The Blonde Excuse: April 2008 Archives

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April 28, 2008

Battle Of The Bands

Before Trinity's Spring Weekend, there is always a "Battle of the Bands" to determine which college band will open for the Spring Weekend performers. This year, Brent and I knew people in two different bands, Damn the Torpedoes and Cave Mary. They tied, along with Zee Santiago, and all three got to perform along with Common and Jack's Mannequin at Spring Weekend.

Here's Cave Mary (we know Will - the guy on the left - and Bobby - the one on the right):

I love this shot:

Now for Damn the Torpedoes.

Here's Jon:

Tim:

Dave:

John, who is such an amazing guitarist that he played behind his head!

Congratulations, guys, on winning Battle of the Bands!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 09:48 PM | Comments (2)

April 27, 2008

Back Home

A little while ago, Brent came home with me to avoid the Trinity College International Hip Hop Festival. We had a really nice weekend at my house and I took Brent down to Binney Park in Old Greenwich where we played catch for a while and went for a walk.

Before leaving, we saw this chipmunk in my backyard:

No skating on Binney Pond (at least, not when there isn't any ice...):

Willow tree:

A long, long time ago, all my neighborhood friends and I used to have a "secret path" from our houses, down through Binney Park, and into Old Greenwich where we'd get bagels at "The Bagel Shop" (now, "Upper Crust Bagel Company"). I was surprised to see our old stepping stones we used to use still in place!

Somehow I remember this waterfall being much bigger than this....

I wonder how many times I sat on this bench with my t-ball, baseball, and then softball teams....

"Only Rain Down The Drain - Flows To Sound"

The same old water fountain that was there more than 15 years ago:

Bird:

A tunnel under the train tracks. I wonder if this is where the mole people live?

Brent:

Footprints:

And last but not least, an oriole nest right outside my window at home:

All right, back to work getting ready for my last day of class EVER on Tuesday!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:21 PM | Comments (4)

Tulips

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous tulips Brent got me a little while ago. Aren't they such a beautiful color?

Tulips are my favorite flower:

Starting to lose its petals:

Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick tulip post, but I'll have much more coming up soon.

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:12 PM | Comments (2)

April 25, 2008

Happy (Belated) Easter

So now that I'm done with Mexico and Paris, I'm trying to quickly get caught up with recent pictures so that I can get pack to some Europe posts. Next up is Prague, then Barcelona, then I'm finally going to go back to my Rome pictures and finish with all of them (I only posted from the first of my three weeks in Rome).

For now though, here are my Easter pictures.

Here's my nephew Brady playing the piano:

And opening his Easter basket on Easter morning:

Rocky and Brady:

Frisky sitting in my dad's lap:

For those of you who have been following along with Frisky and her cancer, she is doing really well. It has now been over a year since her old vet said she had two weeks to live and she's doing better than ever! Her cancer isn't curable, but it definitely hasn't gotten the best of her either. Isn't she beautiful?

We went out to Mackenzie's for Easter brunch:

Jocelyn and Andy:

Afterwards, we came back to Grandma and Poppy's for dessert.

Grandma's beautiful table with a plant for the girls and wine for the guys:

We were also celebrating my mom's and my Uncle David's birthdays:

Mom:

Jocelyn, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle David:

These are my favorite two pictures of the day. Dad, you so got caught:

Grandma and Me:

The delicious ricotta pie Aunt Sarah brought:

Renwick, Andy, and Geoff:

Brady, Mom, and Poppy:

Me, Jessica, and Jocelyn (clearly looking at a different camera, but oh well):

Pretty flowers:

Geoff, Kari, Brady, Mom, and Renwick:

Geoff and Brady:

That's all for now but I promise to get caught up really soon!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:51 AM | Comments (5)

April 24, 2008

Working

I just wanted to give a quick explanation for my absence lately. It's the end of my last semester here at Trinity and there is so much to do! I have to find a job (anyone want to hire me?), finish up all my work, study for exams, etc. and it's really overwhelming! I promise I'll be back as soon as possible though.

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:16 AM | Comments (2)

April 20, 2008

Surprise Party!

