Just a few pics

from last weekend

Here's a few pics from last weekend when me, Jared, Hicks and Kaci went to Rum Runners (the piano bar) in downtown South Bend.

Whoever thought up diagonal roads anyway?

they are the root of all evil. Ok, maybe not all evil, but they are really bad

I am getting pretty decent at getting myself around South Bend and Mishawaka but all the road construction and diagonal roads have me wishing I had a teleporter to transport me home after work.

My first week on the job in June I took the long way to work, mostly cause it was the only way I knew. Then, someone informed me of an easier route. So the next day I tried that. DETOUR. Road construction had, apparently, just began on one of the roads I needed to take. I laughed to myself cause only these kinds of things happen to me. "Can't they wait until I know my way around before they post detours and do road construction". But, I did find a way to get around it and I continue to "get around it" everyday when I come to work.

Well, now I have began attending numerous meetings around the community, mostly in the downtown area. Usually I can get there, but getting home or getting back to the office is always an adventure because of the one-way streets, streets that just end all-of-a-sudden and streets that change names.

Yesterday me and the SR-23 went round and round. The State Road 23, also called South Bend Ave (every road here has like 5 names and I am not kidding. Mostly it happens when they switch from S.B. to Mishawaka, but sometimes it seems like it is for no apparent reason but to confuse new people from Kansas). Anyway, the SR-23 is a diagonal road that stretches from downtown S.B. clear to north Mishawaka. This road is tricky with several 5 point intersections and weird turn lanes and I ALWAYS seem to end up on it after a meeting as I try to get home. Many times I have missed turns and end up taking it all the way to the north end of Mishawaka and then have to backtrack to our apartment. FRUSTRATING. Well, I told myself I wasn't going to let it get the best of me again :)

Yesterday, I took the correct turn off of SR-23 to take me to Edison Road, which comes out right by our apartment. Just when I am thinking to myself "Yes, I outsmarted you SR-23!!!! HAHAHA", I see orange and black signs "Road Closed - Detour". Guess where the detour takes me folks? BACK TO SR-23, where I ended up at the north end of Mishawaka and had to backtrack back to my apartment.

I guess sometimes it's just easier to take the longer route :)

No rollercoasters for us

:(

So, our weekend wasn't quite as exciting as I had hoped, but it was still fun.

Saturday it rained most the day, so our beach plans in Michigan City were ruined. But we still had a great dinner and hung out at the piano bar downtown.

Sunday, we had planned on going to Cedar Point to ride rollercoasters but Kaci ended up really sick Saturday night and was taken to the ER. :( She had felt like she was getting ill when she left Kansas on Thursday, but tried to suck it up. Well, she didn't get better and all the running around didn't help her either. Hicks and her were in the ER most of the night. So, needless to say, we all slept in and took it pretty easy on Sunday. We've still got our tickets though :), so we hope to go later on this summer before Labor Day.

I have some pics from the piano bar that I will try to post later. Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

17 Rollercoasters!

i couldn't believe it either, but it's true

Our friend Kaci is coming up from Pitt this weekend and boy do we have a fun weekend planned. Friday, Hicks and Kaci are visiting friends in Chicago and Jared and I will hang out at home, but on Saturday we are all hanging out at the beach in Michigan City. And Sunday we are heading to Sandusky, OH (Tommy just sold half a million brakepads) to Cedar Point Amusement Park. It's about 3 1/2 hours away and it rest right on Lake Erie. In fact, many of the pictures on their website show the rides with a gorgeous view of the lake in the background. I can't wait!!!!!!! I love theme parks.

Shopping Adventure

solve this puzzle for me...

Stacy lives in the Eastern time zone wants to go shopping at the Lighthouse Premium Outlets in Michigan City, an hour away, on Saturday. Michigan City is in the Central time zone and Stacy wants to be there by the time they open at 9 a.m. She has to be back for a hair appointment at 3 p.m. What time does Stacy need to leave to arrive there by 9 and what time does she need to leave to make it back for her hair appointment?

Ok, so it isn't THAT difficult of a puzzle, but I had to give it some serious thought before Julie and I trekked over there for our shopping extravaganza. Of course, Julie has had many years of experience in calculating time differences, so she laughed at me a lot, haha.

We had a brilliant day. I had some birthday money Jared gave me so I decided to treat myself to a little shopping. These outlets in Michigan City are the best! There are sooooo many stores all in this outdoor area and most of the stores are designer, including Coach, Burberry, Nine West, Ann Taylor and Zales, plus places like Bath and Body Works, Nike, Adidas, Old Navy, Maurices, Banana Republic, J. Crew and the Gap. There are so many that this list doesn't even do it justice.

The first place we headed was the Coach outlet because I was determined to buy a new Coach purse and I was successful in that venture. I found a really cute one that was 50% of the already marked down price, which put it under $100 which is a steal for anything Coach. I was super happy!!!! :)

Next we went to Nine West for some hard core shoe shopping. I have never been a girl that has mastered walking in heels. I always see pairs that are cute, but I never buy them because I know I will fall flat on my face in front of a bunch of people and humiliate myself. I tried on a pink pair of strappy heels and I loved them. Heck, I even walked around a little bit and did well until I got an attitude and then lost my footing, haha. The pink pair was a little too big though and they didn't have the pink pair in a smaller size, so I settled on the silver pair. I adore them!

These were 2 of many purchases that day, but they were my favorites.

After grabbing some Subway we headed back to The Bend and I went for the FIRST time to get my hair dyed and cut without my fabulous hairdresser in Pittsburg :(. I was sad and nervous and felt kinda like I was cheating on her, haha. But, Tanita (who I also work with at the Drug Free Community Council) did a pretty good job on my hair, especially since she is fresh outta cosmetology school.

After "getting my hair did" I freshened up a bit and Julie and I went over to her friend Sharon's apartment in downtown and we had a few cocktails and then walked to Corby's (an Irish pub just down the street from my office AND the same bar that they filmed a scene in the movie Rudy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?)

We had a great time and I met a few more of Julie's friends (my circle is getting bigger everyday, haha). Actually, her friend Amber's family originated in Harper, Kansas and she goes back there every 4 years for a huge reunion. She is also related to the former Miss. Kansas. Weird huh? Jared and Hicks went to a Cubs game that day (they got free tickets from one of their customers) and Jared met a guy that was from El Dorado, Kansas. What are the odds, really? I wish he would have got his name, it would have been interesting to see who it was.

It was a grand weekend! :)

Steak Dinner and Nintendo!

it couldn't have been any better of a day

I had a fabulous day yesterday folks! At 7, we headed to Ruth's Chris for our real fancy dinner. It was GREAT! I had petite filet with shrimp and I even got a chocolate mouse cheesecake for my birthday, YUM. The boys both had pretty good food too (we all had to try a little bit of everyone's haha).

Then we headed to the used media store to see if our Nintendo was (FINALLY) ready. AND IT WAS! Happy Birthday to me, haha.

So, the rest of the evening was spent re-learning all the games we loved as kids. Jared pretty much remembered everything, however I needed some practice. It didn't help either that we got stuck with a controller that the B button didn't work on and the other one was a different one we weren't used to using. But, we will get that exchanged later. :)

Either way, I am pretty sure we were the coolest people in Indiana last night with our old school Nintendo! Cheap entertainment for old people like us that are living in the past :)

Here's some photos from our dinner and our Nintendo extravaganza!!! Jared was dominating at Super Mario Bros. 2, I was doing great on Super Mario Bros. 3 and Hicks was dominating on Mike Tyson's Punch Out. :)