A Wedding/University of Chicago GSB Reunion

Last weekend, Christian and I attended the wedding of a couple that went to b-school with him. It was in Cincinatti, OH. We stayed downtown in the Hilton, which was a really nice hotel...I loved the Art Deco decor. It's attached to a mall and guess who I saw walking through the mall one afternoon.....Naima...the girl who won the previous season of America's Next Top Model. She looks like she is about 13 in person. I should have gotten a picture, but I didn't bother her. Who would have thought that I would have a 'celebrity' sighting in Cincinatti. AND the Packers where in town playing the Bengals and they stayed at our hotel too. I was on the lookout for Brett the whole time but I never ran into him...too bad, so sad.
About the wedding...the bride was lovely and the groom dashing, of course. A fun time was had by all.....

Sending the newlyweds off singing Sweet Caroline

Christian's date...well, she marched right up to him and pulled him on the dance floor.

Me and Bart...my fav GSBer.

Christian, Herk, Jared, Bart & Jonas...yeah, they're wasted. They are doing chorus line kicks, which they did several times during the course of the evening...hee hee

My Bloggiversay

It’s been a whole year since I started this blog back in September 2004. I’m a little late celebrating but in honor of the past year, I figured I’d share 100 things about me. It’s in a slightly different format, cause well, it’s tough coming up with 100 things!

5 favorite foods
Plantains
Pork chops
Shrimp
Bratwurst (Johnsonville please!)
Buffalo wings- BW3’s the best

5 favorite desserts
Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery
Tiramisu
Baklava
Cheesecake
Pistachio almond ice cream

5 favorite restaurants
Café 28 (Chicago, IL)
Cabana (NY, NY)
Café con Leche (NY, NY)
The Tapas Lounge (NY, NY)
Nacional 27 (Chicago, IL)

5 Pet Peeves
People that chew with their mouths open (which is pretty much EVERYBODY)
People that smack their gum when they chew (which is pretty much EVERYBODY)
Couples that pet heavily in public
How people walk in front of you zigzagging, making it difficult to pass them up
The fact that Survivor still comes on TV

5 Favorite Actors
Taye Diggs
Michael Ealy
Jude Law
Chris Noth
Larenz Tate

5 Favorite Clothing Designers
Tracey Reese
Max Azaria
Stella McCartney
Elie Tahari
Free People

5 Favorite Shoe Designers
Jimmy Choo
Christian Louboutin
Carlos Santana
Tod’s
Franco Sarto

5 Favorite Things in My Closet
Yanuk jeans
Wool Mini-sweater (that I knitted!)
Trench coat from Old Navy
Yellow mock-crock pumps from Banana Republic
BCBG dress that I also wear over pants

5 Favorite Authors
Isabelle Allende
Toni Morrison
Chitra Banerjee Divakurni
Dean Koontz
Bebe Moore Campbell

5 Favorite Musical Artists
Mary J. Blige
Jill Scott
Erykah Badu
John Legend
Maxwell

5 Favorite Songs
In a Sentimental Mood, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Love Like This, Faith Evans
Real Love, Mary J. Blige
Golden, Jill Scott
My Green Eyes, Erykah Badu

5 Favorite Films
Love Jones
Cruel Intentions
Grease
Dirty Dancing
Shrek

10 Favorite TV Shows, Past & Present (I watch a TON of TV)
Will & Grace
The Apprentice
Degrassi
Sex and the City
Everybody Hates Chris
Law & Order (all of them)
In Living Color
Buffy
Girlfriends
Larry David

10 Favorite Books (See, I like to read as much as watch TV)
Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, Ntozake Shange
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Sister of My Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Daughter of Fortune, Isabelle Allende
Portrait in Sepia, Isabelle Allende
The Other Boylen Sister, Phillipa Gregory
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

5 Hobbies
Knitting
Crocheting
Reading
Beading jewelry
Weight training

5 Favorite Places to Shop
Ebay
Bloomingdales
H&M
DSW
Wal-Mart

5 Favorite Things to Do with Friends
Brunch/Dine
Movies
Tea
Shop
Knit

5 Random Things About Me
My dream job is to be Creative Director of a top fashion house
I have 3 tattoos
I have never broken a bone
I love Cool Whip
I’ve decided to knit everyone’s Christmas gifts this year

My Spanish FINALLY comes in handy

Not many people know that I got my BA in Hispanic studies. I’m not fluent in Spanish or anything…I never studied abroad and I haven’t used it since the classroom in 1997. But since we are going vacationing in the Dominican Republic next month, yippee!, we are of course going to see a few baseball games. Christian forwarded me the website of the Dominican leagues that is in Spanish. Can you read this? he asked. Why, yes…yes I can. So almost 10 years and thousands of dollars later, I am somewhat putting my degree to use to figure out where we can take in some beisbol. My mom must be smiling down on me from heaven.

What Jewell needs and wants....

So, I hopped on the bandwagon and googled Jewell needs & Jewell wants. You try it with your name.

Jewell needs some sparkle from somewhere fast.
Jewell needs an experienced first-team coach to replace Colin Lee.
Jewell needs you to provide support now more than ever.
Jewell needs to interview Upper Arlington, Hammerschmidt from Dublin, and Nelson Coleman from EMH&T who is the engineer for Grove City.

Jewell wants to aim high.
Jewell wants a poacher.
Jewell wants to stretch the Indiana Minority Health Coalition's reach across more of the state.
Jewell wants to be an astronaut or a professor, or both.
Jewell wants to boost sales 10% this year by opening additional stores.
Jewell wants to build trust and let students know their questions are being answered.
Jewell wants ordinary citizens to keep an eye out for telltale signs that meth is being produced.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

It has been raining since last Saturday, nonstop. I feel like I should be building an ark and collecting animals 2 by 2. I get to work and my pant legs are soaked from the knee down and they aren't dry until about 3pm, you know, just in time for the wet trek home. And poor Wolfen, he absolutely HATES to get wet so his walks have been cut down to about 10 mins...just enough time to do his business. Then he runs home and up the stairs to the vestibule whereas I usually have to coax him up the stairs because he is still sniffing around. And it looks like this will continue until this coming Saturday. Oi!

Congratulations Arshiya

On completing the Chicago LaSalle marathon. It really takes a special person to WANT to run 26.2 miles. I still don't quite understand the mindset, but I'm very proud of her and happy for her. She survived it and said that she just might run another one...gee wiz, I guess I better get some more gel energy paks and body glide.

More Woflen!

I just can't get over how cute he is!

Nap time! 

A New Look

A couple weeks ago I got my hair braided. I went to a place in Brooklyn, 8 hours later I walked out transformed.

New style