the past decade.

holy moly ladies, we are entering a new decade... not just a new year but a whole new freaking decade! and so i thought i'd post all the highlights from the past ten years and perhaps... just perhaps... a few predictions and hopes for the next ten... omg... i still can't believe it's about to be 2010!!

2000: hmmm, have to think hard on this one to remember that far back... ok... let's see... ohhhh!! i know! i know!! i kissed bob barker that year on the cheek when i got called on down on the price is right. wow, can you guys believe that was 10 years ago?!!? that was also the year i turned 21. matt and i broke up that summer after almost 3 years (he's married with a kid now!). mike and i started dating that fall.

2001: officially a scripps graduate!! i went to england and scotland with the family and then lived in montana with mike for pretty much the rest of the year. we did a big round the country trip and visited my fam in houston, his brother in nc, courtney in st louis and random other stops along the way. it was also the year the world changed with 9/11... hard to believe we are coming up on the 9 year anniversary...

2002: 3 month trek through thailand, cambodia, and hong kong and then went to belize and guatemala. i moved to newport beach and found my job with nnn. mike and i broke up (he's married with 2 kids!)... and otis joined me! i can't believe he turns 8 this year... seriously... time flies.

2003: haha - started the annual trips to cabo...this trip was the one i landed on my head after a fateful piggy back ride at the finnistera hotel...take my advice: drunk piggy back rides esp at hotels built in to a hill are a BAD idea!

2004: i made my second trip to cabo and it was the first annual girls' trip to cabo, i skiied in mammoth, some of us went to scripps for graduation, and i went to nyc for kelley's 30th bday, scripps girls and some pomona boys had a get together at the viceroy, i went to sf for the big boat party, and kyle, channing, and i were busy throwing our famous garage parties!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2005: umm, i established my first gmail account which was way better than hotmail ever was! i was living with channing and kyle and having a blast in newport. i went to about 5000 angels games as i was a season ticket holder and that was so much fun! i went to the caymans with the family and on many trips with friends: mammoth, cabo, big bear, phoenix, vegas, nyc... i saw coldplay, keith urban, and the rolling stones in concert.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2006: moved from newport to nyc in june! i lost my favorite grandpa this summer. i got to go to a vip taping of jeopardy at radio city music hall! we had our 5 year scrippsie reunion! i went to chicago for halloween, simon and courtney got married and also came to visit in nyc for nye. matty, higgins, and a bunch of the girls came to visit me in nyc too... i went to cape cod with lara. jess' bachelorette was in park city & then her wedding at the montage. kyle was on the bachelor! i went to sun valley for president's day weekend... vegas, the desert, and cabo were all trips that i took. i went to the us open, a variety of angels games and yankees games.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2007: moved from nyc to chicago and bought my first place! this was the last summer i went to maine and the last time i saw our house was in dec for my gdad's funeral. this was the year i lost my last gparent.

2008: we beat that hobag. well we beat her as much as we could with regards to the lawsuit and that ended. 08 was a super rough year. i was also unemployed: twice. from tsg who couldn't make payroll and was a shitty company to landamerica that went bankrupt and let everyone go. i ran my first half marathon and my first full marathon... beating my goal of doing one before i turned 30!

2009: i hit a new decade in jan: the big 3 - 0!! spent this entire year unemployed.... unreal... but there were some great highlights too!

this year were a few weddings: adam (cmc) and kristin got married, susan (culver) and jeff got married, matt (nnn co worker and fake little brother) and elizabeth were married, and so were cherry (childhood friend) and tim.

and a few babies: heather from hs: ricky jr, marlene from work at gemini in ny: elliott, simon from nnn days: samantha, and meaghan (newport friend): maddie.

i went to mexico (riviera maya & cancun) twice, hawaii, california three times! (jan, sept, oct), i went to wi for a family reunion of my mom's side, i reconnected with a few more culver (high school) friends. i made a few trips to indy as well to visit susan, my hs friend.

hmmm did anyone visit me this year?? i don't feel like my spare room was used much... come visit!!! katy came to visit - she's a h.s. culver friend who i hadn't seen since our 5 year in 02!! kelley visited twice (but stayed with me once). tyler came to visit... to see if there was still that high school crush there...unfortunately it just wasn't there for me...

