This is old...but I forgot to post it before Christmas!

So here's the story...

"Fire out at building next to White House"

And here's where I was on Sunday night...

Notice anything? Yep, the same building! The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is right next to the White House and is home to most of the White House staff. It's an absolutely beautiful old gem! I'm just glad I got to look around inside before the fire (luckily it wasn't totally destroyed!) For everyone who hasn't been inside, here's a peek at the building (and at Mike in his office, hard at work...or at least pretending to be)!

The Eisenhower Executive Building was just one stop on the West Wing tour of the White House! Here's the highlights (at least the ones I could take pics of) from the rest of the tour...

Outside the Rose Garden...those windows look into the Oval Office! "Hey, W! How's it going in there...."

The Oval Office was beautiful, unfortunately no pics inside. :( The President's desk was absolutely gorgeous, and its history is even more beautiful. It's the desk JFK used...and the famous pic of John-John peeking under it was taken with it!

Inside the press room...right by the podium where Dana Perino gives the daily press briefings! Maybe one day I'll be behind the podium...

Or possibly in front of it...I'll ask the tough questions! Each news organization/reporter has an assigned seat...this one is just down from my Helen Thomas' chair!

Profound Realization...

My whole life I thought the chorus to "Have I Done Any Good?" said, "Then wake up and do something more. THEN dream of your mansions above...." So I've been waking up, doing a bit more and totally daydreaming about my awesome digs in Heaven... Little did I know the correct lyrics are "Then wake up and do something more THAN dream of your mansions above." I guess I better get my head out of the clouds and get to work!

Finally...

My friend Maren tagged me weeks ago to reveal "7 things you may or may not know about me." So in classic Kami form, here it is forever and a day later....

#1...Weezer wrote a song about me...I'm a half Japanese girl! Sadly, I don't speak any Japanese, and neither does my mom, nor my grandparents for that matter. It's surprising how many people don't know this, and have a hard time believing it when I tell them. So when I say I like sushi...its not because I'm being trendy, it's who I am :)

#2...I still wear my cheerleading socks from high school. Kind of gross (I do wash them regularly though) and I know its been five years, but they are THE most comfortable socks I've ever worn! I don't wear them because I'm stuck in the "glory days," it's totally for comfort and they still look like new, and I have nine pairs of them, and I paid for them, so why not? Right?

#3...When I was a little girl, I prayed and prayed for a sister! And let me tell you what, Heavenly Father answer prayers...not always as we expect, or when we expect it, but He always comes through! I have the sweetest, most beautiful little sister, and I absolutely adore everything about her! I'm sure I had to wait so long for her (15 years) because my poor parents couldn't handle 2 princesses any closer together!

#4...My favorite place to think or relax is in some form of shopping center. Wal-Mart, the mall, grocery stores, or drug stores, it doesn't matter, I meditate the best in the hustle and bustle of retail! It's oddly relaxing, reminds me of home (and shopping with my mom and grandma), and is just conducive to thinking.

#5...I can recite the bios of almost every Utah news reporter and anchor! I check KSL continually, and feel like I am best friends with all of the broadcasters. The news business is just so exciting to me...you might call it an obsession. Weird, I know!

#6...In my next life, I want to own a bakery/pastry shop. I love little tarts, fresh bread, pretty creme puffs, and all those delicious sweet treats! But, my mom always says I don't like mornings enough to be a baker...my goods wouldn't be ready til at least 8pm. Hopefully I'm more of a morning person in my next life!

#7...If I could combine my obsession with broadcasting and my desire to be a pastry chef, I would love, love, love to have my own cooking show or be on a show like "The View" or "Good Things Utah." Dream job!

Now I tag Di (this is a tag team from Maren, you better do it now Di), Melissa, Tabbi, Jessica and Mandy...let's hear it girls!

This is why I moved here...

