thursday tidbits

• i don't know why i bother dressing nicely when it's just going to be freezing cold in the office so i spend the day in a sweatshirt.

• weekend update - sat we went down to the cape with the idea being that we would go to long beach for a few hours before heading down to brewster. sadly saturday was the one day of the weekend that was not sunny and hot so while we, along with many other frat bro types playing all the beach games you can think of while drinking bud heavy, did our best to make the beach happen, it was not really happening. trying to be philosophical about this - already had 4 days of beach and water in italy, plenty more beach days this summer, MV with my work team at the end of aug, etc. a sunny july day at long beach is just my happy place you know? i know you know. chris did get his first wimpy's experience - we sat in the grill room and he had the sesame tuna. fortunately jill did not drive a car through the front door while we were there. 

• the 4th of july party bus turned out like you'd expect. several of my coworkers were there so it was practically sponsored by my company. due to way too many fireball shots and at least one round of 'surfer on acid' shots at a bar in ptown the night is v hazy. i know i saw some fireworks, sang karaoke and ate some pizza. a good time was had by all.

• laurak and i have been tapped to provide the cocktail/dinner and dancing playlist for karla's upcoming wedding in portland in august. i am quite pleased with the collection of songs i've put together so far - obvi need good dance songs but also cross-generational crowd favorites and lower key but upbeat music for cocktail parties. when it goes over super well i'll share. ;-P

• booked flights for a trip to las vegas over labor day for an early bday celebration for vin. after this past (record breakingly awful) winter i decided that i need more beach and pool time in my life (and will be booking a tropical vacation in march/april of next year, possibly to vieques but tbd). the last time i was in vegas was for work a few years ago and while i had a completely ridic time during my free trip (and also took years off my life/caused this knee injury by wearing high heels the whole time) i did not get to spend any time at the pools, so we decided it was a must do. we're staying at mandalay bay (hello lazy river!) and are going to see britney! pretty excited about this. 

• work has been somewhat dull lately - we moved our entire business to a new reporting platform and method of paying our publishers so it's v much of a in flux time while we wait to see what how the changes impact the business. have pretty much rolled up the sleeves for some grinding over these next few weeks. but good to have things to look forward to like seattle/portland and vegas!

• it hasn't been a completely dull week however - j bond and i went to see the red sox play at fenway on tues for old times sake.  we sat in the bleachers, had some beers and caught up on a beautiful july evening. against all odds the sox won and she provided some seasoned perspective on athletic injuries as well. tomorrow we're heading to gillette to watch the US men's soccer team play haiti with ceppos and her boy. looking forward to catching up with them and it turns out several of my coworkers are going as well so it's bound to be a good time. incidentally - NESN made a red sox nation commercial at prof thom's a few months ago and ceppos and the boy are in it! keep an eye out for familiar faces if you happen to be watching in the new england area.

• knee update is that i start PT next week. looking forward to just even knowing what on earth i did to it. i have been so sidelined by this dumb thing that carrying my groceries home after a much needed trip yesterday did a real number on my arms and shoulders. it's really sad - fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. 

summer in america

happy almost 4th of july! we opted for a bit of a staycation this year - had today off from work so hung around the apt and cambridge. heading down to the cape tomorrow for some beach time and a party bus to provincetown organized by one of my coworkers who grew up in brewster. having the holiday fall on a saturday seems to have made it a much more low-key holiday than usual. or maybe that's b/c i didn't have a hellish drive up I-95 to the cape for the first time in a long time. :)

a few weeks ago i went out with some of my coworkers to celebrate a promotion on a friday night. we got all dolled up and went to a club to go dancing. mind you this is boston, so by club i mean an italian restaurant that does bottle service after dark. only in boston. at some point during this night out i did something bad to my knee (#upi). i wish i knew what it was b/c i've never had something like this happen to it and i've played sports all my life. i was wearing heels, so distinctly possible i tweaked it or stepped down funny or something but other than that i wasn't hit in the knee with a tire jack and i don't remember falling or anything. to be fair i was drinking but i feel like i would have remembered if something major had happened that resulted in a lot of pain.

at any rate it's been in bad shape ever since. limping/swollen/pain/can't bend it - all of the above. i went to my primary care to get it checked out last week - she said it felt stable so that's good - but i don't know when it's going to be better. having nightmares about never being able to run or ski or hike again. currently have a knee brace on it, and doing exercises and RICEing and all that but it's not great. i'm sure walking all over europe and dancing for 5 hours two nights in a row didn't help and when you're dumb you gotta pay but definitely something that's been weighing on my mind.

something else i've been thinking about is yetis. no, not the fabled woodland terror but yeti coolers. chris and i went down to houson, tx in january so chris could run his second 100 miler race and i could visit my sister and her husband. my impressions of TX are best saved for another post (boy do they have a lot of donut shops there - i counted 13) but my sis told us about yeti coolers. apparently the are all the rage and they are not cheap ($350+) and can keep your beer cold for like 3 weeks. as my brother-in-law pointed out, if you need your beer to say cold that long you're prob doing something wrong but maybe if you were on a 'deadliest catch' fishing trip or something it'd be a good thing to have.

anyway - since learning of their existence they've popped up in the lyrics of a couple of country songs, namely 'she get me high' by luke bryan and 'buy me a boat' by chris janson (both excellent songs). keep an eye out for the yetis.

i will leave you with the sandlot 4th of july fireworks scene. in a movie full of great scenes it may just be the best. :)

me against the music

not the biggest fan of spotify - i own most of the music i want to listen to and often times spotify doesn't have the artists (hi eagles and bob seger) or the versions of songs i want to hear, so i just buy the music and have it in the cloud with itunes (aka itunes match) to access on the devices i want when i want.

spotify does have one benefit though - it has the billboard top pop and country charts so it's super easy to go through what's sweeping the nation for us nyc folks who don't really listen to the radio.

back in an office every day so i caught up on the spotify latest this past week. here's what i'm digging:

• 'counting stars' - onerepublic
• 'we can't stop' - miley cyrus. took a bit but this one grew on me, esp after listening to it in the car after a saturday night out on the cape with boxa and fahey
• 'wake me up' - avicii - a little weird to have lyrics on an avicii song but i'm digging it
• 'beat it' - chris brown - anti chris brown but just too catchy not to mention it
• 'ride like the wind (klaas remix)' - heard this at the foxhole while i was home. ride like the wind is good - the remix makes it even better
• 'rebel beat' - goo goo dolls. is it 1997? maybe but still good!
• 'cups radio version' - anna kendrick - the radio version is a little more upbeat than the movie soundtrack version
• 'blurred lines' - robin thicke. duh

week one at work was good - getting back in to the swing of office, work, and gainful employment. heading out to the airport shortly to fly to detroit for the jimmy buffett/jackson browne concert. and i've got a hot date in michigan tonight. ;-)

a tale of two coasts

weekend update - was in nyc this wknd for the first time in a long time. the weekends are longer when you aren't coming and going all the time but i still would have rather been somewhere else. fortunately the next three weeks are crazy - so i'll get my wish!

