It's all coming together!!

So, even though the weekend seemed like it was tarnished on Friday night when Purdue lost their game to Duke, things actually turned out okay.  Saturday I tackled the project of cleaning my room.  Laura walked by at one point and said "Whoa."  It was pretty bad.  But in my defense, at the point she walked by, I had decided to do my spring cleaning and had emptied half my closet on to my bed and onto the floor...in addition to whatever was already there.  But after all that hard work, I have to say that the left side of my closet looks FABULOUS!!

The right side could still use some work but frankly, the tubs are necessary for me to fit in small spaces.

My planner comes tomorrow so more good things to come.  In addition, Damla and J.B. arrive on FRIDAY and I cannot wait!!  Oh how I hope this week passes by...and that this cold/allergy thing I have going on goes away.  I had to leave work at lunch today because I spent more of my morning sneezing and blowing my nose then I did actually typing.  So, I took a sick day, went to my parents house, and let my mom take care of me.  Even though my nose was still running and I was still sneezing when I left, I still felt better.  Mommy's are good like that.   

Getting my life together!

If you know me at all, you proably know that I love technology.  I think my favorite part of flying is looking through the SkyMall magazine because it always has fun new high tech toys in it that will supposedly better my life.  I really want that thing that you put on your keys and make them beep when you can't find them (which is a daily stuggle for me).  I love the new 2011 Ford Edge that is coming out because it has the My Ford Touch in it which means lots of voice activation and touch screens.  My next car WILL have a push start.  I could go on and on. 

About 2 months ago I read on someone else's blog about all these wonderful planners.  But I didn't want to get one because by that point it was already February and I'd already missed a month of the new year.  So I decided to use my phone as my planner.  I mean, considering my love of techonolgy, it was a logical decision.  I use Outlook at work and it's great but I tend to forget things I need to do on the weekend because I don't always want to open up my computer. 

The phone tactic worked for a little while but I decided that I could handle it no longer.  Frankly, it wasn't what I was looking for.  So finally, yesterday, I got online and went to FranklinCovey.com which to me is the ultimate planner site.  And I found a compact, undated planner for just $19.99 (plus tax and shipping)!!  And in 8-12 business days it will be mine!!   I couldn't find a picture of it today but it's glorious, I assure you.  It even has a little holder for my pen.  And, next year, I just have to buy a refill because the outside is reuasble.

Hopefully, by this time next week, my life will be so organized, I won't even know what to do with myself.  Well, that's not true.  My next hurdle is to become a neat-freak.  It's in the works.  I mean, I hate messes.  But I also hate cleaning them up.  I figure, I'm halfway there.

I told you she was fast

I'm SO PROUD of my roommate Laura.  This weekend she amazed us yet again by coming in FIRST at the Washington DC National Half Marathon!!  Here is the press release. (And I stole a picture from her Facebook album!)

Race Results for SunTrust National Marathon and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield National Half Marathon

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 20, 2010) – Nearly 12,000 runners were registered, and nine thousand two hundred and eighty-six runners crossed the starting line at the fifth annual SunTrust National Marathon and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield National Half Marathon and Team Relay on a sunny, 70 degree day in Washington D.C. The marathon is the only one to be run entirely within the District of Columbia and has the fastest looped course in the country. Runners from 49 states and 27 countries ran the race.

In the men’s marathon, Michael Wardian, age 35, of Arlington, Va., took first place with a time of 2:21:58; Patrick Moulton, age 28, of Providence, RI, took second place with a time 2:26:03; and Paul Howarth, of Albuquerque, NM, took third place with a time of 2:27:19.

After the race, Michael Wardian said that he “had the lead from the gun and attacked every mile and stayed focused on the goal and ran one of my fastest time times ever.”

In the women’s marathon, Krista Vrombaut, age 27, of Rock Island, Ill., took first place with a time of 2:51:17; Michaela Driscoll, of Coventry, RI, took second place with a time of 2:55:50; Mary Beth Chosak, age 31 of Arlington, Va., took third place with a time of 2:57:32.

In the men’s half marathon, Mark Fruin, age 24 of Bloomington, Ind., took first place with a time of 1:05:03; Stephen Haas, age 26 of Bloomington, Ind., took second place with a time of 1:05:14; Jeff Jonaitis of Tinley Park, Ill., took third place with a time of 1:05:58.

In the women’s half marathon Laura Farley, age 25, of Bloomington, Ind., took first place with a time of 1:18:38; Phebe Ko, age 27 of Bethesda, MD, took second place with a time of 1:19:03; Dani Prince of Bloomington, Ind., took third place with a time of 1:19:38.

