colebern

I went to Florence.

I wrote about it on my website- here

I'm honestly trying to do more blogging.

Really.

I promise.

here's a pretty picture

New posts up on colebern.com


"I want to live here..."


"Overseas journey, leg 1 (New York)"


"and then the lead up to the wedding"


colebern adventures await you.

Diction gave me a patch that is so cool I couldn't wait to show it off. (visit his etsy site for more amazing artwork)




Come see the rest of the entry at colebern.com

New Post up at colebern.com



I spent a great deal of time last night sifting through the over 15,000 songs on my external hard drive to create playlists for the cocktail hour and dancing portions of my brother's wedding. I've come up with 3 1/2 hours worth of fun cocktail music and 8 hours of dancing music. This is overkill for both...

The rest of the entry is here.

New blog post up at colebern.com:



I fell asleep before the fondue. Not surprising since my internal clock is set for two hours later and I was up until 3am the night before. I had a wonderful time at my soon to be sister-in-law's bachelorette party. She's a very special person to me and I was thrilled that she invited me to celebrate with her and her closest friends. We started out the evening at home- quickly eating dinner and then changing into dresses and fancy shoes. We then went to Martuni's which is a karaoke bar but with live piano. Think: gay men singing show tunes. It was fun meeting the other women at the party and I was paid a lovely complement on my shoes (as seen in the photo).

To read the rest of the entry, click here

Hello dear ones who I've seem to have abandoned on the Live Journal. I have finished my website and will be posting my travel blog there. I will do my very best to copy my entries or at least link to them here on LJ.

I'm currently in SF for the week leading up to my brother's wedding and so many things are about to take off.

here's the website:

http://colebern.com

I still have my last week of classes and then exam week ahead of me, but my trip to India has really taken a large part of my focus. It has a great deal to do with the facts that I just finished the final formatting of our pre-trip book and I have to write a 10 page research paper about Management in India.
Besides all of the work, I'm really excited about the trip. We were given copies of our itinerary today and it makes everything all the more real. It is time to start taking the acidophilus, eating yogurt and upping my vitamin C. Getting super healthy before going will surely be some help (not to mention all of the immunities I received through my time in New Orleans and Thailand.)
While there are many things to take care of with the end of the semester and my approaching move (not to mention having to get the plans started for the fall in Italy) I'm feeling relaxed about it all. Now if only I could make it to yoga more often...

So I'm trying out Ping.fm to see if it makes my online presence easier to keep track of... Not sure that this is really the application I'm looking for but I'll give it a try anyhow....

Cole: I own a pair of gold hotpants. Look.

Xn: They are gold, and they are hotpants.

Cole: How do they make my ass look?

Xn: Accessible.

Cole: umm...okay.

Xn: You can blog that.


Just a little snippet of my life.

Tomorrow begins exam week and while I don't have any tests tomorrow and really overall my exam load is rather light, I'm still exhausted.

This is due to a combination of studying and being stir crazy. The later is due to my empty house as Xn is in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. I do have to say I like having a few hours here and there in the house alone, but I miss his presence desperately. A week from tomorrow we'll be meeting in Tampa for a nice vacation before returning to Dallas, having my first week of classes for Mod B and then leaving on Thursday evening to go to NOLA for a camping trip with friends.

Lots of motion and many things on my plate. I have a wealth of things that I want to do and even when I have all of the time, it all seems to disappear into other activities.

Anyhow, it is off to bed so I can get up and go work at my internship. We are having some nice older ladies coming in Tuesday and Wednesday to address the Gala invitations.

I'm feeling domestic these days. I bought a vacuum cleaner and scrubbed the bathroom. After my shower I'll be doing a load of hand washing before bed. Whee!!

I made it to the monday yoga class finally. One of my favorite teachers leads it and she let me know that the woman who teaches the 7:30am Monday and Wednesday class is considered one of the best teachers in the area. If I managed to get myself up and ready and out of the house by 7:20am, I'd be amazed.

My trip to Denver was lovely and as always it was wonderful to spend time with my family, especially my siblings. I'm looking forward to seeing them often this summer. Also as I took my luggage out of the van at the airport, I asked my dad to forward me some info about new Customs regulations so I can keep up with the news. I think he picked up on my "don't you dare sell the business because unless some random outside opportunity presents itself I'm planning on moving back to NOLA to keep the business in the family" subtext.

