Happy Birthday Michael!

He would have been 51 today.

Y....

I have already expressed my deep love and admiration for BYU. And I can only say that my love for BYU has only gotten stronger over time.

I came back to Provo a week early to help guide confused freshman through New Student Orientaion. I was a Y Group Leader. The freshman were fun, the free food was great, but the highlight of the whole deal was just being on campus again. It felt SO GOOD just to be walking around the buildings, looking at the flowers, eating in the Cougareat, going to a devotional in the Marriott Center, all of it. I really felt like BYU is the place where I am supposed to be. It is my happy place.

But some people make fun of BYU. My own brother is getting married to a hard-core U fan. And my sisters always ask these questions about BYU:

Y...?

• do you not have spring break?
• can't you wear a mini skirt with leggings?
• can't you stay in the boys' apartment past midnight?
• can't boys grow facial hair?
• don't you have a fall break?
• isn't there a St. George campus?
• are students allowed to wear cloaks and pretend they are from medieval times?
• Do you have to go to ward prayer?

They want to make shirts with a big Y on the front, and these questions listed on the back.

But, it's all a part of why I love BYU so much.

The Washington County Library

I miss the BYU library because at the beautiful new library in St. George, there are a few problems.

1. It still has no books.
2. It is full of old people who don't really know what they are looking for and don't know how to use the internet.
3. I think it is where homeless people hang out.
4. There are exactly 5 places to study at. If they are taken, you are out of luck.
5. I don't feel comfortable leaving my stuff out to go to the bathroom or get a drink- or find a book for that matter. I think it is because of the homeless people issue.
6. The lady at the reference desk is kind of mean to the dumb old people.
7. People here don't know that you can't answer your phone and talk on it while you are in the library. Other people are trying to concentrate, duh!

14 Days of Summer

I came home from D.C. with 2 weeks of near-freedom. I spent the majority of it very peacefully. I LOVE living life in St. George.

The Main Ideas:
1. The first day that I was home I often walked outside of my house and simply stood in the sun, spun around in circles, or swung on our tree swing and exclaimed my joy at the weather. Yes, it was hot, and yes, I love it when it is hot. I love stepping outside and feeling the heat just HIT you. I love feeling the sun kind of burn your skin when it touches you. I was obsessed with the heat when I was home.
2. My car. Imagine not driving a car in 3 and a half months. It was painful. I missed driving more than I ever thought I would. That first day I was home my first priority, after standing in the sun for a bit, was to drive and listen to my music.
3. Sleeping in. I slept in like a total of 2 times ALL SUMMER. So, when I got to St. George, I very much took advantage of my opportunity to sleep in. It was fantastic. And although it made me more tired because I often over slept (a good 12 hours isn't bad, right?), I loved every minute of my sleeping-in.
4. Disney Channel. I LOVE IT. I watched a mixture of JONAS, Sonny With a Chance, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place everyday.
5. Dairy Queen. SHALOM?!!!!! Why didn't anybody ever think to put one of those guys in Washington, D.C.? Those hoity toity Washingtonians are TOTALLY missing out. I must have eaten 7 Dilly Bars since I came home. My love affair with DQ has been going strong for several years now, and our relationship rekindled when I came home. And I am very attached to the back booth at the DQ in St. George. Good times, girls, good times.
6. My Moe and Jenny. When people talk about their BFFs, they often use the term loosely. These girls really ARE my best friends forever. I may have other best friends too (okay, I have a lot of them), but Moe and Jen are my LONGEST best friends, and I love them. They will always be there, caring about my life and depending on me to make them have fun. I love that. And I SO admire what they have become. They have both married men who are perfect for them, and they are doing so well! Jenny is a nurse and is going to have a baby! Moe is doing elementary education, and we are going to be teachers together! And when all three of us are old and married with lots of grandkids, we are going to ditch all of them AND our husbands and go on roadtrips and to EVERY Dixie High School event, completely decked out in blue and white (we may even wear our old Color Guard warm up suits!), and be the loudest flyer supporters in the stands. And all the students will laugh at us and act annoyed, when really, they will want to be just like us when they are old. Me and Moe and Jenny will leave a legacy.
7. Sand Hollow Reservoir. We went to the lake one day. The water felt great, the sand was amazing, there a lot of plants in the water, and a lot of bugs. AND, some people randomly picked a spot on the beach VERY CLOSE TO US for no reason. The entire rest of the beach was completely empty, but a family complete with grandparents, like 4 couples, and probably 14 grandchilden camped right next to us. We were annoyed. But the best part of the day was the sun. I got so much sun! And I did get a little burnt, but mostly, I just got tan. I will swear, forever, that the sun in St. George tans better than the sun in any other part of the world. It's a verified fact, not an observation.
8. The end of my Washington classes. I spent WAY TOO MUCH time in the Washington County library. I had TWO papers to write- one 5-7er, and one 15-18 pager. Lame-o. I hated almost every second of it. Except, I got a little bit into the research paper, and then I got excited. Sometimes writing papers make me a little excited. But I still don't like it, okay? So I wrote about the 1968 Riots in Washington, D.C. And I spent A LOT of time on it. But it still probably was not enough. But it's done, and when research papers are done and turned it, one finds a very happy Audrey.
9. Mom's school. I helped my mom get her classroom ready, and then I came with my Dad to help do testing. I loved her students. It almost makes me want to be an elementary school teacher.
10. Celina. She is staying with us! YAY!
11. Cafe Rio. Our reunion could not have been sweeter.
12. Me and Andrew had a sleepover. The whole family was gone, so I made Andrew keep me company. In a remarkable gesture, he agreed to hang out with me for a night instead of hanging out with Mallory! We went to DQ and then sat to watch a movie. We were both falling asleep, though, so we went up to bed. We slept on Mom and Dad's bed because it was the only place that we would both have a bed. We proceeded to talk for hours and hours and hours. Until about 3:30 or 4 in the morning. It was SO great. I can't remember the last time that we talked like that. And I doubt that we will ever have that opportunity again. He is getting married in less than 2 months-- which I am excited about. I love Mallory, and I know he is really happy. I love my brother so much.
13. Elise moved to Weber State! She is officially on her own, and I am SO excited for her!! We had a lot of sleepovers too. I love hanging out with Elise, and when she left a couple of days before I did, I walked around the house wishing she were there. I missed her.
14. Stephanie came down for Moriah's birthday. My sugar doll turned 14, which is CRAZY.

