Wow!! Where did 2015 go... seriously?! I cannot believe we're already here, post-Christmas. I feel like this year has been a blur. Anyone feel that?
Eric and I did the drive to FL for Christmas again this year. We've take to enjoy that drive time, making it all part of the journey to enjoy. Mostly. We drove straight through to Jacksonville on Christmas Eve, and woke up to head to my parents on Christmas morning. 
My sister and her family couldn't make it up that way until that evening, so it worked out fine. Having the youngest in the family being teenagers, the 'magic' of Christmas morning isn't as much of a necessity. It happens, I suppose. But that gave some time with just Eric and I to spend with my parents. Nan was not able to make it down this year and spent Christmas with some extended family in PA. We missed her a lot, and hope we can get her back to FL for future Christmases. We'll see.
Christmas, itself, was pretty standard for a Cwalina Christmas. 
Lots of gifts with the nine of us there, and some fun surprises that no one expected. Still extremely enjoyable, for me at least. I love how our family does Christmas. I wouldn't say we have formal traditions, but there are still traditions. Like where we sit, for example. Don't ask me why, but if anyone tries to sit someplace new, there's confusion everywhere! It's kind of amusing. Regardless, I love watching reactions to the gifts - no mater how old we get, we all seem to enjoy it.
The day after Christmas, to avoid the draw of the TV and being lazy, we went to the zoo. 
This was my mom's idea, because she wanted to see the new tigers. Which I definitely liked the idea of, too! Here's the crazy thing, though... it was in the 80's and almost too warm to walk around the zoo! A lot of the animals were even seeking shade to keep cool! Even the tigers! We still had a good time feeding the Lorikeets and walking around, though. And I learned that Eric is afraid of (or 'doesn't like' them, in his words) birds, reptiles, and amphibians... he wouldn't go into any of those exhibits. It was kind of funny. But we managed to walk through and see what we wanted before they closed, and headed home.
After breakfast, Eric and I left the next day. We only went as far as Savannah, and enjoyed the afternoon and some dinner there. 
Wasn't a major event, or anything... just meant to be some down time to ourselves before getting back to the real world after the holidays. It was kind of nice, actually, and thought maybe we should get back to making the trip down a two-day trip, as well, just to keep our sanity in check. I guess we'll see next year.
Finally, we left bright and early the next morning. Only had a band of rain to drive through, though it was some heavy rain. But it was still relatively warm until we gut way up into Kentucky. And at that point, we were done with stops and just needed to get home. So all in all, it was a good trip. And a good Christmas.
Sometimes the years goes by faster than I'd like. This has been one of those years. But with a fast year comes a quick departure for my annual girls cruise! And I cannot complain about that!
This year we switched things up a bit, as we added a fourth to our crew (Sabrina), which led us to book a suite on the ship (Brilliance of the Seas) so we could all still do the fun rituals of getting ready together and such. We were able to get a good deal on the suite, too, as we didn't book until 6 weeks out! Not recommended for those who like to plan way ahead, or those who get nervous about 'the back-up plan' if Plan A doesn't pan out... but it worked quite well this year.
Our itinerary included just two ports, with two days at sea. Kind of the best of both worlds (in theory) to give everyone a little of what they wanted. We left of December 14th out of Tampa, with the first full day (the 15th) being at sea. We made the most of what turned out to be about an absolutely perfect day at sea, and were at the pool side nearly the entire day! Surprisingly, we all did a good job with sunscreen on this first day, and no one go too much sun. Usually, at least one of us missed a spot or two, or just went to long between applications. That made it good for the rest of the cruise.
Our first port was back in the Grand Cayman Islands! Last year we missed out on our swim with the stingrays and were very bummed about it. We were determined to make up for it, and getting back to the islands was one of the reason we chose this itinerary. 
We found a local tour company that took us out to Stingray City on a catamaran, which on its own was cool, since it kept the number of people on the tour to a minimum. The water was still a little rougher than I think any of us would've liked, but it was still workable to get in there with the stingrays. And it was amazing! They were everywhere!! I almost got knocked down a few time by them trying to swim between my legs. Well, that and the waves pulling me off the ground and me, overcomplicating things, by trying not to come back down on top of one! We were able to feed them, too, and I had one gnaw on my knuckle when he took the fish from me. Didn't hurt - just felt weird! It was a really cool experience, and I'd love to do it again, if the water was a little calmer so we could maybe enjoy the rays a little more without the added complication of the waves. But at least we got to do it once!
After the stingray swim, we got to snorkel over some reefs for a little bit. Again, because of the slightly rougher waters, we couldn't go to the major reef area, but since our tour guides were local, they were still able to get us to a good area where no one else really was. it wasn't as exciting as the stingrays, but of course, we weren't feeding the fish, either. Still some pretty cool snorkel views.
Our second port was Cozumel, which has become a regular stop. Of our five years of doing this girls cruise, we've stopped at Cozumel three of hose years! Of course, we don't do much at this port, either. Literally. We go to a private beach club that's all inclusive, lay on the beach all day, have a good locally prepared lunch, and just completely relax. Which is probably why we keep going back - it's a day of guaranteed relaxation. Not that the entire cruise isn't relaxing, but it's just nice to have some semi-private time to relax.
Finally, on to our last day cruising at sea. It sucked. First time since our first cruise that we had a non-sunny day that the captain couldn't find us some sun. 
We did, however, get to go tour the bridge of the ship, which was really pretty cool. But beyond that, as the day progressed, the seas got rougher and rougher, as we heading directly into a weather front. By dinner, only about half the passengers actually made it to dinner, and ginger ale was being served as if it was water. It was like that well into the night, and likely until we got back into Tampa Bay, which was in the early hours of the morning. But we had three solid days of vacation fun, so really no complaints.
It's hard to believe we've been doing this for five years. Not sure if we'll keep it at four or if that was a one time celebration for Sabrina, but I think Karla, Jen, and I are content to keep this going as long as we can handle cruising.
Thanksgiving. For the past few years, it's been a bit of a struggle. With Eric's sister out of the state and, essentially, a fight for their attendance between our side and Kimber's mom led to us conceiting Thanksgiving Day to them in order to have a random weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas for our celebration of both holidays. 
It didn't upset us so much as frustrate us, because we could see the frustration it caused Kelly and Kimber with the scheduling of the kids (since Kelly's two boys need time with their respective fathers, as well). And their location in KY just made it that much harder.
Well, they're back in Indiana now, and essentially have to drive by our house to get to Kimber's family in OH, now, so at least now we know we can schedule either an early or late dinner and get to spend some time with them. Gives them a break in their drive and two solid meals for the day - nothing wrong with that option. So, "YAY!" We got to spend Thanksgiving evening with them! Which means we actually got to cook a turkey with all the fixin's and actually feel like the long weekend off work had a purpose. And with it being an actual dinner (at dinner time), we didn't have to get up super early to start things. So it worked out nicely as a pretty laid back day that ended with a nice dinner and family time.
