I VOTED!

I went to the county clerk's office today and voted! I was worried about long lines, but the line went pretty quickly. I was in and out in about 30 minutes. It was nice to see how many people were out voting early. Apparently, Indiana has already surpassed the number of total early voters in 2004. Awesome!

Oh, and GO OBAMA!

Reno??

The title of this post isn't because I'm not sure if I went to Reno, but because I'm not sure how to feel about the trip. Reno itself was fine.....sunny and exceedingly dry. It kind of reminded me of Denver, although I'm not sure Denver is quite as dry (but maybe). But the conference, casino where we stayed and length of the trip made my stay less than joyful.

I think I've decided that I don't like casinos. I suppose if you like gambling they are cool, but I don't. Which makes casinos loud, smokey and glitzy for no-good reason. Imagine going down to breakfast at 7AM and having bright lights, loud, repetitive noises and smoking gamblers surrounding you. Not really my scene.

And then there was the conference. It was fine....a few of the sessions I attended were good, but I am just not much of a conference-goer. I don't feel I get a lot of value out sitting and listening to people talk about stuff for 75 minutes (the length of most of the sessions). I am a kinesthetic learner...I learn by doing. I just don't think I jive with the learning style conferences demand. I left most sessions feeling quite disappointed.

So, after the 5 nights of being in Reno, I was super happy to get home last night. And my cats are happy to see me, too.

Wedding Fun

James and I traveled to Evansville, IN to attend a wedding. Evansville is a 3.5 hour trip from Indianapolis, so we decided to bring our clothes instead of wearing them in the car (trying to avoid wrinkles). We got to the church about 30 minutes early thinking not too many people would be there....we were wrong, however. As we walked into the church in our jeans, t-shirts and flip-flops, every head turned to look at the slovenly dressed individuals. It was kind of funny. Notice in the picture that I am several inches taller than James. I was wearing really high heals. In reality, I am only about a 1/2 inch taller.

The wedding was short and simple and then we were off to the reception. It was a good time chatting with James' friends from Ball State and we got in a few dances (one slow dance and one electric slide...yeah, baby!). Oh, and the cake ROCKED! I love cake and this cake was particularly yummy.

We drove back the same night. James drove, so I slept a good portion of the way home. Tomorrow I leave for Reno to go to a conference. I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories once I return.

Internet Shopping

So, I've recently become an Internet shopper and it feels kind of weird. I've always been a slow adopter when it comes to technology....not neccessarily in understanding it's uses and how it works, but in actually using it. I resisted the cell phone phenomenon for years.....I still don't have Internet at my house and I have rabbit ears on top of my TV, not cable (or digital or satelite or whatever else is out there these days). And for the longest time, I was uber wary about buying stuff online. I would do it, but only once or twice per year (flowers on mother's day and perhaps a purchase of a book on Amazon.com).

But recently I have discovered drugstore.com. Being somewhat girlie when it comes to toiletries and being cursed with sensitive skin, I was having to visit up to three different stores in order to find the products I prefered (since I prefer skin that doesn't itch or burn). This, however, is a thing of the past since I can find most of the products I use online. And with the monthly drugstore.com purchases has come the branching out of Internet shopping. I have also purchased hard-to-find supplements at VitaminShoppe.com. In fact, last week I received an order for my supplements and I'm expecting two more boxes in the mail, one from drugstore.com and one from Amazon.com. Three packages in a span of less then two weeks! Weird! I'm finding this kind of fun!

Autumn Bike Ride

This weekend, James, Angie, Bryan and I will go to Brown County (Southern Indiana) to go bike riding on some trails. Brown County is full of trees and lovely hills, so it should be beautiful this time of year, And the weather is supposed to be excellent this weekend, so I'm excited for the trip. I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share afterwards.

Pumpkin Pie, Oh My!

Saturday I made my first pumpkin pie ever! It was for James' birthday bash at Brian and Angie's. I am proud to report that it was a success! Not only did the crust turn out great despite me not using Crisco (I refuse to use anything with hydrogenated oils in it, so I used butter instead), but the filling turned out just as great as my mom's. Of course, it was her recipe, but there is a certain finesse to pie-making and sometimes I just don't got it.

In addition to having pie, James made two sheet cakes that he cut a big three and zero out of so he had a big 30 cake. It was awesome. I was thoroughly impressed with his creativity and patience in doing this. Good job, James!

James' 30th...

Happy Birthday to James! He turned 30 years old yesterday. We went to his sister's place last evening for a home-cooked meal and then headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert after that. It was a good time. Of course, the festivities don't end there. James has a lot of plans for the next few weekends. It's really more of a birth-month rather than a birthday for him.

We Saw Ray Last Night

James and I went to the Ray LaMontagne concert last night at the Murat. He is SO amazing....very talented and his voice is incredibly unique; Smooth, yet slightly raspy, breathy, yet penetrating. He exudes such emotion with some of the songs he sings. It was the first time I had seen him in concert and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am most certainly buying his new album coming out this month.