Inspiration Boards

Since we do our invitations (and most any other type of card, gift tag, menu cards, thank you notes, etc.) in house I make more than a few trips to PaperSource. It is a store made for people like me. I like to go in after work and play around with all of the colors they have. I love seeing colors work together, I like coordinating colors, I like putting colors together you think would never work, I like accents... Its a shame I don't have the confidence to do it with my wardrobe (I stick to a limited palate of colors when it comes to clothes and shoes).

This little "hobby" of mine makes me want to try my hand at event planning or you know... the dream is to be a wedding planner... :)

One day while looking at ideas for decor for a dinner my co-worker stumbled upon this little website, and its become a favorite of mine. My favorite part? Well, there are many but i LOVE the inspiration boards. Ive made up a few of my own but here are some from their site. {Inspiration Boards are compiled by those who run SnippetandInk & are photos from other sites/sources}

{Ivy & Brick - Ivy Green, Brick}

{Pretty, Pretty Picnic - Oak Leaf, Raspberry, Marigold}

{Poppy & Mint - Mint Blue Green, Poppy Red}

{Baby It's Cold Outside - Snow White, Silver Ice, Royal Blue}

{Sleek Orange & Gray - Cement Gray, Orange Peel}

Let's talk wedding colors. Not that a wedding is really on my mind, nor is there a reason for one to be, but what else do you just throw colors together for? What colors do you like together?

My recent favorites? Burnt Orange & Blue.

(Can't decide if I like the royal blue or the lighter blue better)

Birds, The New Obsession, Crazy Nights in Bethesda & Upcoming Events

I usually wait until Friday to post but I cant wait!

First - The Birds
I got a call this morning at work from my boss and she says "The nurse spotted me as the woman in The Diplomat, can you go get me a copy?". Sure thing. Walk over to Furins :-), grab one copy, open it up and THERE SHE IS! So I grabbed 4 more (and a croissant) and walk back to the office. On my walk back I see these two little birds hopping around next to each other, clearly having an intense conversation, as one hops very close to the
other and starts chirping loudly. I giggled... thinking, well - I look crazy, giggling at two little birds...but it did make me smile.


The new obsession -
Mango. Everything Mango. Can't get enough of the stuff. It started with Nantucket Nectar Orange Mango, Continued with Mango HonestAde, and scales were tipped as I went to Trader Joe's this morning for breakfast and bought a Mango smoothie - Yum, Yum and Yum! Not sure what it is about Mango, or this past week that has me craving it
but hey... I'm certainly not complaining. Its good stuff.


Crazy Nights in Bethesda-
Last night (I guess it should be crazy night... I feel there will be more to come though, Ill leave it plural) was NUTS! During work yesterday I am working on Save The Dates for WFP and all of a sudden - a hurricane hits Georgetown! Not really, but it was crazy! Downpour, strong winds, black skies... Crazy. It lasted for maybe an hour and was hot and humid as all get out on my trip home. I must have barely missed the next part of this story because I got home a few minutes before they say it happened but... a guy jumped on the Metro tracks at my metro station. He was not hit by the train but by the electric rails. At this point though, it is rush hour, and did I mention my section of Wisconsin was SOOO without power! Well, I get home & decide I am not sitting in a hot house so I will instead, go explore Maryland, sans tomtom.

I, of course, brought tom with me in case I became so terribly lost I couldn't find my way home but I set off to explore to find out... The traffic lights on a very busy 8ish lane highway are not working, I start taking back roads and there are accidents Everywhere! I decide to just go over to fivebelow to walk around. I get a call from B asking if I made it home... well, of course I did... but shes stuck walking up Wisconsin to get home ...oh gee. That's when I learned about the accident at the metro. M picked her up and then B and I met at home, and went over to FHE (where we were eaten alive by mosquito's as we played water balloon volleyball still, fun was had by all).

