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October 31, 2007
New York City
Trinity Days Day 2
After taking Rocky for his very first pumpkin, Brent and I caught a train into NYC for the day. We went with no plans whatsoever, which is probably the best way to go to the city. Whenever I'm going into the city with friends or family we always have a destination, be it a certain store, restaurant, bar, etc. but then how are new discoveries made?
Brent and I went to the city to discover something new, which we pretty much failed to do, but that's ok. We ended up getting sucked into the most stereotypical city adventures completely by accident, but I guess that's what always happens.
Building outside of Grand Central:
The New York Public Library:
Whenever I think of the New York Public Library, I always imagine it with all sorts of zoo animals roaming about like in that movie 12 Monkeys (which I highly recommend, by the way).
We passed a couple of people dressed in business suits wandering around in a cube that you can apparently "text into." It was a little weird, but I took a picture anyway (not that you can see much, the reflection is really bad):
We sort of wandered around aimlessly without looking at street signs and ended up going in the opposite direction of what we had expected which landed us right at the Empire State Building:
We had nowhere to be, so we turned around and meandered our way in the opposite direction for a while:
After that, we ended up in some random park:
Park-goers:
Random guy on the street:
The only Times Square picture I took:
Young Frankenstein... the musical?
I like corner buildings like these:
Central Park:
Some kids enjoying the unseasonably hot weather:
Our shadow:
Best squirrel ever... what's he doing?
I can't remember what this place is called, but we were in that big mall-like building with all our favorite stops like J-Crew and Borders Books:
Adorable:
Ice skaters at Rockefeller Center:
I really like how that picture turned out. I like this one of a little girl ice skating too:
Brent and I stopped for chocolates at Teuscher:
On the way back to Grand Central, we walked past this dirty-looking building and some man walking near us was telling his friend that a lot of the buildings in NYC used to look like this (From car exhaust maybe? I don't remember what he said) but that people come in and sandblast them to make them look the way they do most places now:
So basically, on our "non-tourist, no destination" day in the city, Brent and I made it to the New York Public Library, the Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, whatever that huge mall square place is that I can't remember the name of, and Rockefeller Center. We're hopeless.
And finally, after the train ride home, Brent and I went out with my parents to a new restaurant in town called Bulldog which is really casual and absolutely delicious. I got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich that I'm still dreaming about... Yum:
Check back soon for Trinity Days Day 3 when Brent and I went to Princeton, NJ!
Posted by lauren at 12:14 AM | Comments (10)
October 29, 2007
Pumpkin Eater
Trinity Days Day 1
I rarely do subtitles for my blog entries, but this is the first in a series of Trinity Days entries that I will be doing over the course of the next couple of days. Every October and February, my school has something called Trinity Days when we get a long weekend to "study for midterms." On the first day of Trinity Days this year, Brent and I went to my house so that we would be able to catch an early(ish) train to NYC the next morning. That night, we went to the yacht club for dinner where we had amazing filet mignon. At least that's what most of us had, my dad had something else because he always has to be "different." The only picture I took there was this one of the diving board by the swimming pool which was apparently still filled with water, even in October. Global warming is so much fun!
These next pictures are actually from Trinity Days Day 2, but it was really just the morning before leaving for NYC so I'm calling them part of Day 1.
Brent and I took Rocky to a local pumpkin patch that Saturday morning to get his very first pumpkin! He sniffed them all out just like any smart dog would, and settled on his favorite, a little tiny one that he could carry himself.
Rocky sniffing out his pumpkin:
We then took a slow drive home where Rocky was allowed to stick his head out the window. You can all tell me how bad this is for dogs, something about dust in the air getting into their eyes or whatever, but every dog deserves a couple minutes every now and then:
When Rocky got home, he grabbed his pumpkin by the stem and walked right off with it.
Rocky taking the pumpkin from Brent:
He soon tried to eat it:
One of my favorite pictures ever of little Rocky:
He's so big and tough:
Here he is standing on his pumpkin to keep it steady while he tries to eat it:
When Rocky started making a real mess, he and his pumpkin got sent out to the front yard to play:
And finally, here he is taking his pumpkin somewhere more private to enjoy:
Rocky eventually realized that once you get far enough in, pumpkins taste pretty disgusting. He left it in the front yard where it became squirrel food, I guess. And that's the story of Rocky and his very first Halloween pumpkin.
Posted by lauren at 05:01 PM | Comments (4)
Where The Time Goes
Sometimes I wonder to myself, Where did the week go? What did I do? The answer is usually quite simple. It went nowhere, I did nothing. Going through my pictures, the weekends usually have something interesting whether a party at school, a weekend away, a day trip somewhere or other, a hike... but weekdays are different. Despite only having class on 3 of the 5 weekdays this semester (which doesn't mean there's any less work!) I find that 90% of my week is spent pretending to do work so that I feel useful (i.e. printing articles I'll never read, organizing my bookshelf, etc.) and the other 10% is spent on a really random set of useless activities that I stupidly take pictures of, proving to myself later on that I am in serious need of a life. Ok ok, I guess I do actually do quite a bit of work, I have to give myself some credit, but I am a master procrastinator and waster of time.
Anyway, this is apparently how I spent the first week of October.
Brent bought a fall cake at Whole Foods because he decided we needed cake to get into the always self-destructive "work mode." I think he's whistling in this picture:
The highlight of that week was definitely my parents sending me a wine basket! Maybe I should call it a "whine" basket though, since I think I got it because of all the whining I did over the phone to my parents about how tough my semester is. Aren't they the best?!
Brent and I wandered around West Hartford some more and got ice cream cones while scouting out new cows. Found one!
That one is absolutely my new favorite cow. How could it not be with cute little barn pets?
Here are my cute little barn bunnies:
They're purebred American farm bunnies! Actually, when we took them to the vet, they said they couldn't find any classification for them so we should just call them American farm bunnies. I can't think of a better breed!
Here's the portable air conditioner I bought for little Winston and George so that they don't get too hot. Rabbits overheat very easily and I worry about them:
The box turned into a really fun bunny condo:
And that concludes my week. That's right, in five days I ate cake, received a wine basket, found a new cow, and looked at rabbits. Pretty exciting stuff!
Last but not least, I'm still waiting for submissions to The Blonde Excuse Challenge! Cupcakes claims to have one more on the way but I haven't seen it yet. Send them in everyone!
Posted by lauren at 01:38 PM | Comments (2)
Boston Red Sox
I thought this would be an appropriate time to write this entry considering that I'm currently watching the Red Sox win the World Series AGAIN!!!
On September 29th, I went to the Red Sox game with my brother Geoff, his friends John and Rob, Brent, my dad, his friend Woody, and Uncle Stud. Brent and I arrived in Boston early to wander around for a little while. We're both interviewing for a handful of jobs in Boston, so we thought it would be fun to hang out in the city for a day.
We parked at the Prudential Center and wandered around in there for a little while before figuring out where to go.
Inside the Prudential Center:
Around Boston:
Outside the Boston Public Library:
Hello:
Bottoms Up:
The best part of this picture... let's zoom in:
Oh well.
Swan:
These guys came out of nowhere and started dancing with sticks. I have no idea why, but it was pretty funny:
Rose:
Hiding:
Charles Street Cleaners, which is the site of the mob hangout in The Departed (except it was made up to look like a brasserie):
Make Way For Ducklings!
Growing up, Make Way For Ducklings was one of my favorite books. I don't care how old you are, you should buy a copy today. Basically, it's about this family of ducks that travels around Boston all day. Before I had ever even been to Boston, I felt like I really knew it because I had been there so many times with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and the whole crew.
Ivy growing on a Newbury Street:
Newbury Street is probably my favorite street in Boston. Brent and I started by having lunch at Stephanie's where I have been with my family a couple times.
