Nashville

In early October, Karson and I headed to Nashville for a weekend of football and friends. He's from the KC area, so Mizzou playing Vanderbilt the same weekend as the Chiefs playing the Titans is a perfect storm. One of Karson's college friends is coaches for the Titans and was kind enough to get us a room at the Loew's Vanderbilt which is a beautiful hotel in the Vanderbilt area of Nashville. The weekend was also Karson's best friend's birthday. Since we were going to tailgate, I made Ryan cupcakes and used these cute football cupcake holders.

Friday night, we went out to dinner on Broadway and then hit up some honky tonks. I think catching some live music is a mandatory thing in Nashville and always a lot of fun! Saturday morning we went to the Parthenon and the Opryland area before tailgating. In between the two, we hit the grocery store as we needed supplies for our tailgate. Karson had asked me to make buffalo chicken dip, I had brought a crock pot. So after the grocery store run, I'm lugging the crock pot into the hotel and carrying it in the elevator. There's an 60something guy in the elevator making polite conversation with me.

He pushed his floor button, and then said: "You don't really need a key card to get to the top floor."
Me: "I bet the view from the top floor is really nice."
Him: "Is that a crock pot??"
Me: "Uh, yeah. We're going tailgating today and I need to make a dip for it."
Him: "Oh. Okay." Weird look on his face. Secretly thinking I'm making something illegal with my crock pot.  I don't often cook with a crock pot in a hotel, but when I do, I try to do it at the nicest hotels possible. At least I brought the one with the damask design on it. :)

Missouri won, so the husband was happy. The weather the next day was not so great, but we had ponchos. The Chiefs won so again, the husband was happy! We had fantastic seats, which we were very lucky to be given.

 Karson at Opryland

 Me at Opryland. I LOVE this show. DVR it every week.

Go Chiefs! View from out awesome seats. P.S. Check out that guy's mullet. Ha!

 

 



Houston Day 2 & 3

The primary reason for heading to Houston was for an annual Fourth of July party held by Karson's friends, the Browns. With the 4th being in the middle of the week, they moved the party and opted to have it the weekend before. They've got both a pool and a hot tub and had a massive amount of food and beverages as well. They were great hosts!

Some of the food for the party

There were 5 dogs at the party. This was the biggest dog there, but she was very well behaved.

Getting ready to hop in the hot tub with Matt's awesome homemade margarita. :)

On Sunday, Karson and I headed out to be tourists at the Johnson Space Center. We were going to do some other outdoor activities, but it kept raining and that put a damper on plans - so after a few hours at the Space Center, we went back and spent some more time hanging out since we were taking off for San Antonio the next day.

At the Johnson Space Center. I don't think either of us is cut out for a life in space.

Royals Opening Day

Karson and I headed to KC for the Royals Opening Day and a weekend of fun. I got to meet one of his brothers, several of his friends and his grandma.  He also got to meet more of my friends. All in all it was a pretty fun weekend. It was only the second major league baseball game that I'd ever been to, so going to opening day was pretty cool. The weather was a bit chilly and rainy.  We did most of our "tailgating" indoors at a bar in the Plaza area.  Karson took a lot of photos, here's some highlights.

Karson and I at 810Zone Restaurant (it's not even noon)

Karson's brother and his girlfriend. Karson and myself.

Gates BBQ, I had a Burnt End sandwich. It was pretty tasty. I did NOT need the french fries we got.




Heading into the K

We had seats in the upper deck on the 3rd base side, we opted to go stand with some people in the outfield area in the 6 or 7th inning. I look REAL sober here.

At some hole in the wall bar, after this we headed back to the Plaza for a bit and then off to pass out for the night.

Trip to Ames

Karson and I made a trip to Ames this past weekend to catch some Hilton Magic.  We'd originally been planning to go on February 19th for the ISU- Mizzou game, but that didn't work out.  Since we would have been cheering for opposite teams that day, I'm okay with that not working out.

