"Life is a Runaway Train you Can't Wait to Jump on."

My Dad and I before the Concert

I guess I need to pay more attention to who sings my favorite country songs, because last night at the Sugarland concert I must have leaned over and told my Dad at least three or four times that I had no idea Sugarland sang the song playing. Good thing I didn't dismiss the thought of going because I knew only a couple songs they sang! Little Big Town and Vonda Shepard opened for the band, and even though I had really never heard any of their songs, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed them. 

Little Big Town

hen Sugarland took the stage all the country fans from Cincinnati and Kentucky, including me got crazy excited! I knew that Jennifer Nettles was a great singer, but she was also a great performer and all around entertainer. My dad pointed out how great it is that she was able to go from her southern twang to gorgeous vocals effortlessly, all in the mist of one song. 

My personal favorites of the night included the song "Already Gone" (hence the title of the post), "Genevieve" (which I think I noticed the lyrics change from "I'd do anything to just be with her" to "I'd do anything to just forget her, interesting?...) and especially the song "Everyday America". In the middle of the song, Jennifer Nettles threw in a country remix of Single Ladies, some Jackson Five and Party in the U.S.A.! And how can I forget the accordion solo, played by her keyboardist with a superb handlebar mustache. 

In honor of Elvis' passing, Sugarland brought Little Big Town back out to sing "Walking in Memphis," which is one of my Dad's favorite songs and their rendition gave me chills, it was amazing. 

Preparation: A little off Track.

It is finally close enough to school starting again that I can begin to pack and get things ready without being considered crazy and overly anxious. (Well some might still call me crazy with the label making fiasco that has been going on, but that is beside the point). A few days ago I started going through the things that I had packed away in May, which seems forever ago and I was pleasantly surprised to find many things that I had forgotten about.

Exhibit # 1: Last spring I was obsessed with saving all the tops to my Snapple bottles, because I thought the sayings on them were so clever and quirky. I found a whole bag of them, and after they still made me chuckle I decided I couldn't throw them away, so I cleaned them off and made them into little magnets for our refrigerator!

Fun Snapple Facts:

The first lollipop was invented in Connecticut.

Broadway is one of the longest streets in the world, it is 150 miles long.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

A spider's silk is stronger than steel.

The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. It would float.

An average of three billion cups of tea are consumed daily, worldwide.

The most popular ice cream flavor is vanilla =)

After getting out my boxes of school supplies I found a lot of my Sharpie collection that I thought had gotten lost. Yay for hidden storage places! I thought as I went through these that I have two favorite colors that I usually take notes with, plum and burgundy. They are the perfect colors, they don't really bleed as much as others, they are more interesting than black yet still dark enough to not have to try to read. I really wanted to buy more of just those colors, doesn't seem too unreasonable right? Well let me tell you! After going to three craft stores, I went online and still found nothing that would satisfy my needs. Although I did find this Sharpie Gem! Awesome, right? So, I decided to email Sharpie and ask them straight up if I could buy just those colors in bulk. They were about 50% helpful, I can buy plum in bulk but I am still on the rampant search for burgundy, let me know if anyone knows more than me!

Exhibit #2 Plum and Burgundy!

Last year I had many bouquets of fake flowers in my room (God knows I couldn't keep up with real ones!) But I didn't have my favorite kind, sunflowers! I was having trouble finding some that I really liked, they either looked way too fake or were way too expensive. In the mean time, my mom picked up the real deal! at the grocery store and I was having fun taking pictures with my camera that I discovered had a setting for plants, who knew!

Also on another note before I left, my sister Katie and I wanted to visit Old Milford and go to a cupcakery called Sugar. Sugar was featured on the show Cupcakes Wars earlier this summer, (apparantly I am now obsessed with going to places that are on the Food Network? Three in a month, woah now!) It was super cutesy and decorated in browns and purples, and the cupcakes were delicious, it is a close second to the first cupcake store that I have mentioned, Sweeterie. It might have to do with the fact that Sugar is all organic, which as healthy as that is, it just can't beat that real sugary goodness. You know, the stuff that might eventually kill you, but tastes damn good until it does.

Sugar, on Main Street in Milford

Official Countdown until Baumhart (aka 17 Cherry Tree Lane) Move-In:

10 days!

Oh Hilton Head!

We left the house at precisely 1:00:00 on the dot, per the commands of a drill-sergeant-like father. We traveled approx. 7 hours to the lovely town of Spartanburg, SC. As great as "upstate" sounds, there was nothing upscale about our overnight stay. We did stop at The Beacon, which was featured on "Drive-ins, Diners and Dives" but seeing as it was late, we didn't get the full experience and just settled for huge ice cream sundaes instead. Don't get too excited, their banana split had nothing on Whipty-Do's version! 

The next day we woke up and drove about 2 hours to the University of South Carolina where we met my cousin, Annie for a personal tour of her campus! All of Columbia reeked with southern charm, from its horseshoe quad to the yellow, pink and white dorm buildings. If Kate ends up there I will have no problem making the trip during the cold Chicago winters. 

We finally arrived in Hilton Head at about 5 o'clock that night, a relief to the rest of the very traveled out family (what can I say, they are weak). Then that first night was spent in the familiar South Beach Marina, where the Salty Dog Café is, although we were too hungry to wait to eat there, so we ate at one of the other restaurants. 

