Cooking with the Girls!

As we get older, our 'spare' time seems to become more sparse than spare... so when I have a chance to get together with my girls, I do in a heartbeat, and since it isn't as often as we'd like, we make sure we have a good time!

Last night was one of those nights. A small group of us (Wendy, Karla, Jen, and I) got together over a Jen's for some wine, cooking, wine, and catching up. And wine. Jen threw out the idea last week, and followed up with a loose schedule for us. We ended up cooking some salmon and veggies on the grill, with wine, and Jen even made some oh so wonderful bread and breadsticks. And wine. We had some other good stuff thrown in there, too, like blackberry barbecued shrimp and , of course, fresh sweet corn on the cob! Oh, and some sangria (aka wine).

Throughout the evening, there was lots of catching up and talking, and reminiscing. All over a few glasses of wine. Some of he best parts were making sure each other didn't chop off a finger or trip over a candle... basically, make sure no one was injured. And no one was... for the most part. We just had a good time. Even as the evening wound down and we found ourselves playing 'Name That Tune' on the music channels over the satellite tv, we couldn't stop laughing as we relearned how to do the Running Man and Roger Rabbit.

I love my girls!

Creative Photography

Last night was the last night of my creative photography class. I must say, it was a great class and I learned a lot! There is really so much you can do with a DSLR, and I still only scratched the surface with this class. Regardless, I wanted to share a few of my favorite shots from the class.

Love this one just because of how much is going on... sparklers, glow necklaces, headlights/taillights...

Love the details on this... looks like string!! But it's just sparks flying.

Check out the 'ghost' soccer players on the field in the foreground...

There were lots more photos, but some were just too large to upload onto blogger. There were also a lot of unedited photos I'd love to share, but they need to be edited. Maybe later.

Symphony on the Prairie

So what better thing to do one one of the hottest evening of the summer than go sit outside and listen to music?

Okay... so yes it was hot and humid, but it wasn't all that bad.

Last night, Eric and I went out with a couple of other couples to Symphony on the Prairie, which, for those not in the area, is a weekly summer event at our local 'living' museum where the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra plays in the amphitheater. It's cool, cause you can bring your own food and adult beverages and just sit back and enjoy (for a nominal fee). We chose last night, not for the weather, obviously, but for the featured musicians, Time for Three, which we heard play at their in-house gig with the ISO a few months back. They kind of bring orchestra music to the younger (our) generation by playing more contemporary stuff. With a twist.

Anyway... all in all, we had a great time, despite the heat and humidity. There was a breeze, and it was great when the sun when down. It was nice to have a low key evening for a change.

The Heat is On

I feel like I've been posting a lot of blogs about crazy weather this year. Ice storms, flooding, and now, major heat!

This has been a record setting week of heat so far! But it's not just the air temperature that was killer... it was the heat indices up around 110 - 115 degrees! So when you put today's 100 degree temperature with the high humidity, the heat index was just about unbearable for any long amount of time. Guess that's what happens when you hit a record you haven't hit in 23 years... We've been in the upper 90's all week, but today's 100 degree mark was a pretty big deal, obviously. Kind of wish I could of caught a freeze frame of it on my phone... apparently, I missed it by about an hour, though. Go, figure...

So imagine, if you will inside a car... one of the tv stations did a little experiment and put a thermometer in a car - within a half hour, it was up to 140 degrees inside the car! THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER LEAVE YOUR KIDS OR PETS IN CARS, PEOPLE! (my PSA for the blog...)

So yeah... even with the heat way up there, I'd still rather the heat then the cold. I like when my skin gets all hot from being outside... now if only it could be on a beach somewhere...

Getting Older

Funny how birthdays are counted down to the second when you're young, but you try to not think about the older you get. Not that you can avoid it, but just the thought of getting older... I guess it just verifies how you've been feeling the past year. New constant bother about some part of your body (back pain, knee pain, whatever...), or one more reminder about a ticking clock, or just realizing all of your friends are just as old as you when you all used to be so young and carefree together.

Yep... another year older. Eric jokes that I still countdown to my birthday... I don't. I just used to bug him about the fact that he didn't remember my birthday. He does now, and he's good about it. I had no idea what to tell him to get for my birthday, but he kept throwing ideas out to try to spur some thought out on my end, which eventually worked. With by budding photography 'career', I decided on a new tripod head - one a little more modern than what I had. So I was pretty excited about that. And then today (my actual birthday), we decided to take a trip over to Cincinnati to roam Ikea for a few hours.

