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 :)

Penny Meets Grandpa

Pietro's dad came to visit this weekend and he finally got to meet Penny and she loved him :) Also we took him to Central Park because after hearing about our visit there last weekend he really wanted to go

Penny yawning :)

Labor Day Weekend

On Labor day Pietro planned a romantic day in Central Park.  I have lived here for over a year and still we've never really taken advantage of what Central Park has to offer.  He handled all of the navigation and planned our route through the park and took me to the zoo and some pretty lakes and areas.  It was really cute to see him excited about not telling me where we were going next and if he hadn't already proposed I might have been a little suspicious :P The weather was beautiful and it was my last weekend before the stress of homework hit so it was nice to take a break from the world and just walk together for a while.  I forgot to bring my camera so a few phone pics will have to suffice but we will definitely be going back soon so I will get plenty of pictures then I'm sure

Last Year EVAAARRRR

I'm at that point in the year where school starts tomorrow.  Hopefully my last year ever... assuming I don't fail out of grad school.  I'm just not at all excited about it.  I'm old enough that even interesting sounding classes aren't enough to make it worth it anymore.  I've enjoyed having no homework this summer and working 40 hour weeks like a grownup that I should be by now.  Why do I have to go back to classes? Oh right, I chose grad school... no one forced it on me I know but I can't wait for it to be over.

In other news Penny just peed in the living room... after throwing up in the kitchen.  At least shes cute :)

*Knock Knock Knock* PENNY

I would like to introduce you to the beautiful new addition to our family that has been keeping us so busy.  Meet Penny :) (named after the character on the show Big Bang Theory).  This four month old Dachshund has been a handful trying to potty train her and getting her to sleep through the night and teaching her what not to chew but shes so freakin adorable and so much fun that its all worth it.  Walking her is a slow process because her cuteness stops people on the street every two steps and they all just have to pet her and ask us about her (it's actually quite frustrating). All in all Penny is doing well and slowly learning.  I've been obsessively taking pictures of her so here are a few and I'm sure there will be more to come

My Daddy is FIFTY

So as most of you know I went on a cruise last week.  We went on the biggest ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. It was both my dad's fiftieth birthday and my aunt (his sister in law)'s fiftieth birthday, they were born like an hour apart on the same day.  So anyway our family and my aunt's family went on a birthday cruise and it was awesome! Lots of sand and sun, my favorite excursion was Jamaica where we climbed a waterfall and then tubed down a gently flowing river and ended up on a beach with sparkling white sand and turquoise water where we ate jerk chicken for lunch...doesn't get much better than that.

Here are a couple of pictures, for the full set go here

The BEACH

So this post is a little late... 45 hour work weeks are harder than they look, now I know why adults complain so much

Anyhoo Pietro and I went to the beach early in July with my friend Courtney who lives out on Long Island.  She took us to Long Beach where we had a day out of the city relaxing in the sun.  I was working on my tan for the upcoming cruise too.  Of course I brought along my camera so here are a few photos of the day.  Soon I will post cruise photos from last week I promise

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