... and the police were called ....

I think since Halloween just happened, it's the perfect time for this scary little story.

So, you know how I said I was good friends with the guys in high school? Well, I had gone to school with a lot of them since kindergarten so most of them knew every little thing about me. They knew where I lived like the back of their hands.

One night, I was having a little sleepover with my friend Steph. We never did anything big, we just liked to hang out & watch movies and eat apples & peanut butter. That was our thing. We also liked going to bed early so we were usually passed out by 11 or so.

We must have put on a movie or something because we were sleeping in my living room which has a huge 3 pane sliding glass door in it. The couch sits right in front of it. It's a sectional, so she was sleeping on one side & I was the other. 

I think it was about 2:30 a.m. when she said in a scared little voice, "aaaallliiiii I think someone is outside." I looked at the window and sure enough, there were 4 big guys standing in front of it. 

Needless to say, I was scared as hell.

I don't know how I was so calm but I got up and went back to my mom's room and told her there were guys standing outside the door and she came into the living room and picked up the phone to call the police. 

All of the sudden, steph said, "Ali, that really looks like B & P". I took a closer look and sure enough, it was 4 of our guy friends. They knew she was sleeping over & they knew the layout of my house & that we would be on the couch. 

By then, my mom was already on the phone with the police. 

I opened the door & said, "uhhh ... you guys better get out of here, my mom just called the police & she's not very happy." To which she yelled out, "MOM'S PISSED!" 

They took my advice and quickly took off, the police came & saw that was everything was okay & we still laugh about it today.

But dang that night was scary.

Fall Break Weekend

Thursday & Friday of last week were Fall Break at Butler U, so I went home this weekend. (I know it seems like I'm home all of the time - I kinda am.)

Wednesday night began Fall Break & since my mom was already in Indy for work, I stayed up here with her the first night. Her conference was at the Hilton downtown & for some reason, she got upgraded to the King Suite. I felt like I was on vacation even though I was still in Indianapolis.

Mom had to go to dinner with Cummins, so I went to the hotel & Drew came over & we ordered room service for dinner. I learned my lesson on that one. After $10 in fees, I probably won't do room service again - but it was fun.

We watched the Blind Side on one of the two huge flat screen T.V.'s in the room & then got in the jacuzzi for a while.

My mom came back & Drew left & she and I talked a little bit & then conked out.

Have I mentioned how much I love doing things with my mom? She's seriously the coolest.

She had to get up early in the morning, but I stayed in bed, slept in & only left after eating a nice big yogurt parfait. From the hotel, I went shopping to find her a new purse. The one she had, had a broken strap & she hasn't had the time to get a new one, so I did it for her. I found a stellar deal at Kohl's - a purse that I kinda wanted to keep for $50. Not Kate Spade but it definitely does the trick. I surprised her with it at work & then went to the grocery store to prepare for the dinner we had with Korie & Rilynn that night. You can read about it here.

Mom took the day off on Friday so that we could hang out together. We did some of my favorite things: Went to Target (where I left with nothing - seriously a first), ate at New Japan & then went to a local apple orchard. It was a gorgeous day & we had fun just being together.

I had to go back to the doctor that afternoon for what seems like the 12,000 time & I got a mono test that was ambiguous; Thanks Doc. We just chilled out Friday night & my friend Erica came over to lay with me. Seriously? What a cool friend to just lay with a sick girl.

Saturday morning I decided to rock & roll. I was scheduled to babysit in Indianapolis & I had Toogie on backup to babysit in case I didn't feel well but I was so over being sick & laying around that I decided to just go. It was a long babysitting day, 2-11, & I overflowed their dishwasher because I put liquid Dawn in it, but overall, it was a good day!

Yesterday was for homework, hanging out with friends & Olive Garden with Toogie.

I'm pretty sure those unlimited breadsticks are one reason the scale said I've gained five pounds today but you know, Se la Vi.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Matchbook Creative Contest

Ok guys, I need your opinions.

Yesterday, I got a message on Facebook from a friend of mine who works at a local advertising agency, Matchbook Creative.

Matchbook is hosting their first ever, "Fall into Creativity", a creativity contest. One can enter a photograph, drawing, painting, card collection - anything.

The entry fee? is just one non-perishable food item to be donated to a local food bank, Gleaners.

How easy is that??

So anyway, before I got the message last night, I had gone on a walk to take pictures and begin looking for things for next week's scavenger hunt.

Except, next week's items are a lot more challenging than they have been in the past, so I didn't find a lot of them, but I found myself just snapping pictures of everything that caught my eye.

Consequently, when I got the message, although the contest isn't until November 5th, I had lots of options to choose from already.

& although it's not really a super serious contest - more of a charity thing, I thought I would ask your opinion on this picture & then what you thought of the different touch-up techniques so here we go:

I could use just the plain one:

or I could use the "1960" one:

or I could use the cinema scoped one:

or I could use the boosted one:

or, I could always wait & find another one.

What do you think?

