Final countdown

We're practically on our way to London.

I'm excited to see this...

(Featherstone Castle)

Mike's excited to see this... (Hadrian's wall)

And someday I hope we get over the shock of paying 400 pounds/week to live here:

(Surrey Quays, London)

TV Shows

M & I fly to London on Friday morning. We are bringing our portable DVD player. We wanted to buy a TV series or something to keep us entertained, but we have no idea what to get. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

I should probably mention we have already exhausted the following shows: Arrested Development, Lost, The Office, and Flight of the Concords.

Any other good TV show suggestions?

LEAD is done for the year

So LEAD is done for the year...and MAN it's been a crazy term. LEAD is the only required class for all full-time students here at the GSB, and the cool thing is it's actually taught by second-year students. All incoming students take it during their first term. The class starts off with a crazy weekend trip up to Wisconsin in August called a Learning Outdoor Experience (LOE), which is basically a chance to everyone to get hammered, party, and get to know each other. After LOE, the actual classwork starts--conflict management, communication, leadership, team dynamics, and other so-called "soft skill" classes.

Second-year students actually lead these discussions (called "modules"), using a combination of prepared material and discussion forum. The idea is to get everyone there thinking about themselves--the program mantra is "self-awareness," and the topics are geared toward getting the class to think about the people side of business. Too many students come here thinking they need to learn the harder skills...yes, you need to know how to value a business, but you can teach anyone on the street how to do that. Business is still a person-to-person interaction and I think that too many of my fellow students forget that.

Last term, applications went out for the next batch of LEAD Facilitators, or "facils," are they're known around here, and I just knew I needed to apply. Of over 100 people who applied, I was one of the 40 accepted, and this last term was our spring training. We spent the first 5 weeks of the term developing and practicing the content for our modules and then spent the last four weeks delivering the content to part-time and weekend students. The spring is a different atmosphere from the fall; the spring students take LEAD because they want to, whereas the fall students take LEAD because they are required to. Needless to say, the atmosphere in the fall can be a bit more hostile, simply because the class is required.

Anyhow, the spring was great and I learned a great deal about myself and got to work with some really amazing people. My fellow facils are the pick of the class and I feel quite privileged to be given the chance to work with them. I've got the summer off, but things pick right up the first week of September as we get ready for the fall students. The nice thing is, since we've already delivered the content once, the fall is goes a lot more smoothly, so we get to spend more time hanging out with the first years--acting as mentors and helping them get through the crazy fall term.

The pics are from a practice run-through and one of the classes that I co-lead during the spring. My buddy Eric Szmurlo, another facil, always has a camera with him and he got these. Erin loves them.

Happy Birthday Shanny

I am adding the beach pics my mom just sent.

Check out our sand castle (okay, Nathan really made it and I watched). We love the beach.

Happy Birthday Shanny!

Surprise!

I flew home this past weekend to surprise Shanny for her birthday. It was so much fun. It was the first time I had seen Isabelle. So cute.

Here are the Sprinkles cupcakes we got for Shanny. I decided Red Velvet is definately the best.

I took Nathan to seminary on the last day (aka: Irvine waffles and ice cream day). Yes, I know I look super tired - hey it was 6am! He showed me some of Heather's graffiti art around the city.

Mr. Baby Featherstone

It's a boy! We just got back from the hospital today. We have been SO excited for this appointment.

Now we can finally start picking out names and planning the nursery. Here is my favorite bedding so far (Serena & Lily).

Baby pictures coming soon... (I have to wait for Mike to finish his CFA studying to scan the pics in).

Preggers belly finally

Annie has been asking for pics of the belly -- and we hadn't even taken any up to this point. Then of course with mothers day our moms were asking. Anyway, we took a few last night so you all can see the growing belly.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Michael darling. You are the best husband ever! It has been two wonderful years and every day I love you more.

P.S. I love my new bonzai tree!

Art for Baby

My first art project for the new baby is done. I wanted to create two separate pieces that can be framed and hung side by side. There is something about being pregnant that brings out my creative side. Plus it's about the only activity that I could handle during the first trimester while I was so sick.

The two together:

Introducing Baby Featherstone

Yes Erin is preggers. As of today, she is 12 weeks. The baby is due Oct 16th. So exciting! We're still going to London this summer. We just can't go to any cow farms.

3/31/08

So Erin and I took a trip to Utah for my spring break last week, and I was able to get in a couple of days of skiing at Snowbird. Monday, 3/31/08, will go down in my personal history as one of the most amazing ski days of my entire life. Let me tell you about it...

That morning, I woke up and checked the ski report: the 'Bird had gotten over 12" overnight. At one point, it was snowing 4" an hour...in other words, HEAVY. Erin wasn't feeling well and my bros had to work, so I headed up by myself. I headed up to the canyon and parked in the first entrance. I jumped out of the car and headed straight to the top of Little Cloud, getting to the top around 9:30 or so. Just then, I saw a couple of ski patrollers dropping the ropes on Mineral Basin. I thought I was dreaming: there I stood, at the top of Mineral Basin, with not a single track in front of me. I dropped right off the top. After getting the easy first tracks at the top of Mineral, I worked the lines off of Powder Paradise at the far end.

Just as I was headed over to get another run in at Powder Paradise, the patrol dropped the ropes on Bookends, at the extreme far end of Mineral. I couldn't believe it. I was about the 4th or 5th person in there; it gets really deep over there because of how it faces and because of how the mountain is shaped. You really have to work for those turns--the traverse is pretty long and so it keeps the faint of heart out. The snow was amazing.

After a few runs in the Bookends I was getting sick of the long traverse and Mineral was pretty much tracked out, and figured I'd go check out the Cirque. Just as I got to the top of Mineral, though, the patrol dropped the ropes on Little Cloud bowl. I knew then I HAD to be dreaming...it was too perfect. I made a bee line for the traverse and dropped in right off the top--first tracks AGAIN.

After that first run, I got in a few more laps in the bowl underneath the Sisters and didn't cross another track--all I had to do was go a few more feet on the traverse and I'd have fresh pow in front of me.

My legs finally gave out around 2:30. I knew it was time to go when I was cruising down Big Emma after grabbing a quick, late lunch and my right leg cramped up and wouldn't move. Living in the Midwest has made me soft, I guess.

About the pics: I just happened to be in a few of the same areas that the Snowbird Action Powder Shots photo people were working in, and I pulled these off their website. They can't expect me to pay $19.95 for a 5x7 when I can take these low-quality jpegs off the website for free...