Day 328

Finally....a Purdue win!! They looked like the team we know they can be and should be while they kicked Nebraska's ass! :) Don't get me wrong, I am a Huskers fan (I almost went there for grad school), but no one else gets cheered for while they play Purdue!

Purdue Pete waving at me...cause that's how I roll! ;)

Day 325

Oh Sunday, how I love you so! :) ha I was in need of a day like today. A road trip to West LaLa with Jen, a tough Purdue loss (but my boys sure played hard!), yummy food, and the attention of a new boy.

You'll have to wait for the story of the new boy....probably until the end of the week when we meet in person. We met on Match, but graduated from the same high school (how strange is that?) and we have a lot of mutual friends who are encouraging me to give him a chance. So I am. I have no expectations, but he is easy to talk to and unlike the other boys, he seems to know what he wants for his life. That is certainly a step in the right direction. He's not someone I would have chosen on my own, but then again...neither are the other 4. I'm just going to enjoy this for awhile. Thanks Nikki for reiterating how much FUN it can be to date more than one guy at a time. The key is definitely to keep my emotions in check! Not always easy, but starting to get a handle on it.

Since you have to wait on that story, I will share today's activities - another Boilermaker game. Can't believe only 2 home games left! Sadness and relief are rolled into one on this topic. ha

Day 318

Sunday was a fairly relaxed day. I finally felt human again after getting a full 8 hours of sleep! I worked on a design project that morning (since I failed to do it Saturday) and got it all wrapped up. Thank goodness. :) Then I got myself ready for the day and headed north.

Jenna and I made our way to West LaLa. We went to Nine Irish Brothers for Jen's birthday meal! Today (Feb. 13) my baby sister is 27!! And in honor of her birthday, here's a few pics from our younger days. ha

After dinner, we made our way over to Mackey Arena for another Boilermaker basketball game. We were happy to see the team we love pull it together and get a win over Northwestern! The lady behind us was grumpy before the game even started, so we moved down to the Paint Crew section and sat just a few rows up from the bottom of the upper level. (For some reason, the students must have missed the memo about the game!)

Day 310

Losing weight means constantly replacing my wardrobe. It's an expensive part of the weight loss process, but one I am loving. I have NEVER been a shopper. Mostly because it's a real pain to find cute clothes, let alone clothes that fit, when you are overweight. Saturday afternoon, I went shopping and found some great buys to add to my wardrobe/replace things that are worn out and too big. It was pretty exciting! I can foresee that this new joy for shopping is going to be a major hindrance on my bank account. haha ;)

Jenna and I also made the trek to West LaLa for the Purdue vs Indiana basketball game. It was a disappointing loss. Another in which the refs pretty much handed to us on a silver platter. I mean, can we not get one good ref crew?!? ARGH! It's so frustrating to be playing on your home court and watch every call go for the other team. Even some of the IU fans seated around us couldn't argue the bad calls made against Purdue. Oh well. It's even more of a bitter loss because the two schools are mortal enemies. No seriously. It's one of the biggest rivals in all of college sports. Look it up! :p

Day 299

Tuesday marked yet another mad dash to West LaLa after work to go to the Purdue basketball game against Michigan. Unfortunately, it was a tough 2 point loss. Those are worse than blow-outs. If we could just get a game where we don't start off with 6 fouls on us to 1 on them, it would be freaking amazing! ARGH! It's our home court and somehow the refs have it out against us. Big Ten officials are some of the worst. To make matters worse, we had the world's most annoying elderly alumni couple sitting behind us...and they didn't know a damn thing about our team. Near the end, I told the lady off. Jenna was laughing and couldn't believe I'd waited so long. (I might be slightly mouthy. hahaha) Nothing irks me more than people attending the games just to say they were there!! On another note, the boys wore their silver/grey unis and most of us are not fans. Silver isn't even one of our colors! What happened to the gold unis? This seems to be the year of the wild team unis - started back in football and was the weekly story on Yahoo around the nation and now a lot of stories are popping up about basketball.

Day 292

Tuesday was another whirlwind day....it definitely had it's ups....and it certainly had it's downs.

Let's start with the DOWN.

On my way to Indy to meet up with Jen before going to West LaLa. Well, I didn't make it there without a fender bender. :( Argh! I was so upset with myself. It was my fault. I was behind a truck at a yield and we were turning onto the highway. I glanced to my left to check for traffic and started to ease off my brake...and that is when I realized the truck wasn't moving. BAM! Right into the truck hitch. It cracked the grill and put a hole in the front fender. Insurance adjuster will be looking at it on Monday. I took it the repair shop today for an estimate and was surprised that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I of course will have to meet the deductible (ouch), but it has to be done. *sigh*

And then there was the UP.

"Hail, hail to old Purdue!" After making the mad dash to Purdue, we had fun watching our Boilers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes! :) To make the night even better, we saw former Purdue basketball star, Chris Kramer with his family. CK currently plays ball in Germany and he hadn't even been back in the States for 24 hours when he came to the game.