We then wandered around for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go to the game. We stopped in this one store called Johnny Cupcakes which was really weird and not worth the two and a half minutes we spent there confused and concerned. Is this really what Newbury Street is all about? Underpants in food containers? Tank tops in freezers for display? I guess it was sorta cool, just not my style:
It was definitely clever. Rather than shopping bags, people take their "baked goods" away in Dunkin Donuts munchkins-style boxes with the company logo on them. Maybe if they made cute preppy girl things I would have liked it. Maybe I should be a little more open minded....
Brent at the Life is Good store, wearing a silly hat (backwards, of course):
And finally, The Game:
Fenway:
Uncle Stud, Dad, Woody:
Before continuing, I want to acknowledge that a lot of my pictures are a little blurry. I think it's because we were at a night game and even though there are huge lights, you can't beat sunlight. Without a tripod, it was impossible to keep my hand steady enough for these pictures, especially the ones with a telephoto lens zoomed in all the way. I'm posting them anyway:
That looks like Manny:
Geoff, John, and Rob:
Dad, Woody, and Uncle Stud:
Red Sox Nation Alabama Chapter:
Dad, Woody, and Uncle Stud again:
Geoff, Rob, and John:
Brent and Me:
Isn't Fenway amazing? If you're a Red Sox fan, you owe it to yourself to go to a game at Fenway at least once:
Dad, Woody, and Uncle Stud:
Red Sox Win!!
The ever-important Citgo sign:
That's all! I hope you're all Red Sox fans and just as glad as we all are that the curse is still broken!
Posted by lauren at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
October 28, 2007
Canadian Nurses Gone (slightly) Wild (The Blonde Excuse Challenge Submission 3)
Author: Christine
After our large biology midterm (aka midterm of death) last week, we all decided to go out to celebrate the beginning of the end of the semester.
Predrinking is necessary when you are broke college students. Here are Kristine, Steph, and Emily at Kristine's prior to our limo picking us up. Considering the lei necklaces and Emily's pose in this picture I think that alot of drinking occurred before I got there.
Jaime and Brynne doing the 'tourist' pose. These types of things are hilarious when you have been drinking copious amounts of hard liquor after a week of studying for an extremely hard exam.
Bre looking beauuutiful as usual!
Steph, Kristine, Brynne, Christine, Jaime, and Bre.
Brynne
Emily and Christine
Christine, Jaime, and Brynne with the bartender/owner of some random bar next to the club we were at. I love how the guy behind Brynnes left shoulder appears to be 12 years old and also for some reason reminds me of Doogie Howser, M.D.
Before I explain the next picture, let me start by explaining that the club we were at consisted mainly of 18 to 24 year old college students. For some reason, there was this creepy 70 year old European man who thought it would be a good idea to come to this club and try to dance with 18 to 24 year old college girls.
Bre with said creepy old man.
Emily, Steph, and Kristine.
Emily getting freaky with the DJ.
On the way home in the limo.
My entry probably could have been more detailed, but unfortunately I am studying for my last midterm. I just wanted to submit it so that you didn't feel like you had to blog in your studafed induced stupor....although maybe that blog entry would be really really entertaining?!
Posted by lauren at 01:21 PM | Comments (3)
October 27, 2007
Help Me Out
As I mentioned a couple days ago, I'm sick... really sick. I haven't had a cold this bad in a long time and I can hardly breathe. I'm OD-ing on Sudafed right now (which I highly recommend if you're ever this sick) and trying not to die. I look, sound, and feel like death. While I feel like this, I simply don't have the energy to do a decent blog post, so help me out! Enter The Blonde Excuse Challenge! Jocelyn and Tree are off the hook because they already entered, but what about the rest of you? What's your excuse?! Send me your entries now!!
Posted by lauren at 07:03 PM | Comments (2)
October 26, 2007
Brentertainment
Some of you may already follow Brent's blog yes. considerably but now I urge you to check out his new blog, Karmicomics. Brent is keeping yes. considerably as his personal blog, but he's started Karmicomics to write his opinions about books, movies, TV, comics, video games, writing, etc. Basically, it's not going to have much to do with his personal day-to-day life, but if you want info. on the best and worst in all aspects of entertainment, check it out!
Also, while Karmicomics is a clever enough name, who votes that he re-name it to be Brentertainment?
Last but not least, we all have to cheer Brent on as he participates in NaNo WriMo (National Novel Writing Month). During the month of November, Brent has registered to participate in Nano Wrimo which means he has to write a novel in the 30 days of November. Oh! I just came up with another clever play on words (almost as cool as Brentertainment). Brent has been writing about 30 Days of Night (the movie slash graphic novel) in Karmicomics lately, and maybe he can do an entry about Nano Wrimo called 30 Days of Write! OK, I should stop now before I get carried away.
Check out KARMICOMICS now!
Posted by lauren at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
Big E
Every year, the "Eastern States" have a fair called The Big E. It is one of the most nonsensical events you will ever attend, should you have that pleasure. At first, I thought it was going to be a normal fair, like a carnival fair... then I determined that it was a farm fair, then....? Who knows! You'll see when you look at my pictures. Anyway, if you missed it last year, HERE are my pictures from The Big E 2006.
2007's Big E:
What are we doing here...
Yum! Cheese Curds!
Doesn't that sound absolutely disgusting? I thought so too... until I tried them. They're basically like little lumps of mozzarella sticks, but made with cheddar... so they're "cheddar lumps" which I guess doesn't sound a whole lot better than "cheese curds." Anyway, they're fantastic.
When Brent and I go to events like these, we tend to eat our way through the day. I think some day I'd like to go on a cross country road trip of Eating My Way Across America, but for now I have to settle with Eating My Way Across The Big E. There was food of all sorts everywhere, so how could we resist?
As we walked past the Double J Western Store, I made the mistake of saying quite loudly, "Do people really wear cowboy hats? Like, not just to be silly?" If you look closely at this picture, there are two people leaving the store in cowboy hats who were not too pleased with me, I'm sure:
Also, what is a Western store doing in the Big E (E standing for East as in EASTERN states)???
More food:
Don't worry, we did avoid one or two of the 3,000 food stands at the fair.
Nothing screams New England like The Povertyneck Hillbillies:
Seriously, who organized this event? It takes place in Massachusetts representing all the New England states and so far we have Wisconsin cheese curds, a Western store, and the The Povertyneck Hillbillies from Nashville, Tennessee.
Goats:
Little piggies!
A rabbit (not nearly as cute as Winston and George):
Goats? Sheep? Emus? I don't know! I guess I'm not a farm girl:
Decorated pumpkins:
Chicks hatching:
You can never say I don't teach you anything:
If I ever have a pet bird, it's definitely going to be a chicken named Bertram. Just thought I'd share that.
This is a Story Land display which was really exciting for Brent because this is somewhere he used to go when visiting family in New Hampshire:
LLAMA!
Brent: No, we are NOT waiting here for the llama to yawn so that you can get a picture of his teeth, that is not happening!
Me: You're wrong.
And he was:
I absolutely love llamas. Some day, if I ever own a farm (and by farm I don't mean farm, I mean if I ever have a ridiculous amount of land and a lot of pets) I want to have a llama named Dolly (I'm so clever).
Me talking to the llama:
Chickens:
Turkey:
Duck:
Mom and baby alpacas:
She's so cute, I might have to get one for my Dolly Llama to play with some day.
Goats? Sheep?
While at first glance this may look like the back room of an S&M club, I think these are just saddles... for horses:
How many people have their own personal butt groomer?
That Clydesdale horse is 2280 pounds!
Sydney Traders? What kind of New England themed fair is this?!
Weird:
If you can't read the sign in the back, it says, "Bringing the Style of Italy to New England." I live in New England and spent a big part of my summer in Italy and I see neither here!