After returning from Mexico, my friends and I planned a surprise party for all the March birthdays (Cathy, Sarah, and Molly). It wasn't easy planning for three people to arrive at the same time and all be surprised, so we had to be a little tricky. I told Cathy and Sarah that I thought it would be fun to plan a surprise party for Molly and then I told Molly that all of our friends were being really lame and didn't want to go out, but would she go out to dinner with Cathy, Sarah and me. Basically, Cathy and Sarah were put in charge of picking up Molly thinking it was a surprise just for her, and Molly thought they were meeting me at Sundown Saloon for dinner. Of course it was a surprise for everyone and they didn't even figure it out!

Surprise! Molly, Cathy, and Jacob:

Sarah:

Brent and Me:

The girl in the middle here is Sarah's roommate from her study abroad program in Lithuania. Her name is Altinai (sorry, I have no idea how to spell it). Sarah, Altinai, and Erin:

Kristina, Jason, Vanessa, Ali, and James:

Cathy and Jacob:

We had to separate into two tables because there were so many of us, here's one of them. Me, Cathy, Jacob, Sarah, Altinai, Erin, Molly, Brent:

Ali, James, and Vanessa:

Molly and Me:

The dinner tables at Sundown Saloon are all covered in paper with crayons provided:

After dinner, we headed over to the bar part of Sundown Saloon. Here's Brent, Jacob, and Jason:

Sundown Saloon:

Shots:

I'm not sure what that face is:

Nicole, Molly, Sarah, and Me:

Sarah, Altinai, and Nicole:

Jacob, Jason, and Brent doing Irish car bombs:

Ali, James, Nicole, Cathy, Molly, Me, Sarah, Brent, and Kristina:

James, Hayley, Jenn, Erin, and Me:

The moon:

I hope everyone was really surprised and had a fun night!

Now I'm off to my campus' Spring Weekend Concert featuring Jack's Mannequin and Common. I have no idea who either are, but Molly tells me they're good and that I should come to the 21st century some day.

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:33 AM | Comments (5)

April 17, 2008

Jazz Club In Paris

The hotel where Brent and I stayed, Le Meridien Etoile, was jazz-themed and even had its very own jazz club. We thought it would be worth a try, so after our baguette dinner earlier that night, we headed down to the jazz club.

The club was free so long as you were willing to pay $20 for a drink:

Worst quality picture EVER of Brent and me:

Brent, not sure what to make of all this:

The bar:

The band:

And that's the end for Paris!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 01:38 PM | Comments (3)

April 15, 2008

From The Top Of Paris

I'm excited to finally be writing my Eiffel Tower entry. I realize that a few of these photos are a lot like the ones in A Quick Stop At The Eiffel Tower, but there are some different ones too.

First, a note to those of you planning on traveling to the Eiffel Tower some day, there are three, not four, elevators up to the top. The setup at the bottom makes it look like all four corners have elevators, but they do not! One of them is a line to take the stairs. Yes, stairs, all the way to the top. You'd have to be insane. Brent and I waited in line for over an hour, befriending a teacher from Oklahoma who was excited to take pictures at the top of the Eiffel Tower to show to her students. The three of us passed the time in line, excited to get on the elevator, when we realized that we were in the stairs-only line. Brent and I were in no mood to take the stairs, so we got out of line and went to wait in yet another line. There, we met a man named Jerome from Wisconsin. He and his family had just been bike riding through Italy in many of the same places Brent and I had just been. Jerome was a very nice guy, and a real talker. I think we got his entire life story in the couple hours we waited in line. I think what we both remember the best, though, was that his very large, quirky family was obsessed with yelling "Alto Cinque!" and giving "high fives" all around. Apparently it was a phrase they picked up in Italy. It was a fun two hours.

Looking up the side of the Eiffel Tower:

Looking up inside the elevator:

I happen to be terrified of heights, but I somehow managed and I'm glad I did. The view from the top was spectacular:

Isn't that cute?

Brent at the top:

The Seine:

The Eiffel Tower's shadow:

I have a picture taken from this bridge, looking at the Eiffel Tower, so here's a picture taken from the Eiffel Tower, looking at that bridge:

Brent and Me:

The Arc de Triomphe, which we walked past every day:

We spent a lot of time trying to pick out the sights we had seen and zoom in on them.