We decided that we were not going to heat up the apartment and cook so we convinced a friend to come with us to Arby's. We get back to the apartment and M calls asking if we want to come to Taco Bell... Why sure. I bring my laptop hoping (praying) for Internet and my phone charger since my phone was on its last bar. Taco Bell - No Internet. We go to Mcd's (passing another accident) - No Internet... and an outlet on the ceiling. Picture my stop sign red Samsung Intensity dangling from the ceiling of McDonalds. True Story. We get in contact with a friend in the ward and go to her place where I check facebook (sick) and charge my phone. M gets a call that we have power again and off to home we go. Yikes. What.A.Night.


WHEW, Ready for one more?

Upcoming Events-
I have (slowly) started to find things to do to fill my free-time. Sure, you could go to a museum. You could go tour the monuments. I'm an extrovert, Id rather be with people. Wednesday, B and I are feeding the missionaries. Friday - there is a French Cuisine night and my roommates are showing off their photos from their trip to Istanbul/Egypt. Saturday: a.m. Breakfast at the Brian's home, afternoon Folklife Festival, evening Rehearsal 4th of July Concert. Sunday - Church and then fireworks at the Jefferson. Monday - Trip to Philly/Gettysburg (Cross your fingers). More updates to come.


I should... go do something other than this.

Week 7 - Complete

I feel like this week has been a blur, compared the last few where I can remember specific things.

Monday -
I had to give devotional at our staff meeting. It was rough because I couldn't think of anything super profound. On Friday on our way to the Senate meeting Reed asked how my parents met and I realized, I didn't really know. Then I thought, well I don't even know how they really joined the church. I mean, I knew the gist but I didn't know the story. So I had my mom e-mail me a talk my dad gave a few months back when John and I were visiting home in which he talked about how he came upon the decision to join. Then I had my mom e-mail me the version including more details, the whys, who was involved, and a better timeline of the events. I decided to tell my office a story of how my family came to join the church. It all started with a conversation in a park. I then said how I really admire the work we do because of all the many, often simple conversations "in the park" that we have as representatives of the Church. Its great the work we can do, by small and simple means. Sure, we plan grand events, dinners every month, coordinate Festival of Lights - but its the discussion, the mentioning of who is sponsoring the event, the thanks we give to Ambassadors for their country's allowance of our missionaries... those are the things that spark interest. Cool stuff.

Tuesday -
Blur. I left early so I could run to Laurel, MD to get a package that was being held at the UPS shipping location. I got my Downeast Basics clothing!! 2 new dresses, 2 shirts, 2 cami's - They are thoroughly modest and as always I had a color scheme (without noticing it until I opened the bag)... it was PINK!! I think this was my first pink color scheme, I don't wear pink. Ha. Guess I do now.

Wednesday -
Stephanie Smith, a woman who has made her way up in CIA rankings, came to speak to BYU Management Society at the Barlow Center. I saw the email and said "Hey! I'm Management Society. I work at the Barlow. I'm going!" So I did. It was GREAT! She is an excellent speaker. Great stories, great presentation, overall wonderful. She is also coming to SVU on September 10th, I hope to have lunch with her then. As I was walking downstairs in walks Kevin and Christian, two friends and fellow SVU- Management Society'ers. I cant tell you how exciting it was to see people I knew! I even got an extra hour and a half to hang out with them after the lecture. Great Day.

Thursday -
Blur. I was so tired and really not all with it.

Friday -
SO MUCH TO DO! Western Family Picnic. Ambassadors Wives Luncheon Photos. Ways and Means Briefing. Letters to Ambassadors. Save the Dates. Keep my sanity... We'll see.

Oh! And one co-worker is gone this week, the other may be leaving Tuesday for a week... pretty much leaving me with lots to do, phones to answer... oh goody. I love it though. Really. I'm excited to see all that I get done next week and excited that they are really trusting me with a lot of high importance things. Yikes. Updates next week, for sure.

Including updates on the camp out tonight and all I hope to do on Saturday.

Last Week - Lo Siento, Lots of Text, No Pics

Monday - Spain & Myles' Birthday
Dinner for Spain was Monday night. All day we finished putting together menu cards, place cards, and gift tags. Wrapping gifts, last minute shopping, and lots of spray glue was also included. It the end the dinner was a success and everyone loved the sugar cookies shaped like Spain. Pretty precious (and tasty) if you ask me.