I see a blue-haired troll doll, some random porcelain crap, a popcorn bowl, blue potpourri and... oh wait, here we go, it's the Pope!
Well, I guess that explains it... sort of.
There was an entire stand of jerky in this particular building as well. Not regular beef jerky, but jerky from every kind of animal you can imagine a person eating. It was disgusting. Are there really people out there who eat ostrich jerky? Does anyone eat jerky at all? Or even know what it really is?
Fun:
Brent with his Sno-Cone:
Giant slide:
We were completely confused about what this fair was supposed to be, so we figured we might as well round off our Big E Exploration with a trip to the Big E Circus:
The circus was just about as random as the fair itself with acts from all over the world. If you can't tell what people are doing in the picture, we probably couldn't tell from our seats either.
Playing with fire:
One guy came out with a team of trained circus dogs who absolutely stole the show with their tricks and talents. I'm not sure how I feel about using animals in the circus though, to be perfectly honest. I can't imagine that 12 or so dogs want to travel around together, probably in small cages in some truck, so that they can be trained to climb ladders, walk on two legs, and jump through hoops. That aside, they were amazing and, perhaps, my favorite part of the fair. If only I could take them all home with me to retire:
That little dog doing the jump-rope is especially talented. When his trainer put on a Yankees hat and then "dropped it" on the ground, he ran over, grabbed it, took it away with him, and lifted his leg and peed on it, receiving great applause from the New England audience.
This woman was also pretty impressive. Apparently, she holds the world record for spinning the most hula hoops at once:
Wow:
That's some serious balance:
I bet this girl could walk a straight line completely drunk:
She actually spun around 360 degrees using no hands, just her head:
This just looks weird:
Impressed? Maybe if she did it while on fire or something:
There's a person flying with those two ribbons:
So in this picture, the two guys on the far right are about to jump down and send that guy on the wooden plank flying into the air where he'll flip around and land on the horse:
Made it!
Lucky us! Back outside after the carnival, a parade was just beginning! Last year we were there on Grange Day and saw a parade of tractors, but this year we just saw a lot of really random stuff.
I thought they'd be excited to have someone taking their picture:
As school bands, etc. walked past, I didn't look at my camera at all, just snapped totally random pictures of the kids walking past to see what I'd get. Some are kind of funny:
Twins!
Not what the cheerleaders at home wear:
This is VERY SERIOUS!
If there were ever a female version of Dwight K. Schrute from The "Office" I guarantee it would be that girl.
Cream Puff Golf Cart:
An early Christmas from Story Land:
Scary dragon:
Filled with stuffed animals!
I hate Bobcats:
Definitely not Clydesdales:
Get over yourselves:
Old ice cream car:
What a parade!
Old person marching band:
Here they come:
Mounties:
First corn dog:
I would have liked Germany when I was there this summer if it had been a little more like this:
Swings:
Yes, you read that correctly -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride:
All of these were carved with a chainsaw:
I told Brent I would pay him a dollar if he'd trot across the street like a horse but he didn't take me up on it:
This man taught us how to make salad bowls out of tree stumps, an important skill for life here in New England:
Homemade brooms:
You may recognize this guy from last year:
There's a States Walk at the Big E with a building for every state in New England. Here's the Connecticut building:
So random:
A pickle stand? Really?
Elves Gone Wild??? I can only imagine....
The Pork Palace with a grill in the shape of a pig... who could ask for anything more?
I couldn't help but take this picture... I only wish I had gotten a better one. This little girl's mom was holding a funnel cake (fried dough) covered in a pile of powdered sugar and dropped the whole thing on her daughter in the stroller below her. The little girl's face was so completely covered that she looked white as a ghost and her hair was filled with it to the point of looking ashy. It was one of the funniest things ever:
And here are the cheese curds again because you can't have cheese curds only once:
While in line for cheese curds round 2, some man wearing a pumpkin costume and carrying a pumpkin bag came up to me and explained at long length that he wasn't a bad person, he was just trying to do something special for Halloween (it was still September at the time). When I responded politely (which was clearly not what he was looking for) he moved over a few feet and struck up a conversation with the wall. Some woman actually came up to me and told me that she was watching the whole thing and wished she had a camera to get a picture of the face I was making, which must have expressed shock, confusion, and perhaps a hint of jealousy because come on, wouldn't the world be a better place if there was trick-or-treating every day??
Nice overalls:
Goodbye Big E!
See you next year?
Posted by lauren at 02:15 AM | Comments (6)
October 25, 2007
Alberto Aviles Photography
So I've been meaning to do this for a while but keep forgetting. My friend Alberto (who has made frequent appearances on The Blonde Excuse) has his own website with his amazing photography that you should all check out. It actually inspired me to start not another blog, but maybe a separate Flickr site with my "photography." I put that in quotes, because 90% of the pictures on this blog are not real photography, just memories... which I guess is in a way its own style of photography, but different. Anyway, please check out his website, Ace Duo, which has some really gorgeous pictures.
Posted by lauren at 01:32 PM | Comments (2)
Sick
So I was about to sit down at my computer and write my Big E Fair blog entry when my lack of motivation got the better of me. I'm catching a cold and my throat is KILLING ME not to mention the fact that I think I may have cracked one of my teeth (it kills EVERY TIME I touch it or drink anything hot/cold). Now here's my legal question for all you lawyerly types out there (I'm talking to you Legal Lane and David B. Fruit Esq.!) The way I hurt my tooth was that I was eating a pre-packaged single serving bowl of Special K and bit down on a pebble that had somehow made its way into my cereal. It hurt a lot at the time, but that was nothing compared to how badly it hurts every time I eat/drink now. I'm going to try to find a dentist nearby at school I guess and have it checked out. My legal question is, does Special K owe me dentistry bills? Not to mention the personal damages my possible oral disfigurement might incur. I guess that's a little far-fetched but I think it's worth a try!
Anyway, I'm sick and not in the mood to post, so someone send me your entry for The Blonde Excuse Challenge ASAP so you all have something to read!
To keep yourselves entertained until then, check out Ask Jocelyn's Mom Volume 2 on Rock Star Diary to see what Jocelyn's and my mom has to say about your personal questions. Don't forget to submit something for her to answer!
Posted by lauren at 01:55 AM | Comments (2)
October 23, 2007
Fall Concert - Carbon Leaf
So back in September, my school had its annual Fall Concert. In the past we've had Phantom Planet, Ok Go, and Dropkick Murphys. This year, we had Matt Nathanson (whose performance I, unfortunately, missed) and Carbon Leaf. Before going out, Brent and I obviously had our mandatory idiotic getting ready pictures. We take these while drinking and before mingling with any other people so that we can be completely ridiculous.
Crazy Hair:
Slightly more tame? No not really:
I don't know what this face is:
And here's where it got bad...
I think this is what zombies would probably look like if they kissed:
Crazy hair again:
Trying to wrangle Winston out from under Brent's bed:
Carbon Leaf:
Weird:
Brent and Me:
I had a video for you too, but I can't get it to upload properly so I guess I'll save it for some other time.
After watching a little bit of the concert, Brent and I went to see some friends in High Rise (the dorm next to ours) and hang out for a while.
