Bloomington

Last weekend, we headed down to Bloomington to tailgate and try to pretend like we were in college again. As much as I love our house, Indianapolis, not having homework or tests, I miss Bloomington like crazy. I get nostalgic every time we make the short drive down. And, we don't get to go nearly as much as I'd like.

Josh made hotel reservations {at the Travel Lodge...ha!} for us a couple months back knowing that we'd all want to party. The last football game of each season is the IU vs. Purdue game....a long time Indiana rivalry. We had planned on going to the game, but ticket prices are so high now we decided to hang out in the fields and catch the end of the game on TV at a restaurant. 

The weather was great for tailgating! It was great to see some friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Kurt and I spent time walking around to a couple different tailgates and made out with lots of great food and some great drinks along the way!

{Kurt grilling...weird!}

{Glad we found you!}

After tailgating, we headed to Yogi's - a favorite college bar. We found a great table for lots of friends to sit and watch the end of the game. Too bad the Hoosiers lost. :( An old friend from college works at another bar in Bloomington. He talked to the guys and apparently told them if we stopped by, he could hook us up. So we walked across town to the Irish Lion and drank our fair share of Irish drinks!

{Cheering on the Hoosiers!}

{Writing on each others hands or something crazy....}

{Boys chose to drink some sort of Irish whiskey, I think}

{And of course, we chose to drink Bailey's!!!}

After 6 or 7 rounds of Bailey's and whiskey, we decided we needed to grab a bite to eat. We walked to Kirkwood {the street with the majority of bars} and found ourselves at Uncle D's - a pizza by the slice joint that is normally for the late-night. It felt like late-night to us since we'd been drinking for like 8 hours at that point! We ended the night at one of my favorite bars in Bloomington, Upstairs. They have the infamous AMF drinks....so yummy, but very dangerous!

{Kurt pretending to work there while carding people as they walked in....}

After some shenanigans at Upstairs, we walked to the bus stop in hopes of either catching a taxi or getting lucky with a bus. We had to wait for a little while, but a bus eventually came. Yes, we'd be back to the hotel in no time! Well....that's what we thought. Until the bus driver was crazy. Kurt and I started to feel car sick. At that point, I remembered how badly Meredith gets car sick. I turned around and she was balling because it was so bad. The next thing we know, Josh had pulled the cord and we were jumping off at the next stop so Mer could puke outside instead of in the bus. Ugh, it was awful!

Since it was so late, we knew another bus wouldn't come for awhile. Josh and Mer took off towards the library leaving Kurt, Ross, Loyd, and I still at the Union. We didn't know where Mer and Josh went, so we decided to begin walking to the hotel.....by the mall. I'm sure it was at least a 3 mile walk. Our night finally ended with us all safely back at the hotel. After a few more crazy events, we all 'hit the hay' very quickly.

The morning brought about some more laughs, but we had to pack up the car and head out. It's always great to go back and visit Bloomington, especially when you're with so many fun friends. We're hoping to make it back soon!

thankful

I know I promised to share pictures from last weekend's trip to IU...I haven't forgotten. But, I've decided to take some time away from blogging and enjoy this Thanksgiving week. Today at 3:20, my break will begin!! It's going to be filled with lots of family, friends, food, decorating, shopping, and {hopefully} some relaxing. I promise to be back next week with lots of updates and things to share.

Remember to stop and think about all the things you're thankful for. Take some time and enjoy those people, pets, etc. around you that make you happy each day.

Have a {very} happy Thanksgiving!

{another} busy weekend

We have another crazy but exciting weekend ahead of us. Last night, we went to dinner at Benihanas {one of my most favorite restaurants!!} to celebrate Patrick's birthday with my family! {Happy belated Birthday, Patrick!} Yum, what great food!

Tonight we're going out with Patrick and Allison and many of their friends to celebrate Patrick's birthday {again!}. Dinner should be great and then we'll either go duck-pin bowling or to the bars...either will be a blast!

Tomorrow we're heading down to Bloomington to cheer the Hoosiers on {by tailgating and visiting our favorite bars from college}. The last football game of the season is always against our rival, Purdue. Go Hoosiers!! {Please} beat Purdue! :)

We're wishing we could get IU to bring back the Bud Light 'Fan Cans' so we could drink a few of these while cheering on our Hoosiers...

