You're welcome

Happy Birthday Amy!!

This is Amy (and me):

Amy and I have been friends since second grade when I moved to Naperville the first time. We were in the same class and her mom was our girl scout troop leader. That means we've known each other for 20 years. Which means we are old. But she's older :)

Happy Birthday friend, wish I could celebrate with you!!

3 Days...

...until I am on an airplane flying home for the weekend to hang out with these fine folks:

and this crew:

The last time that all five of us were in the same room was when this picture was taken - at Amy's wedding 2.5 years ago. Now we (and I'm guessing a bunch of other people) are reconvening again for Amy's baby shower. It's nice of Amy to have these milestone moments to give us all an excuse to hang out :)

This weekend could not have come at a better time - I. Cannot. Wait.

Grill Em All

One of the shows my roommate and I watched semi-religiously over the summer was the Great Food Truck Race. Two of the trucks are based in LA, including the winning truck, Grill Em All (which is run by a couple guys from the midwest). Grill Em All's specialty is burgers and their claim to fame is the Behemoth - basically a bacon cheeseburger with grilled cheese sandwiches as the bun. It looks amazing. My roommate and I have been waiting for the truck to pick a spot semi near our apartment so we can try the Behemoth once and for all. However, the event closest to us got cancelled, so we made our own plans.

Last Saturday, we decided to make a mini road trip to Verdugo Bar where there was a food truck gathering including Grill Em All.

We got there too late for a Behemoth (they were sold out), but we did get to try the Witte and the Samoa Joe. Plus fries.

The food? AWESOME. The beer? Not so much. I should have known that a beer called "Lucky 13" wasn't going to be so lucky. Oh well. The food more than made up for it. Now, we just have to find Grill Em All again (and get there early enough) to try the Behemoth. Yum!

Tailgating

This Saturday is the annual family tailgate at Michigan State. My parents, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and assorted family friends invade East Lansing for a fantastic tailgate followed by an MSU game. I think this is the fourth (?) year in a row that we've done this.

Unfortunately, due to work obligations, I will not be able to make this year :( Instead, I hope to catch the second half on television (if they don't air it out here, I will not be happy) and get text message updates from the fam. And since my roommate is a Badger fan, I will be cheering extra loud for the Sparties. GO GREEN!!

Of course I will be rooting for my Hoosiers as well. Because Ann Arbor is a .....

Finally

Alright, time for that update that I gave a sneak preview about FOREVER ago. Once again, I have failed at updating on a regular basis. To make up for it, here is a really long post (maybe) with lots of pictures (maybe).

First up:

A long long time ago (August), Goldstar had a special on tickets to The Groundlings. For those of you unfamiliar, The Groundlings is very similar to Second City - it's an improv comedy theater. The Second City in Los Angeles is much smaller than the Chicago Second City, and not nearly as popular. The Groundlings, on the other hand, is much more well known in LA. In the show I saw, I even recognized one of the actors from his multiple guest spots on tv, such as Friends. Bonus points if you can name the episode this guy was in:

Bottom line: The Groundlings was hilarious. And compared to Second City, there was a lot less political humor, which I enjoyed.

Next up:

That, my friends, is a delicious dessert cheeseburger. My friend's birthday was in August and since both my roommate and I were out of town to celebrate, we had a very belated birthday dinner party. On the dinner menu: black bean burgers and fries. On the dessert menu: burgers and fries. Weird concept? Yes. Awesome results? Yes. Check these out: 

   

This dessert treat messed with our minds. As Paul commented, it looked like a cheeseburger, and he expected it to taste like a cheeseburger, but it definitely did not. All in all a fun dinner, and I would definitely make these treats again. By the way, if anyone knows how to make these pictures show up closer together, let me know.

Finally, this picture:

This is my buddy Makai. He made the rounds:

Once again, these pictures are messed up. Suggestions welcome. Anyways. The pictures with Makai were from the Bahamas. My family took a trip there for the Labor Day weekend. It was AWESOME. We got to hang out at Dolphin Cay, stay at a paradise-like resort, AND eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. The food was amazing, as was the company. Family vacations are way too few and far between. I think it has something to do with my living on the other side of the country, but that's just a theory. For your viewing pleasure, here are a few more pics from Nassau: 

A view of the ocean

Part of the resort we stayed on. It was made up of a bunch of different buildings. This was the main one, home to a casino, a night club, a few restaurants, plenty of bars, and a water park.

