It's not me, it's you.

Updates

2012-01-29T11:22:00.001-05:00

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately, a lot has been going on around here and I'm short on time so I'll just give it to you quick and dirty.

My computer has decided to end it's life here in South Africa. It makes a zap sound and dies (then requires 5 min rest and can be booted back up) exactly every 12 minutes. It is making me crazy and I haven't been able to find a repair place yet. I even took the whole thing apart and put it back together. Like a zillion pieces apart. It was a very tedious and unfriutful two hours.
I'm going on safari next week in Kruger National Park. Hooray!
We just had a two-day MBA orientation that was literally like boot camp. Army crawling in gritty gravely tunnels, climbing over water holes on ropes (with no harnesses btw) building rafts, and running around in the woods. I am exhausted, this is definitely more hardcore than my busienss school's orientation.
I moved into an apartment on Friday. I'm loving it so far, it is close to lots of things, and has a balcony that has views of the ocean. Picture tour coming soon.
I'll be working with a furniture maker in the Cape Flats townships for my consulting project. The organization that matched us up (and provides free/inexpensive business services and sometimes consulting to local entrepreneurs) is called Reciprocity. It's a cool organizaiton.

Now, off to do laundry and get packed for the next adventure.

Institution

2012-01-24T11:29:00.001-05:00

my school/an old prison

The past two days have been pretty busy. We started classes/orientation yesterday at the UCT Graduate School of Business. The campus actually used to be a prison on the cape and a lot of the old artifacts have been preserved into the building (including bars on a lot of the exterior windows). Obviously it has been glammed up quite a bit, they even built a hotel on the campus too. Yesterday I moved my suitcases to the hotel. So. Much. Better. I am much, much more comfortable here!

As for the other students, there are eighteen of us exchange students all together, and so far everyone seems pretty cool. Today I started my first class-- Emerging Enterprise Consulting-- where pairs of us are assigned to a local entrepreneur or small business owner and our entire class is a consulting project to help them grow their business. We will find out tomorrow who we will be working with, I'm pumped.

Yesterday was also the birthday for two people in our exchange group, so the entire group of us went out for dinner and some live music on Long Street. I had the best burger of my life at Royale Eatery. The place is known for fantastic burgers and it truly was great. I had an ostrich burger with beetroot relish and feta, everyone was impressed with the array of burgers and equally satisfied with their choices. Mmmmm. We finished the night up at the Dubliner with a cover band (who I don't know the name of) that played everything from DMB, Goo Goo Dolls, Jason Mraz, to Lil' Wayne. The lead guitarist/singer-man was out of control awesome.

In other good news, I found an apartment....er.... I mean a "flat" to rent. It is close to the beach and even has a washing machine, * sigh *. I am moving in on Friday!

mini-bus = crazy-bus

2012-01-22T07:19:00.002-05:00

Today I went to church in an area quite a ways from where I am staying. I took a personal taxi there for about R100 (about$12 USD). On the way back, I was feeling more adventurous and didn't have any other commitments, so I figured it would be a great time to experiment with transportation. I asked a woman at my church about mini-buses and how to hail one, where they go, etc. Keep in mind that her description was about two sentences. Just as she finished her explanation one drove by, literally hollering out the window. I waved at them and they pulled over. I quickly said goodbye to my helper and hopped into the van.

Here is the view from my seat.

I'll be honest, these things are pretty crazy. Like a crazy-bus instead of a mini-bus. They drive around zooming through turning lanes and paved road shoulders honking their horn, whistling out the window, and yelling at people to get in their van. There appear to be two mini-bus jobs, a driver and a yeller. The driver drives and honks, with occasional yelling. On the other hand, the yeller whistles and yells a lot, opens and closes the van door (sometimes even rides with it open, they are so edgy like that), and collects the money. There is no schedule or route, you just tell them where you want to go and they drive around picking up and dropping off people. It takes quite a bit longer, but it is kind of exciting and way, way cheaper. My total for the return trip was R6 (about $.75 USD).

The crazy bus dropped me off at the train station a couple blocks down from my gross hotel (it is growing on me though. I'm learning that to deal with no a/c you simply must do everything extremely slowly and wear as little as possible). The train station is right downtown, so I walked over to the building where Nelson Mandela made his first speech after being released from prison and took a couple pictures before meandering back to my room.

On an un-related side note, it is amazing how many fried chicken serving outlets there are here in Cape Town. There must be some relation to SOUTH Africa and the dirty SOUTH (aka North Carolina). Also, on my walk home I noticed some dumb pigeons and some smart pigeons. The dumb ones sit on the hot bricks in the busy square while the smart ones, pictured below, hide in the shade of the ledges above an outdoor eatery. I'd like to think that if I were a pigeon, I would have figured this out too.

V&A Waterfront

2012-01-21T14:12:00.000-05:00

This afternoon/evening I headed down to the waterfront tocheck out a little bit more of the city. It is a GIANT shopping area with boats, piers, stores, a craft market,food, and souvenirs. I walked into onestore chalk-full of fabulous take home gifts and my shopping loving heartnearly skipped a beat. I already knowtwo gifts I am going to purchase before I leave. But I didn’t buy them then, for some reason Ifelt like only a sucker would purchase souvenirs only 7.4% the way into theirstay. I just couldn’t do it. But I did take a picture of the store’s signso that I could find it later if, in fact, my animal-like shopping intuitionwas correct. The waterfront was livelyand fun, they even were having an outdoor concert. It was a ska-type band, The Rudimentals. It was fun to watch, so I grabbed a coke (ata McDonalds of all places…shame, shame…it was the closest thing to me!) andhung out with the other smart people on the balcony in the shade until the end.

fighting elephant statues

all the tug boats (Table Mtn in the background)

Watch out for seals!

toes

the concert and ferris wheel

sweaty and nasty when I arrived back at my
UN-AIRCONDITIONED room

Homeless

2012-01-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

Today I have been apartment shopping online...emailing and messaging to my heart's content. How is this possible? I got a wireless card/modem for my laptop, hooray! I'm totally connected (and surprised at how much I missed the internet in those 39 hours without it). Okay, I'm not that bad, but it is hard to have a bunch of things to do and find with no means of communication. I'm starting to feel like a normal person down here. Hopefully, by next week I'll be in my very own apartment :)

Enough of that. I'm headed over to the fancy part of town (where my campus and the waterfront is) in a bit. I even blow-dried my hair today so I look more presentable than yesterday.

view from my hotel window

Four takeaways from the first day in Africa

2012-01-20T15:45:00.004-05:00

You won’t really get a blood clot in your leg on a 16 hourflight

So the 16 hour flight wasn’t nearly as bad as I wasexpecting. The flight was very empty andso everyone spread out. Most people hadtwo or more seats. Also, internationalairline companies are just so much fancier than American ones. If you are flying economy and have to flyinternationally or a long distance, let me just tell you that it is worth it togo with an international airline. I’veonly done this about four times, but every time I think “man, this is so muchbetter.” Upon boarding we were given apacket with blanket, pillow, eye mask, socks, and a travel toothbrush. Right after hitting cruising altitude theliquour carts rolled down the isle (they also have ginger ale, red bull, etc.for those of us who don’t booze it up). They just kept feeding us, bringing beverages, and checking to see if weneeded anything/gather garbage. Oh, anddid I mention that all food and beverages (yes ALL beverages) are free and thatyour first two bags are free too? Yep. I’mtelling you, this is the way to go. Anyway, with the help of three inflightmovies, two magazines, three bathroom trips, the aforementioned food andbeverages, and a 5-hour diphenhydramine-induced nap, I survived the flight and wasn’teven that uncomfortable.

sunrise from my window

People like to group up

One thing that I found funny over the past several days hasbeen how people tend to cling on to each other, like there is safety innumbers. In JFK I ran into one of theother guys from my school who will be in Cape Town and his fiancé. Even though we had separate plans uponarriving and that airports are generally pretty busy and easy to navigate, weended up wandering around the airport in Jo’berg (that’s the cool way to sayJohannesburg) together. I also picked upanother American. There was a guy who Isat by on the long flight before we all spread out, he has been to Africamultiple times and in in his general twenties. Even though he was a “seasoned traveler” he ended up in our little groupgoing through customs, finding our bags, transferring etc. Even here, the “hotel” (I use this termloosely, I’ll explain in #3) has a bunch of random people in groups. Every time I go through the lobby, I run in toand end up talking to small groups of people. The craziest thing is how people usually were not travelling togetherand didn’t know each other before grabbing a drink together in the hotel andthen they end up spending most of their time here together. It is like a hostel. I also have been asked for my number so manytimes that I have decided I’m going to keep telling people that I don’t have aphone yet. (Have I even mentioned that going to other countries is a totalboost in your self esteem? BAM! More self esteem!) Anyway, I think it is interesting that somany people like to be independent and go adventure alone, but then just end upin groups of so called independent people.

I have an accent

This one is pretty simple. English is the official languageof South Africa, although many other languages are spoken too. However, English here is more like BritishEnglish. Every time I speak to someonethey say, “Oh, are you from America?” and then sometimes they go “I’m sorry, Ican’t understand you.” For the firstlittle bit, I kept thinking that it was going to be interesting being around somany people with such a heavy accent. And then I realized that I am actually the odd man out here. Oh well, at least people generally likeAmericans here…

Don’t book a hotel on Priceline

Considering my housing fell through last minute, I decidedto book an inexpensive hotel downtown. Ifound one on priceline.com for a pretty good deal. The Tulip Hotel & Conference Center. DON’T EVER STAY HERE. EVER. I’m not just being a whiner either, thisplace is pretty gross. I’m not a reallypicky hotel person. With a big dog, Iusually have to stay somewhere pretty ghetto. I’ve also done my fair share ofhostels and even several places with no indoor plumbing. My level of acceptance is based on context—sobasically, for what I am paying and where the hotel is located, I had much,much higher expectations. You know likeclean sheets, a shower, and air conditioning (as advertised on their website). The first room was so nasty, I asked to bemoved. No I will not bath in a dirtybathtub at a hostel wannabe hotel in Africa even though I’ve had my hep-seriesvaccinations. And no, I will not sleepon sheets with brown marks all over them under a ceiling with fuzzy moldgrowing on it. Maybe for $10 a night Iwould, but not this. The second room wasmarkedly better, but still with no a/c. “Ithas a fan to air condition the room” is the excuse he used. Not. Pleased. After showering off 27 hours of travel I hit the streets to purchasecandy, water, plug adaptors, and a cell phone. I was quite successful and even found a place to take my laptop to get a3G wireless card. While out, I started to get dizzy. Like knee-buckling-cold-sweat dizzy. I wasn’t sure what that was about and thenrealized I hadn’t eaten anything for quite some time and remembered that the 5hour plane nap was the only sleep I have had since Tuesday night. I got back to the hotel and decided to eatcookies and lie down for a minute. Iwoke up 4 hours later (and unfortunately after the internet card place hadclosed) feeling much better :)

game on

2012-01-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

In 24 hours I'll be in a window seat about 3.5 hours into a 16-hour flight over the Atlantic Ocean. I will also probably be wearing leggings/stretchy-pants. I may not have excursion plans, a class schedule, or somewhere to live, but I do have a zillion vaccinations and a Lonely Planet guide.

