Thanksgiving in Gualala

This year, Seli and I flew out to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with his sister Aylin, her husband Andrew, and their 14 month old Aaron. We flew out Thanksgiving morning, and immediately drove about 15o miles north to a town called Gualala in Mendacino County. Actually, we first stopped at Nick's Cove Restaurant for a little dinner. The restaurant was adorable - with a blazing fire inside, the restaurant looks out onto the Russian River. Despite it being Thanksgiving, all of except for Andrew had fish for dinner simply because it looked so darn good. Then we took a walk out onto the pier with Aaron so he could run and play before we got back into the car.


When we got up to our house in Gualala it was dark, so we opened a few beers, had some appetizers and then hit the pillow. Seli and I had been traveling in either a plane or car for more than 10 hours at this point so we were exhausted! The house we rented was right on the ocean so we woke up each morning for the next few days with some incredible views. Every day we went on at least a few hikes along the coast. There was a trail basically right in our backyard, so it was very convenient! Otherwise, we pretty much lazed around and relaxed. The place had a hot tub on the back deck so that was pretty nice after a long day, and on Friday we cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner - Turkey and all. Yes, apparently Turks do eat Turey! Bad joke, I know...

Anyway, Monday we were back in San Francisco and so Seli and I did a little sightseeing. We headed out to Alcatraz for awhile, then to Chrissy Park with Aylin and Aaron, and then visited Union Square to watch the ice skaters.

It was a very relaxing and fun trip, and it made me even more excited to see my family at Christmas!!!!

School, Work, Life - Oh My!

It has been a very busy few weeks up here in Boston. Between wrapping up my final few weeks of grad school and getting ready for both Alnylam's 3rd quarter earnings announcement and our annual R&D Day, I have had about zero time to think about anything else. Most of the "big" things finished up last week, so this week has been a refreshingly relaxing week of playing catch-up. I still can't believe that I'm so close to being done with school. In fact, as of today I have 4 classes left which is pretty ridiculous. It's been 3 years, but yet it feels like some strange mix of forever ago and yesterday that I started.

I haven't been up to a whole lot other than work and school, although I did have a very fun weekend last weekend. My friend Jessica from MSU came to visit from Chicago and we had a very fun-filled weekend of birthday parties. Friday night was my friend Christy's 30th birthday - and being the first one of the group to turn 30, we did it up big for her with a fancy lunch, 90-minute massage, drinks with all her friends, and karaoke to wrap up the night. Then on Saturday, Jessica and I toured around Boston and then went to a local jazz club (Beehive) that night to celebrate Seli's friend Mia's birthday. It turned out that Taj Majal's daughter was performing that night, and she was amazing.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. Seli and I are headed out to San Francisco to spend the holiday with his sister and her family. I'm definitely ready for a relaxing weekend away!


Seli and Brian sing a romantic ballad...

The whole group finishes up the night with a little 'Sweet Caroline'

Seli, Jessica and I at Beehive


Deva Mahal rockin' out!

I got you, babe...

This year for Halloween, I decided to go the cheesy route and made Seli and I wear a "couples" costume. We ended up dressing up as Sonny and Cher. The best part was that Seli had no idea who Sonny was, so I happily explained it to him. Unfortunately, Seli's 'stache wasn't sticking very well so I only have 1 picture of us and it looks like Seli is eating it instead of wearing it (I think he tried to put it back on and put it on upside down instead). Below are a few of the pics...






(ever seen a male Turkish Jew dressed up as a Nun? Yeah...didn't think so, ha!)

Ragin' Cajun Delight!

Seli and I invited some friends over for dinner last weekend, and because it was cold and rainy outside I thought it was a perfect opportunity to make one of my favorite Patin-family recipes: gumbo! I realize the picture isn't all that appetizing, but believe me it was delicious!! In case you're feeling adventurous, Alee's recipe is below. It's really not that difficult, it just takes time and lots of ingredients. :)

Ingredients
3-4 lbs of chicken (preferred is leg and thigh)
1 lb smoked pork sausage (I prefer turkey sausage)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1 large onion, minced
1/2 cup celery, minced
1/4 cup green pepper, minced
1/2 cup green onion, minced
1/2 cup parsley, minced2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tbl Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Tabasco
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 tsp red pepper
1 bay leaf
3 qrts hot water
2 tbl file (optional)

Clean chicken, and season well with salt and pepper (and cayenne pepper if you want). Heat oil in large skillet. Add chicken and brown evenly. Remove and set aside.

