Shostakovich concert!

On Sunday, after Katie got done working at the blood drive, we joined our friends Ben and Jara (who were at our party the night before) for a concert at Lincoln Center. Jara is the manager of education for the Chamber Music Society, and was able to bring us into Alice Tully Hall as her guests. We saw an all-Shostakovich program (his centennial starts in 2006, since he was born in 1906), which was really very good. The Chamber Music society played his Cello sonata; the wonderful Trio for piano, violin and cello; the string octet; and his Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings.

Katie and I got to go backstage for the reception, and I was able to talk to the trumpeter, Phil Smith, who is also the principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic. What a thrill! And the wine and petit-fours weren't bad either! It was quite an eventful weekend, and now we are back to the grind this week. But we can't complain. Life is good. Until the next adventure....

Halloween Hijinx!

Here we are! This is Katie as the witch, Dan as the creepy doc, Nancy as a bee, and Kyle as her bee keeper. Click on the picture for a bigger version. You can see more pictures of our spooky Halloween adventure by clicking the Pictures! link to the right or by clicking any of the pictures in the flickr badge at the bottom of the page.

Halloween!

As many of you know, I have many obsessions. I like to be clean, and I love Halloween! (It was not my intention to rhyme that, sorry.) Dan and I put together the first annual Monster Bash, which seems to have been a great success! We were honored with six guests (any more than that would have violated fire codes, I am sure, as our apartment is absurdly small) and closed the doors around midnight, since many of us had to work the next day.
We created a scary atmosphere by using colored light bulbs, lots of orange and purple Halloween lights and candles. But I know the question everyone is dying (haha) to have answered is "what did you make to eat?" Don't you people think of anything else?! Here it is:

MONSTER MENU

Creepy Chili
Boo Cups (pudding, cool whip and crushed oreos)
Candy Corn Cups (grape and orange Jell-o, cool whip, candy corn)
Graveyard Crunch
Devilled Eyeballs
Firey Pumpkin Seeds
Green Goblin's Guts Punch
Kitty Litter Cake
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (courtesy of Jara)
Bee Larvae AKA white chocolate truffles (courtesy of Kyle and Nancy)
Pumpkin Fluff with Cinnamon Grahams (also courtesy of Kyle and Nancy)
Plasma (white wine)
Whole Blood (red wine)

Everyone who attended reported to have had a great time! Either they are too nice to say anything else, had too much to drink and don't remember or really did have fun! We are inclined to think fun was had for all, we definitely had a good time.
I was particularly grateful for the extra hour the next morning, as I had to go to a blood drive (dressed in my costume, of course) very early on Sunday.
As for a general update, we are doing well and enjoying the much anticipated Fall weather! We will write again soon when (if) something interesting happens!

The Engagement Party

Last weekend was Alan and Lyndsey's engagement party in Lyndsey's hometown of Atlanta, GA. Again we found ourselves on a plane (courtesy of Lyndsey's Dad, Rob) and reunited with Dan's parents and siblings. The Goodman's are the epitome of Southern hospitality. They made us feel very welcome and won us over with an immediate offer of alcohol! We were given a brief driving tour of the neighborhood in which the houses all have closets bigger than our apartment. Literally! We helped prepare for the cocktail party on the 8th, mostly by hanging out with the Goodmans and the Partridges and drinking more wine! That's the best kind of help. The party was a success, with speeches given by Dan, Gayle, Alan, Lyndsey, Rob and Sharon (Lyndsey's mom). Much laughing, eating, music playing and general good times. We flew back to NY on Sunday, dreading getting back into the real world of work. There won't be many trips that do not involve the subway for us in the near future, but we will keep you all informed, even if it is boring!

Katie came along to write a photo-essay on "Mike's Junior Golf School." See a few more summer pictures at flikr.com by clicking here, or on the "pictures!" link in the sidebar at the right. We miss our families!

Memories

This entry will attempt to pick up where we left off with the Europe blog. As you may recall, it wasn't pretty: we were sick, dirty, jet-lagged and desperate for a shower. New York welcomed us with blazing hot temperatures and horrible humidity. The only logical thing to do was to get right back on a plane and fly another six hours. And away we were whisked to the NW, where the shower pressure is constant, the humidity is low and the drinks are on Dad (thanks, Dad!).
Our time was spent doing the following, which I will illuminate in typical Bird fashion (a list, of course!):
-Swimming in Mitch's pool with Kayley and Brandon
-Chronicling Mike's Junior Golf School exploits
-Visiting potential PA schools for Bird
-Shopping at Fred Meyer. Oh, how I miss thee..
-And finally, enjoying a BBQ thrown for us by Dan's parents with family and many friends we haven't seen since our wedding!
We had an amazing time which, unfortunately, had to end. And so must this edition of Brooklyn Blogger.

Our New Blog

Hello friends and relations!

Welcome to our new Blog! Katie and I have decided to continue blogging, since we liked it so much when we were on our overseas adventure (which you can still access by clicking this link here overseas-adventure or in the "links" sidebar over to the right of your screen).

This new blog will allow us to occasionally post news and (maybe even more importantly) pictures from our Brooklyn-based lives. We hope you check in on us from time to time, and, hopefully, there will be new and exciting things to read and see here when you do!