New Blog

I have a new blog. I've been wanting to aggregate all my stuff in to one place for a while, and now I've done it. Check it out at

www.beingbeata.com

Most of my stuff that was in this blog is now under "Adventures," since I mostly blogged about my travels and other things I did here. But if you're not so bored with my knitting and other crafty things I do, check those out too.

I probably won't be updating this blog anymore, so update your links to the other one.

Peace out~

Omaha Vol. 1

As always, I'm trying to catch up on old events that happened. Here's post #1 about my Omaha trip in April. More posts to come.

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So I took a little trip to Omaha, Nebraska. I went with Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting honors society, and we went to meet Warren Buffet on Friday. Everyone was supposed to travel on their own here, and I have no idea what got into me when I booked the plane ticket to arrive here at 10:30 am Thursday. My first flight was at 5:50 am! At least the hotel room was ready, so I got in early and was able to just relax.

Stacie and I went to Anthony's for lunch. It's interesting because the food here is different. I guess I've never been west of the Mississippi, except all the way out in California. Stacie and I both got steak - Omaha steak is famous, right? We both started with a polish sausage and potato soup. It was vinegary and really good.



Then I had this wonderfully marbled ribeye topped with whiskey sauce. Delicious!



Stacie had a steak! Even though she said she wouldn't! Look at how happy she looks to be eating it.



All in all, that was a very satisfying lunch. We had to walk a block over to the restaurant, which isn't bad if they had sidewalks. We had to walk under an interstate overpass, and over some railroad tracks (on an overpass), all walking on the median, since that was the closest thing they had to a sidewalk. At least we survived.

We then went back to the hotel and I took a very satisfying nap. I've been running on 2 hours of sleep in the last 2 days (not because of anything productive though). Then we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. By this time, a bunch more people are here, so there was 8 of us in total that went. Stacie and I split an entree (Pasta da Vinci) since they're huge, but I got my own cheesecake (Kahlua Cocoa Coffee). I can never turn down their cheesecakes. So delicious!


How can you possibly turn this down?

That was it of Thursday. I know, we're so adventurous. Seriously though, I couldn't figure out anywhere to go in Omaha, so we just went went back to the hotel and got to sleep early-ish. I was in bed by 10:30 pm, but then knitted until about midnight before sleeping. Hey, I turned the heel in my sock!

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On Friday morning, we got up at about 7 am and had breakfast downstairs in the hotel. It was a really nice buffet complete with omelettes and all. Then, we got on a bus to go to the Nebraska Furniture Mart to take a tour and hear about their management philosophy.

Before I go off on the Furniture Mart, I have to go off on Duke and MIT. Let me just say that I'm not impressed. They're the 2 other schools that brought groups on this trip to see Warren Buffet, so the 3 groups did stuff together all Friday. UT was the first school at the Furniture Mart, so we waited for them to show up. They weren't late or anything, we just happened to be there first. I think Duke was the school that walked in first, and there were definitely at least a few ladies that are dressed a little inappropriately. Super-mini skirts, sun dresses, you name it. I was shocked. Surely, if you can get into Duke, you had better sense than dress like that? At least that's what I assumed. So professionalism is definitely not tied to SAT scores (or parents' wallets).

Thankfully, MIT came dressed a little nicer. I don't think I remember any major fashion faux pas from them. They were late though, but just a little. Really, I can't even blame them, since I'm the queen of late (ahem).

Another thing I really noticed, which reminded me why I refused to go to either school (or most Ivy's, for that matter), is how the Asians clump together. I don't know what it is with some of them, but when they get in a large group, suddenly they feel like they have to group together. It doesn't matter if each of them are perfectly assimilated otherwise, they can't seem to let go of each others' presence when there's more than 3 there. Wow. I was totally surprised at how non-social the Asian(-Americans) at either school were with the rest of their own school. Not only that, most of them insisted on speaking Chinese/Japanese/Korean on the whole trip. Really? You're in America going to an English speaking school going on a trip with a bunch of English speakers. Um.. Warren Buffet speaks English.

Nothing against them. I hope they succeed in whatever they're going to do in the future. I'm just glad I didn't get stuck at a school with a bunch of Asian(-Americans) that I feel obligated to socialize with, and then corner myself into this microcosm and not know anyone else on campus. I'm quite glad that I've been able to make friends of all sorts of backgrounds where I am. Ivys and all the big name schools just have too many Asian(-Americans), and that's just not where I wanted to be. (Plus I totally reject the name brand obsession Asian culture has, but that's a discussion for another day).

