The Mother of All Royal Wedding Hype

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I stumbled upon this Tumblr feed, and it is HILARIOUS...

Enjoy!!!

My First Mid-Atlantic Easter and The Royal Wedding

One thing I love about working at a Jesuit university is that we get Good Friday off! (hence the blogging during the day on Friday). I will be splitting the weekend between my parent's new house in Alexandria and my grandparent's in the Shenandoahs, so I'm really looking forward to a weekend of pure relaxation after thoroughly running myself ragged in the week leading up to Welcome Weekend (and then paying for it this week by getting really sick).

In other news, the event of the century (the royal wedding, naturally!) is almost upon us! Come next Friday, the 29th of April, millions of eyes will be turned to each respective nation's BBC affiliate to catch a glimpse of Kate Middleton's much talked-about dress and, hopefully, a glimpse of a royal kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

In Sarah Lyall's April 21st NYT article, she says of Kate that, "she is like an old-time Hollywood star, full of mystery, a canvas onto which the world can project its fantasies." I think that, in a world of TMI when it comes from everyone to celebrities to politicians, Kate is a breath of fresh air: someone who is content with what life has handed her but doesn't feel the need to make an exhibition of herself because of it. I think that the poise and grace with which she handles herself is incredibly admirable...and damn it, she has an amazing wardrobe that any girl would be silly not to envy!!! PLUS she's marrying the arguably better-looking of the princes! I don't really buy the rags-to-riches story that the press so often attempts to construct for her; yes, her parents may have had humbler roots, but they are still upper-middle-class Britons, so to refer to Kate as a "commoner" sounds demeaning in a way. If she's a "commoner", then what does that make the rest of us?!?

I was thinking the other day about what it is that I find so intriguing about the royal family, and I guess I can trace my interest in them back to when Princess Diana died. I vividly remember the day: I was 9 years old, we were up at the Lake for Labor Day weekend and I was in bed, sick as a dog. I remember hearing, even in my groggy state, someone exclaim from downstairs that Diana had died. From then on, I was a sponge, learning everything about the royals that I possibly could. I guess you could say that my interest in the royals was my gateway drug into my current People magazine-obsessed world. They were the first "celebrities" that I took a real interest in, and I suppose some of that had to do with the fact that I, like so many little girls, wanted to be a princess.

Molly and I are planning on having a sleepover the night before the wedding and waking up early to watch it, complete with a breakfast of homemade scones, strawberries and cream and English Breakfast Tea. I obviously wasn't alive for Charles and Diana's wedding, so I couldn't be more excited to watch this one. While the press has been attempting to unravel the truth about what will happen that day, frankly, I would prefer to be surprised (so hopefully they don't spoil it for me by digging up every last detail!).

Since I have seen so many ridiculous wedding-related things in the past few months, I thought I would post a few of them here for posterity's sake:

- People had a gallery of the most ridiculous wedding-related memorabilia
- The Kate Middleton doll's adventures around London
- The William and Kate Lifetime movie
- The T Mobile Royal Wedding ad
- Papa John's Royal Wedding pizza
- Dunkin Donuts Royal Wedding donut
- Royal Wedding-inspired food and drink
- Design-your-own Royal Wedding stamp

I'm sure there are more ridiculous things I'm missing, but I'll add in any more particularly humorous ones that I find!

My Official Induction into the Running World

Christine and I just after our race!

Those of you who know me best will remember that, despite a couple of phases of infatuation with running in college, during which I would want to run every day for a month or two until the passion fizzled out, I would say that I hate running. I think that, when I was in physical therapy last year for a freak knee injury and was told I couldn't run (HA, not that I was a runner anyway), I really wanted to start again, so start I did once my physical therapist gave me the green light.

Throughout the fall and winter, I put the miles on, built up my speed and, yes, even grew to tolerate the monotony of the treadmill. My New Year's Resolution (I feel like it's better if I share it, since then I will maybe force myself to hold to it) was to run a half-marathon, and I soon set my sights on the Historic Half-Marathon in May. Well, my body had other plans; it seems as though every time I run, some confused combination of knees and ankles decides to get injured, meaning that I don't think I've ever run more than 9 miles.

However, a friend told me about the Hurry Up 4 Health 8K that was taking place on the towpath along the C&O Canal last weekend and I couldn't resist. 'What a perfect foray into the world of running races,' I thought, so I hurriedly signed up. Well, my poor, broken body had other plans for me, because I did something to tweak my right ankle during a run on Tuesday, and then a run on Thursday further exacerbated it, leaving it swollen and incredibly painful to walk on. On the day of the race, I gave myself a lazy day (even though I easily run the same distance several mornings a week 15 minutes after popping out of bed with no lazing-around time...but that's beside the point) and met my parents down by the Potomac (where my dad, ever the crew enthusiast, had dragged my mom to a crew race and looked like a little kid in a candy store). They had (adorably) decided that they wanted to watch my race, so we walked over together. It also turned out that my friend Christine was running the race, so we decided to be running buddies.

