Jazz Fest

This past weekend was Jazz Fest! Ryan was working the event on Saturday, but! He was able to score us some VIP tickets when he got off. I met him, Parke and Quinn for part of the evening entertainment. Right after I got there, it started to pour. I was soooooo thankful for those VIP tickets under the VIP tent....

my view from under the tent

I was really impressed with the few artists I was able to see. They come from cities all over the country to perform and the rain did not stop them! I don't know how they stayed dry up there with the outdoor stage but it was awesome. Another great event!

McNivens and the Fever playoffs

The Indiana Fever (our WNBA team here in Indy) are in the WNBA championships this week! Very exciting. Our friend, Jackie, works in sales for the Fever, so we had the opportunity to go and see one of their games Friday night...and they won! Apparently Detroit is one of their big rivals and knocked them out of the playoffs last year, so it was a big deal that they won Friday. They are playing at home this weekend, and you should go and support the team!

A full house at Conseco!

Afterwards, we wanted to celebrate! We went over to McNivens, a Scottish pub on Mass Ave. They have one of my favorite things on a cold rainy day...an Irish coffee! Hot, delicious coffee-whipped cream-Irish whisky goodness. I should point out that McNivens is also great when it is warm out because they have huge windows in the front that open up to Mass Ave and it's a great place to hang out. I have only had their appetizers from the menu, but they were very good. Another one of my favorites! Jackie also had her very first Guinness, so we made sure to document that :)

I forgot to take a picture before I started...it looked much better, and ignore the mayonnaise

Woohoo!

http://www.wnba.com/fever/news/playoffs_09_landing.html

homemade pasta, cookies, cutting hair, and...The Office!

So last night was a great night in my eyes. It was a cold, rainy night and I really wanted to stay in. We didn't have much to eat so we thought it would be fun to make homemade noodles...so good and easy to make! You just mix 2 cups of flour with 2 eggs and then add water as necessary to create the "dough". Roll them out, cut them in skinny strips, and cook in boiling water until done! (They aren't necessarily pretty...)

I was in a baking mood and also made some sweet molasses cookies, which also turned out to be very good. I was nervous because the smell of the molasses was pretty dominant and not delicious smelling, but they turned out really good once they baked. After the cooking extravaganza, Ryan asked me to cut his hair. This was a first for us, and afterwards I felt that we have reached a new level in our marriage. I had cut his hair. Ha, but he says it looks great, so I'm sure we will be doing this again in the future.

And of course The Office was hilarious.

Bubs

On Monday our work crew ventured over to Bub's burgers for lunch. It's located right in downtown Carmel, so it's pretty close for us. They are famous, obviously, for their burgers. But they were delicious! Honestly one of the best burgers I've ever had, and only about $5.50-$6.00 for a burger. If anyone wants to go back...just let me know!

They also have an eating challenge available anytime...a 22 oz burger. Keith, a guy at work, actually did it and it was disgusting. If he held the burger up you couldn't see his face behind it. Anyway, if you are in to that kind of thing, you can get your pic on their wall!

http://www.bubsburgersandicecream.com/

Welcome Home!

My company, Ingersoll Rand, has sponsored a house with Habitat for Humanity this year. It was really a neat process, as our company was responsible for not just the funding for the house, but supplying volunteers as well. Almost everyone in our two Indianapolis locations were able to volunteer at one point (I put together the frames for the walls so watch out!). On Friday we had the dedication ceremony and were able to meet the family.

Ta da! Our beautiful work.

Oranje

So...Oranje. Ryan had been looking forward to this for a long time. It is this music, art and fashion experience held in an old warehouse downtown. Some hailed the event as "the best thing to happen to Indianapolis since sliced bread." Quite a claim, but we really did enjoy ourselves. Several artists were actually doing art as we walked around and there were even a few things we could participate in (there were also a few things we didn't want to participate in, i.e. body paint and weird photography). The warehouse had about 5 different rooms or stages for bands to be playing all night, so you had about 25 to choose from throughout the event.

Jenny's friend's band, Elsinore, actually played. We had been wanting to go see them for a while, and were glad we finally had the chance. They were great.

Elsinore

My favorite part were the spray paint artists out front (see bad picture above). They are amazingly talented and able to create art on a piece of canvas using only spray paint bottles. Another highlight was the man painting to techno...very entertaining. Overall, a very interesting "experience", and if you get the chance to go, I would go.