Which one should I use, or should I just find another one?

also, if you'd like more information about the Matchbook Creative, "Fall in to Creativity" contest, check here.

What better way to support a food bank than through a fun, creative outlet?

& Lastly, I'd like to apologize to Megan over at Life's a Dance for not recognizing the fact that last Saturday? SHE GAVE ME MY FIRST BLOG AWARD!! Megan is an absolutely fabulous girl - sweet & adorable & her blog follows suit.

Thank you Megan, it's quite the honor to get an award from you ... I may or may not pass this on, but if I was the one giving away the award at first, I would've totally given one to you too.

Keep rockin' girl!

Birthday Girl!

Yesterday was Toogies birthday, and being the planner I am, I've been working on the ideas for a couple of weeks now.

The first GENIUS idea I had was to make a fake "survey" for her.

We've only been living together for a month now & even though I know that I love her, I don't know all of the specifics.

So last week, when we were both in the room together, I was like "hey toogie, I have to do a roommate survey and write a story on it for my english class." so of course she was all, "ok!"

I apologized for the questions being so weird in advance and asked her things like, "what's your favorite color" & "what would you do on a free day if you could do anything" & "what's your favorite restaurant and type of food?"

I got some answers and started planning.

On Sunday, I sent a big long Facebook message to all of her friends (which I found out from the "survey" question: who are your friends at Butler? Ha!) and told them that we would be going out for her birthday dinner on Thursday night so they needed to put it on their calendars and I asked them to make birthday cards and put them in her mailbox because she checks it like 3 times a day and gets so excited for mail!

Our neighbors, Jessie & Emily & I went to Starbucks on Wednesday night & made this for our door.

It was the beginning of the birthday surprises!

The birthday cake has a ballerina on top in case you can't see it

and the envelope on the top right was holding her "birthday day schedule"

Thursdays are her short days & I'm done every day after 2:15 so it was time to play after classes!

She got ready and put her birthday outfit from me on while I napped

She said, "your'e like a mom on the first day of school!" but I LOVED the outfit!

Jessie. Toogie. Me. Emily.

and after taking some pictures with our neighbors & besties, Jessie & Emily, we headed out for the next adventure: Broadripple to get her ear pierced!!

We're here!!

All done!

After the ear piercing, I wanted to stop by a boutique I had seen but hadn't gone into yet - I'm so glad we did! Uber in Broadripple is a place that everyone should stop in and see. At least for the decor. It was a little pricey for a college students budget but everything was adorable and the decor was amazing! We had so much fun taking pictures!

The pictures make me excited all over again!

When I asked if we could take pictures the lady said it was okay as long as we weren't going to try to replicate it.

I told her I would if I could but I definitely couldn't.

Too awesome!

In the "survey", Toogie told me that she just loooovvves starches.

I decided the perfect place for that was Buca di Peppo!

Most of Toogies friends showed up and we had an absolute blast!

The waitress was awful & we ended up getting our appetizer for free but it didn't matter. My abs hurt after we left from laughing so much!

After our fabulous carbilicous dinner, we came back to the dorms for one last surprise!

all of the girls: Haley.Tess.Devin.Jess.Emily.Toogie

Emily & Jessie went in together and got cupcakes for all of us from Flying Cupcake, a gourmet cupcake store in Broadripple!

They got Toogie's favorite kind ... Funfetti!

Toogie walked in the room to find her cupcake with a Q-tip candle!

Hey, girls have to do what girls have to do!

"Is that a Q-tip??"

lovin it!

We ended the night together laughing our bellies off watching Step Brothers & with bellies full of carbs & sugar, we were all out by midnight!

Toogie had a great 19th birthday & we all had a tons of fun celebrating with her!

The perfect day!

Last weekend was the first weekend that I've stayed at school and haven't had non stop pre planned activities so, Saturday was an open door of opportunities for Toogie & I.

I of course, was up by 9:30 but she was sound asleep until 12:30. It was actually kind of nice to be up early because I just laid in bed and read and then tried to fall back asleep. When she woke up we watched some Gator Football (I thought I had moved past this since I won't be going over to drew's while football is on) because she is obsessed. It was actually pretty funny to hear her yelling at the team like the little girl in Remember the Titans. We ate lunch in our room and put jeans and t-shirts on to tackle the absolutely gorgeous 70 degree day.

Our first stop was Broadripple. The jackpot of all jackpots caught our eye: Ragarama! a cute little B-rip consignment shop. I got three things for Drew for 40 dollars and they're all really nice! Good thing his birthday is coming up!

After a good hour spent there, we headed out to see what else we could find and we found the second jackpot of the day: Red Mango!

Frozen Yogurt & Newman's O's

I'm convinced that there is absolutely no better frozen yogurt!

If you have one close by, go, go, go!

We left Broadripple with the hopes of finding Toogie, my little floridian ballerina, a winter coat. It's something she's never needed before but now does. We went to the mall in search of the perfect pea coat, but we didn't find it. It's virtually impossible to find a high wool count coat at a reasonable price.

