I'm BAAAAACCCKKK

So I haven’t been stuck in the grocery store for a month…sorry about that to those of you who were worried. The real reason I haven’t written in a while is because my life went I’m-unemployed-and-therefore-have-tons-of-free-time to an I-have-a-real-job-with-no-time situation. BUT…the good news is that I LOVE MY JOB (more details about this down below).

Because I’ve been “away” from the blog for so long and because my mind thinks in series of categorized lists, I’ll update you on my life the past month via bullet points (in sequential order, of course). (Okay, so when I copied and pasted from word the bullets won't work...bear w/ my listing technique here...p.s. this KILLS me that the bullets dont work...OCD)

I got a job!
--I work for a market research company. We measure how much people pay attention to commercials & TV shows – fascinating stuff, actually. We were recently acquired by Nielsen.
--I made friends at work. Four young girls all about my age…we lunch and share celebrity gossip…and girl talk (only after getting all our work done, of course). It’s great to have girlfriends up here…I’ve quickly learned that you can never have enough friends in the city.

Alex started Law School
--Happy to say he’s happy! He loves Columbia and he loves learning to think like a lawyer. He’s learning from some of the best professors out there (i.e. His first month “introductory law school course” was taught by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s daughter).
--Alex has made a few friends (one guy from William & Mary…they play squash on Tuesdays & Thursdays together). We have also gone to a few brunches w/ another couple (he goes to law school, she IS a lawyer) and they are very friendly…although I often feel a little dumb around all these smarty-pants lawyers.

We went to Brooklyn
--You know us Kansans…we smell the red meat miles away and herd (pun intended) toward it. We went to Peter Lugar’s Steak House (world famous…Google it). Such good food and Brooklyn is cute (although not necessarily the 3 blocks right around Peter Lugar’s).

We went to the Bronx Zoo
--I planned this day-trip one Saturday (surprise, surprise). It was a great zoo…lovely exhibits and I also got to watch all the little kids play (makes me miss my precious “nephew”, Luke!!) I recommend to anyone thinking about going to go – well worth it…and now we can say we’ve been to the Bronx (except I guess we’ve already been there for the Yankees game…oh yeah…we went to the Yankees game…great tickets from Al’s folks, Yanks lost).

My best friend from Kansas came to visit
--My friend Caitlyn came to visit. I LOVE HER AND SHE NEEDS TO MOVE HERE…except she has a fabulous job at Nordstrom and they don’t have one in NYC. L She did introduce me to a friend of hers from Chi O, Kristen, and we’ve become close…yay another girlfriend!!

I went home to Kansas
--My grandmother passed away and I went home to be with my family & attend the funeral. She was the spunkiest, smartest, toughest, funniest woman I know and I miss her every single day.
--It was great to go back and see all the family, except now I miss them more because I remembered how great they all are and how much I’m loved.
Kansas is SO FLAT and un-crowded…I’d forgotten. Oh, and my mom’s house seemed GINORMOUS after living in 500sq. ft. for almost 3 months.

KU Football Season Started!!!!
--I miss tailgating SOOOOOO much.
Mangino ate one of our players…just kidding. Just wanted to make sure you’re still paying attention
--We’ve gone to the Pourhouse (a KU bar here in the East Village) for some games. LOVING it!!! So annoyed about the South Florida game though.
--Todd Reesing looks like a squirrel.
--Side note about KU Bball…Chalmers & Darrel getting kicked of NBA rookie league? That’s what champions are made of…or maybe they thought they played for Missouri now?
--Beak ‘em.

I think that’s about it. Sorry for the word vomit…that was a lot for one posting. I’ll try to do better at posting more frequently (and hopefully get a little more technological…pictures? Music? Video?). I miss everyone back home and am so glad you all find my small little life here in NYC amusing.

OH! P.S. Saw a huge rat today...only the 3rd one I’ve seen since I’ve been here. ICK…I will never become okay w/ them.

P.P.S. They’re shooting Law & Order in our basement tomorrow. An episode about runaway kids…look for it. While this may seem incredibly cool & trendy, it actually means that our basement is gross enough & scary enough to fit the requirements of a Law & Order scene.

P.P.P.S. I apparently have an extremely un-ergonomic posture at my desk and I hurt my back. If it wasn't so vital to the rest of my body functioning, I'd probably cut it off. For those of you that have been in the workforce for awhile...any suggestions/help?

Love you forever!
Katie