Annual After Christmas Zoo Trip

Today my Mom and I took my niece and nephew to the Jacksonville Zoo for what has become an annual ritual for us. We started doing this after Christmas zoo trip a number of years ago, and it's jut a fun thing to do! The weather is usually perfect (for me, anyways) and though it is Christmas break for all the schools, since we go on a weekday, it's not as crowded as it could be. Though it may not be amongst the nations elite zoos, I think it's a pretty spectacular zoo, myself. For starters, it's HUGE compared to Indy's zoo. I have to admit, the fist time I went to the Indy zoo, I was pretty disappointed. And I think they just have a great overall layout and set-up of things. Plus, they're still expanding! And it's right on the St. Johns River, so you get a nice view when you're at the one end of the zoo. I guess in the summer, they even have canoeing, and such, off of their dock.

Anyway... enough promotion... more about the trek itself. We didn't rush to get there or anything, but we still got there before noon (which you have to do if you even want to think about seeing the whole thing). The kids, of course, always have their favorites they have to go see. Darian loves the giraffes. Bubba loves the monkeys. Not that they are the only things they want to see... they like seeing it all. The Lorikeets are usually pretty cool to feed, too. But for some reason, they weren't too hungry today. Their keeper said they hadn't eaten much at all today... we were there rather early. There must've been something in the air, though, they they seemed very stand-offish for some reason. Of course they're the extras, too... the train, the huge playground/kids area. Me? I just like taking pictures of it all. You'd think after going all these years that I'd have enough pictures of the same animals. But I still always take more pictures. Next year there will be an entirely new permanent exhibit, The Asia exhibit. Not sure what all will be there, but I'm sure they'll have some cool stuff. What they're building so far looks awesome!

This year, however, there was a temporary stingray exhibit set up (though it sure looked permanent with the way it was built). It was the full, hands-on experience where you could pet and feed them. Well, the kids didn't want to feed them when it came down to it, so I fed them some. I swear, one bit me! The keeper said beforehand they don't bite, they just have a strong suction... but I swear I felt the thing clamp down on one of my fingers! There were no teeth, mind you... but it was something! But I survived it, whatever it was.

Anyway... my Mom and I are taking advantage of this annual ritual while we can. I'm sure one day, the kids will out grow the desire to do this. I just hope it's later rather than sooner. I guess time will tell.

A Christmas to Remember

This Christmas has been one for the books!! I briefly talked about Christmas Eve at Eric's, which was a great time. Eric did a really good job hosting, both with the ham dinner and the decorating for the 'Christmas Feel' for gift opening. It was mainly about the kids, though... they all had lots of gifts to open and they ripped through them. Afterwards, we headed up to my house and opened our gifts to each other. I got him one of the few things he actually wanted and asked for... a bonsai tree. And he almost broke it. Don't ask... I'm still trying to figure it out!! Overall, though, it was actually a nice, low key evening before the craziness that is my family Christmas.

Okay... so maybe crazy isn't the right word. We just had a 'big' Christmas because that's what we do. But it was a little crazier this year due to circumstances beyond our control...

So Eric and I head to the airport on Christmas Day. I hadn't talked to the family at all since I'd be seeing them shortly. We just took our time in the morning and enjoyed the bit of Christmas that we had to ourselves. When we got to the airport, I called home to let them know everything looked to be on time. My grandmother answered the phone, which she rarely does - usually only if no one else is home. I jokingly asked why Mom and Dad had her answering the phone. She then proceeded to tell me that Mom had taken Dad to the ER - they thought he was having a bad reaction to a prescription he had. WTF??? Why had no one called me?? I guess I couldn't get there any faster, anyway, but at least give me a heads up! So this freaked me out a little, obviously. I get through security and to the gate, and my Mom calls right before we board. No the doctors are thinking it might be appendicitis. They had to run a few tests to verify things, though. So I tell her to keep me posted and leave me a voicemail of the status if I'm in the air.

We get to ATL... no voicemail. So I wait awhile, then try to call, and it goes directly to her voicemail since she's in the hospital. So i text her and tell her to leave me voicemail as we're leaving the gate for our last leg of the trip. We get to JAX... still no voicemail! So I call, and it goes to directly to her voicemail again, so I leave a massage for her to call me and let me know what's up. At this point, as Eric and I head to the rental car, he suggest we go directly to the hospital. Only, I have no clue what hospital they're at - Jacksonville is a big city! So we end up going straight to the house. Mom and Dad were home - had been home for about an hour. Turns out he had kidney stones and would spend the next few days waiting for them to pass. No fun for him. :(

So after all this drama, I stayed up late to help Mom put some finishing touches on 'Christmas' before the kids came up the next day - she had to postpone a lot of her last minute things since she spent much of the day in the hospital. I finally crawled into bed close to 1am. Eric was asleep long before this, the bum!

So the day after Christmas comes, and this is actually our Christmas Day since this was when the whole family could finally be together. We spend much of the day doing our normal routine of opening gifts under one tree, then eating dinner, and then doing the other tree and stockings. The big present of the year was a Wii for my Sister's family from Santa. We'll be playing with that the rest of my time here. Too bad Eric heads home tonight... back to cold Indiana!!

Oh, and on a side note to all this, I am in shorts right now. The weather is gorgeous, with highs in the 70's and not a cloud in the sky!! I'm loving it!!

A Familiar Feel

Ah yes... I remember what this feels like... a layover in ATL. It's been awhile, but I still remember how it all is.

While I got a moment though, I can tell about my Christmas Eve. I went over to Eric's and his family all came over for dinner and gifts. It was quite a house full, even in a house his big! But with six adults, two kids, and baby (and all that comes with a baby), it fills up quickly! But we had a really nice ham dinner with all the trimmings and his Mom made some really yummy cream pies (chocolate and banana). The kids seems to really like all their gifts, too, as did the adults. It's fun to do a big family thing, though - it was nice to gather around the tree and open gifts.

And I get to do it all again tomorrow! Which is why I'm at ATL... on my way to JAX to see my family. So I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! I'll post pictures from all the fun later! :)

These are a Few of My Favorte Things

Christmas traditions. I think everyone has them in some form or another. Some are just personal. Some are family oriented. There are old traditions, passed down from generations and some are new traditions you hope to start this year. Regardless of the tradition, I think they are a very important part of the holiday season. I’ve found that if I miss out on a tradition, it just feels like something is missing. So this Christmas Eve, I wanted to take a minute to share some of my favorite traditions. Some are silly. Some are sentimental. And then there are some that have yet to begin since I don’t have little ones, but I know one day I want to.

