Urban Outing

Kels is leaving for Lafayette on Sunday and wanted to get in a trip to Urban Outfitters before she left. We headed to Clifton to the coolest Urban I have ever been to. They converted an old church into their store-complete with stained glass windows. So cool.

Here are some highlights.

 ...and here are some of my favorites.

(I actually bought this one)

Bon Iver

Mr. James and Chris made the trek down to Morristown to see Bon Iver live in concert last night. James is just in love with Justin Vernon, but I hadn't really followed him that much (except for the weekend cramming session of their new CD a few days before the concert). Usually I don't enjoy concerts that much if I don't know the band, but this one was different. You could just see the immense amount of talent from all of the musicians on stage. It was an amazing show. Plus, it was wonderful to hang out with two guys I don't see near enough. :)

The Murat Theatre in Indy is beautiful!

A family sort of Sunday

Yesterday, the family and I headed to The Pub in Crestview to celebrate Dav's (Tessie's boyfriend) birthday. It was a super cool English pub-style restaurant where I had an amazing sandwich with ham, cheese, and cranberry dressing. Pretty sure I'll be putting cranberries on all of my sandwiches from now on.

We then took a detour to Borders for their liquidation sale. Poor Borders. But, I did pick up a few graphic novels for the fiance (woot woot Scott Pilgrim!) and this amazing planner...

The spirals are on the other side of the planner so a lefty's wrist isn't constantly smooshed in it. It even has facts about fellow lefties each week. Oh, by the way, I'm a lefty. Makes sense, huh?

My Weekend

I got Jake all to myself this weekend. He came in on Thursday for one of our last premarital counseling sessions with our pastor, Chris. We basically planned out our entire ceremony this time around, and of course had a few convos about faith and pop culture. You know, the usual.

On our way out, this happened.

A good 'ol flat tire. Jake impressed me with his knowledge of what to do in this situation, because I had absolutely no idea. Dad helped us out with a quick trip to the church for a better tire iron and a flashlight. And with their powers combined, we were on the road again!

Friday was booked up with getting new tires, and since we were out and about we caught HP and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. I enjoyed it more the second time around, plus I didn't hide my eyes near as much at the scary parts.

We both have eaten out so much lately that we went adventurous for dinner and made fool, one of my fav dishes from an Egyptian restaurant in Anderson. I must say, we did a pretty darn good job recreating it for having no recipe in front of us. We ate it with tortillas and hummus for good measure. Yum. Take a look:

I have felt so thankful for Jake this weekend. He handles my crazy so well. Through my emotional wedding-induced overwhelming moments, to hurt feelings when facebook reminds me I'm not invited to everything my friends are, and even the times when he takes charge of things I don't even ask him to. He has my back, and I love him to pieces for that.

Attica! Attica!

My little sister, Miss Tessie, is officially growing up. She will be teaching in Attica, Indiana in the fall and living with some friends in Lafayette. We made the trip up to Attica on Wednesday to run some errands for school and help move in just a little. I am super jealous of her classroom (it's huge AND she has a Smart Board/document camera). She's going to be a great teacher, and I'm excited for her to see the fun and freedom of the "real world."

Tessie surveying her classroom

 Peeking and painting in her new room

Fruit vs. Nuts

I couldn't agree more with this church sign (plus I think it's quite clever).

 

Jake and I stumbled across it on a drive through Batesville. There are definitely some "nuts" out there that make Christians seem so unrelatable. I'm a big believer that just loving others is a much better way to share your faith than yelling at them, do you think?

Panera and Wedding Errands

I had a great, productive day today. I headed to Hebron, KY to have lunch with Miss Emily at Panera. You must have their Lemon Chicken Orzo soup. It's like a grown-up chicken noodle. From there, we browsed at Jo-Ann's and found these small pieces of fabric for 2 bucks. Wonderful idea, Jo-Ann! I plan to do some sort of wedding DIY with them. From there, Mom, Miss Tessie, Aunt Cheryl, and I finalized plans for the wedding cake and flowers with our vendors. Check and check! Feels good to take both off the to-do list, and start to see the wedding vision come into view.

Scrabble Wedding Present

Back in June I made a wedding present for my co-worker (and friend) Miss Hilary out of a Scrabble board and pieces. I didn't want to post it until I was sure she had opened it, so here it is! I definitely wanted to make something unique for Hil because she's the most creative art teacher around.

