13th Anniversary Getaway - Day Two

 

One week ago today we were on vacation, and it was grand. And cold. Want to travel with us (virtually, of course!) to see what we did a week ago today?

                When we woke up in our hotel, we headed to the breakfast room to get some food, and as we walked through the lobby, Ryan pointed to a woman sitting in a chair and said, “Is that Rhonda?” Rhonda is on our church staff, and while I initially said there was no way that could be her…it actually was her! She and her husband had gone to the Colts game and spent the night in the same hotel. What are the chances!?!? Despite my bedhead and lack of makeup, I did get a picture with her, and we had fun chatting with her for a bit.

                Breakfast was yummy! Ryan lamented the lack of biscuits and gravy, but they did make an appearance the following day.

                Back in February, when we went to the marriage conference in Ohio, we were in a gameshow and won a gift card. It could be used at multiple places…including Top Golf! We decided to hang onto it until we could finally visit one, and this was our time! I have to say, I think going during the day on a weekday in the winter is the way to go. We nearly had the place to ourselves. It was grand.

                It was cold that day, but the bays are heated. (So are the seats!!!) We left our coats on to stay warm when we stepped out to play, but we really stayed pretty comfortable.

                We ordered coffee to drink while we played, but we waited to eat until after our game. We played for an hour, and with just the two of us, we were able to play two games. We had four turns each during both games, so we felt like we got our money’s worth.

                For the record, we were not great. (Yes, I know my form is abysmal.) But we did have fun. I made a note that if there had been people in the very next bay, I think it would have been less fun for me – unless I knew them. Those bays are pretty close together, so if you’re not a great player, that might be awkward.

                After we played, we went into the restaurant at Top Golf and had lunch there. It was also pretty empty, so we were served quickly and had a great server. The food was so good! Ryan got a salad in a wrap and some fruit, and I had chicken tacos. (They were tiny but filling.)

                IKEA was across the street, so it seemed wrong to NOT go there. We hadn’t been to IKEA for a while. It was also pretty empty on a Monday afternoon, which I loved. Sometimes, if it’s very busy, I can’t fully enjoy looking around, because I feel pushed by other shoppers. I took my time, picked my favorite room layouts, and picked out a few treasures to buy! (The octopus was not among them.)

                A few weeks ago, I shared a link to a bunch of great thrift stores in Indiana. We checked out a couple of them while we were in town. The first was the Wheeler Mission store. Wheeler Mission is in downtown Indianapolis, but their thrift store is in Fishers, and it is HUGE. The prices weren’t super thrifty, in my opinion, but we were in a high end neighborhood, so maybe they were thrifty there. We did find some good things, though, and enjoyed our time looking around.

                We were both in the mood for coffee by that time, so we went to The Well. We had been there before and knew we liked it. We checked the weather while we drank our Americanos and discovered it was going to start snowing soon. 

                We had planned to walk downtown for dinner that night but we changed our plans. Ryan had a craving for Chinese food, so he ordered some from a nearby spot. By the time we drove a couple miles down the road to get our food, the snow was coming down.

                We were 17 miles from our hotel, and it took us an hour and a half to get through town with our food to get home. WHEW. I appreciated that people were driving cautiously, but the roads were pretty slick. We didn't have a ton of accumulation in that hour, but the slickness got us. 

                We snuggled in on the couch to eat and watch The Gilmore Girls!

                It was a great Monday, despite the snow!

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

                Good morning! It’s the second Sunday of Advent, and I’m looking forward to this day. I am also looking forward to giving you this little peek into our very eventful week!

                As you saw on Friday, we began our week by leaving on our little anniversary getaway. Last Sunday was our day to visit the Carmel Christkindlmarkt and walk allllll around downtown Indianapolis. I think we logged about four miles walking that night!

                I’ll be telling you more about our trip in detail this week, but here are a few previews. Monday included our first ever trip to Top Golf! We learned that we are even worse at this than we are at mini golf, but we had such a fun time.

                Tuesday was our actual anniversary, and we enjoyed our traditions as well as an outing to the Cake Bake Shop in Broad Ripple. This is definitely a rare treat for us, but we enjoyed every bite (over time).

                We had to come home on Wednesday, which was very sad, but we sure were glad to see our Lexi girl again. She was SO excited to be home.

                My return to work on Thursday brought with it a very early morning so I could travel to Fort Wayne to pray with a church friend before surgery. I was grateful I heard the alarm. 3:30 a.m. doesn’t come naturally to me! (Also…I was super thankful for a break in the snow for that trip.)

                I worked from home on Friday, because I needed to do quite a bit of food prep for a training lunch I’m hosting today. Lexi was so excited to have me home.

                Last night we went to see the Crandalls in Annie! I had never seen Annie before, so this was new for me. It was a terrific show, and I was SO proud of all our friends for their great work.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

This has been quite a week! We started the week on vacation and ended it with lots of work and some other adventures that will someday make it to the blog. I’m writing this to you late on Friday night, and both Lexi and Ryan are asleep next to me. I think we may be worn out!

