Christmas Part Deux

More Christmas presents to open at Mom and Dad Layburn's house! This time there was the added benefit of having a 2 year old around to tear through wrapping paper which is always fun to watch.


It was so great to have the whole family together. My parents' new house is gorgeous and we enjoyed spending the days with the girls shopping and the boys golfing and then the nights eating delicious food and, of course, sipping on fabulous margaritas!

Opening presents is fun! ...

But eventually we all get tired! ;)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

This year has been a bit of a whirlwind so Christmas has snuck up on Brad and I a bit. We didn’t have a chance to decorate the new house or even get all of our Christmas shopping done until the (very) last minute. But none of that mattered once Christmas came around.

We spent nearly a week outside of Austin, TX with Brad’s family. As always, there was a ton of food and a ton of fun. Myself, Brad, his parents, brother Todd, Uncle Tom and grandmother Patsy all celebrated together. We had a great time and the week seemed to just fly by.

The house was beautifully decorated and we feasted on Le Anne’s fantastic cooking for our Christmas feast (including my special request of cranberry sauce “with the lines still on” – in other words, straight from the can! My mom is still abhorred that when my mother-in-law asked what special Christmas tradition/food did I want, that cranberry sauce from the can was my request, but its just SO good! ;)

I know that Christmas is about spending time with the ones that you love and we certainly did that. But the piles of Christmas gifts sure were fun to open!

I also think it’s funny to note that we played card games one night and while playing a particularly heated game, Brad ended up making a play that caused Patsy to lose the hand. So his 82 year old, sweet-as-can-be grandmother, turned to him and called him “satchel-ass”. We’re still not sure what that means but it was hysterical and Brad will forever be called Satchel. Get used to it buddy, it ain’t going away!

Airports are fascinating

I love people watching. I used to think the mall was the best place for it but now I'm leaning towards airports. In the last week, I have spent quality time in the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Tampa, Washington-Dulles and Atlanta airports and have to say that people are just flat out ridiculous.

Makes me thank my lucky stars that my parents and Brad's parents raised us to be polite (most of the time, we try!) human beings. I can't say the same about everyone else out there.

And - most likely to both of our parents' dismay - airports are also a great form of birth control. The child that is currently screaming bloody murder, flailing on the floor and (oh!) being smacked (hard!) by his mom right in front of me is making sure of that ;)

Busy, busy

I feel like I talk all the time about how busy we are. And then we get busier. Is there an end to that trend or does it just go on forever, getting busier and busier? Sigh.

Anyway, life has been a whirlwind of late. After talking about it forever, we finally moved right before Thanksgiving and are officially North Carolinians. Talk about mixed emotions about things! It was super exciting to be leaving behind our too small condo and be moving back to NC and to our first real house! But it really is bittersweet to leave the DC area behind. As you are saying goodbye to something, it always makes you take stock of all the good things - most importantly, friends that I am SO bummed to leave and wish I could pack up in a box and take with me. (I tried to convince a few but without much luck!)

Fortunately, our condo complex decided to help us let go by towing my car on the very last night we were parked in our lot. Apparently, its against condo rules to park a car with an expired safety inspection tag (BTW, doesn't that seem odd? I mean, its not like the car was being driven - it was parked! Does the safety inspection cover poor parking or something?). Anyway, Brad and I are always talking about signs and things happening for a reason so we figured that was a sign telling us it was time to hit the road down to NC (after stopping by the tow lot and paying the hefty fee that is!)

So, we made it down to NC and are starting to settle in. There are still boxes everywhere and between Thanksgiving travel, work travel and then Christmas holiday travel, it might be a while until we are truly settled in but at least we are making progress. Come visit all!

We have officially cancelled each other out

By the way, election coverage is ridiculous. Apparently, since the networks have nothing to report on yet, they are trying to "out-technology" each other. "Look at our fancy map, its so impressive!" "Look how we can update our numbers four seconds faster than our competitors, aren't we great?!"

CNN takes the cake though. I am currently watching in awe (and not in a good way!) as Wolf Blitzer in the NY studio is talking with another CNN correspondent who is in Chicago. But he's not talking with her on split-screen like they usually do ... no way man, this is election night, time to bring out the big guns!! Instead, Wolf is talking face to face with a hologram of the other correspondent.

(Click on the pic above to enlarge it so you can fully appreciate the ridiculousness - note the "via hologram" tagline and the blue aura surrounding the correspondent. You can't make this stuff up, people!!)

Seriously, a HOLOGRAM? Is that really necessary? Sheesh.

November is for moving

Well, I think its official. Brad and are moving.