And then, my 14 days of summer ended, and I packed up and drove to Provo.

Mass Confusion and Mixed Emotions

Short post= happy, and not bored, readers! And happy readers= happy commenters!

The most frequently asked question that I have been posed since I came home from D.C. is: "Do you miss it??"

Why yes, I do. Very much.

BUT.

I love being home.

The entire last week and weekend I was struggling a little bit. I knew that I was going to miss Washington, like a lot, and it pained my heart when I imagined going home. My biggest concern, I think, was to somehow find a way BACK to Washington. I wanted to go home, I just wanted to come back later. And I still don't know if that will ever happen. But now I want to live in D.C. AGAIN. I didn't want to leave because I didn't know if I would ever come back.

On the other hand, I was very, very excited to come home. Living the life of a tourist every weekend for 11 weeks gets EXTRAORDINARILY tiring. I was ready to relax and do nothing for a couple of days. I was also VERY READY to get out of the humidity. I hate humidity with a fiery, burning passion. It does no good for your hair, skin, or happiness. Very humid days=a very unhappy and frumpy Audrey. No good at all. My hair didn't stayed curled, like, EVER. I also wanted to see my family, and frankly, I missed St. George, Pebbles, and BYU. I was very anxious to come back to BYU.

So, the best way that I can sum up my last days in Washington- especially the last one, when I drove away from my city and I let one tear escape- is confusion. I was very confused. I couldn't figure out what I wanted more- to stay or go home. It was very annoying, and well, confusing. I had very mixed emotions about coming home.

And that is my answer to the question. The end.

The Last Days

Things that I did/were on my mind/or were significant during my last week in D.C.

