bein' smart

longing for those college lectures? or how about the cool speakers that they always canceled at cua? berkeley has an iTunes page (below) that has downloadable lectures and recordings of events. (so you can listen to CUA alumni Maureen Dowd speak at a school that would have her...) worth a look

http://itunes.berkeley.edu/

i love this

think i can build my own?

Grand Ol' Opera

My opera is this weekend, kids. Come one, come all. It's free, French, and not too long. Would love to see you there!

such a big day

Dems take back the House and Senate
VA goes Dem!
Rumsfeld steps down
90210's out on DVD
and, of course,
Britney divorces K-Fed (who is literally unable to give away tickets to his current tour. everyone else must have watched the kids choice awards too, guys)

ah, what a day.

Notes and asides:

PAUL: I need to speak to you. It's about 7th Heaven. Seriously. It can wait, but don't let me forget this weekend.

THE REST OF YOU: Are you all coming this weekend for Mikey's birthday? Except Tara I mean, I know you're knee deep in rehearsals. :)

i no longer have tonsils

::zip, zip::

they're gone. no more tonsils for geoffy.

the surgery was quick and easy... pain medication makes me feel BIZARRE...

here's to recovery!


______________________________
(sympathy coupon #29938)

We are our own YouTube

This is why I still have a Dell.

Tyra Banks is Out of Her Mind

Am I talking to myself?

Oh and by the way

i know what we're doing pretty much all next year...

i'm bringing you back

no news is bad news

i don't have a job after all. those imbecilic fuckers from nyu's global education office screwed me over like no one's screwed me over before...even more than kevin did, cheating on me with the girl he's now living with...and her kid (living with the kid, not as incestuous as it came out.) anyways, they proposed the job to me. i accepted. i tuned down another offer. i worked for them - illegally - for six days during the student orientation, meeting the prez of AUP and introduced myself as the NYU rep. i signed a lease on an apartment. and then, after i meet with lawyers in Paris to figure out my papers, i figure out that the NYU is completely uneducated in setting up camp in France. no legal French structure, no means of getting me work papers. and when they realize that they're in way over their heads, they tell me that "it's impossible to hire me" and that they'll think of what to do next.

if they don't send me indemnity, i'll have to take their asses to court.

so, tara, i have no advice for you whatsoever. being american and trying to find work in europe is excruciatingly difficult. hell, it's been 4 months now that i've been looking for work.

you might see me soon after all.

for now, you can see me here, celebrating the news of my job offer in France's Drôme Provençal a month ago...back when things were good:

Tara needs help!

Okay, Opals, I am researching my future life-after-graduate-school, which is coming up at the end of this academic year. I would really like to move overseas, either for work or for a post-grad degree. Do any of you know how to go about doing that, short of Google-ing every university in the country? Parisian Carolyn, I'm looking at you. Any ideas anyone has would be welcomed, as I don't really know where to start. (And p.s., this doesn't have to be singing-related.) Thanks bunches!

just keepin' it movin'

I love every Opal!

I'm glad to see us posting again. My life is crazy busy w/ work and such (as it always is... I do it to myself).

I have a new roommate! Still in the same house, but it's a little different now (the dude brought a couch). We still have a pull-out sofa though, so if you want to come crash, I would love it.

later!
-G

Nice new look, e-opal.

Congrats, Carolyn! I wish I had never left Europe, myself. And LOVING the new format, by the way. How very back-to-school.

email post: carolyn's news

Congrats! See Care's PSA:

Chers amis,

From now on, you can call me Madame la Directrice...and employed!

After leading me on for two months, unofficially telling me that they selected someone else and then called me a day later to ask if I was still interested, after three interviews (and a quasi-fourth on Wednesday) and weeks of frustration, I got the NYU at AUP job!!!

So now I'll be the only person on-site coordinating a new and somewhat misplaced NYU study abroad program at The American University of Paris. Although I'm semi-nervous about the responsibility, getting back on payroll will be so nice (and the fact that it is American-style salary makes it even better!) I can't express how relieved I am to know where I'll be in a month - the wait was pretty agonizing.

