I left my heart in SF.

So I hopped on a plane and came home as soon as I could after I finisheid my internship and SF is pretty much the greatest place to live in the US...and I'm not biased or anything. I got in at 9 pm and the first stop on the way home was....you guessed it..In and Out. My stepdad was a little puzzled as to why i was craving it so bad...I don't think he understands the pure love of a fresh burger...sad. Anyway, it was delightful! And I didn't really realize how long of a flight it is from boston to SFO. Its LONG. Especially when you sit on the plane for an extra 45 mins waiting for the T-storms to go away. Grrr. But thank you jet blue for giving me sportscenter on the way over to make sure I didn't miss any of the scores.

At 10 pm my friend elizabeth from high school in Bellevue, WA came over as I inspected my brand new house! I have to say it was really weird to come home to a new house, but I love it! It has such a great pool and hot tub and its so cute and i think its much more homey than my old one...

At midgnight I went to my friend Melissa's bday party...it was a surprise...both for her and the people at her party b/c I showed up! Everyone was puzzled as to why I flew from Boston and then came to the party that night...anyway, so fun to catch up with old peeps.Here's a sweet pic of melissa and I. woo hoo!

I was SO tired and I went to bed at 1:30 AM....430 EST. Then Saturday the Stanford ward had a car wash/water fight and BBQ. IT was so great hanging out at the Stanford ward building again...*sigh*...such good memories. Sara, my best friend from growing up, and I were mischevious as always...just like old times. :-)


Sar and I working hard on washing that car....


After that I headed over to Karren's house for some trifle...it was to die for, I don't know how I didn't know about this delectable dessert before...I thought I was the queen of desserts...anyway SO GOOD. And I love their house...its in PA, great place.

At last...we went up to Golden Gate park in SF for this awesome BBQ...tons of kids up there. They set up a volleyball net, and I saw horseshoes..and then I said to Sar, I wish they had...CROQUET...and guess what, I looked over and they did! I was very happy. Jon played w/ us...he whooped Sar and I. Sar and I had a great time giggling like we always do. We were talking to some random boy who said, "what are you guys on?" which made us laugh even harder. As Sara said, "You don't know how familiar that phrase is to us". There's something about Sara and I...when we get together we giggle WAY too much and people get a little weirded out..haha
Sar in deep mediatation planning her next shot...


Great Action Shot.


Sar beating on Jon...haha

After that was horseshoes, I had the technique down but somehow it always bounced wrong so I never got a ringer. Brian, playing left handed b/c of his shoulder surgery, managed to get TWO ringers. Sadness. My team lost although we had the seasoned players. Grr.

Check out that form! Thanks Sar for getting this shot...


Jake, my other team member, made a valiant effort, though we still lost.

Here's Brian with his one armed throw...still good for TWO ringers!


After all that...we went to Grant's loft on Mission and 3rd...so tight! We didn't stay very long b/c we were all so tired...and I was so ready for bed. It was a crazy saturday. My mom wondered where I was all day and she said, "you are just using me for a bed!" So I made her feel better by hanging out w/ her all yesterday. haha.
And as we walked away, Brian almost forgot his shopping cart.

Ode to Biogen Idec.

Alas, my reign as queen of the cubicle is soon coming to an end. What a journey it has been. These past 8 weeks have flown by as I've learned to manage having a completely empty schedule somedays at my internship. I've fallen asleep in meetings, I've learned the art of clicking away from gchat while my coworkers walked by, I've learned how to chat around the water cooler, I've learned how to gracefully walk in late, leave early, and take 2 hour lunches...all in all I've had a great internship. I really can't complain. I just wish I had felt like I actually did something...oh well.

California in T-minus 3 days....

Thats right, after an 8 month hiatus, I'll will be returning to my homeland.

