Entry 8 (June 24-30) Unwell & Down Bad
Featured Photo:
Monday, June 24
Roomie and I started to come down with a pretty nasty cold. I took a slow morning: catching up on latest Taylor Swift news about Travis's guest appearance on the Era's Tour in London. Truly Iconic.
I just kept it low key and worked on my internship.
Tuesday, June 25
I had a safety issue come up, and spent the day stressing and making a lot of emergency calls. It sucked because talking with a stuffy nose is lame.
I could tell today was my last day of mobility before I got too sick, so I put on my cute summer dress and went out shopping in preparation for sickness hibernation.
Typically when I'm sick, my saving grace is apple cider vinegar. I was pleased to discover a multitude of flavors, and went with the Honey Cayanne. I mixed it together with apple juice and an EmergenC. It was truly horrific, yet effective! Like a cleansing fire haha
In preparation for being sick, too, I did as much internship work as I could and let my supervisor know I was coming down with something. Then, since I wasn't incapacitated yet but didn't want to catch it around the house, I just hung out and hemmed my roommates slacks. I'm pretty proud of the tiny stitches. It's some of my finer work.
I finished out the day watching the sunset on the rooftop and knitting.
BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS KNITTING
I GOT THAT SCHOLARSHIP I WAS APPLYING TO A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO
Can you believe it???
It's this $17,000 award that helps with tuition AND housing. I screamed, scared the housemates also on the roof and called everyone who had been trying to calm my nerves as I have been anxiously waiting to hear back!!!
I am just so amazed.
This day has taken some low-lows and high-highs, but it ended on a high and I think that's what's important.
Wednesday, June 26
I think because my concussion, I'm still waking up too early in the morning, like 5 am. I just worked more on my knitting until I could go back to sleep. You'd think with a concussion and a cold, my body would just need rest?
The good news is, I'm making some fabulous progress on my sweater! Can you guess the inspiration? :)
In the afternoon, I had a zoom with some people back in Utah about the safety concern from yesterday. The feeling of cortisol + concussion + cold was just too much for me.
After being cooped up all day, it was time for a hot girl (rage) walk.
Turns out one of my roommates was also on a hot girl walk, so we walked together (at a respectable distance because I still was feeling sick) and we hot girl walked ourselves to the store and bought ice cream hahaha
The humidity was intense though.
Thursday, June 27
Today, I woke up with the craziest brain fog ever. No thoughts. Head so empty.
Because I couldn't form any thoughts even if I tried - and I tried - I just sat with no music or netflix and just knit the whole day. I knit a tie for a friend who likes to collect ties. It was my first tie I've knit, and my left over yarn from my sweater was all I had. It was too big of yarn, but it still turned out pretty good!
Since it's Thursday, I had my weekly zoom with my supervisor and other interns. General Cooke joined as a surprise guest, which was really cool! I think he's really cool.
I tied in the ends while watching the sunset from the roof, to make sure I got some fresh air at least.
Later, it was the presidential debate and I watched for a bit. I will say, when you have brain fog, the debate is pretty entertaining.
Before going to bed, I wanted to make sure it tied like it should and was actually a good tie, so I tracked down some of my guy friends in the Hatch House and asked if it was real tie length. They were confused, but supportive. Very kind friends. I learned how to tie a tie and was pretty proud of myself!
Friday, June 28
Today, my cold actually cleared up pretty well!
A morning full of cat memes revived me. I'm sure of it.
One of my best friends is getting married in August, and I'm helping with the flowers and bridesmaiding. So after doing article summaries for my internship, I helped with wedding planning.
I started rounding up flower types that would be best for this season and I also did some online shopping for my bridesmaid dress:) I'm so pumped for her wedding!!
Saturday, June 29
Thank goodness I started feeling better because I actually had a big day planned with my Maryland Friend. He also got sick this week with the same thing, but we are both on the tail end.
While I was getting ready in the morning, I watched a squirrel run around on the roof of the Hatch Carriage House roof. East Coast squirrels are a different breed. Homie was truly fluffy.
I had made us breakfast and we headed over to the National Arboretum. Man this place was so cool!!
Walking into the front building, there was this huge koi pond you had to walk the bridge over. The koi in there were like the size of a cat I swear to you guys. Inside this building, I saw that this place was run by the USDA, which was so cool because I'm a huge fan of ag. (As a former FFA President, "I believe in the future of agriCULTure. . .")
We walked across this beautiful field that looked exactly like the rom coms set in the countryside of Italy. Like this feild and the plants there looked straight out of Letters to Juliet.
Ok and craziest thing! Turns out the Arboretum is where the original Capitol pillars are kept! So walking up this beautiful field, you go up this hill towards all this columns/pillars (very greek..obvioulsuy) and they're just sitting there! It reminded me also of that art piece in LA with all the lamp posts ? but it was an array of pillars instead. So cool, and historical.
We kept walking the path through the pillars and down the hill. We went to this path through the trees and walked around the wooded area. It was so beautiful there. They had ferns! I'm always amazed when I see ferns outside of California. There were these huge and pretty skinny trees that had these knotted roots that reached into the brush and ferns, and all these creaky, dark-wood bridges over the little natural creek water paths and roots. The path looped to where it began, and the sun was getting pretty high then.
We found more of a shaded path. This overgrown arch tunnel full of lilac and vinery. It was truly magical. Very Studio Ghibli. Having competed (and made top 10 in state might I add) in floral identification - again - through FFA, I was excited to spot the plant guessing game. We played and I got 4/5 correct. Not too rusty, I suppose :)
He wanted to show me his favorite exhibit: the Bonsais!
They had the coolest bonsai trees there! There was there that was present when America bombed Japan, and as a proverbial 'olive branch' it was gifted to the US. There were also all sorts of these like bonsai trees that I never knew could be bonsai-ed! Like these mini fir trees and I think even a Bristlecone Pine (Nevada state tree for those of you not familiar with the great state) They all looked so funky and beautiful. And lots of them were sooooo old. Like the Hiroshima survivor is actually 400 years old!
After the Bonsais, we took a little path that was the Asian exhibit down to the riverbank. It was this beautiful, shaded, winding steep road that circled down with lots of arches and beautiful Asian architectural pieces. However, the walk back up the hill was dreadful in the heat.
We wandered, amazed at the plants a bit longer, and eventually moved onto our next adventure.
We went over to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I love art museums. I had seen a bit of it, bu tnot enough. Kogod Courtyard - where I like to do my internship work - is connected to this museum.
After, we meandered to the Mall. If I haven't underscored it to you guys enough, The Mall is my favorite place. So we went and people watched between the Capitol and the Washington Monument for awhile. So many lovely dogs on The Mall! It's so cool to see both the tourists and the workers, and especially the groups that come into town like the police convention or the homebuilder's convention (that I've seen in past weeks so far). There were no large groups or conventions, but still so lovely to be there.
We were pretty starving by then, so we walked towards a taco place he'd heard about. It was fun because at this point, I've become somewhat familiar with the roads and walkways around downtown DC (honestly one of my most exciting accomplishments in life so far for me).
A long day for both of us, while getting past colds, but so worth it! Those were the most fun excursions. The art and the plants and the people were all just so beautiful.
Sunday, June 30
Today I looked cute for church. I got confused by the metro. I tried on potential bridesmaid dresses. I watched Barbie Princess Dream School. I felt rested :)