Now the online job searches have been replaced with apartment searches...i'm currently living with my honey but this is purely permanent...and securing an apartment just might compete with finding a job in difficulty.

I know the news is bittersweet, but at least I'll be escorted to New York on business every once in awhile!

Send some news about the Poconos! What did I miss?

xoxo
care

You're right, Tara...

Everyone sort of forgot about the blog. Or we all got busy. Something like that. So here goes: Erica's megapost, the summer round-up, if you will.

This summer just flew by-- I'm not really sure what happened. It was just May, and now it's August 28th. Woah. Shit. So I spent the summer working as a "reporter" at the New York Resident, this weekly free street-corner magazine. It was a good chance to write clips, and I published a ton of stories. My editor was a lamo idiot, though, so I was ready to go. The highlight of that internship, I think, was the day I rode up in the elevator with Ashley Olson. She was hot.

WHile my MWF's were taken up at the Resident, I spent the other 4 days at Dr. Bogoch's, working for one of the nuttier old ladies on the Upper East Side. As some of you may remember, I was doing this weird partial employment thing last Fall. One day I answered an ad to move some boxes in a home office, and now it's been 10 months. Luckily that wacko was out of time for most of the summer, so I spent most of my days napping on her floor. (Her couch is covered with papers...) Hurrah, though! Friday was my last day there! No more stupid old whore... I wend to Macy's Saturday to celebrate, and Tara, you'd love my new shoes.

Most of you know Jordan and Pat moved in around the corner (on 81st) this summer-- so that's been fun. It's nice to have 'Friends' in the neighborhood.

So you wanna hear about the Poconos Tara? Um... we ate. A lot. And ate some more. We played sardines, tons of flip-cup, and Jordan, P.S. everyone, can bake his ass off. And I don't mean smoking pot. (though the statement still stands.) We played volleyball, some of us went jogging in the mountain air, and we saw a ton of deer and even a few wild turkeys. The view was amazing. I don't know about the rest of you, but I had forgotten, really, how fucking awsome drinking with Cary Cascino is. Cary, you get the funnest person who traveled the farthest award. Or something like that.

Speaking of which, Paulie, what happened to our awards? Not that I got one. Not that I'm crying myself to sleep or anything.

Photos later. It's not letting me upload any just now.

Puzzle-mania

Okay, people, this is ridiculous. This blog has been SILENT for over ONE MONTH. Unacceptable. So, in the spirit of rekindling blog-fever, here is a post. How was the weekend in the Poconos? THAT would be a good thing to post about. Give me some stories. Please. I have completed 1.5 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles in the last week. I NEED someone/thing to live vicariously through before I totally lose my mind.

As for me, Italy was amazing and fantastic and everything I had hoped for. I ate donkey (yes, donkey) at a Donkey Festival, I screamed and cheered for the Azurri when they won the World Cup (see below post), my passport was stolen in Milan (good times), and I saw at least three denim fashion shows in the piazza (that town loves its denim). So get off your asses and UPDATE ME on the Poconos. I will be holding my breath, while working on a thrilling puzzle of a tiger. A TIGER!

Italia ha vinto il mondiale!!!

That's right, amici, I was in Italy when ITALY WON THE WORLD CUP. I don't know if any of you are soccer fans, but it was an amazing game. When Italy kicked the final goal during the penalty shoot-out, the town erupted. For at least two hours, people sang and danced in the street as cars began an impromptu parade through the town. People were jumping in the fountain, drinking prosecco out of the bottle, and generally celebrating as though they had won the war. I have never seen anything like it! Una bella notte...

My name is Mariah and I hate pickles.

SIGHTED STATE-SIDE

Now has anyone seen Tara?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU SLUT

Penelope is 2. Aren't ya'll proud?
Look how sexy she is.

lost in opal's eyes

Make me write you...