First and foremost, there’s the lighting of the outside of my house. This is something that started long ago, growing up. My sister and I would climb all over the roof and outside to put lights on the house. We’d wrap them around palm trees (which look really cool with lights reflecting on the frawns) and the poles on the porch. And ultimately, we even figured out how to rig it to light fixtures so it was all controlled by a flick of a switch or two. We took it so seriously, in fact, that when my parents built their second house in Palm Bay, they installed a switched outlet in the eave of the roof. And THAT carried on to their house in Jacksonville and my house in Indiana. The builder thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted. So every year, the firm warm day in November, you’ll find me on my roof, installing lights. I won’t turn them on before Thanksgiving, but you take what warmth you can get in Indiana.

Then of course you have to do the inside to match the outside. This can vary with me, depending on my own travel plans, time available to do it, whether or not I’m expecting many visitors during the season, and amount of straightening up that must be done beforehand to make way for the décor. There are a few pieces that I always have to have out… but I’m pretty happy so long as I have my tree up and decorated. That in itself is quite a task. I have a lot of ornaments. At least I feel like I do… until I go home and see Mom’s tree again.

I have a tradition of making a certain cookie now, too. I can’t remember when it started… probably about 10 years ago. But I HAVE to make it. It is, essentially, my Christmas cookie. It came from one of those urban legend emails that has gone around – the $250 Niemen Marcus Cookie Recipe. It looked good, so I tried it one Christmas, and we all loved it. So I’ve made it ever since. It’s also made for any cookie exchanges or company parties this time of year. It’s just my staple, I guess. But they are SO good!

The biggest tradition I have though is going home to Florida for Christmas. I have no idea what a ‘White Christmas’ is because I’ve never had one. I’ve always had a very ‘Green Christmas’ down in Florida. And I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Christmas is big in my family. Always has been. We spend a majority of Christmas Day around the tree, opening gifts. We usually have a lot of gifts. In fact, we now have multiple trees, even. But by all means, it’s not the materialistic part of Christmas that makes it big… we just happen to have a family of givers. I know I love to give gifts. Of course, we do the traditional ham dinner. But I think what makes it all so special is that it’s the one time of year we make sure we all are together. My grandmother comes down from Pennsylvania. My sister comes up to Jacksonville from Palm Bay. And of course I’m down from Indiana. This is one tradition that I always say whomever I marry will have to be very understanding and accepting of, cause it’s not one that’s going to change.

Finally, a brief moment to touch on traditions to come when the kids come. This also would count if I had kids visiting me for some reason. The first came from a gift I received from my uncle and aunt (Andy & Jan). They sent me The Christmas Pickle one year. Essentially, it’s a glass ornament in the shape of a pickle, and it’s the last ornament hung on the tree after the kids go to bed. The first one to find it in the morning gets something special, whether it be the first to open a gift, or even an ‘extra’ gift. The second is The Elf on the Shelf. I’m sure you’ve seen this out there somewhere… it’s a little elf doll and appears after Thanksgiving and quietly sits and watches the kids. And every night, he reports back to Santa to tell him how the kids are behaving. The sometimes he’ll come back to the same place, or he’ll find a new place to spy from. Now you don’t get anything if you find him… but you know that he’s watching.

So these are just a few of my traditions. There’s more. Especially when you start delving into the tradition of Christmas Eve/Day. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love Christmas and everything that comes with it. It’s just such a magical time of year. Please feel free to share some of your traditions with me in my comments – I love hearing about stuff like that.

So to you and your family, I wish you the very best!! Merry Christmas!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

So tonight I got to see a Christmas concert staple... the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Eric's parents took the whole family to see the concert tonight for Christmas. I've never seen them before, but I've always heard it's a spectacular show. And it was! The first half of the show was essentially a Christmas story told through music (with some narration). So you really had to pay attention... if you actually wanted to follow the story. The music was good, regardless. The second half of the show was just music, the TSO way... which, surprisingly, has a lot more electric guitar than I realized. Still good, though... just a little harder rock than what most people hear of TSO.

Anyone who knows about TSO in concert knows that the big draw is the light show... all kinds, from lasers to pyrotechnics. They definitely lived up to all hype! They even warn you of a lot of strobe lights before you go in. And it's pretty smokey at the end of the night. But it is an amazing show!

So all in all, a great night out before Christmas that I was actually able to enjoy. I still can't believe Christmas is this Thursday... but I can't wait to go home to FL for the holidays!

Christmastime Catch-up

Okay... so I have a minute to breathe. *whew*

So it's been a few weeks since I got to really got to take some time out to get on here. So since the Pacers game,I've been busy, obviously. I LOVE Christmas!! So I get really into the decorating, buying and wrapping gifts, etc. So a lot of that's of my time. And since most of my gifts get shipped, I had to be done shopping and wrapping before last weekend.

I've hit a few Christmas get-togethers with friends, which also had 'White Elephant' gift exchanges. Now, I had never heard of it called that before, but it's essentially when you have the option to take someone else's gift (that's already opened) or open a new one. And unless you're the last person, someone can always steal yours and then you get to pick a new one. Depending on the group of friends, you can do re-gifts, or tacky gifts, or something someone may like. The key is to just set a price limit. Anyway... I can say I ended up with a couple of... um... interesting gifts from those. I'll just leave it at that. :)

Then, of course, there's all the food in December. My company does this thing called Fat Month for the whole month of December. Basically, everyone in the company gets assigned a day, so there about 8-9 people a day that are supposed to bring in some sort of food to share. It can be ANYTHING! People brought in things anywhere from meatballs, to quiche, to cookies, to pie. So that, on top of the party food... lots of things to taste test! Then there's all the baking/cooking I like to do... again, it all keeps me busy!

So that's been my past few weeks in a nutshell... nothing majorly exciting, just a lot to keep me real busy, as I always am this time of year. It's just crazy to think that Christmas is next week. Wow...

Christmas Craziness

I know I've been totally MIA on here, and I apologize. I've been crazy busy trying to get ready for Christmas... decorating, wrapping gifts (because I have to ship all of mine), getting cards out... but I swear, I'll be back with more posts soon. Packages went out yesterday, and I only have a few things left on my list to do. :)

Don't you just love Christmas!! :)

Lakers @ Pacers

Yesterday was a good day. I had my first review at my new job (which went very well), and then I got an email asking if I wanted to catch the Pacers' game verses the LA Lakers. "Sure!" I said, without hesitation or care as to where we were sitting or what time the game even was. Well, the day only got better.