We haven't posted about it yet since I am REALLY superstitious and didn't want to jinx anything. But eventually the word needs to go out! So here it is ....

We're moving. :) Come the end of November, we will officially be North Carolinians. Crazy.

UNC is AP's first unanimous preseason No. 1

Yuck ... http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27475389/

I heart NY

No matter where Brad and I end up moving, I think I'll always be a New Yorker at heart ... there are definitely things that I miss about the old hometown. At the top of that list are scrumptious NY bagels.

I don't know what it is about NY bagels ... the most common theory is that the NY water makes them taste so good, others say its the cooking method (something about boiling the bagels). I don't know what the reason is but what I do know? ... there are NO good bagels in DC.

I was heading in to work early this morning and thought I'd treat myself to some delish Dunkin Donuts coffee and a bagel. S0, I get to work and go to cut the bagel in half with my little plastic knife ... the knife bends and a sawing sound ensues until I finally am able to tear the bagel apart. Gross.

St. Louie

Brad and I just got back from a weekend in St. Louis. We were in town for my first year b-school roommate’s wedding. It was a fun weekend since Brad and I had not been out to St. Louis before – we did the touristy stuff and walked around the waterfront, saw the big ol’ arch in the middle of downtown and went to the museum which talks all about the western expansion of the US and Lewis and Clark, etc.

The wedding itself was very cool – ceremony was at this gorgeous church downtown and the reception was actually held at Busch Stadium where the Cardinal’s play. It was super fun to be at this fancy reception but in the middle of the baseball stadium – it was a bit cold but you could actually walk outside of the reception hall, right out into the stadium seats overlooking the field. Plus in the reception hall there was all this Cardinal’s championship paraphenalia and Budweiser on tap at the bar (since Bud is brewed in St. Louis). Anyway, another great weekend and a fun chance to explore a new city!

Hampton here we come

We are the proud owners of 2 tix to Phish opening night. We are also slightly poorer as a result.

But as Brad has been telling me "we work to live, not live to work". An excellent rationale from someone who just bought expensive Phish tix without telling me first! Hampton here we come :)

Testosterone

Just got back from Tampa where I was meeting with a new client for work. I realized as I was sitting in the meeting just how much I work in a man’s world. I looked around the conference room table and noted that it was myself and 7 men. The only other woman that we encountered was on our way into the client’s office when we passed by his secretary’s desk. And not only was I surrounded by men, but they were all older and several were retired or active military. The client himself is an active duty marine who was wearing his uniform and had intentionally rolled his sleeves up to reveal bulging biceps.

Let’s just say that the atmosphere in the room oozed testosterone!

I don’t know why I mention it, just really thought it was interesting, I guess... I’ve always been fascinated by the male/female dynamics at play in situations. A few of the guys and I went out to lunch after the meeting and the conversation focused on baseball and sports the entire time. Everyone but me had their steaks or burgers while I had some fish and veggies. Two of the guys talked about how their wives were pregnant and it was just sort of mentioned in passing – obviously, a big deal in their personal lives but the dynamics of balancing work with a new baby didn't seem to be an overwhelming concern.

Do you know that in the US in 2006 less than a third of the leading 1,500 companies had even a single woman among their top execs? Research shows that the dearth of women in leadership positions has to do with many factors, one of which is the way women present themselves ...

Typically we don't promote or market ourselves as much as men do (and when women do promote themselves, it's perceived as aggressive or bitchy); we're more hesitant to speak up in meetings; don't utilize networks as much to our advantage (for the most part, women tend to form deeper relationships whereas men have shallower, broader networks that they can use to their advantage more often). Fascinating stuff. Obviously, those are all broad generalizations and there are plenty of men and plenty of women who break the norms.

But I have to say that I read some of those studies and am absolutely amazed that I can call myself out on all of those issues. Not actively promoting myself? Check. Reluctance to speak out? Check. Deep but not necessarily broad network? Check.

Other studies show that women are more motivated by the "meaning" in their work. (Um, big check there!) And that women are twice as likely to get depressed, suffer emotional ups and downs more intensely then men and therefore, tend to burn out easier. Yikes.

Ok, a long post simply motivated by a testosterone filled meeting but interesting stuff!

Phish!

Woo hoo, Phish is back. Hampton Colliseum. March 6, 7, 8, 2009.

Needless to say, we are EXCITED. And already crossing our fingers that we can get tickets for at least one night.

Might be tough though since we are clearly not the only ones that are excited ... this morning, "Phish" and "Hampton Colliseum" were the top 2 searches on Google. Yes, there is a hotly contested election going on and financial markets are on the brink of disaster but when Phish announces a reunion tour, people want to read about it!