Hey kids,
I am leaving for Italy on Friday, so if you want a postcard, email me your addresses before then. May every Opal have a happy June!

my cousin alexa

alexa rocks






check out her myspace page



sorry... i just had to get rid of the monster toothpick w/ a drinking problem.

picnic wine table

Who loves this?

ooooooooh i'm hooked on a feeling

Italy, here I come.

Hey kids,
I don't have the fancy Photo Shop skills that Geoff does, but I too am having a gathering at my abode. Tomorrow night I am throwing myself a last-minute going-away PAR-TAY, so come every o-pal! If you don't come, you don't get any gifts from Italy...

every opal is invited...

crap

i'm so bad at this...

HAPPY [belated] BIRTHDAY CARO!!!!

you're electric.

did i ever tell you guys...

that the neighborhood i grew up in is called "Gay Farms?"



thats all.

come to my bithday party

it is all too evident that i let frenchies make my bday party invite:
(my bithday invite is supposed to be animated, merde!)

Happy Easter!

First things first-- I will take my foot out of my mouth. I got a voicemail last night informing me that Ms. Cascino did, in fact, JUMP OUT OF A PLANE! Way to go Cary. I'm glad you and Matt are both still alive.

Second, there's this cool thing here that I think some of you (Tara? Matt?) may find interesting. It's a digital book log. I just found it this morning and put in some of the books I have on hand in my apt. I think you only get 200 for free, and I haven't checked on prices yet, but I'd love to digitally catalogue all my books (including the 8 boxes in my parents basement)... I'm thinking it'd be better to just do it in Excel for personal use, but this does make it easy and shareable. You just type in the title or part of, and it pops up possibilites and you click the right one. Easy to get all the info on the book w/o having to type it. Plus, you can share your list, making for easy book swapping and the like. Here's my list.

I haven't written in forever, so I hardly know where to start. Luckily, my life is pretty boring, so I don't think this will take long. Dan and I went to the circus, and with some others I saw a taping of the Colbert Report. (Quality. That show has gotten really good.) I'm working on a story for a class on NY Comedians, so I've seen more Stand-Up in the last few weeks than I could possibly care for.

Two weeks left of school, and I have NO IDEA what I'm doing this summer. I don't know if there's an internship in my future, or even if I'm sticking with my same job. So no news there, I guess.

Mikey, Dan & I will be in DC on May 13 for CUA gradumation (Dan's sister Amy and Chris Dinolfo). I hear they've got Wolf Blitzer this year. Who's pissed/jealous? I mean, I came to Catholic so that I could stalk Wolf on the White House lawn, and he promptly left as CNN's WH correspondant and got his own stupid Sunday show. Then Geoff had to listen to ASHCROFT and the rest of us had to sit in the rain and listen to that 98 year old nun talk about god-knows what.
Oh well.

So that's about it. Hope you're all having a lovely holiday. (And aren't stuck inside doing homework like me...) Eat some ham, dye some eggs, and overload on sugar. Martha says it's a good thing.

xoxo, E

Happy Spring, y'all!

Thinking of times we spend together...

I'm so excited

How many of us are going to buy this t-shirt?

Grups-'R-Us

LOVE the article. You know, I see so many "grups" walking down 14th Street: those folks that make sure their clothing never really fits properly or that their hair never really looks clean. They would NEVER go to STARBUCKS because it's just TOO commercial, so they walk around instead with a half-caf, soy, no foam, sugar-free vanilla latte and a vegan pie from Sparky's. Even if we are not yet grups, we all strive to look cool and tortured and INTENSE and not care what other people think (because, honestly, fuck 'em), while we secretly hope that we're listening to the right music and reading the right book (myself included). Frankly, it's exhausting to try to fit-in-without-looking-like-I'm-trying-to-fit-in-and-secretly-wishing-I-still-smoked-because-smokers-look-like-hip-artists-and-counting-the-days-until-my-ipod-comes-in-the-mail-so-that-I-can-have-the-coolest-play-lists-EVER. And by the way, my favorite bit of the article:

"'I even remember meeting this guy who was around my age, who was wearing an expensive blazer, and on the lapel was a London Calling button. Who the fuck wears that? That’s what I wore when I was 18 in art school! And you’re the same age as me? And you’re wearing it again?' He pauses, then adds, 'And you know what? Giving your kid a mohawk is fucked up, too.'"