had a great time hanging out in LA with kevin last wknd - went to a local dive bar by the venice pier and had some late night beach hanging out time after i had dinner with a cape friend. kevin initially told me an address to meet him at after my dinner which i assumed was his apt but quickly realized it wasn't when i got to the house and found it dark and some person looking at me like i was crazy when i rang the bell and said i was looking for kevin and standing on the sidewalk with all my worldy possessions in a suitcase. fortunately we sorted it out - kevin had been at a party at the house but they had left to go to the bar but the text hadn't gone through so i didn't get the update. we all had a good laugh and i went to meet them at the bar. i essentially always end up staying up to 5 AM or so EST when i'm out there - the time change causes the most trouble at night in my opinion - and while i'm def good for an all-nighter now and again two nights in a row often does me in.

saturday we went swimming in a friend's backyard pool and then for a bike ride up the coast from the venice pier to the santa monica pier. it's been unbearably hot and muggy in nyc for the last couple weeks but it was gorgeous on the west coast - felt almost like september out here - warm sunny days and cool nights. it was a blessing to have a bit of a break from the humidity. we went for a swim in the pacific and as i was floating along in the beautiful briney sea it was like this is really my life?

saturday night i met a guy at a dartmouth party - turns out he went to high school with my cousin in maryland and now is in LA doing an urban planning degree at USC. i definitely have a type and it's engineers and track guys (he pole vaulted in hs). we had a great time hanging out (he made me breakfast to frank sinatra on sunday morning. i chopped the tomatoes and olives.) and seems like we may stay in touch. if there's one thing i'm good at it's parlaying one night stands into relationships. we'll see but it's made me really happy all week. :)

this past weekend we went to see mulley's play on friday night - several of the nyc usual suspects came out including megh and pollypocket - was fun to see them. sat night was the dartmouth club of nyc event at the mets - we went to hear the GM of the mets (a d '69) speak and then to the baseball game. things went well and it was really gratifying to see folks from different classes interacting and getting to know each other. glad to have it behind me so i can get on with weddings, fun and friends! heading up to providence, ri on friday with katie and karla to meet up with swanny, maynard, whit, skips and laurak for robin's wedding. hooray for usual suspects, weddings and weekends in new england.

lastly it's just about my 7 year anniversary of living in nyc. how did it get so late so soon? i'm moving in 3 weeks and i cannot wait. i'm sick of my roommate, my roommate's cat and my apartment being too hot all the time. ready for what's next.

why hello

i know i know - i am such a deliniquent. if it weren't for megh guilt tripping me into posting about his fabulous dinner party on sunday i probably still would be MIA, but in the words of america 'i've been one poor correspondent, i've been too too hard to find but it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind'

in chronological order:

• '07 reunion - quite simply, it was a blast. highlight was the impromptu dance party that went down in the sd basement on saturday night. we took down the first pong table and turned off the lights and kevin and i were running up and down the stairs dj'ing ('we found love' and 'call me maybe' were the heavy favorites). we also stashed a justin case of keystone in the dryer - also pretty awesome. walked down to the river with laurak to go skinny dipping, played a two table game of social at 4 am and then strip pong (we were winning by so much that eventually we just got naked). capped off the night with a trip to lou's at 7 am. we were all drunk and falling asleep in our maple syrup but it was epic. got in a quick nap between 8:30 and 10:30 am and then caught a ride home with cody. it was so great to be hanging out on campus with 'the pledges' again and campus looked so much warmer and greener then it had even a few weeks earlier. so so so much fun. i'm going to continue crashing reunions in the future. 

• jimmy buffett '12x - also a blast. christine had borrowed a tent for the occassion, which was incredibly clutch considering it was super hot out. i took a ton of pictures on my phone and managed not to lose it (a jb miracle) and vik got most valuable partier for reasons i will not detail here in case vin reads the blog. great group of people, amazing set list and concert number 12 under my belt. christine and went down to the cape for a few hours on sunday to go out on her boat - we were bummed we had to go back to real life on sunday night but it was such a lovely trip and very necessary for our sanity.

• vacation! - my 10 or so days on the cape were incredible - we def hit the vacation weather jackpot as each day was sunny and hot. i went to the beach just about every day. christine and i did the lobster special at the raw bar and oyster harbor fireworks on her boat ('my neck is cramping from looking up at the fireworks #capecodproblems') and my siblings were home so i got to catch up with them. i did a ton of manual labor for my parents - cleaning and tidying the house and yard for the company - i took the philosophical approach that i pay a lot of money for that kind of exercise in nyc. rowena came up on thursday and we beached and boozed for a few days and sang 'intergalactic' to much applause during saturday night karaoke at the foxhole. laurak is currently in woods hole, so she came down to hang out for saturday night as well and we ended up in osterville after hours at my brother's friend's house boozing and having a few laughs. great way to end a fabulous break from the big city.

lots of friend time lately - as i mentioned megh is now back in nyc and had mulley, kjbb + the boy and me over to his new apartment for a dinner party on sunday night. he made some delicious appetizers and roasted a chicken with lemon - we were all impressed and enjoyed his new digs. glad he's back in the city!

next up is ceppos' bachelorette party in nyc this weekend. i'm getting excited to hang out and be silly with some girlfriends - we're going to see the 80s cover band rubix kube on sat night. i will def post my comments, learnings and suggestions after the weekend is over so that others can learn from my experiences as well.

i also rented '21 jump street' over the weekend and loved it. it was hilarious, quotable and had a great soundtrack. highly highly recommend. one of my favorite quotes was 'what are you wearing?' 'potassium nitrate - thanks for noticing' ;-P

that's the news! stay (cool) and classy friends! :)

observations

i'm two weeks in to the new gig and i have some observations (are you surprised?):

• i think i'm gonna like it there (paraphased from the musical 'annie'). i've liked everyone that i've met so far and the vibe of the office. reminds me a lot of the >nbbc group when i first started at nbc. people go out for drinks, we have pizza, cake and happy hour on friday, and people seem to be a good bunch. 

• had a good trip out to SF with my boss and the VP of marketing. we ditched the conference on tuesday afternoon and went sight-seeing in SF. aka researched the steepest hills in SF and then drove up and down them, screaming and squealing with laughter the whole time (the steepest hill is a 40 degree grade btw). we also drove across the golden gate bridge on a 'gorgeous sunny day' - it's just so cool out there!