Mesa Grill! Delicious food - at least Shawn and I thought so.

Yup, Mom and Dad were there too.

Family pic with Makai

Pretty standard.

Now I am caught up through Labor Day. I think. Stay tuned for more pics from life in La La Land :) 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you have a fantastic day - I love you!

Tuesday 10...on Monday

Yes, I realize that today is Monday. But Monday 10 doesn't quite have the same ring to it that Tuesday 10 does. So bear with me. This week marks the start of another school year, which means my leisurely work days are over. Bring on the craziness. To begin this week on a positive note, here are 10 things that I'm liking a lot right now:

College football. Go Hoosiers! And Spartans (did you SEE that finish on Saturday?!)

Aarti Paarti - haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but she was my pick to win on the Next Food Network Star. And she won. And she got picked up for a second season.

Florence and the Machine (see old post) - I've been listening to her whole CD and it's pretty much fantastic.

My employees. They've been doing some awesome stuff and working really hard. Could be a great year.

McCabe's - had never been, but after spending most of Saturday there, I'm a fan.

Daily Pint - my softball team goes here on Sundays so I spent most of the late afternoon there yesterday watching the Colts crush the Giants. It was a great way to the spend the day.

AMC Movie Watchers - yes, movies are outrageously overpriced, but I can get $8 tickets from the CTO. Combine that with the Movie Watchers 'rewards' and I'm a happy movie goer. Plus I got a free popcorn the last time I went to a movie - score!

I ran another 5k on Sunday. I use the term 'ran' loosely. My activities on Saturday were not great techinques for run preparation, plus I haven't ran much since the last one. However, I signed up, I completed it, and it's over with. Go me!

Beloit College Mindset List - makes me feel old, but it is kind of funny.

Getting unexpected fun mail. Real mail, not e-mail. Very little beats that.

As I said, let the craziness begin - hope you are all having a great week!

VMA's

This past Sunday, my book club and I got tickets to the season premiere of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. It was a long day involving bus shuttles from Burbank to downtown Los Angeles, waiting around, not getting any sort of free giveaways, and massive amounts of mac and cheese (not related to the show, but still part of the Book Club Day). The lack of free stuff was a bummer, especially since my friends had convinced themselves they'd be getting at least an iPad, if not two plane tickets to anywhere in the continental US and a bottle of Cristal. Completely realistic, right? Those last couple sentences sounded really negative, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Anyways. The season premiere was hosted in Club Nokia and the theme was the MTV Video Music Awards, since the award show was going on about fifty yards away in the Nokia Theater. For the first hour or so, we just watched the live feed from the VMA's, which included a performance by Florence and the Machine. I had never heard of this group before, but I loved the song they performed. Check it out (it's not the VMA performance, just the music video. In case you couldn't tell...)



The actual Ellen show was pretty awesome too. The guests were Lady Gaga (crazy), Katy Perry, Usher, Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber. They didn't perform, but it was definitely entertaining.

Sneak Preview...

I realize it's been awhile since I've posted anything with actual words. That will change. Soon. Just not today. Instead, I will leave you with a sneak preview of what I've been up to for the past month or so...

Wordless Wednesday

For Your Entertainment...

Wordless Wednesday

Mission Almost Accomplished

Today I woke up way too early and went to the 5k run. The weather was a little rainy, a little cool, and really foggy. Overall, decent weather for a race. Way better than the single digit temperatures we sometimes face at the Thanksgiving Turkey Trots my family does. Due to some traffic issues or miscommunication (or something), the race was delayed by about 30 minutes but no big deal. The results: I ran all but about 2-3 minutes in the middle, which I was pretty happy with, but obviously there is room for improvement. My pace was about as expected so again, room for improvement. I'm going to spare myself the embarrassment of telling you what my time was, just know I didn't finish last :) All in all, not a bad first 5k in normal temperatures, so we'll see what my future in running holds.

Half Way Point...and Temporary Insanity

In one of my earlier blogs, I stated that one of my goals this summer was to get through a modified version this work out plan (the link only takes you to the first week) that I started at the end of May. I say modified, because I crossed out all the non-running workouts and substituted in my own weight training (mostly squats, lunges, and push-ups, but not nearly enough of them).

