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!