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Every once in a while one of those forwarded e-mails comes through that I really like. Here's one from today which I thought was poignant ...

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolf hound named Belker. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Six-year-old Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion.

We sat together for a while afterwards, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane piped up, 'I know why.' What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The Six-year-old continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.'

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Run, romp, and play daily.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be loyal.
• Never pretend to be something you're not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Misery loves company

I decided a long time ago that migraines are one of the most evil of creations. For anyone that suffers from them, you know what I'm talking about. Well, on the "Today Show" the other day they did a segment on migraines and, because misery does indeed love company, I thought I'd post some of the interesting factoids:

• Thirty million people in the United States get migraines. If you don’t get them, you certainly know someone who does: One in ten people in this country is a migraineur (a person who gets migraines), and one in four American households include a migraineur.

• Migraine is the ninth-leading cause of disability among women, and the nineteenth most-common disability in the world, more common than diabetes or asthma.

• It’s also one of the most painful and debilitating. The throbbing head pain and nausea can knock you out of commission, sometimes for days. More than 76 percent of migraineurs have had to postpone planned activities with children and other loved ones because of migraine sickness, and 50 percent say they can’t do anything at all but lie in their beds during an attack. (that'd be me!)

• Migraine runs up more than $1 billion a year in health costs and at least $13 billion in losses to industry due to absenteeism and reduced effectiveness at work.

Wow! My other favorite migraine study that I read recently was about a potential link between Botox injections and migraine prevention. So, perhaps if they perfect that link one day I can be migraine and wrinkle free :)

Duke pics

As promised, a few Duke pics that Brad took of the Duke Chapel when we were in town this past weekend ...

Catch-up!

So, a quick catch-up post to say where we've been of late...

We finally were able to coordinate schedules with Kiera and Ryan and go visit them in Richmond, VA at their new abode. Their new house is absolutely GORGEOUS! Just perfect for their family and I've decided that I want to go live in their kitchen. There's certainly plenty of room in there (and the cabinets make a perfect home, as Natalie so kindly showed us :)

We also went down to NC last weekend. We were in Durham one day and introduced our dog, Duke, to his namesake Duke U. (A couple of cool pics to come in the next post! ) After that we headed to Chapel Hill one night to attend a concert that one of Brad's friends from Duke, Chris Boerner, was performing at. It was a great show and fun to be back at the Cat's Cradle where we used to hang out back in college!

Here's Chris rocking out on the guitar!:


And the lead singer of Chris's band, Mosadi:

Giving ourselves a pat on the back

Ok, so Brad and I are quite proud of ourselves :) We just finished the last of the renovations on our condo so thought we deserved a pat on the back - enjoy the "before and after" pics! (you should be able to click on each pic to see a bigger version)



The kitchen turned out to be one of my favorite transformations:



And no, your eyes are not deceiving you on that last picture -- the walk-in closet in our master bedroom was indeed used as a baby nursery by the previous owners (complete with pink paint and animal wallpaper). Brad did an amazing job transforming the nursery in to the best closet ever!

MLK 45 years later

Today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. On August 28, 1963, right here in DC, MLK gave that amazing speech so (thanks to the glory of YouTube ... seriously, what did we do before YouTube! ;) I rewatched the full speech today.

Just amazing... the cadence of MLK's voice, the poetry of his words, his messages about non-violence... just amazing:

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

And I love that, watching a grainy YouTube video, 45 years later, I still got chills when he proclaimed:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

2008 Olympics

Well, the 2008 Olympics have officially come to a close and, as always, Brad and I managed to get sucked into the events and spent the last 2 weeks glued to the TV!

I love watching the Olympics ... I love the sense of patriotism it brings out in me. I love the excitement of close medal races (the amazing come-from-behind win by Jason Lezak in the 4x100 relay? or Michael Phelps I-seriously-still-can't-believe-it win in the 100 butterfly!?) And yes, I love all the random sob stories about the athletes (it's not a secret that I am SUCH a sucker and I do admit to having shed a tear or two during cheezy NBC background stories about the trials and tribulations of various athletes)

I also love Bela Karoli - I seriously couldn't understand half the words that came out of his mouth but you gotta love his unbridled passion for the sport of gymnastics. And even though the Olympics are over, I think NBC should retain him and let him announce anything - NFL games, college basketball, whatever - that man cracks me up!

Here's my favorite article from the Olympics, aptly named "Obscure-Sports Diary: You go, trampoliners!". I had been pondering the point of indoor track cycling and marveling at the fact that trampoline is an Olympic sport when I ran across this article. Hysterical. One of my favorite quotes:

My favorite personality of the trampoline competition was eighteen-year-old American Erin Blanchard, who, the announcers said, had been “burned out” on competitive trampoline, but then returned to appear in the Olympics. Eighteen years old, and she's already had time for a burnout and a comeback in the sport of competitive trampoline. I don't think she will have any trouble figuring out what to write her college essay about.

