alli-gal

Startin' the year off right with Dark Star Orchestra

2011-01-31T16:20:00.005-05:00

Finally coming out of hybernation......went to the first show of the year for us last weekend. Decided at the last minute Saturday that we were going to see Dark Star Orchestra!! That turned out to be a great decision!!

Ryan and I were both itching to get out and shake our booties!! We're long overdue!!

I love this guy!!

Ah yes...the coctails...we're just getting started here!!

Trying really hard to keep those eyes open!!

Sad, but this is about the best photo of the band that I got the whole night. I never really wandered up to the front. Only for a few minutes on the last song. We were all having way too much fun in the back to even consider leaving and missing something fun!!

Miss Lori Culbertson needed a ride to Indy to meet up with her husband Bryan who was already down there, so she road with us. We had a great time hanging out with the Culbertson's....even made it to Steak and Shake after the show!!

Bryan and Screech must have been discussing some serious matters.....

I think we may have gone into this one in hopes of getting a nice little family pic, but I blew it!!!

BFF's hiding in the corner

Do you think I'm having fun? Just wanted to make sure incase you couldn't tell by this photo!!

I love this picture!! It just kind of sums up how the whole night was....we had a blast!!

Always happy to catch up with old friends, hang out with new friends and introduce them all as we go....the family gets bigger all the time!!

2010-07-18T06:02:00.004-04:00

I almost forgot I had a blog!!! Stupid Facebook addiction....

Anyway, been up to the same ol stuff, going to as many concerts and taking as many vacations as possible. It has been a great year. I just can't believe we're half way through it already.

Ryan has been working a lot, and I mean A LOT of over time this summer, so that has put a damper on some of our fun....or maybe I should say some of HIS fun. I've been to a few concerts and festivals without him, and it is never nearly as much fun when he's not along for the ride.

Although it was only a one day trip, I think my little mini vaca with my mom was one of the best trips I've taken this year. Mostly because it was so much fun for her. We went to Vevay, IN to stay at the Ogle Haus Inn for a night. It's a Best Western with a little German style to it and it's on the Ohio River. We got a room with a river view and just relaxed, swam, and pigged out for a day.

This was our first official picture from the trip...and our first official pee stop :-)

Mom wanted to cross the river so we could say we went to Kentucky, so I drove us over to Madison IN where I knew of a bridge we could cross. From there, we drove over to Louisville and then home from there. This was the first time my mom and I have taken a trip together in almost 30 years. I wonder now why it has taken me so long to take her anywhere. She was thrilled the entire time. It made me feel really good to get her out of town for a day. Not to mention, we had three hours of great conversation while we were on the road.... something that's not always easy with my mom.I'm ready to do it all over again!!!

Good advice

2010-01-13T13:59:00.003-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! LET 2010 BE A NEW BEGINNING!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud.. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

Worry about nothing, pray about everything!!!

1st Annual Indy Gang Christmas Party

2009-12-22T17:10:00.011-05:00

Over the past few years, Ryan and I have grown very close to a group of friends who we have shared all kinds of fun and experiences with. This year, we all decided to get together and had a Christmas celebration. My pictures are not in order, but you'll be able to see that we were having fun from end to beginning and beginning to end this way :-)

We had a little dance party in the living room. Danced to some Cake, Niel Diamond, Beatles, Cage the leephant, and several others. The music never stopped!!!

Beardhead was a big hit with all the guys!!!

Everyone wanted a piece :-)

I think the beard really bring out Nick's eyes!!

Matt and Liz looking all good and stuff!!

We ate and ate and ate!!!

Beardhead and reindeer antlers were a great combo!!

These pics are gonna make great memories!!!

Somebody stole my antlers and ran off to the bar!!

Yes!! I still have a VCR and use it proudly!! Always happy to have a new Grateful Dead VHS to add to the collection!!!

We did some re-gifts just incase some people didn't have gifts!! The COLTS beer cozy was tricky with beardhead :-)

You can never go wrong with a bottle of Chardonnay!!!

Smooches for beardhead!!!
Everyone had to get a swig of the champagne!!!

OMG....Ashley got and MJ DVD!!!!
DAnce Party again!!! And Ryan was even smart enought to bring his comfy pants!!

Who you double doggin'?!?!?!

Makes Daddy proud!!!

Liz, Me, Ashley and Anglea

Here's most of the gang: Me, Kelly, Ashley, Matt, Ryan , and Jamie!!

Just look at that sweetie pie!!!
Shakin' it to Shakedown Street

Matt and Liz and Me and Matt Helton

Jamie and Ryan love eachother!!!

Bill......I know you're not nearly as innocent as you look!!!!!

Ashley and Joey Salad

Mickey stole my antlers!!!
And Ryan stole them back!!!

First on the Scene

2009-12-14T14:01:00.006-05:00

Jen always tells me to be prepared for the unexpected!! I had her voice running through my head the whole time Ryan and I were helping at the scene of a wreck last Saturday.

We were on our way home driving west on Alto road when we saw a full size truck lose control on a bridge, do a 360 degree spin on the road, and then flip over into a huge ditch.

I was in Trauma mode in an instant!! My adrenaline was pumping so hard I could have jumped out of my car while I was still driving. We got pulled over, I grabbed my rescue mask out of the glove box, and Ryan started to call 911. As I stepped out of my car, another car lost control on the black ice on the same bridge. They almost slid into us so I jumped into the ditch and slid down the hill to the truck. Ryan was so into talking to the dispatcher that he didn't even see the car that almost slid into us.

As I slid down the ditch, I was checking out the truck's position to figure out if I was safe to get close. It looked like it could flip over onto it's top at any time. It was laying on the passenger's side. The woman driving was wearing her seatbelt, so she was hanging sideways from her seatbelt towards the passenger's side window. Her airbags didn't go off, which I thought was weird, but luckily she didn't seem to be hurt too badly. She wasn't responsive when I first started talking to her, but after yelling through the window for a only a minute or so, she regained consciousness. I wasn't sure what to do since she was suspended from her seatbelt.

I just kept talking to her and reassuring her that we had help on the way.

At some point before the police first arrived, she un-did her seatbelt and fell into the passenger side window. She was able to get the window down and Ryan and I pulled her out of the vehicle. I threw my coat on the ground and layed her down and told her to hold really still. I wasn't really thinking like I should have at the time, plus I was telling Ryan what to say to dispatch and to the daughter when we called her. Now that I look back, I realized I should have had ahold of her neck right away so she couldn't move it.

She wasn't out of the truck for long when the first police officer got there and he got ahold of her head right away so she couldn't injure her neck. It seemed like a long time while we were waiting for the cops and ambulance, but in all reality, I think it was only about five minutes if that.

I'm really thankful that she was alert and conscious by the time we got her out of the truck, but I was prepared to do CPR if I needed too. I have never been in a situation quite that scary before. It made me really want to become an EMT or paramedic. I personally thought I did a better job of talking to her and making her comfortable with my words than the others did. That's just my humble opinion :-) PLUS.....the firetruck that showed up didn't have a c-collar (neck brace) stocked. They only had a back board. I guess that's better than nothing, but technically, you're not supposed to put someone on a back board without bracing their neck first if there is any possibility of back or neck injury.

I only got her first name, and didn't feel comfortable calling her daughter the next day, so I don't know how she is. I really hope she is OK and have been praying for her since Saturday night. It was scary for all of us. I'm just glad she wasn't hurt more seriously.

I always say there's never a dull moment in my life with Ryan...I never meant it like this......now that phrase has a whole new meaning!!!!I know it is really bad that we took pictures, but Andrea has taught me to always have my camera with me.....You never know what you might come across. You can't see it very well, but in the picture above, we are looking at the underneath side of the truck.Here you can see the truck and the rescue vehicles in the road. The height of the road in comparison to the truck should give you an idea of how deep the ditch was. I barely remember jumping down there!!It looked so awful when it was happening right in front of us. I was really surprised that the lady wasn't banged up more than she was. Relieved and surprised!!!

It looked like quite a scene by the time we pulled away. They had Alto road closed in both directions. Like I said before, I am just very thankful that she wasn't hurt too badly and that Ryan and I escaped the other car sliding around while we were getting out to help. The night could have gone a whole lot differently for a lot of us that night. Someone was watching and protecting us :-)

Time to Give Thanks

2009-11-26T05:18:00.003-05:00

Once again, Thanksgiving has popped up with what seems like no warning at all!!! Luckily, I had zero responsibilities this year as far as cooking goes. All I have to do is finish out this midnight shift I'm working right now, go home and sleep a couple hours, then get up and eat.

Now THAT'S something to be thankful for :-)

Seriously though, I feel like I really do have a lot to be thankful for this year. Looking back since this time last year and seeing the things that have changed around me makes me take a step back to look at things a little differently.

One year ago, I was spending the night with our friends Matt and TeShannah before going to the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving morning. Since then, Matt and TeShannah have gotten married......and filed for divorce.

As sad as this makes me for them, it really helps me to appreciate Ryan and our relationship even more.

One week ago, I was praying that my Mom would be released from the hospital in time for the holiday season. Today, she is at home safe and sound. Taking her meds and doing very well again. I am so thankful for her speedy recovery this time. It has been a hard year for her. She has had a few battles with her illness that were beyond her control and put her right back in the situation she tried to escape for so many years. There was talk at one point this year of Mom going back to the state hospital. Luckily, she became more cooperative and able to understand her illness and got out of the hospital before that ever happened. I am so thankful for that. With the potential threat of going back to the state hospital for a long term stay, my heart was slowly wilting into that of a lost child again. I don't know what I would do if Mom had to go back long term anywhere. I love her like my child, and I have so much empathy for her and Will that it hurts me so much sometimes to know how much they both suffer because of her illness.

Our friends Jeff and Karen have brought a new addition to this world, so Ryan and I are considering ourselves a new Aunt and Uncle again. They delivered a healthy baby boy at home last week. It sounded like everything went very well. I was extrememly relieved. Being a healthcare worker, I like the convenience of having a doctor at my beck and call when ever I need them, and especially if something goes wrong. I have the utmost respect for anyone who is willing to go through such a huge ordeal at home, but honestly, I was worried sick. Today I am very thankful that Byrne Rathmann came into this world without any complications. He and his Mommy and Daddy are all happy and healthy.

Of course, there is my family. How could you ever get through Thanksgiving without getting a little warm and fuzzy about the family. I have some mixed feelings about Thanksgiving this year because my Uncle Dale passed away last May and this is the first big holiday without him. I feel for Andrea, Brent, Rosie, Rich the girls, and especially Aunt Sissy. I know this will be difficult, but I also see this as the perfect opportunity to see how wonderful our family really is. Even though we have a huge part of our family missing this year, we will be there for one another, and we will be just fine. I am thankful for the healing that has covered us over these last few months without Uncle Dale. He would feel better knowing that we were going on with our routines. I will always mourn the loss of my Uncle Dale, but this year, I'm especially thankful for the relationship I had with him. I would be a different person without Uncle Dale's influence.

So much to be thankful for......so little brain space to acknowledge it all.

I love you guys!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Christmas wish list

2009-11-05T20:11:00.003-05:00

So....I found this really cool scarf I think I would like for Christmas..........................

Let me know whatcha think!!! :-)

Everyone needs a set of these!!!

2009-09-28T20:07:00.003-04:00

Our friends in Portland sent us a care package the other day. They are so thoughtful!!
Ryan got a ninja launcher, which is just what he needed, and I got the salt and pepper shakers.The salt and pepper comes right out of their cute little butts. It's awesome!!

You know you all want some :-)

They also came along with lots of CD's. They are into a lot of really cool unique music, and I always love it when they send us the new stuff they're listening to. Sometimes they will just send CD's of local musicians from the west coast. You never know what kinds of surprises are coming when the Rathmann's are in charge!!

Thanks Jeff and Karen!! We love you guys and can't wait to see you this winter!!!

Little Nashville Opry Fire

2009-09-25T22:23:00.003-04:00

It was a little less than a year ago when I took what turns out to be my last trip to The Little Nashville Opry. This photo was taken just after Ryan and I saw Loretta Lynn last year in November. On the wall behind us, you see lots and lots of old album covers. All of which came from artists who have performed there over the years.

I am so sad that the Opry burned down last weekend. I have been seeing concerts there for nearly half my life. My first show there was Tanya Tucker, I think. In high school, when I was dating Matt Kinslow, we used to go down there all the time to see country artists perform. I just can't believe it's gone now.

I really hope Nashville Indiana can stand strong in the economy through this. It's really sad for all the business owners in that area. It would be such a shame if any of them had to shut down because of lost business due to the fire.

I am reallly upset that there has been news regarding the owners not paying taxes too!! That just makes the whole thing seem a little suspicious to me. The news has said that they owe nearly 70,000.00 in back taxes. No taxes have been paid on the property since 2005.

The real kicker here is the fact that the owner has had some unexplained trouble with fire in the past. According to one news report, his home burned to the ground in the mid 80's and it happened again in just the last few years. No cause was ever determined for either of those fires. I fear that will be the case for the Opry as well. I really do hope someone is able to find the cause AND I hope that the owners are NOT responsible.

I am so thankful that Ryan and I took a trip down south last fall and visited the Opry one last time. We already knew the night was special because we were actually getting the chance to see Loretta Lynn, but we had no idea how special it really was until last Saturday night.

RIP John Bonham

2009-09-25T13:19:00.004-04:00

Nearly 30 years ago today, one of the greastest drummers of all time passed away. John Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin. He died at the age of 32 on September 25th, 1980. I am very thankful for the contributions he made to music. I grew up listening to all kinds of music. Led Zeppelin included. I can remember singing D'yer Maker (pronounced with an English accent as "Jamaica") with my Dad when I was little. It wasn't until later in life that I realized that this song was much more than just a little catchy tune. Dad taught me that it was the first introduction a lot of people had to reggae music.

Led Zeppelin's music has always been in my life. When I hear them now, I find myself remeniscing and becoming very nostalgic about my Dad. Sometimes it's hard to believe a lot of the music is older than I am.

So, today I am thankful for John Bonham and his music, and I pray he is at peace.

House Corn

2009-09-23T19:44:00.004-04:00

Everyone knows I love corn.

Apparently God wanted me to have my very own corn stalk this year:-)

So He made one pop up right at my front door.

Now I can sit on my old lady swing and watch the corn grow.

Summer re-cap

2009-08-31T17:53:00.012-04:00

Hello faithful followers!!! I know it's been awhile since I stopped by blog land, but I'm gonna do my best to catch you up on what's been going on with Alli-Gal this summer.

Let's see.......when we last left off, it was Spring Hookahville which is over Memorial Day weekend.

The next weekend was our friend Liz Giblin's birthday. She had a private party with one of our favorite Indiana artists named Derick Howard. He has been the opening act for Ekoostik Hookah several times and plays frequently around Indiana. For just a little food, beer, and gas money, he came up to Indy from Columbus to play her birthday party for us. He is a one man band of sorts. A very talented man.

Not sure why these pictures turned out so tiny, but I think even with the small size of the picture you can see that Ryan and Liz were having BIG fun!!!

The following weekend was Cinco De Mayo, so we had our friends Dave and Kelly come up to Kokomo to celebrate with us. I had to work, but met them and Ryan at Hacienda afterwards to catch some of the live music. My friend Craig Miller is playing guitar for the band called The Fins. They're probably the most well known band in Kokomo right now. We had a bon fire that night. One of few that we have actually made time for, and had a few drinks by the fire when we got home.

A couple weeks later at the end of May, we went to Deer Creek to see Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved seeing Nine Inch Nails live. They totally rocked my socks off!!!

Trent Rezner is a beast these days. His voice is as strong as ever and his build has about tripled in size since I saw him back in the late nineties. His arms and legs looked like Popeye's!! But, more importantly, he sounded fantastic!!!!Our nieghbor Marcus tagged along with us and we ran into another aquaintance named Brian on the left. I also wore my favorite Johnny Cash t-shirt, which I just had to point out. No reason, really.Dave Navarro is now playing guitar for Jane's Addiction which was totally awesome to see and hear!! He used to be the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Jane's Addiction was one of my favorite bands in the late nineties, so I was absolutely thrilled to get the chance to see them a decade later!!! In fact, my Cat, Maceo, is named after a Jane's Addiction song. They didn't play that song, but I still had a great time!!
About a month later at the end of June, I took a trip up to Northern Indiana with Aaron and Marcus to a music festival called Hookahnanny. It featured my favorite band in the world, Ekoostik Hookah, of course.It was a two day festival over the hottest weekend we've had all summer. This tractor tram served as our main source of entertainment for the weekend. "Grandpa" drove it around while people jumped on and off with drinks in hand. He would take you anywhere in the campsite you wanted to go. Hog Hill was the name of the venue. It was in Hamilton, Indiana. Beautiful, beautiful grounds.
Our close friend Bobby Blue played a gig with his band at the bar called Mulligan's here in Kokomo. I regret that I have missed several of his shows this summer, but this one was a good one. I was really happy to be there!!

This is my friend Amanda Campbell playing the keyboard and singing. She has so much talent, it's sickening!!! She has been playing with Bobby's band for awhile now. Having a female in the group has added a lot of charachter to the band. LOVE IT!!!
Over the fourth of July weekend, we saw a couple shows. Dave and Kelly joined us for the weekend and we all had a blast together!!The first show was on the Fourth in South Bend. It was called Willie Nelson's Family Picnic. It was Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp.We got rained on while we were there. Mostly through John Mellencamp's set.The rain didn't stop anyone there from having a good time!! We just kept on rockin'!!!Bob Dylan put on the best show I have seen him put on in all the times I have seen him. He sounded fantastic!! I hate to say it, but I was surprised :-)There was a small fireworks display after the show. It was pretty nice.

