Happy thoughts!

1) I TOTALLY have the chairs from the cafe where the women have brunch at least once an episode on Sex and the City. Ikea. Who else? (Is it sad that I know the product line that well?)

2) Tacky DC souvenirs. I love those shops in Union Station. Tonight, also, I found Mints for Obama (tagline: Peppermints we can believe in). Hilarious!

3) The fact that the Boy, the Boy's brother and I are all APPALLED that his parents would buy an All Blacks onesie for the impending grandchild and that we've been dispatched to Twickenham to supplement the wardrobe of England's newest supporter (to be; he/she's not here yet). I'm very excited, because I'm always wanting to buy the cute stuff for my nephews, but it wouldn't really mean much to their parents.

4) Having coffee with a friend.

5) My new Brookstone blanket (50% off!). SO SOFT and big enough for my whole bed! Cowering under my special, but twin-sized, fleece blanket was a bit strange on a queen-sized bed. Now it will just have to be special in the living room.

6) Being almost done with work (tomorrow!).

7) Going to England sooooooon. And seeing Boy and so many friends.

8) Lists.

My friend read my last post and proclaimed: "It's like you're a poster child for Stuff White People Like."

I'd also like to discuss my unhealthy habits with craigslist. Is it normal to keep looking for apartments, even after you've gotten one? Why do I compulsively check the Arts & Crafts page, even though it serves as a daily reminder that a lot of people own a lot of tacky crap (and all seem to need to get rid of it because they're "moving abroad")? Seriously...I've found some awesome stuff, but they're diamonds among some pretty rough stuff. I'd take myself to task for scouting the furniture ads, but I really am looking to upgrade my loveseat. More importantly, is craigslist a thing white people like? Am I living up to my reputation?

Ok, after an Ikea flatpack filled evening, I'm heading to be. Got to be up in time for my 20 minute walk of a commute. :-)

New neighborhood

Ok, time for my more or less monthly post: but OMG! I know that I'm a total yuppie, but I LOVE my new neighborhood. I just moved to Capitol Hill and have this adorable little basement (English garden, if we're being posh) apartment. The GULC (that's the Georgetown University Law Center) campus is a few blocks down Massachusetts from Union Station (and not, it must be noted, in Georgetown), so the whole point in moving here is to be less than a 20 minute walk from school. But, I love that I've got two coffee shops, two yoga studios, a public library, several parks, and lots of restaurants all nearby. Even my tiny corner convenience stores sells couscous and three kinds of organic milk. I'm a happy, little camper.

Well, it seems like the answer to the title question of this blog is that Joyce goes to Georgetown. Which is awesome. I got accepted off the waiting list last week and couldn't have been more excited. Accepting the offer and withdrawing from Northwestern was kind of a no-brainer, but really only because I'd been asking myself "what if I get off the waitlist at Georgetown?" for several months. In the end, the only thing that really, really mattered was the international law curriculum. It's a major, major thing at GT (we have our own library and building) and not so big at NU (I wasn't sure how I was going to find enough classes that even interested me). Chicago would have been awesome, but I'm really rather relieved not to have to move across the country. Now I just have to find a new place to live, so if anyone knows of anything on Capitol Hill within easy walking distance of Union Station, just let me know!

That's the major news for now. I've been keeping busy with stamp club meetings and ushered at the theatre on Friday. Last weekend was the major stamp show for DC and I spent two days out in the suburbs somewhere. It was fun, although I didn't find a ton of stuff for my new 1980s/90s inflation-era Yugoslavia collection. That's been coming from e-bay for the most part and I'm up to 6 covers! (Soon to be expanded by 35 thanks to a massive lot.)

I dunno, I really suck at updating, but I'll be keeping the blog going. Maybe law school will spark me to write more often? We can hope!

I officially suck at blogging

I'm really sorry! I'm not good at this anymore! But, I've got something to talk about now....

So, today was the last event for "Passport DC", which has been a three-week celebration of embassy-ness and DC's international flavor. Two weeks ago was EU Open House day and today was "rest of the world." Plus, I took time off of work yesterday to go to the Russian Embassy. Both days were really long and involved a TON of walking and waiting in lines, but were absolutely fantastic and definitely worth needing a good soak in the tub to make my legs feel better. Is it a coincidence that I passed out in naps both times? Probably not....

Both days involved a LOT of turn-of-of-the-century mansions on and around Dupont Circle and Massachusetts Avenue (which isn't called Embassy Row for nothing). Some were really surprising, like the ultra-modern Italian Embassy, one of the ones I definitely expected to be old. The British Embassy is a MASSIVE compound and, although they only opened one room, definitely won the "free stuff" battle and set a really high bar for everyone else (they were our first stop on EU Day). Even better was me trying to keep a straight face when Her Majesty's Representative spoke and told us how much Britain loved being European. I think he was trying to illustrate their position as a bridge between the US & the EU, but it was kind of funny. Also quite popular were the several different kinds of Scotch that were being served at 10am. And my new British Council flip-flops (I know, I know...wtf?). Those rock. Also, the staff all looked rather uncomfortable in specially printed t-shirts with a MASSIVE Union Jack on them! Hee, hee.