I was surprised at how nervous I was before the race; for all intents and purposes, this was a "normal" race for me, but it was my FIRST race, and damn it, my ankle hurt. I resolved to run until the pain became too much to bear, even though I knew, in the back of my mind, that I wouldn't let myself quit (my mom often uses the word "headstrong" to describe me, but, in the context of exercise, I don't really think she gets where my self-discipline (or maybe masochism) comes from). Surprisingly, my ankle didn't bother me at all during the race, although having to dodge rocks, puddles and the occasional root certainly made me nervous. It was a lot more enjoyable because Christine and I were pacing each other the entire time, and we ended up finishing two seconds apart, me at 41:08 and her at 41:10. Despite the fact that I didn't finish with the blazing speed (just over 30 minutes) of the guy who won, I was pleased with my time for the first race. As I crossed the finish line, where my beaming dad stood taking a picture on his phone (only to fail at saving and sending it...oh well, he tries) and slowed down...oh, God, ouch, my ankle was killing me, and suddenly I couldn't put any weight on it. The only justification I can come up with is the runner's high that I must have been on (I can fully attest to the fact that it does exist), and I think the adrenaline just kept me from noticing the pain.

Nearly a week later, my bothersome ankle is still swollen (perhaps because I tempted fate and run on it again yesterday), but I can now say that my first race is behind me. Hopefully 2011 will be the year that I do run a half-marathon, even though so much of it is conditional upon my body and the extent to which it lets me train. Stay tuned...the next one I'm considering is the Rock 'n Roll Half in Virginia Beach, which I believe is in the fall. Otherwise, I'm hopeful that I can get myself in shape for the National Half-Marathon on the same day as the MCM. Thank you all for humoring me!!! I'm sure you could probably care less about my 8K, but it was a victory for me (I may have shed a tear thinking back to elementary school, when I was the girl with asthma who couldn't finish the Mile Run because she had an asthma attack every time), and it is hopefully a building block to bigger, better races!!!!

A Very D.C. Reunion

CAKKEEEEEEE
Beautiful friends
What we do best
Hail o Georgetown alma mater...back where it all started

We all know how I feel about reunions. As the resident sap of my friend group, I am the one who insists on regular Skype dates and reunions as often as possible so that I can see my beloved friends, whether virtually or in person. Our little group has been coined by a friend of a friend as the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and I think that is a reasonably good estimation of how close all of us are. As I have said before, I am so grateful for my experience at Georgetown for so many reasons, one of the principal ones being that I had the opportunity to meet better friends than I ever could have imagined.

My reunion in Chicago with Allie, Kate and Kristin was, as I described in a previous post, everything I could have imagined. I had unadulterated free time with some of my best friends exploring a brand new city, so there really wasn’t anything I could complain about. Saying goodbye at the end of that visit was certainly difficult, but, like with our goodbyes after graduation (which, granted, given the finality of the end of college, were decidedly more teary), we knew that we would be seeing each other again in just a few short weeks. In the case of graduation, we knew that the weekend of June 12th, Kate’s wedding, would bring a reunion of epic proportions (it more than lived up to the hype!), and this time, we knew that we had Reunion/Birthday weekend to look forward to.

We figured that, with my birthday on the 24th, Kate’s on the 28th and Molly’s half-birthday on April 1st (as well as Alexandra’s actual birthday on April 9th), that gave us a great excuse for a weekend-long reunion. Our friends traveled in from far and wide (Alex took the train down from NYC, Kate DROVE 747 miles from Columbus (the winner for distance!), Kristin flew 660 miles from Chicago and Allie flew 522 miles from Ann Arbor), and what ensued, unsurprisingly, was a sappy, nostalgic reunion weekend that I can only think of one word to describe: perfect. We took one big walk down memory lane this weekend, beginning with a pre-birthday dinner (this was just me, my dad and Tim) at Tombs—on what happened to be Chimes Night!!!!! I had, shockingly, never been before, and was thrilled to be there.

We had a delicious birthday dinner on Thursday night with the people who were in town (Molly, Lauren, Kate, Katherine and Joelle) in what started off our weekend of gluttony. I had decided to give myself a dispensation from my no-sugar Lent for the weekend, a decision that I definitely came to regret on several occasions throughout the weekend. I had decided to take the day off on Friday so that Kate, Molly and I could run errands and not have to eat into our time with our friends to rush to and from the grocery store before the party on Saturday. The highlights, though, were when we met up with everyone (minus, Allie, who had a later flight) for dinner at Tombs. I know, twice in one week, I’m starting to sound like my 99 Days self! There were a few tears shed over being back in the place where so many of our senior year memories took place, and I know some girls who couldn’t have been happier to munch on their first Southwest Chicken Salads in nearly a year. After dinner, we went back to Molly’s apartment to gab, eat (claro) and watch Gilmore Girls, an old standby. Once Allie arrived, the reunion was complete!!!!

On Saturday morning, we schlepped over to Eastern Market in search of a brunch locale. Unfortunately, Belga, the delicious Belgian place that Lauren and I so love, wasn’t able to accommodate so large a group, so we ended up finding another restaurant. Following our yummy brunch, we wandered around the market, ogling the jewelry, pictures and other wares and fulfilling our fruit quota for the day with the free samples in the farmer’s market. We then ventured over to the Tidal Basin (despite some hesitation on my part, as I feared it would be a mob scene during the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival) to take in the GORGEOUS cherry blossoms. We were glad to have gotten a look at them, because we knew snow was in the forecast for Sunday morning (yikes!!!!) and we didn’t know if the blossoms would survive.

