hey, it's ok (tuesday) 3.13

hey, it's ok


...to begin this list on monday and publish it on wednesday (but keep the date as tuesday)
...to hope peyton signs with the titans...it would be nice to have him in town for awhile (especially while the colts rebuild which is code for 'suck for a few years')
...to be a slight bit obsessed with swagbucks. if you haven't joined yet, you totally should. (and if you click on that link i get your referral :-)
...to be oh-so-glad that spring has arrived in tennessee.  it was 80 yesterday. anthony and i had cocktail hour on our deck when we both got home from work. this is bliss -- when the temperature rises but the bugs haven't appeared yet!
...to have only just borrowed the first hunger games book.  hey, i still have not read/watched either twilight or harry potter (and won't) so i'm way ahead of my own game on this one!
...to make a recipe that flopped. i'm usually pretty confident in the kitchen and spotting recipes that anthony and i will both like, but the south indian mac and cheese (while it looked and smelled great) was just not our favorite. i'll still eat the leftovers, but i won't be making it again. (i put the link there since i won't be putting it on the blog, just in case anyone wants to try it...)
...to have a standing date with a friend to watch good bad tv 
...to just really be creeped out by some people


please visit amber's blog!

what i'm loving wednesday (11.30)

i'm loving that emi has similar tastes to mine :-)

(spinach and sour cream dip from trader joe's)

i'm loving this sweet puppy who lived with us for about a week and a half while her family was visiting texas -- she's so much fun!
(emi was not so much loving her though...)

belle :-)

helping us decorate

i'm loving the holiday season, as i do every year.

one of our trees (red and turquoise)

i'm loving the new traditions we're creating while we combine good things from both our families and things we want to do on our own :-)

the wreath on our front door: pine for him, berries for me = perfection

i'm loving the boots i mentioned yesterday

i'm loving my cell group girls...such amazing Godly women...so important in my life

photo by our AMAZING wedding photographer

i'm loving friends i can simultaneously cook and be silly with :-)

i'm loving this, which i'll be explaining a bit more about on a monday soon!

i'm loving going to sporting events with my husband

football (go titans!)

hockey (go PREDS!)

i'm loving that he's my HUSBAND! :-)


i'm loving the sacredness that surrounds this time of year...or at least i'm loving the reminders that all of life is sacred

our advent wreath next to the nativity

Indy trip: the big town edition

Saturday after the parade and goodbyes to my parents and dog, we hit the road for Indianapolis.

We were on a Trader Joe's Mission.

You see, in Tennessee we can't buy alcohol in grocery stores. This is a bone of contention among most TN residents who just want to do all their shopping in one stop and avoid a liquor store for wine...but after several attempts to change state law it STILL hasn't happened.

Well, Trader Joe's has this two-buck chuck, you see.

And ours in Nashville doesn't have it because of the above explanation.

So anyone who goes to a neighboring state with a TJ's is in charge of bringing back the contraband.

We had thankfully checked with a friend (actually, a former teacher of mine, lol) to see if alcohol was available for purchase on Sundays in Indiana. It wasn't, so we ended up making our first stop in Indy at Trader Joe's. There we purchased five (5!!!) crates of wine for people here. Up until tonight, actually, I've had 4 of them in my dining room. Thankfully, I've now sent all but one crate home to their rightful owners so I look like much less of an alcoholic now!

Um, yeah. So here we are loading the carts of wine into the car.


With the two buck chuck run out of the way, we went downtown with our friends Brian and Angie. His aunt and uncle (who we were staying with) recommended a couple of restaurants to him and we stumbled upon one of them. BARcelona is a tapas place and it was AMAZING. If you like to eat and share food with the table tapas is the way to go!





After dinner we realized that a.) it was way too late to go to the mall as it was closed and b.) we had an early morning the next day. So we headed to our lodging, but saw the Christmas tree (made of lights) and a few cool buildings along the way.