There were good intentions there, though - not just pure shopping fun for me. Specifically, we're still trying to finalize some details for our bathroom, which we did indeed make progress on. We found a pretty cool light fixture for over the tub, and also figured out which closet system we want (which is actually from The Container Store). So all in all, it turned out to be a very successful trip. Plus, I was excited to get my meatballs at Ikea... there's just something about them...

So yes... another year older. But it was a good birthday. I just try not to think about the older part... just continue to celebrate anniversaries of my 29th birthday.

Instant Gratification

Today's society seems to be all about 'Right Now!' Kids this day and age have no idea what patience is. And I think a lot of adults are forgetting what it is, as well.

Most kids have grown up being able to get what they want, when they want. Food is handed through a window to them 5 minutes after talking into a box, asking for what they want. They click a button on a remote and get to watch whatever movie they want, without going to a video store. Even if they want something to eat at home, there's no need to heat up the stove and in some cases, you don't even need silverware anymore. Even the older kids... you want to hear a particular song, you don't need to wait for it on the radio or find your CD... just type it into Pandora, and there it is... or buy it on iTunes, and you're done.

Sadly, many adults have forgotten what patience is. People on their work cell phone (typically smartphones with email capability) are the perfect example... always readily available and DO answer the phone or reply to emails, no matter the time of day. Remember when you used to leave the office and your workday was done? Remember when you used to have a question for a coworker, but waiting until the next day for an answer... or even the next day to ask it? What good is knowing that at 10pm at night really going to do you? Is it really going to make your next day at work that much smoother or make something happen faster?

I'm even guilty of it sometimes. There's a Starbuck's on my way to work that is slow. I'm talking the slowest Starbuck's I've ever been to (and I've been to quite a few). It's never crowded inside, so that can't be the reason the drive-thru is wrapped around the building... and that's just to get tot he order box! Even when I've somehow gotten there without anyone there, it's taken nearly 10 minutes to get my order. No food, nothing special... just a simple tall mocha. So the last time I went, I decided to go inside because of the drive-thru line. Almost no one inside, as suspected. There was one lady at the register waiting to order. I later learned that she was standing there for nearly 5 minutes with barely a nod of recognition. After I and one other customer got in line, someone finally took our orders. And then it was another good 5-10 minutes to get our orders. We didn't understand this - there were 5 people working behind the counter. Even if those taking orders did only that, it leaves 3 people to fill the orders! How was it taking so long??

I began to ponder the whole instant gratification at that point. Wow... we're spoiled. Can't even have patience for something that we order for enjoyment. Now granted, this I think is also a bit of just plain bad customer service... or at least disorganized customer service. I really hate that it's the only Starbuck's on my way to work because of it's slowness! But the thing is, it's morning coffee during rush hour... we've come to expect that is going to be fast service, so when it's not, we get upset. How did society get to this point? We used to not be able to get coffee through a little window at a restaurant.

So why have we in American society become so impatient? Why do we expect everything to be so fast? Why must we live this fast paced life that very few other countries recognize? Why can't we slow down?? Why are we teaching our kids that instant gratification is what life is all about - you don't ever need to wait for anything? There's nothing wrong with waiting for something. Though it seems patience is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

I wish I had an answer for these questions, but I don't. I can only hope some people agree with me out there and maybe, just maybe, we can keep patience alive out there. If everyone could just take a minute and breathe, reminding themselves that anything worth something is worth waiting for.

Fourth of July

Another 4th of July has come and gone... where has this year gone???

With our house in the midst of construction and a backyard full of nails and such, Eric and I decided to NOT host a BBQ at our house. Instead, we celebrated over at a friends house with a bunch on friends and ultimately had family over to watch the downtown fireworks. It actually worked out well since the kids had a very kid friendly party to go to on the northside - I'm sure that was much more fun than our backyard of construction! And the big upside was not having to do as much prep work for a BBQ ourselves - Carl and Dana always do a great job hosting, so it was nice to relax for once as a guest.

Of course, in that time after the BBQ we went to and the time the family came over, Eric and I had plenty to do with the little house project we had gong on. We're down to a shower tile decision, folks!! But this is a tough one! I just don't want to choose something that I'm going to hate after 6 months of seeing it every morning...

I also learned how to use my snazzy camera to take some 'real' shots of fireworks. Very exciting!! So I disappeared during the main show to 'play' and finally get some good shots of a big fireworks show. Yay, me!

Hope everyone else out there had a great Fourth!! And Happy Birthday America!

Lightning

So a killer storm blew threw last night! The way it came through, there was lots of lightning, but it was way off in the distance, so I was able to get out and try to get some lightning shots (one of my goals as a photographer - severe weather shots!). Here a few of my shots.