a hippo for hope

I finally got around to downloading my photos tonight, only to realize that I've taken very, very few photos since I've been here. This is just further proof of something I've been suspecting since I got here: I am a completely different person than I was before I got married. I used to be really awesome at doing things alone. Even when I was dating someone, I could still rock the old alone time. I traveled alone, I went to movies alone, and I took a lot of photos alone. And enjoyed it, too; in fact, I'm not even necessarily saying that doing all of those things with a spouse/partner is better than doing them solo. Just that I have apparently lost my capacity.

Anyway, I digress. For your viewing pleasure, here's some proof that I'm actually here:

1. I ran into this big white building one time.

2. It was being guarded (partially, not exclusively, although wouldn't THAT be hilarious) by these nice gentleman and horses, whom I caught in a pleasingly Norman Rockwell-esque moment.

3. And then one time I saw the Washington Monument, which is just as phallic in person as it looks on film.

4. So although GW's official mascot is The Colonials, its unofficial mascot is a hippopotamus because of this statue, which was given to the university as a gift by... someone very important, I'm sure. Legend is that hippos use to frolic in the Potomac, much to the delight of George and Martha Washington, whom you may have heard of.

5. This is the plaque that accompanies the hippo statue. It might also be my new motto. In fact, definitely.

Love and colonial urban legends,

Haylie

P.S. Politics for beauty??