All About the All-Stars

For all of you who think I am crazy and laugh at my purchase of Converse All-Stars, please click the link below:

The Look for Less - Style Me Satuday: Converse

An ENTIRE blogpost on a FASHION blog about CELEBRITIES who love their chucks. (Is it ironic that I was wearing mine on Saturday when the post was written? I think not...)

I'm just ahead of the fashion curve and you didn't even know it :)

Simply,
MJ

Moving On Up

Well, my 2 future roomies and I put down a deposit on a new apartment yesterday! And when I say new, I mean BRAND NEW. We get to choose which unit we want in May.

There are 2 pools...

granite countertops in the bathrooms...

a great fitness facility...

And all that good stuff. (All images from "Apartment Finder." I would link, but I don't want any internet stalkers finding where I live and hunting me down.) I'm very excited about it. Even thinking about buying a new duvet cover for my bed!

Ladies, get ready to come visit me in my new digs!

It's Gameday!

The Cats play Cornell in the Regional Semifinals in Syracuse today. I can't wait! My whole week has been leading up to this. It's been dubbed as the "smart kids vs. dumb kids" match-up...but like Cousins said, what's that have to do with basketball? This isn't a spelling bee.

Cornell has a good team -- experienced players, good 3-point shooting, respectable record for the year. But I like our chances, especially if we keep playing the way we have been throughout the tournament.

My uncle sent out an e-mail this morning that I thought I'd share. (Background info: The whole family is either Kansas or Missouri fans...except for my mom, dad, brother and myself. We caught the Cat craze living in Kentucky.)

GO CATS!

Subject: As another exciting weekend of March Madness approaches......
Body: ... as usual, Kansas is in the Sweet Sixteen. But what does that "ST" behind their name mean?!

I wonder if Kurt Warner will be in town this weekend. He must be excited for his alma mater, the Panthers of Northern Iowa, as they come to St Louis for the midwest regional semifinals. Apparently their last game was an exciting one. Did ya' hear?!

Cheap tickets for this one may be available. I understand some Jayhawk fans are unloading theirs as the trip from Lawrence turned out to be longer than expected!

Will 2010 be the year of the Wildcats? Go U of K!

2011... the year of the Billikens?

with love,

Uncle D.

So Posh

I got my hair cut yesterday. Just the regular 6-8 week trim. (Having shorter hair is SOOO high maintenance!) I've been stuck in an inbetween with my hair -- I love it short, but I miss long hair, ponytails and curling irons. I get serious hair envy with every girl I see who's locks flow past her shoulders. But I decided that until I REALLY decide to grow my hair back out, I should keep it short and cute. So I told Justin, my wonderful stylist, that I wanted to go back to the short angled bob I had a few months ago.

Oh. Em. Gee.

It is SOOOO short. Last time Justin cut it, I could still pull it back into a tiny ponytail. That is NOT happening this time around. I get a little sick to my stomach every time I reach up to touch it. The front layers are about chin length, but the nape of my neck is exposed. The boy's roommates were the first to witness it last night -- we grilled out and watched the UK game -- and they jokingly started calling me "Posh." As in "Posh Spice." (You DO remember the Spice Girls, right?)

Maybe it will grow on me. Or grow OUT on me. Quickly. (Or maybe it's not as bad as it seems...hopefully this is just Day 1 aftershock.)

Simply,
Posh

Irish Blessings

An Irish blessing: "May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand."

I love St. Patrick's Day. I've never been to Chicago to see the river dyed green, or had a green beer. (Strike that beer comment...I had my first green beer today!) The most I have ever really celebrated the holiday was going out on spring break, but then it was just like any other spring break day except we all wore green, like the picture below.
But for some reason, I just feel a peculiar sense of pride on the holiday. I guess it's my Irish heritage. (Or maybe I'm just a huge sucker for themes, celebrations and festivities.)