So after work, I meet up with Eric, and we head to Mo's Steakhouse to meet our architect friend (we'll leave it at that for this story - I don't want to give up my sources! LOL ) So after a couple of rounds and an awesome steak dinner, we head down to Conseco for the game. I was amazed at the seats we had! I mean, we weren't "Row 2", we were "Row 1A", where we could lean over and talked to the guy in the $600 seats! And the court side view was awesome (as you can see from all my pictures). So I'm taking it all in, completely enjoying the experience - we even had access to the Locker Room Restaurant, which I had no idea even existed - I turn around and realize that Larry Bird and Herb Simon are right up the bleachers from us (yes, ABOVE where we were sitting). So I had to get Larry's autograph - how often do I get that chance? I know - I'm a goober!!

So getting back to the game... the Pacers actually gave the Lakers a run for the money most of the game. The Lakers pulled away by about 16 points in the 3rd, but the Pacer's didn't let that keep them down. Definitely one good thing about a young team with no huge names to hog the spotlight! As the 4th nears the end, Kobe Bryant missed what seemed like an easy shot and the Pacers got the rebound and took it back down court. The clock ticks down to about a second to go and the Pacers' Marquis Daniels took a shot that bounced around and then Troy Murphy tipped it back to the basket, where it bounced around for what seemed like 20 times before finally dropping in after the final buzzer, giving the Pacers a one point lead, which gave them the win!!

It was an awesome game to be at. I can honestly say, it was the best Pacer's experience I've had, to date. And not just because of the seats, though you do tend to stay a little more focused on the game when you're that close to the action. But that is the best way to see basketball... close games with the good guy winning in the end. :)

One Year...

I just realized (looking back) that today is my One Year Anniversary blogging on here! I guess I've seen it referred to as a 'Blogiversay'... or something to that effect. How time flies!

One thing I can say about blogging is that it has served as a great outlet for me vent, as well as share stories of my travels and life with friends and family, who I may not get to talk to very often. Or at least as often as I'd like to. :)

So here's to being here one year with more to come in the next. Thanks to all those who actually read (and comment on) my blogs. I know sometimes they may seem like a rant, but most of the time I think I share some good stuff. :)

Black Friday

Was it just me, or were there not as many spectacular deals out there this year?? Maybe it was because what did look like good deals weren't things I were looking for. Who knows... either way, I'm curious to know how Black Friday turned out for retailers compared to previous years. I know they weren't expecting anything to good.

I didn't hit any typical Black Friday sales, myself. Well, technically, I guess. I DID go down to Edinburgh Premium Outlets at midnight. yes... they opened at midnight, and it was PACKED! There was a back-up on the interstate to get off on US 31 to the mall. Eric and I finagled our way past it and in a back entrance, parked on the outskirts on the grass, and walked in. Eric has no patience for things like that - I told him he didn't have to go. But he still insisted. Initially, I planned to do the midnight thing to avoid any conflict with other sales I might want to hit. Well, I didn't end up wanting to go anywhere else, but didn't think to change these plans. Oh well. Got it over with. In all honesty, though, if I had wanted to hit other sales, this would've worked out perfect since we got back to Indy around 3:30am. There were a few stores opening at 4am that we could've hit directly from the outlet. But we didn't. We went to bed and slept till noon, instead.

Why did I want to go to the outlets, you ask? Well, there were a few items that I typically have better luck finding in outlets, especially with the difference in regions between where I live and where I gift. I was worried when what i thought was my 'sure thing' stop didn't pan out... but I still found what I was looking for at another store. And Eric even made it worthwhile for himself by buying a Columbia jacket for $70. The line sucked and he got a little frustrated waiting... but he stuck it out.

So that was my Black Friday in a nutshell. After waking up and getting some motivation, I got the rest of my Christmas lights up outside, too... did the roof lights last weekend. So all it all, a productive day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to take a moment to say 'Happy Thanksgiving' to all my friends and family following me online! :) I know I have plenty to be thankful for, including all of you. And as we all sit down to stuff ourselves today, just remember, don't stuff yourself too bad because we have to go shopping in the early AM! LOL

Seriously, though... for those hitting the stores early, be careful! A lot of people let their crazy side out when going after a bargain! :)

The Annual Company Holiday Party

So I attended my first company holiday party with my new company, RW Armstrong, last night at the Hilton downtown. And I must say, they really try to take care of their employees.

It started with the usual appetizers and drinks - OPEN BAR. They had the LED cubes they put in everyone's drinks, too... kind of fun. From there, we had dinner. It was an around the world buffet of sorts... set up in a circle, different foods from all over the world. I thought it was pretty good, myself, but Eric turned his nose up at a lot of it., I think he's just picky. And after dinner, of course, the band started and there was dancing (Eric doesn't dance, the bum!). So as far as a company party goes, this all was pretty much standard.

It was some of the extras that made it even more fun! Similar to the LED ice cubes, they had other unique things that I had not had at Christmas parties. Another neat idea was to have a photographer there, not only do the candids that will show up digitally somewhere later, but they had a set up like you would at prom. The difference being you could get pictures with whomever you wanted, and as many people you wanted, as many times as you wanted. So you can imagine, as the night went on and the drink flowed freely, these even started to get fun! :) Also to add to the fun, after dinner and after the dancing had started, they passed out colorful scarfs and berets. Last year they did feather boas and fuzzy hats. So this is a normal thing. But again, as you can imagine, once these things went out, more fun pictures happened. :)

So all in all, it was a good time. I think Eric even had fun, which you can probably see. :) And it's kind of nice to have this done before the holiday season gets too crazy in the coming month. Can you believe it's only 32 days till Christmas!!! Yikes!!

I *heart* IKEA!!

I visited my 5th Ikea today. I love Ikea.

It was a deary miserable day in Indy, so Eric and I took a drive down to Cincinnati to check out one of the newest Ikeas, and now the closest Ikea to Indy. Previously, we'd have to drive to Chicago, which I love to visit for other reasons. But it's a quite a drive, unfortunately. :(

Today's trip had a mission, however... Eric was looking for some specific furniture to finish out his bedroom (he got a nice iron bed frame last year). Though we fell up short on that (they were sold out of some of the pieces he wanted), we found some other fun stuff to take home. Most of what we found was for Eric's place - I didn't really need anything this trip. But I was getting ideas to store away for later. :) Besides, I was just as the Schaumburg Ikea a week ago and got fun stuff for me, then. LOL

Ikea has their Christmas stuff out now, too. They don't have a lot, but what's nice is that what they do have is different than what you find elsewhere. For example, I found some really cool ornaments - glass hearts with glass 'strings' inside. When you have it amongst lights, you get some cool refraction through the glass. So I got a couple of packs of them last week, one in clear and the other in a light blue. Can't wait to put them on my tree. Ikea is also the store for LED lighting, whether permanent or for Christmas. I got a string of LED star lights, too.