i did a whole bunch of half marathons: in march it was the disney princess half, in may it was the indy mini 500, in june i did the inaugural 13.1 in chicago, august was the rock n roll half in chicago and in november was the rock n roll san antonio half. i also did the hustle up hancock stair climb, 5k race to wrigley and bucktown 5k. my parents came to visit in chicago for the rnr half and they were excellent cheerleaders. they continued the cheering in san antonio and they were fantastic cheerleaders there as well!

in sad news, my culver friend, joel, died in august. he had been fishing with his brother on a lake in montana when a big storm caught them and the boat capsized. joel wasn't wearing a life jacket, but his brother was and his brother was able to swim to shore. sadly, joel did not... he will never be forgotten.

in the next ten years: i can only imagine what the next ten years will bring!! i don't think i even want to make predictions... but... i want to hear yours! tell me what i've forgotten in remembering the various years... what will we all be doing in ten years!?!?

welcome to the dollhouse!

as a little girl, i had a beautiful dollhouse and it was one of the best presents i ever received! i believe i got it for my birthday in the 2nd grade. maybe 3rd. it came as a kit from a toy store in the village that is no longer there. it has long since been torn down and rebuilt as an updated shopping area. but i have a lot of memories from that toy store... remember kooshes?? my friend cary and i and later when kenzie moved to town, we'd walk up to the village and play at the toy store and the 5&10 that were maybe a little less than a mile from my house (cary lived on the street behind me and kenzie lived on the same street just down at the other end of the block). there was a fat old lady that worked the cash register at the toy store and she was mean... she would stare at you like you were going to steal something... at least that's what i remember! anyways, that's the store my doll house came from. my daddy had the pleasure of putting together the dollhouse kit. and that was no small feat... lots of glue and pieces and railings and small parts i'm sure... but, i had the best dollhouse ever! my dad painted it a pretty pale blue with white trim. it was victorian in style and it was 2 stories with a wrap around porch on both levels. the windows and doors all opened and shut and you could open the front part of the house too.

when you turned the dollhouse around, there were more rooms: a living room and a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom and the roof could be opened to reveal two more rooms on a third floor. there was even a coppola which would lift up and reveal a secret room! it was so cool. my parents gave me a lot of the furniture for it, though to be honest it's hard to tell what they gave me and what my nana bought for me.

nana loved dolls. she used to help me cut out paper dolls, buy me barbie dolls, and other baby dolls like molly, the american girl with brown hair and glasses (which i also had as a little girl). but mostly i have fond memories of my nana and me going to the dollhouse shop in maine that unfortunately isn't there any more. but my nana would buy me all kinds of wonderful dollhouse things: furniture, people, and accessories like food for the kitchen or toys for the kids. i have a harp, a piano that plays music (as a music box), a tricycle, and way too many things to even begin to name! but, i also had fun things like a swing set, and a greenhouse and even a barn for the horses! as i grew older, although once beloved the dollhouse became too 'young' and it went to the attic where old toys and stuffed animals and other things went to live as they were outgrown. our house has a fantastic walk up attic... but it isn't air conditioned... and in the summer it gets to be 120 degrees and more up there. and thus, my poor once beautiful dollhouse has fallen in to disrepair and is in need of some tlc. and so, i've decided to restore it!

i've painted the two rooms on the left: the pink bedroom and the living room below it... the rest of the paint is the 'special' job i did in like the 4th grade that must now get fixed!

the dollhouse is out of the attic and now resides in the lake house. it has it's own nook in the upstairs office/play room. it's going to take a lot of work and time to restore this house and even longer since i'm not there that often! but, i am determined to paint, wallpaper, and reglue all of the railings back on. so far, i've painted the little girl's room and the living room. that's it. but, it's progress!

in the pictures you might notice the unfinished roof. that will remain forever unfinished.

