Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The 30 - Topic #10 - A Day Late (again)

30 "Famous" People born 30 Years Ago
The following is a list of folks, some notable, some not so much, that were born in the great year of 1979 - 30 years ago.
1. January 10 - Chris Smith, Rapper (Kris Kross)
2. January 29 - Andrew Keegan, Actor (Step by Step, Party of Five)
3. February 11 - Brandy Norwood ("Brandy"), Singer and Actress
4. February 17 - Josh Willingham, Professional Baseball Player (Nationals)
5. February 21 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, Actress and Singer (Party of Five)
6. March 14 - Chris Klein, Actor (We Were Soldiers)
7. March 15 – Kevin Youkilis, Professional Baseball Player (Red Sox!)
8. March 30 – Norah Jones, Musician/Singer
9. April 8th - Jeremy Guthrie, Professional Baseball Player (Orioles)
10. April 9 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, Actress (Cosby Show)
11. April 12 – Claire Danes, Actress (Romeo & Juliet)
12. April 19 – Kate Hudson, Actress (How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days)
13. April 21 – James McAvoy, Scottish Actor (Chronicles of Narnia)14. May 4th - Lance Bass, Singer (*NSYNC)
15. May 9th - Brandon Webb, Professional Baseball Player from Ashland, KY (Diamondbacks)
16. May 13 – Carl Philip, Prince of Sweden
17. May 29 - John Rheinecker, Professional Baseball Player (Rangers)
18. June 8 – Pete Orr, Professional Baseball Player (Nationals)
19. June 22 - Brad Hawpe, Professional Baseball Player (Rockies)
20. July 19th - Rick Ankiel, Professional Baseball Player (Cardinals)
21. July 31st - B. J. Novak, Actor (The Office)
22. August 15th - Carl Edwards, NASCAR driver
23. September 12 – Jay McGraw, Author, son of TV psychologist Dr. Phil
24. October 10 – Mýa, Singer, Actress & Current Dancing with the Stars Contestant
25. October 20 – John Krasinski, Actor (The Office)
26. October 21st - Gabe Gross, Professional Baseball Player (Rays)
27. November 1 – Coco Crisp, Professional Baseball Player (Royals and formerly with the Red Sox!)
28. November 9th - Adam Dunn, Professional Baseball Player (Nationals)
29. December 7 – Sara Bareilles, Singer, Songwriter and Pianist
30. December 26 – Chris Daughtry, Singer and Guitarist

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Solitude in Indy

This past weekend I headed north to Indiana on a solo road trip. The main reason for the excursion was to attend a wedding, but I decided to make a weekend of it. I was unable to secure a travel buddy, but it didn't stop me from setting out on my own. With the wedding in Lafayette (about 3 hours away), I thought Indianapolis sounded like a great stopping point (only 2 hours away). I've always loved downtown Indy, but hadn't been in a few years. So, last Friday after work, I took to the open road.
This was my posh hotel room at the downtown Marriott (scored on priceline for $50!)
Since I was traveling alone, but am an avid picture taker, I did a few "self-portraits" along the way. Here's the other side of the room. I was on the 14th floor with a great view.....not to mention the huge TV!
Thumbs up for Cable! I got to watch the Red Sox game (even though they lost!)
Here's my view at night
At one point, two ambulances pulled up to the hotel entrance...never found out what happened, but that's never good. Perhaps they were there to attend to the lady in the room next to me? No joke, for about 10 minutes she sneezed literally every 3 seconds. I felt for her!
Here was my view in the daylight the next morning
Directly across from my window was a building that was under construction. There's a man cleaning the windows or something - he's suspended just below where the windows stop on the left side - can you see him? Here's a closer-up This awesome canal runs through the downtown area
Home of the Colts!
Peyton was telling me I should play for the team
After exploring some of downtown Indy, I hopped in my truck and headed to Lafayette for the wedding
Congratulations Jason and Gaylene!!!! Jason went to my church in the Ville after he moved here for a while. Needless to say, even though he'll still be working from the Ville some, he'll now be back in Indiana for the most part. It was a really sweet wedding and I'm glad I got to celebrate with them.
On my way back to the Bluegrass, I stopped back in Indy to eat at Rock Bottom. I had been craving one of their appetizers.
MMMmmmmm.....the Ballpark Soft Pretzel appetizer. This literally made my weekend!!! It was so delicious!!!! My waiter was even laughing at me because I was Oooing and Ahhing over it so much.
After Rock Bottom, I went around the block to the South Bend Chocolate Company for a Chocolate-Dipped Rice Krispie Treat
Indianapolis is called the Circle City - they have a round-about with a big monument in the middle. All of the buildings surrounding the round-about are curved to flow with the circle (and they in-turn form a circle too). It's pretty neat!
This monument sits in the middle of the round-about
This is a beautiful church right across from the monument
I actually got to watch two couples tie the knot that day - Jason and Gaylene - and another couple whom I didn't know was getting married right below the monument on the steps.
On the way back home, I stopped off in Edinburg and shopped at the Outlet Mall - got some great deals!!
All-in-all, the trip was a lot of fun!
Home, Sweet, Home

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

First Camping Experience

Two weekends ago, I got to go tent camping for the first time in my life. I LOVED it! I went with a group of friends from church. We camped around the Mammoth Cave area on Friday night and then took a Cave tour on Saturday. Here's a few pictures from the weekend.
In the morning, we cooked up sausage and fried pancakes - they were deee-lious!
Here's the entire group before we headed out to go caving
The Snowball Dining Room, I think about 250-300 feet below ground.
Blogger turned this picture sideways....but here's some Stalactites.
Me, Margaret and Jennifer