On Saturday night, we had a bunch of people over for cake, and then met up with the bulk of our group in Adams Morgan at Brass Monkey/Peyote Café for karaoke. As usual, we impressed ourselves with our superior song choices that set the tone for the evening (we essentially pulled out 80s hits like Don’t You Want Me, Don’t Stop Believin’, Sweet Child of Mine, Total Eclipse of the Heart and, of course Your Love- I think the latter may have to be retired though, because, even though it is my ALL-TIME favorite song/go-to karaoke song, I think others are beginning to get sick of it!!!). It was hard to have a really sustained conversation with any one friend, as I was flitting between friend groups as well as singing, but I just felt so blessed to have so many wonderful friends there, both local and long-distance. When we arrived back home at around 3:15 (a reasonably late night for us!), we rehashed the night and how wonderfully the weekend was going.

We made our way back to Georgetown on Sunday morning for brunch at Martin’s Tavern, and then indulged in the cornerstone of our nostalgia, a trip to campus. There were tears…oh, were there ever tears. I said to each of my out-of-town friends, “Welcome Home,” because that’s what Georgetown is to us: home. It is the place where our friendships with each other blossomed, and, no matter what our walks in life, where we’re living, what we’re doing with our lives, we will always share that special place and the memories that we made there. Fittingly, we ended the weekend all together with a trip to Baked & Wired (down with Georgetown Cupcake!) and further gorged ourselves on sweets. When Allie and Kristin caught a cab down by the waterfront to head to the airport, we all gave each other the biggest of hugs, ended with a ginormous group hug and a “Ya Ya!!!” cheer (we must have thoroughly freaked out the cab driver) and parted ways.

After Mass, Kate, Molly, Lauren and I went to Dukem, one of Lauren’s and my favorite Ethiopian restaurants, for Kate’s birthday dinner. Since today is her 23rd (HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!!!!!!), she wanted to try a kind of cuisine that she had always regretted not trying while in DC. Understandably, it didn’t disappoint, and we topped it off with the rest of the birthday cake when we got home. Kate and I got up for a much-needed workout early this morning (she got a taste of my morning routine- I think the 5am wake-up may have been a little bit of a shock to her system!) and got to enjoy each other’s company for a little while until I could no longer evade reality and had to head out to work. Our goodbye was so bittersweet, because, on the one hand, we had just spent the perfect weekend all together, but, at the same time, God only knows the next time we will all be together like that. My vote is to go to Austin next year once Kate and Dave are settled there (I’ve never been to Texas, and have just heard amazing things about Austin!), but the new reality, the reality that we won’t all be seeing each other every day, is downright depressing! I have to believe, though, that our commitment to our friendships can transcend distance and that we can still take an active interest in each other’s life developments even if we’re not a room away. With sisters, you can really never stop caring…

A Very Chicago Reunion

I bought myself two things when I got my job: a pair of Tory Burches, which I had been lusting after for four years, and a plane ticket to Chicago to visit my friends. We all know that I have issues with separation anxiety, so, rather than spend my money on things I don't need, I decided to spend it on something that would lead to the creation of lifelong memories (pause for awwwwwing). This trip really had been a long time coming: I had seen Kate twice since the wedding (once when I traveled down to Columbus in July and once just before Christmas), Kristin once (over Christmas break) and Allie not at all since the wedding, so a reunion was definitely necessary. Not to mention the fact that both Kristin and Allie were on spring break, both happened to live in Chicago (Kristin lives and goes to school there, and Allie's parents live there in a GORGEOUS apartment), and Kate and I were badly in need of some time with our girlfriends. Put all of that together and you have an all-out lovefest!

We all remarked that, while we saw and did a lot (including a 5 1/2-mile walk on Tuesday as we traipsed all around the city, up and down the Magnificent Mile, to the Navy Pier and back- it's a good thing, too, because it helped offset the Cake Shake from Portillo's, gourmet hot chocolate from the Ghirardelli store, and all of the other decadent food we consumed on the trip (I also thanked God for the fact that both A & K's apartments had gyms)), the pace was not overly frenetic. We really listened to ourselves; if we were tired, we ducked inside a coffee shop or a restaurant, out of the cold late February cold, and chatted up a storm. We regaled one of Allie's law school friends with our debaucherous tales from the wedding, and spent a lot of time in general rehashing our last few months all together.