when my nana was sick, she would come to houston all the time for her treatments. it seemed like at least once a month though i'm not sure it was that often. she had breast cancer and the best cancer hospital in the country happens to be 5 minutes from our house and so she would come here to get the very best treatment. it was her second round of breast cancer (her first battle was in the 70s) and this was the early 90s so about 20 years after she kicked cancer the first time, it came back. anyways, she would be here a lot and i loved having her here all the time! it was wonderful. i never really knew she was so sick... i mean i knew why she was here, but it didn't really register to me. she hid it so well. she was such an amazing woman... but i didn't mean to turn this in to a nana post. back then, my dollhouse resided in the family room which was also the guest room where my nana would stay. together we would work on it and play with it. the roof was one of her projects that she liked to do. i remember watching her use a ruler to draw the lines on the roof with the pencil and i remember watching her (and probably helping her) glue the shingles on the roof one by one. we were never able to finish the roof as she passed away in june 1993 before it could be finished. and to me, that was our project and since she is not here to help me finish it, i want it to stay that way. my mom understands... i'm not so sure many other people do... but i don't care. it might be silly, but it's my dollhouse. and the roof is not included on the restoration. and so, that is the story of my dollhouse... i'll post more pictures of my restoration project as i'm able to work on it!

the front of my very cool dollhouse: you can see missing balcony railings and how the coppola opened up!



some of the wallpaper i am going to use...

the poor stable is falling apart... but i have 4 horsies that will like it so much better once i restore it!

the greenhouse... not so shabby from the front...in a picture...ok maybe it is a little sad looking...

but it looks like a tornado blew through the poor greenhouse from the inside view! i must fix it... 20 years ago it had fake brightly colored flowers and floral boxes and benches and hanging plants... now... well... poor poor greenhouse needs some restoration!

ball state review evening

last monday, the 7th i went to the annual ball state review with my aunt and uncle. it was super conveniently located a couple blocks from my house. it is a showcase for their theater seniors and it is organized by a lady who is with steppenwolf theater. there was wine and cheese and then the performance. it lasted just over an hour and i was actually very impressed! they were very talented kids! this performance gives them an opportunity to meet and be seen by various theater casting people and other industry folk. as you guys all know, none of my family went to bsu, but since the family is all from muncie we are big supporters - esp of the arts. my uncle has gotten very involved with the museum which i've got to say is one of the most fabulous university collections. i wouldn't say it's worth the trip to just see it, but if you ever find yourself in muncie (god forbid), check it out! after the review, we went to dinner at mia francesca and enjoyed some more wine (i was already tipsy from 2 glasses! whoops!) and yummy italian food. it was a nice evening!

This was yet another charity event and my friend stefanie invited me to join her. It was to benefit the northwestern neurology department and specifically brain cancers. Since cancer has had such a profound effect on my life (unfortunately), I try to do what I can to support such research. Two of my neighbors growing up died of brain cancer – which is a little scary thinking that the houses were literally across the street from each other… what, is something scary in the water?! Anyways…

Stefanie invited me to the event with the mission of introducing me to this guy she had met once through a guy who she dated and is now friends with. Meet a guy? Sure, why not. You never know! She said he was smart, tall, and cute… which was all I needed to know. This event took place at a new bar called district. It was a really nice bar considering it is technically a sports bar! Stef and I got there and met some of her friends and wandered around and then her friend and the guy she wanted to introduce me to walked in. hmm… this could be interesting I thought since he was definitely tall and definitely good looking…totally my type. So we were introduced and talked a bit, but there were more people to meet and more for him to talk to, but every time he walked away he would tell me he’d be back…

I began to wonder what the heck his friend had told him and if he felt an obligation to entertain or talk to me. That’s how attentive he was which I thought was super sweet, but I didn’t want to be an obligation! So I asked stef what she had told his friend and basically all she told him was there was a girl she had wanted to introduce to his friend. She never even told him my name so it had been casual and he was doing all these things on his own!