See... fun stuff. I love Ikea.

We also hit one of the Pink stores in Cinci (the store Victoria's Secret spun off for casual clothes). Yes... I drug Eric to a mall and into this store. He did go to Sears to look a tools part of the time... he was desperately trying to hang onto his 'man card' for the day. But I didn't do anything that would've made him feel uncomfortable amongst all the lingerie.

It turned out to be a fun day... and a great way not to feel so miserable with the dreary weather. We had a good time, even though we didn't really do anything super exciting or different. I like trips like that. :)

Me against 'The World'

Every so often, I get to feeling like the Midwest is completely against me. It makes me sometimes question (again) why I moved here, and more importantly, why am I still here. I get a little homesick for Florida...

It's something I feel like I've fought from day one that I moved to Indiana, especially at my first job where my work ethic was questioned. Now part of that was because my boss was from a foreign country, but others in the company seemed to be annoyed with my more laid back approach to working - I didn't stress over little things like they did. I just grew up in a much more laid back environment. I can get as much, if not more, done than the next guy. It's just not worth stressing over too much at work. So I didn't.

Most recently, however, I found myself in a group conversation where they started completely dogging on the State of Florida. They said it had no culture. They'd never want to raise kids there. Traffic was worse than Chicago (how????). Etc, etc, etc... And for the first time in a very LONG time, I felt offended. I was raised in Florida, and I thought there was plenty of culture and I wouldn't trade growing up there for ANYTHING! I feel like like I was better off because I was raised in a much more tolerant and diverse environment with LOTS of DIFFERENT cultures surrounding me.

It takes a lot to offend me. So much, in fact, that I sincerely cannot remember the last time I was actually offended by something. Unfortunately, this was someone who could ultimately approve/deny something for me, so I bit my tongue, as I find I often do up here. But this led to a pretty crappy weekend for me where I found myself biting my tongue when ever anyone started to dog on my team or question the way I did something. So I was upset pretty much all weekend.

It just seems that sometimes people in the Midwest truly don't believe there's anything good outside of the Midwest. There are a lot of great things outside of the Midwest. The Midwest isn't bad. I have nothing against people from the Midwest... except for the way so many Midwesterners act so superior to every other region of the Country. Not all do. In fact, very few of the ones I know do... probably because if they did, I wouldn't become friends with them. But a lot still do. And around them, I do bite my tongue a lot. Because I don't feel as if I should question the way they live or do things. That's their right. But they should as least respect those who don't choose to live their life that way. You can still be close to your family even if you are a 1000 miles away. In fact, I probably talk to my family a lot more than some of of these Midwesterners who live 100 miles (or less) away from their family do. I think being away from my family has made me appreciate them more and I think we're closer than if I would've stayed in FL or even within an afternoon's drive.

This intolerance to 'outsiders' is what makes me NOT want to raise kids in the Midwest. I want my kids to know there's more out there and there are lots of GOOD things out there, anywhere they want to go. Go explore the world - your family will always be here for you, whether you are close by or far away. I don't want them to go to college in state - go somewhere else. Make new friends. Discover yourself for who you want to be, not how your family defines you growing up. This is how I felt I was raised. And I am glad for this. I may get the argument that if you want your kids to be like this, than raise them like that. But the bottom line is, you can only nurture so much... nature and their surroundings will still have influence.

I apologize if this blog come across as harsh to the Midwest. But the fact is, the Midwest comes off harsh to me at times. And quite frankly, one can take only so much harshness before they break.

Historic Election

Election Day is finally upon us! Did you make it out to vote??

I voted by absentee last week - I knew the lines would be bad, so I did the snail mail route. No regrets. This election was too important to get frustrated with crowds and lines and long waits. So I did what I knew wouldn't hinder my voting.

Now I watch and wait. Of course they're making all sorts of judgement calls on who won what state - the polls are still closing out west! But they gotta make it dramatic - that's just the media this day and age. Though I have to say, it looks good for Barack Obama. Which makes my getting his book autographed even cooler! ;) I definitely have a good story to tell my grandkids... one day... a LONG time from now!!

Finally, as we all gather around the TV to watch the results, take a moment to remember where you are right now and who you are with. This election is something you'll be telling stories about to your grandkids, too. :)

Crazy Busy Weekend!

I think things are finally back to normal after this past weekend.

It all started Friday, of course... HALLOWEEN!! I didn't do any parties, but I did do some bar hopping. We actually followed 'The Captain' around for a bit, got some 'booty', and drank a lot of Captain (of course!). I needed a night like that... low key, yet a lot of fun with fun people.

On Saturday, I had to run around a lot (including to watch the first half of the Auburn game... woe is me...) before getting an early start on parties that night. I headed to my first one around 5pm!! The first party was very low key... not too many people even dressed up!! But there were a few. The second was all about playing flippy cup!! We had 4 teams rotating around!! It was a good time, actually... probably cause I wasn't on the losing team. :) Finally, around 11pm, I headed to my last party for the evening. And since it was after 11pm, it was back to being low key, with the fire pit blazing and only a few stragglers still playing flippy cup (I didn't realize that game had gained so much popularity among the 30-something crowd!). It was a good way to calm down and end the night, actually. And since it was the night to turn the clocks back to standard time, being out late didn't even phase me since I got that extra hour to sleep!! Here are some pictures if you want to see some of the action.

So on Sunday, Eric and I had lunch with some friends to catch up. We were there for awhile before we realized we had to go if we wanted to get downtown in time to do some tailgating before the Indy/Patriots game! So we did that... after I had to run to Target to get my niece her birthday gifts and get them packed up to send out. But we made it in time for the 8:15pm kick off, so all was well. We only stayed through the 3rd quarter... but it was just such a long weekend and I think we both needed to crash!

So today I went to work to relax. Just kidding!! It was actually crazy at work, too, because I'm only in town today and tomorrow before heading to Chicago for a conference!! THEN I will relax! :)

Oh, and if anyone was wondering about my costume...

Please read the safety card in your seat back pocket... :)

The Scariest Day of the Year

The scariest day of the year is upon us... are you ready for Election Day??

KIDDING!!

