Tulsa trip, Day 5

Lee Ann and I before dinner

Last full day in Tulsa.  I got up when Lee Ann left for work and bummed around for a bit.  Watched Bridget Jones's Diary (always good for a laugh), took a nap, finished my cheese fries from the day before, and watched The Devil Wears Prada (love that one!).  Lee Ann got home from work and we got ready to go to dinner.  We finally made it to the Riverwalk about 8:15 and went to The Melting Pot.  The hostess told us to come back about 8:35, so we walked along the shops and checked out the paint your own pottery studio to get an idea of prices.  I really want to go back there!  We went back to the restaurant and were seated right away.  Our waiter was this cute, awesome, funny guy named Ryan.  We ended up chatting with him almost as much as we ate!  He was a riot.  We learned all kinds of stuff about him during dinner.  We started with cheddar cheese fondue (amazing) and had an entree called Land & Sea (equally amazing).  It came with salmon, chicken, steak, teriyaki steak, and shrimp.  There were also potatoes, mushrooms, and broccoli in the pot.  Also camed with a salad, and we chose the lettuce wraps since Ryan had said it was a good salad to share.  Yum.  Fondue Ryan told us the mushrooms with a special sauce would "change our lives".  I was pretty skeptical, since I DESPISE mushrooms.  He said he did too, until he tried them that way.  I was game and tasted one.  YUCK!  Safe to say, I am still not a mushroom lover.  The rest was delicious though.  Also during the course of dinner I discovered my new porn/stripper name, should I ever need one.  Allow me to introduce Hot Fondue.  Sweet, right?  :)  The owner, Mark, came over to the table and chatted with us also.  He was so nice and attentive!  I have never had such great customer service from all the staff at any restaurant I've ever been to!  He recommended the bananas foster chocolate fondue for dessert, as did Ryan, so that's what we ordered.  It.  Was.  Divine.  The sauce was caramel with bananas, which was set on fire like the real dessert, then served with rice krispie treats, chocolate and cinnamon covered marshmallows, brownies, bananas, strawberries, and some other stuff.  Lee Ann and I decided we need to go back and try all the other chocolate fondues.  Forget the entree, we will just go straight for dessert!  We chatted with Ryan all through dinner.  Discovered he is a KA (same fraternity my brother is in!), a high school swimmer who wants to be a coach and history teacher, had several jobs to pay his way through school, and was moving to OKC in 18 days to start school at OU (BOO!).  He was trying to get a job at The Melting Pot in Bricktown, so we promised to come see him there.  Before we left, he wanted us to do a phone survey so he could win a contest, and also so we could each get a free chocolate fondue.  I told him I didn't have a phone so he whipped his out so I could call!  We visited some more before finally leaving...we were the last customers in there, and I'm pretty sure they closed about an hour before we left!  Oops!  I even took a picture with Ryan so I could show my brother I met another KA.  Lame, I know.  But he really was the best waiter ever!  With our bellies full, we stumbled outside, stopping to take pictures with the Riverwalk moose before we left.  Then it was back to the apartment to digest all our food and practically fell into bed.  I watched New in Town before falling asleep.  What a great day.  Final day comes next!  :(

Me with Fondue Ryan

Mmm...hot fondue!

Tulsa trip, Day 4

The cell phone rice trick did NOT work.  We slept in, then Megan and I got ready and went to eat at The Brook.  Delicious!  I wanted to try the loaded cheese fries (seasoned fries with cheese, bacon, chives, and jalapenos) but also was salivating over the turkey club, so I had the fries as a side.  The plate was huge!  The sandwich was amazing, and so were the fries.  I saved the rest for lunch the next day.  Megan took me on a tour of her school, and we stopped at her beauty supply store for some wax.  I bought 4 new nail polishes...can't resist the China Glaze!  I put one on called Flip Flop Fantasy.  It is a neon-ish pink and looks great!  We went back to the apartment and I packed up my stuff and waited for Carrie to get home so I could leave.  By 6 pm, she wasn't home yet, so I had to leave without saying goodbye.  Megan gave me directions to find Lee Ann (combined with the facebook message from her) and I set off.  Of course, I turned the wrong direction on Riverside and ended up in an industrial-looking area.  Car was almost out of gas and I had no phone, so eventually I just started driving the other way and hoping it was right!  Hit a freaky 30 second rain shower on the way, but finally found Lee Ann's apartment!  She showed me around and we sat and talked for a bit.  We decided to go find a U.S. Cellular store to see if they could do anything about a phone.  Lee Ann found one in Woodland Hills mall, which she had never been to, so we decided to try that one.  USC couldn't do a single thing without me paying full price for a phone, so we shopped a bit (sale at Bath & Body Works!  Score!) and thought we would go eat.  It was getting late, so we decided to just grab a quick bite at Arby's and save our big dinner for the next night. 

