Valentine's Day Getaway - 2013

For a few years now, we've joked about doing something really cheesy for Valentine's Day.  This year, we finally did it... we had a "romantic" dinner for two at White Castle!  Stop laughing... it was actually kind of fun.  Besides, White Castle is sort of a treat for us since we don't have one real close by... the closest one is over an hour away.

We arrived to find the dining room quite full of couples and families enjoying table service beneath a nice rosy glow (that would be from the pink inserts they put in the fluorescent lights above).

The tables were decorated with plastic table cloths, paper doilies, and fake roses.  Classy.

They even had special menus printed for the occasion.  You don't often see 68 cent menu prices!  Now that's my kinda meal!  ;-)

After enjoying a few sliders, they gave us each complimentary chocolate covered brownies!  Wow, dinner AND dessert on Valentine's Day for less than ten bucks... SWEET!  They even took our picture...

Afterwards, we made our way to Chicago.  The city looks so neat at night... especially with the cloud cover.

I had gotten us a Groupon deal for a hotel downtown called Hotel Sax. We found it fairly easily (with the help of Elly, our GPS), but finding where to park and how to get to the front door was another story.  First we ended up UNDER the hotel and the street we arrived on and were even honked at, yelled at, and passed by many impatient drivers, then we made our way back up to street level and found ourselves a couple blocks away.  OY!  After a quick call to the hotel and a chat with the front desk about parking, we found our way back again, but still couldn't figure out where the heck we were supposed to go.  One of the valet attendants finally explained that we needed to go ALL THE WAY around the block to the opposite side of where we were and we'd find the entrance and be able to park.  Geezopeet, people, can't you just put a few signs up explaining stuff like this to out of towners?!!  Chicago is NOT a very visitors-friendly place!

But, alas, we finally found where we needed to go, gladly gave our keys up to the valet attendant, unloaded our bags, and made our way inside... to the next mystery.  Most hotel lobbies have a clearly defined front desk.  Not this place.  A hallway to the left with elevators.  Very tall double doors straight ahead leading to a room full of couches and chairs (and what turned out to be a bar).  And, what appeared to be display cases full of crystal glasses and vases to the right.  ????  A man and woman came out of a door behind the display cases and asked if they could help us.  Ahhhh, that must be the front desk!

After checking in... and finding out that the valet parking - our only choice for parking - was going to cost us an outrageous $57.00 for overnight parking (good God, that's highway robbery!!!!), we made our way upstairs.  We couldn't resist a little fun in the elevator on the way up...

Our room had my favorite color... PURPLE!!  :-)  We didn't really have a super neat view, but it was okay...

We went out for a short walk around the hotel.  Right outside the front door was the House of Blues (as in Jake and Elwood of The Blues Brothers).  We went in to look around and checked out the gift shop.  We could hear the band playing, but didn't go in to see them... they were "just okay".  The building itself was kind of neat though.

We were right by the Chicago River and an incredibly delicious smelling steakhouse.  If we hadn't just had White Castle... well, we'd have probably been tempted to get something at that place (and spend a whole lot more on it too)!

Back in the hotel, we passed up the mini bar - $6 for a tiny can of Pringles?  $10 for a "Help, I have a headache" kit?  $12 for a bottle water?  $52 for a little bottle of Patron?  No thanks, we're just way too frugal for that much extravagance!  Geez, let's just take FULL advantage of weary travelers while we can...

The next day, we made our way across town for breakfast at a place we had seen on Chicago's Best TV show called Hashbrowns.  It was really good and worth the traffic hassle.  I had The "Marty" High Protein omelet with sweet potato hashbrowns.  Dave had a bacon and ham omelet with regular hashbrowns.  The place was really filling up by the time we left.

Next, we were off to take advantage of a LivingSocial deal I got for a place called Aroma Workshop... where we each designed our own perfume and cologne.  Except for Tom's, the perfumer's, annoying obsession with the background music he had playing and his lack of focus, it was a really fun experience.

First, we started out smelling all sorts of oils.

We were instructed to put any of the ones we liked in front of us - even if we weren't sure it was a favorite, but just a scent we thought was nice.  I liked quite a few... too many, according to Tom, to make my decision easier.  Hmmmph...

Dave was a little more selective with his scents...

Once we had smelled them all, Tom looked over our choices and started combining scents.  By this time, his co-worker, Lizzy, arrived and started helping.  Once we decided on combinations we liked, they filled bottles with the oils and alcohol.  They told us to think of names while they did this.

My perfume, which I named "Soft Magenta Musk", contains these oils.  Magenta and Touch were combinations of other scents, but I'm not sure what all they are.

Dave's cologne, which he gave the simple name of "Me" (picture this... someone asks, "What's that cologne?  It smells good." and Dave replying, "Oh, it's just Me."  Hahahaha!), contains these oils.

