Notre Dame Trip Day #2: Game Day Festivities

"I really believe that Our Lady watches over this place. I feel I ought to stop in and say thanks, and also pray that she keeps watching over it." ~Father Theodore Hesburgh, former Notre Dame President

You know how sometimes when you are so excited about something, you build it up so much in your head that it can never live up to what you expect? Well, I was really worried that 27 years of dreaming about game day at Notre Dame would ruin the experience. I was so wrong....it was better than I could have ever imagined!

ND Friend and I woke up super early and made the drive from Chicago to South Bend. Then we arrived, and I got my first glimpse of Notre Dame! I tried to keep reminding myself to breathe so I would not pass out.

Anyway, even though we got on campus around 8:30, there were already a lot of people milling around. Our first stop was the bookstore, where I loaded up on Notre Dame gear for myself and the family for Christmas (family: at surprised when you open your gifts). You will notice a quick wardrobe change in the following pictures...I purchased my official ND hoodie at the store, but in the end, I think I like the one the ND friend lent more more. Go figure....buyer's remorse!

Then we just walked around and toured the beautiful campus. The campus itself is smaller than I expected, but is more beautiful in person than on tv. The buildings are all made of a yellow-ish brick color. It's surrounded by trees and two lakes, St. Mary and St. John.
This tour even included a stop at the building where Rudy lived while he was in school...which brought another reminder to myself to "keep breathing!"
I think my favorite place on campus was the Grotto. If you've seen Rudy, this is the outdoor area where Rudy goes to light a candle and pray to get accepted into Notre Dame. It's very peaceful and quiet and moving there. There are two quotes that I think bear sharing.

First, Father Hesburgh said, "Every university has a place where students hang out for their social life, libraries where they study, and playing fields where they play sports, but how many have a praying place?" I love this idea. While I was there, students would come in from running around the lake and stop in quickly to light a candle, say a prayer and be on their way. People come as they are---in running shorts, in suits, in football jerseys.....none of that matters. They simply come to pray.

If you ask me, we need more Grottos in the world.

Second, there is a plaque reciting a beautiful letter from a former student, Tom Dooley, who wrote from his death bed: "But just now . . . and just so many times, how I long for the Grotto. Away from the Grotto Dooley just prays. But at the Grotto, especially now when there must be snow everywhere and the lake is ice glass and that triangular fountain on the left is frozen solid and all the priests are bundled in their too-large too-long old black coats and the students wear snow boots . . . if I could go to the Grotto now then I think I could sing inside. I could be full of faith and poetry and loveliness and know more beauty, tenderness and compassion." After lighting my own candle and kneeling to pray myself, I understood this letter much more. After the Grotto, we headed to the Bascilica of the Sacred Heart. It was absolutly beautiful. The football team all comes over for Mass prior to heading to the stadium for games. Love that!
One of the most recognized landmarks at Notre Dame is the Golden Dome that sits atop the Main Building. Definite photo op on my list!
As we walked around the crowd started to build. But what was different than crowds at OSU on game day was that these people were as excited to see the campus and take pictures at various places as they were about the football game. It was like being in Times Square or some sort of tourist attraction rather than at a tailgate. The bagpipers and the band wondered around campus and played for all of the visitors. It was awesome.

We also went past the law school building. As I said on facebook, I was just one BIG scholarship from going there myself! Sigh. I suppose my life has worked out nonetheless.

We ended our tour at Touchdown Jesus. Another classic photo op.

And this was where we met up with the other New Mexico folks who were visiting! My friend, Mr. FFA, is a current student at Notre Dame. He and Little Brother were State FFA Officers together and he's one of Little Brother's best friends. So I was excited to catch up with him! Also in South Bend for the game was my friend High School Buddy and his dad. So we all got to chat and catch up and spend the day together.
We grabbed a quick steak sandwich for lunch (we're all ag kids from cattle ranches you know!) and headed to watch the Notre Dame band plan on the steps of Bond Hall. Turns out this was a game day tradition.