Myles is one person in my ward whose name I can remember. He is one of about... 10 (in that number I am not including my roomates). Monday is usually FHE and this Monday it was a FHE for the whole ward but instead most of us bethesda/parkside people went over to Adam's to play RockBand, Eat Pizza, and celebrate Myles' birthday.

Tuesday - Friday
...all kind of a blur.

We were glad to make it through the Vietnam and Spain dinners alive. There was a lot of follow up to be done for both so I spent a lot of the week labeling photos, writing letters and sending them out. Ive also been working on labeling a huge pile of photos from the first big event of the summer, AWL.

Friday was super busy for us in the office. It started with a very early trip to the metro, three pairs of shoes and my curling iron in a trader joes bag. I got to the office and began helping with set up. This was a unique morning since this type of meeting is a- not usually attended by the whole office, and b - certainly not attended by the intern (s). This was my first meeting like this that I went to, though the 2nd since me being in the office and it was just SO COOL. Being able to witness a meeting like this, the structure, the topics, it was just a great experience. It made me realize how much I really do want to work for one of these offices post grad. I love the work we do.

I left the meeting a little early to run over to Furins for our guests' lunches. After the meeting got out and our guests' were on their way to more meetings we ran upstairs to prepare for our next big event, a meeting up in the Russell Senate Building. After we gathered highlighters, pens, clipboards and our RSVP lists we head up to the Capital. We arrived early which allowed us time to get some kinks straightened out and I took a photo behind the Senate podium. Think its cool that you did that at the American History Museum... yeah... I did it behind the real one :-)

People started arriving, Names were checked, and soon enough our guests arrived. We were able to spend about an hour with them.... I guess at this point I can reveal that among our guests were two members of the 12 Apostles.. After they spoke they had time to shake hands and I was able to take pictures with each of them (Cheesy, paparazzi -ish maybe... but hello! I will not get this chance again!)

After the room cleared we went out for Sushi, It was my first time. We went to this place next to the Hart Building and got a friday special which included a california roll. I think the taste of the seaweed threw me off but otherwise it was good and an experience for sure. I want to try different kinds now that Ive gotten the first time done with.

Friday was pretty much over after that.

Saturday I had planned to go to the city and do all kinds of fun things but... I woke up and remembered my camera battery was dead and I didnt know where the charger was. It must have hit a nerve because I remember being annoyed and tired, and all around moody. I mostly chilled at home for the day. Sunday was Sunday. Today is Monday. Ill blog about this week at the end of it :-)


I think I need to do a picture post... We'll see what time allows this week.

Origami Flowers, New Hair Color, & Chocolate

This week was busy but fun.

We had two dinners coming up so we had lots to do. Invitations to make & send, placecards to make, menu cards to put together - there was a lot going on. We have one dinner left to go but thursday was our dinner for Vietnam. My coworker mentioned she wanted to have paper lotus flowers on the table in some way, and we decided to use them as placecard holders. I made 19 and attempted to make more but no joke, it took FOREVER. I was at work until 7pm on Wednesday and then stayed home on Thursday just so I could finish them and then work at the dinner. I helped our caterers with plating and serving the food and got to taste the goods as well too.

New Hair Color - Okay, I bought the dye when I was back in NY for Memorial Day Weekend and have gone back and forth on to whether or not I was actually going to color it, well I specifically did not put product in my hair today after showering so it was either do it tonight or who knows when I was going to - as we speak.... as I type rather the dye is on my head! Lets hope this works out and doesnt look too crazy, my boss' boss is coming in tomorrow from SLC to work at the office ha.

& Chocolate. Ever have a craving you just need to satisfy? Well, I read/heard somewhere that if you have a certain craving, specifically for something sweet, but dont have what you need to satisfy it then you shouldnt try and eat other sweet things because it wont fulfill it and you'll just snack more -- Okay, whether or not that is true I am not sure BUT sounds pretty good to me. Tonight I had this bad craving for some chocolate, I had nothing to satisfy that though. I looked around and found some nutella, opened up my bread and while I usually dislike the heel this time it was thick and perfect for some nutella - Craving Satisfied :-)

On a final note, I am watching Singles Ward... It makes me feel better about my ward up here and how crazy I feel like it is.

