what i did in denver vs. what i was supposed to be doing in denver

   Two weeks ago, a group of five lovely ladies from the MSU accounting program, myself included, put on their big girl pants and boarded a plane to Denver to compete in the annual Beta Alpha Psi Regional Conference.

   Now, this conference isn’t all fun and games as the title may lead you to believe. To prepare, the Regional Conference Committee (that’s us) had to choose a presentation topic. After hours of grueling work and preparation, we managed to finish our project: spreading the word about a career in accounting to seniors at local high schools. (By “grueling” I mean “we met at coffee shops for a half hour at a time” and by “hours” I mean, like, two per person – but still!) We were pretty confident about our results and were excited to go to Denver present in this prestigious competition.

   The conference didn’t begin until Friday at 1:00 but we “somehow managed” to wrangle up a flight that delivered us in the Mile High City by Thursday morning. The conference also ended at 3:00 on Saturday, but we flew out early Sunday. Not only are we good with accumulated depreciation and amortizing premiums on bonds, but man can we plan weekend getaways. Watch out!

   Traveling with a group of girls is probably the best thing ever. We were just all on the same page, you know?

   Oh look! An enormous Forever 21! – all that needs to be said. No one even had to ask “should we go in?” It just happened.

   Anyone else want anything? – the only words emitted as we passed a Starbucks.

   And you can’t forget the natural bathroom mirror dance that occurs as all five females attempt to get ready in a hotel room with only one acceptable reflective surface.

   So there was that. But the best part (besides placing 3^rd in the competition – woot!) was what we accomplished on Thursday.

What we were supposed to be doing: practicing our presentation.

What we did instead: started hitting Happy Hours at 3:00pm and not stopping until 12:00am.

Woops!

   We made a pact to document each beverage of our Thirsty Thursday – Denver Edition (we only missed one round, surprisingly!) 

What I like to call "the Martini Experiment". Let's just say I'm going to
stick with my gin and juices for a while.

Stellas and Long Islands - superb.

Wynkoop Brewery's very own wheat brew - not as good as MT's  "Beltian" White, however. 

Repping the gin and juice. Sup.

   To conclude, I'm super proud to have placed 3rd in the competition - earning us a pretty certificate, recognition, and $125 - but I'm happier to be associated with such great people who:

a) pulled strings to help us fly to Denver instead of drive (thanks Molly!)
b) work hard to take opportunities like these seriously to reflect well on our lovely school,
and c) know the perfect ratio to the "work hard, play hard" way of life! (BAP so hard)

a salad straight from heaven

   A couple weeks ago, on Valentine’s Day as a matter of fact, I picked up a bag of salad from the grocery store that I’d never tried before (that rhymed). I was a little apprehensive about it because I don’t usually venture outside of my salad comfort zone due to scarring experiences – aka: nasty salad dressings that ruin everything. But after a few bites of the mixture, I immediately fell in salad love. In fact, I ate the entire bag in two sittings. Garrett wasn’t as excited about it, but that was okay because it left more for me!

   The only issue with the bagged concoction of deliciousness was its price = $7.99! And the bags are so small…I just couldn’t justify it. Instead, I decided to create my own!

Here’s what you’ll need:

A bag of fresh spinach

Craisins

Sliced almonds

Shredded parmesan cheese

Newman’s Own Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

   As you can probably guess, you basically throw everything into whatever size bowl you like and then devour it. The different textures and flavors may seem like they’d clash, but I promise you they blend together in a magical, magical way. Another benefit of buying all the ingredients separately instead of the teensy tiny bags is they last a lot longer! Especially if you use the toppings sparingly…which I strongly suggest because they’re the “not-so-healthy” part of the dish (and of course they’re the most delicious!). Oh, life.

Enjoy! 

spray tans, potato dishes, & a boiling river

   Sometimes typing out a blog post feels like the most daunting thing ever. So I don’t do it. For, like, weeks. But then I wake up one day and realize I started a blog because I enjoy writing, and because it was a way to keep my family informed about my weird life, and then typing a post doesn’t feel so hard!

   Spring Break has officially come and gone, today being the last day. How did 9 days go by this quickly? If this is what it’s like to get old, I’d like to not get old please.

   As fun as it would be to recap every single day’s happenings from the last time I posted, I’m not going to because that’s boring to read as well as type. Instead, you get the last three days!

