1st Annual Indy Gang Christmas Party

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!!!

Summer re-cap

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!!!

Last Day in Jamaica

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!!!