Dirty Bird

So Red Robin has opened in Missoula!! Just like when Hooters opened, this is a BIG DEAL. But, unlike with Hooters, I was almost crazy excited for this to happen. I love Red Robin and everything it stands for. We spent a ridiculous amount of time there when I was in high school and then I somehow let it's awesomeness slip away from me. Then here I am, living in Missoula where restaurants of any kind are few and far between, and all of a sudden the comforting familiarity of bottomless steak fries with sides of ranch, a teriyaki chicken sandwich and lying about your birthday so you can get the free sundae all sound SO APPEALING.

Brittany from one of my favorite blogs, Barefoot Foodie, recently blogged about how she found herself waiting outside Chipotle at 10:45am like a woman out of one of those old Mervyn's commercials... "open, open, open.." - you know the ones. Having ALSO found myself outside Chipotle before they opened more times than I can count (until finally they felt bad for us and started letting us in early), it was an odd feeling yesterday to be considering doing the same thing at Red Robin. Once I got it in my head, it's all I could think about ALL DAY.

Finally, 5pm rolled around, I literally RAN to my car, sped home, let Jackson out, drove to the mall (yes, it's at the mall. Don't judge), illegally parked and pushed my way through the already overly crowded entry way to put our names on the list. Thank God I have friends who were excited about this as I was...

Anyway, once there, several things went wrong:

1. I see this crazy hot man walk by. Seriously, just my type: tall, thin, all his hair, nice teeth, fitted pants, jacket, and HOT cowboy boots. Perfect amount of cowboy and metrosexual. I look at Christy and Kristi as he walks by and go, "OH MY GOD, did you just see that amazingly hot guy??" and Christy goes, "Oh! It's Christian!" Ya. Christian is Christy's gay friend who was meeting us for dinner. And we wonder why I don't date... CLASSIC.

2. We, of course, asked for fries before our burgers come. It's just what you do. Well, they end up coming after we get our meals. I understand it's opening day but shouldn't you be MASS PRODUCING those things??

3. My meal, which consisted of a chicken sandwich and a Corona, cost me almost $20. Ummmm... there is no way we would have eaten there so much if it cost that much in high school. I think the Dirty Bird might be ripping me off...

But, since they fully sucked me in with all their new menu items and the way they call chicken strips "Clucks & Fries" (I love that!), I will be back. I'm going to give them some time to pull it all together and then - mark my words - those servers will know me by name.

MIA

Just wanted to check in with all 10 of my awesome blog followers (hey Mom and Dad!) and say sorry for being so lame about the blogging recently. Things have been kind of drama-filled around here recently, but there have been some great moments. We’ve had some absolutely gorgeous late-fall weekends, which have led to lot of time outdoors. Kim and Brian came to visit for Halloween and we had a great weekend partying it up. My friends Christy, Denise and I were baby mamas (modeled after that group of girls in New Jersey who went and got pregnant at the same time) one night, and I was Izzy from Grey's Anatomy the next night. Paige and Justin were Mounds and Almond Joy bars and Kim and Brian were zombie runners. I haven’t really celebrated Halloween in years so it was fun to go out and get a little crazy:

Beyond that, Christy, Paige and I braved the passes for a girl’s weekend in Spokane. This idea was sparked after some stupid architect told me I was “too tall to date.” Ya, I’m sure you are all aware of how well that went over… but the Spokane weekend was awesome. Did some shopping, dressed up, had dinner at PF Changs and danced our way through quite a few sketchy bar/clubs. Paige even rode the bull! Since we’re all over 6’2’’ in heels, we decided to tell people we were plus-size models on our way home from a job in Seattle. Paige did the best job with the whole story line, convincing a group of women that she’s been on numerous covers and that she goes by the name “Leslie” in public because she gets recognized so often. It was fantastic. Of course I completely messed it up by talking about my real job all the time and no one believed that was Christy’s job since she rolls in at about a size 2:

So after a long night of dancing and general debauchery, we see THIS:

If that doesn't keep you from making a trip to Spokane, I don't know what will.

Anyway, coming back to Portland in less than two weeks for Thanksgiving and couldn’t be more excited about it. And then back for Christmas and New Years! Can’t wait to see everyone over the holidays, but I’ll try my best to blog more in the meantime…

Delicious Change

An awesome likeness of Obama made out of 1,240 cupcakes. Now THAT is my kind of President!

Beautiful Change

I would have posted this much sooner, but I have been sick as a dog for over a week... oh well, better late than never.

