Busy weekend

After a hectic Thanksgiving with lots of family, lots of food, and lots of leftovers, life has not calmed down yet.

I've had so much stuff scheduled in and around my multiple end-of-semester papers and exams I don't know how I'm still awake right now.

Some find highlights of this past week:

-Finished the final teacher-training session of the pilot program I have been working on at my internship

-Finished (hopefully) semi-successfully exam #1 out of 2 (currently working on paper #1 of 3 and presentation #1 of 2)

-Mailed our wedding save the dates :)

-Went ice skating in Central Park! (a friend works at the rink as a skating instructor and got us in)

-And last but not least celebrated my friends birthday in Hoboken!

So let's just say it's been busy, and it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon! This week more papers and presentations and next weekend celebrating my best friends birthday out of town, and the week after that my birthday! (seriously parents, why are all the kids born in December...?)

It's chaotic but I love this time of year with snuggly clothes and accessories and holiday decorations and parties, celebrations, and presents galore, not to mention family time and the miracle of Christmas :)

love love love December!!!

New Survey!

Hi guys!
Please follow the link below and take the survey, it is the follow up survey to the first one and I need as many participants as possible so I can pass and graduate!

Survey | Qualtrics Survey - Perceived Household Risk

Thanks!

Survey!

Please take my survey for my graduate school class!!

http://nyu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_7VXWUQDfQjuN0vb

Hurricane Sandy

Welp, survived my first true natural diaster this week.  Hurricane Sandy hit NYC hard.  I live on the west side of the island  close to the water so things got pretty scary.  There were a lot of flickering lights and emergency sirens and the wind was so loud it sounded like a train.  My apartment didn't sustain any physical damage thank goodness but the apartments across the alley from me lost a few windows, an apartment in the basement of my building caught on fire (caused by candles), and the entire front collapsed off of a building down the street from me.  We lost power for almost a week, we had no heat or hot water either so we wore two sweatshirts and three pairs of socks to bed every night and kept the icy cold showers to a minimum.  All of the food in fridge went bad and our dog got sick (and the vet was closed with no power either).  It was pretty miserable and with work cancelled all week we both had nothing to do but sit in our dark, cold apartment all day eating cereal and pasta.  walking outside was useless because there were no open stores or parks or anything and people were yelling and pushing each other desperate to locate supplies.

But we were better off than some people, at least we had running water and a gas stove to cook with and no flood damage.  We were well prepared with flashlights and candles and food and books and downloaded movies so we were not desperate for supplies like other people.  We kept our phones charged using our computers and nearby friends with power and only turning them on periodically. I'm thankful we survived, I'm thankful there was little damage to our living space, and I'm thankful I had my fiance and my dog to keep me company.  I could not have gotten through this alone. Pietro kept us updated on the news and evacuations through his iphone using twitter.

It was an adventure that we learned from and will talk about forever but I hope will never have to experience again.

I confess...

I confess, I have been a bad blogger.  I have had negative amounts of free time lately (work+school+wedding planning), and sadly this blog has suffered.
Never fear! I am not quitting!

As I am stuck inside due to hurricane Sandy (I'm in NYC getting the worst of it but haven't been evacuated yet) I will post about a few things that have happened lately.

The first part of the post is about the Red Ball Gala.
So my internship at Right to Play has been mostly about planning the upcoming New York Pilot Program we are going to run in the Bronx (funnily enough that was supposed to start today but got post poned due to Frankenstorm Sandy).  While I have been planning that, the other staff and interns have been planning this gala which is our biggest fundraiser.  It's basically a big fancy benefit where lots of famous athletes come and lots of rich people donate money.  It was a HUGE event and also a HUGE sucess, seeing as how we raised $1.5M.  in the weeks preceding the event I helped out a lot and worked the event with the rest of the staff and it was a blast!  We worked from 730am-midnight and it was exhausting but I got to network and meet famous athletes and other celebrities and the mayor and it was just so much fun.  I can't post the pictures myself due to copyrighting but I can share a link to the facebook album <- for the organization (and while you're there click "like" for the organization!)

The second part of the post is about Halloween!
It seems that the actual day of Halloween will be disappointing due to the weather but thankfully we got to celebrate a little bit this past weekend with some friends in Hoboken. I have not spent much time in Hoboken before this but it is actually a very cute little town and I would not be opposed to moving there someday.  For our cute couples costume this year, Pietro was the iPhone and I was Siri.  It seemed to be a hit and we got a lot of compliments.  Other costumes I saw at the even included flappers, a cowboy, Captain America, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, a warrior princess, three blind mice, Toucan Sam, a polar bear, Jesus, Beetlejuice, and rednecks.  It was fun times
Here are some (cellphone) pics!

back of iPhone

Siri

^ This is what my shirt says ^

iPhone and Siri

Kelly and Jen (as Flappers)

Me with Kelly (one of my bridesmaids)

Toucan Sam arguing with a flapper :P

The view from Hoboken at night

Oh Hello Published Writer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pietro-rea/from-liberal-arts-to-tech_b_1881879.html

So proud of my hubby to be :) Not even going to write more about it, I will let the article speak for itself

Free Food?

So among many foodie newsletters I receive via email, one of them directed me to this Yelp article describing different places to score free food in NYC.  Check it out here, if you live in the city you might find it useful... I know I can't wait to try a few of these out :)