NashVegas

It's official - after two bachelorette parties in Nashville, I can confidently declare it the Vegas of the Midwest. If Nashville's tourism office hasn't jumped on that marketing ploy, they are seriously missing out.

My dear friend Ally - who got married yesterday!! - decided Nashville was the perfect place for us to celebrate her impending nuptials, and surrounded by sorority sisters, we had a blast. Here's a brief look at our weekend in country music's home.

Where to Begin?!

Hello! I can hardly believe it's been so long since my last post. As the school year came to a close, I found myself with multiplying to do lists, and editing photos and writing photos fell to the bottom of that list.

So...where to begin?
 
I can honestly say that this year has been filled with so many challenges, yet even more blessings. It's hard to put into words how much I grew professionally, spiritually and relationally. The challenges led me to trust in God and His plans, even when I could not always see or understand His purpose.

I know my struggles often come back to control - plans, reactions, events, circumstances, and, my own path. However, I could feel that God was trying to rid me of that burden, as it never really belonged to me to begin with. Though enormously difficult to do, especially at first, I felt more free with each baby step. I walked by faith and not by sight, and I felt more peace and perspective than I had in a long time.

Once I stopped waiting and longing for things on my time, my little family was overwhelmingly blessed. A year ago, John made an admirable and brave decision to leave dental school. He knew in his heart that a career in dentistry wouldn't fulfill him, and he decided to pursue a career he was passionate about. His perseverance and faith during that time is indescribable. Even when I struggled, he would remind me that he hadn't given up hope. And his faith was rewarded when in one week he was offered not one, but two positions in his field of choice - finance.

As we celebrated his accomplishments and diligence, I learned I was selected as an Education Policy and Advocacy Fellow through Leadership for Educational Equity. I was thrilled by this opportunity, but nervous as it meant I would spend the summer in Chicago without my little family. John's unwavering support and encouragement led me to accept the summer fellowship and venture back to the Windy City.

I had faith that my living arrangements would work out - as hard as it was for me to not return to worrying or fretting. God provided - again! - and an amazing opportunity from a generous friend brought me to one of the best addresses in Chicago.

I miss John and Hoosh terribly, but I was fortunate enough to see them both the last two nights, as John was in Chicago for some business meetings. I'll be able to see them every weekend until the end of my fellowship, and I know we will get through this short time apart. If we managed to date long-distance for two years, we can make it two months. When we have a lifetime together, eight weeks is but a blink.

I'm in my second week of the fellowship, and I am loving my work. I can't go into details just yet, but I can say that it combines my passion for education and my background in communications. I hope to share more as the summer progresses, but I have lots of other posts to catch up on before then - weddings, bachelorette parties, recipes, gift ideas and more!

Stay tuned, and, if you made it through this wordy post, thanks for reading!

Indy 500 Fun

Hey there, friends! It's almost the end of the school year, and I'm feeling my usual sadness at getting ready to say goodbye to my little ones. I have so many new posts and recipes to share, yet I am completely distracted by needing bid farewell to my students.  It still amazes me how each class is so different, yet beautiful in its own way.

Anyhoo...after an awesome field day, I came home and needed some quiet time to process. John graciously gave it to me, and I felt inspired to finally finish and publish a new post. So, here's a quick recap of our Indy 500 weekend!

Saturday began with a mini Alpha Phi reunion. Our dear friend and sorority sister, Annie, was in town from Colorado, and we all got together for a brunch that lasted until nearly 7 p.m.  It was just too hard to part sooner!

Ally, Rachael, Annie, Me, Swade and Linds

After our late brunch, John and I drove Annie back to the 500 lots, where she was camping out with her dad and older brothers. It was her dad's 50th race in a row (!), and we stayed to enjoy some quality time around their campfire. I hadn't been in that lot since I camped out for the 500 in 2006, when it was a record-high temperature and unbearably hot. This time I was able to enjoy the night and atmosphere!

Race day was cool, yet oh-so-refreshing! I spent time with John's family, as well as with Annie, and I couldn't have been happier.

It's "Christmas" for this handsome guy!