After arriving in Ames on Saturday and buying tickets, the cashier directed us around the corner, where we ran into the Knops heading upstairs.  We stopped to talk to them for a few minutes before heading to our seats.  We did a lap around the arena got some snacks and found our seats, which were decent considering we walked up and bought them that day.  Karson spotted someone in a argyle sweater that he liked.  He's been telling me for almost a month that he plans to wear overalls when we attend VEISHEA.  This can be attributed to bad fashion choices in 1997 and 1998, he's convinced that everyone at ISU must wear overalls.  (HA HA!)  I told him the sweater would be a better option.  The game against Nebraska ended up in an overtime win, and he even bought me a Clone cone!

Once the game was over we made our way to the Memorial Union to hit up the bookstore - he wanted to find that sweater and check out the UnderArmor gear.  While we wear there, we ran into more people. Erin, Andy and Katie were there along with some people I tailgate with.  None of these run ins were planned so it was random and fun.  The sweater wasn't at the bookstore, and they didn't have UA gear in his size, so we headed off on a cold, walking tour of campus.

Then of course....Great Plains. YUM!!!  We followed that up with some relaxing in our hotel hot tub. 

Sunday morning we met up with my sister, brother-in-law, their kids and my aunt at the Machine Shed.  Someone may have pointed out the staff was wearing overalls.  After being stuffed with the breakfast buffet, we headed off to check out the DaVinci exhibit at the Science Center. Absoulutely fantastic. 

Oh and the sweater was found at the Hy-Vee on Fleur.  One of my friends told me she'd seen it there.  Karson didn't want to drop $45 on it.  Now he's wishing he'd bought it. :) Number of ISU things Karson already owns: 3.  Number of Mizzou/Arkansas things I own: 0.  Pretty sure I'm winning the conversion.

2009 Recap

Overall, 2009 was a pretty good year. In late January/early February, I made a trip to Chicago for my friend, Amanda's, 30th birthday. I haven't been to Chicago in ages. It was great to catch up with a lot of friends there.  May saw me going to a bunch of concerts, which was a great time - Jason Mraz, the Nadas, Billy Joel and Elton John. I also traveled back to Eastern Iowa for my cousin, Alice's wedding in June. In July, I headed to Vegas for my 30th birthday, it was definitely an experience to remember. August had me heading to Lansing for a week of training for work. I ended up catching up with some friends there too.  And I managed to make a complete idiot out of myself in the process. YES!!! Football season kicks off and I feel like I move to Ames, which is always a good time. This year, I also got to travel to Kansas City to see Kati and Sara and their Justin's along with Stacy. November, hmmm....oh yeah, I bought a house in November. And December seemed to be all about the holidays. So really I can't complain. I managed to not go to the ER last year, so I achieved my biggest New Year's resolution goal since I'd gone twice in 2006, once in 2007 and twice in 2008. My health insurance company probably thinks I'm dead.

Throughout the year, I managed to make a bunch of new friends in Omaha, and reconnect with a few old ones too.

New Moon

Up until my birthday at the end of July, I had never even opened a Twilight book. And then Amanda decided I needed to be part of the hysteria that is Twilight and gave me the first book as a a birthday gift. I then purchased the second book to read on work trip to Michigan. (Please note, that since then I have not read the 3rd or 4th books.)

So, with the upcoming release of New Moon, there's been lots of discussion about going to see the movie, and I will be seeing it Thanksgiving weekend in DSM unless something happens. But, my friend Jessica decided to assemble a group to go see it on opening night at midnight. Here's what's funny about the group that I went with....I was the youngest person in the group and I'm 30. The oldest person was about 38 or 39. Most of them also had kids. We met up at 94/95,  a bar and grill that Jessica's husband has part ownership in for drinks and snacks and then headed to the theatre around 11. The theatre was nice enough to convert our tickets to one screen since some people had 12:01 other 12:02, 12:04 and 12:05 shows.

In addition to the usual snacks, Kona grill and Coldstone were also there serving food. What cracked me up was that we were also dressed in jeans, cute shirts, cute shoes, make up etc. Almost all the teenagers that were there looked like they had rolled out of bed - pajama pants and Uggs? I'm not even kidding. We were hoping for some crazies. After securing our seats and getting snacks, there wasn't a whole lot of wait time left, the theatre even did a trivia contest in our theatre where you could win prizes. Someone in our group one free movie passes.