Angie and I have been friends since middle school; Brian and Anthony have only met this summer. This was a good way to bond the two of them though, since I'm in their wedding this May and Anthony will be doing the bachelor party thing with Brian and the groomsmen/friends. Soooo, we only bugged them a little while, then Angie and I retreated to our room to indulge in a time honored tradition. Milk and oreos...or in this case, Joe-Joe's!




Sunday DID dawn early, and we also found out that Brian's aunt and uncle were season ticket holders...and offered graciously to drive us not only to their church but also to the game. So we all squeezed in one car and headed off.


They worship in a humongous United Methodist church. It was a beautiful service, filled with choral numbers, handbells, and normal high church liturgy. I loved this change in venue from our norm! There was even a flute choir providing music for our walk in the hallway between services!


Angie and I changed clothes in the backseat on the way to Circle Center Mall, where we were going to have lunch. Nice little feature: on game days if you have $20 worth in receipts for the mall you can park for the game for like $3. Believe me between our lunches (and my after game dash into H&M while everyone else used the bathroom) we had plenty of receipts!

The driving around was much more fun when the driver actually knew what he was doing and I could take pictures :) Creative upshots here because I was in the VERY back of the vehicle and was trying to avoid defrost lines!




We had lunch then hiked to Lucas Oil Stadium. Even the walk was kinda fun.


WOW. This place is amazing!







If you follow football at all, you probably know how the game went. I did have very divided loyalties, so I would have been happy either way...which was handy :0)

We were among almost 100% Colts fans (there were 4 or 5 Titans jerseys around our section), and the Colts fans around us were very gracious to Anthony...and myself when I started Titans flashing!

All in all, our seats had a tremendous view

There was a marching band at halftime (such an Indiana thing!)

It was fun to see my favorite 2 teams meet up

I got an awesome picture of Peyton from the flat screen

There were fans more conflicted than I
(random jersey of the day brought to you by the Pittsburgh Steelers...with "Peyton 18" on the back...)

The temperature was 70 degrees because the roof was closed!

And we left the game smiling.

Anthony enjoyed seeing the game in the first non-Titans NFL stadium he's visited! I was happy to have given him that experience first :0)

Wednesday Weekend Recap

So much for getting this on at 9 pm central! It's 2 hours later, and I've been dealing with computer issues. Suffice it to say, this one is dying and I've got to get in to buy a Macbook (I'm making the change) asap!

Meghan, Laura,Izzy and I did the Oktoberfest in Nashville on Saturday early afternoon. The rain held off for just a few hours so we could enjoy being outside!

and eating

...and eating...

Sunday was a crazy busy day, ending with our trip to LP Fields to see the Titans and Colts first match-up of the season. Unfortunately, the Titans seemed to think that they could go home after the first quarter...

I told several friends that since I love both teams (after all, I grew up in Indiana and now I live here), I would have been happy with the outcome no matter who won. However, it would have been a much more fun game to watch had it been more of a game! Ah well.

On the way to the stadium with an hour til kickoff...tickets in hand...I didn't notice the sign in the background until I uploaded the pics...how ironic!
(if you can't read it, it says "dead end")

The courthouse was all lit up for Code Blue
A not-so-hot pic of the boyfriend and me
I was layered. Colts t-shirt, Titans long-sleeved tee, Colts sweatshirt, Titans hat. And a Code Blue t-shirt giveaway that we got when we walked into the stadium.

Crossing the river--more Code Blue lights!

Walking up the ramps to our seats: skyline

and big crowds below!

The Colts make their way onto the field

followed by the Titans
One of the many Colts touchdowns. I was going to get a Titans touchdown. But they never went for one. No, really. Not.A.Single.One
More football action

The final score
Most of the fans were gone...but we stuck it out to see everyone from the teams flood the field. A was ready to go by the beginning of the 4th quarter, but I wanted to stay to the end of my first football game, dangit!