We Go Hard

You know that Jay-Z song that's like "Brooklyn we go hard, we go hard..."? If you didn't already know it, you may have heard it used in the trailer for the new Jackie Robinson movie recently. Anyway, Chuckie and I like that song and we randomly sing it for no reason sometimes ever since we saw the Jackie Robinson movie. And last week, we sang it a lot, but with our own lyrics. When I sang it, I sang "Chuckie, we go hard, we go hard..." and when he sang, it was "Rachel, we go hard, we go hard..." Why, you might be asking yourself? Because last week in Kentucky, WE WENT HARD.  And by this I mean we ran, nonstop, all day and all night, every day. We packed our days and nights like we usually do when visiting home, but this time we did it on no sleep. It'll probably take me a few posts to sum up our trip, so I've decided to make this post just "Weekend 1."

Last Thursday, we took the redeye from Seattle to Cincinnati. Big mistake. First, we almost didn't even get on the plane because of an issue with an incompetent Delta employee who for some reason unbooked our flight for us and booked us a one way ticket from Cincy to Seattle when Chuckie called to change a flight time for our return flight earlier in the day. I won't even go into the details because it's long and stupid but basically some saint of an employee fixed it for us last minute and somehow got us back on the redeye flight right in time.

So Friday morning we arrived in Louisville on what is also known as Oaks Day. Schools are closed, many businesses close, and if they don't- their employees take a sick day or vacation day. It is basically like an extra holiday. If you're not familiar with the Kentucky Derby and horse racing- Oaks Day is basically the same thing but the fillies race in the Oaks race. Oaks Day is all about the ladies. So after we picked up our rental car in Cincy, we drove home and went straight to Chuckie's sisters' house to see the family before they headed off to the track. Immediately we were eating donuts, catching up with his sisters and brothers-in-law and drinking Bloody Marys. Let me remind you that at this point, I had slept 0 hours and Chuckie had slept MAYBE 1 hour. Then we were off to his dad's house where we would be staying for the week. After visiting with him for a bit, we both fell asleep for about an hour and a half. Then it was showers and off to my parents' house to visit and watch the Oaks race. My sister was heading to the Barnstable Brown Party to take pictures for her job, so we took pictures of her all dressed up before she left. She sent me the following pictures later that night from the party.

Yep. That's my sister with Terry O'Quinn and Emilio Estevez, or as I like to call them, John Locke and Gordon Bombay.

Then we went to El Nopal to meet up with more family after Oaks. Then we went to a bar in St. Matthews to meet up with friends. We went home around 3 am.

Saturday morning, also known as Derby Day, also known as the best day of the year to be in Louisville, KY, also known as Day Two With Hardly Any Sleep, we got up and headed out to pick up our Best Man Branden and head to the track, after a much needed Starbucks stop, of course. We met up with family and rode into the backside of the track. (I wrote about the backside in last years' Derby post on the blog so I'm not going to go into that again.) The backside was so much fun, as always, but OF COURSE, it rained all day. (I think I say "of course" too much.) But that didn't stop us from spending some QT with the fam, eating good food, betting on every race, losing every race, and checking out the Derby horses in their barns and on their walk over to the Paddock before the race. For all who have asked why we don't dress up and wear fancy clothes and hats to the backside, well, just take a look at these pictures and you'll see why. Rain and mud are much more manageable in jeans and rainboots.

 

 

 

 

 

After the main event was over, we left the track and Chuckie, Branden and I drove out to my Uncle Tony's house where my family and some of our friends were wrapping up the annual Hagan Derby Party.  It was fun, if only for a short time, mainly because we finally got to meet Baby Grayson! He was just as chubby and cute as I thought he'd be!

Here's where you think I might say then we went home. But no. We went out to a bar again. My BFF Lauren was in town with her family and fiance for Derby and they were leaving Sunday morning so this was the only chance we had to see them. And then we stayed out until 3 am. Again. But it was worth it.

 

Sunday morning, Chuckie and I had plans to see his older sister, Shawn, and her family off before they left town, then meet our friends at Wild Eggs (my FAVORITE) and then go to church. But when I woke up after 5 hours of sleep, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and a little like I might barf. I told Chuckie I needed to go back to sleep and miss everything and then I cried. I'm not sure I've ever been so tired it made me cry. So I went back to sleep and Chuckie, AKA the robot who needs no sleep, went and did all of those things without me. I have no idea how he did it.