... end soapbox rant ... back to regularly scheduled blogging ...

So, the furniture mart. It's owned by Berkshire Hathaway, and thus Warren Buffet. The president gave us a little rundown of the history of the store and what their business strategy is. The business was started by his grandmother (yes, grandmother) back in the great depression. They did so well that they kept expanding, and here they are as the largest volume furniture store in America. Of course, the fact that it was started up by a business woman makes my little feminist heart happy. I appreciated the company more because of that.

The store itself is quite an amazing place - huge - and cheap! I wished I had the time (and money) to shop around, since I found quite a few things that I wanted just standing there in one spot looking at the furniture. We also got to walk over to their electronics section, which was like Best Buy on steroids 8 times. Huge. Bright. Lots of shining lights and flashing screens and drool all over all the gadgets and toys that I want. Not just iPods, computers, GPSes, Blackberries, but also laundry machines, and Kitchen Aids, and great cooking goodnesses. Sigh, it's a sign that I'm getting old and grown up and boring every day that I find these things exciting. Seriously, do I need to get excited about laundry machines? (well, actually, yes, since I need to buy one soon-ish. But it's still sad admitting it).

Spring Break - Charleston edition

We didn't get to Charleston until 9 or 10 pm, so we just got checked in at the hotel and stayed in and hung out. We stayed up pretty late too.

On Monday, we got up pretty late. Sean and I left the hotel at around 1 or 2 pm to go check out the Charleston city market. It's an area where people sell hand crafted stuff and souvenirs and all that. It was really neat. I was super impressed with the sweetgrass baskets that they make. I really wanted one, but they're pretty pricey (~$200 for a "normal" sized basket).

I didn't remember to take any pictures, but Stacie got some



I was getting sick as I was walking through the market, so we kind of cut it short and grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant. We walked back to the hotel, and by then, I had a full-blown fever. It was pretty bad. I slept most of the rest of Monday, but Sean was really good and took care of me. I finally felt better around 11 pm. I woke up then for a few hours, knit, and ordered pizza for dinner. How's that for a fun spring break?

Thankfully, I was pretty close to being recovered Tuesday morning. We drove out to Isle of Palm that morning to have lunch and hang out at the beach. We wanted to go eat at the One-Eyed Parrot, but it wasn't open till dinner, so we went for Banana Cabana right next to it (they're owned by the same company). It was fairly nice outside (although just slightly cold), so we sat outside right by the beach. Ah - lovely!



I was apparently obsessed with SheCrab soup, so I ordered a bowl there as well. It was pretty delicious. The especially like the cup it came in.



We also got some Sangria to drink. Delicious!

After having lunch, we went and spent the afternoon on the beach. The sand was really smooth and the water was fairly warm. It was definitely a nicer beach than Savannah. Look at Sean and I posing.



I also got these pictures of Sean wading around in the water. I love how they picture came out.



That night, we went to Hyman's for some seafood. It's ranked the best seafood restaurant in the south by quite a few places, but I actually wasn't that impressed with it. I think it's just what I got - I got their crispy trout, which is simply a huge trout fried. I probably would have liked their Carolina Delight better. Sean did get a Bloody Mary which he said was delicious. I don't like Bloody Marys, but this certainly looked delicious



That was about it of my Charleston adventures. I probably would have done much more had I not been sick. I was recovered enough on Tuesday to go around, but was still kind of groggy. We got up early on Wednesday and left for DC to visit Conner & Katy and my cute little nephew and niece. All in all, it was a super fun last spring break. I still can't believe I drove 1500 miles in that one week.

Spring Beak - The Salty Dog

On Sunday, some of us woke up early to go to the beach. We drove towards Tybee Island just looking for signs for where to go - we didn't have directions or anything. So unlike me!

It was a bit cold, but not too bad. We walked along the beach, dipped our toes in the water, and just sat and relaxed. I, of course, knitted. What else would I do at the beach?

Happy, beachy pictures:


As we were leaving, we noticed this parking pass on a car parked beside us:


Poll: Is this for real?
Seriously, who would want a parking pass that says "nude beach" on their car? Wouldn't you at least disguise it a little?

After the beach, we packed up and headed off to Hilton Head Island. Several of us have never been, and we wanted to see what all the fuss about The Salty Dog Cafe was about. I have the say that Sea Pines (the area with Salty Dog in it) is just beautiful! As we were driving through it, I was already mentally planning a nice, relaxed, summer vacation there. Here are some pictures of the picturesque marina.