After that, we rushed to the Main Building to stand under the golden dome. All of the trumpet players from the band filed in the levels going up into the dome and played several songs, including the Notre Dame fight song. It was awesome.....if you ever go to a game at Notre Dame, this is easy to miss, but it's something you have to do!

And then....it was time. We headed over to the stadium for the football game. On the way, I dropped my ticket. Thank goodness some nice lady saw me do it. I would probably have had a nervous breakdown had I missed the game. Not having a heart attack was added that to my list of things to be thankful for that day!

Notre Dame Trip Day #1: Chicago!

"Chicago will give you a chance. The sporting spirit is the spirit of Chicago." ~Lincoln Steffens

So day one of my Notre Dame trip was actually not spent at Notre Dame. I flew into Chicago, where I stayed with my Notre Dame (ND) Friend. To add to the fun, The Bride (who now lives in Illinios) met up with us for a day of sight seeing in Chi-town.

Chicago is a beautiful city! If you have not visited, I'd highly recommend it. It reminds me a little bit of Europe--old, historic buildings, beautiful architecture, and a sense of history. This is probably why I liked it so much. I think that a lot of American cities are so "modern" that they lose any of the beauty that is the past. Anyway, after ND Friend picked me up at the airport, we met up with The Bride at "The Bean" in Millenium Park (much more on this later).

We were all starving, so ND Friend knew of just the place. We started on a trek for a restaurant called Bongo Room. Turned out it was a little further than ND Friend remembered, but trust me...it was worth the walk! This little hole in the wall had the most amazing breakfast food. ND Friend had pretzel pancakes drenched in carmel and white chocolate, I had pumpkin pancakes with amazing brown sugar cream mousse and walnut topping, and The Bride had french toast with cherries and some other fancy stuff. A-Mazing! We all had half orders. You'll see that watching our figures was clearly a priority.....

After we stuffed our faces, we walked through Millenium Park. It is a beautiful park the stretches all across the waterfront. There are ton of statues and trees and open fields for flag football. There were fountains and photo shoots and a guy on a unicycle (who needed more practice before joining the circus). Two statues really caught our attention.

First, Agora (aka creepy pants statue).

I'll admit, at first, I found the statue creepy. All of these people (106 of them to be exact) with just their legs and feet. They have no heads and no arms and are all facing in random directions. And I think we've previously discussed my fear of feet, so clearly, this kind of statue was not really made for people like me. (Although ND Friend fit right in!) But then ND Friend googled it on her iPhone and we learned that the statue was made by a Polish artist who grew up during World War II. It is meant to draw on her fear of crowds. She described crowds as being "brainless organisms acting on command, worshiping on command and hating on command" (which makes sense if she grew up in Poland during that time). Although I don't know that I would say that I really love the work, I do think that I have more of an appreciation for it after learning about the motivation.

Second, Cloud Gate (aka The Bean).

Now, I'm no art buff by any means. It was by a miracle that I survived Art appreciation in college. But I do think that Cloud Gate might be the coolest statue I've ever seen. It's called "The Bean" because it is actually shaped like a giant jelly bean. Apparently the artist was inspired by liquid mercury in creating this piece. I think that the brilliance of the statue is that because it reflects the surroundings, it's constantly changing. You can see the clouds move in the reflection. You see different shades of color depending on where the sun is located. People can see themselves in the art. I think it's brilliant.
You know what else is brilliant? The Bride's awesome camera that does time lapse and gets pictures like these of our jumping at the Bean! (Those of you who have read the blog for a while remember where this pose began!)

And then there were the trees. ND Friend heard on the radio that this year was the longest the the leaves had stayed on the trees EVER in Chicago. I'd like to think that was for me!
So after Millenium Park we walked along The Magnificant Mile to Navy Pier, stopping on the way for hot chocolate and coffee. (Keep count....this would be hot chocolate number 1).