Annie and I for a mid-race meet up outside the Pagoda

Race fun

Kisses for my love

To top it off, our favorite driver, Tony Kanaan, won the race! Little bit of a "toot-toot", a couple years ago TK actually replied to some of my tweets! John was so impressed, and I think it earned me wife points for years to come. I dug through to find the tweets, and put the screen shots together as proof.

{My lawyer-filled family and justice-seeking first graders have clearly rubbed off on me.}

Fuchsia Flash at Bluebeard

Happy Monday! I have a feeling this month will FLY by, thanks to several events planned for each weekend of the month. It will be June before I know it!

John and I had such a fun weekend! We had friends over Friday, tried a new restaurant, saw Iron Man 3, caught up on much-needed sleep, and ended the weekend with a great dinner with John's family. Instead of sharing every detail, I want to make sure you know about a fun new-to-us restaurant in Fountain Square (for you Indy people!).

John and I had about eight friends over Friday night for a few beverages and appetizers. It was a nice way to start our evening, while waiting for our table to be ready! From our apartment downtown, we headed to Bluebeard, a unique and fun restaurant in Fountain Square. According to this Indy Star piece, it's one of Indy's top 50 restaurants to try!

The restaurant had a great vibe and a very eclectic menu. John and I opted to share the mussels and scallops. At $16 each, the dishes are a bit pricey. I would highly recommend the mussels if you're looking for a good "bang for your buck." John and I easily could have split them, though I highly enjoyed my {2} scallops.

Mussels | Scallops (only 2!)

Our table was filled with laughs, stories, and debates about the best shows on TV currently. {No clear winner!}

Linds and I even discovered we had the same lipstick {Fuchsia Flash by Maybeline}, and we even got Swade in on the party. We had some major photo issues, and fortunately for me, John has learned to take several shots to ensure there's at least one I like. I married a smart one!

John and I had a wonderful evening with friends, and I'd highly recommend the restaurant to anyone looking for an eclectic menu, relaxed atmosphere and excellent service. Thanks to Moyer for coordinating this wonderful night! Cheers!

Weekend Update

Happy Monday!

I hope you've all had a wonderful day and even better weekends. I was beyond busy Saturday, but actually managed to REST and relax Sunday. Even better? I had Monday off, and not only did I catch up on laundry, but I cleaned the apartment and made John one of his favorite meals - Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Lasagna! After I finish this post I plan to enjoy the evening with my hubby and pup and watch The Bachelor finale - judge away!

Friday night John and I met up with his siblings, Lauren and JB, and enjoyed some steamed mussels, delicious fries and lots of laughter at Brugge Brasserie in Broadripple. We had a blast, and it was so nice to spend time together while JB was home from IU and Lauren is still an Indy resident!

JB is happy to cheese for the camera but John wasn't feeling it :)

Brothers and sisters!

WIAW: Quick Trip & Summer Staples

Hello, August! My you came quickly. I'm blogging from Chicago, where I'm visiting my good friend Jessie for the day/night! She's working on her MBA, and finished her last final Monday night. Since she has a few weeks before fall classes resume, it was the perfect time for a fun night away.

Sorry about fuzzy self-portraits!

I've been dying to check out RPM Italian, but never seem to get a chance because I'm usually in town for specific events. Jessie suggested we walk there for a drink since it's only a few blocks from her place. I happily agreed, and we tried the "G-Rizzle." It's not on the menu, but I follow Giuliana Rancic on Twitter, so I knew to order it. It was delicious! Lime and ginger combined for a perfect summer cocktail.

After our drink we decided to walk to Portillo's - my favorite! - to get chopped salads to go for dinner. Not only did I save money, but I loved every bite of my salad. It's so good!! It's probably good I don't live in Chicago anymore or else I might have a bit of problem. We ate our salads at Jessie's apartment, and spent the rest of the night watching the Olympics. It was a perfect night with an even better friend. To top it off? I get to have lunch with one of my best and oldest friends before I head back to Indy!

Honestly I was too busy having fun with Jessie to be good about taking pictures, so my WIAW post is a bit different this week - in case you didn't notice already. ;) In honor of this month's What I Ate Wednesday theme, "Summer Staples," I've included some of my favorite new recipes of the summer in this post! Thanks to Jenn for the suggestion - and for hosting!