And it makes it really that much nicer with the kids getting as old as they are. There's really not much longer before they start being reluctant to want to do family stuff - next year we have Paige turning 13, AJ turning 12, Payton turning 10, and Nolan turning 8. They're not so little anymore! It makes me think about my side of the family with Darian and Kris both in High School!
*sigh*
Time just flies by so fast - enjoy time when you have it - am I right??
So Thanksgiving just felt 'normal' for once this year. It's nice tohave some regularity in this crazy world sometimes. If nothing else, it lets you slow down and just enjoy life.
So around this time last year, I decided I wanted to take my niece to her first concert. She was almost 14, and I was around this age for my first concert,, so I knew it would be something she'd love and remember. But the question was, what concert?
I hinted around to see what she was into (or still into from when I last talked music with her). In her typical teenager way, though, she didn't give me a lot to go on... 'she just liked music.' Which I got - I'm that way. So I started seeing what acts were touring, and what would really be worthwhile. I narrowed it down to a few, but the dates weren't panning out with either my ability to get down to FL (which made more sense to take her to one there), or the timing of ticket sales didn't happen in time for Christmas. So I ended up punting the idea for a Christmas gift, but the idea never left my mind.
Fast forward to this summer. I have a few concerts of my own to go to, and in particular, had awesome seats for Dave Matthews on my Birthday. I became inspired again. So I started searching again and talking to people. It didn't take long to narrow it down... Taylor Swift in Tampa. It was, of course, sold out... well, as far as seats together, it was. So I knew I'd have to go to a broker site. And there's SO many of those now... quite frankly, it's kind of scary. So I started watching a few of the site and checking on occasion. Finally, a couple of months into my watching, I see some seats I like, and first check with my sister if she'd be okay with me 'kidnapping my niece' for the weekend. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't want Darian to know details... but my sister had to tell her I was coming to take her somewhere, just so she wouldn't make plans - it was on Halloween, after all! So I got the tickets, and the surprise was on... as an early birthday gift for her.
Fast forward, again, to Friday - I fly into Jacksonville because I did NOT want to risk flight cancellations or delays. Plus, it was a good chance to spend some time with my parents - it's been since last Christmas! Saturday morning, I drove down to Palm Bay to pick up my niece and let her in on the surprise. Her reaction... priceless! It was the full jaw dropping, near tears, excited as all could be reaction! I couldn't of imagined a more perfect reaction to witness.
The plan was to drive over to Tampa for the concert, and to make life easier, stay overnight there and come back Sunday. Now that she knew what to pack for, she could finally pack appropriately - she had been hesitant to pack before because her mind was running wild with what the surprise might be. She was thinking Halloween part of some sort, maybe a soccer game... the Taylor Swift concert wasn't even on her radar from the sounds of it.
We got to Tampa with plenty of time. We checked into the hotel, freshened up, and headed out. It was at Raymond James Stadium, and it was sold out (55k fans). So, as you can imagine, traffic was a little heavy. But it was not issue, in my mind, and we got inside the stadium with time to ohh and ahh from our seats. I splurged - I got field seats. I figured if I'm going to do it, I was going to do it right. Besides, I think I was just as excited to see Taylor Swift as Darian was. So I wanted good seats for me, too!
There were actually two opening acts for her. The first was Shawn Mendes. I think Darian was almost as excited to see him as she was to see Taylor! He's one of the new cuties on the scene... all the girls were screaming. Then there was Vance Joy. He didn't get as much screaming, but he was good, too. And he had a fun Australian accent to listen to between songs. But finally... it was time.
Taylor took the stage and opened with Welcome to New York. This is a song I've recently started to really like on my song list when I fly - which is often. I was actually surprised that I was able to sing along with just about all the songs - guess I'm a bigger fan that I realized! And Taylor Swift puts on a good show... it may be more show (scripted) than some concerts I got to, but it didn't make it any less of a good show. I think I came away from this thinking that you can't sell out a football stadium unless you put on a good show. I've only been to two stadium shows - U2 and Taylor Swift, but those two shows have been phenomenal! Granted, not in the same category... but there are a lot of acts out there that can't, and will likely never sell out a crowd that large!
The show continued, as she hit just about all her songs from her 1989 album. Of course, she had a few of her other big hits in there, like Love Story, which was the song that Darian first like of Taylor's. She did a more hard rock version of We are Never Getting Back Together that was interesting - she even played an electric guitar for that one. 
And she had this really cool 'catwalk stage' down the center of the audience that actually lifted up and could spin (slowly) like a helicopter blade. It was actually pretty cool!
She had a couple of special guests for this show (her last for the U.S. leg of the 1989 World Tour). The first was Alessia Cara, which I didn't recognize until they started singing her song, Here. Then later she came out dressed like Olaf from Frozen, and all her dancers were dressed like reindeer. Yes, it was Halloween, but I called it... Idina Menzel then came on stage and they sung Let It Go and it was A-MAZ-ING!!
The entire show was spectacular, as she capped it off with Shake It Off as her encore. She and all her dancers were on the spinning stage for that. Perfect ending to the show.
Anyway... I think the best part was actually just watching Darian. She had this look of pure joy on her face the entire night. That look you have when you experience something for the first time that is seemingly pure magic. Nothing will beat the memories made from this little road trip to a concert, my niece's first concert.
So this was unexpected... a third Cubs game! And Eric DIDN'T have to go to this one... this was actually a one-off work event. What's that, you ask? It's what happens when you have awesome consultants based out of Chicago!
So we received a very unexpected invite for our department to join them (our awesome consultant) for a Cubs game verses the Cardinals. And with the Cubs still doing so awesome, and the Cards being on top of our division, it was sure to be a good game (and probably a hard ticket to come by!). So after some going back and forth, and after realizing that we couldn't all go (so our side of the office wouldn't be left empty), we got the okay to go, with only about 6 of us being able to commit. 
Was supposed to be more, but two backed out at the last minute (boo!), but we still had a bunch from our consultant's side to fill out the group for an afternoon of fun!
We started at Murphy's Bleachers for some pre-game festivities. After some drinks and a bunch of tater tots (they tasted really good, for some reason), we headed into the game. We were in the stands out by left field - an area I've never sat before, so it was a completely different experience for me! It's a weird combo of die-hard season ticket holder (like really old guys that you can tell have had tickets for ever) and groups that wanted to be in the bleacher (young people drinking a lot). 
We fell somewhere comfortably in the middle. And the Cubs beat the Cardinals! Pretty good, too, 8-3!!
The whole trip was fun for those of us that drove up. A lot of bonding. Which was cool, because it was across teams and even had a new person for us all to get to know. We got home late, though... midnight, for me, by the time I dropped both the people and the car off (I had the easy access to a rental since I flew back to the airport the night before). I really work with some cool people, bit in my company and as consultants. I really love my job!
