Section D Class of 2009 Harvard Business School

So it's already the end of November and it went by like a flash! Since my last post we've had a few major events but mostly we've just been trying to stay warm and Jesse is trying to stay sane with all all the school work and recruiting events that come one right after another. He's been staying afloat but it's been a really tough month for him. It seems that there really just aren't enough hours in the day and he rarely gets to bed at night before the a.m. We are really looking forward to Christmas break!

Early this month we went to Bridgeton, Maine for Jesse's section retreat. It was a lot of fun! We stayed in one of 5 amazing houses right by the lake. Luckily our house wasn't "the party house" but was just a short walk down the dirt road. The weekend consisted mostly of eating, drinking and being merry. On Friday night after Casey went to bed we went to "the party house" to play various games, mingle and dance. Jesse and his friend Gabe, who also went to Dartmouth, dominated the pong table all night. When we left around 3am the party was still in full swing. Casey decided to get up the next morning before the sun, probably because someone had turned the heat off so it was about 50 degrees in our room. Jesse, being the darling husband that he is, got up with him and took him to a little diner in town for breakfast. Afterward, they spent some time throwing rocks in the lake, Casey's favorite pastime. I was so grateful for being able to sleep in. That afternoon was spent lazing around, watching football and playing some lawn games with the section mates (some 100+ people) and by about 5 pm the party started up again. I had my fill the night before so Casey and I retired to our room to snuggle up and watch Elmo DVDs. Needless to say, I got up with Casey the next morning and took him to the diner.

The View

Our House "The Ship"

Pong anyone?

Nothing much happened between the retreat weekend and Thanksgiving except that Jesse went to an all day finance conference on Saturday....very exciting...and the recruiting events started which are basically company presentations that last around an hour or so each. The crazy part is that there are an average of 2-3 of these every day! You can imagine how busy Jesse has been with 13 classes a week, studying an average of 2 hours per class, meeting with his learning team for an hour every day and then the company presentations. It makes my head spin.

We were both extremely excited for the Thanksgiving break and for Peggy, Greg and Joel spending it with us. Jesse and I prepared the turkey, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole while Whole Foods provided the stuffing, gravy and apple pie. I also made a nice caprese salad as an appetizer. Our guests arrived about 3 o'clock and immediately complemented us on our immaculate apartment and the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen! What more can you ask for? The meal turned out beautifully and everything was delicious. Casey was so excited to have his Grandma and Grandpa here and Uncle Joel but he was a little sad that they didn't bring Chipper. Grandma explained that he was staying with Uncle Mac and Aunt Katy but he still wasn't satisfied. He continued to ask about Chipper over the next few days which we all thought was really funny. Friday was Casey's birthday and I spent most of the day getting everything ready for the big Elmo Party. Everyone else went to breakfast and walked around Cambridge for a while but I put them to work inflating balloons, making favor bags and stocking the fridge in the party room when they got back. Everything turned out great.

We had around 35 guests and everyone enjoyed the pizza and wings and cake and ice cream. The little kids all seemed to have a lot of fun, although the Elmo pinata didn't quite work right...nobody cared. We played pin the nose on Elmo and all the kids won stickers, but you can only hold a toddler's attention for so long. Casey did his own thing as usual but he seemed to be having a fantastic time, too. He was a great sport in the midst of all the chaos. He even managed to blow out one of his candles all by himself...I helped with the other one. All in all, we thought the party was a huge success. Later that night Jesse, Joel and I went out in Cambridge with a group of our friends and Casey stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa at the Doubletree. He was so wound up from the events of the day that he did not go to sleep until 10:30. Peggy and Greg said he just could not be quiet. He yammered away about his Elmo party and about the car wash he got as a gift from Joel and numerous other things....they didn't think he would ever go to sleep. We all had to take naps the next day. We took it easy for most of that day and went to dinner in Cambridge at a really fabulous restaurant called Ole. The place is a very eclectic upscale Mexican restaurant where they make the guacamole table side and the food is outstanding! We all stuffed ourselves and called it an early night. On Sunday, I dressed Casey in his Vikings jersey because the last game day he wore it the Vikings slaughtered Chicago. Jesse had to work on his cases so Casey and I went over to the Doubletree to have brunch with Peggy, Greg and Joel. Afterward, we all came back here to watch the game even though everyone was convinced the Vikings were going to loose miserably. I kept telling them that they were going to win because Casey was wearing his jersey but nobody bought it. The network took the game off the air shortly after halftime because the Vikings were beating the Giants so brutally! That night we went to the north end which is considered "little Italy" for dinner at Cantina Italiana. We all had homemade pasta and were serenaded by an accordion player...who played throughout the restaurant the whole time we were there. It was fun. On Monday, Joel and Greg went to Jesse's finance class with him and Peggy came over and hung out with Casey and I. When Greg and Joel got back from class they were both dumbstruck by how fast the class moved and how tough it seemed. I think it gave them both a whole new appreciation for what Jesse is going through. Casey and I said our goodbyes and were very sad to see them all go but look forward to our visit to Minnesota over the Christmas break.