Other embassies were a lot more traditional. The Irish Embassy was like that, where all the white people stood in line for AGES to celebrate their heritage and were rewarded with a piece of cheese each. Uh..... I was going to boycott the Cypriot embassy until I heard that they were serving massive platters of Halloumi cheese, one of my all time favorites! I had several pieces and laughed to myself about their promotional materials, i.e. "The Myth about the Isolation of North Cyprus." I brought that one home, but haven't looked through it. Also awesome: the number of different materials designed to explain the EU to children/dummies/Americans (same things, right?), which are EXACTLY what I wanted for my EU class at Earlham several years ago. Win!

There was more of that today, actually, where there was a major focus on South and Central America. The Peruvian embassy and the Colombian residence, especially, were incredibly maintained/restored mansions. Wow. There was a real tendency everywhere to mix modern art with the old houses and we learned that the Colombians fly in fresh Colombian roses every week for the floral arrangements. The Peruvian embassy was a special treat because they took small groups upstairs to see the Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission's offices. The tour guide was their press secretary and he was great. On both this tour and the one of the Venezuelan residence (a purpose-built art deco mansion), I definitely learned more about the countries than I'd previously known (although I later proved just how much Paddington Bear trivia I know with a detailed history of his pedigree).

And, today, there were quite a few modern embassies, mostly clustered up around Van Ness on the edge of the UDC campus. Pakistan definitely won my prize for "architecture that reflects the country" with this amazing modern mosque/Islamic/Mahal blend. It's only three years old and VERY modern, but with windows that are styled to look traditional, with the points, and loads of tile work (that's not really tile, but maybe?). BEAUTIFUL! I totally want to go (although that was kind of the theme of the day, much more than for EU day). Bangladesh had great food and I now know how really good Ethiopian coffee is. Ghana was SO DECKED OUT in flag goodness for their 50th anniversary celebration and someone at Nigeria forgot that they'd signed up, I think (TIA! Also, snerk). Oh, and Australia opened the big open entry space in their embassy, which has a model of the Southern night sky on the ceiling. They were doing wine tastings (yum), had a fantastic digeredoo performer and a very nice photo exhibition commemorating Australian/American cooperation on the Western front in WWI.

The day was all capped off by finding a Peruvian restaurant (it sounded so good when described at the embassy!) courtesy of google maps on my phone (BEST. THING. EVAR!). We tried the traditional cocktail (Pisco Sour) and had an incredible dinner, all for fairly reasonable prices (cocktail, an appetizer & half an entree for bang on $25/each), sitting outside in the perfect weather. Mmmmm. The restaurant was INTI Peruvian Restaurant and it's roughly at S & 18th in Dupont. Lovely day. I'm glad that I'm finally enjoying things about DC, especially since the move to Chicago in the fall currently seems inevitable.

OMG, my wee Muppetkins is going to LSE!

This is just one big w0000000t shout out to my Muppet, who is one of my most awesome Earlham friends. We bonded over a mutual love for England and I remember he was one of the most excited people when I got in to LSE. AND NOW HE'S JUST BEEN ACCEPTED TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM, TOO!!! Yeah, that's two of us on Welling's tally and I bet she'll be over the moon when she finds out. OMG, jealous, but Muppet totally deserves it and I'm super, duper proud of him. Eish! I'm going to have to try and hook him up with the LIMUN crew! :-)

So, some dorktastic photos:

Signs that you know too much about weird sports....

1) ...you watch an American production of "The History Boys" while mentally critiquing their scene change rugby "matches" (no doubt thrown in only at the beginning so we all remembered that it was supposed to be set in England, unless it was supposed to be foreshadowing for "Pass it on boys, pass it on" at the end of the play). SHOCKING attempt at a line-out and we won't even mention that the ball came the wrong way out of that ruck. Otherwise, generally decent job with the accents (although the "dumb boy" who was supposed to have the REALLY thick Northern one was really bad and unfortunately it's an accent that I'm fairly familiar with...despite the fact that my Boy is quite a clever Northerner) and pretty bad set, more evocative of a posh, modern, wood-paneled office than a Northern grammar school in the 1980s. Sometimes they got the timing of the punchlines wrong, which I think was a difference in the way Americans and Brits phrase things, and there were a fair number of jokes that went over people's heads. I don't think the audience understood that it was a comedy until the second act. And, of course, no one thought that the Holocaust or fondling themes were meant to be amusing. But that all sounds more critical than I mean to be: ultimately, I think it's a play that works wonderfully in an intimate space and tonight was a treat. Did I mention that it was free because I was an usher. You can bet that I'm doing that again!

2) ...you're watching "Becoming Jane" because you're a sap for period dramas and as Jane Austin and James McAvoy face off on the cricket pitch you think to yourself "ooooh, she's really going to catch it now; look how far back he's gone for the run up! Fast bowl coming up!" I think the Boy can take SOLE credit for that particular bit of dorkiness, since he made me go to the cricket in South Africa. Go Proteas!

3) (thought of one more, also related to "The History Boys") ...you are really, really amused that the actor being Damon (the cool one who everyone seems to be in love with) decided that his "cool" hairstyle meant evoking the spirit of Shalk Burger. And we already know my opinion on Afrikaaner/Springbok coiffure choices, don't we class?