Towards the end of the event, stef and I were hungry and we decided to get some dinner there. I let him know that we were heading over to the tables in the bar area to eat so he wouldn’t think I just left. We sat and stef left to use the restroom – he came over and goes “so, do you have a number?” to which I smiled and he quickly corrected himself “I mean, can I have your number?”. He didn’t have his phone with him, so I wrote it down for him and he gave me his card writing his cell on it. I didn’t want to get too excited since, really… is he really going to call? He did… but he made me wait until that monday! He called while I was flying home and so I wasn’t able to call him back until Tuesday. This is when we talked for a bit and I told him I’d be back at some point the following tues and so he said he’d call me on wed when I was home and we’d make plans to go out and he was looking forward to it…

chicago stimulus club

Every first Wednesday of the month, a new charity and a new fun bar are picked and people (mostly singles in their 30s-ish) come together to drink and donate to a charity. It costs 10 bucks to get in and you get your first drink free. I would guess that the whole 10 bucks goes to the charity and then I would guess the bar gives a portion of the drink proceeds to the charity as well. I’d never heard of this until last month when my friend, mark, asked if I was going. To what? I asked and he told me about this thing called ssc. It was being held at the landmark on halsted last month which is an easy bus ride and so I decided, why not… get out and just go. So I did. And I had a lot of fun! I met some of his other friends there too and hung out and drank for a good cause: imerman angels. The ssc raised about 5k for them on this occasion.

Imerman angels is a one on one cancer support system. It was founded by a good friend of my former boss’ b/c in his 20s he found out he had cancer, but there was no one he could just talk to. So what imerman angels does is set up cancer patients with others who have been through it before and can answer questions and be of support to them. Or parents of cancer children can find other parents in the network to talk to. I think it is an awesome cause. They are in all 50 states, so if you know of anyone…. Put them in touch with imerman angels… they are truly amazing!

This was taken by one of the photographers wandering around the place taking pictures…

This past Wednesday was another ssc event. This time it benefited the food bank of Chicago and again it raised more than 5k and 500 pounds of food for the charity. What a wonderful idea! And, even better… the guy I happen to have a total crush on was there! But, let me back up...

Earlier in the afternoon, the crush called! Just as he said he would! Wow, I’m impressed. Yes, little things like this are beyond impressive… and he mentioned that he had a few commitments already this week and then he was working on a big case (he’s an attorney) and so how about going out next Friday (a week from today)…to which I said…no, sorry… haha, just kidding. Of course I said yes. Do you gals realize how long it has been since I’ve truly been interested in getting to know a guy?!?! Too long… so we made plans to go out then and he said he’d call next week to finalize plans. And then I went about getting ready to go out… when…

The barrage of calls started coming from my banks telling me my cards were on hold b/c of strange activity…since this was the first wed of the month, I was planning on meeting some friends for the ssc event that evening. And since I had no wallet, I had to scrounge up some bus fare and head over there after talking to my various banks. I met my friend mark there and he had to be my sugar daddy and give me the 10 bucks to get in and the 3 bucks to check my stupid coat… and then my friend stefanie showed up and we had a drink or two.

i borrowed this from the ssc fb page... an view of the party from the upstairs part of the bar/restaurant.

But to my delight, john (the crush) was there! So I told him that after I’d talk to him, he’d never believe what happened and I told him the story of my wallet… and he was beyond sweet and later that evening even bought me and my friend stef a drink. He was there with some of his friends from the board (geez, I’m behind…I’ll tell you how I met him in the next story) and so I floated between him and my friends and had a great time. At one point, I thought that he had left since I didn’t see him anywhere and I was kind of bummed that he didn’t say goodbye… but no need to worry, he hadn’t and when he did leave he made a point to say good night and that he was leaving and he was looking for to our Friday date. A hug and a kiss on the cheek and he left… stef and I were starving so the sweet girl she is drove us to get some yummy thai food and then paid since I had zero dollars and drove me home even though she lives nowhere nearby. I am a lucky girl… and so that was my second ssc event.