I don't have any pictures to prove it, but tonight I was in the same room with 4 people I consider to be celebrities! All my newsie friends (who are also nerdy enough to become star struck at the sound of these names)...you're going to be jealous! I heard Dan Rather, David Gregory, Helen Thomas, and David Sanger reporting live from the National Press Club (well, kind of)! It was actually a taping of the Kalb Report, a forum on Journalism and Public Policy. It was exhilarating to hear a lively debate about the effectiveness of press coverage of the White House. I just love hearing how professional journalists feel about their craft! These reporters have covered presidencies dating back to JFK, and definitely know their stuff! I will say, I was most impressed by David Gregory, the current White House Correspondent for NBC. He has some great insight into the role the press plays in a post 9/11 atmosphere. He's quite articulate (as all journalists should be) but also very down to earth (which all journalists should also be). Gregory and Helen Thomas duked it out a bit when debating whether the press asked enough hard questions of the president before we entered the War in Iraq. To see the institution that is Helen Thomas sticking it to Gregory, check your local listings for the date and time that the Kalb Report "Thank You, Mr. President" airs in your area. It's definitely a good discussion. And many thanks to my friend Mike for hooking me up with a ticket...its events like this that just don't happen in Utah!

I'm In LOVE...

with the movie ENCHANTED! I sat in the movie theater for an hour and a half with a perma-grin on my face! I laughed, I cried, I sang along, I cheered out loud AND I was totally willing to pay another $10.25 to see it all over again! Enchanted made me believe in LOVE again! Two thumbs up...way up!

TLC...and the magic of TV!

Don't believe everything you see on TV! I love TLC, HG-TV and all those home improvement channels, but I think they may have given me an overambitious take on decorating. This, along with my thrifty budget (call me cheap if you want), made Di and I think refinishing some dressers would be a great project. So, Di and I found some "solid pine" dressers on craigslist for $25 each...what a bargain! We hunted down a friend with a truck to help us move them to our new house (after attempting it ourselves in Di's Civic...and failing miserably!)


To our surprise, the dressers were laminate particle board, definitely not solid pine. We had driven a half hour to get them, and we were going to pay $40 for a tupperware dresser, so we decided they were still our best option, real wood or not. Here's the before, notice the unaligned knobs...NICE!!!

We got the dressers back to our house, which we thought would be the hardest part...WRONG! We bought all the paint supplies the good ole' Home Depot man told us we would need...a can of primer, some sand paper, a couple cans of black spray paint some new hardware, and some putty to fill the old unaligned knob holes, all for $60 bucks...perfect, or so we thought! We removed the knobs, filled in the old holes, drilled new holes for our cute new knobs, and sprayed on some primer.

Di and I decided to test the spray paint on some night stands we had purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond before attempting the larger dressers...good idea! Our little nightstands each took a full can of spray paint (and yes, the Home Depot expert had assured us one can would cover a WHOLE dresser without a problem) and the paint didn't go on very evenly, although our night stands did look okay. Unfortunately, we used all our paint and our dressers were now primer gray...

We took our sweaty, painted selves back to Home Depot (our third trip) to get more paint and of course, we ran into some boys from our ward...which never happens in Virginia (unless your looking your worse). These expert boys told us to forget the spray paint and use the real stuff, so we dropped another $40-buying a can of paint, paint brushes and paint supplies, along with more spray paint to finish off our nightstands. Talk about a mess...

We finally got our dressers painted...three days of hard work, $150 later, and we have BLACK DRESSERS!

Ta-Da! Here's the finished product...they look better right?!? (that's what Di and I keep telling ourselves to make our Labor Day weekend project worth it!)

So, the next time you're watching "Design on a Dime" and you think..."hey that looks easy!" remember the "magic of TV" makes everything look easy!

Good Read...

If you have a few extra minutes (and you haven't been sucked into the "Twilight" series yet) check out "A Thousand Splendid Suns." This book is amazing! A coworker recommended it to me, and I read it in about 2 days (and considering I am on month 7 of trying to finish "1776"-2 days is quite an accomplishment.) Be prepared though, because as soon as you finish reading it, you'll probably cry...and wish that there was something you could do to help the women of the world more! Just a little background information, to peak your curiosity...it's about 2 women in Afghanistan, one born in the 1950's and the other born in the early 80's, and how their lives are changed following the political and social changes in Afghanistan and the subsequent civil wars that follow. It doesn't focus on the war or the politics of Afghanistan, but mostly the everyday lives of these two Afghani women, and their struggles and hardships. Read it...you'll end up crying in your closet, but it will be a good cry and if nothing else, it will make you realize how blessed you are to be a woman in America.

Honesty IS the best policy!

