A Road Trip in the Name of Alllll Things Good and Fallll!

I'm baaaack!! After traveling for five weeks, I am back where I belong... CHICAGO!!!! Needless to say, I was so ready, set, PUMPED to be back home. What better way to really express my renewed appreciation for the grand city of Chicago than... to peace outta Chicago and head to Milwaukee the day after my grand return? Oh, the irony.

For good reason though! A couple of friends (Emily and Jay) and I had planned a road trip this weekend to visit another couple of good friends (Scott and Missy) who live in Milwaukee... and were gracious enough to host us during only like the grandest weekend of all time... the weekend of the local FALL FESTIVAL!!!!

OMGDSfkjjdsflaksjfdlkj!!! If you know me at ALL, you KNOW that Fall is my FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!!!! The crisp, cool air, the beautiful foliage colors, the flavors of PUMPKIN and APPLE... dude, seriously. It canNOT get any BETTER. So you better BELIEVE I basically LEAPED on this opportunity to celebrate Fallll in allll its grandeur at this Fall Festival.

And, BOY, did it SO not disappoint.

The road trip started off... well, kind of anticlimactically. Of course, there were hugs GALORE when I first reunited with Emily... I mean, who are we kidding? It was like giddiness central. We made a quick pit stop at Walgreens since Emily wanted to pick up some iced tea and chips...

Then, we picked up Jay (reunion central again!) and were all ready, set to get on our WAY...

Except that I decided that I now wanted some water and chips as well... so we stopped at our second Walgreens in the course of... well, about ten minutes.

But THEN, we were ready, set and on our WAY! Milwaukee, here we come!!

After nothing short of a FABULOUS reunion with Missy and Scott (GOD, they are some of the best people ever invented), you better believe we wasted NO time in heading STRAIGHT for that Fall Festival! (I initially was doing my best to maintain a somewhat reserved, laid-back demeanor when Missy was asking us about thoughts on the afternoon's activities but... well, that lasted about five minutes. Hello!! A Fall Festival was a'CALLING! There was no TIME for beating around the bush, here!)

As soon as we arrived, I just knew, knew, KNEW I was not going to be disappointed.



And the FLAVORS of Fall!! GOD, it's been so long since I've had anything pumpkin flavored... well, minus the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte I had last week. But whatever. I haven't experienced total and complete pumpkin OVERLOAD just yet... and BOY, was I ready for it.

From pumpkin gelato...


To pumpkin beer...


To pumpkin pancakes...


To, well, pumpkins THEMSELVES...

Sigh. Let's just have a moment here, people. Let's just have a moment to rela-

Oh, screw it. lakjroewijulfkddjsajflksjdflkjlkJ!lkjlksjdflksjdf lkjfalksjfoiewrlkj! lskdjfoieurlwkjlkj! lkjkfasdjowielrkjlkjsdlkfhoiyvidhvlwkjl!jlkjfsaoiewlkjflksjd!! The grandest season of ALL is REALLY AND TRULY UPON US ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!lkfjdslkfjasdlkj!J!lkjlkajfdlkdsj! Seriously, just LOOKING at those pictures and RELIVING THE EXPERIENCE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND PUMPKIN is making me so squeal-worthy HAPPY, I can barely STAND IT!!!!

You would think that would be the end of it, but I mean, please. It's just plain not. Amidst all the pumpkin-y goodness, we were also graced with the delight of only the second grandest flavor of alllll the season of Fallll... APPLE!!!


What better way to doll up this fine fruit than to... well, dump it in a bunch of chocolatey/caramely/sugary GOODNESS? I mean, will you LOOK at these things?!


God, can life really get any better? Really?

Well, I guess it can. Because, quite frankly, the best part about this weekend was just hanging out with some of my favorite people.


(Unfortunately, I didn't snap a photo of Missy and Scott, but that would OBVIOUSLY have gone here as well.)

After all the (mostly self-inflicted) chaos and delightfulness of the Fall Festival, Saturday night ended up being pretty chill, with a visit to a ping-pong bar:


And eating lots (and lots and lots) of good FOOD. For heaven's sake, Missy and Scott just do things so RIGHT. It had been a while since I've had a nice, home-cooked meal (let alone any fruits or veggies, in general)...


And quite frankly, Scott is a LEGIT master chef. Homemade pizza? I will TAKE it.


(The pancakes Scott whipped up the next morning only further corroborated the aforementioned FACT that he is a legit master chef.)

Add that to the SIXTY* donuts we consumed after the ping-pong bar on Saturday night, and I can safely say our bellies left the grand state of Wisconsin MORE than satisfied.

All in all, I can safely say that this weekend road trip was nothing short of a sweet success. Missy and Scott, THANK YOU for yet another pretty darn perfect weekend in Wisconsin. :)

*Yes. That's right. Sixty donuts. This is what happens when Scott rolls through a drive-thru donut stand (Sil's) at midnight and orders... not one donut per person, not half a dozen donuts, not even a dozen donuts. No, no. This is what happens when Scott orders... an OFFICE PACK of donuts. 60 donuts... for 5 people. Oh whatever, you better be keeping your judgmental thoughts to yourselves until you actually TRY these things. Melt. In your. MOUTH. DELICIOUSNESS. (I wish I'd snapped a picture but, quite frankly, we devoured those things before my camera even had a chance.)