So that no one can argue my Irish roots, here is proof:

These are my aunts and uncles (minus Bobby, who wasn't born yet). My dad, aka "Grubby," is the cutie in the middle holding his baby sister. (I know you all wondered where I got my good looks. There's your answer!) Five of the nine siblings are redheads. They were all raised Catholic. They are all named after saints. And family names were also used quite a bit. Don't believe me? I'm the 5th female with my first name (that I know of). And that doesn't include my aunt by marriage who also shares our (Irish) luck.

Here are 3 of us ...all with the same first name (probably drinking our Bailey's Irish Creme)...and we're actually missing the 4th, Grandma, in this picture. So there were technically 4 of us at this Christmas party with the same name. (Obviously the aunt by marriage on the left is a teacher, if you didn't guess by the festive sweater vest). You'd think it would get confusing, but we all go by a different nickname!

I love my big Irish family, though. And all that comes with it. I can't speak for my cousin's little boy...he inherited that red hair. We'll see how he feels about it when he's older!

Another treat: Did you know that St. Patrick's name wasn't actually Patrick? Or that he wasn't actually Irish? Nor did he drive snakes out of Ireland. For 10 things you didn't know about St. Patrick's Day, courtesy of Time, click here.

Off to bed! Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to catch up on the 100+ unread items in my Google Reader...

Tie One On!

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.”―Ashley Montagu

Don't you like that quote? It seems appropriate to me. I spent a wonderful mini SB2010 (that's pronounced S-B-20-10, according to me) with 3 of my wonderful friends at a lake house near Pigeon Forge. My personal trip highlights and moments of happiness:

1. The Cats won the SEC tournament. Being in TN for the UK vs. UT game was quite fun :)
2. Misadventures In My Life's quotes: "I love nature" and "Life without chocolate sucks." If you know her, you know how funny these sound coming from her!

3. Compliments. Namely, MIML was told that we had good style....by someone who works with Pretty in Pink Megan (who is a definite fashionista)! Also, I received a very sweet and generous compliment during a round of "Table Topics," a stack of cards with conversation starters for girl's nights. We went through the WHOLE stack.

4. The Dixie Stampede.

{Image from here}

And not knowing what to do with a whole chicken and no utensils. And the man next to us with a water bottle of liquor. Our dear blogless friend -- I'll call her KB for now -- created a mystery for us the whole show as to whether or not this man was married to his lady friend, or if she was married to someone else. She had a ring....but made references to having married a Northerner. Does that mean HE was the northerner or someone else?

5. Outlet shopping! I got tons of fun new purchases, including the pair of Chuck Taylor's I blogged about a while back. I figure it's okay since I had 3 friends supporting the indulgence!

{Image from here}

6. Southern Charm's driving abilities through the back roads, avoiding deer, toughing out the rain, deciphering her dad's directions, etc. And her tour guiding abilities through the small Eastern Kentucky towns. Most importantly, her generosity for opening her lake house to us :)

7. The construction sign that read, "YOUR GPS IS WRONG."

There probably are many more bullet points I could add and lots of good memories (and thank goodness, because we didn't take any pictures). I'm so grateful that I have such good friends to spend time with, talk to and work through life problems with. We'll have to "tie one on" soon, ladies! (And hopefully the rest of the gang can join in!)

Simply,
MJ

Quirky and Corky!

So I came across this little DIY project the other day and thought it was such a neat idea. I love wine, though it would take me a long time and many dollar bills to accumulate this many corks. But I think when I have my own place this would make for neat repurposed decorations.

Full instructions can be found here. They actually stacked three corkboards on top of each other to fill the space on a narrow wall. Still, I think it has great texture and personality - especially if you are a wino :)

Simply,
MJ

For Your Entertainment...

Here is a summary of my Saturday night:


Even with the heartbreaking UK loss to Tennessee...I still put on some Boogie glasses and busted out the John Wall dance. Which I actually got compliments on! Someone told me I could have won a competition.

I had a great time with friends in town this weekend and a packed social schedule! I only wish it could have lasted longer. Time goes by so fast these days -- it's already March 2010 and I'm still dating things as 2009. Maybe older people aren't as senile as I like to think...

Hope you all enjoyed that embarassing picture :)

Simply,
MJ