Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's always an adventure!

Yesterday, I was over helping my friend Amy try on her wedding dress and she asked Zach and I if we wanted to go eat Chinese with her and Brandon. Of course, we couldn't pass that up! There is a place in Greenfield called the Bamboo Garden which we have gone to many times since moving to Greenfield so I thought it would just be a routine trip with nothing special. However, I was wrong.

When you are seated (like most buffets) they take a placemat (those little paper ones that are easily disposable) and your silverware. The man that was seating us was the owner's son and looked like he wasn't suppossed to work but got called in. He was wearing gym shorts, a cutoff t-shirt, and wearing sandals.

When he took us to our booth one of the placemats fell onto the floor. So this man took his foot, moved it over to him, picked it up, and put it back on our table. Now I'm not one to really complain or think this are nasty, but that is just plain DISGUSTING! And it's not like he couldn't go get another one. Thing the really got me was they pride themselves on being clean! It is even on their sign (check out below).

I'm totally grossed out, but still stayed there and ate. But I'm pretty sure they need to change their sign though!

Monday, June 21, 2010

One year from now...

Today I sent Zach off for his first day of clinicals for the summer and it got me thinking that in one year from now I'll be sending him off to start his first job as a certified physical therapist! The past two years of Zach's schooling has been a learning experience not only for him but me as well. I never knew what a tragus was or an antitragus before knowing Zach and I can go on and on with the knowledge my husband knows. I'm so proud of him and what he has accomplished so far and I know he'll do great when he is finally on his own. As for now, we are paying the money for all of his hard work but I know it is for the best!

Zach told me this morning that this is my "trial run" as a housewife to see if I can do it all before we have kids because it will only get more hectic when we do. I will have no problems keeping myself busy that's for sure!

I'm sure Zach will do a post at the end of the summer on how his clinical went. And since I'm Terry's daughter you know I couldn't let him leave for his first day without a picture being taken so make sure you check it out!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

2 years...Not As Scary As An Indiana Summer

Monday felt like just another normal day in the Whaley household. However it was a special day to us, FLAG DAY and oh yeah...our 2 year anniversary. It had all the makings of an amazing and beautiful day. Below is a picture of the beautiful evening just prior to us leaving for dinner.
Our anniversary tradition is a special date night to a restaurant that neither of us have ever been. This year I chose a fun place in Noblesville called Mudsocks Grill. It is a really nice/upscale version of a Chili's or Applebee's (closest I can compare to). In the 1800's Fishers, Indiana was actually named Mudsocks, Indiana. The name originated from the farmers that left their horses in the fields. When the fields got muddy, the horse would get mud up to their knees, looking like they wore "mudsocks". A little history lesson on the origin of the name.

The meal was delicious and definitely a place I would recommend. They had very good food, but I also believe I had the very best company. It was a great anniversary together...too bad we had to rush home.

Below are pictures of the weather as we got home from our meal. One might say, "A little ominous". It is typical Indiana summer weather.

This is not fog...it really was raining that hard. We had pea sized hail and nearly 2 inches of rain in only about 15 minutes from the start of the storm. Gotta love Indiana in June, but especially June 14th...it is always a great day even if the weather disagrees.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Books, Books...Everywhere!!

On Saturday I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. My best friend Brandon and his fiancee's family wanted to go to a publisher book sale (all overstock books just $1). It was a sale that couldn't be beat...if you are into that kind of thing. It was such a sale I had no idea what I was getting myself into by agreeing to go along.

We left Greenfield at 6:00am for the book sale in Lebanon, it doesn't "open" to the public until 9:00am, but people actually camp out for this thing so we had to get there early for a great place in line. The weather was HOT and HUMID, not making the warehouse we stood in line at any cooler. I was sweating and miserable by 8:30 and we didn't get to the front of the line to look through the books until 10:00.

Below you will see a picture of the warehouse with their huge inventory of books in the background and the line wrapping through the warehouse. I would estimate they had around 2-3 thousand people at the event in total. As you can see the woman in the picture below is just flat out exhausted from the book scramble.

Ok...so let me explain how this thing works. You wait in line for an hour to be given a box that you write your name on, then you go "book digging". They have pallets of huge boxes of books in no particular order. There is no order to this thing, just total chaos...a free for all. I would describe it as a Walmart's $5 bin on crack cocaine. People dig through all the pallets and fill dozens of boxes of random books then drag them to the sides and "sort" through them. This sorting can take hours I found out. The people we went with are die-hard about this sale. They gave me a book sale education.