It's Halloween, of course!! I know this will be a crazy weekend for some with Halloween being on a Friday. I know there's lots of parties going on tomorrow that I'll be (trying to) make all the rounds to. Maybe I'll post pictures later... I don't want to spoil the surprise of my costume yet, though. :)

But for now, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and BE SAFE!! With Halloween comes all the crazy people who actually blend in for the day. ;) I hope you get more treats than you do tricks! :)

I'm Not Ready for the Cold!

The past few days have been brutal for me... I am SO not ready for the cold weather to come.

I know these past few days have been atypical for this time of year - we should be in the 60's for highs, not the 40's!! But what it's done is made me realize I'm not ready for winter! I definitely need to have a good, long fall this year, one where I have time to adapt to the cold since I won't be traveling the way I was last winter. The past few mornings, when I woke up to temperatures below the freezing mark, I just wanted to stay in bed where it was warm and toasty. Having to get up and leave my house was hard!

It's only October!! If this is any indication of how our winter is going to be this year, I might have to beg and plead for my company to send me to Abu Dhabi for a couple of months to warm up!! My hands are already frozen from just typing this blog. :( I hope I adjust soon!

Brown County

I finally made it to Brown County. I've lived in Indiana for over seven years and have never made it down there... until this weekend. Finally!

Eric and I took the trip down SR 135 Saturday morning after breakfast. We didn't do Nashville, however - it was too busy since it's about peak leaf season in the area. And it was busy when we drove through it. People were everywhere! But like I said, we just drove through it on our way to Story, Indiana. Story is a small town turned inn that is 'stuck' in the early 1900's... basically, the depression drove everyone away and no one came back to revive or modernize it. Then a guy bought all the pieces up and converted the buildings into suites/rooms and the whole town is now an inn. It's pretty cool. If you've never been, it's worth the trip. The restaurant has pretty good food, too.

After Story, we did a short hike in part of the Hoosier national Forest before we went into Brown County State Park to do some hiking there. The colors were pretty close to peak... with the storms that are supposed to be coming through this week, this may have been the best weekend - the leaves may all get blown down!! I about busted my a$$ on the first hike in the State Park... the wooden stairs were wet and I slipped on the first one. Oops!! But that's why hand rails are there... and they saved me, too! But anyway, that's besides the point. It was a great day for hiking.

I took pictures, of course, and you can check them out if you want. Enjoy!

Democracy...

Do you think this is how our forefathers intended for the government to work? Is democracy still acting as it was meant to be?

I often think not. And as we get closer to the election, it got me thinking about all the issues there have been in election in the past decade. Then I remember an 'essay' I wrote, voluntarily, just to let off some steam (writing things down can be the best therapy when you're frustrated - try it sometime if you don't already). I wrote this sometime around the turn of the century - I didn't date it so I don't remember exactly when. But I thought I'd share it with you. I know there's flaws in the logic, but then there's flaws in the way politics work this day and age, anyway. Especially with mud slinging that gets worse as you get closer to an election. Well, you can read it for yourself. Remember, this was me venting when I was probably just out of college...

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Politics. They've taken on a new form in this day and age. The traditional party lines are no longer as definitive as they once were. You have Republicans crossing over into Democratic beliefs and vice versa, and you have numerous `third parties' trying to make a name for themselves. The traditional `Conservative Republican' and `Liberal Democrat' are phrases for the politics of 50 or more years ago. So does the well known democratic process really still work? Can you really say you support a particular candidate because of their party affiliation? You have more `party supporters' than you do `candidate supporters' going out to vote. If you ask a person on the street if they knew some of the less broadcasted issues, they wouldn't be able to even tell you all of the correct views of candidates on the bigger issues. These are the party supporters who go into the booth and vote straight party line, and that may not even be their beliefs through and through with the blurred lines of today. They don't know the issues, but they go with their registered parties. How often has this placed someone in office that really shouldn't be there, especially at the local government level? Numerous candidates during the most recent local election throwing their name in just so `the people have someone else to vote for' and when you read about their stand on the issues, it's obvious they don't even know what the office entails. But then, anyone who votes straight party wouldn't know this. This is a problem. This is why government has so many problems. Local level have many who aren't even aware of the responsibility of the position they hold and they don't even mesh with all of their own party. But this can be fixed.

It's really a simple logic. Do away with all political parties. And yes, it would still allow the democratic process to work. In fact, it would work better. But by doing away with the political parties, you force every American to look at the issues before going to the polls. There's no pushing just one button to cast your vote. Some out there may already look at all issues, but a majority of people don't. If they did, it's not nearly as likely that they'd have a straight party vote. But you'd then get a candidate in office that the majority truly wants in office, at ALL levels of government. Someone who knows what they're doing and was voted in because of their views on issues, NOT because of their party affiliation. That's quite a concept.

So how would this work? How would we get to the final election if we don't have primaries for the `parties' to pick their one candidate? Again, simple solutions. There would still be primaries. They'd just be a larger ordeal and more important than they are today. Anyone who can fund a campaign can put their name on a ballot. And for higher offices, you'd have to have a petition with X-number of signatures supporting you to go along with that funding. During the primaries, everyone votes for ALL candidates, based on their stand on issues and the political promises they make. The primaries would produce a ranking of candidates, where you'd take the top two candidates for local government, and top three of four at higher levels. These would then be the names placed on the final ballot in November.

Just imagine. You'd have your local city government reflecting the majority of the city's population. At state level, you'd have the majority of the state's population beliefs upheld by the higher offices. And in the state houses and senates, if certain areas are more liberal or conservative than another area across the state, they'd both be represented accordingly. Then of course at the national level, the president would be voted in by the majority of the nation who concur with his beliefs, not his party affiliation. The house and senate would have state representation according the how the population of their state look at the issues. You'd actually have representation of the majority at each respective level. All because you forced people to look at the issues and how each candidate stood on the issues.

Politics would still have their problems. There'd still be `dirty politicians' and as long as human kind has greed, you'll always have some bad apples as such. But you'd no longer have politicians taking sides based solely on political affiliation. Party bashing would be a thing of the past. You'd actually have `individuals' representing you.

Pumpkin Carving

It's that time of year... time to gather 'round with all your friends and carve pumpkins while sipping on mulled wine. Good times...

I was just happy to be able to make it this year!! Last year I was (you guessed it) traveling. So I missed the gathering and carving with the Talbott Street Gang. So I was pretty excited. Plus, I got to bring my own pumpkin that I grew... by accident (Long story short, I threw some seeds that were sitting on my windowsill for TOO long nonchalantly into my untended garden, and they sprouted. Within weeks, I had a 20'+ vine with lots of flowers and a pumpkin growing all by itself). It was a healthy pumpkin, too... really thick insides (great for baking) and tons of seeds (to accidentally grow again)! So anyway...I pre-gutted mine so I could get the insides for baking, so I was able to start carving right away. But I wasn't the first done... Matt finished WAY before anyone... he claims it's because he's done so much woodworking. But I don't know... I think he was just more into it. Or he just did an easier pattern. He did do a cool werewolf, though... so it couldn't have been that easy. Steve was the last one done... he was just trying to get it all just right, though.

