Not Quite Earth Shattering, But Almost

So by now, I'm sure you've all heard that we had a 5.8 magnitude earthquake here on Tuesday. I was at work, after lunch, standing in the hall talking to another attorney and his parents when all of a sudden the building started shaking! It was scary because while it was going on (which seemed like 10 minutes, but probably only 20 seconds or so), people were debating whether it was an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or the building collapsing from the construction they've been doing. Either way, I just kept thinking, "Who the heck cares which one it is? Why aren't we running out of here?"  So I followed the crazies running out of the building screaming (the crazies, not me), only to get out to our evacuation meeting point and realize that apparently I was supposed to bring my keys because they'd probably shut the building down, send us all home, and not let any of us back in for any reason! Ooops! Apparently, next time I'm in a possibly-collapsing building, I need to remember to get my purse!

So anyway, after standing outside for about 20 minutes (which actually gave me a good opportunity to check out all of the DEA Agents), they let us go back in to get our stuff and then sent us home.  I thought that would be awesome since it was only 2:30 - now I could get to happy hour even earlier than I thought! So, I go to get on the metro (yes, I know - we just had an earthquake, and I make the decision to get on an underground train), only to find out that metro is going only 15 miles per hour and that the entire DC area has shut down and everybody and their mother wants to get home NOW. Apparently, we all wanted an early happy hour. I took the metro to my transfer point, but my transfer point was a little crazy! I saw 2 trains go by, but they were too full so I couldn't get on. So by this time, I thought, well I'm only 1 mile from home, I'll pop outside and grab a taxi. Well, I got outside only to realize there were even more people out there! How it's possible that even more people were outside after seeing how many people were on the metro is beyond me.  So, I started walking home, hoping to catch a taxi along the way. No such luck. So, I walked the 1 mile home! I only live about 4.5 miles from work, and typically with metro it takes me 20 minutes to get home. I finally made it home at 4:30!

Thank God for happy hour! Anne and I sipped our wine right through the 4.2 magnitude aftershock!

5 Things I Learned During My First Week

1.  You MUST actually request that the bus stops when you need to get off.  If you don't request the stop, you'll watch as you go flying by work frantically wondering how the heck to get back to work from the next stop!

2. Just because the bank is a couple blocks away, does NOT mean it's close enough to walk in heels and a suit.

3. It doesn't matter what shoes you wear, you WILL get blisters. The next day, when you switch shoes to try to avoid hurting the blisters, you'll just get new blisters in new spots.

4. There is a food truck for everything. Kabobs, tacos, and even cupcakes! And there are cupcake shops everywhere. It must be designed like that as a reward for all of the walking.  You walk 1/4 mile, get a cupcake, walk another 1/4 mile, get another cupcake. Perfect.

5.  Groupon in DC is AMAZING! In addition to the daily deals, there is Groupon Now, which has all kinds of deals throughout the day that you buy to use immediately.

Settling In

So I finally made it to D.C. and I'm all settled in my new place! It's in a great location in Arlington - I can walk to the metro.  I'm 3 metro stops to D.C., but it's only about 2 miles to get into Georgetown.  In my neighborhood, there are supposedly over 100 bars and restaurants within walking distance.  I'm slowly but surely checking them all out!  I can also walk to Whole Foods and Starbucks.  Here are a few pictures of the new place!

As for work, I'm loving it! Everybody that I work with is so nice and I have some great perks! I get to travel A LOT! And there is a really nice gym, which happens to be on the same floor as my office. It's good motivation because there are tons of buff special agents in there. :)

Anyway, I'll keep you all updated on life and promise the posts will get more exciting. I just wanted to give you all the basic update. Love and miss you. Come visit.