MSG Win!

Last weekend was a great one in the history of Syracuse University sports, our football team upset Rutgers with some surprisingly impressive play, our women's basketball team is hott stuff and continued to dominate, our ice hockey team is turning their season around, and the cross country team had the highest finish at Nationals in school history. All that being said- the Men's Basketball team was playing at Madison Square Gardens for the coaches vs. cancer tournament. We were coming in ranked behind the other 3 teams competing, but by the second night, we were clearly dominant. We've jumped into the top ten in the polls (the highest jump of any of the teams this season) and our boys are looking good.

That being said, thanks to the iSchool and Jeff Rubin from Internet Consulting Services, who runs the SUAthletics website, Anthony and I, who were travelling for work, scored some tickets for the first SU game of the tournament against Cal. While we had to miss the Big Apple Orange happy hour for work, we were able to join a few minutes of the post party, and really enjoyed the game and the seats.

Thanks iSchool and Jeff!

We found Ann and Binh at the after party celebration!

Saranac

Each fall I try to take a weekend or two at Young Life's Camp at Saranac Lake, with other leaders/groups of friends or with students as a mentor, it's always a lot of fun and this past weekend was no exception.

The weather was warm enough to go without a jacket and the steam rose each morning from the lake, while the fog rolled in over the mountains each night. Beyond the beauty, we had a lot of fun. Check out some of the photos from the shaving cream fight...

Cali Love

On Monday, I flew from LA to San Francisco- one of my favorite cities. There's always something new to see, lots of great assets in the region, awesome people, food, views, culture... it's really just a fun place. While I spent most of my time working... visiting schools, hosting alumni events, and discovering new iSchool opportunities (sometimes haphazardly), I was able to sneak in a little fun, as you can see in the photos below.

SF from the ferry in the harbor:

Took the National Park Service ferry and tours of Alcatraz island early one morning.
Spent much of my time cautioning the iSchool's Social Media Strategist, Anthony not to harbor or assist in the escape of any prisoners...

Cant say he wasn't warned... this is the lockdown cell, when you close the door, complete darkness. There are four of these cells for the really terrible prisoners... scary scary places.

View down the hallway of the main cell area. The NPS really gave a great audio tour of the place.
There was some really cool old architecture...

Sea Lions on the pier at dinner one night...

We also toured Santa Clara University, which has a very beautiful campus.

Awesome visit. Great alumni. Very accomplishing week.

Nodding my head like yeah...

A quick weekend in LA...

Last week work sent me out to San Francisco for some alumni events, and in true Julie fashion I tacked on a few days in LA and managed to sneak in a few good hours of play in San Fran.

I stayed with my best friend from when I lived in Spain (during college), Kristen for the few days I was in LA and she showed me her favorite parts of the region... Kristen's not the biggest fan of living in the LA area, as she's from Portland, OR - which is much more Kristen's style, and she's proud to tell you all about home. Based on her enthusiasm, I for one, can't wait to experience Portland one day... but that's another entry.

Kristen and I went wine tasting Saturday in Temecula, camped that night just a bit beyond the vinyard region with a whole bunch of medical students from Western University (one being Kristen's boyfriend Matt) and then went on Sunday to watch the LA Galaxy play Las Chivas in the MLS playoffs. Dispite the working and the few extra days of traveling, the weekend was totally worth it as it was sooo nice to catch up with Kristen, and to see Christina.

Temecula - SoCal's wine country...

Julie, Kristen, Christina -reunited.
Our campsite...
Morning view from the campsite.
LA Galaxy playoff game... it was an exciting night, thanks to some great tickets from Adidas.

Row F, VIP parking, Beckham and Landon Donovan... it was such a cool treat.

LA TEASE... just a photo, more to come

Alcatraz Island

LA Galaxy Game

Catch up and the Big Move

The past two weeks since my last entry have been eventful to say the least...

I've visited almost every corner of the State of NY, from Albany to Rochester to Ithaca to NYC... and have seen various friends, schools, students and alumni along the way. With work so busy, I for some reason thought it'd be a great idea to plan a move.

Not just any move, a buy-my-first-home, move-3-tennants-and-some-kitties-with-me move. It started last Thursday with closing and a pizza party on folding chairs in my new kitchen... a week of wallpaper stripping, painting, repairing, preparing, and slight construction for endless hours ensued, and culminated in BIG MOVE DAY on Halloween. While a big move, it went as good as any move can go with the help of some amazing friends,* and family. We were completely into the new house within a few hours, unpacked by the next day and hanging photos and curtains on Monday.

Everyone so far is happy and getting settled. I just wanted to share a few photos and a BIG THANK YOU to all of our supporters.

Dining room's 1945 original wallpaper.... It took forever to get that stuff down. Empty living room and staircase...
Dad's big bathroom project...
Mom (painting) and mad I'm taking her picture..
The move truck is here...
A bit blurry shot mom took of me at move in...
Dad sorting out the dining room furniture... (notice it's new look).

Kristi, Susan, Elle and Rob moving stuff in...

Mom prepared quite a bit of food for the big day... Natalie and Dad taking a break.
The aftermath...
They came to eat all the leftovers...

*Thanks to the big move day crew: Mom, Dad, Brian, the roomies, Binh, Susan and Rob, Kateri and Tyler, Taylor, Kristi, the Ottos, Dena and Shana... and all my painters and contractors throughout the week: Jess and Lizzie, Katie, Sean and Zakk. You guys rock my world.