You knew another one was coming since I had a 'Cubs Game #1' post earlier in the year. Ha
The good news is that we didn't get rained out this weekend! Yay! Yesterday's game wasn't a night game, but it was, at least, a later afternoon game, so we weren't rushed to leave yesterday morning. Though maybe we should've been. Thanks to INDOT for closing a 50 mile stretch of I-65 northbound (when only about 5 miles needed to be closed), causing a chaotic detour did cause us to be later than I had wanted (I had wanted to get there early, for once). When we saw the delay from the detour wouldn't get us there early, we decided to check in to the hotel and take the red Line to Wrigley - only missed part of the first inning by doing this.
It was actually a pretty good game against the Giants, too, with the Cubs coming away with a win, 8-6! This is a nice change of pace because usually after the All-Star break is when the Cubs go into Decline. Maybe this really is their year! I guess there's still a long way to go, though...
After the game, we went back to hotel to freshen up. It was still early enough that we could actually go somewhere for dinner... and we decided to go to Eataly. I love that place! Always good food, and you can turn around and buy what you ate on your way out. Which, we did go back there before leaving town this morning... not to buy what we ate last night, but to buy other goodies. Starting to become our routine when we go to Chicago.
No Ikea this trip, if you can believe it. Just didn't have a reason this time. But we did do Fair Oaks Farm's new restaurant. We were actually a little disappointed... maybe they're still working through some kinks? Willing to try it again, but I think I'd rather do the grilled cheese at their deli-style shop across the parking lot any day!
I feel like that, even though it's early Sunday, I can say my birthday weekend is done. There's nothing planned today, so let's write about what I DID do!
My birthday was on Friday, of course, and my plans were made months ago for the night of... Dave Matthews Band!! And I got some amazing seats this year through Warehouse. I was SO excited when I saw I was in the lower pavilion at Deer Creek (Klipsh, or whatever it is 'officially') for the first time in all my years of going. 
And the excitement only continued as we showed up and saw how great they were! I was just a few rows behind the pit area - it was awesome!
And the show, itself, matched the seats - awesome! I think Eric even enjoyed it. Of course, a lot of that probably was due to the seat location. When you're that close and can actually hear what they're saying much more clearly, and even see expressions or interaction between some of the band... SO much better close up (go figure). This DMB show definitely ranks up there as one of the best I've been to.
Saturday was a complete flip... my company picnic. And it was a hot, humid day to be outside. I think one of the hottest days to date this summer. We had our picnic at Conner Prairie. In all my years in Indiana, and even within a 10 minute drive when I lived in Fishers, I've never been to this place. Except for a couple of Symphony on the Prairie concerts. But that was a completely different experience, which didn't include the 'theme park' part of Conner Prairie.
Unfortunately, it was almost too hot to really enjoy any part of the park... we walked through the historical areas, but it was just too hot to stay outside for too long. There was no breeze to even help with the stagnant humidity. It was fun to meet a lot of coworkers' families and such, though... it amazes me how much the company has grown since I just started back in December - I don't think we'll be able to have our picnic here, again - we were almost at capacity! But it was fun.
And that was it, really. That was my birthday weekend. In a nutshell. Now today, the hope it to just relax and prepare for the week ahead!
Normally, long holiday weekends are associate with relaxation, travel, and family time. And quite often (more often than not), that is the case for Eric and I. But this past holiday weekend, it was the furthest thing from that. We were in the trenches of yardwork. Literally.
We've been talking about doing 'one last big project' in our backyard for awhile now... the goal? Installing 4" conduit for an underground power feed to our house. The hurdle? Installing 4" conduit for an underground power feed. Yes... the goal and the hurdle were one in the same. With the garage in place now, we had to rent slightly smaller equipment to fit in our yard - just a mini-excavator this time. But it still tore up our entire yard with the dirt pile and trying to turn the thing this in was on treads. So we were left with just one small patch of decent grass left. And we were just getting our backyard to look nice.
So Project #1 (the conduit installation) took all day Friday. Nearly from sun-up to sun-down. We were literally returning the excavator to Home Depot at 10pm. Gotta love those long summer days... lots of daylight to do things like dig up your backyard. We didn't quite get everything we wanted done - two particular area were left open for some additional tie-ins with the conduit, so those hole would be filled in later, by hand. Which would turn out to be easier said than done. And Project #1 would lead to the necessity of another project... redoing the backyard. Again, easier said than done.
Saturday was spent taking care of the trench along the property line next to our neighbor's, so as to not leave a huge hole for them to fall into. The dirt turned out to be a very sticky, heavy clay that was anything BUT easy to shovel into the hole. So we took a break and ran out for supplies that we deemed necessary for the upcoming Project #2. We were both so worn out from the first day and were just moving at a slower pace Saturday. I guess we should've planned for that... but we did manage to get most of the trench filled in and even managed to freshen up and join the neighbors to actually watch the fireworks. It was the only social time we really gave ourselves all weekend.
Sunday was spent on Project #2 - trying to get the backyard to look, well, like a backyard again. We bought mulch, topsoil, grass seed and matting on Saturday to try to get to that point. The first half of the day was spent just finishing the sideyard next to (and in) the neighbor's - the mini excavator tore up their area more than we thought it would. Then, with what little energy we had left, we attempted to re-grade out the backyard so it was a little smoother, and put down grass seed. Again, we were wrapping up around 10pm. The yard still didn't look like much, and still wasn't done (we ran out of energy and matting to put over the seed). But hopefully the seed will take soon enough.
I have muscles in my body that haven't ached since I was doing my Insanity workouts. And I have more scrapes, bruises, and bug bites than I can count. Oh... and the kicker? On Friday, Eric snagged our cable conduit. It didn't break the line, that we could tell, but it pulled from the junction box, we're thinking - we've been without phone, cable, or internet since Friday afternoon. We'll know more when AT&T makes it out. Thank goodness we both have our cell phones. At least the weather cooperated all weekend - never got overly hot and never rained on us. Didn't stop the sweat from pouring our of both of us... but hopefully, it'll all be worth it when we have a nice backyard to chill in... next year.
So I think I'm driving Eric nuts with my annual Cubs games. He grew up a White Sox fan, and calls Wrigley a Museum. I've told him if he wants to do White Sox games, I'm open for them. But if I didn't book what I do, we'd never get out of town!
This trip might of gotten him to warm up to Wrigley a bit more, at least. Phase one of the renovation happened in the off season, and this first phase included two big screens in the outfield. (And these will come into play later.) He said the men's bathroom was better, too (I know the women's was upgraded!). So it wasn't much, but he wasn't complaining about the deteriorating stadium the whole time. In my opinion, the upgrades so far look like they are going well. They seem to be following the Fenway model pretty well - keeping the history and making the 'new' blend in as well as one can (rather than detracting from it - like Soldier Field did so many years ago). They even try to 'blend' the large LED screens by using 'historic' coloring.
