The Top Ten Most Memorable Things that Have Happened in the Past Month:
(These are in no particular order, except of course number 1.)

10) Turning a quarter of a century...I'm not old, but being 25 must mean that my parents are getting up there :) From phone calls to cards, from presents to a beautiful sushi dinner at home with my new sushi dinnerware, from indulging in Harry Potter to a surprise visit from my intern - it was just a perfect day. Well, almost perfect...there was a huge storm that flooded the subways so by the time I left for work they were shut down and the busses were jam packed, so I walked to work in nasty hot, sticky weather on crowded streets and almost got hit by an impatient driver. But hey, it wasn't all bad. As my dad always says to me, those things build character.

Here's the table that was all set for me!
And my handsome waiter creating the menu...there were so many choices!

So we had the birthday cake on Saturday, but it was all part of the celebration. Mmm...chocolate raspberry mousse cake from Veniero's!
9) Finishing Harry Potter! It was bittersweet - after all there are no more books to look forward to, but at last I know his fate! That book was consuming my life...I'd read on the subway on the way to work and once I got into the office, I would turn on my computer and think "I can finish this chapter, my computer is still booting up!" I just decided to ignore the voicemails that were awaiting me :)

8) Yankee game with Brett. The interns got two tickets, hats and snack cash to attend the Yankee game with their senior mentor. Brett hadn't really met his so I got to accompany him! Maybe he was just mocking my upcoming turn of age since I really am his "senior." I loved this picture of us, it's one of my new favorites!
The Cracker Jacks bring me back to my childhood! I love the nuts that come in the bag and the prize that's inside. It still gets me so excited!
7) Becky & Ben's visit! We had oh so much fun! They were able to see so very much and I got to be with them for most of it. The highlights had to be the moment that Becky won the Wicked lottery, our picnic in Central park (on the all-weather blanket that Don and Beth gave us...thanks so much for it!), Pinkberry (I finally tried the yogurt sensation, mmm, it was tasty...my new favorite treat!), and really, just getting to spend time with them!
Here is Becky in the winners line of the Wicked lottery!!
The picnic. It was overcast, but perfect weather...not too hot, not too cold.
Overlooking Central Park from the top of Belvedere Castle.

The four of us were able to see Spelling Bee. It was funny!

6) Saturday afternoon at Coney Island. My grandma used to tell me about how she would go when she was a kid. We had seen a History channel special on it and I heard all the stories. Ever since, I've wanted to go. So we finally went. We saw the Sideshow, Brett's favorite. There was everything from a creepy girl that dances with snakes, a sword swallower, a crazily tattoed girl that swallows fire to some crazy guy that puts a drill through his nostril straight back into his head. It was kind of disgustingly cool, though I would never try it at home! We also had Nathan's hot dogs for dinner. Every 4th of July they have the famous hot dog eating contest there. I think the record for men is 66 in 12 minutes and for women it's 39...sick! Brett got to 2 and I just made it to 1. We have a long way to go. We also rode on the original Cyclone. I would never ride on that sucker again! It was so jerky, I got off there with whiplash and a queasy stomach. We want to go back and head to the aquarium, but we had had too much fun for one day. 5) Of course, the Scrapaway weekend in Vegas with all of the Gibson girls! It was a weekend full of, well, scrapbooking. We had a blast and I got quite a bit done on my mission scrapbook. Now I only wish I had the time and space to do that every week! I'll have to post a picture with all the scrapbooking mess, but for now our lunch at Pei Wei is all I have. 4) Brett's chocolate pizza. We got the idea when we went to Max Brenner and thanks to the photoshoot we had for Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, we had some in the freezer to use for the crust. Brett was super excited to put together this masterpiece. He was adorable making it. He sliced the big marshmallows we had to make "marshmallow pepperoni." It was tasty! We shared it with Preethi when she stopped by to visit. 3) So right when I got back from the Scrapaway, we had my old roommates over for dinner. Everything was dandy, but Brett definitely brought down the house with his demonstration of our Breville toaster. It's by far his favorite wedding gift. Patty & Vance - you definitely need to come out just to see the demonstration. He was having so much fun and we were all laughing so hard throughout. He gives Vana White and Barker's beauties a run for their money!2) Evacuation at work! A steampipe burst just 2 blocks from my office. They evacuated my office immediately. It was sheer mayhem in the streets. Everybody was running away from Grand Central Station screaming, crying, panicked... We heard everything from a transformer blew in a building nearby to Grand Central being bombed and in flames. I didn't know what happened, but Adrienne, Richard and I headed West. Here's a picture from Bryant Park that I took. Clearly it wasn't fire since the smoke was all white. I had to take a very long way home, but finally made it. Hey, it got me out of work earlier than normal.1) By far the best thing that has happened was Brett's job offer. The last day of his internship he was offered a job to begin upon graduation. They also extended his internship. He got back into the office on Monday and another surprising turn came. The head of credit research offered him a position to start the next day, August 7th, on his team. They told him that they would work with his school schedule. We decided to accept. So now Brett is employed full-time and starting school right after Labor Day. He will be commuting to Philly two days a week. It will be a VERY busy four months for him, but we'll manage. I have full confidence in him! I was very proud of him - what a compliment to him and his work over the past two months. We took this picture outside of the subway headed back home after dinner while he was talking to his parents and telling them all the news!