March 2016

In March I took an architectural walking tour to prepare for leading this kind of tour myself.  It may be my favorite tour that I lead.  I had a lot of fun and took a few photos.

David and I saw Ramin Karimloo at a Cabaret performance with the Philharmonic.  People flew in from Brazil and Canada to see him perform in our town!  Fun night!

We got to celebrate Dr. Able's 84th birthday with family and friends!
By the way - he eats a piece of pie along with blueberries, walnuts, and a wedge of cheese every morning for breakfast.  Secret of success!

David, Brennan, and I went to the high school's production of "Grease".  Hard to believe the boys will be in high school together in just a few months! 

Brennan participated in the state math competition with his middle school teams.  He's on the far left.

I can't remember what we were celebrating with Thomas (end of a great 3rd quarter maybe), but David and I took him to his favorite restaurant - Zaharakos.

David had to travel to Vancouver during Brennan's spring break.  We missed him at the regional robotics competition and on our trip to Chicago for a college visit and the Art Institute museum tour.  We had a lot of fun in the Windy City since it was St. Patrick's week!

Violet and I had lunch (with a prop green beer) on St. Patrick's Day!

And before David traveled again, we spent a chilly Sunday afternoon together in Indy.  First for some delicious Spanish food at nada, then touring the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Our friend Jonathan became a sommelier and I attended his spring wine event.  The wines were delicious, but the dinner with friends afterward was super fun.

We got to have a puppy play date with Coco!

David and Brennan had a great Easter weekend in Mississippi, but Thomas and I celebrated by going to the sunrise service at church, then to our friends' house on the lake for a delicious lunch, canoeing, Easter egg hunting, puppy time, and a pontoon ride.  What a perfect day.

Scott and Mike hiding Easter eggs.  This is our 12th year.  The kids are older so we have to make it trickier.

After we finished our taxes but before David headed to Dubai for a month!! we had a date night. 
We went to Taxman Brewery for our own Death & Taxes event - delicious dinner and some ales (David) and cider (me).
I want to take the boys someday too - the restaurant is great.

And the Litwits read and discussed "What Alice Forgot", set in Australia. 
We had an Australian/New Zealand themed evening of delicious food and wine.

February 2016

February 2016 was no different than any other month.  Filled with family time and extracurriculars.  Plus a very special birthday (mine!)  David traveled quite a bit but we took advantage of all the fun of February - and we had pretty mild weather, so even better!

The Philhamonic's guest artist Tianshu Wang came to town for the Chinese New Year concert.  I got to take her on an architectural tour around town.  We had a great time.

The Chui family hosted a Chinese New Year open house and I took my Monkey to the Year of the Monkey celebration.

And then Robin outdid herself with a birthday party that will never be forgotten!

Since my birthday fell on Mardi Gras weekend and Chinese New Year, we had a great celebration.  Seriously - I thought we were just going to watch a movie in her incredible movie room and have snacks.  Above and beyond and soooo much fun!

I asked a local baker to make a King Cake.  It was yummy.

In this photo we're missing Rebecca and Robin.

There's Robin - amazing friend and hostess!

The movie room is my home away from home since Robin and I have been enjoying a Jane Austen movie marathon this winter. Here we're missing Robin, Susan, and Sandy.  I couldn't get us all in, even with the selfie stick!

Because we did "Pride and Prejudice" and its adaptations in February, Robin and I chose "Bridget Jones's Diary" for my party.  SADLY I learned that many of my friends hadn't seen it!  How is that possible??

OK, back to family.  On Superbowl Sunday our youth host Souper Bowl Sunday.  One of the things they always do is collect donations for our food bank.  We ask members of the church to vote for who they think will win the Superbowl that evening.  In Indiana we were all for Peyton and the Broncos!

And Thomas and I started visiting colleges to learn more about their programs that he might be interested in.  How in the world did he go from Legos to College Visits so fast?

We all met up on Mardi Gras at Yats for dinner, hurricanes for Mom and Dad, and an autism fundraiser.

And David and I went to kidscommons' Carnivale annual fundraiser.  This year the theme was France and it was a really fun night with friends.  I'm wearing an Eiffel tower top, but our berets were the highlight. 

Valentine's Day snuck up on me this year but we had a nice celebration before Dad had to go out of town and I headed to Robin's to watch BBC's "Pride and Prejudice" - or as we called it - Valentine's Day with Mr. Darcy.

In Litwits we discussed "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and the whole gang was there.

And did I mention that I'm helping with a circuit court judge campaign?  Charlie asked me to lunch and now I'm knee-deep in politics.  It's been an awesome experience as the marketing and media director, and trust me when I say I have learned soooo much!  Radio ads, newspaper ads, tv ads, electronic billboards, social media...  It's been awesome.  We combined our wine club with a meet and greet for our candidate.

Brennan's Mathletes team competed and made it to the state championship!  Here he is very early Saturday morning headed to school to catch the team bus.

And Thomas and I went to IUPUI (Indiana University/Purdue University of Indianapolis).  We loved this IU Indy program.  He has two years to apply and decide, but my guess is, he's going to be living in downtown Indy!

I attended a great local event called The Most Chaotic Tuesday, celebrating one of my favorite structures in town - Chaos I by Jean Tinguely.

Oh and did I mentioned I finished my first book?  It's a history of the historical neighborhood where we live, Amberley.  I'm so thrilled to have it done and I find out tomorrow if this project gets Indiana Bicentennial Legacy status.  It's been a ton of fun and I'm so glad it's printed and distributed!

Thomas and I experienced Fogo do Chao for the first time.  A great Sunday lunch together in downtown Indy.

We had our traditional Oscars party at home with sparkling grape juice, a special meal, and we all filled out Oscar ballots.  After losing the crown to David at the 2015 Emmy's, I regained my title and won the Oscars pool.

The high school where these 3 boys will all be next year went to the Girls Basketball State Championships.  We headed up to Indy where the Pacers play to see the girls in action.  Sadly, they did not take home the title for the second year, but we had a great time.

And, don't worry.  Bailey is just fine!  Here he is mid-yawn one day driving around doing errands.  He LOVES to ride in the car with Brennan and never misses a chance to pick up Brennan from school.

And he gets plenty of rest, typically right next to me.