Rain Rain Go Away

Today is the first full sunny day in a while...but I'm stuck inside so I figured I might as well write another post.

The weekend was really fun. Friday night Tyler and I and a few of his friends drove down to Detroit to see Flight of the Conchords. They're a band...I guess, who have a TV show on HBO. It's pretty random but funny at the same time. I do have to say that even though I'm not a die hard fan, even I still had a good time. And I learned that Detroit is not as scary as they say. Or at least not where were were. When the show let out there were tons of people in the streets and in the bars along the streets. We stopped for a quick drink at one of them just to let the traffic die down a bit before we headed back north. Then we continued the night back in Midland with Apples to Apples (which I won!) until it was time for bed.
Saturday was 80 degrees...but rainy too. The roommates and I decided to grill out for dinner and I pretty much just let my day revolve around that. Steve and I drove around town to run some errands. Then we got out the corn holes and brushed up on our skills. I'm going to need to practice a lot this summer. It's going to be tough!! :) I still need to sand and paint them too...but that's not as fun as just playing. Maybe that will be next winter's project.

Saturday night we went and saw Demetri Martin at Central Michigan University. SOOOO funny! I definitely like his guitar stuff better then his random lists he does on the piano. And his standup is good too but he's no Jerry Seinfeld. But over all, I give him two thumbs up and I would go and see him again.

Sunday was a lazy day but I finally saw Step Brothers. I'm only slightly behind the times now. When I first moved to Michigan I kept getting all these magazine subscriptions but I don't really read magazines. Being just like my dad, I saved them in the hopes that one day I would get around to reading them. Well that day is here my friends. I've been catching up on old gossip for the last week now. The thing is, I don't know if any of the stuff is still true. Is Jessica Simpson still with Tony Romo? Are Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson finally over for good? I guess I can't really question the babies being born. That really did happen. But I find it all quite confusing. Especially since I'm not reading the magazines in any particular order. Oh goodness, it's hard living such a stressful life. :)

Well, that pretty much updates you on my life. I'm headed down to Indy this weekend for the lovely Miss Jennifer Titus's wedding! I've never not had a good time at a wedding so we know that's going to be fun! And at some point I'm going to continue packing up all my stuff...unless someone volunteers to do it for me! Anyone??

All my love and please let it finally warm up to 70 and stay for a while,
Emel

Warm weather makes people do really fun things

Well time is just flying by in Midland! I only have about 3 weeks left here and I'm excited for all the fun things coming up! But I haven't been doing a good job of documenting what's been happening!!

Last weekend Tyler and I went to a wedding in Sterling Heights, Michigan. I didn't really know anyone at the wedding but I love weddings and excuse to wear a dress. We drove down Friday morning and did a little shopping at the Lakeside Mall that is in that area. Surprisingly I didn't buy anything! But apparently there are lots of good malls just two hours from Midland. We only walked around for a short time and then grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the hotel to change. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough because we missed the ceremony. Whoops! The good news is that we made it to the reception and that's really the best part anyway, right?

The wedding was surprisingly fun! I mean, you can only expect so much when you only know your date. We sat next to a really nice couple at our table and Tyler knew some other fun characters. And there was TONS of directional dance songs (i.e. Cha cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, YMCA, etc). I'd give the experience two thumbs up.

Saturday was a beautiful day! I spent most of it outside with my roommates playing frisbee, corn hole (which still needs to be painted but gets the job done) and just playing. We decided to grill out which is always an enjoyable experience. Then it was time to get ready for the evening which was my going away party! I made Caipirinahs which is a drink made from a Brazilian liquor called Cashasa. I don't know if I made them right b/c I don't remember what they're supposed to taste like but they tasted like magaritas.

After playing at the house for a while we headed to Bay City. We went straight to Westtown and danced it up for the rest of the night. I had such a good time and am really going to miss all the friends I made up here. Luckily I still have a few more weeks to spend with them and I won't be too far to visit!
Wendesday was Earth Day so Tyler and I went to go see Earth. For every ticket that was bought, Disney planted a tree so we like to think we did a good thing. And it's actually a really good movie. I would highly recommend seeing it. And if you can see it on an IMAX screen, even better. We didn't get to experience that but we would have if we could.


