A Long Weekend in Chi-Town

For the last several days I have been in Chicago for the MPSA conference to present a paper on members of the House of Representatives' voting behavior on environmental issues and whether or not that's entirely based on ideology. It wasn't my most favorite paper to write (it was for my Congress course) and so I'm glad to get back to working on my dissertation. I had noticed a few big errors on my paper that HAD to be fixed before it submitted it so that took more time than I would have preferred. 

I asked Lo if she wanted to come with me because she is from the Chicago area and is typically looking for a good excuse to go home. This first picture is enough to sum up the trip. This is a Southwest flight attendant on a "dead head". He sat with us and gave us drink tickets. His name is Pat-t-yo. No, not like the porch. 

Lo's dad, being the extremely nice individual that he is picked us up from the airport and took us directly to eat. 

The restaurant is sadly going out of business at the end of the month (I can't imagine how, it was INCREDIBLE). They had mentioned they were regular patrons so the manager brought us what felt like the dessert cart.

We went out that night and had a really good time. Chicago has so much so it's easy to find tons to do. And the only thing that we seemed to have on our minds was food. So the next morning we made a bee line to Portillos. If you haven't ever had an Italian Beef from Portillo's... you just aren't living.

 And I got one of my "You Are Here" mugs from Starbucks. My current cabinet situation is starting to have a hard time with the collection but they're fun. And this one is my new favorite.

We traveled all over the Magnificent Mile. I even learned the hard lesson that I can't afford anything I wanted at Tiffany & Co. It was fun to dream.

We also found a hole in the wall Italian place to grab a snack. This is a famous Zeppole. I don't know why they're famous. I just know that they're delicious.

All over Chicago they have these places where you can get a "blow out" which to me says "Lazy Girl Doesn't Wanna Wash Her Hair"-- which was entirely true. It's hard to do your hair in tiny hotel bathrooms so we stopped in. I was there to present... after all...

We went to an AMAZING place for dinner with Timothy (my classmate) and Lo's dad. The place was called Quartino and it was like Italian tapas. Twas tasty.

I went to bed early while Tim and Lo (and my advisor?) went out. I was getting extremely grouchy as I was exhausted from the previous days of preparation for the conference. The last thing you really want to do at a national conference (amongst lots of potential employers) is to make a fool of yourself (and thus your institution). If you're not prepared, you just don't have any business being there. I even got null results in my data... but they were a very well thought out theory resulting in null results.
I unfortunately do not have any pictures to show of me presenting. Sorry mom.

Then we went to a place called Eatily. It was sort of confusing but also awesome. It was like a marketplace/restaurant combo with I think 7 restaurants in a two-story building. They also sold everything they cooked. It was really neat after someone took pity on us and told us what the heck was going on.

And then in order to enhance our cultural experience outside of high end stores and Italian food we went to the Field Museum. This is Sue. She is the World's most complete T-Rex fossil. The entire museum was really neat. I highly recommend it if you're visiting. We even watched a 3D movie on the Egyptian Pharaohs and were shrunk down 100 times so we could better acquaint ourselves with the inner workings of dirt (ahem.. SOIL)

And I don't know if you're going to believe this but after our afternoon at the museum we changed and found a place to eat. We went to The Rosebud on Rush. This was perhaps the best meal I have ever had in my life. I am not exaggerating. At all. 

 We went out that night and I met some insane individuals that were friends of Lo's.... They kept having to explain to me that they weren't from Jersey when I mentioned things like GTL and starting down low and bringing it up. The accent could have fooled me. Overall it was fun though. AND I finally found a Goose Island 312 on draft.

The next morning (yesterday, Sunday) it was time to head home. But not before we ate one more time. Papa Lo came and got us and took us to Portillos again.

Papa Lo is seriously one of the nicest individuals I have ever met. He is so kind and generous and funny. I don't have many friends that I am close to their parents...especially like him.

Overall it was a successful trip. I got some insights for my research that I may or may not pursue towards publication. I wined and dined. I saw new things and learned lots. I am not sure what more I could ask for. 

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A Story of Husband Listening

Early last fall I made up my mind that after the year that 2013 was and upon completing my comprehensive exams, whether I passed or not, I was going to hit the mountains for a weekend and just get away. I was going to take a few days to myself ( with my husband of course). I spent so much of 2013 being "on" that I needed something to look forward to where I could turn everything "off" and give my undivided attention to my husband and enjoy doing one of my very most favorite things to do.