Game on, Africa. Game on!

warning: train-of-thought blog entry

2012-01-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how there are always so many little things to do right before you do something big? I think some may be a result of lack of planning, but there are also just many little things you have to do right beforehand just because of timing. Needless to say, the past week has been a little bit crazy around here.

I'm leaving for Africa in less than 48 hours. I got five vaccinations/shots last week (and am getting malaria from Walgreens in an hour or so). I just finished cleaning out the kitchen pantry and the washing machine has been going all morning (am I the only person who stresses a little if the house isn't extra clean when you go on a trip???). Due to a housing snafu, I'll be arriving in Cape Town homeless. Instead, I have a 4-night motel reservation and optimism :)

The past six days have also been full of of tissues, Sudafed, Nyquil, orange juice, and episodes of The Nanny. I'm just barely starting to not feel like crap. I got to buy a Steri-pen this week. I have been wanting one and now I can finally justify the purchase. One concern is that I have yet to find black gladiator-type sandals. I am slightly more concerned about not having black sandals than somewhere to live.

Last but not least, I've been hugging Bassie, taking her on long walks (while wearing two jackets, wool socks, with pocket full of tissues, a hat, and gloves...it has been in the 40's here....Brrr!), giving her treats, and telling her I'm sorry to leave her behind for two months. Poor dog. Should I hang a picture of myself by her bed? Too weird?

Bassie hugging me

unc vs. miami

2012-01-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

Last night I went with Megan and Kara to the UNC vs. Miami basketball game. The student section filled up so quickly, we were way, way, way up high. It was still fun, and of course the Tarheels won... most likely because we were wearing face tattoos.

And now for some fist pumping action:

Final house tour

2012-01-11T10:47:00.002-05:00

Here are the last pictures of Megan's new place (aka my current home). I'm being a kind roommate and not including incriminating pictures of her bedroom/bathroom. Hope you enjoy!

front porch

Welcome gnome

plates on the staircase (and the door to Megan's room)

laundry/storage closet upstairs

back downstairs to the dining room

the table my roommate built

cow rug & tree wallpaper

the hallway off the kitchen
(the door in the background is the front door)

kitchen

fridge and pantry

on the fridge

the back patio area

Africa Exchange

2012-01-10T12:47:00.001-05:00

In just 10 days, I will start my two-month exchange program at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, South Africa. I have never been to any African countries before and am so very excited! Yesterday, at Target, I stocked up on a few things (mostly toiletries like deodorant, the mascara I like, and tampons). Every other time I've traveled out of the US, I've been in less developed areas where finding US brands/products is pretty difficult. I figured I'd relieve some worry by bringing a few things with me. After yesterday, I realized I hadn't looked up what kind of retailers/restaurants/etc. were in Cape Town. Turns out there is a Build-a-Bear and a Subway right near where I will be staying ha ha. I guess I was worried for nothing.

In fact, there are actually lots of great sounding restaurants, tours, stores, and things to do right on the V&A Waterfront. To top it off, my campus is right on the beach and right next to Table Mountain. Cape Town is also near game reserves (hello safari!), a big whale-watching cove, "Shark Ally", and lots of other exciting things.

Did I mention I'm excited to go? I am.

haircut

2012-01-09T20:45:00.001-05:00

The last time I had a haircut, it was June. Seven months ago June. I am letting my hair grow long, but I was looking scraggly. I had no shape left in my haircut and felt like I belonged on Little House on the Prairie or KBYU television. Today, I finally went in for a haircut. Last June, I followed the recommendation of classmates and went to DB Sutton. I returned and was happy that the stylist remembered me, was good at listening and cutting, and still pretty inexpensive. You can also book your appointments online. Win.

before and after

house tour: living room & powder room

2012-01-09T20:13:00.001-05:00

The living room is the room that has experienced the most change and has the most expected changes coming. It is fun, bright, warm and a little chaotic right now. Megan's upcoming plans for the living room include whites/cremes/steel blue and potentially a British flag painted somewhere...I know right? The powder room, on the other hand, was the first room completed (after my room/bathroom of course).

the living room (and Bassie)

now turn to the right, you have the breakfast bar and stools

then you have this wall, complete with globe and amoire hiding our miniature tv

don't forget the basket of nasty dog toys under the globe

fireplace

door to back patio

bookshelves, sofa, and pink coffee table

blurry pic straight on of the sofa and shelves

and now the powder room. yep, that is faux fur.

she added wallpaper and molding to make it look extra fancy

chandelier over the toilet. Shazzam!

I'm a Tarheel born and a Tarheel bred, and when I die I'm a Tarheel dead!

2012-01-07T22:09:00.001-05:00

I'm not weird, that is our fight song. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Tonight I went to my first Carolina basketball game. My church group was doing a fundraiser where we collected tickets and looted purses (aka checked bags for food/beverages/weapons) at a UNC basketball game. After an hour or so of digging through bags and beeping tickets, we were given fried chicken and tickets to the game. Fair trade.

I thought the ticketing/looting was actually kind of fun, and the game was, of course, a good time. Tarheel fans are very spirited and the entire Dean Dome was baby blue. We beat Boston College 83-60--it's always fun to win, but it is more exciting when it is a close game. I'm going with the roommate next week to the Miami vs. UNC game. Miami is supposed to be a little better than Boston College, so I'm hoping for a more dramatic ending. Maybe like the kind in a Disney movie, complete with montage and touching music....wait a second, the underdog always wins in Disney movies. Scratch that. Go fight win.

resolve

2012-01-07T21:54:00.002-05:00

For anyone who is still stuck trying to come up with goals for the new year, here are a couple fun ideas/lists I've read over the past week or so to get your juices flowing.

20 New Year's Resolutions for 20-somethings
Five Things You Should Stop Doing
Other ideas from Dwight and Creed on The Office
Thoughts on Declaring Something Finished
Top 10 Commonly Most Broken Resolutions
Bad resolutions made practical

room tour

2012-01-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

I realize that I have never really given a house tour of Megan's new place yet. That is partially due to the fact that it is not yet completely finished. Megan is very into interior design and keeps changing her mind on what the rooms should look like. The house is pretty cute but seems to always be in a state of transition. I've shown a couple pictures on the blog, but I think I will go ahead a do a small, in transition, tour of the place even though it is bound to change.

First up, my bedroom. Last night I did several loads of laundry and was marveling at how wonderful my bed smelled with fresh linens when I thought--Oh, I should take some pictures of my room right now! So I did. The house came with soft beige walls; they were nice but a little dull. I had already decided on what to do with the room before I moved in. I painted the teal/silver accent wall in the bedroom, painted the bathroom purple, and installed all the hardware--towel racks, shelves, etc. in the bathroom as well as a big ol' curtain rod along one whole wall in the bedroom. I also took out the meager shelving in the closet vamped up the storage capability by adding a second layer of hanging, some shelving, and hooks.

from the door

bed

on the bookshelf

mirror reflection

Bassie's bed

wall opposite bed

pictures above desk

view from bathroom door

hall and bathroom doors

bathroom

sink and ikea storage things

sea barnacle!

the garbage can is my favorite accessory in the bathroom

double-decker closet

gear in every nook and cranny

shoe shelves

hooks

happy birthday megan!

2012-01-05T19:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my Megan's birthday. A group of us went out to dessert to celebrate her turning the big 27. (Word on the street is that 27 is a good year. It's right around the corner, I guess I am excited.) She loves the cheesecake factory, which made it a natural choice for dessert celebrations. I love how she is clapping her hands in glee when the waiters were singing to her haha. Happy birthday roommate!

Let it be beautiful

2012-01-03T14:30:00.000-05:00

I have this friend here in NC who likes to create themes for every year. I especially liked her 2010 theme: Year of Yay. I decided that I wanted a theme for 2012. One thing I have been trying to focus on for the past couple years has been to live more in the now. I have a tenancy to be overly goal oriented and tend to forget to enjoying the journey along the way. The level to which I do this varies, but I still think there is room for improvement. This year already holds a lot of change and new experiences in store. Africa for two months, graduating from b-school, and starting a job with The Hershey Company (woot!). I'm committing right now to focus on finding the beauty in the every day and not letting the inner-taskmaster rule my life. It is a little cheesy, but I like it. Let 2012 be beautiful.

That said, "beauty" is totally unmeasurable and I still want to create my regular annual goals. Last year's goals got a little out of hand (aka required an excel sheet to track). I'm reverting back to my previous methods of setting one measurable/tangible goal for each area of my life.

Physical: Run a dirty dash. These races look so fun (seriously, check them out) and I am itching to try one.
Social: Once I move to Hershey, I want to join at least one social/volunteer group at attend twice before the end of the year. I haven't decided yet...but I'm thinking some type of city sport league, book club, or community organization. I'll see what exists when I get there.
Spiritual: Actually do my visiting teaching every month. I'm not naturally motivated to do this, but I find it really rewarding once I force myself to do it. One visit a month...bring it on.
Financial: Be free of debt (minus student loans, that would be impossible) by the end of the year.
Learning: Graduate from b-school. I feel like this is sort of a cheater goal since I'm already 75% done with it. But I think graduating is still a good accomplishment.

I've got my goals and theme now and am excited to get this year rolling. Does anyone else get into new year resolutions too?

Hello 2012

2012-01-01T23:51:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Last year was a pretty great year. There were some firsts, lots of homework, and several fun trips. I think I learned more this year than I have in a good long while. I'll spare my typical month-by-month break down of the year and just say that it was good and that I'm almost done finalizing my resolutions for 2012.