Friday Night Live IV

Another concert at Scotty's sponsored by Ryan's client...

Jackie and Bekah...and my delicious wrap!

http://scottysbrewhouse.com/

Naked Tchopstix

So, I went to Naked Tchopstix the other night with Andie for the first time. They have sushi (and I'm sure they have other things, but of course, I was only interested in sushi) which was very good, and they have A LOT of really unique rolls. I feel that I have been spoiled by Kona grill and their 1/2 price sushi, and I have a really hard time paying full price. I was also a little disappointed that they don't offer any sort of happy hour during the week. Unfortunately, this will probably keep me from coming back, I know, I'm a cheapo.






http://www.tchopstix.com/index.html

5 years!!

So the 11th is the anniversary of our first date. We celebrated with some delicious frozen yogurt from Zoe's! You tell them everything you want, and then they weight it at the end, very clever.

The Natural State

For Labor Day weekend we went down to Arkansas to see Ryan's grandparents. I have never been to Arkansas, so I was pretty excited. On our way down we actually stopped in Memphis for the night. We tried to go to the Oyster place, Pearl's, that we loved from our trip last spring but they closed early...lame. But we did make a stop at Beale St to appreciate the chaos and absorb some "culture".

Beale St

The next morning we continued our trip to Hot Springs Village. After lunch and spending time with Betty and Cliff, we headed to Hot Springs to explore the town. So, Hot Springs is obviously known for the natural hot springs that come up out of the ground there. I was actually surprised at how hot they were! The town used to be pretty famous for the celebs and mafia who used to come and pay to take baths in the "pure" hot springs. (NASA later proved that there is actually microscopic bacteria in the water) Now, they still have the old bath houses, but they are mostly modern spas instead. You can still see some of the springs and get up close and touch if you would like. I would also like to point out that this was Bill Clinton's childhood home. Ryan spent a lot of time here growing up, so if you EVER need tourist info on Hot Springs, he's your man (seriously, he has been to every attraction). On Sunday we did some hiking at a nearby state park which was beautiful. It was great that his grandparents were also able to join us.

One of the hot springs

Me and the hot water

Ryan and his grandpa at one of the overlooks

We drove most of the day Monday, it's about a 10 hour drive home, but we did make a stop at Lambert's for lunch. We were passing it around 11am, very convenient. Lambert's is this country style restaurant that gives you a lot of food, throws your rolls at you, and is delicious. I wish I had a picture of Ryan's chicken salad, they seriously served him about a pound (it has made 3 sandwiches so far)

take home box...

Tubing!

Last weekend, Ryan and I went home to spend time with my parents. We went out on the boat Saturday and did some tubing. It was a gorgeous day, and it was so good to be outside! I found out Ryan is pretty awesome at staying on the raft, and I on the other hand, am not.

Me and Mom

There goes Molly!

HOOP

Last night Ryan and I were able to volunteer with a group here in Indy, HOOP, "Helping Our Own People". The group goes out most nights during the week to popular homeless sleeping spots and passes out food, medicine, clothes, and blankets. As we drove up to different buildings, underpasses, and bridges, it was neat to see how the homeless communities looked forward to HOOP coming. They would come out into the street to meet our cars and kind of start a line for us to give out what we had. I was really touched by how friendly everyone was. It was interesting to hear some of their stories, some have college degrees but can't find jobs, several had drug/alcohol problems that took everything, and some just keep hitting road blocks and can't stay on their feet. I also found it interesting that many of them would rather sleep out on the streets than go to the missions organizations around town because of all the rules they have. Also, they said several of them have terrible food anyway.

HOOP seems to have a great reputation with the homeless, and they don't force anything on anyone. People come and take food/clothes at their own desire and that is it, they are simply out to serve. Lastly, a couple of the men I talked to were military veterans, which made me really sad. They served our country, and are somehow falling through the cracks (some by their own choice). Anyway, what a blessing for us to be able to go and serve these great people. Our leader, Janie, has been doing this weekly for several years and you can just see her love for people. It made me so thankful that God creates us all so differently and moves us in different directions to fulfill the needs of others.

the Draft

Fantasy football? Our bible study has decided to form a league again this year and we had a live draft. Here is the result!

our teams