1. So there are like seven old, run-down exhibits in my museum that are hidden from the public and the world. I know that someday they will be put to use, but currently, they are very scary. Rebecca discovered them because she was assigned by her supervisor to do an inventory of all those post things that you put up to organize lines. She and her intern friends had to look through all the old exhibits. She told me about how creepy they were, and I jumped right on the badwagon. So, she told me to bring a flashlight, and we went after work the next day (after watching the Greensborough Sit-In Counter show on the second floor and I fell in love with the actor. Smooth voice, I'm telling you. Kind of like Seaweed on Hairspray). My intern friend Hannah came too. We went to 3 different old exhibits- some had holes in the floor, dark creepy corners, old maniquens that were missing limbs, broken glass, creepy display pieces that were covered in plastic, and no lights. The icing on the cake, though, was the "CAUTION: Mercury Contamination" notice on this glass tube looking thing that was covered in plastic. Creepy, right??!!!
2. Ford's Theater. Another FINALLY moment. I can't believe that I waited so long to go there. But go, I did. And it was lovely. Thinking about going there actually doesn't make me that happy, though, because the weather was super crappy and humid and kind of rainy.
3. The Temple. I finally got to go to the DC temple and do baptisms. Juliana arranged it for us-- and I was so grateful! I had been dying to get out there all summer, and I finally got too! I had to ride the metro to Silver Spring right after work one day then take the bus to the temple. We were able to spend sometime in the visitor's center before we had to be at the baptistry, which was nice. We actually watched most of the Joseph Smith movie and looked at all the exhibits. The whole time I kept wishing that all my internship friends (the ones I actually worked with and spent hours and hours a day with and love to death but never talk about on here) would come and see the temple and visitor's center. We talked about the church a lot at work. They always asked me questions- especially about the temple, becuase they had all seen it from the freeway. And after I went, they asked me about how it was. I told them it was fantastic, and that they should all go. I told them that if they went to the visitor's center they would get a better idea of what I am about and who I am. I had a very strong desire for them to know exactly what I believed and why it was my top priority and so important to me. I hope they do go there one day. I would love that. But anyway, it was an amazing experience. It was nice to do baptisms somewhere besides the Provo Temple, where they are used to having students drop in every second, and always have like 3o girls in line waiting to get confirmed and baptized. At the Provo Temple they have it all down to a science. They get you in and out- and they have to because they have to accomodate A LOT of people. But in the Washington DC temple things are much slower. It was kind of weird and seemed inefficient at first, but then I remembered that the whole thing is supposed to be relaxed and peaceful and not rushed. It was very nice. And it was very nice because our friend Jerry, one of the Hatchlings, drove his car there and drove some of us home! I love it when I don't have to deal with the bus or the metro.

Going to the Temple just felt so good. I needed it. It was very refreshing, and I kind of forgot what it felt like. Everything was so peaceful and perfect, and so beautiful.

4. I spent a little bit of time (the morning of that Friday of the the last full weekend) at my museum, trying to do research down in the vault. Unfortunately, I couldn't find ANYTHING that I was looking for- including a piece of correspondence that was supposed to be in the Scurlock Collection. That piece was going to be the centerpiece of my project!! But alas, it was no where to be found. And actually, a significant amount of time during my last 2 weeks was spend simply worrying about my project. Vanessa, my supervisor, was a lot of help actually. She helped me find things online and searched the vault with me. But even now I have a knot in my stomach about this research paper. I SO don't want to do it. And now it's due this weekend. Grrr.

5. The last briefing was at CBS. We were supposed to meet the guy who hosts Face the Nation, but apparently he lost his voice and couldn't be there. But it was a cool briefing anyway. We actually we went to the studio near Dupont on M St. and saw how the studio is run- how they get tape from other studios and all the cameras they have on the White House and on the Hill and everything. It was really cool. Kind of made me want to be a journalist. People who work at news stations know the news before anyone else!! That is power.

6. Me and Ashley had a "we're tired and lazy and bored and want to eat cookies" party together on the Friday of our last full weekend. We sent Kate and Erik off to the Friday night movie (ET), then called Papa John's and ordered ourselves a pizza. While we waited for the pizza to be done, we walked down to the Sev for cookies and drinks. I bought a package of chips ahoy and a Tropicana juice box, which I slurped the whole way back home (like 3 blocks). We laughed at ourselves because we were dressed super casual, walking down the hoppin' streets of Foggy Bottom drinking juice boxes and eating cookies. All the GW and Georgetown students were out for a Friday night on the town, and we looked like children. It was funny. So we picked up our pizza and ate all our food while watching a choppy edited version of "Love Actually" that made hardly any sense. But it was still enjoyable. The tragedy of the event is that I left my cookies out on the table, and the next morning they were gone. Completely disappeared. Ashley suggested that we install cameras and higher a cookie security guard. Cause I was mad.

