The Last Three Weeks in Boston

Chuck graduated from MIT on Friday, June 6th. The three weeks leading up to that day were CRAZY. A lot of "end of the year" activities happened and we were busy non-stop. If we weren't at a school activity, party, dinner with friends or some other fun thing, we were at our apartment trying to pack. Sleep was always the last thing on our list of to-dos.

Some days we had so many activities, we had to run (or I should say "Uber") back and forth between events. Like the night we went to Sloan Follies because Chuck sang and played with the Rolling Sloans, then went to Fenway Park for a retirement party for Don Rosenfield, the LGO director and then back to Sloan Follies because Chuck had to sing with the a capella group. Phew. I'm exhausted by it all over again just thinking about it!

The view from the room where Don's retirement party was held.

While the rest of the MBA class flew to the British Virgin Islands for a graduation trip, we flew to Louisville over Memorial Day weekend for my cousin's wedding and our friends Shane and Liz's wedding shower and bachelor/bachelorette parties. My cousin's wedding was AMAZING. Most of us cried through the entire ceremony because it was so sweet and then the reception was awesome too.

As Matron of Honor, I was in charge of the planning for Liz's bachelorette party and had to plan most of it from Boston. Thank God for my sisters and cousins who helped me pull it off! That weekend was way too much fun.

Liz's parents and mother-in-law accidentally crashed a part of the evening. So we took a picture with them.

When we got back to Boston, I finished up my last week of work and that's when the lack of sleep really began. Chuck's dad came in that Sunday to stay a night and then head to Foxwoods for a few days. My sister and her boyfriend Austin arrived in Boston Monday to spend the week sight-seeing and exploring both with us and on their own in the city. Tuesday we got a break from driving to the airport, but Wednesday we were right back there to get Chuck's mom and sisters, and on Thursday we picked up my parents, Laura and my Grandma!

With Gold at some Sloan party on the Harbor.

My last sailboat picture. :(

Besides the actual graduation on Friday, Thursday of that week might have been my favorite day. During the day, Sloan held a convocation just for Sloan graduates (the graduation Friday was for ALL MIT students- undergrad, graduate, etc.) at a theater in downtown Boston. The Dean spoke, a student speaker gave a speech that made everyone laugh and cry and want to change their lives, and there was pretty music.

Chuck and his classmate/friend Marcus

Selfie in the T station

After the convocation, we ran back by our apartment for a short bit before heading back into downtown Boston to the Prudential Center to go to a Sloan reception at the top of the Pru. Besides the top floor of Eastgate apartments, the top of the Pru offers some of the best views of Boston. It had been raining all day so I didn't get many good pictures, but did snap one of MIT's campus from the top.

Like all good Sloan events, there was tons of free food and of course, drinks. Oh and this sweet ice sculpture.

After the event at the PRU around 10:30 (told you, sleep was always last) we headed to one of our most frequented spots in Cambridge, the Asgard. On Thursday nights they always have live band karaoke. So naturally we had all of our visiting family meet us up there where we caught up on our day and enjoyed some karaoke. Of course we participated, too.

All the siblings!

Around 2 am when the restaurant closed, our ginormous group wreaked havoc on the streets as our family felt inspired to create the human MIT and then human LGO in the middle of Central Square.

Yep, that's my Grandma- enjoying watching our crazy antics at 2 in the morning.

Can't stop laughing at Austin as the L.

Then we walked home and quick anecdote:I decided to take my shoes off and walk barefoot through Central Square and then spent the following 3 days convinced I had contracted a disease from it. I do not advise walking through Central Square barefoot, ever. I think Chuck and I finally crawled into bed around 3am and set our alarms for 6am because he had to be somewhere a little after 7 to get in line for Commencement. 

I'd say we made the most of our time in Boston in the final weeks.

Spring Gala

On Saturday, May 3rd we went down to Newport, Rhode Island for the Sloan Spring Gala. Every year, Sloan hosts two formals- Fall Ball and Spring Gala. We haven't made it to any of the other formals, so made a point to get tickets for the Spring Gala this year, our last chance to get all fancy with our Sloan/LGO friends.

We drove down to Newport Saturday morning with our friends Brittany and Marcus. We stopped for lunch and then toured one of the Newport Mansions, The Breakers. If you don't know (which I didn't before doing a lot of research), the Newport Mansions are the former summer homes of some of America's richest families in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Several of them were built and owned by members of the Vanderbilt family. They were all similar to the Biltmore, but smaller.

Still, the mansions were ridiculously huge, especially considering the families only spent 3 months out of the entire year living in them! They didn't allow any pictures inside any the mansions (during tours), and people were watching us like hawks so unfortunately I only have outdoor pictures.

The back of The Breakers

After our tour, we found a liquor store to get the fixins for Mint Juleps, since it was Derby Day in Kentucky after all, then headed to the hotel to watch some Derby coverage and get ready for the Gala.

That evening, it was finally time for the Gala! The Gala was held at the Rosecliff Mansion, and it was beautiful.

Is this real life?

We took a ton of pictures, enjoyed a cocktail hour on the back porch and in the yard, and then had an amazing dinner in big tents on the lawn. I felt like we were at a party in The Great Gatsby, except our party was a lot more tame and not quite as lavish...