In the masters division, Kris Warszawski, age 50, of Northville, Mich., won the men’s marathon with a time of 2:44:00, and Tracy Wollschlager, of Novi, Mich., age 41, won the masters division of the women’s marathon with a time of 3:03:50.

Chris McDonald, age 50, of South Riding, Va., won the wheelchair division with a time of 3:01:35.
Two thousand three hundred and twenty-two people completed the marathon, 6,249 people completed the half marathon, and 174 people finished the team relay race.

Join us for next year’s race on Saturday, March 26, 2011. For more information, log on to www.nationalmarathon.com.

About Greater Washington Sports Alliance:
Established in 2003, The Greater Washington Sports Alliance (GWSA) is a regional non-profit sports commission created to foster economic development and civic pride through the power of sports. GWSA’s mission encompasses the attraction of sporting events to the region, the promotion of the regional professional, collegiate and amateur franchises, the support of youth investment organizations and the branding of Washington, D.C. as a world class sports destination. For more information, log on to http://www.gwsportsalliance.com.

Slacking on my part

Well, I haven't been very good at updating this thing in a while.  Something about being at a computer for 10 hours a day just doesn't make me feel like getting on the computer when I get home at night! 

This weekend was lovely!!...well, not weather-wise but in regards to fun, yes!  My parents and I drove up to Chicago to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and friends.  I got up to Chicago on Friday and met Colleen for lunch at Whole Foods.  The Whole Foods in Lincoln Park is HUGE!  And it has all these food stations with all sorts of different kinds of food.  I got so overwhelmed that I just ended up getting tomato basil soup.  What I really should have gotten is the butternut squash and crab bisque that I found later.  Oh well, the first soup was still good!

After lunch, I went home and found that Damla was pretty much done working so we decided that it was 5 o'clock somewhere and popped open a bottle of wine!  Mommy and Daddy must have heard all the giggling because they came back from their walk just a few minutes into happy hour.  At 5, J.B. was able to join us and we just had the usual banter until it was time for the Purdue game!  Damla started to get dinner ready and once we had secured a Purdue win (barely!) we sat down for a DELICIOUS lasagna that Damla had made.  As I write this now, I wish I'd thought to get a picture.

After dinner, we went back to living room to chit chat and just enjoy some family time. 

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to meet up with everyone.  J.B. dropped me off at Colleen's where Kamm, Kylie, Colleen, Stacey, and Titus were ready to go!  After breakfast we headed to the LaSalle Power Company where we met up with Julie and Michael (visiting from London!), Jess and Brian (future residents of Indiana), Liza, and Greg!  And we STILL weren't all there.  A few minutes after we got in the bar Laura, Gina and Avery showed up.  Plus we ran into some other Sigma Chis and Fiji's.  It was great having such a large group because there was always someone to talk to! 

We stayed at the bar until 3ish and then headed off to find some food.  We lost some people in the shuffle but ended up with a group of 12 at Rock Bottom.  After some food (and a devastating Purdue loss!) we decided to find a new bar.  So we went to Parrot's in Lakeview.  Angela met us there and then her and I dominated the pool table.  I was having an "on" day so we actually did pretty well!  Sure we won two games because the other team scratching on the 8 ball but we'll take what we can get. 

After a while it was time to head back to Stacey and Colleen's apartment where we hung out for a little while longer and then headed to bed by 10 pm.  When you start at 8am, this isn't so bad.  I woke up in the morning fully rested and ready to start my day!  Well, the treats that Colleen made us helped me get a good start. 

Damla had requested that I be home for breakfast at 9 am. Apparently she meant pre-daylight savings time because when I showed up she looked REALLY sleepy!!  But she was a trooper and we decided to take a walk to Starbucks since we were up.  After that we came home and got breakfast ready.  After breakfast, the family decided to take a drive to Evanston and the other suburbs north of Chicago.  We looked as some of the beautiful house and also saw the Baha'i House of Worship which is a pretty amazing structure. 

After driving for a little while we headed back to the city and had lunch at the Athenian Room.  Now, if you haven't been there before and enjoy gyros then you are missing out my friend.  I have gotten the gyro salad on both my trips there and it is SO delicious!

On that note, I have resolved to become a vegetarian for the month of May.  I'm not sure how well it will go but I'd like to see.  If anything, I think it will give me the opportunity to be creative in what I eat.  The good news is that my staples of granola bars, oatmeal, and milk are still within my limitations so I think this is a very do-able goal.

In other news, I still continue my search for the perfect car.  I just can't seem to make a decision which is fine because I don't see myself getting a car right away but when the time does come, I would like to think that I have a good idea of what I want.  I attribute to my apprehension to be parallel to my hatred of things marked "final sale".  Do you think I could return a car if I didn't like it?  I wish they still had those 72 hour test drive things.

