A Fresh Start!

I realize it's been a long time (about two months!) since I last posted.  That's because shortly after we were in Columbus, GA, our team manager Emm got herself a job in Oklahoma City (where her brand new boyfriend lives) and put in her two weeks' notice.  The Office then promoted me to team manager and sent a member of another team--that had just closed out--to fill in for her.  Thankfully Cee and I got along great!  The last month of tour flew by, including Thanksgiving in Little Rock, a couple NHL games in Raleigh and a visit from Boyfie while in Columbus, OH.  Friday, Dec. 16 was the last day of our contract, and I finally got to go home and see my family.

Now, I had already signed a lease for an apartment (well, it's the second floor of a city house) in the Wrigleyville area of Chicago.  And I decided Boyfie and I were going to spend New Year's Eve in the city so I informed my family that I was moving out between Christmas and New Year's.  So on Thursday, Dec. 29, a whole army my family & "friends" helped move me out of my parents' house in Naperville and into my new apartment in Chicago.  Real HouseMom's best friend's hubby has a sweet Ford pickup truck, so he and Soccer Dad loaded my new box spring, mattress, dresser, and whatever other big stuff we were moving and headed to the apartment.  Real HouseMom and Brosef stocked the Toyota Highlander with a bunch more of my stuff (bins, boxes, etc.), while Boyfie and I filled my Mazda Tribute (her name is Charlie) with all my hanging clothes and a couple other last-minute things.

That's our house!  We live on the 2nd floor, with the "balcony" we could use if we had a death wish.

Thanks to switching rooms in the sorority house every semester of college, I've become a master at moving stuff and getting it set up and put away asap.  Tip: the easiest way to move clothes is the way you want them!  All the stuff you'll have folded up in your dresser can be "packed" in the drawers for transport, and everything you'll have hanging in the closet can just be left on the hanger and carried like that.

So I was all moved in and settled in time for New Year's Eve at Mystic Celt in Chicago!

Boyfie and me -- first picture of 2012!

Yesterday Boyfie left-- after a wonderful six-day visit!-- and went back to Indiana... and my bff {future} Mrs. K came to visit with her almost-16-month-old daughter CJ.  We went to lunch, played on my bed, chased CJ back and forth across my apartment (she just learned to walk) and looked out the window at dogs that passed and left-up Christmas lights.  Love that little munchkin, she and her brother GG refer to me as Aunt Jul =)

Soooo today was my first really independent day since I moved in almost a week ago.  The charming sounds of the garbage trucks in the alley outside my back-of-apartment bedroom window woke me up at 7:33am but I didn't mind being up.  Eventually I got out of bed and, acting all domestic-y, decided to make some tea.  I don't know why, and I hope I'm not alone with this problem, but for whatever reason I always forget that I have a tea bag steeping.  Half an hour later I had tepid, horribly strong tea that even a packet of Sweet-n-Low couldn't salvage.  Down the drain it went.

Undeterred, I was determined to have a productive, grown-up day.  I wrote a check for my rent, which I dropped off at my landlady's house about 5 doors down, and even changed my mailing address through the US Postal Service and the three magazines I subscribe to.  So far, so good.

Then came my grocery shopping trip.  Thankfully there's a Jewel-Osco a couple blocks down Addison, since I don't have my car downtown.  Since I always just impulse-buy whatever sounds good and then end up with the most random pantry ever, I thought it would be wise and mature to plan out my meals ahead of time, then just buy the ingredients I need.

I'm so glad I did that.  The combination of higher prices (and higher taxes) in the city plus the fact that I had absolutely NO food in the house-- including staples like milk, peanut butter, cereal, etc-- meant that this will be the most expensive grocery shopping trip I'll ever make (until I'm a mom trying to feed a horde family).  The total?  Almost $130, and that's after my $15 preferred card savings.

My receipt from the Jewel.... Yikes!!

Anyway, today is Real HouseMom's birthday, so I'm about to take the L to Union Station to catch a train back to Naperville for dinner with the fam.

Have a great Hump Day =)
-Jules

Finally... Some Motivation!

This past weekend we worked at the Georgia state high school cheerleading competition.  Oh. My. Gosh.  These girls were so talented!

Insanely flexible!

Let me preface a smidge.  I told my parents at age 4 that I wanted to be a cheerleader when I grew up.  Then in elementary school when I wanted to cheer for a peewee football team, my parents said no. *Tear*  Now, I can't hate them too much since I did, at some point, do the following in elementary school: ballet, tap, gymnastics, poms, flags, baton, softball, swim team, piano, cello, youth group and of course, soccer.  (I played soccer for 10 years, including high school).  Anyway, the closest I ever came to cheerleading was the junior high dance team and-- much, much later-- a month on the cheer & stunt team at Purdue.  Suffice it to say I've loved cheerleading for a couple decades =)

Back to 2011.  Emm and I both whine nonstop about our bodies, since our usual schedule makes it difficult to workout regularly, and impossible to eat anywhere besides restaurants for every meal.  No, seriously-- I've only been home for about 40 hours in the last 3+ months (and sadly, a lot of hotels don't have fridges) so all of our meals are bought at restaurants.

Naturally, with all these insanely athletic (and flexible- yikes!) girls between 14 and 18, Emm and I spent the weekend green with envy. I know, I know... Exodus 20:17 says not to covet but that is probably the Commandment that I struggle with most.

Tan and thin-- but strong!

Anyway, after spending the weekend around all these thin, flexible, tan girls, Emm and I used our jealousy to motivate ourselves.  We've worked out three days in a row and even found a tanning salon near our hotel.  It's time for a change!  We're staying on the 5th floor of our hotel so we've also been taking the stairs every time we come and go, and we've been doing our best to eat lower-carb and lower-fat.

I guess sometimes, a little jealousy can go a long way!

Have a great night =)
-Jules

Yankee Girl Meets the South: Upcoming Schedule

Some of these dates are set in stone and some are just rough estimates at this point, but here's where we'll be going in the next month.

10/19 - 10/25 :: Little Rock, Arkansas

10/25 - 10/30 :: Columbus, Georgia

10/30 - 11/2 :: Atlanta, Georgia

11/2 - 11/4 :: Greenville, South Carolina

11/4 - 11/6 :: Carrollton, Georgia

11/16 - 11/18 :: Birmingham, Alabama

11/21 - 11/23 :: Tulsa, Oklahoma

11/23 - 11/27 :: Little Rock, Arkansas

If you have any suggestions for how to make Thanksgiving fun when you're in a hotel in a faraway city with two coworkers, I'd love to hear them!

Have a great weekend =)
-Jules

Fantastic Fall D.I.Y.

This is something I just saw on fellow Midwestern girl Kristin's blog, Iowa Girl Eats.

If I weren't traveling right now, this would be my project for the day.  As it is, I'm planning to make this with candy cane sticks when I come home in December (I'll post on it later, when I actually make it).  I think it would look cute year-round if I change out the raffia/twine with different colored ribbons during spring/summer and put seasonal-specific blooms in it!

Here's her finished product:

LOVE this vase!

Check it out here: http://iowagirleats.com/2011/10/15/no-cost-diy-decor/

Thanks for the wonderful DIY idea =)
-Jules

Yankee Girl Meets the South: Halfway Through!

Ok so it's been over two months since I last posted, and a lot has happened!  I'm more than halfway through my time on the road-- 85 days in and 61 days left-- and here's where we've been so far:

Texas - Midland, Houston, and Denton/Dallas
New Mexico - just over the border, to say we'd been there
Louisiana - just stopped in Monroe for a couple nights
Mississippi - driven through several times, stopped on the road for food
Alabama - Huntsville, Birmingham, Albertville/Guntersville
Georgia - Atlanta/Fayetteville/Buckhead
Tennessee - Memphis and Chattanooga
South Carolina - Greenville and Elgin
Arkansas - Hope, Fayetteville, soon to be in Little Rock
Kentucky - Louisville
Indiana - West Lafayette
Illinois - Chicago/Naperville
Wisconsin - Green Bay (for the Packers-Saints season opener)
Oklahoma - OKC and Tulsa
North Carolina - Nantahala River area

That's a lot of hotels!  We're racking up points everywhere we go; I just wish I could use points towards my rent once I'm back in Chicago lol.

On Thursday we worked an event around Tulsa, a Native American (or American Indian, depending on the individual) business summit.  It was indoors and we only had about 1/6 of our event site set up but we met some cool people so it was pretty fun.  I've never spent time around Native American areas-- which is a lot of what Oklahoma seems to be, Trail of Tears and all-- but it was fascinating to meet some Cherokees and learn a little about what their life is like.  Afterwards we made the drive to Oklahoma City so we could get Friday off.

Once we got to OKC I made a Target run.  Since we'll be here for a few days and then in Little Rock for a few days I decided to go ahead and buy some food.  I already love the Special K cereals and bars, and I really really need to shed some weight, so I figured I'd give the Special K Challenge a try.  I haven't been able to workout in about a month since I had a bad sinus infection and cough that put me out of commission for over two weeks.  Ugh.  I'm so glad to be done with that!

I'm going to do everything I can to at least squeeze in a 30 minute workout every day, and do a full hour or more if I have the time.  It's just really challenging to workout and eat well when every day and every week bring such different days!

On Friday I drove "up" to Tulsa for the morning to check out Oral Roberts University, where Boyfie went to school for a year.  It was really small (especially to a Big 10 grad) but had a very pretty campus!  The architecture was totally 60s and reminiscent of Epcot at DisneyWorld, including a unique prayer tower and some beautiful gardens.