Things I can't wait for:
1. see my mom's new house...a new pool and hottub!
2. in and out -- first planned stop on the way back from San Jo
3. Haight Asbury district clothing exchanges -- getting stuff for cheapo that is awesome and I get to sell my clothes
4. Stephanie Miner and her SF marathon -- (steph, am I still planning on running a 1/2 with you?)
5. SUNSHINE
6. Santa Cruz beaches...*sigh* And for once I will think the water is WARM. Its all relative.
7. Stanford Ward kiddos!
8. Stacks lumberjack pancakes
9. Peninsula Creamery's chocolate shake
10. FOG. Yes, I do miss it. But its that real ocean smell I miss that comes in at night and you have to get all bundled up when you go to the beach and I miss wearing big hoodie sweatshirts in the summer.
11. PacBell park for a giants game
12. Running the Stanford Dish
13. Spoon and Death Cab concert at the Greek
14. I'm hoping for a TP team renunion
15. Seeing luke, my mom's best friends kitten..awww
16. Did I mention sunshine?

Things I'll miss:

1. Corey Cooper...just don't move!
2. Getting up to Gloucester/Ipswich
3. The inflatable slide
4. Biogen Idec (hahah)
5. Sox games
6. Having lots of free time in boston
7. running along the charles

My Nieces are Cuter Than Yours....Sorry.

I just finished watching The Hills and Bed of Roses and I got on a major sugar high from having a butterscotch dip cone. So I'm wired listening to Minus the Bear -- my fav band of all time...thanks Mike! anyway so I was looking through pictures and I found these adorable ones of my nieces. I had to post them. I feel somehow that my nieces are evidence that my family has good genes. And I feel really good about the fact that Haley, the younger niece, looks exactly like I did when I was little. I can only pray my kids will be this cute. Seriously.

Realizations.

1. I don't miss law school at all. I actually erased most of my first year memories from my brain. I think that's a pyschological thing...where something was so bad your brain tries to purge it from your long-term memory bank. I'm serious. I came to this realization that I'm so much happier not being at law school everyday. You know, last year really did suck. A lot. I learned a lot and I found most of my classes interesting, but my whole life was lopsided. All I did was study and I felt miserable about it. One of my friends, Michael, before he left for New York told me that I looked so much happier, that I had transformed throughout the year. He literally said, "Your energy is so much different now. You look great!" I told him it was because I wasn't stressed all the time anymore. He agreed.

So yesterday, law school memories faded back as we heard about who go on law review and who got on what journal. At 2:30 pm my friend Cheryl imed me and told me she made law review. A sense of panic then set in...what if I didn't make a journal? Law review people were getting calls and I didn't have my cell phone on me yesterday. I was frantic. And again all those feelings of "I'm not good enough" crept in. Law school messes with your mind! I haven't had my self-esteem tied to school work since high school. Its quite a horrible feeling. Anyway, so I went home early once I told the attorneys in the office that I forgot my cell phone and people were hearing from journals. But I had NO missed calls! I freaked out again. Once I got home I knew I had to go on a run to keep myself sane. And yesterday's weather was so awesome...no humidity! It felt like CA weather I was so loving it! Hmmm...Tangent.

...back to forgetting about law school. So last night when celebrating making law review and the american medical association law journal, susan and I caught up on a little law school news. I had completely forgotten about my horribly terrifying constitutional law professor, maclin. Susan apologized profusely for reminding me about him, but I take this as a really good sign that I'm letting go of the "i'm so scarred for life" events that transpired over the course of last year. And it makes me happy that i feel free right now! Now the big question is...how to keep my sanity through next year...starting Sept....*sigh*. Suggestions?

2. I love paintings. Especially impressionist ones. After my run and shower I booked it out the door to meet my friend Jessica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The museum's permanent collection is AMAZING and right now they are having a special exhibit that is traveling nationwide called "Americans in Paris". I know I say amazing a lot, but this is amazing. One of my favorite artists is Mary Cassatt. She was the only American to show with the impressionists in the salon des refuses in the late 1800s. The exhibit showed many of her paintings, ones I had never seen before!

This one is one of my favorites of hers, displayed in the national gallery and now in the MFA! You have to see it in person, the brushstrokes and colors are so vivid. Besides being so excited about the Mary Cassatt paintings, I walked into the second large room and *gasp* they had whistler's mother on the wall. My first thought was, oh that can't be the original, it must be a study for the original or something. Whistler's Mother is one of the most famous paintings in the world and itwas hanging right there in the MFA. I couldn't believe it. Plus, it usually hangs in the Orsay with the likes of Renoir, Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, and Cezanne. And the Orsay rarely lends out their stuff. I sauntered over to the wall and read the plaque and was still in shock when I saw that it truly was Whistler's Mother, on loan from the musee d'orsay.

