Fifth Blogiversary

In our delinquency to update the blog regularly (can you tell from our large batch updates every couple of months?), we missed our monumental fifth anniversary of blogging on May 20th!  Ah, the old days, where we posted about garage sales, movies, library book sales, concerts, skydiving, and my frustratingly long job search.  At least we know they all had a happy ending!  It’s really fun to look back at all the things we were doing, writing about, and interested in for the last five years. Boy, have we been blessed. I’m glad Lynne made us start the blog even before we moved to Indianapolis or had kids.  I’m sure things will seem quite different when we look back in another five years.

New York City 2012

Earlier this month Lynne joined me for a week in New York City.  Once per year, I bring Lynne along on one of my work trips thanks to the frequent flyer miles I collect, and we always have a lot of fun in the city.  The last time Lynne was there was for Mother’s Day, right before Matilda was born, so it had been a while.  This was also Lynne’s first trip away from Matilda.  Big thanks to the grandparents for taking Matilda (my folks) and Eliza/Otis (Sara/Jerry).  We had to split them up because two little kids and a dog are a little too much to handle.

In NYC, Lynne had free days while I worked.  She shopped in Soho, ate some great food, saw the Guggenheim Museum, and hit up lots of thrift stores.  She even got to meet up with our friend Mallory who was in town visiting her sister (just like last time!).

Flat iron (sorry all the photos are via phone)

Guggenheim

For our date nights, we ate some great food at Gravy, featuring the best fried chicken I’ve ever hard, honey grits, and fried pickled okra.  I’ve pickled okra from my garden, and I’ve fried it, but never both.  Now I must, because it was delicious.  We also had delicious Thai soup at Zoob Zib – I highly recommend the duck braised noodle soup – sweet potato tempura fries with spicy mayo at Kobeyaki, and a tour of Eataly.  Lynne had the chance to dine at Odeon and get some tasty dumplings from the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, which were all wonderful.

We also attended a Broadway show, of course.  Since the Tony award-winning musical Once was sold out, we opted for a play and saw Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, a political comedy that featured an all-star cast: James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, Eric McCormack (Will from Will and Grace), and Candice Bergen.  The show was fantastic, and the ensemble all did a phenomenal job, especially James Earl Jones.  And how is it that the first words out of Angela Lansbury’s mouth always remind me of her role as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast?

The Best Man

I had lots of meetings for work, including an all-day team retreat to lead.  It went well, and as a treat for my team, we went to a taping of The Colbert Report on Wednesday afternoon.  Thanks to a colleague who used to work there, we got to see our DonorsChoose.org board member in his element, and it was hilarious.  Lynne was able to join us, too, since I thought it would be horrible not to invite her to crash our team outing.  I was able to ask Stephen a question, catch a “Wrist Strong” wristband, and laugh so loud that Lynne and I could hear me on the show when we got home and watched it on the DVR.  It was really interesting to see how the show works a little behind the scenes, including watching Stephen mess up the intro twice, which clearly frustrated him, but turned into one of the funniest jokes of the night – an inside joke that only the audience got.  My team followed that side-splitting experience up with a great dinner at Nook (great mushroom cigars, steak, lamb, and frites) and drinks at Pony Bar, a great craft beer spot.

It’s always fun to have Lynne with me in New York, and the girls did great without us (getting spoiled by their grandparents, I’m sure).

Rain!

After a far too rainy spring, we hadn’t seen more than a few drops since May 1.  But today we got a short blast that I think the lawn and garden will greatly appreciate.  Eliza appreciated it, too.  Hopefully we can get a little bit more to offset the 100 degree heat these last few days. 

Girls

Eliza’s been a great big sister and really enjoys playing with Matilda.  For Matilda the feeling is mutual, and she’s enjoyed learning lots of things from her big sister.  Things like how to throw her toys, pound and hammer, splash in the tub, and make raspberries.

First Friday at Fountain Square

On June 1st Lynne and I headed to Fountain Square for a date night.  I had never been to this part of the city (in 4.5 years, I know that’s pathetic), and a concert was a good excuse to make the trip.  There are lots of great places to eat, and while I researched many, we decided to go to Siam Square for Thai food.  We’re very picky on Thai food in the states, and while Indy has its share of hits and misses, we had heard good things from friends.

We enjoyed some noodle and curry dishes, and overall we thought it was excellent and probably the best/most authentic Thai food we’ve found in Indianapolis.  There are so many other places we want to try in the area, but it will hard not going back to Siam Square.

We had a lot of time to kill between dinner and the show, so we had planned to walk around the area to visit the shops and sights.  Fortunately, it was the first Friday of the month, which is known as “First Friday” in Indianapolis.  The monthly event focuses on the arts in Fountain Square, where there are lots of little galleries, and other parts of the city.  This meant that all the shops stayed open later than normal, so we could check out antique stores, vintage clothing shops, and more.  Little coffee shops featured music and visual artists, and despite the dreary day, the overall vibe was fantastic.

Just south of the main square is the new (just a little over a year old) Fountain Square Brewery, so I made sure we stopped by for a tasting.  Since it was First Friday, the tasting room was packed and had a DJ playing some very loud music.  Fortunately we found seats at the bar, and I enjoyed their Bigger Nuggets double IPA and Eclipse black lager (schwarzbier). I think I’ll enjoy grabbing a pint there more when the music isn’t so loud and you can actually have a conversation.

The concert we were attending was at the White Rabbit Cabaret, a small little venue set up with table seating, seemingly more suited for a comedy show than a concert, but really intimate.  The venue has some decent beer on tap and is a really nice place to catch a show.  There were three acts: CALLmeKat (Danish woman, haunting electro-pop), Brown Bird (folk rock duo), and Rocky Votolat0 (songwriter with a guitar).  CALLmeKat was far better than I expected, and Brown Bird played a really long set that was tons of fun.  Their music would have been even better at a more lively standing-only venue.  I became a fan of Rocky’s thanks to some Pandora suggestions, and he didn’t disappoint.  However, the atmosphere is way more “talking” than “listening” so I actually found it rude that late in the evening the headline performer was slightly drowned out by a drinking, chatting crowd.  Still, for $10 a ticket to see three talented acts, I really can’t complain.

We look forward to returning to Fountain Square for date nights, future First Fridays, and any other excuse, so let us know your favorite FS places!