December 31, 2005
Fondues and Fondon'ts
So a few nights ago Erin, Cathy, Molly and I met at The Melting Pot in Darien, CT. We had cheese and chocolate fondue.... not together, separately. That would have been pretty gross.
Cathy and Erin eating cheese fondue:
Erin wanted us all to share it but Molly, Cathy and I "weren't hungry." Needless to say.... the three of us ate more of it than Erin did.
Molly and Me... we always look awkward in our pictures
We know Molly is one of our fellow blondes because she thought fondue was throwing pieces of bread into the cheese sauce and then trying to fish them out with her fondue fork.... oh Molly. We love her so much.
Chocolate fondue...mmmm
I'd have to recommend The Melting Pot to anyone who loves food as much as I do. It tastes great and there's plenty of it! Check it out sometime, you can even make reservations online: http://www.meltingpot.com/darienct/home.html
Posted by lauren at 01:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 30, 2005
2005 Pictures Part 2-- September-December... The Good, The Bad, and the Self-Incriminating
So I woke up this morning feeling a little better than before (I've had an awful cold). I'm hoping to be 100% better by tomorrow when I go to Ali's New Year's Eve party. Ugh, I'm just going to have to deal with the fact that everyone's pictures are going to have me with a bright red nose. I guess it's not the end of the world... or perhaps it is. That is pretty terrible.
Back to the year of pictures part 2... I'd like to call this section "The Good, the bad, and the self-incriminating" for some pretty obvious reasons. I'll try to keep it PG-13 for poor Mom who once saw her daughter on one knee drinking from a beer funnel.
I came back to Trinity College in September with brand new roommates! We had all been put into the "summer lottery" which means that we had no say in where we lived or with whom, but we really lucked out! We all get along great and we got an AMAZING dorm room! We're living in Funtown in the recreation lounge...how fitting. No, the name is not Funtown, but that's what the kiddies at Camp Trin Trin call it.
Danielle, Christie, and Me
Brent and Me that same night. What's he smiling about? ;-)
Aww, one of our first nights out together
On September 8th, my brother Geoff and his wife Kari had a baby boy named Brady! Here's a picture of me with my new nephew:
And back to Trinity... the boys in our hall are too cute. Danielle, Christie, and I were put in a freshman boys' hall and became their "Funtown Moms" which quickly turned into the "Funtown Milfs" because of the wisdom we gain after completing the ever-important freshman year of college. Our hall has recently been named "The Trouble Hall" on campus, and I must say we have earned the title. But when you look at this adorable picture of the boys surprising Christie on her birthday, how could they be trouble??
It was soon time for the annual Welcome Back Party, a "semi-formal" (very few people dress up) to celebrate everyone's return to Trinity
This is Brent and Garner by my desk... don't ask because honestly, I don't know. I can say that alcohol may have been involved.
Brent let me wear his fedora for a while and I had way too much fun with it.
On September 13th, Brent and I celebrated our one year anniversary! Can you believe it?? Brent took me out to dinner in West Hartford at a lovely Italian restaurant called Bricco's. He then took me out to the movies, although neither of us can remember which one, followed by second dinner at IHOP. Yes, we're those people... the ones who sometimes eat "second dinner."
Later on in September, Brent and I took a bus trip to Boston where we did some shopping on Newbury St. and visited the Polo Rugby store where Brent got this awesome sweater:
Columbus day weekend I was home in Greenwich and got to see a bunch of my friends at a party at Erin's house.
Vanessa, Me, and Cathy:
Vanessa, Molly, and Me:
Erin, Molly, Cathy, and Pat:
Mid-October, we went to a party in Jon, Mark, Andrew, and Joe's AMAZING Summit Suite. Brent's good friend and neighbor (from home-- Avon, CT) came to visit us. We all wish he was a fellow Trincoller...
Brent and Eric out of the torrential rain and playing some beirut with Joe and Mark:
Three blondies! Julie, Kara, and Me:
October was the month of themed parties... Tropical, 80s, and Halloween.