All in all, I really loved Chicago. Don't get me wrong, I could never live there because of the weather (I rarely took off my down coat all weekend, even when indoors- I guess that's what you get when you have bad circulation!), but boy, was it a cool city. It definitely had a bigger-city feel than DC does, but the neighborhoods, at the same time, were really distinct. I loved the architecture throughout the city, which was really showcased nicely for us when we went up to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. As we sat there sipping our overpriced (but tasty) cocktails (really, you're paying for the experience, so it was fine), we were just in awe of how beautiful and expansive the city looked from up there. It was the perfect activity for our last night, and naturally the conversation turned reflective and sappy- it really was an all-out lovefest during which we all spoke to how blessed we felt to have such incredible friends and the means to be able to see each other like this, halfway across the country for Kate and I. Of course, there were tears (mostly on my end, claro), but it all comes down to the fact that I feel so incredibly lucky to have this group of friends in my life. I told all of them that, having grown up around Georgetown people thanks to my Dad's continued involvement there and already-strong network of friends, I had high hopes for the friendships I would hopefully make while on the Hilltop. The friends I made completely exceeded my highest expectations, and I have no doubt that, even if we are not in each other's physical presence every day, as we had become so accustomed to as undergrads, we still love and care about each other so much that we WANT to stay dialed in to each other's lives, and we WANT to go visit each other in our respective cities (I'm super-psyched to visit Kate when she moves to Austin!!!!!). So I think "blessed" is the most appropriate word to describe how I came out of the weekend feeling.

I can't WAIT to see all of the girls in exactly three weeks for BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!!!!

Rankings and Unconditional Love

Last week, we had a staff meeting that I was expecting to be much like other staff meetings- that is to say, not incredibly exciting. I knew we were going to be talking about rankings, because the Financial Times just released their 2011 Global MBA rankings, so I was expecting it to be a strategically-themed meeting about how to further boost our rankings.

However, I was so pleasantly surprised by the meeting, and found that it gave me some food for thought. First of all, although Georgetown did not move in its international ranking (it held strong as the 38th-ranked MBA program internationally, which, in my opinion, is not too shabby!) it jumped in domestic rankings from 19th to 17th, so that is certainly something to be proud of. The interim dean of the program asked if the students had had any sort of reaction to the news, and the general consensus among those who deal with the students the most is that they couldn't care less. That got me thinking about what effect, if any, rankings have among members of the student body. The Assistant Dean of Student Services said that, when the students are satisfied with what they are getting out of the program and feel like it is working for them, they largely ignore the rankings. It is only if they have just gotten back an assignment that they feel has been graded unfairly or have perhaps had a difficult interaction with a classmate that they gripe about rankings.

I then thought about my own undergraduate experience at Georgetown, since I can't claim to have had a particularly strong reaction to our MBA program's ranking jumping (even though I work in the program and a change in ranking is a reflection of not only my work but the work of my entire team, I don't consider myself to be someone who is overly obsessed with rankings). I remember when I was a senior in high school and was weighing the pros and cons of each of the schools I was considering. Sure, all of the schools I was looking at were what one could call "top tier" or "very selective" schools, but rankings certainly did not play into my decision about which school to attend. It was when I came to campus one rainy weekend in April for GAAP weekend that I first truly fell in love with Georgetown, not as a place I had visited so many times as a child thanks to my dad's continued involvement in the University, but as a place that I could see becoming my home. Like I said, ranking did not factor into my decision at all, and once I set foot on campus as a student, any sliver of concern with rankings melted away instantly.

In short, I think that your educational experience is what you make of it. Yes, it certainly helps to be surrounded by world-class faculty, staff and students, with a rich variety of course offerings to choose from that enable you to truly grow, but I think that your educational experience largely comes down to what you make of it. For me, Georgetown was a special place because of how accessible the faculty and staff were, giving me the sense that my professors saw me not as merely a number, btu as a fresh young mind that was ready and willing to be shaped under their tutelage. Even members of the administration, most notably Dr. Daniel Porterfield, a close family friend, take such an individualized interest in students that you marvel how they can be so high-functioning in their jobs when they devote so much time to individual students. I counted myself lucky to be surrounded every day by superior students (the first week of classes freshman year was truly humbling for me, as I realized that I was surrounded by high achievers, some higher than myself), but some of these students became my closest friends. So many people touched my life at Georgetown in a variety of ways, and I feel so lucky to have been surrounded by such an exemplary group of people.

I often got the feeling at basketball games that I was a part of something bigger than the individual. The coming together of the University community in support of a common goal (no matter how lackluster the student section may have been) was an intoxicating feeling, and I found myself stopping for a moment to soak in all of the Hoya love that saturated Verizon. I think that this spirit also extends to the alumni community. One of the things that initially attracted me to Georgetown was the exceptionally passionate and connected alumni base, which includes, but is certainly not limited to, my dad and his closest Georgetown friends. To see the boyish grin spread across my dad's face each time he sets foot on campus or munches on a Tombs burger and Tombs Ale is enough to bring the happiest of tears to my eyes, because that alumni loyalty is not something that you find at every school.

I took a different route to work on this Saturday morning, since GUTS buses weren't running early enough to get me to work. As I walked up P St. towards campus, I had a pang of nostalgia for the times that I used to walk regularly through Georgetown. I walked on P St. so many times this summer as I walked to and from the pool from my house. When I passed by that house this morning, I thought of all of the happy memories that I have from the few months (the beginning of last June through the beginning of August) that I lived there. Then, as I entered main campus and gazed at the spires of Healy, I felt such an overwhelming amount of unconditional love for the place, and the people that I associate with it, that has enriched my life more than I ever thought possible. Since it was so early on a Saturday morning, campus was completely silent, and I was hard-pressed to find anyone else walking around, so it was kind of like I had campus all to myself...and it was oddly comforting. Go ahead and laugh at me for yet another sappy Georgetown moment, but I know that, during my four years at Georgetown, I, and all of my friends, came to embody the spirit of cura personalis. In fact, in my current job, when people ask me what I like about Georgetown, cura personalis, the education of the whole person, always makes the list. Nothing I could say, though, could ever fully put into words everything that my time at Georgetown has meant to me. I feel lucky every day that this is where I went to school and where I continue to work. Who knows, maybe I'll turn into, as Lauren and I have discussed, a "lifer"!!!!

