Our Weekend in Indy

**Note: This is a pretty long post, but I just didn't want to forget anything!

We started thinking a couple months ago about what we wanted to do to celebrate our 1 year and of course Taylor's only requirement was that it included playing a nice golf course. Who would have guessed? :) We knew that we wouldn't be able to do a long trip with his school and my lack of vacation time, so we decided to check out Indianapolis. Neither of us had ever been there and it's only about 2 hours away, which is closer than Chicago!

We decided that we would just drive over on Saturday morning, play a round of golf and then spend Saturday evening and Sunday exploring Indy. We left about 7:30 Saturday morning and had plans to stop for an hour or so and have a nice breakfast before teeing off. That would give us 3o minutes or so to hit the range and put before starting. Well, about an hour or so after left, I noticed that my phone had changed and it wasn't 8:30 anymore but it was 9:30! Ha. We had completely forgot to take into account the time change.

So we nixed stopping for breakfast and drove through McDonalds! Ha. I know, we go classy on our 1 year :)


After our fancy breakfast, we made it to the course with about 20 minutes to spare. We had been afraid that it would rain during our round the entire week before. Even as we pulled into the parking lot, I thought at any moment it could just start pouring! But, it never did. The round turned out to be perfect since it was cloudy and cool outside. We played at the Golf Club of Indiana and really enjoyed the course. We both played very well and I actually shot my lowest score EVER!

Look at the awesome GPS they had on the carts!

After the round, we headed to our hotel to check-in and get ready for dinner. Taylor booked all the reservations so I had no idea what to expect, but we stayed at the Staybridge Suites (right outside of Indy) and it was wonderful! Our room was clean and the whole building was less than 5 years old so everything felt very new. They had this awesome outdoor patio area with tables, a HUGE fireplace and a couple nice grills that the guests could use. Even though we had dinner plans, I think Taylor was very tempted to just go buy some steaks and grill them ourselves!

We had decided to eat at this little Italian restaurant in downtown Indy that we had read really good reviews about. I joked with Taylor as we were walking in that it would be funny if they had reservations and were booked up that night! Well, what do you know? We walked in and the girl gave us a funny look and said they were completely booked until 9:15. She said the only open table was a tall one over in the bar area, so we took it!

Now, I wish I could tell you that we had a romantic Italian meal for our 1st anniversary, but sadly that wasn't the case. We sat down to eat around 6:30 and were out of there by 7! Ha. Here is why...

This is a picture of our plates! I ordered Chicken Parm and Taylor ordered a spicy Chicken pasta. Pretty normal selections right?


Here is a picture of our food about 5 minute after taking the first bite (and Taylor's impression of the food!)...


And then here it is about 5 minutes after that (please excuse the nasty trash can!)...


Hahahaha! If you haven't already guess, this was the WORST Italian food we had EVER had! I have no idea who was rating this place and what their taste buds are like, but I will never be going there again. The chicken was chewy and Taylor couldn't even eat his pasta because it was burning his mouth. We could not believe that the restaurant was booked for the night! Those people have obviously never had good Italian! Ha.

So, after "dinner", we headed to the movie theater in downtown to see "Bridesmaids", which was pretty funny. I usually don't like movies like that, but Kristen Wiig was hilarious! We did get a bucket of popcorn and a Sprite to share during the movie, since we were bother still very hungry. After the movie, we headed back to the room, still starving! So guess where we stopped?


Arby's! So on our 1 year anniversary our dining selections consisted of: McDonald's, no lunch since we were on the course, AWFUL Italian, movie popcorn, and Abry's! Haha. So romantic, I know!

On Sunday, we slept in and had breakfast at the hotel before checking out. We didn't really have much planned that day, except to check out Circle Centre, which is this really cool mall in downtown Indy. The night before we had driven down a street called Meridian to get back to the hotel, and it had about a 4 mile stretch of the largest homes I have ever seen! We decided to driven back down it on Sunday morning, since it leads right into downtown. Here is a picture of 1 or 3 HUGE and beautiful churches we saw on Meridian. This picture does not do justice to how large and ornate the building was.