On Monday we woke up very early to go out on Jet-Ski's, which was totally worth the loss of sleep. The previous year, my cousin Caroline and I beat everyone with the fastest pace and were determined to do the same this year. We spent alot of time racing, doing doughnuts and going at break-neck speeds, but we also saw dolphins and went through creeks. When we announced to the family that we had gone 79, they were amazed, what they failed to realize (not that we minded to correct them) is that our speed was set to kilometers/hour. Hahaha...

We had an intense conversation Tuesday night at dinner, more than once the waitress looked afraid to be at our table. The fam didn't stray far because the topics went from College Football to Pro Football to T.O. to Chad Ochocino, (who Katie meet the other night at J. Alexanders!) to Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch to Rock of Love to the Bachelorette (Katie? were you happy about Roberto, I forget, I don't think you ever told us your opinion). Basically Annie's nightmare of conversation topics, she will be providing approved conversation topics in the future. Even if it was a bit juvenile, I ended up spitting out my food because of laughing. Way to keep it classy family. 

On Wednesday morning my Dad and I were the only ones who woke up to go to one of my favorite places on Hilton Head Island, the Flamingo Café. Here they have a small shop, no frills, where the specialty doughnuts, glazes and toppings are all written in chalk and you can pick anything you want. I have heard that they don't even fry the doughnut until you order it, so when you get the doughnut, it practically melts in your mouth and leaves you happily in a sugar coma for the rest of the morning.

Continuing with our adventures, we decided to rent bikes and go to South Beach again. We got ice-cream and then headed back. Kate decided to finally step up and bring out her "A-Game" at the exact minute when my cousin Caroline had a minor spazz with her bike, and lost the chain and ended up like a greasy mechanic fixing it! 

Fun at the Beach! 

We sadly left at 6 am on Saturday to be sure we would get home with enough time for Katie to go to the Saint Margaret of York Festival. About half way home I realized that I had forgotten Happy Bear, which I have had since I was born! Luckily my mother's new bestie, Adam, found it and he is on his way home soon! Now I am really glad that I never actually met the guy that she went on about all week.

Ode to Carebear

So I have a cousin, and she is pretty ghetto-fabulous. I promised a blog that was all about the wonders that is Caroline Beury. I can't possibly think of one thing that I admire about her the most. Is it her wicked dance moves that bring all the boys to the yard? Is it her impecablesense of style, (see picture below)? Is it her ability to GTL all day (picture 3), even while 3,000 miles away in Rome? It is most likely a combination of all of her wonderful assets. If incest wasn't illegal in 48 states, I'd tap that.

Cute, Care.

Jersey Shore Fist Pump Action

Pretty Cousins, Plus Caroline.

What a classy bitch. "I'm like a turtle, once I'm on my back, I'm screwed."

In all seriousness, if that is still possible, this chica makes family functions virtually pain-free and pretty snazzy, if I must say so myself. Since the good old days back in VA, she has headed the cool commitee of the McBride clan. So, thanks Care, for not being a total bore.

Spring! (Well Actually Just a Warmer Version of Winter)

Being in Chicago has given me a little different perspective of spring time this year. It may not be 70 degrees and sunny all the time, but my friends and I have been getting out and enjoying the city so much! One one of the first warm weekends we made the trek to Lincoln Park Zoo! We saw all the Zoo babies and maybe some things that we could have gone without seeing (Zebra anyone?) The best part about it was that it is ABSOLUTELY FREE, which believe me, is a big deal for a college student. The only scary thing was on the bus on the way there I believe I had a crazy on my hands. The woman sitting next to me was muttering to herself about being stabbed in the neck, having needles poked in her eyes and kept saying softly "This is the worst bus ride ever." Ok cray cray, chill out. Boy, was I glad to get off that bus, well that's the CTA for ya! (The picture is my sassy friends expertly demonstrating to Mufasa and Narabi the "Circle of Life")

Recently after the zoo, we made a quick trip to the Lake, Swan Lake that is. We all got gussied up and went downtown for Ghiadelli's and the show on my birthday. The birthday fairy godmother must have been looking out for us since she upgraded our tickets to BOX FREAKING SEATS! Yep, that's right. We're classy.

And as if that weren't enough, my dad came to visit me that weekend. We went to a Cubs game against the Astros and although they lost, I did enjoy my ballpark dog (oops, I may have put ketchup on it), seeing McLovin' throw out the opening pitch and the sign that read "Houston, We don't have a Problem."

Later that night, my dad was quite the ladies' man and took my 4 best friends to the RAINFOREST! We ate jungle fries and jungle burgers (but no jungle juice of course). Then *drum roll please* there was a flaming volcanofor dessert, complete with sparkler and all! You can bet your butt it tasted about as fantastic as it sounds! Needless today, Best Birthday Weekend Ever!

Woah, I'm a blogger!

I'm starting this blog because I HAVE THOUGHTS!

Just a little humor from one of my favorite Meryl films (that's for you Sarah).

Anyways, I thought since the theme of this is whole sh-bang seems to be ice cream I would start off by pretty much telling my favorite story about the stuff.

So, for the past 27,900 times that I have gotten ice cream with my dad it is always the same. First, I order something with every topping, and then he orders a small vanilla cone. Then we go sit down and eat our ice cream. Mine starts melting all over the place, and he non-chalantly licks his like a pro. It's sort of freaking how he seems to have anti-melting force field around his cone ALL THE TIME. Anyways, about halfway through he says "You know, 80% of ice cream is consumed after 8 pm" (because we always eat it after 8)

You know what Dad, I did know that. And also, the number changes every single time. But I won't mention it, because what would be the point of getting that after dinner treat if I didn't also get that great factoid.