The downside of the trip was the deadly combination of Alcohol and Altitude. Being born and raised below sea level in the flatlands buffered me from this evil that lurks in the mountains. I must though stress that every glass of sublime whiskey served to me by the Master of Whiskey (he is in fact a Master of Whiskey in the same way a sommelier is to wine). The aftereffects though were pretty terrible and we really had to do our best to pull ourselves together for the big family brunch the next morning.

So I love to check the weather on my phone. It may be my favorite thing out of all the many features.

I have the weather from a multitude of places so I can compare- New Orleans, Dallas, San Francisco, New York, Bangalore and Milan.

Milan this winter has had lots of "ice fog" according to my phone. I never knew what ice fog really was until today.

This evening when Xn came to pick me up from school, he had to scrape ice off of the windshield. This is not an acceptable climate for either of us.

I object and can't wait to live, as Xn says, in the real south- south of the I-10.

I've had an amazing birthday today.

I made caramel custard.
I had a wonderful party with a few friends and lots of good food.
I ate some of the best sushi I've ever had which was accompanied with great cold sake.


Not so wonderful was my boyfriend cutting his finger open and having to go to the urgent care clinic to get stitches.

Ah birthdays.

The weather transition from New Orleans to Dallas was quite a shock. I'm am currently very sniffly and my throat hurts.

We arrived at 2am Sunday morning, unpacked the car and went promptly to bed.

Sunday we did lots of food shopping, put some things away and set up computers. Monday we did errands, I started on the pile of before class work and Xn worked as well.

He's been making wonderful dinners and I have been doing the dishes as per our arrangement. The weather is keeping us bundled in many layers and on Monday there was ice in the trees.

Today was my first class and tomorrow is a full day of meetings, doctor's appointments and 2 three-hour long classes. I will be leaving the house around 10:30am and not returning until after 9:30pm. ick.

Friday morning I will arise too early in the morning to hop on an airplane and take off to NYC where I'm attending a conference and spending some time with good friends and family. I return late monday night and from there begin week 2 of school.

There are many things to do and also many things to schedule. My meeting tomorrow morning is about my arts admin practicum and I have to figure out how to fit in 10 hours a week of work while trying to maintain my long weekends...

I realize that I don't post much and I guess that's because there is not too many exciting things going on, though I am keeping myself busy.

Here is a list of things I've been doing (and how Texas is changing me):

-Yesterday I went to meet up with my girlfriends at a sportsbar to watch the game.

-I also went to yoga in the morning and took myself to the movies. I saw Filth and Wisdom due to my love of Eugene "Bitches and Ho's"* Hutz and I was curious about Madonna's directing skills.

-I've spent a lot of time at home, doing work, reading, cleaning, watching TV shows on my laptop.

-Xn was in town a couple of weeks ago and I am counting down until Thursday when I fly to NOLA for Halloween and get to see him, my family, my friends and my city. I haven't been home since I came to Dallas in August.

-The entire 2010 MBA class went to a ropes course last weekend which was a lot of fun and I was very sore the next day.

-The other night the temperature in my house was 58 degrees which means it was a 2 cashmere sweater night.

Okay. Now it is time for me to finish getting ready so I can go over to school to meet with people and do more homework.

*when I met Eugene Hutz outside of the Bulgarian dance club on the LES where he dj's we chatted and then he burst out yelling "bitches and ho's" over and over again. It was one of the most memorable NY adventures Sam and I had.

**speaking about memorable NY experiences, I found a Russian Banya in N. Texas. I may have to take a little trip and get beaten with oak branches.

Sorry to be so absent from the online world. I'm about to start my final exams next week and with this hectic school schedule, I have little brainpower to form interesting sentences. The only reason I'm posting right now is that I can't stand to look at my accounting or finance books anymore.

Once this week is done and these test are over, my boyfriend is arriving in town to spend a long weekend with me before I start my next set of classes on Monday. No time off, but from what we've heard, next quarter is much easier. Just the fact that we'll have one less class is joyous.

I realize that my apartment still feels empty. I need a few more things to flesh it out and I must finish the framing that is left to do or else I just have a stack of art in a box and bare walls. I'm hoping that Xn's presence here will help me motivate to do all of that.