How Christie Got Her Glow Back...

okay. so i understand things have been a little busy in my life lately, and i know im an emotional person and i wear my emotions on my sleeve (one of my very few flaws, let's be honest... juuust kiddinggg. geez.) but i didnt think it was all that noticeable until you talked to me and i verbal vomited everything going on in my life to you within the first five minutes of conversation (remember? i talk quickly. faster than i type, if you can believe that). basically, i had fooled myself into thinking that im good at hiding my feelings despite already KNOWING that i wear my emotions on my sleeve. sigh. talk about one confused mess, that i am. haha.

anyway, thank goodness i was brought back to reality last week when one of my coworkers returned after a month-long vacation and ever so tactfully mentioned that id seemed to have lost, of all things, my glow.

my GLOW. my christie GLOW. my maliyacular GLOW. omg... my christiemas GLOW.

i know, i know. i had the same reaction. i mean, my glow is like one of my sole contributing components to the betterment of society. without the christie glow, what does christie really add to the world?? (i dont normally ever speak of myself in the third person. it's actually a pet peeve of mine. but whatever. remember that whole thing about how 'fickle' is my middle name? case in point, if you will.) so, needless to say, i kind of flipped out. and by "kind of" flipped out, i mean i only inquired about my glow status with a few other individuals (read: basically my workplace's 26th floor in its entirety as they paraded on by my desk)... and EACH individual i politely questioned (okay, kind of accosted/interrogated) couldn't even LIE about my glow status. it was all a very sad day in christieland.

it was from that point on that i have decided that i simply cannot be having this. i HAVE to get my glow back. i just have to. i mean, how else am i going to reach world domination (ruling by spirit fingers in lieu of the iron fist, and all that... oh you know what? i dont think ive written a blog entry about that topic just yet. oops. ah, for another time) if the essence of me is simply... well, slowly but surely... dimming?

ive put a lot of time and effort into brainstorming ways by which to restore my glow. after such introspective analysis (remember, my friends, the maliyacular is very deep)...ive come up with the following list:

1. LAUGH (or giggle)!! (this is easy- i laugh all the time. im very grateful for this trait- i mean, people are FUNNY. and by funny, i mean absolutely ridiculous.)

2. LISTEN TO CHRISTIEMAS MUSIC!!!! - seriously, i have been SO HAPPY the past few days at work just because i plug right on into my christiemas itunes playlist. seriously, it's A-MAZING how much of a happy place my christiemas music takes me to. and i only have three christiemas cds on my itunes!! (mariah carey... the original. love actuallyafksdljaskdlfjaosij!!!! glee!! and last year's starbucks christiemas cd). in fact, after this whole lack of glow business from last week, i made sure that my christiemas music was playing allllll weekend long (including as i slept... okay, so i woke up at like 4 AM because im a light sleeper and still get super excited each and every f'ing time i hear mariah carey's all i want for christiemas but whatever.)

2a. i know this goes without saying, but if you happen to feel this need to just get up and dance to your christiemas music, i really dont think anyone's going to judge you. if anything, i will solely judge you if you ARE listening to christiemas music and NOT dancing. um hello have you HEARD mariah carey's all i want for christiemas? as a very wise person (me) once said... HELLO.

3. eat, eat, eat! - you realize that the obvious disclaimer to this point is that, when eat, eat, eating, it's only in reference to sugary deliciousness. please note how this is not specific to chocolate, primarily because im not a chocolate kinda gal (i know, i know, blasphemy). sure, i love me the occasional peanut butter nutella cupcake or the occasional snickers/reeses/twix treat, but i am a firm believer that there is more to the land of sweets than chocolate. dont even GET me started on this dark chocolate revolution... but again, for another time.

4. gab, gab, gab! - always have your go-to people with which to take time out and, well, gab, gab, gab! therapeutic, really. it's amazing how easily you can laugh, laugh, laugh when you make it a priority to gab, gab, gab. and it ALL comes full CIRCLE (please reference #1 above!). i LOVE it when this happens!!!

okay. so the list isnt the most comprehensive thing ever (im sorry, but creating a restoring my glow checklist takes a lot of TIME here, people!). but it's covered the ESSENTIALS, right? i mean, you see what's in red above, right? duh.

so, my friends, milk and hot chocolate is the lesson for today (haha get it... it's like the whole idea of "lemons and lemonade" with a holiday twist... hahaha im actually quite proud of it). i mean, i could have completely freaked out with this whole lack of glow revelation... and sure, i did for a little... so maybe i dwelled on this for a couple of minutes (or days). but whatever. the POINT is that i have taken the liberty of re-prioritizing my mindset in order to restore my glow and, thus, maintain a healthier lifestyle (after all, well-rounded is my middle name... HA. hahahaha i just laughed ALOUD at the thought)...

and if i just HAPPEN to achieve world domination along the way well... what's a girl to do, right? im JUST SAYING...