The Louvre:

La Grande Roue:

Montmartre:

Notre Dame:

Our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile:

At the top of the Eiffel Tower was Gustave Eiffel's office. Inside are replicas of Gustave Eiffel, his daughter, and Thomas Edison:

After the Eiffel Tower, Brent and I walked back to our hotel, passing a memorial to Princess Diana:

This should look familiar to New Yorkers:

I loved all the red awnings on this building:

For dinner that night, rather than going out, Brent and I each got a fresh, warm baguette. I have never in my life had a more delicious piece of bread. Words cannot even describe it:

The setting sun on our last day in Paris:

I have one more quick Paris entry to go, then I will be getting a little better caught up on more recent stuff. Our next stop on the Europe tour, though, will be Prague!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 06:57 PM | Comments (7)

The Catacombs

One of my favorite things that Brent and I did in Paris was touring the catacombs. My friend Molly had been to Paris a few years earlier and told me that I had to go see them, and she was right.

Here's one of the explanation boards before entering the catacombs:

There was very little light and no flash allowed in the catacombs, so most of my pictures are really dark and blurry. At some point i started using my miniature flashlight to get some better photos, but unfortunately I didn't think of that until later on. I have some really cool videos too, but Google Video is awful and hasn't worked for me for a long time. Here's what I have, though.

First, we had to walk through these long, dark, stone tunnels:

We were by ourselves for most of the time in the beginning, so it was really creepy!

Sometimes there were little holes in the walls that would lead to other rooms:

"Stop! This is the empire of death":

Brent:

The catacombs are filled with more bones than you can imagine, all organized in patterns like this:

I wonder how this guy died:

Brent translated this as "Where is death? Always in the future or the past, barely is she present, that already she is no more" but he said he wasn't entirely sure. Is anyone out there fluent in French and could help?:

I think Brent took this picture:

Brent:

Maybe I shouldn't be smiling... what kind of face do you make in a picture like this?

A lot of the people buried in the catacombs were executed during the French Revolution. Here's a good example:

And that's it for the catacombs, weren't they creepy? The only problem was that after walking through the tunnels under Paris, we were let back up to the street in some completely random place. We had no idea where we were, so we wandered until we found our way to the metro:

Next will be our real trip to the Eiffel Tower!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 10:11 AM | Comments (9)

April 14, 2008

Chez Bebert

After a long day of sightseeing, Brent and I got cleaned up and went out to dinner. We didn't have any specific plans, we just set out in search of good food.

This is a beautiful building right by our hotel:

We found this place, Chez Berbert, which is a Middle Eastern couscous restaurant:

The food was amazing, probably some of the best we had all through Europe.

These "appetizers" came with our meal. I don't have any idea what any of them were, but they were very good (oh, and that's Brent in the background too):

A better picture:

So the way this restaurant works.... Each person orders a kebab of some sort. I got chicken and I think Brent got either steak or lamb, I don't remember. The kebabs come on a plate for each person, then the couscous with all the couscous "fixins" is placed in the center of the table. Each person is given a bowl, and then you fill the bowl with a couple scoops of couscous, the delicious sauce, all the veggies and beans, etc. that come with the couscous, and your meat kebabs.

Delicious!

When I return to Paris (because I will) I'm going right back to Chez Bebert and I suggest you do too if you're ever there!

And finally, back to our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile:

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 09:51 AM | Comments (1)

A Quick Stop At The Eiffel Tower

As promised, I have a lot of pictures of the Eiffel Tower today. Brent and I stopped by the Eiffel Tower after our ferris wheel ride on La Grande Roue to take a quick look and a few pictures. Of course we would be back to go to the top and provide a full photographic tour, but this was just a quick visit to take a look. As I'm sure you can tell from all my previous Paris entries, we could see the Eiffel Tower from all over the city and were dying to take a look up close.

You'll notice that I sort of switched back and forth between a regular setting on my camera and a black & white setting. I thought it would be fun to get some B&W architectural photos of the tower, and I think they came out pretty well. There will be plenty of color photos from our actual Eiffel Tower visit, though.

