more than pleasantly surprised

just thought i'd pass along a frozen meal that's actually really yummy!
amy's organic cheese enchiladas. i think they're usually pretty expensive at the normal grocery store, but they were a special purchase at aldi so i snagged a box. and i wish i'd have picked up ten.
they are really good!! has anyone else tried them? wow.

one last list item!

I ALMOST FORGOT!

11. Amy's Ice Creams. Austin's famous ice cream. Woaaaahhhh mama!! How could I forget this on my list of the best things about Austin? This is waaay up there.

Austin

Our girls weekend in Austin was absolutely wonderful. Jamie flew in from Denver, Monica flew in from Tulsa, and I was the last to arrive from good ol KC, to visit our Lizzie Lou in her new city. 

I loooved Austin, Teh-has! 

Reasons:

1. Liz Gretz

2. Carrot Cake French Toast from Soco Cafe. The most scrumptious breakfast item I have ever consumed. (ok, not better than my dad's egg's benedict, but close.)

3. PEDI CABS!!! (not sure if that's how you spell it). Basically a really cute guy bicycles you around town for free, and you go really fast, and the wind's blowin in yer haiir....and it's glorious and exhilarating. Exhibit A:

4. Sushi from Imperia. Avocado crab rangoon? Yes, please. If you are ever in the Austin area, this place is a must. Order the Red Dragon and the Hot Mess. It was honestly the most creative and delicious sushi I've ever had. And we got to hang out with miss Rachel Chastain at this dinner!

5. Random bachelor parties we get invited to and are therefore given free drinks for 90% of the evening. Jackpot! No creepers either! Nice Texas boys who supplied us with Sigma Nu secrets. Bahahaha.

6. Awesome patios at every bar and restaurant. 

7. Cheap bellinis at Taverna right before our flights out of town.

8. Tacos from Torchy's Tacos. The "Democrat" was out of this world. Duh. :) 

9. Seeing light pink balloons at one of Brad Womack's bars and thinking it was Lil Ricky's birthday party.

10. Getting to spend quality time with three of my very best friends, catching up, laughing, playing, and enjoying each other's great company. 

ps..I know a lot of this list was about food, but as Giada says: the best way to explore a new city is through its food! and Austin had a lot of good exploring to do :)

Regardless, cheers to one of the very best weekends, and thanks to Liz for being a lovely host. I can't wait to visit again!

water for elephants

this picture almost made me faint. 13 year old girl faint. and not just about my boy r-pats, but reese too. i am so excited for water for elephants i've watched the preview about six times and i re-read the book yesterday. yeah, yesterday. (i'm on spring break!)

the casting for this movie just makes me giddy.  i really, really, really hope it lives up to my astronomical expectations - but who am i kidding? i know i'll love it, just the same. the first twilight is one of the worst movies ever and i still watch it at least once a semester and swoon just as bad as the first time i saw it. OOHHHH man.

anyways, if you haven't read the book yet, buy it, borrow it, check it out from the library, do anything you can so you can obsess with me. all together now!!!

family weekend

Two weekends ago my sister and brother in law drove down from Minneapolis with their Australian Shepherd Gertie! We were so excited for the dog cousins to meet, and to have our first real guests in the casa. Well....Shamus was, uhh, excited. Understatement of the year. The dog was so obssessed with Gertie he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't go outside to pee, (if gertie was inside), He. was. nutso. He was also more than mildly aroused, and committed a number of incestuous pelvic pumps on poor Gertie. It was a break-up-the-humping fest all weekend!! (TMI?)

Here they are peacefully coexisting for a matter of mere seconds.

 I'm sure Shamus attacked within the next five minutes.

pretty gertie!

 mom and amy - friday night at our house

To get Gertie a little break from Shay and to get a little of Bob McCue's AMAZING food (he made the best flank steak, homeade onion rings, fried artichoke hearts, baked potatoes, and sauteed mushrooms for dinner), we went over to their house on Saturday night.

 this is Gus's first appearance on the blog! He's about 13 years old, doesn't he look like a puppy? (besides his gray beard) He left Gertie the heck alone, as he has a bit o' doggie social anxiety.

 I love taking pictures of her! She's so good and still!

 the dog wheesperer.

Everyone watching DVR'd SNL with Zach Galifianakis. Hysterical. (p.s. like my dad's airplane pillow he wears 24 hours a day? it's the new hot fashion accessory. super comfort.)

Relaxing in the calm, Shamus - free environment!

To give my pup some credit, he was awesome the last day Gertie stayed with us. They were so cute playing outside, and he was totally chill with her down in the basement. And she really liked playing with him the whole time, and definitely put him in his place when he needed to be put there.

Since Gertie's departure, Shay has honestly been noticeably calmer! I think she rubbed off on him in a huge way, so I'm sooo glad she came, as embarrassed as I may have been!

And now I think I will talk about people. I still like them, I promise. :)

We were so happy to be able to put our guest room and guest bath to good use. Since they're both in the basement, it's a really private area for guests and Todd and Lisa said it felt like they had their own hotel! Besides playing with the dogs at home and the park, we went to our favorite spot, Mi Ranchito, for some good old fake Mexican food you can only find in Kansas. We also enjoyed an awesome brunch made by dad, played tons of Bananagrams, and topped it off on their last night with Minsky's Pizza and Scattergories. Indulgent weekend for sure. I wish I had more pictures of all of us together, they're on my mom's camera, but we had a fabulous time and can't wait to visit Todd and Lisa in Minnesota!

graduation!

Shamus passed puppy school about a month ago, and he aced his final. Ok, maybe not the loose leash walking around the crowded PetSmart without pulling, but he totally schooled the obstacle course. Boo-yah. Here he is with his distinguished graduation cap.

He obviously loved it.

Bummer! I was hoping for a dog that couldn't live without accessories.

i'm a star, i'm on top! somebody bring me a meximelt!!!!!!!!

A month later, I'm back! It's been a really busy month...so I'll dive right in with the deets.

This past Saturday featured my acting debut. Yes-siree, I diva'd it out on the $1.98 stage, UMKC Law's annual variety SNL-type show. 

On Friday Courtney and I went to our friend George's house to do some writing on a skit which turned out to be the biggest hit of the night. The guys came up with an idea for "Shanghai Shore", a Jersey Shore spoof featuring a couple of our Asian exchange students sitting in front of a green screen speaking Chinese,  - and subtitles written by yours truly with some Jersey Shore inspired Asian chit chat. I didn't want to put my name on it because I thought it would be so offensive, but after people were so obsessed with it I wanted my credit!! hahaha....

The show also included my friend Nancy and I in a live skit trying to sell a 2 Disc CD set like they do with the NOW mixes...but the mix was full of stuff one of our professors says all the time. Yeah, hard to explain. I was trying to sound cheesy and outdated, but ended up sounding seductive apparently. Heh? Pic here:

Courtney and I were also in a video skit called Hood Love, which was a music video using Mary J. Blige's Hood Love song, where we're fighting over who loves our real Professor, Professor Hood, more. Our fake fight scene was epic. The sad thing is I really do love Professor Hood, like a lot.

Basically all of it is only funny to the freaks and geeks of law school, so I didn't make Taylor suffer through it, but it was hilarious....and I felt the need to act in true celebrity form at the after party, staying out until 4 and throwing a fit when I couldn't find my meximelt among the 45 tortilla-wrapped items from our late night taco bell run. I mean, do you know how good a meximelt is???!!