As for New Year's Eve, let me just say that is one of the most underwhelming holidays ever. It usually turns out disappointing. Awkward house parties, sitting in parking garages, uncomfortable shoes, watching drama unfold between friends and/or their (in)significant others. I promise I'm not a downer, but I've tried everything--Times Square, family, acorn drops, Vegas, concerts, etc. Maybe I have too high of expectations or maybe I just never have been able to figure out how to properly wear something with sequins, but the evening usually doesn't' live up to the hype. I was debating feigning a cold and just going to bed early this year.

The plan this year was going with my roommate and some of her co-workers to a New Year's Eve party in Raleigh. It was the kind in a huge conference space where people dress up fancy, drink champagne, and you can always find at least one person crying in the bathroom. I was already worried about my lack of sequined apparel... Yesterday morning, Megan and I were trying to figure out the timing seeing the pickle drop in Mt. Olive and getting back to the fancy party thing when a friend invited us out to her beach house for the night. After a quick pro-con analysis, we decided to head to Wilmington.

Our first stop was Mt. Olive. (the nearby pickle company), which drops a glass pickle at 7pm. I think they explained why 7pm, but I don't remember, sorry. It was on the way to the beach, so we took the dogs and cheered for the pickle. Very exciting.

Next up, we put on jeans (way better than sequins) and went with some Wilmington friends to go dancing Liquid Room and City Limits. It was fun to dance at more casual places and one even had a mechanical bull! I even got to use the Cupid Shuffle dance moves I learned at Megan's work holiday party.

The next morning, we took the dogs to the beach. It is the off season (even though it was 70 degrees) and so dogs were allowed on the beaches. The pests made friends and got nice and tired for the long drive home. After getting home, I took a three hour nap. Talk about a good way to start the new year!

Second Christmas

2011-12-31T15:46:00.002-05:00

Megan and I had to leave our poor pets at home over Christmas and were sad that we didn't get to celebrate the holiday with them. I just got back to NC yesterday (after some red-eye flights, yuck) and so this morning we had a second Christmas celebration. I made german pancakes, Megan and I exchanged gifts, and the dogs had a great time tearing up paper and eating treats.

german pancakes

opening presents

This is what Bassie gave Megan, I admit, I helped her wrap it.

Remi trying to open his can

The Nanny and Slim Jims. Don't judge.

Denver, part II

2011-12-30T00:21:00.002-05:00

I'm headed back home to North Carolina tonight on the red eye. I am tired and am pretty sure I'll be able to pass out on the plane (hopefully my neighbors aren't annoying or giant.) Mom, Dad, and Ness drove off to Utah this morning too. It has been good to see Noel, Audrey, & mini-Cooper and explore a little bit of Golden, CO. Noel & Audrey and into cooking and have been making all sorts of good things. We also went on a tour of the Coors brewery, visited Noel's fancy office building at NREL, and had awesome sandwiches at D'Deli in downtown Golden. Golden is a cute place, add some family and it is worth a visit.

piggy back and an impromptu snowman that got left behind in line

Coors Brewery and NREL entrance

inside Coors (can I just say that toasting/malted grains smell great?)

downtown Golden

Denver, part I

2011-12-28T14:03:00.001-05:00

This year for Christmas, everyone headed to Golden, Colorado where my brother Noel, his wife Audrey, and their little boy Cooper live. My parents came down from Alaska. My little sister Ness hopped a flight after a cruise to join us. Grandma even flew up for the weekend. They were good hosts. It was nice to have a legit white Christmas. (I guess it technically was white last year, at least for one day!) We are here for another day or so, but here is the first wave of pictures. Hope you all had a good holiday too.

Look at all that snow outside! Talk about a white Christmas.
Yummy Christmas eve soup.

Cooper, Audrey, Noel, Vanessa/Joy, and Grandma opening presents.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...
Mom & Dad

Mom & Cooper playing with toys

Christmas dinner and more toys

The lookout at Buffalo Bill's grave. Grandma was ready to head back to warm Las Vegas after this!

Bundling up. Ness & I at Buffalo Bill's grave.

Noel, Audrey, & Cooper smiling in the cold. Mom at the grave.

Cozy Cooper. Bandana boys.

love, the merkets

2011-12-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

Straight No Chaser

2011-12-23T17:10:00.000-05:00

Some funny videos to get you into the holiday spirit.

cactus gardens

2011-12-21T22:20:00.001-05:00

While in Las Vegas, I went with Annie, Rebel, and my mom to Ethel M's (a yummy chocolate company) botanical cactus garden. They put thousands and thousands of lights on all the cacti. It seems like a fairly dangerous and tedious task. There were also inflatable Christmas creatures, bad idea anyone?

It was a cool little outing.

hot dog on a stick

2011-12-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy the past couple days here in Vegas. It has been good to see everyone and remember how chaotic and funny my family is. We've had family dinners, interrogated new boyfriends, found a missing tooth, visited urgent care, and had lemon pie in memory the 9nth year since grandma Carol passed. One little highlight of the trip has been fast food restaurants that don't exist out in North Carolina. Yesterday, we got Cafe Rio for lunch and today, my cousin and I hunted down this magical place:

And yes, they were making the lemonade and wearing those hats. Hot Dog on a Stick, I miss you. Mexi-cokes, I miss you too.

the final final paper

2011-12-16T16:02:00.003-05:00

I'm working on my last final paper for the mod (mod=quarter). I'm still mad at myself for procrastinating, but I the end is in sight..... five pages left! I just took a break to get a slice of leftover cinnamon bread from what my roommate made for her co-workers last night. I got back to my spot on the sofa and was pleased to see that my binder holder hadn't moved. Bassie has been helping me by holding up my binder/cases while I type. She is such a good dog.

****I spoke too soon! As I typed this blog post, she shifted around and made herself more comfortable. Although, those little binder rings don't look very comfortable to me. Maybe she is just being difficult.

This made me laugh

2011-12-16T11:18:00.003-05:00

Probably because it is so true.

t minus 2 and counting

2011-12-15T13:53:00.001-05:00

Only two more days until I head west. I haven't been out that direction since before b-school, so I am pretty excited. I'll get to see Brenda, John, Grandpa Tick, Marsha, Dennis, Annie, Greg, Jessie, Mom, Dad, Noel, Audrey, Cooper, Vanessa, Grandma and who knows, maybe even more!

Bassie and I are both sad that she has to stay home. She really likes Las Vegas, eating uncle John's golf balls, and sleeping in Grandma's bed with her. (For the record, I'm talking about my actual grandma...not implying that my mom is Bassie's grandma. I am not Bassie's mom. Many dog owners get confused about these sorts of things.) The last time she was in Denver, she got trapped in a garage for an hour...so I don't know if she really likes Denver, but she is pretty forgiving and does like the snow. I'm sure she would like it better this time around.

That said, I am trying to finish up those two final papers that I procrastinated the past few days. Not fun. I'm also trying to figure out how to travel for two weeks without checking a bag. Time to put my minimalist hat on; we'll see if it works. Anyway, I finally have Christmas pictures for sending out Christmas cards. Don't judge me for taking pictures with the dog or for sending out pictures of myself...got it?

You knew it was coming

2011-12-13T16:30:00.001-05:00

For some reason, these are always funny to me. Always.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Last Week

2011-12-12T12:17:00.003-05:00

I apologize for the lack of blogging last week. It was a doozy. This week is much more lax. I'm only looking at two final papers to write and I need to repaint my nails (which I'm not good at doing). Saturday I head to Vegas for a few days to visit my extended family and then on to Denver for Christmas with the fam-family. This year will be the first year since I was in high school that my family was all together on Christmas and we are bigger now, so it should be even better. Anyway, so here is what happened since Wednesday.

I FINALLY put up Christmas decorations (see above). I really like decorating for the holidays, but I do believe each holiday should receive it's own celebration--so Christmas decorations have to wait until post-Thanksgiving--however, I think I waited too long this year to get them up

I finished classes and most of my finals, woot woot!

I went to get a drug test for one of the companies who was nice (read smart) enough to give me an offer. I was there for a long time trying to produce the 30mL needed to test me for drugs. When I left, the worker guy put the moves on unexpectedly. Although there are certainly people who I wouldn't mind pulling me into a dark office and trying to put on the moves, Mr. drug tester was not one of them. Luckily, I'm good at getting out of these situations and quickly fled the scene.

I went as a plus one to Megan's work party with her. Her office is a little hood, but a lot of FUN. We ate chicken wings and mac and cheese along with the rest of the buffet line up. After gorging on fried foods and doing a gift exchange, they cleared tables out of the room and everyone danced. Seriously! I learned the cupid shuffle, some two-step, and the wobble. It was a useful evening.

I was craving mall Asian food one day and discovered this easy recipe.

Last night was a Christmas devotional. The music was surprisingly great and there were tons of people. I'm always amazed at how talented other people are and sometimes wish I would have been a little more diligent about keeping up the flute (don't judge me) after college. I helped with the hors d'oeuvres for afterward. Some of my herb pin wheels didn't get tucked in tight enough and decided to be naughty. I had to cut off the tails before serving them (you can't have a platter of 69's at the church, sheesh.) And, why yes, those are little olive penguins.

karma

2011-12-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

You know Karma? (Not to be confused with my former co-worker Carma) Yeah, well Karma, she can be a b**** sometimes if you know what I mean.

Today was one of those days. (and this is a long post, sorry)

The problem with karma and the nature of karma is that when sucky things happen, you know you deserve them. Then, you have a sucky situation AND you are mad at yourself. Anyway, it may be hard to believe, but I found myself in this situation.

Several months ago, I gathered sweet potatoes with a second harvest group. On the way back from picking sweet potatoes, I rode in a big SUV with people I didn't know very well. Well one of these people was a guy who (in the interest of time and additional bad karma, I'll keep it short and spare you the details) grated on my nerves down to the very last drop of self-restraint I could muster. I had to do bikram yoga breathing exercises to not lash out a string of unkind, but probably also witty and true, words. I vowed not to interact with this person unless absolutely necessary and may or may not have warned a few people to do the same. (Don't judge me, it happens. You weren't in that SUV, ok?)

This evening was my church Christmas party. I helped set up. There were lots of hams. Lots. But that isn't the point. One of the activities was a "Service Exchange" in lieu of a white elephant or regular gift exchange. Every person attending wrote a service (think G rated) they were willing to do for someone else. It was anonymous and we used a number system to keep track of the service giver and contact info in excel. Everyone would randomly select a card with an act of service and could trade them if they wanted. Once the trading died down, you could go redeem your card and find out who your service giver was. Don't roll your eyes, I'm sure you've participated in something similar at work/church/school. It was actually a clever idea.

