Life as it is....

Well, I have officially entered the world of grown-ups. It hit me tonight. I didn't really feel like I had yet, but I have. The life of always having something to do with friends and having to turn so many social activities down has passed. Not that it is really a bad thing, but it is just new and foreign. I actually have to plan things with friends now, they don't just come up. Tonight, I was sitting drinking some wine, about to grab a book, and it hit me. I am now an adult. It was like a very subtle initiation into this mysterious place. I mean, I have been an adult legally for a while now, but the reality of it has now come. Let's face it, once you pour that glass of wine and go for the book or maybe turn down anything that will put you at less than 8 hours of sleep...that's the end of all juvenile affairs. So, grown up world...here I come. And hopefully I'll knock out a few books while I'm at it.

Fail Blog by Tracy

Well, It has been a while since my last post...and a lot has happened! I have basically been traveling the US for the past few weeks. Started of with a trip to Minneapolis for a friends wedding. This is the truest form of my "fail blog" because my friend and I missed the wedding! Turns out a combination of bad directions from mapquest (not sure why I veered away from google!) and our oblivion to the fact that Minneapolis is HUGE! Next trip was to Chicago for a spinning workshop. I had just enough time for a jog along Lake Michigan and a great cup of coffee at a little Italian Cafe down the road. I learned a lot, got some good rides in, and am now a Certified Spinning Instructor! And the last and most favorite is my trip to the Big Apple! This was a "work trip" but mostly just because it was with people who workout at the place I work with and my boss did all of the planning. We toured around Central Park, SoHo, Little Italy, and saw Wicked! We lucked out with 2nd row seats which was outrageous. We were so close that you could see them spitting while they were talking and singing. Oh, the simple joys. So, I'm close to my next big adventure which is to East Asia. 13 days and counting.

I love finals!

So, I thought this was quite hilarious...mostly because the only finals I had this week were for my student loan exiting info session....here is the wisdom I gained from it:

YAY! I mean, who wouldn't get excited about starting a final exam, really?

Cheers to a great weekend

My Easter weekend was pretty eventful! It all started off, Good Friday night at the Cornerstone Church service. They made an amazing production called "Ragman", where the Ragman took every one's pain upon himself and then gave them a new life with new hope. That is a very brief overview, but it was very powerful and did a great job of demonstrating a modern day idea of what Jesus actually did for us. It is easy sometimes to see what Jesus did as irrelevant or our lives not in need of what he did, but the truth of it is, we all have pain and hurts from other people that Jesus can give healing to. Not to say that is only why we should put our hope in him. Any who, near the end of the service, Paul Sabino gave a quick message and this is where it started...A lady I knew sitting next to me (an international I might add) had forgotten to shut off or silence her cell phone. So, it rang and rang until she could locate it through the obstacle course of a purse. Then, most would think that it ended there. Au contraire, my friend, au contraire. She then went on to answer the call, in the middle of the message being given in a room of approximately 630 people. Yikes! It gets better, the volume was so loud that I and anyone in the vicinity could hear the entirety of the conversation. She tried to make it quiet, but the voice on the other side was just too loud to make any difference. Case and point #1: Internationals have a much different cell phone/public behavior etiquette than most -- yes, I am going to go with ALL Americans.

Later that weekend...The very next day in fact, my family and I went to a new Mexican restaurant. The cuisine was great, yet not the healthiest option, but I still enjoyed the food. As I observed the server seating another group, I noticed his head, in a potentially cramping position, and had his ear pinned down to his shoulder. Sure enough, he was talking on his phone. No shame. No cares. Just a simple conversation. He continued to work, talking on his phone, refilling our drinks, still chatting away. I hope he isn't going to go over his minutes this month. We left, and a while later I remembered that I left my sunglasses there. So, back we went, eager to find one more story to tell. Sure enough, I stepped in, asked the hostess if they found any glasses, and they did! Just as she removed her curling iron from her hair, she handed me my glasses. I'm not sure what else to expect, but I continually love being surprised by the etiquette of each culture, or maybe just the laxity of a few people I've met.

Bathroom Breaks

I don't know what it is about traveling, but taking bathroom breaks need to be made into a science. As I am spending about 2 solid days on a bus going down to Florida, I have had time to reflect on this issue. First, you start drinking water. Then, you stop to get coffee. Then, you are back on the road again and are in dire need of using some facilities. I'm not sure what it is, but once you realize you have to go to the bathroom, there is some kind of chemical imbalance that happens in the brain which makes you think you are actually more thirsty with a full bladder. I am going to blame this on an overactive hypothalamus. There has to be some correlation between buses and the hypothalamus.

Dallas Tidbits...

I recently took a trip to Dallas, Texas. I was kind of hitching a ride with my family because my brother-in-law, Mitch, was attending an annual swine conference. My mom and sister went too. Here are a few of the highlights of the trip:

Highlight #1: The food. My mom and I are officially pros at finding the best restaurants in town…well, in walking distance of our hotel. Food favorites include a grilled salmon salad, EatZi’s (because of the awesome food and super fun atmosphere), and finally a fun café for breakfast with great coffee. All of the places we went to had outdoor seating…so we took full advantage of that! Our last stop was in the big KC. We ate at a fun breakfast place where there were a lot of business people having meetings. My favorite part was when Kate politely thanked an innocent customer for the service thinking he worked there. I was rolling for a while over that one!

Highlight #2: Catchin’ up on the zzz’s. Kate and Mitch’s hotel was about 4 miles away, and I might add that they had the free parking ramp. So we (my mom and me) had to be dropped off at night before they went to their dinner outings. It seemed fine, but now that I write it out...Yea, basically our chaperon. Without out a car, we couldn't really do much besides go to dinner that was walking distance of our hotel and then come back. After those long days of walking everywhere, we were alright with cashing in early. One night we brought back some delicious food and wine and ordered Slumdog Millionaire. It was awesome!

Highlight #3: Zoo & Museum Day. Our day started off with some cloudy weather, so we headed to the 6th Floor Museum (JFK). It was super interesting and I learned a lot. Then, as we headed out, the clouds cleared and the sky was beautiful with the sun shining! We headed to the Dallas Zoo and enjoyed some tours, awesome animals (My favorite was definitely the Zebras!), and the sunshine!

Highlight #4: Luxuriously small gas station restrooms. Need I say more?

Highlight #5: “Very Important” things that you pack but somehow don’t even use. I am admittedly one of the worst packers and don’t enjoy any part of it. There is always the stress of forgetting something, or realizing you have to pay up the wazoo for some dumb item you already have. This time, I had floss and mouthwash I used once (I’m not ashamed), 2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of jeans, 3 shirts and one pair of sandals I didn’t even touch. I also brought about 4 books--read about 10 pages in 1, skimmed another book, and didn’t touch the others.

pictures still to come....

PB Correction...

So, turns out that you need to add a lil' sumthan sumthan to help get the peanuts broken down and creamy...I added about 1-2 tablespoons of oil per cup of peanuts and some honey. It made really chunky peanut butter, and I could just sit and eat it plain and not feel too bad about it. Overall, the process was a bit lengthy, but I rate it at 7 out of 10 for an overall goodness level. I also tried out some sweet potato pancakes this past weekend...they were amazing. Let me know if you would like the recipe!