In DC with the BGC

For the month of July I have been down in Washington DC working on Capitol Hill for a government consulting firm. I have worked there last year and as an intern in college, and decided to give the real world another one-month shot. Also, the political schedule works very well with my ski schedule, as the busiest time for moving (or not moving) legislation is in the summer when I am out of season, and I can join as an extra hand to deal with the added workload. In either the first or second week of August the Senate and House recess for the entire month and head back to their respective states to campaign, and many of the bills that were put forth earlier in the session are pretty much wrapped up, in a good way or bad. August is also when I begin my heavy workload of on-snow training for the upcoming season, so it works out well that I can leave easily and head right to the slopes.

This summer it's been great to continue working on the Hill to stay connected to a real life job atmosphere, but I have had a blast continuing to work in conjunction with ITA at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, FBR branch. I have never worked with the BGC before, but had a good time organizing summer camp activities in the gym for all ages of kids. Below are some photos of the campers last Friday when the FBR branch unveiled a new library that was donated by Capital One and Hearts of America. I am blown away by how nice this new space is; there is even a SMART Board for the staff and children to use! The kids were especially happy because they got a pizza party with all the Capri Suns they could handle, they learned about saving money in fun ways with games and activities from Capital One, and a ridiculously good face painter was on hand to transform them into whatever animal they wanted. Press was there to cover the event and I was pretty shameless in plugging ITA, hope it did something!

From here it's off to New Zealand in a little less than two weeks where I'll be training and doing some competing in the Southern Hemisphere. I am super psyched to get back on snow, especially on my new boards. I switched to Nordica skis and boots for the upcoming season, and couldn't be happier with the service and dedication of the reps. It might take a bit to dial in the equipment and figure out what stiffness of skis/boots work best for me, but the word on the street is that the snow is very firm down under, and I'm excited to start skiing!