Tropical was rated as one of the top 5 college parties in the whole country, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Outside of the hosting frat (Psi U), the ground was covered with sand and they even had a "pool." The pool, as we later discovered, was filled with muddy brown water and fish which, of course, died after hundreds of drunk college kids took turns diving in. I certainly did not step foot in the pool, but my boyfriend obviously did...
Before:
Brent and Me
Jen (a NYC babe) and Kara (a fellow Greenwich girl).
Poolside (we didn't realize how gross it was until seeing the pictures the next day, I swear!):
Soon came the 80s party, one of Trinity's infamous gatherings of the intoxicated. Girls all had their hair crimped out with bright colors and leg warmers while most guys went for the 80s rock star look. Down at the field house we all got together for a crazy night of dancing and screaming to 80s music that I imagine many people did not remember the next day...
An 80s rocker and his groupie (aka Brent and Me):
Ladies of the 80s! Jen, Kara, Julie, Me, and Kara hanging out beforehand in Kara, Kara, and Julie's Anadama triple with their own living room, bathroom, and kitchen! So jealous... they've been so great to host many a night of pregaming and crazy Rock Lobster dance parties in their room. But back to the 80s...
Halloween! One of my favorite college holidays.... It's always interesting to see what people come up with as an outfit. Pretty much every girl is a sexy this or a sexy that and I, myself, was guilty of such a costume. My friend Kristina came to visit me that weekend and we were sexy construction workers. Here we are "getting hammered:"
Brent dressed up as a pirate, so we called him Captain Morgan and made him drink some rum and say "Arrgh!" Garner and Tom were ninjas... of course they wore the children's ninja costumes which were way too small on them. Brian was a redneck trucker and he definitely fit the part. I've never seen a more miraculous transformation than that of a Connecticut prep school grad to a genuine redneck! In his Southern redneck accent he was screaming at everyone in... let's call it "colorful language," while we all played beirut in CJ's room. It was one of the funniest parts of the night. Perrin was spiderman, Joey was Arabian, CJ was... something with a silly green outfit, Phil was quail man, Danielle was Marianne from Gilligan's Island, Kara and Julie were twin cowgirls... there was so much more, I can't even try to list it all, but it was a great night.
The boys... can you guess who's who?
Kristina and Me in the Wheaton stairwell:
Brent and Me:
Julie and Kara, what adorable twins!
Chris and Will... leave it to the boys of the "trouble hall" to find a way to make fairy costumes badass:
Here is one of the first sober college pictures! The guys got together to play squash on one of Trinity's many squash courts. Everyone here, including myself, knows how to play a little squash... I think it's a requirement that you leave Trinity with this knowledge.
In this picture I think you'll find Chris, CJ, Will, Brent, and Joey:
A lot more happened at Trinity that there just isn't room for! Someone broke through and almost fell out of the window in Anadama at one of the girls' parties, mice moved into the trouble hall, Danielle decided to move down the hall so that she can have a single =( we'll miss her but we understand... and she'll definitely be back to visit often, Christie's boyfriend came for a visit and got snowed in, and I passed all my finals woo hoo!
Let me now skip ahead to Christmas back in Greenwich.
Jessica, Me, and Jocelyn on the piano bench:
The table all dolled up for Christmas dinner for 12!
Some of the alcohol... much better than what we get at school!
Jim (my oldest friend) and Me:
Our new coffee / espresso / cappuccino / latte / hot chocolate / tea / crema / EVERYTHING maker! I named it Mr. T for Tassimo. All it needs now are some giant gold chains and it could be famous!
Well, that's all for now! I'll post again soon with some pictures from the Darien Melting Pot, an AMAZING fondue restaurant, and hopefully some good ones from the New Year's Eve party tomorrow!