The rest of Sunday was pretty restful. We went to my BFF Liz's house for a cook-in (a cookout that was pushed inside because of rain), got to hang out with Baby Grayson some more, and then went to my parents' house to hang with them and my cousin and her family (who are from New Jersey and were also in town for Derby) before heading home to try to get to bed before 3 am.

And that was just the first 3 days.  Like I said, WE GO HARD.

Talk Derby to Me

Tonight at 11 pm, Chuckie and I get on a plane headed for Kentucky! We'll be landing in Kentucky tomorrow morning right in time for the best weekend in the Bluegrass state all year long-  Oaks and Derby weekend!

Stole this picture from Lauren. She texted it to me and Chuckie yesterday. So jealous!

Last year I told you a little about our Derby traditions in this blog post and I observed that we may miss Derby for at least a couple of years while at MIT. But thank goodness I was wrong!  Because Chuckie is on internship, he has the freedom to take days off when needed (or wanted), so he was able to take the time off.

Since we did the big Hagan party last year, this year we will be joining Chuck's family at the Derby on the backside of the track. Lawn chairs set up between the barns and drinks and food and horses and trainers and betting and family and maybe a Pitino sighting and probably some rain, because it pretty much ALWAYS rains on Derby day.

On top of the excitement of going to the Derby, seeing our friends and family in Louisville, and getting a break from Seattle, here are a few things I'm extra excited aboout.

- We get to see Chuckie's older sister and her family who we haven't seen since our wedding in August!
- We get to see my best friend Lauren and her fiance and finally celebrate their engagement , as they are in town for Derby.
- We get to meet our little baby friend, Grayson, for the first time and tell him all about how we guessed the correct date of his birth. Also I get to squeeze his chubby cheeks.
- We get to see my best friend Liz and her new fiance Shane and celebrate THEIR engagement! (Lots of fun engagements lately.)
- And last but not least, we planned our trip so we'd be in town just long enough to make it to our friend Jared's wedding next Friday in Northern Kentucky. It's going to be a blast and we're so happy for him and his new soon-to-be wife!

It's only a week-long trip this time but I know we'll make the most of it. We just have to make sure we get at least a couple hours of sleep on our red-eye flight tonight.

Louisville, get ready! The Cummings (Cummingses?) will be there when you wake up tomorrow!

A Seattle update and a New Friend

A lot has happened in regards to our upcoming move to Seattle. Here's a quick rundown.

- I left my job at MIT and am now looking for a job in Seattle.
- We found an apartment. It's a studio apartment, but it's fully furnished, it's clean, it has a parking spot, and we only have to give 2 weeks notice to move out, so if we find a better place when we get there, we'll just move!
- Once we had an apartment locked down, we bought one way plane tickets to Seattle! We move there on February 8th. Next Friday!
- Before next Friday we have to pack up our apartment, pack up our clothes and anything else we want to take with us, ship our clothes, ship Chuckie's car from Louisville to Seattle, and about a million other things you have to do before moving across the country.

So that's where we are with that.

Now I have to tell you about our new friend!

Please meet Grayson, the newest member of our game night group (Everyone Here Hates Twilight) at home!

Grayson was born on Thursday, January 24th, just like Chuck and I knew he would be. You see, our friends can make a game out of anything, including the birth of our friends' baby. One night while Chuck and I were in Louisville over Christmas break, a big group of our friends and family went out to eat. After dinner, the subject of Jennifer's due date came up, and 5 minutes later, we had a napkin with everyone's guesses for when the baby would be born, what time, and what the sex of the baby would be. Chuck and I were at opposite ends of the table and somehow managed to choose the exact same date and almost the exact same time. (I chose 3:20 pm, he chose 3:40.) The only difference was he said boy and I said girl.

And wouldn't you know, Grayson came on January 24th! At 6:15 a.m. though, so we were a little off on the time. I think he's already chosen me and Chuck as his favorites. Because of course, you had to assume that we put money on this bet! Grayson made Chuck $20 richer!

