So I am going to the Blogger. I am a total follower...Everyone else is doing it.
http://richardandbetsey.blogspot.com/
I thought I would recap my trip to the east coast for work last week. I went to Chicago, Washington, DC and New York to help host regional receptions for alumni and newly admitted students to the law school (USC...that is where I work...Richard goes to UCLA...we are rivals)
Sunday, March 11, 2007: I arrive at the airport in plenty of time to make my flight. I dined on delicious airport food. It is still a novelty and I am happy for La Salsa. While on the flight I attempt to read a VERY exciting book called Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation. I fail miserably and watch the movie instead...Night at the museum. This was not a great movie, but satisfied my desire to veg out on the plane. A very successful flight.
Monday, March 12, 2007: I woke up at 10:00 a.m. Very nice to sleep in. I went for a run along Lake Michigan. The weather was surprisingly nice. I went out to Navy Pier with the wind with me...I felt pretty good. Then I turned around, fought the wind the whole way back. Yuck. We had the reception that night in the Chicago Athletic Club, a very old school/old money kind of place. Jackets and ties required kind of place. We had 13 our of the 19 people who RSVP'd attend. Pretty decent. I ate a lot of the cheese on the buffet. That was my favorite part. Margie and Brandon picked me up with Lilly the pug (my sister and brother-in law). We got some Subway and went to their house for an hour or so. Their house is adorable and the Realtor said that it is ready to show. Way to be a great decorator Marjorie! Too bad I forgot to get Margie a present...bad sister, I hang my head in shame.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007: Back on a plane to Washington, DC. While en route to the airport, I realize I don't have my phone. I left it in the hotel room. What a moron. Oh well, what can you do. I have the hotel ship it to LA. We arrived in DC and for lunch, I stopped by my favorite sandwich chain in DC, Potbelly's. This also is in Chicago and I recommend it. Yummy sandwiches and my favorite treat, Shelia's Dream Bars. Richard brought me back one when he went to Chicago for interviews. I thought that I would buy three, eat one myself and bring him back two. I ended up eating all three....bad wife, I AGAIN hang my head in shame. The reception that night was very nice. I had to sit in the lobby almost the entire time and let people in the building (high security, the building was a block from the White House). I talked to Sam the Security Guard the whole night.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007: Another plane to NYC. I did some work in the afternoon and then went running in Central Park. The NYC runners were out in full force and were flying past me. I am very very slow. Pasha (my coworker) and I then went to a nice restaurant for dinner. Delicious and nice to go to bed on a full stomach.
Thursday, March 15, 2007: Highlight: meeting up with Emily (my brother Karl's girlfriend) for lunch. We went to a deli near Times Square that had just HUGE sandwiches. We then ran in the rain to the Gap to get jackets because it had gotten so cold and rainy. Poor Emily's feet in her flip flops looked so cold, but nice because the week before she and Karl had gotten pedicures for her birthday! We had our reception that night at the New York Athletic Club. 35 out of 39 people came. Pretty good turnout I think. When we left the hotel, it was clear again, but by this point...everyone was talking about the storm that was supposed to hit the next day...
Friday, March 16, 2007: We were slated to leave out of JFK at 11:30. We called in the morning, our flight wasn't cancelled, so we checked out of our hotel and went to the airport. Everything seemed fine. I ate more airport food (bacon, egg and cheese croissant) Felt kind of sick from that, and got ready to board the plane. We boarded, and then waited on the runway. The captain said that they needed more visibility to depart. We waited an hour and a half, and then finally, they cancelled our flight. They were cancelling all flights out of JFK that day, so Pasha and I decided to get a hotel and figure out our next plan. We got rooms at the lovely JFK Holiday Inn. I spent the next 45 minutes on hold with United. Pasha decided to call as well and gets through in 10 minutes! What the heck! They rebook us in the next available flight...Monday morning at 7:00 a.m.!!! I DO NOT want to spend the next two days in the JFK Holiday Inn. I begin looking for other options. We decided to try to get a train down to DC and then fly out of there, because the weather isn't as bad. We got a flight out of Dulles at 4:30p.m. on Saturday, arriving in LA at 7:15 p.m.! YIPPPEEE!!!
