a time for giving thanks!

Coming home for Thanksgiving remains to be one of the times of the year I look forward to the most.  Seeing as how I'm usually always away this time of year, with being at school the last four years and now in New York, coming home to celebrate the kickoff of the holiday season really makes me happy!  Thanksgiving to me is all about family, and there is no better way to spend the holidays than with the people you love!  This year, my cousin and his girlfriend had Thanksgiving at their house... their brand new house!! And now, come on people, you can't say you weren't impressed!!

They moved in a few months ago and hosted the rowdiest bunch of people I know!  And it was amazing; I was so proud of my cousin.  I honestly remember Jay and I being little and sitting side by side in a recliner because we were both so skinny... or going camping and learning how to play the infamous card game, spit... or the four of us cousins playing hide and seek, until Matt and Zack have to break the rules!! It seems like just yesterday we were growing up, playing with teenage mutant ninja turtles, rushing upstairs to play playstation while the grownups talked through the holidays and sitting at the kids table during Thanksgiving.

Well guess what; for the first time in 22 years, Jay wasn't at the kids table!! Nostalgic really, when you think about it!  We're all growing up... we really aren't kids anymore!  But at the end of the day, whether I'm 5 or 22, I can say I am most thankful for my amazing family.  They are amazing people and have taught me all that I know about how to love and how to be a good person.  I consider myself extremely lucky that I have such an amazing family and that I know they will be there for me every step of the way.

Jay and Jill with their delicious turkey- credit to Jill on this photo!  Amazing job, both of you!

Zack, Jay and Mimi!- So excited that Mimi & Poppa came home for the holidays!! It's never the same without you!

me, mom and dad!

mom and dad!

Mimi and I :]

me and Zack!

Matt and Kelsey!

mom and i

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and congrats to Jay & Jill!

preparing for Christmas, straight no chaser style!

To get myself in the mood for Christmas, there's one group I always choose to listen to ever since becoming a Hoosier: Straight No Chaser!  I wanted to share them with you after seeing them perform while I attended IU!

Straight No Chaser is an a cappella men's singing group that was started up at IU!! They're unreal and show you just what kind of talent Indiana University produces!

Taken from their website, this pretty much sums them up!

Originally formed over a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and reemerged as a phenomenon – with a massive fanbase, over 20 million views on YouTube, numerous national TV appearances, and proven success with two holiday releases, 2008’s HOLIDAY SPIRITS and 2009’s CHRISTMAS CHEERS. In an era when so much pop music is the product of digital processing and vocal pro-tooling, Straight No Chaser is the real deal – the captivating sound of ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense... and with a sense of humor.


Check out their Christmas songs here on Youtube!

12 Days

Carol of the Bells

Santa Claus is coming to town

Christmas Can-Can

Auld Lang Syne

Crab Cakes & Football; that's what Maryland does!!!

When IU announced last year that they would be hosting a game at Fed Ex Field in Landover, MD, the last thing on my mind was that I was going to be attending.  Flash forward to a year from then, and here I am now, writing about it!  Somehow, everything fell into place and I found myself staying with my best friend, Becky in her home in Columbia, MD and attending the game in the stadium where the Redskins play!  I took the day off on Friday and took a bus down to Baltimore and met up with Becky; it was absolutely amazing being able to see her!  For all of you who don't know, Becky was the first person I met at IU.  I remember sitting in the middle of Hundred Hall looking around at 250 faces I had never seen before, and after looking to my left, I was met with a smile and a very excited "Hi!".  The rest is history and now, she is one of my closest friends.

Now because we are friends, we are also complete dorks, which means we are two of the many obsessed with Harry Potter!  Friday afternoon it was decided in advance we would be going to see Harry Potter 7, Part 1!  First, we decided to go to lunch.  We ended up at a place called Clyde's located right in Columbia.  It was an amazing area; Columbia is gorgeous.  I found out that Columbia is split up into areas that all have villages within them.  So, for example, Becky lives in an area called King's Contrivance in a village called Huntington.  Confused yet?  I sure was!!  Well anyway, we were in some part of Columbia, don't ask me what village; and no I didn't see little red riding hood, but we had a nice lunch.  Seeing as how I was in Maryland, I needed to order the crab cake; and believe me when I say that all of my expectations were met!

Me with my crab cake sandwich! Yum!!

After lunch, we went to see Harry Potter.  I don't really have much to say about it since it can all be summed up in one word; EPIC!  Is it July yet?.. because part two needs to come out!!

Us with our tickets all ready for the movie to start!

On Friday evening, we spent the night playing cards with her mom and dad and waiting for the rest of our tailgate crew to arrive!  There were 11 of us in total staying at her house and we met up with even more people on the day of the game!

Saturday morning arrived and we were ready for a party!  With the vans packed, IU gear on, and the Marching Hundred CD playing in the background we set off for our tailgate at 7am!  You may want to play this while you're checking out these pictures: Indiana, our Indiana!  It gets me ready for game day!