Oh well! I'm sure we'll still have an amazing weekend! Good thing next week is only a two day work week for me!!! :) Hope your weekend will be great, too!

tv stand {2}

Remember the long beginning process of our tv stand? Well, it took even longer because we had to wait for the piece {that Kurt accidentally broke} to be shipped. Once it finally came, Kurt decided to put it on himself before I came home from work....

...In the process, he dinged another piece! He got back on the website and ordered the new piece. So, we had to wait for that, too! Finally, we were able to put the new piece on, hammer on the back, and finally put it to use.

Here's what our room looked like before the rug and tv stand --

The room now looks like this --

 

 

I know these pictures aren't the best, but they give you an idea. Do you see that yucky blanket that Coop is still using as a dog bed? Hopefully that will be switched soon. And we're looking for lots of cute accessories to adorn the tv stand. Any good ideas or places to look? We'd love to hear from you!

*kiss cam*

Remember how I told you Kurt and I were going to the Pacer game last week? It was pretty uneventful.

Except, for the half time show...

 

{Cutie, patriotic, frisbee-catching doggies!}

...and they won...

...AND we were on the Kiss Cam!{ha}

excitement & exhaustion

I love the four seasons and could never live in a place that didn't have each season. All four have things that I love about them. Each year I love this time of year -- football, basketball season is beginning, snuggling, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Christmas is coming soon {!}, etc...

This weekend is a great example of why I love this time of year, but it's exhausting! Friday many of my friends from work came over to our house. None of them had been here yet and we love getting together to unwind on Friday afternoons! Saturday we went to Josh and Meredith's house for their engagement/housewarming party. We brought lots of food to share, so we spend a good chunk of the day preparing for the party. And, yesterday....football. The biggest game of the season. Colts versus Patriots. I'm sorry if you're a Pats fan, but I couldn't dislike a team more than I do the Patriots! :)

{Getting hyped for the game!}

The boys got overly excited about the game, so our day was pretty much spent getting ready for the game and tailgating. We 'had' to begin at 4pm for an 8:30 game. It was freezing, but we had a good time!

 {Trying to stay warm in our free Colts hats!}

Although it was chilly, we had a great time hanging out before the game. We made sure to bring a plethora of beverages, lots of food, and of course, bags.

 

 

{Go Horse!}

Speaking of horses, the Budweiser Clydesdales {and Spot!} decided to stop by the parking lot. Wow! They were HUGE and Spot was sooo cute! 

{Sorry about the butt shot. None of the pictures turned out!}

Oh, I guess I should mention that the Colts pulled out an amazing last minute and v.e.r.y. exciting WIN. By the time we left the stadium {it was too exciting to leave!}, got home, and went to bed it was close to 1:30am. And I was so hyped up, I had a difficult time falling asleep! Needless to say, today was rough and very tiring! I decided to take advantage of my sleepiness {and the season} and stop by Starbucks this morning for a yummy Pumpkin Spice Latte. Oh, and to make my morning even better?!? One of the radio stations has begun playing Christmas music. I listened. And sang along. Too early?!? I don't care!! :)

Tonight we'll be getting in bed early. But not too early because we need to catch the Hoosiers basketball game!! Ahhhhh, I love Fall. 

tv stand {1}

I can't tell you how long it took us to find a TV stand that we liked. It was a painful process and we're very glad that the continuous searching is over. But before we were able to enjoy it, we spent four days waiting for it to be shipped, six hours putting it together {on multiple days}, and waited for two separate pieces to be shipped {due to user error....} Phew!

Because the process took soooooo long {and I took pictures all along the way}, I thought I'd only share with you the first half.

Because we didn't have a TV stand, our TV and things were being temporally housed on our {pottery barn} coffee table {which was damaged in the storage shed...ugh!!!!!}. It looked really lame, but was doable until we found something we wanted.

And so it began...

We spread all the pieces out on the floor so we could easily find them.

Cooper didn't really understand why we weren't playing with him and what all the stuff was on 'his' carpet he loves so much! He decided he wanted to help!

It took f o r e v e r to put the main part together. Of course there were a few pieces we put on the wrong way, so we'd have to take a bunch of stuff apart and do it over....

We really didn't want to stop, but we had to take a quick break for dinner. Then, our first 'bump in the road.' I heard a loud 'snap' and then Kurt yelling. When we were laying all the pieces out, he had set one of the long skinny pieces {that goes in the very front of the stand} on the couch. After dinner, he went to sit down to figure out what we needed to do. You finish the story.....