HOWEVER, don't be alarmed. I did a great amount of damage at Sephora, as usual and I feel like my skin looks better than it ever has.

Since we left the dorm so late, we didn't get back to campus until 8:00. We topped the day off with some super greasy pizza and while Toogie went and watched some Friends episodes, I went and got fratty. I met some super cool Delt guys!

All in all, Toogie and I had a fabulous day together & for the millionth time? I'm SO thankful for her!

Our First Date in B-Rip

Drew & I went on our first date since moving to Indianapolis today.

We went to Broadripple, or B-rip.

If you haven't been to Broadripple, you should go! It's so cute and there are lots of really cool places to shop & to eat. It's kind of like Bloomington I guess, but I like it better.

We walked around for a good while looking at all kinds of different places before we got kicked out of a bar (which we didn't know was a bar because they had a great menu outside) and then finally settled for Buffalo Wild Wings.

I know, you're thinking, "why would you go to bdubs when there are all kinds of cool other places to eat?"

Well, we didn't want to eat anything too heavy like mexican, and this bdubs is in a really cool building and we sat outside.

Today was a gorgeous day.

All in all, our date was SO successful.

We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the little stores like the dog boutique and the "burritos as big as your head" place.

Above all, we got to hang out for more than a rushed hour & I would've taken that in a cardboard box.

But being in B-rip made it even more fun!

Today, Drew left me for Marian.

... No! Not the girl Marian, the college Marian!

:: Gotcha! ::

Last night, I spent the night with him & he was super nervous about going today. Drew is a mama's boy to say the least & he was also nervous about not being the "big guy" on the football field anymore. Would he get pushed around??

He left with his parents & sisters about 10:30 because it is an hour away and they only had from 12 - 2 to move him in. He took A LOT of food, some clothes, bedding, shower stuff ... you know the norm EXCEPT, he also took a love seat & small coffee table because what would a dorm room be without & TV and sitting area? (He had to leave his 48" flat screen at home). And although he was nervous last night, he seemed to be doing okay today. I knew he would be fine after he got there. Anticipation is the worst part.

After his parents left, it was the first of the football testing & the beginning of 2 weeks of 2 - a - days & football from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. They're gonna make men out of these boys!! I was really proud to hear that our running has paid off though & he ran the mile in a minute under the required time and was one of the first five guys done. I know that totally took a load off of his shoulders. Now they're in "meetings" and have already been told that any player can be let go at anytime. Needless to say, he's going to be working his hardest.

Having Drew at Marian, only 5 minutes from Butler makes me feel a little less nervous about going to school & a lot more excited! Hopefully his anxiety will have subsided by then & he can help me to feel better (in the one hour that I will maybe get to see him a couple nights).

He's got a TV there, his football garb & his chicken patties ... now all he's missing is ME!

I TOTALLY FORGOT!

So, two weekends ago, I went on this trip with Drew & his family.

I think his mom suddenly realized that it was the last chance for their family to go on a vacation before he went to college & freaked a little.

So, on Thursday of that week, she started looking for places that we could go for the weekend. Finally, she settled on a lake about an hour from here & Drew and I headed down on Sunday morning

I just realized today that I haven't put up any pictures yet & I have a lot of funny ones!

We had a really fun time. The first day, we rented a pontoon & stayed on the lake all day. We swam, boated & floated. After that day? I took a shower outside!! Literally, I showered in my bathing suit in a hose. Eight people had to take a shower & there was only one shower so I took one outside & loved every minute of it!! We ended the night with some domino playing & marshmellow stuffing.

Oh, but I forgot to tell you about the house!!

HA! Drew & I drove up & luckily, I had seen pictures & been fairly warned, but he had not. I haven't seen the movie, but his parents said it looked like a place out of the movie Deliverance. I dunno, but it looked creepy as hell. Then? walk inside and SERIOUSLY it looked like a forest. Animals EVERYWHERE. It was an adventure for sure & I loved that it wasn't something I was used to.

The second day was not as much fun but I did it!! ... Somehow, we decided that it would be a good idea to go for a 6 mile kayak trip. What. The. Hell. I was seriously questioning my sanity & why I didn't think, "hmmm, 6 miles seems like a long way to kayak." But I didn't, and off we went.

HOLY SHIT.

I don't think I've ever cussed that much & then prayed and asked God to deliver me. This kayak trip was the worst kind of false advertisement I've ever seen. Rapids?? Hell no. There was slow moving water for like 5 ft of every mile but that's it. And, there were no markers on this never ending river so we never knew how far we had gone. Sure we had maps, but they were paper & ruined in the first ten minutes.

Can you tell I'm still bitter about this?

I'm not really bitter but man, mark my words, I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!

I also got terribly car sick on the way home but Drew was amazing & took good care of me.

Our ride home was super fun & I was so thankful for the fun time we spent together & with his family. I was even thankful for the outside shower & the taxidermy lab of a cabin we stayed in!