I had the honor on Tuesday to call myself a Montanan in the closest presidential race the state has ever seen. Montana is a red state. Guns, fishing, land usage rights, and hillbilly back country mountain men (think the unibomber) have kept this state veeerrrryyyy Republican. But this year was different. I strong grassroots effort, four visit from Obama and ZERO vists from McCain all helped Montana become a "tossup state." Whhhhaattttt? We're not light pink or red anymore?? No, in the end Montana was one of three states that was "too close to call." In the end, the state did go red, with 50% of people voting for McCain and 48% voting for Obama, but I was still SO PROUD that a state no one would ever think would vote Democratic gave those Republicans a run for their money.

At least it didn't come down to Montana as the deciding state. You know, with our 3 whole electoral votes... As I'm sure many of you were, I was proud and honored to watch what unfolded on Tuesday night and have nothing but hope and faith for the future of our country. And can't wait to watch Montana turn blue in 2012... :)

Herding Instinct

I haven't posted a blog about Jackson in a long time, so I thought I was due. Jackson really liked my baby mama stomach (aka a Walmart bouncy ball) and is now obsessed with herding it around the yard. Enjoy:

Drug Problem

So I walked out to my car this morning to find that it had been broken into. I also recently got rear-ended and the f-ers didn't leave a note. But whatever, I open my door and all the crap I keep in my car was thrown about everywhere. I was super confused for a minute taking in all the Vitamin Water bottles, used oil blotting sheets and unpaid parking tickets. But the thing that really got me was that whoever did this lined up all my prescription pill bottles on top of my steering wheel so they were just staring me in the face when I sat down.

Why do you keep prescription pills in your car, you ask? Well, you never know when you might need some anti-nausea medicine. My tooth might get infected and I need some amoxicillin. Maybe I get a debilitating neck cramp and need some muscle relaxers. Or I could just be really bored driving all the way back from Portland and need some Ultram to make things a little more interesting. You never know and, as Justin has warned us all lately, it's best to be prepared.

Bottom line, whoever did this not only violated my personal property, but was TOTALLY judging me and my pill-popping ways in the process. Awesome.

Meat Day

So, in any state other than Montana, Meat Day could be many things. Maybe it’s the one day a week you allow yourself red meat. Maybe it’s the day you go down to the local farmer’s market to pick up some corn-fed, all-organic, hormone-free chicken. Maybe it’s the local all-male review that only comes through the last Sunday of every month (not that I’d know anything about that…). But here, in Montana, Meat Day is something totally different.

Yesterday marked my very first Spiker Meat Day. Every year Wes and Chris Spiker buy livestock from the local 4H kids. These kids have spent an entire year hand feeding these animals to make them fat, happy, beautiful and ready for slaughter. This is a horrifying concept to me considering that one summer at the Condon County Fair, I fell in love with a 4H goat, named it Slobber, fed it Tootsie Pops for a few weeks (okay, I shared them with him…) and then forced my parents to buy him so no one would kill him and eat him (lots of tears. Begging and pleading were involved). Oddly, I have no recollection of what happened to Slobber…

Years later, while living with my oldest friend Jeff in his Peace Corps village in Morocco, I gained a new appreciation for the raising and eventual slaughter of animals. I mean, if we didn’t kill that chicken I would have had to go on eating cous cous and sugary, sludgey coffee every day. But my love of goats stayed strong. There were little baby goats running around everywhere and I named my favorite ones Ice Man and Maverick. I made Jeff promise not to tell me what happened to them after I left…

But back to Meat Day. Montanans love their meat and I’m really used to it now. Go hunt and shoot innocent animals. I don’t care. BUT I don’t want to see the dead, bloody deer hanging out of the back of your truck. Take it to the butcher and bring it to me in nice, white paper packages. This year, the Spikers bought two pigs. Pictures of those pigs have been hanging on the company bulletin board for two weeks now. Happy little kids holding on to their lovely, prize winning swine:


Yesterday, those pigs were delivered to Spiker in the form of pork sausage, baked ham, pork chops, bacon, pork shoulder and more. It’s like a national holiday. People bring bags, boxes and coolers and are literally waiting with shining eyes at the door at 4:30pm. In typical Lizzie fashion, I forgot it was Meat Day but someone was nice enough to give me a bag. At 4:30pm exactly, we were let loose on dozens of boxes full of meat.

Now, I’m not much of a pork eater, but who am I to say no to free food? Especially award-winning pork?? I managed to get about 12 pork chops, one ham, some pork sausage and a few packages of bacon. Most of this is for Paige and Justin, but I’m sure I’ll get to it some time.
I’m currently researching delicious pork chop recipes. One more reason for you all to visit Montana: I now have a freezer full of delicious pork meat. Woo hoo for Meat Day!