To be honest, I haven't been in a very productive blogging mood lately. It's sad, really, because I've pretty much just been watching the Golden Girls. But I think I can find some tales to tell, regardless.

These are some highlights from the week...

My boss liked my letter! I handed it to her on Friday and about 30 minutes later she asked to see me in her office to tell me "her reaction". Honestly, I was scared shitless. So I gulped, quickly grabbed a notepad and pen, and walked in. She looked me up and down and told me it was well written and she wanted me to do more. Pheeeeeeeeewph!!! It was like when you've been holding your breath under water and finally come up for air.

I sat in on a meeting about mailing information to NTI donors. I think I fell asleep with my eyes open.

I found out from the highly respected Russian-speaking man whose office is the size of an apartment that I wasn't sending him the Daily Clips in the office email. I felt like an idiot.

My new silver shoes went over really well with the Communications dept. Thanks, ladies!

I had coffee with Cokie Roberts, one of my biggest role models, and met her mother, Lindy Boggs, another remarkable woman. Cokie and I got together to talk about my interest in Wellesley, where she went to college. She scared me a little bit, but when she laughed at what I was saying I felt like less of a complete and total fool. We ended up discussing what goes on in Boston and what it would be like to travel to France for a year or two...and so on and so forth until we noticed what time it was. We then drove to her mother's new apartment and said hello. When I walked in, I noticed how beautifully decorated it was. She had couches with beautiful, vintage fabrics, French rugs, two four poster beds which "were Cokie's when she was a little girl growing up with a silver spoon." She was wonderfully kind, warm, and had a lot of humor for being 91. Cokie had brought her a new bottle of Vermouth, which had made her especially happy, too. She had also brought what appeared to be a large frame covered in brown paper. When she opened it up Lindy said, "Well what's that?"
Cokie looked at her and simply stated, "Your invitation to Roosevelt's inauguration, of course. Can't you see?"
"Ah yes," replied Lindy. "I sat next to the loveliest man that night. I remember it well. May I have some more wine?"
It was so enjoyable. We all had a wonderful time discussing political parties and gossip and again, lost track of time. I told her I'd keep in touch.

I was part of three meetings today...and they lasted FOREVER! The first one had to do with the documentary script about The Nuclear Security Project. We talked about the title and who the narrator would be for a good hour, actually. I was asked if Tom Brokaw would mean anything to my generation and I blurted out "Old, smart man. Those are the words that come to my mind and I believe those would be the same my friends would say." We all laughed and I was happy to realize how comfortable I was starting to feel around these people. I felt so incredibly at ease for the rest of the meeting that I think I got a lot of successful points across, which is more than I can say for a typical day at school. Later I met with some different people about surveys they're giving people about nuclear threats. I think I daydreamed during that one. Then I sat in on a conference call about a graphic op-ed in the Washington Post about nuclear weapons and threat. They had me sit in because my bosses thought I should hear the guy on the phone go on and on about his ideas...they were ridiculous and long-winded...we giggled through the whole thing. That's what we do at NTI. Giggle.

Part two is in the works. I'm exhausted.

Uh...is it Thursday already?? Wow, where do I begin? Let's see, yesterday was slow. Felt like a real 9 to 5, if you know what I mean. But I went to an amazing french restaurant with a friend and had the best lunch of my life. My life! The french are beautiful. Ok, but the day BEFORE...now, that was SUPERB! It was a day like any other, I was already having a terrific morning doing my secretary-like things when all of a sudden my boss came up to me and said, "Grace. We're filming a documentary and we just got the rough draft. Would you mind taking a look at it and letting us know what you think?" Then she walked away in her newly sharpened pencil skirt and scarf. She wanted to know what I thought?? ME?? So I read frantically and made quite sure my notes looked professional enough, but went into the 2:30 meeting with my bosses not knowing quite what to say. When she asked what I thought I warned her that my opinions may seem silly but that i thought...blah blah blah...and she started writing it down! Writing it down! And then, even better, she agreed with me. What? I even liked what I was saying! Aaaaaah! This kinda stuff makes my day! It was even better than the Tuesday meetings we had last year when I got to say a word or two...