Seared Scallop Salad w/ Orange Champagne Vinaigrette

This was absolutely amazing! I saw a recipe for a seared scallop and grapefruit salad from Skinnytaste, and I knew I wanted to put my own spin on it. The hubby and I aren't crazy about grapefruit, so I substituted oranges, and even found an orange champagne vinegar at Trader Joe's to use for the dressing. This is easily my favorite new salad. {Recipe coming tomorrow!}

Creamy Smoothies

I've been going crazy combining various flavors of Chobani Greek yogurt with fresh ingredients. My favorite combination has to be Strawberry Banana Chobani + 1 cup fresh strawberries + 1 frozen banana + freshly squeezed juice from 2 oranges + a handful of spinach + chia seeds. When I gave the hubby some of it he exclaimed, "people would pay for this!

BBQ Chicken Salad with Lightened-Up Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Another great summer salad, especially if you are able to grill your chicken. This salad has so much flavor and is a really filling and easy meal. The dressing complimented the veggies and chicken perfectly. John and I love this for dinner on a beautiful summer night. {Recipe here}

And We're Off

Now to the good stuff...vacation!!

We're headed to Orlando for a few days, where we're staying at The Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on Walt Disney World! The plan is to have a day or two to ourselves, and then we have a special surprise in the works. It's John's dad's birthday Tuesday, and he is in Orlando with John's mom and sister. We're going to meet up with the family at Disney World and surprise John's dad, because he has no idea we'll be there. Fingers crossed we pull it off and go 2 for 2 in the surprise party department this summer.

Our hotel for two nights!

While we're at Disney we plan to use a new app that John found for my phone. It's called Disney World Wait Times, Dining and Maps by UnderCoverTourist.com (quite the mouthful!). It's a free app (with ads) that updates to show you the wait time for every ride in all four parks. We're hoping to use it to maximize our time. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.

After spending two nights and three days at Disney World, the hubby and I will rent a car and drive to Sanibel Island Wednesday night. We made the drive last year, when we took a day excursion to Orlando. 

Not my fittest point. Good thing it's never too late to make a change!

Thursday we'll pick up our good friends Ally and Wes from the airport, and the four of us will enjoy a relaxing 4-night stay at John's grandparents' condo. We are so fortunate that they have a condo that they allow us to use, as well as a car they keep at the condo. We definitely would not be able to take this vacation if it weren't for their generosity. Thanks, Mimi and Papa!

The last time Ally and I were on a vacation together was when we went to Japan for spring break our senior year of college. We were part of a pioneer service-learning course, where we studied International Public relations, specifically those in Asian countries (China, India, Japan). We traveled to Tokyo and surrounding cities to meet with public relations executives, journalists and even the U.S. Ambassador. While this is not even close to being the same kind of trip, I'm so looking forward to making new memories of new travels.

While we're in Sanibel we hope to hit up lots of fun things on the island and possibly Ft. Myers. Ally and I are already planning an outlet mall trip - thanks to babysitting money! - and John and I will attend a dinner theater one evening, courtesy of Mimi and Papa. We even hope to see Swade, who will be in Captiva around the same time visiting a sorority sister of ours.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting this week, but I'll be sure to have a few posts recapping our trip. If you read this long, and have any suggestions for places to go or things to do during our stay, please let me know. I'd love some fresh ideas! :)

Summer Updates

Greetings from 30,000 feet in the air! (And thank you, Air Tran for in-flight wireless!)

John and I are currently en route for our vacation - woo hoo! I've got a quick weekend recap and some updates before we arrive at our destination. 

I hope that you all enjoyed your weekends, and managed to find some time to relax. John and I were quite the busy duo, and didn't do much relaxing. Friday night I babysat two sweet little girls from about 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. That's usually way past my bedtime, but thanks to an old America's Next Top Model marathon on Style, I was entertained through the evening. 

Oh, Tyra. Your theatrics, constant tangents of your glory days and self-love are unending.

Saturday was spent doing laundry, cleaning and packing for our trip, before heading to my good friend Jourdan's BabyQ! Jourdan and her husband are expecting their first bundle of joy in August, and we all got together for a combination baby shower + BBQ. I've never been to one of these before but we had a blast.