The next day, we took off and drove to Columbus, Ohio to see Ratdog, Jackie Green, and The Black Crowes. We had such a good time there. Jen and Chad met us at the venue and finally got to meet Kelly and Dave. I have no idea where the pictures went from that trip, but for some reason I can't find them right now. I'll see what I can dig up :-)

At the end of July, TeShannah and I headed up north, met our friend Trina in Goshen, and drove to Grand Rapids, Michigan from there. Ekoostik Hookah and Devon Allman (Greg Allman's son) were playing at a venue called The Intersection. We had a fun little girls night out and stayed with Kelly Jo, who lives up there.Devon Allman put on a good opening show. I didn't know any of his original tunes, but he did cover a couple Allman Brothers sangs including Midnight Rider. He sounded great!!Cliffy wore his Thundercats shirt for the show. He rocked it hard!!

A couple days later, Ekoostik Hookah came to Fort Wayne, Indiana for a show. It was a freebie which made it even better. Unfortunately, Ryan had to work, so I drove up solo. It was a great show other than the big drunk girls in the front row that got all pushy. Dave had to step in as my bodyguard a couple times. It was nice to have him there.

Regardless of the pushy people up front, it was a lot of fun. Plus, you can always expect that to an extent.

Right before the Grand Rapids trip, Ryan surprised me first by actually having a Saturday afternoon off work, and secondly, by buying us tickets to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. It was such a perfect and sunny summer day. We haven't had many of those this year, so I really appreciate that day looking back at the pictures now.
If you look real closely, you can see the conductor (I think he's called a conductor) of the orchestra is wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. They also had some pretty cool lights during Sugar Magnolia, which is what was playing when I took this picture.

The fall season is filling up with plans already. Every weekend in October is booked. I'll try to keep up a little better next season :-)

Happy End of Summer Everyone!!!

Spring Hookahville 2009

2009-06-24T17:46:00.030-04:00

Ryan and I went to Spring Hookahville over Memorial Day weekend and had a blast as usual!! A lot of our close friends were there and there was a fantastic lineup this spring. Good friends and good music....we were in heaven.

We took off early Saturday morning driving East towards a beautiful sunrise.(Ignore the bugs)

The music started pretty early...I think around noon, so by the time we got our tent set up, there was plenty of live music to entertain us.

This was a group called Toubab Krewe who played a lot of percussion. It was great to dance to!!The fella with the popped collar kinda rubbed me the wrong way...or at least his collar positioning preference did, but the guy in the back in the purple shirt was tons of fun!!

He was extremely energetic and semed to play the most dominant sounding drums of the bunch. He really caught my attention for some reason. (Maybe it's the hair)

Saturday night was a blast!! I didn't take many pictures while Ekoostik Hookah was on stage. Why? I have no idea....I'm usually juggling my camera and my drinks all night long. Guess I was just having too much fun!!

They have a small stage where the late night bands play after Ekoostik Hookah is done with their final set for the night. We got to see the band Oakhurst play late night on Saturday. They are a really good bluegrass band. It is always lots of fun to go see all the drunk people dancing at about two in the morning. I'm not sayin I'm never the drunk one....but the later it gets, the more they come out!! :-)

Ryan was stoked Sunday because one of his favorite bands, Secret Chiefs 3, was playing. We were really surprised to see them on the line up this year. They were a great addition to the music of Hookahville!!

I wasn't familiar with Sectret Chiefs 3 before Hookahville this year, but I was pleasantly purprised. They came out in navy blue monk outfits...except for the bass player. I'm not sure what that was all about. Maybe he hasn't gone through all the hazing to earn the uniform or something...who knows. I just know that I really enjoyed them. They played a lot harder music than Hookah, which I don't have any problem with, but like I said before I think it was a really good musical match for Hookahville. They do a really good job of keeping things interesting around there.

One of the great things about Hookahville is that the entertainment is all over the place...not just on the stage....I have no idea who these guys are, but they were lots of fun!!

Les Claypool, the bassist from Primus, was one of the main attractions for people this year. I think having his name on the bill probably brought in an extra 800 to 1000 people. The attendance was higher than it had been in years. I was happy for the band.This is Les.

His band was all wearing creepy dead president masks.

It's good to see a crowd this size at Hookahville!!

Les also came out in a pig mask and an Elvis mask, which I failed to get pictures of.

As the night prgressed, so did our drunkeness. Ryan officially put on the beer goggles. I bet EVERYONE was looking good to him that night!!

his is Dave Katz singing LONER.

As the night went on, I got a little more courage and began to push my way to the front. Usually I try to get there early and just stand my ground until the band starts, but we were hanging out towards the back of the crowd for awhile. I knew eventually Eric would be out from behind his drum kit singing us the encore song, so I had good motivation!!

Cliff hung out behind the keyboard while Dave sang a couple songs. He kept the base going with one hand, and the keys going with the other. AND he was wearing ski goggles.................?The Muffins Middle is the best place to be for photos. This is a great pic of John Mullins AKA Muffins.

This is just before Eric started singing for us....also about the time I started screaming like a little girl :-)

When the hat came off, the party really got started!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Eric.Watch out for the hair...it can be used as a weapon!!!

This is Ryan and I just before we finished packing up to go home on Monday. It was a long fun-filled weekend. I can't wait to do it again in the fall!!! Ony 3 months till fall Hookahville!!!

Last Day in Jamaica

2009-06-03T17:04:00.011-04:00

Again, this will mainly just be pictures and a little info so I can catch up on life on this blog!!!

Artwork by Rohan.

This is Rohan with the painting we bought from him.

We ate at 3 Dives for our last dinner in Jamaica.....delicious!!!

Ashley and I on the cliffs at 3 Dives.

Matt and Liz.

Nick and Ashley.

Jerk chicken, callilou, and peas and rice.

That's Jamaica!!!

After dinner we went to the Sea Star where John Mullins was staying. He played a couple songs including Rocky Racoon with a little help from yours truly!!!

Liz, me and Ashley.
Ashley, Liz and I with our cabbie. I think his name was George.

We went to the Twenty Three Seven Bar one last time.....I have no idea who this guy is.

Liz and I just HAD to dance on a table before we left Negril!!Headin back to the airport.These are the herbs and spices and sauces we brought home with us!!!

The Pelican Bar and Wedding

2009-05-08T13:52:00.018-04:00

OK, I'm just gonna have to give up on all the story time and just post some pics from the last couple days of our vacation. I've just got too much other stuff to catch up on to go into much more detail about Jamaica.... We rode a VIP bus to go on The Pelican bar tour.

This is our tour guide, Lee, getting on the bus.

Strip club!!!!!

This is the boat that took us to the Pelican Bar.

Me and my friend from New York, Suzie.

Dolphins

The Pelican Bar is an actual bar and restaurant that is made of driftwood. It sits about a mile offshore on the southern coast of Jamaica on a sand bar.

This is the Pelican Bar. You'll notice a small windmill on the top of the bar. This provides enough electricity to refridgerate drinks and food, cook, and play a radio.

Pretty crazy that there's an Obama sticker all the way out in the middle of the Carribean.

The stairs were not easy!!!

You could wade around and snorkel while your food was being prepared.

You can write or carve your name in the building if you want.

We left our mark!!!!

You didn't have to go in this way, but Ryan wanted to.......

Me and Suzie

Ryan, Suzie and Corinne

Going back to shore

Captain Dennis

The Pelican Bar gang

Pee stop

Chicken, our bus driver

Hospital

Chicken's chicken

A nicer hospital

Jamaicans burn the sugar cane fields to carmelize the sugar cane for harvest. That is what the smoke is coming from.

We made it back literally minutes into Matt and TeShannah's wedding, but we didn't miss any of the important stuff.

Gettin' crafty with my Red Stripe

The beautiful couple

Ashley, Kelly Ann and me

Hangin' out in our wedding attire

Ryan bought Pina Coladas for all the girls!!!

Matt, Nick and Ryan

Friday in Jamaica

2009-05-02T19:56:00.013-04:00

Ryan and I got up Friday and hung out on the beach for a little while with the gang from Indiana. That was what we did most days for at least a little while after we got up. I was happy that we had so much beach time while we were there.

When lunch time rolled around, we took off down the beach again to find some good eats. On our way past the bar next to our hotel, we found this huge lounge on the beach. Ryan and I both decided we needed to take it for a test run. It was so comfy!! I could have laid there and slept all day.

Our last Hookah show was scheduled for that night at a venue called Negril Escape. It is on the cliffs and is a wonderful place to watch the sunset. Ekoostik Hookah had scheduled a show at sunset, so everyone just hung out and lounged around for most of the day.

Some friends that we met while we were there had made arrangements for a large group of us from Fun Holiday to take a glass bottom boat out to Negril Escape. We planned on it being a party on the water on the way, and it was!! Our original arrival time was supposed to be at 4:20 so we could make it in plenty of time for the sunset. We thought it would be cool for a group of people to make their entrance from the water rather than the street.

This is one of the guys that was doing the glassbottom boat tours as we were taking off.Everybody's eyes were glued to the bottom of the boat the whole ride. We didn't see anything extremely thrilling, but it was still pretty cool. Really we were just using them as a water taxi rather than taking the tour. They would have taken a completely different route if we hadn't have hired them to take us to the show.We were all drinking and having a great time on our way to Negril Escape. I think everyone on the boat was from the Fun Holiday, so we had our pseudo family along for the ride.These two guys were a lot of fun. I regret that I never caught their names, but they were a big help on the way since the water started getting really rough.This is Larry up front in the boat. He and his wife renewed their vows the night before at the campfire jam at 3 Dives on the Cliffs. They're celebrating ten years of wedded bliss.The picture above shows a resort that looks like a huge castle. Apparently it's been up for sale for quite some time now.Everyone on the boat decided that we were all going to sell our homes and chip in with eachother to buy the place. It would be plenty big enough for all of us :-) After all our claculations, we had about $600,000.00 figured up that we could come up with if we could all sell our homes. We need only about twice that. It's a steal of a deal really, so if you know anyone who has about a half a million to invest in this place let me know.
This is when the water started getting really rough. It was kind of exciting!!This is Negril Escape as we passed it the first time looking for a safe place to get on shore.This is after we passed Negril Escape and turned around to find a safer place to stop. We definintely didn't make our 4:20 deadline we were hoping to make.It turned out to be a nice little stop that we detoured to for our departure from the boat. We stopped at a place called the Rockhouse Hotel, and these are the huts you get to stay in when you stay there. Ryan and I fell in love with this place as soon as we laid eyes on it. I think we might know where we're gonna stay the next time we vistit Negril. :-)

As we pulled up to the Rockhouse, we all began walking and trying to find our way through the grounds of the resort. It was beautiful!!
We knew we had arrived when we found this sign nearly standing in the road. (Remember, there are no shoulders on the roads in Jamaica)We barely made it to the venue before sunset, but we made it. I was so busy watching it that I didn't take a single picture.
The set up at Negril Escape was awesome. They had a huge stage and a large area to dance that was all stone. There were several of these hammocks hanging near the edges of the cliffs. That's Dave and Kelly haging out across the way from us.

We never made it up into the lighthouse behind me in this picture, but our friends Nick and Ashley had a fun experience up there.....Ashley's purse got caught in the wind while she was leaning over the rail and flew right out of her hands. Ryan and I were on the ground talking to them as all of this happened. We all thought it was funny except for the girl who was sitting in a chair directly underneath Ashley. She got hit in the head with the purse as it fell. We couldn't help but laugh, and I really don't think that helped matters much. Ashley tried to appologize. She even offered to buy her a drink, and the lady wasn't having it. She was pissed!!!

I got a few good pictures of the band again on this night. The night was kind of a bummer in a way because we found out after the first set that Dave Katz from the band had gotten sick and wasn't sure if he would be returning for the last set.
That still didn't spoil our fun though!! This is me and Eric Lanese hanging out during set break. Unfortunately, it was the only time we really hung out during the week other than our occaisional hellos and flirtatious glances over the drums in the nights prior.

After set break, we were blessed enough to have Dave back up on the keys and a couple local guys join in to give us a taste of their kind of live show. It was really cool. Our friend Matt ended up meeting up with this guy at the Twenty Three Seven bar the next night and they exchanged info with one another. He is also a taxi driver as well as a musician.

We discovered that most locals are taxi drivers on the side to get extra cash. Their taxi driver's don't have to have any special license or anything. Some of them do have a special license and insurance, and they drive the cabs with the red license plates. The people with white license plates are just locals driving around giving people rides.

We could all tell that Dave wasn't feling up to par, but the rest of the band really made up for it with their energy level. Cliffy seemed to have a blast on bass while the reggae guys were up there with him.

There were a couple really good spots to get on the side of the stage where you could see Eric really well. Still, I could only get mediocre pictures of him. It was frustrating, but I was really happy to get so up close and personal.

After the show was over, Liz sat down on this boxed percussion instrument that was for sale. I thought Cliffy from the band was gonna buy it at first. He played it for awhile after he left the stage. The lady sitting next to Liz made it, I think. It sounded really cool. There metal prongs on the front of it with the box itself hollowed out. When you pulled on the prongs, it made a weird whiny bouncy sound. I really don't know how to describe it....Liz, I need your help!!

It meant so much to all of us that Dave got back out there and stuck it out for us fans. He looked a little puny behind the keyboard towards the end, but he still made it sound good.

When we got back to our hotel, the guys who work there had another big bon fire going on the beach for us. There were a few new faces there, but it was mostly the same people who had been hanging out with us all week long.

We still had two nights left in Negril, but somehow knowing our last concert was over made me a little sad.

Each night that we sat by the fires on the beach seemed like a scene from a movie or something. It always seemed too good to be true. I am still in awe over what a fabulous place Jamaica is. I really hope to go back again sometime soon!!

Respect Mon!!

2009-04-30T22:36:00.011-04:00

Thursday morning Ryan and I headed down the beach a little further than we had in the days prior. On our way, we came across a lot of friendly locals as usual, and eventually found our way to Margarittaville to claim another free lunch from our meal tickets.

There's always someone in Jamaica saying "Respect Mon" and shaking your hand. There is a special handshake that the locals will teach you almost as soon as you get there, and with that, you always say "Respect" to eachother. Margarittalville was definitely the most Americanized place we visited while we were in Jamaica. The food was pretty good, but not authentic by any means. They offered a lot of fried food which you rarely see there. Our service sucked, but we still got a free meal out of the deal.
I have no idea what kind of bug this is, but I thought it was pretty. We saw it crawling on the beach while we were walking. It was the only time we saw any bugs or anything that kind of scared me. I'm pretty sure this one was on his death bed because he barely moved as we posed him for the photo. That was fine with me because I would have totally freaked out if that thing would have flown into my hair or something!!!

Thursday night was the night we were supposed to have our campfire jam with the band at a place called 3 Dives on the Cliffs. It started out as a campfire jam until the rain started falling. That's when everyone started crowding under the awning. It was pretty packed, but not too close for comfort. The guys from the band all brought their acoustic instruments and invited anyone else to join in that had something to play.
I had to be up and dancing around the whole time, and of course, I never went far without my Red Stripe :-)The guys from the band Cosmic Railroad also joined Ekoostik Hookah for a few songs. It was so cool to be up close and personal in this setting with both bands at our fingertips. Neither band played any of their own songs. Well, with the exception of maybe one or two, but it was mainly old cover tunes that nearly everyone would know. There were a couple times that I think literally every single person under that awning was singing along. It was fun beyond words!!Cliffy, who normally plays bass guitar was playing mandolin for the night. That in itself was a huge treat. We all know that Cliff has a lot of interest in bluegrass, but have never really had the chance to hear him strut his stuff on the mandolin very much, so that was awesome. He also sang the old Peter Tosh song, Burial, which was a big hit with the locals. I don't know why I would be surprised, but Cliffy can pull off some pretty mean reggae!!
There were a couple ladies there who have sung back up for Hookah at a couple shows in the past who got up and sang a couple songs for us. This is Judy Russell singing in the picture above. Dave Katz from Hookah is sitting in front of her and Steve Sweney was playing guitar. If I remember correctly, Judy was singing "TUSH" by ZZTop in this photo. That woman can SING!!!!Corinne, AKA the merch girl, hopped up with her guitar and sang "Brand New Key" for us. A few other people like Dan Mesnard, Hookah's sound guy, played for us too. He played "Psycho Killer." Dave Katz' wife, Cassie and another backup singer, Genean Grantham sang a great rendition of Ophelia.....gave me chills.....even on a hot Jamaican night :-) Judy came back up with "Son of a Preacher Man" after multiple requests. It was a phenomenal experience to have all that talent wrapped around us under one tiny roof.Eric Lanese, who is usually on drums, played "Powderfinger" by Neil Young to close the night out. It was an awesome night of music!!

After we all headed back to Fun Holiday, we wandered down to the Twenty Three Seven bar which became a regular hang out for us throughout the week. They would close for one hour every day to clean, but otherwise they were always open and not too far down the beach from where we were staying. So, we ended our night there with some pizza and a couple more drinks.
As you can see, I should probably have only had the pizza...not the couple more drinks, but I had a great time. That's all that matters, right?
The Twenty Three Seven Bar had some really cool artwork hanging around the bar that I got a few pictures of. The pictures don't do the work justice, as you can't see the detail at all, but believe me, they were beautiful!!

Everyone was getting tired after about an hour at the bar, so we decided to all head back to Fun Holiday for the night. One more wonderful day in Jamaica down. Only three to go.

Grab Life by the Ball

2009-04-16T16:13:00.005-04:00

Ryan and I are playing in a dodgeball tournament in Lafayette this weekend to raise money for testicular cancer.

I really like getting involved with fundraisers like this.

The factory where Ryan works got word of this somehow, and Ryan asked me if I would be willing to play on their team. I have a feeling that I might be pretty out numbered by the guys, but hopefully I can use that to my advantage somehow.