Jimmy Buffet theme night - even Purdue Pete dressed the part!

CK & his lil bro watching the game courtside

Robbie!! :) It's so great to see him playing again (you Purdue fans know the saga)

Day 289

Saturday was a fun day in the life of E1! haha

I started the day by sleeping in...and it was much needed. I am still fighting a lingering cough and my voice is scratchy. The sleep helped, but not enough. I also managed to get a treadmill workout in and completed W3D1 of C25K. I warmed up leftovers for lunch and got myself ready for the day.

I spent the rest of the day in Indy. Jen and I had dinner at Scotty's Brewhouse (yum! one of our faves) with 2 of Jen's friends (one who is a distant cousin of ours). All 4 of us girls had tickets to the Pacers/Celtics basketball game that evening. Two former Boilermakers (JuJuan Johnson, aka JJ and E'Twaun Moore, aka Smooge) are in their first year of their professional career and they just so happen to play for the Boston Celtics. It was exciting to see them come home to Indiana and play to a crowd that was cheering for them! JJ had a suite for his family and friends (he bought 60 tickets), some of which included a handful of the Purdue men's basketball team. It's always nice seeing the boys out enjoying themselves and it appeared they were...until they got mobbed by fans after the game! ha One of the sports bloggers, Hammer and Rails (aka T-Mill), was the one who coordinated the Purdue fan night with the Pacers. He originally thought they'd sell about 50 tickets. They instead sold 427!!! :) We are a loyal bunch! It was a blast watching the game with a bunch of Boilermakers and then having a special post-game chat with JJ and Smooge. The boys walked onto the court to a chorus of Hail Purdue and answered a few questions from the crowd. It was obvious they were overwhelmed with the support of a few hundred fans! A great time was definitely had by all...and we'll be repeating the experience in April when the Celtics come back to Indy. Hopefully next time they'll beat the Pacers! ha

Jen & I before the game

view from our seats

Smooge dribbling the ball towards the goal

JJ entering the game (mid bottom in the green)

T-Mill welcoming the boys back to Boiler Nation!

Smooge!

JJ!

Day 287

Oh it's a sad day when you travel 5 hours round trip to a basketball game...and your team LOSES. It is an up and down year for the Boilers. Last game (a road game) they killed it and looked like an unstoppable team. This game, which is the first home game they've lost in 2+ years (to a team, Wisconsin Badgers, that hasn't won a game on our court in about 10 years) walked in and massacred us! The boys fought back within inches, but the last tv break zapped all their drive and we went home with a L in the column. The only upside to the evening was that the hated Indiana Hoosiers also lost at home that night...to the team Purdue just beat! Go Minnesota Gophers!! :) We were definitely cheering in the car as we followed the updates on the IU game. hahaha I love to see that red and white team lose! Aren't in-state rivalries great? ha :)

The drive up to West LaLa wasn't bad at all, but the drive home left something to be desired. I drove around 48-60 mph most of the way from West L to Indy. Thank goodness Indy to home was clear, albeit windy, which had me just below the normal speed limit.

walking back to the car - I don't miss the bitter cold winds on campus!

KENNY!!!!!!!!!!! (you have to be a South Park fan to understand) ha

Day 251

Wednesday was one of my long days...it was a Purdue basketball night! ha There's nothing quite like working a 9 hour shift at work, then having an 8 hour evening plan. ha I think at 29 years old, I'm too old for this hectic schedule....and yet, I can't imagine trading it in! ;)

It was a horrid game as far as officiating went...ugh, let's not even go there! However, my beloved Boilers pulled out a win!!! Boiler Up! We also got to see some friends at the game, which is always fun! Right when we walked in the door to Mackey, we saw Kim's parents - Kent & Mandy. :) There are some of my FFA parents. Then after the game started, one of Jenna's former roomies from Purdue was a section over too far trying to find her seat, it was nice to see Annette! And then as I was looking the crowd over (cause I'm always looking for friends in the crowd), I noticed another past State FFA Officer buddy, Joey and his co-teacher Travis, plus some of their FFA students.

Day 228

Monday was the start of a super crazy week...and the start of me not blogging for an entire week! What the heck!?! I'm going to play catch up, so hopefully some lucky (bored outta their mind soul) will read all the way down to this post! ha

Jenna and I went to the Purdue basketball game Monday night against High Point. And no, we had NO CLUE who the heck that team was until we got there and googled them. haha Don't ya love smart phones? Anyway, it was way too close of a game for any sort of comfort! The crowd was low in attendance, most likely due to the facts that a) it was a Monday night and b) we had to swim to get there! It poured our whole drive there and then of course it had been storming (they even had a tornado warning) in West LaLa that afternoon. Luckily, our Boilers came out on top! Now they have been in Puerto Rico playing...and again, narrowly winning. Hopefully these games give them some more time to work the kinks out! :)

sister fun at the game!

half-time game: Baketball Musical Chairs ;)

love my alma mater!!!