We knew the weather was going to be iffy for the game. This was a night game, too, so we knew that time was limited t how long we could be there. We got there, and play was able to get underway on time. The Cubs even managed to pull into the lead over the Reds before a rain delay was called. It just seemed like it was going to go one for awhile. But, something they could never do before was able to entertain the crowd - they pulled up the Blackhawks playoff game on the big screens! So we had a spontaneous Blackhawks watch party, which for this crowd, was perfect! They probably kept a lot more people around when the game resumed much later, thanks to that.
We, however, were not two of them. We stuck it out through the end of the 2nd Period of the Blackhawks game before deciding to dodge the raindrops back to the car. But we were okay with that. We just went to the hotel and crashed - it was after 10pm by the time we go there.
This morning, we decided to go by Eataly for breakfast (Italian pastries and coffee), since they were open early enough (and the weather was still miserable and rainy). The weather didn't bode well for any other exploration of the City - just too nasty. After a quick breakfast, we wandered through Eataly and picked up a few items to cook up an awesome belated anniversary dinner tonight. Nothing like a little authentic Italian food to make for a mouth watering dinner, no matter the occasion. This, alone, almost made the trip completely worth it!
And we did go by Ikea before leaving town - I didn't think that was on the table this trip, but Eric wanted to grab a few items. And I can always do Ikea. But we still got home with plenty of time to cook up an amazing dinner, as planned! It turned out to be quite nice trip, for as short as it was. Always good to get away, even if it is quick.
One of the perks to living in Fletcher Place is the annual Italian Fest put on by Holy Rosary. Eric might argue that we've missed a lot of them, as it usually falls on our anniversary weekend, but I contest that - we can usually make at least one night. The only exception was our wedding five years ago, and my friend, Chris', wedding last year. And then there was the year that is was cancelled due to 'church politics' - totally not my fault or any travel planning faux pas. Anyway...
This year we were excited to see some layout improvements from our last time (two years ago, for anyone keeping track). Last time, we saw they started to change the layout a bit, but it still had some areas that got bottlenecked, and the stage location was part of that. This year, they finally moved the stage to the actual park area, where there was a lot more green space. This allowed for the food area to expand/spread out, and also made it much quieter - you could eat in one of the table areas and hear yourself talk, while the other area closer to the stage allowed you to still enjoy the show while you ate. Granted, you could still hear the music wherever you were. This was the biggest change, and it was a vast improvement. I guess it might have been like that last year, but it was new to us.
Then there was the cannolis. They used to pass them out, for a few bucks each, and they quite obviously were a massed produced frozen item they bought for the festival. They were still good (they sold tons!), but not 'fresh' like you might find in an authentic Italian restaurant. But this year... they were fresh! At least fresh-er. I think the shell might have been pre-bought, but I swear, the filling was fresh. We were guessing that they came out of the new gelato shop that opened - we haven't been in there yet, but the family that opened it is quite tied-in with the church. They were SO good!
We didn't stay long this year, but it got us excited about next year (no - we can't go tonight). It is a fun event to go to, as it just so low key, since it's one of the few cultural festivals still actually in a neighborhood (rather than one of the large parks downtown). Regardless, it's always a fun time.
Nothing like taking a long holiday week on a patriotic US holiday, and deciding to leave the country that weekend... at the last minute. But that's what we did.
Eric and I had been talking about going to Toronto for a few weeks now. Well... Eric had been, and I had been humoring him with, "Sure! Let's go!" But there was some sincerity in that... I was willing to go... I just didn't quite get why he wanted to go. But Friday afternoon, it just seemed to be a good thing to do... Eric really needed to get away from things, and the long weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity to make to do a roadtrip (where you'd actually get to enjoy your destination). So around 4pm on Friday, we started booking hotels and a car, figuring we'd leave as soon as we could get everything together, going as far as Detroit for the evening. 
Then Saturday morning, we crossed the border into Canada.
My only other time in Canada was out cross-over at Niagara Falls a few years ago. Granted, we ended up having to drive through Canada to get to the next border crossing south (into Buffalo), but I didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings, other than it just seemed weird and foreign to see crowns and kilometers on the road signs. But this trip gave me a chance to really take it in... all four hours within the country before making it to Toronto. A lot of farmland. A lot of 'green' energy in the making, both solar and wind. And way cleaner than US roads - no trash blowing around - and relatively well kept right-of-ways, in general.
We go into the outskirts of Toronto a little after 3pm, made some wrong turns, which led us to discovering some cool areas to go back to later that day (more to come on that later). We got to our hotel, which was in just about the perfect location on the edge of the financial/business district and their China Town. We checked in, settled into the hotel, and decided it was time to explore.
Our first 'destination' was an area we passed on our way into town (remember how we got lost?). We saw a bunch of shipping containers set up around a community center and small shops and food venders. Eric was looking for 'inspiration' on this trip, it turned out, and this was a good start for him. On our way to the community center, we noticed a road with a flurry of activity on it - what looking like some street venders and markets from a distance. So after we saw the container set up, we went back to that area. 
It turned out to be Kensington Market - apparently, a popular area for just that - street venders and markets. It has a bit of a NYC Canal Street vibe, though maybe not as shady. But in an interesting twist, some of the smaller shops are being replaced by trendy shops and foodie type small restaurants. Not at all fancy, mind you... just a little above what was there.
So we walked around Kensington Market for a bit - there were tons of people there! And the mix of venders was crazy!! It ranged from your Chinese Herb Shop, to your skateboard shop, to your medicinal marijuana, to your trendy styled butcher shop. After all the walking around, we were getting hungry and decided to pick one of the new trendy foodie places to eat. And what did we find? Chicken and Waffles. Who'd of thought that Southern staple made its way all the way to Canada.
We passed The Dirty Bird as we were walking down the street and the smell was amazing! 
It was enough for us to talk about it and then go back to it. It was a small little place, with just about every seat taken. There was a short line... which was just enough time for a seat to open when we were ready to sit down. The food? Amazing! I guess they do kind of have the market on maple syrup... so that helps a little. I had The Dirty Bird'ger and Eric Went the traditional route, which ended up being a lot of food! Everything about it - the batter on the chicken, the syrup concoction they made (it wasn't JUST maple syrup), and the 'dirty' sweet potato fries they made... YUM!
After we ate, we decided to walk some more. We stopped back at the hotel briefly to freshen up and take a look at a map and such. One thing about traveling internationally (even to Canada) is that you're forced to 'unplug' (unless you want to pay extra - which I did for my personal phone, but even it's limited). So we couldn't just use our phones to look things up unless we had Wi-Fi... which we knew we had at the hotel (and found elsewhere through the weekend). One we determined the direction we wanted to head, we were off again, this time in the other direction from the hotel, taking us towards the City Building and even a mall. 
Supposedly a good mall, but we had nothing to compare it to. We discovered a cool multi-functional space in from of the main City Building where a fountain served as an ice skating rink in the winter. There was also a permanent stage and an elevated walking path around the perimeter. Kind of cool use of space. It was next to the original Courthouse, which was a beautiful brown sandstone.
