Call me a big nerd

Well, my computer is dead. i am now typing to you all on a macbook. woo. i have gotten so many comments already on how much people love their macs, and mac is so great, and i will just absolutely love my mac and i won't ever be able to live without it. um, ok. i got this mac and let me just let everyone know a few things. first, macs are expensive. i don't like that. second, macs are bossy. they don't let me do all the things i need to do on a computer. many things are not compatible with mac and mac likes you to buy their stuff instead of just making their computer compatible with the things everyone uses. for example, my copy of microsoft office, my rhapsody player and some of my documents. anything else in the world that was like this would infuriate people but mac has done an awesome job of branding. which brings me to my third complaint. the apple people are DORKS. i mean, while i was buying my computer, half the employees were standing around checking their iphones and talking about the ipad. GET A LIFE!! these people were geeking out about how awesome their pieces of technology were. i feel like a big sell out with this mac. i don't know if i think apple is the "coolest" thing and i actually hate when people tell me how awesome their iphone/ipod/mac is because honestly, i just don't believe it. but i've got this thing and it's doing well so far.

on another note, going vegan is going great!! i was kind of dreading it (because i adore cheese so much!), but i swear i have so much more energy and i feel so great. now, don't get me wrong, i am not a person who is doing this because i care so much about animals that i don't want to eat them. i don't care about that at all. and believe me, if i'm going out to eat with friends or when i go to rome with lp or whatever, i will eat cheese and meat and eggs. just wanted that out there. BUT, for the most part, i feel so good that i think i'll be a vegan most of the time. i have always hated touching raw meat (which is why lp always cooked!), so i'm cooking more. my stomach used to feel really full and like it wasn't digesting my food correctly and i'd burp all the time, but that never happens anymore. my tummy feels wonderful. i think i've lost a little weight. but most of all, the food is really good! this book that i read that started me on it all is great for people who think that vegan will be bland and not taste very good. so wrong!!! i've made delicious portabella burgers with sweet potato fries, great stir fries, delicious hummus sandwiches and tomorrow i'm attempting a meatloaf (made from tofu).

so, that's my updates from the homefront. lp is in africa now, so i'm back to blogging because i have a ton of time! it's supposed to snow (again) tomorrow, so i'll be hanging out at the house doing job stuff all day. i am so exciting! ha ha!!!

Vegan schmegan

The other day, LP and i were sitting around and i told him "i think i may try doing the vegan thing for a while." now, anyone who knows me knows that i like to eat fairly healthy. don't get me wrong, i'll go out and eat something completely decadent and not feel a lick of guilt about it, but for the most part, i eat lots of veggies and hummus and things that are fairly healthy. so this was not too surprising coming from me. what was surprising was LP responding with " you know, i was thinking the same thing and i bought a book about it." WHAT?!?!? i was blown away. i mean, he eats fairly healthy a lot of the time, but he definitely likes his burgers and pizza and stuff. needless to say, my socks were knocked off. so we started talking about it and he had bought a book called The Engine 2 Diet by a guy who is a firefighter in austin (shoutout!). the book (although the title says it's a diet book) is pretty much about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. it says you only need to do it for 28 days to feel better and lose some weight so we thought it would be a good start. now, LP says he's only doing it for the 28 days and i may or may not do the same. but so far, i don't really mind it. the book has some pretty tasty recipes and i don't miss the meat part at all. the cheese, yes, i miss it terribly, but my willpower is pretty flippin' strong so i'm in it to win it. and as long as i get to keep eating this well, i'm fine! for example, yesterdays menu included:
-whole wheat tortillas filled with soyrizo, frozen hash browns, mushrooms and salsa
-brown rice with snap peas, carrots, red peppers, mushrooms and onions

today's menu was:
-potatoes, tofu, frozen spinach, peppers and onions cooked together
-air popped popcorn
-almonds and cherries
-whole wheat pasta with a vegetarian, low-sodium tomato based sauce which we added mushrooms, onions, frozen spinach and garlic to

so far, so good. i'll let you guys know how it continues to go and we'll see if i make to 28 days or even keep going with it!!!

