Say it ain't so!

It's official - I'm licensed to practice!  Well, its a temporary license, but it means I can finally start work - hooray!  We were hoping it would come through before the end of last week, but the letter didn't arrive until Tuesday of this week.  This means my start date was pushed back to Nov 22nd - the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Since my start date was pushed back, I had another 2 weeks to entertain myself.  Well, what better thing to do than jump on another plane?  I found a cheap ticket via that well-known name-your-own-price website and headed out to DC to visit grad school friends.

A fantastic friend lent me her couch and toted me around from airport to apartment to city and everywhere in between.  Tuesday was spent wandering around Eastern Market, Capitol Hill and the US Botanic Gardens.  We then met up with a large group of grad school buddies for a wonderful happy hour.  We had wine, chatted about jobs and job searches and just caught up with one another.  After which we headed to a friend's apartment "just to see it" and ended up sitting in the kitchen with a glass of wine and chatting away for over 3 hours.  We finally left because it was getting close to the last metro train leaving and didn't want to miss our ride out of the city!
 

In the Botanic Gardens
made out of all plant products

Wednesday we decided to try out a little hole-in-the-wall place we saw the previous night showcased on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Another friend met us and we set off for La Caraquena featuring Venezuelan and Chilean specialities such as saltenas (huge empanadas filled with stew meat) and arepas.  It was a teeny tiny place that served up delicious food!  We then headed off to Georgetown to spend the afternoon shopping, walking and chatting.  Of course, we made a stop at Baked and Wired for delectable cupcakes (MUCH better than G-town cupcake!).  That evening we met up with another group of grad school friends for dinner.  It was another night of chatting, catching up and having an all around great time.

I didn't realize I'd miss these girls so much!

It was a short but great trip!