So tonight Di and I headed out to the Stake Center for the General Relief Society Meeting, which was amazing. For the first time I was the person they always mention watching the broadcast over satellite in distant lands (although still in the US-Virginia is about as far from Utah as one can get!) It was nice to think that although I am thousands of miles from all the sweet women in my family, we were still watching the meeting together! It was a great time...and my stake really goes all out-they passed out cute little bags of Lindt truffles to all of us, along with feeding us a yummy dinner. Pretty much a great time!

Anyways, we left the broadcast and decided to hit Wal-Mart (which is a rare treat out here-we hardly ever get to go) on the way home. We shopped around, got shave gel all over ourselves and the store, spent way too much money and then headed home. As we pulled up to our house, Di asks "you got my purse out of the cart, right?" I, thinking Di was playing a little joke on me, reply "uhhh no...I thought you had it." Oh no, this was no joke...Di's purse was in the front of the cart when I pushed it into the cart return. She of course thought I was smart enough to have noticed it...and I of course, was not. So with both of us holding our breath, feeling extremely sick to our stomachs, and praying with all our hearts for an honest person (I mean really, we DID go to the broadcast- that had to count for something!), we rushed back to Wal-Mart (normally about a 20 minute drive...I think we made it in 10). Di was extremely calm considering her entire life was left in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I was frantically trying to get someone at Wal-Mart to answer the phone, while feeling like a total idiot for being in LaLa land and leaving her purse for any one of the crazy late night Wal-Mart shoppers to walk away with! Definitely some very tense moments-the ride was pretty quiet-which for Di and I is a rare occurrence.

Luckily about halfway to Wal-Mart someone in customer service finally answered the phone, and believe it or not, someone turned in a big, red purse! RELIEF! What a great feeling to know that people are still honest! We recovered the lost purse, with all its goods inside, and felt extremely blessed to have it back! Our prayers were answered and our hope that people are, for the most part, honest and good was renewed! So, to whoever found our big, red bag and did the right thing...thank you! And to everyone out there...remember honesty IS the best policy!

I'm it!

Jobs I've Had
~Kalli's Babysitter (my favorite ever!)
~Research Fellow at USU
~Lancome Cosmetics at Dillards (Pretending like I knew how to put on make-up!)
~US Senate...intern
~KSL Channel 5...intern again :)
~Staff Assistant for Senator Bennett

Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
~Two Weeks Notice
~Breakfast at Tiffany's
~Ever After
~Pride and Prejudice

Places I've lived
~Riverside, Utah
~Logan, Utah
~Saint-Joriox, France
~Arlington, Virginia

Favorite TV Shows
~Law and Order
~The Food Network...pretty much anything on there!
~America's Next Top Model
~So You Think You Can Dance
~The Office
~and of course, the News

Places I've Been on Vacation
~California
~Mexico
~Italy
~Switzerland
~France
~New York City
~Virginia

Favorite Dishes
~Chicken and Rice
~Lasagna
~Steak and Potatoes!
~Five Guys Burgers...greeeeeeasy!
~French Fries...with fry sauce of course :)

Websites I Visit Daily
~KSL.com
~Facebook
~Drudge Report
~Tremonton Leader (every Wednesday!)

Places I would Rather Be
~In Utah with the fam
~On vacation in Europe
~Shopping with my grandma, mom, and Kalli

I'm Tagging...
Anyone who actually reads my blog :) (mom this probably means you should start one!)

Metro Etiquette

Well, here goes my first ranting post...and the topic is PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! What a blessing and a curse! The DC Metro does get me to work everyday...so thank you metro, but it also makes me late for work quite often...so no thank you! But that's all beside the point...I prefer to focus on the etiquette I feel everyone who ever uses a metro/subway/public transportation system can control! So here it is, my Top Four Rude Metro Riders (in no specific order of annoyance)...



#4-The Pole Dancer
Okay, so pole dancing on the metro is rare, but people that lean against the pole and use the entire thing to rest their sweaty behind, back and head on might as well be! Nobody else can steady themselves with the pole when someones entire body is resting on it...rude!