BCS Boo-hoo

this week was the BCS National Championship game. LP got us tickets for Christmas!!! we have some friends who live in la so we decided to go up on wednesday and stay until friday. wednesday we get in and LP's wonderful friend matt (who lives in la) picked us up from the airport with his cousin and one of LP's good friends, kjell. he had a meeting to go to so he dropped us off at our hotel and we all decided to have some drinks on the rooftop bar!

here's LP and kjell waiting for a beer on our roof

the hotel we were staying at was called the standard in dowtown (and it gets an "eh" from me on overall satisfaction after our hotel terror, which i'll tell more about later). anyway, it was this very "modern" hotel with like a weird platform bed in the middle of the room and a window into the bathroom. whatever. anyway, i had to laugh when i walked into the restroom and found this little picture for me:

yup, it's someone using the bathroom! and then an even funnier surprise when i found the trashcan:

ha! someone throwing up! hilarious. anyway, we had some drinks and matt came and picked us up and we all went out that night. they took us to some really fun little bars around la, like the dresden, which if you've seen the movie "swingers" is the bar they go to. we had so much fun and ended up staying out way too late, ending with LP and having drinks on the roof of our hotel which turns into a club at night!

the next morning, we woke up with some mean hangovers. no fun. i should really try to remember that when i think to myself, "self, go home and get some sleep" that i should follow that advice instead of letting myself get talked out of it. oh well, it happens about once a year so i've got a while until i do that again! anyway, we got ready and had to go meet everyone at this guy's house to catch the limo. when LP and i get in the elevator, it stops to get some people and then proceeds to not move. we stand there a minute and it starts to jerk up and down, falls down, numbers going haywire on the thing that tells what floor you're on, people start screaming and it finally stops. we jump out (on the 11th floor, yay) and walk all the way down, thankful to be alive. worst elevator experience EVER! anyway, we finally arrive at the house where we're meeting the LIMO!

getting ready to leave for the game

we get on the bus/limo and it's the funniest thing ever. first, it smells like horrible cherry/vanilla air freshener. bad. so bad that a bus full of boys discussed how awful it smelled. second, it had a pole in the middle. the kind like a lady might dance around half clothed to make some money. here's the pole with a fully clothed boy since none of us make our money that way!

the bus/limo also had lighted, color changing ceilings, lasers and two big screen tvs.

on the bus exiting for the game!!

the tickets were also hilarious for me. they all said "honor" "strength" "tradition" or "passion" which were apparently the theme words for the game. guess which one i wanted-

-OR

(i chose passion). we finally get there and it's INSANE! people everywhere, lots of burnt orange and crimson, crazy drunks. we had brought food and drinks and even a mini-grill so we fond a sweet spot in the shade and set up for a long 5 hours before the game started.


the bus

some of the boys

the bowl!!!!

we had plenty of time, so we walked around for a while during our time waiting for the game to begin. on one of my journeys i saw the players getting off the bus!!! of course it was the "passion" bus!

so many people!!!

finally, it was time to go in! LP and i waiting to get in to the game in a long ol' line!

woo hoo! inside was amazing! all the people, all the excitement, all the fun! it was seriously awesome to see all the people inside!

peek-a-boo!

before the game, they had some parachuters come in (they landed smack on the 50 yard line!!!), fireworks, singers- awesome!!

after a dissapointing loss, we met back at the bus/limo. the boys had one more shout out for the horns-

then they were ready to party again! brad on the pole with the most hilarious face i've seen in a while!

and super-ut-longhorn-texas fan who was so upset - for about 5 minutes.

we ended the night where we'd begun and in fitting tribute, the boys had recreated a mini-zilker tree! for those that don't know, our big park in austin (zilker) always has a big tree made from christmas tree lights over the holidays. one of the guys in the house had apparently decided to recreate it for christmas and they decided to leave it up for a while. i was so happy to see it!!!

LP and i had to leave the next day, so we went back to the hotel to get some rest. although it was a sad loss, it was a great time in la with some great people!!!!

2K10 or 20-10?

Which will you go with? I like 2K10, but I called "2002" 2K2 so I feel like I'm copying myself. It's so hard trying to be original! I hope everyone's new year was great. Ours was super fun!!! I had been feeling sick and was almost about to throw in the towel and request that we just stay home and watch the Twilight Zone marathon (that's right, we're super SYFY channel nerds!) but on Thursday I actually felt better. Yay! Anyway, we had recently met a cool couple through one of LP's roomates and they invited us to meet them at a bar. It was blocks from my house (meaning we could walk- no cab!!!) and $40 open bar so we decided to meet them. Good choice! There was a great jukebox, cool bartenders and fun people. We all hung out and laughed and played music- overall good time! When we were leaving, one of my friends texted me that they were at another bar that was actually on our way back to my house, so we stopped by there and had a few drinks. It was a long evening for us (I'm usually in bed by 10!) as I didn't unlock my door until 3:30!!!Needless to say, I felt horrible on Friday and we did not leave the couch all day. And, luckily my DVR hooked me up with the full Twilight Zone marathon so I have watched hours of it trying to get rid of them. Ha! I hope that everyone has a wonderful new year!!!!