The factory where Ryan works is called Donaldson's. So, our team name is "The Test D's." The "D" is for Donaldson's :-) But if you say it fast........he he he!! From the pictures I have found from previous years, I saw that there have been some pretty crazy names. Check 'em out: It looks like it could get pretty intense. I just hope I don't come out of this with a black eye or something!!! Wish me luck!!!

Wednesday in Negril

2009-04-10T17:18:00.025-04:00

We woke up with very sore feet from dancing on the beach all night Tuesday, so a three hour boat trip and a little swimming was welcomed warmly by our group!! We met at a hotel called Kuyaba and had a free breakfast before our catamaran came to pick us up.

This is the bar at Kuyaba. I can only imagine how much fun I could have in those swings after a couple drinks!!!!There were some birds at Kuyaba. Charlie was my favorite. He talked and ate nuts out of our hands and waved at us. He's waving in this picture.When the catamaran arrived, our group claimed the back end of the boat where there was a bench seat long enough for all of us. Matt, Liz, Dave, Kelly, Ryan and me all went on this excursion together. It was one of the most fun things we did on our trip.We all had a set price to pay for the catamaran that included the three hour ride, all the booze we could drink (Actually it was just rum punch and Red Stripe), snorkeling, and cliff diving on the west end of Negril. They did take us snorkeling pretty early in the trip which I thought was smart since we were all drinking :-) The water where they took us snorkeling was absolutely amazing. It was very deep, but you could see the bottom everywhere.
I tried jumping in without a life jacket at first, but I realized very quickly that I needed one to keep me from running into the coral reefs. The current was really strong out there, but once I figured out that you're supposed to put the life jacket around your waist instead of around your neck, I was swimmin like a fish!!! If you put it around your neck, you can't put your head in the water....made it a little hard to see anything :-)The coral reefs were beautiful and we saw all kinds of crazy fish. There were a lot of black sea urchins too. They were a little scary. It took me a little while to get used to the snorkel and the mask. My claustrophobia was kicking in at first and I had a hard time, but once I got the hang of it, I loved it!! There is no way I could ever go scuba diving....I know that for sure!!!They opened up the sail so it was nice and full and we just let the wind carry us for awhile. This is just about the time that Kelly started to get nice and red :-)There was a big net similar to a hammock at the front end of the boat that everyone took turns hanging out in. It was a great place to go after you got nice and hot sitting in the sun because the water would splash up underneath you if you hit a big wave. I did a lot of screaming and bouncing around while I was in there!!Of course, no booze cruise would be complete without some music, and of course they hooked us up with some good reggae. Ryan and I were shakin' our booties the whole three hours :-) This was right before we got to the cliffs on the west end of Negril. That's where a lot of the tourists go to cliff dive. The catamaran stopped at Rick's Cafe for us to cliff dive. It was so beautiful around the cliffs. I think Ryan and I would like to stay in that area if we ever go back to Negril.If you look closely in the picture above, you can see Ryan diving off of the cliff right above the big boy in black :-)Then if you look really closely in the water to the right of the stairs, you can see Ryan waving at me after he jumped. Once I saw that he was safe, I put the camera down and jumped in. I swam over and joined the fun. Ryan ended up jumping off of the higher cliff which was apporximately 40 feet. The other one he dove off of was 25. I jumped from that one, but that's my limit. Even that 25 feet was scary to me!!!After we all spent some time up on the cliffs, we went back to the boat to play on the slide. You would have thought we were all about ten years old we were so excited!! Dancin' fool!!!!
There goes Kelly!!Ryan had to be a show off and go on his back...head first!!!

A friend of ours named Kevin took these consecutive pictures of everyone going down the slide with his fancy camera. My pictures were boring because I'm just sitting on my butt, so you get to see Ryan's trip down the slide!! Dancin' fool's wife :-)This is T. J. and Ashley who we met at our hotel. They went on the booze cruise with us, to all the Hookah shows, and were also there for Matt and TeShannah's wedding.After the girls finally got hot enough, I got them talked into playing in the net with me. It was a blast!!!This is a group of small villas on the cliffs that I thought looked like it would be a good place to stay sometime. They all have stairs carved into the cliffs that allow access to the water, and there are several shallow areas where you could wade very easily. I really don't think I'd miss the beach that much.This was definitely the day we all got most of our sun for the week. Between the sun and the booze and the swimming, we were all ready for naps by the time we got back to our hotel.This fellow was our first mate, and I feel awful, but I forget his name. He helped the captain of the boat with all kinds of things and helped us with all of our snorkeling gear. He was pretty much the "go to guy" for anything we needed while we were on the catamaran. He surprised me when I asked him to get my picture with him...he just scooped me right up off my feet!!

When we got back to the hotel, a few of us decided we were hungry and wanted to go back to Miss Sonia's for some Jamaican Patties again. We were disappointed when we first got there because our host from the night before, Elkin, wasn't there. But shortly after we sat down, he showed up.

While we were waiting on our food, we spotted this cute little lizard poking around in the trees next to us. Ryan kept trying to get him to flare out the little yellow thing under his neck, but instead of making him mad, Ryan just made him leave. Still got a decent picture anyway!!!

This is Liz, Elkin, and me with Dave in the background at Miss Sonia's before our patties were done. We really enjoyed talking with Elkin again. I did feel kind of bad though, because we were such big fans of the food that we told Elkin we would be back a few times during the week, and we never made it back after that second trip. Our goal was to try to get ox tail for dinner one night, but you had to order it ahead of time. Like, a few days ahead of time. So, we told them we wanted two ox tails, one for Ryan and myself, and one for Matt and Liz, and then we never went back to eat them. I hope they didn't go to waste. Surely someone around there would have eaten them if we didn't. Who knows. I guess that's one goal I did not accomplish while in Negril. So, if for no other reason, I'll have to go back for the ox tail. They had this note hanging up that said "What is Life" In the picture below, you can read what it says a lot better then the one up top. Elkin explained to us that his family reads that list every day basically to keep their priorities straight and to keep them from feeling sorry for themselves. We all thought that was pretty cool.

After another wonderful meal at Miss Sonia's, Ryan and I went back to our room and took a nap. We were both completely exhausted. We had a couple hours before the next Hookah show was supposed to start, so we took advantage and slept those hours away.

When we woke up from our nap, we decided to go to Merrill's for dinner. It was one of the freebie places on the meal tickets we had purchased. Their food was really good. I got chicken in sauce with carrots on top, salad, which is more like cole slaw because it's made of mostly cabbage, a wheat roll, and rice and peas as they call it. I thought it was rice and red beans. So, now I'm confused as to whether they just call red beans peas, or if those things that I thought were red beans are actually some weird kind of pea. Either way, they tasted delicious!!!

After dinner at Merrill's, we headed back over to Risky Business to catch Ekoostik Hookah again. It was another fun show, but a lot of us were worn out from that booze cruise we took that day. You could tell a big difference in the size of the crowd too. In fact, I think Dave, Kelly, Ryan and I were the only ones who made it through both the cruise and the show!! John Mullins from the band even posted a comment about not taking booze cruises the same day as a Hookah show next time because everyone was hurting so badly that night. Most of them missed out completely!!

Since we were all so exhausted, we hung out on the balcony for a lot of the show. It was much less crowded up there, and we had a ledge to lean on with a great view of the stage.I quit drinking alcohol after we got back from Miss Sonia's and stuck to water for the rest of the night. Check out their water bottles. It's spelled just like it sounds when the Jamaicans say it:

MWAAAAAHAAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!!!!!

WATA!!!!!! Isn't that funny?????

1st Ekoostik Hookah Show in Jamaica

2009-04-10T14:41:00.008-04:00

After watching the sunset with the gang at Fun Holiday, we all headed down to a venue called Risky Business to see Ekoostik Hookah's first show of the week. I took a couple pictures of the venue while Ryan and I were walking on the beach during the day because I saw a sign that said "No Cameras" and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to use my camera for the show.Come to find out, the "no camera" sign was just for the wet t-shirt contests they have there, so I was able to take photos after all. But these were taken before the gates were all put up for the show, so you can see everything a lot better.As usual, Ryan and I were the first two people out dancing. We started partying long before the party really started!!! I learned really quick that dancing in the sand is the best exercise for your calves. My legs and feet hurt so bad after that first night!!!Just groovin' with my baby!!!!These are the Indiana girls. L-R Kelly Anne, TeShannah, me, Liz, and Ashley. I am so fortunate to have gone on a big trip like this with four of my closest girls!!!
Here are the Indiana boys: L-R Matt H., Dave, Ryan, (Liz and some rasta man), Nick, and Matt C.
The opening band was called Cosmic Railroad. They were a lot of fun. They played a lot of Grateful Dead and Phish covers, which always go over well with this crowd. The guys in the band were all very friendly. They actually stopped and talked to us on the beach outside our hotel earlier in the day that day.I offically became the Red Stripe spokeswoman for the week. LOVED IT!!!!!!!
We perched ourselves on this deck a lot through the night to give our legs a rest. And of course, there was always rum punch nearby :-)There was a balcony where a lot of us hung out for awhile. It had a great view of the stage, and a nice hard surface to dance on.Nearly everywhere we went, we felt like dancing. It was just in the air. There's a lot of things floating around in that Jamaican air :-)One thing we didn't like about Risky Business was the fact that they kept raising the price of beer as the night went on. First it was 100 Jamaican dollars, then it went up to 250 J's, and before we knew it, they were charging us 450 J's per beer which is close to five bucks American. There were definitely no set prices on ANYTHING in Jamaica.

So, Ryan and I went to the bar next door to get drinks where they were much cheaper. Here, we're shooting Malibu...yuck, I know, but they didn't have many options besides rum. I was looking for the quick route to drunkenness, and it worked ;-)Steve Sweney was on fire that night, as usual. I was very happy with the stage, because I could get right up underneath him. I could almost feel him breathing on me!! There were times when I would catch myself standing literally open mouthed, just in awe of what I was hearing and seeing. Somehow having the Caribbean waves crashing in the background made the whole thing seem surreal. What a fabulous way to see your favorite band of all time!!!During setbreak, a local started a big bonfire on the beach in between Risky Business and the bar next door. It was so awesome to stand there with the cool ocean air to your back and a nice warm flame in front of you. There's just something very romantic about a fire on the beach. I've never been anywhere where you could have a huge fire in the sand and no body cared. Maybe on smaller beaches in Florida you can do that stuff, but not at any of the beaches I've ever been to. It was a real treat.One of my fellow Hookah fans met us out by the fire for awhile during set break. Her name is Mickey. She and her husband, Larry, renewed their vows for their tenth anniversary while we were in Jamaica. They stayed at our hotel and we were able to get to know them a little throughout the week. I had a lot of fun with Mickey and her gang!!We were in Jamaica during spring break for most colleges, so we had a few run ins with the college kids while we were there. The only time they bothered me was when me, Liz, and Kelly were up front dancing during the second set and the college cuties jumped in front of us. That's when I returned the favor jumping in front of them to the point where there was no where else to go but up on stage. That's when I got this picture. It was pretty funny because we were all a little tipsy by that time and were like "those little college bi*ches better get out of our way. Hookah is OUR band!!!" It only took the girls a couple minutes of elbows and crushed toes to realize they were messing with trained professionals :-) We laughed a lot about that the next day. So, it was a little immature of us, but who cares....we were in Jamaica....when will we ever see those girls again?

So, the first Ekoostik Hookah show went off without a hitch. Everyone had a wonderful time including the band. We even got to hear some great covers like Hush by Deep Purple and Pigs by Pink Floyd. They don't do covers very often, so that's always a treat.

The next day was rough with the little hang overs that we all carried with us, but we managed to have lots more fun. The catamaran/ booze cruise is coming up next....................

Jamaica Post No. 2

2009-04-06T20:06:00.012-04:00

After arriving at our hotel, we all started to unpack a little and make ourselves at home. We pretty much just hung out around the hotel for the night, played cards, met some other folks who were staying there and drank Red Stripe and Rum punch.
This is our cute little front porch.

It was getting pretty late by this time :-) All us girls had been drinking rum punch all day and playing in the sun on the beach. The perfect way to start our Negril vacation!!!

Our first full day in Negril was wonderful!! We finally had some time to go out and explore the area and also meet some of our fellow Hookah fans who had come along for the trip.This is the view from the pool at our hotel. As spectaucular as that pool looks, we never jumped in there one single time!! The Caribbean was literally a few feet off of our deck and looked even better than the pool. So there was no need.We stayed at a little place called the Fun Holiday Beach Resort. It was nothing fancy, but it was perfect for those of us who stayed there. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful, our rooms were clean, and the location was perfect.Along the beach side (versus the street side) there were tons of people selling their hand made arts and crafts. In fact, there were people selling anything you could possibly think of. And when I say anything, I mean anything. We had offers for drugs, drinks, fresh fruit, fresh juices, aloe rubs, jewelry, mushroom tea......the list could go on and on. Those were just the people who came to us selling thier goods. We didn't even have to leave our beach loungers for all that!!!

Like I said though, the staff at our hotel was wonderful. They would shew the vendors away if it looked like they were getting pushy or if we started to look annoyed. We never even had to ask for their help. They just took it upon themselves to come out and get the people moving along. It kept it from ever getting uncomfortable, which was nice.Ryan and I had purchased meal tickets for $30.00 prior to the trip that would pay for three meals a day at various places. Some of the places offered more than others, but they were all good, and we definitely got our 30 bucks out of them!!! Our first breakfast in Negril was basically a huge plate of fresh fruit and toast. I forgot to take pictures before Ryan and I dove into our plate, but it still looked delicious after we were almost done............

After breakfast, Ryan and I walked along the seven mile beach until we didn't feel like we could walk much more. Then we decided it was time to go back and catch some rays.This picture was taken just down the beach from our hotel.

Sometimes we would just stop and stare into the water. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was so wonderful!!!

After our walk, we came back to the room to get our beach gear together and go for a swim.

I'm ready to go play in the Caribbean now!!!!

After some fun in the sun, Ryan, Matt, Liz and I all decided to check out the "street side" of Negril (versus the beach side.) Matt had told us about this food called Jamaican patties that we wanted to try out. Someone had mentioned a restaurant called Miss Sonia's, so that's where we went.Miss Sonia's turned out to be one of our favorite places to eat while we were there. In fact we visited her place more than once!! In this picture, Ryan is eating a lobster pattie with some of Miss Sonia's secret sauce. It was Delicious!!!I had a curried chicken pattie. And it too was Delicious!!!

We were happy campers hanging out at Miss Sonia's!!!Matt was pretty happy after those delicious patties and Red Stripes too!!!

The only time it rained while we were on vacation was while we were at Miss Sonia's that day. It was perfect timing really, because we had already managed to squeeze in some beach time, and we were all just relxing under Miss Sonia's patio when the rain hit. It came down pretty hard for a little while, but it was actually refreshing. Our waiter, whose name was Elkin, sat down and talked with us for quite awhile. We talked about music and cars and Jamaica in general. He was very friendly and had an unforgettable smile!! We went back to see him later in the week!!

When it finally stopped raining, we decided to head back to the hotel to see what everyone else had been up to. On our way back, we saw some chickens running around. You see a lot of chickens and goats around Jamaica. Then you see a lot of chicken and goat on menus in Jamaica....hhhhmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

It was late in the afternoon when we got back from Miss Sonia's, so we just planned on hanging around the hotel until the first Hookah show of the week started later that night.Since Negril is on the southwest side of Jamaica, the sunsets there are phenominal. All of us Indiana kids got together to watch our first sunset in Negril together. It was so beautiful. The bar at our hotel is on the deck that faces the water, so we all just grabbed a couple cold drinks and sat. I would love to live that hour or so over and over again....it was so wonderful.I even got lucky enough to catch a sailboat passing by for the photo shoot. This is my good friend Ashley Reynolds. She married one of Ryan's best friends, Nick, about two yeasr ago. So, we're kinda sisters by marriage :-) I love her!!!!This is Dave and Kelly Anne Willis. I love this picture of them with the sunset shining down on them. They are two of our best friends. We actually met them at a Hookahville about five or six years ago, and now we're travelling all the way to Jamaica together to see them!!! I have built a lot of wonderful, lasting friendships because of this band.And last but not least, this photo of Ryan pretty much sums up the week.

But don't worry, there are many more posts to come. ( I took over 1000 pics!!!!)

Jamaica post No. 1

2009-04-03T16:17:00.013-04:00

I have no idea how long it will take me to get my pictures and stories posted, but I'll do my best. Facebook is offically blocked now, so this will be the only place where I'll have anything posted any time soon.

We got up Monday morning, March 23rd, at about 2:30 AM and were out the door by about 3:00. We had to meet our friends Matt and Liz at their house by 4:30 to catch our ride to the airport. It was really nice that they let us leave our car at their place all week. It saved a us a lot of money to not have to pay to park at the airport.

There were ten of us from Indiana who went, so we all met up at the airport. I was looking for Jen because she was on our first flight to North Carolina for some Red Cross training, but she got caught up in security, so I didn't get to see her until we were boarding the plane. We caught up in NC before we headed our seperate ways and said our good-byes.

The total time for the flight was about five hours. Not bad at all!!We were all so excited. I think Dave shows it best in this picture on the plane!!Here's the beautiful bride-to-be, TeShannah!!! Ashley and Nick Reynolds are sitting next to her.This was just above Indy at about 7:15 AM.Ta Da!!!! Jamaica Mon!!!

Is this not the most beautiful view ever!?!?!?!?

This was in the airport just after we got through customs. Everything at the airport went pretty smoothly. We had been warned by a few friends that we should be very patient when dealing with the airport in Jamaica, so we went in expecting the worst. I think it only took us about an hour to get through all lines, pick up our luggage, and get a Red Stripe.

We flew into Montego Bay with Cliff, the bassist for Ekoostik Hookah, so we talked to him for a few minutes and then ran into John Mullins (vocals and guitar) We could tell it was gonna be a fun week already!!!

