Every day I'm shovelin'...

This weekend we went "up north" to stay with Grammi and Poppi. Alex took the opportunity to be super helpful and assist Poppi with shoveling the snow. It should be noted that my Dad does not, in fact, shovel this entire driveway. Snowblowers abound!

They went for a sled ride...

And made snow angels for Grammi...

Alas, I think this marks the last snow of the season, but I'm not complaining! That just means we're one step closer to breaking ground on the new house. In related news, our basement is starting to look like an episode of furniture hoarders. Which is fiiiiiine.

Because when you run out of creative things to write, you just post old pictures and let everyone 'ooh' and 'aah'.

 Baby Kristi.
I am delicious.

 Halloween...maybe 1985 or 1986?

I look so amused. 

 Once a diva, always a diva.

With Grandma Neveau.

I miss her all the time.

The original Kardashians (Kelli, Kristi and Kyle)

with our Momager.

Kelli's costume, while awesome in theory,

was a logistical nightmare.

This is why everyone says Alex looks just like Kyle.

BECAUSE HE DOES.

Expensive food tastes better.

So now we're to Wednesday, my last full day in Sin City. Post-seminar, the Liz and I got our drink on, hotel style. (Because when wine is $7 a glass and you can get the entire bottle for $8 down at the Quickie Mart, that's just how you have to roll.)

We had 6 p.m. reservations at what is now my most favoritest place in all of the earth: L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Um, hi. If you are not a foodie, please stop reading now because I will probably just bore and annoy you and you won't understand why I (of all people--and arguably the cheapest person on earth) paid $100 for a single meal. Moooooving on.

The vibe of this place is so awesome. Everyone sits in what feels like a bar area around the kitchen so you can watch the mad geniuses at work cooking your food. The head chef was a French badass, checking and tasting everything and plating with immaculate detail. The expediter wore a 3 pc. suit that probably cost more than my college education and worked with the finesse of the high rope aerobatic performers from Cirque the night before. The waiters were so polished and knew the menu and all its details as if they had created it themselves. As you can tell, my first opinions of this place were through the roof. And it got better from there.

We ordered cocktails and our dinners and then proceeded to do what all 20-something excitable diners do, we tweeted our every course. My first tweet was this picture with the caption "The chefs at Joel Robuchon makin' my dinner! Cook minions!"

Within seconds, whoever runs the Robuchon Twitter account retweeted it, and tagged us in a tweet reading "Bon Appetit!!" And then we died, obviously. Liz tweeted her entire meal, course by course (see here) and Robuchon retweeted it all - and even replied to some. For the next three days, I think she was mentioned in 2 of every 5 tweets from the account. It is for this reason that I'm quite certain she's got an "in" somewhere. Someday, I will get her drunk enough to confess it, but in the meantime we'll just pretend they are lovers. In related news, why didn't they comp our dinner, then?


After consuming what was far and away the greatest meal of my life, we went back to the room so this tired girl could take a nap. After a much-needed re-charge, we headed out to explore "old Vegas," also known as Fremont Street. What a cool place!

I don't have any pictures from the next day, but we took the few hours between my seminar ending and plane leaving to eat at Pink Taco, explored the Hard Rock, and rode the coaster at New York, New York. I screamed the entire time like a little girl, and I'm not proud of it. 

VIVA LAS VEGAS! I'll be back soon, Sin City.

Galentine's Day.

If you don't get the reference, you need to start watching Parks and Rec, like, yesterday.

Anyway, I spent Galentine's Day 2012 with Liz in Vegas. A perfect combination of awesome and magic. As such, we thought it would be appropriate to see LOVE at the Mirage that evening, and it was SO AWESOME. Like, it hurt my face it was so awesome. I'm not sure if the writers/creators of Cirque shows are drunk or high or sucking helium when they come up with some of this stuff, but whatever it is, I'll have what she's having. SO MINDBLOWING.

Prior to the show, Liz was a real lady and brought me Galentine's Day flowers. Made of chocolate. We frolicked all over town like little girls. Well, little girls that can drink legally and have legitimate credit cards with which to buy ridiculous Las Vegas souvenirs. We watched the Oscar-worthy "Sirens of TI" show (more lipstick! more heels!), saw the fountain show at the Bellagio, and sang to one another in the long, narrow halls of the Venetian. In short, we perused everything good Vegas has to offer.

Chihuly Ceiling @ The Bellagio.

The rhinestone horse @ Bellagio.

Oh, and a bride. SO many brides on V-Day.

New York, New York.

Sneak peek: we rode the rollercoaster on Thursday. 

