#WEverb14: Remember

Here's the second prompt for #WEverb14:

2. REMEMBER
What did you do in 2013 that you will remember the details of forever?

Last year (OMG, that went by so fast!!), I purchased my first car. Well, we purchased it, and technically, it's not my first car. But it is the first time that I've had to buy a car. I made spreadsheets and we did test drives and it took foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Who doesn't love The Sandlot??

Not just picking out the car, but the actual buying process. I am not kidding around here when I say that it took us 3+ hours to buy the vehicle once we got to the dealership. We decided to go with a Toyota Prius V Five because we liked the drive, the liked the features that came with it, with liked the storage capacity (only 3 cubic feet smaller than the Rav4) and of course, we liked the amazing gas milage. As an added bonus, the Baconator gets a family discount on Toyotas because his dad works for them down in Indiana. We walked in knowing exactly how much we'd pay for the car, and we'd even been emailing with the dealership and had picked out the exact vehicle we would be driving off the lot.

There was no haggling on price, but man-oh-man, the things they try to up sell take hours. I mean, we talked to 5 different guys, maybe even 6, on the day we bought the car from the showroom to when we finally got the keys. But now that we've had our little red car for 4 months, I could not be happier.

In 4.5 months, we've put over 4000 miles on it, filled up gas 10 times, drove back and forth to Evansville 4 times, road tripped to Peoria and I have filled the windshield wiper fluid. (Ok, so that wasn't actually significant).

Here she is: Penny, our Red Prius!

What's your Remember moment from 2013?

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

#WEverb14 Kicks Off Today!

So you may have noticed that I'm a little... willy nilly with my blogging frequency, so I've decided to kick of the year by tackling one of my resolutions: blog more often (yes, I realize that this was one of last year's resolutions, too).

Anyway, what better way to get back in the swing of things than to join the #WEverb14 cycle that is kicking off today? None that I can think of :)

So what is #weverb? It's essential 31 prompts that will help you reflect on 2013 and looks forward to 2014!  How you participate is up to you, one prompt, just a handful or every one of them.  My intention is to answer each of them through the month of January.

I'd love if you did it along with me! I'll post the prompt along with my response every day.

Kicking it off, here's the first prompt:

1: COMPOSE
Write a haiku for 2013 and one for 2014

2013:
Travel (Gold Status!)
Sky blue waters, wedding days
And Cincinnati

2014:
My resolutions
Last all year, no matter what
With no excuses

What are your haikus?

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

I Love My Pit Bull (and why you should, too)

I just learned that today is National Pit Bull Awareness Day and that October is National Pit Bull Awareness month. I am so glad that these under appreciated and totally misunderstood pups are getting some national coverage for being fantastic family dogs!!

Bowie and Alice

A number of years back, my best friend had a pit bull named Bowie and this dog was the exact opposite of what I'd heard about pit bulls. I mean, c'mon, I literally spooned with this dog when the Baconator and I visited Harlem. 3 people and a dog in a full-sized bed made for tight quarters, but this dog was the best. It was during this one little weekend that pit bulls started sneaking up the potential breed list for me.

Before we had fully decided to adopt a dog, I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter here in Chicago, PAWS.  It was there, that I became fully sold on adopting a pit. I fell in love with not one, not two but 4 different pit bulls there that, while very energetic, were extremely loving and eager to please. PAWS has a dedicated program for pit bulls that fully vets potential owners and dedicates an entire course to educate new owners on how to be responsible with their new pit bulls. (In Chicago, there is still quite a bit of illegal dogfighting, so shelters need to be extra cautious when vetting owners for pits to make sure the dogs are going to good homes.) When the time finally came time to adopt, we actually chose to go with one of the smaller pit bull specific non-profits in Chicago to ensure that we would get a puppy and since the smaller ones need more help. (You can read all about adopting Leia here and here.)

Leia's first day with us!

We adopted Leia last April and she has turned our lives upside down, in the best possible way. She is on the small side for a pit (47 lbs), but full of wiggles, doggy kisses and the occasional snore. Everyone that comes to our house has been converted into a pit bull lover, and that includes a number of folks who were afraid of all dongs before meeting her. She loves people and practically throws her whole body into you because all she wants to do is be near you and get some puppy pats. In fact, I've never seen a dog that is so patient - all winter long she is dressed in sweaters (and sometimes booties), and she has a costume every Halloween! Leia loves to play with other dogs, our cats and will do anything for a good scratch behind the ears... well, maybe not fetch... that classic dog game seems to have alluded her...