There was a bus waiting for us to take us to Negril. I was kind of dreading the ride there because I knew it was a couple hours away, but that ride turned out to be the best bus ride I've ever been on!! It was a total party bus. I couldn't believe it!! They told us to go ahead and bring our beer on with us...."No Problem." (They really do say that A LOT in Jamaica)

This is the Indiana gang minus myself!!A few minutes into the ride, the driver slowed down, and a Jamaican man jumped on with a case of Red Stripe. He was selling them cold for about a dollar a piece....so we kept drinking them!!It was very interesting to see everything in between two big tourist cities. Some of what we saw was heart breaking, but one thing I noticed in particular was that all the children looked so happy. They were all having fun and running and jumping around when they saw the buses. They really did seem happy. I'm really glad we got away from the resort areas some so we could see the real Jamaica though.

They drive on the left hand side of the road in Jamaica, AND they drive like total maniacs!!! There aren't many stop lights...like maybe two total between MoBay (as they call it) and Negril. There isn't a center line to keep them in one lane and there's no shoulder on the road for people to walk.

They also do a lot of honking there. They don't honk at people for the same reasons Americans do though. They honk when they pass people on the road just to say hi. They honk before they ever turn any corners. The cab drivers and bus drivers all honk at eachother when they pass. The thing I thought was weird though is that even though they're honking to be friendly, they do not wave at eachother. The honking is enough I guess. I thought Ryan and I were in someone's way when we were walking one day because they honked and scared the crap out of me, but we were told that that's perfectly normal, and even considered a little rude if someone doesn't honk.

The picture above was taken from the window of our bus...not standing outside the bus. This is a good example of how literal I am being when I say there is NO shoulder on the road. I had to pull my head back in the bus a couple times for safety sake. The bus ride alone was a huge adventure!!!

I am not normally a beer drinker, but I had planned for weeks on drinking Red Stripe while in Jamaica. I mean, when in Rome.............................

Nearly half way to Negril, our bus driver got a phone call informing him that a few people who were supposed to be on our bus had been left behind at the airport. I would have freaked out if it were me!! So, he told us that we had to pull over until the bus they were on could catch up with us. We were all fine with that idea because we had already started a party, and we liked the idea of more people joining us. The more the merrier, right?!?!?It wasn't too long before their bus caught up with us and we hit the road again. But before they got there, our beer guy had jumped off the bus, caught one going the opposite direction, hopped on it until he got to a liquor store, re-stocked on Red Stripe, and caught another bus to bring him back to us. He caught us before we had the new group loaded up, so they were all happy to have some Red Stripe of their own. I think that is the guy's main job most days. Just bus hopping with beer in hand to make a buck. Seems like a pretty low stress job to me....and he made a killing off of our bus alone!!!
We passed several small businesses on the trip to Negril. There were a lot of liquor stores like the one in the picture above. All businesses there were just little shacks, and a lot of them had tin or metal roofs on them.This is a little grocery store. It wasn't very common to see an actual grocery store. I learned that most people shop for or pick fresh produce daily to cook with, so the fresh produce stands were much more common to see.I had to throw in this picture of Dave and Kelly Anne on the bus because I think it looks like a post card. I guess it's the combo of Dave's blue and purple tye dye and the tinted windows with a moving background, but what ever it is.....I think it's fun!!!!

I loved seeing the different advertisements and signs around the island. They had a few that weren't interesting at all like the Buger King one here, but check out the "Protect Your Head" sign under there....isn't that hilarious?!?!? Simple, yet hilarious at the same time!!We passed a couple schools on our way to Negril also. The children were all in uniform. They would all wave and jump up and down when they would see the buses pass. I don't know if the children there are required to get an education or not. I still have so many questions. I guess I'll have to go back to get some answers!!!When we finally arrived in Negril, it was only about 2:30 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of daylight to get out and enjoy ourselves. Our first stop was Margarittaville for our orientation session for the Hookah tours and outings. They hooked us up with all the rum punch we could drink for free!!! YUMMY!!!!!!!!

This is where we got our bracelets for the week that would allow us free meals and drinks at several bars and restaurants throughout Negril. We also met our main tour guide, Lee, and his assistnats that were all over Negril for the week with us. It was really nice because we had someone to contact if we needed help of any kind, or if we just had questions about something. They were a great group of guys, and were extremely helpful throughout the week.

We did not ride this bus, but Liz and I thought it was really cool :-)

From there we got dropped off at our hotel which was just down the road.........................

Three Nights of Music Fun

2009-03-01T17:21:00.013-05:00

Finally catching up again on all my crazy antics!!!

Two weeks ago, a few friends and I went to Muncie, Indiana to see....guess who....Ekoostik Hookah!!! We were all so happy that our boys were in our home state.

They played at a bar called Doc's. It was a pretty cool place, but I definitely felt a little old hanging out with all the little college kids. Hookah brought in a pretty good crowd of their own with all us regulars, so it wasn't too bad.

There was an opening band that played some jazz. The percussionists were all a lot of fun to watch and hear, and the keyboardist wasn't too shabby either. It's always fun to see who the local opening bands will be in different cities. I was surprised that they didn't have some college kids opening up for them though. After all, we were right in the middle of a major college town.

My neighbor and good friend, Marcus, was my date for the night since Ryan was working. We met up with Kelly, Liz, and Matt at Doc's before the show for some drinks and dinner. Kelly is definitely up to something here............ :-) Liz and I, cheek to cheek before the show!!

One of our favorite Indiana boys opened for Ekoostik Hookah as well as the jazz band. His name is Derick Howard. He is from Columbus, Indiana. We originally met him as a fellow Hookah fan at several shows, and soon realized that we were hanging out with an extremely talented musician.

Calling him a one man band kind of gives the wrong idea, but I don't know how else to describe him. He plays a lot of different instruments and records as he plays. He then plays what he just recorded back in a loop and plays another instument over it and records that too. This process goes on and on until it sounds like there is a seven man band up there.

In this photo, he is playing a percussion instrument (while he is sitting on it) that sounds like a large congo drum. I'm sure it has a name, but I have no idea what that might be. It can sometimes be exhausting to watch him because he is all over the place switching instruments. All the while, his music that he just finished recording is playing along and he hops right back into rhythm with something new.Cliff Starbuck, the bassist for Ekoostik Hookah, joined Derick for a couple songs. It was really fun seeing them play together.From talking to Derick, it sounds like a dream come true to have Cliff Starbuck by his side. I can only imagine!!Here he is working his magic making some crazy music on the sound board and playing his guitar at the same time.Matt and Liz are big fans of Derick too. All of us are....like I said, he's an Indiana boy too!!!Marcus had a good time tagging along with us. We have done our best to turn him into a Hookahhead too!! I was glad he went with me so I didn't have to ried down there alone.The stage at Doc's was a pretty decent size, but the set up was a little screwy. You could see John Mullins just fine up front and center, but Dave's keyboards were behind a big stack of amps. You could hear him really well, but you couldn't see him unless you were way over on the Sweney side of the stage!!Of course, I was front and center for most of the evening. I feel out of place anywhere else!!
Cliffy had the harmonica out again. We always love it when he plays the harp for us. That man is so talented!!! He belted out one of my favorite songs called "Hoist That Rag" by Tom Waits. It is by far the best cover song Cliff has done in a long time. It totally made my night hearing him do that song.We were able to see Dave when he finally came out to play the guitar. I was glad to see him crawl out from behind those amps!!I ventured over to the Sweney side for awhile to get a couple pictures without microphones in them. It was kinda hard to do that while I was in the Muffins middle :-)The first set was on fire, and I really didn't expect the second set to be so energetic. I have no idea what I was thinking. I should've known they would blow my mind all over again, cause that's exactly what they did.This was a little later in the evening after Kelly and Liz had had a few drinks (I was designated driver.) As you can see, Kelly was running for her life any time the camera came near her toward the end of the night. She always hates pictures of herself even though she always looks beautiful!!!Even with her little tongue hanging out, she's beautiful :-)My man Eric rocked it on drums as usual. I even got one of my favorite songs called Caribou that Eric sings. I never think he sings enough, so I am always thrilled to get even just one song out of him. I tried to get a good picture of Eric without my flash while Buddy the light guy was doing his thing, but this was the best one I got. I really wish that new camera from Christmas was still working :-(

The whole night was full of great surprises. They covered Black Water by the Doobie Brothers and the whole crowd chimed in until they just stopped playing and let the crowd sing a capella. We chanted on for a few minutes before they jumped back in with us. I think that was about the time that our friend Jess pulled out her giant jar of bubbles and blowing them up at the boys on stage. That episode even made the setlist on their website.

The next night, Kelly and I drove up to East Lansing, Michigan to see them again.

Kelly rode home with me from Muncie on Thursday night so she could catch a ride up to the next show. We woke up Friday morning and just kind of hung out and recuperated from a late night Thursday. Then I took her to Don Panchos for lunch (My absolute favorite Mexican resturant these days.) Then we headed out of town.

East Lansing is about a three and a half hour drive from Kokomo, so it wasn't a bad drive at all. We did have a little incident on the way up there though. I'm almost too embarassed to post it, but it is kinda funny...........When we were only about 20 miles out of Lansing on I69, we ran out of gas. I know, I know....I'm an idiot!!! I was paying no attetnion whatsoever, just talking away, and all of a sudden the car started acting kinda funny. Before I even realized what was happening, I started to pull off on the closest exit and then BAM, she died. Luckily, we had gotten far enough off the road that we were safe, but we had no idea where the nearest gas station was, and the sign for the exit we were on had nothing saying "Gas Station ahead." So, we grabbed our important stuff and our flashlight and took off walking. ( I know the family is probably all having heart attacks reading this...sorry)

Lucky for us, there was a gas station just around the bend where we couldn't quite see it from the car. So I think we probably only walked a quarter of a mile or so. We ran in real quick, bought a gas can, pre-paid for two gallons of gas and were on our way. By the time we crossed the street to walk back down the exit, a couple of cops pulled up and asked us if we wanted a ride back to our car. Well, of course we did!!!! So, we hopped in the back of their car with the gas can and they flipped their lights on a drove us the opposite direction down the ramp to our car. It was actually kinda fun to ride with them and have the lights on because everyone was getting out of our way. We were heading into oncoming traffic....FUN!!!!

When we got back to the car, I tried to get out of the back of the cop car and I couldn't. It makes total sense to me now, but apparently the doors in the back of a cop car don't open from inside. You learn something new every day :-) The cops just laughed a little and then hopped out and let us out.

I fumbled around with the gas can and the spout using the cop's headlights for a few minutes, and they ended up getting back out to help us because I was struggling. Apparently I picked the hardest spout in the world to buy that night because it took me, Kelly, and two cops to figure out how it worked. It was pretty funny really. Those guys were a total blessing that night. They helped us get the car going again, and made sure it was running before they took off. The really ironic thing about all this was, they stopped just as we were driving away to pick up another person walking down the same exit with a gas can in hand. It's nice to know that they were out there protecting and serving like their cars always say.

When we finally got to Lansing, our friend Kelly Jo was impatiently waiting for us. We met up with her and ran into Eric from the band and had a couple drinks together. I was ready to get wasted after that whole incident on the way up to the show. Plus, we thought we had a place to stay for the night. We had a really good time at the show. They played a lot of great songs, and the energy from both the band and the crowd was impressive. I love the close up feel you get watching Ekoostik Hookah. Very rarely do they play a show at a venue where you can't touch the stage. In fact, most of the time, I'm laying my purse and coat on top of the stage. They don't mind us putting that kind of stuff up there. It's just the spilled drinks that get on their nerves.In all the fuss of getting our gas situation under control, I totally forgot that I needed batteries for my camera while we were at the gas station. I didn't get many pictures from that night, but I'll give ya what I got!!This spot in front of Cliffy, the bassist was where I posted my stuff for the night. I couldn't quite squeeze into the Muffins Middle for most of the night, but I was happy over in front of Cliff and Sweney. It isn't very often that we can squeeze over to Sweney Side, so we enjoyed our footing for the night.This is Kelly Anne and Livia. The original plan was that we were supposed to stay at Livia's brother's house in Lansing after the show was over. With that plan in mind, both Kelly and I had a few drinks. After the show ended, security was practically picking people up and throwing them out the door so they could close. We barely had enough time to say goodbye to Eric before we had a guy telling us it was time to leave. It was kinda funny when security came up to us because he obviously didn't know Eric was part of the band. He tried to tell us we all had to leave and Eric told him he wasn't leaving without his stuff. He started to get a little attitude with Eric until he explained that the "stuff" he was talking about was his drum set from off of the stage!! He backed off a little after that. We were still so rushed to get out of there that we never got the correct address of the house where we were supposed to be staying.

After leaving the venue, we tried to get ahold of our friends, but nobody would answer their cell phones or answer their texts, so we drove through Burger King and decided to get a room for the night. We actually found a really nice room that I would have liked to have spent more time in, but we had a four hour drive back to Kelly's house the next day and another concert that night, so we only slept a few hours before we woke up and left.

When we woke up, there was snow on the ground. There wasn't much, but the wind was blowing so hard that it was hard to see while we were driving. After about an hour of driving, we were finally out of the snow and had clear roads ahead of us the rest of the way home.

I had to drive Kelly home to Indy before I got home, so I had to go a little out of my way, but it wasn't bad. I got home at about 5:00 Saturday afternoon and talked Ryan into going back down to Indy for the Freekbass show. It was a free show at The Mousetrap, and I knew several of our friends would be there, so I really wanted to go. It didn't take much to convince Ryan to go down there with me.We hung out with Nick and Ashley for a little while before the show and then went to Matt and TeShannah's to catch a ride. We all carpooled over to The Mousetrap and met up with Dave, Kelly, Matt and Liz. The picture above is Tsly on guitar.

This is me TeShannah, Ashley and Polly.....having a ball!!!I was so happy that Ryan was actually able to join me for this show. I missed him on Thursday and Friday while I was running around without him. Sometimes I wonder why I even do anything without him because I have so much more fun when he's there.Kelly will probably kill me for posting this one. She never likes any pictures of herself, so we'll see what she thinks of this one!!! :-)Liz and my baby.....do you all like Ryan's Jamaica beard?The guy in the mask is "Freekbass." He usually dresses up pretty funky, but doesn't normally look as gay as I thought he looked this night. He's an extremely gaudy bassist and very lively. Some people would maybe compare him to Les Claypool from the band Primus. (who by the way is gonna be playing at Hookahville this spring) The drummer's name is Chip Wilson, and like most drummers, he is full of energy!! I love him!!
Here's Freekbass...the man in the spotlight.
Here you can see Chip Wilson, Freekbass, and Tobotius on turntables on the other side of the drums.

Needless to say, I was completely exhausted after that weekend. Luckily, I had a day off the following Monday to recuperate. I love those three day runs, but I really missed Ryan the two nights I was gone. If he could just get some weekdays off, then maybe we could do some of these runs together. After Jamaica......after Jamaica...............

New Year's Eve With Ekoostik Hookah

2009-02-16T12:59:00.005-05:00

Finally!!!
I've got some catching up to do again. It seems like I start a lot of these blog entries that way.......

Anyway, before I go out of town this weekend, I've got to at least get my New Year's Eve blog posted. Some of you have probably already seen pictures on Facebook, but look again anyway!!!!

Ryan and I were very excited to see Ekoostik Hookah for New Year's Eve this year because it was our first ever New Year's show with them. After it was all said and done, I'm kicking myself for missing it all these years!! It was the best New Year's I've ever had!! We definitely started the new year off right that night!!

The show was at The Newport in Columbus, Ohio. It is one of the large venues in Columbus near the Ohio State Campus. I also know from talking to the guys in the band that it is one of their favorite places to play. That always makes for a great show when you know the guys are enjoying it too!! There is a blacony that is normally closed off for the shows, but they had it opened up for New Year's Eve, so I hung out up there and played with my new camera a lot!! (That camera is now broken.)

This picture was taken pretty early in the evening before things got too crazy!! We had several friends from Indy who joined us for the trip. It was wonderful ringing in the new year with a big group of great friends!!! There were about ten of us and two hotel rooms.....nice and cozy!!!

This is Kelly Anne and me before the show started. We were hanging out in the back of the room watching for people we knew, and of course, spying on anyone from the band who we could find :-)

This is our friend Stephanie from Toledo. We don't get to go to a lot of the same shows, so it is always good to see her. She's tons of fun....always has glitter and fun stuff to play with or toss onto the stage...wink wink!!!

Kelly's hubby Dave was there too.We love him!! We all had New Year's hats, although mine only lasted an hour or so before I lost it, but I never lost that horn!!! Had it all night long!!Yep, that's the one!! I bought some for Dave and Kelly too!! It's always more fun when you have props!!I was all over the place that night. I spent a lot of time up front like I usually do, but with everyone who was there being spread out all over the place, I found it hard to stand still for long. I wanted to see everyone and play with everyone!!! I'm pretty sure I danced for miles, literally!!!John Mullins had his hair down that night. It was kinda weird to see him like that, but I guess I liked it alright. I definitely prefer the ponytail though. Looked like he even used some hair spray on that do!! Ryan had ahold of the camera for a lot of the night, and kept taking random photos from above everyone's head. This is the only one where I actually recognized anyone....and it was me!!!I loved it that the balcony was open. It was a great place for photos.I was happy to be up there when Eric, the drummer, was singing. We never hear enough out of him, and the few times that he does sing, I'm usually not anywhere where I can actually get a good picture of him.