After making it to the mall and shopping a little, we decided to stop and eat lunch. There was a PF Chang's close and Taylor said he was only going to eat at a place he knew he could get something good. Ha. So for the first time on the trip, we had a delicious meal! After lunch I think Taylor was a little tired of the mall (surprise, surprise!), so we decided to drive over to the Indy 500 track and look at it. Neither one of us are into racing, but the track is pretty cool. It's huge and you know what Taylor's favorite part was? They are a golf course called Brickyard Crossing that has four of it's holes INSIDE the track! How cool??!! We have decided that sometime in the future we are going to drive over and play and watch some of the time trials. I've heard if you don't like racing, you will still think the time trials are cool because the drivers are just trying to go as fast as they can!

After checking out the track, we decided to head back to C-U. We stopped to eat at a place called The Beef House, which is supposed to be the best steakhouse in our area. It was very delicious and we will have to take y'all there when you come visit. So even though our Saturday food selections were terrible, Sunday made up for it! Well, overall we had a great weekend in Indy and had fun celebrating our 1st year of marriage! We will definitely be going back in the future.

What's Up?

So, I'm sure you're wondering what's up with us lately since it has been weeks since I posted??? Well, without much detail, here is a short list of things we have had going on lately (in no particular order)...

• I went to a coupon seminary (ha!) with Laine at our church and learned some basics on couponing! The speaker was from a small town around C-U and was very entertaining! Here is a link to her blog: The Frugal Family
• Taylor finished his first year of graduate school! Wow, can you believe it? I feel like the last year has just flown by.
  
• We got the keys to our new (rent) house, which we will officially move-in to on July 1st! Wahoo :) Ashley, the owner, left to go back home earlier than she thought so she left the keys with us. I think our plan right now is to start moving things over slowly in the next couple weeks and then do a big move that 4th of July weekend when our families are here.
  
• We celebrated our 1 year anniversary (a week early) in Indianapolis last weekend with a round of golf and some shopping! I'll do a full post about that soon, since we did have some funny circumstances come up :)
• Our Saturday Market opened a couple weeks ago so Laine and I made our first trip of the season! They were pretty low on produce and all the good stuff at the moment, but I'm sure as the season goes on it will get better.
• We tried out a new golf course in the area called Ironhorse and we really loved it! I also finally found a new pair of golf shoes that I have been looking for awhile now. I think Taylor thought I was just being picky, but I knew what kind I wanted and wasn't going to buy a pair until I found them :) Ha!
• Taylor has decided he is going to play in a couple of the area golf tournaments this summer and there is a couples tournament late this summer that we are both going to play in! I feel like my golf game has been going surprisingly well lately, so I'm interested to see if it will last through the summer. Fingers crossed!! :)

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment and sorry no pictures! I hope everything has been going well with you and check back soon for a post about our weekend in Indy!

Ebertfest

Did you know that Roger Ebert is from Urbana? Well, until about a week ago, I didn't know that either! For the last 13 years, there has been a festival in C-U called Eberfest, where Roger Ebert selects some of his favorite past or present films/documentaries and they are played at a local theater in Champaign. It is pretty cool because they bring in the directors and main actors/subjects of the films and do Q&A sessions after each showing.

The theater was so pretty!

Since the News-Gazette and our radio stations are a large sponsor of the Festival, we are allowed a certain number of passes to each film. This is really cool because the passes are pretty expensive and sell out right away, so they are really hard to get! Each employee is allowed to sign up for one film, but since there were a couple open spaces left, I got to sign up for 2 this year.

That's Roger Ebert on the right!

Last Wednesday evening, we went and saw "Natural Selection" which stars Rachael Harris! She was actually at the film and did a Q&A session after, but since it was 12:45am (on a work night!) before the film ended, we didn't stay. I wouldn't recommend the film for everyone, but Taylor and I both enjoyed it.