• my new office is on 21st and fifth. when i first started working in NYC my office was on 18th and broadway. it's so nice to be back in the area - remembering my old favorite places for lunch and scoping out the latest fashions on 5th ave (danger). remembered today that the deli i used to go to five years ago serves bagel chips with their salads. it was like getting reacquainted with an old friend. :)

• it's nice to be learning again. the traditional radio business (aka terrestrial radio) is something i'm sort of familiar with thanks to 99 rock, WDCR and my dad, but it's been fun learning about the players in the space, how it's sold and how it all works. i love radio and it's nice b/c there's the digital aspect that i already know but room for me to learn a new industry as well.

in other news, i've been planning away like a fiend for the fun stuff that's coming up in the next weeks/months:

• 6/16 - i'm crashing the '07 reunion in hanover
• 6/23 - jimmy buffett concert #12 in boston 
• 6/30 - cape for the week of the 4th of july where i'll get to see nicole and laurak
• 7/21 - ceppos's bachelorette party in nyc
• 7/28 - sd big sis/little sis weekend with celeste, diede and diede's little sis (location tbd)
• 8/18 and 8/25 - robin's and ceppos's weddings in providence and greenwich

so much fun stuff to look forward to but lots of planning. good thing i like to do it. :)

staying in tonight b/c tomorrow i'm going on a booze bus with a bunch of dartmouth kids to the belmont stakes. there won't be a triple crown, but we were never in it for the horse race anyway. i'm going mostly b/c it sounded like a formal. and it will probably have a similar outcome. ;-)

thoughts on a hybrid

one of the good things about zipcar is it let's you test drive different types of cars. usually when i'm renting i try to rent the same car (lately a toyota matrix) so at least i've had experience driving it, even it was very brief.

this past weekend i went to the cape for a quick trip. my brother's home for a week so i visited with him and the grandparentals. i rented a honda hybrid from new haven b/c it was all they had available for the weekend by the time i booked. although i really really want my own car, i realize it is impractical and a waste of money as long as i'm living in nyc. however, when it comes time to buy a car i will not be buying a hybrid b/c of its design:

1. there's a bar across the back windshield that divides the windshield in half. the back windshield is more like a piece of horizontal rectangle and then an angled piece that reminds me of a greenhouse. the bar is inconveniently set across the middle right where your line of sight is when you're driving. now maybe this isn't a problem when you're driving around town, but when i'm driving on the highway i use the rear view almost as much as i look out the front. that bar is in a bad place.

2. the hybrid shuts off the engine when you come to a stop or slow down below 10 mph. this means there's lots of herking and jerking when you start and stop frequently. again - might not be a problem on the highway, but driving around town is kind of rough.

3. no cruise control. i drive a lot of long distances and that is a must.

4. no arm rest in the center console. a personal preference here i guess.

so great mileage be damned. i'm going to stick with my toyota matrix whenever possible.

had a great but short weekend on the cape. was not beach weather at all - got a couple hours in on saturday but it was overcast and windy - and it poured on sunday morning, but played some pong at one of my brother's friend's house (a '12). their summer house is being renovated and they convinced the contractor to build them saw horses and leave a piece of plywood so they could play pong on it. one of the annoying things about the cape is someone always has to drive when you go out, so couldn't get after it like i wanted, but it was fun to play. also managed to play some foose at the fox hole.

christine and i went to the raw bar on sat night for the twin lobster special. the lobster was $15 and the shells were so soft you didn't need to use the crackers at all. we stopped by to see my grandparents, as the raw bar is down the street from where they're staying this summer, and had some ice cream and a nice chat. i did breakfast with them on sunday morning at IHOP - we used to go a lot when we were little. love that blueberry syrup. enjoyed being home but it is such a long trip it's hard to do for the weekend. hoping to get back for labor day for an extended long weekend - we'll see.

going to be a long and crazy week in nyc - wish it were over already. lots of work and i have a dentist appt on thursday to fill 3 cavities (ugh!). friday i go to seattle for zana's wedding. looking forward to seeing the crew girls but it's going to be a quick trip and the red eye back on sunday night will not be fun. have enjoyed all the travel but ready for a couple weeks in the city. must get ready for work.

girlfriends forever

was in the city this past weekend for the first time in awhile, and spent most of it with girlfriends.

saturday afternoon i spent with taylor doing wedding-related things. we went to 'bella bridesmaids' to try on dresses, as apparently it's getting to be time to order dresses for a december wedding. tay tay is still deciding on colors and styles, but we do know that they will be long, so me thinks i need to start a sit up regimen in preparation.

after dresses we hit up the momofuku milk bar in midtown to treat ourselves to some crack pie and do some cake sampling. sat in the park by the plaza to do our research and thoroughly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of nyc. it was great running around nyc and discussing wedding details with the soon-to-be mrs. bennett and already looking forward to december!

sat afternoon/evening cody, ceppos and i grilled on cody's roof deck. she's got a fantastic little outdoor area on top of her building, so we threw together a picnic of sorts and chatted until the sun went down. was so in the mood for some low key chilling, and this fit the bill!

was super surprised to get a text from vin late night on saturday night asking what was going on. she and her bro had been at a wedding and were ready to rage. we have plans to do dinner and drinks on thursday but didn't realize she was available to hang out over the weekend, so it was a fantastic surprise. she came and met up with us at dorrian's on the ues, and we did some shots and caught up for a bit. 

also grabbed coffee with celeste on sunday afternoon for a quick catch-up. she's been super busy studying for tests and with work-related socializing, but hopes to return to the world in august.

lovely to spend time with the lovely friends, and so excited to have even more gf time this weekend when we head out to california for diana's wedding. expecting to see maynard, karla, allette, laurak, glassman, whit and ceppos in monterey. can't wait to meet back at the local saloon. it's supposed to be beautiful out that way, but it's going to be chilly! weather forecast is low in the 50s, which will be a welcome change from the heat wave in nyc, but i left my fleece on the cape a few weeks ago, thinking i wouldn't need it for awhile and apparently i was wrong. i have packed a few sweaters and a vest and maybe we'll get lucky. at any rate, the outdoor pool is heated.

also this weekend is swanny's wedding, in whitefish montana. i won't be able to attend, but will be thinking of skips, mulley and polly pocket, as well as some of the other crew girls, who are heading out that way. hoping to catch up with that group in august at zana's wedding in seattle.

love the lovely friends!

everything's right with the summer coming

usual suspects update - ceppos is in nyc for the summer (working for my old boss! yay networking!). brogiin will also be moving back to nyc this summer after she graduates from stanford law (smarty pants). diana is moving to dc after the wedding so the boy can go to georgetown law (yay east coast!) and maynard is engaged and getting married in september (weddings! i love weddings!). hooray for the usual suspects!

as for me, it's thursday but it feels like it should be friday. attempting to be productive today as i know i won't be tomorrow. our summer fridays start tomorrow though and i'm really looking forward to a relatively straightforward work summer where i don't have to start a new job or launch a website halfway through. my memorial day weekend plans include ferry friday and hanging out on cody's roof deck. i also have my move on sunday so saturday will be spent packing and prepping.

here's what's on tap for the summer:

• dartmouth graduation
• jimmy buffett in boston
• a week on the cape for the 4th of july
• diana's wedding in monterey, ca
• zana's wedding in seattle, wa
• hiking moosilauke
• a couple trips to the cape to hang out with my cousins, grandparents and puppy!
• assorted visits from vin
  

in other fun news i won tickets to the black eyed peas concert in central park in a couple thursdays. the tickets are free but you have to have tickets to get in so i entered the lottery. was psyched to be picked and fingers crossed it doesn't rain for the event! in the words of 'win a date with tad hamilton' (a movie i voluntarily saw) - "your chances go up when you fill out the application."

