New York City!

So we were pretty much snowed in for the whole week except Tuesday and Friday so not much happened there. Friday night I came home and got all packed up and ready to go but I didn't get to sleep until about 2 so I was really tired the next day when we had to be at the bus stop by 6:30 in the morning. I was kind of able to sleep on the bus but it wasn't exactly comfortable so I was already tired by the time we got there but I was going to have to just suck it up. We went to our hotel to drop our stuff off and I didn't realize at that time that it was in Queens, which is pretty sketchy but it was too late to do anything about it. We went to Times Square and went to theatres to look at getting tickets to a show but it was so expensive. My roommates got tickets to see Mama Mia! but I didn't really want to see that one and a friend from Tech that I was meeting there didn't want to see it either. We ended up getting really cheap tickets to see Chicago the next day. Then we went to the Hershey store which is huge and has everything Hershey you could possibly want; giant piggy banks that look like chocolate syrup bottles, the largest Hershey bar ever and a giant spinning kiss. Then we went across the street to M&M's world where they had every M&M color ever created and it was 3 stories of memoriabilia and random stuff. My friend Nikki met us there and everyone else wanted to leave but we were still looking around so we just went off on our own. We wandered around Times Square for a little while longer and then we got bought some cheap tickets to a comedy club show for that night. We walked through central park which was covered with snow and really pretty but also so much bigger than I thought. Next we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it was amazing. We spent a whole hour in the Egyptian area and then realized we had to be quicker to see any other exhibits. We didn't see nearly as much as we wanted to because we were getting really hungry so we met up with my roommates to go get some food. We ended up at a restaurant called Serafina and it was so good but pretty expensive too. Me and Nikki went to the comedy club after that and had to wait for a long time because there were so many people but the show was great. A guy who doesn Live from Gotham on Comedy Central Sean Patton was introducing all of the acts and he was really funny. We saw about 10 comedians in all and there were a couple who weren't that funny but overall it was a great show. The next morning we went to pick up our tickets for Chicago because we had to wait in line for a little while to get the really cheap ones. The show was at 2:30 so we only had time to eat lunch before we had to head back to the theatre. Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child was Roxy and she did a great job. The whole show was amazing and I loved the whole experience of seeing Chicago on Broadway. We went to Chinatown and shopped a little bit but didn't get any fakes or anything. We ate at a really good chinese food restaurant and decided we were going to go out that night. We went back to her hostel and my hotel and got ready and then headed out. We were planning on going to this club and it was a lot longer walk than we thought it would be so it took forever to get there and when we finally did, we found out that it was 40 dollars cash only to get in. This is after they throroughly search our purses and take away her advil and there was no way we were going to pay that so we just left and found a nice pub to get a couple of drinks. The bartender had a really nice Irish accent and every time he started talking we would just stare. The next morning we ate at a really good bakery with so many good pasteries and then just walked around the Madison Square Garden area. We went to Macy's and it was huge, a total of 8 stories. There were so many clothes that I wanted to buy them all but unfortunately I walked out without buying anything. After that I had to catch the bus back and then head to work the next day.

Hey everybody! Sorry it has taken me so long to post this but it shouldn't be surprising because it's me, hehe. In the past two weeks work has been pretty tedious but I was able to go to a House Administration Committee hearing about the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The decision made it so corporations could use any amount of money to make tv or radio commercials saying vote for whichever candidate and heavily influence elections. Two of the people on the panel said that they did not think it was as big of an issue as some people thought and the other 4 said that it would actually have a huge impact on campaign finance. I had to take notes and write up a memo for the legislative assistant in my office that deals with campaign finance issues and she had told me to go a little early because it would probably be a big hearing. When I got there to wait in line they said the hearing was pushed back an hour because the one before hand had run long but I had to stay because the line was already getting long. I stood there in my high heels for and hour and then when they let us in I wasn't able to get a seat so I had to stand by the wall and I ended up standing for 3 and a half hours straight. I guess that's the price of being an intern.

My Congressman is on the Ways and Means Committee and there were two hearings about the 2011 budget and one of them was with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The legislative assistant who deals with budget issues was at the hearing with the Congressman and I had to go give her some papers she needed from the office. The other office people told me that she might be sitting behind the Congressman or she might be in the audience so I wasn't really sure where she was. When I got in the room I couldn't see her anywhere and I kept looking around which was annoying some of the press people I was standing behind. She is a pretty small lady and she was actually behind a column on the wall behind the Congressman, so when I finally saw her I went to give her the papers but I was so embarrassed. I was just glad my Congressman wasn't talking or they might have seen me on C-SPAN behind him.

On Friday we were supposed to get off early because of the snow storm that was going to be coming but I had my White House tour that my office had scheduled for me at noon. My scheduler told me that I didn't need to go back to the office after my tour so I only had to work 2 hours. The White House tour was pretty cool, a little short, but the rooms were amazing. I got to see the painting of George Washington, which was the only painting to survive the White House fire in the 1800's. Unfortunately you only get to see the east wing on regular tours so I didn't get to see as much as I was hoping but it was still really cool to see.

I went to Best Buy after I got done with my tour to stock up on some movies for the weekend because we were forecasted to get 24 or more inches of snow, which would shut down the whole city. We ended up getting about that much or more and were pretty much stuck at home. A bunch of us went out Friday night and again Saturday morning to play in the snow and I made a giant snowman we named Rupert. We went to a hill too because one of the girls had bought a disk sled thing and as we were walking one of my roommates came up beside me and pushed me into the snowbank beside me. It completely covered me up and when I was able to get to my feet I looked like the abominable snow man. We also went to a 7-11 a few blocks away on Saturday night and got some snacks and cokes and on the way back I was carrying the bag with a bunch of stuff in it. It kind of messed up my balance so I really struggled walking in the two foot high snow and even fell a couple of times while everyone else just laughed. I think there is a reason I don't normally live where it snows a lot, hehe.

One of my roommate's staff assistant let her borrow some movies and the first season of the show Glee for the weekend so we all (the girls anyways) watched the whole first season in two days. The boys were getting pretty tired of it though but they had the tv all day Sunday for the Super Bowl so they couldn't complain too much. It was an awesome show and I would highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a really funny show to watch. We all watched the Super Bowl and a few roommates made enchiladas and jalapeno popppers and twice baked potatoes among other things so we had a great meal. It was about half and half for who was rooting for the Saints and who was rooting for the Colts and I was of the half going for the Saints so it turned out well for me. Only one intern out of all 19 of us had to go to work today and luckily it was not me. Federal buildings are also closed for tomorrow because we are supposed to get at least another 5 inches on top of what we still have. I'm waiting to hear if I have to go or not but even if I don't I'm going to have to find something to do to get out of the house. Hopefully any snow will be gone by this weekend though because on Saturday morining a group of us is heading to New York City for the weekend so I'm really excited. I can't wait to get there and I will update my blog as soon as I can to let everyone know how it went.