Go Cougs....obviously.

Week nine… You're looking so fine…being so close to the end of the semester is divine.

That's a Walters rap for you. #Dropmic 

Another week, another trip to Pullman. I love this time of year in Eastern Washington. The leaves are starting to change colors, the fields are kind of a glowing yellow. It's right on the cusp of winter. But still so beautiful. One of my favorite running routes on the road is actually in Pullman. It's right by the hotel I stay at and it goes through downtown, around a little park and garden. After I arrived, before heading out with some friends, I did a little run. The trees are changing colors and it was really, really nice. 

Pullman has changed so much since I was a student. There's a lot more restaurants, a lot more places to go out, and quite a bit more to do. Some of my on-campus friends, and I decided to go to a cider house to grab a few drinks. I love ciders. And there's so many to choose. This is the Kind of place we needed when I was a student.

Other than the normal work stuff, nothing happened this week that was exciting. And for week nine, that is definitely a good thing. 

Smooth sailing till the end. 

Love and Marriage: Fall Wedding #2

My gorgeous cousin, N got married to her awesome man J this weekend in Chicago.

The wedding was fun, filled with laughter and love.

Congrats N and J!

Conquering the Final Frontier

Week Eight: Alaska. 

I consider myself very lucky to get to go to Alaska twice a year. I feel like it is always the longest week of my life, but also one that is filled with top notch fun. 

Alaska is how I imagine the Wild West was once like. Filled with land and tough terrain and large, wild animals. 

For years, I've had an Alaska bucket list. This list includes: 

1. Eat as much seafood as humanly possible (this one will never get checked off, because one can never eat enough seafood)

2. See a moose in the wild. Close enough to see it, but far enough away to not get killed by it.

3. See the Northern Lights.

4. Blow bubbles in negative degree weather so they instantly freeze (I did this last spring and it was amazing) 

5. Visit Wasilla. The home of Sarah Palin. 

7. Go dog sledding. 

8. Take a glacier cruise.

Before this trip, I still had # 2, 3, and 5 to accomplish. 

I am proud to say, that as of the end of this week, all of these can be checked off.

I flew in a bit early Monday morning and took a drive around the Kenai peninsula. Turns out it was Columbus Day #IndigenousPeoplesDay, so the head office was closed and I got a bit of free time to roam. 

I went down to Seward for a quick visit. Since tourist season was ending, pretty much everything was closed, but it was still a nice drive.

 As I made my way back to Anchorage, I ended up continuing on to Wasilla. It was all that I had hoped it to be. 

My colleagues and I spent about two days in Anchorage before heading to Fairbanks. I really like Fairbanks. It's not the prettiest, but we always find interesting things to do there. 

For instance, this time, we went to North Pole, AK. What the what?!?

 It is a town just outside of Fairbanks that celebrates Christmas all year round. 

They have a Santa House there, with reindeer and candy cane light posts and a real, fake Pole. There is also the world's largest Santa. 

(I consider it the world's creepiest Santa, but potato, potatoe) 

Children can call Santa whenever they want and a lot of the letters they write to Santa are sent here. 

Adorable.

It was a fun little outing before heading to one of my favorite places, Silver Gulch, the Nation's northern most brewery. Filled with good drinks, good eats and lots of good company. 

After filling our bellies, a friend of ours told us that the northern lights were out and that we needed to find complete darkness to see them.

We still can't figure out how he knew, but he did. 

And we saw them! It was faint, but it was still cool. I ended up seeing them again later that night around 2 am and they were a bit more green and a bit brighter. 

We stayed out for awhile, chased the lights around and then headed back to the hotel. 

On the way back, Friend S1 was driving us all down a pitch black road...and what does she almost hit? 

A group of moose. 

They were massive, with large antlers. There was probably about 4 or 5 of them right by the road. Friend S2 and I, who have both been dying to see a real moose literally high-fived in the backseat. 

We're a cool, easy to please group. 

Too excited to sleep, Friend S and I stayed up and played board games in the hotel lobby. I taught friend S how to play chutes and ladders and she creamed me every time.

State count:15 

Midwest: 3rd Edition

This week I returned to the land of my birth: Michigan. Good old mid western Michigan.

To be honest, it's always nice to be able to go back to the Midwest. Three weeks in a row however, the Midwest sort of wears on you.