So that's it! Lots more fun things to come!

Good Bye Michigan, Hello Indiana!

Well, as some of you may have already heard, I'm being transferred back to Indiana! I was offered a position with my company at their Indianapolis office and not only is it a great opportunity but it puts me back in Indiana with my family and some of my favorite people!! Being in Turkey really made me realize how much I missed having family close enough that I can go visit whenever I want. Mommy, Daddy, and Damla are possibly more excited then I am!

I do have to say though that there are parts of me that will miss Midland. For one, I'll miss all the friends I made up here that kept me sane and Midland fun. I mean, my life here has been described as a TV show if that tells you how entertaining it was! I'll miss Letter Nights and weekends up at the lake. I had some great roommates! And of course, Great Lakes Ice Cream (we all know how much I LOVE ice cream!). But now you all have someone you can come visit in Indy! :) And no matter where I live, I'll always love having visitors!

I also met a lot of great people at work. I mean, if I didn't love my job, I wouldn't have stayed as long as I did. I'm definitely going to miss all the traveling which was a huge perk. But I had to make a decision and it came down to me not wanting to pass up this great opportunity.

April should actually be a pretty fun month filled with a wedding, Flight of the Concords in Detroit, Demetri Martin at CMU, and Riverdance! So of course there will be more pictures and postings to come.

For all of my work friends who are reading this, I'll still be in touch through e-mail and, when necessary, the phone (b/c as much as I love to talk, I hate talking on the phone).

It's always a good night when cowboy hats are involved

Well Friday night was a good night. For a friends 30th birthday, they rented a party bus (yes, this is the week of party buses) to take us to some bars in the tri-city area. The theme was Cowboy Hats and Flip-flops (although it was too cold for the flip-flops). While on the bus, we listened to a lot of country music and our destinations included a lot of country bars.

There was actually a large group of people who went on the bus. Some I knew, some I didn't, and some I knew but hadn't seen in a really long time. It was a good to see everyone again. I officially knew it was going to be a good night when we got to a bar called "The Silver Derby" and the first song they played was "The Cupid Shuffle". Nope, I'm still not over it. They actually played it twice! They also played the Macarena which is actually really hard when you haven't done it in a while.

The biggest attraction at the Silver Derby is that they have one of those mechanical bulls that you can ride. I didn't actually partake in this activity but I did enjoy watching everyone else get on there. Some people really get into it! That's what most of my pictures consist of.

Saturday was a more relaxed day. We went to BW3s to watch Purdue beat Washington. I even made some new friends with some Purdue alumni at the table next to mine. We're multiplying up here. :)

I also saw I Love You, Man on Saturday night which I would give 4 out of 5 stars. I remember laughing a lot during the movie but I wouldn't say it's one of the funniest movies I've seen. For instance, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is WAY funnier. But if you have a chance, I'd go see it...or rent it.

So that's that. Still no jury duty. And nothing much else happening this month as far as I know but I'll be sure to let you know if anything comes up! :)

So much going on in one day!!

Well yesterday was the REAL St. Patrick's Day as well as my mom and dad's 31st wedding anniversary and Justin Jones's birthday!!  So clearly there was a lot to celebrate.  For some reason we decided to get a party bus for the occasion which is even more strange considering we are going on one on Friday anyway.  But who am I to say no to a party bus and another excuse to wear green? 

We spent the evening in Mt. Pleasant which is about 30 minutes away and where a lot of my friends here went out in college because it's also where Central Michigan University is located.  They knew there around to all the fun establishments and I happily followed along.  Best part of the entire night--they played Starstruck at one of the clubs we went to!  You can't beat that.  

There really aren't any stories to tell but good times were had by all and I've included some pictures as proof.  Actually, one story is that I did managed to snag a sweet hat but unfortunately my head was too big so I let Kyle wear it.  See below!! 

St. Patrick's Day in Chicago!