Bonne Année!!!

I know this is cliché, and everyone (including myself) says it EVERY YEAR, but where the hell has this year gone?!? 2010 has been an up-and-down year, which I think that any recent college graduate can relate to, if for no other reason than the fact that so many HUGE life changes have been packed into these past twelve months. I thought I would use this post to take a stroll down memory lane and look at some of my favorite 2010 experiences. I've been curled up on my couch for the past couple of days, watching the snow fall outside, with plenty of time to work on this (lengthy) post. Don't say you haven't been warned!!!!! Voilà my highs of 2010 (in chronological order), complete with pictures for the added effect (CLARO):

1) The Duke game: Well, that certainly lived up to the hype. I am very much of the school that maintains that every game is a big game, so I was trying not to get unnaturally excited about this one game. But it was so hard not to get into the spirit of things, what with the flyering around campus that week, the hype surrounding our impending campout, and the promise of a presidential visit to Verizon. Well, the campout was, well...COLD. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: even with about eight layers, plus handwarmers and feetwarmers, I was miserable, from the time my friends and I arrived at 11:30pm the previous night to when they let us into the building at about 11am the next morning (for a 1pm game). I remember how exciting 5am was when the McDonalds (the sketchiest place on the planet) opened up, because that meant I could get a hot chocolate and get in out of the cold for a few minutes. By the time the late morning hit, the line for the student section stretched several city blocks, and even people who had absolutely no interest in basketball were caught up in the excitement of the day. Was it worth it? Uh, YES. Standing mere feet away from Mike Krzyzewski, who really does look oddly devilish, and watching a game in which we played out of our minds and won 89-77. Yeah, I would say that January 30th was a pretty good day. I almost started crying from exhaustion as the Circulator slowly attempted to navigate the snowy DC streets back to Georgetown (it had started snowing about an hour before they let us into the building), and I was asleep before my head hit my pillow, not to awaken again for another 14 hours. But yes, the energy of the fans, the hype leading up to the game, and how amazingly we played, that made all of it worth it. I tell people that, since I missed Inauguration in January of 2009 while I was abroad, this frigid campout was my equivalent of Inauguration.
Mr. President himself, trying his hand at commentary!

Tent city outside Verizon. We got there at 11:30 the night before for a 1pm game, and we were NOT the first ones there!

2) Snowmageddon/Snow Week: People Magazine, in its 2010 recap issue, had a section on the catchphrases of 2010. One of those? SNOWMAGEDDON: “the term used to describe epic snowstorms- like the Feb. 6 blizzard that dumped some 30 inches of snow on Washington, D.C.” Don’t get me wrong, I loved the shout-out to DC, but it didn’t even come close to capturing how absolutely amazing that week was. Beginning with DCAF, the trek across Key Bridge to a friend’s apartment in Chinatown (where I wisely decided to stay the night before the game), the Nova game (with its shockingly high turnout considering DC was in the throes of its greatest blizzard in a quarter-century) and Senior Auction, that first weekend was epic. Add to that the fact that we did not have school (or work, for some of us!) for an entire week and you have the recipe for the Best Week Ever. Little work was done, much to the dismay of our professors, unless you consider pretending to work on your thesis in Lau “doing work.” Each afternoon, we would do the minimum amount of work necessary on the off-chance that classes would resume the next day, but once we got the broadcast email that the University was closed for yet another day, a resounding cheer went out that could be heard all across East Campus, and my friends and I quickly dashed across the street the secure ourselves a table at Tombs and keep the procrastination going for another day. I can picture myself telling my grandchildren about that week, because I don’t think I’ll experience anything like that ever again (although God knows I would gladly accept another blizzard of that caliber!!!!!!). Perhaps the most important contribution to Snow Week? An email from Provost O’Donnell, entitled “Snow, closing, coping” urged us students to flock to “Lauinger Library, that beacon of our commitment to learning and inquiry.” There was speculation among many that the Provost had been drunk out of his mind when he wrote it, although when I picture him typing it, I picture him sitting in his study, in front of a roaring fireplace and with a cup of coffee beside him at his desk, gazing out the window and drowning in tears because of the loss of another day’s worth of learning. That email was an inside joke for the rest of the year, and I think many of our parents were genuinely confused (I know mine were) when it was brought up at Convocation and then again at graduation.
View from 36th and N the day after Snowmageddon (storm #1 of the week)