Trying on Costumes at Petco

She is nothing like the growling, snarling, angry, biting, terrible and terrifying dog that is on the news, and let's be real, most real life pit bulls aren't.  Take for example, Miss M and Mr. B in the amazing blog, Two Pitties in the City - they are stand up citizens here in Chicago that are just fabulous dogs, I'd even put them in the column of "rolepups" for Leia. They are well mannered, sweet, obedient PIT BULLS that are happy to wear doggy goggles and trek around town meeting people. Of course, much of their great training comes from their really wonderful owners, but the owners aren't master trainers with their own video series. Nope, they are regular people that love their dogs and decided to tell their story online. I'd highly suggest checking out their blog if you are a pit lover or a pit skeptic.

I love the infograph that Huffington Post shared earlier this month. I think it really encapsulates what we've been trying to tell the world: Pit bulls are great dogs and they deserve the opportunity to become family dogs.

Source: The Huffington Post

So this month, tell someone about the pit bull breed, and remind them that breed specific legislation is unfair, unjust and kills thousands of dogs every year, just for being born.

Here are some other great links on why pit bulls really just are great dogs:

Huff Post: 17 Pit Bulls That Prove Breed Specific Legislation Doesn't Know What It's Talking About
Petfinder: 10 Reasons Why Pit Bulls Rule
Dogster: 10 Common Misconceptions About Pit Bulls
Buzzfeed: The 20 Most Adorable Pit Bull Puppy Pictures Ever
Buzzfeed: 37 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Pit Bulls

Just enjoying the sunshine

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey (and Leia)

Bad Customer = Bad Service?

I saw this Huff Post article shared on Facebook this morning that I just had to comment on, because the writer is SPOT ON. Essentially, the writer goes through this bizarre interchange she saw at a burger joint by another customer and has written an op-ed, and here's the part that had me yelling "Amen" from the rooftops:

And that brings us to the possible answer to that query you posed in the midst of your ketchup rant. You asked: "Why can't I ever f*cking get good customer service?" Well, ma'am, that might have something to do with you being a vulgar, miserable, malicious person. Maybe you get bad customer service because you're a bad customer. Did you ever consider that possibility?

It's SO true! As a gal that has worked at two major restaurant chains in her early twenties, I can tell you without question, that the customer is NOT always right.

Just working for those tips!

Like when I worked at Hard Rock and had to walk back to the kitchen with half eaten BBQ chicken that the customer suddenly decided wasn't good so that it could be replaced. Or when I'd spend over an hour laughing and schmoozing with a table of Ladies Who Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory only to be left a paltry 10% tip while they drive off in their Bentleys (which I could always see them retrieving from the valet stand right outside). I've dealt with some iffy folks, but I've only ever been yelled at once, and realistically it wasn't that bad... I wasn't even yelled at when I dropped a caesar salad on a teenager.

And here's one of the hubs, doing that barista thing

But I've been a customer plenty of times and I've seen people like the woman in the article: the ones that think they can yell at the staff because they are the customer; the ones that yell at the Starbucks barista because their drink is too hot or there isn't milk at the condiment stand; the ones that try to use social media to shame an establishment using pictures of their screaming children as bait; the ones that hold up an entire line because there is ketchup on a burger rather than being a grown up and scraping it off like the rest of us. Oh yes, I've seen plenty of those people. The author is totally right, as a server/barista/cashier/postal worker you can see those people a mile away and you know that no matter what you do they are going to throw a stink, so they get the service they deserve - you know, the same way that the nice people get fantastic service.

So go forth and order whatever you'd like, as long as it's not the people behind the counter.

