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December 31, 2007

Pre-Christmas Bar Hopping

Right before Christmas, I went out to the bars in Stamford, CT with Cathy, Alberto, Kristina, Jason, and Cathy's old neighbor Kevin who was visiting Greenwich for Christmas.

Our first stop was Black Bear where we all got some drinks, hung out at one of the booths, and watched all the "Christmas Sweater Party" people make fools of themselves. For those of you who don't know, a Christmas Sweater Party is a theme party where everyone has to wear the most ridiculous Christmas sweaters they can find. The six of us took part in no such humiliation.

Jason, Kristina, and Kevin:

Cathy, Alberto, and I tried to get a nice picture of the three of us, and this is the closest we got. In all the others, Alberto is making faces and Cathy is trying to grope me:

Christmas decorations:

Corona:

After Black Bear, Kristina and Jason went home and Cathy, Alberto, Kevin, and I went to Bobby V's, a nearby sports bar:

Bobby V's was a little "sporty" for me, but soon after we went to Tiernan's which was a little more fun in my opinion:

Kevin and Alberto:

Alberto and Cathy:

Cathy calling me short which was totally unfair since she was in heels and I was not:

Live band:

Alberto and Cathy dancing:

I'm not sure if Matt has ever been on my blog before, he might have been a few weeks ago... I don't remember and am too lazy to look. Anyway, here's Matt in the best Christmas outfit:

I got him to roll up his pants to show me his Christmas socks:

I was trying to get him to do a Christmas family portrait pose but he said no more poses because I was making him feel like a prostitute. I say, get used to it!

Ryan and Cathy:

Some old(er) guy who thought he was a long lost member of the Beach Boys:

Cathy on stage with the band:

That's all for now. I'm off to get my hair cut and then to Brent's house for his New Year's Eve party!

Happy New Year everyone!

Posted by lauren at 02:31 PM | Comments (5)

December 29, 2007

Happy Birthday Blonde Excuse!

The Blonde Excuse is officially two years old! To go back and read from the beginning, CLICK HERE.

Happy Birthday Blonde Excuse!

Posted by lauren at 11:50 PM | Comments (2)

A Yacht Club Christmas

After trimming the tree, my parents and I went out to the yacht club for dinner. The club was decorated for Christmas and looked so beautiful. The pictures I got aren't great because I didn't want to use the flash inside, but I think they came out all right.

The club:

Dad walking in:

The tree (decorated entirely in sail boat ornaments and yacht club flags):

Dad and Mom:

Dad and Me:

The view was so beautiful. The yacht club is obviously right on the water, so our view was the snowy lawn, the water, the boats, and the Christmas lights that someone put on the mast of their sailboat:

The window to one of the other rooms at the club, nicely decorated:

All right, so we're getting closer and closer to actual Christmas pictures! I think I have another night out with my friends coming up first, though, so check back!

Posted by lauren at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)

Frisky, Rocky, and Shadow

As you may have noticed from my last entry, Brent's kitty Shadow came to visit over Christmas. She's used to her kitty kibble at school, but here at her country home in Greenwich she gets the good stuff. My mom fed our pets filet mignon and their very own cooked chicken. Shadow was so excited, she actually snarled at her food while she was eating it. Here's Shadow eating the chicken as my mom was putting it on plates for the animals. What a big appetite for such a small kitten!

Frisky looking grumpy because Shadow, after finishing her own plate of food, moved on to eat Frisky's and Rocky's until I scooped her up and took her away:

Rocky looking for his share:

That's all for now!

Posted by lauren at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)

Ornaments

My parents were nice enough to wait for me to decorate our tree. I didn't get home until December 21st so after a good night's sleep, we got to trimming the tree. Because of my dads hip surgery, we didn't get a real tree this year because it would be too much of a hassle. Now, I'm not making fun of fake trees.... I know a lot of people have them and they really are beautiful and obviously last a lot longer than real trees, but coming from a tradition of cutting our own tree down in the woods (well, a large tree farm), I was a little sad to see our very unnatural-looking tree rather than a real Fraser Fur. It was made especially awful by the fact that my mom chose to get a tree with two different species of branches. In my dad's words, "Where would this tree ever occur in nature?"

That aside... here are some of our ornaments:

Geoff gave me this one when I was a baby:

Too small for our ornaments....

Shadow hiding by the "trunk":

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I'll be posting more Christmas pictures very soon.