As darkness settled in, though, we were feeling our long day of traveling catching up with us. We were tired and the comfy hotel bed was calling our name. We figured we'd have a full day of exploring on Sunday, too, so it was better to get some good sleep beforehand.
Sunday morning, we deciding to be a little adventurous and find a crepe place a saw on Yelp. It was about a mile away, but we figured it wasn't too bad to walk. It would allow us to take in the City a bit more, too, since it was in yet another direction from the hotel. 
Everything was pretty quiet, except for the area where they were setting up to do some movie filming. Turns out they are filming Suicide Squad right now, with Will Smith and a bunch of other big names. We walked by a few of the sets on Sunday - on the way to breakfast, We saw a bunch of extras hanging out, waiting for things to get started. We didn't see any of the big stars, but we did have the movie's 'trailer town' set up next to our hotel. There might of been some stars there... or it may have just been the crew.
After the wonderful crepe breakfast at Crepe It Up, we hopped on The Toronto Bike share that was at the end of the block. It was time to do some bike exploring! We really had no destination in mind, so looked at a map at each stop, and just decided where to go next. We ultimately ended up down on the lakefront. Even at this point, we weren't sure where to go next, but then we saw the Redpath sugar refinery... and it was open to the public. Turns out that this weekend was Doors Open Toronto, which is an annual even where businesses open up their doors to the public, many of which are typically open to the public, such at this refinery. 
Now it wasn't a full on tour, but it was a self-guided tour with some additional interaction with some staff to learn about the process and history, as well as their extensive product line. I had no idea all the things to could make with raw sugar! And the tour ended with a peek into the raw sugar storage barn... which was as massive, if not MORE massive than a typical road salt barn. Then they gave us some butter/sugar cookies, and we were on our way.
We walked along the waterfront for a bit, until we came to the ferry docks for Toronto Island. We didn't ferry over to the island, but we hung at the park for a bit and watch some of the ferries and the crazy migrating geese that were flying inches about the water. It was such a beautiful morning, but was started to cloud up a bit. We decided to head back into the City and find some lunch. And since it was nice, and there were a lot more people out and about, we figured it'd be better to just walk, which was pretty easy, since where we were going was a straight shot up Bay Street.
We found an Italian places called Mercatto, and thought we'd do a quick pizza there. They had some amazing desserts we decided to have, too - we walked/biked enough that morning - we could 'afford' dessert, right?? The restaurant happened to be next to a historic church that was participating in the Doors Open weekend, so we took a peek inside before heading to the Courthouse (we saw the night before) for the same reason. 
The church had a beautiful pipe organ in it and one of the guide was telling us how the subway was literally dug around it, and the more frequent trains have caused massive cracks in the building walls in recent years (as he then pointed out). It was crazy to see some of the excavation pictures! The courthouse turned out to be a bit disappointing, as they had very limited area actually open to the public. You would've though court was actually in session on a Sunday.
We decided to end the day with a little shopping at the mall. There were some interesting stores there that we didn't recognize as being in the US... though we still ended up at Banana republic and J. Crew somehow. But we did go to others, as well. We finished with a walk-though of the Canadian Tire that was attached, which we determined to be the Canadian version of K-Mart (yes - K-Mart, not Wal-Mart). We then took our stuff back to the hotel (yes - we did buy some stuff) and started figuring out our dinner options.
At this point, we knew we were tired. But one thing we saw earlier in the day intrigued us... we walked by a place called Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake on our way to breakfast, and there were cones set out to a line to form in. We thought that was odd, though there were some people in the line already, and it had just opened. 
When we walked passed it on the way to back to the hotel, the line was much longer, and we understood why the cones were there. We did a little research, and decided that after dinner (wherever we decided) we would go wait in the line and join the hype that this place has apparently created. So we were literally planning out dinner around 'dessert' that we'd have to wait for.
We did a gourmet burger place called Bareburger that was nearby, figuring it's be relatively quick. I actually had an Elk burger. It was good - gamey like deer, but good. Eric went for the safer Bison burger. We then went over to wait in line for some Japanese Cheesecake. We got in line right around 9pm, and quickly learned that this place was a lot of hype, because no one near us in line had been there before. There were even other Americans in line with us because they, too, had heard about this place. But there had to be hype for a reason, right?? About 15 minutes into our wait, one of the employees came out to give us a ticket to 'guarantee' our 6" cheesecake. 
She proceeded to tell us the procedure, which we already vaguely knew from our research, and even mentioned how the average wait is usually closer to two hours (and we were looking at one hour at that point). We were ready for the wait!
We finally get inside the tiny little bakery, which was maybe 500sft, and it was so hot in there from the ovens and constant line of people. But now we could see the process. They only bake 12 at a time in each oven, and there are three ovens, and each round takes 45 minutes to bake. As soon as they are out of the oven, they pack them and sell them. It's cash only ($10) and you pay, and then are out the door with your steaming hot cheesecake.
If you do a little research, you'll learn that Japanese Cheesecake is different from what you would typically think of when you think about cheesecake. When it's still warm, it's very soufflé like, and even has a strong egg-y like taste - the cheese doesn't come through very much at this stage, but I was told it's good to try at this stage and heard some even eat if for breakfast because of the light, egg-y flavor. As it cools, though, and even is chilled in the fridge, the become more sponge cake-like, though still lighter than your traditional cheesecake. 
The cheese flavor come out a little more now, though it's still not nearly as sweet, like a traditional cheesecake. I think it would be ideal with fruit on it - the fruit flavors would shine, rather than the cream cheese flavor.
So we took our cheesecake back to the hotel and tried it. Eric really didn't like the cheesecake warm, and though it wasn't my cup of tea, I could see how this stage of the cheesecake would be appealing to some. We both tried it after it was chilled in the fridge, and liked it much better that way. Mentally noted for 'next time' or if I try to attempt one of the many Pinterest recipes I've seen for Japanese Cheesecake. But this was a great way to end the night - and the weekend. The whole thing was quite an experience! Considering we had no agenda for Toronto, we were quite happy with our weekend!
This morning we just got up, and made our way out from the hotel. We ended up doing breakfast at Ikea (only because we passed right by it) and then picked up a few snacks for the road from their local grocery chain, Longo's, which was actually kind of a cool store. Then we drove and drove until we got to Detroit.
Once in Detroit, we did a little detouring. Eric wanted to find a few places, as well as show me some of the places he learned about on his 'field trip' up to Detroit a few months ago. 
You hear about the blight of Detroit, and even see pictures... but until you see it firsthand, you really can't comprehend it. And to see how far the downtown has come is amazing! We drove through some of the areas Eric's bus tour took him, including The Heidelberg Project, which is an 'art' installation. Basically, a guy collects junk from vacant buildings and homes and started piling it up and occasionally painting it or getting creative with it in some way. It was very odd, in my opinion.
