"Settled In"

The phrase I can use to describe myself is "settled in." I feel like I've reached that magic yet mystical stage of living in a new place in which things feel more at home. Not that this is home by any means. But nonetheless, the days go quickly and I cannot believe that I am nearly half-way done with my internship.

Friday was ridiculous as our office was bombarded with phone calls. That wretched energy bill passed by 7 votes. In the words of Minority Leader John Boehner, "this bill is a piece of s***." Hopefully the weakened GOP in the Senate can find a way to stop it there.

This past weekend was a busy one. Zach, Will, Dakota, and I met up with some Hillsdale people in town on Friday night. Sean McDermott and his fiancée along with Marieke, Betsy, Maria, Julie, and Liz met us at the WWII memorial. Nothing too exciting occurred. I spent the night at Zach's place and the next morning we went crepe hunting for breakfast at the Eastern Market... which is a big Saturday morning market averaging about 15,000 customers per Saturday. I met up with Julie after breakfast while Zach played frisbee on the mall. We did some more Smithsonian touring until later in the afternoon when Zach and I headed up to a sweet book store in Maryland. Dakota also met us up there, and Sam picked us up and we spent the night at his house. I attended Joshua Harris's church called Covenant Life the next day and got a taste for Reformed evangelicalism. The verdict is still out on that one as a whole but I enjoyed Harris's message and was thankful it avoided the subject of dating....Mrs. Branchaw fed us well the entire weekend and on Sunday Rebecca and Liz came over for a barbecue. It was nice to spend time with Hillsdale people... which seems to be the trend on weekends.

Today it was back to the office where we are enjoying a week of congressional recess. We are using the time to try and catch up on constituent mail. We are getting record amounts for our office which is a good and a bad thing. It can be a pain to write letters back... but it is good that Rep. Hoekstra is gaining the attention of the people of Michigan.

Not too sure what the plans are for the rest of the week. Will probably see some D.C. fireworks which should be awesome....