I spent a little while up there hanging out with different people and taking lots of pictures. The sound was spectacular up there and the view was great, but I always feel like I'm missing out on something if I'm not right up front where all the action is. Some people might call that nosy :-)Another view from the balcony. This was after midnight...there's confetti everywhere!!!TeShannah was there to ring in the New Year with us!! I just love her!! I believe this was just before we both fell down in eachother's arms....and the sad thing is, I was drinking Pepsi!!!!Of course, I had to throw in a picture of Sweney, the guitar god!! He was on fire that night. You could tell that the whole band was having a great time. We got to hear some of our favorite songs along with several suprprises. The one that totally blew me away was when Cliff sang "Hoist That Rag" by Tom Waits. I think I might have peed my pants a little :-)

Hope eveyone had as a great a time as I did for New Year's Eve this year. If so, then there's a lot of us off to a fantastic start!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Facebook Blues

2009-02-03T15:40:00.002-05:00

Well, my new addiction has come to a crashing hault today. I was having a good day, working, and checking into my facebook page every now and then, chatting with Lisa and some other friends until I came back from lunch. Them BAM!!! I go to get back on facebook to finish the conversation I started just 30 minutes ago, and it's BLOCKED!!!! Just like that. I didn't even get to finish my conversation!!!

Big Brother is watching..............

On the up side of things, my blog will no longer suffer the loneliness of me having facebook. I'm sorry little blog. I will not ignore you any longer.

Ekoostik Hookah in Louisville, Ky

2009-01-30T20:16:00.014-05:00

On Saturday January 17th, Ryan, me, and a big group of friends from Indy headed down to Louisville for The Forecastle Festival. That is a festival that supports local musicians, artists, and gives people who are volunteering their time for a good cause a great place for exposure. The Festival was held in building appropriately called The Green Building. The entire energy system running everything in the building is run on green power. Also, all of the remodeling on the inside of the building has been done with recycled materials. It was a pretty cool place.

The entire group from Indiana was very fortunate in the fact that we were even able to get into the show. I had been in contact with Dave Katz from Ekoostik Hookah several days before the show to find out availability of space for our group, and he knew very little other than the fact that the room they were playing in only held about 150 people. We decided that as long as all of us got there early enough, there should be no reason to worry. We would be there in plenty of time to get tickets (which were not available online or over the phone), and then we could just hang out until Hookah came on.

The show wasn't scheduled to start until 7:00 and Hookah was going on at 9:00. We got there around 3:00 only to find out that the show had sold out a couple weeks prior. (Tickets were available to purchase at a local record store) Dave Katz was pissed when he found out that no one had even informed the band of this. Luckily, the fellow running the show was extremely gracious, and very excited to see so many people from out of town that he put us on the guest list. We still made our $12.00 "donation" to get in, but if it weren't for that situation, we would have driven all the way down there for nothing. I would have been really pissed!!!! After all the names were added to the list, we all set out to explore the town a little.

The guy who put us on the guest list recommended this place called 21c Museum, PROOF on Main Street. All we knew was it was a cool place and to look for the red penguins: It was a very interesting place, and seemed a little uppity for our taste at first. After sitting on some big comfy couches with a glass of wine and a petrified log as a table, Ryan hopped up to explore a little. We had no idea when we walked in how cool this place actually was. From what you could see when you first walked in, it was just a hoity toity restaurant with some nice art hanging on the walls. But no, that doesn't even come close to describing what this place is all about. It was awesome!! Here's the website so you can go explore it yourself: http://www.21cmuseum.org/museum/Default.aspx
I will not be able to catch the true exctiement of the place in words. You'll have to see pictures and read for yourself. I did snag a few pictures of exhibition items that were there while we were there. Here are a few:
This is my picture of the ginormous chandelier.
This is THEIR picture and description of the ginormous chandelier.
Located at 21c Museum Hotel; Louisville, Kentucky

Marking the grand opening of 21c Museum Hotel in 2006, the International Contemporary Art Foundation commissioned Werner Reiterer to create an interactive chandelier, Untitled, to be located on the corner of 7th and Main in Downtown Louisville, Ky. It was Reiterer’s first public sculpture in the United States.

The sculpture consists of a brass chandelier connected to a bell located on the reception desk of Proof On Main restaurant. When a visitor to the restaurant rings the bell to call for a table, the chandelier begins to breathe in and out deeply while the lights simultaneously pulsate. This clever disconnect between artwork and unknowing participation by the visitor is one of the many ways the artist explores the notion of rules in art and the way visitors are intended to engage with art. Though the effect of the work is alluring at first, the custom made pole from which the chandelier is suspended is reminiscent of a gallows. This alludes to the macabre in Reiterer’s work, suggesting the Ku Klux Klan, lynch justice and the continuing use of the death penalty in most U.S. states.

The artist Dominic Rouse had a display of his artwork that was extremely eery, but made you very curious nonetheless.

Dominic Rouse (British), Angeline, 2002. Archival Epson Ultrachrome K3 pigment print. Image courtesy of the artist. © Dominic Rouse

In his work, Rouse often treats the the subject as a object of purity, innocence, and perhaps a victim. For Angeline, he has put this blindfolded girl in the desolate backdrop of a hotel in Cambodia as she is ready to step on a piece of broken glass, suggesting tension with an icon of virtue. Taking the title from a John Martin song, Rouse states that the work is a "lament for lost innocence."

Dominic Rouse (British), Dance for no-one, 2001. Archival Epson Ultrachrome K3 pigment ink print. Image courtesy of the artist.© Dominic Rouse

In this surreal image, the artist has stripped the performer of her audience. Rouse was fascinated by the idea that the dancer's formal training always occurs in private and that the profession demands the constant risk of injury. Inspired by a modernization effort from the Catholic church in the sixties, Rouse found the sacred to be inconsistent with this new endeavor to secularize tradition. He attempts to reconcile these two elements with the dancer who, mirroring that sacred world, may "illustrate those acts of kindness, acts of love that go unnoticed."

Felipe Barbosa (Brazilian), Ursa Major (Great Bear), 2006-2007.Teddy bear covered with small explosives. © Felipe BarbosaBarbosa’s work often challenges the meaning of the objects he appropriates by altering their physical compositions and creating unexpected and formally engaging situations. By covering a readymade teddy bear with snaps (novelty firecrackers), the artist has depleted the cuddly and affectionate associations of the bear and make it more volatile and threatening.Similar to Golden Rhino by David Mach, made entirely of live matches (currently installed in Proof), Barbosa shifts the focus from use and intent of an object to its formal qualities - allowing new ideas and associations inherent to the materiality of an object to be more recognized. The materials such as matches and snaps not normally associated with sculpture loose their original function and become purely aesthetic. Sean Bidic (American), In the absence of voyerism #6 and #7,2002-2006. © Sean Bidic

The "Absence of Voyerism" was totally creepy. It was located in the restrooms, and as you can see here, it has little LED screens in the mirror with eyes that continuously move around as if they are watching you. Very disturbing!!

That is just a very small portion of the art we got to see that day. The best part of it was: it was all free to see. There were interactive pieces of art that you could move around with and play with, so we all had a blast in there. You could even carry your drinks around the whole museum....I felt very chic walking around with my wine glass in hand checking out all the art. ;-)

After all our fun at 21C, we headed down to an area called Fourth Street Live. It's basically like a block party all the time. The roads are blocked off to motor vehicles and everyone just hops from bar to bar. There were several places to eat down there and we chose the one simply called "The Pub." It turned out to be a great place for cheap drinks and good food.....just my kind of place. AND the guys who worked in there had to wear kilts. Our bartender, Chip, was a pretty husky fella. He kinda looked like he should have been playing center for a pro football team...until we saw him in the kilt. Then I couldn't help but let my mind wander......"I wonder if he's wearing any underwear"...........It was confirmed later on that he did NOT wear underwear to work!!! Oh Chip!!This is a picture of the whole gang, minus myself. (someone had to take the picture!!) From left to right we have our neighbor Marcus, Ryan from Indy, Kelly Anne, Juanita, Andrew, Dave, my Ryan, Lizz, and Matt.Andrew, Ryan and Marcus found this cool statue down the street from 21c and spent some quality time trying to look intellectual by standing near it.Then Lizz and I jumped in.............

Although the Green Building was pretty cool, the area where they put Ekoostik Hookah to play was not so hot...literally. It was freezing out there. They did have some pretty massive space heaters out there that made it tolerable, and of course, we got warmed up when the band came on. The set up was very similar to a half finished garage. There was an open roof, but it had been covered with plastic bags. Looked like lots of hefties to me. The stage was obviously put up temporarily, and the light show was projected onto the inside of an over-sized garage door. somehow it all worked though.

Talking with the band before they came on, you could tell they were all very frustrated, but once they took the stage, they let all that go and just had fun with it. In fact, I think they got to the point where they just played it out like they were practicing. Not necessarily putting on an official show. Which, for the true Hookah fans, is sometimes even better because you lose sight of that "rock god" way you looked at those guys before. Those situations are my favorite times with the guys because that's when you realize they're just normal people like the rest of us.
There was a pretty good turn out for Hookah's set that night. There were several people who came to the festival just for Hookah. We went into the trip knowing that we were only getting one hour of play time with the band, but it was totally worth it once it was all said and done. Like I said, the band was very laid back and not so serious as usual, so we really had fun with them. Cliffy even covered Tom Waits "Hoist That Rag" again. He's only covered it once, and that was New Year's Eve so I'm hoping this is a regular in the rotation soon. Hearing that song alone was worth the price of admission.

Considering we only had one hour of Hookah, this was one of the most fun times I've had on a road trip to see the band. We actually made time to see a little bit of the city where they were playing instead of leaving at the last minute, getting into town when the doors are opening and leaving as soon as the show's over. that' show we usually do it, so this was really nice for a change. I love Louisville. There always seems to be so much going on down there. I'm ready to go back and spend some time there again soon. Maybe Ryan and I will have to make a quick getaway down there sometime this summer.

Lil Miss No Name

2009-01-07T23:02:00.006-05:00

Well, I did it again............
I saw this poor little girl running in the middle of alto road in the snow on my way to work today and just HAD to stop and help her.

With all the snow on the ground, she was blending right into the background as people were flying past her. I don't think most of them saw her. The car in front of me had slowed down and started honking, but it didn't help get her out of the road. I think it just confused her even more. She kept running back and forth in between lanes. By the time I got close to her, I just couldn't take it any more, so I flipped on the flashers and jumped out in the middle of the road with her.

She came right up to me when I got out of the car. She was trembling party from fear, but also from the cold. Bless her little heart....she had ice frozen in between her toenails, so I know she had been out for awhile. I stopped at a couple houses in the general area and asked if anyone recognized her or would claim her, but that didn't happen. Deep down, I'm kind of glad it didn't, because even if she does belong to someone, they weren't taking very good care of her.Of course, it was one of the few days that I was actually running on time to work, and this little doll totally blew that out of the water for me.....I am so bad. But anyway, I turned back around to take her home, called my boss and told him what I was doing ( I don't think he thought it was a very good excuse for being late) When I got home, Ryan came barrelling out of the bedroom wanting to know what all the chaos was about. Our dogs always go nuts when I first bring another animal in the house.As soon as he saw her, he knew. I felt kind of bad because I had to turn around and leave right away to get back to work, but Ryan fell inlove right away, so it was no problem at all. I'm just getting ready to leave work and go back home to see how the day went. Ryan dropped her off at the groomer's to have her bathed and get her nails trimmed, so she has hopefully had a nice day of pampering. We will be trying to find a home for her on our own like we have the last few dogs we have rescued, but if we don't find something within a couple weeks, we will turn her over to the Companion Animal Association. We have just found it easier to place dogs in homes without the huge adoption fees. Of course, we're only providing very basic care for these dogs while we have them. We have not had any costly vet visits with the rescues yet, so we have been fortunate.Once again, I'm throwing a line to everyone who reads this: If you know anyone who might be interested in giving this little girl a new home, please let me know. We think she is a chihuahua and it's a female. That's about all the details I have at this point. I'll know more after tonight.

Another Three Day Hookah Run

2008-12-23T16:11:00.013-05:00

Last weekend came early for me. I wish they always would.

I got off work Wednesday night so excited about the days to come that I could hardly sleep. I was getting ready for my three day Hookah adventure. That's always so much fun!!!

Thursday afternoon, Ryan and I headed down to Indy to pick up my girlfriends Kelly Anne and Julie B. From there we were headed to Newport, Kentucky. Ekoostik Hookah played at The Southgate House there. That is one of my favorite venues. It's the creepy old house where the Tommy gun was invented. Same place I've dreamt about for several years now.The Rumpke Mountin Boys opened up for Hookah. They are a great bluegrass band from Ohio. Ryan and I have seen them a couple times over the last few years. It's always fun to see them again.I absolutely love the mandolin. This guy totally tore it up too!!Once the show got started, we all made our way to the front like we usually do.

Kelly Anne, Ryan, and I...............Hangin' in the "Muffins Middle." Hookah fans will know what that means :-)The crowd up front in Kentucky was really kind. Normally, it gets kind of brutal up front. People pushing you out of the way and drunk people falling on you...yada yada. But here, it was different. I never once had anyone's elbow in my eye or anything.Newport, Kentucky is directly across the Ohio river from Cincinnatti. So, we are attributing the nice crowd to the Cincy kids. I've always heard good things about them and always have had good experiences when in Cincinnatti, so it's all their fault that we had it so easy that night. John Mullins has all these nice "bowling" shirts, as he calls them. We had an extended conversation after the show about buying them on sale. Now I'm on the hunt for a shirt for not just John Mullins, but Eric Lanese as well.

Eric fell in love with Ryan's freaky unicorn and rainbow shirt, so we have to try to find one for him now. He wanted to trade shirts with Ryan, but Ryan wouldn't do it because his was a gift from Jeff and Karen in Portland.

Yep................that's the shirt. Makes mama proud!! The website it came from has it named "Afternoon Delight." HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all had a great time Thursady night. I was texting setlists to our friend Kelly Jo in Michgan. She was patiently awaiting Friday to roll around so she could join us up in Michigan.

So, we all drove back up to Indiana after the show. After dropping Julie and Kelly Anne off in Indy, Ryan and I headed home and made it to bed by about 6:30 AM.Friday night, Ekoostik Hookah played at a little venue in Lansing, Michigan called Small Planet. Kelly Anne and Ryan weren't able to join is for this show, so it was just me and Julie. We met up early with Eric, the drummer, and had dinner. He put us both on the guest list so we didn't have to pay to get in the show. I felt so important!!! I hung up front in the Muffins Middle like usual. Kelly Jo was up there with me for awhile. Julie came and hung up there for awhile, but she was hanging out at the back with Buddy, the light guy. This is my buddy Curtis from Chicago. I'm always glad to see those Chicago kids. Another friend from the windy city, Travis was there, and I finally got to meet his girl, Jess. I was really glad to officially meet her. We all talk on the Hookahheads website a lot, but never had an official introduction until Friday. It was lots of fun!!This is me and Julie cracking up about something that was hilarious, apparently.........This is me, Julie, Eric the drummer, and some strange chick that had to jump her skinny little ass in our pictures at the last minute.............tramp!!!Me, Kelly Jo and Julie..........well into the night.Sweney ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

After the show was over in Michigan, Julie and I headed back to Indiana again. Lansing is a really easy drive from home....straight up I69. We stopped and got some food to keep us going on the road and off we went.

We got back to my house at about 7:00 AM. Julie slept on the couch for a couple hours before heading back to Indy. I, on the other hand, slept ALL DAY LONG!! It felt awesome!!

I got up at about 5:00 PM feeling alive and refreshed and ready to do it one more time.

Ekoostik Hookah was playing at The Lafayette Brewing Company in Lafayette, IN. I love it when they play there because it is the closest venue to home for us.

Most of the neighborhood from West Middleton came to the show. Several of us met for dinner before the show started. When we got there, Eric and Julie were eating dinner and Eric informed us that we were on the guest list again..............THANKS BUDDY!!!! Like I said before....I feel so important!!!

This is a few friends from the neighborhood: Jason, Marcus, a friends of theirs whose name I do not know, and Ryan. I was really happy that a lot of our friends were able to make it to this show. There was a pretty decent size crowd there and that always makes me happy because it keeps them coming back!!

Julie, Ryan, Kelly Anne and Nate with someone behind them. I still don't know whose hands those are!!The LBC is a great place to see a show for a couple reasons. First of all, you can get right up to the stage. It is literally about as high as my ankles. Secondly, the floors upstairs where the live music happens are all hard wood, and you can feel them bouncing underneath you if you get enough people moving at the same time. That's never hard for Hookah to accomplish.I'm always happy when we can spend time with Dave and Kelly Anne. They are so much fun. The next big adventure is just around the corner. Two days and counting...to be exact!!!Ryan drank coke and I got to drink some wine that night. I had been the designated driver the last two nights in a row, so I was ready for my turn to roll around. I was definitely "in my happy place" just like my shirt says.............

Julie and me before heading out for the night.

What a great weekend!!! It has only taken me two weeks to get it posted here. Sorry!!! it's hard to do all this stuff AND blog about it!!!

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

2008-12-23T12:31:00.008-05:00

Well, the snow is not slowing us down this winter!!! Ryan and I went down to Bloomington a couple weeks ago to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. There was a detour on 31 so we took some country roads and this is what we found. Needless to say, it was a slow trip to Bloomington. It was totally worth it though!!!
There was an opening band, and I can't remember their name for the life of me!! They were just OK. It was hip hop type music, so not my favorite, but still decent. I was just ready to see Sharon. I have decided that the best way to describe Sharon Jones is to say that she is like the female version of James Brown. That is no exaggeration...the woman is wild!!!She had a great horn section, but I forgot to watch them most of the time because I couldn't keep my eyes off of Sharon.She kept pulling little college boys up to the stage and swooning to them. It was great. This kid was really cute. His face was beet red by the time she was finished with him.Her band was really good. Very entertaining. They never took their eyes off of her when she was on stage. It seemed like the whole band and Sharon were like a big family.Sharon is pretty tiny....besides the booty!!! She probably stands about five foot tall, if that. But her energy level isn't tiny by any means. She wore me out just watching her!!She covered the song "It's a Man's World" by James Brown and totally ROCKED it!!!I thought this picture was a great example of her energy. The rest of the band is focused and holding still, but damn....check her out!!!