This afternoon we went to see "Louder Than A Bomb", which is a documentary about the high school poetry-slam competition in Chicago, and it was AWESOME! I highly recommend seeing this film if you get the opportunity. The creativity and abilities of each poet is really crazy and the documentary will make you laugh or cry and even leave you breathless at some points! After the film, they brought out the film directors and 5 of the main cast they follow. The Q&A session was interesting to hear about why the directors made the film and what the poets are doing now. The director of the actual "Loud Than a Bomb" competition spoke a little more about the event and said they had just recently explored having the slam in a new city. Can you guess where the most recent competition was? TULSA!! How cool!


After the Q&A, the 5 poets performed one of their "slams" called Counting Graves. It was a very emotional performance in content, but shows how talented they are! I filmed the performance but it won't seem to upload, so if you click here you can just check out the film's site! So, like I said before, if you get the chance to see this film, you should! We are already looking forward to next year's Ebertfest!

Life Lately

So since it has been awhile since I've updated you on what's been going on, I figured I could just share the most recent pictures I have on my iPhone! Last weekend, Sam's had an open house so you could shop there and not be charged the additional fee for not being a member. Now I know this may sound stupid, but I was so excited to go! Ha. I love the fruit at Sam's and that you can buy the things you use all the time in bulk. Look at this huge container of seasoning we got. This is our favorite meat seasoning and I don't think we will run out again for awhile :)


Last weekend we also made a quick trip up to Chicago to watch the Thunder game! All the boys played basketball against some guys and they won!



Last week was a pretty slow week for us again with nothing very exciting (at least nothing that is coming to mind at this moment!). But this weekend we have actually been pretty busy!


Yesterday I wanted to go see if I could find a couple new work shirts and Taylor said he would go with me. And yes I know what you're thinking and I was surprised as well! Ha. But after a few minutes of being at the mall, I realized why he had decided to come. Every time we go to the mall, Taylor always ends up in one store called Inside Scoops.. the candy store! Taylor has a love for fruity/sour/sugary candy that I will never understand. I mean, if I have a choice between eating a brownie or sour Skittles, I will always pick a brownie. Not Taylor, he wants Skittles or Sprees or Sour Straws! Ha.


Today, our Easter Sunday has consisted of church, a nice lunch with Laine, Andrew and Keith, dying Easter eggs, and playing golf! I told you last time we played that I needed to hit about a million range balls before hitting the course again. Well, I only hit about 30 last week but I actually think it helped because I played surprisingly well! Ha. I thought it was going to be really wet from the rain, but it ended up being a great day. It was cool enough where you didn't really sweat but not so cold you didn't want to be outside.

Well, I'm sure we have had a lot of other things happen in the last week, but these are the only photos I had! :( Hope you had a nice Easter!

Race Day

Well, last Sunday was the Half Marathon in St. Louis and I think Taylor's mom summed it up best when she said, "That was the hardest thing I have ever done!" Ha! When we woke up on Sunday morning, at 4:45am, it was already in the 60s so by race time, at 7am, it was 70 degrees! That is really hot for a race, especially a long distance like a half marathon or marathon. Somewhere in the 40s or low 50s would have been much more ideal. They actually ended up closing part of the race for the marathon runners if they didn't reach a certain mile markup in time. That means it was really hot!

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. But if you just picture the most sweaty and exhausted person you can imagine, that was the four of us around 9am on Sunday! :) Taylor, Jim, and Susan ran the entire half marathon, but I have to confess that I only ended up running a 10k. My lack of training and the heat just didn't mesh too well on race day. Ha!

We headed to St. Louis Friday after I got off work and went to eat at a place called Sam's Steakhouse. It was very delicious and since we had not been on a date in awhile, it was fun to eat at a nice place! After dinner, we headed to the hotel and hung out until Taylor's parents got there. It was nice to be able to just spend some time with them on Saturday before the race.

