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.

Fall Foliage

I traveled to Western Massachussetts for work last week. I spent the week driving around visiting high schools and students. And let me tell you, there's not much going on in the Springfield Area, but if you hit the right timing, a drive up 91 off the Mass Pike could be the most gorgeous fall foliage you'll see that year. I was captivated by the historical beauty amongst deep fall colors all week. A few of my photos from the week are below.

A walk through historic Deerfield... where all the houses were built before 1900.

And toured the premier, private, all-girls liberal arts college, Mount Holyoke:

More B-MORE

This last week a bunch of the SU recruitment and admissions teams went down to Baltimore for the annual NACAC conference. It was a great time with thousands of other counselors talking about the future of STEM education in American schools, Obama's educational policies and the Government's promises regarding financial aid to middle-class families, Social Media as a recruitment strategy and other effective methods of marketing to teenagers. But unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that...

In the off periods- we had a lot of fun. We went crab cracking... walked through Federal Hill... rode the water taxi... ate out in Fells Point... explored the inner harbor area... and met up with lots of friends. Below are some photos from dinner out at Pazo with Kelly and Kristen... a tour of Camden Yards (where the Orioles play)... and some shots from the Canton Wine Festival.

Welcome to Bird Land... we found out Babe Ruth is Baltimorean, born 2 blocks from the ball park.

Bring on the wine festival... Kristen, Julie and Kelly, Canton Square, Baltimore
Kelly and Colin got engaged last month... they're having so much fun celebrating together. Another of the same; sans hood + porta-pottiesAnd then we took some lonnnnng naps.

Wedding Weekend

This weekend a whole group of us spent Sunday and Monday in the Finger Lakes of Central New York celebrating the wedding of Jeff and Melissa Dubois. The day was perfect, the ceremony deeply meaningful, and the reception elegant. The crowd from SU Admissions had a great time together, enjoying some awesome dancing. Meghan, Kristi, Kar-Lai and Julie

SU Admissions and Friends...

The Jewish wedding ceremony, was held at Camp Seneca Lake, the place that originally brought Melissa and Jeff together and the place they would work each summer as they got older. Actually between the two of them they've spent the equivalent of 20 summers at Camp.

The reception was held at Hermann Wiemer Vinyards on Route 14 - Seneca Lake (who serve an awesome semi0dry reisling). The setting was organically beautiful, but with Melissa's decorating style and her Mom's attention to detail, the vinyard, winery and dinner tent looked outstanding- making the evening magical.

Elle caught the bouquet ... Erica and Tim are the next ones to get married this coming February... Elle picked Jeff a baby apple....

Melissa and her Dad.