Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Hope you enjoy whatever plans you have for this long weekend and get something tasty in your belly!

I will return to my regularly scheduled non-posting next week! Hardy har har!

Five on Friday!

It's Friday, which means it's time for the weekly link up with  Natasha, Darci, Christina, and April! 

Here's what I'm super excited about from this past week:

1. I HAVE THE MOST AWESOME BOYFRIEND IN THE WORLD!!!!!

Let me explain.  So one of my most favorite bands in the world is The Decemberists.  In case you aren't familiar with them, check out the song below.  The thing about them is they NEVER tour. My bucket list definitely has a spot reserved for seeing them live, should they ever go back out on the road.

Well, lo and behold, they are on tour this spring!!!!!  And coming to numerous locations near me.  Or near enough that I will travel to, that is. Ahem, Detroit. So the catch on Wednesday morning: I missed the presale that morning for the show we had planned on going to. Thanks, required insurance infrared scan meeting. (I'm not even going to bother to explain the boring-ness of this...)

Anyway, the boyfriend was able to find the super secret presale code and ordered them for me from a super secret website after I realized the presale was sold out (and was kinda freaking out).  He is totally my hero! Oh and did I mention that he's not only agreed to go with me but is excited to go to a show of a band he doesn't really follow?  That's a good dude, right there.

{One of my favorite songs}

2. Planning for the 15th Annual Concrete Ball is officially underway! Visit Day Spring's website to find more info, if you are interested.  We had our first meeting, which was more of an info session for new committee members this past Monday. I am so happy to have a fresh set of eyes (or five!) to help plan this year!  The more, the merrier, IMO!

3. Finally getting a chance to hang out with Beth,and of course, my nugget!  I've been traveling so much lately that it's been awhile since I've seen them.  Babies change so much, so quickly, and I don't want to miss a minute of it!

{I mean, this face! Seriously!!!!}

She might need a few years before she can wear her newest present.

So when I found out Beth and JD were pregnant, I was traveling quite a bit.  I decided that everywhere I went, I would get a new shirt for nugget as a souvenir. She now has way too many shirts... Ha ha!

4. The Serial Podcast.  Have you all heard of this?  It's a series put on by This American Life about a journalist investigating a 15 year old murder.  It is so incredibly intriguing, and I still can't figure out how I feel about the whole thing.  Just check it out.  So far, there are nine episodes with a new one every Thursday. 

5. I have vowed to drink more water instead of caffeinated beverages, and so far I'm doing pretty good.  It's a lot easier if I remember to fill up the eleventy billion water bottles I have and keep them in the fridge for easy access.  Hopefully, I'm going to see some positive effects in my skin soon!

What kind of water bottle do you prefer?  I really like the Camelbak, mainly because of the fun flip up nozzle.  It's the little things...

Hope y'all have a great weekend!  I'll most likely be spending it huddled around my space heater with a book!

  

Chicago!

So, at the beginning of the month, the boyfriend and I headed up I-65 to the Windy City!  And of course, I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.  

The drive up was absolutely awful; rain, sleet, snow, gridlock, etc.  Luckily, we had planned to stop just outside of Chicago at the Three Floyds Brewery.  Delicious beer, and some, uhh, interesting music.  Let's just say that black metal isn't really our thing.

Friday, once we got in to Chicago, we met a friend of Drew's for drinks near our hotel.  After drinks, we checked in and ran over to Rocket Burger Bar to meet my cousin and his fiancee for dinner.

{My delicious grilled cheese with apples, onions and brie!  Yummmm!!!!}

We didn't make it out to meet our friends that arrived in town later that night because we are old.  However, we did wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday in time to have breakfast at Yolk (also delicious) and hit the Field Museum.

Musk ox!!!

Texting all his friends about the capybara display.  They are pretty freaking cute!

After the museum, we met up with Kate, Adam, and Hank to tailgate for the US vs. Australian All Blacks Rugby game.  Let it be known here, for all of the Internet to see, that the boyfriend and I don't know the first damn thing about rugby.  But my friend's do, and we were along for the ride.

The day was absoultely hilarious, crazy, and hectic and we had a great time!  Since we were up so early, we didn't make it out with everyone else.  I have never claimed to be cool.

Since the weekend we were up there was also the same as Day Light Savings, we lost and hour on Sunday a.m.  We also were an hour ahead because of time zones.  What I'm trying to say here is, we woke up at 4 FREAKING A.M. IN THE MORNING on Sunday.  Yep, that's early. You know what is awesome about waking up that early when you're out of town?  Beating the rush for Sunday breakfast.  

We went to West Egg to eat and then headed over to Millennium Park before we headed out of town. I finally got the cheesy tourist photos of the bean I've been wanting for years!

We had a great weekend, came home exhausted, and it was worth every bit of it!  There is so much to do in Chicago, and I'm sure we'll go back soon!  

Any recommendations on what else to see while in Chi-town?

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Winter Wonderland

It is a whopping 16 degrees here in the Bluegrass State this fine morning.  There is a decent amount of snow on the ground, And my toes haven't been warm for at least a week.

Folks, winter is coming here.  Ugh.

