Day #30: Celebration at Sol

Some of our really good friends and neighbors, Adam and Kelsey, are moving to Nashville in June! Although, selfishly I'm sad, I'm really excited for them as they start their new adventure! A bunch of us gathered at Sol Cantina (one of our favorite Mexican places in KC--their chicken nachos are amazing!) to celebrate!
Jer wanted to have this blog debut-so here you go Jer-Bear:)

Day #29: Photo Fail

I officially have failed for the first time. I took a picture, but my memory card wasn't in...so no picture. But I can tell you what the picture was:)
I woke up in a funk, not really sure why. I really like to be alone, but sometimes when I'm alone too much...I get in a funk. I think that is what happened. I was just kind of angry, and I'm not an angry person, so I went through a cleaning rampage. I cleaned blinds, baseboards, dusted, laundry, the whole nine yards. I had "clean sheet" night, which is my favorite:) So I took a picture of my newly, cleaned room...clean sheets and all. So I apologize, no picture.
I also ran with Kelsey, went to Church with Anna and Jeremy, and participated in Burger Wars at Tannin. And no lie, Tannin has an excellent burger if anyone is interested!! And back to the grind....:(

Day #28: Spa Day

Ahhhh, a weekend at home. It is amazing. I have been gone for the past few weeks, so I planned to spend the weekend pampering myself. I started on Friday night with dinner with friends. Saturday morning, I went to breakfast with Anna and Jenn again. Why not end "Date Night" with breakfast in the morning;) We went to this cute place called Urban Table. I LOVED it!! They bring your checks in these cute little books:)

AND they had mini-waffles with all different types of syrup...yum:) Anna and I then went to get chemical peels and we got some good skin tips! I have a massage this afternoon! And then I'm going to spend the night, hopefully on my couch, relaxing. I love weekends at home!

Day #27: Date Night

On Friday, I went to dinner with two of my best friends Anna and Jenn:) We went to an awesome place called Trezo Vino! After a long week in the office, it was the perfect way to end the week; dinner and drinks with two of my favorite ladies. We were hoping to go to the cupcake place across the street, but it was closed. We were sad.

Then Jenn came over and we watched Dateline. Yep, we are officially old. It was one of my favorite Friday nights in awhile: dinner, wine, dateline, and bed.

Day #26: Tennis anyone?

So I played tennis tonight with my friend Sam and had so much fun:) It has been like 6 years since I REALLY had fun playing tennis. I think my burn-out my officially be over. Oh, and I have been terrible of remember to take my camera places, so sorry, I just took a picture of the tennis racket in the parking lot:) But it at least represents what I did!



After tennis..Scottie, Johnnie, and I ate dinner whoppers and spaghetti...nice right? And don't worry, I only ate half of a whopper:) Still on the healthy kick! We watched the Ides of March. It was pretty good. Not the best movie, but it kept us entertained. I would recommend a $1 redbox rental:) Happy Friday everyone!!

Day #26: Homemade Soup

So tonight I made potato and cheese soup from scratch:) It was my first attempt..it wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. It probably wasn't great because it was from CookingLight.com. We are in full healthy mode at 999 Penn, so it is only healthy eating for the next 6 weeks...so tonight...it was eh:) But at least we didn't eat a lot of cals;)

It was also day #2 of half-marathon training...oh and I still can't move from my "awesome" (please note the sarcasm) class on Monday. But I did manage to crank out 2.5 miles in under 25 minutes...so not bad. I'm going to see how much I can train while running about a 10ish minute mile....so wish me luck!

Day #24: Sush anyone?

Tonight I went to happy hour at Ra Sushi with my friends Anna, Jeremy, and Beth. I forgot my camera in the car, bad me, I took a picture with Beth's camera, but I thought this one from google would work too:)

I love Ra. And the happy hour sushi rolls are amazing:) In other news, I had a client in town today, so it was kind of nice to get away from my cube...oh and I started half-marathon training with my friend Kelsey!

Day #23: Back to the Grind

Today was the first day back in the office in two weeks...and I came back to a nice surprise. My co-worker Janet is known for being super crafty and she makes me things all the time (yes, I know I'm incredibly spoiled). She made me this cute scarf/necklace made out of a t-shirt and I love it! We added the broche for a little bling (no I didn't get the broche).

Other than that, today was pretty normal, although I did go to a new class at the gym tonight and can barely walk. So tomorrow is going to be awesome;) But it's 6 weeks from today that we leave for Hawaii! So no skipping the workouts!

Day #22: The Help

So I flew back from the ATL today, and rented The Help on my IPAD. SO GOOD! I highly recommend it! It made me laugh and cry. I read the book this summer and the movie was not quite as good, but still excellent:) Other than that, I had a good day:) Ate breakfast with my parents, watched Church online, flew back to KC, family dinner with Becks, Johnnie, and Scottie, then finished watching The Help....