Voila, Dave's finished cologne....

We ended the day with a nice dinner and pie for dessert at Round the Clock in LaPorte.

What a wonderful way to spend Valentine's Day!  <3

Guinness?

We bought some cat food at a really good price at a discount store a little while back.  Our cats LOVED it!!!  However, we haven’t been able to find it anywhere else since.  The store is at least an hour away from where we live, so we decided to avoid this weekend’s predicted nasty weather and went there a couple nights ago right after work to get more for them (yes, they're spoiled BRATS!).  Afterwards, we decided to go on over to Valparaiso for dinner, then on to Merrillville for a little shopping since we weren't too far away.

We were going to have pizza at Zao Island in Valparaiso (one of our favorite places for pizza), but passed by a place called “Duffy’s” before coming to the road leading to Zao Island.  Someone had told Dave that Duffy's has really good food, so we turned around and went back.  It didn't really look like much from the road, but the parking lot was PACKED, so we thought it must be good and decided to give it a chance.  We went in… it’s a smoky little dive of a bar.  Putting our reservations aside, we found a table… and waited… and waited… and waited for someone to come wait on us.  It wasn’t really as busy inside as it looked from the parking lot.  Anyway, a guy – we assumed he was the waiter - went to the table closest to ours twice – looked over at us both times – and walked away when he was done with them.  What the heck?  We thought he was finally coming to wait on us, but no… he was coming to put money in the jukebox on the wall behind us.

While standing there poking numbers into jukebox, he finally looks over and notices us.  He asks, “Have you two been helped yet?”

“Nope,” my husband says.

Poke, poke, poke… numbers in the jukebox.  No response.

Finally, he realizes that we answered… “Awwww, man, what can I get ya?”  Poke, poke in the jukebox – never looking at us.

“Menus, please.”  (maybe it was the “please” that threw him?)  Long pause.  Poke, poke in the jukebox…

“A Guinness?  Anything else?”  Poke, poke, poke…

“Uhhhh, no Guinness, I don't drink… just MENUS.” (stressing the word “MENUS” for good measure)  Poke, poke, poke…

He finally looks at me and I slowly, clearly, and loudly (for me) say, “M-E N-U-S…” Now, I know I don’t talk loud, but mind you… it was NOT that loud in the place… the jukebox wasn’t playing yet because he was still poking stuff into it!

“Yah, I got that.  Anything else?”

“Nope.”  Poke, poke, poke.  (good gawd, is he done programming the damn thing yet?!!!)

He starts to walk away, then stops and asks my husband, “Do you want a water too, dude?”  (huh?)

“Uhhh, no, just MENUS.” And I muttered so only the two of us could hear, “And you to pay some fricking attention, dude.”

We just KNEW he didn’t get it.  My husband says, “I’m gonna to get a Guinness, aren’t I?”

“Yep.”  (chuckle)

Sure enough, from across the room we watch as he grabs a beer glass (giggle from us) and proceeds to fill it with… Guinness.  WTF, dude?!!  (outright laughing from us now)

He leaves the Guinness at the tap and walks away to do something around the corner.  He finally comes back to it, fills it the rest of the way and then S-L-O-W-L-Y makes his way over to us so as not to spill the precious amber liquid.  And, the topper… he didn’t even bring MENUS (or water)!!!!

We laugh and say, “Uhhhh, we didn’t want a Guinness, we wanted M-E-N-U-S.” (we said it loudly and sloooooowly together)

“Awwww, man, I’m sorry.  I’m still half asleep." (Ya think?!!!)  I’ll go get those for ya.”

He brings them back and says, “You just holler when yer ready.”

“Okay, sure thing, buddy.”

We looked them over…… and left.

Zao Island pizza was AWESOME, as usual.

22nd Anniversary Weekend

On November 17th, 1990, at a little after 2pm, I married my best friend in the whole wide world.

In those twenty-two years, we've had a lot of adventures and good memories.  To celebrate this year - our 22nd anniversary - we took a little trip to central Indiana to do some of our favorite things.  Come along on our little adventure...

We started out with dinner at a little place in Carmel, Indiana, called Bub's Burgers & Ice Cream.  If you've never been, you really need to set your GPS unit - NOW! - to take you to this address.  You will NOT be sorry!

We each had their small burger - a Settle for Less Ugly (Dave had beef, I had elk).  I know, it's a rather odd name for a burger, but because it's so good - who are we to question it?  As the waiter/waitresses t-shirts say, "Ugly never looked so good!"  ;-)  But, if you're up for a real challenge, they do offer the BIG UGLY burger, which is an entire pound of meat (AFTER it's cooked, not before!!), plus all the fixins, on a bun that weighs half a pound.  If you manage to clean your plate, they take your picture and put it on the wall.  The walls were literally covered with photos of people who've done it too!  AND, for those with bottomless pits for stomachs, you'll get a bigger picture the more BIG UGLY burgers that you can put away!  The current record is four burgers... that's FOUR pounds of meat and TWO pounds bread... in ONE SITTING!!  UGH, no thanks!!!

