Fresh from the Garden!

Some of you know Eric and I have our own garden in our yard. If you came to our reception last year, you even saw the crazy pumpkin vines! Well, the beginning of them, anyway. But tonight, the benefit and greatness of the garden shined through.

Tonight, trying to figure out dinner, and trying to stay healthy, we turned to the garden. It's still early in the growing season, but we already had strawberries ready to harvest. Hmmm... what could we do with them. Well, we also have romaine lettuce and spinach ready to harvest. I'm thinking salad!! So we threw some chicken in the oven and then mixed it all up with some walnuts and blueberries we already had, throw in a little raspberry vinaigrette, and voila, an awesome summer salad to be had!

And this is only the beginnings of our garden! With all the rain we had, and now the warm weather to make those plants grow, like last year, we should have a good showing of our own fresh fruits and veggies! I can't wait!

Niagara Falls

As part of our Memorial Day weekend travels, Eric and I decided to 'swing by' Niagara Falls. Yes, It was a little out of the way - but not to much. I figured this would be the best chance we had to see the falls... when else would we be driving in northern PA, where we could do a quick zig-zag and be at Niagara falls??

After we said our good-byes to all of the family on Sunday morning, we were off through rural PA and NY... it's funny, because you don't think of 'rural' when you think of New York... but they have their share of farmland. It is more than just New York City! (though New York City is the best part) We got to the US side of the falls right around lunch, but instead of going right for food, we decided to visit the state park and get some views of the falls while the weather was nice - never know when it's going to change on you! It was already a lot more overcast then it was earlier in the day, and when we looked at the forecast, we saw the chance for rain increased throughout the day, as well... so we didn't want to risk it!

But we weren't expecting the Canadian side to be so much... well... nicer!! Granted, they have a tourist strip that could rival a portion of I-Drive in Orlando, but the park portion was much cleaner and seemed to be put together better than the New York State Park. Kind of a shocker, actually. But regardless, I'd recommend both side to anyone going to see the falls - they both have their advantages. You can see some more pictures on my Fotki page.

So here's the kicker of our trip, though... there always seems to be something. They closed the Rainbow Bridge down (the bridge to cross the border right there at the falls) right as we finished up dinner (6:15pm-ish)... fire trucks everywhere, etc. From afar, we assumed a bus caught fire because that was all we could see, really - a bus stopped in the middle of the bridge. We wasted some time in the shops and walked around some more, but finally decided to head south on the QEW and cross about 45 minutes south in Buffalo. Come to find out that the bridge ended up being closed until 9:30pm, so it was a good decision. Why was it closed? Some guy 'fell' off the bridge and they were recovering the body. Kind of freaky. Guess it happens more than you hear about, but still an oddity to add to the memory of a trip!

Tricia's Wedding

Another Memorial Day weekend, another fun-filled family wedding! This time it was my cousin, Tricia, getting married. And I knew we were in for a whole lot of family that I haven't seen in forever!

Eric and I left on Friday morning with a long drive ahead of us. A long drive of... well, not too much to look at. A lot of farmland, followed by a lot of green mountains. Made for a tiring drive, but we made the few stops we needed to make it through. We made pretty good time, actually, and beat most of the family to the hotel. So we wandered around Williamsport, PA for a bit - having the Little League World Series there has been a great thing for that little town! They even have round-abouts! LOL

After we wandered and had dinner, we had a little family reunion of sorts at the hotel and Eric got to meet everyone at once. There were cousins I haven't seen since I was little, and now everyone's married with kids! Craziness! I guess I should note that Tricia is the last of the cousins on this side of the family to get married... which made me second to last... so there were quite a few little ones running around, which made it pretty fun. And crazy. In a good way.

Saturday morning... the day of the wedding. Eric and I took my parents and Nan out to breakfast so we had at least a little time with just us and them - we knew it'd be hard to do later. So after a nice breakfast, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was a bit of a drive to the ceremony, so we wanted to be sure we had plenty of time. We did get to the church with plenty of time, though, so it was nice to not be rushed and, again, wander the town (Selinsgrove) a bit beforehand. The day turned out to be a beautiful, warm breezy day - perfect for a wedding!

