Monday Night Raw - AHHH YEAH!

I'm not sure there is really much for me to say here.

WWE. Monday Night Raw. Brad and Erin (and a million screaming fans, a bunch of overly muscled (and pumped with steroids?) men in very little clothing).

Awesome :)

Real Easter with the Worshams

For real Easter, the whole Worsham crew came to town ... Tommy and Le Anne, Todd and Alex, and their dog, Reagan (see here trying to take a nap in Duke's dog bed!)


We had a great weekend full of amazing food (seriously, we ate SO much that I went in to detox after they left!) and seeing the sites around town. We went to Duke and walked around the gardens and campus, ate, played trivia one night in Chapel Hill (and almost won, but not quite!), ate some more, went to the Farmer's market, went shopping, ate even more, and we even went to Church!

Well, it was Easter after all, so a great opportunity to check out the big church that is by our house. Let's just say it was ahhh-mazing. A serious rock band and stage, concert-quality lighting, big screens projecting the service (and having a countdown before mass started), a pastor that started his sermon (which in fairness, was actually a really good sermon) with "there were two cats walking down the road" and said "dude" more times that I could count. Oh, and don't forget ... wait for it ... fog machines. Yup, fog machines at church. Definitely not the church that I went to growing up!

We also went on a segway tour in Raleigh. So fun! Made me really, really want a segway!




A great time was had by all. After everyone left, the house was quiet and suddenly FULL OF STUFF. Le Anne and Tommy drove and brought everything we've ever left at their house with them. Including lots and lots of china. Anyone want to come over for a fancy dinner??


And while we are on the Easter theme. A cute email that got forwarded to me which I thought was true and worth sharing ... "Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned from the Easter Bunny":

• Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
• Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
• There's no such thing as too much candy.
• All work and no play can make you a basket case.
• A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.
• Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
• Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
• Some body parts should be floppy.
• Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans
• Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.
• The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.
• To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.
  

Happy Easter!!

Faux-Easter with the Layburns

Since the Worshams were coming to visit for Easter this year, we decided to celebrate Easter the weekend before with the Layburns. And that was how "Faux-Easter" was born!

We had a great weekend with the whole family. Of course, we celebrated with margaritas - some traditions are worth continuing! (and passing on to the new generation it looks like - whoops!)


Decorating Easter eggs and the good ol' Easter egg hunt. Brad got in to the Easter egg decorating as always and I had to get a pic of his fancy apron :)


And here is Brad cleaning egg off of my parent's dining room ceiling.


Wait, what? Why, you might ask? Well, it was perhaps the funniest, laughing so hard we were crying, moment of the weekend.

It all started because we had run out of hard boiled eggs for decorating (last year Natalie couldn't have cared less about decorating eggs, this year she was a machine. Knocking through about a dozen eggs before others even had a chance). So, we switched to regular eggs. Which led Brad to start bragging about how he could hold an egg in one hand and squeeze with all his might and it wouldn't break.

Of course, my sisters don't know to just smile and nod at Brad. Instead, they "egged" him on (hee hee, couldn't help it). Pretty soon Brad had an egg in hand, and moments later there was an eruption of egg yolk, egg on the ceiling, all over the table and oozing down Sharon's hair and shirt.

Hysterical. Turns out Brad was holding the egg the wrong way or something like that. Who brought that guy anyway? ;)

Hysterical moment #2 of the weekend - Natalie's dance show for us on the screened porch. Suffice it to say that Natalie now has the new nickname, Elaine (referencing Seinfeld and the her crazy dancing episode). There might be video evidence but I'm holding it for blackmail for the moment. Natalie, you can thank me later :)

FOMO

This is SO true! Excerpt from a recent NY Times article ...

Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It's Your Facebook Wall (by Jenna Wortham)

One recent rainy night, I curled up on my couch with popcorn and Netflix Instant, ready to spend a quiet night at home. The peace was sweet — while it lasted. Soon, my iPhone began flashing with notifications from a handful of social networking sites, each a beacon of information about what my friends were doing.