will leave you with a great country throw back to psych you up for the summer - 'summer's coming' by clint black

bed bugs take manhattan

heading in later to work this morning, and left earlier than usual yesterday, so that our office could be fumigated for bed bugs. there's been a ton of hype and buzz about bed bugs lately - it really does seem like they're taking over everywhere, and there's not a lot you can do if you are so unfortunate to pick them up.

in our case, they didn't see any bugs, just had suspicions, so they brought in the big guns and made us pack up our desks and clear out so they could take over with chemicals. it seems every office in nyc these days is being evacuated and fumigated so at least we're in good company. we had an all-hands meeting yesterday to discuss the process - the guy who did the talking was quite amusing considering the topic for discussion, telling us 'not to hide twinkies', that budbugs were 'professional hitchhikers', and as long as we didn't 'lick the walls', there was no need to worry about the chemicals in the office. better safe than sorry i guess.

another rainy day in manhattan - feels more like october than late august of late, which is perfect for snuggling up under the covers cozy like a bear. my galoshes are just tall enough to rub against the scar i sustained on my shin over reunions. some days i think i am 12.

had a quick, but nice trip home over the weekend. trained to new haven to pick up a zipcar at yale. stopped off to do some outlet shopping in connecticut, and made it home on friday night at a reasonable hour, after a stop at four seas for mocha chip and coconut ice cream.

did some mowing for my dad on the riding lawn mower on saturday morning (three point turns at speed 3 - boo yeah!) and then hit up the beach with my sister, and messed about in boats with christine over in cotuit/osterville, before heading down to the raw bar for lobster and mudslides.

headed back pretty early on sunday, which i'm glad i did, as it took me an hour to get off the cape, and then 4 hours to get to new haven, thanks to flash flood-like conditions on the roads and traffic in connecticut (it never fails). next time i will try a different route - but likely have a good 10 months before i drive home again.

grabbed dinner with mulley on monday for a catch-up chat over on the west side. we went to a cute little italian place 'pepe giallo' that i'd recommend, and then 'billy's bakery' to grab some baked goods which we ate at her apartment. i had cherry pie, as i've been craving pie like none other for some reason, particularly strawberry rhubarb pie. enjoyable, low-key night all around.

allette's reportedly in town tomorrow night - will drag her along to kickball - and then it's supposed to warm up and be a nice weekend; looking forward to some down time and getting some stuff done.

status check

status check kids. been a busy last couple of days around here. vin is officially moving to london - she's moving out next weekend (meur!) so friday night was her going away party down at 'happy ending' on the lower east side. the weather has finally decided to cooperate and feels more like september than summer (thank god). we had a pregame at our apartment, and then headed downtown to the bar that happens to be a former massage parlor. i presume this is why a lot of the bar had tiled showers that we were hanging out in (seriously - it was a little weird) but i don't understand how it's possible that my feet were covered in more crap than i have EVER seen from hanging out in frat basements at school, especially since i always take my shoes off at dartmouth, but i am pretty sure i did not take them off on friday. a mystery. i have also realized i would rather be barefoot at all times; the first thing i do when i get somewhere is take off my shoes. i think this is because i am a pisces. or something.

i did, however, purchase 20 bud lights at the bar 'b/c i didn't want to wait in line' to the tune of $140 bucks. the bartender laughed when i told her the order, and dana talked me down from the 25 beers i originally wanted to buy. needless to say, everyone was double-fisting. ceppos came up from philly where she's just moved to start bschool, as did brogiin, who is on her way to italy for the fall semester of law school. vin got kicked out and they wouldn't let her back in, so we trooped back up to the upper east side to continue the party. me and vin's brother passed out sitting straight up on our (tiny) couch. ridic.

saturday night was the kickball formal - 'the kick ball'. i'd wanted to have a formal in nyc for years (five in fact) and it was fantastic to finally get to have one. we got all dressed up and headed over to someone's apartment to play champagne flip cup and slow dance. ended up going home (like at any good formal) with an engineer who had come spur of the moment as dana's date. so far the track record shows that it's engineers and runners that are my weakness.

saturday night was also megh's going away party (so many! the only good thing about people leaving is awesome going away parties though). he's headed to chicago to bschool, though i will see him (and kevin!) in a month at kjb's wedding.

sunday we headed out to jersey to have dinner at vin's house. it was my first trip from nyc to jersey, although i've taken the train from allette's house in maplewood when she'd give me a ride back from hanover. vin's mom made us delicious indian food, so we stuffed our faces and hung out for awhile and then headed back to the city.

this week is a busy one - can't believe it's august already. lots of catching up with people, moderating the panel for incoming freshman at the dartmouth club again on wednesday, and helping vin clean up the apartment and pack and say goodbye to the city. vin managed to negotiate her company into paying her rent through october, so i am staying put for the immediate time being and will figure out what's next later. lots of change. spare change.

summertime blues

hi friends - anyone else baking like a toasted cheeser (sandlot quote) in the now late july heat? i've always liked quotes about months and seasons, and one of my favorites pertains to july: 'july was the month when summer, like bread in the oven, might change color but it would rise no higher. it was at its height.' unfort in nyc it still has a fair ways to go.

was fortunate enough to get out of the city to the beach for a couple hours yesterday for kit's birthday celebration in southport, ct. hung out on a raft for most of the afternoon drinking corona. it didn't suck to say the least. and i like this game where i get to go to the beach every weekend - including next weekend, as vin and i are headed down to charleston, sc for her rugby reunion. charleston is also where one set of my grandparents live, so i'm going to do dinner with them and my aunt and uncle and assuage the guilt i feel about never going down to visit. (i love them, but it's not the easiest place to visit without the rest of my family).

speaking of vin, she is definitely headed to london for work. she leaves the first week of august, which as we both well know, is rapidly approaching. last night we threw our last house party - theme of '90s beach party. i made an awesome playlist (think cranberries, harvey danger, no doubt, spice girls) of 90s music, which alone made the party a success. saw a lot of people - mulley, megh (who is headed to chicago for bschool in a few weeks), huyett with her bro in tow fresh from a dave matthew's concert (fitting with the theme!) as well as some kickball kids, some old coworkers and the nyc usual suspects. i discovered a bottle of diet coke under the sink when i went to put the pots and pans away - vaguely remember someone wanting to hide it. unclear.

and on the topic of usual suspects, i had dinner on thursday with maynard, robin, brogiin and huyett. maynard was in town from colorado for a wedding this weekend. brogiin has been in nyc but had not seen her until thursday. she's got one more year of law school, but she's spending the fall in italy and then in south africa (tough life!) and dating a boy from school who calls atlanta home. she thinks it's a matter of time before she ends up in atlanta as well, so perhaps she's trying to get some time in other cities under her belt before that happens.

as for me, doing dinner with ceppos, cody and vin this week, have a party for work, and we're going to see the 80s cover band 'rubix cube' on thursday before heading south on friday. going to try to post more frequently, even if it's just to swing by and say hi. lots of observations and thoughts to share as you all well know.

sorry for partying

so i realize i have been remiss in posting and it has come to my attention that people want a post. this is because my computer is still being ridiculous and randomly shutting itself off, which doesn't make me want to turn it on, and i started my new job this week so i actually have work to do. after 3 years of working with the same people i'm getting used to a situation where no one knows me and i have no good will built up, and it's a new role, and the situation totally sucks. you really really are dependent on the kindness of people when you start over.

the reunion was amazing. so fantastic. the weather was beautiful so there was that haze over the green mountains and baker looked perfect in the early summer twilight. i'll do a run down of events

- drove up with robin - she's been in class for interior design and she and the boy are buying an apt in bklyn so she'll get to put her skills to good use.