Mo, Julie, and Kara:
Michelle and Mo:
Julie and Kara:
Blondes have way more fun (Me, Julie, and Kara):
This lamp is such a perfect representation of Trinity, a bantam (our mascot) wearing a pearl necklace:
Best TV stand:
Brent:
Brent and Garner outside of Psi U:
Brent and Me:
Me walking towards the door of our dorm:
So before I post this next picture I have to give a little bit of a back-story. So one day, Brent and I were at the library and I had just finished a bottle of Snapple, looked around for a recycling bin, didn't see one, and dropped it in the trash. Immediately, this really annoying girl was like, "Um, excuse me, that's recyclable." I said "Oh, ok there wasn't a recycling bin." and she then showed me one around a corner that was so overfilled that the contents were spilling into the hallway (probably from this girl yelling at everyone who tried to throw away recyclables). Anyway, she made me take my Snapple out of the trash and put it in a pile of recyclable things on the floor. If you ask me, that's littering! Blonde girls don't pick things out of the trash and I don't let these things go easily, so every now and then (especially when Recycling Girl is around) I go out of my way to throw out recyclables. So here I am NOT recycling:
Before any environmentalists get upset with me, I do recycle, but I do not take crap from Freshmen trying to save the world.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here's my boyfriend's butt as he walks up the stairs:
George:
Winston and George:
And now for some blonde engineering skills. The bunnies have to be kept cool and we've had some very hot nights here in Hartford, so I decided to make them an air conditioner in Brent's room where they live. Basically, I cut a paper towel into strips and got them all wet with cold water then clipped them to the back of Brent's fan so that the air being sucked in the back would evaporate the water and cool down the air coming out. Does that make any sense at all?
It must make some sense because it actually kind of worked!
Anyway, my next entry will be on The Big E Fair so get ready for some farm animals and tractors! If you're lucky, someone else will enter The Blonde Excuse Challenge and you'll have something a little more entertaining coming up soon!
Posted by lauren at 04:45 PM | Comments (3)
October 22, 2007
The Blonde Excuse Challenge Submission 2
Author: Tree
I didn’t submit my pictures on Saturday because they are so pathetic! Our original plan was to go hiking near home – it’s great exercise (as you know) and the leaves are changing color so it’s really beautiful around here.
As it turned out the weather wasn’t very cooperative – it is October in the Pacific Northwest after all. So we decided to walk along the beach. Then it started to rain and we decided walking in the cold rain sucked so we went home. Then it rained all day Sunday.
Anyway, I did take my camera along hoping to have something fun to share. There wasn’t anything fun on the beach, but I did take these few pictures for you.
We Pacific coasters live in constant fear of Tsunamis (not really):
The beach:
Some of the San Juan Islands:
A rock message I made for you – it says ‘Hi Lauren’
Same as above:
Same as above but with water in background. Exciting, I know
Home from the beach walk. Here’s my husband watching his Washington Huskies lose to Oregon.
‘Tree’
Posted by lauren at 09:17 PM | Comments (10)
Wife Beaters
Before I start this, I have to say that you've all been VERY BAD! I asked for submissions to The Blonde Excuse Challenge this past weekend and got none! We can't vote when there's only one submission, so I'm going to wait until I get a few more and then post a page of links to all of them with a poll for voting. SEND IN YOUR ENTRIES!!!!
Moving on, here are a couple random pictures.
I don't know why I took this:
I love fall and, for some reason, this picture:
So Brent and I don't have classes on Wednesdays, and sometimes when we're really bored and have nothing to do, we have mini parties of our own on Tuesday nights that usually involve a bottle of wine and some TV on DVD. This particular Tuesday, we had a Wife Beater themed party. Who has the best one?
I'm still not sure why those shirts are called wife beaters, but whatever.
Anyway, this was a completely useless post, however I do like my fall picture and also my Rehab shirt so I decided it was worth posting.
Soon, I'll be posting about my trip this past weekend to Hamilton College to visit my friend Ali and her boyfriend Greg for their joint 21st birthday party. It won't all be party dresses and drunk kids, though... 12 hours of our trip was spent lost in the Adirondack Mountains because we took the scenic route up to Canada and back. But that's a story for another day....
Posted by lauren at 12:22 AM | Comments (1)
October 20, 2007
Happy Birthday Ali and Greg!
So I'm going to be away with my friends this weekend at Hamilton College visiting Ali and Greg who are celebrating their 21st birthdays together! Ali and Greg have been dating since the same month that Brent and I started dating (September of Freshman year of college) and happen to be turning 21 around the same time so they've rented out a bar for all of their friends to come celebrate.
Happy Birthday!
Anyway, while I'm gone, please go out, take pictures, and send me blog submissions! I'm going to be really sad if I don't get more than one submission and Jocelyn proved how easy it is, she got hers in within 24 hours!
I'll be checking my inbox when I get home and I hope it's not empty!
Posted by lauren at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
The Blonde Excuse Challenge Submission 1
Author: Jocelyn
So last night, while you kids were probably studying at school, Really Gay
Dave & I went to go see Underground Railroad to Candyland at Death by
Audio in Williamsburg. URTC is made up of of Todd & Jimmy from Toys That
Kill (my favorite band in the whole world) and a couple of guys named Jack.
Anyway, it was my first time seeing URTC and they were such an amazing good
time. I don't what it is about those guys, but they always make me so
happy! I am glowing!
Here are the pics. Just click on the photo to scroll through:
Even though I am Lauren's sister--I still think it's fair that I win
because I love presents!!! So vote for ME!!!
Ciao for now,
Jocelyn
Posted by lauren at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)
Challenge Rules
So I'm starting to get submissions for The Blonde Excuse Challenge! I'm going to post them all as they come in and then at some undetermined "end date" we'll all vote on who should win. Send yours in now!
Posted by lauren at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2007
Ask Mom
So on my sister Jocelyn's blog, there's a new Ask Jocelyn's Mom column where our mom answers embarrassing questions about life. Today's topics included drugs and threesomes. It's definitely worth seeing...
I just can't wait until the neighbors find this and we create a neighborhood scandal.
Posted by lauren at 12:39 AM | Comments (3)
October 18, 2007
The Blonde Excuse Challenge
So I got this idea from Jocelyn at Rock Star Diary where she often has blog challenges and I thought I would have one of my own! Today, I was sitting in class "taking notes" on my laptop with absolutely nothing to do. I had completed something like 8 entries in a 24 hour period (and I'm still behind!) and had finished catching up on celebrity gossip and the various other blogs I read (see the sidebar if you're curious) and had nothing to do! Here's what the problem is, not enough of you blog! I know it's hard to get started on something new, especially when people like me complain about how long posting can take... but I promise that once you get a taste of it you'll see how much fun it is!
So here's the challenge (and sorry guys, this is for GIRLS ONLY -- mostly because it's more fun to buy prizes for girls): You have to go out, bring your camera, and do something. How hard is that? I don't care what you do, it can be anything from a crazy night out on the town to your favorite neighborhood walk with your dog, it really doesn't matter, just take pictures and write me a story! I'm hoping to get a lot of submissions so that I have something to choose from, so help me out and send something in! Even if you already have your own blog, do a special Blonde Excuse entry for me so that I can send someone a prize!
Don't convince yourself you don't have time, you do. All you have to do is take a few pictures, tell me what you did, and send it to me. You don't even have to put it together yourself, just attach your pictures, write your story, and tell me where to insert each picture. It's that easy! OK, so grab your camera and go!
When you're done, don't forget to SEND IT HERE
Just so you don't feel like you're wasting your time, I'll probably post ALL submissions and just choose the best one to get the prize.
Posted by lauren at 08:44 PM | Comments (2)
Black & White
So every once in a while I like to put my camera on its black and white setting and take a bunch of random pictures like that. I happen to really like "street photography" and chose to spend a couple afternoons on some variation of that. For those of you who don't know, street photography is when you take completely candid pictures of people, usually totally random people on the street or some other public place, just doing what they do. I happened to be at Starbucks a few afternoons in a row doing a lot of reading and caffeining with Brent and thought it would be fun to take secret pictures of Starbucks customers. Does this make me totally creepy? Probably. A lot of the following pictures don't fit as "street photography" at all, but I'm still including them.
Starbucks-goers:
The guy outside is a Starbucks regular:
Conclusion? Starbucks-goers are a pretty boring bunch, except for a couple weirdos like these guys:
Cryptic Notebook Guy as seen in Coffee Run:
Driving home....