On Sunday we finished up all the details in preparation for our trip, including printing off all the necessary documents and checking into our flight online the night before. My brother and sister arrived late Sunday evening, on their way from Alabama to Chicago. Meg is staying with our Hoosh puppy for the week, and George is driving her belongings back to Chicago, since she's moving back to the midwest. Honestly I am practically giddy to have my sister so close to me again. Cue lots of weekend visits to Chicago! :)

With my younger siblings, Gdubs (George) and Meg, on my wedding day. Look at those blondies!

I am so beyond grateful that Meg is able to stay with the pup. Originally, we thought we'd board her, and even went through an elaborate interview and acceptance process at Camp Bow Wow. Though it was lengthy - and pricey at $38 a night - I was grateful for the quality care that they offer. So, thank you Meg for saving us some moolah! :)

As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't had many posts this month. With vacation impending and busy weekends, I did my best to use up everything in our fridge, resulting in lots of salads and frittatas. Plus, we had our favorite deep-dish Chicago pizza, Lou Malnati's, shipped to us, thanks to a gift card leftover from Christmas. Hopefully I'll have more when we return. Cheers!

There's a New Sheriff in Town

...a Mrs. Sheriff, that is!

Saturday night John and I went to a wonderful wedding for my good friend Deborah and her now-hubby Tyler.  Let me tell you, we could not have had more fun! As I type this my calves are still killing me from all the dancing that was done. When you get a bunch of sorority sisters together we're bound to have a blast and dance the night away. 

The reception was on the roof of the Regent Bank Tower, and the night was gorgeous and absolutely perfect. Below are some of my favorite photos of the night (all from my iPhone so not always the best). If I can figure out how to do it, I might just post a video or two from the evening as well - and one of those involves a rapping bride. My friends are awesome. 

Congratulations, Deborah and Tyler!!

One of my favorite wedding party intros...She was a bull and he was the bull fighter. Hilarious!

The beautiful bride & her hubby (love the sheriff badges, a throwback to Tyler's last name!)

Katie, Me, Lindsey, Jourdan (and baby girl!) and Jessie

Caitlin and I - and no slouching since we're both tall!

Me, Katie, Kelsey, Lindsey, Jourdan (and baby girl!)

Ready for a baby Alpha Phi!

"Call Me Maybe"

Almost all the Alpha Phis!

Enjoying the beautiful wedding and beautiful night with my favorite! :)

Couples Night Out

Welcome to my second post of this weekend recap!

Saturday was a super busy day. I went to the gym, ran errands, grocery shopped, cleaned our apartment and managed a little reading, all before the highlight of the day: Couples Dinner! Some of the girls from our normal Girls Dinner crew got together Saturday night. Except this time we brought the boys! I hinted at our plans, and even though they changed a bit, we had an absolute blast. I'm pretty sure we were the restaurant entertainment as we were laughing so loud throughout our meal.

We ate at Adobo Grill, which is a fantastic Mexican restaurant downtown. John and I are big fans, and this is not our first time frequenting the place. It happens to be one of John's favorite restaurants and is downtown, so we could not have been happier.

Our table started off with two orders of tableside guacamole. Let me tell you, this is fantastic. I could have easily gotten one order just for me and been perfectly content at making it my dinner. Lucky for everyone else I didn't.

John and I opted to split two items for our entree. We got our usual tllayuda, plus the stuffed chicken, which our server recommended. I had two slices of the tllayuda and a piece of the chicken. Both were great, minus the cilantro that wound up on the chicken. I scraped it off, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more without that part.

Here's our lovely dinner crew! I have to note, that throughout our evening various members of our group would tell me what I needed to include in my blog post. I'd get "blog this!" and "take a picture of that!" at different points in the night. I loved it, especially because they were so enthusiastic. Thanks for caring, guys! :)

After dinner we decided to walk down the street to a new-to-us restaurant/bar, The Libertine. It had some super cool decor inside, and I was especially enamored with the white tree coming out of the wall. How cool is that?

They had a really unique cocktail menu, too! Ally was very excited to see Pimm's which I had never heard of! It was full of ginger and other flavors, and she seemed to really enjoy it.