Par-ee!

 Vegas at night. It literally sparkles.

Highlights of the evening included: seeing two randoms get married in a hotel gift shop, a serendipitous dinner at the only restaurant in all of Vegas where you didn't need reservations on V-Day (whoopsie), and hitting it BIG at the casinos:

Tomorrow we shall discuss the greatest meal I ever ate and why I'm certain Liz is boning whoever runs Joel Robuchon's twitter account.

What happens in Vegas goes on my blog.

Four days in Vegas is about 2 days longer than you actually need to experience Sin City. Lucky for me, I spent my 9-5 hours in a (totally rad and nerdily educational) seminar, so my evenings were free to roam wild. And by "roam wild" I mean catch up with an old friend who recently moved to Vegas (She's what I like to call a "traveling nurse" - and a totally legit one. Like at a hospital. Not a naughty nurse. Though I can't be totally responsible as to what she does with her free time out there, mind you.)

Anyway, Liz and I met a katrillion years ago (circa 1996) at summer camp. Our story and friendship goes far beyond our years at camp and really is worthy of a blog entry unto itself. In the meantime, meet 1996 Kristi and Liz:

As you can see, I've always had a flair for the ridiculous. Here's the slightly more mature and refined 2012 Kristi and Liz...reunited and it feels so good!

I know, we're adorable.

But back to my travels...I knew I was in for it when I saw the hot mess of individuals on my flight from DTW to LAS. For instance:

Once landing safely in Vegas, I made my way to the taxi line. For the record, no one warns you about this little piece of humanity before you go. It's literally a mad house. Hundreds of people (in well-organized lines) frenetically herded to get into the next taxi. These people are jonesing for their slot machines and free drinks. Most have oxygen tanks and are simultaneously smoking. It's a mess. Anyway, guess who I saw in line? Sheree from Real Housewives of Atlanta! You can deduce two things from this: 1) Bravo TV does not pay that well; and 2) She is NOT as richy-rich as she would like us all to believe. MY luggage was nicer than hers. No LV in sight! And girl was wearing Uggs. THE HORROR.

I think that's enough for recap day 1. Tomorrow I will commence with the shenanigans of Kristi and Liz. Kriz. Or maybe Lizti. Either way, more to come!

Social media 'R us.

Hiya, peeps! Long time no chat, eh? I was in Vegas last week and have FINALLY recovered. While I'm bizzy organizing my ridiculous set of cell phone pix to share with you, I thought I would give you a little homework.

One of my work peeps needs a little help to build his self esteem. One of his trade show booths is nominated for some big, fancy award and he needs to win said award to prove his self-worth. It might actually help him stop drinking. And smoking. And sucking his thumb at night. So do it for the kids, will ya?

Anyway, if you have a spare moment in your day, please click here and vote! You will get a confirmation email to click and actually register your vote & be entered in a drawing for an iPad2. So really, do it for the iPad.


As always, thank you for your love, support, and beer. Send more beer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday, Samuel!

My goodness, I can't believe it's been a YEAR since I frenetically got on a plane to Connecticut to meet my sweet nephew, Samuel, for the first time. My, how time flies.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! I cannot believe you are ONE!

Food truck MADNESS.

If you're my pal on Facebook, you know that last night was one of the best nights of my culinary life. The fine city of Royal Oak, Michigan, hosted its first evah Michigan Mobile Food Vendors Association food-truck rally. Eight (count 'em EIGHT) trucks were all parked in and around the Farmer's Market downtown. BRILLIANT. Over 3,000 people attended and all but one truck ran out of food over the course of the 3 hour event.

It. Was. Awesome.

Well, waiting in line for over an hour for street tacos and confit pork belly was NOT awesome (cue impatient 2 year old). But it was so fun to see a community coming out in droves to support local business (and charity! all tips went to a good cause). It was MADNESS in there. Exhibits A and B:

For those counting, I'm up to a grand total of 5 in my quest for "30 b4 30." I know that's not a lot...but the good news is that Royal Oak will be hosting this event the first Wednesday of every month, so I will have the opportunity to hit up all of the trucks we didn't have time/patience to wait for.

Waiting in line at El Guapo.

In summary: I love food. And I'm also impatient.

Hi, Uncle Kyle!

From: Little Brother
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2012 1:43 PM
To: Me
Subject: :)

I need a blog update please! I have the case of the Mondays and have checked it like 4 times today hoping!

-LOVE,
ME

__________________________

...and to think that he (a teacher) tells ME I have too much free time at work.

Pffft.