Fucking brilliant.

P.S. The spell-check does not like the words grup, Starbucks, or fuck. What does that say, I wonder? Ahh, back to the not-so-gruppily-subtle superficiality of America's Next Top Model.

What's between us and Gen-X?

Grups, apparently. I really liked this article, actually-- you should all check it out. We're about 10 years removed from the generation that refuses to grow up, and I'm not sure any of us are any different.

I think Adam Sternbergh hit the nail right on the head though. Everyone's terrified of not being "passionate--" much more than the fear of not being cool. Plus, who wants to wear a suit anyway?
(Well-- except Matt)

Read it, yo. Tell me what you think.

Two things

1. This is the coolest thing ever ever ever.

2. it is sooo passe to carry your dog around in your purse. carry your dog as your purse! (just shove your wallet in its mouth)

your modern face scans the surprise ending

buongiorno!
i'm here at home on a saturday night recuperating from a solo voyage to turin and cinque terre. whilst in turin i stumbled upon one of my most favorite things that is oh-so-common on this (current) continent of mine: outdoor public art like this ->
but my most prized discovery was the work of a certain jenny holzer that was projected, LED-style, on an old italian castle...expressions such as "it is fun to walk carelessly in a death zone" and "bodies lie in the bright grass some are murdered some are picnicking" caught me by surprise. i was left stunned by holzer's clever semantics and the city's willingness to display such disturbing+shocking statements on such a central, historic spot. holzer uses "language and the mechanics of late 20th-century communications as an assault on established notions of where art should be shown, with what intention and for whom" (artnet.com). i think you might enjoy her work as much as i did, although the pix don't really capture the moment:

Listen to this...

I made an "Opal Radio" station!


Listen to Opal Radio



It's free to listen!! If you want to make your own radio station, it's free to sign up.

I made "Opal Radio" by saying that I liked the artists Fleetwood Mac and Badly Drawn Boy and now I'm listening to fantastic music that shares the same "musical qualities" but by artists I've never heard of before... It rocks.

Check it out, yo!

love,
-Geoff

Reality Bites

My new favorite show is 8th & Ocean. Don't judge me.

Viva Italia!

Dudes, I just got into a month-long summer program in ITALY. For the month of June, I will be living in Urbania, a rural village in the Marche region (kind of near Tuscany), taking Italian, and singing in concerts around the area. This place is also near the coast of the Adriatic Sea, so there will be beach days.
BEACH DAYS. IN ITALY. I am so jazzed.

Cheap booze is museum party's undoing

Dear Opal

Geoffrey (gscott1380@gmail.com) spotted this on the IOL website and thought you'd find it interesting.

Geoffrey says: Opal loves to party...especially if it's near art: Kathleen Christians, 39, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "It was crazy. People were shoving people over. People were getting sick, screaming, shouting, messing with the artwork."

Cheap booze is museum party's undoing

The organisers of an event held at a American museum have been left ruing their plans after the party descended into drunken chaos.

(Click here for the full story )

Visit http://www.iol.co.za for the hottest online news, sport, jobs, property, motoring, classifieds and shopping in South Africa.

Hermione... NO!

Looking for "hands on" experience?

Sorry, couldn't help it. Our man Will is looking for interns...

pretty paris

(après avoir cliqué sur l'image ci-dessous)
Cliquez sur la flèche en bas à droite pour faire défiler Paris sous vos yeux...

