I've Moved!

Into a new apartment, yes. But also to a new blog address: bronnawanna.wordpress.com.

It was time for an upgrade in both areas of my life. To see pictures of the new apartment, you'll have to link there.

A Little Bit of Lent in My Life

So I know what you all really want to read about/see pictures of is the big move... and believe me that will be a HUGE update... but instead right now I'm going to talk about Lent.

Growing up Mormon, I never actually experienced Lent. I'd never even really heard of it until my first year of high school (with a big contingent of actual Catholics, not just Easter/Christmas Catholics) and heard the conversations start around the end of February of what they were giving up. I'd always been fascinated by the idea, but also secretly glad that I wasn't required to participate. Especially come those last 15 or so days, where the commitment got really hard for some of my friends.

Flash forward to 2011, graduate school, when one of my Jewish friends implemented what she called "Jewish Lent." This basically consisted of her trying to break her online shopping habit by cutting off all online purchases in the 2 months following Easter.

As I moved into my new place this weekend, and physically touched every item that I own, I realized "I have a lot of sh*t." And a lot of said sh*t is of the clothing variety. I even did a big cleanout at the end of the semester, and donated what I don't wear anymore... and there is still a lot of it.

In short, I need a little Lent in my life.

So here is the plan. Between now and the end of the year - I, Bronwen Y. will not purchase any more items of clothing in a Lent-line fashion. "Clothing" is also described as anything that goes in my closet, and will include shoes, handbags, scarves, coats, bathing suits and hats. I'll even go so far as to include underthings, because I do have a lot of those, and I need to learn that buying more underwear is not a way to avoid doing laundry.

Since this is a bit ambitious, and needs do arise, I will allow myself 1 item per month for routine replacement/special needs. I also reserve the right to purchase 1 item of Colorado and/or Utah sportswear for the football game Thanksgiving weekend. For every "emergency" item that I do not purchase in a given month, I will instead treat myself to a professional manicure and pedicure (or other nail salon service of my choosing not to exceed $50).

I'll post my progress here as it happens. But these are the ground rules, and I agree to abide by them! Wish me luck.

Rain Shower

Tonight after my exercise class with Jenn and Drew (which turned into dinner with Jenn and Drew), I was delayed in coming home because I had to run by the new place to take some measurements. I had decided to walk home, but once I got outside, a light rain was falling. So I dashed up to Copley Square to the T. 

Before I went down to board my train, I snapped a few photos.

Maybe it was the post-exercise high. Maybe it was the warm fuzzy feeling I had after spending time in my new place. Maybe it was the two glasses of wine I'd had with dinner.

But I stood there, watching the rain, feeling it fall on my face... and felt surprisingly content. The oppressive humidity of the last few days melted away into a calm cool that felt almost cleansing... 

And I was content. 100% completely, totally content with my surroundings, my situation, my life.

I finally feel like I am where I belong. And it 100% completely, totally rocks. 

New Apartment!

The big move isn't actually for another two weeks... but today I picked up the keys to my very. own. apartment.

A little sneak preview:

The living room:

The Bedroom (which was listed as an "Alcove," PS)

The kitchen's small, but perfect for one person!  

My bathroom contains awesome original tiles and a tub that will be perfect for soaking (once I've had time to Clorox the living daylights out of it, of course!!).

And did I mention... LOTS of closet space!

So as you can see, it's a totally blank canvas just ready for me to make it my own! It's in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, which is full of shops, restaurants, nightlife and those classic red brick Boston brownstones. Did I mention that Tom Brady and Gisele are my new neighbors? They live just 5 doors down from me... and I think I might just need to borrow a cup of sugar one of these days!

The official move happens on the 15th... so expect more pictures of the in-progress work in the coming weeks. Whether you want to see them or not! 

OK, I Lied

In my previous post, I claimed to have not taken any pictures on my vacation. It seems that I was untruthful, and for that I am truly sorry.

I plugged in the old memory card today, and found these photographic gems:

The conversation went a bit like this:
Me: I hate your Facebook photo.
Glenn: I don't care.
Me: But I reeeeeeeeally hate it. And look at the pretty sunset. Pose!

Ladies, my dear darling brother is 18 years old and single. Available for dates, swim lessons and life guarding in the Long Beach, California area. And baby got back!

Vacay Recap

You know your vacation was super relaxing when the only picture you took was of this:

After all of the heinous weather we've been having in Boston, we were actually blessed with four gorgeous days of sunshine... enough for me to even get a little color! That color may have been pink at first, but now it's fading into a nice brown base tan. Hopefully the rain ends soon so that I can keep it up!

In addition to my little familia, my parents' good friends the DeSmets were also in Sandwich -- just two doors down on the beach. It's weird when kids you used to babysit turn into sophomores and juniors in college. They are at least learning things though, as evidenced by the only other item on my camera, which is now posted on YouTube for your viewing pleasure:

We all decided that night that it was our mission to make Andy famous. So we posted this on YouTube. You should tell all your friends, so that he can have more than 41 views! Do it. It'll make a growing boy happy. 

Cape Cod!

Let's just say... we've been in Cape Cod less than 12 hours, and it's already off to a good start.

It's weird when kids that you used to babysit turn into men-children.... but at least you can make fun videos out of it.

Andy-man (all grown up, tear!), tells us of the evils lurking on our produce drawer in this video that we made tonight: What I Learned in College. My darling mother, Becky, has a vital supporting role as the "lovely assistant." Her exclusive quote: "you don't need to stay in Boston with your MBA friends to have a good time!"

Enjoy, friends. More pics later.

Happy Birthday to Me

Last week marked my 27th birthday... damn that feels old! But I've decided that I can still claim "mid-20s" for at least one more year...

Given that the semester ended in early May, I was a little afraid that I'd feel a bit like the kid in Elementary School with a July birthday, who never had a party because all the kids were on vacation. Or something like that. But I was convinced to have a celebration at Howl at the Moon, and was really overwhelmed by all of the people that came out... as well as how great all of the photos came out!

Jenn and Jim. Officially two of the most photogenic people I know!

Prom photo! Totally unintentional, btw.

Joel, me, and Jim. I'd like to point out that I am wearing 4" heels in this photo.

Ben and Drew and a drink in a bucket.

Me, Steph and Leela.

Jenn, Me and Steph.

Apparently a drink in a bucket is...

Jimbo and me. So sad he's leaving for Brazil for the WHOLE summer!

Amy

Probably the worst photo ever of Parker and myself. 

This is what Amy thought of our photo. 

Speaking of Amy and Parker... these two photos are too funny not to share. 

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this very non-milestone birthday very special!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

So guess what I did last week?

It's official now, so I can shout it from the rooftops... I'm moving! Fulfilling a dream I've had for a while now... I'm finally moving into my own place. All mine.

A friend of a friend is a realtor, and we'd spoken a while back about what I was looking for in a place, and where. There was really nothing available on the market for a long while... and then she emailed me on Memorial Day and said that a couple of listings had come up and we needed to view ASAP. On my lunch hour Tuesday, we went and looked at a bunch of apartments... and one was too good to be true. So I applied.

The didn't like that I was a student. They didn't like that my only available cosignors were in California.

But I got it! And to quote one of my favorite movies - It's All Happening!

And I move July 15...

More to come later, including pictures. This might temporarily turn into an interior design blog... but it's better than an empty blog!

Maine Day

Finishing the semester was great, and for a few days being on vacation was awesome. I cleaned out my closets, did laundry, watched down the DVR, and explored the city with friends. The weather was crappy - cold, muggy and rainy - so a lot of the activities on my summer to-do list were seriously out of the question. In short, we were all bored.

Then Molly had a great idea... let's use her car and take a day trip! It's just a short 2 hour drive up to Maine, so Molly, Parker, Shawn and myself packed up the car and drove up to Kennebunkport for a random day trip.

We wound up around lunch time at a great little pier, where some of our party decided to dip their toes on the Atlantic. I did not, so I took some pictures:

We found this awesome place called the Ramp, where we stopped for an authentic Maine lobster roll and some chowda. This was literally one of the coolest places I've ever been in my life. The outside was decorated with lobster cage markers from the local area, and a giant rusty anchor that Parker models for us below:

 Shawn and I

The restaurant was covered in lots of sports and political memorabilia from the last 60 years. Local celebrities had even signed the walls... including two of Kennebunkport's most famous residents.

On the way back into town, we decided to see if we could drop in on George and Babs. The flag was up, they were home... but this was as close as we got. Which is pretty damn close if you ask me! The whole property was crawling with Secret Service... it was pretty cool though!

And speaking of the Bushes... the town was full of memorabilia about both George W. and George H.W. I snapped a photo of this shirt, which (at the risk of getting political) I found pretty funny.

 In all, Maine Day was a lot of fun and a great success. Kennebunkport is definitely work a visit!

Talent Show & Red Sox Game

The end of the semester culminated in one epic day... the day of the Cohort Cup Talent and Art Show, the awarding of the Cohort Cup, and then an outing to Fenway Park for my first Red Sox game.

We kicked off the day on Jim's roofdeck... with this beautiful view of the city.

Then we headed to SMG for the end of year festivities. At BU, we have this great Harry Potter-esque Cohort Cup competition. All year the four cohorts compete in a series of events for points, with the ultimate goal being the coveted Cohort Cup. The final event of the year is the Talent and Art show.

Cohort D's contribution to the art show was the egg-ceptional class room:

I'm the green egg on the far right, second row from the top.

After the art show, we had the talent portion of the evening, which included the Oh Susana singalong that I mentioned in an earlier post. We successfully got all 50 cohort members up onto the stage for the number!

After the show we all gathered in the atrium for a reception (a must in the MBA world) and awaited the decision. Our singalong came in third in the talent show, but it didn't matter... Cohort D still won the cup!

Jamie and Shawn with the Cup

Taking the ceremonial drink from the Cup...

We couldn't celebrate long, because we had to dash over to Fenway for the game. It was my first visit to the historic park... and my first baseball game of the new millennium I think!