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.

Cookie Time

There's one lesson that I've learned several times in my life -- high school, in the sorority, in college, my first job -- if you feed them, they will come. It still holds true in graduate school (though arguably you could exchange "feed them" with "give free drink tickets")... so when I ended up helping organize our cohort's entry into the talent show I decided to dust off my baking gear and engage in a little old fashioned bribery. I also finally got to use the new cookie sheets and other cookie paraphernalia that I got for Christmas - including the tool that Dad gave me that makes all the cookies the same size.  

Delinquent!

I've heard from several of you that I need to post another blog. I have been so bad this semester! Partly because I'm not doing much more than school/gym/study/cook/sleep/&repeat... and also because I couldn't find my camera battery charger until yesterday. 

Oops!

So here are a few new things in my life right now...

I went skiing in Killington last month. I loved it in the morning during my lesson, I hated it in the afternoon when I fell down 30+ times on "Easy Street" which I do NOT think was appropriately named! This was the only picture I took:

I've also randomly done a lot of Karaoke this semester. This is interesting because I cannot sing to save my life... but that did not stop me from singing a rousing rendition of "Friends in Low Places" with two of my guy friends at a recent karaoke outing. Awesome. Video exists (damn this digital era) but I've hopefully suppressed its release. I can never run for office, PS.

Here's a video of a recent late-night karaoke outing... and the third straight singing of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Note that half of the room is singing the version from Old School, so it's got a few f-bombs in there. Why does karaoke so often come down to shouting?

I'm pretty sure we might be banned from there now.

The other most amazing thing that I have discovered is the Shellac manicure. For $10 more than a regular manicure, you get special "gel" color that is supposed to last for 3 weeks. I was totally talked into it this week by the ladies at St. Mary's Nails, and will be posting a series of photos to see how it all goes. Here's the day one photo (ignore the ugly stigmata-like scab on my hand -- cooking injury). 

And no, Mom, it's not black... it's dark purple. It's trendy.

xoxo,

Bron

In Which Bronwen Figures Out How to Post Videos

So I know that -- being from Southern California and all -- I'm supposed to probably hate the snow and complain about it a lot... or make snide comments like "what's all this white stuff" and such... but I just can't.

I'm in love!

I love how pretty everything looks when it snows. And yes, it does turn ugly and slushy and gross, but it feels so peaceful when the snow is falling and everything is so white and pristine*. Like this:

So I'm a huge dope and didn't turn my iPhone the right way... but I'm glad to see that Blogger has turned it right side up for me (they post half of my photos sideways, so I'm amazed they got this one right). Turn up your sound... you can hear the snow hitting my umbrella!

And speaking of the cold, here's another little gem for you all. If you're friends with me on Facebook (or Gchat) sorry this is a duplicate. It also bears mention that my mother sent this to me.

*What does that say about me? Maybe I'm racist?

Vacation

So it's been a while. I know, I know. I pretty much shut down over finals, and then we had Integrated Project, then I flew home to Long Beach... and pretty much went incommunicado for the next few weeks.

The first semester of b-school wrapped up pretty nicely. I turned in pretty decent grades, with a few surprises (hell-o B+ in finance!), and well above the range for academic probation. Once I found out that I was indeed not going to be kicked out of school, I settled in for a relaxing (and rainy) holiday and break, filled with family and friends.... and food.

It was nice being back in the LBC, and back in my parents' house. In many ways, it felt like I'd never left. The old house was mostly the same.

Except for one really huge difference.

No, my parents have not rented out there home to be a location for the next season of "Dexter" (though that would be awesome), and no my Dad is not a serial killer now. They're just redoing the kitchen. The remodel is in full throes right now, which caused some pretty creative improvisation when it came to Christmas dinner (and every other dinner consumed in my parents' house for that matter).

Prime Rib on the BBQ rotisserie, and roasted potatoes

Potatoes, carrots, peas, and brussels sprouts on the camp stoves in the garage.

My mother is a saint, people. A SAINT! She's been living like this since September, and puts a hot, cooked meal on the table every night. She then does the dishes by hand - either in a 8.5" x 11" bar sink or in the work sink in the garage. A SAINT!

My dad's not bad either. He's doing a beautiful job on the kitchen, and he's doing it all himself. His retirement hobby so far has been cabinet-making, and he's actually quite good at it. And, as of yesterday, has three top cabinets installed. It's going to be lovely when it's done, and I can't wait to see it. 

Anyway, these are pretty much the only pictures I took over break. Pretty much because I was doing a lot of reading and sleeping on the couch. Glenn was kind enough to snap this one:

Happy New Year everyone!