My Sher and My Godchildren

It was finally time for my Sher's baby shower! I headed to Fort Wayne for the weekend and could hardly wait to see her and her baby bump. She looked amazing (of course) and opened tons of cool gifts. 

Gotta have book

Stinking adorable tutu dress

Fancy Vera baby bag

Ashley and I hosted it at Ziano's, an Italian restaurant that I had never seen or heard of and was admittedly a little nervous about, and even had a private room. I apologize a hundred times for ever doubting my dear Ash. 

The girls

Sher's having a girl, so we had lots of pink, including a strawberry pink cake (for any Fort Wayners - I highly recommend For Goodness Cakes). February can't come soon enough!

 

After the shower, I was finally able to check out my sister's family's new house! I rode my power wheel over to their new place that afternoon and was greeted by my favorite kiddos of all time. 

Snack time with Katie bug, Aunt Mary and Zach Attack

Goober Fiat

Their house is beyond gorgeous and so huge. We dined on homemade 'loaf fresh from their 1/4 cow and Steph even made me a super delicious chocolate chip cheesecake dessert. Sinful.

 

On Sunday night, I drove to Indy and got to stay with my dear friend Blow, along with her hilarious husband Matty and too cute son Ian. The next day I said goodbye to my JLo Fiat and hung out in the Kansas City airport for about 5 hours and ended up missing another day of work (although I'm really not complaining too much about that). That city hates me.

Go Speed Racer

We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but we were really excited to go to our first NASCAR race with Tony and Molly. It was finally our chance to see Tony in his element. We brought some beer and our earplugs and started the morning tailgating. When we got to the race, I had no idea who to root for. I usually do a little research before I try something new, but my flu bug a few days before knocked me off my game. Sher and Jer told me to cheer for #88. With about 40 laps left to go in the over-300 lap race, I finally decided to cheer for the car that was decorated in Cheerios and Hamburger Helper. Two of my favorite things. I think he came in the top 20. Jeff cheered for the Caterpillar car.

 

Camo, pony tails (on men), beer coolers on wheels....what else could you ask for?  

J and T drinking while walking through the vendors

 Cut-outs of drivers? Check. 

 

A seat cushion with a convenient place to hold your Natty Lite? Check. 

Lots of people referring to someone named "Junior?" Check. 

 

4 Wheelers? Check. 

Molly was very excited to hop on this thing

Hearing loss? Check. 

Scanners. I don't know if it was the southern twang or if it was just too loud, but I couldn't understand a thing through these

Right before the gentlemen started their engines

 The race itself was the loudest thing I've ever experienced. My earplugs were critical, and it was still louder than hell. We had to write messages on our cell phones to communicate with each other during those four hours. Insane.

 We had perfect weather and really had fun wandering around all the vendors before the race. Molly and I were in line to win free Scotch tape, and listened as a NASCAR-loving country boy in front of us spun the wheel for his chance to answer a question and win. Here's how it went:

 

Host: What tape does Scotch recommend using when prepping your walls for painting? A. Scotch blue something-extra-fancy-super-sticky-easy-to-remove something or other (I don't remember the exact name of the specific tape but it had like 15 words to it); B. Masking tape; C. None of the above.

 

Redneck: B.

 

Host: No, I'm sorry. The answer is actually A.

 

Redneck looks to his girl standing next to him and she says, "Dang, you got it wrong?" They were surprised.

 

Seriously. The guy picked generic masking tape at a giant booth for Scotch tape where they were standing in line to get a giant roll of blue Scotch painting tape. Molly looks at me and says, "That just happened." Yep, it did.

 

I loved the people-watching. T was kind enough to offer me his camo hat early on, so I think I fit right in. Jeff told me I didn't. 

This was right after T got it autographed by an old racer....his name escapes me right now

The next race at Texas Motor Speedway is apparently set for March 2012. We've told T and Molly that they better get back down here. This might just become our Texas tradition.

Halloween SWA-style

I know, I'm behind. Here's a quick post on our All Hallows' Eve:

 

Jeff's work hosts an annual Halloween extravaganza for the employees and their families. People take their kids out of school for the day and bring them to headquarters for non-stop entertainment, including competitive skits and dances performed by different departments (which you need tickets to watch because they get so crowded and they're so popular), bounce houses, face painting, a costume contest and dancing. And booze. The company is even cool enough to host the festivities throughout the day and wrap up the party by 5pm - meaning no extended work day and you get to take your kiddos trick-or-treating that night. Local radio personalities even come to host the big party. We've heard about Halloween since the minute Jeff started working there, and was told he would be part of the Halloween party-planning committee. I wasn't going to miss out. 

 

So, we planned our costumes about 5 days in advance (thank goodness for Amazon 2-day shipping) and we were all set. I was Audrey Hepburn a la Breakfast at Tiffany's. One woman knew who I was. The other 600 just thought I was a weirdo dressed in black. 

 

Jeff attempted to be Donald Trump. No one knew who he was. His wig was so bad...and not in the desired Trump bad way. Just bad. And strangely bright orange. We had fun nonetheless.

Holly and The Donald

 Oh yeah, and the Golden Girls made an appearance:

 

America's Next Top Golfer

Erin and Cory introduced us to the magical world of Top Golf this past weekend. While they explained it by saying it was like bowling only using a club to hit a golf ball into various targets on a driving range, I still expected it to be much more argyle-sock-knicker-wearing than it was (RIP Payne Stewart). I wasn't at all any good and I'm not too ashamed to admit that I totally whiffed multiple times. I forgot my glove at home...otherwise I would've been an all-star, obviously.

 

This game was so addictive. Your golf ball has a microchip in it to track where it lands and how many points you get. Genius. Jeff and Cory initially took it far too seriously and tried to wack the ball as far as they could.

 

They quickly changed their strategy when Erin and I scored more points than them on the first round by haphazardly and awkwardly knocking our balls onto the green from our perch on the third level and hoping they rolled into a target. They did, and we scored lots of our points that way. Note: Do not mistakenly read that sentence to say "lots of points."

They even serve food and alcohol (full bar!) right at your table while you play. Unfortunately, my golfing got worse the more I drank. But it really felt like I was getting better with each sip and swing...

Really having fun...and not talking about the Miller's upcoming move to Hotlanta

Despite the fact that there were 5-year-old girls out there kicking my butt, I really want to go back and play again. Jeff was dragging me out of there at 1am. Who would've thought?