Day #20 and #21

My trip to ATL has been awesome so far! I worked from home yesterday while my Mom made my breakfast and did my laundry (rough life I know;)) and then we went to my brother's new house last night and ordered pizza and just hung out.


We wanted to take pictures outside, but it was pouring down rain, so the pictures of us in the door is as close as we got:)
Saturday morning, we went to my best friend from high school's baby shower. My mom hosted it and it was wonderful to get to hang out with my high school friends. Enjoy some pictures from the shower:)

Day #17, 18, and 19: I think I love Louisiana

So, I'm not lying. I really think I might love Louisiana. Although, this week sucked work wise, I made it a point to actually emerse myself in Louisiana as much as I could-and I think I love it.

First of all, let me apologize, the internet at the hotel was terrible and I tried to blog, I really did, but it was taking forever, so I gave up. So tonight is going to be a 3-in-1 deal:)

Day #17 (Tuesday) was actually the worst of the week. It rained all day and Sadie and I sat in the this room for 11 hours straight:

Yep, pretty awesome, huh? There are some Mardi Gras decorations to try and liven it up a bit;)

Day #18 (Wednesday) was MUCH better. The sun was out. It was 65 degrees. And we got to go out for lunch. Sometimes leaving in the middle of the day just makes the day so much better. A group of 6 of us had to get out before we threw our computers out the window, so we walked to this awesome diner down the street. Now, I love me some diner food and this place was amazing. It happened to be next door to this awesome art gallery: http://www.georgerodrigue.com/rodrigue/index2.htm . You might notice the theme: blue dogs; the restaurant I went to last week is based off of George Rodrigue's art, hence the name Blue Dog Cafe. And I think I could have spent hours in this gallery, which is a LOT for me considering I can't spent 20 minutes in the Nelson-Atkins, but this art drew me in. Here are two of my favorites:


The red one was HUGE. I hope to one day have a wall big enough to put a painting this large one. The second was my natural favorite. I'm a sucker for anything showing American pride:) The very nice man running the gallery told me that this painting was painted to raise money after 9/11 and sold out in 3 weeks. The artist donated all proceeds to the Red Cross (1.2 million dollars). I was sold. One day, I want to buy one of these paintings, but I think I need to make a little bit more money first:)

Day #19 (Thursday) was food day! So they have this traditional cake called King Cake in Louisiana, I think they have it other places too, but this was the first I've heard of it. It is a traditional cake that is made from the Epiphany (January 6th) through Fat Tuesday. And there is a little plastic baby hidden in the cake. The tradition states that the baby represents the baby Jesus and who ever gets that piece has good luck. Now, whoever gets the baby has to buy the next King cake. You can read up on King Cake here:) Let me tell you how good this cake was. I think ate an entire months intake of sugar in one piece, and it was worth it.

So on my trip, I also ate alligator, corn and crab bisque, crab-stuffed gulf shrimp, and had some local strawberry beer. Seriously, I would move to Louisiana just for the food. Who wants to go to New Orleans with me???

On a side note: I flew to Atlanta this weekend to spend time with my family and go to my best friend's baby shower:) Get ready for a lot of pictures;) Till next time...XoXo

Day #16: Lafayette, Louisiana

I don't really have anything clever to say tonight, nor do I have an awesome picture. Today, I went to work for the majority of the day, then flew to Lafayette tonight. The flights were much less eventful than last week (thank goodness!) and I got to fly with my friend Sadie. Since my day was incredibly boring, here is a picture of my home this week.

I'm kind of a crazy and unpack everything like I'm at home:) Also, can I just say that having Friends on Nick at Nite makes me feel old, but I kind of love it because I always have something to watch at night. Who cares if I have seen every episode 100 times:)

Day #15: Sunday, Busy Day....

So Sunday, was yet another busy, busy day. I need a weekend of NOTHING, but I don't think that is going to happen for awhile! I got up and went to Church (again, another amazing service) with Jenni, Anna, and Jeremy:) I then went to the plaza to attempt to find a dress for a baby shower I have this weekend, but I didn't want to try anything on, so I gave up. Just was not in the mood to shop, which is pretty much unheard of for me, but at least I saved some money:)
When I got home I really had to get organized. I packed for 6 days in a carry-on size bag..pretty rockstar if I say so myself. I needed to pack 3 days of work clothes, clothes for a baby shower, a week's worth of gym clothes, plus EVERYTHING else. I refuse to check a bag going to Lafayette, LA...half of the bags on our plane got lost last week..so not happening to this girl.
I did get to watch some TV and attempt to clean off my DVR and then I went to birthday dinner with my friend Per (see previous blog post). We both have lost our "groupon" buddies, so we decided that we are going to start using our groupons together:) We attempted to go to a Brazilian steakhouse, but when we got there it was a 2 hour wait (on a Sunday!), so we went to Bonefish Grill instead and YUM. I had never been there and heard so much about the Bang Bang Shrimp. It lived up to it's reputation. Oh and I ended the night with the Parker's Margarita...I mean I had too. Happy Birthday to us!