angie's birthday party

we celebrated angie's birthday on saturday night (nov 7th) by going to dinner at zocalo and having some yummy mexican food and margs. lots and lots of margs! yummmmm. after zocalo, we headed to citizen which was rather lame, but we stayed for a drink or two and then went from there. we headed to hub 51, but the line was too long so we went to rockit. angie decided to stay behind with her bf robert and lindsey & christina took lindsey's sister home (she was in town visiting). so stef, me and kyle embarked on the next phase after citizen. from rockit, we headed to luxbar for more drinks. on the way there, we passed by gibson's and this table of guys knocked on the window to get our attention! then one came out to say hi. too bad they weren't cute... oh well! after some wine at luxbar, stef went home and kyle got a zany idea to go to the baton. which is a tranny dancing bar/club!! oh my... was that ever an interesting experience!! unfortunately, kyle's tummy wasn't feeling good so we ended up leaving early... i definitely need to go back - it was highly entertaining! such a random night, but oh so fun!


at zocalo: stef, kyle, ang's cousin's gf, lindsey, ang, me, tina, and bertie (i just met her)



happy birthday angie!!


christina and me


kyle and me


angie, bertie, kyle, me and stefanie

lots to be thankful for...

this was our 2nd year celebrating thanksgiving at the lake house. mom & dad headed up on tuesday afternoon, i came up by myself on wed morn, my cousin ben and uncle jim came just before dinner that evening, and my brother and his gf, mckay, came up on thurs around lunch about the same time my cousin caitlin and my aunt ellen arrived. the reason i came wed morn instead of with my parents was b/c i had dinner with my childhood friend, cherry. we went to 1308 cantina on montrose to enjoy some sangria and texmex. yum! jim and ben came up on wed ahead of their girls b/c they wanted the traditional roast beef dinner my dad cooks every year the night before thanksgiving.... trust me, you don't want to miss that dinner!! ellen stayed behind in dallas (trish, my cousins grew up in plano & that's where my aunt and uncle still live) to wait for caitlin to fly in from ny. she goes to nyu and she had a class that went until late on wed that she couldn't/didn't want to miss.

my brother also had work commitments or something going on or maybe his gf did... in any case, they came around lunch time. they've been dating maybe a yearish... and this was the first time i'd gotten to meet her! my mom had only met her a few times, but she'd filled me in on her as best she could. when i met her, i was surprised! she was cute! and nice! and friendly! wow, so much different than any of the other girls i've ever met. including the last one - liz.

caitlin and my aunt ellen arrived soon after and we all ate a nice lite lunch in anticipation of a big dinner. after lunch, we all went for a boat ride on the new boat... the only boats allowed on the small peaceful lakes are electric. all 9 of us piled on the boat and we fit... though it was close/comfy! and we sat rather far down in the water. we enjoyed a nice boat ride around the various finger lakes and then headed back after awhile since everyone was cold.


can you feel the love between cousins here?! we were just joking around :)


andrew and mckay


aunt ellen and uncle jim


mom and dad... dad is always at the helm!

then it was football time: dallas always plays on thanksgiving. i forget who they played, but they won. the dallas contingency of the family was happy. and then finally - dinner!! we all gathered around and loaded up our plates full of yummy food. my dad used to serve us at the table, but at the lake house there is more room for stuff if it is all laid out buffet style. and since my brother became a vegan, my dad makes 3-4 extra dishes just for him.

on our menu we had the same things we have every single year:

turkey
stuffing
cranberries: both with and without whole cranberries
peas (which i don't eat)
oysters thingy that dad and my uncle enjoy - my nana used to make this for the holidays so even tho only two of them eat it, he likes to still make it
my mom's famous rolls (which this year, unfortunately something went wrong and they just weren't the same. i'm not being mean - she agreed. mckay tried to be nice and say they were fabulous... but really, they just weren't the same)
my brother's tofurkey - gross
my brother's asparagus
vegan rice mixture thing for my brother (and anyone else)


all of us at dinner: from left to right: caitlin, me, ben, jim, dad, mom, ellen, my brother andrew, and gf mckay.

after dinner, mckay and andrew had to leave and we settled on to the super comfy couch and watched the dvr'd a&m vs texas game. my cousin went to texas and i almost went there, but decided to obviously decline and go to scripps instead... so we watched a great game between the two schools and texas ended up winning as they were predicted to. a&m was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the bonfire collapse. it's so hard to believe that's been 10 years!! and after that, it was pretty much bed time as we were all stuffed and exhausted.

