Manhappiness, Kansas

The weekend after Thanksgiving, my friend Megan and I headed up to Manhattan for the big “Sunflower Showdown” game (I use the term “game” loosely…it was more like a blowout). KSU took on those silly Jayhawks, and I’ll be honest…I only watched maybe a quarter of the game overall. That’s right—we ventured all the way up there and basically just ate and drank our way around town. (So not complaining. That’s totally the way I prefer my Manhattan trips. Hashtag Fatkid.)

We didn't get tickets to the game, since we figured a game in late November would be freezing, and we could just soak up the Aggieville atmosphere while watching the game from the comfort of a Porter’s booth with beer flowing from the tap, brought to our table by some frat-tastic 22 year old bartender. But wouldn't you know it…it was 65 degrees and sunny that Saturday! We still managed to have a fantastic time…even if we did take a nap….during the second half of the game…and order Pizza Shuttle when we woke up. Because, let’s face it…college is not meant for 30 year olds. We learned that lesson the hard way this year.

So. We ate at SoLong. Twice. No shame there. In fact, as we rolled into Manhattan around 8pm on Friday, we didn’t even bother checking into the hotel. Nope; we drove straight to our fav college spot for bloody Marys and grilled cheeses. THE BEST! Dear SoLong, please come to Kansas City! I know you would do well. Maybe in Westport? Or Crossroads? I’d support ya at least once a week, for some raspberry-black bean dip. And/or queso. (Yes, we had both, as you can see by the pics. No judging!)

After our SoLong dinner, we stopped at Porter’s, where Megan worked for 4 years in college. It was pretty much the same…same smell, same cups, same dartboard. We hit O’Malley’s to see if our dollars were still on the wall—indeed, they were. Finally, we stopped in to see our pal Charlie at Taco Luche to end our night.

We hit up CocoBolos for lunch and bloodies on Saturday, before the gameday festivities started. (By gameday festivities, I mean Fireballs. I blame the Fireballs for the nap that ensued directly after the Fireballs.)

We met up with a few of Megan’s friends who were in town for the game, and got a very festive holiday pic by the Christmas tree at Aggie Station.

This guy was NOT one of Megan's friends-we just saw him walking past Tubbys and we HAD to get a pic. I mean, purple Sperrys? That's dedication. I loved it. (He was kind of put off that we asked for a pic, but I was like, dude, if you sport a purple sweater vest with purple slacks and purple shoes, people want your picture.)

Ever had a Nancy? No? Get yo’self to SoLong, ASAP. It’s delish.

Then…came SoLong a deux (mmm....the dip! The DIP!), and naptime for the old ladies. On our way out of town Sunday, we stopped for lunch at Taco Luche before saying so long to our alma mater. Kittycats got the Win,  I got my Manhattan fix for football season, and Megan got a solid 28 hours of sleep . EMAW fo’ life! (Insert KSU Wildcat radio rawr-rawr-rawrrrr here.)

Little Letters

Dear Crystal,

Thank you for making such a delicious dinner! You inspire me to cook more. Loved the food, the conversation, and love you. (Yes, she made all that from scratch! Fresh tomatoes from her garden, pesto, feta, parm and arugula, drizzled with a balsamic reduction, over pasta. And yes, I ate three bowls.)

 

Dear Fall,

Thank you for coming this week. I needed your brisk breeze, your rain followed by sunshine, and your cooler temps. Just in time for the Plaza Art Fair this weekend. Well done, Fall. Well done.

 

Hey Royals & Chiefs,

Keep it up. You're actually making KC look good.

 

Dear Nova,

Congratulations big girl! Steps!!!! You’re almost completely mobile. Drew and Heather, can’t wait to see how the new house looks when that happens. Ha!

 

Dear Kitty Cats,

I'm sorry I doubted you. I should have known Bill had it under control. Kick some Texas ass tomorrow!

 

To all my fam and friends,

Thank you, thank you for all of your support for the past few months. I know some of you probably think I was nuts to leave a perfectly good job that paid my bills, but I appreciate you keeping that to yourself and always encouraging me. Because...

 

Dear ScriptPro,

Hey new best friend. You are kind of awesome. Thanks for offering me a JOB!

 

(Duh, I promptly accepted. More to come next week… Happy weekend!!!)

Tour De Little Apple

Last weekend, my bestie Megan and I made a sacred trip, two hours west of Kansas City. For her thirtieth, I told her we were going on an epic roadtrip-adventure. Where did we journey to, you ask? Oh, just the happiest place on earth.

Manhattan, Kansas. (Duh!!)