As the alerts came in, my mind began to race. Three friends, I learned, had arrived at a music venue near my apartment. But why? What was happening there? Then I saw pictures of other friends enjoying fancy milkshakes at a trendy restaurant. Suddenly, my simple domestic pleasures paled in comparison with the things I could be doing.

The flurry of possibilities set off a rush of restlessness and indecision. I was torn between nesting in my cozy roost or rallying for an impromptu rendezvous, and I just didn’t know what to do.

My problem is emblematic of the digital era. It’s known as FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” and refers to the blend of anxiety, inadequacy and irritation that can flare up while skimming social media like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram. Billions of Twitter messages, status updates and photographs provide thrilling glimpses of the daily lives and activities of friends, “frenemies,” co-workers and peers.

The upside is immeasurable. Viewing postings from my friends scattered around the country often makes me feel more connected to them, not less. News and photographs of the bike rides, concerts, dinner parties and nights on the town enjoyed by people in my New York social circle are invaluable as an informal to-do list of local recommendation.

But, occasionally, there is a darker side.

When we scroll through pictures and status updates, the worry that tugs at the corners of our minds is set off by the fear of regret, according to Dan Ariely, author of “Predictably Irrational” and a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He says we become afraid that we’ve made the wrong decision about how to spend our time.

Streaming social media have an immediacy that is very different from, say, a conversation over lunch recounting the events of the previous weekend. When you see that your friends are sharing a bottle of wine without you — and at that very moment — “you can imagine how things could be different,” Professor Ariely said.

The article goes on, but you get the point. "FOMO" - I totally have that!

European Vacation

We had a great, and relatively impromptu, European getaway, this year. I had the chance to go to Oxford for a work event, so we figured, why not extend a few days, have Brad meet me and then tool around Europe! It was amazing.

I started with several days in Oxford, attending a big social entrepreneurship conference. I felt so lucky to be there - the World Forum is the biggest, most prestigious event in my field. There were about 800 people there and it's a veritable who's who of government, for-profit, nonprofit and academic leaders. I was amongst my own personal rock stars the whole week - and was seriously geeking out the whole time :)

I didn't take many pics but here is one of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. His accomplishments speak for themselves, but he was also the cutest man with this ridiculously infectious laugh. So cool.

After the conference ended, Brad flew out and met me for what I lovingly termed "vacation/torture". We took the train from Oxford to London, spent 2 days in London, took the train from London to Paris (the chunnel!), then 2.5 days in Paris, then the long flights home. It was chaos. We did so much that it was a total blur and I was literally in pain at the end of the day from all the walking and running around. Here's a quick recap ...

London

Spending some quality time with Kate and Wills before their wedding :)

Chilling with the lions in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately, the fountains in the Square were not running - Brad was not pleased!

View from the Tower of London - we liked the juxtaposition of the old vs new architecture


Westminster Abbey


The London Eye - which we rode on the first night we got to town, and someone proposed to his girlfriend in our car! I still think he should have sprung for a private car, rather than propose in front of 10 random strangers, but I guess it was still cute.


Tower Bridge (commonly mistaken to be the London Bridge which is slightly down river)


St. Paul's Cathedral - including a crazy climb all the way to the top for a view of the city. Then a walk across the bridge to take pics from the other side.


The British Museum and the National Gallery

and I'm sure there were more things (the Royal Palace, gardens, a night out to see a play...), but for the life of me, I cannot remember them all!

Then on to Paris...

Of course, we spent a bunch of time at the Louvre, spectacular building and some amazing works of art. We also went to Musee d'Orsay but no pictures from there

Basilica Sacre Coeur - amazing views of all of Paris, after another hefty climb that is!

A trek out to Versailles, which was totally worth it to see the over the top opulence (and make fun of the crazy tourists!)

Can't talk about Paris without some pics of the Eiffel Tower - by day and night

Multiple visits to the Arc d'Triomph to get the perfect photo


Rodin museum including "the Thinker"

And a final stop at Notre Dame the morning that we left the country.

Phew! I seriously needed a vacation recover from that vacation!