Fed Ex Field where the Red Skins play!

ready for a party, IU style!!

Go IU, Beat Penn State!!

Now, we were definitely well prepared for an IU tailgate.  There's only two things you really need to know for an IU tailgate- our fight song and how to drink beer!  Sorry Mimi, but it's true!! Becky and I were preparing all night, we even had the marching hundred cd playing over and over again in the kitchen, marching around the kitchen and dancing.  Her mom even joined in!  We were reminiscing the days of being in the band and it felt so good!  We were lucky enough to meet up with our friend, Kevin and his girlfriend also!  Kevin played trumpet in the band and it was great to see him!!

Becky, her sister Patti, her mom, our friend John and I tailgating!

Becky, me, Kevin and his girlfriend!

Fed Ex field was huge- seating close to 92,000 fans!  We had great seats and we had a ton of fun cheering for IU!! The marching hundred was even there, so we had to pay them a visit!!

excited for the game!!

 a little dark, but Becky and I in front of the marching hundred- getting ready to split the I and cheer on our football team!

Fed Ex field!! 

the marching hundred spelling out indiana!! Now you'll want to play this one: Indiana, Fight

While we did lose, we had a great time!  Saturday night we relaxed for a while, completely exhausted from the day and then we went to a friend's house and I was able to meet all of Becky's friends from high school!  On Sunday, I took the bus back to NYC!  

I had an incredible weekend; it was amazing being able to see Becky before she ships off to the army and it was great being able to cheer on my Hoosiers!  I can't even explain how incredible it was to be able to sing my fight song and watch the Marching Hundred perform; it brought back amazing memories!

For some great videos on the Marching Hundred and to get an idea of what I was a part of; check these out, I was in all these videos too!!

Sing, Sing, Sing!

Drum line plays March to the Stadium!

IU Pregame

"watch out, the yellow ones don't stop!"- A weekend in the city with my brother

When my brother asked me a few weekends ago if I was going to be free the weekend of November 13th, I was absolutely ecstatic that he was coming to the city.  The funny part is that all I could think of was how we would be quoting the movie Elf and Home Alone: Lost in New York.  And of course, when I was asking him what he wanted to see, in the back of my mind I knew we would somehow be reliving these two movies!

Zack arrived on Friday evening in Herald Square; directly next to the largest Macy's or better known as the Macy's famous for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I have never really been over in that area before, but I was quickly excited when I realized that Macy's was already decorated for Christmas!!  Here are some pictures of what Macy's looked like from Friday at night and Sunday afternoon!

windows decorated for christmas!

the tree in front of the side entrance!

the tree with the empire state building in the back!

Believe!!

so excited to be in the city!!

Friday night I baked Zack sugar cookies and made him chicken parm with caesar salad! Needless to say, he enjoyed it!

Saturday was the big day; with no plans except a starting point we decided to trek all over the city so I could show him as much as possible.  We started at the NHL Store on 6th ave and 47th st; Zack was in love with it!! It's really a cool place; you find that a lot of the stores in the city just go all out when it comes to making their stores unique.

Zack with the Original 6 bike in the NHL store!

On the 12th, the tree in Rockefeller center went up, so we went to see it!  The thing is huge!! Each year, they travel all over the state of NY to find a tree that is at least 60 feet tall.  This year's tree came from Mahopac, NY from the yard of a member of the FDNY.  Now, until January, he has bragging rights that his tree is in Rockefeller Center!

The tree!! It will be lit on November 30th- right now they're still trying to make sure it doesn't fall over and they're decorating it.  I don't think they really make tree stands big enough for this Christmas tree!

The rink is also up now- lots of people skating on it!

After checking out the tree, we made our way up 5th avenue heading in the direction of Central Park.  We had a lot of fun walking the streets of NYC, quoting Elf and Home Alone and taking random pictures of everything we saw!  Hey, it's fun being a tourist for a weekend!  

Cartier was all ready for Christmas!

Zack with the Trump Tower guard!

At the original Tiffany's on 5th ave! I figured it was fitting since I was Holly Golightly for Halloween and because I am just obsessed! Fun fact: the store is 6 floors and there's even a floor dedicated to just engagement rings!!

outside of FAO Schwarz- once a kid, always a kid!

Plaza hotel- just like Home Alone- and yes, we went in!

Yes, I know.. we are good looking.

After checking out the hotel, we decided to take a stroll through Central Park.  I was so excited when I realized that the leaves had finally started to change- it certainly took long enough.  I thought I was going to be waiting until Christmas!

View of the park from the huge rock we climbed- we would climb the rock!

The mall looked so pretty raining yellow leaves!

you can see the ice rink all set up in the background!

After exploring Central Park, we headed down towards Union Square and the Flatiron district.  Zack was able to see the huge farmer's market that I love and the Flatiron building near Madison Square Park!  