When night fell, The Bride headed home, and ND Friend and I headed to a restaurant that came highly recommended by The Bride called Hot Chocolate. We shared (watching the figures remember?) the best mac and cheese ever and what really was maybe the best burger I ever had. And then we each had hot chocolate (number 2)---I had chocolate and fudge, she had white chocolate with pumpkin spice. I hope you are all used to my obsession with blogging about food after this prior blog!

After dinner, we drove through the DePaul and Northwestern campuses and finally we headed back to my friend's adorable apartment (which was built in 1921....see? History!) and spent the rest of the night complaining about how miserable we were and we vowed to never drink hot chocolate again.....

Family Farm Friday #36: I Call that Real

"Farming seems mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." ~President Eisenhower

Last week while riding through rural Indiana on our way from Chicago to Notre Dame (stay tuned for next week for Notre Dame Trip Week to hear all about that!) a great song came on the radio.

It was perfect timing---looking out the window, for as far as I could see were farm houses, cattle, and rolling fields of corn stalks. It was beautiful. When the guy on the radio started singing aboutt farming, I knew I'd have to blog about it.

The guy was James Wesley and his new song is called "Real." He sings about how reality shows are so different from real life. (Ironic....I did a blog about that a couple of weeks ago!) One of his examples is about agriculture.

James Wesley More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

Where I live, housewives don't act like that
And the survivors are farmers in John Deere hats
Our amazin' race is beatin' the check
Prayin' that the bank ain't ran it through yet

Real, like too much rain fallin' from the sky
Real, like the drought that came around here last July
It's the damn boll weevils and the market and the weeds, the prayer they're sayin' when they plant the seeds
And the chance they take to bring us our next meal
I call that real

I couldn't have said it better myself. Farming is hard work. It's unpredictable and sometimes scary and can seem unrewarding. But you know what? The people who are lucky enough to live this way of life would probably tell you that they wouldn't trade it for anything. And America should be thankful that they think that way and work so hard to put food on our tables.

Throwback Thursday #40: Oops!

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ~Einstein

We are throwing back to two weeks ago....because I forgot to draw a November giveaway winner! Oops!! The Bride informed me of my error in Chicago last week....I was impressed with her patience. I would have figured she would have called me at 6:01 on the morning it should have been posted!

Anyway, for the November giveaway of a pumpkin spice candle, I had 16 entries. And the winner is.....Codi M.! (Codi--send me your address and I'll get the candle in the mail to you!) Thanks to all of you who joined as followers and who shared your life metaphors with me!

I promise that I will get it in gear and not forget to draw the winner on time next month....so stay tuned. I'm planning a Christmas related giveaway, so if you have suggestions, let me know!

Forget Buying a Couch

“Fill your life with as many moments and experiences of joy and passion as you humanly can. Start with one experience and build on it.” ~Marsha Wieder


Well today I decided to blog about a recent New York Times article that caught my attention.

Before you think, "Wow, she's super sophisticated reading the Times every morning" I have a confession to make. I don't read it. In fact, I don't read any newspaper. Unless you count my brief skim of the first page an my quick review of the Sports section of our local paper that is on the reception desk at the office. I only learned about this because one of the partners at work was talking about it. Sigh. I really need to grow up and become more intellectual.

But I digress. Anyway, the article talked about how people who spend money on material things (i.e. a new tv or a new couch or a new car) will enjoy those items far less than people who spend money on experiences (i.e. a vacation or taking some sort of lessons or class). At least for me, that's completely true.

Now, I'll admit, I am not your typical girl. I don't like shopping. In fact, I hate it. And I don't own 57 choach purses. In fact, I own two total. From Payless and Target. I tell you this so that you understand, some girls who really enjoy the shopping thing probably do get more of a thrill over buying stuff and spending money on material possessions than a girl like me.

