Patiently waiting for the movers

Yeah, we're a little slow on updating our blog, I suppose.  Cut us some slack --  we were home for a week, then back here the last two weeks packing.  A lot of fun stuff has happened since the last post oh so long ago, and if you wait patiently, tales will be told and pictures will be shared -- promise.  

Until then, be comforted knowing that, assuming these asshats of movers finally arrive and get us packed up and moved out, we will be on the road tonight (Saturday, August 16th) and back in good ol' Minnesota sometime on Monday, 8/18!

We can't wait to see you all!  Call much in the next two days to entertain us while we drive I-90... the boring-est, least interesting stretch of highway in the nation.

XOXO,

The Future Mr. and Mrs. Eric Rice

Cosby Sweaters strike again

We've found a new way to occupy our otherwise mundane Monday nights: Stump Trivia. You can play all over town any night of the week, but Monday nights, Redline in Harvard Square hosts one. With only a handful of teams, we appreciate the decidedly low level of competition it offers -- probably because with a team of three (Anne, Eric, and me) we can still take second place. Team Cosby Sweaters rakes in the winnings (a $25 gift certificate), then returns the next week to eat and drink said winnings while working to replace them. It's a pretty fantastic system we have going.

But Cosby Sweaters is our second-place team name. We've realized that if we're going to take first place, we need a first place team name. We are hereby accepting suggestions for our new team name! Current ideas include: Unraveled and Likes to Steal.

No, we don't know anyone here. We just needed to use the bathroom.

"No, we're not there yet. It's definitely past that bridge. ...And the one after that. We're probably halfway."

"Why'd you tell me that?!"

It continued in that vein for the 3+ mile trek to see Boston's famed fireworks set to the Boston Pops on the 4th of July.

Our friends declared their independence from studying for the bar; I just declared independence from work. Drinking bourbon+OJ while watching TV is not really as dramatic as throwing tea in the harbor, but we'll take it. :)

Of course the fireworks were amazing. They went on for what must have been a full half hour -- definitely spectacular. And I do love a good Sousa march, particularly on the 4th of July. And there may or may not have been a round (or three) of "God Bless America (Proud to be an American)."

But after walking for an hour to wait an hour and a half for fireworks that went on for another half hour, we needed the little cowgirls' room pronto. The four bajillion other spectators weren't inspiring a lot of faith that the gas station up the road would have a stall available... but we were passing the MIT frats who had their doors open and were clearly hosting a party.

We thought we'd be slick and just find the main floor bathroom and be in and out -- it was all one big common area, so we figured there'd be a bathroom around. Unfortunately, the sign on the door of the main floor bathroom wasn't kidding about not using it -- they not only put a crate on top of the seat, but they had it wrapped and sealed in some kind of paper "do not enter" tape.

Plan B: up the stairs. So Lena, Nicole, and I put on our "we do this all the time" faces and headed to the second floor. We tried to look like we were guests of the party and inconspicuously make our way into the bathroom -- my eyes and nose didn't register disgust, and since it was either this or wet my pants, I think you know which option I went with. While Lena was waiting for us, one of the girls at the party asked us who we knew at the party. "...Um, no one. We... we're just using the bathroom." Yikes! We've been found out! {{scurry scurry scurry down the stairs and back outside}}

Definitely the most adventurous thing I've done in a long time. Super glad we got to see a Boston 4th of July. It is the cradle of liberty, you know ;)

We wrapped up the night by eating a (very) late dinner at Pinocchio's Pizza. Definitely awesome that it's open at 12:30 a.m.

"...and I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, do-doo doot, do-doot, do-dooot doo-doo..."

They're always after me Lucky Charms!

This is a shout-out to my pal Shelly down at the local cereal factory also known as "General Mills" who has one wicked awesome job doing things like putting famous children's books on boxes of Cheerios so kids not only are eating healthily, but they also have the opportunity to have books available, which is so important to childhood literacy.

Well, in less inpirational, but possibly more fun news (Hey! I love my children's books! They're fun too!), I just found out that Lucky Charms just added a new permanent marshmallow! Now I have to go out and buy a box. Take that Mom! Now that I'm a big girl, living on my own, getting married, I can eat cereal with as many kinds of marshmallows as I please :)

Still counting the days I've been without you... 1-2-3-4

For those of you counting down the days until our arrival back in the Twin Cities, you'll be happy to know that we just secured our movers who will pick up our stuff on Saturday, August 16th. We will high-tail it out of Boston and home as quickly as possible after that. Expect us home within a couple days from then!

(PS: I will still need to fit into my wedding dress for a few more weeks, so when we get home, if you could all invite us to coffee dates instead of dinner dates, that would be awesome. Seriously. Not joking here people -- I do not need to gain 10lbs as soon as I get home!!!)

Go Freedom Train, Go!

A couple of weekends ago Jill, one of my wonderful bridesmaids, found herself with four days off and made the pilgrimage out to Boston to see us and the city! If I didn't know that she made it home in one piece, I would have thought she would burst from the pressure on the plane after everything we had to eat during her visit -- Italian, Jill's first real taste of Indian, Finale desserts, Mike's Pastry, Soundbites breakfast, Dunkin' Donuts, beer, champagne, beer...

We did more than eat, I assure you. ...But not much.

Some of the highlights include touring Harvard's campus and taking photos in front of John Harvard, the "statue of three lies,"

walking the freedom trail (including sitting/leaning on the DFL Donkey and seeing the "Make Way for Ducklings" ducklings!),

and "touring" Harpoon Brewery.

I say "tour" in quotation marks because the "tour" is really just a roped off area in their brewing room that you can stand in to look at the boilers. Like the ones behind Jill and me in the photo above. To be fair to the Harpoon people, they don't advertise it as a tour -- they call it a tasting, which is really what it was. We got to try all of the fine brewed beverages you see on the draught pulls above. They have beers, hefeweizen, and seasonal offerings, in addition to their 100 Barrel Series. We really liked the raspberry UFO hefeweizen -- it's a good, easy-drinking summer beer. However, sad as it might be, I think our favorite was their Cream Soda. Really, REALLY good cream soda.

We rounded out Jill's visit with a trip to Finale for a champagne flight and some delicious dessert,

and then headed down to People's Republik in Central Square -- this pseudo-commie bar with old propaganda on the walls and tasty beer on tap.

It was sooo fun having Jill in town! There's still time! YOU could be the next visitor to Sara and Eric's place!!!

Harvard Morning Commencement Exercises

Here is the website with media from my commencement:

http://www.commencement.harvard.edu/

On the right, if you look in the video section, there is a stream from the morning exercises with the entire university. During the exercises, the president of Harvard conferred degrees on the entire law school class starting at the 43 minute mark of the stream. There is also other stuff to see in case you are interested. I think video of the law school ceremony, where individual diplomas were passed out, will be up shortly, and I'll send a link once it becomes available. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in seeing the ceremony.

-Eric