There were a lot of different things.... car washes, rides to the airport, baked goods, and some unique stuff too. I offered up the use of my kayaks (complete with straps, paddles, and life jackets) for a couple days, a personal trainer offered up three free sessions, another person said they would invite you to their Superbowl party. No biggie right? I ended up with "Italian Style Dinner" after trading away a weird card. I figured someone liked to cook, and that it was a safe bet.

I went up to the list master only to discover that karma had won again! My "Italian Style Dinner" giver was, in fact, car guy! I spent the next 10 mins debating if I should let him know I got his card or just pretend the whole thing never happened (except for the fact that they typed my name in excel...Proof! drats.) I then spent the next 10 mins trying to think of one nice thing about him before I walked over. Turns out he doesn't cook and wants to go get dinner instead.

Karma 1 : Danielle 0

habitat

2011-12-05T00:23:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, I did a Habitat for Humanity build session with some other girls from b-school. When we did habitat earlier this fall, I worked on installing the base flooring and building wall components. This time (even though there are eight different homes in construction at this site) I actually ended up painting in the very same house I did the flooring in. I was impressed the house was still standing!

It was cool to see the houses so much further along in the construction process and it was fun to jam out (and sing along) to oldies and Christmas music while getting our paint skills on.

Happy Anniversary

2011-12-04T19:07:00.001-05:00

fudge

2011-12-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

A couple posts ago I mentioned how I keep trying to find ways to use up my excessive chocolate. Well, yesterday I came up with a good one. Fudge. It technically is still in a chocolate form, but I would argue a much better one that now contains nuts too. I've never made fudge before, it's actually very easy. It took me a total of 15 min start to finish.

Fudgy Fudge

1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
3 C semi-sweet chocolate
Dash of salt
1 1/2 TSP vanilla
1/2 - 1 C nuts if desired

Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with aluminum foil.
Heat the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate, and tiny bit of salt on the stove and mix until well blended and smooth.
Take off the heat and mix in vanilla and nuts
Pour it into the pan, then refrigerate for 2hrs or until firm.

Notes: You can substitute 1 of the 3 cups for chocolate with milk chocolate if you want a milk chocolate fudge. I also read that you can add 2 cups of little marshmallows to the recipe during the melting/mixing process for a creamier fudge.

I had the wrong ratio of milk to dark chocolate and so I added a little cocoa to my melting/mixing process to counteract the milk chocolate a little bit. It turned out pretty good, now I just need to find more people to share it with! And for the record, I am listening to Christmas music right now.

The end.

Hello December

2011-12-01T08:35:00.001-05:00

This morning when I left for school, there was frost on my car. Frost. Look at those icy windows! I had to get out my window scraper and use the window defroster.

What's up North Carolina? I thought we agreed on high 60s for the next week or so. I guess now that it is December 1st, it is now officially winter here in the dirty south.

Competitive & Creative

2011-11-30T13:12:00.001-05:00

It's Tuesday and it feels like Thursday already. There is still so much to be done before real Thursday. I don't know what it is about those first few days of school/work/real-life after a break or vacation, but man do they suck. I am totally in the mood for Christmas music, cooking, cozy socks, and stuff like that but I keep trying to remind myself that it isn't time yet. (PS if anyone can recommend good Christmas music, please do! I'm open to artists, albums, pandora stations, etc. My roommate has a SheDaisy Christmas mix that she listens to over and over again..... As you can see, I'm in dire need of variation here.

Anyway, onto today. In my marketing strategy class we did a 7 week simulation in teams. The simulation had imaginary markets, products, budgets, etc. and so many reports I feel like my team killed a whole tree on our own! My team also kicked some serious butt. Seriously. If you know me, you know that in some circumstances I can be pretty competitive and so I loved each class when they'd show the overall results and everyone would groan because our team was so far ahead. Loved it. Sorry, I'll stop being prideful now haha. Today was the culmination of our simulation and as the winners we got a prize:

Nope, not extra credit or a grade bump. We got mugs. (Vodite was the imaginary product category). Way more awesome right? Yeah, I thought so too.

I've also had the challenge of dealing with an excessive amount of chocolate. If you ever find yourself dealing with an unreasonable amount of chocolate candy, you have only a few options.

Eat it (I've tried, but amazingly you get sick of it pretty quickly.)
Give it away (Tried this too...I got rid of quite a bit this way but apparently grown ups use moderation when it comes to candy.)
Throw it away (Are you kidding me?! Who throws away chocolate???! Wrong answer.)
Get creative

I've been trying to find creative ways to use up the chocolate including chopping up dark chocolate and using it in cookies, having s'mores for friends on our fire pit out back, etc. The other day, I came up with this genius idea:

Chocolate square + mandarin orange = holla back yo. You have my full endorsement on this one.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-27T20:10:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy weekend. We had Johnathan visit from DC, Megan and I made the full Thanksgiving feast for our crew of four from Vernal, we had a pie party on Friday with some friends and their leftover pies, went kayaking, hit up the UNC/Duke football game (UNC won of course, go Tarheels!), listened to some blues at our favorite BBQ place-Blue Note Grill, and discovered the show Prison Break (it's scary, but good. And for the record: I don't think I'd do well in prison.). The weather was awesome the whole weekend, I only wish the weekend was a little longer.

Thanksgiving(s)

2011-11-24T16:48:00.001-05:00

Right now, everyone is napping at my house and I'm in my bed with Bassie snoring on the floor next to me. I was typing up the typical "What I am thankful for" blog post that I usually do around this time of year and I realized that a list wasn't really explaining it. I am thankful for my life, (most of) the people in it, and for the experiences that I've had. When I go back and read journals, look through old photos, or tell stories with old friends, sometimes I think, "Oh wow, I used to have a great life!" And then I realized that I DO have a great life.

It gets complicated at times, or frustrating. And it moves fast. Really fast. There is disappointment, but there is also excitement and good. From moving around a lot and constantly seeking change , I have learned to appreciate the "now". Planning too much for the future can be stressful and living in the past is stifling. I am trying to enjoy the journey, to appreciate the people in my life whether they are in it for a few days or for years, and to not spend too much energy anticipating each next step. I am so fortunate to have a family that loves me and to be pursuing a degree/field that I think is interesting, fun, and challenging. I am thankful for my ability to make choices in life and decide where I want to go and what I want to do. And I'm thankful for my dog. (And that I will have a job when I graduate). And that is about it.

Anyway, with my photo-digging, I pulled up pictures from Thanksgiving over the past few years (read: since I got a digital camera...although 2003 was pretty special. I spent it with a friend on a farm in Pennsylvania and I rode in the backseat of a Toyota Corolla with a live baby calf, 9 chickens, a guinea pig, and rabbit. No joke.)

Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

2004

2005

I went to Page, AZ to spend Thanksgiving my my family and extended family. Almost everyone was there. This photo is from a desert 4-wheel drive we took that night.

Savai'i Island, Western Samoa. I was on a study abroad program. That morning I ran the fastest 10K of my life (I'm slow, but still took 6th in women. Running with Samoans makes you feel better. They took food breaks...) That afternoon I had an awesome dinner with some ex-pats from church and then a second dinner with my peeps (in the pic) at a hotel. I thought I was literally going to explode.

2006

Thanksgiving in Ithaca, NY. My roommates (in pic) and I hosted a dinner for a bunch of other students who stayed up at Cornell for the holiday. That morning, a big group of us did the Frozen Turkey Dip and jumped into Cayuga Lake from a dock. There was even ice around the edge of the lake! This is the year I made my first turkey.

2007

2008

2009

2010

Salt Lake City Thanksgiving. I worked for a hotel and didn't have any holidays/weekends/any time ever off. My parents and sister came up to visit and made a Thanksgiving dinner before I had to go to work. Nice right? Of course we went to see the temple square lights with the whole family too.

Las Vegas Thanksgiving I. Ness and I drove down to Vegas and my car's engine blew up. It was rough. I did get to spend it with my extended family and my aunt is an amazing cook, so it ended up being a good time after all!

Las Vegas Thanksgiving II, the year before was obviously so good that I came back again. I spent it with my aunt, uncle, grandpa, grandma, cousins, and other fun people. It was a rough thanksgiving for Grandpa. Greg and Annie even took us out in the middle of the desert to have a big bonfire to celebrate Jessie turning 30 (but mostly for the big bonfire haha).

North Carolina. My cousin came to visit and we had dinner with my roommate's boyfriend's family. We ate pig intestines, aka "chitlins" (sick) and went to the outer banks (awesome).

on being a non-flirt

2011-11-19T23:43:00.001-05:00

So let's be honest, sometimes I am good at being flirtatious and other times I've been told I'm a little less than charming and even downright awkward. Hard to believe, I know.

After spending a couple great days in the PA, I was flying back home tonight. I made the mistake of arriving early to the airport, hoping I could hop on an earlier flight. No dice. And to make matters worse, the wireless internet in the airport was down. In my first bought of fighting with the networks, there were a couple men in pilot uniforms/costumes nearby. I asked them if I was on the right network for the airport and they said yes. It appeared that the network was not working and so I talked to my sister on the phone instead.

While talking to her, one of the pilots came over and asked me if I figured out the wireless. He talked to me for a couple minutes showing me his network connections while I showed him mine aka he was "helping" me while telling me all about the airport. Despite his expertise, it never ended up working.

Later I went to grab a beverage before waiting to board the flight and came back to a different area closer to the gate. Guess who showed up again and sat right next to me in the empty terminal...Mr. Pilot. He was flying standby on our flight. He asked me where I was headed and told me all about the airports I was going to, where he usually stays, etc. It wasn't bad conversation, but he clearly was making sure I knew how important he was. I thought it was fun and asked questions.

Next, he asked to see my boarding pass, so I handed it to him (note to mom: c'mon I grew up before kids learned about "stranger danger" and he had a hat with stripes on it, so I figured it was fine) and he said:

"I'm betting with a connection to Raleigh, you are going to Gate B in Philly"
Me: "Oh yeah?"
Him: "I'm sure you will be."
Me: "Ok, thanks."
Him, very matter-of-factly: "Well, we are most likely going to be arriving in F. So it will be a different terminal for you to go to B. But don't worry, there is a shuttle that goes between them. You have to ride a bus. They are pretty far away but I can help you find it and get to B."