Brent's satellite radio I got him for his birthday:
Brent:
Self-portrait:
I liked the sun in these next two attempts:
On one of the streets in Hartford right by our school, we saw something really interesting....
Let me zoom in for you... that's a tag sale being run out of the trunk of someone's van:
I love Hartford, Connecticut's rising star.
Posted by lauren at 01:51 PM | Comments (2)
Coffee Run
This is just a quick update of a couple random pictures that don't really fit into any particular category that I feel the need to post before I can move on.
First, here's a picture of one of the crazy cars Brent and I saw in West Hartford a few months ago that made an appearance again in late September:
Brent and I spend a lot of time at Starbucks where we've gotten to know the other "regulars." One of the regulars we have not gotten to know, however is this guy:
No, not Brent, the guy behind him who I was secretly trying to take a picture of. He's in Starbucks all the time with a little tiny spiral notebook writing all sorts of random symbols that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Brent and I, being terrible people, started writing some random symbols of our own on our napkins and leaving them behind to see if he'd think we were trying to talk to him in code. I wonder what we said?
Starbucks often supports local artists by hanging their artwork inside. To me, this looks like an Oompa-Loompa businessman in a gas mask:
Church steeple on the way home:
And lastly, here's Brent through my dorm room peep hole:
I didn't let him in, he looked dangerous.
Posted by lauren at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
Waxing and Whining
First of all, I'm sure you've all noticed I've done WAY too many posts tonight. That's because I'm slowly trying to get caught up with my blog and if I break it down into little projects of short entries, I'm much better able to motivate myself to actually do them, than if I try to do some all-encompassing update. Anyway, I guess I have more time to do this than I thought, because I've gotten through quite a bit. For those of you looking at the timestamp on this entry (started after 3am) yes, I did say "I have more time to do this" just now. I think I've become completely nocturnal. I've had so many all-nighters in a row for school that I actually can't fall asleep before 4am now. My 8:30am class is going to be really fun tomorrow, I can't wait.
Anyway, so here's the story of how Brent and I waxed and whined our way through a Sunday afternoon.
Brent and I are in the same Senior Seminar at Trinity which is basically a graduate-level class that we can take instead of writing a thesis. This class has a LOT of reading in some really tough books about globalization and the political economy (what am I doing with my life...) so we thought it would help us to get a little change of scenery to kick us into "work mode." For those of you who don't know this, "work mode" is a term procrastinators use to justify their uselessness. If I'm not in "work mode" I can't do my work, and getting into "work mode" sometimes requires multiple days' worth of wasted hours.
Anyway, Brent and I had already had exactly six and a half days' worth of wasted hours to do this reading, so it all came down to the final 6 hours until our reading had to be done and work e-mailed to our professor. To get into "work mode" we decided to go to Brent's house in Avon, CT (only 25mins away from school) so that we could "spread out." I put "spread out" in quotes because it's another procrastination tactic. If I don't feel properly "spread" I can't get into "work mode."
Brent's parents were away for the weekend, so this would give us an entire house to "spread out" in, therefore putting us into "work mode." As it turns out, we can't get into "work mode" without "getting it out of my system" time. We needed to waste at least an hour on TV to get that not-doing-work feeling out of our systems. Apparently six and a half days of wasted time was not quite enough to cleanse ourselves of everything work-related. We decided to watch an episode of "Supernatural" (one of our many TV on DVD obsessions) to "get it out of our system" in our newly "spread out" location:
Next, we had to "set up." Setting up is another important delaying tactic because it can waste anywhere from five minutes to five hours, depending on the kind of delaying one needs. Brent and I wasted at least an hour and a half "setting up" our candle. Brent bought a candle and shoved it in the top of a beer bottle and gave it to me as a present. I can't think of anything more romantic than a candle shoved in a beer bottle candlestick. Here are 3 of the 18 or so pictures I took of it (obviously to waste time):
Next, we had an unforeseen "distraction." Distractions are also important to procrastination. This particular distraction was the fact that I quickly put my finger through the flame, a trick I learned as a little kid (as did at least 90% of America) but something Brent had never seen before in his life. He shouted at me, "What are you doing???!!!!! Why did you do that!!! Are you okay???" Obviously I had to make him try it. He stared down the candle for about 20 minutes in utter disbelief:
He would approach the candle, get closer, closer... then whip his finger away. He was actually convinced that I must have some sort of flame-retardant skin and that he would be horribly burned if he tried it:
Finally he did it, didn't blow up in flames and die, and we could move on.
Here, of course, was another unforeseen "distraction":
To a couple of bored college students trying not to get too deeply into "work mode," this was probably the most exciting thing that could have possibly happened. Our candle was dripping wax over the glass bottle. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities for our beer bottle candlestick. What if we covered it completely? What if we made a business out of this? What if we quit school and spent the rest of our lives selling wax-covered beer bottle candlesticks? You think I'm just saying all of this to be funny, or at the very least exaggerating, but I'm not. We actually spent a ridiculous amount of time discussing how to market our wax-covered beer bottle candlesticks and all sorts of different ideas for melting patterns. I believe our most intricate candle idea was to melt wax in the shape of a willow tree on top of the beer bottle using green and brown candles and wire for branch and limb support.
We immediately ran out to CVS where we bought two boxes of candles in various colors. On the way back, we picked up sandwiches at Subway where we discovered a little red barn-type building next door for sale. We wrote down the phone number to call because we decided this would be our wax-covered beer bottle candlestick shop.
When we got back to Brent's house, we were so excited to try out the new colors on our candle that we just started lighting things on fire and holding them up to the candle to make it melt faster:
The sun set, day turned to night, and we actually made quite a bit of progress... on our candle.
I must say, this is quite an accomplishment:
Finally, once we had properly "spread out," "gotten it out of our system," "set up," and overcome all "distractions," we were able to get into "work mode" and finish our work just in the nick of time. And that, dear readers, is the formula to having a successful work-ethic.
Posted by lauren at 03:08 AM | Comments (1)
Moooooooo!
West Hartford, the much nicer version of Hartford, is hosting Cow Parade, a charity event that involves lots of painted cows that are then auctioned off for different organizations. Anyway, Brent and I walked around and took pictures of almost all of them.
Here's the cow parade!
Brent with the farmer cow:
A couple of my favorites are the ballerina and the Herend cow. What are yours?
Posted by lauren at 01:54 AM | Comments (2)
Personal DNA
So I found this Personal DNA Test on Legal Lane and took it just now. Here are my results!
Just hover the mouse over each different colored box and see what it says. I think it's accurate on most things. Try it out and share your results too!
Posted by lauren at 01:06 AM | Comments (3)
October 17, 2007
Furry Friends
So I discovered that in one single day, I took pictures of all four of my pets and thought I should do an entry devoted to them.
First, here are George and Winston, Brent's and my rabbits:
George:
Winston snuggling with George (they're HUGE snuggle-bunnies):
Winston and George's Story:
Brent and I found a listing on Craigslist for baby bunnies that were up for adoption at a farm in East Granby, CT. We couldn't resist and drove right over the next morning and picked out our sweet little bunnies. Winston and George were living in a rabbit hutch outside in the middle of winter and we were very concerned that they might be getting cold so we felt it was our duty to take them in. Well, mostly we just wanted them because they were so furry and cute. They were so small when we first got them and now they've gotten so huge! If you want to see pictures from their first day home, check out Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere!
