Hook 'Em!

Campus

I'll be back with a roundup of the past weekend later this week but I wanted to share some exciting news on the business school front first - I found out early Friday morning that I was accepted to the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin! To say I'm excited would be a serious understatement.  Not only is it an amazing program, but the City of Austin itself is incredible and I feel so fortunate to have this as an option for next year.

We're still anxiously awaiting word from UC Berkeley (due this Friday) so please keep your fingers crossed for me on that front, but until then, Hook 'Em Horns!

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Birthday Brunch, Barack Obama, and Baby

Sometime this year I will get back to posting about things other than weekend reports, but given how crazy work has been over the last couple weeks almost all the fun stuff is happening on the weekends anyway.  This past weekend my littlest brother, Chad, was in town to celebrate his 17th birthday.  "Littlest brother" is actually a significant misnomer these days as he is now the biggest of the four of us at just over 6 feet...

Where did this "man" come from???

He got into town late Friday evening and we had a laid back night consisting of pizza, trashy reality TV and a couple pints of Ben & Jerry's. Russ also came to spend the night, which made us especially miss Kauri to round out the sibling sleepover. Saturday morning we hosted a brunch birthday party for Chad at our apartment.  Katie, Ben, our adopted Norwegian sister, Rosa, and Greg's parents all came over to celebrate.  Katie has known Chad since he was flirting with her from his car seat, so his age (and sheer size) blows her mind almost as much as it blows mine.  I love the laid back vibe of brunch parties and this one turned out especially well.  The star of the menu was definitely the monkey bread birthday cake pictured above.  It was so over-the-top decadent that I got chills.  Every bite is like the best gooey piece of a cinnamon roll...dangerous.

Taken from the roof deck off our gym during Obama's Inaugural Address

Saturday night we grabbed burgers and went to see Silver Linings Playbook, which I highly recommend to anyone who has not seen it yet.  It is equal parts tough, funny and sweet with amazing performances from the entire cast that left me quite misty at the end.  On Sunday, we popped Chad across the Key Bridge to meet the Georgetown crew coach (woohoo!) and then headed down to Chinatown to hang with Russ and meet his new pet hedgehog, Quilliam, before Chad's train.  Sadly I did not manage to snap a picture of my little nephew but I assure you that he is as silly and cute as he sounds.  As always, Chad's trip flew by way too quickly, but it was a joy to have him in town for the short time we did.  

Four years ago, his birthday present was attending Barack Obama's first Inauguration in person.  We got up at 4:30 a.m. to make it to the Mall along with 1.8 million other people.  I would not trade that memory and experience with my brother for anything, but I will say that I was content to watch this year's ceremony on television from a treadmill.  I thought it was very moving (I am a sucker for democracy in action as previously discussed) and can we talk about Kelly Clarkson? Girlfriend nailed it.

Little love bug

I wrapped up the weekend with a visit to the newest member of Greg's extended family: Baby Northe.  Hard to think of a better way to end a busy weekend than snuggling a newborn and toasting his arrival with family. 

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and that this short week is kicking off well!

The weekend

Friday was one of those unexpectedly fun nights that you just can't plan for.  Early in the day I had asked Russ what he was up to since Greg and I kind of had an itch to go out and he pointed us in the direction of the Knocks show at the 9:30 Club. Greg and were back and forth all day and my afternoon ended up being crazy stressful.  I was on the verge of losing my nerve when he texted to say that not only were we going, but so were our friends Brian, Emily and Russ (another Russ, not my brother), and that everyone was convening at our house for drinks beforehand. I am very happy that I rallied.

9:30 Club delivers again!

The show itself was a lot of fun and sold out shortly after we bought tickets.   The Knocks are very dance-y, so with a packed house the energy in there was pretty amazing.  Ironically, after inspiring this adventure, my brother did not manage to score himself a ticket. Luckily, we managed to track him down post-concert at Nellie's, which is a gay sport bar with an amazing roof deck right by the club.  It was great to meet up with him for even that little bit and unwind after the show.  From there we headed to Ben's Chili Bowl, which is pretty much a must when out in that neighborhood, and is also where I managed to capture my favorite picture of Greg so far in 2013:

My love

Armed with a chili half-smoke, an order of chili cheese fries and a slice of chocolate cake for good measure, we headed home to enjoy our late night feast.  Needless to say, Saturday morning was a little rough in our household...

Completely shifting gears, I did managed to polish myself up in time for an afternoon tea date with Katie at the Mandarin Oriental's Empress Lounge.  It was completely lovely and a very relaxing, pleasantly indulgent way to pass the afternoon.  We chose the option that came with a glass of Veuve Clicquot as well as tea and were very pleased on all fronts.  Definitely something to do again.

Bubbles, passion fruit tiramisu, delicious little cucumber sandwiches...need I say more?

Saturday night was necessarily laid back and just what we needed.  We curled up on the couch in pajamas with Chinese takeout and watched some of the best playoff football I can remember seeing.  I cannot wait for this weekend's games.  Adding to the cozy vibe, a thick layer of fog rolled in on Saturday night and stayed for the entire day on Sunday.

Sunday morning

Sunday was a catch up day on multiple fronts, and as usual I was sad to see the weekend fly by so quickly, especially one this fun.  I hope you all had fantastic weekends as well and that the week is off to a good start!

Mindy Kaling on Chick Flicks

Over the holidays I read Mindy Kaling's book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)" and I could not recommend it more.  I have always loved her on "The Office" and now  "The Mindy Project," but my girl crush has reached new heights after reading this book.

Perhaps my favorite part comes from the chapter entitled "Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Are Not Real."  I love romantic comedies and my sister and I fancy ourselves quite the experts on the genre,  however I have never seen their appeal explained quite so well as in the following passage:

I enjoy watching people fall in love on-screen so much that I can suspend my disbelief for the contrived situations that only happen in the heightened world of romantic comedies.  I have come to enjoy the moment when the normal lead guy, say, slips and falls right on top of the hideously expensive wedding cake.  I actually feel robbed when the female lead's dress doesn't get torn open at a baseball game while the JumboTron is on her.  I simply regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of sci-fi, in which the world created therein has different rules than my regular human world. There is no difference between Ripley from Alien and any Katherine Heigl character.  They're all participating in the same level of made-up awesomeness, and I enjoy every second of it.

That pretty much nails it right?  Definitely keeping that explanation in my back pocket.  That is just one brilliant tidbit and I heartily encourage you to read the whole book.  It is the perfect breezy read for a vacation or to brighten up any commute!

Hello 2013!

It has been way too long since I updated this little space.  Between the rush of the holidays and travel and a conference for work last week I have barely had time to stop and think about the end of last year and the beginning of this one.  I will definitely do a rundown of the past 3 or so weeks at some point but this morning I felt like it was important to dust myself off and start somewhere so here I am!

A little blurry but also dreamy

I took this picture on my way to Union Station this morning to catch my Tuesday morning train to Baltimore.  I love that it is already starting to get lighter earlier, especially on the two mornings a week that I am up before the sun.  Having grown up in the Northeast, there is definitely a big part of me that loves the nippy weather, hats, scarves, down jackets, possibility of snow, and cozy, hunker-down mentality that this time of year brings but I really do miss the light.

Back to more regular posting this week.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and a great start to this new year!