Sweet Freedom

For the last five days, I have been living my own lame version of Girl’s Gone Wild. With the husband out of the house and golfing several states away, I’ve had complete run of the place. While some may take advantage in other ways, my main dalliances have been menu related. Without the need to prepare meals or the energy to get off my ass and go to the grocery store, I bulldozed my way through the worst our pantry and take-out had to offer. Let’s review shall we?

Wednesday: Panini for lunch. McDonald’s for dinner.  Potato casserole snack post-dinner. Glass of cab for dessert.

Thursday: Four peanut butter creme Oreos and some blackberries for breakfast. Quesadilla for lunch. Queso, guacamole and chips for dinner. Glass of Shiraz on the side.

Friday: Starbucks and a doughnut for breakfast. [Note: Doughnuts are totally my weakness. They are also served every Friday in our staff room, which is a short 10 feet from my office. Not a fair fight.]. Chicken fingers for lunch. Pizza for dinner. Bottle of Malbec.

Saturday: Biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Buffalo wings, spinach dip and beer at lunch. Dinner of wine and cheese cubes.

Sunday: Leftover potato casserole as breakfast. Spinach dip for lunch. Blackberries and pizza for dinner. No wine – it was my day of rest.

This week? Purchasing an elliptical.

P.S. Unfortunately, this post could have also been entitled “Upgrade for my Waistline.” It has been appropriately categorized to reflect this disgusting truth.

Our house, is a very very very fine house

We live in a cute little neighborhood with rows of beautiful trees, manicured lawns and lots and lots of……old people. They are EVERYWHERE.

When we first looked at the place, we were sure that with a prime location right next to one of the best elementary schools in the county, the hood would be crawling with young families and minivans. In all reality – WAY wrong. I’ve seen like two kids since we moved in, and neither struck me as adorable or really all that young. They were also riding those stupid scooters. Clearly the local school has been way overhyped – these kids looked like three-star school material at best.

My guess is that the lawn care package reeled in all the geriatrics. Just like me, they don’t like to mow the yard, and could give two craps about weed ‘n feed. My neighbor – let’s call her Joanne (it’s her name) – loves to spend afternoons sitting on a lawn chair in her driveway, sunning her legs and admiring the lovely landscaping. This is her weekday routine, because she spends most of the weekend on her back porch in a muumuu. From her various perches she looks for the tiniest bit of dog poop, and then immediately throws us under the HOA bus. What a peach.

Without fail, our entire street has their trash and recycling at the curb and ready for pick up by 3:00 the afternoon before. It’s like a race. A few special neighbors prefer to take their morning walks on the pavement, rather than the sidewalk. When I’m old, I too hope that I make a sport of it and possibly cause a few wrecks as work-bound drivers swerve wildly to miss me walking 7 feet from the curb. Our neighborhood council meetings require only a few hours notice, because no one has plans, other than dinner promptly at 5:00. Ah, the good life.

As I write this, Suze is prepping for a golf trip and I’m already thinking about a nice early bedtime tomorrow. Give us one more year, and we’ll fit right in around here.

Things to Ignore:

People who tell you that 35 gallon trash bags exist. Not naming any names but – complete LIES.

Weekend, briefly

One wedding, a major reunion, one lunch with new friends, one weak stomach and possibly the first ever shutout in recreational softball (and no, we weren’t the winners). That about sums it up.

One of our favorite law school couples tied the knot on Saturday in downtown Indy, and a pretty damn great time was had by all. It’s a rare occasion to have our group all together, but the time between meetings certainly hasn’t changed the group’s collective ability to close down a bar.

After a very painful morning, our softball team, Sunday Funday, made its recreational D-league debut. To say we were unprepared is like saying that Heidi Montag had some work done. Didn’t have a bat. No member of our team ever advanced past second base. The only rule we now fully comprehend is the mercy rule.

We have a two-week break in which to mend our bruised egos and learn how to hit the damn ball. We’re looking for a few fans to fill the stands on May 2nd. Fans who will bring plenty of booze, and leave their notions of rec league glory at home. Thanks in advance.

Visit: Charleston

Our last stop on the girl’s spring break tour de force was Charleston. My sister recently moved to the city with her boyfriend, so we had the perfect tour guides. We broke out our best chinos and boat shoes for the occasion – oh hell, I don’t own either, but whatever.

Stay: We stayed with Leah and Adam. They are not yet offering their B&B services to the public. Stay tuned. Our hosts were extremely generous, and I’m already hoping for a return visit.

See: Leah was a fabulous host and pseudo tour-guide, and spent the day taking us around to see all things Charleston. First, we hit up King Street for some lunch and shopping. Again, if there is a J.Crew store in the vicinity, I have to stop. It’s my version of crack. Possibly just as expensive in all reality.

After shopping, we walked around the Battery, and took just as many pictures of beautiful houses as we did spanish moss-covered trees the day prior. The whole area is like a HGTV dream come true. Gorgeous historic homes, renovated and perfectly maintained. Of course, when you live in a small ranch in suburban Bloomington, Indiana – I basically felt right at home. Totally similar from a design standpoint.

Eat: Dinner at Chai was my favorite meal of the entire trip. As a small plates and tapas restaurant, we decided to share a couple of bottles of wine and everything else we ordered. HIGHLY recommend the ceviche – the chef changes it up weekly, but it was pretty damn awesome the night we were there.

So – where to next year? I’m thinking a fall break girl’s trip may be in order as well, just to stay sharp. I’ll bring the wine.

Miss me?