7. The Eastern Market one last time. Me and Genevieve actually spent like 5 hours there. I mean, we looked at EVERYTHING. We even went to old books stores and vintage clothes places. And I bought a pearl ring at a little booth for $5. And I finally said goodbye to the Market Lunch place where I get my french toast with pecans. Parting was such sweet sorrow.

8. The Airport park: We went on Sunday night. There is a park right by the airport, and you bring blankets to lay on, and then you watch the planes fly to and from the airport. They are super low to the ground by the time they fly over the park, so it is actually quite unnerving. It kind of feels like they are going to crash in to you. But it's so cool! It was very nasty humid that night, though, so that's pretty much what I remember...
9. Our last FHE=Best talent show ever. Okay, so it was less like a talent show, more like a "this is what we did all summer and why it was so fun and hilarious" show. Everyone showed up, even our professor and his family. I laughed harder than I had in a long time. Ryan, Jeff, and some of the other boys filmed a news broadcast about the Barlow Center and it's mysterious happenings. I don't know if I mentioned in one of the New York posts about the mysterious scream. The night that I stayed in New Jersey somebody screamed. Mike Sheflo was super confused, Jared was sleepwalking and sleeptalking, the backyard of the house was apparently very creepy, Evan was scared out of his mind and climbed in bed with Jon, and the rest of us were oblivious to the whole thing. For some reason, the whole thing turned in to this huge deal because no one could figure out who screamed! So, on the news show, Jeff and Ryan investigated. They drew diagrams and interviewed people, and it was hilarious! Then, Andrew edited a scene from a movie about Hitler, making the subtitles be about us. He changed Hitler to Dr. Goss, our advisor back at BYU, and used all sorts of Dr. Goss-ism for the dialogue. I think I almost peed my pants it was so funny. There is hardly anything more funny in the world than inside jokes. And they were good. I participated in the talent show in a very small way- I helped Cameron with the card tricks in his variety show thing, and I pretended to help Genevieve with the slideshow that she made on my computer. Maybe I'll post that one on here...

10. The Waterfront, one last time. It was the last Wednesday, I think, that we went to the Waterfront. I don't have much to say about that except that the waterfront is another thing that I miss. It was another one of those peaceful, traditional places that I loved.
11. My last day at work+Hannah's last day at work: I think I want to talk about all the work stuff in a separate post because I have almost entirely neglected telling about work, and I have to give it the justice it deserves. I LOVED my internship. Loved it. Like I might want to major in Library Science and become an archivist now. Maybe.

12. 80's Dancing: A bunch of my pals had gone to the Heaven and Hell club in Adams Morgan (a happenin' neighborhood kind of between Dupont and Columbia Heights) on 80's night when I had the plague so I couldn't go. So, on that last chance of a Thursday, me, Genevieve, Alicia, and Taryn went dancing!! This place was awesome. It was 21 and up- but actually very clean. There was a Heaven section upstairs- that's where the 80's dancing was, and then were was a sketchy Hell downstairs where we didn't go. :) But there were all sorts of neon lights and a black light so we all glowed, and the best part was that they projected music videos for the songs being played on the wall. It was so fun! And they played sweet 80's songs and we danced like crazy people, and I'm pretty sure that people thought we were drunk just because we were so happy and out there. Normal people who are not "high on life" do not dance unless they are under the influence...of alcohol. That's why we are cool.

13. The last Friday: I got up for our last class, which was casual, and therefore a very good class, and then headed to my museum to say goodbye to my coworkers and good friends and go to lunch with my fellow Archive Center interns one last time. While I waited for them to come outside to go to lunch, I finally bought the neon tie-dyed "I HEART DC" shirt that I had wanted all summer. And then I went inside to say good bye to Vanessa. But anyway, we went to POTBELLY for lunch! My all-time favorite place to eat in D.C. I'm going to include all of that in the internship post, so look forward to it! Pictures to come! But my last lunch with my intern friends was good, and then we walked back to the Museum that Must Not Be Named, I turned in my library books and library card, closed my email account, and handed over my ID badge. It was a very, very sad moment. I went back to the Archives Center for officially say goodbye, bid farewell to the star-spangled banner, the Scurlock exhibit, and the security guards. And my internship was over.