After some detouring, we were on our way back to Indy. We got home around 10:30pm - made for a long day, since we left out hotel around 9am. That's what stops and detours do for you, though - it's in no way that long of a drive if you drive there in a more normal fashion. But then, when do we ever travel in normal fashion?
This weekend turned out to be something of a charitable weekend for me. Wasn’t planned this way… well, the events were planned, but I never looked at the calendar close enough to see how it fell together. Makes for a warm fuzzy inside.
Friday night was the Make-A-Wish Big Wish Gala. I’ve been volunteering at this event for a few years now, and I love it! Just like I love Make-A-Wish! The Gala is always something spectacular and it grows every year – about 800 people were in attendance this year. Last year, we raised over $500k, and I’m sure this year, we raised even more. There was one ‘anonymous’ donation of $150,000 (I say it like that because the guy stood up and donated it). Very few people knew about that coming, so it got a lot of applause. They did a few things differently, on the operating side of it this year, so it made for more down time for the volunteers, believe it or not. But that made it possible for us to actually enjoy part of the program, which was nice for a change. Always cool to hear the stories.
Saturday morning was the SGK Race for the Cure. I’ve been doing this for many years, now, but it’s never fallen on the morning after the Gala. So it was a late night, followed by an early morning. But, since I wasn’t partaking in the drinking side of the Gala (since I was volunteering at it), it really wasn’t that big of a deal. It was the perfect morning for the event this year, too – the past few years have been cold and/or rainy. I think the weather helped the crowd turnout, too, though we still haven’t gotten back to the peak we were at a few years back (before the ‘controversial’ remark the CEO made about something). But I still support it because of what the root cause is – people say things, but that’s their right. This nation has become too PC sensitive. But that’s a rant for another day.
So all in all, a good weekend to this point. It’s just a rainy day, today… but as much as I want to be lazy, I can’t seem to get to my lazy state. Oh well. I still consider it a good weekend.
So I'm on my way home from my first official work trip. Yes... right now... I'm on a plane. You gotta love technology.
So two weeks ago, I gained the Dallas/Ft. Worth market as my area to find and develop projects. This was an area I've never been before... I can honestly say, I expects Dallas to be very, how shall I say... Texas? You know... "Everything's bigger in Texas" and lots of trucks and boots and cowboy hats. You know... like the show, Dallas. I was surprised to see that is wasn't and really just like any other big city with lots of suburbs. Houston was more 'Texas' (IMO) than Dallas is. Maybe it was because it was just my first time there... but who knows.
My main focus was actually over in Ft. Worth this trip. I had a meeting with the City about a new project, and we wanted to make sure we were heading down the right path before starting the formal design/submittal process with them. Not that those reading this really have a honest care about it, but this site just seems too straight forward to be true... even the City Planner said it was a pretty straight forward looking site. Scary. So here's hoping that's true.
I did drive by some other potential sites and explore a bit. For those who don't know, the downtowns of Dallas and Ft. Worth are about 30 miles away from each other - straight show on I-30 between the two. And as Cities go, the two are actually quite different, from what I saw. Again, this was my first time and just my first impression. Over the next few trips, I'm sure I'm form a final opinion. 
Upon arrival to DFW, which is right between the two cities, I was hungry for lunch and had only my own schedule to deal with (driving to sites). So I found the closest Panera on my way to my first site. Which happened to be in Arlington. Which I didn't even think about being the home of the Cowboys. So without even looking, I found myself in the shadow of AT&T Stadium. I passed by it a few more time on my trip, as well - you can see it very clearly from I-30. There was also a Wet-n-Wild there, that looked just like the one I went to growing up in Orlando (Kissimmee). Only, this one had be sold to the neighboring Six Flags across the interstate and renamed. But it was still on Wet-n-Wild Drive. LoL
So Texas... I did not think I'd end up there (in a working sense), but there I am. For now. That could change at a moments notice when you're in development. But it'll be interesting while I am traveling down there.
I know I said I'd limit the weather posts... but it's finally spring!
At least on the calendar. But the weather hasn't been too horrible. Great, no... but not horrible. We've had some 'warm' days that have given us a hint of what's to come... but it still seems cold for March! And the weatherman agrees - we've had a lot of below average days. And there's still snow in the forecast. We didn't get a lot, but I'm so tired of the snow this year. I think it's because it's been so cold this year. And I had no garage. Still. But I digress.
So yeah... Spring is here and I'm really hoping it warms up quickly and stays there. We even threw some grass seed down today, in hopes of it germinating and taking care of some of the mud the snow left behind. And a few of the tulip are trying to poke through. But it's actually later than in years past... our neighbor's tulip tree is normally in full bloom by now! I'm so tired of looking at all the 'blah' browns/greys and lack of color around here.
Spring Break is the other thing... it seems like everyone but me is taking a true spring break vacation. How is it that the person from FL is the one NOT going to FL soon? Complete bummer... I think I need to plan something. Ha Ha I wish I could... maybe a late spring break? I don't know... nothing can be determined yet. Too many other things happening (mainly with work). But that's a whole other story.
I think we only have one wedding this year... as last weekend was it! And it was a destination wedding, of sorts, in that we had to travel. To New England in the winter.
I think everyone had heard about the monumental amount of snow they've had in New England this winter - near record setting overall total (with still a possibility of it being surpassed). So we had an idea of what to expect when we got out there... a lot of snow on the ground! And there was, indeed, a lot of snow, which was clear as we landed in Boston.
We headed out on Friday morning, with the through that we could actually have a day of 'vacation' before the wedding on Saturday. Last week, as I was trying to figure out what we should do, in occurred to me... New England is known for their lighthouses! Since we had to drive to the northern border of Massachusetts for the wedding, we might as well keep driving north for a bit and be a tourist. Besides, why not add two more states to my 'visited' list. 
I honestly had no idea where to start, so I found a guided tour a mapped out some of the lighthouses they had listed. So I knew it's be an interesting drive trying to actually find some of these.
And that turned out to be true. We drove as far north as Portland, ME, and our first couple of stops, while not complete failures, were disappointing. Either we couldn't find the lighthouse at all (bad directions from Google/Siri) or they were too far out to really see. But finally, I picked a sure bet based on reviews - the Portland Head Light. And it was about the most perfect lighthouse you could find. I was a happy girl, finally. 
And the next one, The Nubble Light House, was probably one of the more iconic light houses you see photos of... even with snow on the rocks around it! We decided to grab a Lobster Roll for lunch - because you always have to have a Lobster Roll, right?? Then we drove around to find a few more before heading to the hotel. It was starting to get dreary and windy... and we were getting hungry for dinner. We chilled out for a bit and freshened up before heading into the downtown area of Amesbury for some dinner. Yelp has become my friend when travelling... it really does help you find some good places you may not find, otherwise. And it, again, helped us find some good pub fare. But by the time we were done eating, we were wiped from our long day of travel.