Now this is where a normal girl would say something like "Oh, that is so sweet of you, thanks!" or "OMG thankyouso much, I totally don't know how to find different terminals...there are so many letters it gets so confusing and makes my brain hurt!!!" or "I bet you fill that uniform out without even wearing shoulder pads, I'd let you take me anywhere." Not me. I'm not really into playing dumb. I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"They make these places pretty idiot-proof and there are signs everywhere. I am pretty sure I can't find it on my own."

He looked at me like why did you just say that to me? What do I say next? I realized that I sounded sort of rude so I followed up with a "thanks though." Then I got up and hurried over to board the plane. He looked confused.

I'm sure that half the time I talk, a matchmaker from reality TV gets their wings or has an itchy nose or something.

why don't they just share?

2011-11-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

I know this is dumb, but I thought it was funny. I reminded me of "Stop being an Ann hog!" (Arrested Development anyone?) heh heh

DC

2011-11-15T13:53:00.001-05:00

This weekend, Megan's dad came to visit. We drove up to Washington, DC for a few days to see some sights, feed the squirrels, run into friends in the area, and take jumping pictures of ourselves. The weather was perfect and it was a great trip.

missing my bassie

2011-11-12T08:34:00.001-05:00

It seems like I have been leaving poor Bassie behind a lot lately. I'm in DC for the weekend and she is staying at Noah's Ark (the kennel) in a big indoor/outdoor kennel with Remi. I'm sure she is fine, but I miss her. So, here are a couple pics from my phone of the chub.

Being awkward and looking out the window

The area behind our house (she's waiting for me to throw the ball)

late halloween

2011-11-10T23:57:00.001-05:00

I know these are late (and not even that amazing to compensate for how late they are) but here are some pictures from Halloween nonetheless. It is always great when the dress up box gets to see a little bit of action.

math

2011-11-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

+ 3 trips/interviews
+ 2 parties (hosting one, attending another)
+ 1 upcoming father visit this weekend (Megan's)
+ 11 cokes
+ 7 assignments due
+ 1 apartment booking in Africa (oh, did I mention I'm going to Africa?!)
+ 1 lost golden retriever
+ 2 loads of laundry to fold
+ 1 ugly zit on my chin
------------------------
= it's been a helluva past few days

and then swinging by

2011-11-08T10:30:00.003-05:00

.....the sunny state with palm trees and Micky. Unfortunately, I was in a suit inside a very cool building 85% of the time, but it still was nice.

Stopping by

2011-11-04T16:08:00.002-04:00

..the sweetest place on earth. Why yes, I'm on the corner of East Chocolate and Cocoa Ave. And yes those are my witch shoes and real life snow.

Virginia Creeper Trail

2011-11-01T12:00:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging. It has been a busy week: a trip up to Virginia to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail, Halloween festivities, group projects, and this afternoon I'm headed up to Pennsylvania for an interview!

On Friday I carpooled with a couple friends up to western Virginia to enjoy the fall leaves and crisp weather via bicycles. We drove for hours talking and eating Cookout which is always great. Up in Virgina we stayed in an empty house someone's friend's friend owned in our sleeping bags and played cards. Normally I am not a games kind of person, but games tend to be more fun when you are planning on sleeping in a sleeping bag for some reason.

Saturday we were up bright and early to get the shuttle to White Top, one of the higher access points of the trail. On our way up, it started to be SNOWY! Let me remind you, I don't live in Colorado...Utah...New York....I live in the dirty south where there isn't supposed to be snow. But there was. I also got carsick and threw up on the drive up the twisty road, which was sort of embarrassing and miserable. Guess I shouldn't have eaten a huge banana right before hopping on the shuttle.

The trail was big and downhill, so quite easy. It was freezing to begin with and snow would blow in our eyes...but as we got lower it got sunnier and more fall-esque. I may or may not have crashed my bike while trying to take an "action shot" with my handlebars and some other riders in front of me. I have gigantic bruises in very inconvenient places. I've already told my mom that if I happen to die in the next couple days to please explain to the police that I was in a biking accident and that I was not a rape victim. Sorry, I digress.... Anyway, here are the pictures!

whooo are youuu?

2011-10-27T13:32:00.003-04:00

Just for the record, I was thinking of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland when I typed that. Anyway, I came across a cool website that shares average demographic information based on zip codes. Basically, you enter a zip code and it will tell you the top 3 US market segments (of the 65 segments they have identified) that describes that place. It's based off of census and other data, it isn't perfect but on the whole, pretty accurate. And definitely interesting. You can also check out income, education, and unemployement levels and stuff like that.

I love it and keep checking different zip codes. For example, here is Vernal, Utah where I went to high school:

As you click through the different market segments and other charts you can see so much information. For example, people in this are generally have high school diplomas or some college, like trucks, read baby magazines, have pets, like country music, gardening, hunting, fishing, and woodworking. And they are white (if you couldn't already tell).

Go here to check out the site and look up your zip codes!

Fair Pictures

2011-10-25T13:25:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the North Carolina State Fair is not to be taken lightly. Last week I went with Megan, Amy, Jamila, Tom, Amanda, and Derrick to experience a southern fair. The fair is huge here (HUGE) and food venues make up about 2/3 of the fairgrounds. In fact, the real reason most people go to the fair is for the extensive and strange food offerings. Between all of us we ate deep fried Three Muskateers/Milky Way/Reeses/Snickers, funnel cake, cotton candy, turkey legs, deep fried cheesecake, foot-long corn dog, corn on the cob, deep fried chicken pot pie, deep fried cookie dough, chocolate covered bacon, snow cone, oh and lemonade. We would have kept going but you get sick to your stomach after a while. Aside from gorging, we also saw gigantic produce, goat judging, pig and duck racing, pet a camel and watched a firework show.

I can understand why people go back multiple days in a row...

This weekend

2011-10-24T20:38:00.003-04:00

Megan made a whole fleet of tampon ghosts, she calls them her "spooks" ha ha.

This weekend was a good one. The weather was nice and I left all my readings and case packets at school (which resulted in a very early morning today...) so I didn't do one lick of homework. I had two interviews, cleaned and started putting up Halloween decorations, napped, and even cooked.

White fleece pants + white fat dog = nap time


Made up a recipe for stuffed acorn squash: Quinoa, pancetta, onion, spices, parmesan & squash

Tried out this chocolate chip cookie recipe

winners

2011-10-24T20:25:00.003-04:00

Petco (where the pets go) had a Halloween Costume contest this past Saturday. Naturally, we dressed up the dogs and took them down to the store. Bassie was a princess and Remi was a frog prince. Clever right? Bassie's princess hat suffered some casualties (aka Bassie hated it and so she ripped it off and pulled off the ribbons so I couldn't tie it back on her head.) Anyway, their costumes were pretty charming and fit their personalities well....guess who won first/second place in the contest? Yep, our pets. That's who.

The prizes complete with Petco gift certificates

frog prince

princess

You can see her hanging hat in this picture.
She chewed the leg ribbons off pretty quickly too.

:)

2011-10-19T13:27:00.002-04:00

state fair

2011-10-18T13:40:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went with a few people to the North Carolina State Fair. Let me just tell you, southerners take these types of things very, very seriously. It was gigantic with more food that I thought possible in one place. And yes, the theme of the fair this year was Love-A-Fair. (I do think my seductive goat picture above would have made a nice poster for them.) Anyway, it was a lot of fun. The highlight was a pig/goat/duck racing event towards the end of the evening. Hilarious. More pictures to come soon.

Vote 4 Bassie

2011-10-17T10:48:00.003-04:00

The winner gets to be in a commercial for Petsmart....not so sure she'll win that, BUT they have prizes and gift cards for each category too. Just "like" Petsmart on facebook, search for Bassie and vote. You can vote every day!

Thanks.

American Gothic

2011-10-15T12:54:00.000-04:00

"Grant Wood saw a house in Iowa that he decided to paint along with 'the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.' He chose his sister and his dentist." via: twentytwowords.com

I came across this photo of the models from Wood's American Gothic with the painting in blogland yesterday. Funny right? The house really exists too and if you are in Eldon, Iowa you can visit. Site staff will even dress you up and take your picture.

I am envisioning an awesome Christmas card here.

grown up paper holder (aka file cabinet)

2011-10-15T00:59:00.000-04:00

This fall break has been pretty relaxing and lazy. I've been overly nursing my sore throat, made it successfully through season two of Mad Men, and got caught up on a bunch of random to-do's. e.g. like this filing cabinet.

I don't know how it happens, but I always have oodles of papers. I feel like I just go through a stack just to have a new pile on my desk a couple weeks later. I decided the time had come to get something grown up for organizing my papers. I found this beauty at a thrift store, added a little WD-40 and some spray paint, and ta-da! The black label areas are even chalkboard paint so I can write on them (you know...in case I needed some labels to keep my whole two drawers straight).

As of late

2011-10-12T11:53:00.001-04:00

I'm officially half way through my fall break. I was kind of sad this morning when I realized that. The past four days have been rather busy and I'm looking forward to wearing my sweatpants all day long today. I've gotten a lot of things accomplished though...two papers, four loads of laundry, cooking, car maintenance, service, shrimp fest, and even being social. Today, I've already blow dried my hair so all I have left is a DIY project to finish and some episodes of Mad Men to watch. Here are a couple pictures from the past couple days.

made mini-strawberry pies for the missionaries (feeding these guys
occasionally is a great excuse for me to try out recipes)

A group from our church joined several other groups to do a "second harvest"
of a sweet potato field. NC is the lead producer of sweet potatoes in the US.
Anyway, we gathered up sweet potatoes that the harvesting machines left
behind for the Interfaith Food Shuttle program. We filled the entire truck
above as well as the back of someone's Avalanche before they told us to stop.

Our group

Megan and I went to a G. Love and the Special Sauce concert in Greensboro
over the weekend. The venue, Blind Tiger, was small and made for a great concert.

alone time

2011-10-07T17:15:00.000-04:00

snake

Guess who is done with classes and pretty much all her final papers/projects? Yours truly. I was in dire need of some outside alone time and the weather was perfect. So, I tossed a boat on my little car and headed to check out a river boat ramp I had recently discovered. For a couple hours, I paddled around the three flat/lazy rivers, waved at fishermen, ate cinnamon almonds and chased a bird for a while. It was good.

ready, set, go

flat like glass

hey hey

oh look, a big bird/crane

bird close-up

bird getting away, again

I am the lubricant and stopwatch

2011-10-06T13:00:00.001-04:00

You know how sometimes people say nice things that make you feel good? Not just "You have a beautiful smile" or "Oh, I like your shoes!" ..but the compliments that show someone noticed something not so obvious that you worked hard on or something that you try to maintain as part of your character.