3) 99 Days: Sure, it was just a bar challenge, but, as many of you know, the choice to participate in 99 Days was one of the best decisions I made during Senior Spring. I spent an insane amount of money throughout this process, but I gained so much more: a wonderful group of new friends that I might not have met otherwise, and a familiarity with the staff that still results in a slew of “Hey Kristens” when I revisit my old haunt. Sure, there were some low points (the night after the Cuse loss was rough, to say the least, and my 22nd birthday party was apparently not one of my best nights), but it was where our team racked up- count ‘em- FIVE trivia wins and where I had so many wonderful nights of dancing and drinking with friends. The last day- graduation day- was really bittersweet; I went in with my cousin Amy and ordered a Hoya Blue, which was such a nice bookend to 99 Days (I think I also got a lemonade, since shots don’t count!). I went back the next day to make it an even hundred, and, while I now spend a fraction of the time at Tombs that I once did, it still brings back fond memories every time I go back. Also, when the plaque arrived a few weeks ago (it was actually supposed to arrive in time for Homecoming, but there was an inexplicable delay), Miguel, one of my favorite bartenders, told me that I was the first 99 Days member to see it (it had arrived earlier on in the day, and I just happened to be there for dinner). I’ll have that to remember my experience by now, and I’m sure I’ll have to stop by and buy my brothers the obligatory birthday drink when they each turn 21 next year :)
Some friends I made during 99 Days

4) 22nd Birthday: Despite the fact that it ended in a level of drunkenness and blackout that I hadn’t experienced since my 21st, that entire birthday week was so much fun, mostly because it was also Kate’s birthday week. It was so nice to have someone to share a birthday week with, and I had an absolute blast at our joint party. Of course, there were a slew of embarrassing moments and hilarious stories from that night (I don’t think we’ll ever forget the time that Molly ladroned my beloved gold flower bracelet and, when someone informed me of this when I was getting sick, I momentarily looked up and said, “bitch”). It was also kind of bittersweet because it was probably the last birthday that I’ll have with all of my friends in one place.
My lovely roommies and I at Phase I of Kate's and my joint 22nd birthday party

5) Dip Ball: This was the first time that my friends and I had gotten really glitzed up while at Georgetown. I had spent days poring over dress websites over Christmas break and had found a beautiful gunmetal gray, grecian-style dress with a little bit of sparkle on the bodice (claro) that I fell in love with. Despite the fact that the heels had to be removed mere minutes after arriving at the Maison Francaise, it was so fun to put on a pretty dress, blingy jewelry and do the full hair and makeup treatment. It was just a really nice night out with friends (all of my closest friends went, which made it even more fun), having a not-your-average-Friday type of night. And when else can a college student say that they got the chance to mingle with diplomats?
We clean up nicely :)

6) Senior Week: I am hesitant to unequivocally characterize this as a “high” of 2010, as my closest friends will remember that night that came to be known as “Black Monday,” as well as that time when, for whatever reason, I stayed up until 6:30am playing beer pong with friends, and then proceeded to sleep through a breakfast that I was supposed to go to (my parents, however, WERE in attendance, and were seriously concerned that something had happened to me. Oops). However, those snafus aside, it WAS a great week in terms of spending time with my closest friends and taking advantage of time without homework and other activities. It was a week of unadulterated fun and reminiscing which, at certain points, turned into a royal sobfest. It was such a blessing to have that week before graduation together, because people began leaving almost immediately after graduation- the tearfests during Senior Week paled in comparison to those that ensued as each subsequent friend and roommate left the Hilltop.
Down at the Waterfront

7) (NOT) Graduation: To any of you who saw me on graduation weekend, you will recall that I was an emotional wreck. As excited as I was to claim some sort of “real person” status, I was in mourning about the fact that my time on the Hilltop was coming to an end (as an undergrad, at least). Graduation was an absolute whirlwind, a bizarre mix of a celebration of all of our undergraduate achievements and a series of painful goodbyes. Luckily for me, I knew that I had Kate and Dave’s wedding three weeks after graduation to look forward to, as all of my closest friends would be in attendance, but I knew that life would never be the same. I could no longer walk next door or across the courtyard when I wanted to chat with one of my friends; since graduation, I have had to dust off the old Skype account, which I thought I was done with after study abroad (up until late July or so, I was primarily talking to my friends over the phone, but discovered, thanks to my mom, that I was single-handedly using up all of our phone minutes- I guess that’s what happens when you’re having a minimum of hour-long conversations with 6-7 friends anywhere from every 3 days to every other week). Again, like with Senior Week, I would have trouble saying unequivocally that graduation weekend was a highlight for me, but there were certainly parts of it (the celebration of achievement, the family time and the last few chances to spend time with my best friends) that earned it a place on this list.
<3 <3 <3
With our siblings just after the ceremony

8) Jazz in the Sculpture Garden: I can’t believe I didn’t know about this (not so) hidden DC gem when I was here over the summer after sophomore year! It became Lauren’s and my weekly tradition; since we were both working part-time over the summer and had Friday afternoons off, we would meet up to catch the GUTS bus, beach towels and picnic supplies in hand. We would sit by the fountain at the Sculpture Garden’s center with our feet dangling in the water to try to get some relief from the scorching heat, sipping sangria (we bought a pitcher to share every week) and munching on a baguette, manchego cheese and fruit. Although I always look forward to Friday because of its marking the start to the weekend, I eagerly anticipated our time at Friday Jazz. Lauren and I had so many wonderful chats when we were there, and as the summer went on and we raved to more and more of our friends about it, we expanded our little jazz group.
Lauren, Annie and I