I told Matt over and over that I intended to go on this trip but I didn't think he was taking me very seriously. I knew he wasn't really interested in skiing but I was and I thought he could give it a shot anyway for my benefit because I worked my little behind off for the last year and all I wanted was to go skiing. I still didn't think he was taking me very seriously.

Well Christmas rolled around and I hadn't gotten to booking the trip yet but I knew that I needed to or the season was going to get away from us and then another year would go by without me hitting the slopes and I would be a sad girl. I opened one of my Christmas presents and in the box was a ski jacket. And at the bottom was an itinerary for an upcoming trip skiing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited AND impressed because my husband is a very smart individual. First, he totally got credit for an awesome Christmas present for something we were going to do anyway. Full credit all the way. He listened. He took initiative. He SURPRISED me (I am rarely surprised). AND, he booked the trip for February 14-17. This had nothing to do with Valentines Day, but he had the Friday off from work and the Monday due to President's day so he didn't have to take any vacation, but he STILL got Valentine's Day credit. What a smarty pants.

Fortunately Southwest has a direct flight to Denver so it was a quick trip over so we wouldn't lose a day of our long weekend traveling.

 To celebrate the holiday I got a cute little donut from Dunkin' Donuts. We grabbed a shuttle to Breckenridge since it's a pretty walking friendly town and we saved money by not renting a car.

We had the cutest tiny little ski in/ski out condo. 

And it had a MURPHY BED! Tell me you haven't always since childhood wanted to sleep on a Murphy bed?? It was actually really comfortable too. 

And if you know Matt and I at all, you know that our first stop was the Breckenridge Brewery.

And while everyone was posting about their flowers, I was enjoying a moderately priced bottle of wine and chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Shanna for the win!

We sat at the bar at a restaurant called the "Whale's Tale." We had buffalo calamari. What a great idea. It wasn't the most romantic Valentine's Day dinner but I looked over at Matt and told him there wasn't anywhere else I would rather be. Ever since our first Valentine's Day when he bought me a counterfeit North Face jacket of Ebay that had to be returned because the sizes were crazy (and embarrassingly WAY TOO SMALL) we haven't really been big on Valentine's day. Remember, the dates of this trip were coincidence. 

 We had a Moscow Mule that the restaurant seemed to be famous for I guess due to the copper cups. Turns out neither of is a fan of ginger beer but when in... Breckenridge...

 I'd like to point out these mittens that I wore all weekend that my Grandy made. Way to go Grandy! I appreciate you even if I don't call often enough!

 The next morning I was SO Excited to get on the slopes. Here's my snow bunny attire. It had been 8 years since I had skied to I figured if I wasn't going to be any good, at least I could look good under my 18 layers while I was at it.

After paying a ridiculous fee for the ski lift (I mean, c'mon...) I gave Matt some lessons. Danielle and I had taken lessons back when we first started skiing and  we got bored and quit so I decided just to teach Matt myself. Plus I didn't think we should pay even more money after the crazy lift fees. 

So after practicing the putting on the skis, learning the pizza maneuver, and going down a few what seemed like 1 degree inclines we went on the little bunny lift where you put the pole between your legs and it drags you (I can't think of a more eloquent way to describe this).

It turns out, Matt isn't a skier. 

But he tried. He just didn't like it. 

So I did some runs by myself. I discovered that since I'm still in my 20s and able, skiing was sort of like riding a bike. It came pretty natural to me again. Plus, I don't spend a lot of time on slopes that require me to stare death in the face. 

After about 6 hours we were spent (Matt had already resolved he was done and started the beer drinking at the bottom). We had some pizza and went to a bar where I found a Stoney LaRue sticker. My kind of place!!

Day 2. More skiing attire. 

Now that Matt has seen what skiing is all about, he's going to love it. 

False. 

We did take a fun risk-free gondola ride. Isn't he handsome with is beard? 

And then I spent the rest of the date skiing by myself. I really wish Matt would have enjoyed it so we could do it together, but I had fun anyway. The slopes were GREAT. Gosh I love skiing. 

We found another bar and hung out before dinner. Matt was telling me that he didn't understand why I wasn't more of an athlete in high school because I have good reflexes and hand eye coordination. I told him about how I just wasn't that interested and wasn't dedicated enough to any one sport to ever be very good. I also didn't develop an enjoyment for running until graduate school. I told him a story about how despite not being very athletic the only sport I ever actually quit in my life was basketball. I did not even begin to understand the rules. My coach put me in for one game. My teammate threw me the ball from the side. I caught it. Looked up and said, "Now what?" I realized then that despite being a decent free throw shooter, the whole pressure of the "rules" was too much for me. Then I schooled Matt at an arcade free-throw game. 

