The Braun Family

Monday, September 12, 2011

10 years later

My night journey to the WTC site...

Friday, September 02, 2011

Nancy requested an update from the family, so I'm obliging. Sorry if everyone gets tired of hearing about my times in NYC. Things have remained incredibly busy since getting here. We have finally opened after the earthquake and hurricane. What a way to start in NYC. The students are already having too much fun/experimentation with drugs and alcohol. I've had 3 students transported to the hospital for alcohol and one arrested for marijuana possession. Did I mention that this all happened in the last 5 days? Today I met with one resident who told me about her fake ID, so I had her surrender that to me (this was a first). I love that these kids are so willing to open up to me. You never know what you're going to experience when you wake up in this job.

There has been a lot of great stuff too. I did a bus tour of the city last night with some of the residents. On Wednesday, I went to a spoken word event with Jesse Eisenberg from the movie The Social Network, and yesterday Alec Baldwin was our guest speaker for first year convocation at the Beacon Theatre. He and our university president are hilarious. I've posted a picture from my 4th row seat at convocation and another picture of my nightly view from my apartment.

I also forgot to mention that Diane Lane was in my building on move-in day. She is stunningly gorgeous. All in all, things have been going well. The job and the city have kept me busy. I'll continue to post as this journey continues. Maybe between Nancy and I, we'll draw people back to the blog. I don't do well with facebook anymore, so lets see how this works. Much love.

Friday, August 12, 2011

I had the opportunity to take a sunset cruise around Manhattan last night so I thought I would share some of the photos. I've just wrapped up week number 2 at NYU. We are just one week away from the student staff arriving and 2 weeks from all residents. Hope everyone is doing well.

Sunset cruise

Friday, August 05, 2011

Week one

My first week at NYU has just wrapped up with a HUGE free dinner and open bar at a local restaurant. I have learned so much and still have SO much more to learn. The staff is amazing. Incredibly welcoming and offer lots of assistance. I think I'm going to love it here for a long time to come.

Next week should be fun because we find out which VIP residents will live in the building. It is the most sought after for 1st year students. In the past 2 years, Denzel Washington and Bono's children have lived here (haley joel osmont of the "sixth sense" also dated a resident). I had an opportunity to go to dinner with one of my faculty as well. He runs the French program here and consults for our program in Paris too. He is awesome and has great plans for the building this year. There has been lots of talk about all the things we get to do here with Broadway shows, going behind the scenes, taking ski trips, etc. I'm incredibly fortunate and will continue to share the excitement in words and pictures.

I must also give thanks to Rick, Cherie, Bridget and Mike for housing me on my adventure up here. Also, Bridget and Brittany for letting us join them for brunch on Sunday.

Lastly, thank you so much to mom and dad who helped make this home. It was really nice to come home from the first 2 days of crazy training to see my parents. Continue to take care of my little girl too. I miss her greatly.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

NYU Update

I've finally been given my specific assignment in the Office of Residential Life and Housing Services at New York University. I will be working in the Hayden Residence Hall (building info from the NYU website can be found here) as the Residence Hall Director. I will have an assistant director, resource manager, and two faculty-in-residence. The building is situated on Washington Square Park with great views of the Empire State Building.

It's so nice that the former president of NYU lives in the penthouse of the building, which takes up the entire 18th floor. I will be moving up there at the end of this month with tremendous help from my mom and dad. My first day will be August 1.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Fresh from the Garden

These are just a few of the vegetables from our garden that we have enjoyed. The green beans seem to be coming along just fine, just got our first cucumber, the carrots don't seem to be doing to well, and we just planted pumpkin for the fall. For those of you who did not know, we replaced the pool with a garden and it has been fun to watch everything grow.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Crum-Coated Broccoli & Cauliflower

oh my God, you guys! I made this tonight, and it is RIDICULOUS it is SOOO good!! And good for you! It's in that Cuisine Lite book that I got at Bridgets, so Bridget you may have made this. This serves 2 and is 3-1/2 points on weight watchers

2 cups each broccoli florets and cauliflower florets (a small head of each)

2 egg whites, beaten

2 TBS canola oil

1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs

3 TBS ground almonds

2 TBS grated parmesan cheese

1 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1/4 tsp kosher salt and ground black pepper

preheat oven to 450 degrees. coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray

cook broccoli in microwave for 2-3 minutes

cook cauliflower in microwave for 5 minutes

mix egg white and oil in dish. stir crumbs, almonds, parmesan, parsley, salt & pepper in a separate dish.

dip florets in egg mixture, then dredge in crumb mixture. arrange on baking dish and bake for 8-10 minutes.

BONUS-Dipping sauce-3 TBS dijon, 1 TBS honey, 1 tsp whole grain mustard, mix together!

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Christmas in Florida!!

Hey Everyone! We are now Florida homeowners!! And we plan on having a Florida Christmas this year. It's only a 3 bedroom, but it's kind of a big house. I will come down to FL some time between now and xmas to start getting furniture in it, and Hayle and I will be there from the 15th of December to start getting decorated and all ready. Who will be joining us?!?!?! If you haven't seen it, the address is 2310 NE 47th st, lighthouse point. I'm SO excited!!!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. Service Members who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War – it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.