- me, allette, karla, robin, laurak and huyett were in a cluster on the 4th floor of wheeler. i brought my mini speakers and we listened to 'in my head' (JASON DERULO!) and 'bad romance' all wknd, complete with lots of shouting of 'i don't wanna be friends!'

- mainly hung out with the rowers and the sd usual suspects, including some quality time on the sd beach. thanks to a combo of being drunk, hungover or wearing sunglasses all wknd, i didn't have to talk to many people i didn't want to see

- getting into sd was going to be an issue b/c we didn't technically have access to the house. allette rang the doorbell and we befriended the '11 housemanager, who made the risky but right decision to hide her key so we could get in. sd was a bit of a scene all weekend with folks from lots of different groups hanging out. really glad sd is still a place where anyone can go and feel welcome

- apparently my lot in life is to change the music (although i guess i'm the one that feels most strongly about it) and i was happy to discover that the random 'sd pref mix' that i put on still has 'we are family' and then 'like a prayer' as the second song, to rock out to on pref night. that's an '05 tradition that's still around.

- richardson 309 is no more, as apparently they renovated the dorm and renumbered rooms. it truly is the stuff of legends though, and i sort of feel that like 'brigadoon', it will reappear every 100 years or something

- friday night stinson's was out of pong balls (amateur hour) so we were all sticking our stash down our boobs. need a pong ball so i ran over to psi u to beg one. in my haste to get back to sd i ran out the back door of the basement as a short cut. turns out there are cement stairs that i ran into full speed and fell into the bushes. lay there for awhile, stunned, before hobbling back to sd, where i insisted the girls pour keystone on my wounds to cauterize them 'civil war style'. i'm an idiot.

- went out on the river with the '05 crew girls on sat in an eight. it was so amazing to be back in a boat on the connecticut, but i have to say it's really hard to row hungover when your hands are shaking. we rowed up to the starting line, did some pieces and rowed back, including an all eight pause at hands away with the boat set up for about 5 seconds. skips has captured this feat on video. boo yah.

- had a nice little gathering at the d that megh set up. great to see those kids. i also acquired my own copy of 'guy and fellow', the comic strip that ran for awhile. this is particularly relevant as i wasn't the biggest fan of the comic as an undergrad, though the name of this blog comes from a comic, which the d directorate board knew. when they gave me a book (the party after you left - a collection of new yorker cartoons) for being staff writer of the year (one of the awards i'm most proud of) they inscribed it was an apology that they weren't able to give me the 'guy and fellow' anthology.

- sat night we had a lobster dinner in the BEMA. i had to prepare everyone's lobster for them, as apparently lobster eating is not a life skill that everyone knows. and then we headed back to sd to hang out more. i played some pong with a bg '12 who really needs to step up his game if he wants to be respected at bg. but it was fun to hang out. ended up playing pong until 7 am, just hanging out and playing when people showed up. it was so weird for it to be light out but we decided we didn't have to stop playing just b/c the sun was coming up. shuter and i closed down the basement, and then she walked me back to wheeler b/c she had promised laurak she would. it's nice to know oaths still mean something around here.

- the 'hard guy' tshirts made a reappearance with 'hard guy reunion: i didn't even go to this school'. well played.

- drove back to nyc with karla, who is going to grad school at berkley this fall for urban planning, and huyett who doesn't yet know what she's doing this fall. we were all on the struggle jet to struggle town, but we made it.

- someone's facebook album had a comment that 'they wanted to friend every '05 they went to school with'. it was pretty accurate. we're all obsessed with dartmouth and each other. karla and i decided there needs to be more of a commitment to getting together without major life changes like weddings. it's only going to be harder and harder for us to keep getting together and in the words of a raffi song 'the more we get together the happier we'll be.' :)

this past weekend was also ridiculous. friday night we did a ferry friday on a perfect night for it. had about 20 people come out for it which was fantastic. rode back and forth a couple times until we had drunk all the beer on the boat, so we got off and ventured into to statan island looking for a dive bar. we found one - karl's klipper. we all thought we were going to die, but we had some 'statan island ice teas', played some pool and then ventured back to manhattan to 'jeremy's ale house' in the financial district. went to 'commonground' and then down to the lower east side to a bar the boys like called 'vig 27'. drinking whiskey on the rocks was prob not the best idea, but i think it impressed the boys.

sat i rolled out of bed to go up to dana's bar 'dylan murphys' to be in a college-humor type video that a friend was shooting. my role was to look disgusted when the boys tried to pick us up with offense/dumb pick up lines (you girls on myspace?). then headed down to watch the soccer game with the crew. just kept on going out from there - things are a little hazy - i know i took a nap in the bar for a bit before ending up back on the ues at dylan murphys. things come full circle eh?

going to be a long week this week but my eye's on the prize of going home to the cape on friday for a week! wheeeeeeeeee! vin and rowena are coming along for the ride and my fingers are crossed for great weather and some fantastic fireworks. i need to go home so badly. can't wait to be where 'the wind and the water are free'.

girls just wanna have fun (& run)

big weekend here in nyc and the northeast. kicked it off with kickball on thurs night - 45 minutes of actual kickball and then 5 hours of flip cup at a bar on the lower east side. this league not only has kickball champs, it has 'bar champs' as well, which the team has one for three consecutive seasons. needless to say, we're on a mission to repeat.

we won our game and managed to start a dance party in the middle of the bar, which ought to help, and then me and this kid on the team who happens to have a house 2 miles from mine on the cape and i went to get chicken nuggets (with honey!) from mcdonalds before grabbing a beer at stumble. went to bed at 1:30. it only took 5 years to find someone to carpool with to the cape!

friday night was 80s prom. cut out of work around 5 and headed to charlie's to pregame with an 80s powerhour. everyone had gone all out for the event - charlie's apt is now strewn with make-up, glitter, and heels. prom was fun; all the 80s high school movie cliches were present, including the popular girl dating the captain of the football team. he introduced her as 'my girlfriend who looks like she's from a whitesnake video'. she did. 'saved by the bell''s dustin diamond was also in attendance; i think they were under contract to say 'saved by the bell' anytime they mentioned him. the post-sbtb years have not been kind, but it did kind of up the wow factor. also ran into celeste and a couple of her coworkers in fine form. i think this is the closest thing to a formal that we're going to get in nyc.