After feeling like I had been given enough responsibility to last me the week, I walked in today and was told my boss' assistant would be gone next week and I would have to take over. Since my dream is to be as much like a secretary from the 50's as possible, I grinned at this task. The jobs remind me of the Devil Wears Prada...except I actually like who I work for. All the same, I have to do things like replace all the newspapers on her desk with new ones before she gets in at 9:30 every morning, print off a copy of "the daily clips" for her to review before noon, reply to emails she doesn't care about, and other things of that sort. I think I will enjoy it. I soon returned to my desk and was given the job of calling people at different publications around the globe to set up or decline interviews...there were some straaaange names in the bunch! But then, like most days when I've started to feel bored, my boss had a job for me. A big one. Basically I was to write a letter to an organization in Ohio asking for $50,000 to complete a project that has to do with global nuclear security. I have to explain the documentary they're making and why they need this for that and so on and so forth. I'm scared shitless. I just hope I don't screw it up completely but who knows. I mean, could you say this e-mail is worth 50 thousand dollars? And that if I don't persuade them...I've lost NTI that much money?? No way, right? Oh my.

I think I'm going to go work on it now. And decide which dress I'm going to wear tomorrow...

Yes, what you have heard is true. I have returned to NTI...and i must say it's pretty fantastic. i walked into the office this morning, complete with a brand new Tory Burch dress, Isaac Mizrahi shoes, and rockin' new bangs to find that they all remembered me. And i really don't know how that happened. It was funny, though, to see certain people who had worked in cubicles last year moved into a new office the size of my bedroom this year. For instance, I...ahem...have a new desk where my boss' old assistant used to sit. Crazy, right? I mean I don't have my name engraved in gold or anything but I do have my own bottle of Purell sitting next to my computer. Anyway, after being introduced at the staff meeting and talking to the Senator for a while...i was put to work! The president of NTI is going on vacation for the next three weeks and is coming back to make a speech so he has put me in charge of gathering notes on nuclear energy and global security so he can write it. Honestly, I'm way more excited about this than I should be. But then, in the middle of my "research", my idol, Sarah Lawrence grad, and Vice President of Communications came up to me and said these exact words: "Hey, Grace, when you get a second would you mind finding out if Congress has released a floor statement of Senator Obama's new nonproliferation bill with Hagel yet**? Thanks!" and then walked away. "Uh...yeah...sure...no prob...i'll get right on that!!! yeah...no...thank YOU!!" i think was my articulate reply. In my head it was more like "...?!?!?!..." Crap. I figured it out, though, and made up for sounding like a goober. Phewph. Then I found my sanctuary in the copy room and sent copies of what they call "the daily clips" to 300 people. It was kind of exciting, actually. One button. Three hundred people. Blew my mind. Then I returned to my Google-ing for speeches on Russian nuclear weapons and such and ended up taking about 56 million articles home to read and re-read. I think I've learned more on my first day back than...from watching The Golden Girls during the rest of the summer. Felt nice! But, yeah, now I'm home and sleepier than sleepy. Day two coming soon!

**The bill with Hagel has not been passed yet, but was introduced on August 3 and has been reviewed twice. Good luck Obama!

On Thursday, August 10, 2006 I went to the White House. After work I walked over to the Eisenhower Executive Building to meet a friend of mine named Clay. I walked up to the guard and he asked for my ID. I gave him my student ID, he frowned and said "government issued identification please..." That's when I pulled out my wallet and replied "Sir, I'm 16 and without a Driver's license but I do have my Social Security Card, Credit Card, Student ID, Neiman Marcus Dependent Card, and a box of m&m's from my last visit to the White House." He looked up at me, picked up the phone and said "I'll tell him you're on your way up. Have a nice day, Ms. Vroom" ...that was probably the coolest I had felt all day. I walked inside and took the ancient elevator up to the second floor. Clay was meeting with an ambassador. It turned out his secretary was from Houston and knew a friend of mine. Small world. After visiting with Clay he asked where I was working. I told him, thinking everyone who worked for the president MUST know what the NTI has been working so hard on. He turned to his secretary and said "Emily, you know the NTI?" "Uh...no sir," she replied. I told him it stood for the Nuclear Threat Initiative...expecting a better response. "Holy Cow! That sounds intense. What the hell do you do over there??" I thought to myself how many envelopes I must have labeled that day...and told him that I helped with some VERY important jobs that were completely top secret. "Alright, well wanna head over to the West Wing?"

