in your easter bonnet...

Is there such thing as being too old for Easter baskets? My mom emailed my sisters and I to ask what we wanted in the Easter basket. Is it crazy that I am 27 years old and I am still really excited about the Easter basket at my mom's house. Easter baskets at our house have certainly changed over the years. As little kids they were baskets with some candy and a little stuffed animal or maybe a "beanie baby". As we got older (and were usually in Florida for Easter) we got new purses instead of baskets but they were still filled candy and gum and usually other fun things like make up and some cool "hair stuff". We always fought over the best candy and who got the coolest new purse. As we got older it was no longer Easter baskets and just one giant basket for everyone to share. So now I am looking forward to heading home and getting to enjoy lots and lots of delicious candy - peanut butter cups, and milk chocolate eggs, carmel filled Cadbury eggs, jelly beans... I can't wait! What's your favorite Easter candy tradition??

i am running 13 miles...

Last week I decided I needed to do it again. I am going to do another half marathon. I by no means think this is a major accomplishment. I have many friends who have not only ran one but multiple full marathons. I do not aspire to be a person who can run a marathon and I honestly don't think it is something I could physically do. But last year I ran a half marathon in Nashville and although it was hard (who am I kidding, it was really hard) I think I am ready for the challenge again this year. So I signed up to run one of the half marathons in Chicago at the end of the summer - giving me plenty of time to get back into running shape. Last night was my first night back on schedule and I did my 5 miles in 45 minutes. Hopefully I will be able to keep that pace all summer and finish the half in less than 2 hours. I am definitely going to be crossing my fingers and am going to need lots of motivation (maybe the promise of a new pair of shoes after I finish :) I guess now that I put this out there, there is no turning back...

some people really are disgusting...

My sister and I are moving in together in a couple of months. Yesterday we started the daunting task of looking for a new place to live. This can definitely be a stressful process so we decided to use an apartment finding service. It's so nice to be able to go in and tell someone exactly what you are looking for (bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry facilities, central air, etc...) and they can just churn out a list of places that meet all or most of your requirements and are available for lease when you are looking to move. She and I had a laundry list of things that we wanted so we were slightly nervous about what we would be able to find. We looked at 9 apartments yesterday and luckily found one that met almost every requirement we had. Now as exciting as this was for us, the real story pertains to some of the other places that we looked at that were definitely not what we were looking for. It is really interesting to look at apartments that people are currently living in. I don't mean to stereotype, but from what we say yesterday guys tend to live very differently than girls. There were multiple apartments that we looked at that had all guys living there. I have never seen so much "stuff" in my life. I am the first to admit, I have a lot of stuff - especially in the clothes and shoes category. But I am noting compared to some of these people. We went into apartments and there was just "stuff" piled up everywhere. Maybe these people are not very organized and that is why it seemed like there was so much stuff everywhere. We went into one apartment and had not one, not two, but two and half refrigerators. Who needs that much fridge space?!?! One of the last places we looked at was one of the most disgusting places I have ever set foot into in my entire life. There were dirty dishes piled high in the sink, trash all over the kitchen and an overflowing litter box in another room. This is not even an exaggeration. I know that I am very organized and neat to a fault - but these people were literally living in filth. I am not sure if it was girls or boys living there but whomever it was was truly disgusting. And if I were the owner of that apartment I would be really irritated because that place will not get rented until the current tenants move out and that place gets a professional cleaning. Gross!! Overall it was a successful day and we found a place that is going to be great. Too bad that means we have to move now...

musicals...

After writing about my love of books, I realized my dorkiness goes even deeper than a love of reading. I also love musicals. One of my most favorite things to do is going to see a show. In my lifetime I have probably seen over 20 performances but it never gets old. There are the old standbys that I could see over and over again and sometimes I do (Grease, Rent, Les Miserables, Annie). I have seen each of these multiple times and yet every time one of them comes back to Chicago I find myself rushing to get tickets. Last night I went to see Billy Elliot and someone was asking the group what everyone's favorite musical was. For me, it is a really hard choice but if I am forced to choose then I would say I have two favorites - Wicked and Beauty and the Beast. Wicked had a really long run in Chicago and while it was here I saw it twice. I really think I could see it over and over. The music is amazing. It has the types of songs that you can listen to over and over - and i do! I love the story and the production is amazing. Beauty and the Beast is definitely my other favorite. It also has amazing music and the costumes are incredible. This one holds a special place in my heart because it reminds me of being a kid. I remember seeing it with my family and being completely blown away by the whole production of it all. So with this love of musicals, the dorkiness only deepens. But I have learned to embrace my inner dorkiness and I absolutely plan to see Wicked again when it comes back to Chicago this winter!

books...

As a child and even into high school my nickname was "books". More likely than not, this was a reference to my extreme dorkiness but I like to think that this nickname stemmed not only from my love of school (hence the dorkiness) but also my true love of reading. I have loved reading and books my entire life. When I was young I memorized my favorite book The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, and I would recite it out loud to my younger sister when she got cranky in the car. My love of books only continued to grow as I got older and when I was in junior high it got to the point where I literally couldn't put books down. I would read while I was eating breakfast in the morning and as soon as I finished my homework I would read some more. I will give some credit to my parents for my love of reading. We weren't allowed to watch much tv as kids so reading was my outlet. My love of reading has only grown as I have gotten older. I look forward to vacations each year so I can read multiple books in a week (my record is 5) and since I commute by train to work every day so I get my reading time in a little bit each day. I will admit that I have a slight problem when it comes to my reading obsession. I can't not finish a book. No matter how much I hate it or how boring it is, I have to finish it. This strange habit of mine can be very frustrating because it takes me that much longer to get through a book when I am hating every second of reading it. Luckily for me I just finished one of these books that I didn't like and now I get to move on to something new. Hopefully I will be able to post about it soon...

that's what SHE said...

So as part of one of my classes this quarter, I have to start blogging. People that know me would say that I am not much of a talker and certainly not much of a writer so this is going to be a whole new world for me. I enjoy reading blogs and there are many that I stalk on a daily basis, but writing one of my own is definitely not something I ever thought I would do. When thinking about what to blog about, I decided my best bet was to leave it open. So that's where "that's what SHE said..." came from. This is going to be just a collection of my thoughts and opinions on anything and everything - books, movies, tv, food, weird things I see on the train - anything. I am definitely not of the opinion that my life is all that interesting or that anyone really cares about what I have to say, but here goes nothing...