She has lots of music on line that you can listen to, so if anyone is looking for some good new music, check her out!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy

2008-12-22T23:07:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to the greatest man I ever knew. My Dad.

He left us a little over ten years ago, but is still with us every day. I smile at Dad every single day.

Today I will smile especially hard at him because it's his birthday. He would have been 66 years old today...............just an old fogey!!!

I like to imagine him looking down from Heaven whistling a little birthday tune. He was always a good whistler. Just another one of those little things that makes me smile................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

In Response to Andrea's "Jesus Butter" Comment

2008-12-17T13:42:00.002-05:00

In southern Ohio, just north of Cincinnati

I beheld a vision, next to the expressway.

Was a 60 foot jesus, with his hands in the air

looks like he’s carved out of butter,

just like at the state fair.

Big butter Jesus

Sweet cream Jesus

Oh country fresh Jesus

Unsalted Jesus

Oh Promise Jesus

Imperial Jesus

Can’t believe it’s not Jesus

Oleo Lord.

Well you see him from the chest up

like he’s about to do a back flip,

like he scored a touchdown

or maybe melting or about to drown.

Well I’ve been to the state fair

seen a cow made out of corn cobs

Garth Brooks made of string cheese

and the virgin out of olives.

Big butter Jesus

Sweet cream Jesus

Oh country fresh Jesus

Unsalted Jesus

Oh Promise Jesus

Imperial Jesus

Can’t believe it’s not Jesus

Oleo Lord.

Shipped in pieces on a flatbed

staring backwards was his big head

Driver stuck in traffic backups

desperately avoiding eye contact

Well don’t make no graven images.

That’s one of the 10 commandments

I hope the grading curve is kindly

You get to heaven with a 90

Big butter Jesus

Sweet cream Jesus

Oh country fresh Jesus

Unsalted Jesus

Oh Promise Jesus

Imperial Jesus

Can’t believe it’s not Jesus

Oleo Lord.

Can’t believe it’s not Jesus,

Oh spread the word.

Who Loves Turkey Butter?

2008-12-04T17:08:00.004-05:00

I LOVE TURKEY BUTTER!!!!

Drumstick Dash

2008-12-03T22:34:00.009-05:00

So, Ryan and I found out that the turkey we were chasing for the Drumstick Dash wasn't a real turkey at all. It was some crazy guy in a turkey suit. Fooled us!!!! I think it is absolutely hilarious that we actually thought we were going to be chasing a real turkey...we are so silly!!!Wednesday night after we got off work, we drove down to Indy to stay with Matt and TeShannah so we would be closer on Thanksgiving morning. We got into town at about 1:00 AM and stayed up until almost 3:00. it was rough getting up at 6:45, but we did it. We had to be at Broad Ripple High School by 7:45 at the latest to get registered. I was amazed at how many people were there when we got there. I read an article online that stated the attendance at approximately 7,000 people!! That's awesome!! The morning was cold but it was sunny, so it was pretty and made it a little easier to face the day that early.
The streets near the high scool and the surrounding neighborhood had been blocked off for the event and they had big speakers at a few intersections playing loud music. I thought that made it a lot of fun. I probably wouldn't be thinking that if I lived there and had that music blaring into my house at eight in the morning though!! Poor people. Hopefully they've joined in the spirit of giving and have walked over the years too. This is the sixth year for the Drumstick Dash. If I lived there, I don't think I'd feel like I had much of a choice.This was what everything looked like from my perspective right before the walk actually started. I was feeling a little claustrophobic with all my layers of clothes on and all these people in my bubble, but I was fine after we got moving a little and people started to spread out.This is Matt and T and Ryan and me right before we got started. Still all bundled up. I lost a couple layers before the race was over.

There were several news crews there, and you can actually find an article about the Drumstick Dash on Channel 13 news' website: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=9423434 . The course had two options. One was 2.6 miles and the other was 4.5 miles. If you were actually competing, you had to do the 4.5 mile option. Of course, we were turkeys and did the short course.
Theses are the lil gobblers competing in the "Lil Gobblers Run for Kids." It was super cute. They also had a big rock climbing area for the kids.I'm pretty excited for next year. I had no idea you could dress up for this event. You all know I will dress up any chance I get. So, now I need ideas....GO!!

This bunch of people was crazy!! I really liked the guy second from the left. He is supposed to be mashed potatoes!! The guy with the red headband is a cornucopia. He had purple balloons as grapes, and I love the chick dressed up as pumkin pie!!! I can't wait until Ryan and I start working on costumes for next year. It's gonna be good!!!After we finished the race, we were served free fruit, juice, cereal bars, coffee.....all kinds of stuff. I think Ryan and I have found a new tradition that we'd like to uphold throughout the years. It made me feel really good to get up and join a huge group of people who are all out there to help someone. As I like to say, It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!!

I will need to re-think my sleeping situation the night before from now on so I don't sleep through the whole day at Aunt Jan's house......Sorry about that. I was POOPED!!!!

Gettin' Ready for the Drumstick Dash

2008-11-25T22:28:00.003-05:00

On Thanksgiving morning, Ryan and I are participating in a fundraiser for the homeless in Indianapolis. We get to chase a turkey!!!! What we do with it if we catch it is beyond me, but hey it's for a good cause!! Believe it or not, I'm getting my lazy bum out of bed to do this at 9:00 AM so we should be back to Aunt Jan's in plenty of time for dinner!!

Here's a little info about what we're doing:

The event benefits the Wheeler Mission Ministries... Since 1893, Wheeler Mission Ministries has been addressing the cares of Indianapolis¿s poor and needy. Every year, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin, Wheeler provides more than 226,000 nutritious meals to hungry men, women and children. In addition, more than 52,000 overnight stays are furnished to homeless and untold thousands of household items articles of clothing are distributed to those in need. Through our Food Pantry, more than 30 tons of food is distributed annually to families in need.

I'm always up for giving my time to a good cause, and what better day to do it than Thanksgiving. If nothing else, I know I will benefit personally just from knowing we did a good deed. It's time for us to be thankful for all the wonderful people and things we have in our lives. Now it's our turn to give others something to be thankful for as well!!

See ya on Turkey Day!!!!

Loretta Lynn in Nashville Indiana

2008-11-19T20:10:00.017-05:00

For years, I have loved the movie Coal Miner's Daughter. Mostly because of all the good times I had with Andrea and Aunt Sissy watching it when I was a kid. It seemed like we used to watch it every single night when I lived with them. I think I could have quoted about 3/4 of the movie by the time I was seven.

Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when I found out she was touring this fall and winter and coming through Nashville, Indiana. I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale, and Ryan and I have been looking forward to this ever since.

We took off for Nashville Saturday afternoon with little Delilah in tow. Our friends in Indy, Matt and TeShannah were baby sitting her for the weekend. She loves to see her little friend Dobe, their min pin. Plus, we are always looking for an excuse to see them........we love Matt and T!!!!

It's starting to get cold outside, so little Delilah wore her new pink winter coat. Isn't she precious?!?!?

Anyway, we dropped her off in Indy and were planning on going to Bloomington to our hotel first. It was much cheaper to stay in B-town than Nashville, so we chose the cheap route. Originally we had planned on visiting the Oliver Winery again, but we realized we had forgotten our corkscrew and we already own about five, so I wasn't about to buy another one for one bottle of wine, so we scratched that plan. Got into Bloomington at about 4:00 and the show didn't start until 8:00, so we decided to head down to the campus and drive around. Neither one of us had been through there for a long time. It was kind of fun. Reminded me of partying down there when my friends were all still in college.

Had to take at least one picture of me and my baby dressed up together :-)

We stopped and ate at Coach's and had some huge delicious burgers..........Good Stuff!!! By the time we finished eating, it was about 6:30, so we decided to head over to Nashville.

It was about a twenty minute drive straight down state road 46 which was where our hotel was. We got to The Little nashville Opry at about 7:00 and could feel the excitement as soon as we pulled in. We saw Loretta's tour bus parked next to the building and decided to park in the back so we would have to walk past it to get in. We got excited for a minute walking by because we heard someone yell out of the bus about "getting something Ya'll!!" We thought it was Loretta for a minute, but it turned out to be her daughter Peggy. The funny thing was: at the time, we didn't have any idea who she was.

When we got inside, we looked around at some of the old country music memorabelia they have all over the place. It was fun to see how many old stars have come through over the years. When you walk in, it feels like you've just traveled a few hundred miles south, and maybe even a few years back in time. Everyone sounds like they're from the south, and the Southern hospitality was abundant everywhere. Eveyone was so kind and excited. Even the older folks understood our excitement, and didn't get upset when we were up taking pitures, dancing or just plain yelling. It was great!!

We had no idea how much this show would be family oriented. I guess knowing a little about Loretta, that shouldn't have surprised us. First, a really pretty young lady came out on stage to talk to us and ask us if we were getting excited yet. Then she proceded to talk about the movie Coal Miner's Daughter giving us all an idea of exactly how accurate it was. Finally, this pretty little thing introduced herself as Loretta's daughter, one of the twins, Patsy. I instantly squealed with excitement!! Then I laughed at myself.....

She and her sister Peggy sang a few songs to open the show for their mom. Sorry for the lack of quality photography that night, but my cheapy camera only got a couple decent shots for me. But hey, it's better than nothing.

After they finised, their older brother, who is back on tour with them after being kicked off not long ago by Loretta for his drinking antics on stage, came out and sang two songs and then introduced his mom to the stage.

I nearly broke down sobbing when she appeared. It was so awesome to see her in real life and up so close!! It's crazy how emotional it made me. She looked gorgeous!!

She came out in the most fabulous dress I have ever seen. Now, mind you, I would never be caught dead in it, but for Loretta Lynn, I would expect nothing less. My pictures don't do it justice, but I did find some photos from that night of her in that dress:

After singing a couple songs on her own, her son Earnest Ray joined her in one of the duets that she and Conway Twitty did. I wish I knew the name of it, but I don't. I guess I don't make a very good reporter, huh? At one point they got so tickled about something that couldn't stop laughing in the middle of the song. Of course, the band kept playing which made them laugh even harder. It was really sweet to see the family so involved with one another. It was almost like sitting in the middle of a giant family reunion.

This is Earnest Ray doubled over laughing while he should've been singing. She scolded those kids on that stage just like they were five years old. It was so fun.

Anyway, Loretta had some trouble with her blood pressure before the show, so we were all very understanding and accepting of the fact that she wanted a chair on stage. She sat through several songs, but it didn't matter a bit. She told us that her blood pressure rises a lot when she is nervous, and after all these years, she still gets nervous coming on stage in front of people.

Everything she said just seemed so sincere. She seems like the most down to earth person even after all her fame and fortune. That's what I love about that woman!!!

After choosing the first couple songs, she pretty much left it all up to us. She said to us "Well, what do ya'll wanna hear? Just holler 'em out and we'll do our best to remember 'em for ya!!" I wanted to hear "You ain't Woman Enough to take my Man," so I hollered it out just like she said to and she answered my request just like that. I was so happy. Other folks yelled out their requests and she just kept belting them out at our request.Her back up singers came out and sang two songs while Loretta just sat on her chair resting and listening to them. When they finished up, it was time for the big finale...........I kind of wondered going into the show if we would hear "Coal Miner's Daughter" for the last song. We did. It was the greatest day ever!! I have never enjoyed country music so much as I did this night with Loretta Lynn. We all know I've had my day with some country. (I actually think I am just now topping my number of country concerts vs. my number of rock/jam band concerts...........don't forget, I WAS engaged to a bull rider for crying out loud!!!)I don't think there was a single song that I was hoping to hear that she didn't sing. It was almost as if I wrote the setlist myself. We got to hear a lot of good ones such as "Honkey Tonk Girl," "One's on the Way," "The Pill," "You're Looking at Country,"and "Van Lear Rose." I couldn't have been happier.We got out of the Opry pretty early for us. It was only about 9:30 or 10:00, so we decided to hit up a liquor store and just go back to the hotel and get SAUCY!!!! We had drinks AND cable TV. Who could have possibly asked for more?

Ryan bought himself some beer, as usual, and since we didn't have a corkscrew, I had to turn to my only other option when it comes to drinkin'.................Jägermeister . Before the night was over, the label was stuck to the hotel mirror instead of the bottle. So, in my drunken state, i thought it would be super cool to take pictures with it on there. Well, you can see how brilliant that idea turned out to be........lotsa yellow blur to see. But really, does it look like I care?Nope, not one bit...................

Good times once again with my baby and some live music. I am very thankful to have the ability to get out and enjoy life so much. I never thought life could be this much fun!!!

Happy Birthday Cuz!!!

2008-11-14T15:34:00.003-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!!!!!

HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!

A Puppy Mill Puppy's Story

2008-11-07T17:33:00.007-05:00

Ryan and I are planning on attending and helping with a protest in Indy next month for puppy mills.

Puppy mills are where dogs are bred purely for profit. The conditions in these places are awful. Multiple dogs are often placed in kennels together without enough space to even turn around. Most females are bred during each and every heat cycle. The dogs are left to lie in their own excrement and some even have excrement falling from cages above them from other dogs. Most of them can't even walk on grass or walk at all because their feet are so badly deformed from standing on wire cages all their lives.

The dogs are sometimes inbred and it is very common for dogs to have congenital abnormalities because of the breeding habits of the owners. The dogs with the congenital abnormalities are sold off as quickly as possible so the new owners will have spent their money before they even realize it. Many pet stores, especially large chains such as Petland and Uncle Bill's in Indy, get a good majority of their dogs from puppy mills. This is why people are so often suckered into buying a sick dog without even knowing it.

So after doing a little research. I came across this story that I found very touching. As I get more specific info about the protest we are particiating in, I will let you guys know. In the mean time, please take the time to educate yourselves and anyone you may know who is considering a new pet. Adoption is the best answer, but there are plenty of breeders out there who are not in the puppy mill business. All you have to do is research the breeder a little. Two of the main things to consider is: are the breeders willing to let you see the conditions the dogs were born into? And are you able to see the parents? If the answer to either one of these questions is no, then there is probably a reason.

Some of the photos after the story are graphic, so watch the little ones as you scroll down. There may be images you don't want them to see.

A PUPPY MILL PUPPY'S STORY

I don't remember much of the place where I was born. It was cramped and dark, and we were never played with by the Humans. I remember Mom and her soft fur, but she was often sick, and very thin. She had hardly any milk for me and my brothers and sisters. I remember many of them dying, and I missed them so.

I remember the day I was taken from Mom. I was so sad and scared, my milk teeth had only just come in, and I really should have been with Mom still, but she was so sick, and the Humans kept saying that they wanted their money and were sick of the "mess" that me and my sister made.

So we were crated up and taken to a strange place. Just the two of us. We huddled together and were scared, still no Human hands came to pet or love us. So many sights and sounds and smells! We are in a store where there are many different animals! Some that squawk! Some that meow! Some that peep! My sister and I are jammed into a small cage. I hear other puppies here. I see Humans look at me through the glass. I like the "little humans", the kids. They look so sweet, and fun, like they would play with me! All day we stay in the small cage, sometimes mean people will hit the glass and frighten us, every once in a while we are taken out to be held or shown to humans. Some are gentle, some hurt us, we always hear "Aw they are so cute! I want one!" but we never get to go with any of them.

My sister died last night, when the store was dark. I lay my head on her soft fur and felt the life leave her small thin body. I had heard them say she was sick, and that I should be sold at a "discount price" so that I would quickly leave the store. I think my soft whine was the only one that mourned for her as her body was taken out of the cage in the morning and dumped.

Today, a family came and bought me! Oh happy day! They are a nice family, they really, really wanted me! They had bought a dish and food and the little girl held me so tenderly in her arms. I love her so much! The mom and dad say what a sweet and good puppy I am! I am named Angel. I love to lick my new Humans! The family takes such good care of me, they are loving and tender and sweet. They gently teach me right and wrong, give me good food, and lots of love! I want only to please these wonderful people! I love the little girl and I enjoy running and playing with her.

Today I went to the veterinarian. It was a strange place and I was frightened. I got some shots, but my best friend the little girl held me softly and said it would be okay. So I relaxed. The vet must have said sad words to my beloved family, because they looked awfully sad. I heard Severe Hip Dysplasia, and something about my heart... I heard the vet say something about back yard breeders and my parents not being tested. I know not what any of that means, just that it hurts me to see my family so sad. But they still love me, and I still love them very much!

I am six months old now. Where most other puppies are robust and rowdy, it hurts me terribly just to move. The pain never lets up. It hurts to run and play with my beloved little girl, and I find it hard to breathe. I keep trying my best to be the strong pup I know I am supposed to be, but it is so hard. It breaks my heart to see the little girl so sad, and to hear the Mom and Dad talk about it might now be "the time." Several times I have went to that veterinarians place, and the news is never good. Always talk about Congenital Problems. I just want to feel the warm sunshine and run, and play and nuzzle with my family.

Last night was the worst. Pain has been my constant companion now, it hurts even to get up and get a drink. I try to get up but can only whine in pain. I am taken in the car one last time. Everyone is so sad, and I don't know why. Have I been bad? I try to be good and loving-what have I done wrong? Oh if only this pain would be gone! If only I could soothe the tears of the little girl. I reach out my muzzle to lick her hand, but can only whine in pain.

The veterinarian’s table is so cold. I am so frightened. The Humans all hug and love me.They cry into my soft fur. I can feel their love and sadness. I manage to lick softly their hands. Even the vet doesn't seem so scary today. He is gentle and I sense some kind of relief for my pain. The little girl holds me softly and I thank her, for giving me all her love. I feel a soft pinch in my foreleg. The pain is beginning to lift, I am beginning to feel a peace descend upon me. I can now softly lick her hand.

