An Exciting Week

I find myself in the very lucky position of having somewhere to be every night this week with very different groups of friends.
Monday night I got the rare opportunity to hang out with Ben. He came home from San Diego for three days for Christmas. Monday night after my Violence in America presentation, we headed down to Spaghetti Works for some pasta goodness. He got to see my apartment beforehand and we did our gift exchange. I'm always bad at picking out gifts for guy friends, but I stumbled upon this really handsome leather Kenneth Cole watch. And since A) I knew he needed a watch that was both dressy and casual at the same time and B) he spent a lot of money on me for my birthday, I figured I could splurge on the watch. He got me a really cool necklace and a doodle book that I coincedentally purchased for my friend Marissa only hours before! I was looking at it thinking how I wanted to buy myself a copy because I thought it was so funny, and here Ben had it in his suitcase the whole time. It's crazy how our minds kinda ESP sometimes. After dinner, were we had the most brain dead server ever...I don't even know what must have been going on in her head, we went to the Max. We walked in expecting chaos and we were the only two people in the whole large bar! It was so prettily decorated for Christmas; I felt we were in a winter wonderland of alcohol. We had a good time, talking to the bartenders, getting free drinks, and playing pool. Love Ben!
On Tuesday, I did my Christmas with Ali and Marissa at California Pizza Kitchen. It was so yummy and our server was better than the other girl the night before. She made us crack up so much later because we ordered dessert and she told us the "tip" to eating it. Her tip consisted of her telling us to dip the cake in the vanilla sauce that was underneath it. Really? No, I was going to stare at the sauce and very carefully extract the cake from on top and avoid that sauce like poison. It was great. We did our gift exchange and they got me a web cam so we can keep in touch while they're in Spain. After, we took a series of ridiculous and hilarious pictures that involved an octopus balloon and the inside of my car. I'm going to miss these girls so much when they are in Spain :(
Tonight, I'm hanging with my Chang's bffs Aimee and Jess. We're going to catch a bite to eat and probably a movie. I'll update how that goes and the rest of my fun week.
Now, how do I have money to go out to eat??? I do not. Oh well, I'm picking up shifts before rent is due, so I should be semi-okay. lol

Goodbye, Captaincy

Yesterday was my last day as the women's captain for the Creighton Rowing Association. And while it wasn't my last day on the team, of course, I couldn't help but feel a little sad and as if it were the end of an era.
My first semester at Creighton was TOUGH. I felt so lonely. All of my best friends were in Lincoln, I didn't have many close friends in Omaha except for Laurel, Mallory, and Becky and I had just had my heart shattered. I wasn't living at home anymore, and although I enjoyed the freedom that gave me, I missed the comfort of having my family there. I cried alot and turned to eating. I gained so much weight that year and that only contributed to my sadness. The only thing I really had to look forward to during this time was crew practice. Everyone there was so nice and friendly. That first semester cemented some of the strongest friendships I have today. I've grown up with my senior class of rowers and it's crazy to think there was ever a period of time in my life where I felt that low, that unhappy. But my crew team pulled me out of it.
I was reading some old emails I had sent my dad at that time and all I ever talked about was what we were doing in practice, my new friends, and the goals and dreams I had for the team.
I was not a good rower at first. I was terrible in fact. I look at my first ergatta 2K time from freshman year and last year, and it is incredible how much faster I am now.
Crew also helped me with my immense weight loss that will forever be a part of my life. Once you get that big, and sink that low, there is NOTHING in your life that will ever bring you back to that weight. Crew helped me because it gave me a chance to work out, but after freshman year, after I started to become a better rower, it pushed to me to make those changes. I wanted to be a stronger rower and I began eating better and exercising outside of practice. I've lost 90 lbs since then.
I've always been an outgoing, humorous person and my best outlets for this were at crew parties and such. I think this new found confidence helped me to break out of my unhappiness and start making lots of friends outside of crew. Now, I have some of the greatest friends anyone could ask for and I love to go out and meet new people. Besides rowing, I think my number one favorite thing to do is meet new friends.
I learned so much as a captain of an autonomous team. Having to do everything ourselves cemented our bonds further and we came to rely and expect nothing but the best from each other. There are not enough words to say how much I enjoyed being an admin for such a great team and teaching the new rowers how to row. The crew team is a family. And the fact that next year, I will no longer be on the team is very hard to even comphrehend right now--and it scares me alot! I can't imagine my life without my team and it's very sad. But I KNOW I am a better person because of crew.
To the new officers of the CRA, this is OUR team. I hope you love it and take care of it as much as the seniors this year did. It's hard to pass over that mantle, but you are more than up to the challenge. And when this next semester ends, I hope we seniors have left a sort of legacy. The CRA has definitely left one in my life.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!