As for the movie....MUCH better than Twilight. And I've always been split between Team Edward and Team Jacob - somewhat Team Both of them. I'm leaning toward Team Jacob after this. Kristen Stewart kinda annoys me, I think it's her expression more than anything. I thought this stayed pretty true to the book though, as best as it can in two hours. Oh and I picked up the third book - thanks to Barnes and Noble for giving it to me for 50% off.

Girls' Night In

Back when I still lived in Des Moines, a group of us would periodically - (between monthly/bi-monthly), get together to hang out. It had started when someone was hosted a Pampered Chef party, then a Tastefully Simple party, then a Body Shop party. Then I think Abby suggested maybe we could get together and not have a sales person be present. So, each time one of us would plan the event, and we'd get together and we just took turns. It worked out great. And then, I moved to Michigan. Oops. But then I moved to Omaha. And so did some other Thetas from ISU. Kim moved away and then returned. Since Amanda and I were familiar with the concept, we thought it was time to bring it to a new city. Kim organized an event a few months back at a great little Mexican place (Senor Mateas - it's like Tasty Tacos with margaritas) and since then we haven't gotten back together as a group. So I took it upon myself to get us together again since many of us had mentioned.
Everyone agreed that Monday we'd meet up at my house for dinner. I'd make the main course of lasagna and everyone else would bring something - bread, salad, appetizer and dessert. Kim arrived first followed by Amanda with Ellie and April. So now we're just waiting for Salsa to arrive. And we're waiting, and waiting. Kim and I joke that she's probably napping again, like Saturday night when she overslept - so Kim calls Becky. Nope, she forgot. HAHAHA! All in all though the food turned out great, even though we didn't have salad. Everyone seemed to have a great time and our next get together is set for Monday. We're going to be checking out a place called SmashBurger since I guess Jenn Jenn is going to be in town. Should be good times

A Little Bit Sad

So if you want something not depressing, stop reading.
On Sunday, one of my former co-workers passed away. I've known him for five and a half years, he's been battling cancer for four and a half years, yes, almost the entire time that I'd known him, Bruce has had cancer. Bruce was an incredibly upbeat and optimistic person. Almost always happy, smiling. You'd have no clue that he was battling a stage four cancer and making regular visits to the Mayo Clinic. Up until mid-June 2008, he was still working full time, how, I have no clue. The treatment he was going through was intense and he had no feeling in his feet as a result.  He realized that he just couldn't keep up with the day to day demands that a job like mine has, I put in around 50 hours a week, easily and there's all the driving. So, he went onto long term disability.
A few weeks ago, the Mayo Clinic told him that there wasn't anything more that they could do, gave him 2 -3 weeks to live and sent him home. I've been mentally preparing myself since then. I knew it was coming. Quite honestly, I've been trying to prepare myself for a long time. I'd always hoped it would go into remission, that there would be a miracle, but the cancer kept spreading. So I think Sunday, I went a bit numb. Yesterday when I talked to my friend, M, who'd known Bruce since the days when they worked at Farm Bureau, I stayed strong, she was a wreck, rightfully so. She'd known him for 25 years.
And tonight when I was heading out for a dinner meeting and running down a list of to do's - buying a sympathy card was on the list and I lost it. And just bawled for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I travel to Carroll for the funeral. We'll see how that goes, I'm not big on crying in public, but I'm generally a mess at funerals.  Here's his obit: http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=9010&TM=21.238

Theta related

Last night, I hosted the monthly Theta Alumnae board meeting. I decided that since it was so close to Halloween it should be a Halloween themed event. I’m pretty certain this is due in large part because of the time I spent living with Nikki. So....I had Halloween plates, napkins and cups. Who knew that Solo now made orange (and black) cups? You may remember these as keg cups. I made some pumpkin bars, bought some cider, wine, candy corn, peanuts and M&Ms. I didn't say this was going to be a healthy party.
So the first SNAFU happens - nobody can find my apartment. I'd said on the evite that if people needed directions to let me know. Nobody asked - so I figured since everyone was a native Omahan (but me) they all knew where they were going. Negatory, everyone got lost, I'm getting calls. And to make matters worse the light right outside my building was out. Seriously?!?!
So once people finally found my apartment the next problem happened - only ten people had RSVP'd, I had seating for nine and figured I'd sit on the floor. My living room area is small. It's probably the smallest of any apartment that I've ever lived in. For as "big" as my apartment is, the space is very poorly proportioned. But then only nine people show up, problem solved, until the other three people come and we're now at 12. Um, hmm...
And then, when I'd been getting my wine glasses out, I discovered I only had seven. I knew my diswasher attacked one. But I thought I had 12. Did four of them run off? Eh, no one seemed to care.