The ceremony was beautiful and included some of my little cousins as the ring bearer and flower girl. These two are some of the most photogenic kids I've seen! The camera loved them! The bride stood out, though, as she should, in her beautiful dress. She and Nathan shared a few moments during the ceremony where you could see how much love was shared by them. And the priest told a story about love that I think teared up everyone in the church - even Eric. But the most touching part for me was seeing Nathan tear up as they were pronounced husband and wife - he even had to pull his handkerchief out. Have to love seeing the sensitive side of a guy, especially on his wedding day.

After the ceremony, pictures were taking that included all of the family. I always like when that is done - good for memories sake. Truly marks that moment in time. Of course I was right there next to the photography with my camera. Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind. I tired to get my own creative shots, too... I think I did alright.

Onto the reception! They had the reception back in Williamsport at a restaurant called DiSalvo's. The food was really good and I loved how they brought it out in Italian style courses... ie the pasta came out separately before the main course... but the food wasn't the highlight. Once again, the newlywed couple were the focus of the spotlight (as they should be!). They had so much fun together throughout the night, complete with cake smashing instead of the delicate feeding of the cake to each other.

Having the entire family there, including most of the cousins, made it a blast, as well. I wish I had more time to catch up with them (and the rest of the family), but it just gives us another reason to get together for a reunion next year. Especially as Eric and I start a family, I want to make sure cousins are known, even if they are distant. It's always good to know your family.

For lots more pictures, go to my Fotki page!

A Little Bit of Culture

Though Indianapolis is not known for its culture, they do have some. Beyond racing, that is. And Eric and I decided to delve into in the past few days.

On Thursday evening, we heading to the circle for 'Happy Hour at the Symphony.' In my opinion, this is the symphony's attempt (a successful one, at that) to draw a younger crowd. They do this about once a month and thrown in some free food and drinks, which always draws a crowd. But even the concert itself is geared for the younger crowd with renditions on newer music or new twists on classics. It's also much shorter than your typical symphony performance. This was actually our second time going, though this time it was much more crowded! But I also think it was a better show.

After the symphony, we went to one of our favorite little restaurants, R Bistro. We don't go there enough, but the food is spectacular!! For those who don't know, it's just a small place way at the north end of Mass. Ave. with a weekly changing menu. We actually happened to hit it on the week of it's 10th anniversary, in which they celebrated by serving the same menu items as they did 10 years ago!

Friday we took it easy in preparation for our next cultural event, the Broad Ripple Art Fair! We didn't make it last year, but I found some cheap tickets that made it more than worthwhile to go. We went first thing in this morning in hopes of avoiding the big crowds, but I think everyone was trying to go early to beat the looming storms to the west. None the less, it was a nice stroll around the grounds of the Art Center and we even saw some things we liked... we just don't have anymore room at that moment - still trying to get what we have up! But maybe next year. Or maybe at Penrod later this year. We'll see.

All in all, it was nice to do something different for a change. I like that. It's a good way to just reconnect and spend time with each other.

Opening Day at the Track

As I mentioned in an earlier post this month, May is time the City of Indianapolis focuses on racing - it's Race Season! Memorial Day weekend brings the annual tradition of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing!" Also know as the Indianapolis 500 for those not in the know.

Today was the official opening of the track for the month. It used to come earlier, but they shortened the 'month' to two weeks a few years back. They seem to think it's working... not sure some of the die-hards out there agree. Regardless, I was out there to hear the roar of the cars on the track! It was especially a big deal for me since I won't be making it to the race this year, so this may be my only venture out there.

Why today, you ask? Well, as a thanks to all those who volunteer for the many activities throughout the month, including the Mini Marathon, the 500 Festival committee provides volunteers tack admission and free lunch, as well as garage passes for the day. Pretty cool, huh? So I drug Eric out to the track with me to partake in a little tradition. They had classic cars set up to wander about and look at and the weather actually turned out perfect for the time we were there, which was just a couple of hours since we have commitments later today. So I don't think he minded too much.