Well I really like those kinds of compliments. Don't get me wrong, I love almost any sincere compliment (who doesn't?) But with these...I sort of have a mental list of my top five and try to live up to those. The past two weeks have been a mix of good and bad. On Monday, I got a compliment that made me feel so much better.

It came from a b-school friend. We have had several classes together; most recently we worked on two projects within a particularly difficult group in which several members had clashing personalities. It was a very difficult dynamic to manage, but in the end we gave a rockstar presentation which resulted in a near perfect score and the professor telling us we had done an excellent job several times. I promise I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. Anyway, I was talking to her and she said that she noticed I was good at getting the group to work together and actually setting deadlines and holding people accountable for their parts. My friend is Japanese and her word selection is funny sometimes. My favorite quote from our conversation was, "You are the lubricant between the people and the stopwatch at the end. That is your talent, right?"

Weird as it sounds, it made my day.

In Memory of Steve

2011-10-05T22:06:00.001-04:00

I'm sure we'll have a moment of silence at business school tomorrow. Goodbye Steve.

stupid, but funny

2011-10-05T12:16:00.002-04:00

These three things were in my facebook feed today and made me chuckle. (whereas final papers do not make me chuckle) So I thought I would share in case any of you were working on a final paper or something equally drab.

little outing

2011-10-02T20:05:00.003-04:00

My mom is really into the Tashlikh ritual done during the first day of Rosh Hashanah (no she isn't Jewish), and is always encouraging everyone to go cast their sins and imperfections in the form of stones into a river/ocean/etc. Much to her dismay, I haven't done this yet and I decided I would this year. Well, Thursday was a little crazy for me and so I didn't get around to this until today. I took Bassie the chub to Eno River State Park on a trail we haven't tried before and went down to the river.

my stones--believe me, I have more imperfections than this,
I just tried to be practical about the number of rocks I was going to toss.

Eno River

Bassie trying to retrieve my stones/sins

Bassie trying to play catch with a huge stick

October 1st

2011-10-01T16:49:00.003-04:00

clockwise from top: The Help (I liked it), Foster's Market, Megan trying to walk around with her mums, and me with some of our other farmers' market treasures.

I've decided that October is my favorite month. It starts to feel like fall, the leaves change color, pumpkin foods are popular once again, and -of course- Halloween. My first weekend of October is going alright so far. I saw The Help and ate a caramel apple with Megan last night, went to the farmers' market and then breakfast at Foster's Market with Megan and Molly this morning, analyzed Starbucks' supply chain reorganization, and am watching some General Conference now with a mug of salted caramel hot chocolate.

Hey October, come on in.

almost there

2011-09-28T13:52:00.002-04:00

Battensby

This first mod (mod=quarter=term) has flown by. Classes are over next week and I still haven't unpacked my last two boxes from moving into the new place. I'm excited to have a week off even though I haven't even really made plans aside from a dermatologist appointment to make sure I don't have skin cancer. Fun right?

Every day my countdown goes down, below is all I have left before fall break. So close, but yet so far away.

Projects: 3
Final papers: 2
Presentations: 3

Intensity

2011-09-27T09:38:00.001-04:00

My dog Bassie can be pretty intense sometimes. The dog loves balls, dryer sheets, and playing "catch" with just about anything. In fact, sometimes you are playing with her and you don't even know it. Often, I will be on my computer or doing whatever it is I am doing and I look down to see Bassie staring intensely at me. Occasionally she will even growl at me a little. When I look down I find that she has set one of her toys, or better yet a tiny piece of garbage she has stolen (see dryer sheet comment above), on my foot or next to my leg. Without knowing, I was playing keep away with her in our long game of catch.

She also doesn't give up easily. Back in the Olympus Cove days, she sat in the backyard for half an hour staring up at a squirrel in the tree. No joke. I finally made her leave and took her on a hike. We returned almost two hours later and the first thing she did when we got home was run back to her spot under the tree to see if the squirrel was still there.

Like I said, intense.

Two nights ago, I was brushing my teeth upstairs in my bathroom when I got a picture text from my roommate:

"your dog is intense, look at my ankle"

Yes, she is wearing red footie pajamas. It happens all the time. Can you see the nasty felt thing on her ankle? Bassie had found a round piece of felt, from the bottom of a furniture leg or something and had been carrying it around the whole evening. I thought it was funny and finished brushing my teeth. Just as I picked up the phone to respond, I looked to my left and guess what I saw:

Apparently, Megan hadn't been very fun, because Bassie and her nasty dot were now playing catch with me! Look at her focus. It's as if she is trying to use sheer will power to make me toss the dot somewhere fun for her to chase. So of course I played with her (but that night I secretly threw it away while she was sleeping).

Sunday Afternoon

2011-09-25T15:56:00.004-04:00

There is nothing like a little bit of cream soda, supply chain homework, and sweat pants to make a Sunday afternoon. Oh wait, maybe a nap. A nap would be nice, but not today. I spent all day yesterday going through stuff to take to the thrift store and then scouring thrift stores with Megan to find some furniture/decor to complete the house decorating. (Photo tour coming soon!) So today I'm trying to be responsible and do my homework.

Yesterday, Megan bought a coffee table ($25)--which she is painting hot pink as I type, two cool chairs ($9), and some funky plates for a plate wall ($.10 - $1 each). I bought silver candle sticks ($3, holla) and am going to buff them up with my jewelry cleaner. I was grateful for my roof rack. The Salvation Army guys were mighty skeptical of me telling then to put the big, round oak table on my tiny Nissan...but after I got the cam straps in place they were oohing and aahing.

Last night, I went to one of the oddest and most delightful dinner party/things I have attended recently. Takeaways: I want to host a party soon (Halloween party in the works), I need to figure out how to make that spiced peach dipping sauce, and finding random flowers on your car late at night is kind of fun.

New Shirt

2011-09-23T11:22:00.001-04:00

Hump day happenings

2011-09-21T14:22:00.001-04:00

Today is hump day and my Friday (sort of, the next two days are "Career Days" so I'll be in a suit and shaking hands a lot).
I'm sorry I'm not more interesting lately. I'll try to take more pictures.
I can't believe my first Mod is nearly over, seriously, where did the last 5-6 weeks go?
I forgot chapstick/lipgloss and lotion yesterday, I was miserable and had a hard time concentrating until I found people to borrow it from. I even tried moisturizing my lips with the alfredo sauce on my lunch with little luck. I'm amazed at how much it threw me off.
My first job applications are due tomorrow. Yikes!
Yesterday in my communications class our professor was making people do impromptu speeches near the end to work on conveying passion. Each person had to speak for 2 minutes on anything they were passionate about. No one wanted to go first, and finally a girl said she'd go. She got up and started talking about how she was passionate about the individual worth of all people. I think she surprised herself as she spoke. She became emotional and animated. It wasn't religiously, preachy, or showy. It was just genuine. I can't really convey how powerful it was, but I'll just say that >80% of the class was wiping their eyes. Our professor was so choked up when he tried to bring it back around to class material that he just said it was a great example of passionate speaking and then excused class early. Everyone was silent when we walked out. For such an analytical, pragmatic, and programmed group, it was a refreshingly humane experience that will stick with me for a while.

It turned fall for the weekend

2011-09-19T01:04:00.004-04:00

This weekend started out pretty good. Friday marked a 30+ degree drop in temperatures. I love the warmth and all, but 60 degree highs have been appreciated the past couple days.

Anyway, Friday I did Habitat for Humanity with a b-school group. It was fun and tiring. It also made me realize that it is a good thing I like marketing because I'm not awesome at construction. That night I was going to meet up with some peeps for an outdoor movie, but it was rainy and nasty out so I wandered around the mall with my roommate instead.

Saturday was a church-sponsored Women's Day. I thought it sounded cheesy last year and didn't go, but at the insistence of a friend, I agreed to try it out this year. It was actually a good time! There were three class time-blocks in the morning. You selected and preregistered your classes online. There was a huge variety of options. I did a pastry class first, worked on one of group service projects second, and then made a hipster necklace last. Yes, that's right, a hipster necklace. Despite my lack of coordination/experience with fabric and metals, it turned out a'ight. I'm glad I'm into marketing because I'm also not awesome at making jewelry. And then there was food and an animated (and short) keynote speaker. Win, win.

That night I made dinner for some other people--shredded beef street tacos to be exact. The big hunk of meat simmering in the house all day made the place smell great and seem even more fall-esque than the 60degree weather. I was on a cooking roll and also made brownie peanut butter cups. Those turned out to be a sickeningly rich and so I packaged them up for my roommate to take to work. I tried again and made phyllo pastry cups with lemon curd cream and raspberries. Bam! Those were so great that this evening I ate three for dinner as a reward for finishing up a group project.

Takeaway: If I had to use a hands-on trade to support myself, it seems like baking would be my best bet so far.

Visitor #4: Courtney

2011-09-16T00:43:00.000-04:00

This week marked the fourth visitor here in North Carolina. I was lame and didn't take any pictures because it was kind of a last minute thing. Courtney was out here for a corporate training in Raleigh, so Megan and I hung out with her and three of her colleagues the past couple nights. Courtney is still hilarious and had a great new haircut.

The first night we met up for dinner and had the worst service at Champs last night (at Southpoint) I think I have ever had at any restaurant, ever. I won't go into detail other than it was the worst. Claudia...you need to find a new calling in life.

Other than that, it was funny to hear their stories from manager training, role playing, and learning to be sensitive. They could have been material for The Office. Tonight after a company presentation, I met up with them again down on Franklin Street. They got drinks, I got pink grapefruit gelato, and we all got soaked in the crazy rain.

Courtney, thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your time in the dirty south!

Reclaimed wood

2011-09-14T11:19:00.003-04:00

If you enjoy looking at design blogs or watching HGTV and swooning over awesome home design and decor ideas, you probably already know how cool reclaimed wood can look. Let's consider for a moment what "reclaimed wood" actually it is...worn out old wood that someone has taken from something and used it for something else.