caitlin, jim, and ellen all left the next morning and ben stuck behind for a bit. he ended up going for a walk with my mom and dad which was very cool. he's such a good kid. i guess kid isn't the word, but he's 23 and that is just young to me these days :) i guess he wanted to talk to my parents and just kinda hang out. it's been tough growing up in his family... his parents are the alchies...his mom the one who's been struggling and in and out of rehab. and his dad turns 70 this year, which isn't that old, but it is when you're 23 and worried about his health - he's smoked his whole like and refuses to go to the doctor and such... and worried about what will happen to his mom if his dad dies... so it's got to be tough for him. but he's lucky that my parents are such wonderful people - he doesn't need to worry... they'll always be there for him no matter what. anyways...

so i am thankful for a lot of things this year. way too many to list, but most of all i'm thankful for being born to my fabulous mom and dad without whom i have no idea what i would do... not just financially but emotionally. i am so thankful for their unconditional love!!

stolen wallet!!!

grrrr... so not happy... my wallet got stolen yesterday! at my local starbucks of all places! i went to get my nails done and then i debated going to the atm which is in between nails and starbucks, but decided the 30 or so dollars in my wallet was sufficient enough... so i went to starbucks. ordered my usual non fat chai and made a joke about my weird handling of the wallet since i'd just gotten my nails done. then i carefully put it back in to the side pocket of my purse where i keep it and avoided damaging nails on the zipper. i went to the coffee bar and waited for my drink and then i grabbed a table and hung my purse on the chair. i was careful to sit on the strap so that no one could easily steal the whole purse and i swear i zipped up my purse... i always do that! i think!! and i blogged away for an hour or so and then left and went home.

i then had about an hour before i needed to get dressed and put on make up to head out for the evening. i was about 5 minutes from leaving my house when bank of america called to let me know of unusual activity... while i was on the phone, another call came in and when i got off with bofa, i checked my messages... another unusual activity from chase! wtf?! i was so confused. until that point, i thought it was a random thing... turns out it wasn't. the message told me to have my debit card number ready when i returned the call so i went to my purse to get the card. HOLY SHIT!!!!!! the sinking feeling and no wallet.... OMG. that explains why/how these calls were coming and how they got my card number. they had the whole damn thing! they tried to go to bed bath beyond, the atm (unsuccessful b/c they couldn't guess my pin, thank god!!), target - where they tried to spend 2400 bucks (on what?!?!?! i mean, i go in and can spend some money, but like $200 bad, not $2400 bad!!), and on various cta (our transit system) cards... and probably some other crap too. thankfully i am not responsible for the charges that went through. phew!

but i am so mad that everything in there is now gone!! including the wallet! i loved that wallet!!! dangit!!! now, i get to go to the dmv, cancel everything (done), file police report (done), get new cards (mostly done), go to the bank for a temporary card (done), call credit bureau (done), cancel some other stuff (done)....grrrr....the list goes on...

i felt so violated last night!!! but i got everything done that i could do, scrounged up the money for a bus fare, and met up with my friends for some planned drinks. they had to buy them for me since i had no money... and my sweet friend stefanie paid for our dinner since i had no wallet, money, credit cards or debit cards. i felt terrible...

so, that was my evening and unexpected fun for today. i didn't find the energy to go to the dmv, so i'll do that tomorrow. i have to take a new picture so i actually have to care what i look like when i go down there and that was more effort than i was willing to make for today!! :)

i'm a pretty girl!

aren't i a pretty girl?! i'm super busy and i love to play. all the time... and i'm a little bit of a squeeker... my meow is super tiny. if you hold me and slightly shake and squeeze a bit at the same time, i'll squeek for you...katherine does this all the time and it makes my dad laugh and my mom tell her to not be mean while she's laughing. but i actually like it. i come running to katie every time she calls me and i love it when she throws my mousie so we can play fetch. it's such a fun game!





but sometimes i get sleepy... so i decided to rest with my new best friend!

banana shpeel.