Saturday, March 17, 2007: We leave the JFK Holiday Inn at 6:00 a.m. (NYC time) and take a shuttle to JFK. From JFK we take a cab to Penn Station. While exiting the cab, I stepped in a huge snow/slush drift and fall down. Clearly I am not used to the snow. We get on our train at 10:00 a.m. and enjoy the nice scenary to Washington DC. We sat by some man who worked in the FBI. Rusty, if you are reading this, he suggested that you start applying for jobs (post graduation jobs) now. Just FYI. We arrived at Union Station and split our cab with some girl who is doing the same thing (took train down from NYC to get to the east coast). When we get in the cab, the driver says "I need to make a quick stop." The girl said, well I have a 2:45 p.m. flight (it is about 12:45 p.m.) can't it wait? The cab driver basically goes crazy, tells us we should get another cab, etc...We tell him fine, no problem make your stop if it is that important...crazy cab driver. When we get out he says..."Thanks for letting me stop, if I win the lottery, I'll give you some money." !?!?!?! What the heck! He stopped to play the lottery.
When we arrive in the airport, I immediatly spot a tour group of pre-teens. Yuck, I thought. I sure pity the people who have to be on a flight with them. Little did I know. We make it to our gate, I eat my last batch of airport food (Yippeee!) and then I see them making their way towards our gate...the same group of pre-teens! Man, oh man...I hope I don't have to sit by any of them! We board the plane a little late (5:00 p.m.),. I go back to my seat and I am sitting by an 8th grader who promptly starts asking me questions, even before I sit down! Oh the joys of 8th grade.
This is what I learned from Nathan (aka Buddy [that is what his family calls him]) on my flight home
1. He loves football, basketball and baseball, but football best of all
2. USC Football sucks, UCLA is awesome
3. Paintballing is a sport. They have teams and professionals...and magazines. We looked through 4 magazines for a while. He pointed out which gear he has. I can't remember the names of the guns he owns
4. The girl two seats up likes him, but he doesn't like her
5. His brother is super rich, he has his own company. He married a girl from South Africa who isn't black (he wanted to make sure that was clarified)
6. The couple to our right started dating on this trip. Nathan thinks the guy is dating her because she buys him things. She bought him a pair of shoes on the trip (sound like Sam anyone?)
7. He likes ATVs. He is saving up his money for a new one. He didn't call it an ATV, but I can't remember the exact name he used.
8. He likes Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy, his rich brother bought him his Ipod
9. Almost everyone in his grade has a cell phone
10. On his 7th grade trip to Sea World, he drank the water in the whale tank and immediatly threw up.
Clearly I learned a lot.
All in all it was a very nice trip, and I actually did enjoy my flight home. Mostly because I was returning to the Chard. I missed him very much.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=51V1VMkuyx0
This song is so catchy. It has been in my head all day long. Plus I LOVE the music video. So adorable and sweet. I love the animation, it reminds me of my youth
If I was a politician, I would definintly announce my candidacy on David Letterman. Just like Senator McCain. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for Governor on Jay Leno. In my personal opinion, Letterman is a better host, so it somehow relates that McCain is a better candidate too. In my warped mind at least.
But I think that in fact, I could be neither a politician or a candidate for office. For two reasons.
1. I talk too much. I say what comes to my mind, very quickly...without filtering whether it is coherant or not.
2. I sweat a lot (a fine example of talking too much).
Just ask Richard. After our very first kiss, I started asking him if he really wanted to date me because I sweat a lot. I worried that he had noticed and felt that I should cut him off at the pass and just admit the facts. I am a sweater (is that how you write that?...I have no idea!)
My two friends from Indiana are coming into town on Friday for a girls weekend. We are going to go be contestants on the Price is Right on Monday. I better work on my Plinko skills this week.
hopefully Bob points at me and tells me to come on down!
Here is what I got from Richard for Valentine's Day
A Beautiful purse from Ann Taylor And these really beautiful shoes... how cool is my husband!
Last night was a typical Friday night at the Hawkins House. We were supposed to get together to play games with some friends, but one of them had sick kids, so the plans were postponed. Richard and I then decided to just have a typical Friday night...which involves Costco and sweat-pants. Yes...Richard and I love to wear sweat-pants. When I got home, I immediatly changed into my sweats and enjoyed some delicious chilli that Richard made. Richard really likes peppers and onions, and overloads the chilli with them, it is so delicious. He is becoming a very good chilli maker. I took a picture of the chilli, but my camera is being funny and won't read by memory card. Lame.