The Eiffel Tower:

The Eiffel Tower was absolutely spectacular up close. It was somehow everything I expected, and not at all what I was expecting at the exact same time. It was enormous and breathtaking, but also so real. I guess I don't know how to explain it, but I hope some of you understand. It's just that the Eiffel Tower was always just an image to me, an idea of something off in the distance or in pictures... it was an entirely theoretical building until I stood under it. Of all the famous landmarks Brent and I saw in Europe, the Eiffel Tower might actually be my favorite. At the very least it's in my top few, along with the Roman Colosseum and St. Peter's Dome.

Brent (looking at our guidebook I assume):

Eiffel:

Brent and Me:

Outside the Eiffel Tower there's this cute little carousel and an ice cream stand where we, of course, got an afternoon snack (I don't pass up ice cream in the summer. Ever.):

On the walk back to our hotel....

Color:

B&W:

Brent:

Across the way from the Eiffel Tower:

It was hard walking away from the Eiffel Tower. I kept turning around to get one last look, it's just so beautiful:

Great advertisements on the street:

Creepy:

I want to live here:

Or here:

Or even here:

Here too:

I think Paris has the creepiest "subway" entrances ever. I felt like I was entering someone's secret lair every time:

Such beautiful streets:

I absolutely loved Paris, but who doesn't? Still more to come!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 09:12 AM | Comments (5)

Side-Note

Well, I was looking forward to a morning of sleeping in and relaxing, but it seems that isn't going to happen for me today. The men's acapella group is rehearsing right below my window on this fine pre-9am Monday morning.

Anyway, since I'm up... I thought I'd have a little side-note entry. Yesterday, Brent and I stopped off at Starbucks to get a couple coffees to get us through the day. While waiting in line, the girl behind the counter said to me, "I really love your jacket," to which Brent responded, "Oh, thanks!" I tried not to laugh and said "Did you mean my jacket? Not his?" and girl awkwardly responded, "Uh... yeah... sorry."

Since we had established ourselves as the super awkward couple in Starbucks, we had to get out as fast as possible, but I spent the whole time at the cream and sugar station giggling and telling Brent that his jacket was also very nice.

As we quickly walked to the doors, there was another couple approaching from outside. This particular Starbucks has two sets of doors with a small alcove in between. Anyway, Brent held open the door on the inside for me, while the other guy held open the door on the outside for his girlfriend. Because females are much less awkward beings than males, this was no problem for the girls. We walked right past each other, stepping to the side to make sure each could get past, and thanking our own and each other's boyfriends for holding the doors for the two of us.

Once I got outside, I turned around to observe. Brent and this other guy stood there for a second, waiting for the other to go through the doors that they were holding for one another now, and then both decided to go at the exact same moment, both trying to hold both doors, legs lunged across the entire alcove, arms spread across one another, muttering "thanks, oh uh...sorry, thanks....oh you, no me? oh....thanks...uh....thanks, sorry...." It was like watching Cirque du Soleil in the Starbucks entryway. I just stood outside hysterically laughing until Brent and this other guy finally made it through the doors to their girlfriends. I'm sure this proves some theory on gender, but I'm not sure which one.

Anyway, I just thought I'd get side-tracked for a minute from all my Paris entries to relay that story.

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 08:50 AM | Comments (4)

April 13, 2008

La Grande Roue

After visiting Notre Dame, Brent and I continued to wander around Paris to see the sights. Paris is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to and around every corner is something worth seeing.

Beautiful buildings:

The Seine:

Eiffel Tower and the Seine:

It's so small!

At this point, we had made our way back towards the Louvre where these guys walked up out of the metro and quite literally stopped traffic:

The bald man in the wedding dress was my absolute favorite:

I wonder where they're going:

La Grande Roue:

Brasserie Le Carousel:

Apparently during the summer there is a miniature carnival set up next to the Louvre and La Grande Roue (the big Ferris wheel in Paris):

Sorry the lighting on these pictures is so weird:

Of course we had to take a ride:

View from the top:

The rooftops of Paris:

Montmartre in the distance:

The Louvre:

Brent:

Me (I wasn't going to post this picture because the color on my face is all off and I look like a zombie, but I do love how Brent got the Eiffel Tower in the background):

Brent and Me:

After the Ferris wheel, we took a walk over to the Eiffel Tower to see it up close. I'll post pictures of that another day, but for now, here are the pictures from our walk:

Aren't the buildings in Paris just gorgeous?