However Michigan has a special place in my heart, So if I can go on a work trip, I'm gonna take it. I was covering the week for my colleague D. I did the same week last year. One of the best parts of my job, is getting to go to places that I wouldn't normally go in my real life. As I've written in post past, I have this affinity for Presidential Museums. The weeks events were going to be in Grand Rapids… Home of the Gerald Ford Museum. When I signed up for the week last year, I had every intention Of going to the museum. However the government got in the way. It ended up being the same week as the federal shutdown.

Are you kidding me? I rarely get annoyed with the government. However this was just ridiculous. (I'm only been somewhat sarcastic.) 

So when the week was up for grabs this year, I knew I had to have it. I was determined to get to that museum. 

And I'm happy to report, that I did. And the best part of it, is that the day that I went to the museum Admission was free! 

It's like the political universe was making up for last year. I can finally put Obama back in my good graces.

The other great reason to go back to Michigan, was getting to see my godmothers. They were nice enough to come visit me at the airport before I flew out. We had dinner together and hung out for a few hours. I don't see them often so it was great to be able to meet up with them and I'm so lucky that they came down to meet me.

All in all, another great week.

State count: 14.

Chicago: Remixed

Week Six, back in the Chicago area. Or as I affectionately refer to it: the week I stalked the past lives of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. 

It should come as no surprise that I have a slight (errr, severe) obsession with these two women. I firmly believe that if we ever have the chance of meeting, we would instantly become friends. I'm convinced that I am either meant to be one of them in my next life. Or that I was one of them in a past one. 

I was raised a Methodist where only Jesus can die and rise again, so I don't know if either of those options are possible, but I'll cross my fingers till I get what I want.

(Or that the karma gods will reward me with a chance meeting on a NYC street that ends in either marriage or adoption.)

This is also the week that I learned to love Chicago. 

I've spent a bit of time in the city, but not enough to discover it. One of my favorite lifetime moments is that feeling you get when you "discover" a city ( tourist style, not in any way like Christopher Columbus).

I past trips, I'd either been stuck in a conference, or stuck in traffic and getting honked at. 

This time, I spent a good amount of time in the Lincoln Park and Old Town neighborhoods. Both were incredibly beautiful and I really enjoyed walking around them. 

My first night in town, I quickly made my way to the building formally known as the Sears Tower. I have always wanted to go, but never had the time before. I got to the top of the building and you could see the clouds quickly rolling in. Since there are "no refunds for visibility changes" I made a mad dash around the building to catch the views before they were gone. I loved watching the sky change and the sun set. By the time I left, there was zero visibility, just the feeling of what it would be like to live in a cloud. 

I met up with Cousins N and R for a show at Second City. It was an improv show that was so funny. I must admit, I've never given much notice to improv, but left having crazy respect for those performers. For me, the thought of being in front of a crowd without a plan would make me vomit. So their ability to create from thin air was fascinating. 

I ended up going to a free show another night at a place called iO, thanks to the suggestion of Friend A. I actually thought that show was funnier.

Maybe because it's where Tina and Amy met. 

So really, it's like a Girlfriend Mecca. 

This week, I also went back to Wisconsin and had a quick trip to Indiana, where I came across two interesting landmarks: 

1. Michael Jackson's childhood home in Gary, Indiana. Gary is going through some troubling times. It's a city that is slowly decaying. To see the street that the family grew up on was incredibly humbling and downright inspiring. 

2. I love the movie "A Christmas Story". It is based in Indiana and you can only imagine the joy I felt when I came across this statue: 

I also learned that lakes have waves. Big ones. Who knew?! 

All in all, week six went down pretty well. Minus a slight bought with food poisoning.  

State Count: adding my old home of Indiana, I'm at a lucky 13.

**If anyone who knows, represents or is Tina Fey or Amy Poeher reads this, please note, I'm harmless. Just a fan girl with a fan crush. I swear. There is no need for any sort of legal action. Restraining orders are silly. Really.

But please give me a shoutout on Twitter or Facebook. Tina, Amy, love you. Call me. 

Update: Oct. 28, 2014. I just got a copy of Amy Poehler's new book. Love it. But what I love even more: knowing that Tina and Amy are back together, side by side on my bookshelf. 

Again, not creepy.