If you haven't seen this exhibit...GO! I think its on its way to the Met when it closes Sept 24 here in Boston.

And again, I thought about my dream job as being an art restorer. Maybe in a couple years I'll move to London.

3. I'm not a big fan of Finale, the dessert place. Yeah, it was a delightful molten chocolate cake. But I paid $10.95 for crappy service and to sit in a freezing cold restaurant for it. As my friend Corey said, "and so you would have rather had a butterscotch dip cone, huh?" Exactly. But I still had a blast with my friends Susan, Jessica, and Riva. My sweet tooth isn't that sophisicated. Heck, I polished off my eleven dollar molten chocolate cake with a freaking watermelon flavored blow pop. And I left the wrapper on the table. How's that for high class?

ARE WE SIX AGAIN? YES.

My niece going down the slide at her 5th bday party in SLC.

Me going down the slide in Watertown, MA.


Inspired by my five-year-old nieces' birthday party, my brother and I went out to Revere Wal-mart and bought ourselves a Six Flags Bonzai Inflatable Waterslide. This isn't your regular kids waterslide, folks. This thing rocks. It comes with its own blower and inflates for the most fun water experience you can have in your backyard (okay that was actually an overstatement, please forgive). But its still AWESOME, anyway, so my friends Corey, Melanie, and Amber were kind enough to allow us to use their backyard to set up the slide. Cam and I just have roofs in the middle of the city...not the best place to set up a slide...anyway. It was SO FUN. And I felt like a kid again. And for sure, we'll do this another Saturday. If only we could set it up at the beach. Oh wait, NE water is freezing cold, thats right, I forgot. Next time we need an extension on the end of it, b/c Cam and I and Corey and Melanie kept falling off the side onto the grass. We'll bring out the slide again this summer, for sure. Ahhh...i LOVE summer!

Cam going for another slide down.

This pic appropriately named: King of the Slide.

Let's Talk Music

A couple issues ago in InStyle, Debra Messing talked about how she loved to make lists. Now, I'm not a huge fan of lists. To Do lists sometimes make me feel good. But most of the time they dont. The things that are on To Do lists for me often take a long time to get accomplished, and I hate not being able to get things crossed off. There is something wrong with the world when I've worked on something so long or thought about it awhile, and I just can't cross it off a list b/c its not done. Sorry. That was a tangent. Anyway but I've been thinking about how great lists are for organization purposes. I'm super into being organized as of Friday, when my friend Chris came over and helped organize my room. I can't tell you how much better I feel sleeping in there. I LOVE it. Its like it changed the feng shui or something. Anyway. So I've been thinking I've wanted to post something about music on my blog for a while. And I've been forming lists in my head. So here it is.

Bands I'm obsessed with at the moment...

Spoon. Hails from Austin, TX. I'm seriously obsessed with Gimme Fiction. Thanks to the bro for introducing me to them. And thank goodness they'll be playing at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley when i'm home in august. Their lyrics don't make sense to me. They're cryptic. Thats why I love them, really. And why and I always late getting on the scene for bands like this?
Whit suggests: The Beast and Dragon, Adored and I Turn My Camera On

Snow Patrol. From Scotland. I saw these guys live for the first time back in March (?). I thought i was obsessed before I saw them live. After I saw them then I become really obsessed. They just released their newest disc in June -- Eyes Open. They're becoming wildly famous b/c of putting their songs on Greys Anatomy and I don't really know how I feel about that. I'm always a sucker for small club shows and when my fav bands get big it makes me kind of sad. They start playing big arenas and their songs get overplayed on the radio. But then again, thats sometimes the bands measure for success. Final Straw and Eyes Open simply rock. There simply aren't many bands where their songs actually truly describe something Iv'e felt and/or been through but snow patrol is one of them. And I get to see snow patrol again Aug. 15th. Hurrah.
Whit suggets: Spitting Games and Shut Your Eyes

The Raconteurs. I've loved the White Stripes for a couple years now so when I heard Jack White was starting up another full band, I was excited to hear it. After listening to Steady, As She Goes on iTunes, I eagerly awaited to get the full album. Thanks to Ms. Cooper, and the advent of my brothers birthday, i received a copy and instantly became obsessed. Jack White is a genius. Having a full band behind him doesn't hurt. And I get to see them in September. And they're playing at Lollapalooza...yesss.
Whit suggests: Hands and Level

Wilco. I really can't talk about this band because nothing I say conveys the awesome power of their albums. Once again, I discovered them late and through my brother. Yankee Foxtrot Hotel is a masterpiece. I can't wait to finish watching the documentary about them.
And I was supposed to see them at Lollapalooza until they decided to play on Sunday! Boo!
Whit suggests: All of Yankee Foxtrot Hotel

Bands I'm Starting to be obsessed with...

