rage fest

A week ago this past Saturday, our good friends {and Best Man and Maid of Honor} Josh and Mer had a couples shower {or rage fest according to Josh}. We are so lucky to have such great friends to have a party for us and come celebrate with us before we get married. We had an awesome time. Thanks, Josh and Mer for having a party for us! And thanks to all our friends for being so great!!

The yummy food!

 Kaden {Mercy and Turner's little boy} came to party with us!

Some boys hanging out.

More boys...

Mer and I

Us

We're getting married in 45 days and I can absolutely not believe it's coming so soon!

I'm starting to go a little crazy with all the things we have going on...!

pretty pretty princess {or prince?}

Over spring break {which seems like ages ago}, Julia spent the night at our house. We had a lot of fun hanging out together, but a highlight had to be playing Pretty, Pretty Princess {Disney Princess Edition} with Josh and Meredith. After we ate dinner, Julia and I ran down to their house to see if they wanted to get ice cream and come play a game {we didn't disclose which game until they agreed...didn't want to scare them away!!!}. We all piled in my car and went to McDonald's for some yummy ice cream then headed back home for a fun game. Kurt decided he would wait for another round {which never happened} and let Julia, Mer, Josh, and I play together. We had a blast and Julia won fair and square!!

Trooper!

Princess Julia 

{Olive wanted to play, too}

Julia and Olive LOVE each other! 

Playing together in the morning.

Old Man Coop was exhausted from all the events!

Winterfest!

Saturday Josh, Meredith, Kurt and I went to Winterfest -- a beer fest with mostly all local beers {and a few not so local}! I was the only 'beer fest rookie' so I wasn't quite sure what to expect...not to mention I was somewhat concerned about making it through the day... :)

After we took a cab to the fairgrounds, we had to wait in line for awhile {in the FREEZING cold!} before we could get in. The fest only lasted from 3-7, so most people wanted to get in right at the beginning.

 

Freezing our butts off!

 

The boys were very intense about trying to get to possibly as many places before the time was up. The second we got in, they were on the prowl! Meredith and I on the other hand, took things a little more slowly as to not get ourselves in trouble! {Plus, I hate chugging good beer. Can't I sit and enjoy it for a minute?} 

Towards the end, we weren't looking too bad!!

Kurt was trying to run around at the end {while we were getting kicked out} trying to find 'trinkets.' I'm not really quite sure why...I hate trinkets and who knows what we'd do with them anyways!!! Apparently Josh really wanted this one sign so Kurt was trying to get the guy to give it to him. I walked up trying to get Kurt to leave. Instead, I was able to talk the guy into giving us the sign.. {ha!} Not for our house though!!!

 

Once it was over, we waited for awhile for a ride. We originally planned on taking a cab back home, but another friend decided he'd pick us up on the way. We all ended up coming back to our house to hang out. Too bad we were starving when we left but our pizza took over 2 hours to come!! All in all, we had a pretty fun night!!

 

{Waiting for Loyd, our ride.} 

Tip I learned from beer fest: Make a pretzel necklace before going to any other beer fest!! {We saw tons of people with these and we couldn't have been more jealous!}

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!

{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!

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. 

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. 

skinny dipping, frites, and LeBomb James

This weekend was beautiful {minus Friday}! And, we sure had a lot of fun!

Friday after school, Kurt and I went to a couple furniture stores in town that were having 1/2 off sales. We were looking around for some things for the house, but found nothing we liked. We have most everything for the house from our apartment, but we know we'll end up buying some things when we get in. We figured it doesn't hurt to look around...especially when there is such a great sale going on!! :)

After 'shopping' we headed over to our friend's {Lauren and Tom} house. We brought Cooper with us thinking he would love playing with their two doggies. But, they did everything but play together! We drank some beer, ate a little food, and caught up with each other. Too bad it was rainy or we would have been able to sit outside.

Saturday was a very fun day. The weather was beautiful. Josh came over to my parent's house {Kurt and I were dog sitting} to watch the Colts game. My brother, Andy, called and was bored so he and Julia decided to come over to hang out as well. I had to run to Target to pick up a few things, so I brought Julia along for the ride. She's getting so big and her personality is much bigger.....

She brought her purse along with us and carried it around the entire store. On the way, I could hear her talking and had no idea what she was saying. I quickly looked back to find her 'chatting' on her cell phone {Quinn's old one} with her sunglasses on!!! And, while we waited for a prescription to be filled, we looked around at the little girls clothes and the baby stuff.