Directions:

1. Lay out Scrabble tiles so that you can see all of the letters you have to work with.
2. Think of words that reflect the interests of your bride and groom (or friend, family, etc.)
3. Assemble words so it looks like an actual Scrabble board (can be more difficult than you think. Scrabble needs more "I"s and "E"s!)
4. Glue down pieces with Tacky Glue once you like the arrangement. 
5. Let dry overnight and enjoy!

...and here's what happens when you have letter pieces left and a fiance that you know will enjoy the humor of finding this on the counter.

Harry Potter: The Final

Well, I saw it. Miss Kelly, Miss Aud, and I went at midnight to see the last Harry Potter installment (Miss Tessie was there with her peeps, too). It was wonderful, and the ending was everything a true Potter fan would want to see. Usually I come out from the midnight showings on edge, basically because Voldemort is still out there and I'm afraid he's going to jump out of the cornfields at me. It was nice to be so happy and peaceful leaving a HP movie.

Sidenote: Neville most definitely wins "Most Improved". Way to have your moment. :)

Here's an oldie, but a goodie:

Hamburger High

Before we set out on our great Wedding Registry adventure last Friday, I had the chance to experience the much-anticipated restaurant Hamburger High. Jake has been raving about them for weeks, and I must say, it did not disappoint! The have a 1950s high school vibe going (which is right up my alley), and they offer any topping you could think of. My burger consisted of coleslaw, horseradish, jalapeños, and chili. It was one of those instances where the 80-year-old version of Kik will say, "I remember when I was in my twenties and I could eat (insert burger here) without any indigestion!" If you are ever in the Anderson, Indiana area make sure to stop in for lunch.

Sparkler Fun

A week late, but I wanted to share some super fun pictures Jake and I took while playing with sparklers on the 4th. You have no idea how pumped I was when this technique worked! I feel like I'm figuring out my camera little by little...it's not as intimidating as it used to be. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Dria

So many great friends getting married this summer! Yesterday, we had the honor of witnessing Alex and Julie's wedding. I really got to know these two on a Spring Term class to Spain during my sophomore year at Hanover. This is when they started spending more time together, so I'd like to say I was there for the beginning of their relationship. :) It was a beautiful wedding, full of all kinds of crafty details (Julie even made her own dress!). Plus, added bonus of seeing all of my very good Hanover buddies as well. It made me miss the days when they were only a hallway away instead of half a state away....

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Dria!

 The boys really enjoyed the activity sheets at each seat

 Old friends (and roomies!) reunited

 I sure do miss these gals

Wedding Registry

Jake and I had a whirlwind day of wedding errands yesterday. We did some ring shopping and then did our wedding registry at Kohls and Target. Holy moly, no one told us how long it takes to register! We were scanning our little hearts out for six hours! But we had lots of fun picking everything out. Jake especially had fun in the electronics section (there is now a fine selection of PS3 games on our registry). It really hit me yesterday that the wedding is approaching very quickly. So exciting, and lots to do!

Having fun with the scanning gun 

The holy grail: Fiesta Dinnerware!

Letting Love

Hi friends! I'm back from a few very busy days. Jake's little sister, Annie, came to visit us for this week so we've been busy swimming, watching movies, and driving. LOTS of driving. Luckily, Jake's band, Letting Love, had a concert during her visit so she got to see her big brother as a rock star (she later texted her friends to brag on how famous he was).

Anyway, I feel that Letting Love's concert deserves a paragraph all its own. Jake and the guys played at the Terre Haute Music Venue (in Terre Haute, IN, of course) with Hawkboy, Oh! Sleeper, and Emery. In the hardcore Christian music world, Emery is quite a big deal, so it was also quite a big deal that they got to play with them. I must say boys (and Elise!), you played great and looked legit. Awesome show, even if it was 150 thousand degrees in that place.

 Mr. Jake's a VIP, you know

Happy 4th, friends!

We're taking it easy here in Morristown today. It's nice to allow yourself to have a lazy day once in a while...and maybe eat a hot dog or two for the occasion.

Happy 4th, and make sure to take a minute today to appreciate the good 'ol USA. :)

Here's some patriotic things I found around the house...