It's only about 3 more weeks until Christmas break so we will be seeing all of you very soon, I hope, whether in Minnesota or Georgia. Over the next couple weeks we have a Crimson Kids Christmas party coming up and Jesse and I are going to the Holidazzle Ball that we are really looking forward to. Hopefully I will be able to find the recharger for my camera battery so I can take pictures and put in one more entry before the break.

We look forward so much to seeing all of you and I want to thank everyone for the gifts and well wishes for Casey's big second birthday! We are working on our Elmo thank yous so watch out for those, but in the meantime I want to go ahead and say thank you especially to my Grandma for the Thanksgiving goodies and Casey's birthday $$, to my cousin Tammy and family for the Christmas ornaments (they look great on the houseplants) the giant stocking, and the cars (Casey has taken them with him everywhere since they got here)and super awesome carrying case as well as the extremely generous $$ donation to my holiday wardrobe fund, you are the best!!!!!!!!!!! To Grandma Toni for Casey's new favorite Truck book and Aunt Mary for all the cool new toys, the tool box was a huge hit with Casey and I am a big fan of the animal blocks. Thank you all so very much, we love you and miss you!

Until next time,

Nicole

It's hard to believe that we already into November! Our time here is really flying by. There has been a big change in the weather since my last entry with many more cloudy, cold and rainy days over the past couple weeks with just a few warm and sunny ones. I did decide it was necessary to go ahead and buy Casey a warm winter coat which he has had occasion to wear once already.

We just recently started closing our balcony door at night because of the chilly air but we are still keeping our windows cracked and the heat off. We had to have maintenance come and repair our screen door to the balcony (Casey had torn the screen out of the frame)...we weren't really concerned about it and were leaving the door open at night until one morning I came downstairs and there was a squirrel in the middle of the living room! This was not just any squirrel either, he has 3 ears! I have noticed him before because he comes up onto our balcony a few times a week and sometimes I give him a little piece of fruit. Casey loves to watch him hold it in his little paws and nibble on it...I should have known that he would come in. He still comes by from time to time for a snack but I yelled at him for coming in the house.


It has been a fun couple of weeks for us, especially Casey. He has been spending a lot of time with his little girlfriend, Kate, from down the hall. I noticed when going through the pictures that one might think there may be a love affair blossoming between them. I left Casey with Corinne, Kate's mom for a few hours to go shopping for Casey's Halloween costume and when I went over to pick him up they were having dinner. Casey and Kate were sitting at a little table eating together and giggling just like they were on a date.

The next day we walked over to a park in Cambridge to meet up with some of the other Crimson Kids for what will probably be our last outside playgroup for this year. It was a gorgeous day and Casey and Kate had a great time running around and playing with Kate's bubble maker.

Later in the week the weather turned cold and rainy so Casey and I went to the mall to get out of the house for a little while. This is where Casey discovered "the boat". There is also a race car, a big alligator and an airplane but he only wants to drive the boat. I think he pretends that he is Bapa driving across lake Minnetonka, something about the way he hangs his little arm over the side and drives with one hand... Later that night when we were doing laundry he took some quarters from me and said "Ride Boat!"...."Mommy, two moneys , ride boat!" We've been back to ride the boat probably 3 times now.