(after clicking on the image below)
Click on the "right arrow" in the scroll bar along the bottom of your browser and watch Paris unravel before your eyes...

killing smokes

i always preferred that expression more than "smoking kills'. i don't think i've ever been more of a smoker in my life. parisian life does not include not smoking.

so for awhile i've been crushing on jens lekman, a singer from sweden with a delicious voice. last night i went to his show at the mains d'oeuvres in paris. he played an excellent set, but because he is so damn irresistable he decided to quit the stage and sing for private requests in the cafe...but the managers would have none of that. so meg&i invited him to play a set at her new empty loft in montmartre. there is no electricity just yet, but jens & i agreed that a few spirits would warm us up. he said that he had to pass by his hotel first, and convince his driver to drop him off. i gave him my number and then to meet up with damien at a bar...an underground loud place with no cell service. jens called. i got his message two hours later. essentially, i stood him up. ha ha ha. it would have been too good to be true anyways. but you do have to admit that he is one pretty boy:



thus is the latest news from gay paree.

i miss you's.

you're invited...

to a barbeque in my backyard...






...in the spring, of course.

Go fug yourself.

This site is fuggin' awesome. There is nothing like a witty, celebrity-fashion-bashing blog to cap off your Valentine's Day. Happy VD, opals!

e-opal has gone non-smoking

kudos to cary

luck to mikey

and damnit, erica, isn't this your 47th try? (ok, so i have to quit though, 'cause it's been over a decade since i started smoking. ewww)

Do your part for animal rights.

yeah, who has the energy to be clever...

yay tara! i would like to see you perform this semester, if we can make it happen...

i missed american idol, but that doesn't mean i don't love it. did you see the one with the little brokeback boy from wyoming? who had, like, never had a real conversation with anyone outside his family? awsome.

i'm working on a bunch of stories right now:

• one on this preservation librarian
• a profile on a city council member from queens
• an archeological dig born out of a new subway stop down in battery park
• nyc helicopter pilots
• this fun event
• interviewing an investigative journalist to see their story process (well that's less of a story than an assignment)
• and a court/lawsuit story that i-- ooops-- haven't gotten around to starting yet.

ok i've got to get back to work!

pum choo opals.

I'm sick of trying to think of witty titles.

Hi-dee-ho, kiddies. This has been a rather silent blog recently...
Well, I have been in my second semester of grad school for two weeks, and things are going very well. They just posted the operas that our class will be performing next year, and I got a kick-ass role in Massenet's opera Werther. I'm super excited, and I am currently having a blast watching a combo of American Idol and the Grammies (which are both dreadful). How are all the other o-pals out there? Holla.

Heellllllllllloooooooooooooooo

Is anybody out there?

sniff sniff sniff

well hello lovelies...

i feel out of touch, but that may just be all in my head. i'm pretty stressed with school this semester-- all of my classes are reporting/writing heavy (as opposed to the reading/studying sort), and it's an insane juggling act to keep my head above water-- especially with work. it's pretty much 7 days a week for me.

so that's about it-- i'm just busy with school, so the update is pretty boring. i'm taking reporting new york (so carolyn, i really am working on that nyc guide, i swear i'm getting to it), investigative (that one's a bitch) and writing/reporting 2.

i'm at dan's right now, diverting from my research to play online and watch a rerun of gilmore girls while the boys play video games. penelope's having a little vacation at the fabiani ranch out in westchester. mikey- did you take her to that park yet? apparently she has a nail appointment tomorrow. the little diva.

ok, back to work. i part with a little something for paulie and the electric caro:

a dating competition

basereport.blogspot.com

who do you think will go on more dates in one month: a gay guy, or a straight girl?

two friends of mine are having a dating competition throughout the month of february. they're challenging each other to see who can go on more dates w/in the month. quantity... not quality.

they're detailing their exploits here: basereport.blogspot.com

check it out, and just FYI
base = "dude, did you get to second base w/ mary last night?"

opal loves non-smokers

how's the cessation program coming along, cary?

keep it up!!

help, nyc-style

ciao!

i'm compiling a NYC dossier/guide/advicebook for two friends who are moving to the city next week, and have never lived there before. i'm trying to tackle manhattan&brooklyn neighborhood by neighborhood, but the manhattan part is proving to be a little tricky.

friends, can you please provide "places to go/ things to see" assistance for:
tribeca (tara, it's your time to shine)...and everything above 14th street (ahem my key & erica). and any other good spots that you think would suit two rhode islanders who have been living in paris for 3 years?

maybe i'll even print out my creation and make copies?

merci bien!
xoxo
care

Principle Battle: Would you have done the same?