9) Kate and Dave’s wedding: It was such a pleasure for me to see all of Kate’s meticulous planning, much of which had happened at the desk next to mine in our little Nevils room, come together. She was a beautiful, blushing bride, and it only took one look at Dave’s adoring face as she walked down the aisle to see how much they love each other. It’s hard not to be a hopeless romantic when you see how wonderful love can be :) Every detail just encapsulated Kate and Dave to a T, and I was in awe of the vision that Kate had brought to fruition without the help of a wedding planner. Everything from the church (the Cadet Chapel is unspeakably beautiful) to the reception site (gorgeous, and the perfect size for the number of guests and with an amazingly large dance floor) to the music (they played my song request, so I can’t complain!) to the photography (the pictures are lovely, and I definitely admit to looking at them from time to time to look back fondly on the memories of that weekend) to the food, everything was perfect, and to see how happy Kate and Dave are makes ME so happy- how can you not believe in true love when you see such a success story?!? On a completely selfish note, not only was the wedding a true testament to Dave and Kate’s love, but it was also a perfect opportunity for a reunion with our closest group of girlfriends a mere three weeks after graduation. Despite the fact that it had only been three weeks since we had seen each other, I felt like we had already missed out on so much of each other’s lives, so the chance to gab endlessly in our hotel suite and catch up was certainly a welcome one. And since we are the type of girls that we are, the vast majority of the reception was spent on the dance floor. The party continued at our little afterparty, and the fun escalated to levels that I don’t think any of us could have predicted. Because of that, the wedding weekend set the stage for the glowiness of the remainder of my summer.
Georgetown girls and West Point guys with the blushing bride
The happy newlyweds :)

10) Tombs Trivia hostessing: After having participated in Tombs Trivia every Monday during senior year, culminating in our fifth team win on the Monday during Senior Week, I was, shockingly, asked to host trivia over the summer. Christine, the normal hostess, was going out of town for the weekend, and I guess she figured that I would know how everything worked since I had been a weekly fixture at Tombs for Trivia Monday since October. It was such a fun experience, especially since I chose to write my own rounds. I scoured Sporcle for days and reached to the recesses of my mind to come up with possible questions and themed rounds. I was told that my rounds were difficult but, due to popular demand, refrained from subjecting them to a celebrity trivia round. If I didn’t have such a ridiculously early bedtime, I would gladly host again. Aside from some AV issues, which Jon, the bartender that night, so kindly helped me fix, I thought it went off without a hitch, so I was happy!!! Everyone was so supportive too, whether on Facebook or by coming up to me during trivia, so thank you to everyone who was there and made my first hostessing experience such a success! And thank you to Lauren, my wonderful assistant and fellow grader, without whom it would have taken about twice as long!


11) 4th of July weekend: Several friends came to DC from out of town for 4th of July weekend, but, in the end, Molly, Lauren and I were inseparable. We started the weekend at Friday Jazz, followed by a night on U St. On Saturday, we ventured to Eastern Market for brunch and browsing, met up with some friends to watch Spain’s World Cup game, went out for Ethiopian in Adams Morgan and then went out there and in Dupont. On Sunday, the 4th, we went to a friend’s barbecue and then migrated to the Mall for fireworks and then over to Union Station for some pub-hopping. Finally, on Monday, we just spent a lazy day sitting around talking, culminating in an amazing multi-hour chat over a home-cooked meal that Molly and I had. In short, we took full advantage of everything the city had to offer that weekend, and I was so severely sleep-deprived by Tuesday morning that I was in tears, but if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t do it any differently. I know that I am guaranteed to have fun with those two no matter what we do, whether it’s going out dancing or simply having a gabfest, and that weekend certainly did not disappoint. While I was anticipating Molly’s visit for weeks on end beforehand, I really could not have imagined a better outcome. It was just 4 days of non-stop fun. I’ll always remember sitting in my little room, all three of us sitting on the air mattress that I somehow managed to squeeze into my little room for our multi-night sleepover, just chatting. While I had so much fun with all of the weekend’s activities, I got the most satisfaction out of just sitting and talking with two of my best girlfriends. Reunions really are the best :)
Jumping, what we do best!
With my favorites on the Mall for fireworks

12) Columbus: If the wedding weekend set the stage for my entire summer, my weekend in Columbus, Georgia was the weekend I had been looking forward to for the entire summer. It was the best of reunions on so many levels (beginning with a day of silliness and childlike reminiscing in Dalton with Molly and ending with a weekend reunion with loves new and old), and I can honestly say that I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire weekend. I’ll just leave it at that, because I couldn't have imagined anything better.
Gareth and I at lunch in downtown Columbus
Roomies reunited!!!!!!!!