It's really crazy how much she is like me when I was young. When I was little, I begged and begged my mom to buy me ANY {real} baby things when we'd go shopping. I'd always ask her to look at the car seats, strollers, diapers, clothes, etc. And, I'd always REALLY want them....the fake/pretend baby stuff wasn't good enough for my babies. Well, somehow Julia has picked up this quality, too! We walked through the baby aisles as she said, "This one's for my baby. This one's for MY baby. This one's for my pink baby....." It sure was rough when I had to drag her out of that section.... {ha!}

When we got home, we sat on the porch and started drinking some beer {well, Kurt and Josh had already started}. One of my best friends, Ashley, came from D.C. to visit for the weekend. It was so great to have her here and be able to spend time with her!! I drove her down to our new neighborhood to show her our house. I wish she would have been able to see the inside. Meredith came over, as well. We sat outside and hung out all afternoon while drinking a new favorite beer, Skinny Dip! {No, we did not go skinny dipping this weekend, but the beer sure made me feel good. Maybe better than skinny dipping?!?! I wouldn't know!}

After spending time outside, we decided to go to a restaurant in Broad Ripple called Brugge. Kurt and I had only had drinks there before and were very excited to eat there! It was SO good. One of the best things about dinner {besides the beer} were the l'enorme frites that came with all the 12 {I think} amazing sauces. Ummmmm......

{Everyone who came to dinner}

{Newly engaged and new homeowners!!!}

{Michael and Emily}

{Yoder didn't have a girl friend, so Kurt would have to do!}

{Kurt and I...before we got too full}

{Wish you lived closer! Miss you!}

The next time I go to Brugge, I think I'll be ordering beer {of course!}, frites, and {instead of dinner} the Nutella Crepe. Yoder got one for dessert and it was one of the best things I've tasted in a l.o.n.g. while. I was very upset that I didn't get to eat one as well. Good thing he was generous and shared a few bites with me!!

{Had to get a picture because it was so amazing!}

After dinner, we headed out to spend some more time together. Before we left my parent's house, Josh was asking us if we wanted to take a 'LeBomb James' shot when we went out. Of course, no one knew what that consisted of. He explained that you pour a couple bags of Splenda into your hands before taking a whiskey and something shot {?really the alcohol isn't the important part?}. After you take the shot, you throw the Splenda into the air, just like Lebron James does with chalk before every game!!!! We thought it was a hilarious idea, but Mer, Josh, and Kurt decided it wasn't the best thing to do if they didn't want to get kicked out of the bar....

They took this shot instead, without me I might add :( {Probably for the better!}

The night ended with us all sitting on the porch while listening to Diane Birch and enjoying time spent with friends.

Kurt and I are having a really hard time saving money for this new house we bought! I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I guess life's too short to pass up good times with friends to save money! Maybe we should just start eating less, since we know we probably won't stop buying drinks. {ha} And, no, we don't have drinking issues....just like to have a little fun and drink some good beer.

singin' in the...bar?

While we were at the lake with friends one weekend in July {read here}, Josh introduced us to a new up and coming artist that we fell head over heels for -- Diane Birch. She's a poppy/jazzy piano playing singer with a great band to accompany her. Think Norah Jones-ish.


A couple weeks ago, we found out that she was going to be at a bar downtown Indy for a show. Josh, Meredith, Kurt, and I jumped at the chance to go listen live {even if it was a Tuesday night}!! After dinner, we found a spot in the small and cozy bar to listen to the great music.

{Happy together while listening to great music!}

At the end of the concert, Diane stood at a table signing autographs and selling CD's. We wanted to get a CD along with her autograph. So, she signed the cover of the CD. It's really cool to have, not to mention the whole CD is awesome. We're thinking we can incorporate this into our new house by framing it or something.... We'll be sure to share pictures once this happens!

{Cool picture with the band in the background.}

If you haven't listened to her music, you're missing out. I'd recommend you check her out!

failed doormat

In celebration of Meredith's birthday today {happy birthday, Mer!!}, I thought I'd share with you the failed DIY doormat I made for Meredith's birthday present. {She will clearly be receiving a different, non-DIY present for her birthday, since her first present did not turn out!}

Lately, I've been trying to become more crafty. I know that once Kurt and I move into our house, we're hoping to complete many DIY projects. Going along with the 'new homeowners' theme, I decided that it would be a great idea to try and make Meredith and Josh a doormat for their new home. So, let's get started....

Before I began, I made sure I had all of my supplies that I {*thought} were needed.

-Plain Coir Doormat
{nearly impossible to find--after 6 stores, I finally found it at Kohl's}

-Painters Tape
-Exacto Knife
-Cardstock Paper
-Monogram Letters
{I found a font I liked on dafont.com and printed the M, &, and J.}

-2 Colors of Spray Paint
-Newspaper

*I may re-try a project like this. If so, I'd do a few things differently that may change the ending results. {Use a ruler to make sure all lines are perfectly straight and measure letter spacing. Try and find a less textured doormat {could be impossible!}. And, buy more quality painters tape.}

After I had printed the letters, I cut them out. I then taped the paper letters to the cardstock. Using the exacto knife, I carefully cut the letters out on the more firm cardstock.

Then I began the taping process. {I should have taken more time on this step!} First I taped the letters on. {Because the mat was so textured, the edges of the letters did not stick down as much as I hoped.} Then I taped the uneven/'funky' border. After the border was on {and after many attempts of me sticking it down}, I cut out the pieces {with the exacto knife} of the border that overlapped.

Next, I covered up all the extra spaces with newspaper. Then it was time to paint! Kurt and I chose to paint the letters blue and the border gray.

This is what it looked like after everything was done and it was drying. At this point, I had a bad feeling that the paint found its way under the edges of the letters. And sure enough, I was {unfortunately} correct.