Saturday morning, we woke up to some snow showers. Lucky New England! But they didn't last too long... they did turn to rain, eventually. So we had some breakfast at the hotel, and then found the only Starbucks in NE Massachusetts. No joke. They are Dunkin Donuts lovers in this part of the country. We used their Wi-Fi for a bit before doing some more exploring - no lighthouses, today - too cold! Instead, we drove out to Lowell to find some makerspaces Eric read about. And a converted factory and created a great reuse - apartments, small (local) shops, and even a small theatre! It was a very cool space. But then it was finally time for the reason we were here... Zeb & Heather's wedding.
The venue was in Groveland, about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. It was still drizzling a bit, but it was letting up. It was indoors, anyway, so it was just a matter of getting there. They had a really sweet (and fun) ceremony, where one of the guys who was responsible for them meeting was the officiant. There weren't too many people there that we knew, as Zeb was one of Eric's younger fraternity brothers... and we were in New England, not Indiana. But we had a good time, with good food and friends. They are a great couple and Eric and I are so happy they found each other.
Sunday morning we slept in after the late night. We decided to skip the hotel breakfast and, instead, find some breakfast as we headed back towards Boston. We found a truly local place (thanks to Yelp, again) and had a really hearty breakfast. We then headed to Somerville to find another makerspace Eric heard about - this one was supposed to be awesome! We were not disappointed at all. It was huge and I think it was everything Eric aspires to have his space be. Eric got quite inspired. We then went to Cambridge to scope out another space, which we couldn't fine, but we did find Harvard. It was kind of cool to see such a historic school - the campus was much more urban/dense than I expected... guess I'm used to Auburn.
But it was finally time to head to the airport and back to Indiana. It turned out to be quite the weekend for us, and just enough time away for both of us. Even if it was cold. We still had a great time.
After last year's near fiasco (if you don't remember, go look it up), I really was big on doing a big date night. I still wanted to do something, and while I would've been just happy cooking a nice meal at home (like we've done in the past), I still did a little searching for something fun to do. And then it came to me... a hockey game.
I know... hockey on Valentine's Day?? And no, this didn't mean a trip to Chicago. We have a new hockey team in Indy this year, the Fuel, that is actually a feeder team to the Blackhawks. Not the only question was, do they have a game on Valentine's Day?
Indeed there was a game. So a week out from Valentine's Day, we were buying tickets for a Valentine's Night Hockey Date. Sounds fun, right?? I even had guys at work jealous - kind of funny, actually.
So the game... we had talked about checking out a Fuel game when they first announced the season last year. The Blackhawks game we went to over a year ago was a great time, but pricey! So these would be cheaper in what I like to call a more 'intimate' atmosphere... only around 5,000 or so seats verses 20,000 or so in the United Center. 
We really weren't sure which level to buy - we figured they were all good seats. But we chose to go low because we knew we'd never get low for an NHL game. Not right on the glass, but just a few rows up.
It was a fun atmosphere, too! Not quite as electric as a Blackhawks game... but then, you only have a quarter of the fans yelling and screaming. 
But fun, none the less. They even had a surprise It's one of the few losses they've had in the past month or so. So that was a bit of a bummer. But they DID get a goal while we were there and, since they're a Blackhawks affiliate, it was the same horn and song to follow. Loved it!
So yeah... a little unconventional for Valentine's Day, but it was a lot of fun. And since it was so cold, it was nice to be able to just bundle up and not worry about being all dressed up in the cold. That was last year, and it sucked. I'll take my jeans and comfy layers any day.
So I have to apologize to my few loyal readers out there (my family) about my slow decrease in quality blogs. I have no good excuse... just the excuse of my life (work) being busier, which actually leads to less for me to blog about.
There's no interesting trips or life events. Pretty much just go to work and come home. When something happens, I obviously blog about it. But there's just not much going on. I'm hoping as spring and summer come along, I'll have more to talk about and not just throw boring 'blah' blogs on here like I've been doing on occasion... you know, about the weather or something silly like that. But, quite frankly, the weather gets me worked up in the winter because, well, I hate winter and the cold.
Hopefully our garage will get built and the bathroom completed. Maybe Eric can work less and we can do more fun things on the weekends. But for now, I'm just trying to get through the winter. I'm not saying I'm stopping my blog. Just know that if you see a longer gap between a blog, it's just because I'm in winter hibernation. Maybe something exciting will happen this weekend. Maybe not.
So bear with me as I try to get back into more fun stuff. We are trying to plan a few things... and surely some spontaneous fun will occur, as well. I just don't want to bore you with 'blah' just to throw a blog up here. Where's the worth in that, both for you and me? I'd rather work on quality than quality... maybe that should've been a New Year's resolution. Guess it still could be. Not a bad life motto, actually. Maybe that'll put my focus on better things, in general. Hmmm... maybe I'm on to something here.
Okay... until next time. I've got to think about this some more.
I'm thinking this might be a similar post I do every year. I don't know - I didn't look back. But it feels like it... maybe... But seriously... where's the heck did January go??
I know I've been busy with a new job, and we've had some crappy weather. But I feel like it's flown by, and the wreck that is my house shows that, as well. You'd think I was never home, by the way there are some 'to do' stacks of stuff around. I'd say I wish I had a day off to catch up, but I think I'd just end up napping all day. Because when I AM home, I'm soooo tired.
Eric laughs at me, though he's just as bad, if not worse than me. It didn't take long for him to fall back into his bad habits of working too late and going into the office at least one day a weekend. He claims to need the time to catch up... but he over-committed to begin with, which is never good. So he's getting all stressed out.
At least I'm not stressed... just tired. My job continues to go well and while I'm not traveling out of state yet, I have that to look forward to. Which will only make the house worse?
I just want my garage to be built. Part of me feels like that will be the solution to everything. There will be more storage, no worries about cars getting hit, and maybe our lawnmower will finally be safe. No more saws in the bathroom or wood trim on the bed. Maybe we'll even be able to finish the master bathroom, once we have a place to act as a workshop.
But none of that can happen until the ground thaws. Stupid winter. I'm so ready for it to be over. I want some warm weather and can't wait to not have constant gloomy days. I really hate winter.
*sigh*
January is over. Here's hoping there are no freak storms in February and maybe even get an early spring. Maybe.
I am so sick of hearing about 'Deflategate' already. Not that saying 'already' means anything, considering it was a bunch of crap to begin with. Part of me thinks it was just a bunch of hype to begin with - we can't honestly have a slow news week for the NFL, which last week would've been without this going on.
So here's the thing. Living in Indy, I'm hearing about it even more. Cause, of course, everyone here thinks the Colts got the shaft. The fans here seem to completely ignore the fact that the under-inflated balls were discovered in the first half, corrected at halftime, and the Patriots still scored an additional 28 points to completely blow away the Colts. Go figure.
Everyone is so quick to want to see the Patriots punished for cheating. But yet, there's no proof they cheated. There's no evidence to support that this was done on purpose, or done by someone as part of an intricate plan. Who's to say there wasn't some rogue person that just thought it would help the Patriots... or in hopes the Patriots would get accused of cheating?