Make roux by adding flour to hot oil, stirring constantly over medium heat until brown. Add onion to roux and cook until tender. Transfer roux to dutch oven or large cooking vessel. Add chicken, celery, green pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir until vegetables are soft; add water. Simmer 1 hour.

Add sausage. Remove bay leaf and simmer 1 more hour. Skim off excess fat; then add green onion and parsley. Simmer 10 minutes. If desired, add file' just before serving. Also, you will want to remove all of the chicken bones. By this point, the meat should easily fall right off the bones. Then pour over steamed rice.

Serves 10-12.

(Wild game such as ducks, doves, quail, squirrel, or rabbit may be substituted for chicken. One pint of oysters may be added before cooking the last 10 minutes.)

Visiting Ben and Beeya, and our Nation's capital

Seli and I flew down to Maryland recently to visit Matt, Dori, Ben and Bella! The weather was gorgeous, so we were able to spend a lot of time outside, including a trip to D.C. for Seli's first visit to the capital of "this wonderful country of ours" -- as he likes to describe it. I always forget how easy it is to go down to MD, and need to make MUCH more of an effort to do it more often. Below are some pictures from our trip and also a video of Seli and Ben playing football (aka soccer) at the end:






(come on, Mr. President - let me into your country!)

Labor Day Weekend

It was quite the eventful holiday weekend! I got up bright and early on Saturday morning and drove down to Branford, CT to see Molly, Andrew and Liz!! Liz had flown into CT for the long weekend, and we had a BLAST catching up on old times. It actually felt like we were still in high school...or maybe even middle school?? The only thing missing was Sara, so we promised that next year there are no excuses. The 4 of us will all be together again!!

Molly and Andrew took us on a tour of beautiful Branford (which sits right on the ocean) and then we went into New Haven for the afternoon and walked around the Yale campus, had some ice cream, and did a little shopping. Then that night Andrew cooked us a fabulous dinner, Liz made us some delicious drinks, and we had an amazing night.

Here's a picture of the 3 of us girls in New Haven:


Unfortunately, Seli couldn't come down to CT with me because stupid work called him into the office ALL WEEKEND. It was a pretty big bummer for him - it was a beautiful weekend and he wanted nothing more then to get away for a couple days. Therefore, on Sunday when I got home we put some steaks on the grill and sat out on the deck to enjoy the cool air. On Monday, we ventured up to Ipswich, MA - which is on the North Shore - for a little hiking at the Ipswich Wildlife Refuge. We didn't see much wildlife except for a few turtles, but it was still a beautiful hike.

Then after the hike, we decided to head over to Cranes Beach in Ipswich and take a nap out on the beach. It was a little cold for bathingsuits (I had on a sweatshirt), but it was still a perfect day on the ocean.

Ladies Weekend!!

These last 2 posts are a little backwards, as ladies weekend actually happened the weekend BEFORE Alice and Brian's wedding, but oh well! The Boston girls (minus Katie, as she was at her nephew's 1st birthday party) decided we were in need of a serious 'ladies weekend', so Christy, Emily, Rachel, Ryan and I headed up to Portland, ME for a relaxing weekend on the beach. The weather ended up being absolutely beautiful, so we spent both Saturday and Sunday on the ocean and then explored old Portland at night.


Nerds love puzzles & games =)


Ryan and I relaxing on the beach


beautiful skies...


a little pre-dinner photo shoot (minus Christy)


cooling down after some serious dancing - 80's style


and...I'm back at it!


Emily found herself a very sweaty dance partner


and goodnight!

A Granvillian-turned-New Englander gets married!

A few weekends ago, Seli, Hallie, Molly, Andrew and I headed up to Portsmouth, NH for Alice Carey's wedding (to Brian Fields). While Alice and Brian had 'technically' already said their vows in May, they decided to throw a big party for all their friends and family to celebrate the recent nuptials! It was definitely one of the most relaxed and fun weddings I've ever been to. Plus I got to see a lot of old friends from Granville, including Julie Freeman , Amanda Partyka, Hannah Kenah, and Alice's sister, Libby.

We spent the entire day at the beach with the bride and groom, then all met up later for some delicious bbq, some crazy dancing, and some serious laughing! :)

me, Alice (the beautiful bride), and Hallie

the 3 musketeers - me, Molly & Hallie

relaxing on the patio with Mr. Carey!

*all photos taken by Hallie =)

Serefe Turkiye!