Day #14: Happy Birthday Per

Day #14 was a really productive. I paid all my bills, worked on my budget, booked a trip to Hawaii, bought a new laptop bag, went for a run outside (in January!!), went to one of my favorite little restaurants in KC called Potpie, went to celebrate with my friend Per's birthday, then met up with some friends until like midnight. I'm exhausted just reading this. No wonder I'm tired:) Enjoy a picture of Per and I from his party. The them was hipsters and shipsters(pirates)....

Day #13: Blanncccc

Tonight we went to Blanc Burger for dinner. One of my favorite, local, burger places in KC. We had to wait over an hour, but it was well worth it. While we waited....it was picture time:)

Me, Scottie, and Becky waiting at the bar at Blanc. Other than that, my day was booorrringgg. Meetings all day:( But Blanc was the perfect way to end the day!

Day #12: Happy Birthday Ginny Rae:)

Today is one of my very best friend Ginny Rae Alley McCullough's birthday!

Okay, so that is not her full name..she got rid of Rae when she got married, but I will always know her as Ginny Rae:) This pic was obviously not taken today, but a little over two years ago from her bridal luncheon. Ginny and I met through our other best friend Shae at NCSU and we were instant best friends. We sat through endless baseball games together and my college experience definitely would not be the same without her! G-Rae-I love you very much and hope you had the best birthday ever!

Day #11: Blue Dog Cafe

I finally got to venture out of the "Mardi Gras" conference room (it is not very Mardi Gras AT ALL) and go to one of the "famous" restaurants of Lafayette, Louisiana; the Blue Dog Cafe.

And man, it was good! So worth it:) I got a flouder stuffed with crab, that had etoufee covering the top. I should have taken a picture of it, because it was pretty too! But I was too hungry and forgot:) If anyone ever comes to Lafayette, I highly recommend it! I just found out I might have to come back here next week too, lucky me, so I might have to go again:) it was that good!

Day #10: Work, Work, and more Work

So today was by far the most boring day of the year. Granted we are only on day #10, but I'm really struggling on what I can even write today. Here is what I did:

Wake up, run in the hotel gym, get ready for work, eat breakfast, work for 11 hours, eat dinner in the hotel lounge, more work, and that's it. Exciting huh? Well the only time I really saw daylight was my walk across the street to the lovely strip mall for lunch, where they had a Tropical Smoothie Cafe. And no lie, it was actually pretty good. So today, my picture is of Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Enjoy;)



On a side note, to reward myself on an 11+ hour work day, I started REALLY looking at flights to Hawaii in March for Lori's birthday! Yay for fun vacation with my favorites!

Day #9: Travel Nightmare

Today was a travel nightmare. Well, it officially started on Friday when I had to book a last minute trip to Lafayette, LA..I'll spare everyone the details:) But I woke up at 4:30, left my house at 5:30, made it to Houston by 10 am. Then sat, sat, and sat some more for 6 hours, while terrible thunderstorms haulted all planes in and out of Houston. All I have to say is thank goodness for my IPAD and Netflix. They were a lifesaver! Also, to make today a little bit better, once we got to the hotel at 6:45, I finally got to take advantage of my new Gold status with Hilton-free appetizers/dinner for this girl in an upgraded room:) Thank you Hilton. You made this terrible, rainy, miserable, boring day a little bit better! It's the little things....

Day #8: Resurrection Downtown

Happy Sunday Friends! My church opened a downtown campus a little over a year ago and moved into a new, bigger building a few weeks ago:) This Sunday was the first time I have gotten to go and it was amazing! I met Anna and Jeremy this morning and really enjoyed the sermon. Our pastor started a series on Love, Sex, and Marriage...and it was really awesome, even for a single girl like me:)

Here are is a picture of the new building

and me and Anna in front of Church thanks to our awesome photographer:)

I ended the night with one last dinner with Lori:( We went over to Jenn's and ate lasagna and Jenn suprised us with a Red Velvet Cake, our favorite with snowflakes of course:)


I'm off to Lafayette, Louisiana tomorrow...just in time for a Championship game:) Only I'm going for work...but I'll try and post a few pics from my trip!

Day #7: Farmhouse Please:)

I'm not going to lie. I slept until 10:30 for the first time in FOREVER. Can you say exhausted much? It was amazing. So amazing, I was running late to brunch with my friends...sorry guys! But we did have an awesome breakfast at The Farmhouse. It's a cute, organic, little place downtown that we frequent. Since Lori is moving in less than a week, we thought it was fitting to go one last time.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a major cleaning mode. I did three loads of laundry, reorganized our laundry room, along with some of our cabinets, and put the rest of the Christmas decorations away. I have rewarded my productivity with a night of cleaning out my DVR..so many shows and so little time. But some wine, pjs, and TV...an amazing way to end the night:) Happy Saturday Friends!

Day #6: Phone Home L2

Day #6 is a little late, I apologize. One of my very best friends Lori is moving to Portland next week, so last night we threw a going-away party for her. We had it at in the vault/wine cellar of one of our favorite resturants, Coal Vines. It was so much fun, and after the day I had yesterday, it was much needed! Here is a picture from the party:)

We are just missing Demel and Becky! Erin was in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl (go Cats!) and Becky flew to Abu Dhabi for work (lucky girl!). We are going to miss you so much Lori! You are one of the best friends a girl could ask for:) So kind and FUNNY:) Love and miss you already!

Day #5: Boring and Exhausted

I woke up exhausted today. I have been fighting a cold all week and still exercising like a crazy (thank you "steps" competition at work-I can explain in a later post). Today was a t-shirt day for work. And I have been getting lots of requests (okay-actually just one from ShaeB) to take a picture of my new wolf t-shirt. Anyone who knows me, knows I love anything with a "wolf theme." Go Wolfpack! I have wolf calendars, a little stuffed wolf that sits on my desk, and now I own a wolf t-shirt:) Thank you Erin O. for my Urban Outfitters gift card, because I used it to buy this amazing wolf t-shirt.

And starting last May, we could wear jeans to work-Amen-as long as we don't have clients in town. And of course we have to dress up when we go to a client site, but for days like today ponytail, glasses, and a t-shirt kinda day....it was perfect.

Day #4: Family Dinner and College Basketball

So today was another normal/boring day:) I got up, went to work, and went to the gym. We did decide to have a "family dinner." I guess I should explain to those that don't know that the brother (John) of my roomate (Becky) and his roomate (Scottie) live a block away:) We are living in an episode of "Friends" and we love it. We have family dinner's a lot. Tonight's menu was caesar salad, spaghetti, and garlic bread. And then we watched the KU vs. KState basketball game (well I watched the first half at least).


You are just going to have to get used to my "after gym" look because I have a feeling most of my pictures are going to be taken post 5 o'clock, post gym, when I'm in my "I don't care anymore mode":)

Day #3: Happy Birthday Sadie Brown

Today is my niece dog's first birthday! Miss Sadie Brown lives a block away and Becky and I tend to take care of her a lot:) She is such a sweet, little puppy and we just happen to be birthday neighbors....It was a struggle to get a picture with her in her tiara, but alas she finally sat still long enough. Please excuse my grubby after gym look:)


The rest of the day involved going to work (boring), going to the gym, having a bunch of friends over for Chili (thanks Becks-it was excellent!), and then watching the Iowa Caucus results, yep we are dorks! It's hard to believe that we are actually voting this year:) Here is my plug for everyone to go register to vote! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Day #2: Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!

I feel so blessed! I got so many phone calls, texts, birthday cards, and love..I feel like the luckiest girl in the world sometimes:) I'm so blessed to have some amazing people in my life! Well, enough of the cheesiness...let's get to my day:)
I got to sleep in (thank you New Years holiday)and woke up really happy. I haven't slept well the past few nights, so it was nice to get a good night's sleep and get to sleep in. I went to sushi lunch with two of my best friends, Erin and Lori, and then we went on a shopping spree. What better way to celebrate your birthday than sushi and shopping with two of your best friends??
Then Becky and I ordered pizza, watched some TV, and just relaxed after a long, fun weekend. Tomorrow is back to work:( But here is the picture from day #2.
It was a cold, windy day here in KC, but I'm not going to complain, because this winter has been so mild. But enjoy! It is a picture of me, Lori, and Erin shopping on the plaza. We had to take it ourselves:)

Day #1: Happy New Year!

Well, day #1 didn't come out on time, but that wasn't my fault! Our internet was down last night, and because of that, day #1 is going to have two pictures:) NYE was spent celebrating with some great friends. Becky (my roomate) and I decided last minute to host a little get together at our condo, which included amazing appetizers (thanks Pinterest), great drinks, and awesome friends. We rang in the new year laughing, pretty much the norm for our friends, and then had a little slumber party:) Needless to say day #1 of 2012, and my last day of 28, was pretty awesome. Happy New Year Friends! I hope 2012 is filled with lots of laughter and great memories:)