On one of our bus rides we discovered an opportunity for a "starlight dinner" where they took you on a sled up the mountain to a restaurant where the ski lift operates during the day. It sounded like a one of a kind experience so we went for it. 

It snowed so much! Isn't Matt handsome?

 We had a really nice time just visiting and enjoying a bottle of wine. This was also the most expensive meal I have ever eaten in my life. I also learned that I don't like rack of lamb. All in all it was a fun experience and we will just have to justify it by calling it a 2013 + passing comps + Matt's good review at work celebration dinner.

The next day we were set to leave but had some time to enjoy town. We went to Crepes A La Cart which was a pretty touristy thing to do, but was also really delicious. Now I want to make crepes. Who wants to come over and be my guinea pig? Any takers??

We wandered around and picked up a few souvenirs. I wanted to get a picture of us with the mountains in the back ground. An important part of the trip for me was when I took the time to look around at the beautiful and majestic scenery and thank God for all of the blessings of the last year. It was a tough year and a big year but we came out on top after a lot of prayer. I was grateful to be able to see such sights. I was grateful for the thrill of skiing. I was grateful for a husband who would take me to do such a thing even when he didn't have any interest in the sport. I was grateful for being able to take four days off and ignore work and just be. 

 We grabbed the shuttle back to the airport. We were pretty wiped out so we listened to music and just hung out before our plane. Matt looks annoyed but he really just wasn't paying attention and I just thought he looked really handsome with his beard.

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Up in the Air

From Aug 29-Oct 9 I will have flown:

LBB-HOU HOU-LBB
LBB-PDX PDX-OKC OKC-LBB

LBB-OKC OKC LBB
LBB-MSY MSY-LBB

OKC-BNA BNA-OKC

I am becoming fluent in airport code and my geography knowledge is improving. As an undergrad I worked for a travel agency (despite my poor geography skills...). I still think that was the most fun job I ever had and I learned so much about booking travel. I would say that I fly about 15 times a year. I also dislike flying. It's not so much the flying itself but the airport experience.  The meticulous packing (because I don't want to pay to check bags), the removal of the laptop (what could possibly be in my computer?), the X-Ray (are you sure this isn't bad for me?), the going to second base with the TSA officer (who knew you couldn't wear sequined shirts?), and the waiting paired with powering up and down with all those electronic devices (besides, Mythbusters said that was a myth anyway). I am actually hand writing this draft to pass time until we reach 10,000 ft. I am also thinking about how miserable I am going to be for the 41 minutes of flight time (I didn't say I flew far) because Matt (I am sure in an action of love) put my ear buds on my night stand instead of back in my iPad case. Now I'll have to listen to the sweet sounds of "business or pleasure" chatter while I delve into the book for the book club I started (because I have so much free time). 

I'm getting to the point where I bought one of these:

I got it at Goodwill for $7.99. It's Samsonite. I looked it up on Amazon and it goes for close to $80. Count it! I glides effortlessly. I fits in the overhead bin. It has room for an overnight set of clothes (shoes included!) It holds my laptop or articles for me to read on the plane as I rush to class (I tend to cut things too close). It was appropriate to tell you the brand not because I am a name dropper, but because I think it makes me more respectable to real travelers (like my father-in-law or my friend Scott). 

What is the point of this post, Shanna? Are you bragging about all of the frequent flyer miles you're racking up?

First, the distance to Lubbock is 400 miles each way so I don't think there is any priority status in my foreseeable future. These planes don't even HAVE first class. Sometimes they do have propellers though. 

Next, this is even lower than boasting. This is whining. Despite how much I love to travel (and you know I do), I'm really just grumpy about getting up at 5:45 a.m. after less than 36 hours home in 2 weeks to jump on a plane back to the grind. The reality is that I am completely blessed and appreciate all that I have.

I just miss my hubby. And my dog. And my house. And my bed. And my friends and family. Come December... well not December... come February after I have taken my comps (and by the grace of God, passed)  I will be a happy camper. I'm happy now, but I'll be SOOO happy. SO. so. sO. 

Can't wait. Til then, more adventures and misadventures to come. 

Happy Monday. 

