Indiana is taking over the Superbowl!!!

Well as I'm sure you're all aware by now, the Indianapolis Colt's are going to the Superbowl!! And in addition to that, they're playing the Saints with Boilermaker quarterback Drew Brees!! Now, I'm a Brees fan, but when it comes down to it, I have to cheer for the Colts. I've lived in Indiana almost my whole life and that's where my true loyalty lies!

Well, enough about sports. Let's talk WEEKEND!! Friday was a glorious day filled with test driving cars. No decisions were made and no cars were purchased but I thought it was good to see what's out there. Next step, Chicago Auto Show!!

I was told my Stef that I was very good at being spontaneous this weekend. Saturday, I was relaxing at home when there was a knock on the door. My friend Patrick had come by to say hello and told me to stop whatever I was doing because we were going to have a beer. Sure it was only 11:30 am but we just happened to have 2 beers in the fridge so I went with it.

Saturday night, I put on "Aghhhhhh" t-shirt and hit up Broad Ripple Avenue. Stef and I did a mini bar crawl and managed to see several friends all in one evening. This mini bar crawl went much better then the last one I went on with Stef. The last one I went on had a much rougher morning. Sunday I woke up in good spirits (even though I only got 4 hours of sleep) and put on my #18 Manning jersey and headed downtown to meet some friends to watch the Colts game!!

As Stef's brother put it "Indy is starting to look a lot like Jersey Shore with all these Jets fans". THEY WERE EVERYWHERE! I was pretty happy when they all went to the game. We started off our day at Scotty's and then went to "The Pub". Oddly enough a few of our friends stumbled in from tailgating. We had hung out with them Saturday night and I think they must have put a tracker on Stef's car. How else would they have found us?

After the game we danced in the rain with all the other Colts fans celebrating a glorious win! Then we headed back up north to Brothers which was totally worth it when we found out they had BLUE BEER!! It was the highlight of my night...well besides the Colts winning the AFC Championship!!

Titus took all the pictures so those are still to come!

The little things...

Work has been pretty stressful lately. I was told that things usually slow down 1st quarter however, I don't see any sign of a slowdown. The good news is, my dad gave me a sweet Colt's pencil. You'd be surprised how happy it made me. :)

Brain Food

I hope you all watched the glorious Boilermaker WIN last night! I went and watched the game at Brothers with some fellow Boilers and I have to say, that I'd forgotten how much I like going out on week nights. I don't so much like getting up the next day though. So, I will once again start trying to reduce the amount of sleep that I need.

Today was my favorite day of the month at work -- Birthday Celebration Day! Everyone brings in delicious treats and then we sing happy birthday and eat. It takes place at 8:30 in the morning so you can only imagine the kind of sugar high I was on all day.

Note to self: two cookies for breakfast = a sugar headache. I also took a bagel and a banana to eat later in the day so I like to think I balanced this out a bit. And I had a cookie and a banana for lunch. Maybe I should have made a New Year's resolution about will power...or maybe I shouldn't have brought in some of my favorite kinds of cookies.

The good news is I accomplished eating 5 to 6 small meals today. The bad news , it's not even dinner time yet. But I've switched to healthy and I have only healthy things at home so it can get much worse.

I went to Meijer last Friday since I was on the north side and went crazy as I always do in that store. My roommates think I'm crazy but I just have to stock up on produce while I'm there. My recent obsession has been these delectable Clementines. Highly recommend!

I Crave an Adventure

As you probably know from my past entries, it isn't often that I go long periods of time without a trip of some sort. Sometimes when I lived in Michigan, I would travel to Chicago or Indy for a quick weekend trip. Or when I got really lucky, I ended up across the country or in Europe!

Right now I have a few trips coming up. I'm going to Michigan next weekend to do some playing and skiing at my friend's cabin. I also signed on a for a trip to Gatlinberg, Tennessee. And we're currently planning a trip to Florida sometime in June. Also, I'm hoping to go out West with Colleen sometime in the next couple months though that is still TBD.

Even as I write these, I'm still itching to go somewhere!!

In other news, Stef and I finally went rock climbing! It turns out, I'm still afraid of heights. But regardless, I made it to the top of the wall quite a few times. I won't say I'm a natural but I was pretty please with my climbing abilities. We're planning on going again and I highly recommend you find your local climbing facility so you too can experience the fun!

