The bag lady

This is one of my favorite things EVER...

Today was my friend Lindsay's birthday. Last week, the diva-in-training sent us a copy of her birthday wish list, which included a treadmill, a spa day, and a Gucci bag. Her hubby got her the treadmill.

And today, Ashley brought her a Gucci bag. A paper one, but still... a Gucci bag.

Funniest. Gift. Ever.

Never say never

I totally stole this pic from my pal Lindsay's Facebook page, but I thought it was cool and a good representation of just how much ice we have in Benton county. Besides, I have no trees in my neighborhood and goodness knows I'm not going to walk far enough to find a tree in this weather.

When I started this job, I was told that the university never, ever closes for weather. Guess what? We were closed today. For the first time in over 10 years.

Yeah, it's really icy.

Lindsay, Stephen and Alex are headed to my house since they have no power. Thankfully I've managed to keep electricity, heat, and cable, and my Internet's only been down for about three hours. I've been lucky.

Monday, Monday

Granted, Mondays are never fun, but I've made them worse by committing to do a weekly report first thing each Monday morning... one that involves activity reports and manual tracking of phone calls, appointments, and emails by tick marks... one that is, believe it or not, even more mundane than it sounds.

So each Monday morning I'm subjected to staring at my computer for hours, making tick marks on a sheet of paper and hoping no one distracts me and I lose my place. Yeah, it's hard enough to wake up on the first day of the week without that in front of you.

This morning I set my alarm for 5:30 to get up and run. Two snoozes and 100 minutes later, I realize it's light in my bedroom and I've overslept. Hoping to jump start my morning, I turn on GMA and try to catch up with the national news. 20 minutes on the Presidential dog? REALLY? I lost $15K out of my retirement account in 12 months and we're discussing what kind of dog the President is adopting? IT"S THE ECONOMY, people. I mean, I love fashion as much as the next gal, but I don't care who's dressing the FIrst Lady tomorrow. Let's discuss the slim possibility that Social Security will still exist when I'm ready to retire.

Seriously, I bought a house I can afford and did not get an adjustable rate mortgage. I bought the Camry with the cloth seats and no sun roof. I spent four years paying off credit cards. Where's my bailout? Why didn't I buy Monolos and a Lexus and ask the government for some help? If Presidential Robin Hood plans to take from the middle class and give to the poor, this chick ain't gonna be happy, I don't care how big Michelle's pearls are.

Bad, bad mood. But at least I only yelled at one person today (and, in my defense, he yelled first). I also gave my pal Lindsay a list of people "who make me tired." Blah. Must. get. sleep.

SWF looking for a rich husband

I've discovered my mission in life: to be a trophy wife.

This morning I walked two miles on the treadmill, took a shower (no comments necessary), stopped for a latte, and got a pedicure. Then I picked up my pal LiLar so that we could head to Tulsa for some shopping and lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

After all those calories, I did another three miles when I got home. Because if I'm going to be someone's trophy, he's gotta think he won a good contest, right?

Oh, and the housekeeper came today, so my house was spotless when I got home. Hey, it's a tough life I lead.

What day is this?

I wasn't meant to be a lady of leisure. It's day seven of my vacation, and all of the days are starting to run together. I haven't showered since Friday, which was the last day I left my house.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Tulsa with my pal Lindsay to eat at Cheesecake Factory and do a bit of shopping. Bring on the pasta!

It's Monday, right?

Leftovers

I have leftovers from dinner last night. I have leftovers from lunch today. I have food on all possible kitchen surfaces. So much for the diet!

The work party went pretty well. I made baked brie, guacamole, monterey jack salsa, and bleu cheese dip for appetizers; chicken tortilla and tomato/basil soup; and chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark, peanut butter kiss cookies and brownies for dessert. And leftover cheesecake from last night. I threw away the extra guac, but I still have some of everything else.

This morning, while chopping cilantro, I had a little medical incident when I gave myself a manicure with a sharp knife. I managed to not bleed on any of the food, but I have a kitchen towel that will never be the same. One of my coworkers thought it would be hilarious to bring me a first aid kit this afternoon.

We played dirty Santa with white elephant gifts and I ended up with some lovely Christmas lights. I've also discovered several "gifts" dispersed throughout my house, like the fabulous pine-smelling air freshener that LiLar was supposed to take home.

Now I'm watching the last game at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys look terrible, but hopefully they'll figure out a way to win in the next four minutes.

Update on the non-date

Ok, I know some of you are waiting with bated breath (several of you have called and/or texted), so here's the 411... LB showed up. He was perfectly lovely and, after our first non-date, I can officially report that I'm no longer confused. He's absolutely, positively 100% in like with me. As a friend. Nothing more.