Anyways, once I crossed out all the non-running days, I numbered all the running workouts, 1-24. I was hoping to get through all 24 days before this Sunday (more on that in a minute). Well, that didn't happen. BUT. I did make it Day 12, so I am halfway to finishing this running plan. Which doesn't seem like much, but it's about 6 more days finished than the last time I tried this, and I'm still going.

Onto the 'temporary insanity.' The reason that I wanted to finish this before Sunday is because I signed up for a 5k this weekend at Dockweiler Beach. I'm still participating, and my goal is still to run the whole time, I just think my time will be reeeeeeeaaaaallllllllllllly slow. But, as long as I run the whole time, and finish, I'll be happy. Wish me luck!

The A Team

It's been a while since I've done a movie review (understatement of the year), but since I'm trying to blog more, this seems as good a time as ever to start it up again. The movie of choice: The A Team. Disclaimer: I LOVED this movie.

Starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Rampage Jackson, and Sharlto Copley (who??), the A Team is about a group of Iraq War veterans who dishonorably discharged for a crime they didn't commit and have to prove their innocence. I've never seen the original TV show, but if it's anything like this movie, I want to. It was my kind of action movie - action-packed, very little gore, hilarious. And who doesn't want to look at Bradley Cooper for a couple of hours?

Holiday Weekend

Like many of you, I'm sure, I love three day weekends! This weekend is off to a good start. After work on Friday, I joined some friends for happy hour at the Parlor, followed by dessert at Yogurtland (yum!), and a movie at my place. Nice and relaxing.

Yesterday was my friend Paul's birthday. His girlfriend organized a big dinner at Casablanca, complete with fake mustaches for everyone, followed by drinks in downtown Santa Monica. The restaurant had really good food - though the tortilla appetizers with salsa filled everyone up so by the time the main course came, no one was hungry anymore. There were quite a few of us who were suffering from food comas after the meal! All in all though, it was a fun night with good people.

Tonight, I'm headed to my first MLS game (LA Galaxy vs Seattle Sounders) followed by my first 'official' 4th of July fireworks show in three years, so it should be a good time. Even after all of the World Cup games, I do not understand the game of soccer, but I find it fun to watch. Except when it ends in a tie. Then it's just annoying ;)

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone is spending the holiday with family and friends, eating plenty of good food, and watching fireworks!

Mom's Weekend!

My mom came to visit this past weekend. Here is a picture of us:

No, this picture was not taken this past weekend, it's from Vegas. But all of the pictures from this past weekend are on her camera and I forgot to put them on my computer. Oops.

The weekend was FANTASTIC. Action-packed, sleep deprived, and lots of fun. She got in late on Thursday, so we just went to the hotel, had a glass of wine, and went to bed. Friday morning, we woke up and went golfing with my roommate and a 9-hole course in Venice. The course was ok - no water, few obstacles, but decent yardage. Plus, it was my first round using my 'new' (aka dad's old) clubs. Let's just say that I like the clubs. A lot. Moving on. After the game, we had a couple rounds of drinks at the 'clubhouse' then dropped the roommate off at the apartment. That night we went to dinner at the Stinking Rose (amazing!) and saw South Pacific the musical, which I enjoyed a lot.

Saturday, we woke up early and took went to my favorite breakfast restaurant, the Griddle Cafe. Now Dad is the only immediate family member who I need to take there. After breakfast, we went hiking at Will Rogers State Park and checked out Inspiration Point, which was a really nice view, though it was a little cloudy. Then it was off to Mom's first pedicure at my favorite place in Santa Monica, a little shopping, and I made Tyler's Ultimate Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri, Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes, and Mom made her tomato/mozzarella/balsamic vinegar salad. All in all, a very tasty dinner.

Once again, we woke up early on Sunday to play softball. My team was one female short, so Mom got to play, which was fun. Then we played tennis (I won!) and headed to see the Anaheim Angels play. Somehow I picked seats that were right in the sun and the genius that I am sat cross legged for most of the game, so I am now the owner of 1/2 a sunburned leg and a wonderful shorts line. I look like a freak. After the game, we headed to the Block in Orange County to do some shopping and grab a snack at the Alcatraz Brewing Company before heading home and lounging on the couch for the rest of the night.

Like I said, action packed weekend, but TONS of fun! Mom, come back soon, I miss you already!

And Dad, if you're reading this, I think it's time for a Dad's weekend :)

You Tube

For those of you unaware, I am NOT a Lakers fan. I was raised a Pistons fan, worked for the Palace when the Pistons beat the Lakers for the NBA Championship in '04, and regardless of how long I end up living in Southern California, I will never be a Lakers fan. That's right, I said it.

