20SB Blog Carnival: Looking Back

“This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers!” No idea what I'm talking about? Click here.

The following post was written last summer when I first started blogging, my second post to be exact. I am reposting it as my entry for the Blog Carnival for two reasons:

1. This post is incredibly ranty, which is something I was and will always be


2. I STILL despise being made to wear pantyhose.

Without further ado...

Pantyhose: The Bane of My Exsistance

Why WHY WHY??

Why must I be subjected to such torture??

Who smoked crack and decided that women in the professional world should feel as though their thighs are being eaten alive by the evil nylon monster?

Why must I feel as though my legs are sausages...and pantyhose the casing?

Tomorrow is the last day at work where we are allowed to go without hosiery. That's right...starting Monday all women (and men but come on, like they care) must wear socks or pantyhose. Let me call Ethel Mertz and ask to borrow a pair...

Only Clare of Six Feet Under can express exactly how I am feeling: Click here.

Gangster Paradise?

It's no secret that gun violence is a major problem in the City of Chicago. I just didn't ever think it would hit so close to home.

A man was shot and killed on my street last Sunday at around 3:00 a.m. after leaving an area nightclub. I was awoken a few minutes before the shooting by the sounds of screaming and yelling, and then I heard the shots. Maybe I am just inexperienced and immature, but that was most definitely the scariest moment of my life.

I got to thinking....what is it in a person that drives them to commit such an act? How does a run of the mill bar fight spill out into the street and turn into homicide? This is the second homicide that has occurred on my street since the beginning of the year that revolved around nightclubs in the area. However, I really don't think we can blame the alcohol, because there have been many nights where I have been "over served" and NEVER have I thought about killing another person. Is it anger management? Gang related? I don't know.

So what do we do? Shut down the area nightclubs? Neighborhood organizations already tried that...new nightclubs open and the same problems persist. Ban handguns? Tried that too...and so far this summer it hasn't worked to deter gun violence in the city. I think this problem runs deeper than anything I know.

I do know this: when the clubs are open, I am afraid to come home late at night. And this is NOT something I am OK with.

Sweet Summer

Summer has arrived, which means I can get back to the things I love including being lazy, drinking too much, blogging, and other general merriment. Even when I have work and school responsibilities, there is just something about summer that makes me feel so much more relaxed. The days are so much longer so I feel like I have more time to do the things I love to do.

Because my brain works best in list form, things I am looking forward to this summer.

• Drinking copious amounts of beer in a bottle. Any beer in a bottle will do.
• Wearing cotton summer dresses with metallic strappy sandals and obnoxiously large earrings. My summer uniform.
• Weekends at my grandparents lake house fishing, swimming, and boating while pretending to be a redneck.
• Our annual Fourth of July bash with friends, including beer kickball, fireworks in the park, lotza food and this year, possibly a bounce house. Yes, this is a recipe for disaster.
• Summer nights spent and Ravinia with great friends and one great lover.
• Finally breaking down and reading Twilight. (ONLY because I am currently out of Sookie Stackhouse books).
• Driving with the windows down and the music up.
• The patio at Resi's Bierstube.
• True Blood Season 2.
• Grilling out on the roof.
• Day dreaming about all of the above in my summer class.

(grilling on the roof...summer 2008)

What are you looking forward to this summer?

She emerges, after a month long hibernation...

If anyone is still out there, hi. To make a long story short, grad school+more responsibilities at work+newlywed+needing to sleep=no time for blogging. And although I haven't been the best at commenting lately, I have been reading many of your posts. :)

Finals are next week, and then sweet summer begins. I hope to have much more time to update my little space of the web-0-tubes at that point, because I really do enjoy it so much! Until then, catch me on twitter...140 characters or less seems to jive with my time demands a little better.

In closing, I will leave you with a creepy picture of myself. Why? It just seemed appropriate:

Ray Ray does New Orleans

I've been a naughty blogger...I know. I left for my New Orleans road trip, and came back to ALL HELL breaking loose at work and school. So forgive me for my lack of commenting and writing. But now, I am back and better than EVER! Actually probably I will be just the same.

ANYWAY...wanna hear about my New Orleans Trip?? In a word: FABULOUS. To get sentimental here for a minute...I love my friends so much. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to vacation with. We did so many cool things that I don't think I could summarize it all, so I will run down the highlights.

BURLESQUE: We rolled into New Orleans at about 7pm Sunday night. After we unpacked and had some drinks in the room...we headed over to a One Eyed Jacks where we saw Through the Looking Glass: The Burlesque Story of Alice in Wonderland. I had never been to a burlesque show before but I thought it was INSANELY cute and entertaining. I am a huge fan of pin-up art so the 1940's styling of these girls was adorable. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.

BEIGNETS: After our first night of heavy drinking, we made a stop at the infamous Cafe du Monde, where my husband experienced a beignet FAIL:

If you have never had a beignet, it is a french doughnut that is deep fried and COVERED in powdered sugar. In another word: the perfect drunk food. You order three at a time, and there is literally a cup and a half of powdered sugar dumped on top of them. NAUGHTY. Just don't inhale, as Johnny quickly realized.

BED N' BREAKFAST: Our hotel was amazing! Place d'Armes...It was right in the heart of the French Quarter, just off Jackson Square. It was small with an old southern charm...exactly what we were looking for. The courtyard was a peaceful place to recover from a hangover have breakfast after a long night of drinking on Bourbon street. In the evenings we often gathered to share some cocktails before going out here, there were pretty twinkle lights on all of the trees. The pool wasn't heated, so even though the weather was perfect (around 80 degrees and sunny each day) the water was too cool to swim in.