post prom the gym turned back into the club, so we danced for awhile longer. they put some boxes out on the stage and so of course we danced on those. i think it's our lot in life to dance on the highest thing in the room, whatever that may be. blame the benches in the sd basement. charlie had the brilliant idea to go to the 'continental' after prom. this is the bar that gives you 5 shots for $10. so we played shot roulette. everyone ordered one kind of shot for their five, and we ended up with 45 shots on a platter. we went around the circle, chose one and threw it back without stopping to think about what it was. dangerous. and then we went and ran it back. 10 shots in 10 minutes. oof.

quick stop at charlie's for more beer, and then we went to 'whiskey river', sat in a booth and played 'either/or' until they kicked us out at 4 am. always eye-opening, i vaguely recall a heated discussion about age and hooking up. never fails to be an interesting debate.

sat am vin dragged me out of bed at 7 am to catch the train to new haven, where we picked up the zipcar. this was our first time trying this train/automobile thing out, and i actually really liked it. less driving (new haven is 2 hrs north of the city), skipping traffic (i-95 in connecticut is the worst), cheaper (zipcar charges by the miles). i think we'll be doing it in the future. the car we were driving was a toyota prius - a hybrid - which was interesting. the key stays in the car at all times and the power button is pushed to turn it on and off. it's also super quiet - according to my sis you can sneak up on people in them b/c they make no noise under 6 miles an hour. which i imagine to sort of be like the 'killer cars' segment from monty python's flying circus. i was not a fan overall, but beggars can't be choosers, and i guess this is why you test drive before you buy.

drove up to hanover on a beautiful sunny day and met up with my bro and sis for a brief run (read: jog) down to the river to swim and hang out on the docks. stopped by the hop for some hangover chicken tenders and a big ice water from the ice machine. the hop ice machine may be, in the words of the ggmm, a BAFFINGLY LARGE INEFFICIENT, BORDERLINE-USELESS DARTMOUTH INSTITUTION O'THE DAY, but it sure helps a hangover. swung by sig ep to pick up a bequest that charlie had asked me to pick up. went down in the sig ep basement and found a brother and said, 'this is going to sound really weird but charlie stoebe asked me to pick up something for him in the npr?'. they trustingly (and stupidly) handed it over, no questions asked. i'm contemplating not giving it to him, as it has a lion on it with the phrase 'king of beverages' (aka dr. pepper). tbd.

met up with ceppity and her entourage at the hotel in lebanon, and then we all drove to woodstock for the pre-race community pasta dinner at the woodstock country club. if you have never been to woodstock i highly recommend as it is just adorable, beautiful and about as new england as it gets. post-dinner we had some time that we couldn't kill by playing pong or drinking, given the impeding race on sunda. this was a new one for us, and while we briefuly discussed some water pong ala the dry days of the crew team, we decided instead to play mini golf in quechee before a pit stop in hanover and off to bed.

sunday woke up to pouring rain. basically rained from the time we woke up until we were an hour down the highway towards nyc. fortunately while the rain was chilly before we started running, it was a good temp for running and i actually really like running in the rain. listened to my ipod, enjoyed the rustic vermont scenery, ran through a covered bridge and past two others. vin and mike were our ace cheerleaders and lugged our gear all around in the rain. there was a brutal hill at mile 8, and the last three miles were pretty painful, but all in all it was totally worth it and a lot of fun. i ran a 1:50, had been aiming for under 2 so it felt good to have a goal and accomplish it, even if i was not the most dedicated runner of the bunch. all around - a plus weekend.

the dog days of summer

i think technically the dog days are over, but you wouldn't know it. it is oppressively hot in nyc. not that i really thought we would escape the typical temps of summer in nyc, but i was hoping. we were doing so well for awhile there. i actually brought shorts to change into to the hook last night. there was no way i was going to be able to play pong in my work pants.

boston and hanging out with ceppos was delightful as always. we took a constitutional from 'rattlesnake' on boylston over to the bhp once i got in on friday night (trip took 5 hours - see previous post) and had a chance to catch up. played a lot of foose at the bhp and beat some kids as we usually do. i wish there were more foose tables in the world. but then, i suppose, it makes the appearance of one more impressive. diede and linsalata joined us as well; diede just started her job in boston, and linsalata was on his way to the vineyard (the lucky duck. more on ducks below).

went back to ceppos apt after the bars closed (constitutional #2) and drank some more, which put me over the edge, as i woke up wrapped in a beach towel on her couch, which i know was interesting for her roommate to walk in on, with only a vague recollection of how it came about. the vagueness includes someone else being involved, but that's the extent of it. more puzzled than anything else - but it was fun.

caught a bus down to the cape, where i immediately went to the beach. sat and sun were textbook beach days on the cape and it was good to be someplace where there was an ocean and a blowing breeze. am headed back up to the cape for a long weekend with celeste and diede a week from tomorrow. let's hope the weather holds.

all seemed okay with the family, so i am cautiously optimistic that this is behind us. i saw the new kitty, which i am calling 'bitty' b/c she is so little and itty bitty, but her real name is cora. she is, as my brother says, SO CUTE. and extremely little. and my dad has added two ducks to the chicken coop. yes. ducks. ducks are quite simply fantastic and there is little more to say on the matter.

back in nyc, i ditched my ticket to avenue q on monday night for a chance to play basketball at madison square garden with the bball team i play with in the winter. i was sad to miss the show, but i think i made the right choice. i scored a basket at msg - wheee!

dinner tonight with cody, and maybe celeste and coleman, who is back from france, and then sat is kit's bachelorette party, so look out nyc.

received an unexpected text last night from an unknown number - turned out to be the kid i hooked up with the first time we went to hook (ie - like 4 mths ago). his text literally was: 'haha. it's josh (side note: had no idea what his name was). we met/briefly hated each other way back at "beer pong" at hook and ladder." it's all coming back to me now. so may try to get a drink tomorrow night with him. why the hell not right?

and lastly - some big fun on the horizon. two weeks from saturday is the labor day jimmy buffett show in dc. have planning in the works for that, and vin is coming to argentina with my coworker and me in november! very excited for her to join. i suppose we better get planning on that front. sept and oct are going to fly by. 'there's just too much to see waiting in front of me and i know that i just can't go wrong'. =)

call me invincible

headed out to coney island last night with my boss, a few coworkers, and hopper for the 'call me invincible' tour: blondie and pat benatar at coney island. i'm loving the name of the tour b/c it reminds me of a mash-up. i think those two songs would actually work really well together.

it was a free concert at this park in brooklyn, but our office coordinator volunteers for the concert series, which meant we didn't have to get there ridic early to get a spot, and we had seats already (everyone else was byos) - and these were awesome seats too - could see everything and the sound was AMAZING. we had been concerned that it would rain but it actually turned out to be a gorgeous night.