Here's the final product. Morri {Christopher's dog} wanted to jump in the picture taken on my parents patio. When viewed closer up, you can see how the blue paint seeped under the cardstock paper at certain parts. It's not horrible, but it doesn't have the wow factor I was hoping for.....

Any ideas/tips on my next try are welcome! If you have any good ideas for more DIY projects, I'd love to hear.

congrats!

We had been looking forward to last night for a couple weeks now because Josh and Meredith got engaged!! Josh told Kurt and I he was going to pop the big question while we were hanging out before the Dave concert {I feel lucky because I got to see the ring in advance!!!}. We couldn't wait to go celebrate with them. Meredith had no idea and was shocked to see all of their friends waiting for them at the Rathskeller. If anyone deserves an awesome engagement party, it's them. I'm glad they had a great evening to celebrate!!

CONGRATS, Josh and Mer!
We're so excited for you!
{Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures. To see a couple, read Josh's blog here.}

Many people asked when our turn will be {ha!}. Maybe we'll be next!?!?!? That's up to Kurt. Hopefully, I'll be as surprised as Mer was last night!

Oh! By the way, I have lots of exciting things to catch you up on. One hint: Josh and Meredith will soon become our neighbors....

weekend

"Turns out not where but who you're with that really matters."

-DMB

{So true! BUT, it sure makes it that much better when you get to take a mini-vacation {to a fun place} with those you love to be around.}

This past weekend was filled with great friends, food, and fun! Josh, Meredith, Loyd, Kurt, and I escaped to the lake for a long weekend together, and we sure had our fair share of fun together! We drove up on Thursday night after everyone finished up at work. By the time we arrived in North Webster, it was late...but not too late to enjoy ourselves!! We broke out some cold brews and sat around the table to challenge each other at Trivial Pursuit.

{FYI- I've never liked this game. My brother, Christopher, used to make me play it with him all the time and I'd always lose!} I {clearly} have some beef with this game. First of all, I would like to know who in the world would know the answers to a majority of these questions? Better yet, WHO got paid to write those awful questions?!? Secondly, the game was made before me {or any of my friends} were born so we have absolutely NO idea who, where, or what the questions are asking about!



Anyways, we had a lot of fun laughing about the questions as we attempted to try and finish the game...which never ended up happening! But, we did learn some new {and quite interesting} facts.

Friday morning came quickly. We finalized our list for the grocery store and headed out to buy some good treats for the weekend. Our first stop was Sweet Corn Charlies - an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. stand on the side of the road that sells fruit and veggies. We ended up leaving with a half watermelon {the most red and juicy one I've ever seen - see picture}, cantaloupe, avara {like a honeydew, but sweeter}, 12 ears of sweet corn, 2 onions, and I picked up a flat of {huge!} blueberries to take home to my mom. Then we headed over to the grocery store to get the remainder of the food and drinks for the weekend. We splurged on a few items, but for the most part we bought healthy food and things on sale!


Once we got home and put the groceries away, we turned back around and packed up two coolers and our bags to head out to the sandbar for the day. Meredith and I were able to get some great sunbathing in while the boys played in the water. {My boyfriend is made fun of for not being able to go without throwing some sort of sport object for longer than 5 minutes. Since my answer is typically 'no,' he was in heaven having two boys around for the weekend to throw a ball with! Needless to say, a majority of their time in the water was with a beer in one hand and a ball being thrown/caught in the other.}


We made ourselves an awesome dinner on Friday night. We had chicken on the grill {with the amazing Stubbs marinade}, sweet corn, and a yummy and very colorful salad. We decided to break out another one of Kurt's families 'lake games' -- Pictionary -- girls vs. boys style! Sure enough, the girls dominated {probably because we weren't nearly as drunk!} while the boys had a difficult time working together as a team...interesting since they've been playing hockey on the same team for how long?!? Of course we were accused of cheating since I was able to guess the answer from Mer's drawings that many times turned out looking like smart cars or aliens {and she guessed things I drew like jet stream, tile, and rung} but we won fair and square!


In the middle of the night, a huge {and loud} storm made its way through the area. Along with the storm came lots of lingering clouds and cold temperatures. Saturday morning was yucky, so we decided to go to breakfast at a place in town called Maria's. It was SO good and pretty cheap. After the gigantic breakfast, we decided to go work off some of the cholesterol by playing some tennis. Towards the end of our match {where Kurt and I got our butts kicked!}, the clouds started breaking up and began to feel warmer. We went back to the house, changed, and packed up our coolers so we could head out to the sandbar for another wonderful afternoon.


That night, we had another wonderful dinner followed by a huge {and warm} campfire. Good thing Kurt's family had s'more materials on hand!! We sat around the fire while simply spending time together as good friends. It feels great to have times like that...

Sunday was pretty much the same deal. We soaked up as much sun as we could out on the lake before we had to head back in and clean up the house. Shortly after we returned, the house was cleaned and locked up and we were jammed into car to head back to Indy.

When I have weekends like this one, I'm reminded how lucky we are to have such great friends. I can't wait for more lake weekends in the future and know that the memories from this weekend will always stay close to our hearts.