BOURBON STREET: In a word: NUTS. You can drink on the streets and none of the bars have a cover charge. There is live music in just about every bar, and HUGE ASS BEERS TO GO. You literally order a drink "to go" meaning in a plastic cup so you can take it with you if your friends are ready to go and you aren't finished with your drink.

This drink was called a Hand Grenade:

It was utterly disgusting. It was like, kiwi-banana-rum-sugar-kool-aide. GROSS. Everyone I aw had one so I thought I needed one too...bad choice. But I drank it anyway. :) One of my favorite places we went on Bourbon Street was this bar called Old Opera House, where they had a funk band two nights we were there. I loved them, and they played Lil Wayne which is how they captured my heart:

BIG HOUSES: One lazy afternoon, we took the street car to see the Garden District. The houses are SO beautiful. This neighborhood consists of huge historic southern-style mansions with luscious gardens and plant life. While most of the areas the street car went through were amazingly gorgeous, this is also where we saw some of the remanats of Katrina. A few houses still had the infamous "X" spray painted on the front. At the top of the X were the feet of water inside of the house, usually 9-11'. The bottom of the X told how many people were found perished inside. It was a sobering expirience to witness just a very small piece of the devestation that most of us only heard about on the news.

We stayed in the street car so it was really hard to get good photos of the gorgeous houses, but here is one of the street car we took...and Johnny in his super cute vacation hat:

This brings me to my last category, which is the amazing food. Sorry...I couldn't keep up the alliteration with this one. Here is the summary of my favorites:

• Emeril's. BAM! Food was amazing. Fried oysters, BBQ Short rib open faced sandwich, blueberry bread pudding. Holy shit, GOOD.
  
• K-Pauls. Quite possibly the best meal I have ever had. More fried oysters, fried green tomatoes, blackened sole (white fish) with mash and roasted vegetables, white chocolate bread pudding.
  
• Serio's Deli. I watched these guys on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and I just had to go. They specialize in Muffeletta's...a deli style sandwich topped with an olive salad. mmmm...so good.
  
• Crawfish. We got these at a street stand, and they were SO GOOD!!! If you have never had a crawfish boil, you need to.

My bestsest guy friend Jeff. Watch out ladies...he's single.

I think that is about all I can squeeze in to this post. If you ever get the chance to go to New Orleans, it is seriously the most fun I have ever had.

Stay tuned tomorrow...when Ray Ray does Memphis!

Hello, World.

It seems that school has taken over my life. I have been so consumed that I have forgotten to poke my head out of my pile of textbooks in a while to say hello. My inbox is out of control, my reader is out of control...my whole LIFE is out of control.

With spring break just a few short days away, things are dying down a bit. I am leaving for New Orleans on Saturday and I have never felt like I needed a vacation more than I do right now. My best buds, a minivan, and a road trip to the Big Easy is just what I need to cure the winter blues and and ease the insane amount of stress and pressure that I am under. I plan on doing an extreme amount of consumption of all kinds. Not to worry...my liver and I will return safely. I may be blogging/tweeting from the Big Easy...hopefully pool side while enjoying the weather in the upper 70's. Be jealous.

Letter Game!

After my last post, I thought I would lighten the mood around here and go with a fun Friday post.

So Mandy assigned me the letter "S" for a letter meme....where you post 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Here it goes!

1. Sushi. Oh glory, do I love sushi. I want to go to sushi land and live forever...

2. Starbucks. This is both bad for my wallet and good for my soul. London Fog Latte...let's run away together.

3. Super Mario Galaxy. This is one of the best games for the Wii. It's just so damn happy and fun! I am surprised I passed my first semester of grad school because of this game.

4. Sookie Stackhouse. A character from the southern vampire mysteries, a series by Charlaine Harris. They are the books that inspired the HBO show True Blood. And let me tell you, they are H-O-T. Like, you needa take a cold shower hot.

5. Summer. Any time now Chicago. Along with summer goes sundresses, sunshine, cool shades, and sandals. Oh, how I miss you guys.

6. Sex and the City. My all time favorite TV show on this earth. I have seen the entire series multiple times. Never challenge me in a trivia game...you will go DOWN TOWN!

7. Sufjan Stevens. Especially his album Come on Feel the Illinoise. It's groovy baby! Check it out!

8. Strawberries & Cream. OK so here's what: take some strawberries, slice 'em up and put 'em in a bowl. Take some heavy cream, whip it until it's just slightly frothy, NOT whipped cream. Sweeten with sugar, add some vanilla if you like and pour over the berries. Tell me that is not a slice of heaven. Yes, I can be very naughty when it comes to food.

9. Sycamore. My little hicks-ville home town. I love it to pieces, and I wouldn't of wanted to grow up anywhere else!

10. Steak. I am no girl when it comes to eating steak. Give me the bloodiest, juiciest biggest piece of meat you can find. I will love it. I will grill it slightly so that it is to my medium-rare standards, and I will devour it. Oh lawsie.

There you have it. Stuff I love that begins with "S" now you know just a little bit more about this freak of nature behind Lofty Ideas. (Seriously guys, I am a freak of nature. I went to the dentist and found out I only have one wisdom tooth. WHOA!)

Happy Weekend. :)