Matt Pond PA. I haven't gone into full obsession, though I saw them live and they rocked.

Stars. Set Yourself on Fire is probably the best album title I've heard in awhile.

Youth Group.

Phoenix.

Keane.

You know what...there will be many more music posts on this blog. So get used to it.

Also. I'm quite protective of my music. I think its b/c i feel like its a little part of me. ANyway, I don't just give it away willy-nilly. I think posting info about who I'm obsessed with doesn't count as giving music away.

The Switches had Sparks Coming Out...It was like the Fourth of July Man!

So...my first fourth in Boston was rockin. Not only did it rain but we had a huge bonfire of a BBQ in a small weber grill on my brothers roof. You know you had an awesome party when there isn't any food left (at least in dry party terms). I actually woke up early(!) on the fourth to go the parade at government center, the reading of the declaration of independence, and hear an oration in Fanueil Hall. I felt like a genuine TOURIST...I swear no one was an actual Bostonian, but thats okay, I knew I had to do it once.
And losing sleep was definitely worth it...even though I complained a lot about the humidity that morning. So they had these cool fife marching bands all dressed up in red coats (wait a second...) and they shot old rifles (yay guns!) and I felt very American. Here's my roomie Riva in the morning at City Hall Plaza. She runs on very little sleep but always manages to be happy and smiley. Trust me, if I had four hours of sleep when this picture was taken, I would not be smiling.

Aanyway, in all honesty, I did feel very proud to be American after the reading of the declaration. My parents told me a long time ago that I'm related to John Rutledge, a signer of the declaration from S. Carolina...but it never quite set in till the fourth when I heard the declaration read in the spot where it was first read! That was a moment that I'll remember for a while.

After following the parade around and hearing the guy who designed the current 50 star flag speak, my roommate Riva and I did a little shopping around Fanueil Hall. Here's a pic of Tom (NOT ted, thanks susan!) Menino...Bostons mayor. He does a good job on checking the ceiling tiles of the big dig. By that point I was pretty sticky...it was insanely humid and we were ready to go back to the apt and chill for a bit. Then it was time to wind up for the next party...a classic American BBQ at my brothers apt in back bay. Best part was we had a mini weber set up on his roof...and when we lit the coals we started quite the fire. Good thing the fire dept was a half block away just in case. We had plenty of dawgs, burgers, and even boca burgers thanks to Ms. Martinez and LP2 activities and Thank you costco! We had waves of BBQ guests...one big wave for the Germany-Italy world cup semi-final and then one wave for the after party -- complete with a view of the fireworks from 111 Huntington, thank you Mr. White and Bain Capital. :-) We walked on the Esplanade in the sea of people which was way fun. Rachel and I bought those glow in the dark flourescent rings and wore them around. Here are some random pics from after the fireworks. I have no idea what we're doing in these pictures...but here you go. I just HAD to post these. SO anyway, my fourth was fanTABulous. :-)

MANUFACTURING WHAT.

I just went on an awesome manufacturing tour at Biogen Idec, where I work. We had to gown in and put on booties, those white space suits, gloves, and hair nets. Then we walked into this huge room with bioreactors where they grow the cells that produce the drugs they make. It was freaking awesome. I wish I had a camera to show you all how cool I looked in my space suit. But I didnt. This is what it did look like though.

WELCOME TO WHITS WIT.

I'll just start off talking about random things. Yay.

This will be really entertaining.

As my brother said about starting a blog, "cwheels: oh hell, there goes the planet".

To start, i'm going to post one of my favorite recent pictures of me. Taken on July 4th, definitely candid. Me checking my phone. I do this very often these days.