The proud dad, with the napkin and winnings!

 

I don't really know if we're Grayson's favorite's or not since we haven't actually met him yet, but it makes me feel better to say that since we couldn't be there to welcome him in person! I hope he knows we can't wait to actually meet him and until then, we will have to settle for occasional skype dates.

 

Congratulations, Matt and Jennifer! You did good!

Derby 2012 Recap

As I said in my Saturday post about Derby, Chuck and I needed to "go big or go home" this year at the annual Hagan Derby party since we may not be here for the next couple of Derbys.  Well, I think it's safe to say we definitely went big. Here is a recap of the day.

- A new tradition was started when we had the First Annual "Derbreakfast" with friends at Wild Eggs on Derby morning.
- At the party, countless Mint Juleps (the official Derby drink) and Lillies (the official Oaks drink) were consumed.
- All of the food was so delicious that I ate so much I was curled up in the fetal position all through the night moaning in pain.
- Chuck won $80 in the cornhole tournament.
- I won $86 on the Derby after betting on #19 "I'll Have Another" because of a random statistic I heard on Saturday morning on the radio. (That no horse had ever won the Derby running out of the 17th or 19th gate. So I bet #19 just in case.)
- Someone won $79 in a game of LRC.
- Someone may have broken their little toe on the big undies used in the underwear races.
- Someone (who is almost 25 years old) hit their first pinata EVER.
- Someone lost half of their front tooth in an airhead that they got from the pinata.
- Someone peed their pants laughing at the someone who broke their tooth.
- It did not rain.

All in all I'd say this was quite a memorable Derby day for everyone.

Happy Derby Day!

Happy Derby, everyone! Today is a very special Derby Day for me and Chuck, as it may be our last Derby in Louisville for a couple of years. This thought scares me a little, as I have never NOT been in Louisville for the Derby in my entire life. So we will have to live it up big time today!

For as long as I can remember, we have gone to Uncle Tony and Aunt Kelly's Derby party and since college, Chuck and I have started also going to the backside at Churchill Downs with his family every other year.  Both are extremely fun and exciting in different ways. At Tony and Kelly's we bet all day, eat amazing food (also all day...), make fun drinks, compete in sack races, three-legged races, underwear races, play cornhole, and usually end the day trying to find any other way possible to bet our leftover money on something besides horses- LRC games, Texas Hold'em, etc. etc.

Sack races- where things get instense.

You can make some serious money at the Hagan Derby party!

Anyone who has money leftover at the end of the races usually ends up losing it in a game of LRC...

....or poker.

When we go to the backside, we also get to bet all day and eat amazing food all day, but the difference is we are hanging out between horse barns with Chuck's sister's in-laws and friends. We get to be around horses all day, watch the Derby horses being led from their barns out to the track to walk around to the front to get ready for the race, and can occasionally sneak over to the infield to check out the mayhem happening in there. And then of course there's nothing quite like standing up against the fence of the track, watching as 20 horses run past you at 40 miles an hour racing for the finish line in hopes to be crowned the Kentucky Derby winner!

 

Here we are on the backside. That's our view- pretty sweet huh? Right on the other side of that fence is the track! 

Up close and personal with the horses!

 The set up:

The saddest part about being in Boston for the first Saturday in May for the next two years is that unfortunately, I don't think anyone there will care about Derby. But I've decided that we will have to change that- we will make them care. So I've already started thinking about hosting our very own Derby party and teaching the non-Kentuckians all about the greatest two minutes in sports.

Here is a list of things we will and will not do at our Boston Derby party:
We will: make mint juleps and force everyone to drink them, similar to how my dad does every year.

We will not: have underwear races.

 We will: bet on every race.

We will not: let anyone pass out on the stairs. That's dangerous!

We will: dress up.

We will not: invite the Queen of England. She hardly talked to anyone last time she came!

It will take a lot of preparation and planning, but after attending over 20 Derby parties and the actual Derby itself, I think we'll be able to throw a pretty sweet Derby party and make Derby lovers out of all our new non-Kentuckian friends. But really, what's not to love?

(This is actually the Oaks race, 2010- not Derby. But I took this picture and I like it. Pretty good seats that year, right?)