New Songs

So I've found two new songs that I've enjoyed listening to on repeat.

1. Good Life by One Republic -- this song was played for me awhile ago and I remember liking it. I found it today and now that I've listened to it on repeat for a few hours, I love it.

2. You and Me by Dave Matthews Band -- I heard this on the radio about a week ago and found it on the internet. LOVE IT! Dave, you never disappoint me.

Feel free to enjoy these songs on your own time...or come visit me in my office and enjoy them on repeat.

Super Busy Saturday!

So Saturday was a crazy busy day but overall, I'd give it 2 thumbs up!!

I woke up early and went to the license branch where I officially became a Hoosier again (a native of Indiana--not someone who goes to IU of course). I passed my driver's test with flying colors and the eye exam!! The new face recognition technology doesn't let you smile in the camera so I followed up my aced exams with an awkward looking picture and I was all set!!

I have to say that I was incredibly pleased with my service at the Nora License Branch. I didn't wait at all, everyone was incredibly helpful and nice, and one of the ladies even fixed my hair in hopes of making my picture just slightly less awkward. I'm going to have to look up how to submit comments on the BMV website because they did a great job and were so friendly!

Then Kamm and I got in the Jeep and headed down to Bloomington to watch Laura run a one mile race at a track meet there. SHE DID AWESOME! She got first place, smoked everyone else who was running, and finished in 4 min 47 seconds. Yup, that time is correct. She's crazy fast. Stef couldn't even believe she'd passed us 8 times! Laura is in white in the pictures below.
She ran by us so fast that she was just a blur. Also, please notice that there is no one else in the picture because she was that far ahead of them.After the race we headed back up to Indy and did a little running of our own at good ol' LA Fitness. Then we put on our party shoes and went over to Gina's house for her and Avery's engagment party!! My goal for the evening was to meet all the other attendees who were part of the bridal party. Success! I met Avery's 2 sisters and 2 of his groomsman. The other groomsman couldn't attend but I'm sure I'll meet them at some point. Laurent came down from Chicago and it was fun to play with her again! And it looks like it's going to be another St. Patty's day in Chicago this year!!
Gina with her bridesmaids--minus TammyTo counter balance Saturday, after a breakfast date with Kamm and Cameron, I spent my Sunday watching 24 and reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. 24--Always good. The Lost Symbol--so good! I literally have a hard time putting it down every night even though I know I need to go to sleep. I have less then 200 pages left and it will be done soon!

Sweet Bangs

I have had a fear of haircuts as far back as I can remember. Maybe it started back when my mom used to ask me I wanted her to cut my hair longer or shorter. I always replied longer yet once she was done, it was always shorter.

Maybe it stemmed from when my mom gave up chasing me around the house to put me in the haircutting chair and started letting my sister cut my hair. Let's do some math: 4th grade --Emel Age 9 + Damla Age 12 - cosmetology school experience = Yet another traumatizing haircut for Emel.

Or maybe it's due to the fact that my dad used to trim my bangs out of my eyes in the garage with your everyday scissors usually resulting in a very retro crooked bang look.

Regardless, I usually avoid cutting my hair as much as possible. And when I finally go in, I usually request that they only cut an inch off...or just the ends. I did go through some brief brave spurts in my life. I went super short my sophomore year of high school. I liked it for about a day until I realized that short hair is actually harder to style because you have to do your hair every day since it doesn't fit in a ponytail. More tears. I cut it to my chin around the end of my senior year of highschool. And during my senior year of college, I really wanted dreadlocks for a semester but clearly that never happened.

At the end of 2008 my hair was getting pretty ratty and I had my hairdresser in Midland cut off a good 6 inches. That was actually a success...except for the 3 weeks immediately following during which I was in Turkey and without a working straightener. Short, curly hair during rainy season isn't a good look for anyone.

I managed to get through the rest of 2009 with minimal haircuts. Having moved back to Indiana I was on a search for a new hairdresser. I took my roommate Laura's recommendation and went to her girl Emily. She is AWESOME!! And for anyone in the Indianapolis area looking for a great hairdresser, she's your girl. I liked her for many reasons. 1. She was super friendly 2. She asked some good hair history questions to get a feel for what worked and what didn't. 3. She explained how to style my hair as she was doing it and 4. She's a Krannert graduate. :)

So now I have sweet bangs. #1 reason for getting bangs? They look good with my winter hat.