Next, here's Poppy with Rocky from when Brent and I were visiting Greenwich for Grandma and Poppy's joint birthday brunch:
Rocky is so playful, here he is with all of his toys out of his toy basket:
Playing with the hot dog I bought him:
Brent and Rocky:
Rocky's Story:
We just got Rocky this past summer through an adoption agency in Tennessee. Rocky is a chiweenie (Chihuahua and Dachshund mix) and came from an abusive home. He was then taken to an animal shelter where he spent a long time very unhappy because he had no family. The shelter was about to put him down when a nice woman found him and thought he had such personality and spunk that she couldn't possibly leave him to be put to sleep. She took him in as his "foster mom" along with a bunch of other dogs she fosters until she can adopt them out to people. I found Rocky's ad online and responded right away that we would take him. He was sent to us on a truck from Tennessee and fit right in with us immediately. Every day we see more and more of his personality. I could go on and on with cute Rocky stories, but I'll save that for another day.
And last but definitely not least, my little Frisky:
Frisky's Story:
I got Frisky when I was seven years old and she was only seven weeks old. She was so tiny that I used to have to cradle her in my arms and feed her with an eyedropper. Frisky has been one of my very best friends for a long time now and we've been through a lot together. Recently, Frisky was diagnosed with leukemia that can't be treated and has a large tumor behind her liver. The vet told us that she should have been dead already and that she had two weeks at most to live. Well, he was wrong! We are taking Frisky to a different vet now who has given her much better treatment. It's now six months after Frisky's "two week" prognosis and she's doing very well. Everyone at her vet calls her a miracle because she's still alive, well, and very happy. She still has her cancer and her tumor, but she's not letting it get the best of her. She's not in any pain and she still eats and plays just like she used to.
Anyway, after the visit home, Brent and I went back to school via the Merritt Parkway which is a really beautiful highway:
I loved this cloud:
Well, I guess that's all. Goodnight (again)!
Posted by lauren at 08:28 PM | Comments (2)
The Seven Day Wonder
So I promised I was going to do this entry to keep up to date with Jocelyn's blog, but I completely forgot! Anyway, my dad got hip replacement surgery a week ago and now has a fully functioning titanium hip rather than human bone which is so out of season.
Here's Dad at the Greenwich Hospital a week ago when he got his surgery:
He was happy because he was on drugs:
Here he is holding his Magic Morphine Remote (Dad loves holding the remote and in the hospital he has his TV and his drug remote, what more could a man want?):
This is to test his lungs (or something, I don't know):
He had such a great setup, a plasma screen TV with 24/7 ESPN and no one to bother him!
Pretending to take a nap when Mom started talking:
Isn't this a pretty hospital?
Anyway, he's out of the hospital now and at Nathaniel Witherell, a rehab center slash nursing home that he happens to be on the board of. Jocelyn posted some pictures of that HERE. He's been doing really well in rehab and has recuperated faster than anyone could have expected! My mom says they call him the "Seven Day Wonder" there, and that he's not letting her forget it! He even has a photo shoot set up for tomorrow to be featured in Nathaniel Witherell's new advertising campaign.
Anyway, I'll post more fun pictures soon... not to imply that Dad in a hospital bed isn't fun.
Goodnight everyone!
Posted by lauren at 07:50 PM | Comments (1)
Post-Apocalyptic "The Hills" Episode
I don't know why I laugh at stupid, stupid things like this. If you watch "The Hills" religiously like I do, then you might enjoy this. Otherwise, don't waste your time:
Posted by lauren at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2007
Take A Hike
So in the beginning of September, Brent and I were becoming so athletic! We went for 4 mile jogs three times a week and went hiking whenever we had spare time. I don't know what happened to us, but don't worry, we got over it and we're back to our junk food and TV on DVD marathons like usual. Anyway, one day Brent told me to put on my sneakers and help him pack his lunch pail (the super-cool skull and crossbones one I got him a couple years ago) because we were going for a surprise picnic at an undisclosed location. I obviously took my camera along which was a good thing since we ended up hiking to Heublein Tower which is on top of Talcott Mountain.
When we first arrived, we saw a snake's tail sticking out of the ground. I poked at it to see what it would do and managed not to get bitten:
Then we found a toad which was nowhere near as friendly as the hop-toads I used to catch in my grandma's backyard:
Hiking up Talcott Mountain:
Bench:
A star!
What a view:
This was the spot Brent had picked for our picnic, so we set up right on the edge of a huge cliff which was terrifying, but definitely the coolest place I've ever had lunch:
It was so cool looking out at the hills and valleys surrounding us at all the different little towns:
Then the hawks arrived and scared us away:
It was really strange watching some of them fly below us. I wish I had gotten a picture of the first one that came; he swooped up from below our cliff and came really close to us.
As we packed up what was left in our lunch pail, I saw this enormous centipede:
Maybe I just grew up too close to New York City, but that was the biggest centipede I have ever seen.
Another cliff:
Don't jump!
There were a lot of really cool trees growing directly out of the cliff:
Hold on!
I think he did this just to torture me. Next time we go hiking, I'm putting Brent on a leash:
Gross-looking swamp off in the distance:
That's why I like camera zooms and telephoto lenses. From a high enough height, that could have looked like a nice tennis court.
Don't take this path too far, it leads right over the edge!
Sometimes I take long series of pictures of Brent doing random stuff, I don't know why. This is Brent sitting and then standing on a cliff:
Enough of that.
Here's the path we were following:
I thought it looked creepy in black and white:
Actually no, not really. I'll leave it though.
As we were walking, we found a little tiny path marked only by small stones on either side of it. It zig zagged up a hill toward what looked like a wooden shack of some sort. This seemed like a good start for a horror movie, but that didn't stop us:
Things we passed on the way:
At the top of the hill:
It turned out we had just accidentally made our way up to Heublein Tower:
Obviously we went in:
And for anyone who has too much time on their hands and/or the desire to learn something:
This is actually pretty cool, it's the old menu for the restaurant that they used to have at The Heublein Hotel (click the picture then click "all sizes" to see a larger version):
Check out the prices, are those in cents?
As we climbed up the tower, there were all sorts of things to see.
The sleeping porch:
A bedroom:
And finally the observation deck:
From the observation deck you can see hundreds of miles in each direction. From one single room, Brent and I were able to see Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts.
I zoomed in on Hartford off in the distance:
We actually found our school's chapel too!
That's the reservoir where we would go for our 4 mile jogs:
I love this:
After leaving the observation deck, we checked out the last couple of rooms:
The Eisenhower Chair:
This is the chair Eisenhower was sitting in when he was asked to run for president of the United States:
What a view:
Leaving the tower:
What is it with boys and climbing big rocks?
I thought these had creepy black and white picture potential too, but maybe not:
Another giant centipede:
After finishing our hike, Brent and I stopped at The Pickin' Patch, a little roadside farm stand:
We bought some cider, baked goods, freshly picked lettuce for the bunnies, and a couple gourds to decorate our rooms with:
Wow, were we the old-time, all-American kids that day or what? Hiking, a picnic, learning a little American history, stopping at a farm stand to get cider....
Well, I should leave it off there, but one last thing. I thought this bumper sticker was really funny. I want to get one to put on my SUV:
Posted by lauren at 11:19 PM | Comments (6)
October 13, 2007
Three Year Anniversary
So I guess I'm exactly one month behind in posting. Today, Brent and I have been together for exactly three years and one month, which means that a month ago was our three year anniversary. For our anniversary, Brent and I went to Max's Oyster Bar where I remember us eating way more food than necessary. There is a whole group of Max's restaurants in the area, and if you're ever around, I highly recommend seeking one out. I've been to Max's Downtown, Max a Mia, and Max's Oyster Bar and no matter what you order, it will always be delicious.
Before going out, Brent and I got all gussied up for the occasion:
This was a particularly un-photogenic day for me by the way....
I'm so happy to have found someone I love and care about so much. Brent drives me absolutely insane (which I'm sure I do to him, too) but at the end of the day he's all I want =)
Happy three years and one month Brent!
Posted by lauren at 07:13 PM | Comments (5)
My Big Winnings
So this entry is just a quick update of what's been going on since I'm really far behind in posting recent stuff. I am going to be doing another post probably today, by the way, so don't worry there will be lots of lame pictures to keep you mildly entertained soon.
