Things I’m doing this weekend

Just in case I don’t have time to blog this long weekend…

Saturday:

1.  Pick up my package that was delivered to the apartment office, but I couldn’t pick up after work because they have completely abnormal office hours.

2.  Deck myself out in Penn State from the above package for the home opening game at 11:00 cst.

3.  Spend an hour on my hair because that’s how long it takes now.

4.  Drink beer, eat good food, and cheer for PSU at Legend’s.

5.  Shop for things to make my mom’s famous macaroni salad for a Labor Day grill out with friends.

6.  Possibly spend the rest of the evening at the very cool new dueling piano bar nearby.

Sunday:

1.  Premature Labor Day cookout, good food, wine, and good friends.

Monday:

1.  I thought I had a lot of plans this weekend, but it turns out that I really don’t.  I’ll come up with something

Happy three day weekend!

WordPress iPhone Application!!

I found the WordPress iPhone application tonight. I’ve been blogging a lot lately and this is pretty awesome! Now I can do it right from my phone! Who’da thunk it?

Not enough time in a day

I am having trouble keeping a regular gym schedule.  I have a membership at a really great gym and I love it there!  But my work hours are 9-6.  With my new and improved hair, I can’t get up early enough to get to the gym and get back in time to shower and get to work on time.  When I have my lunch earlier in the day, by the time I get off I am so hungry that I have to go home and eat something or else I will pass out mid workout.  The last time I did that and then proceeded to the gym an hour later, I got cramps in my stomach because apparently my food hadn’t digested.  So tonight when I got home we ate dinner, and there was a good movie on tv.  And then it just seems too late to go to the gym all by myself.  It’s nestled back in this corner surrounded by trees and it’s just scary walking to and from my car in a half abandoned parking lot.  AND let’s not forget that I need my rest.

So…you can see my situation here.  I can’t let a perfectly good gym membership go to waste because there’s not enough time in a day.  I just don’t know what to do.

NEWS!!

I’ve just been informed that the builders have started our new home today!!  I am still at work, but will definitely stop by on my way home and take a look.  More updates later!

Iowa who?

This is an e-mail exchange between my fiance and I this morning:

me: “People at work are talking about going to the first Iowa State football game tonight and tailgating. LAME! They wouldn’t know how to handle a Penn State tailgate!”

him: “Haha- you’re telling me.  Amateurs.”

No hard feelings.  It’s all in good fun Iowa State fans!  But seriously, nobody can tailgate like Penn State. 

WikiHow is WikiCool

I was trying to find cool make-up ideas for this weekend’s football game so I could be all decked out on google…and I came across this.  It’s a website called WikiHow and it is a how-to manual that you can edit.  It’s pretty entertaining and fun!  You can here to add things if you want!

How to Have Fun at a Penn State Football Game

This simple how-to will make sure that every time you step foot into Beaver Stadium you will be having the best time of your life! You will need the following: friends, body paint, pom poms, and spirit!

[edit] Steps

1. Pre-Planning: Learn the fight songs, the chants, and the variations. Come ready to yell for 3+ hours.
2. Get up at least 5 hours before game time.
3. Eat a good breakfast, so that you will have enough stamina to last you the whole game.
4. Have all of your friends meet at someone’s place to get ready. Paint your face, get decked out in Penn State gear, dance to some good music to get your phunk/freak on.
5. Head to the game _at least_ 2 hours before kick-off to tail gate.
6. Tail gate for an hour. Drink, dance, and start cheering with your friends.
7. Head to the stadium about an hour before kickoff to get your seats. You want close seats to get the “real” experience. If you get a front row seat, GOOD FOR YOU! looking for better? Just rush onto the field for a memorable experience that no one at the game will ever forget. You will become a legend (and possibly get arrested).
8. Start cheering, dancing, screeming, and hollering until the end of the game.
9. Always remember to use your pom poms when they score!

 

[edit] Tips

• Remember to wear comfortable shoes because you will never be sitting
• Buy water to keep hydrated!

 

[edit] Warnings

• Make sure you’re aware that if you run onto the field, you WILL MOST LIKELY get arrested!

They’re GRREEEEEEAAT!!

I love the new “Grab ‘N Go Cereal Packs.”  Specifically, the Frosted Flakes one.  There are a couple other cereals including Pops and Fruit Loops.  I loooove Frosted Flakes, and I could eat a huge bowl every day for breakfast which would equal about 500 calories, 213 grams of fat, less than 1 gram of fiber, and 5,943 grams of sugar.  Soo, I’ve stopped eating that for breakfast because that would equal approixmately 28 points on the Weight Watchers Points System, and that’s my max for one day.  Now that I have a general idea of how the Points System works, I kind of know which foods equal what and I’ve stopped counting. 

The Grab ‘N Go cereal packs are perfect.  I can slip one right into my purse on the way to work.  They are just the right size for a mid-day snack to tie me over til lunch or dinner.  In the Frosted Flakes one, there are 80 calories, 0 grams of fat, and less than 9 grams of sugar.  And that would equal about 1 1/2 points. 

The individual serving snacks and foods are awesome.  They are just the right amount (usually) and prevent you from over indulging, which is perfect.  Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious.  Just my style!

They’re GRREEEEEEAAT!!!  (haha, cheesey, I know).