My vision is becoming dreamlike now, and I see my Mother and my brothers and sisters, in a far off green place. They tell me there is no pain there, only peace and happiness. I tell the family goodbye in the only way I know how-a soft wag of my tail and a nuzzle of my nose. I had hoped to spend many, many moons with them, but it was not meant to be. "You see," said the veterinarian, "Pet shop puppies do not come from ethical breeders." The pain ends now, and I know it will be many years until I see my beloved family again. If only things could have been different.

(This story may be published or reprinted in the hopes that it will stop unethical breeders and those who breed only for money and not for the betterment of the breed)
Copyright 1999 J. Ellis

Halloween.................GOTTA LOVE IT!!!!!!!

2008-11-03T16:54:00.012-05:00

The puppies got us all started off right on Friday with their own costumes. Franklin was a penguin, Delilah was a witch, and Jerry.......well, he was just a weiner!!!!

A bunch of friends came to West Middleton for Halloween to celebrate with us, and naturally, we had a blast!!!!

Matt and Liz rocked the army gear!!!

Dave and Kelly were the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.

I don't know this lady's name, but bless her son's heart...............He has bigger boobs than I have ever dreamed of having!!!!

Aunt Cindy and I were the dalmations. It got awfully hot in there!!

This chick rocked the Amy Winehouse look really well. LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Big Bad Wolf wants him some Bunny..........YUMMY...............and yes, that IS Ryan as the horny bunny :-)

One of few group pictures I got:

L-R Me, Liz Giblin, Nick Bankowski, The Easter Bunny, AKA the horny bunny, AKA Ryan, Bobby Blue is hiding in the back, Big Rob Bankowski and Big Pam Bankowski are up front.

This is my dad's old buddy, Jimmy Jones. He plays the guitar and is always ready for some fun!!!

Then we had Aunt Flo. It was much better seeing her for fun than it is during that special time of the month:-)

My man Marcus was an Indian chief.

We had lots of good food for the night, but with all those people, it came down to slim pickins by about midnight. I don't know who did it, but someone showed up really late with bags and bags of Taco Bell. I could've just kissed 'em!!!

Oh yeah........Dancin' Doggie was having fun by that time!!!!

Saturday night, our friends Eric and Abby Springer had a Halloween party also. Our friends Matt, Liz, Dave and Kelly from Indy all stayed in Kokomo for the day Saturday and continued to party with us another night.

Matt and Liz looked great as Sonny and Cher.........Nice stash LIZ!!!!

Saturday night, Ryan's bunny suit was a little too soiled to go out in public, so he then became the Easter Bunny dressed as Santa who was also celebrating St. Patty's Day. Confusing, I know, but amusing.....yes indeed.

My Dalmation suit was also pretty trashed after Friday night, so I threw some crazy stuff together and went as Mick Jagger's girlfriend. No, David Bowie is NOT Mick's girl, I am. But, David IS my girl:-)

Ryan taught me to respond to people by saying "I'm Mick Jagger's girlfriend, who the hell are you," in a British accent whenever anyone asked who I was. So I threw the attitude around all night. It was fun!!

After spending a little time at Eric and Abby's, we went to Hacienda to see our neighbor's band play. It was pretty funny because we were the ONLY people dressed up in the whole place. After all, Haloween was over. But that didn't stop us. Shoot, if I could come up with a reason, I would dress up crazy every day. It's so much fun!!!

That horny rabbit just wouldn't keep his hands off of me!!!!

Ryan literally got on his knees to praise Big Rob as he sang a couple songs with the band. It's great to get out and support the local music scene. Especially when they're all you're friends and neighbors!!!

This poor guy wore himself out. It must've been all that dancin' and humpin' and drinkin' and humpin' and eatin' and humpin' and, well, you get the point.

Hope you all had half as much fun as we did!!!!!

Catching Up Again......

2008-10-27T17:33:00.019-04:00

Well, I've missed a lot of fun stuff since I wrote last, but I'm gonna do my best to catch you all up. This past weekend Ryan and I enjoyed a quick trip to southern Indiana. First stop was Oliver Winery just outside of Bloomington on state road 37. It is so beautiful there. This picture is just outside the entrance. It is always decorated really nice during the fall. Lots of good photo ops, although my batteries in my camera died while we were there. Boo.......

We got a few though.After sampling several different wines, we decided to buy a bottle of Gewürztraminer (pronounced gov-ertz-tra-mee-nor) to take with us on the rest of our trip. It is one of my favorites from Oliver. It's kind of a semi-sweet white wine. I am realizing more and more that I don't like the sweeter wines like I originally thought. My favorite here lately has been Chardonnay..........LOVE IT!!!!We walked around the winery for a little while before taking off to French Lick for the evening. The weather was gorgeous. It was cloudy on the way down, but by the time we got there, the sun had just barely peeked through the clouds. It was plenty warm to spend some time outside. We really enjoyed our time there.

Later that evening, we went to the casino in French Lick to see David Crosby and Graham Nash. The show was great. They still sound so good together. Their harmonies gave me chills. The casino was really nice, but it wasn't the greatest place to see a concert. It was very fancy, and for a show where people won't be getting up and moving around much, it would be fine. However, for me, it's hard to stay in my chair during a concert...........I wanted to dance!!!!!!!

I finally got brave and jumped up and ran to the front of the stage for the last song. After all, David Crosby told us to get up. I was just doing what I was told!! Apparently the lady in the front row who pushed me out of her view didn't hear David send out that invitation. She was totally pissed that there were people standing in front of her. I wasn't pissed until she touched me. Honestly, I wanted to deck her in the jaw, but I decided that would be a bad idea.All in all, it was a wonderful show. Short but sweet!!!

After they got done playing, Ryan and I went down to the casino for a little while. We had a couple drinks and walked around checking out the sights. There is a slot machine that I love and always look for whenever I'm at a casino. It's called Texas Tea..It's my favorite!!! So, we walked around and looked for one of those. They had one in the main casino and one in the non-smoking area, so we stalked the people on both of those machines for awhile in hopes of one opening up. While we were stalking in the non-smoking section, we decided to sit down and drop some cash in a Wheel of Fortune slot. I put a twenty in, bet a dollar a couple times, and then decided to get really crazy and play the max bet. It was three bucks. I hit $250.00 just like that, and then I was done!!! I cashed out and told Ryan I was ready to go whenever he was.

We walked around for a few more minutes and eventually a Texas Tea machine opened up, so we swooped in and sat down there for a few minutes. After about ten minutes and almost forty dollars, we decided we were done and ready to go. Yeah!!!!!!!!!I always love all the fancy decor in the casinos. The carpet and drapes are always so gaudy, but gorgeous at the same time!! There were some really cool paintings in the halls by the elevators, so we stopped for a couple shots there.We drove down to a small town called Huntingburg to spend the night after the show. We didn't realize how beautiful it was until we got up the next morning. We ended up getting up early enough to enjoy some breakfast, believe it or not :-) and then we hit the road again. We were hoping to get home by 2:30 so we could go to our friends' Rory and Allison's wedding.

We left Huntingburg at about 9:30 and took the scenic route home. We got up to Kokomo just in time for the wedding.I absolutely love being on the road. It was perfect timing in planning our trip to southern Indiana for this time of year. The trees are all starting to change and the weather is still warm enough to get out and walk around. It was perfect!!! It will probably be even prettier in a week or two. A lot of the trees are still green, but the few that have changed that were poking through were brilliant. I'm always tinkering with my camera when we go somewhere, so of course I had to play paparrazzi while we were in the car. Luckily, Ryan's a really good driver and has learned to handle me leaning all over him and snapping pictures all the time.

When we got home, we had about twenty minutes to let the dogs out and get over to Rory and Allison's wedding. They got married at Camp Tyconey and Clint married them.

Some of you may not know, but Clint is an ordained minister, so he has married a few of our friends. I really wish we would have thought about our wedding for longer than twelve hours so we could have had him marry us too. That's OK, it worked out perfect anyway......

Allison's parents used to own the restaraunt called A WONG'S here in Kokomo, so we all had really good Chinese food for the reception. It was such a perfect ceremony for the two of them. It was very casual. In fact, Rory bought tuxedo t-shirts for all his groomsmen. He he he.......
This is Allison and her grandfather. She wore socks with skulls and cross bones and big clunky red shoes with a fancy black dress. It's a little different, but totally her :-)There were so many people there who hadn't run into eachother for years. It was a fun crowd. We apparently have a lot of mutual friends that I never realized we had. I saw a lot more familiar faces than I thought I would there.

I'm not a mushy person normally, but the vows that Clint wrote for them were really touching. I almost cried a couple different times. The picture above is Rory hugging his mom. Seeing his parents tearing up really got to me. Rory is a big softy too, so he was crying.......OMG it was so freaking emotional............but it was wonderful all at the same time.Their cake was pretty cool. They had a statue with Fu Dogs on the top of it. The Fu Dogs are the statues of dogs that look similar to lions. They are symbols of protection and often sit at the entrance of builings in Asia.

I was so happy their wedding was on a Sunday. It was perfect timing for us to make it since we had the show in French Lick the night before. I hope Rory and Allison have a long happy life together. I hope they realize how much all of the guest enjoyed themselves too. it was so great to see everyone.

I still have pictures from our party at Bankowski's house a few weeks ago. Maybe I'll post those next...............

Otis Redding

2008-10-17T12:40:00.003-04:00

This is one of the most peaceful and relaxing songs I know. I have listened to it every morning on the way to work this week. It has really hleped me keep all my worries in perspective.

Otis Redding seemed to almost have a premonition as he was writing this song. It was recorded just three days before his plane crash in 1967.

(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
by Otis Redding

Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watchin' the ships roll in
Then I'll watch 'em roll away again ...Yea

Im sittin' on the dock of a bay
Watching the tide roll away ...ohhh
Im just sittin' on a dock of a bay
Wastin' time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco bay
Coz I have nuthin' to live for
And look like nuthin's gonna come my way

So...I'm just gonna sit on a dock of a bay
Watching the tide roll away ...ohhh
I'm sittin' on a dock of a bay
Wastin' time

Look like nothings gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same

Sittin here restin' my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone ...listen
Two thousand miles I rome
Just to make this dock my home

Now... I'm just gonna sit at the dock of a bay
Watching the tide roll away ...ohhh
Im sittin' on a dock of a bay
Wastin' time

Get Well Wishes!!!!!

2008-10-14T18:57:00.002-04:00

Myspace Comments @ 123glitter.com

Just wanted to wish Grammy, Andrea, and Rosie's Mom well. I hope all of you feel much better really soon!!!

Ft. Lauderdale Florida!!!!!!

2008-10-13T19:45:00.023-04:00

First, I must say that Ft. Lauderdale was one of the most diverse citites I have been to next to maybe Las Angeles, and Las Vegas, of course. It was very beautiful in most areas. Especially where we were........all the touristy spots. But, it wasn't unusual to see someone homeless sleeping on a bench just a mile or so from what they call Millionare Row. There was so much culture around us down there. Lots of different ethnic groups everywhere. It was pretty cool just to sit back and watch everything going on around us for awhile.

Jenny and I met up very easily at the airport. My flight arrived about an hour before Jen's, so I just sat at the baggage claim and waited for her to get there. It had been a long day for me already, and it was only about noon. I had to get up super early and leave our house at about 4:30 AM to make it to the airport in time. My flight left at 7:00 AM. UUUGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Plus, Ryan and I had just gotten home Sunday afternoon from Sandusky, Ohio. We went to Cedar Point to celebrate my birthday, and had a blast. Needless to say, I was exhausted, my back was aching, and all I wanted was a good nap. That three hours of sleep I got before heading to the airport was not the nap I had hoped for.

Jen and I headed into town after we checked into the hotel so we could find some food. We were both starving by that time!!! We found a nice little restaurant called Mangos where we ate some lunch. Just outside the window I noticed a sign that said Water Taxi. Jen and I were curious, so we walked that way after we finished our lunch. It turned out to be a great little tour. The Water Taxi took us through "The Venice of America" along the Intercostal Waterway in Ft. Lauderdale. The area where we toured is also known as Millionare Row. When we saw the homes and yachts, we understood why. It was unreal!!Jen and I really enjoyed that little part of our trip. We definitely got to see a lot of things we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. Some of these homes were actually on little man-made islands. Almost everyone who lived there had a yacht. Some of the yachts were bigger than the homes. I could have fit my home in some of those yachts. One of them was over 3,500 square feet. That's three of my homes..............WOW!!!I don't specifically remember who lived in a lot of the homes. One of them used to belong to Nick Nolte. Most of them were big business owners such as the founder of HBO, Sunglass Hut etc.....
I thought it was really cool to see this house because this is where the movie "Cape Fear" was filmed. Not the old original, but the remake with Robert De Niro from the early 1990's.

It was absolutely amazing to be out in the middle of all that wealth. This is looking into downtown Ft.Lauderdale from the intercoastal waterway. The tour was about an hour. It was really nice. The water Taxi was really cool because there are several stops where you can get on and off the boat, and your pass is good for the whole day when you get one. The boats run up until midnight.

It seemed like it would be a great way for the old Florida snowbirds to get around after starting their days off with a stiff drink. Jen and I rode along with one guy who had definitely been drinking already, and all he wanted was to get to the next happy hour someplace. It was funny.

We all took turns taking pictures on the balcony. It didn't overlook the pool or anything, but it was beautiful in the morning with the sun shining down on the balcony. I think I got most of my tan from just standing out there so much.

John and I went out to playa round of disc golf while Jen was in trainging the first day. It was fun. Hot, but fun. Most of the holes weren't extremely difficult, but it's totally different when you lose a disc in Florida............there are a lot of places I wouldn't feel safe going after a lost disc. Like..............the water, where I lost my very first disc I ever bought. It was a Valkyrie, and I loved it like a part of me. I was bummed out, but it was my own fault for throwing that disc on that hole. I knew I was throwing near water, and I knew my disc would curve around to the right.......it always does. I had even brought a back up disc for exactly that reason. I thought maybe I would need it for a tough hole near some water, and I knew I didn't want to chance losing the Valkyrie. But did I think of that when I stepped up on the platform to throw?.............NO WAY!!! I just threw my favorite disc right smack dab in the middle of the water. Just like that. Damn. But hey, I had fun anyway. John gave me a bright pink disc to throw the rest of the game.................thanks Cuz!!!!

This is Jen acting goofy with her crab legs. She was a mess by the time she was done eating those things. Kind of like a one year old with their first birthday cake.....he he he!!!

This was taken at a really nice restaurant called The Rustic Inn that Jenny had found online. There was a whole page of the names of celebritites who have eaten there in the past. I had fun looking at that and wondering where they sat and what they ate. We sat outside by the water and watched some boats go by while we were eating. I'm not a big fan of crab meat or lobster, so I stuck to shrimp. I got some coconut shrimp that was to die for!!!!!After dinner at The Rustic Inn, we headed into Hollywood where the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino is located. The little shopping area outside of the Casino was really cool. Everything was really fancy, and much too expensive for my taste, but it was still cool to look around.

We were all a little disappointed with the Casino. John wanted to play roulette and I wanted to play craps. They didn't have any tables though. They had black jack and poker tables and lots of slots, but even in the slots, I couldn't find the one I wanted to play. So, we just walked around and looked at all the music memorabelia. That part was pretty cool.They had a whole display case of Peter Frampton's stuff. They even has the voice box he used on Frampton Comes Alive. It was super cool to see that!!!!After we got back to the hotel that night, we started watching Youtube on Jen's computer. She made it through an hour or so of the entertainment before she passed out. John and I stayed up cracking up laughing until Jen rolled over and said "it's 2:30, so you think you'll be wrapping things up by 3:00?" It was hilarious!!! Sorry Jen...................
The next day, I got up and headed down to the pool for a few hours. It was awesome. I had the whole pool to myself the entire time I was down there. I laid out in the sun for a long time and jumped in the pool every once in awhile to cool down. I finished reading Slaughterhouse Five and started reading a sweet book called Marley and Me about a crazy Golden Retriever. It was so relaxing.That afternoon when Jen got done with her training, we headed over to Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The beach was gorgeous!!! The water was not as clear as I would have liked it to be, but it felt really good. It wasn't dirty exactly, it was just full of seaweed and stuff like that. So, we never managed to get too far out in the water. I get nervous in saltwater when I can't see my feet. I'm scared of all those crazy ocean creatures!!!!The strip along the beach is called Breezeway Blvd. It was a pretty cool area. It was a lot more happening at night when all the bars started filling up. There were lots of little gift shops along there, but Jen and I got there a little late to shop around in most of them. They all seemed to close really early. We did stop in a surf shop where Jen got some cute new flip flops and I talked tattoos with some cutie with long curly hair and lots of bright tattoos. We hit it off right off the bat. I loved him!!!!! ;-)
Jen grabbed my camera while I was playing in the water and snapped some shots when I wasn't looking. I like this picture of us laying in the sand together. It would have been nice to have been able to spend more time on the beach, but time wasn't really on our side. Jen had training all day the two full days we were there, but it was nice while we were there.Funny how I hate feet, but I always want to take a picture of my feet when I'm on a beach somewhere..........................
We decided that Breezeway Blvd is where we needed to go for our last night out on the town, so when Jen and I got done at the beach, we went back to the hotel to pick up John so we could all go out one last time. We all walked around looking for someplace good to eat and listening to all the live music coming from the nightclubs. Some of it was really loud and overwhelming when you were trying to talk to eachother, but it was still cool to walk around and hear everything that was going on.

