Minnesota Trip

So this post is long overdue, but I got a new phone for Christmas and was transferring the pictures from my old phone over and found these. I thought I'd share them even if it's a little late. :)

After spending an entire night attempting to (and failing at) sleeping on a bus, we arrived at Minneapolis. We were dropped off at a beautiful hotel in the middle of the city (the same one Harvey Perlman stayed at) though so I caught a couple of hours of sleep in a comfy bed staring at this view.

On the first night in town, we went to eat with hundreds of other Husker fans and watched the live broadcast of Sports Nightly. We sat on the balcony and were given pom poms and beads.

          

The next day I headed to the stadium, ready to cheer on my Huskers. 

 

The stadium was pretty huge, especially in comparison to the Northwestern game last year and we took a few laps around it. Both to waste time and keep warm. 

We found them giving out free pancakes! 

 About an hour before kickoff, we headed to our seats. This is what the stadium looked like. A pretty sad turnout if I do say so myself. It filled up by the end of the first quarter though. Evidently these fans just don't show up 3 hours prior to the games like I'm accustomed to at Nebraska.

  

 There was an awesome view of the skyline though.

Soon our band showed up and their band performed the pre-game show. As you can see, we had absolutely no sun on our side so I was freezing. 

       

I got some "famous Minnesota cheese curds" to warm up my hands though. :) They actually were pretty good...better than the game at least.

Things You May Not Know About Me

I recently saw a trend on Facebook in which people shared things about themselves that their friends/family may not know. I thought I'd do a post like that myself.


1. I hate drinking out of straws. I think they make beverages taste funny.

2. I hum all the time and I usually don't realize I'm doing it. My parents said I used to do it while eating and I catch myself doing it randomly all the time.

3. I have been to 32 of the 50 states. Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona are among my favorites. The ones I haven't been to that I want to most are Washington and Oregon and Hawaii.

4. I'm a list-maker. I constantly write out grocery lists, to-do lists, to-read lists, lists of interesting names, lists of places I want to go, etc. It's therapeutic to me.

5. I don't wear socks or shoes at all when I'm at home. I can't stand them.

6. My favorite TV shows are Survivor and Law and Order: SVU. I've seen every episode. The Voice and Elementary are my two new obsessions though.

7. The first CD I ever remember owning was Britney Spears (Oops I Did It Again).

8. Babies really freak me out. I actually can never imagine myself having children partly for that reason. Partly because I have no maternal instincts haha.

9. I got my tonsils out a little over a week before my junior prom and my mom had to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes for my prom meal because I couldn't eat the one provided.

10. I can't win any board games or video games. Not one. But I'm not all that competitive so it's ok.

11. You can ususally tell my stress level by the cleanliness of my room. The more scattered my room, the more scattered my brain.

12. I love musicals.

13. I have O negative blood so absolutely anyone can take my blood/organs.

14. I like vegetables much better than fruits and won't eat any kind of berry.

15. I remember having lots of class pets in elementary school, including a guinea pig, parakeets, snails, and chicks.

16. I could get Lasik surgery, but the idea makes me cringe. Once in high school, we watched a video of someone getting the surgery and I felt dizzy and spent the rest of the hour in the bathroom.

17. I was born without enamel on some of my baby teeth and had to wear silver caps on them. I pulled them off twice with Jolly Ranchers. When my permanent teeth grew in, I was missing two on the bottom so I only have 26 to this day (plus one implant).

18. I played a male sheriff my sophomore year of one-act play.

19. I have never dyed or highlighted my hair.

20. Last semester, I got the lowest grade of my life in Technical Theater (B- 82.6%)

21. I sometimes shake uncontrollably when I call to order pizza but once gave a speech in front of my entire high school without breaking a sweat.

22. I am both a cat and a dog person.

23. 4 has always been my favorite number since I was born on April 4th.

24. I feel very uncomfortable being in a car when there isn't music playing.

25. This is my 59th blog post. :)

Moriah Memories

     Today, as I was driving back from Thanksgiving break, it was dark and I could see the hazy light of towns as I passed by. And a memory shot through me with a jolt.

     I was sitting next to Moriah on the bus that we had spent the last two weeks on. She had nabbed the window seat. It was probably 1 a.m. and there was haze of Kearney was before us. Her hair was squished on one side from sleeping against the window and she turned to me with sleepy eyes.
     "It's so beautiful, you know," she said.
     I had no idea what she was talking about, but I nodded wearily.
     "We've been to New York and Chicago and seen everything, but home is still beautiful"
     Now I may have the exact quote wrong, but I remember thinking she was completely right. No matter how much both of us complained about our hometowns, we both still had a special place in our heart for the places we came from.

    This past April, my mom asked me once if I had been thinking about Moriah lately and at the time I was taken aback. I hadn't thought about her for weeks probably. What a terrible friend I was. How could I have forgotten her only a year after she passed away? I just felt awful about it for quite a while. But it's moments like this, when I see city lights, flip by Snooki in a magazine, eat at Olive Garden, or scroll by her number in my phone (I still haven't been able to delete it) show me she's not forgotten. Sometimes the memories make me cry and other times they make me laugh out loud, but no matter what, she's there. She has a home in my heart. Even if I don't see her all the time.