Posted by lauren at 10:14 PM | Comments (1)

December 27, 2007

Senior Snowball

I'm well aware of the fact that I did not exactly go on a posting marathon, as promised, but the holidays are so crazy and I'm doing the best I can. Anyway, following the Jarvis Pre-Party was the Senior Snowball. As I mentioned earlier, I was using my old camera from high school, so the picture quality isn't great.

Brent with his kitty Shadow in his dorm room between the pre-party and the party itself:

Senior Snowball:

Brent at the bar:

Brent and Jim:

Brian and Brent:

Brian and Julianne:

Brent and Me:

Brent and James:

Brent and Torbin:

Brent and Me again:

Me at the champagne fountain:

People getting up on stage to yell:

Brent (singing enthusiastically) and Me:

I'm not entirely sure how to spell his name, but this is Shagore with Brent. Shagore is from Bangladesh and lived in Brent's hall last year:

Kara on the right:

I don't know why the Soulja Boy "Superman" song is such a sensation, or why everyone on the face of the planet seems to know the dance to it (Tracy and Hexx in front):

Of course, a disgusting floor that left a paper mache-like substance on my Kate Spade shoes:

Brent (Julie right behind him):

This is the kind of dancing I have to work with.... How can a girl dance with that?

Joe and Brent:

Anyway, I have a lot of pictures to catch up on (obviously) and I'm sorry I didn't do it today because now I'm going to be away until Saturday afternoon having a "24" marathon at Brent's house. Today I had important things to take care of, though... like the Saks and Bergdorf's post-Christmas sales with Jocelyn.

Luckily, Jocelyn and I got some amazing new stuff which made up for my horrible train ride there. Some man got on the train facing me but a few seats away and was blowing kisses at me every time I looked up. He had one or two teeth, total, which really made me feel good about the kind of men I attract.

As if that wasn't gross enough, some businessman came to sit next to me and sat on top of my book. I whipped it out from underneath him and said "Sorry!" even though that was clearly his fault, and he didn't even respond. He then whipped out his briefcase, pulled out his Jesus book, and read in his lap with his elbows out to the side. His elbow started by poking at my side, then my arm, then my boob. It was about this time that I noticed that he was just staring at a page in his book, never turning it and certainly not actually reading.

He spent a good 45minutes rubbing at my boob with his arm as if I wasn't going to catch on. I kept trying to creep away and into the wall next to me, but he had me so far into my little corner that I couldn't get any farther away from him. I started to push back with my arm to get his arm (which was now ENTIRELY across my chest - no more attempts at subtlety) away from me and had to push with all my effort with him pushing back even harder! That pretty much blew any chance of it being an "accident", Jesus book or not, so I muscled my way out from his arm and said "Excuse me!" and he grabbed his things and bolted off the train right as it was pulling into some random station. What a pervert. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't let him elbow-grope me for 45 minutes just to "not be rude." Maybe that would be a good question for the Ask Jocelyn's Mom column, how to ward off public transportation perverts Connecticut style (without creating a scene).

Posted by lauren at 12:18 AM | Comments (1)

December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I usually send Christmas cards out sometime in December, but this year I had so much work to do that I just never got around to it. Sorry everyone! To make up for it, I'm making this my Christmas card for everybody. It's Rocky in his Santa suit.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Posted by lauren at 09:03 PM | Comments (3)

December 24, 2007

This is Hilarious

Jamie Lynn speaks out:

Posted by lauren at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2007

Jarvis Pre-Party

In early December, we had our Senior Snowball which is a formal party for all the seniors. The theme was "black & white" so Brent and I got all gussied up in our black and white formal attire and headed over to The Tap, where the pre-party was. There were pre-parties for all the different Freshman dorms to have a little reunion before our formal. Brent's and my dorm Jarvis (where we met) had the best pre-party because ours was at the local bar that everyone goes to, The Tap.

Brent and me before leaving:

Brent with his new antique typewriter (a Christmas present from me - more about that later):

Me at Brent's typewriter:

By the way, I should mention that for some reason, my really old camera makes my hair look neon yellow. It's not.

Brent:

Me:

Brent and me:

Jarvis pre-party:

Brent and Hexx:

Brent and Me:

Kara and Me:

Brent and Me:

The ceiling:

Come back soon for pictures from the actual Senior Snowball!

Posted by lauren at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2007

Finals Week

So I'm now in the middle of my finals week here at Trinity and it has been a nightmare. I'm down to my last assignment for my last class, though, which is at least somewhat encouraging. I just need to write a 15 page paper on a topic I know almost nothing about tonight... no problem, right?