That said, Megan's vision for the dining room involves a rustic table. After spending weeks on end looking at tables, she has decided to build one herself out of reclaimed wood. The only problem is that it is crazy expensive and there are limited places to get it here. So what did we do? We ~~stole~~ re-claimed some of our own wood from an abandoned factory lot last night!

shameless

2011-09-13T17:42:00.002-04:00

So, if any of you are sitting out there, thinking of me....and thinking, "Gee I'd sure love to get Danielle a cookbook because she sure does love cooking so much." Never fear! Here is the perfect choice:

That amazing restaurant that I talk about every time I go to Asheville has a cookbook. I know it is totally logical for a restaurant to also have a cookbook and that I should have thought to search before, but I am completely beside myself right now. I can't wait to get my hands on this.

If any of you are craving something great and don't have time to travel to Asheville, NC. Then purchase this book, make the Marinated Chargrilled Bone-In Peachy Pork Chops or one of the other awesome things on their menu and then send me a thank you card :)

Weekend Adventures

2011-09-13T09:21:00.001-04:00

This past weekend I went with a group to Charlotte for a little camping and the US National Whitewater Center. At our spot Megan, Christa, and I all had our own personal tents, so it looked like a little village. It was nice to have a campfire even though it wasn't cold, and best of all--I saw some of my first fall leaves of the season.

The next morning we headed to the USNWC. I'll admit right now that I thought the place was going to be a little bit lame. I mean, a man-made whitewater river course? Boo. Well, I was wrong, it was pretty exciting. The place has almost everything outdoorsy you could want to do--rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, paddleboarding, ropes courses, and so on--it was the Disneyland of things requiring helmets. I only wish we hadn't gone on a Saturday so we could have had time to do more (there were tons of people, so everything had a significant wait...and they don't have fast passes like Disneyland.) It was a good time.

Nostalgia

2011-09-09T12:45:00.001-04:00

Today I don't have class and so I'm determined to get as close to finished packing as possible before my Charlotte adventure this weekend. Megan's new place is tiny so unpacking and trying to find storage space for everything has made me feel like I live in NYC or something. I've been trying hard to get rid of even more stuff than I did when I packed it all up. This morning I decided to tackle my "junk drawer" boxes. They aren't exactly junk, I use random things out of them all the time, but I can't really think of what else to call them. e.g. one box has cosmetics, tools, scrapbooking supplies (you know it), a bunch of random CD's, gloves, chewed up ski goggles (thanks Remi), and so forth. I came across two treasures in my sorting:

1.) A huge pile of cards, notes, and letters from friends and family. I like to save especially nice notes from people even though it is sort of hoarder-ish. I admit, part of me keeps things that I know would be touching if the person is dead (mom & dad, don't worry I've saved stuff you've written me, sorry if that's creepy) and the other part just likes to look through them. Well, after a difficult week, I can't tell you how fun it was to read thank you notes, cards, letters, valentines, and whatever from my past. I think I must have been a nicer person in the past. Anyway, they were very touching and it made me glad that I saved them and that I just spent 45 mins reading through them.

2.) My old camera and disks. And by old I am talking my 4megapixel Kodak. Below are just a taste of what I found.

Quito

Ready for Slope Day

moving out and finishing all the partially eaten ice cream
buckets in our freezer

Canyonlands

Katy sneaking food

rafting w/roommates

Joining in at This is the Place Monument

my people

the great salt lake

The Hearse

$10 2-hour pony rides

Puerto Rico

on the fort, feeling glam :)

beach near Culebra

Cayuga lighthouse & bird sighting while kayaking

ladybug

Niagara Falls.....psych!

Niagara Falls for real

Bassie's first hike with me

picking up Bassie from the shelter

SLC valley

Mariachi band

On Fire

2011-09-08T13:21:00.001-04:00

There is a blogger that I like to follow (Restless Transplant in my blogroll to the right) who started this project called The Burning House. Basically, he asks people to gather what they would save if their house was burning down and they had only a few minutes. I love the idea of it and was thinking about what I would save if I had only a minute or two.

Bassie
Computer
Phone
Keys/Wallet (being honest here)
Passport
Carved ivory necklace
My journal from Samoa, and at least one shell
Tupperwear of yearbooks and photo albums under my bed

Granted, the more time I have, the more I would take. And to be logistically honest, I'd probably have to grab some clothes too since--in my imagination--houses burn down at night and I'd be wearing my "pajamas"... yeah, so I'd need some clothes.

Anyway, it is a cool idea and I'm glad he's gotten some publicity for it. It's also interesting to think of what you would take. For me, it's the the things that are hard or impossible to replace. Anyone else?

This also made me want to back up all my photos/files online. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

a tornado tale

2011-09-06T22:42:00.001-04:00

If you are wondering what all these miserable looking people are doing, they are hiding from the tornadoes (brought by hurricane Lee) in the basement of a building on campus while I was taking secret pictures. Twice today, sirens went off and every one was herded into basements and other safer places.

Now let me just say, all this inclement weather is starting to get on my nerves. I mean... tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes.... c'mon. I should just be thankful that they haven't been worse, but they are getting annoying.

Anyway, back to my day. So today, our residency applications were due. I consider myself a real NC resident now (and have the necessary documentation to prove 1-year residency) and am, therefore, trying to get in-state tuition for my second year. Wish me luck, I hear the decision committee is pretty brutal.

I finished the 6-page application and had gathered nearly 30 pages of supporting documentation, I grabbed my umbrella and trudged across campus to the registrar's office to file my application--just like it said I should on the website and application. I had about 1.5 hours for lunch and figured that was plenty of time. It was pouring rain and wickedly windy. I had an umbrella, but yet when I arrived my hair was soaking wet as were all my clothes. I'm still not sure how the logistics of that worked out.

I arrived at the appropriate building and wandered around a bit to find the correct office. Just as I walked up to the desk, sirens started going off. They refused to accept my application and said we all had to go to the basement. They were mad serious. Fourty-five minutes later, I was still in the basement, still soaking wet, but now was hanging out with lots more people.

When the warning was lifted, I hurried up four flights of stairs to the registrar's office and was only second in line. Booyah! I got up to the desk only to discover that they accept every kind of residency application EXCEPT business school ones and that I had to go back to the business school to turn it in!!! My face must have shown my emotion because the guy quickly told me he was sorry. For the record, I double checked the website and application afterward and that info was nowhere to be found.

By the time I drug my sorry, angry, soaked self back to my beloved business school (with covered parking I might add.....I swear I should never leave that place on campus...every time I do, it is no good) and turned in my application, I was over 40 minutes late to my class.

I decided I deserved to go home and put on sweat pants and cook ebelskivers again. The end.

Life's a beach

2011-09-06T08:50:00.002-04:00

Over the weekend, Megan and I headed to Wrightsville beach for a little bit of sun. We met up with her co-worker Kara too. She is from Wilmington and so it was fun going out Saturday night, meeting all her old college friends, and getting hooked up every place we went (including free hot dogs at the hot dog stand, yay!)

pirate kite

busy beach day

Ebelskiver

2011-09-01T13:29:00.000-04:00

For my birthday, Megan and Holli got be the infamous Ebelskiver pan from the lovely Williams-Sonoma along with a mix or two. There are few things I enjoy more than awesome treats and WS. So naturally that pan has had a lot of use over the past couple months. If you get the pan, don't bother with getting the mix, it is easy to find a recipe online. Their fillings are pretty hard to beat, but I've used so many different fillings I think you'd be fine on your own. I've tried lemon curd, berry compote, Nutella, cinnamon bun-style, random jams, and then the best ever last night: Pecan Pumpkin Ebelskivers.

Oh my. If I had to gain 20 lbs in two weeks, I would choose to do it by eating these every single day. Last night we ate them with a homemade cream cheese frosting and then this morning I nuked a few and had them with maple syrup. The pecan pumpkin butter is magic on its own (if anyone knows how to make this, I'd love advice. I usually just wait for a sale at WS and buy 4-5 to ration in baking adventures throughout the year since they are only available seasonally). Pleased don't be fooled by my sub-par phone pictures, these are awesome.

Take me out to the ball game

2011-08-28T14:22:00.002-04:00

On Friday night, we were busy making Irene preparations. aka, we went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and then a Durham Bulls baseball game. Have I mentioned that the place Megan bought is in Durham yet? Because it is. I am officially no longer a Chapel Hill resident. My car insurance went up the second I changed my zip code too.

Anyway, there was only one burst of rain and everyone moved in under the covered seating area. Our team lost by 6 points, but we did get to take a picture with the mascot....so I still consider the evening a win.

Goodnight Irene

2011-08-27T00:08:00.000-04:00

-Beach house in Nag's Head, NC, wsj.com

Irene is coming to town in the next 24 hours.

Click here for the hurricane tracker. (it's cooler when you zoom in, you can see wind speeds, times, and cities) The hurricane has just started to hit North Carolina. Luckily, I'm a couple hours off the shore, so our storm will be much milder. They have already started evacuating parts of New York, yikes.

A7: And all the rest

2011-08-26T13:11:00.000-04:00

I promise, these are the last of the Alaska trip pictures. I will now blog about current events and stop posting pictures of snowy things.

near Cooper Landing

Fish cookies!

Seward

Resurrection Bay

The start of the Iditarod

a potpourri possum

at mom's gift shop

Talkeetna

float planes

cooking our catches from the sea/river

the sign says igloo

10pm sunset

low clouds

A6: Denali

2011-08-26T10:13:00.000-04:00

After camping outside of Denali, Holli and I took one of the buses into the park (the buses are the only way to enter the park btw. Think Zion National Park but way, way longer). It was foggy, rainy, and cold but we got to see bears, caribou, goats, and many wolves. It was hilarious any time that someone would see an animal, they would yell STOP and then we'd all crowd on one side of the bus snapping pictures. Another funny bus thing was that the roads were pretty muddy all through the park, so the windows of the bus would get dirty and you couldn't see out anymore. Anytime we'd get out of the bus, all the random passengers would turn into a window washing team with squeegees and paper towels. We got pretty fast at it! We stopped at the Eielson Visitors Center (3 hours into the park), went on a short hike, and came back. The park was very cool even with our limited visibility, I can only imagine it on a clear day.

A5: Three Hikes

2011-08-24T12:27:00.000-04:00

While in Alaska, Holli and I went on three little hikes. The first one was in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area, on a trail called seven lakes. The second was outside of Seward, to Exit Glacier. (Sorry the pictures of the glacier are blurry, it was dusk and my camera wasn't adjusting properly.) And the third was in Denali. We had intentions of a longer hike there, but the ice rain was sort of miserable and the views were socked in with fog, so we chose a short tundra-wander-type hike. Nothing hardcore, but all three were fun and quite pretty.