Last weekend my school had something called Trinity Days. Trinity Days officially means that we get Monday and Tuesday off of school to "catch up on studying." What it really means is that everyone goes home and sleeps. Brent and I were extra lucky because neither of us have classes on Fridays or Wednesdays so we had no school from last Thursday afternoon until this past Thursday morning. We went down to Greenwich for a few nights, but spent the days in New York City, Princeton, NJ (where Brent used to live) and a little bit of time back at school doing some work. On Tuesday night we went back to Greenwich to visit my dad in the hospital because he just got hip replacement surgery. That will probably be my first post since Jocelyn beat me to it already and I want to keep current with our "crossover entries."
Last night, a bunch of high school friends and I met up at Mohegan Sun to hang out. Isn't it great that a huge casino is central to a bunch of our colleges? I'm not going to get too in detail about that because I'll do a post with pictures when I'm caught up, but Cathy and I got asked out by two Navy SEALs. If you ask me, anyone can shave their head, that doesn't make you a Navy SEAL, but who knows.
Other than that, we went to a bar (dont worry Mom, I didn't drink and drive) and gambled a little. I won $42 on Wheel of Fortune, the awesome slot game Jocelyn taught me about in Vegas.
Today, all that's new is that Brent and I both got interviews for jobs in Boston coming up this November. I'm really excited and hope it goes well....
Tonight is my school's big 80s party which is definitely one of the biggest parties of the year. I think I might be catching a cold, though, which is no fun at all. I'm probably going to spend the whole night sniffling, so maybe people will think I have a coke habit. That was popular in the 80s, right?
That's all for now, I'll post very very soon though!
Posted by lauren at 12:44 PM | Comments (2)
October 09, 2007
The London Eye
I'm finally getting around to my London entry... again. Anyway, I hope you're caught up and if not, check out my London entries written over the summer. Before I start, I want to say two things. First of all, my camera has a setting that lets you take pictures at an extremely high speed in low light, but it sacrifices a lot of picture quality, so that's why a lot of these pictures are really...bad. Also, I realize that I didn't quite put my all into this entry, but considering that this is the second time through posting 300ish pictures, I think it should be excusable. Anyway, here it is.
We left off with Big Ben as Brent and I were crossing the bridge over to The London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel type thing with little observation pods rather than seats.
On the walk over, we passed the world's grumpiest bagpiper. He wasn't playing anything, just blowing... and then as everyone walked past, he'd yell at them for not giving him money:
The South Bank Lion:
Every girl who is dating a total dork feels my pain in seeing this:
I'll come back to that later...
Trampoline at County Hall:
Also at County Hall, there was a Dalà exhibition:
He's so excited... unfortunately, the exhibition was closed already that day, so we had to go back later on.
London Eye:
Brent and Me:
As someone afraid of heights, the fact that we could literally walk over and open a door from the top of the London Eye....
I can't remember the name of this building and it's driving me crazy, does anyone know?
I love the sun rays on the left of this picture:
The Thames:
Train station:
County Hall:
Storm brewing:
Reflection:
I have a whole series of Europe Through Brent's Aviators that I'll put together at some point:
We were on the observation pod with a group of people who were celebrating some woman's birthday in London. They were all wearing t-shirts with pictures of her in her bra on the front, and bending over on the back. It was awful....
I took a picture of the group shot taken while we were on the London Eye. No one was paying any attention... probably because we weren't on Splash Mountain, so why is our picture being taken?
"The Mall." Don't be mistaken, this is not a real mall, there are no stores!
I would call this "How Brent Got Run Over in London" but you all know that's not true:
For the rest of the walk back to the hotel, I don't have any pictures because there was a terrible storm. As the torrential downpour began, all the terrified American tourists ran around frantically, getting absolutely soaked while the Londoners all opened their matching Burberry umbrellas at the same time and strolled down the flooding streets like nothing was happening. They also sang and said "Cheers!" to each other as they passed. No, not really, but London is amazing and I can imagine it any way I want.
Anyway, then we went back to the hotel where we watched the storm from our room:
Pretty lit up building:
We were drenched and frozen from all the rain, so after getting a few pictures of the storm, we put on the hotel bathrobes and warmed up with some TV and room service burgers for dinner.
Brent:
Both of us:
The next morning, we got up early and went to Harrods. This is a picture of the line of people waiting outside just for Harrods to open!
Harrods has a food court inside with the most amazing things you'll ever see. I feel wrong calling it a "food court" because that elicits images of plastic tables covered in spilled salt and ketchup, McDonalds, and China Max. Harrods' food court is so much more, there was a breakfast bar, a sushi bar, an entire room of chocolate, and way more that I didn't have time to see (it's HUGE!). However, Brent and I did have time to stop for croissants with jelly and hot tea for breakfast:
One little section of the food court:
Isn't London beautiful?
Harrods:
Harvey Nichols:
After losing Brent for what seemed like hours in Harrods with no means of getting in touch with each other, we headed off in the direction of the Tower of London, passing lots of interesting things on our way.
Our hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower:
Some building, I've already forgotten what it is:
Everywhere you walk in London, there are cute little pubs:
McDonalds and Starbucks are sort of like cute little pubs... right?
Tower of London:
I thought this was funny:
The walls:
Legend has it that the kingdom of England will fall the day the ravens leave the Tower of London. Ravens are terrifying by the way. They're huge, they scream, and they don't really do much flying or walking, they skip and hop everywhere:
I love this bird's face:
Brent donating to... something:
So confuddled:
We also saw the crown jewels while we were there, but the guards were really psycho about people not using cameras, and there was no language barrier, so I couldn't play dumb. I guess I'll have to try that one on my next trip to London.
And finally, the Star Wars Exhibition:
Are you excited yet? This stuff is so amazing. Thanks Brent.
Brothers?
And then we went to Jedi school.... Yes, Jedi school. Also, we took the Jedi pledge, so if anyone needs Jedi services, Brent and I are certified. I feel so cool.
The guy on the right was there with his music group and he was definitely the most serious about his Jedi training:
As you can see, Darth Vader showed up. Don't worry, though, we all used the force on him and he retreated to the Death Star:
After Jedi training, Brent and I got cleaned up for dinner. Isn't he cute?
Brent and I went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant called... something. I think it was Patara, but I'm not sure anymore. This is why I should have kept up better with posting.
It was really good food and I definitely recommend it if you're in London. Brent's only problem was that he accidentally ate two chili peppers in one bite and nearly died. He was freaking out, drinking all of the water on the table, and I had no idea what to do. Oh well, he survived.
Brent at dinner:
Gross picture of me:
Yummy Thai food:
Dessert:
Fireworks at night:
Tennis balls in a Wimbledon bouquet:
The buildings in London are beautiful:
Burberry:
Harvey Nichols:
And that's it! I'm finally done with London! I guess next up will be Berlin which was definitely not my favorite stop in Europe. Anyway, that won't be for a while, I have a lot of catching up to do. If ever given the opportunity, absolutely go to London, it's so beautiful. Imagine if you moved all of Connecticut into New York City, and that's London.
Check back for school pictures soon!
Posted by lauren at 09:48 PM | Comments (6)
October 03, 2007
Driving Brent Insane
It's every girlfriend's job to drive her boyfriend crazy, right? But what about literally crazy, like... actually trying to convince a person he is losing his mind? Brent is so lucky.
First of all, Brent sleep walks and talks like no one I've ever known. I absolutely love nights when Brent falls asleep watching TV or something and I just get to sit back and observe because he's always saying or doing something ridiculous. That being said, here is the timeline of my little experiment in driving Brent insane for personal entertainment.
