Girls Getaway - No Working or Boys Allowed!

Last weekend was a quick NYC weekend. I went with my Mom, Aunt and cousin... and man did we have a blast. Lots of laughter and catching up... long walks through the city, and broadway shows... shopping and eating. While my Aunt and Cousin were way better at capturing the moments and taking photos...I snapped a few, just of the girls to remember the weekend and share with you. Hope you had a good weekend too.

Mom and her sister, and lunch near the gardens upon our arrival to the city. Watch out New York, here we come.



Mom, Aunt Chrissy and Stacey, Rockefeller Center.

Back to Chi-town

I've done quite a bit of travelling recently as you've probably noticed - from Beantown, to Hotlanta to Chi-town in 3 weeks... I've been racking up the miles this month... and falling behind on the blogging. Once again it was Anthony and I doing some exploring, this time in Chicago during the first week of February. From a long day of walking all the major sites to a quick trip to the northside for a Wrigley Field visit and some time at the Chicago History Museum (which is awesome by the way).

Anthony and I reflecting in the bean at Millenium park... i love photographing this thing:

Through the trees:

Anthony in the bean...

It was a cold day at the ball park.

The Harry Carey statue.

At the Chicago History museum, I made myself into a Chicago style hotdog in the Children's Senses of Discovery section...

The old railcar of the Chicago transit system inside the museum.

People have been asking if I actually do work when the University sends me out somewhere... to that I answer of course, I just don't take pictures of my work normally... and I always sneak in a little fun and exploration somehow. But just so you believe that I was actually doing work related things while in Chicago.. here are some pictures from the iSchool's social media event at the Chicago Tribune and a few from the iConference at University of Illinois. Though they're not nearly as exciting as the others, they are what you asked for. Enjoy!

Social media reception at the Tribune:




Margaret and Anthony debriefing the presentation at the iConference.

Dean Liddy, Associate Dean Jeff Stanton and PhD student Jamie chatting at the iConference.

Atlanta Roadshow and Visit with My Brother

I spent five days down in Atlanta at the end of January.. hoping to skip out on the cold and snow, I was grateful for being sent down south... however it was just as cold while I was there (albiet a little sunnier). Anyway, the first few days I worked and did some minor exploring with Anthony. The following few pictures are from Centennial Olympic park right in the heart of downtown.

Anthony and the olympic rings.

We also took a tour of CNN studios.. unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the studio, nor was our tour guide that wonderful, but it was still neat to see.

Then I spent the weekend with my brother who recently moved to the Atlanta area to work at Lockheed Martin... with Lockheed under so much security, I also wasn't allowed to take photos here, but I did make Brian pose with the sign at the entrance. It was a very cool tour in that I got to see a plane (CJ130) being assembled start to finish.

I also made Brian venture back downtown and because of the rain we decided to hop into a tour at Coca-Cola (I took a lot of tours this week)... and this is a great tour.. Coca-Cola really does a great job welcoming guests and allowing people to feel they're sharing in the Coca-Cola experience and process.

I also really love mascots, and Brian's going to hate me for posting this photo, but I think it's a good one.

Overall, a great weekend of exploring...

Cross Country Skiing Adventure

In late January a whole big group of us caravan-ed out to my parents' who were gracious enough to host us for breakfast and then dad took us out to the trails. We headed up north to the adirondack foothills and the breia trails. We also found this great place that allowed us to borrow skis for free... There was lots of falling, laughing, sledding, coaching from Dad, and "butt skiing" from Natalie. Thanks for the fun time.

In the warming hut... which wasn't actually very warm.

Friday Night Ice

My roommate Elle is a St. Lawrence alumni... and has to hear the enthusiasm of the overwhelming SYRACUSE crowd that almost always surrounds her. In effort to make peace, and to see some college hockey... a few of us drove up to Canton, NY last friday after work to see the SLU vs. Brown game.

(For the record SLU beat Brown 5-2 that night)

Elle and Jeff at the game.Elle gave us the exclusive Canton tour... with pizza stops at Sergi's, a quick trip to pick up a scarlet and brown hat at the bookstore, a drink at the hoot owl, and a drive through campus and town... and of course the game.

(Julie and Elle at the Hoot Owl... a little dark, but a really fun north country place)

We also snuck into Elle's old sorority house where she showed us around and talked about her favorite memories... just to be clear, if I had met Elle in college, we would not have been friends.

(Telling stories in Kappa)

Baby Abigail

Congratulations to Joe and Jen Cassel as they welcome Abigail Emery into their family. Thank you for letting Susan and I stop by and snuggle with her at only 21 hours.

Jen, Abby and Julie

Susan (looking glamorous) and Abby

Boston is for Books

Last weekend I drove out to Boston to work the long weekend.. (Boston view from my hotel window:)

another Library recruiting conference. This was by far the best of these conferences (and I've been to four in the past year) that I've worked at. Though I'm not directly involved as a registered participant, I do get to enjoy the perks of the conference as an exhibitor... and by perks, I mean some good swag.

I came home starstruck by speakers like Elizabeth Gilbert and Al Gore, carrying heavy librarian tote bags filled with free books, enthralled by the magical mind of JK Rowling, and exhausted after overeating delicious chowder and north end italian all weekend.

(Al Gore speaking on Our Choice, creative solutions in the climate crisis to a standing-room only crowd of enthusiastic librarians).

Because a bunch of students came out to the conference to help out and do some job searching and networking, my schedule was pretty freed-up. Consequently I visited lots of friends, made a Sunday morning ikea run, and took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Boston Museum of Science, with an SU alumni and museum employee in the Computer Clubhouse. As both an enchanted student and an iSchool employee the museum of science is an outstanding place.

(ABOVE: the main museum exploration area. If you're going make sure you check out Cahner's Computer place and meet the virtual humans, Innovative Engineers and Mapping the World around us, I loved the weather and wind stuff and my mind was boggled in the Mathimatica area. It was really exciting to see yound students learning - and excited about- the STEM disciplines. Hopefully a few of them will be iSchoolers soon. BELOW: Nick my trusty tour guide providing free(!) tickets and an all access pass to everywhere). Also at the MOS right now is "Harry Potter the Exhibition" - drawing large crowds, and creating lots of conversation... as all things Harry Potter always do. As a fan myself, Nick brought me through the exhibition which didn't feel at all like a science museum, but instead was more like being on set at Warner Brothers. (Photo below of me posing with a giant chess piece from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at the Museum entrance).

All in all, another great weekend.