These pictures are actually from back in, like, October--the house I grew up in (with a giant addition added on--it's easily three times the size it was when I lived there...weird), and the one Kurt lived in when we first started dating back in high school. Ah, memories.

Weekend in New York: Part 2

Here we are at Craig and Anne's! We were there with Craig and Anne (duh), Sy and Soren, Aunt Diana, and cousins Hans and Karl. Here is a picture of Hans (referred to as "Ponz" by Soren) and Karl trying to get a picture of Soren next to the giantest piece of cake, ever:

Here is an unfortunately blurry picture of Craig attempting to smush his son's face into said giant piece of cake (don't worry, he didn't really do it!):

Soren entertained us all through the evening by dressing up as (in no particular order): an army man, a cowboy, spiderman...

Soren also spent some time convincing the adults to play a game called Shark Attack. Sadly, it got a little competitive. Here he is, explaining it to us:

Santa made an appearance...

Aww, brotherly love!:

Finally, we got a visit from Thomas the Tank Engine. This is about 3.5 seconds from a meltdown:

We had such a great time with these guys. Craig and Anne are so awesome and we're so thrilled to have them living close by. It was so fun for Kurt to see his cousins (and for me, to meet them!) and it's just always nice to spend time with family. Thanks, Craig and Anne (and Sy and Soren!) for always showing us such a fabulous time :)

Our weekend in New York

February 13th, Kurt's brother Craig set up a little gathering with some of their (Kurt's and Craig's) cousins. Kurt hadn't seen his cousins in something like 10 years, so it was a great treat--also, we decided to go into New York City the night before, so we could catch up with Sean and Aaron, two of my best friends from college who live there. We stayed in a pretty cute little hotel in Midtown, and I took a few pictures:

Our cute little hotel room...

This is part of the mini bar (everything from Dean & Deluca! We made a visit to the store on Sunday afternoon). We somehow managed to lock the key in the fridge part of it. Can you tell neither of us has ever stayed in a hotel with one of these things before?...

Kurt and the bathroom. I know, lame.

We arrived in the city Saturday night and basically dropped off our stuff and then went to Sean and Aaron's, then headed out to get dinner (Ethiopian food! Who knew?) with the two of them, plus the girl Aaron has been seeing for a little while, whose name is Anna, and who we both liked a lot. We had a great time, talking about our childhoods and how we had better tv shows, toys, and book series than anyone else who grew up in a different decade, then headed out to meet up with some more friends from college (Sean's old roommates, who I haven't seen since probably 2006), before finally heading home around 2 am. Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture the entire night, but suffice it to say we had a fantastic time.

The next morning (err, afternoon?) we headed to Chelsea to meet my friend Emily (one of my besties from--wait for it--the first grade), and have brunch at Cafeteria, one of my favorite restaurants in the world. This was the first time I went there without either Beth or Tyler, but it was amazing as always. I had croissant french toast--I know--which was stuffed with baked apples and cinnamon and was basically the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. And, per usual, we had to have the mac and cheese:

Regular four-cheese on the left, with truffle oil in the middle (the first truffle anything I've ever had!), and with bacon on the right. It was amazing. If you are ever in New York, you should definitely go. 17th and 7th. You won't be sorry.

We parted ways with Emily, made the trek to Dean & Deluca (I want to live there), then met up with Sean again and went for the long walk all the way back to our hotel, where we packed up and left. Sean woke up the next day with an injured foot and I somehow pulled something in my leg and could barely walk the next day. I think we may be getting old?...Kurt, luckily, survived unscathed.

Anyway. Stay tuned for the post about visiting with Craig and Anne!

this is an incredible photo essay called "the julie project" that i happened upon through kottke.org; it is sad and powerful and beautiful and awful and i think everybody should see it. darcy padilla (the photographer) explains:

I first met Julie on February 28, 1993. Julie, 18, stood
in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel, barefoot, pants
unzipped, and an 8 day-old infant in her arms. She lived
in San Francisco’s SRO district, a neighborhood of soup
kitchens and cheap rooms. Her room was piled with clothes,
overfull ashtrays and trash. She lived with Jack, father
of her first baby Rachael, and who had given her AIDS.
She left him months later to stop using drugs.

Her first memory of her mother is getting drunk with her
at 6 and then being sexually abused by her stepfather.
She ran away at 14 and became drug addict at 15. Living in
alleys, crack dens, and bunked with more dirty old men
than she cared to count.

For the last 18 years I have photographed Julie Baird’s
complex story of multiple homes, AIDS, drug abuse,
abusive relationships, poverty, births, deaths, loss
and reunion. Following Julie from the backstreets of
San Francisco to the backwoods of Alaska.

Click the above photo for a link, or click here.

Happy Valentines Day, friends :)

this is tonya (on the right, with emily):



tonya is one of the research assistants i work with; she's super sweet and hilarious and adorable, and has been totally rocking these asymmetrical cloth flower necklaces in the past week that i have just loved. they reminded me of a necklace my sister-in-law anne:


(yup, i also stalked her facebook to find this adorbs picture of her with her husband/kurt's brother, craig. i feel ok admitting this because i think it's possible she'd be more proud of my internet stalking than weirded out by it...)

posted about in her blog a few months ago, that she actually won in a contest:



fast forward to me, last night, creepily stalking her blog and trying to find a link to this person's etsy store (found it!), and scouring etsy for necklaces. here are the ones i like:





this one is so romantic and pretty--although i have no idea what i'd ever wear it with!



this one is a little more "me;" i'm strongly considering ordering it...



i actually DID order this one. isn't it so pretty?



and um, maybe also this one. what? we just got our tax returns back and i think it was ok for me to buy myself a present or two :-p i really also love the one that anne has--and the ones tonya has been wearing--i think the cloth flowers are really cool and pretty.

anyway, that's what i've been doing for the last 12 hours or so! and, y'know, going out with friends from work and sleeping. happy weekend!

New desk! And a reserved chair.

This is what girls do to Jim. Particularly girls named "Cate."

Cakes from a decorating competition at Johnson and Wales...pretty incredible, no?