Hope you have had a good week, and here are some fun things for you to check out if you have the time today!

We are in the throes of Christmas, but right behind that will be a brand-new year. If you’re already starting to think about plans for 2026, glance through this post. It’s not written from any kind of faith-based perspective, so there are some things that I would tweak to include the Lord in the decisions, but I think it has some good suggestions anyway!

Don’t you just love the idea of a Christmas cookie box? I love this lineup of recipes for a cute gift box of homemade Christmas cookies! Or maybe you like this grouping better? It’s from Bakerella…fun fact: I interviewed her when I worked at WBCL!

Remember how I told you I like imagining how people live full-time in small spaces? This post shared 10 layouts of apartments similar in size to the suite we stayed in for our anniversary. It was fun to read! Could you do it?? 500 square feet??

I love a photo booth, don’t you? I never see them anymore, but I loved reading this story about a couple that documented their own love story in a photo booth and then opened one of their own! This is so fun!

One of my 50 Before 50 items is to work on my jewelry capsule. I got the idea from a blog post I read, and I’ve been working on coming up with ideas of what I want to have in my capsule. I’m leaning toward a pearl-oriented capsule, which is a longer story for another day. But I did find this article the other day with some fascinating facts about pearls. I knew…well, none of these things! Did you?

It had been about…six??...years since I updated my “about us” page on the blog, so I did that this week. Check it out!

13th Anniversary Getaway - Day One

 

We had aspirations of going somewhere very warm and very new-to-us this year for our anniversary, but alas, I only had three days of vacation left before the end of the year, and none of them included a Sunday. So we decided to spend a few days in Indianapolis, a location familiar to us, and decidedly not a warm destination in December! Today I’ll tell you about the first part of our trip!

                We planned to leave after church on Sunday, and of course, Indiana was hit with a major snowstorm on Saturday. We weren’t even sure if we’d have church on Sunday morning. Back roads were not great and many churches in our area closed. But we did get to have church, so we were awfully glad we did not ignore the 5 a.m. alarm. We were up scrambling to finish packing all the last-minute things you can’t pack until the day you leave, and then we had to allow extra time to get to church.

                We tiptoed out right before the last song, hurried home as quickly as we safely could, and packed the vehicle with our luggage. We dropped Lexi off for boarding, and then we made our way to Subway for some lunch. DID YOU KNOW that Subway no longer offers flatbread? I’m so sad. I think I might be done with Subway. I got a wrap, but it’s not the same, and it was just a sad little start to the trip. We ate in the car so we could get on our way, and we stopped for coffee about halfway through our trip.

                Our first stop was a redo of something we’ve done before: The Christkindlmarkt in Carmel! The last time we went, we lived in Kokomo, and Ryan’s mom had just lived with us for a couple of weeks following her brain surgery. We’d been running ragged, dividing and conquering, and that date was so needed and so sweet. (Fun fact: the boots I blogged about buying for ten bucks? I still wear them, seven years later.)

                Parking and admission to this Christkindlmarkt are still free, just like they were seven years ago, and the skating rink was still full. We walked around, got some pictures, shared a hot chocolate, and people-watched. Maybe it’s because we have been here before, maybe it was because it was SO COLD, or maybe it’s because we don’t eat as much as we used to, but it just didn’t feel as fun this time, I don’t think. I’m still glad we went, and it was a fun adventure for a Sunday afternoon, but I don’t know that we would go back a third time.

                When we left there, we headed to our home away from home for this trip. We looked at Airbnbs, but anymore they just don’t feel like the bargain they used to be. We looked at the JW Marriott, because it’s on my 50 Before 50 list, but we could not justify the price. Paying for parking and internet and breakfast is just not our jam. So Ryan looked and looked and found the perfect spot. Check out what was in our backyard!!

                There actually was a home game that day, but it was an afternoon game, so there was no way we could get there without missing church. (And they lost, so there’s that…)

                I adored our room. We were able to get a whole suite at a better rate than a regular room other places, and it was the perfect fit for our stay.

                I spent quite a bit of time imagining how I would outfit that suite as a full-time apartment. The Pinterest lover in me always likes to design a tiny apartment for full-time living.

                After we settled in, we decided to take in the sights downtown. We knew more snow was coming, so even though it was cold and windy, it felt like the best day to look around. We walked about 4 miles that night. (We didn’t see the virtue in driving two miles and paying for more parking when we could just walk.)

                Ryan found a Shake Shack downtown and had always wanted to eat there, so we did! I haven’t had a proper hamburger in months, so this was a special treat for me! I sneaked a few of the fries and shared the shake with Ryan. The place was nearly empty, and we enjoyed our meal!

                On our way home, we had to pause and pose with the hotel where we stayed on our first anniversary. You remember it, right? The one where we found a bite taken out of our donut?? That absolutely kept this one out of contention for a redo!

                (Ryan wore his new heated vest gift for this walking adventure and reported that it kept him quite toasty!)

                Thanks for coming along on the first day of our anniversary trip!