the lusty month of May in which June busts out all over

oh dear. That's quite the unfortunate amalgamation of musical theater lyrics . . . anyway.

It's been quite a while since I last blogged, for the very good reason that I've been too busy to blog (which really is the best way to be, even if it makes goal-achieving difficult) AND I've had to contend with a computer meltdown of monumental proportions. Since I last posted something on my birthday about two months ago, I have explored a new city (Chicago), moved to a new home (in Dupont/Logan Circle), gone to the White House, celebrated my sister's graduation, and more. In classic Assessing the Wreckage style, I've decided to present my goings-on in list/picture form. I present, eight of the best things that have happened since I turned 24:

8. One of my best friends, Mat S., is away in Brussels for the summer, being amazing and working on human rights law and eating frites and drinking beer as often as possible (at least, I sure hope so). Before he left, though, he had to a. celebrate the end of his 1L year with Scottish festivities (we learned that the word "forfochen" means exhausted, and I got to see Leah and Steph for the first time in a year!) and b. move from his apartment in the east 90s to the West Village. Along the way, I got lots of time with college roomie Katherine C. (including her first trip to Katz's AND first knish of life), a shabbos walk in Riverside Park with Jonathan H., and a viewing of Sondheim on Sondheim starring the fabulous Vanessa Williams and Barbara Cook at Studio 54!

7. At the end of June, I participated in Relay for Life with Jason F., Kate B., and many of their lovely friends from the RAC. Our team raised over $5,000 for the American Cancer Society, and had a really meaningful and fun evening of luminaria, track-walking, late-night chats, and astroturf. Also, I Zumbaed. Fact: I am a decidedly ridiculous Zumba-er.

6. ACEEE published another federal legislation scoring paper, this one on the Kerry-Lieberman climate change proposal! It was a lot of work, and may have slightly taken over my life in the later part of May/early part of June, but the release involved a Senator (the very cool Jeff Merkley of Oregon!), and was definitely one of the most collaborative projects I've ever dealt with. It's still unclear what its impact will be (since climate/energy legislation is rather up in the air right now), but I think it pretty clearly demonstrated the benefits of enhancing energy efficiency efforts, and that's pretty cool.

5. Miriam F. visited D.C.! Miriam F. is one of my best friends from college, and she just spent a year studying at Pardes and will be spending another year in Jerusalem learning to be a rabbi at HUC. Needless to say, I needed to get me some Miriam-time during her short visit home, and she obliged with a mid-week visit in June. This resulted in a day of my favorite D.C. things: friends, the Library of Congress, Eastern Market, Good Stuff milkshakes and onion petals, and Mandu happy hour!

4. At the beginning of June, Jason F., David K., and I traveled to Chicago for the wedding of Ilana D. and Jeremy F.! We spent the beginning of the weekend gallumphing about the Art Institute, guffawing at Second City and Baby Wants Candy (musical theater improv! amazing!), and generally gadding about town causing a commotion. We spent the second part of the weekend celebrating at Jeremy and Ilana's beautiful, sweet wedding, and got to see a lot of wonderful Brandeis friends while we were at it.

3. Alli graduated from American University, in badass Gold family fashion! I knew I had a smart, fabulous, talented sister, but apparently the rest of the world knows it, too! Alli and her college bff, Seth C. jointly won the highest award given to undergrads at AU, the President's Award. Translation: great seats for us, lots of people saying nice things about Alli, and vigorous Gold/Dwork family kvelling.

2. I moved to a new apartment with Rachel H.! Although this ranks very high on the cool-things-in-the-past-month list, I'm thinking it's going to get its very own blog post very soon, so I'll hold off on that one for now.

1. I went to the WHITE HOUSE (!) for the Mexican State Arrival, thanks to the lovely Emily G., who gave me one of her extra tickets (she got them for being a decidedly cool and vigorous advocate for young women!). Apparently, the White House holds this big ceremony on the South Lawn with the Marine Corps Band (!) and the Fife and Drum Corps (!) and other forms of awesome salutin' every time there is an official State visit. It was one of the coolest experiences of my D.C. life to date - any day involving the Obama and the Shelly O., close proximity to the West Wing (!!!!), and the Rev. Al Sharpton is going to rank high on any list of mine.