Anyways. I found the following video courtesy of another friend's blog and thought it was absolutely hilarious. I remember watching JJ Redick battle it out with Adam Morrison in college over some national award or another. They were both big names and now they battle out the NBA in relative mediocrity. At least in my world. I don't follow the Magic or the Lakers if I can help it. But back to the video. It may be the only Lakers anything you find on this site, so enjoy :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, but especially to mine. I realize I'm completely biased, but he's pretty much the best :)

Happy Father's Day Dad - I love you!

Indecisive

In case you haven't noticed, I'm having a hard time designing this blog. I really don't like the background color of the posts being white and this gray isn't really doing the trick right now either. I would prefer the post background be transparent, but that would require a non-patterned background, which I'm not so sure about either. So I'll keep playing around with it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment away.

Will he or won't he?

As you know, there are many events going on in the wide world of sports:  

• World Cup - I know very little about soccer, but I do enjoy 'reading' about it. Exhibit A and Exhibit B
• NBA playoffs - Go C's! That's right, I said it.
• NCAA conference realignment - The Big 10 will have 12 teams and the Big 12 will have 10 teams. Huh?
• College World Series - this story is unfortunate
• USC gets a 2 year ban from post-season football - I think it sounds worse than it is. It might temporarily hurt recruiting, but not for as long as everyone thinks. As much as it pains me to say it, USC is like the field of dreams - people will come. 

But let's get the MOST IMPORTANT issue in sports: Is Izzo leaving Michigan State or not? Rest easy Spartan fans - he's staying in East Lansing!

An interesting move considering he could have made twice the money and possibly coached LeBron James, but as a Spartan fan, I love it! (Spartans are second to my Hoosiers but that's a different posting) I almost said it was a gutsy move, but he was not guaranteed King James would be there. Anyways, the namesake of the Izzone has a lot more job stability at MSU and I hope he remains a 'lifer'. Now, he just needs to get back to the Final Four and come home with a championship. GO GREEN!

Tim McGraw

A little delayed, but I needed something to blog about today. Two weekends ago, my friend Ami and I went to see Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw in concert at the San Manuel Amphitheatre. The venue was far away and traffic getting off at the exit was completely inconvenient, but it was totally worth it. First, we got views like this when we looked to either side of the stage (I'm talking about the mountains, not California's 'finest' country fans):

But more importantly, the concert was AWESOME. I've seen Lady Antebellum before, but this was the first time seeing Tim McGraw live. We had lawn seats, so the seats weren't great, but we still had a decent view of the stage. Exhibits A and B:

Next time Tim McGraw is in town, I plan on splurging and actual getting seats closer to the stage. He sang for an hour and a half straight, with very little talking in between. Phenomenal show. The only sad thing is that Ami recently moved, so now I have to find a new friend to go to country concerts with :(

Tyler's Ultimate

Wow, third post this week. I told you summer was slow :) Actually, I'm just trying to make this blog thing more of a habit, which for me, requires me to work on it almost daily. Let's see how June plays out.

Anyways. As mentioned in the previous post, I like to cook. I watch Food Network shows and want to cook most of the food I see the pros make. Tyler Florence from Tyler's Ultimate is one of my favorites. He calls everything - aromas, textures, etc - "beautiful" which gets a little annoying, but eventually you learn to love it.

The other day I watched the episode where he made Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. Normally I'm not a huge fan of lemons, but I thought I'd give these bars a try. I had to use my cheese grater to zest the lemons, and I only had an 8" baking pan, but other than I followed the recipe exactly. It came out looking like this:

I had a hard time telling when they were done, so I may have overcooked them a little. Also, the wax paper kept ripping, which made it hard to lift it out of the pan (definitely not as easy as Tyler made it look on TV). I was going to show a nice picture of the plated final piece, but due to the difficulties with the wax paper, the cut up version did not look as pretty. Didn't affect the taste though - I'll make these again :)

Testing Out the Green Thumb

I've never been a gardener. I think flowers look great in the apartment, but I rarely get them to last more than a week. However, I do like to cook. And all the cooking shows I watch (like this and this) and cooking websites I read (here and here) always say that fresh herbs make a huge difference in your dishes. I've bought them a few times at the grocery store, and would definitely agree, but at the store, it seems like I have to buy way more than I use in the dish I need them for.

