All Hale Yale!!!

In our quest to visit all of the Ivy League colleges while living on the east coast, we set out on a voyage towards yet another school. On Saturday, October 25th, the Brimmers took Yale by storm. We tromped around campus, uncovered secret societies, and pillaged the library. One might even say that We Came, We Saw, and We Conquered!

Robert Frost proclaimed that this was the most beautiful courtyard he had ever seen. Craig agreed! This is the courtyard is in the "Berkley College" complex.

This is the Nathan Hale Statue in the Old Campus courtyard. Apparently the CIA asked for a copy but the Yale Board decided they wanted to have the only copy so they said no. Well, the CIA didn't like that much so in the middle of the night they sent a crew to crawl over the fence, make a plaster mold, and recreated the statue. There is one outside CIA headquarters.
Hey Kristin....looks like you aren't the only Law Dawg in the family! Here's Ellen during her Yale Law School orientation.




PEABODY MUSEUM!!! Dedicated mostly to paleontology, the Peabody Museum was full of dinosaur fossils and other fabulous things - like a Siamese twin rabbit fossil....eewww.


Vanderbilt Hall - the original housing for women when they were first admitted to Yale. The "princess suite" is reserved for any heir of Vanderbilt that attends the school.
So studious! Here's Ellen cramming for the big exam that's coming up. Actually, Ellen's trying to study up and figure out when the train leaves.

Finally done with studying, Ellen heads out of the library. Libraries at Yale are meant to look like cathedrals, so subtle. Well, it's time to board the train back to NYC and leave New Haven. . . but before we go. . ...
. . .in case you missed it on the last blog - here we are with BOBBY FLAY!!!!

New York Food & Wine (and Bobby Flay!!) Festival 08'

Talk about a great NYC Celebrity Sighting....we met Bobby Flay!!! For Ellen's birthday Craig raised the stakes of great presents and bought tickets to the New York Food and Wine Festival. We had tickets to two events - Getting Real w/ Rocco and Cooking with Bobby Flay. For these two self confessed "foodies" it was an absolutely perfect day! Rocco taught us to make a quick version of paella and a black pepper and sour cherry glazed steak (ummmm!!!). Bobby's presentation was quite timely - Thanksgiving dinner! If we weren't already hungry, smelling all the delicious things cooking right in front of us absolutely made our mouths water! And then we had to run home to start cooking - trying out some new recipes!

Bobby Flay hanging out with the Brimmer's - just a normal Sunday in Chelsea Market!

Rocco and Ellen exchanging "best tips" in the kitchen. He really learned a lot!

Here Craig is getting some tips on how to get your wife to do all the cooking...

Another sighting - Morimoto!! While we both think we are amazing cooks, we weren't quite ready to tackle sushi so we opted not to go to his demo...maybe next year!

And here he is in action! Bobby Flay mixing it up with a turkey and some dressing. Smells so good that I need to stop writing and start cooking - so many great recipes, so little time!! Until next course!

IT'S OFFICIAL - Mr. & Mrs. Brimmer!!!

Well, we did it - we went ahead and tied the knot!! We figured that NYC just wasn't delivering the level of adventure and excitement that we were craving so the next logical step was jumping into holy matrimony! Weeeeehewwww - what a ride. The wedding week at Long Beach was amazing. Thank you to everyone for making the entire week and the big day so great for us. We'll have more wedding pictures available soon but for now...here's a sneak peak... (don't worry, there are some pics from the Caribbean honeymoon following so keep scrolling down!)

Presenting for the first time - Mr. & Mrs. Craig Brimmer!!

First stroll on the beach as a married couple.

We couldn't have asked for a better day on the beach, a better sunset, or better company to share it with!

The Bridal Party - In Full Effect!!

The first official family picture!

Shelton's Finest - Engraved for all time in the belt buckles proudly on display!

Okay - with the sneak peek of the wedding pics behind us, let's get to the fun stuff - Caribbean Honeymoon - Well, at least the Puerto Rican leg of the trip...

We decided that work could wait and opted for a 2 week honeymoon. We started it off in San Juan, Puerto Rico for a week. We landed in the evening and were greeted by an amazing sunset.

Checking into our hotel in Old San Juan we found out that up grading to a balcony really was worth it! We had an amazing view of the city and the harbor. We even got to watch our cruise ship dock the day we were scheduled to board...right from our room!

After checking in we decided to take a walk along the fort wall that lines the old city. Unfortunately we decided to have Ellen pose for a picture with a big tree. What we now call.... "The Scene of the Attack". Ellen, while posing for this picture, was savagely attacked on the toe by a fierce ant. Fortunately, the it was only a flesh wound and Ellen recovered within the hour.

Ellen started feeling better just in time - we ran into some of the local cats and made some friends. Looks like this guy had hit up the all you can eat buffet on a cruise ship.

So after meeting the locals we decided to eat like the locals. What better way then with a fried plantain garnished plantain mashing cup with...what else...mashed plantains. Yummmm!!!The next day we decided to really taste the local flavor....PuertoRican Rum!!! And where else to taste the best rum but and the Bacardi Distillery!! We had to take a ferry from Old San Juan to the the "main land" where the distillery is located. Here's the ferry...coming to pick us up! And we have arrived!!! Bacardi himself would have been proud of this picture!

What better way to prove that we were at the Bacardi Factory the to pose by a wall of Bacardi rum??!!??

So after living it up at the distillery we decided to go discover some of the historic attributes of San Juan. First up, Ellen's favorite, the cemetery.

Next stop, the Fort. Well, to be more specific El Moro. Here's Ellen getting the cannon balls ready for firing in case of any enemeyattacks!In case anyone was thinking of attacking - check out the all but impenetrable fort walls of El Moro...pretty amazing when looking down at the rocks from 50 feet!Here's Craig, recreate his favorite moment at the Tower of London....nice....We were welcomed into the family of the fort and asked to a rustic dinner. Okay, so that's not exactly true. But the fort historic group did a great job of recreating a historic soldiers quarters scene.Alright, so we figured we had seen enough of San Juan for a while and needed to escape. So we boarded an Air Flamenco plane and headed off to Culebra Island.From the air, San Juan looked almost too good to leave...But then we saw Flamengo Beach (on Culebra) which is rated the 2nd best beach in the world in Travel Mag, and we forgot all about missing the beaches of San Juan...
While the beaches of Culebra are great, the taxi services are less then amazing. So we had to head out to the streets and hitch a ride. (don't worry mom....I'm just posing for a pic, the limo is waiting in the background!)

So...this is the end of this blog...these two NYC'er need to hit the hay...Yeah, we're back from the honeymoon and have to go to work in the morning. But, we'll be updating the blog with the pics from Culebra and the rest of the honeymoon soon...so stay tuned!!

Until next time -

Mr. & Mrs. Brimmer

Revenge for the Beatles Invasion, America Strikes Back!

In 1964, the Beatles invaded America and caused a musical/cultural revolution like nothing the world has even seen. 44 years later, America decided it was time to get even. That's why they sent Ellen and me. The trip started at the JFK airport, from there we flew directly to Heathrow airport. For those of you keeping track, that's the exact opposite of the Beatles. So far, we were even. Once we landed in London, we were informed by the locals that there were no Ed Sullivan shows that wanted to showcase our talent. Ridiculous. So, instead we decided to see some sights and do some touristy things.

First stop was the Tower Bridge. It's safe to say this is one of the top ten most recognizable bridges in the world. (The other nine being in NYC, the greatest city in the world.) Right next to the bridge is the Tower of London. Pretty amazing place. If you're in London, this tour is not to be missed. The 90% of London's history happened within these walls. Originally, it was used as a palace, with many kings and queens living here. Even Sir Issac Newton lived within these walls (as a guest only.) Then, as we all know, the Tower was home to some of England's most famous prisoners. I found the armor and crown jewel exhibits to be fascinating. Ellen, on the other hand, really enjoyed the torture chamber exhibits. But enough about the Tower of London . .. off to the next stop.

No trip to London is complete without seeing Big Ben. For the record, Big Ben is the bell in this clock tower. It's sister bell, the Liberty Bell, is in Philadelphia. Interestingly, both bells have cracks in them. The tour guide said that this is the most accurate clock in the world, but we didn't have time to verify this statement. We were off to the next sight. . . .

Trafalgar Square! The home of the Lord Admiral Nelson column and the four biggest lion statues I've even seen. Ellen didn't hesitate showing off her climbing abilities. She quickly scaled the eight foot base wall, then she crawled on to the lion's back. It was pretty wet, so I was sure she was going to fall, but she surprised us all!

This is one of the last remaining portions of the London Wall. It's the city wall that the Romans built around 200 AD. Ellen loves Roman history, so she wanted to get a picture of herself touching the stones.

Unfortunately, you can't really tell from this picture, but when Ellen "touched" the wall, one of the stones fell out! She had to carefully put it back into position. As soon as I saw what was happening, my first instinct was to grab my passport and run. I knew that Scotland Yard would send a bunch cops to capture the American tourists. Fortunately, we escaped. I'm thinking I should wait about 7 years before it's safe to go back.


As we were walking around the streets of London, we noticed a big crowd. We were wondering what was going on, when all of the sudden I notice my buddy Matt in the crowd! Seriously, what are the odds.



Matt and I graduated from UW's masters program together and we both worked at PwC for a couple years. Most times I got in trouble at work are directly attributed to this guy. Skipping work to go golfing and see movies were his ideas. Matt will also be making an appearance at the wedding in August, so be warned.


This is a great picture of Ellen's job interview. She applied to be a guard. Unfortunately, she didn't get the job. They said she smiled after only three hours. It's a good thing she hadn't quit her job at Morgan Stanley yet.

With her dreams of being a guard crushed, Ellen decided that archery is a growth industry. So, she tried her luck at pulling this mechanical bow. It tests for strength and stability. Surprisingly, Ellen actually scored a perfect! No joke. However, due to lack of health benefits and a sub-par 401(k) plan, Ellen passed on this job offer. Speaking of great jobs. . . .

Here's a picture of PwC's finest! Starting from left to right: Casie and I worked in Seattle together. I probably worked more hours with Casie than anyone else at PwC, probably some of the best times, as well. She's a Cougar, though. Next up is Chris. Chris worked in the Portland office. If your power is on right now, you can thank Chris for keeping the Northwest utilities in business. Chris is a Duck, even worse. The third accountant in this line-up of usual suspects is Moritz. First of all, Moritz is Swiss. I'm sure he'd like me to say right now that Switzerland is the home of the greatest tennis player and the only land-locked country to ever win the America's Cup. Moritz wishes above all else in the world that he could be a Husky.

Casie and Chris live in London and were great tour guides. Also, congratulations to them! They just got engaged. Very exciting. Moritz just happened to be in town for the weekend staying with them, so it worked out great. We all got to meet up and tour the city.


Here's a picture of the ladies causing trouble. Ellen is attempting to ring the bell at Sting's house and Casie is cheering her on. I took this picture as evidence in case the police came that it wasn't me who rang the door bell. After touring around the city, Casie and Chris gave us a tour of their private garden. Moritz was quickly distracted by the toys at the playground.

Moritz couldn't resist. He had to take this new toy for a test drive!

However, the toy proved to be too challenging, so Chris had to provide a hand to help Moritz turn the shovel machine. After seeing how challenging this toy was, we all decided not to even bother trying. Instead, we decided it was time for a drink!

Here is the group cheersing and having a drink in the private garden in the Notting Hill neighborhood. It doesn't get much better than this!

At the end of the night and the end of the trip, there was only one thing left to do. Go out from some drinks. Here's a great group shot. Only problem is that we took this picture before Matt arrived. Matt met up with us later that night after we saw him at the Tower of London. Pretty small world.

What a great weekend! Special thanks go to Casie and Chris for being great hosts. I'd also like to let Moritz know that we're running low on delicious Swiss chocolates, please send more!