Ultimately, though, we all finished up and had six good looking pumpkins. I was really excited about how mine turned out - once lit. When it wasn't lit, I wasn't too sure... but it's looks really cool lit. What do you think?

A Conference in the Woods

I know it sounds weird, but apparently that what the Aviation Association of Indiana likes to do... meet in the woods for their annual conference. Not just a random wooded area, but a State Park, so it's actually pretty cool. Just not something you'd expect from people who like to fly around most of the time. :)

So this year, the AAI conference was held at the Potawatomi Inn in the Pokagon State Park up in Angola, IN. And this is a GREAT time of year for a conference in the woods... LOTS of fall colors. We actually started on a golf course just down the road, where we saw a bunch of wild turkeys and deer just enjoying the course. The hitting of the ball (which sometimes sounded like a gunshot) didn't even phase them!! When we finally got to the park, I was totally enjoying my surroundings and even managed to go on a hike to enjoy them a little more in depth. I hiked up to Hell's Point, which is the highest point in the park. I was hoping you could see Lake James from there, but it was just a little too far and the trees were a little too dense. Not a bad thing, just a different view.

I was especially excited when on the morning of my departure, the lake was like glass and I was able to get some amazing 'reflection shots' as the sun was coming up. You can check them and my other pictures out on my Fotki page.

All in all, it made for a very relaxing, enjoyable conference. Very nice indeed!

Dreary Denver Days Don't Diminish Delight

Just because I have a job that doesn't make me travel weekly doesn't mean I stop traveling... I just don't go as much. :)

The trip had a bigger purpose this time... well, a bigger group, anyway. Great American Beer Fest. Ironically, I never actually made it to the Beer Fest, but I was going more for the other fun to be had! You know, warm sunshine on my face on a hike up a mountain to see a spectacular view... wait, no... we couldn't do that... because we didn't see the sun for three days and it was COLD! But honestly, that didn't keep us from have a great time and still doing those fun things. :)

We left Indy early on Friday morning and got to Denver an hour later... yes, that's with the time change. We were in Denver around 9am. After running around to get our bearings straight (finding good maps), we headed up to Boulder to meet a group of friends. We ate lunch and then decided to do a hike in that area, so we headed to Hall Ranch. It was the perfect hike for a group of us, especially with kids. So we hiked as far as the little ones could take and then headed back down. It was enough for all of us, I think.

After the hike, we split up and the kids went home while the rest of us make it to a few breweries in Boulder. Personally, I was surprised at some of the brews I enjoyed, especially considering I am not a beer drinker... at all!! So after all the beer and the very long day of hiking and traveling, we were beat. So off to bed we went.

The next morning we woke up kind of early to take the kids to the Denver Botanic Garden's annual Pumpkin Fest to pick pumpkins from their huge (and I mean HUGE) pumpkin patch!! Now, I have to admit... this was my first time to an actual pumpkin patch (that I remember). If there was a good one to go to for your first time, this was it! Despite the very dreary, cold weather (even more so than Friday - we actually got drizzled on), it was a good time. It wasn't anything that a big cup of hot chocolate couldn't fix. :)

Eric and I hung out with the kids that night while Katrina and Jason went to a wedding reception. And with their kids, this was easy. They have great kids and they are both so good. So Eric and I really enjoyed hanging out with them for the evening. Eric even baked cookies with them!

So Sunday rolls around, and still no sun. But this was to be a low key, indoor day, anyway, watching football and eating food with lots of friends. It was a good weekend to visit cause I got to watch my Jaguars beat the Broncos IN Denver. Too bad I couldn't go to the game... though I probably would've been miserable in the weather they had. But none the less, the Jags won! So it was a good end to a great weekend!!

Another great trip to Denver in the books. Hopefully there's more to come soon!! In the meantime, you can check out more pictures here. :)

Just Not Sure?

So I was told about this website that ‘matches you’ with your Presidential candidate and decided to check it out. It’s actually pretty cool… it’s doesn't take very long to do, either, but it hits the topics that need to be hit. Basically, it has quotes from both Presidential candidates on issues, but it doesn’t tell you who said what. So you have to choose based on what you believe and what you feel is the direction to go on that topic.

I’ll admit, I landed right where I thought I would – there was only one question that I was surprised on. But I know the guy who told me about the website was actually surprised by his results – NOT who he thought he was going to vote for. So it makes you think a little, if nothing else. Nice way to be ‘influenced’ that doesn’t involve slandering ads.

$700 Billion Bail-Out?

So to date, I have left the subject of governmental affairs out of my blog. Not because it doesn't interest me, but because I can get overly passionate about certain topics. If you ask anyone who knows me, most would probably say I'm not a big follower of the government actions and/or politics. But that's just because I tend to step back when such a discussion occurs. I can get downright ugly, and I don't like that side of me.

But today I can't help but breach the topic. It's on everyone's mind and the big news story of the day. The big $700 billion bail-out. It didn't get passed and the stock market crashed the hardest it has ever crashed. Panic has hit America. But was this really the way to go in the first place? Why bail out companies and not the People of America more directly?

Granted, $700 billion wouldn't go too far for any taxpayer out there if divided up equally. But then, neither did the big stimulus check that they sent out this year... $600?? Are you kidding me?? What were we really supposed to do with that?? As Americans, most of us are way too far into debt to even think of spending $600 on any luxury for ourselves! But why should the Government bail out the very same companies that put many of the American People in the debt they already are in? That just allows those companies to continue to put more people in debt.

So our economy is in shambles... what should we do? Let's first look at how we got here. Credit. It started coming too easy to anyone who wanted it. Ask your parents if they had credit card companies throwing applications in their face with a free t-shirt while walking to class in college. I doubt they did. Buying a house with no money down was unheard of when our parents bought their first house, as well. And car loans... no... car leases... don't even get me started on that nonsense! All these big conglomerate credit companies will point the finger at Americans and say we handled our finances poorly. I say throw the book at them for false advertising or at lease misleading information that caused this turmoil! They need to make these companies pay for what they caused... somehow.

So don't bail these companies out for making millions already on the American People. Instead, start helping the People out. Start by forgiving some Government loans, like student loans that take forever to pay off. Look at all the FHA home loans out there - do a little forgiveness there for those who obviously need it. Start with all these Government Programs that have added to the debt of the American People and 'bail out' what they know will make a difference in the economy.

