My niece was born this June 2009. She's cuter than anyone you know. She makes these ug ug sounds and she has a 5-star smile, a golden laugh, and a helluva frown. It also helps that her mother [my sister] is a fashion gangsta so Soleil rocks better threads than me. She's my first niece/nephew so I'm psyched and grateful. [Her name is pronounced so-lay. It translates to "sun" in French.] Check the photos. She's a Gap baby for sure.
2009 was a funky year for me. I
took some time off to get away from technology for a bit to clear my head and also study hardcore for the GMATs. At the time, I had my mind set on going to graduate school to pursue an MBA. Things changed [discussed later], but that month off was fantastic. I think I'll have to do it again and I highly recommend it. I mean, it made me want to
read again. More importantly, it made me realize what I actually wanted to go to school for. Good times. I took the GMATs at the end of August.
Truly, these are memories. Back-to-back weekend trips to New York and Seattle. Catch me if you can, I was one tired mother, but these weddings were up there. I'll tell you right now that if you're hopping a New York wedding, you need to:
- Get a DJ that will play some amazing club bangers with a mix of a few golden oldies, but mostly the latest hotness. You know your DJ is the thermostat of the party, so if he's whack - drop it. By the way, everyone hates on Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind, but if you toss that in a New York wedding where spirits are high everyone will hop on that dance floor with hands in the air faster than you can say aitch to the izzo. Wrap it up with Run This Town and all hell breaks loose.
- Give your DJ a nix list. All the no-go songs need to be clearly laid flat and killed. Even if a guest suggests a whack song, the DJ should be able to know that you don't want that mess on your dance floor. Nothing bleeds life from the party than a junk 5-minute chop of N'SYNC lateness. Medic, welcome the twenty-teens.
- Hit up EatCakeBeMerry if you want your guests to gorge themselves on pastry pluses. Liz doesn't mess around and she's got skillz that killz.
Shout out props to Yohan and Grace for an awesome wedding. Thinking of you guys, a line that Jay-Z spit comes to mind, "You can pay for school, but you can't buy class." Most of all, congratulations.
Seattle is a beautiful, if not gray, city. It's got tons of stuff to do. You need to go there. The music is dirty hot, the people are confidently individualistic, the city is proud, the coffee will fry your brain, and the scenery is like sucking in air after you bite in an Altoid: fresh. It also helps if you have a first class host, and my friend Greg delivered in spades. Thanks, Greg.
Props to David and Ji-Hye. It was a white hot wedding and a crazy delicious reception. No one could've bust out a high class matrimony in less than 5 months better than you guys. It was an awesome wedding. Congratulations.
2010 Is Mine
I'm going back to school, friends. I'm going back to burn money, lose more sleep, and drink loads of coffee. I've recently been accepted into the IIT -
Institute of Design [Chicago] gearing up for a Masters in Design. That's right, design. No finance, no business, no management - at least, not now.
It would take a whole entry to explain, but I'm going back to school to engage in the world of design thinking and how it affects organizations through products and services. I'm psyched to have an opportunity to learn about design and how, on a higher level, it addresses the dynamic needs of people through business, psychology and engineering. These will be learned in the context of the interaction, industrial, product, and planning design fields. More later.
Books I enjoyed:
- The Tipping Point
- Ignore Everbody
- The Design of Everyday Things
- Blink
- Made to Stick
- Tribes
- Currently reading: Change by Design
I don't think Posterous allows me to post two separate photo galleries, so I'll just chop all the photographs together in a gallery for you below.
Memories 2009. It was a good time.
Cheers.