So, he took me outside first and showed me the rose garden (where he makes some of his speeches), south lawn (where the helicopter lands), swimming pool (hardly uses it), tennis courts (NEVER uses it), and track (for when the President used to run...he bikes now...with Lance Armstrong). Then we went into the Oval Office and he told me that every president gets to re-decorate the office however he (or she) wants to. So for a while I couldn't help thinking how I wanted to re-decorate it. Where would my band posters go, I thought. And my snowglobe collection? Then he pointed to a big painting and bust of Abraham Lincoln. He told me that the president realized his biggest and most important job was to unify the country. And who else to inspire him than the greatest uniter of all, Abraham Lincoln. I wanted to give him some advice when he said that. I mean, maybe take the pictures of Abe down for a week or so and see what happens when the president STOPS trying to "unify" the country...who knows...world peace? Anyway, it was interesting to hear about. We went into the conference room (recently redecorated), by the situation room (don't even THINK about going in there without permission), and spoke with several interesting employees. He told me there were three White House photographers that took pictures for the president and could get into any meeting without having to ask. Every two weeks, the pictures in the White House change. They're all over. Every single hallway. I told him I had just gotten into photography and that maybe one day...who knows...He replied with, "Yes...maybe. Let's keep going." Man, I guess not everybody is so lucky as to be one of THE White House photographers. Hmmm. All in all, it was an extremely interesting tour. I was able to go back to his office and talk about colleges (kinda nice coming from a guy who was probably smartest in his class at Yale and MIT...sheesh) and after he gave me more advice than I knew what to do with, he sent me back on my way.

Friday morning I came into the office to find the bioterrorism corner all in a shambles. "IT'S ALMOST TEN O'CLOCK!!" Kate screamed. "JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TICKETS GO ON SALE IN 4 MINUTES!!" Then I listened to two scientists discuss a plan to get out of the NTI Board Dinner so they could go to the Justin Timberlake concert at the 9:30 Club. "We all sit in the same area," one said. "we could all catch the same disease!!" Oh man, when 10 o'clock came along they were all trying to get through to get tickets. At 10:02 Kate was freaking out cause she couldn't get through on the website and was afraid they'd sell out. "I don't want to sound rude by saying anything like 'it's just Justin Timberlake' but..." I said through the wall that separated us. "Oh I know! But...HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IT IS SOLD OUT!" she screamed at 10:06. Ah, chaos. Within the next 15 minutes, half the office was searching for tickets on eBay (the cheapest was $400 for two) It was the saddest thing I had ever seen in my life. I couldn't help but laugh when I thought about the note I'd be sending to the Senator after my internship "Thank you for everything, Senator. Oh, and if you by any chance run across two tickets for Justin Timberlake I know Kate would really appreciate it. Great, thanks" Oh my. After everything settled down I said my goodbyes and left jars of candy and mints in the coffee room for Monday. Au Revoir, NTI.

gah. i'm home. i'm busy. i'll post tomorrow.

Mundae: The usual staff meeting. Usual time. 9 am. I sat on the outside this time (next to PB...teehee). Charlie went around and asked everybody for their agenda...as usual. When he got to my boss she pointed out that this was going to be my last week interning there and made all the stuff I had been working on seem extremely important. I guess it seemed that way because they didn't have to slave over all of it. Then just as I was about to thank everybody the Senator starts up and says something like "Yep, Grace, I've gotten nuthin' but great reports. Thanks for everything, it's been a real treat" So after hearing compliments like that, I believe I gabbed on for quite some time about what a pleasure it had been and what an experience it was. Whew, those meetings always end up making me cheery and giggly...which I don't believe they're supposed to. For the rest of the morning I figured out that the only way to survive in that office is by not listening to anyone's conversations. Since its such a small office, every word of every phone call/hallway conversation can easily be heard. So, if I don't care that Stephanie's applying to preschools regardless of the fact that her baby hasn't been born yet...I don't listen. If I don't want to hear how Tempe got pink eye AND strept throat on her flight back from Italy...then I don't listen...every one of the six times she told someone today. These kinds of conversations drove me to the coffee room several times, which then led to one of my favorite parts about interning at NTI. After spending about 6.2 minutes preparing the perfect Japanese green tea, I come out of the coffee room to find about ten Ambassadors arguing in different accents about whether or not the "creamy topping" on the coffee would add too many calories. The stuff that goes on around this place is insane. I was later put in charge of organizing a reunion for Senator Nunn's former staff. So I wrote to people who live on streets like Army Navy Avenue and Security Lane and then I called people who work in places like the Pentagon and referred to the reunion as "getting the old gang back together!" and know Senator Nunn as "The Samster" or "Samalicious". Insane, I tell you.