So last night, I'm out at this club called "cloud." It's a bit on the "fru'fru"/"shi'shi" side of the spectrum.

I'm there w/ a crowd of about 10 or so people. Some of us are sitting at our table, some of us are standing around the table talking/dancing.

All of the sudden, some early 20's looking chick walks passed the table, grabs one of our martinis, chuggs it, tosses the martini glass back on the table and walks away.


[insert shocked/dismayed/disgusted faces here. judgement, total judgement.]


Needless to say, I all but grabbed the girl by the hair and said "You're going to the bar and buying my friend another drink right now." The girl tried to pretend she hadn't done anything wrong, but after I had the wait staff threaten to oust her, she purchased a new drink for my friend and then B'lined it straight out the door.


You'd have done the same thing, right?

For your consideration...

In an effort to promote intellectual discourse:
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Oregon assisted suicide law today. A particular article I read suggested that this ruling would open the door to more individual state laws endorsing assisted suicide. The Oregon law requires that two doctors diagnose the patient with six months or less to live. "Under the law, terminally ill patients have to wait 15 days from the time they apply for the medications to the day they get them, to give them time to think over their decision" (Tim Fought, AP).
I remember discussing Jack Kevorkian in high school. He was technically breaking the law, but this Oregon law has been ruled legitimate. What do opals think of the decision?

your chance to tell me what to do

we all know that doesn't happen often...

so here's the deal: i got an iTunes gift certificate for my birfday. I can get 25 songs (one for each of my notorious years...), though I don't need to spend it all now. I'd like to hear what you guys think I should buy.

Winners will get a copy of the final CD. (So come up with some good stuff that you may not own.)

Carolyn-- this is your chance to actually get mail from me in Paris!

So please and thank you, drop your suggestions in the comment box.

PS- it deserves its own post, but read this article! get past he first 8 paragraphs or so, and then laugh your ass off. then re-read the title. heeehee.

back and forth....

Forever. That's how long it's been since I posted to the blog. Sorry! So here goes:

I think the last time I blogged was early December. Since then, I finished my first semester of grad school (as did Tara-- yay!). Grades were fine, but I'm still a little helpless.

I then went NYC to my parent's in Harrisburg, PA. Spent a few days there, soaking up cookies and Christmas and presents. super fun :).
A few days later, Dan came and picked me up (and gave me lovely presents!) and the next day we headed down to Annapolis for a few days. This included my super fun birthday '05. Geoff, Paulie, Dan, Stacey, Elliot, and others came out and partied it up at Pharmacy Bar in DC until I was drunk enough to eat a jumbo slice.

On the 30th, Dan and I went to West VA to go skiing at snowshoe with 15 of his closest friends. Turns out, they're super-cool. We had hella fun. I'm not such a bad skiier, if I do say so myself. There was a sweet hot tub, lots of games, and some cool people. Mikey and I are now set on planning a co-new-years trip of our own. Penny, meanwhile, had a great week in nap-town with Dan's sister.
We went back from WVA to Annapolis, and from there I hit Harrisburg for a night, and then back home to NYC.

Dan moved up to Queens last Friday! He had a lovely Lost/birthday party here on Wednesday, and is finally 24, so I don't feel so old. He got a job at a restaurant a block from Mikey & I's place, and started yesterday. Geoff-- remember Annie's? The place with the insane brunch of great happiness? He's working there.

I start back to classes on Tuesday-- I think it's going to be a tough semester. We'll see though. I guess I'll make it through. :)

So that's all for now-- sorry I'm not more interesting. Happy New Year to everyone; I hope all your dreams come true and each of you moves to New York.

"If you hurt us, I'll kill you."

