Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Julia mastered her finals and came home exhausted, sick, and determined to wrap up the graduate school applications. Upon her arrival, I was on vacation from work...and will continue to be for a full three weeks. Yay! So far she saw Star Wars with Steven, attended the annual Gingerbread Party, watched our traditional White Christmas, saw An American in Paris and 2nd City's Twist Your Dickens (both at the Kennedy Center), girls nail day in Annandale, cut/color with me, study time at GT library, Georgetown Cupcake holiday dozen, Chipotle, Capitol Christmas tree visit with the family, and submitted her grad applications. Great, quality time together. Also pictures from Christmas Eve dinner at the Sarrges, which was delicious--but, Julia was in New Hampshire. Looking forward to her return on the 26th for more FUN!

 

Exams and Dr. Perlmutter

Julia is busy studying and taking exams. She's also working on graduate school applications. Check out the new glasses! I love that Warby Parker ships directly to you; the glasses are super flattering.

Dr. David Perlmutter came to the World Bank to speak on optimizing your brain and preventing dementia and Alzheimer's. He is a phenomenal speaker. The only disappointment was that he was not more bold with his recommendations. I think he tip-toed around because our Healthy Working Group president is a vegan. In Dr. Perlmutter's words, this was a "broad-stroke" presentation that emphasized eliminating sugar and refined grains and adding exercise.

Thanksgiving and Cutting Our Own Tree

It was so nice to have Julia home for a few days. We ate a LOT of turkey and a ton of other meat from Wagshals. We also went to Homestead Farms to cut our Christmas tree down with Meme, Sarrges, and Breens. On the way home, we stocked up on some meat (and car snacks) from Rocklands Farm.

Waitress and Party Time

Julia saw, "Waitress," in Columbus with Caitlyn; it is a fabulous musical, one of our top five for sure. I was on my own to attend Kathryn's birthday bash, which was a lot of fun!

Steven was traveling this past week and I was reminded of all the things he does, that I would prefer not to do (driving us, making the bed, locking up the house, throwing in the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc.). Most of all, I missed having him here! The cats were soothed and bribed with a new Christmas bed.

Counting the days until the Simpson tribe is reunited on Wednesday!

 

Buckeye Blackout, Restaurant Faves, OSU Radio, and Deep Creek

Julia has some very nice friends who both take her out and make her meals. They are welcome to come home with her over the summer. Ryan and Julia went to Olive Garden. John Morgan made lasagna. The four girls went to Forno Kitchen and Bar. I forget who took her to Hubbard Grill--but that was the restaurant we went to for Valentine's Day when we first visited OSU in 2014. It was delicious, and those duck wings look amazing! Sarah and Julia went to Union Cafe for brunch--another yummy spot we have visited on past trips to Columbus. The Buckeye Blackout crew baked up a bunch of treats for their concert event. Julia's not totally enjoying the presidential duties of event planning; however, it was a success and it is over. After the event, they went to Sicilia's for fried mac and cheese bites. Julia created a nice rain-sea foam-clothesline candle at The Candle Lab--sounds laundry fresh.

Julia started at the new lab! The office looks very chic and millennial friendly. She's very excited and we're sure she'll get some great research experience. Caitlyn and Julia got back on the air with Arouse OSU. Tune in every Sunday at 3pm.

Steven went to Deep Creek with Tony and Chad to pull out the dock. Although cold and wet, they got the job done.