I don't know if you are aware of my (and pretty much everyone else's) distaste for winter, but the hate is strong in this one.  EFF WINTER.

That's really all I have to say in that matter.  

I still need to take down my Halloween decorations, so I'm finding it a bit unfair that there is snow on the ground.  I may not decorate for Christmas just as a protest.  We'll see.  I'm sure some of my friend Courtney's holiday cheer will rub off at some point and I'll cave.

But let's shift gears here, and celebrate the cuteness that are hedgehogs.  Yay!

Happy Tuesday, and stay toasty y'all!

Five on Friday!

So here's what I've been loving about this past week...

1.  No more traveling since I got home Tuesday at 3 am. I need a break.

2. Catching an Interpol show for the first time.  I have been wanting to see them live since I was in my early 20's and I finally got a chance to this week down in Nashville!!!!

3. Finally getting caught up at work yesterday after being gone for pretty much half of the month of October!  Whee!!!

4. Finally broke down and gave my fur baby a bath.  It is my least favorite thing in the world to do,  Mainly because he absolutely hates it and I feel terrible.

Here he is, ruining all the cleanliness.  Why must dogs do that right after a bath???

5. Plans for a low key weekend.  I'm not gonna lie, I am worn out from the past few months.  I'm totally ready for the slow lethargy that is winter,  I am not, however, ready for my thermostat in my car to read 24 degrees like it did this morning. Ugh.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  If you need me, I'll be curled up on the couch with the boy and his snugly puppy.

Linking up with these girls:  Natasha, Darci, Christina, and April  Thanks again, ladies!

Update on Book Challenge

I was at the beach last week for a "work" (and I use the work term loosely) convention.  Every fall our KRMCA Board of Directors travels to Naples in Florida for four or five days.  

Mostly we're just hanging out and building relationships within the industry.  And drinking on the beach.

Since I'm such a lightweight, I always take a few books to read on the beach instead of drinking.  Since I'm doing the winter book challenge, I had the perfect opportunity to get a head start.

Here's what I read from the challenge list:

I really enjoyed this one, so much so that I went out and bought the following two in the series.  I finished the whole trilogy in tow days. I read quickly, needless to say.  This one counts as the first book of a series I haven't previously started.

I will say that the ending of the entire series wasn't what I expected or wanted, but some times that's for the best.  I'll probably rent the movies once they come out, too.  Has anyone read the books and seen the movie?  How does it compare?

Next I read my freebie choice, Garden Spells.

This one was an easy read as well, and I finished it within a few hours.  I'll probably pick up a few more of her books.  I kind of have a thing for books with some sort of fantasy aspect to them. Plus, it has a happy ending.  I'm one of those people that needs a happy ending.  It's the hopeless romantic in me.

The last book for the challenge that I read was For Whom the Bell Tolls.  I didn't actually finish this because it was too hard to get interested in, and decided I'm going to switch the book for this category (book title is also a song title).  I'm going to read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (song buy Elvis Costello).

This book is one of my favorite movies of all time, and reading the book has been super entertaining.  I'm still in the process.

Since I decided to put down For Whom the Bell Tolls and didn't have any other books with me at the airport, I picked up another at the airport newsstand.  Since The Book Thief fits for the category of "bookish" book, I started it and got about a third of the way through by the time we landed.  It's highly interesting and well written.  I can tell it's going to have a really sad ending (duh, it's set in WWII Germany), but I'm hoping that it's not too bad.

So, I really need to adjust my list with the updated titles.  But I think I've completed four of the thirteen books. Not bad for eleven days in, in my opinion.

Happy Tuesday, y'all!  I'm heading to Nashville for my last bit of travel in awhile, so I'll post again later this week! See ya then!

Winter Book Challenge Update

The book challenge I'm participating in this winter officially started on November 1st at 12 am.  Since I was fast asleep in a hotel in Chicago at that time, I didn't start my reading list until last night.

I started with The Dinner by Herman Koch.  Well, let me just tell you, that book was bizarre.

I still haven't figured out how I feel about it.  I kind of hate the main character, the ending and pretty much everything about it.  But at the same time, it was an entertaining read.  I sat down and read it in just a few hours.  I won't reveal any spoilers, but there are lots of unexplained and undefined parts of the book that left me demanding answers. 

I still kind of like it, though.  And that's irritating me.

It is definitely not one of those books that wraps up a happy ending and hands it to you.  And I think that's why I like it.  It defies conventionality.  And I very much appreciate that style.  Even if that sort of ending is becoming conventional these days...

You can read the New York Times review here, if you're interested. Beware, lots of spoilers.  

Also, I didn't realize that this book was a translation, so I may be using this book for that category.  Turns out the Metamorphosis is only about 100+ pages, so I won't be able to use it.  

It does make more sense now that I know it was written by a Dutch author.  There are quite a few similarities in his writing style to Steig Larson's (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series). There are also some cultural implications and norms that I don't think I would have understood if I hadn't devoured Larson's series either.  I think I finished those three books in no more than 4 days.  Anyway, I digress.

For the challenge rules, check out the blog hostess' post here.

Anyone have any great ideas on other books with lunch or dinner in the title that I could read?

Stay tuned this week for my post on our Chicago trip! Happy Monday y'all!