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

Once, Always

I don't talk about it much, but I am a sorority girl. I have letters and a secret handshake and colors and a flower and cheers and memories full of frat parties, sisterhood outings, big/little nights, semis and formals, late nights in the sorority house and lots of other things I shouldn't share with the Internet.  Being a Phi Sig shaped who I am, starting my first month of college, but I (like many ladies in the PanHellenic system) kind of forgot about how important it was once I graduated from college. That is, until Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, I was off getting coffee with some coworkers and while we waited in the crowded Starbucks for our liquid energy, one of our newer team members looked at me and said, "love your outfit! Those are my sorority colors: king blue and gold." I literally threw my hands up and was all, "um, what sorority!?!????!!!" When she said Phi Sigma Sigma, I nearly shouted in excitement (and all this before my morning joe). I graduated from GW in 2007, so it's been a really long time since I've met a new Sister. Suddenly I was so filled with pride and excitement that all I wanted to do was chat with her about sorority stuff, thankfully she was equally excited.

As a more senior person at our agency, I don't friend the newer people on FB since I don't want them to feel obligated to add me, but within minutes of getting to my desk I was adding Maura and posting about my excitement. So here I am, 3 days later brimming with pride for the sisterhood that helped me become the woman I am and rocking a Phi Sig themed mani to boot.

Are any of you Greek and found a sister (or brother) in an unexpected place?

Love and Bacon (LITP!),
Kelsey

Pinned It & Did It! Parmesan Kale Salad

On my way back from Singapore in February, I had a nice long layover in SoCal which meant I could join my cousin and her hubs for a quick dinner before heading back to Chicago - along with surprise guest, my dad! The 4 of us went down to Tender Greens and I had this totally killer Kale Salad as one of my sides. I came back to Chicago try to convince the Baconator that we had to try to make this ourselves and he pretty much laughed at me.  "Raw kale is bitter, that would taste terrible," he said, brushing the suggestion aside, but I still couldn't get this simple salad out of my head. The menu simply stated: kale, parmesan, roasted garlic vinaigrette. Really? That's it? How in the world was I supposed to replicate? Clearly I couldn't, so I gave up.

I was at the farmers market last week and saw some gorgeous kale on sale and I started thinking back to that salad, so... (To the tune of Mighty Mouse) Here comes Pinterest to save the day! I searched all the pins and found this awesome recipe from The Slender Student.

Pin it!

Here's the recipe from The Slender Student

Ingredients:1 bunch of kale
3 T chopped onion
2 T minced garlic
1 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 T shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:1. Thoroughly rinse and dry your kale. Chop into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together your onion, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese.
3. Pour the dressing over the kale and massage with your hands for a minute or two until the leaves are slightly wilted.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour before eating to allow the kale to absorb the flavor.

The ingredients were simple as was the prep, so off I went to clean, tear and massage my kale into a delicious splendor. The recipe called for a bunch of kale, which I assumed didn't mean the GIANT bunch I got from the market, so I added some extra garlic and onion, but otherwise followed the instructions to a T - don't do that folks, it gives you crazy bad garlic breath!  I am also a sucker for shredded parm so I added a bit more of that goodness... and good it was :)

Yum! Did it!

I'll definitely make this bad boy again, but next time I'm going to try and roast the garlic in my oven before making the dressing since the current version is hot with the raw garlic flavor.  Do you have a favorite Kale salad recipe that is your go to?

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

One of Those People

Do you ever meet people and think, "now where has this person been my whole life?" because you hit it off instantly? Folks that you see and it doesn't matter how much times passes because it's like nothing has changed?

Tonight I had dinner with one of those people in my life. We met 3 years ago, after a mutual friend thought that she was a good fit for my wedding; 2 years ago, we were making a shot list for the upcoming nuptials; a year ago we were eating burgers at DMK for hours talking about married life and her new full-time photography gig; tonight we had a 2.5 hour long sushi extravaganza and discussed all the things that have changed - her new city, her engagement (hoooooooray!), my new condo, our plans for the future and all that goodness in between.  Jordan is my former wedding photographer/friendor/long lost gal pal/soul sister that I see once in a a blue moon... and every single time, it's the best time ever.

I think that Hollywood forgets to tell us that these kinds of friendships exist - the ones that start in your mid-twenties that don't involve getting blackout drunk or seeing each other everyday or frenemy drama.  Maybe these stories are harder to tell?  Either way, I thought I'd share with the world that friendships like this do exist - the ones that start as business then turn into play and can span state lines and don't require constant texting and chatting on the phone and always make you happy.

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

PS - I just realized that we don't have a picture together... I'll make sure to fix that the next time we get together... whether that is next month or next year :)