No upcoming trips at the moment but spontaneity was a new year's resolution!  I joined the United Way Committee at work and will be doing my first official duty as KKG House Advisor (for the Butler Chapter) in a couple weeks for room picks!  And last I checked, I was planning on doing the Susan G. Komen walk in Indianpolis in April.  So lots of fun things to come!!

Slightly obsessed with this song

I have been listening to this song on repeat lately and I'm still not tired of it. 

Carry Out by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake

This is why people should just stay on vacation

Well Sunday was our last day in Seattle and we ended on a high note by making a morning trip to the market (we had to go just one more time!), getting some Seattle's Best Coffee, and then heading to the airport.  The airport was PACKED!!  After being reassured by one Delta employee that I had plenty of time, and then being told by another employee that I should run, I made it to my gate only to find that they had closed the doors early and I had missed my flight.  Thankfully, there was a "higher-up" around and he was PISSED about the poor communication and that I wasn't on the flight.  So he pulled some strings, got me on the next flight out that was boarding in 30 minutes and got me upgraded to First Class.  Thank you Mr. Delta Guy!  I finally made home by 10 pm full of wine, fresca, peanuts, and sun chips.  :)

Unfortunately, my checked baggage wasn't given the same service and we're on the lookout for it.  Hopefully it turns up soon b/c I really want that new shirts I got from Banana shown above.  And good news, these shirts were bought with a gift card so I am still sticking to my goal of not shopping!  And I still have about $225 of Banana Gift Cards left!

Is that a nod to the crispy Seattle weather?

We woke up this morning bright and early at 7:45 am to get a jumpstart on our day.  And by "we" I mean, I woke up and then woke Colleen up.  I don't want her adjusting to Pacific time until she moves here.

We got ready and then headed out to conquer the world one donut at a time at Top Pot Donuts which Kathryn recommended we try.  It was pretty delicious but we like the baby donuts better.  Then we headed to Nordstrom (the original one!!) to get Colleen some Hunter boots.  Well we probably should have called ahead because apparently Seattle doesn't get going by 9am.  So instead we walked a mile to get coffee from an independent coffee shop we hit on the tour yesterday but hadn't tried any coffee at (Zeitgeist).  Then armed with our warm drinks we headed down to the waterfront to go to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.  It's just another site to see on our list!!

After that we headed to Smith Tower for a second attempt to get on the observation deck and SUCCESS!  Colleen and I both sat in the Chinese Wishing Chair upstairs.  As the legend goes, single ladies who sit in that chair get married within a year.  I sat in it two years ago and nothing happened but I kissed one of the lions this time, so here's hoping.  Two Kappa weddings in 2011?  Maybe!

By this time, Seattle had finally started functioning (in addition to all the crazies coming out) and we headed back to Nordstrom.  Unfortunately the attempt to get the boots failed but I at least discovered that I am too short for the tall Hunter boots.

The plan for day 2 was to go hiking so we were going to have to get into a car at some point.  We made it all day yesterday without every having to get in a car!  How Amish.   But today we decided to spice things up a bit.  We first stopped by Araya Vegetarian Place which is a vegetarian Thai buffet.  There were some pretty delicious things on the buffet, I do have to say.  I still kind of missed meat but I was definitely full all day.  Possibly from all the fiber...possibly from the mass quantities of food.  It was at lunch we discovered that we forgot to put the locks on our schedule so we were very spontaneous and went to the Chittenden Locks!  We got to see a few boats go through and we learned all about smolts (baby salmon).

Then we headed to Discovery Park which is said to be a sight to see.  It was absolutely beautiful and we walked the whole thing!!  We went down on the beach, played in tree houses, found walking sticks, climbed stairs, got super muddy, and were more outdoorsy then I ever could have hoped for.

After the hike we went and saw the Fremont Troll which is just something else you have to see while you're here.  We got our picture taken and then headed back to the hotel where Colleen once again forced me into the gym even though we had just hiked what felt like 100 million miles.

Then it was time to get cleaned up and head back out again.  We decided to go to dinner at Anthony's Bell Street Diner per the recommendation of one of Colleen's interviewers.  It was quite delicious and Colleen finally got to try oysters!  I tried oysters during an audit in New Orleans and have no desire to ever eat them again.  After that we headed to the market (for good measure) and then finally walk home.

It was quite an exhausting day but we have long flights home tomorrow to catch up on any sleep we're lacking.  And the best part, I got upgraded to first class!  Cha ching!