david byrne and asbury park in one single week = extreme awesomeness

For the second time in the last few years, but with much closer seats, we got to see David Byrne at the Wellmont, and he remains my all-time favorite. He is touring with St. Vincent, so they played a lot from their shared album but there was some excellent david and talking heads favorites sprinkled in. In true David style, it was music and theater combined. There was a 10-piece (or so) horn section of women and men and their instruments walking in circles or haning out on the floor or in a conga line, playing along and dancing. They even got to get up to David's microphone during "Wild Wild Life" and sharing in the singing, which was freankin amazingly fun. I could go on and on, it was awesome and I was tempted to buy tickets to another night of the tour.

A few days later, Mike and I went on a weekend getaway to Asbury Park. We stayed at the Berkeley hotel, right across from the ocean (a graduation gift from my aunt and uncle) and our room had a gorgeous ocean view. We packed in so much in just 2 days. Rented bikes, hit the farmers market for fresh jersey blueberries, ate a lot of delicious food, had fancy drinks on the water, walked up and down the boardwalk, rode our bikes and did an asbury park photo shoot, read our books, walked on the beach at night, and sat and watched the waves. It was a fantastic and rejuvenating.

click to see this larger

did not know cacti lived in ocean grove

walking beach to beach

mike assessing sandy damage

best mixed drink i've ever had

I finally graduated

Well, it was a very long journey, but I finally graduated. You can call my Dr. Kristen now ;)  It took awhile to really sink in, but I feel it now. And it certainly helped when about 15 family members decended into town to celebrate with me. Graduation was on a monday, so we had a pre-celebration weekend, which included a lot of fun and even in the rain. We ventured out to the big arts and crafts fair down the street - equipped with about 9 umbrellas. I had hoped we could take little ones in the paddle boats, but it turned out to be pouring rain all day, so we just splashed around outside of the pond. The boys BBQ'd out in the rain. We ate some good food and chilled in town. It was a lovely weekend, despite the rain, and I enjoyed all of the love.

When Monday arrived, we all packed into a bunch of cars and drove down to campus. Graduation was exciting (also long and very hot...). I sat in the very first row, with my friends, the other 7 Phd graduates. All of those years of studying...and I finally walked across stage to get that diploma.

Thank you family, for helping me celebrate this giant milestone in my life.

I think its my favorite city

Well, the news is this: I finally finished my PhD. Can you believe this?? Before I get to graduation, I wanted to add some photos from DC, a trip that kicked off my graduation celebration. We got to go to DC a few weekends ago for a nice long weekend with the parents. It was a graduate present, dad and mo treated us to a little getaway. I have been to DC numerous times, but this might have been one of the very few times, in which, I had no work to do, it was all play.  Just in the last few years, I have been to maybe 10 conferences or meetings in DC and always managed a tiny little hour or two of play, but this weekend - it was all fun.

We stayed at an amazing hotel, probably my favorite hotel ever. It was just the little things - warm cookies at 2pm, wine and olives at 5, a self-named goldfish for your room, the green glass chandilers, the aminal print robes for use during your stay. It was modern and very funky. Also reminded us of 'red rum' but in a good way. When our room was ready, we were surprised to find flowers and fancy chocolate and champange waiting inside. Thanks dad and mo!

When we arrived, we hit the ground running with a tour of the capital building - my first time, and a special pass to the House of Representatives gallery (we literally missed the House in session by aboout 10 minutes) and got to sit in the room where the President gives the State of the Union address. We had to leave our cell phones behind so I couldn't take a picture - but this is the room we sat in!

Off to a good start, we proceeded to eat amazing food, went to all of the memorials, spend some time in the Arlington Cemetary, went to the Natural Museum, went to the National Gallery of Art, ate more good food, saw an awesome Imax movie about the flight of the monarch butterflies. It was SOO fun and an amazing graduation present and kick start to celebrating.

at the unknown solider

this is President Obama's motorcade, he was in one of these vehicles!! 

JFK's eternal flame

breakfast at founding farmers = yum

Visit to the Zoo

Last weekend, Amy and Todd and the boys came to visit Auntie Kay and Uncle Mike in Jersey. While the older boys (mike and todd) went golfing, the gals took the smaller boys (my nephews) to the zoo nearby. This particular zoo is really fun, it is tucked away in the woods, it is somewhat compact, so you can cover some serious ground in just a few hours, and there are a few additional fun areas besides all of the animal watching - magic slides and a carousel.

Another highlight of the zoo trip was when Nolan became the 'sugar daddy' for the wishing pond, passing out change to the entire park of kids.  Long story...

Sorry, another highlight, was when the peacock modelled for us. 

We also kicked off BBQ season and cooked up a big meal after a long fun day. Thanks for the visit you guys!

Museums

In March, we fit in a little culture here and there, as a way to take some needed study breaks.

Mike and I took a study break one day this month to visit the great museum that is nearby. There was a wonderful exhibit of the work of Oscar Bluemner, and his paintings of the Paterson area in the early 20th century. It was during the time of the great Silk Strike in Paterson, which occurred 100 years ago this year. It was a beautiful set of work, colorful and passionate. I realized that I really miss my union organizing work these days...

We also went to NYC to the Met and met family and saw Matisse!!