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Baker Wedding & Our Trip to Colorado

John is Matt's big in the fraternity. John is actually from the same town as Matt so that's sort of cute how that worked out. He was Matt's best man and he asked Matt to be his best man in his wedding. John is a really cool guy. He does all of this crazy adventure stuff. He travels all over the world. And even at the end of the day he is a really wonderful human being. If he ever writes a book about his life, it will be a best seller for sure. John also met his perfect mate, Shana (cool name, huh?). Now to be fair, I don't really know John or Shana that well, but they are one of those couples that you just have to watch them interact for a little while and know that they're perfect for each other. They also have Matt's highest seal of approval, and he's a pretty good judge of character so when I heard they were getting married I was pretty excited for them.

John & Matt at our wedding (May 2011)

Even if Matt hadn't been asked to be the best man, as long as we were invited there would have been no doubt that we were going to attend. Even better, it was going to be in beautiful Silverton Colorado. I've been to Denver and Colorado Springs several times, but have never been to Southwest Colorado. Matt spent many family trips during his childhood in that area so I could tell he was really excited to show me around. 

In order to conserve some vacation time, but still get the most out of our trip we took a late flight out of OKC to Durango (about 50 miles from Silverton) on Wednesday night. We stayed in the "Siesta Motel". I was a little nervous about the word "motel" because when I worked for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board doing town hall meetings in tiny towns in Oklahoma, we stayed in some shady places that may have scarred me for life. However, the price was right and the reviews were good so we went for it. 

It was nice enough and clean so it worked just fine for us. Really just a place to lay your head as your exploring the beauty that is Colorado!

We went to the Carver Brewing Company in Durango for breakfast. Matt may have had a beer with breakfast... it was an Oatmeal stout. So that's like breakfast, right?

One thing that is great about Colorado is that they seem to take a lot of pride in fresh local ingredients. Where have you been lately that the fruit they offer looks like that? Usually you get a syrupy fruit cocktail that really isn't that healthy. Not this place. Yum!

Don't worry, you can still get unhealthy stuff (Matt's meal)

 Our waitress was really cool and had no judgments about beer at breakfast time. She let us try some other options for free!

Several times. 

We decided to take a day trip along a very windy mountain road (I could see my impending doom just over the edge. Yikes).

This is the view of Silverton as you're coming in.

They have a train you can take from Durango to Silverton. It's sort of an all day affair and it's a little pricey to we opted out. But we did catch some pictures as it arrived in town. 

I have no idea who these people are that Matt took a picture of...

There was this really neat store where this woman sold woven blankets and capes and jackets. I almost bought one. Especially after she told us how much work it took. I couldn't really picture myself in a woven cape though so I decided not to buy one. I just deleted the photos I took because I realized that I promised her that I wouldn't put them on the internet. If you're interested you can look at some information here.

We went on the Old Hundred mining tour and also toured the Mayflower Mill separately. . 

 I really like their no-nonsense approach to work safety.

We had to wear some gear for the mining tour. I don't know if this is really a good look for me.

 Matt looks like a natural though.

Then we went to Ouray which was about 24 miles from Silverton. They call it the "Switzerland of America". They had a neat trail you walked down to see a waterfall. We climbed down to see it at the bottom.

I've never been much of a rule follower. 

Then we headed back to Durango and had a nice dinner at the Steamworks brewery. It was deeeeelicious!

Friday morning it was time for us to run some errands and go to Silverton for the rehearsal.

On our way we stopped at a Honeyville place because they advertised Honey Wine. It wasn't very good, but the experience itself was really neat! Bees!

We got to the lodge and were ready to get to work. Look at how cute our room was. The entire wedding party and the family stayed in one big lodge out far away from any sort of cell phone reception. I still have no idea how they found that place but it was really neat. 

I decided to make sure I got some shots of the rehearsal dinner. It's sort of a thing I do for weddings that we are a part of. I mean, who wants to pay a photographer for such a casual event? However,  it is still special and it's nice to have some shots so I try to provide that for our friends. Which reminds me that I really need to send Marrik the disk of the shots I took of hers... in September.

And of course we had to get a shot while enjoying the incredible views. 

The wedding itself was gorgeous. So much thought and creativity really came to life. 

 And they even had a photo booth!

We also had a nice time at the reception under the stars. We danced and they even played our song "Feet Don't Touch the Ground" (probably not knowing that was our song). We hiked around for a bit the next morning and then headed back to OK. 

On the plane I felt like God was saying, you just THOUGHT I was amazing down in Colorado, check this out. 

 And I had to get in my "green" deed.

We had such a nice trip and we were so glad to be part of the wedding for two very special people. We are also very excited to spend an entire weekend at home. A vacation from vacation.

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