2sday: My favorite day. Conference call day. Grace feels important day. The TV spots and interviews are being shot in NY this weekend (look out for them soon I guess...) which took up most of the discussion time. Not much else I can report, though. I have to keep something to myself or else I won't feel as important and the point of Tuesday would be ruined. After the call, though, Carrie, Cathy, and I talked about other "business stuff". So, of course, we made Carrie tell us what else she's going to be doing in NY while she's there for the shoot. She told us her godfather works with the photographers for the New York Times so she's going to lunch with him and a bunch of NY Times photographers. I believe that's when the 16 year old in me blurted out "OH MY GOD, that would be like my dream!!!" To which she replied "Well, If you're ever in New York, I'd be happy to give you his number so you can get together." Then the 16 year old in me fainted, got up, brushed herself off, smiled and said "That would be great!" The rest of the day was filled with mind-numbing work. At one point during the day I actually asked Mariah if she was a Mariah Carey fan. Her amazingly intelligent answer of "yeah" made me admit how cool I thought it was on my first day to be working with someone named Mariah. That made us giggle for about 10 minutes...which made me 10 minutes behind my assignment to collate about 1208423905 pieces of paper. Damn work. Then a lady actually got mad at me for making two hundred copies of something. "Too many trees and too much time...that's all it's wasting!" she said. I wanted to tell her that she could say that to the professor at Harvard University who would be without any material for his course based on nuclear threats without these papers. Then I reminded myself that I was just an intern and much better dressed than she was....which ended up being more satisfying than saying anything to her. Oh well.

Week's almost over. Kinda wish I could stay. I feel like I'm just getting settled. Isn't that how it always goes?

Friday: Since its the summer and people who work get no summer vacation-work ends at 1 on Friday. Yahoo! My grandfather took me out to lunch at his restaurant, the Caucus Room. We walked in and after being guided past rooms filled with dark suited lobbyists, we sat down and a man immediately came up to our table. "Welcome. I'm not your server today but I would just like to express how happy I am to see you two here on this lovely afternoon," he said with quite a smile. "Just wanted to let you know that your presence has been acknowledged." Wow, I thought. What had my grandfather slipped him? He went on with more compliments, even though this was the first time we had ever met him before. "Well, thank you so much, what's your name?" I asked. "Pleasure," he said. "...its got its ups and downs" Then, our waiter came over and introduced himself as Dallas Henderson. I told him I was from Dallas and his eyes lit up as he told me his family was basically the reason Dallas is a city today. "My last name's Henderson. Henderson County? Ring a bell? Yep. That's me" This, of course, led to many stories about the Henderson family as well as short converstions about Texas weather, the Cowboys (ew), and the Mavs (yum) It was a loooong lunch but made for quite an interesting and humorous afternoon

Saturday: Photo day. James day. Great day.

Sunday: I went over to a friend of my mom's house for lunch and fresh air during the afternoon. I probably hadn't seen her since I was in her wedding (I believe I was all of 6 or 7) so it was GREAT to see her again. After catching up on family things, I was able to talk to her 7 year old daughter and 10 year old son over lunch. After hearing some great stories from everybody and sharing my opinions on things such as colleges, theater, art, politics, media, etc. her 7 year old turned to me and said "man, you're complicated." Ah, yes, the perfect compliment. I took pride in that but could only muster a "guess so" before we all erupted in laughter.

Monday: Staff meeting. A ton of people were out of the office on Monday so I actually managed to get a spot at the conference table again (scoreboard!) Brooke was in charge of the meeting and she went around the table asking if anybody had news. Since there was barely any, I quickly became bored with the situation. Then, out of nowhere, the Senator says "Well I just want to know if Grace is keeping everybody in line up there." Wha? Who? My name? Keeping in line? Were they crooked? "Oh, I'm working on it, Senator!" is what came out of my mouth. Laughter. Phewph. Easy Crowd. Man, that kept me on my toes for the rest of the day.

Later on, I met Joey and Robert for lunch. After a week of awkward elevator rides, meeting new faces, and learning my way around Pennsylvania Ave...it was nice to have two wonderful people reminding me so much of home. It was like having lunch with two Bunkys (thats a compliment, I swear!!) St. Marks and Fantasy Football. The two things they know so much about and are so much fun to hear about. It relieved my homesickness for at least an hour. Later that night was the Fiona Apple show at Wolftrap (a great place to see all kinds of shows!) I was shocked to see so many people there. I mean, when she opened for Coldplay in Dallas...everybody complained and didn't like her performance. I was SO happy to see that people in DC appreciated her a little more. She had everybody wowed.

Tuesday: Got a new project to work on. WOOHOO!!

Today: I got my first project almost finished. Thank goodness. I've found that just by finding the audio tape of some CNN Interview with Charles Curtis or the DVD of Ted Turner on David Letterman can make me more excited than if you had put a whole cheesecake in front of me. Seriously, I have dance parties whenever I'm finished organizing all the BETACAM from 2001. it's GREAT!

Oh dear. Just thinking about organizing Senator Nunn's BETACAM makes me sleepy. G'night.