Sometimes plan B works out just fine.

Since Thursday & Friday were my Fall Break, my dad wanted to spend some time with me. 

I found out about Brown County park adding ziplines and with lots of effort, talked him into doing them with me yesterday. 

However, their website sucked and is a liar & one page said the lines were available all day & then when I went to actually book it, it said they were only open at 9 & 11 a.m.. I wasn't able to do either of those, so we just couldn't do it. 

I was really sad.

But, much to my surprise, my dad had plan B when I told him we couldn't do the ziplines ... he wanted to go horseback riding. 

'

So, we headed out to Brown County yesterday & afternoon & rode horses. 

We had about a 35 minute wait so I brought out my camera and took some pictures. I'm so glad I always have my camera with me, some of these turned out just beautiful! 

I didn't know this, but my dad worked out at this very horse barn when he was a boy, so he has lots of fond memories from that. He really liked telling me all about how he used to spend the night up in the top of the barn and how one Memorial Day (in 1963) they counted 4,000 horses because people brought their own.

I'm really thankful for the times we've been sharing together lately & I know I'll be even more thankful for them down the road.

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!

Weekend Recap

I was going to go to Ball State to visit friends this weekend, but after such a long bout with being sick & starting to feel better, I didn't want to sabotage it by doing whatever college kids do on the weekend. So I went home.

& this weekend? Fall met the Hendricks house. It was lovely.

This weekend was Ethnic Expo in Columbus, a big festival with lots of good food from many different ethnicities.

Kyle also came home this weekend so we all headed downtown Friday night & packed in the calories.

Kyle got food from the African American booth, I got a gyro and mom got food from the Philippines. We headed to the dessert tent afterwards of course.

My mom has been so busy taking care of my cousin, grandpa, & uncle & working full time that she hasn't even had time to plant the mums she has had sitting on the porch for three weeks now.

I woke up Saturday morning in high gear! First I went out & raked up all of the leaves & carried them out to the curb. Then I got the mums planted & put a halloween sign on the front door. I cleaned up the house & then began running errands.

Two Autumn scented candles, 5 pumpkins and a grocery trip later, I came back & finished on the house & put on a crock-pot of apple cider.

Planting Mums is tough work & messy too!

Drew & I took food out to my uncle because he was sick & then came back to my house and hung out with some friends, ate good food, drank hot cider & watched a movie.

The clean, fall decorated house felt fabulous.

On Sunday, I got up & ate breakfast with my mom, got ready, visited my dad, went to Drew's grandparent's 50th anniversary party, got a pedicure, took a nap & headed back to school.

It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was a great one filled with family & friends & time to get some things done that I know make my mom feel really great.

How was your weekend?

How are you preparing for fall?