Monday, May 19

Black Tie Baby

I'll be honest, I'm not really feeling the blog tonight. However, I can't take another minute of watching Adam in his angsty rage over the Red Sox being behind the Yankees anymore, so here I am to report on the last weekend. It's the oddest thing: a cross-country move, a year of HBS, an internship job hunt, the impending birth of our son; nothing, I mean nothing compares to the stress and rage he feels over the Red Sox losing to the Yankees. It's a pitiful thing.

First a random question: How come when a hotel upgrades you, they put you in a room with two beds (two queen-sized beds in our case). I mean, if a couple is checking into a room, does two beds really qualify as better? Wouldn't a nice couch and a mint on your pillow be a much better upgrade?

Anyway, last Friday was the Newport Ball at the Ocean Cliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Getting there was a pain. Actually, getting out of Boston was a pain; the rest of the ride went quickly. We checked in our hotel and had just enough time to throw on our formal clothes (including one panicked moment by me when I realized that I hadn't tried on the bra that went with the dress since last formal and wonder of wonders, my rib cage has expanded) and hit the shuttle bus to the mansion. We missed the pre-party because HBS doesn't seem to consider that most dates/partners do work for a living and even getting to Rhode Island by 8 p.m. is a challenge (we made the late shuttle, which left at about 8:30). The location was beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather was downright cold, so the two huge tents set up outside were absolutely empty and everyone was crammed inside the house. That meant that I ate my dinner standing by a dresser right outside the ladies' room. But the food was good and I really stuck to my crowd and it made the evening a pleasant one. The only bad part was that I had told Adam he needed to drink my weight in alcohol to justify the price of the tickets, but he barely drank a twentieth of his own weight (which at this point is a good fifty pounds less than me). Adam did get to witness firsthand that amazing phenomenon that he had thought was an urban legend: the roaming hand. Apparently by simply walking around with a pregnant belly, I am inviting others to just lay their hands on my belly.

We went back to our lovely hotel room (with two queen-sized beds and an ocean view) on the first bus back because we were both quite beat. I think the Newport Ball was much mellower than Holidazzle because everyone was burnt out. The last final was on Thursday, so there was definitely the hungover crowd, but there was also the exhausted "we're done and now we have to start working" look on people's faces. So we weren't alone on the bus ride back. The next morning Adam and I had breakfast together in Newport, which is a lovely town. Walked around for a bit. Just long enough really to make sure we got a parking ticket. We then met up with his section for a brunch on the beach at noon. Adam's section--with the exception of two or three people--is made of folks I really like. It was a relaxing afternoon before we headed back to Arlington, so I could prepare for... formal number two!

This past weekend was reunion and commencement weekend for BU, and I had to cover a gala for a newsletter article. The gala was nice enough that I wished HBS events were more like it. But they never will be because the main draw was that there were about 150 people there and the Newport Ball had about 900 people. Makes for a more intimate evening. Everyone I met at the event was quite nice and I spent some time talking to a professor I had interviewed for a previous article. But I was just beat. And the wine looked so good. I was able to sneak out of there just after 11, which is good because the next day... Jenn and John came into town!

John was best man in a wedding not too far from here, so they arrived about one. Seeing them was a blast, but the trip was too short and I was a little tired. We took the requisite tour of the business school and wandered Harvard Square (after I insisted on stopping in Toscanini's for ice cream) and then headed to the North End for a yummy dinner. There was so much more to talk about, but by 10 p.m., I was wiped out an in bed.

And so today? Well, today, I'm beat. And as I said, I don't feel like blogging. But the louder Adam's moans become the less I want to go back into the living room, so I guess I'll find some other way to putz around in here. I hope your baseball team is doing better than his.

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