We strolled around the marina checking out the shops. We all bought one of the Salty Dog Cafe t-shirts, since they are so popular on campus (plus I think that the dog is super cute). I love the legend of the salty dog. Basically, the dog Jake rescued his owner, who is a fisherman, when a storm turned the boat over. He swam 3 days and 3 nights with the fisherman and got him back to shore. Isn't that cute? I love dogs!

They had parrots all around the marina in the various shops. I got a couple of pictures of them. Their colors are so amazing.


We got dinner at the restaurant, which was pretty good, but just doesn't compare to Paula Deen's (obviously). Sean and I got some raw oysters as an appetizer. I really miss having good, raw seafood since I live inland now. Must correct that at some point. I got the seafood fettuccine alfredo, and Sean got a seafood platter. Eating was definitely the best part of spring break. I was able to have so much seafood! Of course, I also gained 5 pounds on spring break, but oh well.

After the meal, we headed on to Charleston. That's a whole other post on its own. I'll try to get to it soon.

Spring Break - It's all about St. Patrick

Spring Break was a blast! It's my last spring break in college, so I figured I would take advantage of it as much as I can. Several of my friends (Stacie, Katie, Kelly, and Erin) and I decided to take a roadtrip for spring break and hit Savannah and Charleston, with a stop at Hilton Head Island while we're at it. Sean came along too. I can't believe he was willing to put up with 5 girls for a week! Afterwards, Sean and I decided go to up to DC to visit Conner & Katy, so this is going to be an intense road trip. Mapquest cited us 1,500 miles!

My itinerary?
Thursday 3/13 - Sunday 3/16: Savannah, GA - St. Patty's day celebration
Sunday 3/16: Hilton Head Island, SC - Quick adventure stop
Sunday 3/16 - Wednesday 3/19: Charleston, SC - Party & Beach time
Wednesday 3/19 - Saturday 3/22: Washington, DC - Family time

Spring break started early this year on Friday, March 15 since Easter was so early. It didn't really matter to me, since I don't have class on Friday anyhow. Still, it was a nice, festive atmosphere on campus by Thursday.

Thursday afternoon, after classes, Sean and I packed up and drove down to Savannah, GA. It's a fairly long drive - 6.5 hours or so - and we didn't leave until 6 pm, so we didn't get there till pretty late. My friend Kelly's aunt and uncle live down there, so we were able to stay at their place while we were there.

Friday was the big St. Patty's Day celebration in Savannah. Apparently, Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration is one of the largest in the country, so we were pretty excited. We were lazy, and also recuperating from pre-spring break exam and project craziness, so we slept in and hung out at Kelly's aunt & uncle's until about 4 pm.

We watched the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade on TV in the morning. It was pretty entertaining. There was lots of marching bands, of course. There were some majorettes/flag girls that were strutting it pretty hot. Not stuff I would have seen when I was in high school. Maybe I just went to the wrong high school ;). There were also some Irish dancing, bagpipes, pirates, and others. Kelly's uncle was in it too - he was in some kind of biking group (as in bicycle, not motorbike). It was pretty cool. The most memorable ones were the BC Cadet boys. They're boys from a local high school - nothing too memorable about them - but apparently it is tradition for onlookers to kiss them, leaving big red lipstick marks on their faces. They're not suppose to react either. Pretty entertaining.

So about 4 pm, we did finally go out to Savannah's downtown to join in the St. Patrick's day celebration. Before leaving, we had a little photo session. Two of the highlights:

A good group picture!


Sean being a P.I.M.P (aka putting up with 5 girls for a week!)


So for real, we actually did get to go see downtown Savannah. Kelly's aunt and uncle dropped us off near downtown, and here we are on our way to River St., where a majority of the celebration is. As we walk past one of the town squares, we noticed that they have dyed all their fountains green in celebration!


Here we are having some fun on River St.!


Notice how decked out we are in green. Well, actually, we probably didn't do such a good job, but we tried anyway.

River St. was lots of fun. It's really pretty being river-front and all. We got dinner, went dancing, talked to random people... There were definitely lots of interesting people there.

So.. more pictures!

River-front:


Dinner time!


And to round it out - random fire fighter from NY hitting on a couple of girls. It was pretty entertaining to watch. I have to say, some of the fire fighters are pretty cute!


So Saturday, we continued our Savannah trip by going to Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. It is some hard-core southern cookin'! The wait line is always huge, and half of us went and waited in line for 3 hours (wow!). At least we have proof that we were there.



