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.
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!!!
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!!!
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!!!
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!!!
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.
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!!