But I gotta say, I enjoyed listening to the cars roar around the track finally. I do like that sound. I watched a few laps before Eric pestered me to finally leave - he just doesn't like it the way I do. I find it relaxing, though. In fact, I've had some great naps in the infield on race day. ha ha ha

This year is an especially big deal though... the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500! As you can well imagine, there's a lot of hype going into this year. Kind of cool, actually... I just hope they don't put too much into it that makes the following years look drab in comparison. Guess we won't know that until next year though, will we?

The Stinson Wedding

And so begins "Wedding Season," which was so gallantly kicked off by Prince William and Kate Middleton. Eric and I had our first wedding to attend yesterday evening, some friends of ours that 'my' Eric has known since college, Nancy and Eric (Stinson).

With the ever impending rain that seemed to be looming in the forecast we weren't sure how it would pan out since it was at German Park on the south side of Indy. They were having things under a pavilion, but any storm can still make things nasty! But the rain held off - yay!

We had a good time, as Nancy and Stinson kicked a lot of traditions you've come to expect in weddings and made a ceremony and reception to fit their personalities. For example, no cake - they had pies! But there was still enough tradition to know it was a wedding, and a beautiful one at that.

Eric had a mini reunion with a lot of old fraternity brothers (Stinson was one of his fraternity brothers) - there were a lot of them! But it was nice because I knew enough people to be comfortable and not like an outsider as I have at weddings sometimes. Guess it helps that they're part of our circle of friends here in Indy. I always hate being that outsider usually.

So one wedding down and two to go... that we know of, anyway. I think we're good, though, unless someone has a shotgun wedding somewhere along the way.

The Mini Marathon

May already... which means "Race Season"... which starts with the annual One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon. Last year, I ran it. This year, I went back to my normal duties as a volunteer at the final Gatorade station. I like that spot.

The weather wavered all morning. All week, in fact, as the forecast seemed to be ever changing up to the morning of the race. Chance of rain, though they said it should hold off until most of the runners/walkers are finished. Well, as so often seems to happen, the weather forecast was wrong. It, in fact, started to rain at around 10am, about 2 hours too early. Just a light drizzle, but enough to wet everything and everyone down.

Luckily, I came prepared, as most of us did, with some sort of rain gear. So it didn't hinder us. Not sure how the runners felt, as it was still in the 50's when the rain came down. But I guess in the long run, it didn't effect us too much - Gatorade really cant get too watered down.

Every year, I am absolutely amazed at the nearly 35k people that do this every year. Every year sells out way early, too! Though I gotta say, as much as I enjoy the volunteering side, I kind of missed being in it this year. Even with my slight injury at mile 9 last year, I might have to try again next year... maybe go about it a little more light hearted and fun, too, with a camera or something. Might s well have fun since I'm not a 'serious runner' out there - the route has so many fun things to observe! We'll see.

Until next year!

Osama Bin Laden is Dead!

Everyone knows where they were on September 11, 2001, when they first heard about a plane hitting one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Everyone remembers how the rest of the dreadful morning unfolded, and how the tragedy was evident for weeks after, even longer emotionally for all Americans.

Now we have another date to remember... May 1, 2011... May Day. This holiday has a new significance now, as it's the day we learned Osama Bin Laden was killed. Finally. After nearly 10 years, he was found and killed.

I wanted to jump online and immediately blog about this last night. But that fact alone got me thinking of how the media, especially the social media, has changed since 9/11... Facebook and Twitter were just an idea then, if that... Yet last night, so many people learned about this significant news event through the social media, not the news media in which we learned about the original attack. Instead of cell phone networks crashing, I'm sure computer servers were ready to crash as Facebook and Twitter and the like were bombarded with the news.

As I listened to President Obama's speech, I had chills. I had chills most of the night once I first learned of the news. Especially when I heard the crowd outside of the White House spontaneously start singing our National Anthem. What an amazing moment to remember. I know this is not the end of the War on Terror, but it definitely the close of a very long chapter in our Nation's history.

"Justice has been done." - President Barack Obama