Over the weekend I went to Chicago for a little St. Patrick's Day celebration. Why Chicago? Well, it was brought up in a discussion over the weekend that Chicago has the most organized drinking events, which is true. While you would expect most places to fully embrace St. Patty's day on Saturday, there were people still all decked out in green on Sunday too. But really, Chicago, because that's where a lot of my friends were going to be.

I recruited my friend Kyle for weekend outside of the mitten and we headed out on Friday afternoon. After 5 hours in the car filled with lots of talking (me) and a lot of head nods and "I understands" (Kyle) we made it to Chitown. I dropped Kyle off to play with another friend of ours on Friday night and headed to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law. We went to dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Efes (formally Cousins) which was quite delicious. The restaurant was also BYOB so we made it somewhat of a theme evening by purchasing a bottle of Mediterranean Red from World Market across the street. The bottle (picked by me purely based on the name and pretty label) was $4.99 and proof that you don't have to pay a lot for a good bottle of wine. In case you're curious, here is a link to the wine.http://www.snooth.com/wine/rene-barbier-catalunya-mediterranean-red-nv/

A friend of J.B.'s also joined us for dinner. He was HILARIOUS! And was actually person who introduced me to my new favorite song, Starstruck by Lady Gaga. If she goes on tour anytime soon, you know I'm in. She has yet to sing a song I don't like.

We returned home after dinner and decided to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, when Damla said she had all the ingredients, she meant she had all she had all the ingredients except for baking soda which must be what makes cookies fluffy b/c we ended up with some pretty flat cookies.

Saturday morning I woke up and headed over to Stacey and Colleen's apartment to meet up with them as well as Kamm and Kylie who also made the trip for the weekend. From there we headed's downtown to Laurent's house where she was hosing a little St. Patty's party. Praz, Julie, Kyle and Thomas all met up with us there. The morning flew by which is not suprising. It was packed full of lots of food, Catch Phrase, bags, playing outside on the patio, and even a little physics lesson about torpedos from Colleen.
We eventually decided to venture into the city and headed up to Wrigleyville. We started off at a bar called Rebel where Jess and Brian were hanging out . We stayed there until we were hungry and then headed to Chen's which was a delicious restaurant. I ordered sushi since Lent is still going on and I gave up Chinese food but it was still really good. After that, the group dwindled down to just me, Kamm, Colleen, Stacey, and Kyle but it was too early to go home so we decided to wander in and out of random establishments in the general directon of the apartment. We drank some Beamish which tasted like dishwasher liquid at the Underground Lounge, made negative friends with some Illinios University people at Blarney Stone, and then ran (literally) to Kirkwoods to show off our killer dance moves. All in all, a most enjoyable day.

Sunday morning we continued the tradition of eating bagels for breakfast and headed to Einstein. I couldn't believe how many people were still continuing their celebrations! Afterwards, we went back to the apartment for some Swedish Fish and lots of giggling. A great way to end any weekend. Then Kyle and I headed back into the car for the trip home. This time we tried to pass some of the time with some car games but in the end went back to more talking and a few "I understands".

Now it's back to work for a few days. Still no luck on the jury duty. It's really a shame. I would have made such a great juror.

A Night in Italy...sort of

Last night I had a little dinner party of sorts. I invited 12 people and 10 came so that was good. I tried to a do a little theme dinner so I went with Italian. We had bruschetta as an appetizer, lasagna as the main course (with green beans on the side) and chocolate cake as dessert. I like to think chocolate is the international dessert. My favorite part was the cake but the bruschetta got rave reviews so I thought I'd pass on the recipe. I'll warn you that I used the entire baguette and probabably had 20-25 slices of bread and still had left over mix.

6 roma tomatoes
1/2 sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 French baguette
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large bowl combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes

Cut the baguette into 3/4 inch slices. On a baking sheet arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. It says you're supposed to broil for 1-2 minutes but I skipped that.

Divide the tomatoe mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Tope the slices with mozzarella cheese.

Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!!

We also managed to get through almost 7 bottles of wine which is pretty impressive considering 2 of the 10 people didn't even drink wine. All in all, the evening was quite enjoyable. The company was great and the stories were entertaining as always!