After eating chilli, we went to Costco, Albertsons and Target. I love grocery shopping. This becomes very clear when you look at my bank statement. The majority of my purchases are food related. I'm most definitly an over-feeder. when we have friends over to visit, I always make too much. 3 girls I worked on a project with last semester came to dinner on Sunday. I made 4 different kinds of pasta. We had SO MUCH food. It was delicious...but too much. Richard and I ate pasta leftovers all week long. I just wanted to make sure there was enough food. I would post a picture of my grad school friends here...but the computer and my memory card are not getting along.
Tonight Richard and I are celebrating Valentines Day. We are going to a really nice restaurant called AOC. Richard went there with a law firm that was interested in hiring him for a summer position, and my boss Beth (who is a food snob) goes there all the time, so I know it will be yummy. I'm getting ready to over-eat. As far as a present for Richard goes...he knows everything that I got him. I got him a CD (the Gypsey Kings) that he accidently saw when he opened the mail box. The invoice from Amazon.com was poking through and he saw the CD title. I also got him a Bocce ball set from Target. Since he was with me there, it was hard to hide it. I got a great deal on it though...and I know that he loves Bocce ball. Not very romantic or anything. I'm also going to wrap up the scale that he got at Costco and give that to him. Just cause I want him to be able to unwrap a ton. I was going to get him an assortment of his favorite candies, but since he is not eating refined sugar, I figured that would just be mean. A few days ago, a HUGE box came for Richard in the mail from Ann Taylor. I assume that it is for me (as Richard doesn't really look good in Ann Taylor clothes). I think that he went over our $50 limit...what a jerk :)
I have actually really enjoyed my classes this semester. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have friends in all my classes. Delia and I have Quant II together and then I am in Implementation with Jessica S. and Jessica M. They are all coming over for dinner on Saturday and I am very excited. I am still planning the menu, but am thinking that Richard needs to make some Thai food...I haven't asked him yet, we'll see if I can talk him into it. He has only cooked Thai food once for me...of couse when we were dating.
There is one thing about my classes this semester that I don't like...well, one thing about my Quant II class that I don't like. The PhD student. I don't even know his name, but he is THAT guy in class....You know the one. The guy who feels like it is his job to raise his hand all the time, talk over people, CORRECT THE TEACHER! I mean seriously, you are a 2nd year PhD student, you aren't a Nobel prize winner or anything. I imagine that he wouldn't bother me so much, but I know that he bugs Delia, Andrea and David as well...so anytime he opens his mouth, one of us witll either start giggling, roll our eyes, or mock his comments. I know, I know...so rude! But this guy is really inconsiderate to our professor, who clearly is a new teacher and who struggles a little bit. He drives me bananas. My favorite part of today was when he claimed that buses were the main form of transportation for the entire world. Now, this may be the case, but we are in a class where we are studying statistics and data...Even if he did read that somewhere, you have to take that kind of information with a grain of salt. It was just a ridiculous statement that even the teacher couldn't respond to. Plus, it was just sort of randomly thrown in, like he said it just to hear himself talk. At that point (about 15 minutes before the end of class) everyone was giving this guy dirty looks. PhD guy is totally going to test my patience this semester.
On a more positive note, Hong Kong dates for this summer are set...Richard will be leaving on May 11 and returning August 3rd. I've already started making a list of May and July activities. I'm going to keep myself so busy and try not to miss him like crazy. I'll be leaving on June 2nd and will return on July 4th. I am so excited!
Okay, here is one of my big problems in life. I am not very good at coming up with romantic and wonderful Valentines/Birthday/Christmas/Anniversary gifts for my spouse. From the get go, Richard was 100% better than me at being thoughtful and wonderful. I don't think I gave him anything for our first Valentine's Day together. I am a jerk. He got me my favorite candy on my birthday, a book by one of my favorite authors, and the children's book, "The Saggy, Baggy Elephant" for my birthday (the kids book was a bit of a joke) and we weren't even really dating. I feel like holidays and anniversaries come up so quickly, that I am stuck on February 13th trying to pull together a present for my husband.
But this year, I VOW to be better. I am currently in the process of thinking up something really wonderful and relatively inexpensive for my dear sweet Richard for our love day. (I would elaborate more, but he is sitting right here and he is probably going to read this when I post it as well...blogs can't keep secrets.) I will be a good gift giver in 2007!