I'm sure much of my logic is fatally flawed in this argument... I just can't believe how bad it's gotten. I'm in debt just as every other American is. I know very few that have no debt what-so-ever. But none of them are my age - they were brought up in the age before credit was thrown at you.

The Cubs

The Cubs are heading to the play-offs now that the regular season is over. And NOT as a Wild Card. It's the real deal this year... they secured their spot over a week ago! So this could be it. This year could be THE year!! It may have taken a century, but the title of 'World Champion' could once again belong to the Cubs.

But I've already said to much. I just can't help but to be hopeful!

Deflation of The Dome

The Indianapolis skyline changed forever today. And long time landmark disappeared... very slowly.

With the new Lucas Oil Stadium complete and the Colts officially 'moved in' to their new place, the RCA Dome (aka the Hoosier Dome) can finally be demolished to make way for the convention center expansion. Today they started making this outwardly known (they started taking down interior stuff months ago). At approximately 10:50am this morning, after a 20 minute or so speech and remembrance of happenings at the Dome, a countdown could be heard for the fans that kept the roof afloat for so long to be turned off. Forever. And with that switch, the Dome began to deflate.

It took a good 35-45 minutes for it to disappear into its shell, but ultimately, it did. And with that, the skyline changed forever. All that's left are the memories.

I hadn't planned on it, but I did watch the whole thing and take pictures. If you flip through them sequentially, you can watch it deflate before your eyes. :)

One last view... the old stadium's reflection in the windows of its replacement.

Go Jaguars!!!

JAGS WIN! JAGS WIN!! JAGS WIN!!!

So today was the 'big game', the Jaguars at the Colts in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. Both teams were going into it with a lot of lingering injuries. But both teams claimed to be ready. And I think that was a legit claim. At least injury-wise...

The game started out with a shock to all - the Colts scored a touchdown on their first possession - THE first possession of the game. Woah... this was going to be a long game (I thought to myself). Especially since the Jags didn't even get a first down on their first possession. But the Jags got in their groove and it turned into a really good game. So come the 4th quarter, the Jags were up, 20-14. With 2:33 to go, the Colts get the ball and wouldn't you know it, Peyton got it down the field for Addai to score with 1:07 left on the clock. This upset me. A lot. (ask Eric). So the Jags get the ball with just over a minute left and start down the field. They get to a 4th down scenario and didn't make it. I head up to the lobby at this point. But wait - there's a penalty! And any Colts fan will call foul on this, but it stood. Jacksonville get a first down off of an interference call. We're still in it!!! Countdown to 8 seconds left to go... Garrad gets it to the 33 yard line. In comes Scobee for a 51 yard field goal. And with 4 seconds left on the clock... IT'S GOOD!!!

So the game was saved and the Jags won. I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked back to Eric's house. No jeers from any of the Colts' fans could stir me... the Jags beat the Colts in Indy. :)

There's a few pictures you can go check out... but I was really into this game (since this was my team) and the camera only came out for a bit at the beginning and then at half time when we went up to the upper level patio/balcony overlooking the downtown skyline. Otherwise, I was too busy wringing my hands and gritting my teeth. :) And don't let the picture of Eric and I fool you... I didn't smile a whole lot during the game, either. LOL

Septemberfest 2008

The annual celebration of Todd, Steve, and Matt's Birthdays came together last night as the 2nd annual Septemberfest! Unfortunately, it conflicted with the Auburn/LSU game... this caused me to be very torn. But I made it work. :)

I dropped off my infamous jello shots on my way to watch the game with the Indy Auburn Club on the NW side. The initial plan was to only stay for the first half. But it was just too good of a game!! So Eric and I stayed for it all... only to see LSU get a touchdown right at the end to take the lead and win. Oh woe was me. I was so bummed - Eric can attest to that. So in a slump, we headed to Septemberfest.

We didn't end up getting there until 11pm-ish. Very late. But it was still going pretty good. Most of my jello shots were gone, but they were appreciated. :) So we made our rounds, had a few drinks, and caught up with people for a couple of hours. There were some very drunk people there... but no one was passed out yet. Which for this party, may be a first! Granted, we left just after 1am... So maybe it happened after I left. Some pictures of the fun can be found here.

So Happy Birthday to the boys... just remember, you're only as old as you feel you are in your mind. So stay young! :)

What a Week!

All that cleaning, all that stress... and now the parents have come and gone. Just like that.

It was well worth it, though. We had a good time and of course I was overreacting to their reactions to my 'unclean' house. Yes, it was vastly improved from what it was when I started. But it was still not to the level I wanted it to be. None the less...

They got in Saturday evening and I was actually watching the Auburn game with the Indy Auburn Club on the NW side of Indy. They called me and they were within minutes of my house. So I took off and met them up there. We caught up a little that night, but we were all pretty tired... them from driving, me from cleaning.

On Sunday, the 'big plan' was to meet up with Eric and his parents for a nice meal of Buca take-out at his house. This served a double purpose - my parents got to see his amazing house and meet his parents. Sunday was a crazy day, too!! The remnants of Hurricane Ike were blowing through and the winds were crazy through town. A huge branch even fell in Eric's back yard. No damage, but still... Despite all this, we had a really good time. The group hung out and ate for a few hours and played with Eric's sister's new baby. So yay! Good times... :)

The rest of their time here I had to work, so they went about their business and did things up around my house and beyond, actually. They both had things they wanted to do and places they wanted to check out. So they were never bored.

They heading out on Wednesday morning. And just like that, all was quiet again. But my house is clean. :)

A 'Mostly' Good Weekend

So I wouldn't say this past weekend was spectacular, but it was pretty good. Despite my freaking out about my parents coming this weekend.
Friday night was spent home... trying to clean-up. Didn't get a lot done since I was so worn out from working all week. But a little bit happened, which is better than nothing. :)

Saturday, Eric and I went to the Penrod Art Fair at IMA. I'd never been before... surprise, surprise. I'm finding out about all sorts of 'new' things that I never knew about before with Eric. It's nice finally learning the City I live in after 7 years... After the art fair, he and I went and had dinner at Mama Carolla's in Broad Ripple. I love that place! We ate some good food and drank some good wine. And then went home and drank some more good wine with the neighbors. Made for a nice night.

