man, am i tired

All that traveling has really taken a toll….

I’m pumped mentally to start sorting/purging/packing for the BIG MOVE in a couple weeks, but I think I’m a little overwhelmed into inaction…at least this morning.

There are still SO MANY other random things on my mind, like, “Should I get new bedding for the guest room?” and “How am I going to lose these sneaky pounds that have crept back on before the wedding?” and “I wonder if that English class I took at PSU will count for the Diversity credit at Buff State?”

And, will I ever get together with Regina for her birthday?!

Thankfully, Andrew kept the house pretty clean–dare I say, spotless–so at least I don’t have a ton of THAT stuff to do today.

But, before all that, I must clear my brain and enlighten you with details of my trip!

Let’s see, where did I leave off….?

Oh yes! A gas and coffee stop on Wednesday morning after leaving the driveway in the dark at 4:58 a.m.

And this is what greeted me upon my arrival in Carmel at 1:30:

A happy grandma and a light lunch!

We ate a bit, then we both snoozed (I think) before heading out to dinner at Seasons 52 with the Richters. I got Ahi Tuna but it was too done. Next time: RAW seared only on the sides!

We filled the subsequent days with lots of shopping, errand-running and yummy food. Here are some snippets:

Lunch at Le Peep, where (in true Holly-fashion) grandma and I split an omelet and blueberry pancakes.

Later that night we ordered Bazbeaux Pizza (the Genova–with eggplant and goat cheese!) with salad while watching…

…the opening ceremony of the Olympics! I am, four years later, STILL disappointed I didn’t catch the Beijing opening ceremonies. Note to self: carve out a night in July four years from now to watch the next summer Olympics’ opening ceremonies. (I did view a few YouTube videos, though, to satisfy my curiosity.)

We’d picked up cheesecake to-go, so we enjoyed some of that while watching what was going on across the pond.

While in Carmel, I got some Chick-Fil-A…my usual: a one-strip kid’s meal with fries. That concoction you see below is a ketchup/light mayo/hot sauce mix. I dare you to give it a try!

We spent my last afternoon at the movie theater, seeing Brave. I really enjoyed it–it was funny and touching.

That evening I headed out of town and stopped in Dayton to stay with our friends, Jen and Dave, and see Emily and Dan, who just moved into their first house!

After I took an early-morning tour of the place, all seven of us headed out to breakfast at Mimi’s (because, and I quote Emily: “Andrew isn’t here to veto it.”) I miss this crowd!

we’re too old for this (stuff)

Andrew and I went downtown last night for a concert by the harbor, followed by a little grown-up bar-hopping with friends. Actually, in all honesty, Andrew and I hopped just once; we said our goodbyes at 1 a.m. while our compatriots walked to the next watering hole.

Like I said, we’re too old for this stuff.

But, enough with the negative talk; we had a great time out and were both surprised at how late we made it before deciding to head home, mostly to rescue the dog, who’d been left alone since 6 p.m.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals opened the show and the weather could not be beat; not too hot, not too sunny and altogether quite pleasant. Summer here is so livable.

I broke out my new green shorts–love them! Kudos to Andrew for all my colorful birthday clothes this year 🙂

The headliner was the Sam Roberts Band, from Canada.

I’d never heard of either group before, but they’re both from near here (Grace Potter is from Vermont), which was neat. Apparently the Buffalo/Montreal/Toronto area is big for up-and-coming bands–I had no idea! And did you know the Goo Goo Dolls are from Buffalo? They are, potentially, one of my favorite bands of all time. (That’s not saying much since I barely know any of their songs, except their hits, and am an all-around non-music person.) But I love their sound; it’s not distinct like other genres (Country), nor is it “catchy” like so many of the boy bands and things on the radio. The Goo Goo Dolls are timeless.

As the show wrapped up we headed out, first to Founding Fathers, a local “smart-people” bar (that’s what I call it) that features free popcorn and make-your-own nachos, as well as an extensive selection of microbrews. And oh by the way–it’s decorated with presidents and flags and other “americana” memorabilia. And the well-dressed older gentleman behind the counter? He owns the place. And it attracts a bunch of preppy college kids and middle-aged men in suits; I can feel comfortable in a place like that. We have yet to go to their monthly trivia night, but intend to as soon as our schedule allows…

After a drink there we all walked to Laughlin’s, which is apparently an uber-fancy restaurant during the day, and a less-swanky bar at night. Really, it was relatively unimpressive, but we had plenty of room to rest our tired feet and just chat.

It was en route to the next establishment that Andrew and I said our adieus; I had a gym class in a mere seven hours!

By the time the lights went off at home, it was pushing 2:30 a.m. Again, we are TOO OLD for this kinda stuff. And when Hadrian and Andrew needed potty breaks at 7:30 a.m., my eyes took a little more effort to open than usual, but overall I felt quite good despite our late night. (I credit my good drinking habits–fewer than one drink per hour–for me–and LOTS of water before, during and after. Works every time.)

I did, in fact, make it to the punk rope class at the Y, but just barely.

the first of many weddings

Andrew and I were out of town this weekend for summer wedding #1: his cousin Hannah’s wedding to her longtime boyfriend, Taylor. I traveled down a couple days early and got dropped-off in Dayton, OH, to hang with this girl and the cutest baby EVER:

I hung with Jen and Aiden for a couple hours around our old stompin’ grounds (Beavercreek) before heading south to my ultimate destination.