Yesterday we worked one of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events in the Bricktown area of OKC.  Real HouseMom's mother, my Grammy, is a breast cancer survivor who's been in remission for over 10 years so I'm all for the cause.  I woke up at 3:30 am so we could leave the hotel at 4:30 am and arrive onsite by 5:00 am.  It was a really great event!  There was pink everywhere and the energy was incredible.  The only problem, besides it being dark for the first few hours, was how chilly it was.  I thought I'd be ok with jeans, boat shoes and my zip-up jacket, but even I was shivering.  Our onsite contact bought boxes and boxes of granola bars for us to hand out to the racers, and everyone was very grateful to us for them.  Next weekend we're working another Race for the Cure in Little Rock and I'm excited for it!  I'm a little nervous about how late we'll be working Friday night and how early we'll have to wake up Saturday for the event... Might be time for an all-nighter...

Thankfully today and tomorrow are our days off, so I'm relaxing and catching up on emails, blogging, etc.  I'm going to be moving into an apartment near Wrigley Field in January (yay!) so I might hop on Pinterest and start putting together my future Big Girl Bedroom... Who am I kidding, that's probably gonna be my whole day!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend =)
-Jules

Time to Travel!

About a week and a half ago I got a call from MW, the marketing company I was interning with through May.  They asked if I would be interested in helping out with another team, doing the same work I had done in Indianapolis and Detroit in late May/early June.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and on Thursday I flew to Dallas-Fort Worth to meet the team!

After a few days in Midland, TX it was time to head to Houston.  On the way (it was about a 10 hour drive) I got another call from MW-- and they asked if I wanted to stay on for the rest of the tour!!  Which means I now have a job for the rest of the year!  I love the other two members of my team, Emm and Jay, so I'm thrilled to be spending the next 4 1/2 months touring the south with them =)

I'm going to start a separate blog so friends and family can follow my travels.  I'll post a link to it in the menu so you can check up on me too!

Have a great Tuesday =)
-Jules

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I love event planning, so when I found out our next door neighbors finally sold their house and would be moving at the end of the month, I knew we had to throw them a going away party.

Here are the invitations I made:

I just typed up the invites in MS Word, printed them out two per page and cut them in half.  Then I took an old atlas, tore out a bunch of pages, cut them in half and glue-sticked the invite to a map.  Super easy, kind of time-consuming (though I was gluing them while watching a movie so that may have been why) but I got TONS of compliments on them from my neighbors!

[Side note: we've lived in this house for almost 20 years, so my neighbors have seriously watched me grow up-- my first bike, learning to drive, graduating from high school and college, etc]

I wanted to make a special dessert, too-- part of my "I'm 24 and need to learn how to bake or else my future kids are screwed" summer mentality-- and after browsing around some of my favorite baking blogs, I found a recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes.  It was actually a guest post on Carrie Sellman's cake blog, Half Baked.

These are the treats as created by cupcake contributor Lauren of Crave.Indulge.Satisfy:

I loved her idea for making cupcake jars but I'm taking baby steps with my baking... for now =)

And these are how mine turned out:

I'm sure a professional photo shoot like Lauren's wouldn't hurt too, instead of just a cell phone pic, but you get the idea!  What I just can't figure out, though, is how she got her cupcake wrappers to stay so yellow-- mine ended up going from a bright primary yellow to cake-color invisible yellow.  How do you maintain the color???

Now, I cheated a little on the cupcakes... Instead of making the cake from scratch (the idea of which still terrifies me as a total newbie baker), I did pick up a box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Lemon Supreme Cake mix.  But I made the strawberry buttercream frosting totally from scratch!  I ended up having to play around a little bit with the proportions of powdered sugar, strawberry puree and lemon zest but overall they weren't too difficult!

And they were a hit at the party =)  Everybody loved them and said they can't wait for my cupcakes at our next party!

Things I learned while making these cupcakes:

• How to use a food processor
• How to puree something
• How to use a stand mixer
• The best way to load an icing bag is to fold over the top so you have a cuff, then place it in a glass or jar (with the cuff folded over the top edges of the glass/jar) so you can use both hands!
• Always use an apron!  Unless you're baking in an old sorority t-shirt and Soffe shorts...
• Flexible spatulas are a necessity
• Strawberry juice/puree will stain things (spatulas, icing bags, etc.)
• If you don't have a zester, a small handheld cheese grater works just fine

 Here's what I used for this baking project:

• Strawberry Lemonade Cupcake recipe from Half Baked
• Cross-check of puree directions
• Strawberry Puree Recipe from JoyofBaking.com
• Strawberry Puree Recipe from Food.com

In the future I'd love to try these again from scratch and maybe try a raspberry or blueberry twist instead of strawberry!  The possibilities are endess....

Have a great Sunday =)

-Jules