#3-Seat Hogs
I'm not a large person by any means, so I tend to keep my body within my allotted half of a metro bench fairly easily. I understand there are others out there who have trouble keeping within their bounds (I mean we are talking about Americans here!) and I totally don't mind if someone honestly needs a little extra space, but people that can keep their butt within one seat should make that effort! For example, the other day as I sat on the metro making my way home after a long day in the office, this woman decides to sit next to me. I'm all about sharing so that's great, but she decides to back into the seat butt first...okay not a big deal until she backs in and sits on my lap. This woman was a fairly fit looking woman...and yet she felt it necessary to sit sideways in the seat with her derriere on me! That's just gross-keep your booty and your body to yourself!

#2-Escalator Jumpers
Everybody (except tourists-gotta love 'em) knows to stand right and walk left on the escalator. Hence, the line to get on the left side of the escalator is normally a bit longer than the line on the right-but in the end you make the time up walking on the escalator, UNLESS people cut into the walking line. Don't sneek up in the standing line only to cut over onto the right at the last moment...we're on to your little tricks, and we don't like!

#1-Where's my Card?
To get ONTO the metro, you need to slide your fare card, and in order to get OFF the metro, you guessed it, you need to slide your fare card! Every metro rider knows this-so why is it so hard to have your fare card ready to go when your gettin' on or off? I've been there...digging through my bag to find that elusive smart card, but not standing right in front of the ticket gates! Move to the side!

The sights, sounds, and wonders of the metro are less than appealing, but if we all work together to change the little everyday annoyances the metro can be bearable-maybe even a pleasure (ok, that might be taking it a little too far)!

Chinese Food with the Congressman

Who could turn down Chinese food and the chance to chat with Congressman Chris Cannon? So after years of forming my opinion of Cannon from the media and the stories of others, I finally met the man for myself, and he made a good impression. He really likes shale oil (if he had to quit Congress right now-he'd get into the Shale oil business). He's very personable and he's quite intelligent. Overall, I'd say he's a pretty good guy...and that's not just the Chinese food talking :)

Oh my 22!

So I don't know when I started getting so old...but here I am, 22-years old! WOW-time really does fly! If my birthday is any indication of how the year is going to go-22 will be great! Some great co-workers/friends took me out to lunch at Capitol Brewery-yummy pulled pork sandwich, and the BIGGEST ice cream covered brownie ever! The celebrating continued at work, with a little office party-more brownies, homemade oreos, and Lofthouse sugar cookies...YUM!

My sweet roomies (including Shannon) threw a little pizza party that night, complete with more sweets-cupcakes this time. Then we got ready and hit the town...Club Ultra! Here's where Liz shines...she got us all in, without waiting in line, and for free-way to go Liz! So I love dancing, hence the clubbing, but I often forget how much I hate sweaty crowds of people...the club was fun for the night, but definitely not my scene! Anyways, 22 is going to be great-even if it is pretty OLD :)

I Heart NY!

"Popular...you're gonna be POP-U-LAR!" Di and I felt super popular after scoring front row seats to Wicked and meeting Glinda after the show! The most popular musical in the nation...and we got front row tix for $25 (okay $26.75 to be exact)! Diana "won" the lottery! What, you ask is the lottery? Well, you put your name in 2 hours before the show starts and 12 lucky people (out of the hundreds that line up) are drawn out to sit on the front row at a hugely discounted price (like $275 off)! All I have to say is AMAZING! It was well worth the wait...and we sure did wait to see it(I've literally been waiting YEARS to see this play)! We made friends with one of the ushers at the Gershwin Theater, and he showed us where to meet the actors after the show too...Glinda was beautiful in street clothes too!

Okay, so Di and I decided our weekend in NY should include Broadway...lots and lots of Broadway, so along with our Wicked good night, we got tickets to the matinee of Hairspray! It was awesome...if the new movie is anything like the musical, you can sign me up! Talk about a chick flick musical...it was so cute! It was heart-warming, funny, sweet, just an all-around good time (this coming from someone with a standing ticket-yes, I stood through the entire 3 hour production and still came out absolutely loving it)! Our NY Broadway fest was great! FYI-after asking a variety of NY tourists to take our pic outside the theater (to show us in front of the Hairspray sign), Di and I finally took this pic ourselves...its the only way we could get the Hairspray billboard in the background! Tourists may be nice, but they are horrible photographers!

We wouldn't be NY tourists without eating a dog off a street vendor! It was a pretty tasty meal...but if you're going to eat on the street, go for the gyros, much more filling and they are pretty darn tasty too!