I only have two complaints about our experience. The first would be the super snooty hostess, who was probably the rudest person I've encountered in the food service business. The second is that the very dim light in The Libertine did make me a wee bit sleepy. We only stayed for one drink, which is probably for the best. This girl would have taken a nap!

After we left, Swade and Adam headed to see Swade's visiting family members. Ally, Wes, John and I walked a bit farther to Tastings, a wine bar located inside The Conrad. Ally and Wes picked out a great wine to try, and we enjoyed dreaming about our upcoming vacation. We always have the best time with those two, and I have no doubt our vacation will be a blast.

How was your weekend? I hope you had as much fun as we did! :)

WIAW: Girls Dinner!

Well it's safe to say that I've been pretty absent from my normal weekly posts, including What I Ate Wednesday and my Fit Fridays post. If any fellow teachers are reading this, you probably understand my lack of time has been due to all the crazy end-of-the year events and projects to finish. We're done a week from tomorrow, but I feel like there are a million things to do before then - field day, 8th grade graduation, report cards, curriculum orders, class lists...I could go on.

Anyway, I thought I'd jump back on the bandwagon so here goes. This is from yesterday (as most my WIAW posts are from my Tuesday eats). If you're looking for more good eats, head on over to Jenn's blog and see some of the others!

Breakfast: I was dragging this morning. Like whoa. So, I didn't get a nice egg sandwich. Instead I grabbed a yogurt on my way out the door. It was tasty as always, but I've become quite attached to my egg sandwiches.

Lunch: Thank goodness for leftovers! Lunch was a breeze to grab since I already put leftovers together from dinner last night. We had some rockin' salads, with lots of goodies. The salad included: baby spinach, romaine, tomatoes, bell peppers (red, green and yellow), avocado, cucumber, pine nuts and feta. I topped with my favorite homemade dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic & dijon mustard), and it was just packed with flavor. I had some sliced strawberries on the side to satisfy my ever-present sweet tooth.

Snack: Grazer alert! I had a handful of pretzels and almonds sometime after getting home from changing my blow out of a tire. I will post a picture soon, but right now it's not on my computer, and I'm too tired to find it!

Dinner: One of my favorite nights of the month! My Indy girlfriends (and sorority sisters) get together once a month for a "girls dinner." We rotate hosting duties each month, and a different girl brings sides, dessert, appetizers and/or wine/beer. We talk, eat, laugh and have a blast together. It's one of the highlights of my month! Love, love these girls!

Ally hosted tonight's dinner, and it was a fabulous spread. You can see all I noshed on, plus her amazing decorations and hosting skills at work. So grateful for my wonderful friends!

appetizers! boursin + gouda + table water crackers | cucumber + feta + deliciousness wraps

Beautiful table spread!

The fabulous dinner! Chicken (will make and post recipe ASAP!) + roasted potatoes + sauteed veggies |
plus salad with homemade greek yogurt dressing...and the CUTEST owl salt and pepper shakers!
Ally loves salt and pepper shakers ;)

some of the lovely details

girls!

Jourdan's delicious strawberry shortcake!

Wedding Season is Here!

Happy Monday, friends! I finally feel like I'm starting to get caught up on posts. After last week I definitely fell behind, but slowly but surely I'm making them up. Anyhoo...

Over the weekend John and I went to our first wedding of the season! Our friends John and Andrea had a gorgeous wedding, and you could just feel the love between them. John and I started dating around the same time they did, so it's fun to be able to see how far we've all come since college. I will never forget going to dinner with them while in St. Louis for a formal, and John's (not my John) wine tasting "skills." Oh memories...

John and Andrea's wedding was so special to be a part of, and we had a blast catching up with John's fraternity brothers and their significant others.

Here are a few photos from the lovely wedding. Please pardon the general "fuzziness" of the photos. My camera was not being my friend and several are iPhone pictures. What can you do?

After this wedding we are one down, with 5 to go, plus 4 showers. It's going to be one busy summer/early fall around here!

How was your weekend?

Hubby and I :)

Rocking some cool shades they passed out as dance favors

Love this girl!

The beautiful couple!

Dance party!

:)