Fall, Fun and Friends

Howdy!!! This is going to be a long one....
This week was full of excitement!!! My lifelong friend, Carrie and her mom Pam stayed with us Thursday and Friday night. They were driving across the country to move Carrie from California to New York. Carrie just accepted a job in New York working for Syracuse University's student exchange program. She is in charge of overseeing the programs in Italy, Spain and England. Carrie grew up in Riverside, California and has lived in Italy off and on for the last 4 years. She speaks fluent Italian and is absolutely brilliant!!!
Here is a photo of me and Carrie in Potter's Woods about 5 minutes from our house...YAY for fall!!!
Sitting on our front porch, rockin' out... I love my Carrie!!!! Our moms have been friends since they were 15.... Carrie was a bridesmaid in my wedding and is one of my dearest friends!!!

Carrie and Pam had never been to Indy, so it only made sense to take them downtown to see the sites. Here is a pic of downtown Indianapolis from the Canal Walk....again another day of blue skies and pleasant weather.
Here is a pic of Carrie and Pam standing near the War Monument in the "Circle." You can see the capitol building in the background.Here is a picture of the Indianapolis capitol building...One of my favorite things about living here is being surrounded with cool architecture. Because Indy is so old, there is a TON of culture.Me and "Grammy" Pammy posing....Pam's son Nick and wife Nadine just had a baby boy this past spring. Ironically, Nick and Ryan had classes together at Cal State San Bernardino over the last few years...Here is a picture of me in front of Lucas Oil Stadium (the new Colts domain). I know JACK about football....but since they are the pride and joy of Indy.....I have decided to "jump on the bandwagon." I even purchased a jersey recently (okay- so I really bought it so I could wear jeans to work on "Blue" Fridays....shhhhhhh!!!).I think the Union Station building in downtown is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city...What do you think???Me and Carrie at the Rockbottom Brewery...I know, we are losers drinking fruity girl drinks at a brewery....CHEERS!!!On Friday night, we went out to the Melting Pot for some fondue fun! We invited our friend April to join us.I LOVE April....she was one of the first friends I made out here. She is my Grey's Anatomy buddy. Now that the season is back on, we are going to watch it together every Thursday night.I'm soooooooo glad Carrie and Pam came to visit!!! I hope they had as much fun as we did! Ryan and I can't wait to visit Carrie in New York in a couple of months! We love you ladies!!! xoOn Saturday, Ryan and I drove down to Bloomington, Indiana.All I have to say about the IU campus is WOW!!!! I have NEVER seen a university like this...breathtaking!!!The campus had an actual forest in the middle of it- makes for an awfully nice place to study for an exam, wouldn't you agree?Here is Ryan posing in front of the clock tower...once Ryan completes his Master's Degree, he should go for a doctorate in Physics and work here!!! I'm just throwin' the idea out there......More GREENERY....Is it just me, or does this building look like a college from a movie set?Look at these Cali kids in Indy....I can't wait to go to the other college campuses. We are going to visit Purdue in October and I REALLY want to take a trip up to South Bend to walk the grounds of Notre Dame before the year's end.We even found some trees that were beginning to turn...
Here is a neighborhood near the college. I LOVE all the trees!!!
The IU vs. Michigan State game was just ending as we were driving through...I was able to snap a quick pic of the stadium through the car window. If you look closely, you can see what is left of the fans, up in the stands.
On Wednesday, we celebrated our 3 year Wedding Annivesary. Here are the flowers Ryan brought home for me...AWWWWWWW!!!!

We headed out to Geist Reservior to have a romantic dinner.
We ate at Bella Vita. It is an Italian Bistro near the marina of Geist Reservoir. We had a table right on the water. We had very pleasant weather and enjoyed a delicious meal.

Here is a picture from our table...if you look closely, you can see some of the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn colors. I bet in a few more weeks, it will be just spectacular.
Last weekend, our friend Steve came over to watch some Colts football!!! Here are Ryan and Steve posing in our driveway.

Steve lives in Broad Ripple (about 20 minutes away). He grew up in MoVal like us. He played baseball at Valley View with Ryan and bartended at Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Club when I worked there as a server.
Here are some more pics of the BLERBS.....I wasn't joking when I said we hang out with our neighbors every weekend. Here we are enjoying a bonfire at Liz and Eric's house.
Here is a pic of Eric relaxing after a hard game of golf...LOL.
Here is Ryan stuffing his face with potato chips.....hmmmmmmm that doesn't look like South Beach to me???? Okay, so we fell off the wagon for a few days....tomorrow is another day!
Oh and one last thing...HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to our friend Kellie!!! Ryan and I LOVE and MISS you soooooooo much!!!!! We hope you had a fantabulous day!!!!
Until next time....xo