Finals, Internships, HW...

After getting back from Atlanta late Sunday night (actually it was really early Monday morning), I've been hit by a busy week. Finals start this coming Monday, and unlike Davidson, I don't get to self-schedule my exams. I've got tests four straight days from 8am-11am, starting with Finance on Monday and ending with Econ on Thursday. In addition to finals, application deadlines for internships have started to hit. Already, I've applied for four different internships at three different firms (Under Armour, Kaiser Permanente and McKinsey). That means resume updating and cover letter writing. Lastly, some of my lovely professors decided it would be a great idea to schedule homework assignments due this week. I have three individual assignments due for Finance, one group assignment for Accounting, an optional case analysis for Stats and a slew of assignments due for our career management course.

Put all three of those things together and I've spent about 24 hours on campus the last two days. I've got another 13-14 hour day planned for tomorrow (need to be there at 7:45am and won't finish up my Accounting review session until 10pm). Thursday is looking better, but only because I've got to fly up to the Bay Area Thursday afternoon for a recruiting event all day Friday. The USC/UCLA game is Saturday evening, so that kills most of my weekend. With finals all next week and my departure for Israel a few days after finals, I don't think I'm ever going to see Megan again.

December 10, 2011

I promised a date, and here it is! December 10, 2011 Mike and I will be tying the knot in Long Beach, CA. Bookmark our Wedding Website - it is clearly a work in progress. We will be keeping it updated across the next year, so check back often. There is also a link at the bottom of this page.

I put Mike on a plane back to LA this evening. I'm looking forward to two days with my parents all to myself (but I miss my Mikey already. Yeah, I'm a huge sap.) Good luck to everyone heading back to work/school tomorrow. Now, I'm going to have myself another turkey sandwich and some sausage dressing.

Thanksgiving

As Meg mentioned on Wednesday, we're in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. We flew in late on Wednesday night and I leave late tomorrow night, while Megan is staying until Tuesday. We had a great extended weekend here, full of food, family, friends and some cards. My parents came down from Harrisburg, and Meg's sister Elaine and her boyfriend Isaac drove in from North Carolina, so we had eight people for a great Thanksgiving meal.

Since we are combining two families with our engagement, we thought it only appropriate to include other family traditions for Thanksgiving. On Thursday night, all of us went over to Dale and Susan's house (friends of Kevin and Julie - Meg's parents) for some drinks and an annual poker tournament. Even with 22 entrants, both Megan and I made the final table of 9, with Megan getting knocked out in 5th place while I claimed 2nd. My finish was worth $70, so not a bad way to spend a few hours.

On Friday evening, the Miller's came over for more food and more cards. Gary Miller and Kevin grew up together and have remained friends all these years. Gary and Cathy, their two daughters and their significant others all came over, so Kevin fired up the grill and BBQ'ed some burgers and bacon wrapped shrimp for everyone. After dinner and drinks, we pulled out some cards and played Shanghai (a mix of rummikub and something else). Meg redeemed her 5th place poker finish with a victory in Shanghai.

Today we took it easy and stayed home most of the day. I got some school work done (thanks Finance professor for assigning not one, but two problem sets over Thanksgiving break), Megan and her mom and sister put together a puzzle, and Kevin got a much needed nap.

As I said, I leave tomorrow, bit its been a great weekend. It was nice to have my family spend some time with Meg's family. Even though they've met a couple of times before, the two sets of parents haven't really had a chance to get to know one another much, so we appreciated everyone agreeing to spend this holiday together. Hopefully in a few years Megan and I can invite everyone to our place (wherever it may be) for a fun Thanksgiving weekend together.

Some Random Thoughts from 30,000 Feet

1. I saw Glee last night. It was the wedding episode. Fair warning for the bridal party, you may be asked to sing and dance down the aisle.

2. I like veggies. Mike and I have been trying to eat healthier, and we've decided to go veggie one night a week. So far it's been pretty great - we eat a lot of salad or stuffed pasta those nights. The best part about it is that I get to experiment with new veggies. Like leeks (blanched with a dijon citrus dressing) and kale (sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper. Oh! And next time I will add pine nuts because that sounds delicious) and fennel (julienned with green apple matchsticks and a bright citrus dressing). And I feel like with this and using our reusable canvas bags at the grocery store we are saving the world.
3. Mike and I are on our way to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. (Hooray for free WiFi on the cross-continent flight!) His parents are already there. I brought my stretchy pants for dinner tomorrow since Mom has created a menu fit to serve half our neighborhood. Nevermind that there are only going to be 8 of us at the table.
4. Our good friend Garen is in Mexico for the holiday competing in an Iron Man triathalon and has been raising money to find a cure for ALS. You can read his story here. Good luck, Garen!
5. For those that have made it to #5, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. One of the traditions we have is that before we say grace, we go around the table and everyone has to say something for which they are thankful. I have so much to say! Don't forget to take a moment this weekend to share what you are thankful for!

Oh Geez, I'm Getting Married, Too

There have been a few instances since getting engaged where, like Mike, I've had the "Holy Crap" moment: buying a wedding dress, asking my sis to be my Maid of Honor, and buying my first wedding-related magazine. But none has come close to picking a date and venue. We set a deadline for ourselves to have something booked by the time we left for Thanksgiving. It is done, but it has come with its fair share of strife and tears. It's been surprisingly stressful, and it's been all our own doing. We've second guessed ourselves and we talked ourselves in and out and back in to decisions. Last night we calculated that we could get to Vegas, elope, and drive home again with just enough time to get Mike to class this morning. But seriously, I'm just so glad that we finally paid the deposit. And I'm so happy that we finally have a date to look forward to; this date of course now being the thing that is causing the "Oh, Geez, I'm getting married" moment.

Mike's parents are joining my family in Atlanta for the upcoming food holiday. We're announcing the date and place to our families on Thanksgiving, just so that we can be dramatic. Mike and I are decidedly no-drama people, so I'm hoping that how we make our announcement is going to be the only wedding drama we have.

We are going to let everyone else know at that time, too. I'll also provide the link to our wedding website, which now will have more on it than just our names.

He Took the Muffin!!!

Tonight CBS is airing the episode of "Rules of Engagement" we saw taped. It's kinda fun watching it all over again. Meg turned up the volume really loud to see if we can hear ourselves laughing in the background. During the taping, they tweaked the script in between different takes, so we're sitting here trying to guess which version they used.

The most disappointing moment so far was when they cut out David Spade's scene in the opening when he takes Timmy's muffin. It was funny. Trust me, I was there. It looks like they've cut out a few other scenes too, but that was predictable - there were a couple of parts of the script that just weren't that funny.

Oh Geez, I'm Getting Married...

As we sit on the couch at 12:45 at night watching Saturday Night Live, Meg decided it was time to practice her new signature. Currently, her signature looks like "Megan M Castle" with the M standing for her middle name Marie (also her great-grandmother's name). Not wanting to lose that part of her family history, Meg is thinking about changing her name to Megan Marie Kaufman once we get married.

When she starts to talk like that, it kinda hits me: WOW I'm getting married! Umm... who's idea was this? Oh right, mine. Damn! No one to blame but myself.

In all honesty, I actually am excited to be getting married. And, hopefully, in the next couple of days we should have some exciting news about when and where we are planning to actually get married. Stay tuned...