We had City BBQ for dinner:

Kids’ plates and new outdoor seating! I can’t decide if I like it when things change while I’m gone, or if I’d rather them stay the same.

Then we ran some errands before picking up Graeter’s to-go:

Oh, black raspberry chip, how I love thee! ESPECIALLY in sundae form with real whipped cream, hot fudge and a cherry. Did I tell you I discovered their secret for melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chunks? MUST figure out how to replicate that at home.

And where were we headed that night? To Chez Wilhelm, of course! Emily worked late, so Dan and I power-walked for awhile, regaling each other about our recent house purchases. Well, I did most of the regaling; Dan politely allowed me to monopolize the conversation and inserted his own house comments when I paused to catch my breath.

The next morning we headed to Sugar Creek MetroPark for a trail hike, one of our absolute favorite things to do together.

OK, between the sunglasses and headband, do I not look like an alien cancer patient?? Not sure the angled glasses are my best look…

Afterward we refueled at EarthFare for lunch! We sampled Indian food from the hot bar, I couldn’t resist the emerald kale or broccoli cranberry salad, and we both got tea to drink.

And the highlight of our day? Laying out by her pool! (Don’t worry, Dad, we used LOTS of sunscreen.) In fact, I learned my lesson from Memorial Day weekend and reapplied multiple times; I was rewarded with a beautiful brown tan and no red at all 🙂

We cleaned up and dressed to the nines to go out to….wait for it….FIGLIO! Emily and I have been trying to fit this wood-fired pizza place into one of our visits for awhile now, and we just never seem to be able to. Funny story: Andrew and I thought it was a furniture store the entire time we lived in Ohio! Imagine our surprise when Emily and Dan informed us it was a relatively fancy Italian place…

We made it in time for happy hour, so we each got a mini-Martini and split a pizza as an appetizer. We ended up getting their signature Peasant side salads and cups of the shrimp and crab corn chowder instead of entrees, but it was hard to be disappointed since they were both so good!

After all, we had to leave room for this:

Rita’s! I went with a regular gelati (water ice with custard) with the chocolate peanut butter water ice. I knew Andrew wouldn’t be able to resist a stop on our way out of town the next day, so I figured I’d have one more chance to get my favorite, mango, before leaving Ohio behind.

And perhaps my favorite part of the whole day? Cleaning out Emily’s closet!

Oh, how I love a good closet clean-out! Ever since I had a trendy co-worker come over a couple years ago and help me purge my tired wardrobe, I’ve been going through my clothes regularly to get rid of what doesn’t fit, things I just don’t wear and anything old and tired looking. It’s cathartic, I tell you.

Emily emptied her closet of about five bags of clothes, a bag or two of shoes and a few purses. They’re moving in a month or so, so it’ll make that load lighter. I even got a couple items in the process–score!

The next morning, we headed to a nearby track for a self-designed circuit workout. We matched!

After our workout and bunch at First Watch–our favorite!–we headed to Emily’s office where she blessed me with a PHENOMENAL massage. Seriously. This girl is amazing. I had some majorly sore calf muscles from a workout earlier in the week, as well as some chronic neck and shoulder pain, and despite her working on those areas pretty intensely, I STILL almost fell asleep on the table! Talk about heavenly!

Andrew picked me up from there and we headed into downtown Indianapolis for the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday brought my usual run on the Monon Trail near grandma’s house, followed by errands (had to run to Crate and Barrel for their wedding gift! Too bad there wasn’t time to shop for myself…) and lunch at McAllister’s with the family (minus Abigail, who was in the wedding party and was already downtown getting prepped).

Here we are, all spiffy:

(Terrible shot, but it was the best I could do while Andrew was driving.)

Here’s the outside of the Scottish Rite, where the wedding was held:

(Disclaimer: this photo was actually taken on our way home from the reception, but I wanted to get at least a little of the outside for you.) They light it up at night and the colors change.

Andrew’s grandfather (the one who passed away this past December) was a Mason and spent time each week here. I’d never been inside before, but he’d given Andrew a tour once awhile ago.

They held the ceremony in one of the rooms and then we left for cocktail hour while they re-set it for dinner:

This picture is absolutely terrible. It was amazing in there! Better photos can be found here. (It’s a FB link; hope it works!)

Here we are, hanging out before the reception:

Those Layer kids really know how to cut loose:

(Really, it’s the girls who steal the show at every dance party they attend; Andrew gives it the old college try and does relatively well.) Ben, Luke (Hannah’s brother) and I grabbed some stretch of wall to chat and watch the ‘entertainment.’

Afterward, we all found our way to archive room to see if we could find grandpa’s pictures.

There he is, back in 1971 when he was first invited to join:

And here is a more recent picture of him we found:

It was really neat to be able to visit the archives–all of us together (well, Hannah was off being the bride and all)–to take tiny peek into part of Grandpa’s life.

And, look! Just as we were driving away from the church, who should we spy pausing for some nighttime photos? The bride and groom 🙂 (Very blurry, but the blob of white kinda gives it away.)