14. Last night in DC: U Street, Ben's Chili Bowl, Pretty in Pink, Thomas Sweet. I FINALLY made it to U Street on my last night in D.C. U Street is the center of black Washington culture, or at least it was before the riots of 1968, when Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald reigned supreme. It was also the home to the Scurlock Studio for 90 years, which makes the street a very central part of my experience in Washington and of my research project. So that's why it was weird that I didn't make it out there until my very last day. When we got to U Street, we went straight to Ben's Chili Bowl for dinner. So this place is very famous. It's been open for a very long time, and it's kind of the place to go when you come to D.C. The president goes there. And it was the only business that stayed open on U Street during the 1968 riots (remember, that's my research project, so you might hear a lot about that), and they could only stay open passed the city curfew because the employees got special passes from the mayor. The place was charming, and I could tell that it was well loved and appreciated, but seriously, the food was not very good! The famous item is the chili dog with their special sauce on it, so that's what we ordered. I expected to have the best chili dog I would ever taste. It was not nearly that. The chili was very mushy and kind of bland, and the hot dog itself was kind of spicy. It was very weird. But cool that we went there. And right by the table that we sat at there was a picture on the wall of the 1971 T.C. Williams Titans team, all their names, AND their signatures. All of the real "Remember the Titans" people!! Louie Lastik, Gerry Bertier, Julius Campbell, Jerry Harris, Petey Jones, Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass, Coaches Boone and Yoast, the whole gang!! They were all there! That was my favorite part of Ben's Chili Bowl.
After dinner we walked around the street and I tried to take pictures of things that my possibly be in the pictures that I have of the riots. But I had done so little research by that point that I'm not even sure if I was at the right intersection. Dumb. But it was charming. There were big painted murals of pianos and Duke Ellington and lots of other things that symbolized jazz. They like jazz on U Street. We walked down the street to the African American Civil War Memorial, which was cool, and then got back on the metro and headed straight to...

Rosslyn for our last outdoor movie experience. It was the third of the summer, and definitely the best. "Pretty in Pink" was playing that night, and I loved it. But I'm not a Molly Ringwald fan. She was super annoying. I just loved Ducky. Pretty much my favorite character ever. I was very mad when she didn't pick him at the end. Oh well, he deserves someone way cooler than her anyway.

After the movie we walked back across the bridge to Georgetown and to our very favorite frozen yogurt place up Wisconsin Avenue, Thomas Sweet. We sat at the tables oustide of the shop for way too long talking, but seriously, everyone dreaded going home and going to bed, anyway from everyone else. The end was finally coming- it was inevitable, and that time at Thomas Sweet was our last time together. But we enjoyed our last moments, and finally went home to clean, pack, and sleep.

It was a very good last night in the City. I did some new things, plus some old favorites, and I spent time with some of my favorite people in the world.

15. Last Day: That very last day I woke up at 7:00am, showered, packed, and cleaned until 10am when I had my check-out. Once I was cleared I realized how hungry I was, and since I still had about 2 hours until my shuttle came to pick me up, I ran down the hall to Kate and Ashley and made them get out of bed to come get food with me. We decided to make a last visit to Georgetown. We ate at La Madeliene, an adorable French Cafe that sells very very amazing sandwiches, salads, soup, and pastries. Kate and Ashley got pastries (because they were eating breakfast), but I went for the Chicken Parisien sandwich (my fave) and some tomato basil soup (it is amazing, but I still like Zupa's tomato basil better!). Delicious, and a perfect last meal in Washington. We ate and said goodbye to Georgetown, I said my last minute goodbyes when I got back to the Barlow Center, and then my shuttle was there, and I was rushed and kind of freaking out, and then I was gone. The shuttle drove through my city to Baltimore, and I tried to watch the city go by. I wanted to remember it. But somehow, the last day and week and summer finally caught up with me, and I was suddenly very, very tired. I curled up on the back seat of that shuttle and took a nap.

And so began my miserable journey home. It was a long, boring, lonely day.

The End of my fairy tale summer in Washington.