The below picture is hard to see, taken on my cellphone, but it is of the free for all book digging. People get creative with their techniques and down right mean about their stacks of books. Some people bought whole pallets of books and others only a few. I felt completely out of place because I only wanted to buy like 5 books and everyone else I was with had 70. I ended the day with a grand total of 18 books in my box for purchasing...most of which were future presents for family.
I have tried to describe this day, but the words to describe it are not there...this book sale was in one word...WOW!!! I mean you just need to see it to fully understand. I am glad I went to this once in my life, but I will NEVER go back. I am still recovering for the chaos. So if any of you receive a book from me in the near future...you now where it came from.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

You never know with the Gray's

One thing I'm sure Zach has learned the past 5 years we've been together is you never know what the Gray's might be up to! I'm sure Dana, Anique, and Kara can all agree with that statement. Whatever it is, everyone ends up having a good time and a lot of laughs are shared. This past Saturday morning was "Chicken Killing Day". I'm sure most people don't understand the importance of this day but I've been doing it since I could reach the table...so probably 3 or 4.

I don't mind helping out because we get some of the profits and who doesn't love fresh fried chicken! Here are some pictures of the day courtesy of the best mom in the world!

Prior the being taken to Grandpa Kenny's dad catches all the chickens and puts them in crates.

Dad and Kyler preparing the chickens for their ultimate fate.

Grandpa Bud has the worst job in my opinion...actually killing the chickens.


Kyler looks super excited right now...who wouldn't want to be cleaning chickens at 7:00 in the morning?!? Where's Kara at?!? Guess she decided not the show up this time.

Don't we look like we're having fun. Zach is quite a trooper and one the only returnees on "Chicken Killing Day".

Nice hands Zach!

Dad, Uncle Kent, and Mom hard at work!




Chickens are done, in the freezer, and ready to be eaten. I'm sure it will take us a couple of weeks to be ready to eat some chicken after a day like that. Thanks mom and dad for sharing with us! For all those interested, next "Chicken Killing Day" will be sometime around July 4th and if you want to help, just let me know and I can get you the full details.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Lia Sophia

Well lately I've been sucked into a phase of Lia Sophia parties. My friend Leann Buskirk decided to have a party to help her sister-in-law out and ever since then I've been going to parties and this past Friday I had my own (at mom and dad's house...thank you!).

I had about 8 people show up and it was a fun night of laughter, food, and some purchasing of jewelry. Mom decided to photograph the event so below are some pictures that she took. Also, if anyone is interested in some Lia Sophia jewelry, my advisor is Selena Buskirk and you can look her up as well as view a catalog on the website www.liasophia.com.




Overall I had a good time with friends and family! Thanks to everyone that came and/or ordered. You guys are definitely the best.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Change of Plans


I was on Facebook a few weeks ago and saw I have an old friend from IU that plays on the Fort Wayne Firehawks, an indoor areana football league team. I thought it would be fun, and cheap, to go up to Fort Wayne last weekend for a game. I got tickets and was looking forward to it for weeks. I reserved a hotel room and was all ready to go when I received a call on Thursday of last week saying, "The game has been canceled". It was too late to cancel the room, so we decided to go to Fort Wayne for a date weekend.

On Friday, I went and picked Emily up from work and we were on our way. The first night was uneventful because all Emily wanted to do was nap...I can't blame her, she has been pretty tired lately. After a short nap, we went to my favorite restaurant, Flat Top Grill. It is a create-your-own stir fry place and is connected to a nice outdoor shopping mall. We walked off dinner through the mall, which had a live concert going on...pretty cool. After that we headed back to the hotel to relax, but ended up walking over to a movie theater that was next door. We watched the new Shrek Forever After in 3D (review available upon request).

On Saturday we decided to go to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo...we were the only adults there without children. Both of us being big kids, we still had a great time. See Pictures Below:

First stop on the trip was the tortoise pen (Emily's favorite). We learned about everything there is to know about these guys from a lovely lady named Barbara. She is know from all around and is a huge hit with all the kids. Barbara is the real attraction here...so sweet and knowledgeable about her job. Sorry I didn't get a picture of this lady, but if you look up the zoo on Facebook, she will be there.

The Kamodo Dragon is what the Fort Wayne Zoo is known for because there are so few in captivity around the world. They are pretty cool with a very long tail. They are extremely venomous so they are housed in a glass case. This was one of my favorite things to see.

Being a children's zoo, there were statues and fun figures everywhere. Here is a larger than life "Mother Goose" watching over her flock. Tons of ducks and geese in the pond (kids can feed them).

I just thought this was cool how the goose was diving for food.

This was my favorite animal of the trip...how cute is it that they are so much like humans that they even wear blankets.

The zoo was actually pretty fun. I took several pictures, but I don't like that they all have cage bars in them. We did go see the Sea Lion show, but no pictures of that...too congested. All and all a good weekend, even though it was nothing like what I had planned.