I'll definitely be glad to be done with this semester soon and home relaxing with the zoo of animals living with me (the bunnies and Brent's kitten are spending Christmas at my house, along with my cat and dog).

I know this is a pointless entry, I just wanted to provide an explanation for my serious lack of posting lately. I'll be back to it soon, I promise!

Until then, please check out my other site, Lost Pals, to see if you can help find any of the missing pets in your area.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Posted by lauren at 11:16 PM | Comments (2)

December 16, 2007

Post Thanksgiving Parties

After Thanksgiving, all my friends and I went out to Black Bear again in Stamford, CT. I didn't have my camera flash, and this time no one else was there to take pictures too, so all I have are the really dark, poor quality pictures.

Ali, Vanessa, Erin, and Alberto:

Alberto and Cathy:

Spencer, Me, Ali, Alberto, and Kristina:

Kristina, Molly, and Me (with Alberto being Alberto in the back):

Tony:

Ali and Me:

Vanessa and Molly:

Erin, Tony, Kristina, Cathy, and Jason:

Tony, Vanessa, and Molly:

Kristina and Jason:

This is one of the best pictures ever. It's Molly stripper dancing with a dollar bill and Tony covering his eyes in shame behind her. I didn't even stage this photo!

Ali, James, and a blur of Molly:

Molly, Kristina, and Jason:

James talking with his hands (blurring is fun sometimes):

Tony, Spencer, and blurry Alberto:

Tony, Spencer, and Alberto:

Great picture of James:

We saw Molly's sister Sara and her boyfriend Christian outside waiting to get in:

Christian and Sara (is that Alberto in the window?):

After Black Bear, we went over to Tiernan's down the street which is pretty much the exact same thing but with less seating. Tiernan's, to me, is very much like a basement frat party.

A little strip of me, Alberto, and Spencer:

Alberto and Me:

Spencer and Alberto:

Molly:

Jason and Kristina:

Alberto and Cathy:

Kristina, Ali, Vanessa, and Me:

Molly and Me:

Ali and Molly:

Post Thanksgiving:

And last but certainly not least, here are a couple pictures of my beautiful little Frisky who was asleep when I got home:

Well that's all. I know I'm really behind but I'm working on it. As if finals weren't causing serious enough sleep deprivation, now Brent and I are into the "Lost" Season 3 DVDs (hence me being up - and blogging - at 6am). Anyway, I hope you're all having a nice weekend. If you're in the Northeast (like me) drive safely! There's been a huge ice storm all night. Hopefully I'll have some pictures from that soon.

Goodnight! I mean good... morning?

Posted by lauren at 06:02 AM | Comments (1)

December 15, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

As you all know, I'm quite far behind in posting. Here are my pictures from Thanksgiving.

Turkey and ham:

Grandma's table:

Grandma and Jessica:

Dad, Mom, and Aunt Sarah:

Poppy:

Fire:

Yummmm...pumpkin pie:

Champagne:

Grandma and Poppy's kitty, Whitefoot:

Dad and Me, in one of the serving bowls:

Poppy:

Grandma:

After Thanksgiving dinner, my parents, Rocky, and I went for a drive around the beach while listening to "Alice's Restaurant," a Thanksgiving tradition.

Isn't the foliage at the beach beautiful?

I love this picture. My favorite part is the "glowing" street:

I like it better in a larger size. Click if you're interested.

I'm in my finals week at school right now, so I'll try to post and get caught up, but it's not going to be easy. I'll be home for Christmas break soon, though, and hopefully I'll get caught up, keep caught up, and catch up on all (or at least some) of my Europe posts. Remember Europe? Yes, I traveled Europe for 6 weeks and still haven't really told you about it. Come back soon!

Posted by lauren at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2007

Lost Pals

For my 400th entry (yes, for all your faithful readers, you've read 400 of my useless ramblings) I wanted to do something special. Rather than a "fun" post, though, I thought I'd start something really important. I was on Craigslist where I waste a lot of my time and came across listing after listing of lost pets in my area and wondered how many people would actually take the time to look for those poor, cold little animals who are probably freezing, hungry, and lonely without their families. It really broke my heart, so I decided to try to find a way to help.

I just set up a new blog called Lost Pals where people all over can submit pictures and information about their lost pets to try to get the word out to more people who care. Through Lost Pals, I have opened a new email address, LostPalFinder@gmail.com, where people can send me information about their missing pets to be posted. I also am starting a mailing list of people who would like to be contacted when a pet goes missing in their area so that they can keep an eye out. For example, if someone loses a cat in Greenwich, CT, I will send an email out to everyone within a reasonable radius of where the cat was lost with its name, description, a picture, and any other helpful information so that they can be on the lookout.