Here's the beautiful Manhattan NY Temple! It's such a unique experience to go to church basically inside the temple! Bill and I ran into our good high school friend, Sister Anderson, who is serving her mission here! Its always fun to see friendly faces from home in the big city!



I "heart" NY! What a great tourist spot...Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, street vendors, Chinatown, you name it, NY has it!

Atlantic City or Bust!

Welcome to the Las Vegas of the east! Okay, so Atlantic City is definitely NOT Las Vegas, but it's still really fun! Strolling the boardwalks under the bright lights, posing at Caesar's Palace and eating Denny's breakfast at two in the morning-what's not to love! We spent Friday night strolling the casinos of Atlantic City (dad-you'd be proud...no gambling!) and enjoying the new scenery!






Sleeping quarters were a little tight...but I couldn't think of three girls I'd rather share a king size bed with than my roomies!



We spent Saturday in Ocean City at the BEACH! Salty air, sand in our toes, and cool ocean waves...BEAUTIFUL! Fireworks provided the perfect finish to the perfect weekend!

Sunday Dinner

After three hours of church, nothing beats sitting down to a good, home-cooked meal! My family has always been really big on having Sunday dinner together. Growing up we would ALL (as in cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandma, great aunts and uncles, etc) meet at my Great Grandma Alice's house and have dinner together-one of my favorite memories from my childhood! Even after my
grandma passed away,we would meet at my grandparents house with all my cousins and my dad's siblings for dinner. Today, I miss out on Sunday dinners in Utah, but still get to have dinner with my DC family! I have great friends here and we find a way to stand-in for the families we left back in the West!

Half-Price Burgers...a Monday Night Tradition!

Welcome to the Crystal City Sports Pub...home of the half-price burger! Talk about tasty! This little restaurant offers half-price burgers (four dollars plus tip) every Monday and Tuesday night! Try the Smokehouse- a burger with bacon is always good in my book!

My Country 'Tis of Thee...

The Fourth of July is probably the best holiday... parades, bbqs, fireworks, etc! And who could ask for a better place to spend the day than the nation's capital! I heart DC! The opportunity to spend the Fourth of July in Washington is pretty amazing! Watching the fireworks by the Washington Monument is pretty much the greatest! What a show! Although I still miss the fireworks at Riverside Park... you can really ooh and aah at each and every firework there :) The fireworks on the mall are quite the spectacle...it's like the grand finale fireworks for a full thirty minutes! I met some really great new friends and ate at a great little restaurant...the Matchbox is YUMMY! What a great day!

Republicans v Democrats

How much more American can you get than Congress playing America's favorite pasttime?!? The Republicans and Democrats went head to head at the annual Congressional Baseball Game. The Congressmen and women (a lady Rep had the best hit of the entire night) played a real-life game at RFK Stadium... talk about competitve! Slides, line-drives, out-field collisions, stolen bases...and in the end, as usual, the GOP came out on top!

We made "Go GOP" signs and made quite a scene with all of our cheering! We (mostly Bill and Jaron and some of the other boys) made such a racket that reporters, fans, and even the House Historian asked for pictures with our signs, and archived one of the signs for future generations-you can check it out at the House Museum! Although, many thought we were completely sloshed...it was a night of good, clean fun-DC style!

Baltimore

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is so beautiful! Old ships, cute restaurants, shops galore, and the National Aquarium! Fish, fish and more fish...

Historic Georgetown!

Now that I've joined the "real" world, I live for the weekends! Hitting the town after a hard week in the office is the best way to spend a Friday night...add good friends, and French food and life doesn't get much better!

Minglin' with Mitt

While my job isn't extremely glamourous...it does have some perks! Our chief of staff hooked us up with some tickets to a reception with MITT ROMNEY! Mitt is very charasimatic and personable...PRESIDENTIAL you might say :)

Memorial Day 2007

With my family 3,000 miles away, the next best option for Memorial Day was spending some time with the Commander in Chief! Even though President Bush doesn't have high approval ratings, the opportunity to see "W" is a once in a lifetime deal. Even with long lines, sweltering heat, and hundreds of tourist...there's no better place than Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day!

Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue
Concert on the Capitol steps









Spending Memorial Day in the nation's capital with great friends...PRICELESS!