...That was the opening line to the rogue cab ride that ended our evening last night. It was POURING rain and as expected, no cab drivers wanted to pick us up (why the FUCK are DC cab drivers so fuckin stuck up?!?!). we finally got picked up by some dude in a black nissan (he was from some one of those countries in Africa). he was sitting at his house in alexandria and decided that he should try to make a few extra bucks by bringing drunk people home from adams morgan (tara says "he could've gotten in _major_ trouble." ...it's true). i told him he was quite the entrepeneur.

it was a fantastic birthday w/ fantastic folks. i wish more opals could've been there, but it was quite opalistic (sans bistro du coin). the evening started at lucky bar (at 5:30pm) and rocked itself through to gazuza, then chief ike's (where i love to party-- so does tara) and then to the post-bar binge of 2000 calorie pizza mart pizza (bigger than your head, yo). tara, in fact, walked halfway through adams morgan w/ her stilletos in her hands instead of on her feet (mad respect to a girl who wears heels and even more to a girl who's not afraid to take 'em off). tara says "i probably have some horrible fungus now, or probably caught VD --even though that's not possible." geoff says "what's VD?"

that's it for now every opal. we love you.

co-posted by: Geoff and Tara, "we aim to entertain."

Happy drunk birthday to every

Happy drunk birthday to every opal!!

happy birthday goog.

i hope you get everything you've ever wanted for your birthday.

have fun!

Nicholas Sparks is my hero.

Ummm...speaking of crying because of movies, I just saw The Notebook for the first time (you know, starring Ryan Gosling's and Rachel McAdams's kisses). I have been sobbing for the last ten minutes. After watching The Notebook. Jesus Christ, I'm hopeless.

retro december mash

ladies and gentlemen... i've been holding back on posting for a really long time, and then i just realized i had a ton of fun things to share from the past month. now i'm feeling a bit of blog'vomit coming on... roll w/ me for a moment though, it might be fun. yah? you want to?


Happy New Year to every opal! While we begin this new year, i just wanted to stroll you through the fun i had in december. december marked the month that i applied for, was offered and accepted a new position at fleishman-hillard... this past friday was my last day at CTSG. CTSG is dunzo! i'll keep you posted on my new work'life at FH. so in the midst of interviewing for a new job, quitting and transitioning out of my old one...


i went to boston to see my buddy tom from high school. our other buddy joe happened to be in town for the same weekend so we had a little reunion (the last time we'd really spent a lot of time together was 7th period lunch hour of my senior year of high school). mucho fun...


then the next weekend mr. mikey fabiani came down to DC to hang out. we chilled and did a lot of relaxing and chillin out. it was much fun. one night, paulie and mikey took this picture with my camera, but i had no idea they'd taken it... it's fun though, right?


oooh, then i got to hang out w/ pretty patty for christmas. we had a wonderful time. my mom gave each of us one of these little turtle dove ornaments because she said they reminded her of that bird lady from home alone 2 (when they say something like "as long as you have one, and i have one, we'll always be friends." oh pretty patty. you're so cute!)


i also got to hang out w/ my little baby cousin. well, he's my cousin's baby... so that makes him something other than my cousin, but fuck that whole geneology thing for right now. he's just super cute and we had a ton of fun hanging out.


a quick trip back down to DC and low and behold ms. erica martinson was standing by, ready to celebrate her big, bad 25 birthday. we went out in adams morgan and had a ton of fun. at the end of the night i made erica take a glamour shot to showcase her new jewelry from her two favorite guys: dan and geoff (look out dan, it's a competition now...)




and as erica headed out to the mountains w/ dan, i headed up to NY w/ amtrak. a quick train ride took me right to mikey where we went to see brokeback mountain a few hours later (i cried and cried and cried for about half hour AFTER the movie ended). all the cool kids made their way to mikey's apt and we ate momma fabiani's italian cooking before heading out to central park to ring in the new year w/ a bunch of crazy folks who embarked on a 4 mile run at midnight... we drank champagne (like normal people).