the reason we celebrated tina's bday on friday night was bc she and her hubby had tickets to the opening night of banana shpeel, the newest cirque show. her poor hubby got a migraine and was unable to go and so she asked if i would like to fill in. duh, of course i do!! fun!! i didn't know anything about it or even where it was, but turns out it was at the historic chicago theater downtown which i'd never been in and it was awesome!

the show started and it was a vaudeville-esque shtick. it started fairly amusing... got funnier... then it would drag...then it'd be funny. then they had this guy do a hat act that was very cirque-esque and good. then more comedy. then some dancing. the dancing was super good. lots of tap dancing. however, there was a tinny pre-taped sound of the tapping. b/c we were so close, i could hear both which was annoying. i understand the need to amplify the sound, but tapping just sounds so cool on its own. then there was more shtick and some was funny and some was beyond disturbing! like where a 'pregnant lady' gave birth - it was actually a crazy scary looking man. it was so disturbing....
for the second half, there was some fantastic dancing! and two great acts: a lady twirling napkin-like things on her feet and hands as she lay back and a guy that literally looked like he had zero bones in his body. he was by far my favorite. it was so dreamlike and beautiful and he made the act look so easy when it clearly took so much physical strength. it was unreal!!! he was twirling around and doing handstands and balancing on a rotating pole. and then there was more dancing... and some fantastic tapping. and then it was basically over. it was very un-cirque like and i enjoyed it, but i'd have much rather have seen the circus type acts. the comedy was funny in parts, but it tended to go on and on and on too long and the jokes ended up getting just a little old.

in our 2nd row center seats!


this was the super disturbing part of the show right before the intermission!!


the opening set for the show.

after the show, we went to sushi samba for a late dinner. yum! there weren't many people there and the manager came over and insisted on giving us dessert and patron shots. neither of us wanted the shots tho - tina had to drive and tequila makes me throw up! plus we were tired from the night before and were ready to head home. no need to take a tequila shot just to head home! so very carefully, tina managed to pour her shot in to her water glass and no one saw. then i did, but i didn't get my whole shot in the glass and so there was some left in the bottom of the glass. the waiter gave me crap for that! and ended up taking a picture of it to make fun of me... little did he know that we'd dumped all the patron in the water glasses! i know, i know... it was a shame to waste it...


our 'water' glasses... particularly funny picture since the waiter took it!


at sushi samba: happy birthday tina!!

christina's birthday affair!

christina is a friend from high school and her bday was this past sunday. so on friday the evening of the 20th, we all went out to celebrate! we started the evening with dinner at quartino's... yum! it's family style-esque sharing italian type place and so we had an assortment of foods and of course wine! from there we tried to go to howl at the moon but the line was ridiculous and no one wanted to wait... so we went across the street to hub 51 and enjoyed some wine there. and some shots from the icky guys at the bar table behind us... after some time there, we headed back across the street to rockit where we enjoyed some more drinks and some more shots as we all got hit on by these brazilian guys who live in the city b/c they are going to the u of chicago for biz school. would have been more fun had half the guys not been wearing wedding rings! gross!!!! christina grew up in chicago and knew the owner of rockit, billy dec, who happened to also be there that evening. i got to meet billy dec.... ooooooooooooh. you guys should be jealous (sarcasm here). he is a lot shorter than i thought he'd be and he was hanging out with this amy winehouse wannabe chick. billy dated jen schefft for you bachelorette fans for a while a few years ago. anyways, after rockit, our evening came to a close. it was so much fun!


at quartino's: abby, lindsey, me, stefanie, and tina


at hub: stef (scripps girl!), vanessa, & tina


me (please note: never give me scissors before heading out for the night... i end up with slightly too short bangs!!), lindsey and abby. btw: this has become my go to going out outfit... i feel super cute in it in person... but i don't think the pics are so cute...hmm... not sure....



me and the birthday girl, christina!

funny!?

so today mom and i went to the storage unit so we could get out my childhood dolls (have i told you guys about these?!) - another post, but basically my nana would bring them back from various countries she visited! at the storage unit, this nice guy who was maybe 10 years older than my mom was there with his wife and her sister. we were all joking about the crap that we each had and my mom said the joke was on me when she and my dad were gone cause i'd have to clean it all out then. the guy then asked us if we were sisters! what?!?!?! seriously?! i know my mom is young and all, but either she looks fantastic or i looked like shit. i'm going with a combo of both since my hair was up and allergies were beyond out of control and i hadn't showered. so admittedly i was gross, but not so bad! but my mom has been on cloud nine all day! so, funny?! or not?? :)

san antonio!