   My roomie of 2 and ½ years/soul sister/childhood friend and I have had the whole “pasty skin” thing going for us for quite a while. Starting in October, we basically lose any pigment to our summer sunkissed skin at a rapid rate. Now that it’s mid-March and people are returning from their tropical Spring Break adventures, we decided it would be a prime time to do something about our clear-ness. Tanning beds are simply a no-no because we’re both fair skinned and freckley – basically the recipe for melanoma – so we tend to steer clear of heated cancer-causing contraptions of death. Soaking up the rays on our front yard was also ruled out considering it snowed this morning (yay not). Those self-tanning lotions are great and all but we’re both over 5’7” and consist of long, gangly limbs – that’s a lot of lotion, folks. So we researched some spray tan machines online, put on some loose clothes, hopped in the car, and headed out for our very first spray tans. After sharing a high-five and a jinxed “YOLO” we scurried into the tanning salon and whipped out our debit cards for a $35 four minute cold shower of orange mist.

   The things that went on in Room 16 were reality show material. First, we decided to be in the room together for moral support. That’s all fine and dandy except we didn’t realize that we’d have to get in our birthday suits in a four-by-four foot room. Manageable. That brings me to the second thing: I went first – nearly forgot the barrier cream for my hands (which would have been very, very bad), didn’t realize that the spray tan booth didn’t actually close so I frantically tried to pull what I thought was the door closed, smearing the barrier cream everywhere in the process, and shouting “close it! Close it!” only to realize the top of Room 16 was wide open which meant every other person in the shop could hear me completely spazzing out, naked in a spray tan booth with hands covered in creepy white lotion. Yeah. So there was that. On the upside, I don’t look see-through anymore!

   That night, we had a group dinner and I made my mom’s infamous “Alice Potatoes”. Funny story about that dish: whenever my dad was out of town when I was growing up, my mom would make these things called Alice Potatoes. It’s basically a baked potato cut open, filled with seasoned ground beef, covered in shredded cheese, and topped with a dollop of sour cream. It’s quite wonderful. I always thought Alice Potatoes were an actual thing – like, you could order them at a restaurant as a side dish. I’d get put out when they were never on the menu. Well, when I finally got to college and had to cook for myself, I decided I was probably capable of busting out an Alice Potato and was pretty excited about it. I called my mom and asked her if she knew the recipe off the top of her head, or if I needed to look in a cookbook or online or something. She was like “of course I know it off the top of my head, I made it up!” I was really confused and replied “what do you mean you made it up?” She proceeded to inform me that in college, she had to find meals that were cheap to make and she discovered the affordability of a) ground beef, and b) russet potatoes. And voila! The name given to the dish was simply because she lived in her Aunt Alice’s basement throughout college.

My life = a lie.

   Suddenly all these memories began flooding back to me about being at restaurants and whispering to my dinner-neighbor how unfortunate it was that no one ever carried the delicious Alice Potato on the menu. Sigh.

   Needless to say, the Alice Potatoes we had on Friday night were scrumptious as always.

   Yesterday, Garrett and I and our good “couple friends” headed to Yellowstone for the day. I was super pumped because the weather was fabulous and I hadn’t been to the park for probably a decade. We saw tons of bison, antelope, elk, and deer – just what you’d expect! Our main destination was the Boiling River and it was a beautiful day for it. We had to share the pools with quite a few other soakers, but it couldn’t have been better. There was a slight breeze, the sun was shining, birds were calling, no screaming children in sight, and great company. We soaked for a good two hours, until our fingers and toes got pruny, then we headed back along the trail. I managed to slice my hand open and Garrett got a rock stuck in his foot – you just can’t take us anywhere! We all took turns changing clothes in the car (which is pretty humorous when you’re as gangly as Garrett and I), took some great photos, then drove around the park a bit more until the roads were closed. Then it was back to Livingston for a delicious dinner at the Rib and Chop House. It was such a great day.

   Now back to the real world tomorrow – only six weeks until graduation! 

Sunday Social v.2

   When I saw this Sunday’s link-up, I was immediately excited. I don’t know what it is about me that has some strange liking for sharing stories of awkwardness. My life has been peppered with a few embarrassing tales that most people may prefer to keep to themselves, but I would much rather tell them and share the hilarity! Ask any of my friends and they could probably tell you a tale or two about me, some prettier than others I’m sure.

