A little late

Dear Sallie Mae,
While I appreciate the concern you have for my parents in regards to financing my college education and giving me a brighter future, I would just like to remind you that you are about 9 years too late.  In fact, you might be a bit surprised but my parents have never lived at this address either, nor were they willing to pay my way through school.  If I didn't receive scholarships, I had to find my own way of making sure tuition each semester was covered, giving me even more reason to buckle down and try to graduate early.
Thanks for checking in, but we do not need your priority code and I surely don't have 20 minutes to see whether or not we qualify for an unnecessary student loan.

Sincerely,
Lindsay

Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars....

The concert was AMAZING!!!  I didn't think it was possible for me to like Shinedown anymore than I already did, but they did a great job and after seeing them live, just confirmed all that for me.

Actually the entire night ended up being a success, which is definitely what we needed.  I had been looking forward to the concert since I bought the tickets back in January, but in the back of my mind, I had this hampering fear as the show got closer that something was going to go wrong and we weren't going to be able to go.  Besides dealing with a few other issues of my own on Friday, I waited all day for a phone call telling me that it wasn't going to work and that we'd have to pass on the night.  Because that's just how my life works when I've built something up so much somehow it just doesn't work out as planned and trust me, I built this up tremendously over the past 4 months.  But, hadn't heard anything by the time I left work, so I promptly rushed home and got ready and waited for Broccoli (I know, weird nickname, but it's more about the way I pronouce it and less about the actual vegetable).
We picked up a quick bite to eat and hit the road, making our way to our seats just as Shinedown was taking the stage. (perfect timing!)  I stood there in awe, singing, playing air drums at times and just taking it all in.
After Shinedown, came Breaking Benjamin.  I don't know a whole lot about them and they only played two of the few songs that I usually listen to on my Ipod, but they were fun to see too.  I might actually check out more of their stuff online now.

Finally, Nickelback took the stage and the place erupted.  I know there are a lot of people that say Nickelback is the most hated band nowadays but I have to disagree.  The show was energized, jam-packed with all of their hits and most of all, the band seemed grateful for all of their fans.  When it was all said and done and we were walking back to the car, we both were extremely thrilled that we were able to see such an awesome show.  We agreed living the rockstar lifestyle is one we probably could never pull off but it sure seemed cool.  Broccoli asked me if Shinedown lived up to my expectations and with a quick smile, I responded, "oh yeah, they definitely rock my world.  I'm sure they're your favorite now too!"  While they may not be his favorite, he was thoroughly impressed too.  What made the night that much cooler was the fact that Nickelback is one of his favorites and we were able to have a fantastic night out -- one that definitely will be remembered.  :)

So now I'm back to reality, back to a normal Saturday filled with laundry, grocery shopping and other random errands. 

Hmm, maybe it would be fun to be a rockstar....

T -12 hours

Tonight I finally get to see Shinedown in concert!!  After following the band for nearly 5 years and missing every other show they've played in St. Louis, I'm finally getting to see my favorite band LIVE and in person!  I'm on pins and needles waiting and it should be a lot of fun!! 
Along with Shinedown, Nickelback, Breaking Benjamin and Sick Puppies are on the bill as part of Nickelback's Dark Horse tour.

Bucket list item number two will be checked off in a few short hours!  Woo hoo!!  Happy Friday to me!

Welcome to the team!

The Rams had the number one pick in the NFL Draft tonight and who did they pick?

Considering Mark Bulger was released earlier this off season and we've been in need for a good quarterback since Warner left, I think it was a fairly accurate pick.  We'll see if Bradford can hold up after already facing a few injuries in his collegiate career.  Sure we had the worst team in the league last year but I'm gonna be positive and say that I think we're on the upswing!!

The draft has been an interest of mine since my senior year of college when a few guys I went to high school with entered the draft as they were finishing their college career.  Most of them went in the first 2 rounds of the draft too which made it even sweeter!  I knew how excited I was for them and now, I continue to be pumped for a new batch of amazing athletes.

Congrats Bradford on being the #1 overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft and welcome aboard!!

Did you see that?

Watched what appeared to be the longest baseball game in the history of the world yesterday -- 6 hours and 53 minutes was the recorded time.  Not the longest game in history, but it sure felt like it.  Cardinals and Mets in St. Louis, scoreless through 18 innings and finally the Cards lost it in the 20th.  All I can think is how the heck do you sit in those seats and not start yelling every time the bases were loaded in extra innings and you send a relief pitcher up to bat because at home I sat on the couch and yelled at the tv.  Granted, I'm no coach nor had I ever played Major League Baseball.  If the game went on any longer and had it been possible, I think McGwire actually might have made it into the game to finish the thing up. 