Enter IKEA. While shopping for frames for a work event, I came across these little plastic containers with dirt and seeds ready to go, just add water. For $2 each, I figured, why not? I'll give it a try. If it works out, maybe I'll search out some more herbs to try. Anyways, I bought the parsley and basil (it's all they had) and added water. I think I almost killed the parsley, but with the lack of wording in IKEA directions, can you really blame me? Anyways, it's been almost three weeks and I haven't killed them yet. Check them out:

I'm guessing that at some point I will have to transfer them to bigger containers, but I'm going to put that off as long as possible because these fit way too nicely on my window sill. If anyone has any tips for making these not die, feel free to comment away.

Summer...

So the school year is finally winding down, which means free time has increased and hopefully the blogging will as well. What will I do this summer? Excellent question. A few definites:

- Check out the free stuff LA has to offer. Like this. And this.

- Become an expert at Zuma's Revenge

- Work out more - it makes the work day go WAY faster. I'm trying to get through this and possibly run a 5k. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

- Go to the wedding of some friends from grad school.

- Go home at the end of the summer and do the ol' Midwestern Tour.

A few maybes/hopefully's:

- Finish sewing Mom's Christmas stocking.

- Try out a new hiking trail or two.

- See Sugarland in concert. But first I have to find people who like country music...

- Play golf. Maybe at one of these courses.

- Go on a road trip. I have no idea where.

- Read at least four books.

Well, those are my summer 'goals' if you will. Let me know if you think I should add anymore. And if anyone wants to come help me accomplish some of these, visitors are always welcome :)

2009: Where did the time go?

So I just looked at this blog and realized that I completely abandoned it for an entire year. Maybe 2010 will be different, maybe not, but there's only one way to find out, right? Since 2009 wasn't exactly the year of travel that 2008 was (and I did not make it to NYC or Vancouver), I thought I'd just break the past year down by monthly highlights. Here we go:

January - welcomed my 26th birthday by taking a trip to the most ghetto urgent care I have ever seen. Also went to U of I for the Region III Lead On. The trip to U of I was definitely the highlight, but the urgent care was memorable as well.

February - Shawn made her first trip out to LA. The trip revolved around food from what I remember: we went out for sushi and I took her to the Griddle Cafe for my first visit there and those were the two highlights of the trip.

March - Pete and Mary made their first trip to California to visit and it was four days of fun. Again, lots of food, tourist attractions, and attendance at the Kids Choice Awards.

April - Went to a wedding in Michigan with the family, attended my first NCCS Nationals event, a volleyball tournament in Kansas City, and Diane and Anne came to visit. Once again, tried out some new restaurants, visited some touristy places, and learned that Diane really likes to read maps. Good times.

May - Mom and Dad came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. It was their third time in LA, so we tried a couple new things, but mostly watched movies, did some shopping and hung out. Their visits are always fun.

June - Attended a conference in Nashville and got to visit Neumann for the first time. I had a little too much fun at the conference and came down with a cold so I was the worst houseguest ever. It was great to catch up though. June also marked the end of my first school year at UCLA. This was my first experience with the quarter system and sometimes it seemed like the school year would never end.

July - Spent two weeks in the midwest, including a reunion in Chicago with my SLT friends, a trip to B-town, Peoria, and time with the fam. Way too much fun to summarize in a sentence or two so I won't even try.

August - August was a pretty relaxing month - no travel (I don't think), no visitors, and no classes so work was pretty easy. Not a bad month.

September - September started with a trip to Vegas to belatedly celebrate Kristine's 21st with the immediate family. Stayed at Mandalay Bay, caught the Beatles' Love and Bette Midler, and did not get sunburned. I was very happy.

October - Started with a trip to Michigan State for the second annual Whall Family Tailgate and ended with a roadtrip to San Francisco to visit Pete and Mary. Somewhere in between there, I moved (yes, again) and got an awesome new roommate. It was a busy month, but I'm not complaining.

November - November was a blur between Mom and Dad visiting, helping to host a student conference, a flag football tournament, and going home for a week at Thanksgiving. Once again, a very busy month.

December - Classes ended early on and due to vacations, furloughs, and weekends, I got to take more than two weeks off of work to visit my grandma in Florida and go home for the holidays. Excellent way to send out 2009.

Well, that's 2009. Who knows what 2010 will bring, but hopefully just as many great memories. And maybe a trip or two...