So Papa Schleggs gave us all a little early Christmas present and closed school early Tuesday and all day Wednesday. This little mini vacay has been so wonderful. Heather and I made a gingerbread house, which we likewise destroyed the roof of and I got some wrapping done. We also braved the snow and ventured to HuHot for some yummy comfort food. If only everyday were a snow day. There really is nothing like a snow day to turn you back into a kid. Hot chocolate, anyone?

Song of the Moment

So, every once in a while I like to update my readers on the song that I just can't stop listening to at the moment. The last song I wrote about was "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez. This time around, the winner goes to The Arcade Fire's "Wake Up". You might recognize it from the previews for the Where the Wild Things Are movie. It is such a cool song and totally up my alley. The chorus just kind of lifts you up and there's a part about 3/4 into the song that just makes me want to dance and run around like a little kid when I hear it. You can hear the song here.
Nothing else much here. The weekend was a pretty party-tastic time when I should have been getting stuff done but who could ever refuse a good time? I should probably do some paper writing and bedroom cleaning tonight after school but I think I might go shopping...I need new running shoes SO BAD. The sole on one of the shoes is seriously hanging on by about an inch of material. And I'm totally going running before practice today in them. lol

Birthday Party for Aimee

Last night we celebrated the day Aimee was birthed by going out to Jam's and then to The Green Onion. I went over to Aimee's before hand to help her make red velvet cupcakes and let me tell you, those were the best cupcakes I've ever had probably due to the fact that the cream cheese frosting had MARSHMALLOW CREAM in the recipe. Holy balls.
Well, I pulled a typical Amelia moment when making the cake by dropping the egg container, cracking 3 eggs on the ground, catching one with my knee and saving 2. It was a container of 6 and we needed 3 eggs so if I hadn't caught the one with my knee, all would have been lost. It was definitely a baking spectacle.
Jess came over a little later then we all made our way to Jam's in Ben's spaceship of a car. Jam's has tasty food (I had a crab cake salad that was reallllly good) but terrrrrible service. I mean, it's bad. It was bad this time and it was bad the last time I was there. But they can get away with it because the food and atmosphere are such a cut above the rest. Ugh, I hate that. I have to work my TAIL off at Chang's for my money and then I go to get served at a restaurant by a snotty server who couldn't give a shit because she knows she'll walk out with hella good tips for the night because the prices on the menu are higher.
Anyway, after dinner, (which was really fun, btw. I love Aimee's new Bonefish friends. They're really cool) we went to The Green Onion, a bar notorious in Omaha for making their drinks extremely strong. Aimee, Jess, and I would go there all the time after work when we were all at Chang's but it was never as busy as it was last night. We had to stalk this one table we saw getting up so we could snag their table when they left. It was really fun though, and many Malibu and Pineapples were consumed. ha...
It was a really fun night, we capped it off eating the cupcakes we made and playing Guitar Hero. Happy Birthday, Aimee!

The Drive to Bennington and a Reunion

Yesterday, I drove my mother and I to Bennington High School for the swine flu vaccination. Bennington is six miles away from north Omaha and it is a really small farm community. We drove there around 3 in the afternoon and I was just blown away with how beautiful it is out there! The drive was so scenic with farmland extending into the horizon, cute barns, lots of horses and a pumpkin patch. The drive into the town has one road with trees lined on the side. While we were driving down the road, we saw some people riding their horses, you know, just everyday stuff Bennington residents get to do. I had no idea! I want to live in Bennington now. The wait for the shot wasn't too bad but we were in front of and behind some real characters. There was a Jordin Sparks "Got Milk?" poster on the wall and my mom asked me who that was. I was all like "Jordin Sparks, duh!" and she was all like "Oh yeah, duh" (not really, no one actually talks like that) And then the guy behind us goes, "She's bootyliscious." My mom proceeded to crack up while I looked for an escape route. Anyway, it was pretty quick and only a little painful (the whole experience, not the shot itself) and we went and got dinner after.
Tonight was a little Jobie reunion. Many people don't know about this part of my life but I was a member of Job's Daughters International, a wonderful organization for young women. I absolutely adored being in Job's. I made some great friends, had a lot of fun, and found something I was really good at. I just think the Order is really beautiful and special. Well, we had some problems at home during the years I was in Job's, and I had to pull out before I wanted to. Ever since then, I've wished I could have stayed. Tonight was my opportunity to participate in a meeting again. It was just like old times except there were different girls. It really felt like I never left. I am very grateful there is an organization out there for girls; building self-esteem, respect for others, philanthropic work, and friendship. <3

Weird Dreams, the Swine, and a Spark

I had the. strangest. dream. ever last night! I have only ever been prompted to look up what a dream means in a book one other time in my life, and that was when I was working at Barnes and Noble and there was no one in the store and I was supposed to be dusting the Dreams section. Yes, we had a Dreams section.
Anyway, sparing too many details that are disturbing, I kept dreaming that I was coughing up bugs. EEW, right? I can't even type this without cringing.
While there was no exact definition for "coughing up small insects" in the dream search engine online, the interpretation for coughing makes some sense. It said to dream that you are coughing a lot means you have a fear of or dissatisfaction of the future. Interesting. I must have an extreme fear or dissatisfaction if creepy crawlies are involved.
Of course, reading that, I could apply that to many aspects of my future. The most prevalent on my mind, however, is student teaching and the career path I chose. I find myself at a sort of selfish, dissatisfied, crossroads when it comes to being an educator. I don't want to tie myself down in a classroom for years. I want to travel, meet new people, do wild and crazy things. The last thing I want is for children to depend on me. That comes later when I've met my dream hunk. On the other hand, this is the path I've chosen and I KNOW I am good at teaching. Many a classroom observer for me has told me so. And we have such a need for qualified teachers. But, gross, I don't wanna! That is why I'm applying to grad school for Speech Language Pathology, but still. Can't I just be an astronaut or foreign diplomat or something?
The fear part of the dream probably factors into the fact that the advisors for the SLP program at UNO HAVE NOT emailed me back after the hundredth time. They just keep telling me to come to the Open House with my questions. What is wrong with a world where a prospective student cannot sit down and have a face to face convo with someone? Robots!
So while my subconscious is telling me I suck at being satisfied with my future, my parents have been scrambling to find a swine vaccine. My doctor's office is supposed to have it but my dad calls everyday and they don't ever have it. As I am student teaching next semester I have to get a shot. So, tonight I have to skip practice, and wait in some damn line for hours to get a vaccination. Stupid piggies.
A small highlight for today, however, is using Spark People. My roommate showed it to me and it is AWESOME. It's a free site that lets you track your nutrition, exercise, and weight loss. You should check it out here. As I've already lost so much weight, I think it's a great tool to help me lose those last unwanted lbs. Well, I better get off and make it look like I'm actually working (I'm at work study right now and Boss is sitting right behind me)

Where in the World is Amelia Sandiego?

Wow, it has been a looong ass time since the last time I blogged. The only excuse I can come up for myself is that I am just lazy as can be. Or maybe really busy. Nah, just a lazy pile.
There has been much that has gone on since I last blogged-the whole month of October to start.
Halloween was a highlight. I dressed as Amelia Earhart (which, btw, I also saw the movie "Amelia" with Hilary Swank and I am just fascinated with this aviatrix) It was a lot of fun as we had a good old fashioned crew ice cream social. You might be able to guess my favorite type of ice cream...hint: it contains no dairy but has a lot of ice.
Entering November has been busy, busy, busy and kind of stressful. We still don't know our student teaching placements officially although I did receive a heads up from a fellow education major that I am placed at Minne Lusa elementary school in a fourth grade class. Needless to say, I freaked out just a little bit when I heard this.
We started erging again. Gotta love winter training for rowing. Ian and I have been very busy as captains making the workouts and organizing the meter challenge that is in effect. I won last week's challenge for varsity women and as I am hyper competitive, I hope to keep it that way. The last fall regatta in Wichita was another highlight of October. It was actually the Sunday after Halloween, go figure, so it was just a great weekend. We finished out the season really strong with two boats medaling. My boat had the best race I've ever had and I couldn't have asked for a better last fall race or regatta. So much fun!
Work is work, gotta love serving people and bending to their every want. But I guess I can't complain as I am also a person that gets served. Thinking about it, working as a server is a very strange job. I may have to serve people and it sucks, but it is one of the only jobs where the server turns around and does the same thing to another server. I may always tip 20% and be nice, but I'm still perpetrating the circle. Oh well, I make hella good money in tips.
No such luck in the game of love here. I'm pretty used to it by now but it does get really lonely. I go out all the time and LOVE meeting new people. I feel I give off a good impression and people like me...but that's the thing. I'm everyone's best friend but no one's girlfriend. To quote Queen, "Can anybody find me....somebody to love?!"
Well, that's been about the last month in a very, very short summary. I promise from today on to be better about updating. Peace, love, and ergs.

Happy Fall!

I haven't blogged for a few days so I just wanted to update everyone on what's been up in the riveting life of Amelia. For the last couple days I've been very busy with crew dealings since we have two regattas in the next two weeks and numerous new rowers to accommodate. My inbox is like a sea of rowing emails (or a river or lake if you want to make a rowing pun). So I haven't been blogging much.
Crew is going spectaculary well! We had our first set Varsity 4 practice last night, with me as stroke, and it felt fast and strong. I'm really excited to see what happens this weekend in Des Moines. We tried to practice yesterday morning but the fog on the lake was so dense, even Rudolph couldn't see through it. We would have launched and not been able to find the dock, it was that bad. So we held off until last night. Practices with the novice are getting better and better each day, with the new rowers picking up new skills very quickly.
School has been going well. My first two tests of the semester went really well and I got A's on both. Let's just see if I keep up with this super student facade I've been putting on the last couple weeks. I've actually been reading for my classes which is completely out of the norm for me...
To update my last post, I found a bean bag chair for my sister for $15!!! It was like it was meant to be. They marketed the chairs as "Game Day" chairs so that's why they had the sale. It's like the corporate headquarters of Wal-Mart read my blog and decided to accommodate my need. I'm pretty excited for her birthday party on Friday since my mom will probably make some uber delicious dish and my other sister is coming home from North Dakota. The only thing that sucks is that the next morning I have to wake up at 3 am!!!!! in order to get to school by 3:30 to drive to the Des Moines regatta. I'll be feeling the cake and ice cream the next morning...
My money situation is pretty bleak because I haven't been able to work as much at Chang's, so I'm not making tip money and all of my last work study check went to bills and gas. What is in my fridge right now? The water jug, Light margarine, milk, and alcohol. I guess that's all you need in life! I had oatmeal for lunch the other day! haha
Once I do go grocery shopping, I'm going to buy like 5 cans of pumpkin. Fall is my FAVORITE time of baking (even more so than Christmas because Christmas baking is just such a daunting task) I love pumpkin flavored things so I'm planning to make pumpkin bread, muffins, bars, and perhaps a vegan pumpkin spice cake recipe I found. I have to gripe, though, that this Halloween I can't celebrate because we will be in the vans headed to the Witchita regatta. I absolutely ADORE Halloween, but maybe I'll make little treat bags for my team...
This has been incredibly long so I will stop for today! Here's a thought: If you had a lot of money to spend on a Halloween costume, and you had an awesome party to go to, who/what would you be? I would go all out on an Uhura from Star Trek costume complete with big hair, go go boots, and lavish eyeliner. Yes, I am a Star Trek nerd, get over it!

The hunt for the bean bag chair

It is so hard to find affordable bean bag chairs in this town! Grr. A while ago Shopko had a sale for 19.99 bean bag chairs. I went the FIRST day of the sale in the MORNING and there were none left AKA they probably only had 5 to start out with. Their devious plan worked because I did proceed to shop around and bought some shirts there but that's beside the point! I want to get my sister a chair for her birthday this weekend (I hope she doesn't read this, didn't think about that...) and even Walmart's are kind of expensive. Tips were not that good this weekend but if push comes to shove, I will shell out the big bucks because I think she deserves it.
Even though I have homework to do tonight, I think I'll go hit up another store before closing time. My older sister's birthday is coming up too and I have NO idea what to get her. She's the type of person who has everything and doesn't really have any special interests (i.e. she doesn't collect Precious Moments things or even have a DVD collection). Does anyone have any suggestions for a woman in her late twenties that has everything? I know she's my sister, and you don't know her like I do, but I'm stuck. Help!
On another note, my Violence in America class freaked me out today. We talked about serial killers and recent homicides in Omaha. Needless to say, I walked to my car after class (around 7:30 pm) with one eye looking behind me and the other looking forward. It was extremely interesting, that's for sure, but I'm alone in my apartment till Heather gets home from work. EEK!

When I grow up...

When I grow up, I want to live in Seattle. I have ever since I was about 7 years old and we took our family vacation there. I don't care if it rains everyday or that it is a big, smelly city. I just want to go stick my gum on the gum wall and look at the Space Needle everyday.
I saw a movie tonight with Heather and Aja that took place in Seattle and that's what got me thinking about it. You get the best of both worlds-mountains and oceans. The only meat I eat is seafood and it's a port city. You can ride around Puget Sound on the ship they used in one of the Star Trek movies. Yes, I do believe that living in Seattle is a good fit for me. Rainboots are delicious and I like my pink umbrella very much. This would just allow me to get closer to them!

See you on the Watah!

Today was the first day the new novice rowers got to be in boats on the water. It's always pretty amazing to me on the first day with novice just how many little technique things and lingo that is involved with rowing. There is SO much they have to learn and I hope it is not too overwhelming for them. I must have some memory disorder because I don't really remember my first few days as a novice. Maybe I've just blocked them out but I don't remember being overwhelmed, so maybe they're not.
I'm still floored by the sheer number of newbies we have. I only know 6 or 7 names so far! We had enough today to fill all of our boats with a few leftover. I stroked one of the eights, and the rest of the Varsity was disbursed amongst the other boats and the launch.
It was quite fun. Obviously, it didn't go as smoothly as normal but for their first day, they did extremely well! I'm very excited for this team to get back on its feet and start traveling to regattas!
On another note, my friend Aja and I have started a vlog, because she has a camcorder and we thought it would be funny. You can check out our video blog at http://styoml.blogspot.com/
Peace out girl scout!

Song of the Moment

I think every one of us has a song or two that we listen to over and over for a few days, weeks, or months. It's the first thing we open on iTunes or scroll to on the iPod. Often it is an unexplainable phenomenon, like when I listened to the The Beatles's "Cry Baby Cry" for weeks on end half a year ago. Why that song? I don't know. My iTunes shuffled to it and there must have been something in my life at the time that related to the song. Until the last few weeks, I was listening to The Cranberries's "Ode to My Family" obsessively. Now, for about three weeks I've been repeatedly listening to Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust". If you've never listened to Joan Baez, you are missing out on a beautiful female vocal. There are few singers who have stood the test of time and can still sing as soulfully and beautifully as when they were in the height of their careers.
The song has been said to have been written about Joan Baez's great love of her life, Bob Dylan. I don't know if she has officially confirmed this but romantic souls like myself like to apply the lyrics to her life. The two performers are legends and sang together often when they were younger. You just have to look at pictures of the two of them to see that there was a lot of love. If you listen to the song you can feel the power of love behind her words and the heartbreak that broken relationships or unrequited love (which I know much of) can produce.
You can listen to a live performance on YouTube here.
P.S. I'm really sad about Patrick Swayze...Ghost is one of my favorite movies!

Britney Cont...THE CONCERT EVENT

We had finally arrived in Des Moines and after a good lunch and some chillaxing, the rest of the group arrived and we started getting ready for the best night ever. Laura and I were already ready so we went down to the lounge for some free cocktails as the other girls got ready. When it was time to go, we took the shuttle over to the Arena. Our excitement was welling up!
We got some drinks and took some pictures. And then...it was finally time for the concert to start. Kristina DeBarge and Jordin Sparks opened and it was apparent this was going to be a good concert. And we were so close to the stage!
Since this was Britney's Circus tour, the show started with circus acts including a girl with no legs on a trampoline, little people, and acrobats. Whatever Britney wants, I guess she gets!
OMG and then she appeared. We were so excited, jumping up and down and screaming. Of course, my voice is still not fully recovered from my bout with laryngitis this summer so my scream was more manly than most. We danced the night away and Britney put on a great show. I even mustered up the courage to ask this old guy in front of us to dance with me, but to no avail. We were so funny and crazy and it was weird to us because not a lot of people were dancing near us. Come on people, this is Britney Spears!
After the concert began a night of incredible drunkenness, dancing fun, and other illicit doings. It was pretty much the best night of my life and I had such a great time with my work girlfriends!

Britney Cont...The Road Trip

After much confusion of changing plans, figuring out rides, getting snacks for the trip, and last minute packing, we were finally on our way. I love road trips but I get incredibly antsy! I rode out with Aimee and Jessica and although Des Moines is only a few hours away, I started getting a little childlike and anxious. I kept playing with Aimee's seat belt and squirming around. It could also be that I was SO EXCITED to get there! When we got within city limits we starting using Aimee's GPS system on her phone that talks to you and tells you where to go. We stayed at the Embassy Suites on the river which is within a few blocks of the Wells Fargo Arena and the downtown area. It was incredibly easy to find with the tracker but absolutely ridiculously hilarious. The hotel was located on Locust Street but for some reason, unknown to humans, the GPS pronounced Locust as "Asparagus". And not only did the female voice pronounce it "asparagus", she practically screamed it. This happened twice and I still giggle when I think about it. We cracked up about it for like ten minutes. Aimee could barely keep driving. I knew then that this was going to be a GREAT trip!

It's Britney, B*tch

So this weekend was the long awaited Britney Spears concert in Des Moines. My girlfriends from work and I had been planning to go for about 3 months and it finally came. I can't even begin to write about all the things that happened so I'm going to take little breaks in my retelling of that fateful night.
Okay, go!
First of all, a little background. When we were trying to figure out tickets there were a couple seats that we were looking at but none that were too great. And then we luckily stumbled upon our THIRD rows seats! They were a lot more expensive, granted, but totally worth it. Britney is doing her Circus tour but for some reason, isn't coming to Omaha so we planned a road trip to Des Moines.
I had never been to a concert before this one. How is this possible? I don't know and now that I've gone to one, I have the concert bug. I want to go to more.

Eight Minutes with Billy

For the past couple of weeks I've been doing the old school 8 Minute Abs workout on YouTube. The fitness trainer that has the 8 Minute programs, and yes, there are many, has the most wonderful spandex outfits around. I didn't know his name until I looked him up. It's like Jaime Brenkus or something but I just call him Billy. He looks like a Billy.
Billy and I have a love/hate relationship. On the one hand, after I lose my "cold weather protection layer" that blankets my stomach, he will have given me the exercises to attain rock hard abs. On the other hand, sometimes I despise him when he makes me do side crunches. Those have always been my worst enemy.
It's a good thing I have the video for 8 Minute Abs because otherwise I would not do any crunches. I abhor sit-ups as my roommate and former personal trainer could tell you. I would rather do cardio for an hour and a half (and I have) than do 10 minutes of sit-ups. Which is why it's a good thing Billy's routine is only 8 minutes long!

Creighton Rowing and Yumminess

I love going to a Catholic school where crazy holidays give you the morning off. Because of Mass of the Holy Spirit, I didn't have any classes today so I got to sleep in and just go to school for the Involvement Fair. I row for the Creighton Rowing Association so it was a good time to heavily recruit and hang out with my teammates.
We got almost three complete pages of potential new rowers so that was pretty exciting. We are a really small team and recruitment has been a huge issue for us for the past two years. We'll see how many of the people who signed up will come to our info meeting tomorrow night.
After the Fair, we had practice on Carter Lake, the murky toxic waters of your worst nightmares. It was pretty muggy today but it was still a productive and fun practice. I always have a great time when I'm on a boat.
We got out of practice pretty early so I got a head start on making the dinner I've been wanting to make forever...eggplant parmesan! I bought the eggplant at the Farmer's Market downtown on Saturday and I got the rest of the ingredients last night. I've decided that although it hurts my heart, I need to give up cheese for a while. Eating mass amounts of cheese is not helping me lose any weight. So I figured eggplant parmesan would be a good send-off to cheese. After this meal and the leftovers are gone, it's sayonara cheese! :(
It turned out so yummy and my roommate loved it too. I must be in a cooking mode, because I also have some banana bread in the oven as I type this, from a vegan recipe courtesy of a good friend of mine. The apartment is like 90 degrees from all the oven usage that has happened over the last 2 hours.
Time to go, I think the oven timer just went off. Peace!

A Party in My Tummy

When I was deciding what to write about today, I realized there are a Myriad (with a capital "M") amount of things I can talk about. Narrowing the list down to subjects people might want to read about, however, was not hard. So today I decided to offer a shameless plug for my favorite restaurant in Omaha to anyone who is interested in a delicious meal.
McFoster's Natural Kind Cafe is a vegetarian restaurant committed to serving the best quality food at reasonable prices in a fun, laid-back atmosphere. True to the hippie spirit, anyone and everyone is invited to a healthy, natural meal served by lovely, nice people who are just as much in love with the food there as you will be when you are finished with your meal. The atmosphere and decor brings back 60's nostalgia without being too in your face about it.
Probably one of the main reasons I enjoy this restaurant so much is that the owners, Tom and Mary, are actually friends of my parents. I grew up around this restaurant and its regular patrons but because of the natural changes friendships go through, my parents hadn't gone to see the McFoster's for a long time until just recently. Now, I've been in four times in the last few weeks and have brought some of my friends to spread the word around.
Tonight I ate the special which was a delicious portabella mushroom wrap and had the famous Smoked Tomato Soup. It was certainly a party in my tummy, indeed!

After my culinary adventure, I went to the grocery store to pick up some items for eggplant parmesan, which I am making tomorrow night. I have a love/hate relationship with grocery shopping. I love it when I am not looking for anything specific. I can just wander up and down the aisle and grab things here and there that look tasty. I hate it, though, when I need to find specific ingredients for things. This is probably due to the fact that I get distracted by products that beckon to me ("Look at me, I am a sack of grapes that have Disney princesses screen printed on me. You MUST take me home") Before I know it, I am in the completly wrong aisle when all along I just needed some eggs and bread crumbs and I've walked by where the eggs live four times before I realized I should've probably grabbed those the first time around.
I remember when I used to live on campus how the grocery store was like a sad little adventure to look forward to. It was an opportunity to go into the real world and see different kinds of people and get away from the dorm room.
How times have changed. Well, enough about food, I should probably go work out now! Peace.

First Rendezvous

So I've never written a blog before and I was thinking about all the little diaries I used to keep as a little girl with the little lock and the little key I kept under my bed and I thought, "Why not start a blog? I have nothing to hide and a blog is just a diary the whole world can read..." Well, whether or not that is a good idea is beside the point. I made the blog and here it is, for anyone who wants to read it.

There is no real purpose to this blog. I wanted there to be but I couldn't think of anything that hadn't already been done. So I'm just going to treat this blog like my old school diaries with Disney princesses and fairies on the covers and diverge to the world all the things that make up my day to day life.

So get pumped, everyone, because I am! Tomorrow will begin the cataloging of my oh-so-eventful life. And it is eventful, that's for sure. Some days will be more interesting than others, obv, but whose life is always an edge-of-your-seat adventure anyway?