We played a new course on Saturday called The Bluffs, and besides realizing that I need to hit a million golf balls before I set foot on a golf course again, it was a lot of fun! The nice weather lately just makes you want to be outside, so why not be on the golf course if you're going to be outside? :)

This week has been pretty low key so far, so nothing very exciting to share! But we hope you had a nice weekend and hope to see you all soon!

Tacos and 1/2 Marathon

So I said last time that I would share a new, very yummy, taco recipe that we recently tried! As with most of my recent recipes, we borrowed this one from The Pioneer Woman as well. Here is the final product (which we halved), minus a few of the toppings!



All you need for these yummy tacos is...

* 16 whole Corn Tortillas (small Size)
* 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Pieces
* Salt, Cumin, Chili Powder To Taste (or Use Taco Seasoning)
* 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
* 2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
* 1-½ cup Finely Grated Cheese (cheddar Or Cheddar/jack Mix)
* Sour Cream
* Hot Sauce (Chulula Or Other Brand)
* 2 cups Thinly Sliced Romaine Lettuce (or Any Lettuce)
* 4 whole Roma Tomatoes, Diced
* Canola Oil, For Frying Tacos

Click here for the directions! These would be an excellent thing to make for your next party!

Well, this week has been pretty low key for us. Just going to work and school as usual. This weekend we are headed to St. Louis for the Go! 1/2 Marathon and to spend some time with Taylor's family. We hope you all have a great weekend and I'll be sure to update on how the race went soon!

Friends, Food, and Fun!

So this weekend has definitely been too short! Friday night a couple of our friends from Chicago made a stop in C-U and stayed the night with us on their way to St. Louis. I feel like we have been able to see all our Chicago friends a lot more consistently lately which has been great! We wished they could have stayed longer, but they had to leave early Saturday morning :(

That afternoon, Taylor just worked on homework and I went for a run, did laundry, and baked a Pig Cake for dinner that night! I had never heard of a Pig Cake before reading The Pioneer Woman's blog, but after I read the recipe I just had to make it! It makes a lot so since we were going over to Laine and Andrew's that evening to watch the NCAA tournament, I figured it would be perfect. I forgot to take a picture of the cake before we ate it that night, ha, so here is after...


This may be my new favorite cake! The ingredients are very simply and it is served cold. I just love cold cakes. Since I forgot to take pictures I'm just going to list the ingredients in the cake and then link to the PW's directions. Ha :)

Pig Cake Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 1 box (18.25 Oz. Box) Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 stick Margarine (softened)
• 1 can (14 Oz. Can) Mandarin Oranges, Drained, 1/2 Cup Juice Reserved
• 4 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

FOR THE TOPPING:

• 1 package (4 Oz. Box) Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
• 1 can (20 Oz. Can) Crushed Pineapple, Juice Reserved
• ½ cups Powdered Sugar
• 4 ounces, fluid Frozen Whipped Topping (such As Cool Whip)
• Extra Mandarin Orange Slices, For Garnish

Click here for the directions! I highly recommend making this cake next time you need a dessert for a larger party :)

Saturday afternoon we headed over to Laine and Andrew's to grill burgers, brats, and watch the NCAA Tournament! Which I should note that since UConn won, my bracket is still alive and I am still in the running to win the pool at work! Taylor has already said that if I win, I have to take him golfing :)


The weather has been so nice this weekend, I just love it! We still have some cold days a couple times a week, but the nice weather keeps reminding me that summer is going to be awesome in IL!


Taylor handled the grilling, and I tried to get him to take a picture, but of course he wouldn't! This is the best I could get.... After dinner we just watched the games and of course enjoyed some yummy Pig Cake!

Today has been a very relaxing day. After church this morning, we can home and had lunch then have just been doing laundry and homework most of the day. We did make some delicious tacos tonight for dinner that I'll post the recipe for soon! Next weekend we are heading to St. Louis for our 1/2 marathon and to spend some time with Taylor's family, which we are excited about! Hope you had a nice weekend and that your week starts of well :)