And that's okay. It's great that I figured this out without having to have a painful conversation.

I'll try to add more later, after the work party. If you want juicy details, ask LiLar. She actually met LB and can attest that he is a living, breathing human.

Chivalry isn't dead

I consider myself a moderate feminist. I'm all for equal pay for equal work, but when it comes to fixing anything mechanical or killing bugs, I revert into a helpless female.

Amanda and I spent the whole day watching "The Office" and random things on E! It was a pretty uneventful day, save the glass baking dish that exploded in my oven, but that's a different story. So, about 7:30, when she went out to head to Bartlesville... dead battery.

I've lived alone for a decade and have never learned to deal with car issues. So I called my only Siloam friend, Lindsay, and asked to borrow her husband's jumper cables. We brought them back to my house and I remembered that it's extremely dangerous to use those things if you don't know what you're doing. Yeah, there were instructions, but I was nervous nonetheless. Thankfully two guys walked out of my neighbor's house and I played the girl card. "Excuse me, do you guys know how to use these?" (Note to chicks: I've discovered if you act helpless, men won't just tell you how to use them, they'll do it for you.)

So we went to Auto Zone at 8:30 to get a new battery. Amanda learned well. She told the poor guy, "Um, I don't know how to install a battery." I'm sure he wasn't shocked, but he put it in for her. Good as new.

I'm sure Gloria Steinem would be ashamed of us for using our womanly wiles. But I don't care. Fair or not, when it comes to car problems, I've got no issue playing the chick card. Works every time.

Sweet home Siloam

Even though I was sad to leave Chicago, it's really good to be home. Wow... that was the first time I've thought of Siloam as home. Major milestone.

We didn't do much today except pack, ride to the airport, eat lunch, fly, and drive home. Granted, we rode to the airport in a Town Car (which I highly recommend) and ate at Macaroni Grill, but still, it wasn't too eventful.

Now I'm doing laundry and thinking about all of the stuff I need to do at work. I'm actually excited to get back to my to-do list, even if I'm no longer in the Windy City.

At least I have my memories. Here are a few pics to share.

The Wrigley Building



Opera House



Lindsay, Chris and me, during the fireworks over Lake Michigan



Once again I left Chicago without a visit to Wrigley Field, but maybe next time. We had a fabulous trip! Check out all of the pics if you're bored. I know you are, 'cause you're reading this blog.

Side note: I'm thinking about buying an apartment in the new Trump Tower in downtown Chicago. A studio goes for a mere $800K.

Goodbye, Chicago!

To answer Lonnie's earlier question, no I will not be detailing my bodily functions. I will, however, describe my fantastic dinner in great detail.

After two good sessions this afternoon about branding (in reference to marketing, not cattle identification), we boarded the Chicago First Lady to see the city from our perch atop a ship on the Chicago River. It was mostly an architectural tour, but it was really fun to see the Windy City from a different perspective. I took some great pics, which I'll post when I get home and find my camera cord.

We made a brief stop at Fannie Mae candies, then changed for dinner. We returned to Joe's tonight, this time with Chris in tow, and had the same waiter as last night. He was thrilled to see us (was it our beauty or our $40 tip?). Tonight's menu included the best crab cake ever, followed by another fabulous filet, topped off by chocolate fudge pie that was unbelievable. On a scale of 1 to 10--Western Sizzlin' being a 4 or so--tonight's steak was a 12 or 15. Best ever!

Chris is ready to go home and see his wife and boys. Lindsay is excited about seeing her husband and son. I'm sad to leave Chicago. And it's not just that no one cares if the old maid spinster comes home, it's that I'm so in love with this city that I don't want to leave tomorrow. Suddenly dinner at Callahan's in Siloam just doesn't cut it.

I heart stuffed pizza

Four years ago I came to Chicago for a meeting and had my first slice of Giordano's Pizza. I've had dreams about it since.

This morning I got up at 5:45 a.m. to attend a 7 o'clock breakfast meeting (see... my life's not all sunshine and roses), then went to a session about data at 8:15. Thankfully I had a venti latte to keep me awake.

Chris, Lindsay and I walked down Michigan Avenue for a bit, shopped at the 14-floor Macy's store (formerly Marshall Fields), where I gazed lovingly a $400 handbag that I did not buy, then we headed to Giordano's for pizza. It wasn't quite as amazng as I remembered, but it's hard to top last night's steak at Joe's. (Oh, and I had some more directional issues, which I'm sure LiLar and C-Ray won't let me live down.)

I'm headed off to more meetings.

Death by steak (and crab)

Well our first 24 hours in Chicago were a culinary nightmare. After last night's mediocre dinner, this morning's (very cold) brunch was just bad. My love affair with the Windy City was in jeopardy.