13) Lake Winnipesaukee: The first few weeks of August were really rough ones for me, so that by the time the day of my departure for the Lake rolled around, I was more than ready to skip town and relax for a week in paradise. While I certainly got some time to focus on myself (with 2.5-hour daily swims, as well as lots of time for journaling and reflecting), I was surrounded by my favorite people, my immediate family and my “extended family” (two families worth of close family friends, to the point where I consider the other kids my siblings). The dynamic of the Lake family is such that I am pretty much constantly in stitches laughing, so it’s hard not to have fun while you’re there. I was so thankful too that, two weeks into my job, my boss told me, without hesitation, that I could absolutely go on vacation for a week. Words can’t even describe how much I needed it, and I was so grateful to her for being so understanding.
Who wouldn't fall in love with a view like this?!?!?
My brothers in their element- they crack me up!

14) Karaoke: We had been threatening to do karaoke for months (and tried, but failed, when Molly was in town for 4th of July due to a ridiculous cover at Cafe Japone). But we finally got to do karaoke at Brass Monkey in Adams Morgan in September, and it was well worth the wait. We went for a friend’s birthday, and got there early enough so that we were the only ones there for an hour or so, and, thus, got all of our requests played. There were a lot of songs sung in groups (think Britney, *N Sync and the like), but then Lauren, our friend Stef and I sang “Your Love,” my favorite ‘80s song...well, who are we kidding, it was mostly me doing the singing :) The pictures of that evening are just priceless because of how intense I am about singing, and how embarrassed Lauren looks haha! It was the most fun that I had had in awhile, and it was just a wonderful evening with friends old and new.
Do you feel the intensity? ;)

15) Homecoming: I think this could be renamed “Take Back the Tombs Weekend,” as we went there Friday and Saturday nights and then again on Sunday morning for brunch. The weekend started out with a huge group dinner (probably about 20-25 of us) at Bangkok, followed by a Class of 2010 open bar at Rhino, which was, surprisingly, a lot of fun, considering that it was Rhino. The great part of going back to Tombs, aside from the simple fact that we were going back to our beloved bar (for me, it was my first time going out there since graduation, since I had only been there for trivia, a quick drink or dinner over the summer), was that, as 99 Daysers, we got to skip the line with a guest. There were enough 99 Daysers so that we were able to pair off and get our friends in. Really, it was the least they could do, considering that our plaque still was not in. On Saturday, we all met up at the tailgate, which was so much more fun than I remembered it being the previous year, and we even went to the football game (my first Georgetown one, shockingly!). Despite the fact that I had been kind of ambivalent about Homecoming in the days leading up to the weekend (since, besides Lauren, Ann and Liz, none of my closest girlfriends would be there), it ended up being a blast, and I was able to reconnect with other groups of friends. And even though I had never really left the Hilltop, the feeling of walking through the front gates on Saturday morning and seeing the Welcome Home Alumni banner in front of Healy just filled me up with Hoya love and pride.
Ann, Lauren, Liz and I
Taking back the Tombs

16) Fun Night: When Colleen’s friend Bristol arrived in DC, one of the items on his to-do list was to do the monuments by night. Add in silly bands and some wine and you get “Fun Night”. I think that, as a city resident, I often feel like I need the excuse of someone coming to visit to do more “touristy” things, so it was nice to take some time after work to just be silly with friends and revel in being tourists.
Success!

17) Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear: When I read about the Rally the day it was announced, I said to my friends, “We’re going.” There was never any question that I was going to the rally- it was just a question of what time :) Luckily for the friends who went with me, our amazing friend Jess, who works for the event planning company that organized the Rally, got us tickets for the VIP section, which pushed our departure time back by a few hours. I’m not gonna lie, I was fully prepared to reawaken my inner Georgetown basketball fanatic and get there at 6:30 in the morning, but we got there at the only slightly less unreasonable hour of 8:30. The Rally itself was amazing, consisting of some great musical acts and, of course, the always entertaining Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. As I said in my blurb about the Duke game, the fact that I was in Europe for Inauguration made me even more inclined to participate to the fullest in such exciting events. It’s always fun for me to see DC get its due press when events like the Rally are held there.


18) First basketball game: I was a pretty unproductive person at work that day, because all I could focus on was 7 o’clock that night. At about 5:28, I closed the door to my office, changed from my work clothes to my jeans and WAG t-shirt, and raced to the GUTS bus. I listened to my pump-up basketball playlist (yes, it exists- judge away! It consists of your standard sports anthems, as well as songs that they play at Verizon) on the way to the metro, where I then met up with a friend. When we re-emerged from the underground metro at Gallery Place/Chinatown, I think it’s safe to say that I was grinning from ear to ear. I met up with Maggie, Lauren and Colleen (the latter was able to use a friend’s ticket who was unable to come to the game), and I was just bouncing off the walls with giddiness. Anne Mary and I had gotten there really early, which gave us time to buy the new WAG t-shirts (slogan “Victory Now, Georgetown Forever,” which I’m very pleased with) and sit in the near-empty arena for a little while and just embrace the moment. When Colleen arrived, she said that she had never seen me so happy, which, in the time she’s known me, is probably true. I was, quite literally, walking on air, and it was a good game, so that gave me something to get even more excited about.
So happy to be back at Verizon!!!

This is a pretty comprehensive list, but there were certainly other times in 2010 where I found myself consciously stopping and making sure to appreciate the moment. Thank you to all of you who made all of those moments special, and here's to a safe, happy and healthy 2011!!!!!!!!!