Rox was home by herself, so we decided to try to make it home, since the cloud was east and we live north. As soon as we got to the car, however, the tornado sirens came on. So, we ran back in and spent a few damp minutes back in Kohl's before deciding it was safe to head home. All, in all, tornadoes touched down in Laramie, Cheyenne, Wheatland, Winston and Ft. Collins among others. So crazy... Even today you could still see those odd, almost greenish clouds that signal tornadoes.
But, we shouldn't see many more twisters soon, and as Becky said to me from Chicago last night, "I'm glad you didn't get blowed away!"

Graduation

Before I can go to DC, I had to get that whole graduation thing out of the way. Fortunately, it went fabulously. I graduated on Saturday in a 1:30-4:30pm ceremony. It was ridiculously long and boring, so thanks to my wonderful family for coming and sticking through it. I was in the biggest college (Arts and Sciences) so it took a long time to get through all the grads. I was one of the last majors to go, so at least we all had the anticipation. We all wore brown robes with gold trim, which weren't nearly as ugly as I thought they would be (I believe I compared myself to a puffy turd before the ceremony). I was especially happy that I crossed the stage without falling in my high-heeled shoes! It was awesome to meet up with everyone afterwards, get some beautiful flowers (compliments of my grandma) and take pictures before going back to my apartment for cake and coffee. It went very well considering there were eight people and only five places to sit. I went out to dinner with Matt, hit a few grad parties and crashed hard. The next day I went to Cheyenne, went to Rachel's grad party and finished the weekend off with a Mother's Day/Graduation extravaganza at the Melting Pot!! Whew, what a weekend. Thanks to everyone who made it so perfect. I loves ya all.

Paris....

And now for a Molly's blog exclusive (as in, I haven't told ANYONE about this yet)! I might be headed to old Par-ee for a few days. My family and friends often talk about me getting thunked in the head with good luck, and it seems like it may have happed again. My good friend Eric, who is currently working in LA, did some work for Rosetta Stone a few years back. For those of you not familiar, it is a program aimed at teaching people foreign language skills in a quick, convenient way. Anywhoo, they are shooting commercials for Rosetta Stone in Paris, Madrid and Rome this month. They contacted Eric to see if he could be in the Paris commercial. Apparently they needed people with French skills who are good on camera. Eric will be busy on these dates and sent them my information. Basically, it would be an all-expense paid trip to Paris from May 18-22 to shoot this commercial.
I got a call from them this morning and they are pretty interested in having me do it. I still have several details to work out, and the whole thing could still fall through, but still. I might get a quick, free trip to France before I go to DC!! What a life, huh?