Ode to Stuart!

I had the best haircut of my lifetime a couple of weeks ago and decided it was blog worthy.

I moved here in October 2007.  I think I probably got my hair cut in, let’s say, December.  I think that must be right because it was before we went home for Christmas and I know I was wearing my big puffy winter coat.  Zach says I look like Staypuft the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. 

Compliment?  I don’t think so. Thanks babe!

Off the subject.

So up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t had my hairs cut since then.  That’s way too long!  You know you need a new hair style (or cut) when you wear a pony tail every single day.  That was me.  My only issue is that I have trouble trusting hair stylists.  I went to the same woman my whole life, until college when I had to find a new one.  Then I kept the same lady all through college.  And now here I am, in Des Moines, and the haircut I had in December was almost traumatizing it was so bad.  So, naturally, I was a little hesitant to do it again.

A friend of mine at work suggested this place nearby, so I finally decided to go for it.  I had called to make an appointment and I wanted it done that day because I was going crazy with my hair.  The only available person was the guy who answered the phone.  And I’m like, “Clearly your a straight man.  Are you sure you’re good at this?”

I didn’t say that.

Well, he was good.  He was brilliant.  AND sexy!  His name is Stuart and he lived in LA for two years working in a salon on Sunset Blvd.  Needless to say, we had some great conversation and he really cared.  He spent time on each strand of hair, and made sure that he knew exactly what I wanted before he pulled out the shears.  And if what I wanted wasn’t what would be best for me, he would analyze and tell me.  My hair turned out great!  And even though it takes me longer in the morning to style it, it was waayy worth it.

Please stay in Iowa and don’t go back to LA so I can have you all to myself Stuart!  Let’s see…Iowa…LA…that’s a lose-lose situation for me. 

Go see Stuart at Salon de Vallon in West Glen Town Center in West Des Moines.  I would recommend him to anyone and everyone!  He is my saviour!

The Nittany Lion in me. . .

Universities across the country have started fall semester classes today…including Penn State.  It seems kind of early, since Labor Day is next Monday.  Although, I do remember when we started classes before Labor Day, and then they changed it to after Labor Day.  I don’t know which makes more sense.

Regardless… I am sad.  I certainly don’t miss studying, homework, projects, and exams.  But I miss football season!  It was always so much fun to wake up early on a Saturday for a home football game, shower, and get all Penn Stated out with blue and white hair ribbons, blue and white make-up, Penn State football shirts, face tattoos; blue and white head to toe..all while blaring Zombie Nation through the apartment. 

Then, scrambling to get everyone together at a central meeting location, grabbing a six-pack at the nearby beer shop, and making the long trek up University Avenue to the tailgating fields surrounding Beaver Stadium.  There we would play games, drink, socialize and pump ourselves up for the game. 

The atmosphere on a football Saturday in Happy Valley is just amazing.  There is blue and white everywhere.  There are people everywhere.  There is music and the Penn State fight song.  People yelling, “WE ARE…”  and the expected reponse of “PENN STATE!!!”  You could be hoarse before making it to a tailgate.  And everyone is part of one family.  The Nittany Lion family. 

After tailgating, we’d gather and make our way to the stadium.  There we’d hold onto each other squeezing our way to the student gates for fear of losing each other in the swarm of students pushing in the same direction.  Once inside, the ground is covered with blue and white pom-poms.  We dive to the floor grabbing as many as we can, just in case someone didn’t get the minimum two needed for the game. 

Then walking up the ramp, it opens from the dark below the bleachers to the field.  It’s a beautiful site.  Once we find our spot on the bench, the shaking of the pom-poms and the cheering begins.  And it is constant until the game ends, good or bad. 

To keep it short, it is usually nap time once back to the apartment.  Then removal of the face tattoo, which is generally painful and leaves a red mark and tan line if the sun was out.  After a short rest, dinner, and a shower…it’s downtown to celebrate football Saturday even more at the local bars. 

It really is the best way to spend a weekend in Happy Valley.

And it is so sad that all that is over for me, and my friends who have graduated. 

This weekend marks the opening game for Penn State at home.  Now that Zach and I live in Des Moines, we are a part of the PSU Alumni Association, Iowa Chapter.  Every Saturday game day, they rent a room in the back of this restaurant called Legends to sit together and watch the game.  I can’t express how excited this makes me.  To think that we would sit at home, or sit, just the two of us, at a sports bar and cheer for our fellow Nittany Lions, is depressing.  It’s good to know that we can spend Saturdays feeling like we’re back in Happy Valley (almost….well, as good as it gets 1000 miles away from the real thing) sitting amongst fellow PSU grads and/or fans.  Thank goodness for the Iowa Chapter!!

When the Penn State football team comes to Iowa City (about two hours from Des Moines) for the PSU vs. Iowa game in November, we will be there!  No matter how little our PSU crew will be compared to all the yellow and black, we will be there together supporting our Lions.  The alumni association has blocked off a group of hotel rooms and have talked of a possible tailgate, which would rock!  Two of our friends from PSU will be joining us in Iowa City and maybe..just maybe it will be close to the experiences we’ve had in and around Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley.

On a football Saturday, there is no place happier in the world than Happy Valley. 

How can you see this and not believe in a higher power?

Tornado in Colorado

 

Video from Cnn.com