So here's the food lineup to tempt those who are hungry:


Cheddar Biscuits and corn cakes


SheCrab Soup - oh so DELICIOUS!


Fried Oysters


Crab Cake Sandwich

Hungry yet?

We were definitely crazy full after our meal. It was super delicious, but also huge! This was about how we felt:


We hung out downtown for the rest of the afternoon. As we were walking around, we saw this Lamborghini. People were oohing and ahhing all over it (I guess that included me, since I took the picture)

I never got the hype of the car, since I'm not really a supercar kind of person. But it looks pretty sexy in person. I couldn't ever drive it since it would definitely out-sexy me.

As we mozy on around downtown, we walked past this sign


You see the necessity of going in and eating some ice cream there? Actually, Leopold's is a pretty famous ice cream place that was recommended to us. I didn't even get the thin mints ice cream, since they had so many other delicious flavors. I think I ended up with mocha crunch and Guinness. Guinness was actually delicious - it's not bitter like the beer, but it still has the nice aroma of it, just combined with sweetness instead. Big fan.

Look who else is a big fan of Leopolds! Stacie! Doesn't she look like she's enjoying it?


After Leopolds, we went to an area downtown called City Market. Kind of like Knoxville's Market Square. We got some food and drinks, and just hung out listening to music. There were 2 stages set up in the area, one with a band and another with a DJ. Lots of music, food, and fun. We were actually there to see Kelly's aunt's brother's band play. We even have pictures (of course)!



I even got a cool picture with Captain Morgan!


After the concert, we went to a cute little downtown cafe and got sandwiches and tea. Since we've been out all day, we were pretty tired and headed home around 11 pm. Good thing too, because as soon as we started driving, downtown blacked out. Apparently, a tornado hit a power station and knocked out power to a big chunk of Savannah, even all the way up to Hilton Head. Kelly's aunt has a generator at her place, so we were actually lucky - we had electricity and hot water. No problems there! At one point, we thought we heard a tornado siren, so we all crawled into the tiny bathroom to hide. Actually, the siren was for the next county. I can't believe it was that loud!

So that's it for my Friday and Saturday St. Patrick's Day adventures. Next post will be about Sunday - the beachy travel day. I have to break it up some how. These posts are ridiculously long!

V-Day

It's Valentine's Day! Sean was busy with school, so we went to Sonic for lunch to celebrate. Then I promptly left him alone to do his pile of work. Good of me, no?

Instead, I went to celebrate with my girlfriends. We made dinner with yummy Spaghetti & Meatballs, Texas Toast, and even cookie cake!



Delicious! I didn't do any of the cooking. Sorry ladies. I'm just not much of a domestic person :). Thanks Katie, Rachel, and Kelly for the delicious food!

We then went to see the MAcc guys intramural basketball team play. Then some of us split up to go see the Vagina Monologues (that would be me) and the others when to go play in the girls intramural basketball game. The Vagina Monologues was fantastic. It's very thought provoking and inspiring. I was certainly touched.

Afterwards, we congregated back in the apartment and watched Cruel Intentions. I can't believe that movie is so old now! I still completely remember it. I mean, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe met on the set, and they've been married and divorced already. Whoa.

Thanksgiving in DC

Sean and I spent Thanksgiving with his brother Conrad and sister-in-law Katy up in the DC area. We had a wonderful and yummy thanksgiving dinner. There was, of course, a turkey. There was also lots of yummy pies and Yorkshire pudding. Katy's family is from England, and she has made it a little bit of a tradition to have Yorkshire pudding with turkey on Thanksgiving. It's super yummy.

Here are some yummy food pictures. They're actually Katy's pictures.

The day after, Katy and I went and did some Black Friday shopping. We went through all the ads Thanksgiving night, but there just weren't very many good sales. We ended up going out around 7 am instead of the crazy early shopping. I came out with a 7-quart crock pot for $18. Not too shabby. Katy and I both also go 2 gb flash drives for $10. My old one was 32 mb - what an upgrade! (Of course, I then forgot to take it with me and left it in DC).

Later that afternoon, Katy and I went yarn shopping! We went to Woolwinders since they had a 30% off all Noro sale. My Christmas present was a yarn shopping spree (whee!). I came out with 2 skeins of Kureyon and 1 skein of Manos.



The Manos quickly turned into a My So-Called Scarf. I started it immediately that day and it was done pretty quickly.

Oh, and did I mention that my nephew is super-duper cute? He's at the age when he can kind of talk and communicate. And he likes to dance and run around and play ball. He also loves Thomas the train. Super-duper cuteness.