DAY 1:
Brent shows up in my room in the middle of the night while I'm finishing up an essay. He is wearing only his underpants and is holding three apples and eating one. I ask him what he's doing, and he tells me that "The Company" has turned his stuffed dog into a Chinese businessman and that they are all taking over his brain and turning it into some sort of technical sand that makes him lose all free will.
"What?" I respond.
Brent continues to tell me that if he eats enough apples, he'll be able to get his brain back.
*Brent eats all 4 apples and I tell him to go back to bed*
DAY 2:
Brent is very upset about his dream, it really got to him and he wonders how it was possible for him to be "dreaming" all this while walking around with his eyes open. He suggests that maybe he just briefly went insane.
Obviously, I jump on this golden opportunity.
Later that night, Brent kills a spider on his wall and wonders what would happen if a spider laid eggs inside his ear during his sleep. I respond with, "I don't really know... oh wow, that's weird. Actually, I think I read about this somewhere, it can have really terrible effects on your brain and sometimes causes people to lose their grip on reality altogether. Sort of like what happened to you last night..."
Brent didn't entirely fall for it, but it still got him thinking.
DAY 3:
Brent and I are driving in the car to Whole Foods and a Billy Joel song comes on the radio. I am softly singing along but not actually singing and Brent says, "Do you know this song?"
"No, never heard it"
"Then how were you singing it?"
"I wasn't, I've never heard it before..."
"I just heard you singing it!"
"No Brent, I was sitting here with my eyes closed resting."
"You were singing the song..."
*I continue to sing along but stop every time Brent looks over*
On the drive home, I start banging on the side of the car with my knuckles hidden on the side of my seat. Brent asks me what I'm doing and I tell him nothing. He asks if I hear that and I say no, I don't know what he's talking about. I continue doing it and then a couple minutes later stop and say, "What's that noise?"
"The tapping?"
"Yeah"
"I was just telling you about that but it's stopped now"
"No, it's getting louder Brent."
This continues until we get back to school.
That night, Brent and I were watching TV in my room and Brent was lying down with his head in my lap. I carefully plucked about four hairs from his head at five minute intervals. Every time Brent would say "Stop flicking me!" and then I would say "What are you talking about?" and flick him on the head so that he'd see that wasn't what he was feeling. Finally, I said "Brent, I swear I'm not flicking you! Are you feeling something unusual like... in your brain?"
Basically, the evening concluded with Brent thinking that he was feeling strange pangs directly on his brain. I suggested it might be due to his temporary insanity from the other night and wondered if the situation might be getting worse.
After letting this sink in, at the very end of the night I said in passing, "Thanks for letting me drive your car by the way, that was fun."
"When did you drive my car?"
"To Whole Foods and back."
"No, I was driving."
"Are you serious? Do you really think you drove?"
"I know I drove!"
"Brent, are you kidding? I drove there and back, remember? You handed me your key, told me to start up the car, and to be funny I just jumped in the driver's seat and drove, you must remember...."
"NO! I drove my car! You didn't drive!! I remember!!!"
Brent was getting very agitated so I assured him that everyone has little memory lapses and that it wasn't anything to worry about as long as there weren't other weird things going on. I then suggested that perhaps he was just remembering being in the car and remembering driving earlier in the day and was combining his memories to think that he had driven to Whole Foods and back.
DAY 4:
I woke up early, stole Brent's keys, and ran out to his car to adjust the driver's seat to where I would keep it rather than where Brent would (this is a major adjustment, I'm 8 inches shorter than Brent is).
In class that day, Brent keeps assuring me that he drove and that I'm wrong. I tell him that maybe I'm the one going crazy and I'm sorry for misremembering.
After class, we go to Brent's car to drive to get coffee and Brent discovers that his seat isn't in the right place.
"See?! I told you I drove!" I say.
"No! NO! This is not happening, you did not drive!!"
We spend the entire car ride with Brent getting increasingly upset, wondering how his car seat could have moved itself overnight. He finally concludes that I must have driven and he simply forgot. He asks me what I think could be wrong with him to which I respond, "West Nile disease for sure. Or rabies."
I choose West Nile.
I know very little about West Nile, but I also know that Brent knows very little about West Nile and that's what's important. I tell Brent that he probably was bitten by an infected mosquito, causing fluids to rush to his brain. I tell him that common side-effects include memory loss, a lost sense of reality, and other schizophrenia-like symptoms. I explain in fabricated science terms that it's a swelling of the brain and that areas of the brain that aren't usually touched get pushed at with great pressure, causing various mental issues.
Brent is pretty much sold on the idea that he has West Nile and asks me if he should go to the hospital. I say no, because that would mean he'd miss out on the possibility of that increased brain activity manifesting itself in magical powers. I explained (based almost entirely on having seen the John Travolta movie Phenomenon) that when new areas of the brain are tapped into, it's not at all uncommon for people to start experiencing things that were never possible for them, like telekinesis, clairvoyance, and maybe just plain "magic." I told him that he should try to harness these powers before the disease works its way out of his system.
At this point, Brent and I order some coffee and sit down at Bruggers, the bagel shop where we were hanging out. Brent suggests that if he's actually experiencing schizophrenic-like symptoms as a side effect of his West Nile, that I might just be a figment of his imagination. I start ignoring him as if I don't hear him talking. When I start acknowledging him again, I tell him to close his eyes and try to use his powers. This was mostly just for fun. When nothing happened, Brent continued drinking his coffee until some person came into the store using napkins to open the doors. He leaned close to me and said, "See that guy at the counter ordering? He just opened all the doors really carefully with a wad of napkins, isn't that funny?"
This was sheer luck. The man who had come in and gotten in line just so happened to walk away and leave right as Brent was telling me this. I got up to see over the counter and said, "Brent... there isn't anyone at the counter." Brent gave me a look of panic, stood up, saw the man didn't exist, and sat back down looking very troubled.
I consoled him, letting him know that the insanity would pass, but that he really needed to work on his magical powers. Brent admitted that he had, in fact, been feeling a little "different," that he was getting the kind of vibe that told him he just might have some sort of new psychic ability. I told him to start writing down his thoughts and "visions" because they might be important.
I really could have kept this thing going for a long time. I already had Brent thoroughly convinced that he had lost his mind, and he had also already started practicing his newly acquired magical powers. Yes, I could have turned this into something even more fun, but then I felt bad when Brent started asking me if I would take care of him when he went completely insane and couldn't function in society any longer.
Then I told him. He forgave me because he said he understood that it was just my way of trying to help him "psychosomatically" learn to use magical powers. Yes, that's why I love him.
Posted by lauren at 09:35 PM | Comments (9)
What to Do
So I'm trying to figure out what to do. I spent hours, no.. DAYS on that London entry making it perfect. London was my favorite city of the many that I visited and I wanted to remember everything about it so rather than just giving a little introduction and then posting a whole bunch of random London pictures, I literally wrote a little paragraph about each one and what was going on, where we were exactly, what it was like, etc. I simply don't have the energy to re-do all of this (printed out, it probably would have been 10 pages JUST of writing) but I also don't want to just post pictures with no explanations/descriptions, so I think I'm going to go for something in-between.
I liked Tree's suggestion of going back to London later and doing some school entries now, but all my London pictures are out of order on Flickr because I was having so much trouble uploading them and I have it memorized at this point and don't think I'll be able to figure it out again at some future date, so I think I'm just going to have to start London all over again.
Other than that... Brent and I are spending all day today filling out job applications. Apparently we have to enter into the real world soon, which I'm actually really looking forward to. I've enjoyed college, but I'm ready to feel like I'm doing something useful rather than just doing something for a grade.
Speaking of which... any ideas? Want to hire me? Let me know!
Posted by lauren at 05:46 PM | Comments (2)
October 02, 2007
I Don't Even Know What To Say
I FINISHED my London entry and the entire thing didn't save and got deleted. I can't even count the lost hours....
Posted by lauren at 10:14 PM | Comments (7)