Sunday, November 7, 2010

The City of Brotherly Love

This weekend, AJ and I made a little whirlwind trek up to Philly to see the Cleopatra show at the Franklin Institute (which was ok, but maybe not worth the money) and Erin Coffey, who is always worth it. :-)
In the style common to both Baltimore and Philadelphia, it was something of a "drive-by visit", but we got two museums, awesome Ethiopian food, and to sleep on Erin's absurdly comfy air mattress + plush egg crate. We hypothesized that the Ethiopian food gave us strange dreams, since Erin vacationed on a tropical island with us before going back (late!) to concert band, and I dreamed I was a pirate who came home to find mice, rabbits and pigeons taking over my house. Hooray.
Next weekend, off to spectate at Yale v. Doesn't Matter. Hopefully pictures, assuming that the 80% chance of precipitation and 40 degree high called for in today's forecast do not come true.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Visit to a Hollywood Set...



Chris and I visited an ancient village in rural Anhui called Hongcun. It is famous for its picturesque scenery and young artists. It was also a site for filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The village itself was rather small. We walked around it in about one or two hours. Hello from China!



Btw, I'm coming to New York in just a few days. If anyone's around this next weekend, let me know!

Annie

Sunday, September 12, 2010

My parents would be so proud...

Some of y'all may know that, a couple of months ago, I got hired to sub as a Turbo Kick (cardio kickboxing) instructor at my gym.

Well, now I have my own class! Actually, my own two classes! I'm teaching Turbo Kick and then a total body conditioning (aka lifting) class on Wednesdays. I'm a little nervous (a regular class is pressure! If people don't come, it's because they hate you) but also excited! And I'm going to be so buff by the end of the season.

Being a group exercise instructor doesn't pay much (especially when you work less than 2 hours a week), and there was a lot of overhead cost associated with getting certified and paying for music and choreography DVDs. BUT now I get to be on a microphone in front of people and yell at them and tell them what to do. Again!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Better late than never...

Hi everyone!
I just got back from a delicious Labor Day BBQ at Katie's (awesome, spacious) house, where we finally took care of the fact that I had not joined this blog. The next step is me figuring out how to email the 09 list (because when I tried to email the list to ask, it wouldn't let me, duh). Anyway, Marina was there too and we had a great time! Katie made an amazing apricot pork roast, homemade veggie burgers, fruit salsa, homemade baba ganoush (sp?) and much more, and her roommate made some awesome strawberries and cake thing (didn't catch the name of it). It was the best I've eaten in a while- well done, Katie! I guess I should add that I'm in Baltimore doing post-bac pre-med at Hopkins... I'll be here for about 14 months! So far it has been hot, and orgo is hard.
I'm excited to be joining the blogging community- hoping to see you guys at one of the big games!
-Lauren

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Road Trip

Wheeee.

Botanical gardens in Montreal

AJ and I just returned from a 2200 mile roadtrip, mostly through the province of Quebec.

The car (and AJ) at mile 1002.

I'm not going to turn this into an epic travelogue, but I will tell you that we:
  • met many Canadians who spoke no English
  • ate poutine
  • ate elk, bison and moose
  • saw a moose along the side of the road
  • learned the French word for moose
  • saw three species of whales and grey seals
  • saw the most Canadian sign ever:
We also stopped into Rochester to visit Rosa for a night! Hurray for a mini-management reunion. Rosa made a great ratatouille and we took a sweet field trip to the Mega-Wegmans. Oh man, best grocery store ever. I could live on only the cheese cases (I counted 7, not counting the deli) or the bagged shredded stuff.

Anyway, we're home now and I have to return AJ to New Haven soon, which is good for him but sad for me. Funny to think that oh-lev are seniors now and oh-ten is dispersed. But Baltimore is gaining another YPMB alum in Marina, who's going to be working for a Hopkins lab. One more reason you should totally come visit me.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Where even the earth can't sit still...

Howdy everyone…hope it’s been a good summer! Here’s my update on the never-ending party that is Cali (well that’s what I want you to think anyway…mwahaha). Aside from working like crazy for a few months, I survived my first earthquake!! And my second, and my third, and my 10th, 20th…what can I say? Maybe my coming to this state got the earth all excited. It was kind of amazing that our quake—technically Mexico’s quake—was larger than the one in Haiti, yet only two people were killed. I suppose Mexico’s building codes are a lot better than they appear.

But just as earth-shattering, our state was just graced (alas too briefly) with the presence of Christopher Michael Young. During his 24-hour layover before heading back to China, it was Monica's and my job (with the help and chauffeuring of Monica's bf Jonathan) to sell the Golden State, and give him a sensational sendoff.

This included of course the Cali essentials: In-N-Out, Yogurtland, the beach. But the highlight of this time was the visit to the gay country bar. Yes, you read that right. Thanks to the brilliant suggestion of Kate Kraft (who met us there), we found ourselves plunged into Chris Young heaven. It seems safe to say that the state of California (and possibly a few of its male dancers) seduced him that night.

This is the dance floor, where there was line dancing and couples dancing (with some REALLY good dancers)…




And our 一起 picture (“yiqi”, meaning together)—by the way, that is Monica’s sweet pool in the background:



I would like to note that as far as recent posts are concerned—here is the tally:
California: 2
The rest of the world: 0

Get cracking, world!


PS--The fortune from my Chinese dinner tonight, from a place with a tendency for unusual fortunes:

"Remember three months from this date! Your lucky star is shining."

What happens three months from this date (east coast time), on November 20, 2010? The Chinese are always right. Always*.

*Knock on wood

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Disneyland!

Steve came to visit and of course we drove down to Anaheim for some Disney fun! We also met up with two of my coworkers in China, Michael and Zoe...


This is us getting breakfast at La Brea Bakery... (Michael on the left)

For Rita!!!

We went on Star Tours on its very last day!!! It will be closed for a year for renovations, and they're putting in a new Episode 1-3 themed version.

Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin... hilarious shot of Steve. On this ride you can spin your own car.

Tower of Terror!!!!


Sleeping Beauty Castle

And of course, on the drive back up to Morro Bay, we stopped at In-N-Out! mmmmm!!!

Miss you all and hope we can see each other soon! Heading out to Xiuning, China in one week. See ya real soon!

--Annie

Oh, I almost forgot... we went to San Francisco for a day. Met up with James and Susan, Ben Somers, and other peeps.