A4: Mt. McKinley

2011-08-24T11:55:00.001-04:00

Mt. McKinley from the south

Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet! Because it is so tall, it sort of has it's own weather system at the top and is often difficult to see. While taking a tour in Denali National Park, a ranger told us that only about 1/3 of the visitors to Alaska actually get to see the mountain! On our drive up to Denali, Holli and I stopped at a lookout point south of the park to try and get a picture of the Alaskan Range and Mt. McKinely. It was stormy, but we thought we could see pretty well and were trying to figure out which mountain in the picture below was Mt. McKinley.

Sunday, south view of Alaskan Range

While in Denali Park, it was so rainy, foggy, and cloudy, we couldn't see much of any of the mountains. That night, we headed south to Anchorage, sad that we were the 2/3 majority who didn't see Mt. McKinley. Right around 10pm, the sun was setting and the clouds started to break. We could see the giant peaking out from the sky! We pulled over at an overlook and were able to catch a couple dusky pictures of the range.

Monday, south view of Alaskan Range. Notice the difference?

Picture through the binoculars of the summit

I wish I could take credit for this photo.

2011-08-23T23:08:00.001-04:00

I totally laughed out loud when I saw it. If you live on the east coast and experienced today's earthquake, you probably will too. Read about the quake here.

A3: Sea Kayaking

2011-08-22T08:28:00.001-04:00

After a sunny day of gift shops and fish sandwiches in Seward, Holli and I decided to go for an evening paddle in Resurrection Bay. While we weren't able to convince the kayak tour place that we could self-rescue well enough for them to just let us take the kayaks out ourselves, there were a couple guides hanging out near the desk and they offered to take us on a short private tour if we were willing to paddle in white caps. Of course we were! The wind made the water a little choppy at first (sorry no pics of that, I was trying to focus), but then things calmed down for us to see some otters, harbor seals, and even a rush of salmon trying to head up one of the rivers that empties into the bay.

my mom took this picture and the first one from the beach

Ikea

2011-08-20T23:42:00.000-04:00

If you've ever been to Ikea, you know how tired my roommate and I are right now.

A2: Deep Sea Fishing

2011-08-19T13:58:00.002-04:00

Holli and I went out on a fishing boat to do some deep sea/halibut fishing one day. We ended up with sore arms, awkward sunburns, and lots of fresh fish.

Let me just tell you how great deep sea fishing is...... you throw your line in with some nasty fish heads and a 5lb weight, then you let the metal wire of a line run and run for several hundred feet until it gets to the bottom. After that, you set your pole in the holder and try to take a second to pull your hair up or take a layer off and WHAM something is biting your bait! Then you hurry and pick your pole back up again after two seconds of not holding it and then reel it in, checking every now and then to see if you still have a fish. About 2/3 of the time, you have a sea creature on the end, the other third...well, you have an empty hook.

It was a lot of fun, the other three guys and the two charter owners were great. We just kept catching fish and tried to the keep the biggest ones for our 2-each limit while enjoying the view of the surrounding snow-capped volcanoes. The only bad part was once we decided which fish to keep, they clubbed the fish to death with a wooden club. Seriously. It was pretty awful, Holli and I covered our ears and looked away.

Holli caught the first fish of the day

My first fish

All the halibut I caught were pretty small, like 20lbs, but I was good at catching other creatures of the sea like the GIANT
STING RAY pictured above. It took me nearly 20 minutes of fighting and a little help from the owner Dan to get this monster to the surface. We tried to get a couple pictures of it thrashing before cutting it loose.

Me with a cod, aka bait fish. And for your information
the awkward thing on my waist is a fight belt. You can
anchor your rod into it for more leverage.

See, Holli has one too

Our ten keepers

The boat crew: Holli, me, Steve, Mike, and Ed.

A1: Prince William Sound

2011-08-18T05:16:00.002-04:00

I'm headed home to North Carolina after ten days up in Alaska visiting my parents. My friend Holli came up for the first seven days to hang out and do some of the more adventurous things up here. It has been 90% awesome weather, mostly a lot of fun, and I've taken tons of pics. I'll probably lay low today before I catch the red eye home.

Since there are so many pictures, I'll try to break it down a little. Below are some pictures from our first day on a glacier cruise in Prince William Sound.

looking back at Whittier

me and Holli

Ether passage

a float plane

mom & dad

We saw quite a bit of sea life...seals, otters, birds, sea lions, porpoises, but no whales

Surprise Glacier

dad and some glacial ice

small iceburg

Missing Bassie

2011-08-17T04:11:00.000-04:00

Just typing that title made me think of this hilarious email string last year, Missing Missy.

Don't worry, Bassie isn't missing, I just missed her fat little face while watching wolves dig for ground squirrels in Denali yesterday. (p.s. Alaska is still fun, I'll start posting pictures soon....and no, not all 721 of them) That said, here is a cute couple pictures I took of Bassie when she was riding in the car with me to Chapel Hill. She was totally invading my personal space.

Kentucky Wedding

2011-08-12T00:34:00.001-04:00

Melanie, Nicole, and me

I'm in Alaska right now, but I just wanted to share this quick picture of me and my old roommates at Nicole's wedding a few weeks ago. I spent most of the weekend with Melanie and Wyatt running around, but it was fun to see these two as well as a couple other friends from college. Congrats Nicole.

Monday

2011-08-08T13:56:00.000-04:00

The past couple days have been busy, I've moved two 17' Uhaul's worth of furniture and boxes, painted my bathroom, painted a teal/metallic accent wall in my new room, hung blinds, spent too much time at Lowes, tried to unpack, and tried to find my winter clothes. My hands and neck are sore and there are bruises all over my legs...not sure how that happened.

Today I am just grateful for Starbucks' free wireless.

I've been here for almost an hour, I can't believe I went 2 days without internet. I should probably leave my comfy booth and finish my errands so I'm ready to leave for Alaska at the crack of dawn tomorrow!

Peace out.

Homeward bound

2011-08-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

The internship is over, the car is packed, and I'm just about done cleaning. Time to head home to North Carolina.

I like this

2011-08-04T14:54:00.003-04:00

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

It makes me want to travel and, well, move.

Isabella

2011-08-04T11:20:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the lack of blog posts. It is my last week of the internship (tomorrow is my last day!) and I've been busy finishing things up here, hanging out with my roommates and co-workers for the last time, and making sure everything is ready for the move/school/Alaska. One thing I've enjoyed is going out for goodbye lunches with different co-workers.

Yesterday, AJ took me to a place called Isabella's. Oh goodness, it was good. We split the following: A dried fig salad with fresh mesclun greens, port-soaked figs, spiced candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and a tart apple dressing. A capri sandwich with pan-seared salami, pepperoni, pancetta and fresh mozzarella served warm on grilled La Brea rosemary olive oil bread with garlic-reggiano aioli. And the margherita pizza with local heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil chiffonade, and a tomato basil sauce. Their bread with oil and vinegar was also delightful and the decor made me question the paint colors I chose for my new bedroom. I wanted to stay there all afternoon!

Detox

2011-08-01T10:57:00.000-04:00

After a weekend of consuming entirely too much caffeine to keep myself awake on the drive, I decided I wanted to try and detox from caffeine for a couple weeks. I figured that I could suffer through my last week of the internship and then keep off it while I was on vacation in Alaska. The goal is to be caffeine free by the time classes start again later this month.

It isn't even 11am, and I am so tired! I keep yawning and my eyes are drooping already. I even went to bed pretty early last night and got about 7 hours of sleep. This is going to be a looooonnnnggggg week.

I'm drinking tons of water (I usually drink quite a bit anyway) and I even went up and down the stairs to try and wake myself up a little bit. I'd love other natural wake-up suggestions!

road trip!

2011-07-31T13:51:00.001-04:00

Last night, I got back from a road trip to Kentucky for Nicole's wedding. It was a long drive for such a short trip (look at me, I sound like an east-coast-small-state-person right now, but it was 7+ hours each way so I'm not just whining), but it was great to see Nicole so excited, meet Mario, and chat with old Cornell friends. I'll share pictures and such from the wedding later, but I wanted to share a couple from my road trip first.

Above, I FINALLY visited Foamhenge on the way there. The above sign was the only protection for his monument. Below are two more pictures of the kitschy magic. The next is an actual gas pump I used in Western Virginia. You couldn't even use a debit card, you had to pay cash inside, there were all sorts of dogs and people hanging out outside of the "general store", and the numbers flipped like an old school alarm clock...a little too Deliverance for me. And last, but not least, my little Nissan hit the 90K mile mark just as I arrived in Lexington around 1:30am (yes it was 84 degrees at 1am, yuck). With the aid of music, minty gum, limited cell service, caffeine, and an emergency purchase of a new GPS...It wasn't too bad of a trip.

Cool place in Roanoke

2011-07-27T16:51:00.003-04:00

So this past weekend, I ventured out with my roommate to check out Corned Beef & Company. It's a cool restaurant, billiard, dance hall, bar-type place. It has live music and events some nights, but on Saturday it hosted a couple of DJ's. It was a fun night with room after room of things to do. I not only got to dance my little heart out, I also beat a whole slew of people at pool. I am terrible at pool btw. But apparently drunk people are worse than I am. I totally felt like a billiard queen!

I also loved the decor. It had plenty of industrial touches, exposed brick walls, well-worn hardwood floors, and quirky vintage features like an old-school soda bar. I just wished I could turn it into a ginormous apartment instead...

If you are ever in Roanoke (yeah right) check it out.

Coming up....

2011-07-26T15:57:00.001-04:00

There are few little bits of excitement in my near future. This weekend I am headed to Louisville to see my two favorite college roommates. The last time we were all together feels like ages ago. Nicole is getting married and I have yet to meet this super-tall (among other good qualities) guy of hers. I'm happy for her, and I'm excited to see these two.

4th of July in DC with Melanie & Nicole in 2006.
One of my TBC internship hotels was on fire in the background.

Other excitement, I booked my plane tickets to visit the parents up in Alaska the second week of August. My friend Holli is going to join me for part of it. I've been looking up adventures and things to do/see pretty much non-stop the past couple days. The cooler weather will be such a nice break from the summer heat.

My mom took this picture right out her back door.