Last Saturday Crimson Kids had their annual Halloween party. You can see for yourself what an adorable little pirate Casey was. Unfortunately, we had to wake him up from his nap to go so he wasn't really in a partying mood. All he really wanted to do was bring the helium balloons outside and release them. When we stopped letting him do that he didn't really have any interest in the party at all. It was fun seeing all of the kids in their costumes but it was a pretty loud and rowdy event so we didn't mind leaving early.

That evening Jesse's friend, Sam, from his section had a Halloween party, well it was actually more of a pre-party to the big student association party that we opted out of. We bought tickets only to find out later that the party was from 11pm until 3am....on a boat! Seriously??? We were happy to put on our costumes for the low key get together for a few hours, but we did end up staying later than we had planned, it seemed that most everyone there wasn't going to the boat party either. We had a great time. I loved being Amy Winehouse for a night and getting to know some of Jesse's section friends. Jesse went as a super sweet eighties ski instructor, mullet and all!

Megan (Jessica Rabbit), Me (Amy Winehouse), Luke (Mad Cow)

Sunday I took it really easy all day and then met a group of my girlfriends for dinner at one of our favorite spots, Border Cafe.

On Tuesday Casey and I decided to skip our normal Kindermusik class and go with Kate to hers instead. Mostly because our class is an hour earlier and Casey wasn't feeling up to it in the morning but I also wanted to see if he would do any better if he was with his BFF. The two of them walked all the way to class holding hands and even wanted to sit together on Corinne's lap when we got there. Casey really seemed to enjoy being in class with Kate and participated a little more because he wanted to do what she was doing. His favorite part is always story time, he wants to sit right up front and point to the pictures. By the end he started to get a little grouchy but he was happy to hold Kate's hand again and sing the goodbye song.

My bookclub had our first meeting at our place on Tuesday night. I was the first to pick the book and host and I chose The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I had already read it but I really wanted everyone else to have the pleasure. The evening was so much fun. There were 7 of us total and everyone really enjoyed the book. The discussion went well and each of the girls had interesting perspectives and insights. We drank wine, had fruit and cheese and brownies and just a really nice evening. I am so excited about this group and can't wait to get together with them every month.

On Halloween, the Crimson Kids all met on campus to go around to the first year students' classrooms to trick-or-treat. Casey and I spent the whole time in Jesse's class and Casey was of course, a big hit. He got lots of candy from Jesse's classmates which was a whole new experience for him. I don't even think he knew the word "candy" before that but he got his fill and loved it! He ran around with a tootsie pop in his mouth until it was all gone. We had lunch with Jesse in the Spangler dining room after that and then I had to take him to the playground so he could run around like a wild man until the sugar wore off. I've never seen him so cranked up! He did take a nice long nap that afternoon but was asking for more candy later that night. We had had enough of Halloween by then so we didn't put the costume back on for trick-or-treating that night. Most of the families that we know on campus took their kids to Beacon Hill but we were pretty wiped out. Maybe next year.

We don't have much of anything planned for next week, socially anyway. Jesse will start to focus on internship/job prospects this week and will be spending most of his spare time working on that. We have his section retreat next weekend in Maine which we are really looking forward to so stayed tuned for pics and highlights.

Thanks for checking in on us, we love and miss you all!

Nicole

Scary Stuff

So far the fall here in Boston has been amazing. Lately, especially, the weather has been absolutely beautiful with sunny skies and temperatures reaching up into the 80s! I do realize this won't last much longer but we are certainly taking advantage while we can.

As I mentioned in the last post, Jesse and I participated in the Midwest Student Association's Cornhole Classic Tournament http://media.www.harbus.org/media/storage/paper343/news/2007/10/09/Features/Are-You.Ready.For.Some.Cornhole-3013144.shtml. last Friday the 12th. We did really well, of course, it helped that we won 2 rounds because the other teams didn't show up but we made it to the final 8 out of 64 teams and we defeated last year's champions! The weather that day wasn't so great, it was cold and very wet and windy which made the game a lot harder. The bags were full of water and mud so they were really heavy and just nasty. Jesse and I are pretty convinced that we could have won if it hadn't been for the inclement weather...and we needed to hurry up and finish playing so we could get ready for Priscilla Ball.