Lindsay and I slept until nearly 9 a.m. She allegedly had a hard time going to sleep; I did not. So I got a good solid 11 hours to make up for yesterday's exhaustion.

Tonight LiLar and I cabbed it to Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab. It more than made up for our other bad dining on this trip. Let me just say, it was an experience. Not only was the food perfect (I had a filet and stone crab claws; Lindsay had sockeye salmon), our waiter was just fantastic. It was one of the best--if not THE best--restaurant experiences I've ever had. And since it was our first trip to Joe's, our waiter brought us some key lime pie that was to die for. And now I'm stuffed.

Tomorrow we have four sessions and some city exploring to do, including Giordano's Pizza for lunch (my fave!). We made reservations to go back to Joe's tomorrow night since Chris played hooky tonight and wrote a paper. Yum! Tomorrow night we're doing a cruise around the city on the lake.

I'm back in love with Chicago. I may never come back to Arkansas.

North by northeast

I've always taken great pride in my sense of direction. While most women find themselves stopping to ask how to find a location, I can usually, even without Lola's able help, figure out if I'm headed north or south, east or west.

I take it all back.

After a relatively simple a short plane ride from Tulsa to O'Hare, we bravely picked up our luggage and boarded a bus which took us to the L station. I've seen the movie "Shall We Dance" no less than 20 times and have evidently romanticized riding the L train. Remember how Richard Gere looked out the window and saw Jennifer Lopez gazing out of the dance studio? Surely a ride on the train would be memorable.

Well it was, but not for any romantic reason. Mostly because Chris almost fell through the door and Lindsay and I couldn't stop laughing, and then when we finally got to our stop (which we only knew because he called the hotel and asked which stop to take by using the word "y'all"), we couldn't figure out where to go. I juggled my luggage while accessing the Google maps on my iPhone. Yeah, that didn't help. A nice traffic cop gave us directions, and we proceeded to cross Chicago traffic no less than 10 times while dragging suitcases and walking at least a mile, all the while unsure of our destination. We finally got here.

Tonight we took a cab down to the Navy Pier which was kinda cool. We walked around looking for the Italian restaurant, then ended up at a barbecue place that was completely disappointing. The best part of the night was the Ben and Jerry's ice cream, cake batter with chocolate icing.

Now we're back in our fabulous room, in bed at 8 p.m. But we're exhausted from the travel and the incessant walking.

I forgot my camera cord, so no pics until Thursday.

Photo album

My pal LiLar has been asking to see some old pageant pics. And since I'm working on a belated Mother's Day present, I thought I'd share some fun photos I found tonight.

This is my grandfather with my cousins, Lonnie and Woody. I'm sure Lon still has this shirt (he rescued it from a garage sale).



This is my senior Homecoming. I'm not sure what was bigger, my hair or my sleeves. Scary!



Mom and me, at Miss Tech (a pageant pic, Lindsay!)

Excess

It's been a day of too much sitting, too much shopping, and way too much eating. Lindsay and I started at 8 a.m. and had three marketing workshops today, plus we did a job interview over lunch and went to Conway to shop.

Lunch was a the Capriccio Grill at the Peabody and it was one of the best meals EVER. Here's a pic of my lunch, the salmon and greens special.



It was truly a feast for the eyes and the palate. I'm surprised I managed to ask a few interview questions in between falling in love with my lunch.

After our last session, we headed north to my former hometown and the world's best TJ Maxx (sidenote: Lindsay's husband says she's no longer allowed to hang out with me lest she catch my shopping addiction). We also went to Wilkinson's to shoe shop and had dinner at my favorite place, Michelangelo's. I was quite full after the fried zucchini, bread, and shrimp pasta, but we each ordered a piece of my favorite desert ever, tiramasu. Joe was going to meet us, but he got stuck at work, so we missed him. :(

Then we headed back to NLR to stop by the office and shop at Stein Mart.

It was a great day, but I'm pooped. Just one meeting tomorrow before we do more shopping (sale at the Gap!) at the mall and Fresh Market.

George Clooney and the Ducks

My friend Lindsay (who should be sainted, by the way) and I just got back from taking Huey, Dewie and Louie to the movies. We saw "Leatherheads," which was a decent flick (George Clooney and John Krasinski in tight pants... who's complaining?), but there wasn't enough football to keep the boys' attention for long.

Before leaving the hotel we caught the famous "duck walk" at the Peabody. Those ducks have more fans than most people.



Now I'm hanging out, watching OT of the national championship game and thinking I should be sleeping.

By the way... Peabody beds are NOT as great as promised, and definitely not worth $189 a night. But at least I can think about McDreamy tonight.