New....again

As you can see, I got tired of my girly page quickly. I guess I'd rather enjoy the flowers outside than on my blog. Saturday was GORGEOUS, so I got off my lazy bum and took a walk around downtown. Unfortunately, my batteries ran out before I got pics of all the random sculptures. I finally went to the Old Mill Tasty Shop for a limeade. It was well worth it. Sometime I'll go back for the food, which smelled wonderful. The nice weather made me miss Lake Michigan and building sand castles with my friends. I also miss all our summer barbecues. :-( Something I do love about being back in Kansas is the smell of prairie fire. I only wish I was in the Flint Hills to see the beautiful flames. Summer is approaching.... wahooo!!!!!






This building reminded me of the trip to Galveston, TX I made before my senior year in college. It looks similar to pics of building in New Orleans.


I just had to take a picture of this tiny car.


Sadly, this horse is starting to rust and fall apart.

Something new

I'm sitting at home bored, because I called in sick. The pain I had in my neck yesterday got worse overnight. Sitting here is okay, but it will hurt when I stand up. I might get a massage tomorrow, since my attempts to relax the muscles are not working. Aleve only puts a dent in the pain. As long as I don't move much, I'm good. I've read a couple magazines, eaten a lot of food and watched television. I called my sister to hear my niece tell me about her own ailment. "I have an ouchy on my chin. It was bleeding." At least she took a dramatic tumble. I just woke up in pain! 

In my boredom, I decided to change up my blog layout. It looks very Springy, and a bit girly....maybe too girly. 

High school drama

My fellow newsies should check out the latest MTV reality show "The Paper," which follows a high school journalism class in California.  The first episode aired tonight, and it reminded me of how some high schoolers think they are God's gift to journalism. Don't get me wrong, there are some high schoolers who are talented and will make their mark in newspaper land. However, there are others who are too full of themselves. In South Bend, I worked with some of these kids for our 'Next Generation' page. I had high hopes. I wanted to share my passion, and teach these kids how to write better stories and make them visually exciting. Instead, I had many who didn't understand the meaning of deadline and teachers who said, "Can't you just print what we put in our paper?" I would have been so grateful to work at a 'real' paper when I was in high school. I guess it's a different generation now (and I'm not that old!)

Foody stuff

What are we ingesting....
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/139/the-20-worst-foods-in-america/

I'm still a Wildcat

My fellow K-Staters think my loyalty to the Cats is slipping, so I'm changing my colors to purple. The past few days have been SO exciting with the KU games. The championship was amazing! However, I can't turn into a Jayhawk! It has been good for the paper though. We are selling commemorative T-shirts featuring our sports cover. Yes....I might buy one, but part of it is showing pride for my newspaper. Our photogs have done an awesome job, and I'm surprised our sports designer hasn't had a meltdown! My friend Lindsey had four versions of the paper for Monday night. She had to work at warp speed once the game was over. Ahh....the joys of working on deadline :-)

Rock Chalk Jayhawk...K..UUUUUU!

In honor of KU's Final Four win this evening, I've changed my blog to a red and blue theme. I was going to put a Jayhawk on here, but my fellow K-State grads might have hurt me. I had picked North Carolina to win on my bracket, because KU has always let me down in the end. All the people above me in the standings either picked NC or UCLA, so we're all messed up now. It was such a great game!!! All of us at work couldn't believe how far ahead KU was in the first half. Work was a little crazy toward the end as the sports designer and I tried to decide which photos we would use. If KU wins on Monday I may just cry. I grew up watching KU in the NCAA tournament and loving it. I remember seeing them win in 1988. Now just to clarify, if they were playing K-State, I would totally cheer for the Wildcats. :-)

Christmas in March and an ad for Wichita :-)

My gift from Erin...she always gets me cool stuff.

Between our different work schedules, sickness and family obligations, my best friend Erin and I were not able to celebrate our Christmas until this past weekend. In fact, I don't think we had seen each other since my birthday in early December. She came down to Wichita on Saturday, so we could have a girls day out. After meeting at Cinnamon's Deli for lunch we headed out to the fun stores of Wichita.

First stop: Nifty Nuthouse http://www.360wichita.com/FoodandBeverage/NiftyNutHouse.html
This place truly is the pride of Wichita. You can find everything from dried vegetables to mint-chocolate malt balls. My personal favorite is all-nut bridge mix. This trip I bought some maple pecan fudge....marvelous!

Second stop: Spice Merchant 

http://www.spicemerchant.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi

This place is full of neat gifts, such as funny mugs and tea sets. It also has an array of coffees, teas and spices. 

Third stop: Monica's Bundt Cake Co. (sorry the URL isn't working)

This tiny little store has yummy bundt cakes in all sizes. We tried lemon poppy seed and chocolate sour cream. 

Just down the street: Abode

http://www.abode.com

This store had some sweet furniture! Of course, I couldn't afford any of it, but at least I could appreciate the coolness of it. Erin is an interior designer for corporate offices, so she was a little irked by some of the knock-off furniture. I wouldn't have known the difference. 

After checking into our cheap hotel (with pink lamps and couches as you see in the photo) We headed to Old Town to see Vantage Point at the Warren Theater. We ordered some chicken Nachos that were delightful. I have to admit, the theater wasn't as fancy or designeresque as I thought it would be. I hope any Wichitans reading my critique won't shoot me!

After the movie, I took Erin to Lu Cinda's, a store full of quirky gifts such as the bacon wallet she bought for her husband. We also went to Beadazzled and a new furnishings store near Crown Heights called Frank & Margaret's (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=229125285)

We both were yawning at this point, so we went back to the hotel to veg. Sunday morning we went to my church Eastside Community (http://www.eastsidecommunity.com/)