We had a ball. We did everything we wanted to do, and then some. Mostly, we ate and drank. Because that’s what you do in Manhattan. You eat at the best restaurants ever, you drink at the most fun bars ever, and you go to football games  for the best team ever (but we were a day late on that). 

Commencing with picture overload of the BEST TOWN EVER (you were warned):

So, all of this started about a month ago when Megs and I had an in-depth discussion about So Long Saloon and their food. We used to head to da ‘Ville after our Environmental Geography lab once a week and eat grilled cheeses and their queso dip. Or, she would pick me up from campus, convince me to skip my 2:00 Shakespeare class (it took practically nothing to convince me, by the way), and we’d have a few afternoon Bloodies. On a Wednesday. Because, you know, college.

Obviously, our first stop on our trip into town? So Long. Didn’t even stop at the hotel.

{Raspberry Chipotle Black Bean dip. Oh. My. Gosh.}

Next, we walked through Aggieville to check out our old haunts (Varneys, Rusty’s) and dipped into the new stores (Threads is so cool and I wish we had an Acme gifts in KC!). Then, we completed our tour of Manhattan by driving through campus (noting all the buildings we had classes in) and around town. We drove by our old houses and all of our favs (what’s up, DU??).

{My house on Laramie. It looked waaaay nicer than when we lived there.
Loved the purple door!}

{Chi Omega. Looks pretty much the same.}

Sunday night, we had dinner at a new Mexican spot, Taco Lucha. It’s owned by the same people as So Long and Rock-a-belly, so you know it was delish. Then, we had started our “Tour De Aggieville,” hitting all the old spots. (At least the ones that were open on a Sunday night.)

 

First up, Salty Rim. We made sure to tell the bartender that I had designed the original menus for the bar when it opened. He was not that impressed. In fact, I recall him mentioning that he "wasn't that old," so he didn't know what we were talking about. Cool.

 

Next, O’Malley’s. We couldn’t find our dollars on the wall (an O’Malley’s tradition), so we signed a couple of new ones and made sure to stick them somewhere where we would remember. (Right by the dartboard, if anyone is in town and wants to check.)

{Megan's says, "Morgan and Megan were IDed here!!!"
because we got excited when the bartender asked to see our IDs.
Yes, that is a sign you are old.}

 

Final stop (our fav), Porter’s. Megan worked there for several years in college, and oh man, it was  the same as we remembered.

 

We ran into several old faces (this is why I love Manhattan), and the bartender was pretty much amazing and played every song we requested (mostly rap, circa 2004-2006). Then this happened:

 

Annnnnnnd we decided to call it a night. (I’m confident that the 22 year old bartender will always remember the night when two “older” ladies came in, requested Nelly and R.Kelly, and then got up on the bar. Yikes.)

 

Monday, we attempted to recover with lunch and Bloody Marys at CocoBolo’s, another one of our old favs. We ran into our friend Bri, who was waitressing. To quote her, “it’s like it’s 2004 again!”

 

Then, on our way out of town, we headed out to check out the new stadium. Wowzers! “The Bill” is amazing. It made us love K-State football even more.

 

 

I particularly loved the bronzed statue of Coach Snyder himself, complete with pleated pants and that 1980’s windbreaker. Oh, Bill. We love you!

 

Until next time, Manhappiness. (I hope it’s very, very soon!)

Spring Break

I’m back! I took the week off last week to enjoy my spring break. While I did not enjoy sand, sun, and warm weather like so many of my students, I did enjoy sleeping in and watching some basketball. Kinda felt like I was back in college. It may have been all the day-drinking. Oh, and I had to shovel my driveway again—why, oh why did it snow on the tail-end of spring break? Ugh. So ready for some springy weather!

Here’s a quick recap of the week—feel free to note my signature pose in many of the pics. I never picked up on that until I put all these pics together…I guess I should work on my posing skills. You know, throw in a new body position every now and then to mix it up. Sheesh.

Here we are on various days-into-nights at the Big Twelve & NCAA tourneys downtown at Power and Light. So fun! So many people and the weather was pretty nice the first few evenings for the Big Twelve. Sure wish KSU had pulled a win out over those 'Hawks, though.

{With Michelle and Katie on night two of the Big 12 Tourney}

{With Miranda and Katie on night three}

{With Michelle, Adele, and Miranda on a very sad day...poor Kitty Cats}

And at the end of this first wild weekend, we had to celebrate St. Patty's day right and head down to Westport. Although it was rainy and cold, we had some fun at The Foundry.

 

{Westport! With Miranda and Gina}

{You know, because everyone needs a green-sequined bow}

After recovering from the first weekend and then watching my Kitty Cats lose in round two of the NCAA tournament (boo!), I met Miranda back downtown to (grudgingly) watch the KU game. But I did NOT cheer them on!