I have such an urge to paint or draw, but such little focus. My concentration is just shot and I have so many things on my to do lists that I can't quite get to any of it.

ah well. I'm sure next week will feel totally different.

p.s. I'm trying to get to Austin later this month. I'll be in NOLA for Halloween.

I'm leaving this afternoon to go to San Francisco for a wedding. Getting out of town will be nice though I'm missing a day of school and that is potentially very bad so to make up for it I'm bringing schoolwork with me. Speaking of school, I should probably get ready to go there, but first it is time to prepare the house for my absence.

Midterms were this past week and I feel so disconnected and as if I can't grasp even the simplest concept. A constant case of fuzzy brain. I want to get back to the gym and to my yoga classes. When I return, it will happen.

I know that I haven't posted in ages and so many things have gone on, like moving to Dallas and starting B-school. It is crazy after just the first week and I'm trying to understand finance and statistics, learning how to do case analysis for my marketing class and making sure I'm up to speed in accounting. My other class- Intro to Arts Management is a joy.

So many things to do though I have almost all day tomorrow and the weekend. Classes at the gym start next week so I'll be heading to Yoga which will help my crazy head. I'll also get to the store to get my goggles and swim cap to do my morning swims.

I have my bike which is great. It isn't as fancy/stylish as the one I was first intending to get but it is nice. I don't have the fenders for it yet so I've not been riding to school as it has rained almost every day. It is supposed to clear up this weekend.

I found some awesome bike panniers that I am lusting after. See them here:
fancy bags

I have been bringing my lunch to school everyday.

Xn and I are in Dallas. I am moved into my apartment (just waiting on my stove which arrives Tuesday and my internet which I will get as fast as humanly possible). There is a great lack of coffee shops with WiFi. Xn just found one online. He loves me.


We went to Ikea this morning. I promise to never drag him there again. There is a Target trip that will finish up most everything else.

love to all. I'm not so impressed with Dallas at the moment, which is okay since I'll be working my ass off and I love my apartment.

send me love and your address so I can write you all.

I'm back from Dallas and I am really tired. I landed at the New Orleans airport at 10:30pm and went straight to work. The best part about that was the unexpected surprise of Xn waiting for me outside of the Ritz employee entrance to see me for just a second before I rushed inside.

I found an apartment (thank you craigslist) that if nothing goes haywire with my background check, I'll be sending in my first month's rent very soon. It is in a transitional neighborhood meaning that they are tearing down old apartment buildings and structures to put up luxury condos. I will be living in a house built in 1939 with the original wood floors (which have just been sanded and re-varnished and the walls repainted.)

I went to see the space when I arrived on Tuesday. My initial though was that I like it but it seemed small. After spending 4 hours with the real estate agent looking at a ton of properties, I went back Thursday afternoon with my mother and it looked a lot bigger. It is somewhere around 750 square feet. After standing in an apartment that was 491 square feet, I realized what a good sized space it is. Also the location can't be beat. I can ride a bike to school (and once I get to the west side of 75, there is a bike/running trail that ends a block or two away from campus.)

While in Dallas I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton and was pleasantly surprised when I saw they had upgraded me to the club level. I spent two nights getting the service that I usually provide. Mom and I luxuriated in the room, ate an amazing meal in the restaurant, and I had a good time talking to my Dallas counterparts.

On Wednesday evening there was a happy hour meet and greet for the students in my class. I met quite a few of my classmates including the girl in my dual degree program who has a background in computer engineering and the girl who is probably the second tallest female in our class after me. I had a few glasses of wine and talked until my throat was sore. This was the thing that made me the most excited about starting school.

After the final look at the apartment and lunch with a family friend, Mom and I had quite a few hours to kill before going to the airport. We went to the Dallas Museum of Art which was open late and had live music. We looked at a few exhibits and then had a picnic along with many other folks on the front lawn with the food I had bought on my first day in town. My mother and I drive each other crazy at times, but we have such great adventures. I feel like I know my way around Dallas pretty well, not to say that I won't get lost, but my internal map is rapidly developing.

Now after tonight, I have 5 nights at work, 1 night off and then I fly to Honduras. Always moving. And thanks to all of you for the luck you sent. I feel very lucky.