After dinner, there was of course dessert, and then a DJ and a dance party. It was packed, really hot, and really fun.

This picture is crazy. Our friends Jan and Orion are partially disappearing from the picture Back To The Future-style! (They're glasses and hats were green, so disappeared with the green screen behind them.)

 The LGOs at Spring Gala!

The next day, we slept in a little and then went to a late brunch, accidentally happened upon a parade, and then toured one more mansion, Marblehead, before heading back to Boston.

The mansions were incredible and the self-guided tours were great. I wish we had more time to go back to Newport and do more tours or spend more time exploring the town. It seemed like a really fun place with a lot more to see and do! It was also fun to learn some history and Chuck and I may or may not have developed a small obsession with the Vanderbilt family and watched a documentary on the family and read a ton of Wikipedia later after we got home.

The Last C-Function: USA! USA!

I've written about C-Functions on the blog before but in case you forgot- these are the "Cultural Functions" held on Thursdays throughout the school year for Sloan students by Sloan students. A different club or group hosts each one and picks the theme (Korean, Brazilian, Chinese, etc) and then plans entertainment, food, music, etc. for the evening. We've been to some pretty great C-Functions in the past 2 years, but last week's was BY FAR the best. It was USA themed and hosted by the one and only LGO!

The LGOs did an amazing job with the night. The food, the decorations, the entertainment, and the music were all perfect. Everyone dressed in their best patriotic outfits and wore their MIT USA swag that was sold throughout the week.... We ate, we drank, we danced, and then we went out for an after party and closed down a bar even though many of us had to be at work the next morning or some, on an airplane at 7am, because... YOLO?

My favorite part of the evening was when the Rolling Sloans performed a few songs. The band was SO good and I'm not just saying that because my husband happened to be the bass player... :) 

Here are the pictures. They mostly speak for themselves.

Ana takes themes very seriously.

Our hosts for the evening- Andrew and JS

At one point there was a push up contest- first the women and then the men. It should be noted that the man in the French Fries costume won the men's competition. And yes, he did his push-ups while wearing the costume.

MIT's undergrad breakdancing club performed.

The band!

My dude.

I took a selfie with him. While he was playing.

LGO FOREVER

Chuck and Captain America AKA Dan at the after party.

If you couldn't tell... a good time was had by all.

Chuck turns 27

Last year you may remember I basically failed at celebrating Chuck's birthday in Seattle. We went to brunch and I gave him a gift, but overall it wasn't a very exciting birthday. I forgot to make him a cake or dessert of any type and gave him a lame (in my opinion) gift. In my defense, we had JUST moved to Seattle, our furnished apartment had no baking appliances or pans, I had only a day or two to find a birthday present, and we didn't know anyone else in Seattle yet who could celebrate with us. On top of all that, he had to fly to Phoenix the night of his birthday, so spent most the afternoon packing and getting to the airport.

So this year I made an extra effort to make the whole weekend fun and birthday related. Unfortunately, Chuck's birthday weekend happened to fall right before the due date of the first draft his thesis. Stupid thesis trying to ruin my plans! So he had to spend a majority of the weekend writing, but we got to squeeze in a little fun here and there.

On Friday, Valentine's Day, Chuck had made reservations for us at a restaurant in Cambridge we've been meaning to try forever. It was really good food and a lively atmosphere so we had a lot of fun.

Before dinner, Chuck gave me a Valentine's gift in the form of donuts. He knows me so well....  But seriously. Who wants a box of chocolates when you can get heart shaped donuts?

For his birthday gift I had purchased tickets to see a comedian, Mike Birbiglia, at a theater in Boston on Friday night. So after dinner we killed some time in a bookstore and a Starbucks and then headed into Boston for the show. Mike was pretty funny and I'd definitely recommend going to see him if he ever comes to your city. Also the Wilbur Theater, where we saw the show is a great venue to see a show in and it has this trippy ceiling thing going on that will entertain you while you wait for the show to start.

The ceiling design is oval, so it looked like the ceiling was crooked from our seats. Or is the chandelier crooked? (Neither are but tell me it doesn't look like something is off here?)

Saturday and Sunday we barely left the house on account of a blizzard and Chuck's thesis. At one point we left to go to a friend's house for dinner and some Olympics watching, but other than that we didn't really leave the house.

 On Monday, Chuckie's actual birthday, we were both home due to the President's Day holiday. He still had to write his thesis AND do homework for his Tuesday classes, so I tried to make his day still a little fun by cooking him brunch and a late lunch. I basically just kept bringing food to his desk all day.

A french toast sandwich, chicken and cheese quesadillas, and birthday strawberries, because Chuck isn't a huge lover of cake.

That night he took a break from working and we met up with friends at Green Street Grill, another restaurant we've been meaning to try forever that is literally 2 blocks from our apartment.  It was so nice of our friends to come out and celebrate his birthday, even though some of them were also in the middle of thesis writing!  We had a lot of food, a lot of drinks, and sang "Happy Birthday" to Chuck not once, but twice at the table.

Pinkies up!

All in all I think it was a birthday win this year, especially because on Monday night before bed Chuckie told me it was "one of the best birthdays ever." Mission. Accomplished.

Happy 27th Birthday, husband! I think this will be your best year yet!