In July, Seli and I headed to Turkey to visit his family and friends in Cesme. Cesme is a beautiful beach town on the Aegean coast of Turkey, about 45 minutes northwest of Izmir. His family has a summer house here that he has visited every summer for the past 29 years. In fact, his grandfather entered a lottery many years ago when Cesme was first being built up, and won a piece of land right on the beach! Below is a picture of their house and the view of the sea from the front gardern.


This year's trip was even better than last summer because 1) I actually knew most of his family members and his friends this time making the visit much less stressful, and 2) this year Aylin (Seli's sister), Andrew (her husband), and Aaron (their 10 mos old) were there at the same time!! We had so much fun being with the whole family, and Aaron is quite the little cutie!! It definitely made me miss my own nieces and nephews A LOT.


Aaron loves the sound when people blow into glass bottles. This was our attempt to get him to smile for the camera. :)

The Bells! Aylin, Andrew and Aaron (preoccupied with a balloon).

However, before we got to Cesme we made a stop in Istanbul so I could see the city for my first time. Istanbul is a really amazing city, however it is a crazy one. There are almost 13 million people who live in Istanbul (compared to the 8 million who live in NYC). My favorite part of this trip was getting to visit Seli's old roommate Oyku, who moved back to Turkey last year. She now lives in Ankara, but she flew to Istanbul to see us.

Oyku and I at dinner on the Bosphorus, and a view of the city.


Being from Istanbul originally, Oyku took Seli and I around to all the major tourist sites in the city. We were only there for about 24 hours, so it had to be fast and furious, but it was still very educational and very fun!! We visited the Blue Mosque, Haga (Aya) Sofia, the Cistern, Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar. Below is a picture of Seli and I in front of the Blue Mosque. Looks a little different than the alarm clock, right? :) Also below is a picture of Seli at the Topkapi Palace. He's practicing being a Sultan. Ha.


The rest of the trip was pretty much beach, beach and more beach. We had lots of sunny days playing in the sand with Seli's family, and lots of fun nights partying with Seli's friends. Here are a few pictures capturing some of these amazing moments!


me, Seli, Andrew, Aaron, Ira and her daughter, Rita


eating Midye (mussels) on the beach! Yum!


out at Sol e Mare for a few drinks! These 3 guys are Seli's best friends (Ragi, Izi and Mahir)


and our favorite thing to do at the end of the night...crack open an Efes, put our feet up, and listen to the sea crashing into the sand from the front garden of his house.

What an amazing vacation!!

Summer 2009 recap

So I'm realizing now that I really should have started this blog before the summer started. Grad school is about to start up in a few weeks, which means I basically lose my social life. Therefore, I will have much less to write about! I thought a good first "real" post would be to recap what a fun-filled and busy summer I've had! Busy being the key word here. To summarize - in just 4 months I have been to 6 weddings (and in 2 of them, which brings my bridesmaid count into the double-digits); moved into the South End (Boston) with Seli; traveled to Ohio, Florida, New York (a few times), Maine (a few times), Louisiana, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Turkey; and completed 3 additional credits towards my MBA. Below are a few pictures from through June. Seli and my vacation to Turkey needs a post all to itself, so that will be coming soon.


Summer (sort of) kicked off with the annual Pondskimming event in VT. Brian and Dave were the only 2 brave souls who dressed up and actually skim'd this year. The theme was cartoon characters - I think it's pretty clear who they were dressed as!

Sara and Anthony's wedding was a blast - especially getting to spend time with some of my favorite Granville girls!!

That same weekend I got to spend Easter with my parents and the Kochers. Getting to play with Will & Grace (and Georgie) was my favorite part!!

Seli and I drove down to NYC for one of his college friend's weddings. Old college friends who haven't seen each other for years + big party = trouble!

Seli had never been to Disney World before, so I felt it necessary to introduce him to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Pluto. I also got to see some old study abroad friends while we were there, which was an extra bonus!!

Next was Fran's wedding (one of my best friend's from college) in beautiful Poughkeepsie, NY! In this picture is Fran's best childhood friend Stacie, Fran and me.

For my 28th birthday, Seli threw me an unbelievable surprise party at the Sevens on Charles Street. He did such an amazing job - he even got Hallie and Molly to come up from NYC and CT as an extra special surprise!!! Clearly (note my face in the picture above) I was having an awesome time.

In June, I headed down to Louisiana for Laura and Damien's wedding, which was an absolute blast!! Above is a picture of the just-married couple!!

I also got to spend some quality time with the whole Patin family, including one of the most amazing women ever - my grandmother, Alee!!

...and last but not least...the summary of my visit to Lake Charles wouldn't be complete without a picture of "Michelle & the ladies"!