it was my first trip out to coney island - very cool to check it out. you get off the train and there's the 'cyclone' and the 'wonder wheel' tall against the sky and the backdrop is wide open beach and ocean. was trying to imagine what it would be like to be living in nyc in the 1920s and having your only escape from the heat of tenaments being a magical trip to the beach at coney island. it was a little bit depressing - i find carnivals and fairs a tad bit creepy/depressing at times and lots of food stands were closed - but it was a thursday night. i imagine it's busier on a friday or a saturday. had a hot dog and french fries from nathan's hot dog stand and then headed to the concert.

pat benatar ROCKED. there is just nothing else to say. she's still got an amazing voice and she looked like she was having a great time. she narrated an intro story behind all the songs so it was a little bit like 'behind the music' or 'pop up video' (speaking of which, she was the second video on mtv, after 'video killed the radio star' and the first female artist - good trivia). apparently she hates to sing 'hit me with your best shot'. she played the favorites (heartbreaker, love is a battlefield, hit me with your best shot) and some stuff i didn't recognize but are now listening to non-stop. when they played 'we belong' we all opened our cell phones like lighters at their request and waved them; looking back at the crowd of cell phone screens was actually kind of neat. and she played air guitar the whole time, it was so cool. we all want to be her when we grow up.

blondie was good as well, but the drugs and the years have not been kind to them. they still had the sound, but the showmanship was missing. debby harris could hardly move around the stage, but they had an amazingly hot guitarist, and the music was still great. it was incredibly awesome to see two of rock's biggest bands for free!

completely exhausted though - didn't go to bed til 2:30 last night, and 1:30 on thursday - but hopefully i can sleep on the bus. heading to boston tonight to see ceppos and maybe diede and linsalata, and then the cape on sat morning to see christine and face the wrath of my parents. it's supposed to be a nice weekend though, so will spend it all at the beach if need be. unfortunately these travel plans means i will miss boxa's trip to nyc tonight. we'll wave at each other on 95.

still not dressed or packed - eeek! enjoy the weekend kids!

obsession

apparently 'obsession' is one of the most popular boat names year after year. in this case, it refers to the fact i am in love with two things:

1. hot pink toenail polish. if you follow me on twitter you already know this. but through the gray and rain of this summer, looking down at my toes has made me smile.

2. hale and hearty. this is a soup chain in nyc. AMAZING. i like the thai coconut chicken, jambalaya, shrimp creole - delicious, but not cheap. trying to keep it to three days a week only.

had a busy last few couple of days. on wednesday night i moderated the dartmouth club of nyc panel for incoming freshman. this is an annual thing and my third year doing it. it's so nice to be among dartmouth people, and to give something back by volunteering. plus, i usually get a pretty good dinner at the yale club out of it. =)

thursday we went to see mulley's play - 'sezze sun'. the play was performed in dc in late july, and made its nyc debut on wed. i don't know much about playwriting, but it was based on a weekend that mulley spent in italy while she was living in london, which made it very interesting to watch the action unfold, and incorporated lots of good classic rock music (think bowie, the stones, bob dylan). best line of the play advised us to 'recyle newspapers, not women'. well done mulley! the night was also fun b/c charlo, megh, pollypocket, and stein were also in attendence, so we went out to sushi to celebrate after the show. really nice to catch up with everyone.

friday we had a work party at a bar in williamsburg brooklyn. the bar was a beer snob's paradise, and they opened it up at 1 pm for us, so we sat outside in their garden on a beautiful summer afternoon and drank good beer for several hours. i really enjoy hanging out with my coworkers. we can sit around and have a good time. i showed our head of tech the trailer for 'mega shark vs. giant octopus', which we had discovered last week during 'shark week' on discovery ('live every week like it's shark week - 30 rock). it looks to rival 'snakes on a plane' in terms of ridiculousness, as the mega shark leaps out of the ocean and bites not only a 747 airplane from the sky, but also the golden gate bridge. the office got a kick out of this.

sat i headed out to rye, ny with hopper to go to the beach and attend a party his dad was hosting that night. thoroughly enjoyed tanning, swimming, eating and drinking outside the city, but didn't get back until 12:30, so plans to go to see an 80s cover band were stymied. the boys wanted to watch 'g.i. jane' when we got back, to which i said no way. seen it too many times on crew buses to need to watch it again, especially not at 1 in the morning.

in turns of usual suspect updates - diede has officially moved to boston to begin life post-dartmouth. taylor has moved to philly to start b-school. will hopefully get down to see her before too long and explore 'the city of brotherly love'. i talked to boxa on gtalk, seeking her advice on handling the parentals. she informed me she is at the mercy of residency programs as far as where she'll be moving next, but that we should all cross our fingers for boston.

speaking of moving, it's just about my anniversary of moving to nyc - going on 5 years. how did it get so late so soon?

the privileged class enjoying their privileges''

five bucks and respect if you know what the title quote is from*, payable on demand.

had a very enjoyable trip out to east hampton this past weekend, despite my initial misgivings (see previous post). it was very interesting to watch the scene at penn station at 4 pm on friday afternoon: old people in designer collared shirts and teenagers running around giggling in juicy cotoure and such. you got the sense this was a ritual and everyone present was in on the joke. i feel like i understand new york a lot better now.

it's a long trip out there - took 2.5 hours - but trains are such a dignified way to travel. met up with will when we arrived and headed back to his house. his parents were in iceland, so he and his sister (an '07 from princeton) had invited a bunch of people out for a house party.

spent most of the weekend drinking and laughing with a bunch of psi u's at various lounging locations. i think everyone needs a concentrated dose of dartmouth people like this every few months. i missed the comraderie and what i've been thinking of as 'grown up' comraderie - ie hanging out with kids who are not '08s - as our behavior was def not textbook 'grown up'.

went skinny dipping at the beach down the road on friday night. it had poured earlier in the night, and while us dartmouth kids drank a lot, the princeton kids played board games. literally. 'sorry' and 'backgammon' and this weird one 'settlers of catan'. they also did not want to come skinny dipping, even though it was a warm night and the moon was this incredible yellow color in the sky.

sat was a goregous, perfect day - sunny and hot without being too muggy. we went on a trip to get the kegs in bridgehampton (the hamptons have incredible radio stations b/c they get nj, ri, ct and li stations). money quote from will (former social chair): 'there's a combined total of 6 million dollars worth of ivy education back at the house. if we can't figure out how to tap a keg, there's a problem.'

got to see a bit of the area on the drive. there's a ton of farming that happens on long island, and we saw lots of vineyards as well. sort of struck me as a mix of vermont and italy, with wide open fields and things growing. the landscape of the cape is more shaped by the ocean. everything is wind-swept, and sun-bleached, although barnstable along route 6a would prob be comparable to the hamptons.

lay by the pool, went to the beach, grilled and had a kegger on sat night. no rain, but the bugs were vicious (we were without ketchup and bug spray - fail) and my legs are covered in bug bites. sun was a gray day with the threat of rain, so more sitting around and joking ensued until we headed back to the city around 6.

i'm def glad i went - it was a nice break from the city and fun to visit somewhere new. and i love house parties - they're super fun. plus, won't see will for a bit, as he is off to drive cross-country to law school in oregon.

speaking of house parties, my parents are furious at me and my brother for having people over while they were gone during the 4th (that is to say, he had people over and i let him). to say they are overreacting is an understatement (threatening to not pay tuition? um - yeah) it's rather stressful while simultaneously i am finding it hard to take seriously b/c i just don't agree with their decision or response. however this is now about managing the response, not what happened. i hate being responsible.

last but not least, last week's launch went as well as it could. was at work until 4 am, but as a one-off night that's not too bad. vin, by comparision, has been working until 2 or 3 most nights. glad to have it over and looking ahead to what's next for work - both for projects and my career. but that's a posting for another time.

august is already ridic drama-filled and i don't like it. keep on plugging i guess.