We walked past an alley that had a bunch of pirate statues lining the walkway and a sign that said "pirate bar is open." So, we decided to check out the pirate bar. It was pretty fun. The bartender, Jenny, was really good at playing the pirate girl role. She talked really loud and said "AARRRGGHHH" a lot. When the clock struck 9:00, she yelled "nine o'clock and all is well!!!" She was fun.There were white walls troughout the bar that all the tourists have signed, so we had to make our mark too. Some guy named Jesse bought hats for all the girls in the bar that had rinestone skulls and crossbones on them. They're actually pretty cute. Jen and I wore ours together for a few minutes until Jen couldn't take it anymore. It was already obvious we were tourists. I mean, we took pictures of our food for crying out loud....but wearing matching hats, well, that was just a little too much. I love my hat though!!!!We had Jenny the bartender take this picture for us. I think it's almost frame worthy......LOVE IT!!!!

By the time we got back to the room that night, we were all pretty beat. I sat up and read some more of my book while Jen and John drifted off to sleep.

Jen and I woke up the next morning and decided to get another hour of sun out by the pool. It was kind of overcast when we first went out, but it cleared up and we had a little sun to enjoy before we had to leave.

I was originally supposed to fly home on a seperate flight than Jen that had a layover in Memphis, but when we got to the airport, I asked if they had any seats available for the direct flight back to Indy. I totally lucked out. They had one seat left......and I got it!! I was so happy to be on the same plane as Jen. Even though we couldn't sit together, we got to say our goodbye's in Indy instead of Ft. Lauderdale. That was nice. Plus, I got home about five hours earlier than I had originally expected. I was really happy about that.

I took this picture as we were flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. It was beautiful flying over the coast.

I was ready to get home. I really missed Ryan while I was gone, and kept asking myself in my head why I would go somewhere without him. I really did have a blast, but it's always more fun if my baby's around. One night away from him now and then isn't so bad, but a big trip like that.....I don't know. This may have been my last vacation without Ryan.

My vacation ended perfectly when Ryan got home that night and we could be together again..........................I know you are probably all puking right now.

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Meet our new addition

2008-10-11T13:42:00.004-04:00

We call her Powder Blue (WEEN Song title) and for once, our new addition to the family is NOT a dog!!!!Ryan and I had been tossing around the idea of getting a new car for awhile. Not a NEW car, but a used car that would be new to us. Neither one of us wanted to get rid of the vehicles we already own though. I'm totally attached to my car. I love her and I will dirve her until the wheels fall off. But, the idea of having something reliable AND good on gas has been on our minds a lot lately. Especially with as much driving as we do.We found this little beauty through a friend of Ryan's from work who buys old cars, fixes them up and sells them for a profit. It's a 1996 Honda Accord. So, technically, it's older than either one of our vehicles, but still new to us!! It has less mileage than my car and Ryan's truck,it's only had one previous owner, AND it gets great gas mileage!!I'm really hoping this little Honda will be as good t us as Dad's Hondas always were to him. If we're lucky, we could still get another 150,000 miles or so out of it. It only has about a 100,000 now. Dad's Honda ran until it had nearly 300,000 miles................HOLY COW!!!!

You should all be able to spot us pretty easy when you see us coming though. Check out the front side panel. That's HOT, huh?!?!? Pretty small price to pay for a new ride though!!!

Another Puppy in Need

2008-09-24T19:17:00.010-04:00

I always thought Ryan got frustrated with me for the whole dog rescue thing, but I realized I was wrong when he rolled up in his truck after work with this sweet little angel two nights ago.

It's the first time he has been solely responsible for bringing a dog into our home.
This dog, who we're calling Nina, was turned over to Ryan at work by a friend of his. This guy's sister got her a couple months ago and decided she couldn't handle her anymore. She left for Texas for a month and chained the dog to a chair on her front porch. Then she called her brother and told him she was there two days later and to get rid of her. She said she didn't want her there when she got home, and she didn't care what he did with her, so he called us.
Ryan was totally appauled when he got to the house to find her chained up with no food or water. She had gotten herself tangled up around the chair she was tied to and only had a couple inches to move. It looks like she may have gone hungry for more than just two days. Just look at her little ribs poking out....bless her heart.She ate so much the first night that she puked. I felt bad for her, but I had to take the food from her so she wouldn't make herself sick anymore.

She's only about six months old, but seems to do pretty well going potty outside. We've had one accident in her kennel since she came to stay with us a few days ago. She gets along really well with all the other dogs. We even have my friends Mandy's dog right now because she's in Cancun. So, that means we have six dogs in the house!!!!!I know, I know, that sounds completely crazy....but it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Ryan and I were sitting on the kitchen floor the night he brought her home with all six dogs with us and I looked around and said "we really are crazy, aren't we?" His reply was a stern and defensive "NO!!!!!!"

I knew I married this man for a reason!!I mean, how could you look at this face and call him crazy?!?!?!? He's just as sweet as she is!!!These pictures are all before we had a chance to get her cleaned up and groomed. Our neighbor, Marcus, took her yesterday and clipped her hair and nails and gave her a bath. She looked like a different dog when I got home last night. I'll have to post some "after" pictures when I get a chance.We may have already found a home for her. I'm really hoping things will work out with the girl who has her tonight. Marcus knows a girl who is looking to get a puppy, so she took her home with her for a few days to see how it goes. If it doesn't work out for some reason, I'll be hitting you all up to help me help her.

I love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess Who

2008-09-18T22:11:00.003-04:00

Any idea who this sexy cat is?????? You might know..............think Quentin Tarantino, or maybe.....Supranos.

Any Guesses????

Steve Buscemi.............................
"It's amazing what staying out of the sun and not working out can do for a fella."

Thanks TMZ for the entertainment!!!!

We Took The Plunge!!!!

2008-09-14T18:02:00.009-04:00

Remember not too long ago when I posted a blog about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane? Well, I can officially mark that off the bucket list now!!! Ryan and I along with a few friends took the plunge this past Saturday.

I have to say, it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life!!!!When we first got there, we all had to watch a short video about the jump. To be really honest, I don't even remember much of the video now. The instructors themselves were much more helpful. After the video, we had to sign our lives away promising not to sue them. When we finished all of that, it was pretty much just sit around and wait for your turn.
We waited for probably a little over an hour before our instructors started to get us geared up. Dave and Ryan got to go up in the same plane together.
Seth was actually the last one to jump. He had to go up in a plane with a stranger. We all thought it was kind of funny because this was all his idea to begin with!!!

This is basically how it works:

Both you and your instructor have a harness on that attaches you to one another. Your instructor will be hooked up behind you with your backside to his frontside.....cozy!!! They have you put the harness on before you get into the plane, but you are not attached to the instructor yet.

When your flight is fuelded up and ready to go, you board the plane and take a little ride to about 13,000 feet. It seemed like it took forever. I thought that after Ryan took off...it seemed like it took forever before we actually saw him floating down to us. I felt the same way when I was flying up. It seemed like we were in the plane for about fifteen minutes before anything really happened.

When it's about time to jump, the pilot will start counting down the minutes. He starts out at "Three minutes." This was when I finally started to get a little nervous!!! "Two Minutes!!" The instructor attaches all the clips and clasps and finally, when the pilot gives the green light, the door flies open. "One Minute!!!!" That was when it got a little scary. I was literally squatting outside on a metal platform attached to an airplane two miles above the ground. Am I really this crazy?!?!? YES I AM!!!!

You put you feet on this little tiny platform outside the door of th aplane. You're basically sitting on the instructor's lap at this point. He is sitting on the side of the plane. Then he said "one two three GO".....and we went!!!!!!!

OMG..........What a freaking rush!!!!!!! The free falling speeds normally reach up to about 120miles per hour, so for about a minute, I was falling that fast. That felt like a long minute actually. It was so loud when you were free falling. Your cheeks a flappin' in the wind like a big ol' flag or something. I noticed they didn't flap as bad when I quit screaming and shut my mouth!!!

And you know what the funny thing is............I never once got that feeling you get on a roller coaster when your stomach drops out from under you. Not once. There was way too much air pushing up against you as you fall through it to make you feel any of that.

Once you have freefallen almost 7,000 feet, your instructor will deploy the chute. They do this at about 5,000 feet. As soon as he pulled the chute, everything became silent. It happened almost instanty. We did get jerked upward just a little when the chute deployed, but it didn't hurt or anything.

After the rush of the free fall and even the rush from the noise of the free fall, the silence and tranquility you experience floating through the air is like nothing I have ever experienced. It was so peaceful. You couldn't hear any noise from anything.....it was amazing I've never heard such silence. We floated for appoximately five minutes before getting ready for our landing. My instructor even let me take control of the chute for a few minutes. It was really cool. We did some flips and some crazy corkscrew stuff heading straight towards the ground.

I always felt safe. That was one thing I was pleasantly surprised about. I guess I just assumed I wouldn't feel safe at some point....I mean, we were jumping out of a plane for crying out loud!!! But no, really, I felt extremely safe the whole entire time.

As we enjoyed the canopy ride down towards land, my instructor started going over some tips on how to land. Our landing was almost perfect. We did stumble a little getting our balance, but we didn't fall.

This is Ryan and his instructor coming in for their landing. I can tell it's Ryan because his pants kept creeping up with all those straps between his legs!!! You're supposed to put your legs up like you're in a sitting position when you land until your partner has touched the ground first. Then you drop your feet to stabilize yourself.This is also Ryan. He had a pretty good landing, but the air got caught up in their chute for just a second and pulled them around a little at the end.

This is Dave coming in for his landing.Another one of Dave.............almost made it now!!!TA DA!!!!!! WAY TO GO GUYS!!!!!!This is the plane that Laura and I were in.
If you look at the very tip top of this picture, you will see two parachutes. I am the one who is the lowest, and Laura is above me. I wanted to jump first because I thought if I had to watch someone else, I might back out!!! It was really cool to look up and watch Laura when she jumped. I could just barely see them until the chute deployed, but it was fun to be up in the air at the same time. We were waving at eachother and stuff. I can't even put into words how much fun it was!!!!!This is me coming in. I was already getting disappointed by this time because I didn't want the ride to be over yet!!!Here I am right before my nearly perfect landing!!!! I was ready to climb in the next plane going up and do it all over again by then!!!!!I MADE IT!!!!!!!!!AND I LOVED IT!!!!!!!
Last one to fly and last one to fall was Seth. He loved it too. I have a feeling we all have a new addiction to deal with..................Let me just tell ya, skydiving is a lot more expensive than most addictions, but as weird as it sounds, I think it's a lot less risky.It looked Seth had kind of a bumpy landing, but I think the wind might have caught their chute kind of like it did on Ryan's and just pulled them a round a little. Pretty sure Sethy Poo landed on his butt!!!!!!Here's the gang: Dave, me, Ryan, Laura, and Seth.

So, when one of you crazy friends or relatives of mine gets a wild hair and you decide to go skydiving, you just give me a call..................I'm IN!!!!

The Five Minute Wedding.....it really is the way to go!!!!

2008-09-12T15:55:00.006-04:00

OK, OK Here are the few pictures that we got from the wedding.........

This was before we got married

This was when the clerk started the ceremony

This is during the ceremony

.....and this one too.....

This is when we were saying our vows

This is when she pronounced us husband and wife

You get the idea on this one!!!!

Jamaica Mon!!!!!!

2008-09-12T13:59:00.004-04:00

March 23-30

Jamaica, here we come!!!!!

Hookahville XXX

2008-09-08T16:14:00.009-04:00

Over Labor Day weekend, Ryan and I celebrated our Honeymoon Hookah style!!!! We decorated our tent with a bunch of "Just Married" stuff and our friends decorated their tents with luau stuff for our honeymoon. We even won some freebies for our decorations.Kelly Ann even found one of those cardboard cut-outs that you stick your face in for pictures. I only got one picture of it, but Ryan got almost a whole roll of 35mm of people goofing off with it. We saved all the beer cans for the first day or so to string up and hang on the tent. Cousin Aaron was going to pull us around in the cart with some cans hanging off of it, but we got too distracted, and that never happened. Oh well, it was a fun idea.Here's part of the gang hanging out in "Reynoldsburg." That's what we called the area where Nick and Ashley Reynolds were camping behind Ryan, Dave, Kelly Ann, and me. We called our area Chaplis. Ashley's dad came with her. I was happy to see him there. It totally reminds me of something my dad and I would have done together.Caught Ryan and Cousin Aaron in mid high five!!! YES!!!!!Nap time for Matt and Liz. That's one of the best things at Hookahville....taking a nap in the shade. I slept almost one whole day away. It was awesome!!!! You all know how I love my sleep!!!The lineup for Hookahville was great this year. We got to see Arrested Development. It was so cool!!! They split up for awhile after they hit it big in the early nineties, but I'm pretty sure this is the original lineup. I could be wrong, so forgive me if my facts aren't right, but that was my understanding from hearing the band talking about being "back together again." The old guy is even still with them. I always wanted to call him Mr. Wendel because of that song they did by the same name, but I'm not sure if that's his name, or just my imagination. He definitely gives them a spiritual feel when they play.This chick had the most beautiful voice. She was the main singer in their big hit "Tennessee." The crowd went nuts when that song started.
Another act I was happy to see was Indiana's own Derick Howard. He's from Columbus, IN. He does a really cool little loop thing with his music where he plays a little of each instrument, records it, and then plays another instrument over it. He plays every instrument himself. Kind of like Keller Williams, if you're familiar with him at all. in this picture, he is sitting on his drum. it sounds kind of like a big congo or something like that.

The one song that blew me away was a Paul Simon cover, and I cannot remember the name of the song for the life of me. If I remember later.....I'll post it!!! Derick has been opening for Hookah at Lafayette Brewing Company for quite awhile now, so I was really happy for him that he made the lineup this year. He has been hoping for this for a long time. It should be pretty good exposure for him.
I was also thrilled to see Bela Fleck. He was playing with Abagail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet. I had seen him once before, but it was probably close to ten years ago. He plays a pretty mean banjo. Abagail Washburn was pretty impressive herself!!!

I missed a few bands that I wasn't already familiar with, but I could hear everything from the campsite. Everyone sounded great. It was just way too hot to be out in front of the stage all day long. There's no shade out there at all, so jumping, dancing, screaming and singing along with the band can get real hot real quick!!! We never missed a second of Ekoostik Hookah though!!! We never do!!!

We had a pretty bad experience at Spring Hookahville with hassels getting in and out the gates so we could get to our vehicle. Some people, including our group, stood in line for nearly seven hours AND missed the opening bands because of the line, so the guys from Ekoostik Hookah and Steve Trickle, the owner of the venue where Hookahville is held, did what they could to make it up to everyone.

First of all, they gave us a free night. Usually, if you want to go a night early, you have what they call the "Earlybird" option where you can pay an extra twenty bucks to get there earlier than everyone else, find a good campsite, and see a couple small bands. So, they made the "earlybird" free. Second, Ekoostik Hookah played a set that night. Normally they do two nights, this time, we got three for the price of two. That was so awesome that they would do that for their fans.

It was a huge inconvenience, and a real pain in the ass this past spring, but honestly, how many bands do you think would even care enough to ackowledge that there was a problem? Not many. That's why I love these guys. I know I've said it lots of times before, but it's true. We're more like friends than fans.

As some of you may remember, there have been a couple times when people's underwear end up on stage. This time, we set them up with some big ol' Granny Panties!!! All the people who were camping with us signed them, and Ryan and I wrote "Just Married" on the waistband. Our friend Kelly Jo from Michigan sewed a schwa on them ahead of time. Cliff, the bassist even copmlimented my throw. He called it a "three pointer." I only had a split second to actually catch John holding them up. he grabbed them in between songs, so I only got one blurry picture to remeber the moment!!!!! They guys were on fire all weekend long. They pulled out a couple older songs that we hadn't heard much since John Mullins rejoined the band. They also covered some good old songs I never thought I'd hear them play. One of them was "All Apologies" by Nirvana. That was a total surprise!!! Cliff sang that. We are all big fans of anything Cliffy sings!!!Towards the end of the evening, especially at Hookahville, Cliffy usually gets a little playful. He dances around all over the stage, and gets this ornery little way about him. It always gets fun when Cliffy's been drinking!!!
My man Eric got up from the drums just before the end of the show. He always does. It's a huge treat for eveyone when Eric gets up to sing. He did a cover of "Chest Fever" by The Band with horns backing him up. It was SWEET!!!!

Overall, I think this was one of the best Hookahvilles I've been to. We had great company, got to see lots of friends from out of state, had one of the best lineups yet, celebrated our honeymoon with our best friends, ate good food, drank good drinks, had lots of good wishes floating our way because of the wedding....................it really couldn't have been much better.

I'm ready for Spring Hookahville...................only eight months and counting!!!!

Catching up on the summer.............

2008-09-03T16:02:00.005-04:00

The first weekend in August, Ryan and I went to see Radiohead at Verizon Wireless. I was so excited to have the chance to see them. It was so awesome!!!!

The light show was spectacular. I was in total awe the whole time!!! Our neighbor, Marcus, went with us. We had a great time together!!!
It was a beautiful evening. The place filled up pretty quickly. I'm pretty sure it was a sold out show.

We also got to go to the very first Colts game at Lucas Oil Stadium a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun!!! That place is amazing!!!
They opened the roof part way through the evening. It was cool to watch it open.
The cheerleaders were fun to watch.
I had chills when we were singing the Star Spangled Banner. They spread this enormous flag out across the whole football field.
Even though the game kind of sucked, we had a blast!!! We got to see the third and fourth string quarterbacks play. The fourth string was better at least for that game than the third string.

Ryan has a friend who works for the security company that is contracted through the Colts. He is seriously considering getting a part time job with them. It would be pretty cool for Ryan, but it would mean a lot of weekends without him....but how cool would that be?!?!? His buddy does it part time along with his job at Donaldson's where Ryan works. if this guy can do both, I don't see why Ryan couldn't do it too!!! His buddy said he could get him a job with them. Maybe he'll hang out at the Colts games for the next couple years while I go back to school. Sounds like a decent plan to me.......................

We also went to an Ekoostik Hookah show in Cincinnatti in August. If I have time, I'll post some pics from that before too long.