Big Game Indy-Style

I'm not sure what is happening with the weather this week in Indiana...but let me tell you my car told me it was 50 degrees outside at 6:30 a.m. this morning...crazy!

It is so exciting to have such great weather as Indianapolis gets geared up to host the "Big Game" (not using the trademarked name...just in case). Hopefully, the weather holds through the weekend so we can show everyone that a "cold weather" city can be just as fun as those "warm weather" ones.

The weather is SO nice that the ice sculptures are melting! Who would have thought?

I headed downtown after work last night to experience festivities. We didn't have tickets to the NFL Experience or for the zipline (I'm bummed about that) but it was fun to see how downtown has been transformed and see all the people enjoying themselves.

I only snapped a couple of shots so to get the full experience, head over to Amy's post at a Latte with Ott, A. She and her husband did the whole experience (minus the zipline)!

 Coldplay was blasting from the speakers on the Circle.

Was hoping that they were playing a surprise concert...

They weren't!

 Can you see the folks on the zipline?

Love the SB Gnome window display!

"C'mon Everybody" Go to the Theater

I love, love, love musicals - on stage, at the movies, on my television.

I had friends growing up who performed in local theater productions so I got hooked early in life.

To this day, if I come across a cheesy musical while channel surfing, I find myself immersed in no time.

I'm lucky to live about 30 miles from Indianapolis - a city with some great options when it comes to seeing a show. Not only do traveling Broadway shows, like Wicked and Jersey Boys, make their way to town, but we also have some great local theater companies that put on wonderful productions - both musical and not.

Last night I went to the opening night of "All Shook Up" at Footlite Musicals just north of downtown Indianapolis. The musical is loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and features Elvis Presley classics. This show features performers ages 18 to 25 and their enthusiasm and the intimate feeling of the small theater really made the show. It definitely wasn't a Broadway show, but for less than $20 a ticket, it was a good night's entertainment. It runs this weekend and next, so if you are in the area, you might want to check it out.

I love being able to support the local arts scene and have a night out with friends!

Speaking of a night out with friends, another great option is Heartland Actor's Repertory Theatre's (HART) Shakespeare at White River State Park in August. I think this is the third year that this local theater group has staged a Shakespeare play at the Amphitheatre in downtown Indianapolis. This year they are doing "the Two Gentlemen of Verona."

You can bring a picnic (and some wine), a blanket and settle down to enjoy some great acting and it's all FREE!

A Hopping Great Time

I attended the Dillsboro Homecoming in Dearborn County, Indiana (about an hour's drive west of Cincinnati according to the town's website) to help make a presentation for work.

Indiana farmers hosted a sweepstakes offering Hoosier shoppers a year's worth of free groceries and one of the grand prize winners lives near Dillsboro! The organizers of the Homecoming were gracious enough to allow us to present the winner with her prize on the stage during the opening ceremonies. We went after the national anthem and before the frog jumping contest...you heard right - frog jumping contest!

I've been to many small town festivals in my life. All of them have great food, many of them have a carnival, but this was my first frog jumping contest!

One of the farmers there told me that he hadn't had to catch a frog since his children were young but some neighbor girls wanted to enter the contest so he caught a couple but had "forgotten how hard they were to catch."

Before the frog jumping contest got underway, there was a Best Dressed Frog Competition! Here are some of my favorites:

This one was wearing a rabbit outfit and was named Houdini!

This one had a wrestling theme...

This one played to the hometown crowd with a re-creation of the Homecoming...

They even had a "parade of frogs" so the crowd could get a closer look - and there was a crowd.

I think the Homecoming Frog took first place.

Then it was on to the Frog Jumping Contest. I'm not sure of the rules, but I believe they allowed the frog 3 hops and measured those. Rumor has it that the record frog jump is 19 feet.

Storm clouds were rolling in so we grabbed an ice cream cone (Twist, of course) and left before the winner was announced. However, I did manage to grab a couple of shots!

Just another example of why I love living in middle America!

Oh my love of butterflies!

I don't know when my love of butterflies first surfaced. Those graceful, colorful, dancing creatures...oh I love butterflies!

Maybe it was when I was a summer intern at a farm newspaper almost 15 years ago (gawd that sounds like a long time ago). I visited a butterfly farm - yes, a farm that raised butterflies - somewhere in Indiana. Maybe it was in the south, maybe it was up north, for the life of me I can't remember.

I do remember the lush green grass, the quiet woods and ALL of the butterflies. Small, large, orange, yellow, white and black - there were dozens of different types.

Oh the photos I took that day. I must have taken hundreds, I just couldn't stop. I wish I could share them but I shot them on film! Remember that?

Loading the camera with a roll of film; not knowing what kind of shots you got until - gasp - the film was developed; envelopes with prints and negatives. What a different world that was.

So all I have left from that transforming experience is a copy of the paper and an envelope of negatives somewhere in my closet.

Now I am a collector of butterflies. They are on my walls, shelves, clothes and even on my purses! I tell myself that I won't buy one more thing with a butterfly on it but then a picture catches my eye or a cute notebook calls my name and I can't resist!

These hang in my spare bedroom:

To try and ease my urge to gather more butterflies around me, I try and visit the Butterfly Exhibit at White River Gardens at the Indianapolis Zoo when it comes to town in the spring. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

After a long winter of constant meetings and a lot of travel, I had a day off of work so my sister and I took my nephew Tyler (who's so darn cute) to the Zoo on Good Friday and had a wonderful time. I plan on going back again this summer and then again next year and...well you get the picture!

Oh I love butterflies! Glad I slowed down and watched the butterflies go by.