Haha! Anyway, some interesting factoids about the final medal count - click here. Go US for winning 110 medals - see you in Vancouver!

Cheers to 1 year!

Brad and I can't even believe it but its already been a year since we got hitched!! To celebrate our year of wedded bliss :) Brad and I (and Duke!) rented a cabin in Shenandoah for the weekend just like we did the weekend that we got engaged.

We had a great weekend of relaxing at the cabin, BBQ'ing and spending some time in the great ol' outdoors. Oh and a random side trip to Luray Caverns which Brad has always wanted to go visit.

Inspiration for a hump day

Sitting in my (Erin) office on good ol' hump day, an e-mail popped up on my screen from a friend. The e-mail included a link to JK Rowling's recent commencement address at Harvard - http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html

It is a great speech, truly inspirational (way more so than Elizabeth Dole was at Brad and my graduation - I have absolutely NO idea what she spoke of that day, I just remember it seemed to go on forever and it was really hot outside!). Anyway, some of my favorite quotes in case you don't have time to listen to the whole speech:

• "Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default."
  
  
• "Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes."
  


• "Many choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know. .... Those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy."

• "As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."

A snippit from another quote that I loved was: "I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp." Reminds me of the essay I wrote on my Stanford b-school application but that's a topic for another day...

And now we find ourselves in W'burg

Ok, Tour de America 2008 is finally coming to a close. With next week's trip to Germany cancelled, that means that Brad and I will actually be home next weekend with no weddings or trips or anything else - woo hoo!

But we had one last fun trip to take before the Tour closed ... Williamsburg! We drove down on Saturday morning with the intent of stopping and checking out Kiera and Ryan's new place in Richmond, VA but our plans were stymied when Kiera called to say she had pink eye and was contagious. Figuring we could drive down to Richmond another weekend when the germs were conquered, we decided to head straight to W'burg instead. So we finally got to check out my parent's new house which they are in the process of moving in to. The house is a-mazing! Could certainly use a bit more furniture but everything else about it rocks! Brad especially enjoyed that the 10th hole of a golf course is basically in their backyard so he took advantage of the opportunity to walk on to the course and hit some balls.

We spent the day hanging out with my parents and Sharon and then on Sunday, Kiera (on meds and no longer contagious!), Ryan and Natalie joined us as well as my Aunt Claire, Uncle Pat, cousin Kevin, his wife Kerrie, and their 4 kids - Alanna, Patrick, Collin and Kiera. We had a great day just chillin on the screen porch in the back.

Duke thoroughly enjoyed the 2 long car rides in as many days, walks on the golf course and in downtown W-burg, and being chased by Natalie all day on Sunday. We all returned home on Sunday night exhausted, none more so than the Dukester!

Nein Deutschland!

You know work is bad when you find out that you don't have to go on a work trip to Germany next week and you are super excited! Normally I (Erin) would jump at the chance to travel, especially to a country that I've never been to before, but this trip would have involved lots of stress and not a whole lot of fun. No thank you!

Anyway, we'll just have to save Germany for another time!

This weekend's destination: Austin, Texas!

Brad and I just got back from an amazing trip to Texas to spend some quality time at Casa de Worsham outside of Austin. Seriously, that place is the best playground for adults ever! Highlights of the weekend included:

Mike and Dave both came down from NY to hang out for the weekend. We had so much fun with them and it was great to catch up. We got to spend the first night with them in downtown Austin at a dueling piano bar which was pretty funny. Mike or Dave -- be warned, next time we are telling them that its your bday so that you get pulled up on stage!








Fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July. By the way, setting off fireworks is fun - I definitely missed out in childhood by only being able to get my hands on sparklers. :)

Numerous hours spent on the lake - jetskiing, tubing, waterskiing and wakeboarding (ok, technically no one actually wakeboarded but at least there were a few attempts). Tommy played the role of expert boat driver all weekend and we all had a blast being pulled along for the ride!

When playtime on the lake was over, we brought the games inside and spent lots of time playing Wii on the big projection screen and also had a few rousing games of Beer Pong on the patio. Watch out for Le Anne, she's a ringer!

And of course, at Casa de Worsham, the food and hospitality is always amazing. I swear, Le Anne must spend a month straight in the kitchen preparing all the meals and snacks. It's better than a 5 star B&B!

We always have so much fun down there and the time just flies by - can't wait for the next time!