I hope none of you ever need my site for your own pets, but if any of your furry friends ever go missing, send me your information through Lost Pals and I can try to help. Also, I would really appreciate it if I could add as many of you as possible to my e-mail mailing list. This is not for junk mail or random irrelevant updates, I will only contact you if an animal is lost right around where you live. If you are interested in being a part of this, please go to Lost Pals to read about the site and click "Join the Mailing List" on the right-hand column.

I already have my first submission, a Husky named Timber who was lost in Clinton, CT on Sunday morning around 10am and has not been seen since. Please read Timber's Post to see if you live in the area and might be able to help.

This is a brand new site and therefore has very little traffic. Obviously, for this kind of site, the more viewers I get, the more likely pets will find their way back home, so if you can link Lost Pals anywhere, tell your friends, family, or any other way of getting the word out, that would be amazing.

Thanks again, everyone, for always helping out!

Posted by lauren at 04:49 AM | Comments (2)

December 10, 2007

Black Bear & Hula Hank's Part 2

Apparently I forgot to post the majority of my own pictures on my last entry. I thought it was a little strange of me, flash or no flash, to take only a handful of pictures. Anyway, here are the rest.

Kristina and Jason:

Ali, Molly, Kristina, and Jason:

At Hula Hank's:

Cathy, James, Molly:

Alberto and Me:

Cathy:

Jenn:

Vanessa, Spencer, Ali, and Alberto:

"Hanksgiving":

Molly and James:

Spencer and Alberto:

Kristina and Jason:

I don't know:

Fish-bowl:

James and Molly:

I bumped into Anthony who I interned with at News 12 Connecticut:

Cathy loves me:

Alberto and Me (Alberto looks like he's doing Zoolander's "Blue Steel"):

Ali:

Cathy:

Spencer and Vanessa:

People literally "swinging" by across the room:

While we were there, some weird guy came up to a bunch of girls and started hugging people trying to "dance" with them. He was a major creep:

He also really badly needs to read up on his American history before wearing crap like this:

All right, that's actually the end of the night this time.

Thanksgiving pictures coming soon!

Posted by lauren at 08:00 PM | Comments (3)

Black Bear & Hula Hanks

Over Thanksgiving break, a bunch of my friends and I went to Black Bear and Hula Hank's, two bars in Stamford, CT. As mentioned before, I have no flash on my camera, so these pictures are AWFUL. Luckily I was able to steal some from Vanessa and Jenn so there are some better ones towards the bottom of this entry.

This was a particularly special night, by the way, because I got to meet Kristina's new boyfriend Jason! Jason gets to have his picture taken 5,000 times and then posted on the internet EVERY time I see him now! Yay!

Kristina and Jason at Black Bear:

Vanessa and Cathy:

Jason and Ali:

Kristina:

Hayley and Jenn:

Ali and Cathy:

Cathy, Me, Vanessa, and Kristina:

Alberto, Cathy, Hayley, and Spencer:

Christmas lights:

Now for some of Jenn and Vanessa's pictures (with flash!)

Kristina and Me at Black Bear:

Hula Hank's:

Kristina, Cathy, Ali, and Me at Hula Hank's:

Me, Jenn, and Hayley:

Ali and Me:

Hayley, Jenn, Cathy, and Me:

Cathy and Me with the fish-bowl we split:

Vanessa, Spencer, Ali, and Alberto (with James in the background):

Kristina and Jason:

Spencer:

Cathy walking away with our fish-bowl:

Kristina, Hayley, and Jenn:

Ali and James:

Kristina and Jason:

Proof that if there is a pole of any variety, Molly will dance with it:

At the end of the night, Molly was driving us all home and we somehow broke her door and couldn't get it to close. Of course the two blonde girls went to work immediately with our vastly superior mechanical skills (see: The Blonde Girls' Guide To Changing A Tire):

And we did it! It turns out, all you had to do was pull the handle and then the door would close. Oops! We're so smart:

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post again soon but it's tough with all my finals and final papers coming up.

Goodnight!

Posted by lauren at 06:46 PM | Comments (1)

No Flash, No Fun

Without my camera flash, I had very little fun taking pictures. As I've explained a number of times on The Blonde Excuse, I have a setting on my camera called "High Sensitivity" that allows you to take moving pictures with very little light, but decreases the quality significantly. I used that for a lot of the pictures you'll see in the next few days.