Ooops. Went out-of-town and hosted a conference over the past few days – completely forgot that my one reader (hey Dad!) is probably waiting with bated breath for the finale of my spring break coverage. Hold your horses. I’m back now.

Visit: Savannah

After a few days of relaxation and beach reads we decided to spice things up a bit with a day trip to Savannah. SAV is about an hour by car from Hilton Head, which was enough for our lazy asses to postpone the trip three consecutive days. Everyone had previously been to Savannah, and my younger sister is a former Savannah resident, so we decided to skip all the cool stuff and focus on taking pictures of trees and taking advantage of the lack of open container laws.

Stay: We didn’t stay overnight. We did for a minute consider staying on River Street, however unsavory that might have ended up.

See: River Street, historic parks and City Market.

River Street. Tourist trap. One in the same. Plenty of bars, plenty of beer, plenty of sweet little candy and souvenir shops.

All the famous little parks and squares that made Savannah so famous. Strolling through the parks was the fruition of our spanish moss and live oak tree obsession. We spent the afternoon sitting on little benches, telling stories and enjoying the sunshine.

City Market. A sweet little section of the city where we amused ourselves with some live music and a couple more drinks. Another perfect spot to waste away an afternoon – and so we did.

Eat: The Charter House. Amazing lobster bisque, outdoor balcony seating, scenic river views. Great place to end a wonderful lazy afternoon in Savannah.

Our day trip served as the perfect end to our stay in Hilton Head, so after one last night, and one more bottle of Cab, we headed north for one last southern city.

Visit: Hilton Head

Steve’s sister is a teacher, therefore she has a spring break. I have a lot of unused vacation days. A superior idea was thus born. We booked a condo, called some friends and bought a case of wine. A sure-fire recipe for success.

Stay: The Village at Palmetto Dunes. Hilton Head island is basically like a series of huge resort areas that are big enough to be considered neighborhoods. I’m not even sure what else was located within the Palmetto Dunes area – only that it would be extremely difficult to find a hotel room NOT on a golf course around there.

We had a great 3 bedroom condo just a short walk from the beautiful beach. If you’re one of those people into active vacations (I’m not, duh) you can ride cute bikes on the beach. No cup holders available for your wine however.

See: Hilton Head is for golfers and retirees on beach bikes. It could also be for families who like mini-golf. My personal favorite attractions were sleeping in until 10, resting on the beach and engaging in happy hour activities. The J.Crew outlet store was also a must-see in my book. If pressed, you can venture out to look at beautiful, empty beach houses, or the recently renovated public beach area (free WiFi – which I can only imagine is VERY popular on the sand).

Eat: We did quite a bit of eating, so I feel rather confident when I say that the food in Hilton Head is far superior to that in Indiana. The seafood appears to be fresher. Key element.

Over the course of 4 nights, we tried: One Hot Mama’s, Bonefish Grill, Alexander’s and Salty Dog. Alexander’s was far and away the best. With a name as classy as OHM’s, I was surprised – oh whatever, the BBQ Nachos were hella awesome.

Contrary to what this picture might portray, I did not in fact love Salty Dog.

Overall, we had a great stay on the island, and loved relaxing there. Being so close to a couple other super amazing destinations didn’t hurt either. It was just the place to meet up, get some sun, share stories and gear up for our next stops!

Adult Spring Break

Last week, I skipped town. You totally noticed right? I took a girl’s trip, or more accurately an “adult spring break.”

We went south and met up with friends from many different locations as we explored Hilton Head, Savannah and Charleston. We also consumed quite a bit of wine. Maybe a few Bloody Mary’s. And got a bit of a tan, old school style.

Details and pictures will follow, but it’s safe to say that a great time was had by all. Except for our front passenger tire, which gave up on the trip rather early. Party pooper.

I’m pretty damn lucky to have had such good times with such good friends.

Weekend, briefly

With a week of vacation behind me, I spent the majority of the day Friday driving home from South Carolina. More on the trip later, but let’s just say that the rest of the weekend was the pot of gold at the end of a long rainbow. A rainbow which unfortunately forced us to spend a few precious hours driving through Kentucky. Ugh.

Saturday called for a trip to Indy, in celebration of all things basketball and bandwagon. The Butler fan base in Indianapolis grew overnight from essentially 3 fans and 200 actual alumni to about a million hard-core Bulldog faithful. I had to warn my parents to be careful – the bandwagon was so full that it was sure to cause casualties. This new-found fan base crowded downtown Indy on Saturday, and we were forced to spend an hour in line waiting to get into a bar. Read that again, and hear this: won’t happen again.

Once inside, we had a few delicious cold beers and settled in for plenty of hazing. Although I left my “Anyone But Duke” t-shirt at home, I was definitely not cheering for the hometown favorites. Good times ensued, mostly because all the Butler fans in the bar actually went to IU (shocker).

While the whole “Go State” thing didn’t quite work out in the end, we still had a great time with great friends. Of course, with Duke winning as well later in the night, I might be forced to make one frantic jump onto the bandwagon for the championship game. Or just not watch it at all, and ignore the results. (OPTION 2!)

Easter Sunday here was beautiful and we had a wonderful day spent with family and friends outside. As a kid, the WORST two holidays were always Christmas and Easter, when there are totally awesome things waiting for you at home, but you’re forced to sit through a horribly boring church service first. Now, I love watching the kids squirm all through mass. Kinda mean, but pretty funny. This year, the Easter Bunny gave me some homemade truffles (thanks mom!) and told me to hit the gym. Guess the joke’s on me, huh?

Hope ya’ll had a winning weekend and a happy Easter.