Plus, we're changing up our silent auction this year (Thank God) to a raffle of stuff that people will actually want to buy. In the past, we've done a silent auction where people buy stuff (or get it donated), bring it to our event and then bid on it, starting at about half of what the item is worth. The organizer of this year's event was frustrated with how little we raised for CASA and our scholarship fund last year and decided maybe having a handful of bigger items would be better. People can put all their raffle tickets toward just the item that they want and we're opening up the purchasing of the tickets to the general public. I think it should turn out well, since ALL the items were donated this year. And they're all group together in categories - i.e. golf package, wine package, beauty/spa package, dining package, party package. Hopefully we'll raise more money than last year.

October weekends! :)

October has been a fantastic month for weekends! It really has - I had a great time down in KC hanging out with Kati, Stacy, Kim and Jenny and partying like I was in college the first weekend in October. Kati was such a trooper, even though she was uber pregnant. More than I will probably ever be. And I discovered just how much of a drinking amateur I was compared to Justin and his all of his Pike fraternity brothers. Yeesh! I finally made it to the Power & Light district. Caught up with Sara & Justin for a bit during some cold tailgating on Saturday. The sun forgot that it was invited as did ISU's kicker. But all in all a great weekend with lots of fantastic memories.

The next weekend, I went to a party where I again, forgot that I AM NOT IN COLLEGE ANYMORE. Jeez. Drinking games? Really? Up until like three or so? I had a great time, but needless to say, I was quite useless on Sunday. I think I slept until noon!

And the following weekend was Homecoming. I LOVE HOMECOMING! I always have, it's one of my favorite things. I mean, come on, I was Homecoming chair twice. You don't do that unless you're crazy or you really love something, or both. Probably both. My regular tailgating crew had gone AWOL, so I hooked up Salsa and Eric and their crew around 12:30 with plans to head over to Megan's around 3:00. It was cold. Despite having a tent and heaters, I was still cold. Yes, I'm a wimp. I don't care. I'm blaming the washers, and my poor ability to play washers despite a summer of practice. And ISU pulled off a big win, without much problem. And the next day was Nikki's baby shower. It was great to catch up with everyone I hadn't seen in forever.

And then this weekend, Salsa's cousin, Eric, was hosting a gamewatching party at his house for THE game. I'd been offered tickets on Thursday to go to Lincoln and even though Steph was coming to town, I decided I didn't need to witness what I figured would be a blood bath in person. I had easy access to a keg - and donuts and a turkey and a 60 inch TV. I'm going to stick with that and not be tormented, thanks though. The party started at 7:30 a.m., but we didn't get there until about 8:15 or so, which was great because the donuts were almost coming out of the fryer. We arrived and Kyle told us that Arnaud was out and so Robinson. Suddenly, having easy access to a keg seemed like a great idea. I was trying to remain optimistic, but really, the leading rusher in the Big 12 is out? YIKES!
For comedic relief, Eric and Kyle prepped the turkey. They weren't trying to be funny, but it was hilarious watching get the insides out and also cutting the handle off since it was going into the fryer. I'd never had fried turkey before, it was awesome! Plus, Couch brought buffalo chicken dip. If you've never had this stuff and you aren't lactose intolerant, I highly recommend making it sometime. (The recipe is on the foodnetwork.com) YUM!
The ratio of Cyclone fans to husker fans at the party ended up being about 4 to 1. AND then, it happened....ISU beat Nebraska in Lincoln for the first time in my life. It was unreal! I kept checking my phone to make sure it wasn't Christmas. :) I also realize more and more each game why I like Paul Rhoads. He seems like such a good person. Genuine. Real.
Yet another great weekend.