The Musée d'Orsay over the Seine:

I don't know what this event was, but there was a red carpet so I got my camera out!

A beautiful bridge:

Segway riders:

A building covered entirely in plants:

Next up is the Eiffel Tower!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 01:14 AM | Comments (4)

April 10, 2008

Back to Paris - Notre Dame

Now that I'm done with my Mexico pictures, I'm going to get back to Paris. Just to get you up to speed, my last Paris entry was Twilight in Paris, so read it if you haven't already!

After having seen the Louvre, we knew our next stop had to be Notre Dame. We took the metro part way there, then walked the rest, along the Seine.

Aren't these beautiful buildings?

They actually remind me a lot of the buildings along the river in Prague, but I'll get to that another time.

I don't actually remember where we were here, but I assume we stopped for lunch somewhere:

Brent in front of Notre Dame:

Me:

Once inside, I didn't want to use my flash, so I put my camera on "high sensitivity" mode, which allows you to take pictures in very low light, at the expense of some of the quality. Just keep that in mind when looking at these:

These little tea-light candles are offerings to deceased loved ones:

This is one of my favorite pictures I took that day:

Notre Dame has some of the most beautiful stained glass you'll ever see:

The following are relics from Saint Louis (I don't speak French, but I'm pretty sure that's what this sign says):

If you're getting bored of all this weird, old stuff... you're not alone. Brent and I paid an extra three euros to get to see the old relics, thinking they'd be much cooler than they were. Anyway, having paid for it, I obviously had to put it up on my blog.

A model of Notre Dame:

Notre Dame is known for its gargoyles, which really are impressive:

Buttresses:

Looking over the vine-covered wall surrounding Notre Dame:

More gargoyles:

A statue outside:

In front of Notre Dame, there was a pigeon man who, for whatever reason, was completely covered in pigeons:

Performer outside:

Well, I guess that's it for Notre Dame. I'll be finishing up Paris and then getting back to more recent stuff.

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 01:26 PM | Comments (5)

April 06, 2008

Adiós Mexico

On our last night in Mexico, Brent and I took one last walk along Quinta Avenida where we saw a couple really cute orange kitties that we wanted to snag and take home:

Also, someone in the street had a giant snake! Why are there so many wild animals in the streets?

Our resort at night:

The next morning, we got up early, returned our rented Jeep, and took a couple last minute pictures.

Looking out towards the beach:

Brent at Spice, where we got breakfast:

After breakfast with Eric and Suzanne, we went to the airport where we had no line at all! There was a little kid in front of us who was very distraught and said to his dad, "Dad, we got here too early! We're too early for the plane!" To which his father replied, "That's all right, what's the problem?" "There's no line, Dad. We have to leave and come back!"

While we waited for our plane, we had lunch at Margaritaville:

On the plane:

And last but not least, an areal shot of our resort from Google Earth:

That was the end of our Mexico vacation. Pretty soon, I'll start catching up on recent stuff and finish my Paris entries!

-Lauren

Posted by lauren at 02:21 PM | Comments (4)

April 03, 2008

Grand Cenote

After our visit to the Cobá Ruins, Brent and I stopped at Grand Cenote to take a quick swim in the jungle to cool off. This was actually one of my favorite things we did the whole time we were in Mexico. I don't know if I've ever seen water so beautiful in all my life.

Grand Cenote:

Brent heading down the stairs (it looks really crowded, but there must have just been a big group leaving right as we arrived because it was almost empty the whole time we were there):

Look at that water!

A couple parts of the water were really milky-looking. I think this is because there is lime in the water, or something like that:

Brent swimming in the cave:

Me:

This side of the cenote goes right through to another opening, see the light coming through in the background?

The water was amazingly clear:

Cave:

Here's a stone staircase that cuts off about 20 feet above the ground. I wonder how old this is:

The other side of the cenote (through the cave):

Brent:

Brent and Me:

There were lots of little fish swimming around in the water that I was trying to get a picture of. My picture came out really blurry, but I actually kind of like it: