Soup Du Jour

Happy Birthday America!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:59:00 +0000

This is a day late, but better late than never!

Headed to San Diego for a long weekend as we speak. Pictures to follow :)

Kristi

D.C. How I've Missed You!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Last weekend I finally returned to D.C. (the first visit since Labor Day last year when I went with mom). My good friend Katie is getting married in the Bahamas in January, and although I am still trying to figure out a way to go, since I might not be able to, I went to her wedding shower in D.C. instead. It was such a good time. I had so much fun visiting with old friends, meeting some new ones, and of course, just enjoying the city.

Friday night Adri and I met up with Katie and Kelsey on 8th St. SE. I hadn't really ever been out in this part of the city, but I will definitely be going back more often. We also went to brunch there on Saturday at Belga, where I had green eggs (no pictures unfortunately) and even though I was really weirded out at first about eating eggs that were green, they were seriously so delish. The green actually came from pesto that was mixed in, which also doesn't really sound that appetizing as I'm typing this, but trust me, it was wonderful.

Adri and I then set off on a walk-about. One of my fav things to do in D.C. is just stroll. Since I drive to work every day and then sit in an office for 10 hours, any excuse I can get to just be outside, walking around, I'll take it! We started at Eastern Market and walked to the Capitol, then all the way down the mall to the Washington Monument. It was a beautiful day, with a nice breeze, and although there were TONS of tourist (I know, pot calling the kettle black) who were in our way half the time, it was still a nice way to kill an hour.

We hopped on the Metro, and rode back up to Eastern Market to pick up some fresh eats for a picnic on the roof at Adri's building. Although I've been to Eastern Market several times, I can't remember going in the summer when there was so much fresh produce. It was like the Fayetteville Farmers Market x 10, with way more variety. There were also lots of tomatoes, and we taste-tested at pretty much every stand, but alas, there were no tasty tomatoes to be found. I cannot wait for tomatoes to start popping up at the local market. I really do believe with all my heart that Arkansas tomatoes are the.best.tomatoes.anywhere. Amirite?

Adri's cheese man really hooked us up! Aged Gouda and some Rosemary Goat cheese= amazing!

The market was buzzing with hungry shoppers.

Adrielle, looking longingly into the meat case. Delicious prosciutto, be still my beating heart!

All the farmers lined up to sell their wares.

The result of our shopping trip was a wonderful picnic with our meats, cheeses, white cherries, fresh figs, some yummy peaches, and wine of course. We sunned ourselves while enjoying our spoils.

Then it was par-tay time. While I didn't take any pictures, there are sure to be several good ones on Katie's dad's camera that I can't wait to see. After a long night dancing at Rock N' Roll Hotel (I outlasted all the other girls, which is only an accomplishment to me because I am normally the first to call it a night and go home to bed like the old lady that I have become), the next morning I wasn't feeling too hot. We had mimosa brunch, minus the mimosas for me, at an old fav, the Argonaut, and then went home so I could lay on the couch and self-loathe a little for drinking too much the night before. But, it's D.C., so what did I expect?? When in Rome!

And when in an English pub, do as the English do, aka watch soccer and enjoy a pint of Strongbow!

Adri took me to a new place on H St. called the Queen Vic. It was the most authentic English pub I've been to in the U.S., complete with fish and chips, Sunday Roast (which I will be trying next time) and Pimms cups. It was a great way to end the weekend, and it made me nice and sleepy for my flight home :)

Enjoying our Strongbow.

-Kristi

San Diego Vacay

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Hello blog world! I've been back from vacation for almost a week now and I'm just getting around to posting from my trip, oopsy :) I just had a lot to catch up at work, and around the house of course. I'm finally back on track, which is good, since I'm headed to D.C. next weekend for Katie's wedding shower.

My trip to San Diego was fab-u-lous. Coronado Beach was recently voted the best beach in America, and it's easy to see why. It absolutely beautiful there. The town is the cutest little thing you've ever seen. It's so clean, everyone is super friendly, and people just walk or ride their bikes everywhere. The weather was near perfect the first 5 days of the trip so I spent much of it on the beach. The first two days I managed to burn both the backs and then the fronts on my legs- like seriously burned. Due to me being burnt toast, we weren't able to surf and/or paddle board because to do so would have required a wetsuit (the water there is very chilly), and I didn't even want to attempt to put one on. So on Memorial Day we went to Balboa Park instead and walked around through the Rose Garden, the Japanese Friendship Garden, and took in all the beautiful buildings, parks, and open spaces.

While Daniel was at work, I mainly just caught up on a little work, rode the beach cruiser around Coronado, window shopped at some of the local boutiques, sampled the local cuisine, and just relaxed. It actually took me several days to be ok with relaxing. I kept feeling like I should have been doing something, like I needed to be busy. I even cleaned Daniel's house (as best it can be cleaned) the first day he went back to work because I just couldn't handle sitting on the beach all day. Hard life, I know :) Once I finally came to terms with the fact that I was on vacation and stopped feeling guilty about being lazy, I treated myself to a mani/pedi at the Coronado Beauty Salon and it was seriously one of the best I've ever had. The lady actually took time to really do a good job and the polish looked great and did not chip, even after several trips to the beach.

The the last few days were cloudy. The marine layer just never went away (it's usually cloudy in the mornings there, then the clouds clear by late morning). So I took a day and ventured via ferry to downtown San Diego since the beach was out of the question. We actually did lay on the beach one day even though it was cloudy, just to people watch. I ended up wrapped up in our beach blanket like a burrito because it was so chilly, but it was still fun. And I still somehow managed to get sunburned on my chest, go figure!

In addition to lounging on the beach/eating/drinking, we also made it to a Padres game the last night I was there. The stadium is right in downtown San Diego and it's really nice. We had great seats, but unfortunately, the Padres lost.

Here are some pictures of the highlights of the trip:

This is actually from my last trip, but those are seals sunning on the beach in La Jolla.

Beautiful La Jolla

The Lily Pond at Balboa Park

Old Catholic church and bell tower in Balboa Park that's now a museum of man

Rose Garden at Balboa Park

Cactus tree at the Cactus Garden at Balboa Park

Not sure what these are called, but it was a beautiful purple flowering tree in the center of an adorable park near Daniel's house on Coronado

Sort of a bad picture, but this is the famous, historic Hotel del Coronado

Amazing manicure (OPI "Are we there yet")

I had the beach practically all to myself one morning. Looking north, Point Loma in the background.

Just me, my awesome pedicure, and my iced coffee from Villa Nueva (aka awesome breakfast/lunch place that I went to pretty much everyday!) If you are ever on Coronado, it's a must try.

Some type of Navy plane flying down the beach towards the base at the north end of the island. I saw about 10 of these in an hour on the beach.

Sunset through the clouds from the Coronado pier

Town down San Diego from the Coronado pier

Woohoo, ferry ride!

Aircraft carrier docked in downtown San Diego

Sale boats in the San Diego bay

Padres stadium (note the cool old brick building they incorporated as part of the stadium)

Hope you enjoy the pics. I really didn't take very many pictures (more than last time, but still not enough!) but this is a pretty good sample of my amazing trip :)

-Kristi

Memorial Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Memorial Day Weekend is almost upon us. I think Memorial Day is probably one of my favorite holidays of the year because it marks the real beginning of summer. It's when people start barbecuing, and the neighborhood pools open for summer. The days start getting longer and the temperature, and humidity, start rising. Growing up, this time of year was usually accompanied by my first trip to the lake, even though the water always felt a little too cold to really be enjoyable. Now that I'm older, it marks a time for an annual vacation. This time last year Kelsey and I were headed to visit Sarah in London. Now I'm headed to San Diego! Even though my activities have changed over the years, there's still that same sense of excitement in the air around Memorial Weekend.

But this year, I want to take a moment to reflect on what Memorial Day is really all about. Memorial Day is a holiday to honor all Americans who have died in service to our country. I don't know exactly how many men and women that is, but I'm sure it's a lot. When you think about it that way, it's very sobering. It's a day of remembrance, and also a day for us to show appreciation for the sacrifice these men and women made for our freedom. I know we usually contemplate this more on the Fourth of July, but this holiday was specifically set aside to commemorate their sacrifice. So this year when you're enjoying the fun and the sun or the barbecue or picnic with family and friends, think about the Americans who fought so that you could enjoy this 3-day weekend once a year.

I'm headed west this afternoon. I promise to be a better blogger this time and take more pictures to share with everyone! I'll have a lot more time this trip, so I figure I can spend some of it (just a little) taking pictures and blogging about my activities :) For everyone out there who is also traveling this weekend, be safe!

And a special shout out to the Bachelorette, Katie. Happy Bachelorette weekend! I hope the weather holds out for you guys. Wish I could be there to celebrate, but I'll be seeing you in a few weeks :)

-Kristi

The verdict is in...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:16:00 +0000

Hello all,

I know I've been sort of MIA lately, but you all know that's because I've been working extremely hard on a trial. All that hard work (along with the hard work of our whole office really) came to fruition last night when we received a jury verdict in our clients' favor. There were times when it really seemed like all the odds were against us, but in the end, our clients got what they deserve, and what they have been waiting for for over a year. It feels great ;)

In other news, only three months until I leave my job to start my new adventure in Scotland. Time has been literally flying by lately. It seems like I'm the busiest I've ever been at my job, and it's really time for me to start winding some things down. Instead, I'm getting new cases almost every day it seems like! They also started the expansion of our office which is going to nearly double it in size. It's definitely going to be hard to leave, and I know I'm really going to miss my colleagues and my clients. I feel very fortunate to have found a job I love so much. But, it's almost time for me to move on, and I know it's the right thing for me, but it doesn't make it any less difficult.

In other news, we have found a temporary place to stay for the first few weeks we're in Scotland until we find someplace to rent. The couple who we will be staying with own The Elephant House, which is the coffee and tea shop where J.K. Rowling came up with the idea for Harry Potter!!! I don't know if an introduction to Ms. Rowling will be included, but there's always room to dream! All the thanks to Chesley, who got us this awesome hook up. While all this is very exciting, I am really just relieved to have a place to go when I get off the plane in September! You can check out their website if you're curious at http://www.elephanthouse.biz/.

That's all for now. I just wanted to share my good news with everyone!

-Kristi

Trial prep is like a law school final

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:30:00 +0000

I've been pretty consumed with work lately. We've got a big trial coming up, and by big I mean 5-6 days, 40 witnesses, the whole shebang! It's my first civil trial, so it's definitely a learning experience for me. Over the last few days I've discovered that trial prep is very similar to cramming for a law school final exam. You work on one thing, pretty much all day, only taking a break to eat, so when you do eat, you eat whatever the heck you want. During finals time, meal breaks were the one treat you got in a day, so we would eat out for pretty much every meal, and eat whatever we wanted because darn it, we'd earned it. That's pretty much my life right now.

Like law school finals, trial prep has also been negatively affecting my sleep patterns. I wake up every morning feeling more tired than I did the night before. I honestly don't know how people do this all the time. Actually, come to think of it, most cases don't go to trial anymore, so there are probably very few lawyers who try more than a few cases each year, especially a bigger case like this. I'm glad to have the experience, but I just don't know that I'm cut out for it. Everyone who knows me knows I hate public speaking (even more so now after the city council debacle!!), so I just get so nervous even thinking about having to stand in front of the jury and make my case.

Speaking of the city council debacle, Sunday's paper had a commentary on my experience. It was pro me (or maybe more like poor me?) Frankly, I'm surprised to see it come back up again. I mean I'd been trying to forget the whole think. The best part of the article, according to my roommate was where they said "So much for encouraging participation in government, eh? Sorry but "bullying" is the only accurate description of the way the council treated Hunter, who was driven to tears. Congratulations council, you made a woman cry!" So yeah, I'm now the emotional lady lawyer. Tonight is the city council meeting where they will announce their decision on whether or not to bid out the city sanitation contract (which my client wants them to do), so I will definitely let you all know the result and whether or not my public shaming was worth it in the end.

On a happier note, this is where I'll be in less than 3 weeks (18 days to be exact, but really, who's counting). I get 8 glorious days in San Diego and I cannot wait.

I'll let everyone know how the trial turns out. Wish me luck!

-Kristi

Everybody's Working On The Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:41:00 +0000

Ok, so maybe not everyone, but I sure was! Or at least I was attempting to. Teddi cat had other plans....

Ted's attempt to thwart my work efforts.

Ted insisted on laying on my arm, stomach, hands, laptop, just wherever was most inconvenient for me. Maybe it's just that I can't resist that adorable face, or maybe I just feel guilty about leaving her so much for the past several months, but I will admit I actually let her lay like this for over 30 minutes while I navigated and typed with just one hand.

On a side note, just something I have noticed about my habits lately. You know things are getting bad when your caffeine intake doubles in two weeks. I now brew and consume an entire pot (by pot I mean to the 4 cup line, which is pretty much the biggest pot I ever brew at home) of coffee by myself, each morning (including weekends)....before I get to work. I usually have at least one more while there. Am I dependent? Absolutely! Do I think that's a problem? Absolutely not! You know what else is an indicator you are stressed? Not washing your hair for 48 hours because it just takes too much time and/or effort, which I have done about 3 times in the past week. Ponytails, side braids, and buns have been my friend :)

Friday night I did get a small reprieve from work and life in general in the form of Posta Plata (or Posta Plaaata, as Katie and Madeline would say :)) I had surprisingly never been there, but now that I know about it I will definitely be heading back. The food was good, don't get me wrong, but I feel like the food at Celi's is better. The real winner at Post Plaaata are their margs. See exhibits A and B below!

Exhibit A- Hibiscus Margarita

Exhibit B- Cilantro Margarita

All their margaritas can be served frozen or on the rocks. They had a few other interesting varieties such as prickly pear and tamarind (which I had to wikipedia). Tamarinds are little fruit-like pods of trees that grow in Africa. Bet you won't find that anywhere else in NWA. So yeah, if you haven't ever been, GO!!

Besides working, I also went to a few classes at my gym this weekend and church on Sunday. Although that almost didn't happen, as I forgot about the Joe Martin Stage Race going on in Fayetteville this weekend (you can see how often I left my house that I didn't even know about the race until Sunday morning!) Basically every street within a half mile of my church was closed because of the race, which I think either started or went through the square. I luckily left a little early so I made it in the door on time, and while walking up I got to see a herd of bikers race by! They are quick, let me tell you. Hopefully next weekend I'll get to take the ol' bike for a spin.

Sunday night I finished working by about 6 and headed home to relax, read a book and sip raspberry mint lemonade. Too bad the mosquitoes had other plans for me! I lasted about 20 minutes on the porch then had to head back inside. It was nice while it lasted though.

The perfect way to end a weekend :)

-Kristi

The Alderman Doth Protest Too Much Me Thinks

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Hello all! I wanted to share a few photos from cousin's wedding this weekend, then a fun little story about my night last night :)

Me and my adorbs mom

I caught the bouquet, which has honestly never happened before!

Emily and I doing our best poses (hand of the hip of course)

The most presh flower girl ever. She's taking a sip from Aunt "Tisti"'s cup like a big girl :)

It was a fun occasion and I was so glad to get to see lots of family. It was also my grandmother's birthday, so it was nice to be able to celebrate that with her as well.

So I'm sure you're all wondering about the title of my post today. Let me explain.....

Last night I was asked to attend a city council meeting to speak on behalf of a client of ours, who is anonymous, aka confidential, aka I wasn't allowed to tell who it was. I, for some reason, did not see this as a problem, as the council meeting is a public forum, where any member of the public is free to express his or her or its opinion. Free speech, right?! Wrong.

I waited patiently to be called on, then somewhat nervously approached the podium to stand before the council and the mayor. I actually really dislike public speaking, especially when microphones are involved, but even more than that I hate confrontation (I know you are all wondering why on earth I chose to be an attorney when I hate public speaking and confrontation, haha). I began my prepared remarks by introducing myself and my law firm, and stating I was there on behalf of a client, a local group who was concerned about the bidding process on a city service contract. After this one simple sentence, all hell broke loose. I can't describe to you what happened next in mere text, because it was more about the tone and the looks and the volume than the words being hurled at me. It was bad, it was "heated" as the local reporter described it. I was "belittled" in the words of one council member who actually came to my office today to apologize for the way I was treated. Most of the uproar was coming from two aldermen in particular, who had already proven themselves to be on the opposite side of the issue from me. After enduring what felt like an hour of harassment and questions about why I couldn't disclose who my client was, and how dare I come there and ask to speak, and why was I ashamed to answer who I was representing, and my personal favorite, being told that everything I said would be completely disregarded, I had apparently caused such an outrage that the meeting had to be called back to order and the mayor asked me to sit down. So basically, at this public forum, I was silenced! And TOTALLY embarrassed. No way they would have spoken to my boss the way they spoke to me had he been the one to stand up and speak. It was very unprofessional and completely inappropriate, and it got me to thinking, what was it that they were afraid I was going to say? Why were they protesting so much?

Even though I didn't get to say my piece at the podium, I did get to give my comments to the news reporter who followed me out. It was in the paper today, and several people called the office today before I even got in to ask to speak to me about it. Who knew people pay that much attention to city council meetings!

Anywho, that was my "dramatic" night last night. It was a pretty terrible experience at the time, but I definitely learned from it!

-Kristi

Hi Orlando. Bye Orlando.

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:50:00 +0000

I think after last week and this week, I may not be able to actually sleep past 5:30 am, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. I'm currently waiting to board my flight back to Little Rock. I've spent the last 20 hours in Orlando for work. It was a quick trip and also my first solo out-of-state work trip. I had to call my friend Jessica (she used to do solo work-related travel all the time) last night for advice on dining out alone- something I've never done! I was instructed to sit at the bar so they wouldn't have to awkwardly remove a second place setting, and act busy on my phone to avoid unwanted conversations. Luckily a very nice elderly couple, Audrey and Fred, were seated next to me and we talk for an hour and a half. They were precious and so so friendly! It must be something about people named Audrey! :)

I'm headed back to Conway because Holly, my baby cousin and the youngest of us 9 is getting married! I'm excited about seeing my family. I think Christmas was the last time I saw most of them so I'm long overdue. It should be a fun weekend.

-Kristi

Things I'm loving right now

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:25:00 +0000

I just realized I haven't blogged in two weeks, which is pretty unacceptable! I've been pretty busy lately with work and getting up at 5:00 most mornings of the week for bootcamp. But instead of talking about what's wearing me out and stressing me out right now, I'd rather just share with you a few of things that have been making me happy lately!

Flowers at the Farmers Market

Going to the Farmers Market with friends.

My precious Teddi cat!

Grilling out :)

My flowers that are actually blooming.

Homemade mojitos with mint from my "garden."

Homemade spaghetti sauce (mom's recipe!) made with deer meat, and yes, it's delicious.

My new MacBook Air that I am blogging from as we speak!

Polish bagel from Little Bread with garlic cream cheese baked into the middle- yum.

My relay team who did awesome on Saturday and ran the last 1/4 mile with me :)

So those are the things I've been loving these past few weeks. I've got just a few more hectic weeks at work, then I've got a few good trips planned in May. So sorry if I'm MIA for a while, I'll be back, I promise!

-Kristi

And the winner is....

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:43:00 +0000

Not me! I'm talking about our office NCAA tournament bracket contest. It was close up until the end between myself and another co-worker. He picked Kansas and Kentucky for the final, and I had Kentucky and UNC. So I lost, by a mere 4 points. In other loser news, several of my co-workers and I also pooled money to buy lottery tickets Friday (us and the rest of the free world) and I didn't win that either! Girl just can't catch a break!

Speaking of winners, I stumbled across this little gem on my lottery ticket buying trip Friday at the luxury gas station by my office (I say luxury because not only can you buy gourmet foods here, but they also have a legit bar...in the gas station. I hear they even have a dollar wine night. It's on my NWA bucket list to try before I leave in September :))

I was a little put off by the fact that sugar was the second ingredient on the label, and white tea is actually the last ingredient listed, but it's cane sugar (evaporated cane juice to be exact), so that's better than other types of sweeteners I guess. "Lightly sweetened" is totally true too. Flavored bottled teas are usually way to sweet, but this one was just right. And it's organic, and they claim to be fair trade and pay their workers a living wage. Doesn't that just make you feel good? :) Anywho, I give it two thumbs up, you know, just in case you are looking for a new gas station beverage to try.

So despite terrible travel delays yesterday due to bad weather in Houston, I had a wonderful time in San Diego this weekend. So wonderful in fact that I didn't even stop to take any pictures! I really really need to get better about that. Hopefully I will be heading back sooner rather than later and I'll do a better job of travel blogging the next trip.

-Kristi

Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:02:00 +0000

1. Fayetteville has food trucks now. Katie and I ate at one last night- Ozark Mountain Crepes. It was delish, but overpriced,plus we had to sit on a bench on Dickson like hobos to eat them.

2. I got a sunburn on my left arm (left arm only) while sitting outside eating lunch today. Neat.

3. Bootcamp is kicking my butt....and arms, and legs, and abs. I've been so sore all week! I thought I was in pretty good shape, but apparently there are muscles that weren't getting much use before. Who knew?

4. I've been whitening my teeth lately, and I didn't want to counteract the whitening by drinking lots of coffee. Unfortunately this whitening happened to coincide with the week I decided to start getting up at 5:00 am, therefore lots of coffee is una necesidad. So to solve my quandary, I decided to drink my coffee through a straw. This is the only straw I could find in the office, however. It is approximately 3x the height of the coffee cup itself (See below)

Is this awkward?

5. I'm going to San Diego TOMORROW!! I'm super pumped in case you can't tell. It has been approximately 1.5 years since I've seen an ocean (unless you count the 2 hours I spent at the beach in Lisbon and Barcelona last year, but that was the Mediterranean SEA, which is not technically an ocean :)) And who am I kidding, I'm not really going to see the ocean anyways ;)

-Kristi

Active weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:16:00 +0000

This weekend I took yet another road trip. I really don't mind it, but I did calculate the hours I've spent in the car the past 3 weekends, and it wasn't pretty. Friday I picked my friend Kelsey up in Fort Smith and we headed down to LR.

I started the weekend right with fajitas and beer. I joined my sister, brother-in-law, and little A for mexican at their favorite Friday night hot spot.

I tried to hold her, but she wanted to sit at the table like a big girl for our photo :)

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to help Emily with Audrey. I even got to do breakfast duty. It is seriously so much fun to watch her eat, mainly because she just loves food so much. We def have that in common. It's also super adorable when she asks for more, always with a cute little "please." She's very polite you see.

Kid loves her blueberries!

Then it was time for the main event. Several weeks ago I asked Kelsey if she'd be interested in going on a bike ride this weekend in LR. It had literally been a year + since I'd ridden my bike (I do go to spin class once or twice a week, but I'm talking a real, outdoor bike ride), and my poor bike needed some lovin'. She graciously agreed and her sweet mother let her borrow her bike for the occasion! My tires were completely flat, so after seeing how many 27 year-olds it takes to air up bike tires, we were ready to roll (literally, ha!).

Yes, I sport all the necessary biker gear.

We had a great, loooong ride. The bike held up, albeit with some very noisy gears. We had to detour on the NLR side of the river because part of the trail was under water. By the time we got back to our cars, we had ridden 30 freakin miles. Below is the odometer to prove it!

Two thumbs up for a great ride!

After that I was pretty exhausted, but I got a second wind after some pizza and beer with mom. We also went to see the Hunger Games, which by the way, is pretty disturbing. I knew the premise of the books/movie, but hadn't read the books or anything. Just seeing it acted out though, it kind of weirded me out. Great sets, and costumes, and acting though. And the plot is great, just, you know, weird. Kids killing in each in hand to hand combat? They didn't show as much gore as I guess they could have, but it was still hard to watch at some parts.

Saturday night I joined several friends for dinner and drinks in Hilcrest. We fully planned on heading downtown, but it must have been the ride, mixed with lots of good food and drinks, because by midnight we were beat and went back to the hotel and passed out!

Sunday I took breakfast to my sister's and then we got A ready and went to the playground near her house. She has been sending me lots of pictures of A sliding and playing and so of course I just had to see her in action. Again, adorbs. I mean there really isn't anything she does that isn't adorbs, but her squealing as she goes down the slide just about takes the cake. I even got her to swing for a bit (she's been scared of the swings) and then of course I had to play some as well :)

Sucking her fingers = not so sure about this swinging thing.

Sunday night when I got home I attempted to watch the season premiere of Mad Men. I had actually never seen the show until last fall when I discovered it on Netflix. I have since seen all 52 episodes from seasons 1 through 4. I failed miserably last night though, and only watched half, then went to bed at 9:30. I had boot camp this morning super early, so it worked out well that I was so tired last night. Boot camp went well I thought. Good group, several girls I knew, and I definitely got a good workout. It's only class 1 of 12 though, so I'll have to give you my thoughts after 4 weeks of early mornings :)

-Kristi

Longest week EVER! + 21 Jump Street Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:31:00 +0000

So, is it just me, or has this week been dragging on FOREVER! Half of my office is gone today, and I'm finding it very hard to focus on the tasks at hand. I keep finding other things I feel are more important. For example, this morning I applied for 5 more small scholarships offered through the University of Edinburgh Law School. Hey, every bit counts right? Only I'm so brain dead that I kept forgetting to copy my personal statement to use on the next application, so I kept having to rewrite it. I mean, how many variations on the theme of why I chose the University of Edinburgh can I write??! At least 5 apparently. The selection committee is going to wonder I'm sure.

I also booked my ticket a few weeks ago for Scotland. I'm leaving, wheels up, on September 2 at 1:15 pm! I'm flying through Chicago and London (there is only 1 flight that goes from Arkansas to Edinburgh with only 1 stop and it cost literally thousands of dollars- for a one-way ticket!), and on my Chicago-London leg I'm in business class! Hey-o!!

In other news, I saw 21 Jump Street last night. I know I use this phrase all the time, but for those of you who know me I usually only go to the theater if the movie is a really good chick flick, has been nominated for an Oscar, or has the name Harry Potter in the title. However, I heard so many good reviews about the hilarity of this movie, that I asked my roommate if she wanted to go see it with me. She kindly obliged. And it was pretty freakin funny. I wasn't too keen on the end where it turned all serious-action-movie, but other than that, I give it two thumbs up. I was very entertained, and laughed out loud at most of Jonah Hill's one-liners. Now, I've never seen the original, but I've been told it was NOT a comedy. I'm not sure I'd like that quite so much. And spoiler alert, Johnny Depp does make an appearance in the movie. It actually took me a few minutes to figure out who he was because he looked the most normal I've ever seen him look in a movie!

Alright, time to get some actual work done :)

-Kristi

St. Patty's Day in Jonesboro

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:07:00 +0000

This weekend I headed to Jonesboro to visit my friend Allison. A few other girls from Memphis also came over for the occasion. Downtown Jonesboro has several bars, restaurants and little shops. It was really cute, and not at all what I'd expected (sorry Jonesboro, but I'm a Fayetteville snob). And Allison's downtown loft was seriously like the cutest thing ever. Like right out of a movie, I swear. I was totally jeal.

Saturday morning we walked down the street for coffee and breakfast at a little coffee shop that just opened. This is when I learned that people in Jonesboro like to take their own sweet time. Maybe I am just always in a rush, but these people! Pretty much everywhere we ate took forevs. I mean, I didn't really mind because we were never in any hurry, but if I was it could really get annoying. As Allison pointed out, and which was noted several times, Jonesboro people also act this way when driving. When the light turns green, it takes at least 15 seconds for anyone to move.

After breakfast, we went out to Craighead Forest Park and walked and ran the trial that went all around the lake. It was so pretty, and the weather was great.

We had lunch at Sue's Kitchen which is located in the old courthouse downtown. Apparently they have weddings and receptions there as well. The food was great, and the building was beautiful. Then we ran around town to a few local boutiques, and of course had to make a stop at the Jonesboro mall. Then it was time to get down to business.

We headed to Brick House and sat on the patio upstairs overlooking Main St. while we each enjoyed a few beverages of choice. After more beverage enjoying back at Allison's, we headed out for dinner at Vox 360. It wasn't a very Irish themed dinner. I actually ordered pizza. I have said many times, and I will say it again, I think I could literally eat pizza for every meal of every day. I also knew this dish would make for some delish leftovers for a late-night snack. (And I was right).

Awesome veggie pizza at Vox 360

We hit up the Irish pub after dinner and enjoyed, what else, a glass of Guiness. It's cheesy, I know, as someone who doesn't touch the stuff the rest of the year, to down glass after glass just because it's March 17th....but we did. We also drank lots of Bailey's. Then Chesley accosted some dudes wearing kilts (while talking in a Scottish accent that she is surprisingly good at) telling them that it was an insult to her heritage that they were wearing them out on St. Patrick's Day because kilts are Scottish, not Irish. Incidentally I checked into this historical query on the internets, and discovered that kilts are of Scottish origin, but somewhere around the 20th century, all Celtic people started claiming them as a part of their heritage. So some Irish people do wear kilts nowadays....however I still think she is right that kilts should not be included as part of St. Patrick's Day. Perhaps next year I can find out what real Scottish people think about this issue.

We had a few more pictures from the night, and even a video of my kicking Chesley's butt in a car bomb race, but then she dropped her phone in the toilet and all was lost. I think that last sentence pretty much sums up how you can imagine the rest of the night turned out :)

Needless to say, after not a lot of sleep Friday and Saturday nights, plus I had quite the drive yesterday- making a pit stop in Forrest City on the way home to visit Sarah- when I finally got home at 10:30 I was exhausted! But, if you'll remember from my post last week, boot camp was supposed to start this morning, so I got right to bed the minute I walked in the door. 5 am came early, but Amanda and I both popped up out of bed, readied our supplies, and headed out the door at 5:20. We got to Wilson Park, and drove around until 5:30, and no one was there...... So we called the number listed on the website and woke some poor guy up from his slumber. "It starts next week," he told us. Wait....what??? The website, and facebook, both clearly displayed March 19-April13 as the program dates. We registered online on Friday for class starting this week!!! Right? Well yes, we did, then Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm they posted to facebook that they were postponing class to start next week. No call, no email, nothing. Hope you check facebook on a freakin Friday afternoon! Apparently, we were not the only ones confused. I really really hope this is not indicative of how the rest of the class will be run, but I'm afraid it might be.

Since we were already up we stayed and did a few laps around the park. Then I had 2 full hours before I usually leave for work. Needless to say I got a lot done. Cooked breakfast, showered, unpacked my bad, cleaned my room, read a book, etc. etc. etc. and I still got to work early. Now I'm sitting at my desk at noon about to pass out.....Oh well. I guess it was good practice for what's to come :)

-Kristi

Not Your Momma's Tuna Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:42:00 +0000

I wanted to share a fav recipe of mine today. It's not really a recipe per se. It started out with one, but as time went by I realized that I didn't really need a recipe for this, because it is so easy and you can just throw in pretty much whatever you want! Usually I am a stickler for recipes, but this is something that honestly doesn't require one. It's a greek tuna salad that is literally the most delicious tuna salad eva. Besides my mom's of course :) Hers is just different. I stumbled across a recipe for this in law school and started making it on the reg.

All you need is 2 cans of chunk white tuna, some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and then pretty much anything you can find in your fridge that has a greek-esque flavor. I like to add things such as chopped red onion, capers, chopped red bell pepper, feta cheese, chopped kalmata olives, garlic, maybe some lemon juice, herbs such as cilantro or parsley, and salt and pepper of course. You can just throw in as much of these extras as you like. Don't over do it on the olive oil though. I usually just start chucking stuff in the bowl, then add the olive oil at the end until I feel the ingredients are blended enough.

Now it won't be bonded together like a mayonnaise-based tuna salad, so it's not recommended for a tuna salad sandwich, if that's what you go for. I usually eat it with crackers, or wrapped up in lettuce. You could do a tortilla if you like, and make it a wrap. I put it on a bed of spinach today. Seriously, it's so good. It has awesome flavor that completely overcomes any fishiness from the tuna or bitterness from the spinach. And it's very colorful (lots of color in food is something I actually look for and/or try to accomplish).

In other news, my roommate and I just signed up for a 4 week bootcamp, 3 days a week, at 5:30 am.....I know, I know, what was I thinking?! I am soooo not a morning person. Especially not a 5 am morning person. But I always say I'd like to be one, so maybe this will help out with that? My friend Sarah has been doing one and she loves it. She said after the first few mornings I'd get used to it. We'll see....

Also, the bracket faired pretty well today, except one of my upsets failed to upset. Booo. Oh well, it's only day 1, so there's like, how many days of this crap left? Two weeks? Geez.

-Kristi

It's that time of year again....

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:39:00 +0000

It came to my attention Monday that the NCAA tournament starts this week, which means....it's bracket time!!!! I will most likely not watch 90% of the games in the tournament, and I really could care less who wins, and I know nothing about any of the teams really, but you better believe I filled out a bracket. What is it about March Madness that makes girls such as myself who don't really even care about basketball unless the Razorbacks are playing (and towards the end of the season even that wasn't enough to get me interested) think they are bracketologists?

We do a pool at work, and post our brackets up in the break room for all to see. Last year I was actually winning for a while until all the top seeds started losing and my bracket went to crap. I can't really remember my method of madness (March Madness!) that I used to fill out my bracket last year, but I can tell you that this year I was much more scientific. At first, I thought about going with the old standby of which team's mascot was more likely to win in a head-to-head fight to the death. However, looking up 64 mascots and then analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each seemed like way too much work. So, I went with the higher ranked teams in general, and picked a few upsets based on what I found to be the consensus upset predictions among sports bloggers. Then, just for good measure, I picked a couple of upsets randomly, for no other reason than I thought there should be a few more in my bracket. And the final result.....

I wanted to go with Obama's pick of UNC, but I had to go with the SEC team instead, out of principal. I will of course let you know how my bracket fares.

It has been a seriously beautiful week here in NWA. Yesterday I was going stir crazy in my office, and pretty much everyone was out for the day anyways, so at about 3 pm I headed home, changed into some shorts and a tank top, and finished up my work from my front porch. It was glorious. I hope it keeps this up!

-Kristi

Kansas City: "I basically just put masks on people and push buttons."

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:31:00 +0000

So this past weekend my roommate and I decided to take a road trip to Kansas City for some retail therapy and to go out at the Power and Light district. Neither of us had been to this newest entertainment capital of Kansas City before, but we knew the Big 12 tournament was in town so we figured it would be hoppin on Saturday night. We booked a hotel on Friday afternoon and hit the road Saturday morning. I hadn't been to Kansas City since Sigma Chi formal in college. Back in the day we used to throw down at the Embassy Suites, go to a Royals game, and of course bar hop at the Plaza. I can report that not much has changed- either in Kansas City itself or the way I acted whilst there.

We ended up at a pretty hotel just blocks from P & L. After a day of shopping at the outlet mall, we headed towards downtown to find the place. Amanda typed in the address I'd given her into googlemaps, but apparently googlemaps didn't know that no one stays in downtown Kansas City, KS, so OF COURSE we meant Kansas City, MO. We were in Kansas at the time, so apparently that's where googlemaps thought we wanted to go. Needless to say as we neared our "destination" it became apparent that there had been some mistake. 12th Street in Kansas City, KS consisted of Mexican restaurants, a few barber shops and retail establishments and a run down auto body shop. Once we rerouted our course, we were at the hotel within minutes.

View from our room.

We walked about a half mile from the hotel to the Tannin Wine Bar and Kitchen for a light dinner and a few cocktails. I know it may be surprising that I ordered cocktails at a wine bar, considering my love affair with all things wine. However, the cocktails were really different and unique, and awesome I might add. And I did order one with wine in it, so that counts, right?

The Curtain Call

Really awesome wine taps at Tannin.

After dinner we headed back towards the hotel and into the P & L district. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was still really fun. Basically there this big enclosed space with a two story area in the middle and then bars lining the sides, upstairs and down. We were carded entering the area, and then at each respective bar as well. Big 12 fans were EVERYWHERE, especially those sporting the Mizzou yellow and black. They beat Baylor in the championship Saturday night, so they were ready to Par-tay. We met lots of new friends, saw a few fights, got kicked out of the VIP area, and of course, had some fun pretending to be doctors (more on that later).

Inside the P & L bar area.

On the advice of several KU friends, we headed into PBR first. As the name implies, it is an Electric Cowboy-esque bar, complete with mechanical bull. While we did not ride the bull (Amanda wore a dress, dang it!) we did spend some time making fun of all the girls who did. I must admit, I've never actually been in a bar with a mechanical bull. Check that one off the bucket list!

PBR Cowboy Bar

All the bars were pretty commercial, and they all seemed to offer pretty much the same thing, only with a different theme. We also hit up the Shark Bar, where all the female bar tenders wore bikini tops. The male employees were wearing shirts, however, which I found a bit sexist. Where's our eye candy? Am I right ladies? Half-naked bartenders was also a common theme among the bars we went in. It was definitely different than Dickson Street, that's for sure. But then again, that's what we wanted, a change in scenery.

We also discovered a new fun bar game. I have a friend who always gives out a fake name to guys in bars who hit on her. We decided to instead give out fake occupations to this bachelor party group we met. Since people in general don't like lawyers, we decided to be doctors for the night instead. Out of all the types of doctors one could pick I went with Urologist. I was completely unprepared for someone to ask me why I would chose to specialize in urology, which did happen. I was hoping to scare them away by saying that I love giving prostate exams, but it didn't really work as planned. When asked what kind of doctor she was, Amanda said she was an Anesthesiology and that basically all she does is put masks on people and push buttons. Even that didn't throw them off. Either they were very inebriated, or very gullible.

Sunday morning we woke up early, despite daylight savings time robbing us of a precious hour of sleep, and headed out to forage for food. To match the mood, it was raining, but that didn't stop us! We found an upscale grocery store around the corner with a cheap, hot breakfast buffet and stuffed our faces with bacon and biscuits and gravy. Then we went back to sleep until the hotel kicked us out at checkout time.

We headed to the Country Club Plaza for a little more shopping, but quickly realized we just weren't in the mood. You can only imagine how we must have been feeling to not be in the mood to shop! Yeah, it was that bad. All in all, a successful trip though. Next weekend I'm headed to Jonesboro for St. Patty's day. I haven't been there since 2003, but I've been promised a rousing good time by my friend who lives there. I'm sure she won't disappoint!

-Kristi

Book Recommendation

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Last week when I was home sick I started on a stack of books I acquired as preparatory reading for my course of study this fall. The program chair recommended a few primers on international law which I have yet to crack. Instead I decided to start with a few books on human rights that I thought sounded of interest. I haven't quite nailed down exactly what I want to research for my dissertation, but human rights is near the top of the list, more specifically women's rights, even more specifically women's rights in the Middle East. I really just went out on a limp and bought a few books that Amazon recommended on the topic. I started reading this one first and it's actually a really good read.

I would highly recommend it for anyone's summer reading list. It's a memoir by a female doctor who took a job working for a national hospital in Saudi Arabia. She shares an inside perspective on gender discrimination and inequality in the extremely religious and conservative Saudi society and especially in the workplace. She also unveils (quite literally) the secret world of the surprisingly progressive 21st century Saudi women who befriend her during her time there. Obviously I think women would probably find this book more interesting than men, but I really think it's an eye opening book for both genders. It definitely makes me grateful for all the privileges we have living in a free country.

Like I said, I have quite a stack of books to read through, so I'll share more of my recommendations in the coming weeks and months. And just so you know, I don't always read serious stuff like this. Before I started this book I finished up "Mini Shopaholic", the latest in the entertaining "Shopaholic" series by Sophie Kinsella. It was pretty good as well, however, the story line was a little predictable for someone who's read the whole series. She goes a little overboard at times with the plot, per usual, but, oh well, it's still entertaining :)

-Kristi

Weekend Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:18:00 +0000

This last week/weekend has been rough! I was feeling pretty bad last weekend, just really tired and worn down. I thought it was possibly allergies or a cold, so I went to the doctor Monday after work and found out that it was in fact the flu. It's been a while since I've had the flu, and I guess I'd forgotten how long it takes to get over it. Needless to say, I was unable to run in the half marathon this weekend. I was really bummed, but never fear I've already found several other events to participate in coming up :)

Even though I didn't get to run, I still made the most out of my trip to central Arkansas. I saw lots of family on Saturday at a bridal shower for my cousin. I also got to help with little A on Saturday night while my sister and her husband went to dinner. I helped get her ready for bed, and put her down. Emily and Ryan are really working on getting her to say "Aunt Kristi", because she already knows "mama," "dada," and "mimi" so well. When they point at me and say, "Who's that?" she just pauses, searching for something to call me, then grins. While it is freakin adorable, I kinda wish she knew who I was...... Hopefully when I see them again in a few weeks, she'll have mastered it! Although, I'm thinking it might be something more like, "Kri kri" or "Krissi" at first. I mean, it would pretty impressive for the kid to just whip out "Aunt Kristi." She is only 18 months old after all!

In other news, spring has sprung here in NWA. The pear trees literally bloomed overnight I think. I did not notice them on the drive down on Saturday, but on the way home yesterday they were everywhere! And the grass has started to turn green again. Looking out my window at work right now, I still see a lot of bare branches, but I know full blown spring is just around the corner.

Maybe it's the change in seasons, or the major life changes I've been going through recently, but can I just say that change has sort of got me bummed out right now. I've never really been a fan of change. I don't know that I'm scared of change, or just distrusting of it somewhat, but change and I, we just don't get along that well. I usually just get dragged into a new phase, kicking and screaming, until I finally give up the fight and go with it. It's gonna happen, it always does. Yet, I still just can't quite come to terms with it as easily as I want. It's like spring of senior year, or spring of third year in law school. While I know there are a lot of exciting adventures coming up in this new chapter of my life, the uncertainty just makes me very uneasy. In literally less than 6 months, I'll be living in Scotland. It's been more than 6 months since I found out I was awarded the scholarship, and it seems like yesterday, so I know this time will fly by! I'm going to just try to enjoy my last 6 months in Fayetteville. It's kind of surreal to know I'm really leaving this time, that it's not just a thought or a hope, but a reality.

To lighten the mood a little, here is a pic of a new hairdo I tried today. Someone told me about a trick they learned about on pinterest (which I am not a member of) using a sock to roll your hair into a bun. Well this morning I took said sock, cut the toe part off, starting rolling my hair down over it and voila! I don't know if I could pas de bourree around a stage with this thing, but it feels sturdy enough to make it through a day at the office. I have a few little strays sticking out from all my layers, but all in all, I'd say it works pretty well. And all you need, literally, is a ponytail holder and a sock! Really, that's it.

Also, I had a delicious chicken noodle soup for lunch today :)

-Kristi

Congratulations Katie!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:32:00 +0000

Thursday afternoon I went to watch Katie and Madeline compete in the finals of the spring moot court competition. A little back story, I was the chair of the competition in 2010 and also judged the briefs and oral arguments last year. This year I was a judge at the semi-finals, so I had actually judged Katie and Madeline's competition. While I hadn't heard Katie and Madeline present their argument yet, I did know the other teams weaknesses, and I knew they could win!

Katie giving her oral argument!

Needless to say I was right and they did great! Katie even won best oralist, which is a huge deal and means that she was the best speaker in the competition. Seriously, is there anything this girl isn't good at? :) We went to celebrate Friday night at Theo's with wine and appies. It was much deserved!

This weekend I also went all chef Kristi and made two new dishes I had never attempted before. The first was a spinach lasagna from scratch from this month's Self magazine. It was a little strange (the recipe called for 6 onions...6!) but it turned out pretty good. I didn't take a picture before I sliced into it unfortunately. Then this morning I got up early and made a broccoli fritata. I had never made one, or possibly even eaten one, before. But it sounded pretty much like quiche without a crust, and I love quiche, so I thought I'd probably love this too. Annnnd..... I was right :) Yeah, I don't know why I've been so ambitious in the kitchen lately, but I feel like cooking sort of calms me in a way. I've noticed it is pretty much the only activity I can do where my brain stops thinking about anything else besides what I'm doing (this is not the case with reading, running, watching tv, driving, yoga, etc. etc. etc.). I don't plan on making cooking in the morning a daily routine however, but this was so quick and easy that it really didn't throw me off my sched too much.

The finished product.

I also watched (most of) the Oscars last night. Usually I try to watch (most of) the best picture nominees before the awards. I think I saw 5 of the 9 this year. The Academy is making it tough on my nominating all these movies for best pic! I did not see the winner, The Artist, but it's now on my list and I hope to be able to make it to a show this week. Might have to go this one alone though, since I don't know anyone interested in watching a silent film....if you are, let me know!

-Kristi

Weekend in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:03:00 +0000

So I know I've yet to post pictures from Chicago....but that's because I really don't have many on my camera! Yes ladies and gents, in addition to being a very bad blogger, I'm also very bad at taking pictures. I even have a fancy new camera my mom got me for Christmas and I just can't ever remember to take pictures when I'm out and about. I think I'm just living in the moment too much or something, which I suppose isn't a bad thing.

This weekend I promise to work on that, after I gather some pictures from Sarah and Allison. All in all it was a great trip, but it wore me out! We didn't get to do a lot of the traditional touristy stuff one would normally do in Chicago, mainly due to the sub-freezing temperatures and double-digit wind speeds. They don't call it the windy city for nothin, let me tell ya! We did go to the top of the Sears Tower, where I was forced into the clear plastic box thing that sticks out from the side of the building 103 stories up. I'll def have to post pictures of that just to prove it actually occurred. For those of you who don't know, I am extremely terrified of heights. Looking out doesn't really phase me, it's the down part that's awful. I didn't want to take my sunglasses off in the picture because I was afraid you'd be able to see the sheer terror in my eyes! We also went to the aquarium and Millennium Park. In addition to this bit of sight seeing, we sampled all the fine cuisine Chicago has to offer, from Gibson's Steakhouse to Pizzeria Due, to Sunda Sushi, and the Pancake Shop. It was all delish, and probably my favorite part of the weekend, haha. But I'm sure y'all already knew it would be :)

This past weekend was busy as well. My friend Daniel came to visit from California and Chesley and I took him to the baseball game Friday afternoon. It was awesome to take off work on a nice Friday afternoon and drink bloody marys while watching the Hogs kick ass at baseball. I think I should start taking Friday afternoons off more often actually :) We missed the first 6 runs (which were all scored in the first inning by the way), but got to see plenty more after that.

After a late, vodka soda filled Friday night I went for my long run Saturday (which I will be putting in the terrible idea column under "never doing that again") and then went to the basketball game to see the Hogs do the opposite of what the baseball team did Friday and get their asses kicked. It was the worst loss, numerically, that has ever occurred at Bud Walton, or so I was told by one Allison Waldrip. She knows her Razorback Sports trivia, so I believe her! My friend from Dallas, Lauren, and her BF were in town for the game as well (they are Gators fans btw....but they were the least obnoxious I think they could have been about their big win, so we won't hold that against them). We took the out-of-towners to Hugo's Saturday night for some authentic, local Fayetteville fare, and then hit up Dickson street again. It was a great weekend and I got to see lots of out-of-town friends, which I love.

This weekend is the last before the big half marathon on March 4, so I'm going to take it easy and probably be extremely boring. I will try to post some pictures from Chicago as well.

12 Hours Can Change Alot

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:31:00 +0000

So at 6 pm yesterday I was alone at XNA finding out my flight was cancelled. This morning I'm back at the airport with Chesley waiting to board first class on our flight to Chi Town!

After I tried every which way to get to Chicago last night, I left the airport quite down hearted. Then we found out Chesley could get on my same flight for only $220. So we booked it on my phone on the way to dinner. Then when we got here this morning they asked if we wanted to upgrade for $45 to first class. Why, don't mind if we do! It's only an hour and forty-five minute flight, but after the night I had last night, I thought it must have been a sign from God, like manna from heaven!

Also, the groundhog showed me. Six more weeks of winter has arrived and it sucks!!

Chicago Here We Come!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:19:00 +0000

So, as you all probably know by now, the groundhog DID see his shadow. Of course I said, "That's ok, because if this is what winter is like I can stand another 6 weeks!" I was referring of course to the 50 and 60 degree weather we'd been having. Well boy was I wrong about that....it was a high of 40 degrees yesterday, and cloudy. The perfect weather for the longest run I've ever run in my life! I had to adjust my half-marathon training schedule due to my upcoming weekend trip to Chicago, so instead of doing 11 miles this weekend per my schedule, I did the 12 mile run I was supposed to do this weekend. It was horrendous. I had to turn the shower on full blast hot and stand there for 15 minutes to get back to a normal body temperature. My core was sweating but my hands and feet I swear had turned blue.

So I'm sure that I've already asked everyone who reads this blog for suggestions on what to do/where to eat in Chicago, but just in case, let me know if you've got anything for me. The purpose of the trip is a) several of us had never been b) it's Sarah's birthday c) a friend of mine will also be in town that weekend as will a band we wanted to see c) just because!! I know it seems crazy to actually plan a trip, for fun, to Chicago in February, but the weather looks mild considering. I will try to post a few pics of our trip this weekend!

Groundhog better come out of that hole........

noreply@blogger.com (Kristi) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:34:00 +0000

As you all know, tomorrow is Groundhog Day, the most ridiculous American holiday ever invented!! (And that's saying a lot- I'm looking at you Arbor Day). Quite frankly, Groundhog Day sounds pretty stupid when you actually say it out loud and think about what you're saying. Not to mention when you think about what we are actually celebrating!

A groundhog? Really? I don't know that I've ever actually come into contact with a groundhog. Did you know that in some areas the groundhog is referred to as a woodchuck, land-beaver, or my personal favorite, the whistle-pig? Now how awesome sounding is "Whistle-Pig Day"? Now that's a holiday I think all of us Arkansans could really get behind!

I did a little digging to see exactly where this ridiculously named and themed holiday came from and apparently it was a tradition started by German immigrants in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. Now, every year at Gobblers Knob in the small, quaint village of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (this holiday continues to get more and more ridiculous the more I learn about it....) Phil the groundhog pops his little head out of his cozy little burrow to predict the meteorological conditions for the next six weeks like some sort of furry Al Roker.

Well you know what Phil, the weather here in Arkansas has been splendid lately, so let's not go ruining it by running back into your hole! I know those men of the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania city council dressed as nineteenth century German immigrants starring down at you expectantly can cause quite a fright after 4 months living in the ground, but it's ok. Just come on out, have a look around, enjoy the festivities, and drink a German beer or two, so we can all breath a collective sigh of relief that winter is almost over!!!

-Kristi