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