So, on to this week’s Sunday Social! (Linking up with Neely)

Biggest Middle School fashion mistake

   Let me paint a picture for you, starting from the bottom:

Sketchers tennis shoes

Over-the-ankle Hanes socks

Too-short Old Navy jeans that Velcro instead of button

Chunky white belt

Pull-over hoodie that says Billabong, Roxy, or Old Navy

Plastic henna-colored stretchy choker

Big silver hoop earrings

And last but not least, a pony tail with two twig-like pieces of hair on either side of my forehead strategically pulled out to look “casual”

This one does not to the "look" justice, but at least the hair is spot-on.

   Oh yeah, and braces.

   I don’t think much more explaining is required. This complete unawareness for any sort of style stretched beyond middle school and into high school, of course. I’d go into the bad-perm-and-awkwardly-tight-shirt stage but we’ve got more questions to conquer.

Who were your best friends in high school?

   I went to a fairly small high school (graduating class of 120 or something) so I stuck with basically the same crowd all throughout my school years. In middle school, there were 11 of us then slowly dwindled down to about 7.

Kassie, Me, Katie, Jenny, Brandy, Sierra, Eleana, Megin, & Miah in 8th grade

Ellie, Whitney, Callie, Me and Ali senior year

   It was hard to find a picture of “the whole crew” from later high school years, unfortunately.

What was a typical weekend like for you in high school?

   I was pretty sheltered when I was in middle and high school, which was both good and bad. Good because our high school was located in a town that was also one of the largest Meth trouble areas so I avoided that scene entirely! Bad because I don’t have any crazy, party-filled memories from that time in my life. That could also be due to the fact I lived 20 minutes away from anyone or anything (gas station, grocery store, friends, school, etc) and it was rare for someone to make the trek up to see me at my little house in the boonies! It allowed me to create an everlasting bond with my younger sister, however, and become closer with my family. I also slept a lot.

Did you have any boyfriends?

   I moved to MT in 5^th grade and entered a school that was avidly practicing something called “going out”. I had no idea what it was until these little prepubescent guys with milk crusties around their mouths from breakfast and too-short jeans began asking me if I’d “go out” with them. From that point on, I “went out” with five or six guys throughout middle school. It basically consisted of not talking, holding hands at recess, calling each other and awkwardly talking for 3-4 minutes once or twice a week, blushing whenever the other was in your presence, buying each other stupid gifts from Kmart, and passing notes. So thrilling. First there was Will (who asked me out during rehearsal for the school musical), Josh (that I had a major crush on for YEARS), Kyle (who technically I’m still “going out” with…workin’ on 11 years now!), Jordan (ugh), and Shea (only one who I honestly think is a great person) were the major ones, but there were some inbetweeners that would probably be worth mentioning. I’m feeling a post dedicated to these experiences…

   I started actually “dating” Garrett my sophomore of high school and we’ve been together since!

The roses Garrett gave me on my 16th birthday

Did you have any secret codes with your friends?

   The only one that comes to mind is “pencil”, ha! In high school, if it was “that time of the month” and we were in need of a particular item that we’d somehow forgotten to bring that day, we’d casually ask each other if we could “use a pencil”. Then there’d be this shady hallway transaction, similar to the Meth dealings outside, where the generous friend would slide the “pencil” into the sleeve of the askee’s shirt and off to the lady’s room you’d go! It worked wonders. Unless a boy happened to overhear you and would hand you an actual pencil, which happened occasionally. Then it was awkward because you’d have to use the pencil in class so you didn’t hurt his feelings. It’d get even more awkward when he overheard you ask someone else for a pencil right after he let you borrow his – “what? My pencil not good enough for you?!” Shit went down.

If you could relive one moment/experience/day from Middle or High school, what would it be?

   I’d probably want to go back to the Divisional Tournament for tennis my senior year and just redo it – attempt to avoid the whole getting-hit-in-the-eye-with-the-tennis-ball-and-having-to-forfeit-because-my-eye-was-bleeding-and-everything-was-upside-down part. Probably worth a descriptive post as well, eh?

counting.

Yesterday marked 100 days until my wedding.

100 days.

That means today marks 99 days – DOUBLE DIGITS!

That also means…

297 meals (that is if I stick to the traditional 3 meals per day American way of living, which is hard because I’m poor and I hardly think peanut butter on Ritz crackers constitutes a “meal”).

98 more sleeps as an unmarried lady.

Probably 49 more showers because I’m one of those shower every-other-day-ers.

14 weeks until I say “I do”.

3 more lady weeks from h e double hockey sticks.

2 more months paying rent at my current cute little apartment. I’m gonna miss that place!

1 twenty-second birthday (mine!)

Not that I’m counting down or anything.