I'll be one of the first to say that the NFL has become to big for their own good. They need to fall, at this point - no organization should have that much control over the media, merchandising, and everything related to football, in general. Maybe this little incident will help in that. Though I doubt it. But maybe. In my eyes, the NFL has become about as evil and the ENRON corporation... and every giant seems to eventually fall. Maybe Deflategate was just a way someone decided to make to dominoes start to fall.
How's that for a conspiracy theory?
So I've been at my new job 'for real' for a couple of weeks now. I say 'for real' because I can't really count the two weeks I was technically employed there, but not going into the office over the holidays. But now that I have two full weeks of actually going in when the office is fully staffed, I can finally say I feel like it's official.
It helps that I came into this job, working for a guy I used to work for (at Kite). So the comfort level was there from the beginning, which was a huge plus. I didn't meet most of my coworkers until after the holidays - they took off the few days I was in the office. It's really a fun group - everyone meshes together really well. Nobody's going rogue, thinking they know better. That's a nice change of pace from my previous development experience, as well.
I can already tell you that I love being back on this side of development - the client, rather than the consultant. I love being part of the big picture and not just a small piece that I'm not supposed to go beyond. I always felt so pigeonholed, like I couldn't comprehend anything out of my scope.
The company, itself, is amazing so far. I've heard companies say they're like a big family, and I even thought I was in companies like that before... but this one... wow. It really is a big family. No matter your title, everyone's just a family member in the office. And the respect amongst everyone is unlike anything I've seen before.
So yeah... I'm loving my new job. I imagine it's only going to feel more like 'home' as I get more into it and we get busier. It'll be a good wave to ride, regardless.
A few months ago, I downloaded an app on my phone called TimeHop that 'looks back' at your previous posts on social media. I did it, initially, just because I saw a lot of people sharing 'memories' from it, and I wanted to check it out. But as I looked at it, I noticed the weather trend that also occurred... I seemed to always have similar weather posts at the same time (ie - complaining). Sure, there were a few obvious 'warmer/colder that average' days... but in general, things seemed to fall around the same time.
I guess this should come as no surprise. Weather trends do tend to follow the same pattern. But the past couple of weeks have been quite interesting... they definitely showed a pattern of some of our worst winter weather, all falling in the same time frame. Last year was when we had the highs that were sub-zero. The year before that was a big winter storm that buried the City. This year, we've had some pretty good winter weather, as well, with snow, ice, and further cold temps (though not as bad as last year).
Everyone knows I don't the cold. This just makes me question my being here, at least during this time of year. Maybe I should convince my girls to change our cruise to one of these first few weeks of January? Or maybe I make it a point to travel with my new job for a couple of weeks straight in January? Or just leave the state for a vacation? Or forever?? I definitely can understand the snowbird perspective now. If you don't have to be in this, then why would you stick around?
Our temps haven't been above freezing for about a week now. I think they were close earlier this week, when we had a mix of rain/sleet/ice/snow... but we already had snow on the ground, so the 'warm' temps did nothing. In fact, it probably made it worse, because those few hours of melting (if there was any) just left behind a sheet of ice when we went back below freezing, which is where we still are. Sadly, I am looking forward tojust having temps above the freezing mark this weekend. I hate that I look forward to 40°F this time of year. I am not a 40°F type of girl.
Here's hoping we've seen the worst of the weather this year. Somehow, I don't think that's the case, though.
Here we are... the start of a new year. Wow. I think I said it before, but 2014 flew by. Why does time go by faster as you get older???
Eric and I celebrated the New Year at the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) again. We had a great time with it last year and thought it would be another fun night. They just make it so easy! Of course, we started the New Years Eve celebrating a little differently this year... at a Pacers game. After we watched the Pacers beat the Miami Heat, we went to our favorite 'local bar' (Plat 99) and had a couple of drinks before going home to get ready for the real event. It made for a nice start to the evening, though.
In true form, we didn't arrive until about 10:30pm. As you surely know by now, Eric can't stay in one place too long, just 'hanging out' and we didn't want to get to that antsy point. Not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, when we get there, we almost immediately run into someone Eric knows. That never seems to take long when we go places in this City. And in all fairness, he knew of a few people that would be at IMA this year. So it really was no a surprise.
We ran into a few people, and all the side talks and catching-up only allowed us time to get into one of the galleries before midnight. That is one of the cool things about this event... all of the galleries are open for viewing, even special exhibits. And that was the one gallery we made it to - the special exhibit for Georgia O'Keefe. But before we knew it, it was time to grab our champagne for the midnight toast.
At first, we just tried to find a space to stand where we could see things, but then we saw some 'fashion friends' across the way, and went over to toast with them. Funny thing is, we never heard a countdown and not even sure if one occurred. We were on the second level, talking, and then everyone was yelling 'Happy New Year!' We were on the second level, so we may have just missed it... and we looked down and saw there was a glitch with the confetti cannons, so surely there was a countdown... right??
After the toast was done, we wander down to the main lobby, where Eric grabbed some food and we let some of the crowd disperse before leaving ourselves. It was cold outside - I was not looking forward to going back out in that! But we finally did and just went home to crash.
I hope everyone out there in my blog world had a wonderful New Year's celebration, as well! And here's wishing you a happy a prosperous year ahead!
My sister and her family couldn't make it up that way until that evening, so it worked out fine. Having the youngest in the family being teenagers, the 'magic' of Christmas morning isn't as much of a necessity. It happens, I suppose. But that gave some time with just Eric and I to spend with my parents. Nan was not able to make it down this year and spent Christmas with some extended family in PA. We missed her a lot, and hope we can get her back to FL for future Christmases. We'll see.
Lots of gifts with the nine of us there, and some fun surprises that no one expected. Still extremely enjoyable, for me at least. I love how our family does Christmas. I wouldn't say we have formal traditions, but there are still traditions. Like where we sit, for example. Don't ask me why, but if anyone tries to sit someplace new, there's confusion everywhere! It's kind of amusing. Regardless, I love watching reactions to the gifts - no mater how old we get, we all seem to enjoy it.
This was my mom's idea, because she wanted to see the new tigers. Which I definitely liked the idea of, too! Here's the crazy thing, though... it was in the 80's and almost too warm to walk around the zoo! A lot of the animals were even seeking shade to keep cool! Even the tigers! We still had a good time feeding the Lorikeets and walking around, though. And I learned that Eric is afraid of (or 'doesn't like' them, in his words) birds, reptiles, and amphibians... he wouldn't go into any of those exhibits. It was kind of funny. But we managed to walk through and see what we wanted before they closed, and headed home.
Wasn't a major event, or anything... just meant to be some down time to ourselves before getting back to the real world after the holidays. It was kind of nice, actually, and thought maybe we should get back to making the trip down a two-day trip, as well, just to keep our sanity in check. I guess we'll see next year.