So, Priscilla Ball was totally ridiculous! The pictures pretty much tell the whole story. I believe there were something like 900 tickets and the event sold out within about an hour. Each of the 9 sections had a different theme, if I can remember, there were french maids, hooters girls, angels and demons, cheerleaders and ballers, animals and trainers, school girls, Greek goddesses, beauty queens and maybe male fantasy....anyway, you get the idea. There were section pre-parties all over campus and they had school buses that shuttled us all over to the "ball" that was held at some out of the way warehouse type place. Apparently, the event has never been held in the same place more than once because it always gets out of hand and they aren't allowed back. It was a blast, some of the guys really got into character and released their inner diva. Everyone danced and drank too much and there was a drag show with real life queens! It was definitely an experience I will never forget....well most of it anyway. I was also really surprised at what a pretty girl Jesse made!

Jesse's awesome shoes

Real Drag Queens

Ghetto Fabulous Diva

Jesse and Amy

The girl's gone wild

Natalie, Kelly and Me

John Helping Jesse with his bra

Yikes!

Ryan and Natalie

Birgitta and Me

Jesse, Allen, Ryan and Ajay

Chad and Lauren

The whole gang

Natalie, Lauren and Me

Kelly and John

Me and Jesse

For the most part, the rest of the weekend was spent lazing around (me and Casey) and studying (Jesse) but we made it over to Uno in Cambridge on Sunday afternoon to have some buffalo wings and watch the Vikings beat the Bears! All in all it was a great weekend.

Last week and this past weekend Jesse was even busier than usual with school. In addition to working on his cases he went to see several different speakers during the afternoons, attended 2 career team meetings, put in several hours updating his resume, met with his career coach, attended a career visioning workshop, studied for his midterms and went to a midterm review session. So, though it may seem he is just up here having a grand ole time, I assure you he is very hard at work. I just like to tell you all about the fun stuff.

This past Saturday he spent the whole day meeting with his career team which is a group of 5 students and 2 instructors. The point is to work together to help everyone figure out exactly what kind of job would best suit each person. I was a little skeptical at first, but Jesse really thought it to be time well spent. He was surprised at how accurate the team was at accessing his strengths and interests and felt that he gained a lot of useful information about what direction he should go with his career.

Meanwhile, Casey and were off to the races at the Head of the Charles Regatta. Each fall, rowers and spectators from around the world gather in Cambridge and Boston, for the two day regatta. It was first held in 1965 and each year the event attracts some 7,000 rowers and crowds in excess of 300,000 who turn out to cheer them on. Of course, this was right up Casey's alley. He had a fabulous time watching the "big boats" and running around in the warm sunshine. My friend Birgitta took some fantastic pictures : http://share.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b3542abe255c&sid=9BauG7Vo2Z1w

Saturday night Jesse and I celebrated out 3rd wedding anniversary. Despite being swamped with school stuff my sweet husband took me out for a fabulously romantic night on the town. We started out at Ginza Sushi in Chinatown where we had the most delicious sashimi and sushi, and of course a bottle of sake. After dinner we strolled around Chinatown for a bit and then caught a cab back to Cambridge where we had dessert and a bottle of champagne at Finale....superb! It was the perfect anniversary date, I felt like royalty!

Sunday, Jesse was back to the grind with schoolwork and Casey and I headed back over to meet friends at the regatta. This time he spent over an hour throwing rocks into the river, which as many of you know, is his very favorite thing. We had a great time watching the races, hanging out with our friends, listening to the bands, throwing rocks, blowing bubbles and eating a bunch of junk. I can't wait for next year! That night were invited to have dessert with Jesse's friend Joel from his section and his wife Kristy at their apartment right near ours. Our friends Luke and Abby were also there and on the menu was homemade blackberry cobbler that Joel made! It was phenomenal, and I have to say it just might rival my grandmothers (sorry, grandma). I was very impressed, I mean Jesse makes good chili and all, but homemade cobbler? Wow!

So, midterms are this week and Jesse has to submit his resume for "the book" which is made of all the students' resumes and is sold to about 500 different corporations for recruitment purposes...no pressure, right? So, he'll be glad when this week is over. There is a Crimson Kids Halloween party on Saturday so they'll be some good pictures for the next post from that and we may try to go to a party that night (I really want to wear my Amy Winehouse costume) but other than that we plan on taking it easy. I'm sure Jesse will need to decompress on the couch with a few Buds!

Thanks for checking in on us, we love you and miss you all!

Nicole