Lights on the bridge near the Riverwalk

She took me to the Riverwalk in Jenks, which is absolutely amazing!  It is a whole line of restaurants, shops, ice cream parlors, a paint your own pottery studio, a photographer, movie theater, and several more things right on the river.  There are paths you can walk and lots of benches, fountains, etc.  There was a really great spray fountain that Mason would have loved.  Some kids were running through and I felt a pang for my precious little boy!  I will have to take him back sometime.  We walked along the entire path and checked out everything that was there.  Happened upon a fondue restaurant and there was a menu up by the door.  Everything sounded so delicious, and I had never been to a fondue restaurant so we decided to eat there the next night.  Took some pictures but they didn't turn out very well in the dark.  We drove around and Lee Ann pointed out lots of places to shop, eat, etc. and we found Asbury United Methodist Church using her GPS.  It is palatial!  The church looks like a city all on its own.  Seemed like it took up at least a city block.  We drove around a bit more and found some new stuff Lee Ann had never seen before, then went back to the apartment to hang out.  She went to bed since she had work the next day.  I watched Miss Congeniality and finally collapsed of exhaustion around 3 am.  I adore staying up late!!!

Tulsa trip, Day 3

Sunday we awoke and prepared for our float trip to the Illinois River in Tahlequah.  It had been years since I had been floating on the river! We left the house at 9:30 and made a quick stop at Quik Trip (the best gas station in the history of gas stations!) for some breakfast, ice, and drinks for the ride.  We met Julie, Audra, Krystal, and Matt and set off for the river with the aid of Megan's handy GPS.  I simply must get a GPS, as I am terrible with directions and constantly find myself lost.  That purchase will have to wait.  We got to the Diamondhead Resort and paid our fee.  Pretty reasonable at $20 per person for what could be a daylong trip if you wanted it to be.  We were going to rent one raft as it seats 9 people, but decided on two rafts so that we could sit comfortably and have room for the cooler and food.  Everyone sunscreened up and we waited for the bus to come get us to drop us at the river. 

We launched ourselves in with abandon at about 12:30 pm.  After getting out of sight, we tied our two rafts together with lifejackets since it is "technically" illegal to do so.  Beers were passed around and we set off on what proved to be a great adventure.  There were so many rafts, canoes, kayaks and people floating along!  It was amazing.  We floated and swam before coming upon a rope swing tied high up on a tree.  Matt and Krystal wanted to try it, so we docked on the other side of the river and they swam over.  At the last minute, Carrie decided to join in.  I really wanted to try, but the rope was so high up and you had to walk up the tree.  I just knew I would kill myself doing it.  I'm not known as the most graceful person ever!  Matt did pretty well, but Krystal bombed and Carrie didn't even swing...she just sort of fell in the water a few feet from the tree.  She actually hurt herself somehow during the process.  Injury #1 of the day.  We floated more, swam, docked, laid out, ate, and lazily made our way down the river.  Julie got sunscreen in her eyes and couldn't get it out, so she ended up throwing her contacts in the river and flying blind the rest of the day.  Poor girl.  We got to a fork and Carrie told us we should go to the right, but Krystal was in the water and lost her flip flop.  When she went after it, she veered left and we had no choice but to follow.  Matt and Megan were in the water with her behind the rafts, so there weren't many of us to steer.  We ran into a tree and stopped there, and Krystal made a spectacular fall into the water.  I laughed so hard I fell out of the raft.  The fun ended there.  As I was trying not to get caught in the current, it sucked me under and I went below the raft.  I panicked, of course, and tried to claw my way to the surface.  I really thought I was going to drown for a second there!  I finally surfaced, gasping for air, and hauled myself into the raft.  Lost my sunglasses in the process.  They were $10 Wal-Mart sunglasses, but still...I liked them!  Meanwhile, Krystal had been sucked under also and had barely been able to get out.  She also lost her sunglasses, flip flops, and lifejacket.  Apparently, Megan was also in the process of almost drowing at the same time.  Very eventful couple minutes!  We finally were able to get all of us back into the raft, and a guy downriver had caught the lifejacket, so we went to get it.  We found one of Krystal's flip flops also, but the other is still in the river somewhere.  Probably hanging out with our sunglasses!  The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, but I pretty much refused to get out of the raft again.  One near-death experience proved enough for me.  We eventually floated to our ending point and turned in our raft, paddles, and lifejackets.  The bus that took us back to the resort was a convertible.  Seriously, it was a bus with the top cut off.  Amazing.  Wish I had thought to take a picture.  We said our goodbyes to Matt, Krystal, Audra, and Julie, and piled in the car to head home.  Megan and I were both in our bathing suits only since our coverups had gotten soaked in the river.  I went to check my phone (which I could have sworn I left in my purse in the car) and it wasn't there.  I looked all over the car and couldn't find it anywhere.  Of course I assumed I lost it, which upset me to no end.  Back at the house, Megan unearthed my phone from the (non-waterproof!) bag we had used to keep the sandwiches in the raft.  No idea how it got there, since I specifically remembered leaving it in my purse so it wouldn't get wet!  It wouldn't turn on, so I dried it off and put it in a bowl of rice to try to dry it overnight.  We ate leftovers for dinner before falling into bed exhausted from a long, tiring day.  I did get a fairly nice tan though, so that was one high point.  All injuries, lost items, and debacles aside, it was a fun trip and I would love to go back again.  For next time, the list will include water shoes (those river rocks are hell on the feet!), a radio, and towels.  The Tulsa Adventure will return in the next post!

