and exists March the 2nd on the dot.

February has been a very quick, very lovely month. 

In general, work has been pretty great. I've been working on really interesting things -- lots of time on a spreadsheet on energy savings from the energy efficiency programs we're recommending, writing papers on building training and the smart grid, and lots of scheduling and (this week, anyway), lots of time on the website. I helped prepare a testimony to the Senate Energy  and Nat. Resources committee, which was stressful (you have to get them 50 copies of it 48 hours before the testimony itself, ack), and I went with my boss at the beginning of the month to get to know some of the energy staffers. Observation from that experience: Republican female staffers are intimidatingly pretty. With fabulous shoes. just saying. 

I went home the first weekend in  February just for a few days, but got to see Mom and Bubbie and did some shopping and such. AND after Alli went back to teach Sunday school, Mom and I went to the Italian market in Philly and then Dim Sum in Chinatown with Bruce and Vicki. AND it happened to be the Chinese New year's Parade, so that was basically one of the best days ever. 

The next weekend was the start of Brandeis vacation, so I got to see a lot of people I love. Max came on that Friday, and I went with him and Alli to Columbia Heights, where we met some of his very fun vegan-y friends. The next day, Matt came, and we had four days of gallumphing together around DC. Highlights included a birthday brunch for Whitney, watching Candide, Funny Girl, AND De-Lovely, a visit to the Zoo (!), my first Chipotle experience, a romp around the Portrait Gallery with Catie Sprague, a fabulous  Restaurant Week dinner with Missy and Jason at Perry's in Adams Morgan, and a day of Smithsonian-ing (American History and lunch at the American Indian museum - yum!) with Missy, her mom, and Matt. Whew. We're really good at packing a lot of ridiculous into four days. Oh, and Missy was still around for a few days, so she came to LOST that wednesday (which was at my apartment). When I made my new favorite sweet potato casserole. 

The rest of the month was also full of goodness -- I had eat-in Chinese shabbat dinner with a Gavi and Jason, and then the next day Jenna Gondelman and Jason and I went to Spike from Top Chef's amazing burger place, Good Stuff Eatery (which apparently is opening in Dupont, yay!). We then spent the afternoon walking around the Library of Congress, which may or may not be my idea of heaven. SUCH a beautiful building, with books everywhere, and with everything as a monument to learning and reason . . . uch, amazing. This week involved two happy hours (I know, I'm such a lush), one with other junior staffers at work, and one with other Brandeis alums at Tonic near GW. 

Other than that (whew), things are great. I like that I get to see Alli at least once, and sometimes more than once a week. I like my LOST group of friends. I like that I discovered this uber-cute bookstore, Politics and Prose, just a few blocks from my apartment. All in all, things are going swimmingly. OH, and it's getting warm! 

yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared

The month of January was a rock-star kind of a month, in a lot of ways. I'll try to remember them all. It started off pretty awfully, with the violence in Israel and Alli's really difficult decision to stay in the US rather than go to Beersheva for the semester, but after that it got better, and fast.

First of all, I got a new job doing Research and assistant-y things, and a new apartment in Van Ness/Forest Hills, DC, and I started work and began living in the new apartment. So far, I'm enjoying the new job, learning a lot every day. I'm not very busy yet, but I think that's just because I recently arrived, so I'm just learning the skills necessary for them to give me a lot of work. My favorite and least favorite thing (because sometimes Excel is evil) I'm working on is scoring all of the provisions we're pushing for the energy bill and stimulus bill (and if those don't work, the climate change bill).

The new apartment is great. The location isn't so happening in that there's not a lot of nightlife, etc there, but it has a Giant and a quizno's and it's right in between AU and Cleveland Park. Also, my commute to work is 25 minutes every morning, which beats the pants off the 1-1.5 hours i struggled through to and from the Franklin Institute. I live with two other Jewish women, one a law student at AU and one who works for a french nuclear company. So far,they're really sweet, and we get along great, although I'm realizing that I miss living with my best friends. That was kind of convenient for my life. The best part about the location is that I'm really close to Alli, and so far we've been able to see each other twice or more a week :)

My first weekend here was the inauguration, which was pretty ridiculously amazing. Lots of people were in town, including Schutz and Missy and others, and it was great to see them all. I went to the Newseum with Rachel Hillman and Mat, to the big concert (Beyonce! Shakira! Josh Groban! Obama!) with them and other friends, and watched the actual inauguration from my apartment with Alli and one of her friends. It was also Martin Luther King weekend, and I went to a wonderful dinner and okay service (although the speaker was gamazing) at Washington Hebrew Congregation with Jason and his friend from work. I also went with Jason and Matt Rogers and Alli to an event for the Alliance for Justice, which featured Bradley Whitford (with a very sad mustache), Peter Yarrow, and some great and inspiring speakers. Basically, I saw Josh Lyman singing "If I had a Hammer". That's amazing.

But inauguration weekend was not the only wonderfulness this month. No, siree. Rachel invited me to join her fabulous LOST group, which involves food, fun people, and one of my favorite shows ever. It turns out that my former suitemate Whitney has been living in DC, and I've hung out with her, her roommate Molly, and her bf Adam a few times.

The last time I hung out with them was last Saturday night, when I went to the Kennedy Center for a concert with influential Broadway composers and some of the stars who made their music famous. Highlights -- Stephen Schwartz explaining the process in writing the Wizard and I. Liz Callaway singing from Anastasia (did you know Aherns and Flaherty wrote that? I didn't.) Jeanine Tesori being awkward and cute and talking about Millie. Oh, and when Brian Stokes Mitchell sang Wheels of a Dream (a little weird with just him, since it's written as a duet), I cried. Basically, one of the most amazing nights of learning about and loving musical theater that I've ever encountered.

So that was my month. Whew, I'm tired just reading about it!