still alive…

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I know, in terms of my blogging history, it’s not like I haven’t gone longer than this without posting. This is more about the sympathy. I haven’t been drowning in school work; I have been dying with a horrible flu since early Wednesday morning. I’m feeling a bit better, but food and I are still not on speaking terms.

The good news? I lost some weight this week. 😉 Oh, and my dreaded accounting class (I never wrote about this, but I really hated the class) is over. Guess how much fun it was to take a final on Wednesday after being up most of the night and still running a 101 F fever.

Okay, enough whining. I mean, I have gotten some really good sleep and I was actually able to watch The Office and 30 Rock, so it hasn’t been all bad.

warren buffett…the man

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A candid shot…captured by one of my classmates.


Oh my gosh! I am going to do my best to describe what this experience was like, but there’s no way I will be able to do it justice. Somehow I got lucky enough to be able to go on this trip with about 20 other students from my school.


See that first row of seats in the picture? Yeah, that’s THE first row.

It was a Q&A with Warren Buffett at Berkshire-Hathaway. In searching the Internet (the source of all truth) I was unable to determine exactly who is the richest man on earth, but Buffett is definitely in the top three and I got to sit in a room with him for 2.5 hours listening to him answer a bunch of college kids’ questions, followed by lunch and individual pictures with all of us (six schools in total).

Warren and Julianne…I just wanted to show you his personality. So not full of himself.

So, I won’t bore you with all of the details, but let me just say, Warren Buffett is both brilliant and hilarious.

A few of my favorite tidbits:

In speaking about Wall Street, he joked about those who are currently there:

They couldn’t pull off the Manhattan Christmas Pageant this year because they couldn’t find any wise men.
He loves his Cherry Coke…he knows that Coke is better than Pepsi.

In speaking about failure:

Striking out occasionally is part of the game and it’s a lot more fun to play the game that wait on the side too scared to bat.

One of my favorites, in reference to how lucky he has been in his life:

I won what I call the Ovarian Lottery.

Seriously, he was one of the most humble people I’ve ever met, which is just incredible. Connie and I kept commenting on how he just reminded us of a grandfather. Sure, he’s loaded and brilliant, but other than that, he really is just a jolly old man.

Me and Connie in the big room at Berkshire where the Q&A was held.

However, he did have one moment where he, in a very understated way, showed that he knows just how good he is at what he does. Someone asked him about predicting the market and this is what he said:

I can’t and I like to think that because I can’t, no one else can.
All of my school peeps with Mr. Buffett

The number of stories he has locked away in his mind and the detail with which he can remember them is amazing. Amazing. I feel like I got a semester’s worth of education in 2.5 hours. And what’s fascinating is that I didn’t walk away from it thinking, “I want to be as rich as Warren Buffett.” I walked away from it thinking, “I want to be like him when I’m 78. I want to have stories to share and a life full of amazing experiences. I want to not have regrets.”

Really, I keep reading over my notes in awe, both of how brilliant he is and how lucky I was to be there and have had this experience.

Warren and me. Crazy!!!

Another couple of great quotes…needing no explanation.

Leverage is what gets smart people in trouble.
Work around people that bring out the best in you.
The price of the stock doesn’t tell me if I’m right or wrong. It’s the performance of the company.
There are a few more things I’d like to share, but they deserve their own posts, so I will share them later.

The restaurant where we had lunch. Warren takes everyone here.

My table at lunch. Omaha steaks!

And my favorite picture!

chewy oatmeal chocolate chip bars

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I finally had the opportunity to bake. This is the recipe I found for the ingredients I had on hand (I had no desire to go to the grocery store at midnight last night). It was very serendipitous because I don’t know that I would have made these otherwise…and they are delicious!

Ingredients (Yes, this was copied from a website. You don’t have to use brand named stuff…although that happened to be what I had on hand. Does that say something about me?)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 1/2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick OR old fashioned, uncooked)
2 cups NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (12-ounces)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional – I opted out…I rarely use nuts in baking, just because)

  1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
  2. Beat butter and sugars in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, morsels and nuts; mix well. Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
  3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; cut into bars. Store tightly covered.

chicago…the details

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I was so excited to get back to Chicago. It had been almost a year since I’d been there. I was so excited to see Kelly and Sarah and spend a fabulous weekend with those girls.

So, here’s how it went down. And yes…pretty much what I do on vacation in big cities is eat and shop. Don’t judge me!

Kelly’s boyfriend picked me up from the airport and we headed to Uncle Julio’s for dinner. Think Chevy’s…only better. We shared the most delicious fajitas I’ve ever had; lobster, shrimp, and steak. After we headed to Kelly and Kevin’s apartment (new since the last time I was in town) and hung out waiting for Sarah’s flight to get in.

Side note: While waiting, we watched this 20/20 report about people in eastern Kentucky. So disturbing. It seriously broke my heart.

Anyway, Sarah got in and the rest of the weekend included Rockit Bar and Grill for Valentine’s, where I got to meet Kelly and Sarah’s friend, Liz. We went to see He’s Just Not That Into You. It was the second time for me. I think it’s pretty dang funny…because it’s so true.

Sunday morning we went to Hot Chocolate for brunch. There was quite the way, but it was delicious! Seriously. So good. I love yummy breakfast.

We then headed downtown to see this amazing photography exhibit featuring the photograph’s of Yousuf Karsh. So amazing. I’m so glad we went. We also saw a number of other great paintings, like Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatter. I love this painting.

And onto some serious shopping. Seriously. We hit the jackpot at Steve Madden. I bought these three pairs of shoes for under $100. How rad is that! (And yes, two pairs are the same, just different colors).

After shopping, we headed out for cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B’s. Delicious. Oh, and don’t worry, we got cupcakes the day before…I just can’t remember the name of the place where we got them.

Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to Chicago without Chicago style pizza. (Or I guess it would be a trip, just not a complete trip.) So Sunday night we went to Giordano’s. This is the place where I had my first Chicago style pizza. So, so good.And then we went to see a movie that could be my own biography; Confessions of a Shopaholic”. Very cute.

We finished off our weekend of food, fun, and fabulousness at Southport Grocery. While the service was less than stellar, the food was absolutely amazing; the most unique French Toast I’ve ever had. It was delicious. Sorry, no pictures.

It’s amazing how much we packed in to 2.5 days. I have got to stop traveling if I’m ever going to get this weight off, but at least I enjoy myself, right?