I do feel bad for center fielder Joe Mather though, the poor guy was forced to pitch in the 19th and then gets the loss for the night.  Of course, had he won the game that would have been the talk of the town this morning.
I'm planning on watching the last game of this series tonight and hoping it doesn't go more than 9 innings because I have to get up at the crack of dawn for work tomorrow morning and Mondays are no day for slacking or napping in the office.

Hope you have a spectacular Sunday!

Who would've thought...

JC Penney is having a sale this weekend and I thought it would be the perfect time to pick up the last few items needed for my spring and summer wardrobe.  After roaming just about the entire misses department for nearly an hour and finding all of this cute stuff but very few things in my size, I started getting irritated.  Yes, I know most of America is not a size 2 or 4, but I am and I need new pants that actually fit this year! 
Late last fall, I found a pair of capris and a pair of business shorts on clearance at Kohls and picked them up, other than that everything I own now is one size too big and in business casual attire, its somewhat noticeable.  This year, I decided to save up my gift cards from Christmas and use them when I actually needed to fill a hole in my closet.  Today was that day and by the time I had tried on what seemed like hundreds of items, I finally settled on 2 skirts, 1 pair of cropped pants and 3 clearance tops and just barely spent every penny on my gift cards.  Normally I would have spent twice as much as I had planned on.
I'm hoping to find a few more things at Kohls or Macy's later in the season when every other size has already been picked over and my size is on clearance.  If I don't, well then I guess I'm just out of luck for now, because I'm not spending a fortune on clothes nor am I gaining any weight.  I've worked too hard to get into shape.
Never did I think I would see the day when I'm actually frustrated by shopping because I can't find much in my size.  Trust me, it is a good feeling, but a tad bit frustrating.

So after my little shopping extravaganza, I went to the library.  I needed the peace and quiet and some new reading material for the next few weeks.  Not much frustration there, I just had to put a limit on myself for the number of books could check out and get read before they are due.  It's supposed to be a nice spring weekend here and I'm planning on taking advantage of the sun on my deck with a good book.

Lunch updates and tax deadlines

My lunch was a success!!  Woo hoo!
I went back to making my classic chicken quesadillas for tomorrow, but its good to know that in a pinch, I can crank out a good Italian dish as well.  I may experiment a bit more if I time permits this weekend.  I've been waiting to make a healthified buffalo chicken and potato casserole and given the right amount of time, I think I can throw together something amazing.

In other news, today was tax day!  This morning a co-worker sent me and my boss this classic...
.

Oh how true it is.  Since I am an extremely high-strung and overly analytical Accountant, I had my taxes done mid-January and e-filed them as soon as our W-2s were released by our payroll processing company.  My boss, on the other hand is one of those laid back, everything-can-be-fixed-with-a-journal-entry type of Controller and he sent off his paper returns this morning.  Yeah, I guess both ways work.
Luckily, today we didn't have any real issues to deal with since tax isn't our specialty, but it still was a busy day and I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend.

Pure genius?

I may have just created the greatest recipe of all time...we'll know for sure tomorrow around lunchtime!
If not, I guess I just better stick to those few meals I make extremely well, like my chicken quesadillas, pizza casserole or roasted potatoes.

I've been trying to expand my cooking skills a bit more and decided that I would try to make something new for lunch tomorrow.  Tonight's experiment was a stuffed Chicken Parmesan.  Sounds like an easy enough concept.  I just hope it is a success. 

I'm holding my breath in the meantime.

How is this possible?

This morning I had to get up to attend a funeral for my coworker, Robin.  It is the second incident of cancer, resulting in losing another amazing, young, vibrant person in 18 months for our office and we only have 35 employees.  We lost Sherri back in 2008 and were devastated.  We were finally starting to get back to normal when we found out Robin was diagnosed with the same cancer that struck Sherri. 
Robin was feisty and persistent and told all of us that she was not going to give up with out a brilliant fight and that she did.  We have so many special memories with Robin from boatfests, golf tournaments, Cardinals games, weddings and more.  She was a great friend and always some one you could count on and we definitely saw that today with the outpouring of support for her family.
Our work family is a close, tight-knit group of people and we will push forward; yet, right now we are all in shock, grief stricken and wondering how what kind of odds we just defied with this happening to our group twice and in such a short amount of time.  We did find some comfort in the thought that Sherri greeted our dear friend with a Bud Light draught and a practical joke at the pearly gates.