Tulsa trip, Day 2

After finally collapsing from exhaustion and too much vodka at 7 am, I slept until about 1 pm and woke up surprisingly un-hungover.  While I took a shower, Meg went to grab McDonald's and I scarfed down the chicken nuggets like a ravenous animal.  We lazed around the whole afternoon watching TV and looking at funny blogs.  Awkwardfamilyphotos.com rocks!  Definitely a must-see, and Carrie and Megan were extremely grateful that I turned them on to it!  Of course, Meg doesn't have cable, so we watched lots of chick flicks with commercials.  Reminded why I love my DVR so dearly.  No fast forwarding through commercials=fail. After finally getting off our lazy Saturday asses, we groomed and primped for dinner.

Lee Ann, Megan, and I at dinner

Went to the newly opened Wolfgang Puck Bisto.  Six of us crowded into a too-small table!  I invited Lee Ann to join us since she had mentioned wanting to eat there.  Megan, Carrie, Lee Ann, and I were joined by Julie and a girl whose name I fail to remember.  The food was super-fancy with ingredients I had never even heard of.  Felt like a total country girl!  Atmosphere was very nice, but a little loud.  I ordered salmon, which I absolutely did not care for, so I will have to go back and order something else.  I did eat some of Carrie's leftover pepperoni pizza the next day, which was good, so there is hope yet.  There was a birthday party at a table near ours, and the birthday girl was wearing clothes that must have cost my entire month's salary.  Jealousy ensued on my part.  As we were almost done, a large party sat down at the table next to us, including a very well-dressed man in drag.  He was so obviously a man, but made an ostentatious display of acting like a woman.  Hilarity.  When Lee Ann and I went to the bathroom, he and a female friend came in.  He went into a stall and the friend stood outside his door like a sentry.  Perhaps to avoid any awkward run-ins if someone noticed a penis in the women's restroom?  I wanted to take a picture but couldn't figure out a way to do so tactfully.  Ah, well. 

After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to stock up on beer and food for our float trip.  We lounged around the house and watched TV some more before going to bed to rest up for the float trip.  Story in following post.  Stay tuned!

Tulsa trip, Day 1

Pre-bar...Carrie, Sara, and Megan

I drove to Tulsa last Friday and arrived around 7 pm.  I went straight to Megan's house (and didn't get lost once!  Mapquest for the win!) and sat around watching her get ready.  I was about an hour earlier than expected so she had just gotten out of the shower.  Her temporary roommate, Carrie, got home a little while later and we all started drinking vodka and Red Bull while we got ready to go out.  Went to Pink Rock 'n' Roll bar, just a block or so from Megan's house.  When we got there, more v&rb was consumed.  The place was pretty empty but filled up really quickly.  We met up with Meg's friends Julie and Matt (awesome people!) and stood around talking and drinking.  Snarky comments were made when girls walked by in barely-there dresses!  Pretty soon I began discovering that vodka is NOT my friend.  Stupidly, I never switched to beer and became unaware of how much vodka I was actually consuming.  I ended up pretty trashed and had to be dragged/carried home by Megan and Julie.  I only remember bits and pieces of the whole escapade, but what I do remember does not please me.  I think I'll stick to beer for the rest of my days on earth.  There was much puking, some passing out, and not a lot of sleep as the RB was keeping me up!  I finally got to sleep fully around 7 am, by which time I was completely exhausted.  On the upside, I really liked Meg's friends.   They are pretty cool people and I got to spend more time with them over the course of the weekend, so thankfully that first impression was not all they were left with!  Day 2 escapades to come!

Magic Moments

Just got home from 6 days in Tulsa not long ago.  Had such a great time visiting with friends.  I really needed that.  Will post more about the trip later when little man goes to bed.  Lots and lots of laughs, memories, and fun to share!

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Seems everyone is blogging these days but me, so I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about.  Mostly, I see this as a way to remember things -- big or small -- and to vent, geek out, or rejoice when needed.  I have no idea what I will write about.  It is highly likely day to day, mundane details will make appearances as that seems to be the theme of my life at the moment.  Mundane.  Boring.  Ho hum.  Lonely.  But I was always taught that if you are not happy with something, change it.  So here goes!  Let's raise a glass to step one on my path to happiness and a new me!