{We heart PBR bar...and the side pose}

 

Whew! Finally, to cap off a fun week and weekend, my friend Gina’s birthday was yesterday, so we headed out to celebrate with some sush and crème brule at RA. After so much fun this past week (and many cocktails…ugh), I’m ready to get back in the groove of things with a normal week.

{Pink champagne bday cake...with sparkles, of course!}

{Happy birthday, G! XOXO!}

It’s Going To Be A Rough Tuesday

{Beads on Bourbon}

Today is Fat Tuesday. If I was still in college, I’m sure I’d make the executive decision that today is a holiday and I shouldn’t go to class. (Back then, I pretty much made a lot of days "holidays.") I’d probably round up a few friends and head to the ‘Ville to celebrate debauchery (isn’t that what Fat Tuesday is all about?) with some day drinking. Sigh. I miss college sometimes. Instead, I’m here at school, gearing  up for my day. And I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one. Reason number one? Read on.

 

So. I watched The Biggest Loser last night. Oh wait, no I didn’t. I watched the KU/K-State game. Ha! Poor Wildcats. Those Jayhawks had something to prove. It’s a bummer it had to be against us. After halftime, I gave up and switched to a rerun of The Office. That’s how bad it was. And today, I’m sure I’m going to hear all about it from my students and KU friends. Blah.

 

The other reason today is rough? It’s parent-teacher conferences week. Ugh. Long days today and Thursday. Yep, that’s right—I’ll be spending my Valentine’s Day talking to parents about their students. How much fun does that sound? At least we have Friday AND Monday off. Four day weekend? I’ll take it!

 

Hope everyone has a fab Fat Tuesday. Drink a cocktail and eat a cruller for me!

Big Monday Night

{Lookin' good, KSU, lookin' good!
Oh, is anyone surprised I have an ESPN app on my phone? Yeah, I kind of am, too.}

 

Hey, Kitty Cats. No pressure, but…let’s try and keep our ranking of #1 in the Big Twelve, okay? Don’t let those dumb Jayhawks starting winning now. I mean, TCU? Really? I think you guys can handle them this time.

 

{Rodriguez and McGruder are my favs.}

 

 

Let’s goooooooooo, K-State! (I added some extra "o"s in there for luck!)

I Was Wabash-ing My Heart Out...

{The "Octagon of Doom" last night. Still the dumbest name I've ever heard.}

 

 

...But K-State didn’t get the W.
That’s okay, Kitty Cats—you hung in there pretty well against those nasty ol' Jayhawks.
Look at all that purple pride up there. It’s still a great day to be a Wildcat!

Bachelor Mondays

This may make me an awful person, but…

{Tierra. Ugh.}

Does anyone else think Tierra kind of has a Harry Potter scar?

I know, I know. I’m terrible. But…when you fall down the stairs and talk crap on ten other girls on national television, sometimes, you may receive some criticism.

 

Anyways. If you haven’t deciphered what I’m talking about, it’s The Bachelor. First of all, let me clarify—I have not always been on the Bachelor/Bachelorette bandwagon. Sure, I would (sadly/shamefully?) consider myself a connoisseur of reality television. I’m not particularly proud of my DVR schedule, but basically, if it’s on Bravo, I’m all about it. However, The Bachelor has not always been in my rotation. It always seems a little desperate. No offense. But it drives me nuts that the “contestants” (for lack of a better term) always seem surprised and hurt that the process eventually kicks them off. It’s what you signed up for, people. Did you really think that you could make a connection after a week or two of ridiculously over-the-top and outrageous “dates” (did anyone else feel totally awk as Sean and Lesley M. kissed for a solid three and a half minutes in front of all of L.A. to break the world record last night?) and publicized make-out sessions?

This season, however, I’m all about it, because Sean Lowe, the bachelor himself, is not only totally cute (his dimples—swoon! He’s totally a Ken doll) and seemingly genuine and kind, but he’s a K-State alum! My best pal from college and fellow Wildcat, Megan, and I have endured the Bach season so far together, and no less than five times per episode, we have turned to each other and asked, “why didn’t we know/hang out with/date him in college???” Let me just say, last night, when he had the date with AshLee and he brought the two girls with chronic illnesses along on their Six Flags date, I kind of wanted to cry at how sweet he was.

{Sean. Sigh.}

Okay, I’ve probably embarrassed myself by going on this long about the show, but I have to say, Sarah and Lesley M. are my favs so far and Tierra and Amanda are pretty much totally crazy. Can’t wait for next week’s episode!

 

*PS—I did NOT spend my entire weekend thinking about The Bachelor. I had a lovely day off yesterday and put it to good use—lunch date and new home updates posts to come!