*philadelphia story

there's something about a foam guitar that makes people want to stick their toungues out

today's the day! launch day that is. going to be a crazy 24 hours at work. prepping to stay there most of the night and be back early tomorrow morning. whether that actually shakes out remains to be seen.

i'm going in to the office late this morning b/c of tonight's schedule and the 'game on at 8 pm' concept, so i slept in a bit and went to an 8:30 cardio sculpt gym class. or tried to. didn't eat anything beforehand and had to sit down half-way through b/c i thought i was going to pass out. in the words of my mom, when you're dumb, you gotta pay.

a few gym observations:

- what type of woman can go to 8:30 gym classes on a regular basis? housewives? students? no one who works in an office though.
- all my gym shirts are covered in mascara from wiping my eyes with them. hmmm.

had people over on saturday night for the first party we've hosted in a long time. in the words of the 'bad girl's guide to the party life', here's how you can tell your party was a success:

1. your downstairs neighbors (who are 30) come up the fire escape to borrow a pong ball
2. the apt across the roof spends most of the night staring longingly at your terrace (wasn't sure on the ettiquette here. should we have held up a sign with our address?)
3. vin's cousin had to fill both me and vin in on exactly what went down later in the night
4. vin woke up in the east village
5. hopper passed out on our chaise lounge chairs
6. people were here playing beruit while i was passed out and vin was at the bar
7. someone took my camera by accident and it was returned in short order which was excellent b/c there's an amazing series of photos with the foam guitar we got from the today show 'no doubt' concert. photo montages is something i like to do with the old coworkers - we pick a prop (salt shaker, wad of cash, foam guitar) and everyone has to pose with it. usually makes for an entertaining time. in this case, it seems that something about guitars, even fake foam ones, makes people want to stick their toungues out, as the photographic evidence suggests.

had sangria - inger's 'elixir of love' recipe - and pimm's cups, as well as john daly's (arnold palmer with sweet tea vodka), sweet tea vodka (duh) and vodka lemonade to drink. mixing and mingling and hell hole were played and a good time was had by all. we really should do it more often.

in usual suspect news - ceppos took the gmat on saturday - she is done done done and glad about it. diana has a new job out in cali and she and the boy just moved into san fran. now it is easier than ever to go visit her! diede, celeste and i are planning to head to the cape the last weekend in august for a big sis/little sis bonding weekend. very excited about that.

more beach news. i'm heading out to the hamptons this weekend to will's house party in east hampton. this is tricky for 2 reasons:
1. i've never been. looking forward to seeing what it's like though.
2. boys are notoriously bad at details and planning, while me and my type a personality need to know the scoop (with the exception of linsalata who has already secured the party bus for the labor day jb show). witness:

will: are you coming aug 1-2?
me: sure
me: what are the details
will: come, stay at my house
be merry
thats about it
there will be a lot of other people there
20+ at the house, maybe
me: right - but tell me when you're going out there, how you're supposed to get there, etc
will: oh, ha, I see
you can get out there either on the jitney or LIRR
both are easy and let off near my house
me: will need some more details but at a high level - okay
will: I can provide any details
me: do i need to bring anything?
will: like what?
me: sleeping bag?
will: sure!
good thinking!
me: well interestingly i don't have a sleeping bag
so i'll see what i can do
will: oh, haha
thats OK
we have blankets and stuff

here is what will has not told me: where his house is in the hamptons, whether this is a full weekend affair, who else is coming and what type of attire i need to bring.

ah well. i like to live dangerously. and pretty sure as long as i bring a bathing suit i can manage.

perhaps there will be more delirious posting late night tonight. but if not, catch you on the flip side of launch kiddos.

tidbits

there's been some clamoring for a blog post and it has been awhile. usually i try to wait until i have a story or defined items to post on, but in this case you'll get a random stream of consciousness. haha.

nyc status/work
being back in nyc after my epic vacation has been good. we're still pushing ahead to the relaunch of our websites at the end of july, so there's quite a bit of work to be done which adds in a layer of constant stress, but nothing terrible. i actually got an ovation from work (that's the equivalent of a citation for you dartmouth folks) for managing the last launch. have a lot more help managing this vendor this time around, but i think it has only served to highlight how hard it was to do it by myself the first time. the ovation was a really nice validation that everyone at work knows exactly how much that sucked last time around and thinks i managed to do okay.

the weather is here/my garden rocks
weather has been delightful - almost fall like in nyc - with warm sunny days and cool nights. zero humidity. if this was nyc in the summer all the time i would be just fine. the morning glories are blooming (in the morning) and it adds a wonderful dose of green and non-city to go out on the terrace and putter around with the plants.

argentina
bought tickets to argentina yesterday! going down there in november with one of my coworkers and really excited about it. the tickets were ridic cheap - $337 round trip. it's like we can't not go. this is perfect because i was thinking it was about time to do an international trip - the last one was to costa rica during spring break senior year with two of my friends from the cape, and before that, the trip to france and amsterdam the summer before senior year with the exbf. have done lots of domestic travel since those trips, but nothing out of the country, and upon reflection, i figure each summer's jimmy buffett concert extravaganzas in total are about the equivalent of an international trip so it was prob time to take one. no idea what we're going to do, where we're going to stay, or anything, but i'm already really excited

camera works again
got my camera fixed finally. it got dropped in the sd basement over green key by someone who shall remain nameless and was not at all functional. looked up camera places in nyc on yelp to find some place to take it and settled on 'phototech' down by union square. pretty reasonable, quick turnaround and the thing works like new so would def recommend it. glad to have it up and running again. and upon reviewing the pics from the friday of green key on the memory card, i see how it got broken in the first place. haha.

dead mice
returned to the apartment on sunday to discover it was clearly hotter than it had been inside thus far this summer, and we had a terrible smell of death emanating from our kitchen. despite taking out the trash, cleaning more than usual, trying to blame it on the vanilla coconut wallflower like last time, etc. we couldn't get rid of it, and came to the conclusion it had to be behind the stove. sure enough, vin moved the stove and discovered a dead mouse. glad to have that issue resolved, but as she says, i'm never around when there are dead mice to be dealt with.

saturday
glorious saturday in nyc. heading to the gym shortly, then some resume work, and later on to hook and ladder to play pong in celebration of hearn's birthday, which was yesterday. i owe him a shot of goldschlager.

also - pretty sure that my hulu sweatshirt has gotten me more play than any other pick-up line i know. just saying.