Oops! We didn't really know what to do! Kurt decided he'd call the place where we bought the stand. They let him know that pieces break all the time. All you have to do is go to the website, fill in some information on what was broken, and they'll send it to your house asap. So, back to work we went!

Well, some of us....Cooper was really bored and tired from watching us work so hard!

After about 4 hours, this is what we had.

We thought we were getting pretty close to the end, but we were wrong. It seemed that the further along we got, the longer things took. Maybe because things at the end are so detailed and tedious! Finally, at 11:30 {on a Thursday night} I decided I was done for the night. It took me SO long just to put one door on, I was so over the whole thing! When I went to bed, our room looked kinda trashy....

 

Ha ha!!!

Guess you'll have to wait to see the finished product :)

Have a great weekend!

{Maybe we'll find some accessories for the TV stand this weekend?!?}

change of plans

Welp, I had planed on sharing pictures and details of our new TV stand, but we're now going to the Pacer game. My dad has two seats that my brother was going to use. He now can't. So, we're going....

Here's a sneak peak of the work in progress...

taco tuesday

Every Tuesday evening, Kurt and I are glued to the TV.

Why?

We love The Biggest Loser.

There aren't many shows that we agree on watching together.

I like HGTV - He likes HBO.

About the only other thing we are willing to watch together is sports....a lot of 'em.

I find Tuesdays to always be ironic.

{FYI--Ironic is a very hard word to explain to kids. I was trying to do so today and didn't do a very good job. I really wanted to just play the Alanis Morissette song....I didn't!}

We end up sitting on our butts for close to two hours, right after we've eaten dinner {unless we eat dinner while watching!}, and most of the time eat some sort of dessert, as well! Hum....I thought the show was supposed to be motivating?!?

Schedule for tonight? Chicken tacos and Spanish rice -- always fills me up!

I'm sure I'll sneak a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich in sometime during the show...

I think know Kurt will dig into his odd obsession, popsicles!

We're seriously considering buying stock in the popsicle brand he eats {I don't even know what it is!}

We buy a big box every week at the store, he eats the whole box usually in four days.

I will admit, he buys the 15 calorie kind. He's got it figured out that he can eat X amount of popsicles for X amount of whatever else we have around the house.

Funny how people are different?!? I'd rather eat one really good thing and be done. He'd rather eat a gazillion popsicles that equals the one really good thing....

Have a great Tuesday evening. If you're watching Biggest Loser, enjoy. Who are you cheering for?!?

dreaming

Sorry about my short blogging hiatus. Work last week was full of drama and very busy....

This was a much needed weekend that ended up going way too fast!

I don't have much inspiration right now considering I had to be at work today at 6:45 am.

Lately, I've been dreaming of my family's yearly trip to Cabo San Lucas.

We always go the Saturday after Christmas and stay through New Years.

Not trying to wish away this time of year, but it will feel fabulous when I spend a week looking at this....

cooper said 'no thanks'

Welp, Cooper made his decision quickly. He did not like his dog bed...one bit. He wouldn't even get on it while I bribed him with a treat!! Any ideas of comfy/somewhat inexpensive/cute dog beds? We're in need!! I'm really ready to get rid of this ugly blanket!

Cooper says 'Woof' aka thanks in advance!

You like that rug underneath him? He does! We do, too!

P.S.- Check out that lamb he dismembered!!

scooby boo!

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, but I was determined to make this one memorable. We were really excited for our first year to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Meredith and Josh invited our friends, Drew and Meg, and Kurt and I over for dinner. We decided to put a sign on our door telling the trick-or-treaters to come get their candy four houses down! Coop came with us {in his Peyton Manning jersey} and hung out on the porch while we passed out candy. We thought we bought enough candy for us to have some left-overs, but we ran out 45 minutes early!! {Guess we shouldn't have been so generous at the beginning of the evening!!}

Coop and I warming up before dinner.

After our very yummy dinner, Kurt and I walked home to change into our costumes. We had to leave 'Scooby' at home for the evening......

The Four Characters from Scooby Doo!

I think we pulled it off pretty darn well! :)

We quickly headed up to three of our friends' apartment. It was fun to see all of the costumes and hang out with some friends for the evening. That's about it for our Halloween. Hope you had a great one, too!

Loyd {one of the party hosts} and Mer.