A reformed veggie lover

I realized that my tastes have changed -- grown, mostly -- over the last three years. Dating Matt has been the catalyst.

Though I love food, I am not an adventurous eater. I eat meat, a few fruits, a few vegetables, and a whole lot of carbohydrates. Matt has changed all that. When I told him I didn't like a food, he would inquire further. Had I ever tried the food? (Many times, the answer was no, or I can't remember.) When was the last time I tried the food? (Probably once, years and years ago.) He was rather gentle in his pushing me to try new things. If I tried it again and still didn't like it, he didn't press me.

A few other folks have been catalysts for my food development, too many for me to thank. My neighbor, Mr. Robinson, got me to try my first fish - catfish. My old roommate Jenny got me to try, and eventually love, sushi. Working for a law firm for the summer allowed me to order all sorts of exotic entrees at great restaurants without having to worry about having to pay for something I wasn't sure I'd like.

Thanks to all those people, I eat raw fish sushi. I eat asparagus. I eat white fish and salmon. I eat beets. I eat edamame. Sure, it's slow progress, but it's something. Who knows what I will be eating another three years from now?

Exciting week ahead

Fiance Matt and I have big plans this week. Tonight, we're going out to Gandy Dancer for a wonderful dinner out. Tomorrow night is our usual Top Chef viewing with Alison, Alex and Justin. On Thursday night, we're going to dinner at Amadeus (a delicious central European restaurant) with Jessica and Patrick; afterwards, we're going to see a play at the Performance Network. Friday night brings our conflict resolution retreat (we're required to attend as part of pre-marriage prep) and a game night at Alison's house. The retreat concludes on Saturday, and we also get to sample wedding food at Travis Pointe and have dinner with our friends Anne, Tim, and their new baby Joey.

In the meantime, I've got to get reading! Public health school has always been easier for me than law school. However, since I haven't had a class here in over a year, I've forgotten how much work there is to do. Law school is pretty slow going - some reading every day, a single test at the end of the semester. Public health school is constantly busy - group projects, tests, short papers, long papers... every time I go back and forth between the two I'm a little confused for a few weeks. This semester brings three public health classes and only one law class, so I'm getting readjusted.

As for past events, I just got back from a great weekend in DC with a bunch of college girlfriends. We flew in for Tricia's baby shower - her baby, Joey, will be born in early February. (Another friend, Em, is having a baby boy in June - also named Joseph. I guess that's the name of the year.) The weekend was lots of fun. Dinners, drinks, desserts, shower games and catching up with one another. The next time I see all of these people together might be my wedding!

Why does Microsoft Outlook hate me?

I've been struggling with Microsoft Outlook for the past three years. I finally got it updated from the Windows website. Now, the new version is great, and it even actually lets me send emails. The problem? It shuts down approximately every 3 minutes while I'm using it. If I continue to restart it, the functioning time gets even smaller, down to about 30 seconds. Any suggestions out there?

Life here has been good and busy. Classes are on the upswing. Matt and I did good things with wedding planning, including ordering tuxes and bridesmaid dresses. We took a trip to Minneapolis to go to a banquet honoring my dad as the outgoing president of the Midwest Showmen's Association. While there, we also saw friends Braden, Rebecca, Steve, Kate, Klein, Vina and Jon. We ate at a couple of great restaurants, too. Now I'm just getting through another week of school before going to DC for Tricia's baby shower. She's expecting her second baby, another boy (Joey) in February - my friends are so grown up!

Shoes Move in Mysterious Ways

Matt and I discovered a mysterious pair of shoes in our apartment. The shoes are size 11 grey Keens. They look nice. Relatively new. They don't belong to me or Matt. So the question is: where did they come from?

Matt's convinced I've taken a lover who had to jump out the window when Matt unexpectedly came home, leaving his shoes by the door. I was convinced someone left them here - but who? We contacted all of the menfolk who were around the apartment last week. No one is missing shoes. Did someone in the building stop by to ask us a question, take off their shoes and then leave in their socks? Or did someone put on a pair of Matt's shoes by mistake (his are a size 10 1/2)? If so, which pair is missing? We haven't figured it out yet.


If these shoes belong to any of you out there, please let us know, and we'll return them to their rightful owner. How did this happen??

In other shoe news, I finally listened to Stacey from What Not to Wear and purchased myself a pair of fashionable peep-toe shoes from Ann Taylor (using a Christmas gift certificate from my dad).

Aren't they cute?

Things that happened

2006 was a pretty exciting in year; in fact, it was perhaps the best yet! The highlights, in chronological order:

--Matt and I took a grand road trip to the Fiesta Bowl, on the way visiting Burns, Nicole, Tommy, Jen, Liz, my grandma, Chuck and Meg.
--I went on an awesome spring break trip to Florida with Anna and Adrienne.
--Adrienne and I completed a 10K and a half marathon - slowly, but awesomely.
--Matt and I moved to Chicago, living together, just the two of us, for the very first time.
--Matt's sister Carrie had a baby, Nathan. Now we are an aunt and an uncle !
--Matt, Choi and I went to dinner at Alinea, one of the best new restaurants in the country, if not the world.
--The kind folks at Neal, Gerber and Eisenberg gave me a real life job offer.
--I accepted said real life job offer, and will begin working as an associate in their health care department in September 2007.
--Matt and I got engaged! and set a wedding date for August 2007.
--Matt and I had a delicious dinner at the French Laundry, one of the best restaurants in the world.
--I took a trip to the west coast in August with Matt and other friends, checking two more states off of my list (Oregon and Washington).
--I was a bridesmaid in my dear friend Emily's wedding in Chicago. She and her husband Jeff are now expecting a baby, too.
--My dad and Melissa got married in Las Vegas in December, and Matt and I went out to celebrate with them!

In addition, we visited other friends and family, friends and family came to visit us, Matt graduated and passed the bar exam, and we spent a lot of lazy nights cooking dinner or laying around in front of the TV.

Hope you all had great 2006s, too. Next post will be my goals for 2007!

Whoa.

That was a totally amazing game. Go Boise State. I am so glad I stayed up until 1 a.m. for that ending!

Restful New Years

For the first time in a few years, I had no big plans for New Years. I finished up a seminar paper, sending it in to the professor at 4 p.m., and then Matt and I snuggled onto the couch for a relaxing evening. We watched the Miami/Nevada football game, made a good Indian dinner (okay, Matt made the dinner, but I ate it), caught up with a few friends by phone, played three games of cribbage (Matt 2, me 1), watched some of his new Family Guy dvd and watched a bit of a movie, too. We weren't nearly as drunk as the friends that called us (I'm thinking of you, Flan!) but we had a great evening.

Today, we did a little shopping at the mall with gift certificates and returned a few errant gifts. Matt shared his Williams-Sonoma gift card with me and I got this, the dorkiest item in Williams-Sonoma. (Yet I'm in love with it. Come over for the ND game and I'll make something with it for YOU.) This afternoon, I caught up with my mom on the phone while Matt made a delicious spicy Thai beef soup, and then we dedicated ourselves to more football watching and cribbage playing. (Again, Matt 2, me 1.) Since the Blue didn't win, all I can leave you with is a little "Go Irish!" for Wednesday's (slightly scary) game against LSU.