Au revoir! (Brent is trying to teach me French. That's just about all I know)
Posted by lauren at 11:46 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Pictures from 2005 -- Part 1: January-August
So, once again I'm stealing ideas from the Rock Star Diary and posting about my past year. My intention is to bring everyone up to speed so that you're ready to read The Blonde Excuse in 2006! I have a reputation of taking far too many pictures, so I tried to limit myself to one or two per "event" but we'll see how it goes...
January 1st, approximately 1:30am... New Years Hotel Party, or as Erin calls it, a "telly." I'll spare you the drama of that night... but to sum it all up, here's a picture that pretty much explains everything:
Molly, James, and Jackie
On January 1st, my friend (and May 19th birthday buddy!) Kristina and I went to Cabo for a week to get tan, drink pina coladas, and get very sick... no, we didn't overdo the tequila, we just both got colds.
The Westin, Los Cabos
We survived the jet-lag and managed to finish off our second semester of college. Shortly after packing all my things to come home for the summer I celebrated my birthday twice!
First with friends... (not everyone is in the picture)
Then with family at the Yacht Club. Brent (my boyfriend) and Me:
Brent and I spent the summer trying to visit as often as possible. Here, Brent and I are standing on the cliffs in Martha's Vineyard where Brent's family has a beautiful summer home that they invited me to a number of times:
Unfortunately, amidst all the summer fun there was a memorial service for my Nana up in my father's hometown of Marblehead, MA. It was nice to get to see the whole family, but Nana will be greatly missed.
Marblehead, MA-- Look at the bagpiper!
Jocelyn, Uncle Sam, and Me at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead where my dad and his side of the family spent a lot of their time:
Dad... or as I sometimes call him, Davey (I like to think it annoys him).
In late July some of my friends and I went on a camping trip, one of the best ideas we've ever had! We played with fire, swam in a murky lake, peed in the woods, and had some serious bonding time =)
The girls: Cathy, Vanessa, Molly, and Me:
Boys being boys... they were trying to create a tool to pull down branches for firewood. Spencer (Vanessa's boyfriend), Brent-- mine!, and Pat (Cathy's boyfriend):
Brent and Me by the fire
In August, Brent came to visit me at my summer place in Daytona Beach, FL. We went to a water park, Disney World, jetskiing, and we even went on a bungee jumping death machine called "The Slingshot." It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my entire life, and I hope Brent remembers the things I do for him!!
Some happy pictures as opposed to the video we have of us on The Slingshot where I am screaming out of pure terror as we are shot 300 feet into the air while attached to fancy rubber bands:
Brent and Me at the waterpark
Brent and Me heading off to go jetskiing
We took a bunch of Disney World "tourist pictures" and I won't bore you with them all, but here is my favorite....come on, you all know that everyone has one of these:
The summer came to an end with a party at Ali's house where we all played beirut outside by her pool. Pictured are James, Spencer, Ali with her boyfriend Greg, and Kate. The rest of us were in or around the pool.
I saved the best for Part 2-- College, so make sure to check out my next posting!
Posted by lauren at 12:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 29, 2005
And so it begins...
This is my very first blog posting and I'm so excited to get started! The Blonde Excuse is going to be my way of keeping track of my life and sharing it with anyone who might be interested. First off, The Blonde Excuse is a term coined by my friend Mike who told me once, after I had made yet another idiotic comment, "It's okay, you're blonde... at least you have an excuse." And you know what? He's right! This blog, however, was inspired by my sister's Rock Star Diary http://www.pixxiestails.com. Under the blogger name Jocelyn, my slightly older sister chronicles her always amusing life in NYC. Living at home in Greenwich, CT is far less exciting... however, I do attend Trinity College in Hartford, and anyone who has ever been there knows just what I mean when I say that things can get interesting. Perhaps the best way to describe my life at college is with a quote from one of my favorite TV shows, Arrested Development, to say that, "I feel quite certain the yacht club would disapprove." And yes, they probably would. Maybe this is the start of something great, or maybe this is merely the product of my tremendous boredom over winter break, but here begins The Blonde Excuse.
Posted by lauren at 09:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack