Christmas in Conneticut

What a week, what a week. Every year in December, our team heads back to the head office for a fall roundup and the annual office Christmas party. Working from home has many perks, but one of the (sometimes) downsides is not having a connection to coworkers or all the fun activities that offices sometimes have. I’m always thankful that they are willing to bring us all in for the party because it gives us the chance to not only connect with one another, but have a little fun with those we don’t see often. It also makes you feel a part of the organization----which after spending months on your own, is always a good thing. 

The week started out well, I got into CT on Monday morning and rented a car to quickly drive up to Hyde Park, NY. Now, if you’ve been following the adventures of Michelle, you know my year’s long quest to visit all 13 of the Presidential Libraries in the United States. Well, as of this Monday, I can proudly (geekly) say that I have now accomplished that goal. With Franklin Roosevelt’s library as my last stop, I’d been trying to get to it for awhile, but it’s definitely not in an easy to reach location. Thankfully, this winter (at least for now) has been very mild in the Northeast, so driving wasn’t a problem. It was a beautiful drive too. I’m not quite sure what one calls this part of the state, but it was pretty much the opposite of New York City. There was space. And trees. And land. Lots of open land. I loved it. 

Oddly enough, this also happened to be the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and visiting the museum on that day gave me a better idea of FDR’s involvement in WWII and how the US was pulled into war. It also gave me a fantastic overview of Eleanor Roosevelt and her dedication to human rights. I loved learning about their relationship and how strong of a woman she was. It certainly reminded me of the Clinton marriage and it was very interesting to see all the parallels. There was a very small section on Japanese Internment (which will come up again later this week). 

After touring the library and getting my fill of Presidential goodness, I drove up the street to the Vanderbilt Mansion. It’s strange to think, that at one point, these two families were neighbors. I don’t usually enjoying touring old houses, just to randomly look at some dead person’s leftover belongings, but it was actually a good tour. The guide was funny and full of tidbits about the Vanderbilt’s and New York society. I learned quite a bit about the differences between old money (at least 4 generations of wealth) and new money (anything less than that). I’d be happy with either title, but I guess that is just me. He told a story about the Vanderbilts trying to get a foot into the old money social scene, but regardless of how much they were actually worth, we’re never fully invited in. He said that one of the first parities the Vanderbilts threw, in today’s money, would have cost over 34 million dollars. 

For one night. 

I liked seeing the house all dressed up for Christmas and it overlooked the Hudson River, so that was really neat as well. 

On Tuesday, after spending a few hours in the head office, I went down to NYC to visit with Friend A and see her new Upper Eastside apartment. So cool! I dragged her around to touristy parts of the city to soak in the Christmas decorations. We went to Rockefeller Center (I always think that tree should be bigger) and to Bryant Park, one of my favorite spots in the city. Afterwards, we went to go see the show Allegiance, which is how the history of Japanese Internment camps come back into play. I’m not going to write about the show here, but will add another post because there are a lot of thoughts I have about it. I enjoyed the show a lot, even though I was crying through most of it.

With a night of fun behind us, it was time to get down to business. We had a couple of days of meetings, that all went well. We do take a little time out for fun (of course!) with group dinners and little outings. 

On Thursday, Friends M and B and I all popped into the car and drove up to New Haven. I joked we were trying to find Rory and Logan from the Gilmore Girls, since we were all fans of the show. But instead, we went to IKEA to help Friend M buy some fixings for her new apartment. We played around in the store a bit (hello, it’s IKEA, who doesn’t do that?) and then headed off to grab dinner at a fantastic burger place. 

We did stop by the Yale campus, just to see it. We all found it funny that, even though we spend many waking moments on college campuses across the country, that even during our downtime, we spent it touring a University. It was so neat to see though. Incredibly impressive library! I could just imagine Rory spending hours there studying (LOL. I know it’s not real, but wouldn’t the world be just a little bit better if it were?) 

On Friday, it was time to party and celebrate the year. Everyone always dresses up real nice and the company puts together a really great event. We have raffles and photo booths and open bars. It’s nice to see everyone relax and have a little fun. There was even a dance floor, complete with wedding/bartmizpha band. They were actually really good!

Now, I’m headed home to rest up for the rest of the year. It is crazy to think that I don’t have another work trip for a month and a half! 

Hallelujah!