In an effort to save a little money, we chose a motel in Shelbyville, America's Best Value Inn.  It wasn't too impressive as far as comfort goes, but it was clean and cheap.  After a somewhat uncomfortable nights sleep, we were rather rudely greeted the next morning by the fire alarm in the hallway going off!  What the... ?!!!  Apparently, some idiot couldn't read the signs that clearly stated 'NO SMOKING'.  Three firetrucks and four cop cars later (glad to know that the town of Shelbyville has very quick response to fire calls)... they were still trying to figure out if that's all it was when we left the hotel for the day.  It was still standing when we returned later that night, and no cops or firemen were around, so we assumed they got it all figured out.

Anyway...

We started out our anniversary with breakfast in Greenfield... because they have cinnamon toast that Dave just LOVES!  Then we poked around a few antique shops nearby.  In one shop, I found the mother load of smooshed pennies!  I was in penny heaven!!  Of course, I had to buy one.

Next, Elly (our GPS unit) led us to the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana.  This is where parts of the movie, "Hoosiers", was filmed.

Our tour guide took this picture.  Just a little out of focus... ;-)

Next up... a visit to Abbott's Candy Shop in Hagerstown, Indiana, for my favorite... Maple Creams!  However, we were sadly disappointed when we arrived to find that they're not open on weekends!  :-(  No worries... from a previous visit, we knew that a gift shop around the corner also sells their candy, so we headed there instead.  Along the way, we spotted a bakery and stopped to buy some "anniversary cakes"...

Also while in Hagerstown, we couldn't resist peeking into the windows of this beautiful old home (don't worry... it's unoccupied)...

Several miles down the road, we decided to dig into our chocolate treasure... only to discover that the "helpful" sales lady screwed us over!  She gave us yucky ol' VANILLA CREAMS instead!!!!  OMG, I was sooooo disappointed!  We figured she probably wouldn't take them back, so we tossed the bag in the backseat and hoped that our big lunch plans would make up for it... and it DID!  Pizza King of Rushville never disappoints!  It is hands down THE BEST Pizza King... ever.  Period.  I had a Cowboy Pizza with a side of chipotle ranch, and Dave had a Meat Feast with extra pepperoni and a side of bbq sauce.

We couldn't resist a cheesy picture while there...

Next stop... The Sampler in Homer, Indiana.  For our wedding, we received a cherry wood letter "W" from some family members.  We always knew that it came from this shop, but had never been there before.  What a neat store!!  I just wish I had unlimited amounts of money because I would have a house full of their stuff!  They're simply beautiful pieces furniture!  The store itself was neat too.  I just love old buildings and this one was no exception.  They have added lots of neat little touches to give it even more character.

Next up... GOLF!  It was a beautiful day and we were just itching to hit the links.  We were losing daylight fast, so we had to hurry back to Shelbyville to Bear Chase Golf Club.  Although we didn't do too well score-wise, we sure had lots of FUN!

There was a cute little bungalow right beside hole 16.  Parked behind it was an adorable little "car"...

After all that running around, we were ready for some dinner!  We drove around Shelbyville and finally found a place to eat.  First, though, stopped by the gas station to buy some lottery tickets.  Who couldn't use $214 million dollars?  I know I sure could!  Dave surprised me with a couple scratch-off tickets as well... and I WON ~ FORTY dollars!  Woohoo!!

Dinner was at a neat restaurant called The Fiddlers Three Restaurant and Pub.  It looked rather small from the front, but that sure was deceiving!  The hostess took us around some corners, through several rooms, down some stairs, around a corner and into a quaint, romantic little back room.  We had a really nice dinner ~ Dave had bacon-wrapped filet mignon and I had chicken along with my favorite, French onion soup.  Afterwards, the hostess took our picture by their Christmas tree.

After all that... it was time to relax!  Thankfully, there was no fire alarm wake up call Sunday morning!

Our weekend adventure continued Sunday on our way home with a stop at the old log jail and church in Greenfield, Indiana...

Then a quick stop at Falls Park in Pendleton, Indiana.

And, a stop at Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana.

A fat little squirrel enjoying an afternoon snack.

We saw a wind farm being constructed near Elwood and Swayzee (the only one in the world!), Indiana.

We tried to get in to see the Sunken Garden in Huntington, Indiana, but it was closed... probably because they have all of the Christmas lights in place now.  We could've looked at it from above, but I got a tiny glimpse of it at ground level through the access tunnel...

Like a closed door, our anniversary weekend is now over, but our adventures continue each and every day.  :-)