most of you know that i was in san antonio over the weekend doing the rock n roll half that took place on sun, nov 15th. i first flew to houston and then my parents and i drove about 3ish hours to san antonio. on the way we stopped at buc-ees. buc-ees prides itself on fabulous bathrooms, tons of gas tanks, tons of food, and pretty much anything texas you might never need to buy! once we got to san antonio, we went to the expo to pick up my packet. my parents had never been to one and they wanted to check it out too. at one point we saw registration for the race and my dad said i bet i can beat your time walking! i told him to register and try it! my mother poked me in the ribs and told me not to encourage him to do it as she didn't want him to have a heart attack from lack of training even though he walks 3-5 miles almost every day. that evening we walked to the river walk which was a short distance from the hotel and ate dinner at casa rio, a restaurant that has been there since the 40s i believe.


the alamo at night...


the restaurant, casa rio, as seen during the day time (duh)

the river walk is basically a path that meanders and has loads of shops, restaurants, hotels, and tourists.

on saturday, we walked to the new portion of the river walk which just opened in march of this year. unlike the older portion, this portion is not built up at all. about the only thing on this path is the san antonio museum of art which was in a former life a brewery.


me and mom on the river taxi. much cheaper than the actual guided tour.


along the new portion are various art installations... we liked this one a lot. a bunch of giant fishies! they light up at night.


views along the river

at this point we were getting rather tired and mom was getting snippy and in return i was getting snippy and dad was just trying to not get yelled at. turns out mom was tired, hot, and had enough of all the noise. luckily, we passed by an ice cream shop and in her words 'ice cream makes everything better' and it did. i had blue bell (the best ice cream in the country! - their slogan and it is) - in cake mix flavor. YUM! and then we passed a shop with sweatshirts for 10 bucks so we got one for the race in the morning so that i could just discard it when i got hot. it was a fun shop with all kinds of funny t-shirts. i got one for my brother's present for xmas. it's great. too hard to explain tho. and while we didn't get them... my dad thought it would be funny for me and mom to get the shirts that said "if you think i'm a bitch you should meet my mom" and "if you think i'm a bitch you should meet my daughter". he thought it would be funny for us to wear them around together. and that just cracked us up and our whole snarky moods were all forgotten.


mom and dad and me in front of the alamo!

sunday: the race!

i woke up super early to be able to get to the busses where we had to load up and get to the start line. it was a 45 min long line!! then once there, we had to walk a ways to get to the start... then the line for the port o potties... my word!! but, in each line i found interesting people to talk to so that was ok. the course was super interesting - we went past all kinds of neighborhoods and thru the older areas of town and past the alamo. they even had professional photographers to take our pics in front of it! since there was no line - luckily they had enough photographers there... i took one!


little photos were *borrowed* from the official photographers...

it was a great course. so much fun! like i said - tons to see and look at and also fantastic amounts of people cheering you on! there were also some slight hills - the up stunk, but going down definitely helped me make up some time!


love the pony tail action!






dad holds up my cheer signs


mom was never quite ready for the camera so every time i saw them i had to kinda stop or slow down so she get take a picture



at the end! it's a fantastic medal to add to the collection!

the worst part of the race was the disorganization at the end. it took me forever to get out of the corrals to take a pic, then to get out of the race area, then to figure out how to get to the meet up spots, then actually get to the meet up spots. i had to go up and down stairs and while they had signs, they weren't easy to follow as there were so many people around. so, great course, terrible organization. they def needed more port a potties and a start line not requiring busses!


at the end of the course, i found them again. aren't the signs cute?!



awww... me and my daddy

i will def be back for this race next year. i had so much fun!!! my parents are awesome cheerleaders!! and btw, i've convinced them to train for dallas in march! it's another rock and roll event - but it benefits komen!