On Sunday, I cleaned and mowed and did other house stuff during the day. There are not enough hours in the day... :( But I had to cut things
short to head downtown for the inaugural regular season Colts game against the Bears. I spoke earlier about my feeling about Lucas Oil Stadium, so I won't go into that. But Wendy and I had a great time (Eric had to head to FL Sunday night for work and he was a total sweetheart and let me have his tickets for the game). Too bad they lost. You can see some of my pictures here, though.

So all in all, the weekend was pretty good... except for all my teams (except Auburn) losing... the Cubbies are on a bad streak (it IS near the end of the season, so it is very "Cub Like" for this to happen), my Jags lost their season opener... but the events that directly related to me were good. And I guess that's what really counts. :)

Preparing for the Parents

Okay... so I'm not normally one to freak out when I get company. Well, relatively I don't, anyway. I do the normal last minute straightening up and de-cluttering of stuff so my living area at least looks presentable - I can always close bedroom doors. You know... what anyone probably does before company (unless they are those minimalist types that own nothing - you always see those types on movies, yet, I don't know a single one!). But in just over a week, a different type of company is coming... the parents.

Now, my Mom is probably reading this laughing. But in all honesty, I'm freaking out a little bit about getting my house ready... it's been over six years since they've been up to my house from FL, and then I had just moved in, so I wasn't fully settled yet. I had an excuse. But now I'm settled... overly settled! I walk around seeing things and wondering "what will Mom/Dad think of this?" or imagining the look on their faces when they see something. It's not that my house is chaos... I just think I inherited my mother's need of things needing to be perfect for company, no matter if it's family or otherwise. And right now, my house is nowhere near perfect by the standards I have set in my own mind! So what's a girl to do?

Well... I have a week. Granted, I have to work in there... and there's other social obligations to attend to. But I have a week. A week to pull out all the necessary stops, go through all the bottles of soft scrub necessary, and bleach the hell out of any solid surface I see. Thankfully, I cleaned and reorganized some of my rooms while I was unemployed... but it wasn't the whole house.

So I apologize now to any of my friends out there I see (or don't see because of this) over the next week. If you see me and I smell of heavy duty cleanser, this is why. If I look like I haven't slept, this is why. If I seem a wee bit more OCD than usual... this is why.

Okay Mom (and Dad, probably more-so)... you can quit laughing now. I may not have been big on cleaning and yardwork and chores when I was growing up, but somehow, you still drilled the need for it into me. Remind me to thank you for this compulsive behavior when you get here.

Lucas Oil Stadium

So have you seen the new stadium?

I'll be the first to admit that when the talk of a new stadium started up, I was completely against it. Indy did not NEED a new stadium! There was nothing wrong with the RCA Dome, which was still being paid off. If the Colts weren't on top of the NFL, there was no way a new stadium could've or would've been justified. Sure... we're getting additional convention center space out of it now... but then, the Dome was used for conventions, anyway... so the additional space is a bit of a mute point since the 'new space' will go in place of the Dome when it's demo'd. But the new stadium was approved, additional sales tax and all.

So now the new Stadium is done... Lucas Oil Stadium towers above the south edge of downtown, the monstrosity that it is. It IS massive!! And yes, it's nice. I made it to the first pre-season Colts game and got to check it out. All the modern features you could want in a stadium... but is it worth $720 million and does it justify it's existence. I still say 'no'. But what's done is done, and Indy and the State of Indiana have something that they'd damn well better be proud of and plan to maintain a keep for a very long time!

So here you go... for those who haven't made it yet, here are a few pictures. It is a pretty cool stadium... but the way it came about still kills me... :P

Chicago

Wendy and I ventured up to Chicago for our annual Cubs game on Thursday morning. Normally, it's a weekend day trip, but this time, I got tickets to a Thursday game and we planned to stay overnight and see more of Chicago.

The game was, as usual, a great time! We did get drizzled on a little bit, but we were lucky enough to have someone sitting near us that was smart enough to bring a cheap roll of painters plastic and share with a dozen people around him when it got a little steady! But in the end, the Cubs won, and we sang the Cubs song! :)

We drove to our hotel downtown and settled in before going out to eat. What better thing to eat in Chicago but authentic Chicago deep dish pizza! We were going to go to the original Pizzeria Uno's, but the wait was an hour-and-a-half!! So after a phone call to Eric for a suggestion, we ended up at Giordano's and the pizza was amazing!! It was well worth the 45 minute wait we had to endure, not to mention the walk there and back from the hotel. After that, we went back to the hotel and crashed!

The next morning, we woke up a little early since our bodies were on eastern time still. Not a bad thing. So we got up and moving and after a good (free) breakfast at the hotel (complete with cooked to order omelets), we headed out for some sight seeing. First we trekked over to Navy Pier. Nothing on the pier was open yet, but we went really for the sights, anyway. It started getting a little dreary on us there, so we headed back inland. From there, we hit Millennium Park. The sun came out for a bit here, as we checked out Wrigley Square, The 'giant bean', and the 'Faces of Chicago' fountains. After we cooled our feet a bit in the water from the fountains, we continued our trek down to Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. I've seen it up close before, but it's size still amazes me. The blip is has on the Married with Children intro does its size no justice, nor do pictures or even driving by on Lake Shore! Finally, we headed back to the hotel to check out. I'm not sure how much walking was involved during this part of the day, but it was enough to make us really enjoy sitting down for a few minutes before checking out. :)

After we officially checked out, we headed to Michigan Avenue to do a little shopping. We weren't planning on any serious shopping, but we still had fun. We both found some things that we 'needed' and picked up a few items to give loved ones. We didn't have time to do the whole strip, unfortunately. it was Friday and I wanted to beat rush hour out of Chicago. So we headed back to the car at 3pm and headed out of downtown at 3:30pm. We beat it. I was happy.

We stopped for grilled cheese at Fair Oaks Farm for dinner. After telling her about Eric and my stop last month, it just sounded good. :) We finally made it home just after 8pm, both of us exhausted! It was a great trip! And just like my last trip (with Eric), I think by making it NOT on the weekend, it was more enjoyable (less people and hassle). We might have to make this our annual trip now instead of just a day trip for a Cubs game! :)

A Tribute to LeRoi Moore

I woke up to some very sad news this morning... Dave Matthews Band saxophonist and one of its founding members, LeRoi Moore, died yesterday from complications of his injuries sustained in an ATV accident he had in late June on his farm near Charlottesville, VA. Ironically, DMB was set to play a tribute concert to him last night in LA when he died just hours before. He will be dearly missed by fans and friends alike.

DMB will not be the same without him, as anyone who saw them this year in their tour can attribute. To play his part is just that - playing a part. But anyone who can take on the challenge of the role will be playing a tribute to him with each note of every song.