I'd much rather take a trip somewhere. I don't really know where this travel bug came from. My parents don't like to travel. Growing up, we didn't travel much. In high school I was lucky to be able to travel to a lot of national judging contests all over the midwest (Wisconsin, Kansas City, Kentucky, Oklahoma City, Las Cruces...) but those really weren't vacations.

For some reason, once I got to college, the travel bug was in full swing. And now, I'm completely infected. I absolutely love finding a place that I want to go, saving up and then planning a trip there. I love seeing different people and different ways of life and different things. I think it's awesome to see places and experience things that I never expected to be able to do, or that I figured I would only see on tv. My bucket list is jam packed with places and events that I want to see in person.

The world is a huge place.....and I plan to see as much as I can while I am here! I don't know about you, but that sure sounds better than a new couch to me!

My Brussel Sprouts

"It is better to be in chains with friends , than to be in a garden with strangers." ~Persian Proverb
I hate brussel sprouts. But, I've got the best friends and family in the world. Turns out, this means two things: (1) they cancel each other out; and (2) I am probably going to live forever.
I recently read a study talking about the health benefits of having social connections. Having social connections can improve your odds of survival by 50%. Now, I hate math, so seeing a number really doesn't mean much to me. Don't worry---the study put this in perspective!
A person who has low social interaction might as well enage in all sorts of unhealthy behavior instead---because they are equally bad for you. So....not having friends is the equivalent to: smoking 15 cigarettes a day; being an alcoholic, worse than not exercising, and twice as bad as being obese.
So, basically, if you have really good friends you can drink, smoke and eat all the cupcakes you want. No, I'm kidding of course (except for the cupcakes). But I do love the idea that in addition to eating our veggies and running to stay in shape, just having great people in our lives can keep us healthy!
I know I'd sure rather hang out with the people I love than eat brussel sprouts......so thanks to the people in my life for being my brussel sprouts!

I'm Pegged

"I love living. I think that's infectious. It's something that you can't fake." ~Will Smith

Quick sidenote: For those of you who just said "Why the heck is there nothing about Notre Dame on the blog today?!?!" don't worry......we will be having Notre Dame Football Trip Week starting next Monday, 11/22/10. It was such a phenominal trip that there is just too much to say for one quick blog!

Well as you may recall, I celebrated turning old earlier this month when I reached my "late" twenties. I got lots of facebook messages and calls and birthday cards from the amazing people in my life. And people said really nice things about me (although, I don't know how honest they were being because really, you can't say something bad about a person in a birthday message....but I digress).

One of the comments that touched me the most was from a law school friend. He messaged me on facebook and said, "If there is anyone in the world that I know who is actively enjoying herself, I'm going to have to peg that on you."

I was so flattered by his comment. And so happy that he saw me in this light. Because he's right....I am actively enjoying myself. I just love living, and I really do try my best to do a good job at it. Life is so short, and we are so fortunate to have been given the blessings that we have. I truly feel like we have a responsibilty to enjoy it and to try and help others to do the same.

I honestly believe that happiness is a choice that we must make---and if we chose to live our lives and to enjoy ourselves, good things will follow!

Family Farm Friday #35: The Breeder's Cup

"A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful, beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence." ~Pam Brown

Well this blog is going to be quick....because I'm off this morning to check off a bucket list item that I've been dreaming about since I was 5 years old......stay tuned to hear more about that next week!

Anyway, I love horse racing. So, that meant that last week I was glued to my tv watching the Breeder's Cup held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. I think that racehorse owners, trainers, grooms and jockeys are just like everyone involved in the livestock industry....we just all own different animals. But we are proud of the work we do, we take care of our animals, and we enjoy our way of life.

Back to the Breeder's Cup...in the mile turf race, Goldikova ran a beautiful race, coming from behind to win. And the owners and fans in the stand were going crazy. But my favorite celebration was the Goldikova groom running along the dirt next to the turf track. This video pretty much caputres the love that people in the ag industry have for our animals and our way of life.