Completed - Week 4

I have to say, this job gets more fun and more interesting the further I get into my internship period. This past weekend I went to New York and came back to D.C. Tuesday night. Needless to say, work went by very fast this week. We had a lot to do this week especially since one of my colleagues took her vacation this week. We had two dinners to work on and invitations for both of them had to be made. I think thats one of my favorite things in the office, the fact that we make all of our invitations for events (our last luncheon we had someone do design work on them but generally we make them all). Its just so neat! It also means I get to go on "field trips" to the local Paper Source store. It has to be my favorite thing, I always wind up buying the stuff they sent me for and stuff for myself.

Like this World Map Wrapping Paper or this New York City Wrapping Paper or this little ditty I bought for Mallory, I can put this here because she NEVER reads my blog and wont find out about it until I give it to her tomorrow :-) Yes, Paper Source says they are "wrapping paper" but in my mind they make the PERFECT posters. Not everyone will have one. Plus, I love to travel and I see a room with a few more of these being my perfect space. Once they get this Italy one back in stock I will be off to buy it!

Back to the point, I love that we make our own invitations/menu cards/name cards/place markers... you name it, we're making it and its fun!

Well - without any further delay I think Ill tell you all about my eventful friday.


It was mentioned earlier in the week that someone very important to the LDS Church would be in D.C. for meetings this weekend. It was also mentioned that it was possible, though not likely, that he would drop by. Im not going to be a name dropper, but a few of you know who it was. Ill give you a hint: He has one of the best laughs Ive ever heard. It was strange because when he walked in I was working with one of the directors helping her buy a plane ticket... I almost didnt realize it was him.

Now because it was mentioned that he may or may not come in, I skipped institute. I did not want to miss him if he did come. After he left I ran over to the Hart Senate Building to deliver a dinner invitation to a Senator's office. When leaving I asked a security guard for directions to Union Station. He asked if I was looking for the Metro, and I was, and he said that it was shut down and I should take Capitol South. While walking towards CS I realize, Im right next to the Capitol Building... and the Supreme Court Building... and Library of Congress?!?!?! The Capitol is hard to miss but I hadnt found the other two yet and so I am glad that I know where they are now so I can go back and explore.

I get on the metro and for the first time since I have moved here, I had a conversation with someone while riding the train. Ive fallen in to the D.C. way of things with not talking and playing with my "crackberry" on the way to and from work but this couple sat near me and were discussing metro stops. They couldnt figure out which one was next and so I said "McPherson Square" thats right folks -- no map, no intercom announcement... I just knew. She couldnt find it because of the way her map was folded and this got us talking about why they were in town etc. It was nice to finally talk to people while traveling.

I get off at FB and I immediately get a call from Ashlee, she says "Are you okay?" to which I reply... "yes...?". She proceeds to tell me that they got a report of a shooting at Union Station Metro and she panicked because that was the closest one to the building I was delivering the invitation to. What is scary is when I went back and thought about it, if I had gone to institute on time, by the time I would have gotten out and over to the metro is when the "shooting" happened. We found out later in the day that all the reports of a crime scene, fatal injuries, and gun on the tracks were wrong and it was a fight that occured near the tracks and a teen sustained non-life threatening injuries. Still! Crazy, huh?

It was so hot that I marched on over to Trader Joes for some lime pops and then headed back to work. The rest of the day was filled with making labels, photo copies, R.S.V.P'ing to invitations, e-mails and research for the upcoming dinners.


Can I just say - I love my job. I still cant believe I am doing this. I am still okay with the fact that I am not getting paid. This is the best experience I could be having this summer, and the best preperation for next year when I graduate and am facing the toughest job market.


Well, I am now going to finish cleaning my apartment and get ready to trip down to the BEEV for the weekend.

Out.