To finish off the day we decided to head down to the Financial District so that I could show Zack where I worked.  He really enjoyed being able to see One Whitehall St and much to our surprise, they were filming the new Batman!  Seeing the Batmobile across the street from where I work on Broadway was definitely pretty cool!

The batmobile!!

When we got off the subway, we couldn't see the Statue of Liberty because the sun was in our direct line of view, so we made a loop around Wall St. and went to check out the Pier and the Brooklyn Bridge.  In a mad dash from the Pier to the Statue, we were able to make it during the sunset just in time! 

Zack being a great tourist!

The sprint from the pier to Battery park was definitely worth it!

The sky and the water was so pretty!

After a long day of walking literally all over the city we spent the night relaxing, watching movies on TV and ordering some good, greasy, NYC pizza!  The weekend was a great success!  Zack went back Sunday afternoon, and I definitely think he'll be back.  I mean really, we didn't even get to taste the world's greatest cup of coffee!  At least he made it back safely through the Lincoln Tunnel!!

We Are IU!

Last night, Indiana University held an alumni event entitled "We are IU" at the Time Warner corporate office in Columbus Circle.  As most of you know, I can't get enough of my beloved Alma mater; I bleed cream and crimson or more recently "crean" and crimson and could probably be an IU spokesperson and talk your ear off about the many reasons why you should have gone to IU yourself.  So a month ago when I received an email that the NY chapter of Indiana Alum was hosting this event and that the president of my school was going to be there, of course I had to go!  It was a night of drinks, finger foods, and networking, followed by a presentation that included awards for outstanding alum, speeches given by the Deans of some of the prestigious schools within the university and an amazing speech and presentation given by President McRobbie.

After watching the introductory video they played highlighting all the great things about IU, I have never missed something so much in my life!  I miss the feel of game day; getting ready with the Marching Hundred and preparing for the exhilaration of run-on, the leaves changing in the fall and the flowers blooming in the spring, the hype behind the Little 500, the long runs through campus, the Friday night basketball games and even playing sink the biz at Nick's!  Sitting in that meeting last night made me realize how much I missed IU and how fast my life has changed in the past 6 months.  Literally 6 months ago I was going to class, going out with my group of friends on Kirkwood and preparing for graduation!  Now, as an alum I was able to witness a side of IU I had never experienced before.  I was very proud to sit in that room with other alum around me and share similar memories with them and be able to sing our fight song.  Once a Hoosier, always a Hoosier; I couldn't have picked a more amazing school! Go Hoosiers; for the Glory of Old IU!!!

Rhode Island Exhibit Publicity!

Hey Everyone!! Wanted to post a link that was published in the Providence Journal about the new exhibit at Johnson & Wales that my dad designed- this is the one I wrote the panels for!! Check it out!!

Rhode Island: Small State, Big Taste

Halloween Weekend

This past weekend, Halloween weekend, was eventful to say the least.  It's incredible how many people dress up and go all out in costume just to celebrate this holiday.  To kick off the weekend, on Saturday I went to the Brooklyn Brewery!  It is easily one of my favorite places in Brooklyn, not only because they have great tasting beer, but because it's such a fun, social atmosphere.  Going for the 3rd time since I have moved here, I was finally able to see the start of the expansion that they are undergoing.  Instead of the one tiny room they had us tour the last time, they took us to the space next door to see just how huge the brewery is going to be when the construction is all finished!

 The Logo hidden behind the new construction- the logo was actually created by the same guy who designed the I <3 NY design that you see on t-shirts and bags and sweatshirts all over the city.  Instead of charging the Brewery for it, he simply stated that he wanted a part of their company and free beer for life.  Not a bad deal at all!

All the new tanks and kegs!  Still in phase one of construction!

The Brooklyn Brewery logo with some of the old tanks in the main building.

Next time you're either in Brooklyn or at your local liquor store- definitely pick up a six pack and try some of their beer! It's easily one of my favorites and they have a ton to choose from!

Saturday night I went out to celebrate Halloween with some friends!  I chose to dress up as Holly Golightly- Audrey Hepburn's character from Breakfast at Tiffany's!  

I didn't get any pictures this weekend because my camera died when we went out Saturday night- but I was the same thing as I was last year and this is pretty much what I looked like!! This picture was taken last Halloween with my best friend from IU!

On Sunday, the annual Halloween parade occurred in the city, starting in the West Village.  I went out to try and see it with some friends, however, with thousands of people in the streets all dressed up in costumes it was nearly impossible to even catch a glimpse of the parade.  I did manage to find some pictures online to give you all an idea of what the parade was like!  

As you can see, there is a lot going on in these pictures!  People get all dressed up in costumes of literally every kind and even participate in the parade.  They have everything from marching bands to floats to huge marionette skeletons!  Some people are extremely creative and others are not, but they all have one thing in common- going out to celebrate a great holiday!