Rainy day, Brent in the most ridiculous outfit ever:

Rain:

And for some reason I guess I was home that night? Maybe it was one of the times my parents babysat the bunnies and Brent and I had to pick them up. This is my dad in his "throne." Since his hip surgery, he's been living in his throne in front of the TV where I'm sure my mom waits on him all day long:

Anyway, more fun pictures of my friends and me coming soon.

Posted by lauren at 01:24 AM | Comments (3)

December 06, 2007

Colonial Day

We all help out our family over the holidays, right? Well, how many of you dress as colonials from the Revolutionary War period at a public town event? Brent and I went down to Greenwich before Thanksgiving and joined my grandma and my cousin Jessica for Colonial Day, a historical event at Putnam Cottage hosted by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) which my grandma is very much involved in.

We're such a cute colonial couple:

Brent at Putnam Cottage:

Grandma in the kitchen:

Revolutionary soldier:

I guess during the Revolutionary War, women had to learn to fight too so that they could protect their homes while their husbands were off fighting:

Apparently the Revolutionary War re-enactors are actually part of a real militia that answers to the governor of Connecticut. They're the same militia that was around during the Revolutionary War, just many new generations of replacements. I thought that was pretty cool. Here's one militia member trying to recruit Brent:

I'm not going to lie, I think he was tempted.

Brent was involved in a duel that was apparently over me. I am always causing so much trouble (Thanks, Jessica, for the pictures!):

Other duelers:

We're the cutest Revolutionary War couple ever:

Last but not least, a warning. Do not EVER drink limoncello (some sort of lemon wine). My mom got a bottle and poured a glass for everyone and, well... I think Brent put it best when he said that it tasted like someone poured lemon-flavored vodka over a brick of sugar:

Posted by lauren at 01:42 PM | Comments (6)

December 05, 2007

George Disapproves Again

As you may have seen in George's Grand Disapproval, George was recently on Disapproving Rabbits. Well, he made it again! This time with little Shadow who has been stealing his bunny nest. Of course George wouldn't approve of such a thing.

Check out George Disapproving Again!

Posted by lauren at 01:05 PM | Comments (1)

December 03, 2007

Homecoming 2007

Brent and I obviously went to my school's Homecoming game earlier in November and the tailgating party before and during the game. Here are a couple pictures of the tailgating party in the parking lot:

The game:

Not the end score, but I do know that we won by a lot:

I think one of my favorite things about the Homecoming game each year is that everyone brings their dogs:

Look at the chubby little dachshund on the left:

Our chapel:

Alums wearing their old college t-shirts are another of my favorite things about Homecoming:

Trinity's mascot is the bantam, which is really just a small chicken/rooster type thing, so naturally, all our t-shirts say things like "I got laid in college" and "Rock out with your cock out":

Not sure why there's a rainbow in these pictures:

Anyway, that's all I took of the game and tailgating, but come back soon for pictures from the Homecoming frat parties that night!

Posted by lauren at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

Ice Storm

Is anyone else getting this ice storm? Brent and I are here in Hartford where we got the slightest dusting of snow earlier in the afternoon (despite our promised 5 inches!). Instead of beautiful, white snow, the city of Hartford has been encased in a thick layer of ice. We've had freezing rain for something like 10 hours at this point. It's so slippery outside, I'm surprised I haven't broken my neck yet... or Brent's since I grab onto him every time I start sliding around.

Anyway, it's actually really beautiful outside (and very dangerous!). Every single individual blade of grass is completely iced over and brittle, tree branches are frozen over and sparkling in the street lights, icicles hang from every roof and window, cars are covered in an ice shell... it's really cool looking, like something out of a movie... and I don't have my camera!

I guess I forgot to mention that, but my camera is broken. The flash just gave up on me for some reason (probably the 50,000 pictures I've probably taken since getting it). It's off with Panasonic right now getting fixed (I hope) so I've been using disposable cameras which take the WORST pictures ever. I'm so far behind in posting that you haven't been subjected to their antiquated quality yet, but they're abysmal. I'm so glad to live in the digital age. Anyway, I took as many pictures as I could but I'm sure they won't show anything and they'll be completely horrible.

In other news, a giant branch fell in the parking lot and landed on someone's car! It actually did no damage whatsoever thanks to the protective ice shell surrounding it. I took a picture of that too, so once they're developed I'll post that. "Developed"... ugh.

Anyway, it's late and I want to listen out for more falling trees.

Goodnight and stay off the roads if you're in the Northeast!

Posted by lauren at 03:25 AM | Comments (1)